Discrepancy with the Whos

So I was looking at my daughter and thinking how much she resembles a Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas when I realized there is a discrepancy is this beloved Christmas story. And it is this: Why didn't San-dee Claaa-zz ever show up? You would figure that in a children's story that Santa is real and would make an appearance, maybe even invite the Grinch out on next years run with him, but he never comes. I mean, little Cindy-Lou has to deal with the fact that Santa didn't come to stick up for himself and save the day. I am sure this will cause her to doubt his existence at all, thereby ruining her childhood. What do you think? Am I the only one who has ever thought of this? Probably not, but I just may be the only one who has spent this much time thinking about it.

Senior Trip

Josh and I took all the FVBC students on their Senior Trip yesterday and had a great time. It was a really long day though. We left at 8am and got back at 11pm. We traveled to Wisconsin Dells and hung out at Mount Olympus. This place is awesome! It has indoor and outdoor waterparks, indoor and outdoor themeparks, go karts and even mini golf (though no one would do it with me). I was really nervous about the weather because the high was 67 degrees and scattered showers. But it ended up being pretty nice - not the tanning day I hoped for - but no rain and warm enough to endure the waterslides.
We started on the coasters. They are all wooden coasters and very rickety. One of them even has a sign that says "You must be 18 years old to sit in the last car." Yeah, a little frightening. But the best coaster they have is called Hades. It is called this because you go underground. Not just for two seconds, like at Great America, but for a good twenty seconds. The big drop plunges you under the parking lot and you curve around under there for a bit. When you come out you are sideways and near the main street, where you have more hills. Then you plunge underground again for more twists and turns. Oh yeah, it is completely dark, no lights, nothing. It is awesome and I completely recommend it for any coaster lover.
The go karts were fine. I was determined to win. (Think Cars, "I am speed.") However, I always chose the stupid car. I pushed the gas down the whole time, but was passed by everyone. Oh well. Pride goeth before the fall.
The waterslides were really fun, freezing, but fun. The best was one of those family raft rides. You rode the sides so high that you were literally hanging over the people on the other side of the raft. If you weren't hanging on you would have fallen on top of them.
After Mount Olympus we went out for dinner at R Place. It is this hole in the wall restaurant that serves a five course Italian meal. Josh and I love it and it was fun to take everyone there. Oh yeah, we had 10 seniors come with us. We were amazed. We have about 4-5 active seniors, but they all came out of the woodwork for this trip. It was great to have everyone there and they all got along really well considering some of them didn't know each other at all.
So I am VERY tired! I had to be at work today at 7am and when I crawled out of bed my body was so sore from the coasters, water slides and walking we did. I can't wait for my nap this afternoon!

Thank You

Thank you all for your comments of encouragement and for your prayers. I don't know if Charis is doing better, but I am. However, Charis is army crawling a bit more. Talitha said she was even crawling for toys yesterday, not just food. But if you do think of it, pray that she will drink something besides water. The doctor wants her off water and juice and onto formula or even goats milk (for the calories). She refuses all of these.
Again, I thank you for the encouragement. It means a lot to know that others have been there before and/or that you are praying for us.

Doctor Discouragement

Charis had her nine month doctor's appointment on Friday and I walked away really discouraged. I had hoped that she would be up to 16 pounds by now, but she was only at 15 pounds 8 ounces, placing her in the 5-10 percentile - yes, that is a drop. She also was really low in height. The first measurement showed that she had not grown at all, placing her 25.5 inches in the eighth percentile - yet another large drop. So the doctor had her remeasured adding only half an inch, which I estimate popped her up to the 25th percentile. With all of that we had a lot of discussions about her food and he wants her back in a month to check on her weight.
Not only is her growth under par, she also is developing slowly. It drives me nuts that she can't crawl. I have finally found a motivator that has her army crawling - food. So that kinda kills two birds with one stone.
We had some friends over Friday night and their daughter is one week older than Charis. She is crawling, pulling up on things and saying "mama" and "dada." I know I shouldn't get in the comparison game. Children always advance in some things and are slower in the others. But it is so hard not compare... not to feel like it is your fault... like you are doing something wrong... failing your child. I mean when you have a child you have great dreams and boast in their advancements, like when they hit their milestones early. When it doesn't come early you think, "She will just be normal in this." But when those milestones aren't hit in the predetermined time, you think, "Oh, she will be a little behind in this." Then more time passes and you think, "Don't be advanced, don't be normal, just be healthy." I am beginning to feel that way with Charis.

So I am really discouraged. I had a talk with God and asked Him to please test me in some other area of my life, not with Charis. She is just too little and too precious to me. I see that I hold on to her so tightly. I ache inside. I also see have little, meager faith. All I can pray for is that God will increase my faith... and help my little girl.

Teething, Weaning, Puke, Diarrhea and Allergies

So Charis is teething. She has been teething for over a week now. She has woken us up a couple times at night with it. At first we didn't know what was wrong. We thought maybe she was hungry, so we fed her. That didn't work. We thought maybe she had a wet diaper, so we changed her. That didn't work. We thought maybe she had a bad dream, so we held her. That didn't work. Then Josh was amazing and thought she might be teething, so we put Baby Orajel on her gums. Hallelujah! The crying stopped and she went right to sleep. It looks like all four of her top teeth are coming in at once. But after a week plus the teeth still haven't cut through. She goes to the doctor on Friday for her 9 months check up (can you believe it!), so I will ask him then. And to top it all off she has been getting the standard teething fever with all of this too.
Charis also seems to be weaning herself. I have noticed the past couple days that she dropped her feeding time a bit, but today I had a bit of a shock. I had nothing on one side for her lunch feeding and nothing on both sides for her afternoon feeding. I had to give her a bottle. But it wasn't like she wasn't interested. She was very interested and frustrated that there wasn't anything there. ?????????? I don't understand. I am not stressed. I am not overly active. I have been getting plenty of sleep and plenty of liquids. And I am not pregnant. So I am shopping for formula tomorrow. And I can only hope that there will still be milk for breakfast and bedtime.
All of this leads to the puke story of my afternoon. So I fed her a bottle with 5oz of formula because everyone says she should be up to 5-6oz by now. I doubt that she was getting that from me recently, but I wasn't sure. She didn't quite finish it. I then gave her her solids. She kinda ate it lethargically, but ate it nonetheless. After she was all done I was holding her and she started to gag. I held out my hand to catch what she might throw up, but... there was no way I could catch all that. She easily threw up her dinner, formula and lunch. I mean I rarely throw up that much. Thankfully we were over the hard wood floor and not the carpet. I just stood there watching it continue to come out, not knowing what to do. When it was done she started to cry, rightfully so. She was obviously scared and we were both covered in barf. I took her to the bathroom and cleaned us both up. And then I cleaned the floor. I almost took a picture for you guys, but I thought that it would be too much. But so you understand, the barf splash radius was at least five feet.
After all of this I decided a shower for us both would be nice. When I took off her diaper I saw she had diarrhea. Her diapers have been "looser" recently and I think I can attribute it to the mango I have been giving her. So I guess mango doesn't work in her system, because it was also in her barf. But now I am beginning to wonder if she is allergic to it because she has a rash forming on her back. I am dropping the mango all together and we will see what happens. FYI, I think she puked because she overate, not because she was allergic to anything.

There is so much going on in my little girl's body. It is hard to watch and I feel so out of control. Please pray that I lay this before God and trust Him with this.

Why does everything happen at once?

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!