Pictures!

Her First Birthday

Yes. I am finally going to post pictures and tell you about her birthday.

The actual day of we were at my cousin's wedding, so she had fun with grandpa and grandma. (I was only kinda sad that I wasn't with her - not that she remembers. And I knew they would shower her with love on her special day.)

We had her little shindig on Labor Day. I meant it to be simple and informal, with just immediate family, but because it was Labor Day the extended clan was over. I didn't mind that at all, but I didn't want them to feel they had to bring gifts. They did anyway. It just shows how the family loves everyone of us, even as we get more and more removed. (BTW, does anyone understand the whole great-aunt, cousin-once-removed, 2nd-cousin thing?) Charis had so many gifts and frankly she wasn't quite into them. While I am proud she has learned to be content with one toy for a while, it made it difficult to keep the gift opening going when she wasn't really paying attention.


Then we tried the cake. We set it up outside, but the mesquitos were HORRIBLE, so after two minutes we were back inside. Charis was not interested in her cake. This was her first real taste of processed sugar and she didn't want it. Grant it, the frosting was really sweet. She wouldn't play in it either. (See we taught her so well - "don't play with your food," "you don't need sugar," "be content with the toy you have"...) She eventually ate a little cake, but it wasn't the glorious and messy feast that I was hoping for.

All in all, it was fun yet stressful day. I will leave you with some pictures of her enjoying the cake batter I prepared earlier that day. (At least she kinda likes sugar!)

Check out Josh's Blog

You will see a fabulous update!

http://thejewfirst.blogspot.com/

Baby Girl

She has such a sweet face

Look at those baby blues!

Exploring mama's "bottle"

Wrestling with daddy... not my neck...

...it tickles too much!

Josh and I have been trying to figure out a mystery. We come into a room and find Cheerios everywhere. Each time this happens we try to find the caper, but to no avail. One day we set up a hidden camera to try to catch this bandit... unfortunately the images were inconclusive.

Once we catch this little mess-maker we will let you know!

Charis Girl

This girl is growing up so fast. I mean doesn't she look more like a toddler than a baby? Kinda sad. But I love her baby blues!
Charis changes each day. She recently cut her top three teeth and just today I saw she cut another one on the bottom. She was clapping yesterday. Charis is fully proficient at waving hello and goodbye to anyone and everyone. She even says "hi" - or at least has the same inflection as we all do. She says "mama" and the other day said "dada."
Charis pretty much runs when you hold both hands and is getting pretty stable when you only hold one hand. In fact the other day she took a couple steps before she fell into my arms. I don't know if that counts as first steps, but since both Josh and I were watching it we might take it as such.
She eats like a horse and loves pasta and meat. All in all she is growing up really well. Hope that brings you all up to speed. Enjoy some updated pictures...

She loves her Care Bear

Baby Genius
(actually mommy is the genius)

Doesn't she look so old?

The Huff clan with Jordan and Crys before Jeremy left for Uganda
(and that's Jordan's girlfriends Jana - I love her and I hope they get married!)

My Summer Cutie

We have been having one fun summer...

1... 2... 33333333333333! (swinging)

Playing in the pool

Taking baths after an especially sweaty day at Nana's

Playing with Nightfall
(and getting covered in her hair)

Eating a yummy and messy baby biscuit

Here You Go!

Here are a variety of pictures from the last couple weeks...

Tired and sweaty baby - she gets it from her father!

Blue toes for the Blue Team - that's So Chill!

Eating yummy bananas - check out how chunky she is getting!

Watching her favorite show, The Backyardigans

And I forgot to mention in the last post, Charis has now cut three of her top teeth, and man are they sharp! On a similar note, I only give her a bottle now.

Getting Around

God is Awesome! Charis is doing really well. It is like a light switch flipped on and she is on the move. She is army crawling everywhere and beginning to pull up on things. She loves to stand and play with toys on the ottoman. She will even take a stroll around it to get to toys or her food. And get this - she is willing to hold onto just one of my hands and have the other hand on furniture to walk around. (If you know anything about Charis' walking she will throw a tantrum if you do not offer her both hands to walk around - she freaks out and refuses to move.) She is beginning to move from the ottoman to the couch by holding onto a leg. Basically she is getting pretty brave and is on the move. She is not content to sit in my lap. She wants to stand and walk. Who knows what the next post will say... maybe she will be walking!
In regards to her food, she is eating at least double what she used to eat before and is getting a nice little pot belly. We tried to weigh her on my mom's meat scale but she had too much fun bouncing up an down on it for us to figure out her real weight. We figure around 16 pounds! She is also drinking formula and goats milk - whatever we give her - to supplement the breast feeding. We think it was a cup vs. bottle confusion.
And to top it all off she is now saying "mama." Not that we believe she equates it with me, but at least we are on the right path. (I must admit it does make my heart flutter when I hear it!)
God is awesome. And He was awesome when things were scary and hard and I couldn't see it. But I will praise Him today for the work He is doing in Charis. Thank you Lord!

Following the line of Cheerios

She crawls so fast, she crawls out of her pants!

Standing in the Crib

We have been trying to teach Charis how to stand while holding onto something. Recently we tried her crib and she had a lot of fun "jumping" up and down (bending her knees). Doesn't she look adorable?
At one point she saw Josh across the house and she got really excited. That made her irresistable to her daddy. They had fun playing peekabo. How cute if this kid!

Playing with Mommy

Charis and I had a fun morning the other day. Most of the time we shower, but I decided to give her a bath. She has had one before, but it was when she was a lot younger. Man, was she cute! She had fun splashing and playing with her starfish. I got some great video. I am sure she will love that I captured her naked. At least I can always hold that over her if she is ever tempted to stay out past her curfew. (Whoa! That is weird to think about!)

After her bath we played in her room. Can I just say it took forever to get her four hairs in that ponytail. She didn't like it either. Now she doesn't simply cry; she bats my hands away. Oh yea. She is doing better on her crawling, not that she is doing it. But between rolling and scooting she gets around a room. Someday soon, I hope.

Hi Mama!

Peekabo!

I can almost crawl

This is just an adorable picture!