A Christmas Story

Well Christmas has now come and gone and I think all in all it turned out really nice. Charlotte was so much fun. We didn't have a lot of money to buy her stuff but between everyone she got a lot of gifts and she is still pretty small so even one new toy is a big deal to her. We got her a little sesame street laptop computer for babies. She is always pushing the buttons on our computer so she really liked all the buttons. She also got some bath toys, and a few different learning toys. The one thing she got that she really likes is the V_smile Baby. She loves playing with the buttons on the TV and this allows her to play learning games on the TV. I am glad I got it. At first I thought it was kind of a dumb idea, but Jim said she would like it and we could sit and teach her shapes, colors, and words. He was right, she really likes it. Then she made a huge haul from her Grandma. Jim's mom got her a ton of stuff. She bought this little rain forest play center. It is really neat and Charlotte really likes it. She also bought her these dolls collector dolls, clothes, books, and she made her a little Christmas picture frame. She is really talented when it comes to making stuff by hand. Jim always complains about her making us stuff but I like it and the stuff she makes it really cute.Grandpa Dave and Grandma Monya gave Charlotte a 50 dollar savings bond and a cute Christmas ornament. I seriously don't know what we did to deserve those two people. Charlotte loves them so much. Charlotte also got a really cute pink rocking horse from my brother Pete. It is just her size. I thought it was really nice that he did that. I wish I could have done something for him and his his wife. I felt the same way about my two nieces. This was the first year I couldn't do anything for them. I felt so bad. I always tried to make sure they had a good Christmas, but this year we just couldn't do it and it killed me. I know they understand but it still makes me feel bad. I had both of them out here for the day and it was nice. The got Charlotte a little Tigger rug and a cute little handmade blanket. It was really a nice Christmas. I made a huge Christmas dinner. We had Chicken, Ham, and I made my first leg of lamb. It wasn't as good as Kerie's but it did turn out nice. I really wish we had been in London for Christmas, but things just didn't work out. I am determined to get there this year. Jim knows how bad I want to take Charlotte there, so we are looking at maybe Easter or during the summer holiday. I really wish we didn't live so far apart, or at the very least that it didn't cost a small fortune to fly there. I miss all of them so much. Well I think that should cover it. I am glad the holidays are done, but I am happy with the way things turned out. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I posted a Video of Charlotte on Christmas Morning, Take a look, it is below this post.

Charlotte's First Christmas Video

Ho Ho Holidays

OK the Holidays are finally here and I am having a ball with Charlotte. She loves the Christmas tree and the snow. She is now walking on her own. She can walk across the living room without any help. It is so cute! She can now say bubbles (which I believe has to do with her bed time song!) uh oh. Which is so funny. Whenever she drops or throws something on the floor she looks at me and says, "uh oh". It is so funny. She also says Baby, Puppy, and sometimes cat. I just can't believe how fast she is growing. I can't wait until she opens her gifts. I know she is going to love unwrapping them. Christmas will be enjoyable again.

Jim and I did our Christmas shopping last weekend. What a headache that was. There was so much traffic at the mall it was nuts. We finally got to Toys R Us and we did really good with the money we had to spend. (which wasn't a lot) We even ended up getting Charlotte her birthday present. I was a little worried at first when Jim showed it to me but this was something he has been looking for, for a while. SO what is it you ask? Well it is the smallest power wheel I have ever seen. I didn't even think they made power wheels so small. It is for ages 12-36 months. Jim is convinced Charlotte is the next Nascar champion in training so he has to get her on something motorized as soon as possible. I honestly do not think she will be able to do anything but push the button and run into the wall, but she does love when Jim pushes her around on her little Tigger scooter. So I agreed to it and I guess we will see what happens. I think she will catch onto it by summer and then she can ride it outside. She already climbs on and off her scooter by herself so maybe I am underestimating her. I know Jim will work with her until she gets it. It should be fun to watch. We are doing a cupcake theme for Charlotte's birthday. I got her a shirt that says I am 1 and a little hat that says it is fun to be 1. We are going to do a small little party here for her. We will invite the people who are close to her and I think she will love the fact that she is going to get her own little cake. I really can't wait.

Christmas dinner is going to be lamb this year. I am a little uneasy about making it because I have never done it. When I go to London Cherie's oldest daughter Kerie always makes the most amazing roast dinner you could imagine. SO I have asked for her help in cooking my leg of lamb. When she cooks it, it is the most amazing dinner you could imagine. She is the Queen of roast dinner. Honestly I wish I was just there eating her dinner instead of trying to screw up my own. But I will give it a shot. I was just going to cook a chicken and a ham but we were at Dave and Monya's last night and Dave convinced me to cook the lamb. He has never had it before and he was to chicken to cook it for his dinner because he didn't want to screw up his dinner. So he convinced me to possibly screw up my dinner instead and then allow him to try it. So Isaid what the hell and I am going to give it a try. To cook it right that is. I will let you know how that turns out.

I made a crap load of cookies this year. I finally have all of my grandma Lasse's cookie recipes so I made all of them. They all turned out really good. I absolutely hate making the shortbread cookies though. They to be perfect every time, otherwise the just don't work. I made 5 batches and three turned out the way they are suppose to. Which isn't bad because this was the first year I have done it on my own. The sugar cookies were to die for. I changed the recipe slightly just because I am not a huge fan of almond extract. But they were really good. I made a plate for my Uncle Bob and took it to him. He was pretty happy. He hasn't had the shortbread since my grandma passed away, so he was in heaven. I also made plates for Dave and Monya, Steve and Kimberly. (Our neighbors) Jim mom, my dad, My brother Pete and his wife Vicki, I also made a huge batch of Shortbread for my brother Charlie but he hasn't got it yet. All in all it turned out really good. So thank you Faith for giving me the best gift in the world.

I really hope everyone has a good Christmas, and if you are waiting for a Christmas card from us don't hold your breath. I never got them in the mail so I will send them next year:)

All by myself

Charlotte is at Monya's this afternoon and before I start on the paper work I have to do I decided to take a moment for myself and update my blog. Monya loves having Charlotte and Charlotte loves being at Monya's so it is a win, win situation. She is convinced she isn't going to have a grandchildren of her own so Charlotte is her baby fix. Her daughter Rachel even thanked me for letting Monya get her baby fix, that way she stops bugging her to have a baby.

So Charlotte is almost a year old and I can hardly believe how fast time has went. She is trying to walk everywhere. She thinks it is so funny though that she usually ends up falling down laughing. She has her top two teeth in and is working on two more. She now points to everything, and wants you to tell her what it is. She loves to look at photo albums of Jim, myself, and of course Charlotte. She loves to look at herself in the pictures. Her new words are "at" for cat and "uppy" for puppy. She seems to forget the first letter of the words. It is cute, but we keep trying to get her to say it right. Jim has taught her to do the angry face. It is so funny. She scrunches up her face and she thinks she is so funny when she does it.

As far as the rest of my life it has been filled with pictures and movies and slides. I am really getting tired of scanning pictures. I want to be done with it so I can move onto researching and putting together the rest of the Allen book. I am really hoping to get the movies done by Christmas but if the transfer unit doesn't get here soon that isn't going to happen. I am hoping it will be sometime this week or next. I started to go through the movies and it is surreal to watch my grandparents and mom. I wish for one more day with them both. This is going to be such a gift to our family. I really don't know how to thank my Uncle Rick and Aunt Cecil enough for trusting me with these movies long enough to get them transferred. This is going to allow these movies and slides to be preserved for generations to come. It is really awesome.

The picture below is what I woke up to the other morning. It was the first snow fall of the year. I always love the first snow fall. It is one of the reasons I have come to like living in Wisconsin. You go to bed one night and the world is grey and brown and everything looks dead and then you wake up the next morning to this...... It is beautiful, white and clean. It is like a fresh start. Of course any snow falls after the first are not so nice or really necessary in my book. I really do hate winter, but the first snow fall is the best. Charlotte was pretty amazed at the outside world too. It is so much fun to see everything for the first time through her eyes. Every single thing in this world is new to her. It so awesome to experience.

Jim went hunting opening weekend and he dressed Charlotte up in some of his clothes. Little did he know that she would be the only "Dear" he would see. I really feel bad for him. There are two things that Jim loves (Besides myself & Charlotte) Racing and Hunting. Every year as this time of year comes around he gets depressed. He use to go hunting with a guy he worked with at Cardinal Glass, but then he moved to Washington, well since then Jim really has no place to hunt. It kills him every year to drive through town and see everyone with their deer. Right now he hunts on our neighbors property by Briggsville but it is a very small area and he is surrounded by other hunters, so the only way he is going to get a deer is if the other two guys shoot each other and the third and fourth guy die of heart attacks, and then maybe he would have a chance of a deer getting close enough to shoot. I really wish we had the money to buy some land. He really deserves to be able to hunt. He works his A** off to provide a good life for Charlotte and me, and all he lives for is the chance to go hunting. It kills me that I can't help him. He would be happy to just shoot doe the rest of his life as long as he had a place to do it. I really hope that someday we will have the money to buy a little bit of land and put a nice little house on it. He would be so happy. I really hope that he is able to get a deer this year some how. He deserves it.

Ketchup :)

OK not Ketchup but Catch up. I have been doing nothing but looking for my camera, so I have not blogged about anything and I have a lot to share. I got my new camera last night. I am soooo Happy to have a camera again. I bought the camera from a guy off of craigslist. I took the camera to the Camera Company to have them look it over before I bought it. Well the guy is a professional photographer and he does a lot of business at the camera co. So I didn't have to pay for them to inspect it, Which was nice. Also I got a better camera then I had before. I now have the latest Canon model. The Xsi. It is not a whole lot different then mine. I don't think I would have bought this camera brand new. You are only paying extra for two more mega pixels and the fact that it is the newer model. It is just nice to have a camera again. I also got two lenses and a battery grip(Which I have been wanting.) and the magic lantern DVD and manual. The two lenses are nice. I had a 400 dollar lens on my camera so I now have the same lens back. The other lens is just the one that normally comes with the camera. I doubt I will ever use it but it is nice to have as a back up. Anyway after a lot of negotiating I got him down to 650. He had it listed for quite sometime so I knew he wanted to get rid of it. Lucky me! So now the camera drama is over....

I dressed Charlotte up in her Halloween costume and took some pictures. I want to take some outside but it is so darn cold here right now. It was 14 degrees this morning. We will see what happens this afternoon and if it warms up some I will take her out and get a few shots off. She was so cute on Halloween. We went to Dave and Monya's ,Steve's , My dad's, Jim's mom's, and then the camera drama started. She had a good time I think. She liked playing with her tail. It was a lot of fun for Jim and I

The next thing on the list is family portraits. We had our family portraits done for the church. We don't really go to church but we are still considered members so the offer to take our pictures for the church directory. We end up getting a pretty good discount on the portraits so I said what the heck. Jim didn't want to do it but I thought we needed a picture of the three of us. I am not a huge fan of the professional boring portraits but until I find a good photographer that has a little creativity and isn't afraid to be artistic this will have to do. They turned out nice. Boring but nice. There is a lady in Madison that does really nice portraits and I am thinking in the spring we will see how well she really does. I really wish the lady that took Charlotte's seven month pictures hadn't moved to Washington. I would love her to be our permanent photographer. She is coming back in December to visit her mom and she want to do a session with Charlotte. I am so happy about that. I love her pictures. I will have to get her something cute to wear.

The family soup dinner is another thing I haven't wrote about. It was a success. It was really nice to have Faith stay with us. I think we have become closer then we ever were. We had a lot of people in my small little house. We made four soups between Faith and myself and then Pete brought two soups which were awesome, and Charlie brought some really good homemade chicken noodle soup, and fresh homemade bread. Everyone else brought a little bit of everything. Our cousin Lynn brought taco dip that was gone before I even got to see it so it must have been good. Aunt Shirley brought this really good fruit and whip cream dish. ( I still need to get that recipe.) I am not sure who else brought what but we had a ton of goodies. We got a lot of pictures and everyone was able to look at the Allen book (Which Dennis Kluge has been so kind as to let me copy) and the Porter book. Then on Monday we went out to our Uncle Rick's and we got a bunch of copies of our grandpa's stuff and we got a ton of old slides and 8mm movies. Faith and our Uncle Bob and Aunt Shirley have both helped to pay for the tools to transfer these on to DVD and to copy the slides onto the computer so I can make copies for everyone. I have been working nonstop scanning pictures, coping books and I am waiting for the film unit to get here so I can start on that. It has been so much fun. I really can't wait to get it all done so I can start doing some research on the family. That is what I really want to do. We have a great start but there is so much more to do. I know that now we will be able to date our family back farther and we will be able to get more information then even the two books have to offer. So I better get busy.

Charlotte has taken her first few steps on her own. The great part about it is both Jim and I were there to see it. I honestly can't believe how fast she is growing. Everyone says they grow fast but I guess you really don't understand until it is happening to you. Two months from now she will be a year old. It is crazy to think about.She has also gotten her top two teeth in. She was really cranky there for awhile. She wasn't very cranky with the first two, but these two were a nightmare. Now everyone keeps asking when we are going to have another one. Well my answer is....... Not anytime soon. I am having a great time just enjoying Charlotte. I also need to figure out what I am going to do with the store. I am just barely breaking even and even some months the money is coming out of our pocket. I don't know if we can keep this up. I really wish I would have waited to try and do this until Charlotte was older and the economy was better. Oh well, you only regret the things you haven't done. That is what I keep telling myself. OK I think that is it for now. I am all caught up.

Finders Keepers.....

Well my camera is still missing and I am missing my camera. I have looked everywhere. I have walked the ditches along the road. I posted flyer's in town and I have tore the house apart four times! Nothing. Jim called our insurance agent and he has worked it out so it will be covered under our homeowners insurance. I had to fill out a police report but it is worth it to get a new camera. They estimated my loss at 1300 dollars but I have to pay the deductible which is 250 dollars and then they depreciate the value by a year which is 200 dollars but if I spend the 1300 dollars and send them receipts they send me the 200 dollars back. So I am pretty happy I will get a new camera. I didn't know what I would have done otherwise. The camera lens alone was close to 400 dollars. We have been missing weird stuff from our house. I don't think someone would come in steal this stuff, but it is all missing. I had a bag I got in London from Harrods that I put a bunch of Charlotte toys in to take to Monya's and I can't find the bag or the toys anywhere. The part that really upsets me is Cherie sent Charlotte a little West Ham Bear named Billy and it was in the bag. The search continues...... Charlotte has got her top two teeth in. She has been cranky and restless so I am glad they are finally through. She also took her first few steps on her own. The best part was Jim and I were both there to see it. It won't be long and she will be walking. It is crazy how fast she has grown. She is almost a year old. Last year at this time I was miserable and extremely uncomfortable. Everyone keeps asking when we are going to have another. Charlotte isn't even a year old and everyone want me to do it again. Can I please have a little break??? I want to have another baby but not yet. I am enjoying Charlotte and as much as I miss being pregnant I still don't want to be pregnant again anytime soon. Every time I get a little sick or I am not feeling well the first thing out of everyone's mouth is "Are you Pregnant?" No I am not pregnant and do not plan on being pregnant anytime soon. So stop asking:)

Panic!!

OK I have taken this last week off from everything to get my house and to get Charlotte back into a routine because daylight savings time has thrown her schedule way out of whack! Well today I decided to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to get started on pictures again and to upload the pictures I took of Charlotte in her Halloween costume. Well my camera has disappeared. I am freaking out. I love my camera and I always have it close by, so this is completely out of character for me. That is the one thing I have never ever misplaced. I am literally sick to my stomach. I love that camera! I have tore the house apart, look in the yard, even out by the road in the ditch. The last time I had it was on Halloween. I took pictures of Charlotte, then we went to Dave and Monya's, after that we went to Jim's mom house, and then back home. I had it when we came back from Dave and Monya's and I know I didn't take it to Jim's mom's house. So I am just sick about it! I really hope it is here somewhere

We are Family

I am hosting a family get together on Sunday, and it is looking like it is going to work out pretty good. I was worried that we weren't going to have enough room but I think we should be OK. I have to clean out the garage tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to. Thank God Monya is going to watch Charlotte for a couple of hours so I will actually be able to get something done. I really don't know what we would do without Dave and Monya. They are sent straight from heaven. Faith is coming on Saturday and we are going to the Farmers Market in Madison and then we are going to bake cookies. I am really looking forward to talking with everyone and getting information about our family. I really hope everyone bring pictures and anything else they may have. It should be a good time.

Snake in the Grass

OK today was pretty crazy. Jim has been hauling sweet corn and my brother Charlie wanted Jim to bring him a bunch home. So Jim brought it home and I was suppose to take it to my dad's house so Charlie could pick it up. Well I went over to my dad's before I went to the store. I opened my trunk to get the corn out and it is gone. Jim had taken it out and left it in our garage. So I am really running late now. I get back home and I start loading the corn in the car and all of a sudden the dogs start barking. I am thinking it is a frog or a gopher. I yell at them to stop acting like idiots, but they keep on. So I walk over expecting to pick up a frog or whatever and move it so the they knock it off. To my surprise and horror there is a rather large snake that is standing up straight rattling and it a freaking hood like a cobra. I am freaking out at this point. What the hell would a cobra be doing in Wisconsin?? Was I crazy?? I go and look again and sure enough this thing has a hood. I am panicking because it is heading for the house. I try calling Dave and Monya but they aren't home. Then I called Steve our other neighbor and tell him " Steve I think I have a freaking Cobra snake in my front yard". Well of course he think I am exaggerating. I am sure he thought it was a garden snake and I was overreacting. I stressed to him that I know what a garden snake looks like and this isn't it. I tell him it has a hood and it is rattling. I am thinking maybe it was a pet and someone got sick of taking care of it. So Steve sends one of him buddies over to get it in a bucket. In the mean time I have put a laundry basket over it with rocks on the top. Brett finally gets here as the damn snake is trying to get out of the basket. He almost made it too. To make a long story short it was a Bull Snake. I guess we have them around here. I have never in my life seen a snake with a hood around here. It technically isn't a hood they just puff up and rattle like a rattle snake. Even Brett said it looked like it had a hood. Well he got it in a bucket and took it to Steve's. He is going to take it to one of the wetlands and let it go. It was about 2 1/2 feet long. Once it was in the bucket it looked smaller but it was still a big snake for around here. Snakes are the one thing I can't stand. I can handle bugs and mice but snakes are a deal breaker. So that was my drama for the day. I didn't get a picture of the actual snake but here is a picture of what it looked like.

Charlotte Crawling Part 2... Back to the leap frog table!!!

This is a really long video so you may get bored but I tried to get these videos to work every way possible so I have a "few" videos of her crawling so I thought I would share. My advice would be to let it download then go back and watch it. that way it won't stop and start and drive you crazy! ENJOY!

Charlotte Crawling..... Thank God for YouTube

Uploading Killed the Video Star

I have given up for now trying to get my video to upload. It is driving me crazy. I am going to contact the support for the converter I am using and see if I can get it figured out. By the time I get it figured out her crawling will be old news, she will proably be walking. OK enough about that. I finally got Charlotte's pictures in the mail yesterday so everyone will be getting copies soon.

What have we been up to you ask?? Well life has been busy and pretty mundane. We haven't really been doing to much. Jim has been hauling sweet corn and thank god it is his last week. He will be back home on Monday. I am really missing him being home. Last night I let the dogs out and I swear there was someone out there. I get so freaked out being home by myself, but I swear. I was sitting on the back steps and I heard the leaves russle. I thought it was the cat because he had snuck out when I got home, but then it was two distinct foot step walking along the pine tree line next to the corn field. Well needless to stay I didn't stick around to find out who or what it was. I went in the house grab a kitchen knife and sat on the couch in terror. I am not one of those dumb ass horror movie girls who hear a thud in the darkness and then walks towards it asking "Who's there." Not me instead I slept with all the windows doors and anything else that would lock locked. I had almost all the lights in the house on and I left them on all night. Screw the environment!! I know a bit of an over reaction, but your not here by yourself hearing people walking around in backyard. Tonight I am better but will probably still leave the lights on. Jim is going to kill me when he get the light bill and it has doubled from last month, again I don't care he is not here by himself. OK I am done now. I will move on to happier things. I have been getting into researching our family history. I went to Poynette on Thursday and finally got to see the book my grandmothers sister put together on the history of my mom's side of the family. This book is amazing. 941 pages of everything you could possibly want to know about your family. I am trying to get a copy of the entire book so I will be able to share it with my brothers and sisters. I really think it is important for everyone to have a copy and add to it. I have really enjoyed doing this and I plan on taking it a lot further. I am going to do some of Jim's side but I think it is going to be difficult because Jim's mom has no contact with anyone in her family. She separated herself from everyone in her family for one reason or another so I am not sure anyone on that side will even speak to me. I also want to talk with my dad about his side of the family. I asked him about it and found out my Aunt Charlotte A.K.A. "Big Charlotte" Has a book about our family history that goes back to Scotland. So I am going to call her this weekend and see if I could copy it and see what pictures she has. I am guessing she has a lot of information, so it will be fun to see what she has. I want to do this especially since my dad is getting older and will not be around much longer. It needs to be done. I am going to put together a scrapbook and a hope chest for Charlotte and any other kids Jim and I have. I want to be able to put together a picture of the family my children are apart of. It is fascinating to me. Other then that things are going well. I am posting some new pictures of Charlotte taking a bath. We have found that it is so much easier for Charlotte to just take a bath with either Jim or I instead of trying to do it separately. Our bath tub has a ceramic ledge that goes all the way around and it makes it impossible to put Charlotte in the tub and still be able to reach her. The tub is too deep and the ledge makes it to far away. So she just goes in with one of us and we kill two birds with one stone. She likes it because Jim likes playing with the toys as much as she does. When Jack and Cherie were here Jack would say that when Jim wanted me to come and get Charlotte it was because he wanted to play with the toys by himself. It is probably true, but that what makes him a great dad. He loves to play with Charlotte as much as Charlotte likes playing with him. So enjoy the pictures and I really hope to get the video up soon. I am going to try posting it on youtube and then transfer it here so keep checking.

Gone Baby Gone

Charlotte is on the move. Go, Go, Go!!!! She is crawling all over the place. It has made life interesting. She wants to open everything and nothing below two feet is safe. She is pulling herself up too. She has a leapfrog learning table and she pulls herself up to standing while holding onto that. We walk over to Dave and Monya's at night and sit on the porch and talk, they have a cute little dog (Gracie) and Charlotte loves crawling after her. It is so funny. Gracie will play along with her game. They go back and forth across the porch. And Gracie runs up to her licks her face and turns around and waits for her at the other end.(Yeah I know dogs mouths are full of germs Blah Blah Blah). It is really cute. Then they share a Popsicle, not literally, but Monya feeds it to Charlotte and she drops most of it on the porch and Gracie cleans it up. Everything and anything she can get her hands on goes straight to her mouth. Speaking of mouth, she can now say Dada and Mama. Jim hasn't heard her say it yet because he is hauling sweet corn this week. He is going to be so happy to hear her say it. I think he was really hoping she would say Dada first, but I had an unfair advantage because I have been drilling Mama into her head since the day she was born. Today when I put her down for a nap, I went to check on her and she was sitting up in her crib and she was on the verve of standing. I am defiantly going to have to lower her crib again, I lower it once but I don't think it is low enough now. She is just growing so fast. I really can't believe that in roughly four months she will be a year old. Where has the time gone. I don't even remember what it was like to not have her. Things here have been so crazy lately. It seems there are not enough hours in a day. I have been going all week. Monday I was sick and Tuesday Jim came finally came. Wednesday we had Laurie and Herbie here for Dinner. That was nice. When Charlotte was first born we would have dinner with them every Wednesday, lately life has gotten in the way. Charlotte is scared of Herbie. I think it is his beard. It is funny and sad at the same time. He want so badly to hold and play with her but she doesn't want any part of even looking at him. She only seems to be afraid of two people. Herbie and Jim's mom. She will grow out of it soon. We don't see them as much as we use to so I think that may have a something to do with it. They are so good to Charlotte and to Jim and I. It was nice to have them over. Laurie bought Charlotte this really cute camouflage jumper. Jim thought it was great. I have a camo onsie that has ruffles on the butt. We are going to have her pictures take in it with Jim's camo bucket hat an one of his duck calls. He wants a picture like that for his wallet. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I was at the store, and today I had to clean my dad's house, drop a highchair off in Poynette, Go Portage to get some pictures from my brother Pete. I have started doing a family tree scrapbook for Charlotte. All of the family has come together to share pictures, memories, and information. It is so great to look at pictures of my mom when she was little and of my grandma when she was younger. I am going to Poynette on Wednesday to start copying a family history book. I am really starting to get into finding out all I can about my family. I will post some pictures of the book and my mom tomorrow after I get them scanned onto my computer

What's in a Name...............

Well Charlotte has went crazy in the learning department this week. On Tuesday she decided it was time to utter her first word. It was of course Mama. I have been drilling it into her head for months. There were two things I wanted when I found out I was pregnant. First I wanted the baby to look like me (Check) Second I wanted it's first word to be Mama(Check). Now she can grow up to do whatever it is she wants to do. I really wanted to prove the "expert" wrong. Most people say that babies usually say Dada first because it is easier for them to say. Well take that experts!! I was so happy when she finally did it. Then she kept saying it and I got it on tape because I knew no one would believe me. The other thing she start is to crawl. She has been so close this past month that I knew it wouldn't be long. She started out crawling backwards so she could get into a sitting position from being on her belly. Then on Tuesday she was sitting outside and she had scooted herself to far away from one of her toy and she got into the crawling position and just started crawling forward. It was so amazing to watch her gain her Independence. She was so happy that she could actually move herself to where she wanted to go. It was pretty cool. Then Jim taught her to do "give me Five" She usually gives him 15 or 20 but she understands the concept. It is pretty cute. I am really hoping I can get the video of her saying mama to upload. I have a Sony Mini DVD camcorder but I can't get the video to upload to this site or you tube. It is driving me crazy. What good is this damn camcorder if I can't share my videos on the computer. I have been trying everything under the sun to get it to work. So I am hoping to get it posted.

The Goat Whisperer

Our neighbor "Big Steve" just bought two goats for his daughter Kimberly. Why he bought goats is a long story. Jim has wanted a goat for a long time, so Jim and Steve got talking one day and they decided it would be a good idea to get A goat. They decided a pygmy goat would be the best because it wouldn't get very big. Well as things progressed and they started talking to people who had goats or raised them for a living they found out that fainting goats would make better pets because they are more friendly and just have ab all around better temperament. The only down side is you have to have two goats other wise they will get depressed. Yes that's right depressed. Well Jim thought that was hilarious because Steve only wanted one goat. So Jim kept making fun of him that he was going to have a suicidal goat that would probably drowned itself in his bird bath. Well last Friday Steve brought home TWO goats. I guess he didn't want to take the chance of being responsible for his goat killing itself. The funny part is they are fainting goats. SO if you scare them they literal fall over and faint. They get stiff as a board and the look dead. It is hilarious. They are very cute. One is brown and white (Ace)the other is black and white.(Jackson).So I took Charlotte over to see them. She had a little bit of a puzzled look on her face. It was cute. So now we have The Krueger Family petting zoo next door. There is a two beer admission fee. It is funny because Steve has had every animal under the sun over there. Goats, Chicken, ducks, dogs, rabbits, a fox, guinea pig, and fish. Well this morning I was sitting outside playing with Charlotte on the lawn and every time she would let out a little scream the goats would call back to her. Neither her or the goats could figure out where the noise was coming from. It was pretty funny because they sounded exactly alike. So Charlotte has a new nickname The goat whisperer......

Roll on 18 Wheeler

Jim is hauling sweet corn this week. So he is going to be gone tonight through next Tuesday. I really miss him when he is gone. He usually come home and plays with Charlotte while I clean up and cook dinner. She loves playing with him. He also help with the baths. Tonight we had to go it alone. She loves taking a bath, and it is just so much easier if she takes a bath with either me or Jim. But it is harder when you don't have someone to come and get her out when she is done. Tonight when I went to put Charlotte to bed in her crib Jim had left her a note, it said "Charlotte Goodnight I love you Dad" I just love that he thinks of little things like that. He is such a good dad. He is always thinking of little things like that, that will put a smile on my face. I just love him so much.....

On another note the store has done really crappy this week. I think it is because this is the first week all the kids go back to school, but I sure hope it gets back to normal. It didn't even pay for me to drive over there the past two days. I only brought in 100 dollars for two days. That is really bad. I just hope this store works out. I think I will feel better once the loan is paid off. Right now I am making enough to cover all the expenses for the store with nothing extra. So once the loan is paid off it will be better. I am also running some ads in the paper. I know it is going to take time for people to know that I am there and build my customer base. So it continues. Some days I think I am absolutely insane for doing this with a new baby and everything that is going on in my life right. I guess only time will tell if this was the dumbest thing I have ever done. I just keep think of what my sister Cherie says "You only regret the things you haven't done." So I have taken those words to heart and hope for the best.

Running on Empty............

The past couple of days have been pretty crazy. Jim's mom has been in the hospital and she finally got out today. Then last night I get a call at 11:30 from my dad and he is in North Leeds and his truck stopped running. So thank god Jim was home because Charlotte was sleeping. So I had to go half way to Madison at 11:30 at night. What the hell is he doing going to Madison at 11:30 at night was all I could think. I guess it is his business.... I could have killed him though. Then this morning I had to take the neighbor's daughter to school at 7am. Then We had to take Jim's truck over to my dad so he could get his truck towed. Then Jim had to go and pick his mom up from the hospital. It has been go go go the past two days. I hate it because it throws Charlotte's schedule off and then she ends up cranky. I try to keep things pretty steady, so things run smoothly. Even with running the store I try to keep things in a orderly fashion. It drives me crazy. The other thing lately is Charlotte doesn't want to eat baby food. I don't understand what has changed. She use to polish off a full jar of baby food and now she only wants things she can do herself. She is still eating some baby food, but no where near what she use to. I know she is eating enough with all the bottles and regular food she is getting but is it weird she isn't eating baby food? When she was cutting her first two teeth she didn't want to eat and I understood that but she isn't getting any teeth in right now. So what is the deal? I guess I will ask at her next check up.

Quest for B.C.

Since Charlotte was born I have been trying to lose the baby weight plus some:( I needed to lose weight before I got pregnant. Well I have been doing weight watchers and I went to weigh in this week and I am officially two pounds away from my weight B.C. (Before Charlotte) I was pretty happy. I have not been following the program the way I should the past couple of weeks, but after Cherie and Jack left I got back on the horse and it has paid off. I was so terrified that I would never get that weight off let alone start to lose the rest of the weight I need to. Now I feel like I can do it. I would like to get back to what I was when I got married and then maybe even a little less. I don't want to be skinny just happy, but I doubt that will ever happen. When I was at the weight I was when I got married I still thought I needed to lose weight. It seems to be a never ending viscous cycle. The difference now is I am more content with myself. So I think I would just be happy at that weight. I remember when I was pregnant and every time I got on the scale at the doctors office, I wanted to cry and most times I did. Throughout my pregnancy I did water aerobics and tried to watch my weight but it just kept coming. When Charlotte was born I had to stop going to water aerobics because the only person I had to watch Charlotte is our neighbor (And Charlotte's adopted Grandma Monya). She is the lady that teaches the class so I couldn't go. Now Charlotte is old enough to sit in a floaty so I went and bought a nice one with a bunch of toys on it and I am going to take her with me. I won't be able to do the upper body part because I will have to hold on to Charlotte but I will be able to do the lower body and some things with the upper body. I am really looking forward to getting back into it. I miss it, and I know Monya will love having Charlotte there. She is such a wonderful person. I couldn't have a better Adopted Grandma for Charlotte. She treats her better then anyone else I know. I think she loves her as much as my mom would have loved her. It is great. So the quest for my weight B.C. continues. I know one thing my body sure doesn't look anything like it did B.C.. I am guessing those days are long gone and will never be seen again. Everything fits different and things have changed so much. I guess that is one thing I never expected. I thought once the weight was gone things would be the way they were. I guess that was just wishful thinking.........Oh well I love having Charlotte and I guess it the whole scheme of things it is a small price to pay.

Baby Spice

OK, I understand that mistakes are part of the learning curve of motherhood, but I feel so horrible for the stupidity that I displayed tonight. Charlotte normally likes to try and feed herself, so I cook Charlotte a few different fruits and vegetables along with her regular baby food in the morning and again at night. Our pediatrician said we could try seasoning her foods with some mild spices. It gives her different flavors and may help her to get use to eating different flavors. I normally use pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, etc, but I had went to the Amish store and bought this seasoning blend so I thought I would use that instead tonight. I had used it before (or so I thought) so I figured she would like it. Well she started to eat and then she started to get really fussy. I thought she was just getting tired. She kept eating but then she started to cry and I couldn't figure out what was bothering her. At first I thought her leg was stuck or she was sitting on something, but everything I tried didn't work. Then she picked up a green bean and put it in her mouth and started to cry again. So I tried one of the green beans and it was spicy. Not really spicy but enough for a baby. I instantly felt horrible. I took her out of the highchair and hurried to make her a bottle. She drank it down pretty fast and then in between I let her have two Popsicles to help cool her mouth down. Once she got the cold in her mouth she was all smiles again, but I felt so stupid. I looked at the ingredients and sure enough there was red pepper flakes in the seasoning blend. I normal get the plain seasoning blend, but this time I had grabbed the wrong bag. In tiny print it said spicy next to the normal lettering. Boy, did I feel like an idiot. I felt even worse for Charlotte. After the second Popsicle I think she forgave me though. A lesson learned. Next time I will make sure to double check the label.

The Beginning

I decided to start this blog because I seen what my neice had done with hers and I really like the way it was set up. Most of my family and friends don't do facebook or myspace and this is a spot where everyone can come together and and find out what is going on in the Ferguson household. That way I don't have to post blogs and pictures on Facebook and Myspace. My life isn't the most intresting but it will be a place for my family and friends to come and see and read about Charlotte, Jim and I. I hope you enjoy.