Not so little anymore

It was time.

Charlotte has rocked the mullet for long enough.

Her hair was getting too long and nappy at the ends and was uneven all over the place.

On impulse I called Emily and asked her if she could cut Charlotte's hair.

I didn't even discuss it with Mike.

Emily said yes so we headed over to my parents house.

We strapped Charlotte into a high chair, turned on Sesame Street and we were good to go.

The before pictures. Yikes. Long and stringy.

10 minutes later and my baby is no longer a baby.

She's sporting a darling bob and looking so grown up.

I love it.

I think she looks adorable.

Well done Emily.

PS let's talk more about how she's not my baby anymore, she went to nursery at church for the first time yesterday!!! Sigh. I kinda have a love/hate relationship with this whole growing up thing.

Thank you St. George for giving us sunshine and warmth

when we so needed it.

Funny girl

Oh my little Charlotte is such a funny girl.

She constantly makes me laugh.

I had to share a couple of classic Charlotte moments we had last week.

1. We read a few verses from The Book Or Mormon to Charlotte every night before she goes to bed. After we've read a few verses we show her the picture of Jesus Christ and a few other illustrations found in the front of the book. We keep that book along with a couple of others we read to her each night at the end of her bookshelf next to the lamp.

So the other day I was doing some dishes and it became quiet in the house, which as you know is never a good thing. I stopped doing dishes to find out what this little ripper was doing and came to find her in her room, on her chair, "reading" the Book Of Mormon. First of all she moved her little stool over to climb on her chair since she can't reach the books on her own. Then once she got on her chair she reached as far as she could to get the Book Of Mormon, not one of the other books, just that book. You would think she would choose another book to read since there are maybe 5 pictures in the front of the book. But she loves those pictures, and it's become her favorite book. She carries it with her everywhere.

I took a picture as soon as I walked in. This was too funny to pass up. If you look closely you can see her looking at the picture of Jesus.

2. Charlotte and I went over to my parents house to visit Emily. Emily had opened the fridge to get something out and before we knew it Charlotte had grabbed something, we didn't know what at first and ran into the living room to hide. Seriously Emily and I have never seen those short legs move so fast. Charlotte does this, if she has something she knows she shouldn't have or thinks she might get a "No! No!" for having it, she will run and hide from me to conceal what she has. I go find her to see what could have possibly been so important and exciting to have that would make her run and hide that fast. Lo and behold the girl has a can of diet coke in her hand and is licking it all over.

Now don't worry my friends, the can wasn't open.

What? This is one of those times when I'm not sure how she even knew what a diet coke was. I never drink diet coke, she must have gotten the idea from her aunt Emily who seems to always have one with her. I hope this isn't a sign of the future. I so don't want her addicted to diet coke.

Thanks for indulging me on this post. I wanted to write these couple of funny moments down so I don't forget. Oh how we love this little pickle! Who by the way got her first official haircut by her auntie! She's not my baby anymore. She looks like a little girl with her hair cut short in a bob. That's a whole other post for another day.

A Day for women

Happy Mother's Day to ALL the women in the world. Like I said last year, I believe all women in this world is a mother one way or another.

I'm especially grateful this day to be a mother. I had no idea how hard yet wonderful being a mom would be. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, I have no doubt Charlotte came to this earth to teach me a thing or too. Even though she is just 16 months old, I'm learning a lot from her.

Since having her in my life, I've learned to get on the floor and play, visit the park more, put curlers in your hair to make your child laugh. I've learned how to eat dinner with one hand while the other hands feeds a baby. I've learned that when it's quiet, someone is into something. I've learned what not to keep in certain cupboards or places because it's easy access. I'm learning patience, humility, sacrifice, and unconditional love. I'm learning that family is the most important thing in this life. I'm learning just how much I really need Mike and how much I depend on him. I'm learning I would do anything for this little girl. I'm learning that Charlotte is loved not just by her family on this earth but also by a Heavenly Father in heaven. I'm learning that I need the help of my Savior EVERY DAY for guidance and help to raise this child. I'm learning I'm completely blessed to have her in my life.

At the time Mike told this photo I was mad. I had just gotten back from a run, I was sweaty and nasty. I told him not to ever show these photos to anyone. But now I'm so glad I have this picture. Few are the pictures I have of Charlotte and I actually playing. I'm so glad I'll have this to show Charlotte when she's older I loved to play with her even if that meant having my hair pulled a bit.

I hope all of you women have a wonderful Mother's day!

Take a minute and watch the video below. Grab some tissue while you're at it. It's a good one!

Bed head

Remember when Charlotte's new hair was growing in and she would wake up with awesome bed head?

If you don't remember, look at this post, this post and this post too!

Well nothing has changed since her new hair has grown in.

(which is now too long, too mullety and needs to be cut)

Charlotte still wakes up in the morning and after her naps with awesome bed head.

See the proof below...

You might even want to click on the picture so you can get a full effect of her bangs. They're quite a mess.

Um can you tell which side of her head she slept on?

Look at that cute groggy face.

She's sooooooo darling if I do say so myself.

I love a warm, little ripper when they first wake up from well rested sleep.

PS I can't thank you all enough for your sweet comments on the post below. I really enjoyed reading about your own experiences and the expert advice you gave. I love when people can be open and honest about the ups and downs in life and found such strength in the comments you left. So thank you my friends.

And Katherine if you could please teach me how to create PERFECT children that are ALWAYS well behaved that would be great. ;)

We love our little "screamer" and wouldn't take her any other way!

A screamer

What a weekend eh? First the Royal Wedding, which I loved, and then the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Not bad if you ask me.

A little update on my babus. Let's keep it real shall we?

This little ripper is feisty. She is a girl who knows what she wants, let's you know what she wants, and let's you know how she feels if she doesn't get what she wants. She's never been the baby who could just roll with it, definitely not a "chill" baby. Honestly it doesn't bother me. It gives me hope that she will be a girl who isn't easily pushed around and stands for what she believes in. But there are times when the stubbornness, the tantrums and the melt downs get OLD. Charlotte is a screamer. If you get in her face and she doesn't know you, she screams. When she gets upset or something taken away from her, she screams. I'm not proud of this. It's not like I encourage this behavior. I try very hard to help her keep her cool, and calm down, sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.

Well....I recently had someone comment to me on how baby is such a screamer and how "funny" that was. This person, not at the time of this incident, but in the past told me that her children were never screamers. Oh really? I'll be honest, it made me feel bad. It made me feel like I was doing something wrong because my child was a screamer. I went home feeling like I was a bad mother who couldn't control her own child. Now deep down I know in my heart, I'm doing my best. I'm trying to teach Charlotte to be a controlled, polite, person but let's be honest the girl is only 16 months old for crying out loud. She is a toddler. It's normal for kids to throw tantrums, but it's never fun to have someone else point it out in your own children.

Later that week I received an email from babycenter.com that gives me a weekly update on what's average behavior/development for the age of my child. I couldn't help but smile when I read this.

So maybe this particular mother never has had a screaming child, lucky girl, but I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one whose children have melt downs and throws tantrums. Perfect timing to receive this email update right?

Let me tell you a little bit more about this crazy Charlotte.

1. She doesn't like her hands messy. If she gets something on her hands she rubs them together like she is dusting them off. I think it's so cute. It makes her seem so grown up.

2. She recently learned to walk on her tip toes and it's so cute. She'll be walking along and then all the sudden she's up on her tip toes. Cracks me up.

3. She's naughty. If we tell her no she will go and hide and continue the behavior we had told her to stop. SUCH. A. PICKLE.

4. She's up at 6:00 a.m. every freaking morning. Doesn't matter what pajamas she wears, if her blankets are on or off her, if her door is open or closed, if she falls asleep at 7:15 p.m. or 8:00 p.m., or what kind of nap she had earlier in the day, she is up and ready to go at 6:00 a.m. This bothered me for a long time, but after trying what seemed like every possible idea to help her sleep longer and nothing changed, I've finally come to terms with it. It will be great in the summer when it's so hot outside and we can just go for our run nice and early when it's still cool outside. (Trying to be positive about having such an early bird)

5. She loves climbing on things. She has no fear. Scary.

6. Charlotte loves to come up behind Mike or me and scare/tickle us. She thinks it's the funniest thing and we do too. She can come up behind us ten times in a row and she still laughs just as hard every time. It never gets old for her. She's hilarious.

7. Charlotte smells everything before she puts it in her mouth to eat it. Actually she smells everything (whether she's going to eat it or not) these days.

8. She loves to be outside, rain or shine, cold or warm. Oh how I wish the weather could just stay 50 degrees or above so we could be outside everyday. In January 40 degrees is warm and pleasant, now that it's May 40 degrees feels bitter cold.

Seriously Charlotte makes us laugh every day. She has such a feisty personality. Although at times it can be frustrating to have such a strong willed child, I really do love it. I really believe I will be learning a lot more from this little ripper than she will from me. Isn't that what having kids is all about?