spoiled

Saturday i did a “bad” thing.  I didn’t put Charlotte down in her crib until her final bed time.  I held her pretty much all day long. Granted, I understand that “bad” is a relative term.  But from the point of view of all the parenting books that tell you to teach them to fall asleep on thier own so that you help them develop good sleeping patterns, it was a “bad” thing.  And believe me, I am absolutely in favor of scheduling and letting her work out her energy and learn to fall asleep on her own… but something about Saturday just felt like it warrented holding her all day.  We napped on the couch, she slept in my arms as I watched some TV, and every 3 hours like clockwork I fed her.  The only time I wasn’t holding her was before Jamie left for the airport, and that was only because HE was holding her.

I heard about a study recently where they monitered the brain activities of mothers as they showed them different faces of infants.  When they showed them pictures of thier babies smiling, the brain lit up in the same way it would during a drug high.  They could be shown pictures of other happy babies, but nothing triggered the “high” like their own child.  (Interestingly, they could be shown a picture of any crying baby, whether it was thiers or not, and their brain didn’t change at all.)  There is something in seeing your child smile … and smile AT you.  But there is also something really special about knowing that YOU can calm her down, YOU make her feel safe, YOU soothe her fears, YOU stop her tears, YOU are the one she loves, YOU are the one she looks for in a room.  Seeing her sleeping so peacefully and with total abandon in my arms … it was amazing.

I don’t know who was more spoiled that day … me or her.

in the end

At the ripe-ole age of 24, I’m just now coming out of the psychological stage where one believes they are invincible.  This stage is seen really well in teenagers and young adults as they do stupid things and think that they won’t get hurt.  Sure, I understand that actions have consequences, but I’m just now beginning to realize that I won’t be living forever.  Though it is still a looooooong way off and I have no idea where I’ll be at that stage in my life, I do know one thing.  When I die, Jamie will be by my side.  You may be thinking, “Gosh Jenn, that’s so random. What made you think about that?”.  This is what got me thinking …

This song is so beautiful.  In the end, with your last breath, with your last thoughts, where will you be?  Alone?  Or in the arms of the one person that you love more than anything and who loves you the same? We can accomplish amazing and incredible things in our life time, but in the end, nothing matters except the love that you have given.   No matter what has happened in my life, no matter what is going to happen, one thing will remain … I will always love Jamie and I will always be by his side.  Aww, that makes me wanna go squeeze him…

family matters

The past two weeks have been kinda crazy.  Charlotte and I are exhausted (a little cranky), and in need of some serious down time!  But the past two weeks have been full of introducing Charlotte to new family members.  Check it out …

Gee-Gee Tobler.  This is Jamie’s dad’s mom.  She lives in DeLand, Florida.  I don’t know why I didn’t get a picture of Uncle Steve or Aunt Laura!

Auntie Erin.  Okay, so Charlotte didn’t just meet her, but I finally got a great picture of them together! … Can you see the resemblence?

Uncle Snotface … AKA Uncle Sean.  The only pictures I got of them when she was first born only show the back of his head, so I finally got a picture of his face. He’s so funny with her, he’ll hold her long enough for a picture, then he hands her back.  He can’t wait for her to start talking and running… then the games really begin!

Grandpa Richard.  This is my birth father, for those of you who have never met him.  He lives in Birmingham, AL and had driven up just to see her.

Top row: Me & Charlotte, Erin, Sean, Jill.  Sitting: Jeanne, Dad, Mom, Aunt Christine.  I can’t remember a time when my mom and dad were sitting next to each other for a picture!  Oh, and that’s my mom’s identical twin sitting next to her.

Oops, I think the flash was a little bright!  But you can really see her blue eyes!

Come Back, Come Back!!!

I saw my blog stats when I logged on …. sad. I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, please forgive me. And please come back!! Jamie and I have a running competition for the most daily blog hits … I need to keep my championship belt!

Well I’m back from Florida. That was … uh … an experience.  It was fun in most ways, but I have learned that 4 days in a car makes a 2 month old not so happy.  I won’t be doing that again.  Its a good thing we have a good chiropractor because those car seats really mess up a kids back!  But we all back, healthy and whole (thanks Dr Joe!).  Here are some highlights from the trip:

• 4 days sitting in a car
• Changed 5 poopie diapers in the car (and countless wet ones!)
• 2 major ‘diaper malfunctions’ (thank God for OxiClean!)
• Saw a Dolphin
• Saw a Bald Eagle (not even joking!)
• Saw a huge Buck
• Saw an old man in a speedo
• Charlotte saw her first rainbow
• Charlotte saw the beach/ocean for the first time
• I read a whole book (which was incredible, by the way. check out What I’m Reading)
• Charlotte started babbling
• Charlotte visited South Of The Border for the first time, and the second time
• Charlotte met her Gee-Gee Tobler and Great Aunt Laura and Great Uncle Steve

I was really glad that we were able to drive over to see Mrs Tobler, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Steve (Jamie’s grandmother, aunt, and uncle) in DeLand.  Charlotte is the first Great Grandchild in the Tobler family.  I’ll post more about that when I get the pictures uploaded.

Well, its great to be back.  I really started to miss my husband, my home, and my own bed! Now that I’m home, I’ll get back to posting regularly … I promise!

the war begins again…

The last time I was in Florida, I had a little battle with the weather, and it seems we are at war again! It has been sunny and hot the whole time we were here.  So yesterday when it had cooled down a bit, I decided to go down to the pool and get some sun.  I got down there, settled in, opened my book and begun to read.  I was there no more than 20 minutes when the clouds came rolling in.  Stupid clouds.  There was no point in sitting out there if there was no sun, so I came back up to the room.  On top of all that, I woke up this morning with 5 mosquito bites.  Seriously? Was that necessary?

Charlotte had a little bout of tummy issues, but things seem to have blown over. I think she just got out of whack from 2 days of travelling.  Gotta go see Dr. Harris when we get back

Well, tomorrow we leave to go see Charlotte’s Gee-Gee Tobler in DeLand FL, then its on back to NC.  It’s been fun, but I’m def ready to be home. I miss Jamie, and I know he misses us.  We talked last night over web-cam.  It’ll be good to be home.  I probably won’t blog again until we get home … no internet on the road! So I’ll leave you with this sunrise view from our balcony …

snoozing

the thing i like about vacation is that you can sleep at any time during the day without feeling guilty!  while i’m at home, if i take a nap, no matter how VITAL it is, i feel kinda guilty.  there are dishes to be washed, clothes to be folded, always something to be done.  but while you are on vacation… nothing matters.  and what makes it better is that my mom is on vacation with me … which means she is the one who is doing the dishes and washing the clothes.  she even has charlotte in her arms or is at least entertaining her at every moment that i’m not feeding her!  i have pretty much planted myself in this chair and have stayed there most of this vacation.

i’ve either played online, read a book, watched tv, or fed charlotte.  that’s pretty much it.  its nice. and speaking of nice, here’s a picture of charlotte taking a nice little nappie while we were out on the pool deck today.

you’ve GOT to be kidding me!!!!

taking a momentary break from the vacation stories to share with you my utter shock and dismay.  i saw this on tv today…

are they SERIOUSLY portraying HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP as safe????? Their argument is that no one single ingredient can cause obesity.  They say that focus is misplaced, that in an attempt to keep kids healthy, parents focus on individual ingredients instead of realizing that high caloric intake and a sedentary life style are the real problem.  That’s true.  But I would be all the money I had that if you had a set of twins and you gave one child all the raw fruit they wanted and you gave the other one all the processed foods that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup that they wanted … the one eating HFCS would be far less healthy.  As a parent, it is your responsibility to make sure your child is eating healthy food that will only help and not harm them.  The FDA may say that HFCS is “generally recognized as safe”, but I don’t really put a whole lot of trust in the FDA; they just don’t have such a great track record.  (Aren’t they the same people that said Vioxx was safe?)

This article says it best:

The key here, I think, is in the ad’s own words “fine in moderation.” That may be a truth, yes, but HFCS is in an alarming number of processed food products marketed to children, including yogurts, cereals, crackers, chips, fruit snacks, and breakfast bars. Moderation, when it comes to HFCS, is hard to achieve unless you’re actively aware of avoiding it. The CRA’s other argument is that, because HFCS is made from corn, it’s “all-natural.” But what they have to do to the corn to refine it into syrup is not, making that a questionable claim at best.

The most worrisome thing to me, however, is that we’re seeing this kind of political ad… for FOOD. That should set off alarm bells right there. Yes, I’ll let my kids drink a glass of punch full of the stuff at their next birthday party. But if the CRA really believes their own “in moderation” line, then they should be reducing HFCS in children’s food products. Not staging a mommy war next to the cupcakes.

Long story short … raw, natural, organic foods are the best. And yes, I know, I have some work to do on myself and my eating habits. But knowledge is the beginning…

happy baby

we tried the beach again … much better this time! charlotte LOVES wind, so she really liked the beach.

Dang It’s Hot!

News Flash – Florida is stinkin’ hot! Our condo is beach front, so I thought I’d beat the heat and get out there this morning at 9:30am … but the heat met me there.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the sun rises on this beach, so the heat had a 3 hour head start!  Whatever. So I only lasted a few minutes, just enough time to get some pictures.  I’m gonna try again later, after the sun goes down farther on the other side of the building, and get some video.

While I was on the beach (for the whole 5 minutes), there was a man walking down the beach. That’s remarkable, I know. But this man was special.  He had an old faded baseball hat, a foot-long white beard, leathery tan skin and … a speedo.  *Shudder*  I wish I had thought to get a picture of him … but my mommie instincts kicked in and I stepped in front of Charlotte laying on her towel and got ready to claw is ugly eyes out if he came near us. But he didn’t. He stopped right in front of us, turned around, and started walking back the other direction.

But I did manage to get these pictures…

While we are here, Charlotte has gotten spoiled. Not by me, mind you, but by Grandmother!  So right now, as I sit comfortably in my chair talking with you, Grandmother is bouncing around the room reaping the rewards of her spoiling.  Hehe. I find it funny.  Haha, she just decided to put Charlotte down and let her cry it out … I’m not gonna say “I told you so” … but I told you so.  So I better go, lunch time is quickly approaching.

Sending you all much love from Florida…

Before i could hit spell-check and send, Grandmother broke down and picked up Charlotte.  She didn’t even last 2 minutes.

Florida – Day 1 (that was really 3)

Here we be! It took 2 full days to travel down here.  We weren’t really rushing, which was good because we couldn’t rush.  Charlotte needed to be fed every 3 hours which made for an hour long stop each feeding, and then occassionaly between feedings she would get uncomfortable and need to be taken out of her car seat to stretch out.  And on top of that was the diaper changes.  (Tabitha, I have mastered the in-the-lap diaper change).  So, 2 days, 4 poopie diapers, and way too much fast food later … here we be!

Today’s plan —- NOTHING.  Aaah, this is gonna be nice!

ready for the trip!

you’re always a wiener at pedro’s!

moonlight on the ocean

morning nap time with a view!

naptime in the sun … shaded sun… sort of

it’s going to be a beautiful day!