Charlie just had his first real phone conversation! A fly got into our house and provided hours of entertainment. We called GrandMommy (my Mom) to tell her all about it, and Charlie gave her every detail!

Filed under: Family | Post a comment

I’ve fallen down on my job to post more often and give more Charlie updates for family and anyone else who is interested.

SOOOoooo, here are some of Charlie’s latest shenanigans…

1. Charlie and I play a one-sided hide-and-seek. He hides, while I pretend to look behind every door/surface/piece of furniture trying to find him. All the while I’m singing a little song:

“Where, oh where, oh where is Charlie?” (repeat 3 times)
“Where could Charlie be?”

He loves our game, and regularly shuts himself in bathrooms and closets until I find him. This might be a problem one day if I’m not paying attention, because he can’t yet get out. Plus we suspect that he’s developing a fear of the dark.

Thanks to my little song, he has started asking for things by saying “Where ____ be?” Like “Where blanket be?” or “Where juice be?” Stuff like that. It’s SO DARN CUTE that I don’t try to correct his grammar. He’ll say it correctly soon enough. (What is not so cute is that John ends all of his location questions with that nasty preposition “at.” Where are my shoes at? BLARGH! I still can’t get him to stop after 12 years.)

2. This child will climb on anything – the higher, the better. And once he gets there, he wants to jump off. STRESSFUL! He likes to jump off the couch and land directly on his booty. HOW that doesn’t hurt, I’ll never know. We’re trying very hard to discourage it.

3. He’s saying full sentences most everyone can understand. It must be much easier for all those random people that he passes now that he’s decipherable. He just loves talking to everyone! If there is a panda nearby, he will have an in-depth discussion about it with the man standing next to him.

4. He knows all his colors, how to count to ten, most every musical instrument and even some alphabet letters.

5. He l-o-v-e-s animals, just like his Mom. I swear I will not have another pet, I swear I will not have another pet…
He can imitate almost every animal sound, like when we were at the zoo recently. He jumped out of his stroller and ran back to the lion exhibit twice, roaring all the way.

6. He has started pretending and role playing. He fed John pretend yogurt the other night, he loves to stir and he makes his food become different animals that he brings to life. Or in this case, share crackers with the stuffed jack-in-the-box monkey.

7. There is no doubt that this kid will be an athlete. He almost always has a bat/club in one hand and ball in the other. And the jumping and endless energy. He watches baseball and golf regularly with his Daddy and will love football this fall…
…you can say that with more than one inflection in this family:
He will LOVE football this fall.
He. Will. Love. Football. This. Fall.
He WILL love football this fall.
…But I have a feeling that he’ll love it without any brainwashing prompting.

8. He is the BEST hugger! So affectionate. He makes an excellent Charlie Sandwich by squishing two people against him.

9. His favorite show is still Jack’s Big Music Show, and my parents, John and I have every single episode memorized. Seriously. I’ll never get sick of it – it was created by one of Sesame Street’s old writers and has that strong Jim Henson Muppet influence. One of my favorite things in life is Jim Henson’s Muppets. Charlie gives me strange looks when I laugh and go nuts over old Sesame Street clips. One day soon he’ll be introduced to The Muppet Show. Bliss!

**I’m interrupting this list to beg, plead, implore, BESEECH the Jack’s Show peopleguys to make more episodes! PLEASE! You’re so brilliant. The world needs more.**

Charlie also LOVES Blue’s Clues and it is starting to wear on our nerves. But it’s pretty cute, pretending to have his own “Thinking Chair” and imitation Steve/Joe.

10. Mom and child both love the MOMS Club that we joined. We have a regular playgroup every Monday morning and lots of activities throughout the week. Charlie has made many friends and gets to do tons of activities. And I’ve made some good friends too! We also get together with other friends as much as possible. It has been an uber-busy summer! We’ve gone to the Atlanta Children’s Museum, Atlanta Zoo, Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Yellow River Game Ranch, Kennesaw Southern Museum, many of Gwinnett county’s amazing parks, Monkey Joe’s, and more. Talk about some great experiences!

It’s hard to believe that he’ll be two in a little over a month! Where has the time gone? I need to post some slide shows soon, so stayed tuned for that.

Filed under: Family | Post a comment

Please excuse the “I’ve Been Published” post if you saw it before John took it down. I don’t even remember writing it…I’d already taken my Ambien for the night and then got inspired to write. Thank goodness it was more normal than most of my Ambien-induced ramblings!

I have a growing list of funny conversations/stunts I’ve pulled while on Ambien, but I think I’d embarrass John (and I guess myself) to share them. Like the night there was a French flight attendant on my nightstand, or the monster in Charlie’s diaper bag…

Filed under: Random | Post a comment

Had to share these interesting duvet covers. You’re welcome.

Filed under: Fun | Post a comment

…well I ain’t down with that!

Charlie had a nice long nap, so I had time to write this:

A friend of mine (wave!) has written a very inspiring blog that I want to share and add my own thoughts. Instead of just giving the link, I have pasted it below.

And here is my musing:

At the aforesaid party, a friend of mine, a lovely attractive woman who would be admired by any man with any sense, mentioned that she was upset by her boobs sagging. It got us talking about changing bodies. Here’s my two cents: There is nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty and attractive, but there is something wrong when we don’t accept the reality of being 30ish and 40ish. Our boobs are gonna sag. Our faces are gonna get wrinkles. We’ll probably all gain a few pounds as we age and our metabolisms slow. I think that’s okay. If a man wants to date a woman with maturity and experience, he’s gonna have to accept that those women have wrinkles and boobs that sag a bit. If he wants perfect boobs and flawless skin, he’s gonna have to choose a person who hasn’t lived and loved and learned sex techniques and made progress on career goals and traveled and has lots to teach him. The thing is, I don’t think most of the pressure really comes from men. I’ve spent most of my life on the heavier side of our society’s ideal, and yet, I’ve never hurt for very wonderful men in my life. My boobs that sag a bit have been greeted by men with that stupid (yet lovable) smile that they always get when faced with breasts of any size or age. I think that men (in general) are much kinder to our bodies than we women are ourselves.

Earlier this year, I made the resolution that this year, I was going to stop resolving to be something other than I am and making myself miserable. I’ve kept that resolution by ending my obsessive and dangerous dieting cycle and by practicing talking nice to my body and the bodies of other women. I’m trying to think more about other things about me and the women I know and less about our looks. There is nothing wrong with noticing someone’s looks, but I, and many other women, focus on looks way too much.

So, my final word on this is: I am not a mannequin, not a teenager, not a Barbie doll. I am real 30 year old woman who has had a baby. I can’t be bothered about stretch marks, sagging, and my first wrinkle. I have way too much living to do for that.

What an inspiration! John and I are currently working very hard to lose weight because we want to be healthier for Charlie. That statement means two things: 1. we want to be healthy and thrive while we raise Charlie and future Kid, and 2. we want to teach Charlie to be healthy and make good decisions. Last but not least, I’ve felt horrible about myself appearance-wise and want to do something about it. I have spent my whole life with a very poor self-image and have worked very hard over the past few years to change it. Not only do I have negative thoughts about myself all the time, I have also allowed certain people in my life to get into my head and add to it.

I spent most of my 20’s overweight with three or four of those years extremely overweight. It all started with some health issues and lack of exercise, and when the weight started going up, the two problems fed off each other. I finally realized after many failed diets that weight loss surgery (WLS) was my only choice if I wanted to have children…and clearly it was the best decision! It was also one of the top three most difficult journeys of my life. Life after WLS turned out to be much more difficult than life on normal diet on a normal stomach. (HUGE pet peeve: WLS is the “easy” way out…there is NOTHING easy about it.)

After giving birth, I walked out of the hospital -skinny again!!! – only 7 pounds heavier than before I got pregnant. (Thanks to morning sickness every day of the pregnancy.) But since then I’ve gained more weight – again largely due to some health issues that just might be getting under control.
It’s been very interesting for me in the past year to observe my own feelings about my weight. When I’m home and around friends and acquaintances, I am not as self-conscious. I feel mostly comfortable in my own skin. But when I am alone or in my hometown, I hate my appearance. I’ll save the rest of what I could write in this paragraph for a journal or a few therapy sessions. )

I am also completely comfortable and have no judgment for anyone around me that has any extra weight. Battling weight issues is no different from any other demon that we humans battle, it’s just more obvious than most of them. Being able to accept myself the same as I accept everyone else is definitely something I spend a lot of time on in therapy. And just because I might lose my excess weight on my new healthy eating/lifestyle change does not mean that I’ll instantly love myself. While I enjoyed being thin after WLS, the negative self-image did not go away. (And you’re thinking…well, duh…otherwise you wouldn’t be writing all of this.)

I almost left this out, but it is just as important to me as my own self-image – I want Charlie to be confident and assertive and know and love himself. I can’t truly teach him that until I can do it for myself.

I’m going to read a book or two to help me change my mind. I’m also going to keep Kelly’s post from above nearby to remind me of my mind-changing goals. Oh, and keep going to therapy. Maybe one day I’ll be able to impart my own wisdom on self-love and acceptance and become rich and famous for my NYT best-selling book!

Filed under: Family | 1 Comment

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and does lots of celebrating with friends, grilling and fireworks! Unfortunately, our little family has been fighting illness all week, with me getting the brunt of it. Charlie is back to normal but John and I are still feeling terrible. Since I got it the worst, John has had to put up with my crabbiness and endless bossiness because I don’t like to not be in control watch from the sidelines.

This post from mental_floss magazine’s blog is AWESOME! You should read up if you’re going to be watching any fireworks tonight.

Rational Jenn posted the Schoolhouse Rock Fireworks Song, and I had to share! Ahhh, I can’t wait to show Charlie all the episodes of Schoolhouse Rock one day.

Great idea for a Get Well Soon photo:

see more dog and puppy pictures

Filed under: Family | Post a comment

….and I swear we’ll both get around to posting something soon!

Here are some fun links until then:

8 Intriguing Pairs (and Trios) Who Died on the Same Day

Why did he take off his shirt?

What happens when you drop 50 pounds of Silly Putty from a 10-story building?

Fainting Goats (I’ve emailed this to friends in the past but still can’t get enough – always good for a laugh!)

Surviving the World, Lesson 377

Filed under: Random | Post a comment