Charlotte Ann is ten months old!

Charlotte has entered the double digits at ten months old!  She is finding her own voice through her constant babbling, varying intonations of "ooohhhh" and "ahhhhh", and growling (guess she is around the pups too much!), loves exploring toys and objects using both hands, is still obsessed with the taggie on anything, and enjoys her cloth books more than anything at this point.  She eats fruits, veggies, and sometimes unwillingly meats nearly every day.  We have tried introducing puffs to get her to practice chewing with her 3.5 teeth but she has shown zero interest in this snack at the moment so we have been sneaking the puffs into her veggies or fruits much to her surprise each time. 

She still sleeps throughout the night with her arms in a victory pose and indicates she is ready for a nap or bed by sticking her one arm in the air and looking like she is trying to lick her armpit when she is really feeling her teeth in her mouth.  It is the funniest thing.  Lately she has been flicking her wrist in a twisting movement almost as if she is waving and loves to shake her head, "no", back and forth back and forth back and forth.....!  She still likes to make eye contact with others by twisting her head and almost putting it in front of others when they are talking to try to insert herself into the conversation. 

Charlotte also has begun to demonstrate separation anxiety at times when Adam or I leave the room but for the most part she is still her cheerful loveable self!  At her pediatrician appointment this past week, she weighed in at 16 lb. 13 oz. and is 26.26 inches long.  The doctor said she is on the small side but that it doesn't necessarily mean she will be short and we're not too concerned with it.  He also expressed surprise over her lack of crawling or attempting to walk and expects her to be doing this within the next two months as she turns one year old.  Again, we're not too concerned but will continue with tummy time and encouraging her to reach for objects when playing.  She will do these things when she is good and ready.  :)

Surrounded by pups by the Christmas tree!

"Tricking" her into doing tummy time by having her examine my ring while being on her tummy....!

The things my parents make me do.....

Almost...but not quite!

Multitasking = playing with toys with her feet, relaxing with her furry brothers, and drinking from her bottle

We enjoyed ourselves at the Nutcracker Village in our town in mid-December!

 

Helping Mommy make Christmas cookies one cold winter night!

This is how the pups cuddled with one another during a road trip to my twin's holiday party.

Have I mentioned how much Charlotte Ann loves to twirl her burp cloth?  Future Steelers fan on account of the Terrible Towel like action she likes to engage in these days??!

Perhaps we need to find a different book that reads, "Dusty Cuddles"   ; )

 

Working her way on to the naughty list at the work Christmas Party!

Always reaching!

Playing with toys by the Christmas tree side by side. 

Charlotte took an interest to noses, mouths, faces, and anything else she could get her hands on this past month.

~ Peaceful nights under blankets of snow and amidst twinkling lights ~

Love these holiday nights with my girl!

Exploring newfound freedom in a restaurant thanks to Aunt Wendy and Uncle Tim's Christmas gift of a portable high chair!

Love our new Advent Wreath a from a friend!!  It brought many peaceful nights of prayer.

Her legs are so long now compared to when she first started using the exersaucer over the summer!

This was placed on our tree by one of the kids over New Year's...how sweet!

Ringing in the New Year with one of my favorite little girls!

So busy playing with some of her new toys!

I think she thought these teething stacking rings from Aunt Alicia and Uncle Mark were hand weights based on how she played with them!  ; )

She was not a fan of the sippy cup of water.  We'll have to try with a different cup to see if it makes a difference.

I wish I could freeze moments like these forever.

We had ten days' worth of Christmas cards and photos to go through upon our return to Ohio after the holidays.  Charlotte helped me read them and inspected every single one.

Charlotte Annie got to break in her snow suit early in 2017!

Playing with Dad's badges before returning them to his work on the last day of his job.

Helping Mommy grade final exams at the end of the semester!

Charlotte is starting to show a slight understanding of the word, "no", when Adam or I say it by acknowledging the tone of our voices.  She is also resisting when she doesn't want to do something by pushing a hand or arm away, by shaking her head no, by grimacing, or by closing her eyes.  She loves to look at herself in the mirror and will often smile at the baby staring back at her or at whoever is holding or carrying her at the moment.  She continues to be a social butterfly enjoying her interactions with others and especially being drawn to other children and babies.  One of her favorite things to do when out in the community is to people watch.

She definitely is a little explorer in wanting to examine whatever she can get her hands on and grabbing for things.  She spends quite a bit of time analyzing every object she can reach often moving things from one hand to the other or side to side.  She is beginning to gain a sense of object permanence in remember she chucked a toy behind her and turning around and searching for it after it is out of sight.  She also looks to wherever she hears a pup scurrying throughout the house or toward the office when she hears Daddy cough.

She enjoys being in the same room as Adam or me.  She likes to sit in her high chair as we prepare a meal or being held as we check email or get some work done in the office.  In the living room, she is quite content to play with her toys most of the time as long as one of us is near by and she can see us.  If she is really engrossed in her activity, then we can slip out of the room but not for long.  In the bedroom, she enjoys trying to view what is on the television if it is on and also continues to like listening to her musical CDs.

She recognizes the words, "eat", "milk", and "all done!" and continues to sign the word for milk and also now shakes her head, "no", both in and out of context.  For what Charlotte lacks in desire to be mobile, she seems to make up for in wanting to be engaged with others and be involved in communication.  She is very expressive and definitely likes to feel as if she is part of the conversation.  Babbling-wise, she is able to say, "da, ga, & ba".  A few times it sounded like she said, "Dada", and she lights up every time she hears that word...could she know Dada is Daddy/Adam??  :)

When playing with her toys, she likes to bang them together or have one toy in one hand and a different or another toy in her opposite hand.  Lately, she has figured out how to tilt her head back so she can continue to hold her bottle and drink from it all at the same time.  She is also able to grasp at objects with her fingers instead of using her whole fist or hand.  Each day it seems she makes these small discoveries as she moves closer and closer to her one year old birthday (in just two months!).

 

 Happy ten months to our Sweet Charlotte!!!  <3

An ending AND a beginning!

Tomorrow will be the day Charlotte enters double digits turning a whopping ten months old.  

The next day, January 8^th, will also be two years to the day that we bought our house!  It blows my mind to think that two years ago at this time, we were excited about all the newness in our lives.  We had just driven cross country the week prior moving Adam from one coast to the other.  We were eagerly awaiting the wedding invitations to arrive from Massachusetts so we could set to work in mailing them to our guests.  The newly purchased house stood before us waiting for wallpaper removal and painting to occur.  I was counting down the remaining 136 days until marrying Adam and was about to start my second semester of teaching at my new job here in Ohio.  

Here we are two short, and fast, years later with our beautiful almost ten month old daughter and the dawn of a new semester is about to break.  We are viewing our little house on the snow covered hill in a different light today.  While in California over the holidays, we paid our little house off after paying double the mortgage each month during the spring semester two years ago and then paying triple each month after the wedding all the way up to Christmas this past year.  Had you told me on that crisp cold early January day a couple years ago that we would pay this house in full and be about to embark on another new exciting beginning exactly two years later, I would have wondered aloud if that would have been possible and what pray tell would the new beginning be?!  What is this newness 2017 is bringing to our little family you ask?

Well, today is Adam’s LAST day of work.   

He completed his exit interview this morning, has briefed the folks who will be taking over his schools and files, and will be mailing in his badges and laptop later today.  He has been saying his goodbyes and well wishes have been sent from coworkers and supervisors alike.  Many, including his boss, have expressed an interest in taking him back should he end up needing to return to the company but as of 2pm this afternoon, he will no longer be working from home as he had done over the nearly nine years and our family will be a single income family for the next couple of years. This change is happening due to Adam’s beginning classes as a full time student at my school in ten days.  

How did this come to be?

Well, about midway through the semester last year, Adam came to me saying he was ready to reschedule an appointment with the career services director.  We had originally planned to meet with Nancy the summer of our wedding but cancelled the appointment when Adam got a promotion at his work.  Fast forward 15 months later to late October and Adam felt the time had come to have that meeting.  When he first approached me about this, I thought, ok, we can do this.  We can look into his starting classes next year during the fall which was why I was doubly surprised to learn that Adam was looking to make this change now as he wanted to enroll for the upcoming semester…..!  So the meeting was set and we looked forward to exploring our options with Nancy.  Due to meeting in the evening, after hours, I suggested I reserve a room since Nancy’s building would be locked.  I didn’t pay any attention to the room location until Adam met me in my office with Charlotte and we all three walked downstairs to the meeting location.  Lo and behold, it was the room where I taught my very first class at my school back in fall 2014!!  What a sweet surprise!  By the end of our hour with Nancy, it was determined that we needed to talk with professors in Adam’s top two areas of interest:  Biology and History.  I emailed the professors when we got home that night and soon, a meeting was set for two and three days later with each professor (one of which involved the professor coming to our house that Saturday morning so he and Adam could “talk shop” over coffee and pumpkin bread).   

Charlotte enjoyed being able to attend our meeting with Nancy!

Feeling good after the meeting in the room where I taught my first class on the first day of teaching at school back in Fall 2014!

Reconnecting with Daddy after his meeting with the History professor in Mommy's office.

Coming out of those two meetings, Adam could still go either way with each major so it came down to how many of his previous credits from his college in California that were taken 20 years ago would transfer.  Enter our friend, Ann, who came over that Sunday evening for dinner and a truly individualized and up close and personal advising session at our dining room table.   

Ann went above and beyond the call by providing us with her undivided attention and help on a Sunday no less!!  So blessed by her friendship & expertise!

Adam applying as a student after our meeting with Ann!!!

Ann carefully went through the transcripts comparing the program sheets for Biology and History and it was determined that History was the winner since it will only take three semesters for Adam to get his Bachelor’s degree in that field!!  How amazing!!  Once he obtains his History degree, he plans to continue on and work on his Master’s degree in Education so that he can realize his dream of becoming a History high school teacher sooner rather than later!  Who knows, maybe he’ll continue with his schooling and ….. well, let’s get through this first semester that is. 

This was how Adam announced his news to our family....LOL!

I’m SOOO excited for Adam and the chance for him to pursue a passion of his in a different way.  He has always enjoyed history, is self taught in many historical concepts, and the thought of his teaching this subject to young minds, other than Charlotte’s and our nieces and nephews, makes me so beyond thrilled for him!  I can’t wait to see where he (and our family) will be two years from now.  It will be a huge adjustment for us to go down to the one income over the next couple of years but the truth is, there is no price on chasing your dreams.  Also, when thinking of the dramatic pay cut in salaries between Adam's soon to be old job and his future career, the tradeoff will be so amazing. We will have the same, or a similar, schedule as a family.  Charlotte will grow up with two teachers for parents, we can reach others through our vocations of guiding, teaching, advising, and mentoring others, and we feel this is where God is leading our family for now.  When the conversation comes up about what teachers make monetary-wise, I can't help but think of this video that gives me chills every time I see it.  I would rather, instead, focus on following your passion and making a difference in the lives of others through teaching.  I am so proud of Adam for taking this leap of faith and having the courage to try something new/make a difference in a new way!!!

Yes, we never planned on this major change for us three happening so soon….just like I didn’t plan to get the PhD a couple years ago yet God, family, and friends provided for me then and I just know will provide for us now as we face this change.   

When Adam and I first got married, we anticipated we would save our money for our future children and expenses associated with a house busting at the seams with children so that we could focus on growing our family then turn our attention to Adam’s schooling if that was something he wanted to pursue at that time.  Getting pregnant with Charlotte so soon into our marriage seemed to indicate that focusing on and growing our family was the path we were to be on but then we were faced with the stark reality that there would be no more biological children. Oh how that pains me to say and immediately brings tears even after ten months of living with this fact day in and day out and I still can’t wrap my head around it. We, or rather I should say I am not giving up on our dreams of additional children just yet but am actively working to try to focus more on what/who we have rather than what has been lost and looking at ways to improve our family now.  So, after much prayer and deliberation, we opted to pay the house off sooner than planned and Adam felt called to go back to school sooner rather than later….I had thought we would ease our way into it with this major change by Adam signing up for a class here and there while still working full time but instead we’re going full throttle with Adam resigning from work and lined up to take six classes this spring so that he can focus 100% of his time, energy, and efforts to the 18 credits.  I can’t help but think that this is could be Adam's way of working on spiritual fatherhood by taking the steps now to reach all the young adults he will teach, guide, and mentor as a high school history teacher in the future.  Who knows, maybe one day we’ll homeschool Charlotte and he can take on Social Studies??  ; )

So that is our big news as we currently celebrate the Epiphany in our church’s liturgical calendar which is when the three wise men made their way to Jesus at his birth concluding the 12 Days of Christmas.   

Epiphany means “to reveal” and as our family embarks on this huge change of Adam leaving his job and the security of working from home to begin life as a nontraditional student and make his mark on campus, God has revealed lessons in humility, mercy, acceptance, and learning to trust all the more in His providence as Adam makes this “U-turn” (a term coined by the history professor with whom he met in late October) in his life as he makes this new start.  I would rather like to think of this as a “You-turn” since Adam is able to focus on what truly lies in his heart through this new venture and we would appreciate any prayers you could offer our family!  Thank you!!