Easter

This year for Easter (or Resurrection Sunday as would be a more appropriate title) we were in the Ahoskie area. Matthew got a little fishing pole to celebrate from Me-Ma and Pappy.

Matthew got to experience his first Easter egg hunts this year. He had one at daycare early in the week. He found the most eggs in his class according to Mrs. Katie. We went over to Katrina's house so that Matthew could hunt eggs with Liza, Ethan, Bentley, Candice, Levi and the whole lot of the Stanley crowd that was in Murfreesboro. Of course Matthew acted shy at first, so he wouldn't hunt eggs very well. But he had Uncle Jon-Jon wrapped around his finger and pulling him along in a wagon while Matthew pointed to eggs.

He warmed up finally and played house with Liza and ran around the yard.

On Sunday, he got a chance to hunt eggs with Ayden, Katie and Shelby.

He was much quicker on the hunt this time. All the cousins had a blast.

After finding all the plastic eggs (which was pretty amazing considering how many Heather hid) they ran around the yard with Brian pretending to be super heroes.

I am so glad that Matthew enjoyed hunting eggs with his cousins from both sides. I know that hunting eggs doesn't really fit in with the reason that Christians celebrate the holiday and I will teach Matthew why we celebrate and what the resurrection means. But some of my fondest memories from childhood are hunting Easter eggs with my cousins, hiding Easter eggs for my younger cousins, dying eggs, eating one of those nasty cellophane wrapped colored, hard marshmellow eggs each year to see if maybe the taste had improved from last year (we saved those eggs each year to hide the next year because no one would eat them), counting the eggs to see if we had found them all and finding the missing egg in August.

Happy Birthday Matt-Matt!

Today we celebrate two whole years with Matthew. I cannot believe how quickly these past 24 months have flown by. I shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone warned me at how quickly he would grow up on me. And the days probably go by so quickly because each day with Matthew is an absolute joy! I am not doing a very good job of squishing him small. From the day he was born, he has been a happy child with ability to melt everyone’s heart and put a smile on our faces with those sweet little dimples of his. I just finished writing his birthday letter. As I sat reflecting on all the changes and milestones of the past year I am utterly amazed. He is getting to be such a big boy. I am so proud of the little man he is becoming. He has grown from an 8 pound newborn to a 26 pound toddler.

I have watched him grow, so far, into a very curious, healthy and intelligent boy. I can't quite believe that it has been two years since he came in to the world crying and red faced. It may be one of the biggest clichés but it still feels like it was only yesterday and it seems hard to remember any time before we had him. I feel like he has always been here with us and I can't begin to imagine our lives without him. Two years ago today I held him snuggled up in my arms. He was a perfect fit that day for my arms, like God made him just the right size for me. And oddly enough, two years later he is still a perfect fit. Now it takes two arms to hold him and his legs hang off my lap, but when he snuggles his little head on my shoulder, he still is a perfect fit.

Seeing him grow into a toddler has been a real pleasure; I've enjoyed every minute of it (even the frustrating moments too). He loves to explore outside and play pretend with his stuffed animals and chug chugs.

He always makes us laugh. He is growing and changing so fast. Only two short years (only 6% of my life) and yet... two whole years! I think only a parent can understand how a length of time can seem so long and so distant and yet have flown by. I remember so clearly the doctor's appointment when I watched him on the ultrasound, and the sigh of relief that so far this pregnancy was going well. And then 39 long/short weeks later, finally seeing his perfect little face and holding him in my arms. I remember bringing him home, watching him grow filled with anxiety and wonder and pride, seeing him learn to crawl, start to speak, take his first steps...and all of that was just in one year. And now he is two. His life is no longer measured in months or weeks; when people ask how old he is I can finally just say two, instead of doing the math in my head to figure out how many months he is.

So what is new with my two year old since my last update? He is starting to drink out of a cup with no lid (he still has accidents occasionally, but he is getting the hang of it). He is talking more and more – and even in complete sentences! He wants to be outside all the time. He loves to throw rocks in the creek in front of our house everyday. He hunts for bugs and caterpillars and frogs and crayfish and lizards – just like a good boy does. He is actually starting to sleep all night long, and in his own bed on top of that. Some nights he still wakes up and needs comforting. But it is getting better and he can put himself back to sleep a lot of the time now. He wants to know what everything is. He knows all of his body parts – even elbow and chin. He knows a lot of the basic colors. He is learning shapes like oval and triangle. He can recognize some numbers and he counts. He does better counting from 5 to 12, than from 1 to 4. He tries to say his ABCs, but they don’t always come out in order. He loves to put money in his piggy bank. He is not an angel. He spends his fair share of time in time out. He has his daddy’s temper and both our impatience. He can throw a fit with the best of them when he doesn’t get his way. He can be so defiant sometimes and he really tests our patience on those days. We know he is just trying to learn where his boundaries are, but sometimes we get so tired of saying no. As soon as he realizes that he has gone too far, he immediately starts apologizing "I sorr Ma-ma" and he gives me a hug. It is so hard to maintain my sternness and make him stay in time out when he is trying to be so sweet. But I am learning that sometimes parents have to do things that are hard. I understand now what my parents meant when they used to say that spanking hurt them worse than it hurt me. It breaks my heart to have to spank him sometimes.

Today he is two years old. So big. Though he is still mommy’s baby and always will be in my eyes and my heart. I love him more than words can express. Two years ago today he came into my world red faced, and crying, when I heard that beautiful cry I was his.

2 years and 9 months ago he was created to be the amazing, strong, resilient, tough, beautiful, perfect, cute, sweet, smart, and wonderful little boy that he is today. This little miracle means so much to me. I am in awe of the amazing Lord who created Matthew and who gave him to us. I thank Him every day for my Matt-Matt.

Name change PLEASE!

You know sometimes I just want to change my name. Not my given name. Being Charlotte or Charli is just fine. I am talking about my newest title – mama. Or should I say MAAAA-MAAAAA!!!! All other mothers out there will definitely be able to identify with me. I can recall as a child my own mama telling me that she was changing her name. I never understood why she would want to do such a silly thing. The statement usually came when I was constantly calling her name to ask her senseless questions or when Christy and I were calling her name to tattle on each other or especially when Christy and I both would yell for her to get my dad under control when he was being particularly aggravating. I totally get where she was coming from now. I usually have this desire to change my name about 10 minutes into our 1 hour drive to or from daycare everyday after my name has been yelled at least 20 times. Our car ride goes something like this

Matthew – MAAA-MAAAA
Me – Yes, Matthew
Matthew – Whas tis (What’s this) (As if I can see whatever he is pointing to in his book)

Me – I don’t know sweetheart.
30 seconds of silence
Matthew – MAAAA-MAAAAA
Me – (Sigh) What Matthew
Matthew – Bopp-Bopp
Me – Mommy doesn’t want to listen to Bopp-Bopp right now. Mommy wants to listen to the radio.
Matthew – Tay.
1 minute of silence
Matthew – MAAAA-MAAAA
Me – What Matthew
Matthew – EAT EAT
Me – You already ate all of your snack. You can eat breakfast when we get to school.
10 seconds of silence
Matthew – MAAAA-MAAAA
Me – Yes sweetheart
Matthew – Waa Waaa
Me – Mommy can’t give you water now, she is driving.
30 seconds of silence
Matthew – MAAAAA-MAAAAA
Me – WHAT Matthew
Matthew - Where Flop Flop
Me – You threw Flop Flop on the floor. Mommy can’t reach him right now.
1 minute of silence
Matthew – MAAA-MAAAA
I don’t answer right away because I am on the phone usually with Christy.
Matthew – MAAAA-MAAAAA!!! MAAAA-MAAAA!!!
Me – What Matthew
Matthew – Da-Da
Me – No it’s Aunt Christy
Matthew – Da-Da.
I go back to ignoring him.
1 minute of silence.
Matthew - MAAAA-MAAAAA book
Me – I can’t give you a book right now because I am driving.
Matthew – MAAA-MAAA moov, moov
Me - The driver on the bus says move on back, move on ba-
Matthew – beep beep
Me – The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep –
Matthew – Dada
Me – The daddies on the bus say hush that fuss –
Matthew – Mama shh
Me – The mommies on the bus go shhh, shhh, shhh
Matthew – bab-beeee
Me – The babies on the bus go waaa, waaa, waaa

Then we repeat this whole scenario in various orders until he drifts off to sleep in the morning or until we arrive home in the evening.

So sometimes I think it would be nice to change my name. It is funny how before Matthew could talk I couldn’t wait for him to say Mama. And when he finally said it the first time, it was the most precious word I had ever heard. And when he said Dada more because it was easier, I treasured each time his little mouth formed the sounds Ma Ma. Now my name is rarely spoken at a normal decibel. Usually it is screamed at the top of his lungs. It is still the most beautiful word I have ever heard and it is a title I treasure, but sometimes I would like it if my name came out in a normal tone of voice. I honestly believe that Matthew thinks that my name is MAAAAMAAAA, not mama. Maybe I ignored him one too many times and he decided that the only way to get my attention was to scream my name. Well it definitely works, but good grief it tries my patience sometimes.

So now you all can imagine how my car ride goes. Now I do get breaks as he uses his “yo” (cell phone – hello) to call Da Da, Pop Pop, Ayyy (Ayden), Jon Jon, Pap, MaMaMe, and Kar (Kara his girlfriend). He also reads me stories and I can convince him to show Flop Flop different animals in his books. And he sings to me. But I am going to have to get more creative in how to keep him entertained in a car 2 hours everyday if I want to have any peace myself.

Since my last update Kung Fu Panda is still a treasured show, but we only have to watch a couple of episodes a week. Now he is totally into Barn-Barn (Barney). He asks to watch it several times a day. I preferred Kung Fu Panda, but he is adamant about Barney.

Matthew is repeating or trying to repeat almost anything we tell him too. So we have to be more aware of what we say in front of him. He is enjoying Mrs. Katie’s room at school. He has learned to count to 2. He is learning his colors. He can point to all his body parts. He loves arts and crafts (especially the projects we do as homework for school, like this float).

And he is so precious reading his Gee-Sa (Jesus) book (picture Bible) and trying to sing Jesus Loves Me. He can jump sometimes and he is starting to show interest in pottying in the potty. So far in the couple of weeks he has shown interest in the potty he has pee-peed in the potty three times and once on the floor beside it. He sits on it nearly every evening after dinner, but he gets bored usually before something happens. But I know he will get it when he is ready.

He is such a big boy. I can hardly believe how fast he is growing up on me. And I try to remind myself whenever I get frustrated about getting up in the middle of the night or trying to cook dinner with someone hanging on my leg or trying to have a peaceful commute to work that he is only going to be this size for such a short period of time. Before I know it, he won’t need me like he does now. So I try to enjoy these days for the fleeting treasure that they are.

It's Potty Time!

(Note: this blog was written by Brian. It was typed and edited for content by Charlotte.)

To anyone who knows me this has to be one heck of a surprise. Considering I've never posted anything before and may never post again. What prompted me to post this today was my son, Matthew. Today he pottied on a big boy toilet and he was so proud of himself. Now to anyone who doesn't have a kid, this may seem like such a small thing. But as a parent it was pretty dang cool. This is one of those moments I would have loved to pick up the phone and called my mom because she would have understood how much it meant.

I have a picture of my mom and Matthew together on the dresser in his room. While showing him the picture I explained to him how much she loved him and how proud she would be to see him now. He kissed the picture and said "uvvv youuuu" (his version of "I love you"). I miss my mother very much. Not a day goes by where I don't think of her. I would give anything to be able to tell my mom one more time how much I love her and how grateful I am for all she ever did for me and the sacrifices that she and my dad made for me. I can't do that, but I can say to my family and friends I love you and thank you for always being there (from birth, to babysitting, holidays, birthday parties, graduation, my wedding day, late night parties, cookouts, powerlifting meets, vacations, the day my son was born and everything in between). Thanks.

(photo was chosen carefully so as to not be guilty of kiddie porn. this picture is actually of him sitting on his new potty, which was purchased after he pottied in the regular potty.)

PS In case you are wondering - not a drop to drink, just a lot on my mind.

Fa La La La La

Wow where did the year go? I have let too much time slip by without a real update to my blog.

In our small world a lot has changed but from the outside it isn't really noticeable. I don’t know if Matthew is getting better at talking to us or we are just learning Matt-enese, but we are really starting to understand quite a lot that he says. We have to translate for others at least half the time. But it is so refreshing to know what he wants almost half the time. He learns new words nearly everyday. And he is just learning how to jump. It is very cute to watch him try to get his little feet off the floor. I am learning just how persistent a toddler can be when he wants something. It is very hard to dissuade him when he sets his mind on something. Lately his mind has been set on the Nickelodeon show “Legends of Kung Fu Panda”. He absolutely LOVES the show.

He kicks his little leg and makes kung fu noises (whuuh-whuh). He asks to watch “Pan” everyday, several times a day. He is intolerant of commercials during “Pan”, so we have to stop whatever we are doing to fast-forward for him. We have like 10 episodes on our DVR. It is quite possible that we watch half of them a day. He is also addicted to a song that I have to listen to in the car everyday at least 6 times in a row. It is Uncle Kracker’s “Celebrate”. In it the phrase “bop, bop, shew be du wop” gets repeated several times. So Matthew asks for the “bop, bop, shew, shew” music every time we get in the car. He loves to sing along. He also really enjoys singing Heart’s “Alone.” I must say that he does a pretty good job on the chorus and his face looks like he is really into it.

Since my last real update back in November, Matthew moved up to the 2 year old room at daycare. I will admit that I had some serious reservations about this early move. Matthew had only been in the one year old room for 6 months. In my mind there is a reason that the rooms are separated by age. And only the parent of toddler can truly understand the developmental differences there are in a one year old and a two year old, even in an 18 month old and a 22 month old. It seems that every month comes with so much development. And I was comfortable with the setup, the curriculum, the schedule, and well pretty much everything in the one year old room. I really loved his teacher and so did he. But a lot of younger one year olds were about to enroll, so there was some discussion about how to best accommodate these new students. It was determined that Matthew was advanced enough to move into the 2 year old room, along with a couple of other older one year olds. He seems to have adjusted pretty well. On his first day in that room, he came home with a new favorite word – NO (and not just no, but emphatically NO). His new teacher loves him just as much as his one year old teacher, but she is stricter and more “no nonsense”. Maybe the move was just in time to give him some extra firmness and discipline to help temper the early onset of terrible twos. Or maybe the move caused the early onset. Either way, my sweet little boy has turned into baby Jekyll and Sweetie Pie. One instant he is yelling “No” and saying “Mine” as he snatches something or chunks it across the room and the very next instant he is looking all sad saying “I sorr” (I sorry) and giving kisses. I think he knows that his smile is our kryptonite. It is so hard to stay mad and keep my firm voice when disciplining him when he flashes those dimples at me. But I keep telling myself that it is my responsibility to raise a nice boy. Each day at daycare without time spent in timeout is a victory. I pray that terrible twos is a short lived phase and quickly passes into terrific twos. The new classroom came with homework for mommy and daddy if you can believe it. In the little over a month Matthew has been in his new class, we have already had to do 2 family projects - make a turkey at Thanksgiving and a gingerbread house for Christmas. They were fun. Matthew loves crafts (just like his mommy). And he only ate paint twice. So I count that as a success. The hard part of the projects was that I didn't have enough time to do everything I envisioned.

We had an amazing Thanksgiving. Matthew enjoyed spending time with his extended family and playing with his cousins. He really enjoyed decorating the Christmas trees.

He also wanted to look at “baby Jee” in each nativity scene he saw. He only messed with the presents under the tree once, which we only put his presents under the tree so that we wouldn’t have to re-wrap anybody’s gifts. He seemed to really to understand the concept of opening presents this year.

He unwrapped his and helped others open their gifts too.

He did get bored after awhile with opening everything if he had too large of a pile in front of him. Which I can understand, he wanted to play with his cool new toys. He really enjoys his new John Deer tractor that “Pop Pop” got for him.

He also was thrilled with his new 410 shotgun from Me-Ma and Pappy.

He loves “pow pows” so he can “shoo, shoo”. He enjoys pretend shooting Brian with a Nerf gun. Of course we will put his shotgun up for him until he gets big enough to understand proper gun safety. I know Pappy can’t wait until he can get both his boys in the woods on a hunt. Matthew also has been vacuuming the house with his toy Dirt Devil and playing with all the animals for his Little People Zoo. I told Brian, that we need to build an addition to the zoo to properly house all the animals that everyone got for him. As we unloaded all the gifts from the car, we had quite a physical reminder of how much everyone loves Matthew. We are so blessed. I don’t know where we are going to store the fruits of all this love, but we will manage. I think we could open our own toy store, but Matthew really loves his new toys.

As I prepare to say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012 I want to remember all the fun, happy times from 2011. This past year has been filled with many precious moments and I know that I don't take enough time to really pause and appreciate them. I pray that I get better at really appreciating all my blessings. I don't know what 2012 has in store for us, but I pray it is filled with twice as much laughter as 2011, half the heartache and struggles, and more love than I can measure.

a year has passed

I haven’t updated in awhile. And this isn’t really an update this time. This is more about remembering the significance of today.

A year ago today my mother-in-law, Cathy, passed away. In some ways I can hardly believe that it has already been a year. What's a year? 12 months, 52 weeks, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. One trip around the sun.

Some days the pain of her death is so fresh, that it is like it just happened. Sometimes I catch myself referring to her in the present tense, even though I have had a year to adjust to her absence. And other times it is like she has been gone for a really long time - like when I sit and try to remember her laugh or smile or just the tone of her voice. Sometimes I can’t recall those small details and in the course of just a year, you shouldn’t forget those things. Sometimes it seems so hard to hold onto the details of her. And I feel like I need to hang onto the details, like I owe it to her and Matthew to keep her memory alive. My heart aches for the pain I know Brian is in because he misses her and he feels that he left too much unsaid. My heart breaks for Matthew and the fact that he didn’t get a chance to know his Grandma Cathy. Sometimes I am angry that choices she made cheated Brian out of more time with her, cheated Matthew out of getting a chance to know her, cheated herself out of the opportunities to spend time with people who loved her so much. I am angry with myself for being angry with her, when she isn’t here any longer. The anger is short lived and the moments are few. Most of the time I am just sad that she isn’t here.

And I can’t believe all the things she has missed out on with Matthew in the course of a single year, just 12 short months – first Christmas, first steps, first birthday, first words, first haircut, dancing, really communicating. He is really becoming quite an amazing little person. He has such personality. He teases, plays, jokes. I really wish Cathy could be here to see it all. She would be in complete awe of her grandson. She would proudly hang his latest masterpiece on her wall. She would anxiously await new pictures. She would enjoy trying to convince him to talk to her on the telephone. And she would treasure every minute she could spend with him.

As this anniversary of her death approached, I read back over the memorial blog I wrote to her at the end of last year and I realize that it still hurts just as much when I think of all that we lost when she died. But I also am able to smile as I recall happy memories of her. I know that as time passes, the hurt won't be as acute and sharp. It will still be there, but the joy of having known her will overshadow the loss. I know you are up there Cathy looking down on us occassionally. We love you and miss you. We are glad that your pain is no more. And we have faith that we will be reunited with you one day.

We miss you so very much. You are not forgotten and you are deeply loved.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Matthew had his 18 month checkup a week ago. Everything was great. The doctor was pleased with all his developmental milestones and his growth. I am awestruck by how quickly he is growing up on me.

We have been really enjoying Matthew’s increased communication skills. He tries to repeat things we say. It is so refreshing when he can say what he wants instead of grunting. Don’t get me wrong, we are a long way from full on communication. But we understand at least half of what he says. Because of his doctor appointment, I had to count up how many words he uses regularly and I was pleasantly surprised – over 30. And that’s not counting words that he has said occasionally. He is starting to form short sentences - "where go", "whats dat", "i hide", "mama sit", etc.

Speaking of "where go?", where is the time going? October is gone. I feel like I have blinked the year away. I can’t believe that Christmas is just around the corner. Brian and I actually started our Christmas shopping this weekend. I feel like we were just celebrating Matthew’s first Christmas yesterday. It was quite the challenge having Matthew with us as we shopped. The problem is not that I think he will recognize something we want to stash away for him, but rather he thinks everything we put in the cart is his. He says “mine” about everything. All the kids are getting toys that Matthew tried out as we shopped. He made sure they were all in good working order, even the girl toys. It was fun shopping though. We are trying to shop a little all along, so that our pocket book doesn’t take such a huge hit all at one time.

I just love Christmas. I have always loved it, but I love it even more now that I have Matthew. I can’t wait to teach him about why we celebrate Christmas. Brian and I are still trying to figure out what traditions we want to start with our little family. As Matthew gets older, they will become more important. I loved the traditions that I grew up with.

It’s amazing how parenthood changes your vision. Colors are brighter, people are nicer, and things are more beautiful. Everything in my life has a new joy to it with him. I often think about how Matthew views the world. He is totally unaware that there is bad or evil out there. As we walk through the store with him holding one of our hands, he cheerfully waves at everyone we meet and says “Hi” in the sweetest voice. He blows goodbye kisses to every cashier. He wants to play with every child. He has no idea that people can be mean, spiteful and hurtful. He doesn’t realize that people kill each other over trivial things like skin color, clothes, backgrounds, and a whole host of other things. When I look at his sweet little face, I think about how blessed he is to be untainted by this world yet. And I wish he could forever remain so innocent and unexposed to life’s hardships. I pray the world will get better – that people will become more civilized – by the time he is old enough to understand. I pray he won’t learn the hatred that some have for those who are different. I hope he always sees the good in others. Childhood innocence is so beautiful. Children are the perfect illustration of God’s love. Not only are they miracles fashioned by God. But they love without judgment, unconditionally. And they love everyone. God tells us to love one another as He has first loved us. God created us all and He loves us all, even those who don’t love Him. Why can’t we all see the world with the innocence of a child? Why can’t we all have a childlike faith in mankind?