Charli Rae's Top Ten: 5 months

1) Rolling, rolling, rolling! Little Rae has mastered the back to belly roll -- and is still working on getting that pesky arm free. Here come the challenging diaper changing days.
2) Sampling solids. Her first food was green & mushy. Sounds appetizing right? Avocado, of course! She also loves to sit up in the highchair and feed herself bananas. How? See below. What a genius invention. Not like the old school mesh ones that are hard to clean and icky. This little thing is genius.

3) Social butterfly. Little Rae likes to be in the middle of the action. The more people the better.
4) Jumping fun! The rainforest jumperoo is among little Rae's favorite things. She sits in it while mommy blogs loves it!
5) Carseat...no thanks. Little Rae does NOT like her carseat. I repeat...does not.
6) Wobble, wobble. Charli Rae is sitting up, but don't leave her side! She will topple over somewhere between five seconds to three minutes.
7) Cat napper. C-Rae is still sleeping through the night well. But she is not a long napper...twenty minutes here, thirty minutes there. She doesn't want to miss anything!
8) Jett is hilarious. Apparently, I'm not funny. Charli will smile at me 500x a day. But laughing? I have to work hard for that. But Jett? Easy peasy. All he has to do is shake his head, say "hey", or breath, & Charli is laughing without hesitation. They already have so much love for each other, & it makes my heart so happy.
9)Daycare. Charli had her first day at Crayon Academy last week, & she did really well (aside from not taking a bottle). When I called to check on her, their response was, "we love her! She is so happy!" She is now going two days a week. Jett checks on her periodically through the day, & I feed her on my lunch break. Grandmama (Janowski) is continuing to come once a week. I'm so thankful that I'm able to work three days a week. The best of both worlds.
10) Name game. We all know, "Jett" quickly became "Jetters" and has since evolved to a dozen other nicknames. Charli Rae also has quite a few already...C-Rae, Little Rae, Rae Rae, Char Char. Our little Rae of sunshine.

The Past Year (or so) at a Glance

August 2011: I started my first big girl job - as in not working for tips. Officially became a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist.
October 2011: We bought our first home! A cute little brick ranch that we love. The location couldn't be better. It is an older home and is an ongoing (and going and going) work in progress. But with the help of our wonderful friends & family we've gotten a great deal accomplished since we signed that dotted line. The only drawback - our fingernails still haven't grown back from scraping off the thirty-year-old wallpaper. I also went to my first division I football game - and what better way to do this than a GA/FL came with Austin & Scotty? Austin left happy, Scotty...not so much.

November 2011: Hosted our first Thanksgiving & didn't burn the turkey! The Clays joined us as well - not only Momo & Pops but also Granny Pat & Grandaddy Neal. Good times.

December 2011: Found out we were expecting #2! And we were super-dee-duper excited. Spent new year's eve in a cabin in the Highlands with the Clay's & three pups!

January 2012: Austin started his second season as assistant baseball coach at West Georgia Technical College. Go Golden Knights! We also took a trip to Detroit for my cousin Meredith's wedding. We danced the night away with the yankee family.

March 2012: Our big boy turned three. We celebrated Sesame Street style, and even Elmo decided to join us. We also found out that our Jetter bee was getting a little sister. Even more super-dee-duper excited. Suddenly, I became showered with dresses, hair bows, and the color pink.

April 2012: Picked some strawberries & made some jam!

May 2012: Completed my clinical fellowship and became CCC-SLP. Yahoo! Also, became the Therapy Outcome Coordinator at The Oak's of Carrollton. Basically, a fancy name for rehab director. Moving right along.
June 2012: Took a trip down south to one of our favorite places...Jekyll Island. If I could freeze time, I would freeze it next to the pool at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel with the sun shining, the kiddos swimming, shrimp boats floating in the distance, and the smell of fresh food grilling. Paradise in Georgia.

July 2012: Two words - Disney World! Jett had a B-L-A-S-T. Three is a great age for Disney. By the time we left, him & Mickey were old buddies. His favorite rides, the monorail and "small ride" (aka small world). I don't think we have a fast and furious type boy on our hands. Also, Jett & Austin had a wonderful time with Grandmama, Granddaddy, the Patterson family, & the Glass family at Callaway Gardens. Unfortunately, I missed this shin dig because of work. But I sure won't miss this get-together next time.

August 2012: Something pretty important happened this month...we were blessed with a beautiful daughter. Charlotte "Charli" Rae joined us on August 24th, 2012 at 6:33pm. She was 7lbs 11oz (the same as her brother) and a whopping 22 inches long. She was born via VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), and it was a wonderful experience. I'm so grateful I was able to experience this part of child birth. But even more grateful for a healthy baby.

September 2012: The Hill family visited for a long weekend and met Charli Rae. I love when our house is full of family. The more the merrier.

October 2012: Returned to work from maternity leave in late October. Did you know that out of 178 nations, America is one of three that does not offer paid maternity leave? We also have the highest percentage of people incarcerated. Just a little food for thought. What else did we do this month? We drove to ohio for a weekend visit and watched a lot of football :)

November 2012: Celebrated Thanksgiving in Social Circle at Kristy & Allen's home. It was a nice time with SO MUCH food. Seriously. A lot of food. Also, Austin decided to take on "no shave november" to raise awareness for prostate cancer. Well ,no shave november evolved into shave less december.

December 2012: Shellie (Austin's sister) & Scotty welcomed their third child into the world, a handsome boy named Henley Kai. We hope to meet him soon! Also this month, I decided to step down at work, so I can remain three days a week and spend more time with my children. This was a difficult decision for me for various reasons. But after talking about it & praying about it (and repeating these steps x10) the decision I needed to make was crystal clear, & I couldn't be happier now. We also celebrated Christmas as a family of four. Austin's love for me was really evident when he spent a whole day in the december cold hanging christmas lights from our roof. I love that bearded man of mine.

Happy New Year!
“Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin!” Mother Teresa

Learning to Play the Trumpet

Honey, I'm home!!!

Why do I have this sudden urge to blog again after 15 months? Because...I'm at home for what feels like the first time in a year. Am I going to attempt to catch up & post pictures of the past year? No. Plus, I never stopped Facebooking :) So, let me just hit the ground running. What are we doing at this current moment in our lives? Playing! That's right. Daddy spends the day at work, while Jett & I play, eat, nap, play, & play some more (occasionally, we will fit in a load of laundry). Did I mention I graduated? You all knew that - but I still like to say it. I can't start working until my license is approved by the Georgia State Board of Speech-Language Pathology...whom doesn't meet again until September 12th. As Winnie-the Pooh would say, "Oh, bother." Call me an eager beaver, but I want to work, start a routine, & dare I say...earn a pay-check (YES!). But I am so enjoying this time with my little man - as is he. Here's a glimpse of yesterday....

Oh, how I love this boy!

You will probably see a good deal of posts from me in the coming month. I love to blog (my modern version of journaling). And now I have the time to do it. But after that...no promises. But I hope to update at least once a month. Sound good? Fantastic! Let's get started.