Fireworks

On Monday, the three of us went to the fireworks show on Signal Mountain. Everyone gathers on the golf course to watch. I have never actually been to them . . . a few times I've watched them from this house, but this is the first time I've ever actually gone to the golf course. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't too crowded and the weather was beautiful. It was a clear night with a light breeze. I enjoyed and was even impressed by the pretty decent fireworks. I finally got to use the fireworks setting on my camera. Not bad! (Seriously, do people really take that many pictures of fireworks to warrant a setting for them?)

John took Charlie to watch the fireworks downtown on Saturday the 3rd. I wasn't feeling well and as many of you know, I'm not a big fireworks fan anyway. You know that one kid who goes nuts when they hear the loud booms and screams during the entire fireworks display? Yeah, that was me. I still have a problem with loud, sudden noises . . . I'm sort of like a shaky little chihuahua that way. Anyway, John took the camera, but no pictures. : P

Charlie LOVED the fireworks on Saturday and begged for days to see some more. John said he wasn't even scared. Then, on Monday, at the much smaller, quieter show, he did this the entire time:

I guess my latent childhood fears of fireworks became manifested in him. At least he didn't cry or scream . . .

Rochelle, Rochelle

(Sorry, Rochie. I couldn't help myself from naming this post that! You "Seinfeld" fans know what I'm talking about!)

Last week my good friend Rochelle stopped by to visit. It was SO good to get to see her and her kids. Rochelle is so unique and cool. I love her voice . . . those of you that know her know what I mean. She's got this awesome, chill tone to her voice that reminds me of listening to Blind Melon. But, as she puts it, she's not "hippity-dippity." She is her own woman and I love it! I'm wound up so tight and she just knows how to calm me down. We always have tons of fun when we're together.

Rochelle lives in Maryland and stopped in Chattanooga to visit with me and Charlie on her way to Mississippi. Rochelle and her kids Sophie and Micah had lunch with Charlie and me. It was way too short of a visit! We haven't seen each other in years so it was so fun to get to catch up. Rochelle finally got to meet Charlie and I got to meet Sophie! Unfortunately, it was around Charlie's naptime so he was crabby. Rochelle, I promise he is more fun than that!!! :) Here are some pics from the visit . . . now, you must understand it was super hot and humid and we were miserable taking these pictures! BTW, Brian, where did you get Rochelle that "Thesaurus" shirt? I have to have one! : )

Rochelle with Charlie and Micah on top . . . Charlie LOVED Micah! Don't they have the greatest hair? I'm so jealous of that beautiful red hair . . .

Sophie's famous "funny face." I love this girl! I was tempted to trade her for Charlie . . .

Sophie teaching Charlie how the "funny face" is done.

Awww . . . so cute! Hey, Haddads! I think an arranged marriage is in order . . . whadya' think? Better get Sophie's dowry in order . . . ; )

When Charlie Met Bobby

Charlie loves the mailman. He can hear the mail truck a street away. He'll bound to the nearest window or to the driveway if he's outside and watch the mailman deliver the mail. Occasionally, the mailman will wave or say, "Hi" which makes Charlie's day. One day, we had a package and the mailman came to the door. As I was signing for the package, Charlie came to the door. His eyes were practically bulging from excitement to see the mailman in person. The first words out of his mouth were, "I'm Charlie." (We're in desperate need of the "stranger" talk!) The mailman answered, "Hi, Charlie. I'm Bobby." (Is it just me, or is Bobby a weird name for an elderly mailman? He looked more like a "Gene" or a "Clive" . . . not a "Bobby"!) Entranced, Charlie said, "Hi Bobby." For the next week, everything was "Bobby" this and "Bobby" that. About a week after Charlie first met Bobby, we had another package. Charlie was in another room and didn't hear the door. I opened the door and what does the mailman say? "Well, where's Charlie?" I almost died. And it doesn't stop with Bobby!

When I get my allergy shots every week, what is the first thing the nurse asks me? "Where's Charlie today?" He's only been there all of twice! Every time he comes, "Nurse Britney" gives him a sticker . . . then he talks her into giving him two. I get the shot, he gets stickers. No wonder he loves that place . . . Finally, I was at Hobby Lobby last week and the fabric girl asks me, "Where's the little one today?" Again, he's hardly ever at Hobby Lobby with me and yet, he's what they remember. I guess I'm a pretty lucky mom to have such a memorable kid! Let's hope they remember him because he's cute and not because he's horrible . . . he's a little bit of both so it could go either way.

On a final note . . . we've finally made the transition to a toddler bed! I say "we" because Charlie kept all of us up three nights in a row. He was getting up or falling out of the bed every 2 hours. It was a miserable few days but he finally got used to it. Whew. Glad that's over. Guess it's time for the potty now . . . heaven help us.

Happy Trails

I neglected to talk about John's birthday last time! He got lots of nice things, the biggest being a bike trailer to carry Charlie in. When he first asked for it I didn't want to get it for him. I get nervous enough as it is when John rides alone. The idea of Charlie in tow behind a bike freaked me out. John promised he would only take Charlie on trails and avoid roads so I felt a little better about that.

Here are some pictures John took on he and Charlie's first ride together. I must admit I yelped when I first saw the picture of Charlie on this cliff! John swears up and down it was "safe" so whatever . . .

First Ball Game

A couple weeks ago Charlie got to go to his first baseball game. He went to see the Lookouts with John, his dad, Matt and his cousin Lyric. I heard they had a blast!

 

 

 

 

In other news, I went to the endocrinologist again this week and my labs came back. My TSH is supposedly "normal" but my thyroid antibodies are super high and my thyroid is enlarged. Not to mention, I've been feeling bad again lately (although, I've been told your TSH can be "normal" but your body may take 6 months to feel how your levels reflect). My doc thinks I have some form of Hashimoto's disease but it's not a "classic" case as he put it. He kept me on the same dose of hormone and added a new medication to help with some of my symptoms. The new med made me nauseous all week, which was not fun. Thankfully, my body's getting used to it and I've gotten most of my appetite back. I go back in 6 weeks for labs. I'm hoping things will start to get to "normal" within that time. It's frustrating but what can you do?

I have yet to sell anything on Etsy but it's still a fun experience. If you want to keep up with all the projects I'm doing, check out my other blog,
bibliobags.blogspot.com.

Charlie is doing well . . . we finally put together his toddler bed and he started sleeping there two nights ago. John and I are totally sleep deprived from the transition. Charlie is extremely picky about sleep and if something is just a little bit off, he'll wake up over and over again. It's like having a newborn all over again--NOT FUN. Last night, he started screaming so I went in his room to find his bed empty. Scary. It took me a good 30 seconds to figure out he was stuck under the bed! I still have yet to figure out how that happened. Sigh. It's always more interesting with Charlie around . . .

Chalk it Up

The other day Charlie and I were playing with sidewalk chalk. Well, Charlie drew a few scribbles until he found that tossing chalk was more fun. The monster truck, Batman symbol and Charlie outline were my creations. My mom was concerned when she came home and saw a tiny chalk outline on the driveway . . . I thought I'd save the police the trouble . . . JK. He's lucky he's cute . . . check out the chalk all over his face!






I've got to share some of these funny Charlie quotes from the week before I forget . . .

Charlie has invented what he calls "kiss bites." He goes to give you a kiss only to bite you instead. These week I was introduced to the cousin of "kiss bite," "hug bite." You can imagine what that entails.

One afternoon, Charlie was sitting on my lap holding his stuffed tiger. He told Tiger in a sweet voice, "I love you, Tiger. Want to know something? Guess what, Tiger? I got a present for you. Wanna know what it is? You get to smack Mommy!" Before I could even say anything, I got a face full of stuffed tiger.

The next day, Charlie made a fist with his hand and covered it with his other hand. He goes, "Mommy, got a package for you!" He pulled out his fist and punched me while yelling, "PUNCH!" (The way he says it sounds more like "Paunch!")

Ah, boys. Before you think my child is criminally insane, I should share some nice things he said. Even though he's only 2, he notices things. I was in the middle of making a book purse and happened to walk by him carrying it. He gasped and said, "Cool purse, Mom! Good job!" That made me feel good because I was in a really bad mood. Another day he saw me wearing a new hoodie and said, "I like your new blue shirt, Mom." He didn't even know I'd gone shopping! He's going to make a great hubbie someday!

Movies, Pancakes and Heels

It's been a busy week! I guess I'll start with last weekend. On Saturday, John and I FINALLY got to go out on a date (thanks for sitting, Grandma Flynn!). We went to see "Iron Man 2." It was good but to tell you the truth, I only saw it a week ago and I don't remember a lot about it. It's not the most memorable movie but you can't go wrong with Robert Downey Jr. Sunday night was huge for John and I because it was the "LOST" finale. Yes, John and I are a couple of crazy "Losties." We stayed up until almost 3 a.m. watching it (we had a bunch of family over at the house so we had to wait until everyone was gone and in bed . . . not to mention we had a 30 minute "intermission" thanks to Charlie waking up)! John had smartly taken off work Monday so we slept in big time. That afternoon, we took Charlie to see "How to Train Your Dragon." Luckily, one theater in town still had it in 2D . . . we were not about to pay an extra $6 for 3D glasses when we knew Charlie wouldn't wear them anyway. It turns out we were the only ones in the theater! Score! Charlie was super good and only got out of his chair a few times. This is the first movie he's seen in the theater since "Up" one year ago. It was so nice to not have to worry about him throwing stuff at other people or talking, etc. I know this sounds insane, but I liked "How to Train Your Dragon" better than "Iron Man 2"! Maybe it was because I had low expectations but it seriously is a good movie!

On Tuesday, I finally got to see an endocrinologist. My appointment wasn't supposed to be until June 8th, but they had a cancellation and so they let me take that appointment. Dr. McLean is my dad's endo so that's why I went to see him. What I thought was going to be a 45 minute appointment took four hours. He asked me all sorts of weird questions and I got a full physical (again!). He is thorough to be sure but I am grateful for that, even if it's really annoying at times! He dictated with me in the room which I thought was weird. It was nice in a way because it made me understand why he asked the questions he did and so on. Then, as he's talking to his little recorder he says, "Patient is extremely pale which could be an indication of (some long latin sounding word which I had never heard of!)." WHAT?! He didn't say a word about my skin color in the appointment. I about died. So now I guess my skin is so white it's clinical. It's a symptom! LOL. Way to raise my self-esteem! ;) Then, I had to go to the lab for more testing. Can I just say that phlebotonists are the cockiest professionals ever? And I come from a family of lawyers, so I should know. JK, JK. Anyway, my veins are really small and I ALWAYS have a hard time giving blood. It usually takes nurses a few tries to get a vein. Every time I go in to have a blood test I warn the nurse that my veins are small and that it'll take a few tries. Without fail, the nurse nods and smirks as if to say, "Yeah, whatever. It won't be a problem." Well, 6 pokes and 3 nurses later, I finally was able to give up 7 more vials of blood. Add that with my weekly allergy shot and I can tell you I'm SO sick of needles! I'm lucky I don't have a fear of needles, shots or blood. Nevertheless, I'm so done with being poked. Anyway, I don't know when I'll get the test results back but I go back to see the endo in 2 weeks. Hopefully we'll get somewhere soon . . .

My Etsy shop is doing great! No sales yet, but that's okay. I've only been up for a week! I've gotten lots of great feedback and hearts. Even if I don't sell anything, the experience is totally worth it. I've gotten to "meet" lots of really talented people. It truly is an awesome site and if you like handmaking things, I would definitely recommend starting a shop. It's so fun to meet people just as quirky (or even more so) and passionate as I am. It's a very community-based thing so it's very cool.

Some Charlie stuff:


We had a first last week! For the first time, Charlie cleaned his plate at dinner! When to take into account the entire dinner was doused with sugar (pancakes and strawberries), it's not that much of an accomplishment. :)




Charlie having fun in a pair of my heels. In his defense, I think he just liked the loud noises they made . . .

Charlie has also learned how to put shoes and clothes on by himself. They don't always go on the right way but he's becoming such a big boy nonetheless.