Potty Time!

Ok... so I admit. I was a little camera happy, but Charis is developing this amazing, goofy personality. She loves to laugh, smile, be silly, etc. AND... I just happened to be able to catch my often serious little girl in one of her quirky moods... on the potty! :) Which makes it just a little bit cuter in my estimation. So enjoy!

"Uh oh! Mom's got the camera!"

"Uhm.... I am not sure this is a good time."

"So, I guess I'll just play to the camera."

"Hey, you wanna see my goofy lip?"

Little concentration going on...

"Phew-wee!!! You guys did not tell me about the smells involved with this whole potty thing."

"I love you mum, but could we be done now!"

The Color Blue!

This is Charis' newest dress and present from Grandaddy and Grandma in GA. So, I thought I might just post a few pics primarily for them but also for others to enjoy if desired. I thought this color looked particularly good on her. She certainly seemed to like it. :)

Charis walking

I just love these shoes!

She just loves sitting at the piano!!!

Not quite the right form but... It is a modern arrangement! :)

Yeah.... "How many pictures has this been now... 30 and counting???"

I just love the little hands and feet!

I had to post this pic as this is a very typical face of Charis when she has had enough!

Now for the comfy clothes and Daddy's hat!

You know that you are a "parent" when...

WHEN.....

1) You lean down to tie your shoe and without thought, double knot the lace.

2) You fix a meal for yourself (finally...) and give half or all of it to your ever eating, and particularly adorable at the moment child.

3) You are showered in smelly substances and do not give a shriek of alarm.

4) You are not upset by the the little cries emanating from the bedroom announcing that the "long morning of rest" you were cherishing is now over.

5) You are cooking a meal and suddenly there are little arms wrapped around your legs, seeking to stop all movement, and almost succeeding as you fly towards the floor.

6) You are trying to take that much needed, restful, warm shower only to have the shower curtain opened again and again... so much for the warm-part of the shower. :)

7) You find amusement in watching your small child perform the same antics again and again.



Well, the list could go on... if any of your readers can give input as to their experiences. I would love to hear from you!!! : -)

Have a wonderful NEW YEAR!!!!!

Hmmm... my baby daughter is growing like a weed. So much for the "small compared to everyone else" stage. I have posted pictures here and there without doing too many at a time, especially when it came to pictures of our trip to GA. So, here are some outside ones of us enjoying:

Charis getting ready for her first horse back ride!!!

Wow! That does look like fun.

Charis and Mummy

All done already.... "please, can I get back on???"

"Maybe one of the horses passing by might just let me on... anyone, please?"

Riding with Daddy... Woohoo!!!

Still riding...

Patting the horse

Yep...now it is my turn to drive... hold on!!!

"And... back to watching, again."

What's new!

I don't have much to share other than a couple of semi-important events. My baby is growing up and despite the lack of communication on her part -- or at least intelligible communication -- it is comforting to know that she does understand.

Our biggest news is that Charis actually walked a couple of days ago. Sean has been working and working with her, and then my dad came for a visit and bought her some adorable shoes that seem to lend just a tiny bit of needed support. So, I came back from teaching violin to hear that she had been walking. I did not really believe it until I saw her walk not just one toddling step but up to ten!!! Let me not shout forth too joyously as Charis has since decided that walking is not really her thing quite yet. It seems that only Starbursts induce sudden desires to walk. :)

Secondly, Charis never, and I mean never, sleeps in our bed. In fact, I have had to work on actually making her rest in my arms recently. However, we had an incident of "paci gone missing" last night. So, around 5:00 am she awoke, and Sean who was getting up for work brought her upstairs. I went back down to look for paci and could NOT find it. I searched and searched only finally to search Charis and find it down in her jammies!?! :) Tired, sleepy, and Charis a little emotional, I took her up to bed with me. We both slept happily until about 8:30. Yeah!!! :) Charis of course woke me first and insisted on getting out of bed. I placed her on the floor and explained that until I got some pants on we were not going anywhere. She looks around and then grabs the first article of clothing on the floor and hands it to me. I was impressed!!! The object was not exactly pants, but it showed that Charis was comprehending my needs by my words alone, not actions or guestures needed!

So,... we will keep working!!!

Thanksgiving!

When I reflect over the past days, months, years... I am always comforted to see the hand of God working in my life. There are times when I become disgruntled and yes, upset, and think that I could perhaps do better myself, but... just about then, I am given a "lovely" view of the end result of situations that I attempted to micro-manage. These images are not oh so lovely! :) While this is difficult, at least it serves as a reminder to trust in God above all else.

Anyhow, I am so thankful for a loving, supportive family, and thought... I might just share a few pics with you from our family gathering. So, off of my soap box I jump! Enjoy! :)

Getting stuff ready!

Boys will be ... boys!?! :)

Mom and Martha

Martha and Me

Charis and Alex

This little/big man has the ability to light up any room with his infectious smile!

Kids, Babies, and Bigger Kids!

Belated Happy Thanksgiving from Mine to Yours!!!

News

I do hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. My family, though busy, thoroughly enjoyed the time that all siblings, children, and parents had together. The only unfortunate event was that everyone seemed to have some variation of a cold and which was passed around. Some of us were able to ward off the sickness, but most of us succumbed to illness eventually, despite the numerous safeguards taken -- and believe me... I took everyone possible one!

Anyhow, I will be posting those pictures at a later time taken at our family gathering. I am even contemplating posting a link to the professional pictures made of the 23 of us, but ... We'll see.

Instead I thought I might just post a few of Charis' newest antics.

Charis seems to like attention, especially mummy's attention when mum talks too much to someone else. Charis reminded me of this quite some time back when she made the most awful eye bulging, nose scrunching, body shaking, face reddening, and noise growling gesture I have ever seen at my mom, who was discussing some upcoming music plans with me. I have never seen anything like it!!!!

Other than the occasional tumble backwards, Charis seems not to get hurt too often. Sean did find her yesterday (and I would give anything to see a picture of it), after hearing a rather distant, as if in a box, cry emanating from the living room. Somehow, Charis when reaching into her box of toys had fallen head first. By the time Sean noticed the peculiar cry for help, though rather muffled, her little bum was poking straight up, her head in her box, and her body bent at a rather odd angle. I just keep laughing every time I think of it, though full of sympathy! :)

Otherwise, Charis loves to grab my cell phone and chatter away while holding next to her ear. It is rather odd, as I really don't talk on it very often in front of her.

AND.... she seems to be addicted never to learn any new words other than .... "Waz-dat?" This question at times is used as a question, but more than often it if employed to point out something desired, or rather demanded. My little girl has not yet mastered the technique of polite requests.

AND.... Charis cannot seem to respond to our emphatic, ... "NO!" Still working... maybe one day.

Well, perhaps by the time I post next Charis will have come across a new interests like... Walking!!! One step so far unassisted, but...

Until next time... God bless!

Project and Picture!

Well, I had a long explanation of what I have been up to recently written out, but as it is quite late, and I just erased everything!!!... A brief summary will have to do. Suffice it to say that piano moving, banister building, car brakes changing (now for the third time due to faulty info), curtain hanging, leaf raking, closet organizing, storage room and door painting, A/C unit removing, etc. have been just a few of my activities. When you add on private violin lessons, 6-7 suggested hrs of practice daily (except that I have only had time for 3-4 hrs daily because Charis sleeps lightly in the early morning and Sean sleep lightly late night :), and oh yeah, did someone say something about family time and FOOD! :) Needless to say, I don't exactly have too much time to sit around. Providentially, I have also been getting quite a few students here and teach Mon/Wed evenings and Thurs/Fri afternoons. So, here are just a few pictures of Charis recently and the of a past project of which I promised pictures ages ago but due to a slight battle with blogger's idiocy failed to perform.

So... enjoy!

Massage time which follows each shower seems to produce a trance-like state...

And then sleepiness...

An then... back to reality! -- "Mom, did you get water in my ear???"

Below are a few pictures from my moment of temporary insanity when I attempted, somewhat effectively, to make a pattern from my car seat to produce a new cover for my oldest sister's car seat. I attempted to choose fabrics that I best thought blended with her personal taste.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Family Portrait

Charis and Daddy having fun!

Opening gifts very seriously with Daddy!

"Honestly, if you take one more picture!!!"

A book!

My trial Strawberry Cake

Since my blog will not let me insert text at the beginning... I will write at the end!

Well, it seems that my darling daughter is one year old already. I cannot believe it. It seems to me that she is not quite mature enough to have reached that mark, or perhaps, I have just a preconceived, entirely faulty notion in regard to the grand old age of one year. :) I think the latter thought must be correct.

Anyhow, it seems that I am a poor gift giver and love to give gifts early, especially when the gifts are "needed, necessary" gifts. So, poor Charis did not get to open too many presents. I thought that all babies liked the paper the best. However, Charis seemed to be more infatuated with the gift itself and really would not participate in tearing open the gift (despite her joy in pulling the whole roll of TP off the wall and shredding part of it into teensy-weensy bits...).

Anyhow, that is about all for now... so until next I feel able to post! Have a good day!

Finally.... old pictures...

Ok... so yes, I am so incredibly ignorant. I decided to try one last time and just decided to hit post despite the numbers and letters and guess what??? Out popped my pictures! So, thanks to Amy who gave a helpful tidbit of info. and Rachel who asked if I had the "Edit Html" tab open rather than the "Compose" tab, things are back to normal, and I am back to posting somewhat more regularly. :)

Anyhow, below are a few pictures out of many over the past months. Charis is growing so quickly! I can't believe how mature she is getting, and I can't believe that she is almost a year old.

She loves to talk and points at everything saying, "Whaz dat?" Her other words said at random according to her pleasure are: tree, dog, daddy, mama, tick (for clock), teddy, etc. She also loves to give hugs and kisses (which are accompanied by the sounds mmmmm-mwa!) She is crawling up stairs for quite some time now but has not quite accomplished the down part sometimes going backwards, rolling head over heels, or length-wise. She has been pulling up on everything. Strangely enough, she doesn't seem to like pulling up on tables unless it is an object which is waist height, but rather will "pull up" on flat surfaces or chair legs. Charis absolutely adores playing with everything but her toys, minus any toy toss-able. She will sit for quite a while throwing her tennis ball, rubber ball, or pretty much anything back and forth. We tease that she must be preparing to be a tennis player because she has the grunting down pat which accompanies most throws. She also loves sticks. I will post some pictures later which particularly display this adoration on her part.

So, until next time... Enjoy!

Helping mummy with laundry as well as displaying the dangers of sitting for a professional photographer on her left cheek. All pictures thereafter where taken from the right side only.

Having fun looking "outside." Whazdat? ... a doggy? Nope, just mommy! :)

Watching Baby Einstein and playing in a box. The best!!!

She absolutely loves the color blue and her ball!

What me?

Long Overdue

I really am trying to post some long overdue pictures of Charis. However, I cannot seem to get them posted in a manner which would be of any appeal unless some of you computer geniuses out there know how to transmit to mind dozens of numbers and letters and turn this into a picture that makes sense. I certainly do not have the capability and am quite aggravated about the situation. Does anyone have any suggestions why all of the sudden the pictures will not post correctly??? The chosen "to post picture" comes up in the box before I push "done" but then upon looking at the actual blog... again... masses of numbers and letters. :( I would appreciate any wisdom given!

Thanks,

Katie

Jeannette Update!

Thank you all for your prayers. There is not too much to say other Jeannette is in somewhat stable condition, for which we are grateful. She was on an extremely high dose of steroids which kept the doctors from being able to run necessary test to discover why Jeannette experienced such terrible side effects after pregnancy. They are in the process of weaning her slowly back from almost 200 ml. to 30 ml. in order to do tests. Lord willing, those tests once done will shed some light on the situation. She is just resting at this point while my sister, Rachel, graciously agreed to take baby Samuel and breastfeed him with the intention of gradually teaching him to take a bottle. Rob and Jeannette hope to pick up Samuel early next week if all goes as planned, and my sister, Martha, will be going up to SC for a couple of months to assist. We are all doing whatever is possible to be of assistance, but we must primarily wait on God to do His perfect will. Thank you all again for your prayers and thoughts!!!

Need for Prayer

Please find below a prayer request from my brother-in-law, Rob in regard to my oldest sister Jeannette. The family would deeply appreciate this request being passed on in your churches:

Dear Congregation,

We would appreciate your prayers for Jeannette today. She was experiencing some difficulties last night, which became more severe this morning. The symptoms seem to indicate that she is having an Addisonian crisis, which means her adrenals are crashing after coming down from the high doses of IV soluble cortef before and after surgery. She has blurred vision, difficulty breathing, nausea, acute weakness and a list of other symptoms. We have been on and off the phone today trying to reach the right doctors. Jeannette's baby doctor is actually out-of-town at present. We finally got a referral to an endocrinologist, but they are unwilling to see her right away. Consequently, we are having to go to the emergency room to get treatment, which may result in the same endocrinologist seeing Jeannette in the ER. Little Samuel appears to be doing fine. Jeannette's parents were here today, and her dad is staying with the other children at our house. We would appreciate your prayers for Jeannette and the doctors who will be seeing her.

Warm Regards,
Pastor Rob McCurley


P.S. They did go to the ER, and by the time they arrived Jeannette was unconscious. Thankfully, they were able to reverse some of the symptoms and pumped her full of steroids which will hopefully serve her through the night and until she is able to go to a doctor tomorrow!

Funny Moments

Ok... So, I began to post a few pictures of Charis and then discovered that the supposed photos just become streams of letters and numbers. So... I thought that I might, until I get the dilemma sorted out, just post a few funny incidents that have occurred in the last couple of weeks. Nothing over the top, but simply amusing to me personally. If you do do not find them to be so. Please, by all means, do not feel obliged to read or comment! :)

1) So, I went to the bank today and decided rather than going in and seeing how long our credit union can take to deposit funds that I might see if things progressed more quickly outside. Sean was with me as we went just prior to a family outing, and He was awed by the chutes outside into which one can pull out the canister, slide open the top, place in the desired paper, push the button, and "bingo" ... the transaction is complete with a little help from the lady who pops up on the screen to the right of the the chute to answer any questions and to complete the transaction. Sean's comment was something like he felt as if he had stepped into the future like on the "Jetsons" show." I had to laugh! He really was impressed and never even knew that such outside banking existed!?!

2) Ok.... so I LOVE cooking with herbs, especially fresh herbs... Sean came in rather upset because the parsley had died the other day and had the whole plant in his hand which he had just pulled up. Thus, I consequently decided that dried parley would have to suffice until Sean came inside the from the garden again a couple of days later to state that the parsley must have spread seeds because it was now sprouting up all the way across the garden. I was delighted and then began to chop up the new "parsley" without ado or consideration. The moment I dropped it into my pan Sean pipes up, "I do not think it is parsley." He then asked me a very important question before which he had already discovered the answer. What looks like parsley just a little bit and could possibly be ready to spring up "all over the garden?" My answer was after some thought was... CARROTS!!! So... at least some of our carrots will serve as fertilizer since the tops which indicate their position is missing and we... well,... I am most likely the first to use carrot tops as herbs in my food! :)

3)Lastly but not least... I was traveling home from a conference last weekend when Sean and I, ever on the lookout for the cheapest gas prices, stopped at this little hole-in-between-two-mountains place at which the gas attendant didn't even have a cash register but gave me the correct return amount out of the wad of bills in his pocket!?! Anyhow, it was one of those mostly auto shops, so I overlooked this oddity, especially as we where in West Virginia and then proceeded to the bathroom in the back to wash out Charis' bottle the best I could while holding her in my arms. As the juggling act was not working I went to drop her off with Sean who was inside getting directions from the gentleman with the "wad of bills in his pocket." As I hand Charis off and prepare to go back to wash the not-very-clean bottle again... I turn around to see an old friend from UGA, who I knew that I knew quite well but absolutely couldn't remember a thing about him. Next thing I know, he had swept me into quick hug while my brain was racing through past history trying to reacquaint myself. During all of this, my innocent husband, the bystander, apparently exclaimed in mid-sentence the first thing that came to his mind when his wife exclaims in disbelief and hugs the first guy she comes to in the gas station... " that's weird!!!" This statement from Sean, as I after discovered sent the "guy with the wad of cash" to whom Sean had been talking racing into the repair half of the shop to tell all of the other guys about Sean's rather shocked response as he couldn't hold himself together. Anyhow, I did get a first name to this post UGA grad and previous friend. His name was Terry! We weren't great friends all throughout my undergrad but mostly during my last semester at UGA, and I have not seen him in over 5 or 6 yrs. Yikes! Even then, I would only call us good acquaintances... and then to see him in some random gas station at which most people wouldn't choose to go in WV???
Too odd! (Hey Jen... I know that you knew the guy to! I think he played a wind instrument and was getting his masters at the point I was getting my undergrad... he may have even been the orchestra manager at one point... Just can't remember a last name or anything. Anyhow, Terry had just finished his PhD and was head to Indy to teach... let me know if you come up with anything)

Well, that's it. I am headed bed!!!

Newest Addition in the Family

Well, as some or most of you know, my sister Jeannette was pregnant with her fifth. We have been very excited for her as well as concerned for both her and the baby due to Jeannette's health concerns. However, I am pleased to announce after some rather nerve-racking events (inducement, emergency c-section, etc.)Mr. Samuel Rutherford McCurley and Mommy are doing fine! He was a little tike compared the the usual McCurley babies but appears to be quite healthy. I do not have his measurements, but he was about 6 lbs. 8 oz. So far, he is just sleeping and enjoying not having the usual cone head and blotchy face. :) Thank you all for your prayers during this time!!!

Lovely Carrier!!!

You guys just have to check this carrier out if you have not already done so via Kelley's website. I just loved the color schemes available as well as the certain attributes specific to this carrier: waist support, color schemes, back or front wearing,and especially, the ability to pass the baby without completely taking the baby out of the apparatus!!!


http://www.alongfortheride.biz/Win-a-Free-Beco-Butterfly-and-
-Beco-Toy-Carrier-s/49.htm

Thank you Kelley for sharing!!! I will most definitely keep my eyes open in regard to this possibility for another child or... We'll see!

Charis' Newest Antics.. first time ever!

Funny Motherly Instincts!

Ok... So this will be brief, but it is a situation that Sean and I found quite amusing, despite the fact that I woke him from a sound sleep. If it had been a reverse role... Yikes! He probably would have had a bloody nose, or at least be hurting somewhere still. Anyhow, due to traveling and messing Charis' sleeping schedule up, my Sunday morning began quite early, and Charis decided that she had to eat much more often and sooner than normal. After her second feeding at only 7:30 am, I decided to go back to bed. I wake up suddenly to see/feel something rolling, from my perspective "off" the bed, and I lurched rather urgently to grab (to Sean's chagrin) and keep Sean from rolling over in his sleep. Of course, the last thing I remember was feeding Charis, and I awoke quickly thinking that it was her who had fallen asleep beside me and that she was about to land on the floor. Sean, thankfully, responded with only, "What are you doing???" There were no other repercussions, surprisingly. I, of course, got into a giggling fit and could not stop for some time. BUT... to end this story, Charis was safely in her bed downstairs, and I was able to sleep for a bit longer. :) Has this happened to anyone else?