New Swing

My child has a serious obsession with swinging. It may have to do with the endless hours she spent in her baby swing as an infant when Mommy and Daddy needed quiet time. She already clearly understands the word "swing". I learned this by accident one day when I mentioned something about going to swing and then proceeded to do some laundry. A temper tantrum immediately followed. At first I had no idea why.....maybe I was sorting wrong? I mean she does have a few extra pink (previously white) shirts but was it really worth all the drama. As I was contemplating why this was such a big deal and the fact that Joey doesn't seem to mind his new blue (previously white) shirts, I realized maybe she actually knew the word "swing". Sure enough when I repeated it she stopped crying, sat up smiling and starting doing her flapping arms dance she does when she's excited, mad, annoyed, etc.

Unfortunately, we do not have a tree with a limb low enough for a swing to hang on. So Papa Joe, being the handyman that he is, built one for Carlysle for her birthday. She loves it! It is so nice to just go outside at home and swing in my pajamas.....because pajamas are apparently frowned upon at the park. Thank you Mimi and Papa Joe for an awesome birthday present.

Carlysle Talking

Ok well I guess you can call this talking. She started making the deep "Dada" noises where she scrunches her face real hard a couple of days ago. She does that quite often. She discovers a new noise that she can do and she'll do it repeatedly for several days and then she'll move onto another. On one hand it made us laugh but on the other......it's kind of creepy sounding. She looks crazy mad but I think (or hope) she is just practicing with her voice.

Carlysle's New Walker

This is the first walker that Carlysle has had (Thank you Mimi), in fact, she's never even used one. So we were a little worried that she wouldn't know what to do with it or that it would take off a leave her behind. But she surprised us and did really well. She loves it and has been pushing it all over our house, which is proving to be a challenge as you will see....our house is an obstacle course.

Carlysle's Christening

We finally got around to having Carlysle's Christening. I have been really bad about putting things off and before I knew it she was eleven months old. We decided to have the christening at the church I grew up in (and also the church Joey and I got married in).....Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Bishopville, SC. The service was beautiful and Carlysle didn't cry!!! We were so worried that she was going to burst into hysterics when we handed her off to the minister. She has a little stranger anxiety.....ok a lot of stranger anxiety. But she did great but he was also really fast so she didn't have much time to react. It really was beautiful and I'm glad we finally got it all planned. We had a luncheon for friends and family afterwards. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone. We really appreciate everyone traveling to be here. I would also like to thank my Mom, Miss Jennifer and Cindy for all their help. It was such a wonderful day!

FYI.....she did have on a christening dress but by the time we started taking pictures we had already changed her clothes. However, we will be putting her back in the dress and "staging" some christening pictures.

Milkshake Junkie

Occasionally Joey makes milkshakes (and other fattening things) for himself because he is trying to gain back some weight he unintentionally lost......yes everybody you may roll your eyes now. Carlysle is at the point where she wants to try anything you have. Gone are the days where you just plop down on the couch and veg out. Within seconds she is crawling all over you digging in your bag of....um....veggie sticks (or bbq potato chips). So of course she had a fit when Joey sat down on the floor with his strawberry milkhake. She literally dove over my legs pointing her finger at it, while grunting. So, we let her have some and now she's hooked.

And here is what happens when you take the milkshake away..........

New Snack.....that Carlysle will never get to have again

Well, I was trying to be a good Mom and buy the healthier "whole grain" fig newtons. So, while I cooked dinner I let Joey give Carlysle one for dessert. Which I realize sounds cruel....."fig newtons for dessert" but she's young and has no idea what options are out there for dessert. I have no idea if this is a common theme among the fig newton family but our experience with the whole grain was disastrous. They turned into a crumbly mess. I'm not sure she ever really tasted anything more than crumb. So here's my warning to other mothers regarding whole grain fig newtons......only allow them on Daddy/Daughter nights!

Young and the Restless

I hesitated to play this video because it doesn't speak well for my parenting skills. But I promise you this is the only time of day when the "Noggin" channel is not on.....well except when Days of Our Lives is on, or Dawson's Creek, or Dr. Phil, or Oprah.....ok ok nevermind. Anyway, in my defense "Young and the Restless" comes on at 12:30 which is lunchtime so Carlysle is always sitting in her highchair which has a clear view of the TV. Everytime she hears the theme from "Young and the Restless" she whips her head around to look at the TV. Joey was home for lunch one day recently and finally got to see her do it. We decided to find the song on the internet and save it on our computer. So randomly throughout the day I'll play it and she always stops what she's doing and looks at the TV. I promise we do educational things during the day too....for instance she already knows all the character's names on "Days of our Lives". Kidding.