Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Pictures:

Well, our appointment at Portrait Innovations was at 5:00 pm....and the picture taking started around 6:15. Yeah...needless to say (but I'm going to anyway) Josh and I were not happy. We've decided that some random day we're going to call, make an "appointment" (since they use the term loosely I will, too), take an hour and a half of pictures, spend 45 minutes debating which ones we want, and then say "well, we actually don't like any of them, so bye!" Waste an hour and fifteen minutes of our time and see if it doesn't happen to you!! We made it out of there just in time to make it to Pam and Tony's church to see the annual Christmas play~in which Tony played the title role of the Old Shepherd. It was great!! And, when we picked up the pictures today, we felt like it was worth hanging around for our turn to get these shots...

Winter Warmth

Charlotte will be sure to stay warm in this hat/mitten combo this winter! She actually does not mind wearing it, miracle of miracles! I think she likes the feel of the fuzz :) I just wish it looked cuter. It would be fun to dress her up in something cute for once..Oh well, function over fashion, I suppose! haha

Toy Overload

Mama, I've got all these toys..which one should I play with first?

(she pulled all these out and then crawled away to play with a tag off of a new shirt. yea...)

Walking

Charlotte is a fearless adventurer... She will explore a dark hallway, walking along and babbling either "dadadada" or "heeeee, heeeee."

Josh and I are both excited by her progress..now when we have to leave a room, she doesn't cry~she just follows along! She is so happy about being able to move around independently..you can just tell watching her that she is proud of herself and having a ball..(not too far off what her parents look like haha).

Oops the end of the clip is what was on the tape before (and is already burned onto a DVD~not erased).

Bathtime

Charlotte has so much fun taking her bath ~her antics are so endearing...as if she wasn't already!!

Could she Bee any cuter?

No stinger here, folks! I love this kid!!!!!!

A little Halloween preview...On paper, I just wanted to make sure it fit. In reality, I just couldn't wait 3 more days. :)

Coat Cuteness!

All bundled up and ready to go out and celebrate a birthday~ Charlotte's Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw have birthdays in this fine month! *Please excuse the partial curler shot of my head...I forgot to trim this image before I uploaded...oops!

The coat is even cuter in the back...it's gather along the empire waist~I'd love one in my size!!

Random Cuteness!(and yes, I used "Cuteness" twice ...but if you've seen Charlotte, you can't blame me.)

I can't tell in this window what order these will appear in, so in no particular order: Charlotte having fun walking around her room (well, she actually is getting back up in this pic), thrilled to have escaped with the Real real cell phone (not the "Fake" real cell~aka my old dead one), enjoying some baby food "pasta" goo (*Update: she is actually consuming yobaby yogurt...hurray!!), and getting ready to go for a shoulder-ride with Josh :)

Alivia is Awesome!

Alivia and her beautiful mom, Kindra, came over to hang out the other night :) The fun music table was a loaner from our sweet neighbor who's son didn't mind the girls using it...super nice!! Plus it was nice for us moms to have some variety in the "talking" toys category :)

Family Fun :)

My parents came up for a visit this past month :) It was a blast as always and Charlotte (as you can see) loves seeing her Nana and Poppy!!

Hello My Future Boyfriend, This Is What I Sound Like...

Super fun!! Erin U and the boyz got to meet us at Hanes Mall for a mini-reunion while they were in town. While it appears that Charlotte was consoling Finn as any good girlfriend would do, I think she was actually accidentally hitting him. Which could still bode well for the future romance... Ask Josh~hitting and caressing are the same thing in our house haha! (I'm like Joey's girlfriend on Friends...the hitter!)

Jack entertained us on the carnival-sized trampoline~great job, buddy!!!

*Charlotte's cute shirt is courtesy of EU~Thanks again, friend!
**The extremely cool photography effect of Charlotte still and Jack in motion was produced by my hard work and high skill level....or, it was an accident. Choose your own adventure/version....

Fun Family Times!

The annual Shelton reunion~super fun family and great food!! Charlotte is with her uncle and soon-to-be aunt and her Maw-Maw!

Reading with her Dad :D

Don't worry, it's not a scary story. It's a story called Rose White, Rose Red. Although now that I think about the elements of the story, it is a little weird. Right on, Charlotte.

I-I-I'mmmmm Sorrry, Soooo Sorrrrry...

Wow, it has been a whirlwind month!

Some basic news...pictures next time I promise!

*Charlotte is nine months old!! (So much for that 9 months to put it on, 9 months to take it off adage) She is 28 1/2 inches long and 20 lbs! Tall and lean like her daddy :) She has two teeth (bottom center) and two on the way (top, on either side of the front teeth~which are not there..hee hee). She walks maybe 10-12 steps at a time, and crawls super fast when she's in a hurry and doesn't have time to wobble-walk to her point of interest. She is so sweet. I promise. She's the happiest little thing~happy as a little happy clam I always say! (something like this phrase is from a movie that Josh and I can't place, but we say it often when referring to Charlotte). She can now clap her hands, too (as of today, when I picked her up at Steph's)!!

*Josh is doing great in his MBA program~way to go, honey!! We're so proud of you!!

*I got a job at the Central branch of the Forsyth County Public Library! Huge praise there!

Like I said, I'll post pics next time~we have some fun ones of good times with family :D Charlotte loves all of her grand and great-grandparents!! (and so do we ;D)

Shoes

Today, my mom came up for a visit :) It was great to see her~as always!! We realized sometime during the day that she and Charlotte had similar shoes. Charlotte hasn't learned to walk yet, but she's already outgrown some "weeboks" (no really, that's their name~adorable!) my parents gave her and is on to her second pair of baby new balance that Josh's parents gave her. Here are some pics of my mom and my daughter and their sneakers :) Well, the pictures are actually just of their feet. haha. :)

JoshCharlotteJoshCharlotteJoshCharlotte

Who is it, you ask?

For those of you that have said Charlotte looks like me, you are very kind. I'd like to think I had a little something to do with her being here (moms out there...you KNOW I did.)...however, this picture shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Clearly, the tree is Josh. This is his baby picture from six months old. It's a bit blurry b/c it was taken through the cover of a picture album, but you get the idea... Actually this is exactly what I'd hoped for! Josh disagreed with me when I said I wanted our daughter to look just like him, saying he'd make an ugly girl~wrong!! They are two of a kind (well, in looks. Her hissy fits tend to resemble mine more than his). His mom provided the cincher when she showed me these baby albums when Josh and I were dating! (just kidding~it was already cinched in my mind).

Hope I spelled "cinch" right or this post will end on a weird, confusing note.

Dinner with the Halls

No, we're not referring to ourselves in the third person. On Sunday night, we had dinner with Josh's parents. It was really fun~we had cheeseburgers cooked on their brand-new grill! It is a Mac-Daddy grill, too. Charlotte enjoyed trying some Mac-n-Cheese...sort of...and she really enjoyed the toys they have at their house..different is always good in toy world. Here are Tony (growing his beard out for a Christmas play at church~he is a method actor), Charlotte, Pam, and Spike (who weighs 4 pounds wet and has a spiked biker dog collar!)

Thanks again! Can't wait to hang out soon!

Di-"Grassy" High

She wasn't sure about the grass this time...we think she likes it when it's shorter (which it is now~Josh mows on Sundays after church and these were taken Saturday). She pats the blades over and over before deciding to put her weight down. We couldn't get her to look right at us, but here are some more contemplative shots for a change!

*Doesn't our grass look great? Josh has done an awesome job getting it to look this nice! When we moved in we had a mottled collection of red clay, crab grass, and clover. Thanks Honey!! You Lawn Master, you!

Swinging

I think we have a roller coaster lover on our hands!! (of course, she is making this face so much of the time that it is sort of hard to tell...)

Fun with Friends

Charlotte's friend Alivia came over to play the other night. The girls had a blast and were sort of petting/whacking each other (in a nice way)...Alivia's mom Kindra is a dear friend of mine~I think we make two pretty good mother-daughter duos!!

Playing in the Front Yard

This was one of those days where the weather was perfect!! I guess we'll have to sing "all I want for Christmas is my two (top) front teeth" for Charlotte this year!

Baby Orajel

We love this stuff. Apparently, Charlotte does as well.

Our Visitor

Josh called this morning after he'd left for work to let me know he'd left us a surprise on the front porch...

Of course, my taste buds are hoping for a life-size chocolate statue of Josh, but instead, it was.....this turtle! Josh found it in the yard and trapped it on our porch until Charlotte and I could see it. Don't worry~it was returned to its natural habitat immediately after this photo-op.

Since it is the child's role to name random animals found in nature, I let Charlotte name this little girl/guy before we released it. Therefore, its name is "Yuyah!" (say this as high-pitched as you can and you've got it right.

Nana & Poppy

My parents came up for a pre-Labor Day visit! It was really fun :) Thanks for making the trek~all three of us thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Charlotte has perfected her first magic trick, seen here~the disappearing hands act!

"Christmas" in August...

Our version of the bunny outfit present from "A Christmas Story" movie...Charlotte agreed with Ralphie on this one...too funny. Actually, this is a really adorable little fancy coat Josh's aunt gave us, but unfortunately, as you can see from the sleeves, it's ready to be packed away...it needed documentation before being stored in the "Bonus Room"...

Crawling: Part 2

Here is Charlotte on Monday~what a difference a week makes...she started with one or two "steps" last week, and by today she's following me from room to room...the only safety issue is that she wants to stand up on everything ("preferably"~to her~ using a sharp corner or door jamb for balance), but that's just one thing closer to walking, so I'll deal with the safety hazards!! EXCITING!!! Did I mention lately that I love this girl and her dad?

Crawling: Part 1

This is Charlotte trying to crawl (about 2 weeks ago). She is soo funny with this...either she's doing a push up and grunting, or she's surfing with her belly on the floor and her arms in the air, whining...what a funny girl :)

The Beach (revisited)

Charlotte's first look at the ocean...unfortunately, there was no "juuuiiicce!!" comment... ah well, there's always next summer!!

Giggles

This is what we get to see all of the time!! We are storing these times up in our memories for 15ish years when she shuts herself in her room and speaks to us once a week...Actually I won't let that happen, but you know what I mean...

A Day In The Life of Charlotte

Well, sorry it's been so long since a post...life has been very busy and the computer has been very slow. However, I finally spent some time loading some pictures of our girl. She's been growing like a weed, learning new things, having a great time, and blessing our life greatly. What follows is a general idea of our day-to-day at the house. Beginning with what I see when I go in to wake her up (around 6:30-7:30 depending on our schedule for the day)...As usual, she's hugging on her giraffe.

Bye Dad!

Josh gets a great send-off every morning!! I won't post my contribution to that effort...wink ;) We'll keep this post G instead of PG. Hugs and kisses from his two girls :)

First Thing's First

After Josh leaves, we both have a morning routine...she plays in her exersaucer, and I have my coffee(pictured below saucer~and no, it isn't the grimy "baby" scrawl mug I was given as a "present")...It's so crazy that 2 months ago we had to put a throw pillow under her feet so she could touch! Tall like her daddy!!

Surprise!!

Our morning outing to Target :) ...in our new car! We certainly weren't planning to buy a new one..we went to see which models our mondo-car-seat fits in for FUTURE reference...but instead, we left with a 2008 Honda Pilot!! (Which we love, by the by)

Morning Play

Of course, out of all the toys this girl has...she wants to play with her old diaper boxes. A girl after my own heart!!

Lunch

Finally! She can hold her own bottle for the whole feeding :) Unfortunately, you won't see any baby food in this picture-although she will eat some sweet potato with dinner...I've almost given up on baby food...9 weeks into the process and basically no sucess..oh well, she can't be perfect right? :)

The LEAST Fun Part of the Day!

Can't leave this out! Just be grateful I didn't post the picture of the actual stuff (which yes, I did take ;D)...