One year.

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl.  As cliche as it sounds, she is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  One year ago today my stubborn baby girl finally came.  I was very worried that she was going to be as stubborn as me.  She has been so easygoing every since then.  She slept through the night so early and rarely gets upset.  As long as she has a clean diaper and a full stomach she is a happy girl. 

 She has so much personality already.  My favorite thing about her is the way the she affects people.  Everyone that walks by her (whether they are an 80 year old man or 10 year girl) smiles, waves, says hi and comments on how happy she is.  I hope that she will always bring that much joy to others. 

Occasionally I think about going back to work, to help out financially and to be around other adults.  But when I think about putting her in daycare all day and not being around her I realize how lucky I am to stay at home with her.  I want to enjoy her as much as possible before she realizes that I am going to have to tell her no, embarrass her in front of her friends, and nag her about what she is wearing. 

Happy Birthday Charlotte Ann, Monkey, Chunky Monkey, Monk, Charley Barley. 

Birthday weekend.

This last weekend was pretty eventful.  We had 10 inches of snow on Thursday and Charlie and I were stuck in the house for 2 days.  Our neighborhood doesn't get plowed out very quickly and Missouri doesn't typically have this much snow.  We have a lot of hills and my Sentra wasn't up to the task.

We were planning on having Charlie's birthday party on Saturday afternoon.  Because of weather and tax season, a lot of our guests weren't able to come.   My mom and Molly came on Saturday morning to help celebrate.
Charlie got a cold from me on Thursday but wasn't too sick.  On Friday and Saturday she didn't want to eat anything and was starting to refuse milk.  She played for a bit on Saturday with my mom and Molly and took a three hour nap while the girls went downtown Columbia.  When we came back she was not acting right.  Over the next couple of hours she wasn't able to stand on her own or react to any stimulus.  She didn't have a fever, but we were worried that she was really getting sick.  At seven we took her to the emergency room.  It was pretty scary seeing her hooked up to monitors and having the doctors doing tests on her.  She took a nap while we were waiting for test results and once she woke up she was like a new person.    She was just really dehydrated. 

Thankfully Charlie was feeling better on Sunday.  We did a birthday photo shoot and went out to lunch before Molly and my mom drove back home.  It was nice to have them at our house and to show Molly around Columbia. 

Valentine's Day.

I was so excited for today because I was going to do a mini photo shoot with Charlie.  I had everything ready to go this morning.  I blew up balloons and staged an area in the dining room for her to sit.  It turns out she is terrified of balloons.  I might have to rethink her birthday party.  I did get a few good pictures of her in her Valentine's Day outfit.

It is crazy to think that one year ago today I was so sure that she was going to be born.  I made reservations at a restaurant for us because I thought if I made plans she would definitely come.  11 days later Charlie arrived.  I am sure she wanted Paul and me to have one last Valentine's Day without kids.

High self esteem.

It is amazing how much this girl loves looking at videos of herself and looking in the mirror.  I think she knows the difference when it is another baby or if the video isn't of her.  She seems to be really excited for American Idol to be back on t.v.  She claps and bounces up and down when the contestants are singing.  Maybe she will be on Idol Season 35?