4 Months

I'm not exactly sure what I did with my life 4 months ago, but whatever it was, it was no where near as fun or fulfilling as this. I have spent the last 4 months changing, feeding, bathing, dressing, nurturing, loving, and playing with my daughter. This tiny person that brings so much joy to my life. Has it really been four months already? 1/3 of a year?

Charlotte is quite tickled with herself these days. Reaching for toys, putting things in her mouth, spending time in her Jenny Jump-Up.  She really is a big girl now, didn't you hear? She will be happy to tell you all about it, she has now found her voice.  She is beginning to discover loud and quiet, as well as different sounds and mouth shapes. Maybe we will have a chatterbox on our hands after all.

Apparently I decided that since the rest of my family is bald, I would be better off if I followed suit. No really, all my hair is falling out. "They" say hormones, but these hormones better get back in line ASAP before I look like my husband.


To celebrate Charlotte's 4 month birthday, Jeremy and I are going on our first date.  Charlotte has never had a bottle and I have only been away from her for maybe 3 hours total in her entire life, so this is a BIG deal (mostly for me, I'm sure she won't care)! My very dear friend, and skilled NICU RN (paranoid?) has graciously offered to watch her. Who wouldn't feel comfortable leaving their baby with a nurse? Everything will be fine... (I think if I say it enough, by 5:00 tonight I might be ready to go.)


Here's an exciting turn of events: Charlotte has woken up the last 3 nights starving to death.  Since about 7 weeks old, Charlotte has slept from 7:30-7:30 (give or take an hour) every night, no questions asked.  The last three nights, she has woken up between 2-4, eaten for 10 minutes, then gone straight back to bed. Strange. Growth spurt? But I thought those were 3, 6, 9 months? Who knows. I think tonight I may try a "dream feed" and secretly feed her right before we go to bed; I'll let you know how it goes.

And how the date goes.

If we go.

Or I cry the whole time.

Ready for the snow, boots and all!

Loving her first time in the Jenny Jump-up 

Birthday lunch with Great Grandma, Nan

Snow in our front yard!

Maybe not too amused...

So fun!

Happy Birthday, Nan!

Career Change

Yesterday was a momentous day: I submitted my resignation to Mercy Medical Center and officially became a full-time stay at home mom. This has been a long, emotional journey with an extremely happy ending.
My entire life I have wanted to be a NICU nurse. I worked hard in high school to earn good grades and get into a great nursing program. I worked hard in nursing school to get a great residency at UCLA's NICU. I worked hard at my new job to learn and advance my nursing skills.  "Nurse" has always been my identity.  Excelling at my job was how I measured my worth and value as a person. When Charlotte was born, my world turned upside down. This teenie tiny person made me question everything I believed to be true about myself.  From the first moment they placed her in my arms I knew my identity had changed.  Nothing in this world could be more important than this precious little life. In the same way I felt called to be a nurse, I felt immensely more called to be a mom.  As I searched my soul, sought wise counsel, read God's Word and spent many hours in prayer, it became very clear that the most important job I will ever have is this raising my children.
But would I still be an intelligent, valuable person if I was "just" a stay at home mom? What will everyone think of me when I tell them what I do? Will people think I'm lazy? Stupid? Am I wasting my education?
The answer to all these questions is so clear and yet my soul struggled to accept the importance and value of raising my children.  I was seeking the approval of this world and not following the clear calling of God. Thankfully, I have the most incredible husband, family and church community that helped me to see the truth.
There will not be a minute that passes by that I regret being with my children.  I will never look back and think, "I wish we had more money, I wish we could have bought a boat, I wish I had nicer jeans."
I could not feel more blessed to have this opportunity. I know I am beyond lucky to have it. Not every mother is able to have this chance; but since I do, I would be crazy to pass it up.
As a side note, I still do love being a NICU nurse and I loved my job at Mercy very much.  I tried to pursue a supplemental (extremely part time) position at the hospital to no avail. When something becomes available, I would like to work a few days a month.
This is a season in life. There will always be babies at work to care for, but my babies are only here for a short time. God has called me to love them and show them His love and I take that very seriously. I am so excited about my new "job." I will be proud in the work I do, I will do it well, and I will be forever thankful that I have the most important job in the world!

What a Week...

After being gone 10 days, Jeremy and I were happy to start off the week in our own home. However, that joy was quickly squelched by a horrible stomach flu that hit hard Monday night.  What we both originally believed to be food poisoning, turned out to be the most brutal and contagious stomach bug either of us has ever experienced: about 36 hours of sheer misery (mind you we only have one functioning bathroom at the moment). Nearly our entire circle of friends fell prey to this nasty thing. By God's grace, Charlotte was spared!

Another saga of the week surrounded the purchasing of a sectional from Costco.  We had decided last Thursday to buy a new sectional from Costco. They would not let us purchase it and come back to pick it up; nor would they place one on hold for us. On Thursday, they had 6 of them left. The manager told us they were selling about 1 per week.  On Saturday morning, Jeremy arranged to borrow his boss's truck so we could go make our big purchase. We walked into Costco just in time to watch them pack up the floor model. They had sold 4 on Friday and 2 Saturday morning before we got there (at 10:30!). I spent the entire week calling Costco, getting a different story with each new employee I spoke to. "Yes, we will be getting more tomorrow." "No, they are all sold out." "They are on backorder, but will be in later in the week."  After a week of run around, we finally decided to borrow a trailer and go get it from Chico. On Friday evening, Jeremy got off work, we hurried down to Cottonwood, hooked up the trailer and headed to Chico.  We made it there by 8:00, thirty minutes to spare.  Before we left I had called to make sure they still had them in stock; they had 4. When we located the sectional on the floor, my heart sunk as we stared at the empty palate behind the display. This can't be happening... We drove all the way down here and they sold 4 in 3 hours? I located a manager, and with tears welling up in my eyes, explained our plight.  I was greatly relieved when he told me they did indeed have one left! So, the sectional drama came to a happy ending! We didn't make it home until midnight, but it was all worth it!

This week has also been an exciting one for Charlotte: she discovered opposable thumbs!  She is now intentionally reaching for toys, grabbing them, and bringing them to her mouth!  It was amazing how quickly she figured this out!  Though still needing much practice, her toy grabbing skills are advancing quite quickly.  With this new discovery, she decided that she would much rather have her arms available to her during naps.  For this swaddle-happy mama, that was a tough one for me to handle! However, she is now learning how to find her hands during nap and sooth herself back to sleep when she wakes up. She is still as sweet as can be and smiles every waking second of her day.    

The final bit of exciting news from this household is: we have baseboards! Jeremy, along with the assistance of his cousin and uncle, installed baseboards throughout the entire house!  They look incredible; and they aren't even painted yet! We are one step closer to getting all the furniture moved back!  I so appreciate my husband and his hard work! He has given Charlotte and I such a beautiful, comfortable home.  

Look what I can do!

Bath Bunny

Love my Daddy!

New baseboards!

Getting closer!

Sleeping unswaddled!

Home, Sweet Home

After 10 long days away from home, Jeremy, Charlotte, Abbey and I have moved back!  For those that didn't hear, Jeremy and I were fortuitous enough to get to have our hardwood floors refinished. This was one of the projects that I had most wanted to do since we purchased the home, so needless to say I was ecstatic when we finally had the time and finances to do it. The only problem was we had to relocate everything we own into our family room (the only room with carpet in the house) and we had to be away from the home until it was finished.  A huge thank you to Dave and Debb for allowing us to take over their spare room (and bathroom, and laundry room, and living room, and....).  The floors are absolutely beautiful; brand new! The house; however, is a disaster!  Everything is covered in dust, and all our furniture is still in the family room, where it will stay until Jeremy installs the baseboards. And the whole family is living in the nursery. But, that is just fine with me because we are getting so close to finishing this, now almost 3 year long, remodel! I am so thankful to have this beautiful home to call our own.  We have had such a wonderful time working on this house, learned so much about home ownership, and really gotten to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  Jeremy has become the most incredible handy-man.  He enjoys the work so much that he considers flipping homes in the future as a hobby. And he is so talented! Our home is as beautiful as it is because of his perfectionism and hard work. There really is no place like home.
     In Charlotte news, my little sweet girl continues to delight me every day. She is all smiles, all the time.  She did so well during our time away, a very easy going baby.  But, I do think she was relived to be home as well; she missed her mobile! She is growing steadily, just about ready to move up to 3-6 month clothing.  Most of the 0-3 still fit, but starting to get a little tight. Definitely by 4 months.  She sleeps every night from about 7:30 pm to 7:30 am, give or take 1/2 hour.  During the day she eats every 3 hours and sleeps about an 1 1/2-2 hours in between.  We walk every morning and she is finally able to stay awake for the majority of the walk. I talk to her the whole time about the trees and the birds and the wind. We sing songs and rejoice in God's creation. What a beautiful planet we live on. Not to mention the glorious weather! She is finally starting to figure out she has arms and can move them at will.  She is batting a little bit at toys (not reaching or grabbing; more like swinging at them). She has no interest in rolling over, but I do try and do a little tummy time with her each day. Being the huge Packers fan that she is, she thoroughly enjoyed her first Super Bowl.  She loves to stand up and look around and will freely give huge smiles to anyone willing to look at her.  My errands take much longer now because I have to stop and let her smile at every person who takes notice of her. A good reason to slow down, indeed.

Helping Mommy with the laundry

Ya! Washing my 3-6 month clothes!

Who needs a paci when you have fingers?

Our walking gang!

Floors stripped down

Guest bathroom under construction

Everything needed to move out for 10 days

Our life confined to one room

The floors, after

After

Master bedroom after

Our family sleep room