Hooray!

Need a Handy Man?

I tried to post this video of Charlie playing with his toolbox last week but couldn't get it up.

Happy Memorial Day

First, I feel it is important to recognize today and thank all of those who are and have served in our military. 

We are having a wonderful weekend.  Matt and I felt like we were in need of an extra day and were happy to have it.  We haven't done much but I think that's just what we needed!  "Haven't done much" is an oxymoron with a busy toddler.  We've actually been busy but around home with no real schedule of having to do anything.

We went to swim class on Saturday.  This boy loves the water and is really doing well.  I'm not expecting him to start swimming on his own but I feel really good at where he is and what he has learned.  It's been a great class and since he loves it so much, it's been so much fun for me and him to do together.  I really have enjoyed it.  However, Matt and I think we are going to let next week be his last class.  It's getting warmer and while there are several things that I think the class does help with, he will have to work on this summer when we go to the pool.  He absolutely hates to float on his back but we will get there one day! 

We didn't do a whole lot Saturday evening.  We played outside and went on a walk and had a nice dinner.  Matt and I watched another good movie that night.  We are back into movie nights for dates and I'm loving it.  I've stayed awake for 2 Saturday nights in a row and that's a pretty good record for me!

Sunday, Matt and I kept the nursery at church.  We had 9 2-3 year olds.  I know this is going to sound funny but it was definitely enough for me!  There was even 1 more worker who was the room leader in addition to Matt and I.  The room leader teaches the bible story.  Two children were a little needier than the rest.  Charlie wasn't one of the needy ones other than he wasn't keen at always sharing both Mommy and Daddy and he was into everything.   Anyways, it was cute and I told Matt that I may be interested in becoming a room leader and helping teach the lessons to the kids.  I thought that part was pretty cute!  Charlie was testing himself by trying to climb up on top of these blocks which Matt and I had both warned him multiple times that he was going to get hurt.  And, when it was only he and 1 child left, he fell and hurt himself.  He gave himself a good little knot and was pretty upset!  I was just glad it was our child.

Sunday, after nap, we loaded up to see the McGreevey's.  Charlie always includes Hailee and Wyatt in his list of friends.  He was super excited to go see Hailee.  They play really well together and had a great afternoon.  We played with the water table, sand box, at the swing set.  They even got to take a bath together. 

Today, we braved the pool with The Hamricks.  They had us as guests at the pool that they belong to.   It's supposed to be about 80 as a high but I think it's only in the low 70s.  Charlie had a good time but we really spent more time in the inside pool than the outside.  Charlie and Wyatt are doing really good in the pool. After a nice lunch with them, we are home enjoying rest.  As I type, Charlie is asleep in his bed and the rest of us (including Wally) are laying in our bed resting.

It's been a good weekend.  I love my little family so much and I am thankful that I got to enjoy a lot of this weekend with Matt, Charlie and friends. 

On a sadder and heavier note, a young professor that I had in pharmacy school passed away this weekend.  She leaves behind her husband and 2 children (4 months old and 2 years).  Apparently, she found out about a week ago that she had Stage 4 Breast Cancer but she passed so quickly that she never even got a chance to fight.  I wasn't close to her but I was very saddened to hear this news.  Her family has been on my mind ever since I heard the news.  It's just tragic.  She was someone who excelled in the profession of pharmacy and I think she touched a lot of lives and will definitely be missed by all those at the School of Pharmacy in addition to all friends and  loved ones.   So, I have been thinking and reflecting on what is truly important in my life.  Tomorrow's not guaranteed and with that thought, I'm cherishing all my time with all those that I love.

Charlie's Class Picture (Spring 2013)

Charlie had school pictures in April.  The pictures were horrible and if they weren't so expensive, I would have bought one just for laughs.  He could not have looked any more miserable!  I guess that he wasn't feeling the mood to sit still and be photographed. 

Anyways, they did a class picture and even though, there is a hand right at Charlie's face, I found it to be a cute picture of the class and the teachers.  He talks pretty regularly about his friends at school and he loves his teachers.  He isn't in this same class anymore but he will still come home and talk about them.  He just told me last night that his best friend was a kid that is still in the class. 

What's on our DVR?

Ok, I feel like all I do is write about Charlie so for fun, I'm going to do a non-Charlie post.  Matt and I love TV, probably a little too much.  Anyways, we watched Silver Linings Playbook this weekend.  It was really good.  I really enjoyed it.  I told Matt that I wanted to look like Jennifer Lawrence and if he wanted to look like Bradley Cooper, that was cool.  He just shook his head at me.  :-)  Bradley Cooper is something to look at that's for sure!

Anyways, back to our/my regular shows:
1)  Justified - sadly, that season has ended and while it's intense and I have to prepare myself for it before watching, I can't get enough.

2) Mad Men - It's in the middle of the season.  Of course, we are caught up so it's not on the DVR.

3) VEEP - I think last season was funnier but I still find it funny.

4)  The Office - I really didn't like the past season (actually I didn't really like it much after Michael Scott left) but I decided I would watch it until the end.  We haven't watched the finale yet.

5)  The Mindy Project - This is one of my new shows that I think is pretty funny.  Matt and I both watch it but hardly ever together! 

6) The Big Bang Theory - I love this show.  Matt doesn't really watch it but I find myself laughing out loud at it.

7)  Reality TV - Matt doesn't really watch any but I like several shows.  My favorite is Duck Dynasty.  I also watch Little Couple and 19 Kids and Counting. 

8) Modern Family - Is it me or has that show just not been funny this season? 

9) How I Met Your Mother - I really hardly ever watch it but a girl that I went to high school (Jayma Mays) has been on it (she's also on Glee) so I watched those couple episodes and a few others when Matt was watching them. 

10)  Charlie's shows - Chuggington and Sesame Street.  I think I'm going to start recording a few other different ones because we have seen like every Sesame Street show.  It's a little annoying that they do so many repeats of the same shows over and over.  For a 2 year old, I think it's just fine but Matt and I are a little tired of it.

11) Katie - I love Katie Couric.  She says she hates this comment but I grew up watching her.  It makes her feel old.  I remember Mom and Dad always having the today show on and I really liked watching her.  I have always enjoyed current events.  In high school, I would my Government teacher would make us answer currents event questions everyday.  I hardly ever got one wrong.  I still watch the Today Show every morning and when I miss it, I feel a little thrown off.  Now, I get to see Katie on her show.  I think she's a good talk show host.  She has a good personality.  Plus, I like that she grew up in Virginia, even if she did go to UVA.


I'm going to go watch Katie interview The Robertsons from Duck Dynasty!  :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday from your Mommy

Charlie,

I am sure I will say this every year but I can’t believe you are 2. It seems like yesterday that I was welcoming you into this world and just looking at you in amazement. Well, I still look at you often in amazement. I’m not sure how I got to be so lucky. We have a wonderful family. It’s an honor to be your Mommy. Sometimes, when we are out doing to most mundane things like errands or going on a walk, I will just look around, and think life is very good because I have you and your Daddy and Wally. I love coming home to you. I love to turn around and look at you in the car and to hear you say, “Hi Momma.” I love that you are excited to see me, most of the time, and equally so with your Daddo.

I’m not sure where to start but over the last year, we’ve had a lot of fun. This year has gone by fast! You’ve haven’t had so many firsts like your first year of life, but you are enjoying all the fun times so much more and really getting to take everything in for the first time. Some say that the toddler years aren’t their favorite but I would disagree. You are soaking up everything. I never know what you will do or say next. I have to keep a close eye on you though because you often are doing things that are a tad bit dangerous. I wouldn’t exactly say you have no fear as you do tend to be a little cautious but it seems that you continue to try to test how far you can go. For example, once getting on the couch was no big deal, you decided that jumping or climbing up on the top of the couch would be much more fun. I’m afraid I’m going to turn around to see you standing  or jumping from the back of the couch.

You’ve managed to turn into a good sleeper over the last year (for the most part)! Your Daddo and I weren’t sure we would ever get there. There were many sleepless nights during that first year and I still haven’t forgotten how foggy my mind felt during that time, which may be one of several reasons you don’t have a little brother or sister. However, when you wake up at night, you aren’t that easy child that I can go in and console by rocking for 5 minutes and put back. We have learned that if you do wake up at night, we have to take the no hands approach. If we break, we will end up holding you or you will end up crying for an hour, easily! You don’t give up easy (more later on that determination)! You are consistently sleeping from about 8pm-6:30am with and 1.5 hour nap. Sometimes, I get more and honestly, most of the time I think you need more but you don’t always do it. Oh, and you have started trying to climb out of the crib. However, Daddo and I don’t find it the slightest bit amusing so we are taking a stern approach so STOP right now!

You are all boy in the sense that you love anythink that moves (i.e. construction vehicle, cars, trucks, buses, trains, helicopters, and airplanes). You love balls of any sort.You love to kick them and are pretty good at kicking and throwing.You like to try to catch balls but aren’t too good at that yet. You also love animals but you tend to be a little rough with them if they let you touch them.  I think that's because Wally lets you do whatever you want to him.  You are a mess.

I can’t count on you to stay clean 5 minutes past getting out of the bath. You are such a messy eater and I’m afraid that I have taken on feeding you more than I should to avoid you making such a mess. (You are so easy going that you love to sit and let me feed you.)  You run and jump hard and rough and you love to tumble. You are pretty good at jumping these days and actually can bring both feet off the ground at the same time. You love to wear hats and especially your baseball cap.

You are a pretty good talker. You are making out sentences and can really spill 5-6 words off with that tongue pretty quickly, making your Aunts (both speech pathologists) very proud. These days, you are like a parrot. We have to be careful that we remember that you are often listening and ready to repeat whatever we say. You are often shy and more reserved when you get in a group of people. You continue to say new words and are so cute and sweet. You can whine if we let you but most of the time if you start whining and remind you to use your words, you will stop and just tell us what you need/want. You say your name very well and you find it very funny that your Mommy and Daddy have the same last name. You know it though and you will say that Mommy’s name is “Momma Wheawill” or “Stephie Wheawill”and Daddo’s name is either “Daddo Wheawill” or “Matt Wheawill.” You still call your Daddo, “Daddo”. I don’t know where you came up with it. Sometimes, I will say Daddy but I haven’t ever heard you say it. Whenever you say you want something, I seem to always say “You do?” and consistently for the last 6-8 months, you respond “Do”.  Most of the time, you refer to yourself in third person.  You also say, you instead of me.  So, you say "Hold you" when you want to be held.  I try to correct you by saying, "No, it's hold me" then you will say "Hold you me".  You sing all the time. Sometimes you mix up your songs when you sing. Just yesterday, you started out singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, then went into the middle of the alphabet, then into counting and finally to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all in one song. It’s pretty cute. Your favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus. You pretty much want us to sing anytime we are in the car with you. Well, anytime we are in the car with you and you aren’t eating fruit snacks.

In addition to hearing you and your speech development, I love to watch your mannerisms as you talk. You can get so excited and just throw your hands up and squeal so quickly. You clap too often. You have already, unfortunately, picked up my eye rolling. 

You love your friends. I hear about you and your friends from your teachers at school. You even gave you best friend at school, Chase a little nickname of “Chasey”. Mommy and Daddy are lucky to have a lot of friends that have children around your age and you love to play with them. You are busy right now enjoying swim lessons with Hailey. However, right now, you are fascinated with Wyatt.  You took a bath with Wyatt way back in December and ever since, it made quite an impression. You often want Wyatt to come over a take a bath with you. You boys are wild in the bath tub together, splashing and laughing which is why I think it's become so memorable. Wyatt came over a couple of weeks ago to play for a while and even took a bath with you and you loved it! Since Mommy is best friends with his Mommy, I think you chose a good friend. 

You are a growing boy. As of today, you weigh 28 lbs 14 ounces (75^th%), 35.5 inches (75^th %), and your head circumference is 75^th% so you are very evenly distributed. You are wearing mostly 2T in everything. You appear to be tall and have big feet. You are wearing size 6 diapers and size 7 shoes. You are slimming down and looking like less of a baby and more like a little boy. You still have some pretty cute thighs though and you have my chubby cheeks. You are a pretty good eater, most of the time. Your favorite foods in no particular order are: cheese, tuna salad, ham, meat loaf, corn dogs, hot dogs, peas and carrots, broccoli, mac and cheese, oranges, strawberries, and anything sweet. You’ve started saying “Yummy” to anything that you like to eat. You also love to get treats as rewards for good behavior. Your favorite treats are M&Ms. You love M&Ms and I love to hear you say “M&M”! 

You love your grandparents and aunts and they are in love with you! You used to get shy when they were around but that’s no longer the case! You get so excited when we talk about Bopa or Grammie. However, if I just say one of their names, you add in the other. They go together and I need to get that straight. You love to see them and play with them. You seemed to have not settled on a name for Bopa. It started out as Grandpa but is either Bopa or Papaw these days. The other day, your Bopa kept you when you weren’t feeling well enough to go to school. Grammie had plans for the day so she just came over to see you when she had down time. When she was getting ready to leave and you were telling her bye, you also told Bopa bye. However, since that would leave you home alone, Bopa thankfully stayed! You affectionately talk about Aunt Knee Knee. You love to go see her kitties and play with Aunt Knee Knee. You also love you Mim and Pops. You think Pops is pretty funny. You approve of his ability to play cars with you and you like to read books with him. He would like for you to sit with him more but you can’t stay still long enough to sit down. Your Mim could do no wrong. She is pretty awesome and most of the time, can do everything so much better than Mommy! You love to snuggle with Mim and play, play, play with her. She does all kinds of fun things with you like taking you to the park, Barnes and Noble, reading every book you own to you and playing whatever you request. You think your Aunt Meredith is pretty cool. I watch you and your Aunt Meredith and I see so much of you in her.

She was much more of a tumbler and climber than I was and whenever she’s around, she comes up with all kinds of fun things for you all to do together. You are going to have a lot of fun in the tent that your Aunt Meredith made you for your birthday.

You love to be outside and we are going to enjoy this summer.

You love to go on walks in your wagon or stroller. You love to play with your wheel barrow, wagon and all your sand and water toys. You also love to go to the park. You’ve started taking swimming lessons. You love the water and don’t have a lot of fear which I want to promote along with a little safety so that’s the goal of the lessons. So far, you seem to be enjoying them.

You are so sweet and affectionate. You give the best kisses ever! You are very loving and show it often by looking at picture of your Mommy, Daddy, grandparents, or aunts and giving them a kiss when they are not around. You can be pretty independent and that seems to be coming out more and more these days. I love it, but it can drive me crazy as well like when you want to go up and down the deck steps without help. Oh boy! You aren’t easy to distract and you know what you want most of the time. We say you are hardheaded which I like to blame the trait on your Daddy but I know you get that one from me. You can throw some great tantrums when we don’t do exactly what you want. While the tantrums can be hard on us all, I feel like I’m better at dealing with them than I was one year ago. Sometimes they don’t break my concentration and I can continue to keep my thoughts and just ignore you. (Sadly, I couldn’t do that last year.) I want you to continue to work on keeping that determination because I think with as much as you have, nothing will stand in your way from being successful in life!

You are pretty much a Daddy’s boy. I will notice that you are often mocking whatever Daddy is doing.

You will have your moments for both of us though and you get so mad if we don’t listen. You like to tell us who is going to read to you at night. The other night, you were in the middle of a tantrum and I was trying to break you so I asked if Wally could read to you. I thought maybe it would distract you but you got so mad at that idea and screamed “NO.”

You love Wally. He’s the first thing you say when you walk into the house. You yell for him and if we go upstairs and he doesn’t follow. He comes quickly normally. Wally is getting older so I think you wear him out. He normally naps all day when you aren’t around and is ready for bed shortly after you go to bed.

Charlie, I’m not sure how Daddy and I got to be so fortunate to have you in our lives. We love you with every being in us. We spend a lot of time talking and thinking about you. Before you were born, I would sit in your room and think about you. I would imagine what you looked like and sit and think about what it would be like to be a Mommy of a little boy. You teach me something new every day. Mommy never knew how much love, joy, fun and laughs you would bring every day. I love you more than you’ll ever know, to the moon and back! 

Mommy and Daddy love you very much! Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Love,

Mommy

Sesame Street Party Recap

I will post many more party pictures but I was so happy with how everything turned out for Charlie's party.  I loved the decorations and the moon bounce was a hit.  The food was delicious.  The sweets table was my favorite!  Charlie had a blast as well as all the other kids, which is what mattered.  Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it too!  Many thanks to a ton of people for their help!  Grammie made "2" cookies, Bopa for helping take pictures and doing whatever needed (mostly helping hold the boy who loves to be held by Bopa), Mim made table clothes and a cute banner, The Robbins and my sister for a lot of help and my Dad who gave me a real hard time on Saturday morning.  :-) Dad was a ton of help but I think he should get this reference and know what I'm referring to.

More pics coming soon....

Happy Mother's Day

This weekend has just been so much fun that I don't want to see it end.  I love that I get to celebrate Charlie's birthday around Mother's Day every year.  We had a nice morning brunch with family.  I was so happy that my Aunt Margaret, Uncle Brian, and cousin Drew drove all the way from Atlanta to be with us this weekend.  It meant so much to me to have them here.  We don't get to see each other often enough. 

I have such a wonderful Mom that I love very much and was happy I could celebrate this day with her.

Charlie gave me an Elmo card that says "Elmo loves you" which he was pretty proud of.  With the help of his Daddy, he also got me a Duck Dynasty book!  Ha!  :-)  This boy knows his Momma.

I put this on facebook and it pretty much sums up how I feel:  I am grateful to be this boy's Mommy!

We had a nice afternoon resting after our big weekend and then went off to have a nice picnic with The Wheawills (Dick, Debbie and Courtney) so I got to celebrate my wonderful Mother-in-law. (Sorry!  I didn't get a picture.)

 

Happy Birthday Charlie

My baby boy is 2!!!  I can't believe it.  We have a fun weekend planned to celebrate and keeping with the theme, I will post a little sweet note to Charlie but for now, here are pictures from his birthday party at school and from his birthday breakfast!

Charlie had such a fun time at his party at school on Thurdsday.  We gave everyone hats as he was specific to say he wanted hats, birthday cake, and balloons for his party.  (We saved the balloons for his party at home!)

We woke up this morning to discover that Pops, Mim and Aunt Meredith were here!  Pretty exciting!  We decided to go to Krispy Kreme for hot donuts.  We got to wear hats and we got ballooons!  Pretty good birthday so far. 

Wyatt joining us which made it even more special!

 

We have family on their way and a fun evening planning with a big party tomorrow.  More on Charlie's birthday to come, but probably not this weekend as we have a lot going on.  

Who's the cutest boy I know?

CHARLIE WHEAWILL!

Can you name this song?

 

In case you can't hear it, he says "Star. High. Twinkle. Like a diamond in the sky."

  He started singing it in the car.  He will say "Twinkle twinkle little Star. High. Like a diamond in the sky."  That's his version and it's pretty darn cute! 

1.99

Today in the nursery at Church, I noticed that Charlie's age was listed as "1.99" on the roster.  Oh my!  I can't believe that on Friday, I will have a 2 year old.  Charlie is in the middle of a couple transitions with turning 2.  He is moving to a new classroom at school and will move to a new room in the nursery at church.  He's started transitioning at school and is doing pretty well.  I think the last time he moved, he was very ready but this time, there are a few mixed emotions.  He's very comfortable in this room and he's moving from a room of 10, to a room of 22 kids.  That's a big change in itself.  Plus, he's managed to stay close to his teachers in the infant room (Ms. Belinda whom he still loves) and his teachers in his current room are awesome.  Of course, I'm sure his new teachers will be wonderful too.  He will move away from the biters, hopefully.  There are quite a few in his current room.  He will start some new fun things at school though such as circle time to do more songs and books.  He will also start potty training soon.  This school tries to have them all trained before moving upstairs to preschool, which won't be until next Fall so I think he has plenty of time.  Hopefully he picks up on it!  He tells me all the time that he wants to sit on the potty but, honestly, he only likes the idea.  I'm not looking forward to the work.  Once he gets in there to sit on it, he loses his interest so I think currently, we both are not ready.  His new teacher thought we would wait at least a month before we work on it for several reasons.  Fine by me!  That will give her some time to evaluate where he is with being ready.

Life has gotten in the way of blogging.  We've had a busy yet fun month.  Let's see here.  I'm going to have to job my memory as it feels like my days are flying away from me.  We had a visit from Pops and Mim.  We went to a baseball game while they were here

and then Charlie got to spend several days with Mim.  Oh my!  This boy loves his Mim.  It was a special treat to get books read to him by Pops

 and since that visit, Charlie has seen a white car and insisted that Pops was in the driver's seat.  Ha!

Mim made a 2nd trip to see Charlie while his Daddo went on a quick work trip.  While she was here, I think it was our only warm week from Spring.  It's been a little been a little chilly and wet for me but ask me in July, and I'll be wishing for this weather.  I hate the heat in the Summer.  Anyways, work has been extremely busy for me over the last month but I'm happy to report that I'm starting to see a little break from the busyness just in time to put my extra energy into party planning so we are ready to celebrate this boy's birthday. 

We celebrated Charlie's Bopa's birthday,

 whose name seems to be changing everyday.  It started out as Grandpa and was changed to Bopa then lately, he's referred to him as Papaw.  (Today, he said Bopa.)  I'm not sure what Charlie's going to stick with but this boy loves him and his Grammie, whose name remains "Grammie".:-) 

He kisses their picture most nights prior to going to bed. 

Charlie has started swim lessons and I'm very pleased with his first lesson.   We let the children go under for a quick 3 seconds and when they told me prior, I was very adamant against that as I felt like it was torture but wouldn't you know my child came up happy as could be and he giggled and laughed through the lesson.  I hope he continues to enjoy it and am happy he wasn't too fearful of going under, at least this time.  It was pretty cute. 

Charlie is really into choo choo trains. 

That's been going on for a while but his favorite book at the moment is this Chuggington hunt and find book for toddlers.  He can find all the various items in the pictures.  By now, it's pure memorization but it's really cute as he names off the items and points to them.  We look at it about 10 times every day.

Charlie also loves Curious George which to him is "George the Monkey". 

His Grammie and Bopa found his Daddo's old Curious George doll.  He's loved having it and I think it's his first doll that he's care much about other than the doggie lovey that he sleeps with every night.

 
Charlie got to have a fun time this weekend with his friend Wyatt.  Wyatt stayed with us for a few hours and Charlie was so excited about Wyatt coming over.  We talked and talked and talked about what we were going to do when Wyatt came over.  Charlie was just so excited and I truly think it lived up to the great anticipation.  That boy had a blast.  We played around the house. 

They both ate dinner which involved giggling and doing tricks for one another.  Then, Matt and I took them down to Sweet Frogs in the wagon.  It's about a mile walk and Matt did great at pulling the wagon.  The boys loved it.  They talked and giggled the whole way.  After we ate our yogurt and got back, they had baths together which Charlie was very excited about.  Poor Wyatt is recovering from Strep throat. Hopefully next time he we do this, he will feel a little better.  I could listen to those two boy's giggles all day. 

Naptime is over so I better wrap this blog up.  I'll leave you with a few pictures of "Silly Charlie" as he refers to himself most of the time.