Charlotte

It's been exactly 18 months today since Charlotte Taylor, our second daughter, entered our world.

Born at 33 weeks, weighing only 3 lbs 15.5 oz., she was the tiniest, most beautiful new baby I could imagine.

I'd had the name "Charlotte" in my head for a few months, and had had trouble coming up with any alternatives. But I thought I'd have 7 more weeks to decide.

As it turned out, the name "Charlotte", of French origin, means "petite, feminine." So it was the perfect name for this tiny little girl.

It was an exhilarating, scary, joyous event bringing her into this world and learning how to take care of her in those early weeks. I felt privileged to be a part of it. Despite the physical pain, despite my fears...moments after she was born, I had the thought, "I'd love to do that again!" While I never would choose to have my newborn in the hospital for two weeks, having to take time away from my husband and my older daughter every day to care for her, I was so grateful that she was receiving such specific care and attention even while I wasn't able to be with her. I was glad to get the detailed updates of her progress from skilled, compassionate nurses who were watching her closely, twenty-four-seven (certainly no mom at home could never do that...we need to sleep!) I was involved in all aspects of her care, and they were my partners.

There simply isn't any way for me to recap her first year-and-a-half of being part of our family. But I will try...

Charlotte has brought so much joy to our family! She smiles and laughs so easily, is just a cheerful and delightful presence, and often showed remarkable patience and flexibility as a baby...much like Dorothy did.

In April, just before her first birthday, we had her assessed by the Frederick County Infants and Toddlers program - a state-sponsored, early intervention program that helps families of children ages 0-3 with all types of delays or special needs. Charlotte qualified for their services based on a motor skills delay (she was late in learning how to sit up, roll, crawl, stand, and walk). A wonderful physical therapist has come to our home twice a month for the last 6 months. She, too, has been my partner in caring for Charlotte...the focus has been on empowering me to help my daughter, just like when she was in the NICU. I have been her coach and her cheerleader. I rejoiced at each accomplishment and encouraged her toward the next one. I guess it's good practice for the rest of her life.

Charlotte's 18th month saw many milestones...perhaps the biggest is that she is now walking independently.

I have been so thrilled to see her exploring the previously uncharted world that has now opened up for her. It has been remarkable to see the world through her eyes, to be her guide and her interpreter. This is especially true when we're outside...and we do try to spend a lot of time outside.

She is close to 20 pounds now...still petite, but the pediatrician (who tends to use the word "underweight" rather than "petite") was very pleased with the weight she'd gained at her last visit. This was so encouraging to her mommy. So yes, I count that as a milestone. She also finally graduated out of her infant carrier this past month, too.

Many have recently said that she has made that transition where a baby suddenly looks less like a baby and more like a little girl. I think it's her big smile full of teeth, her hair which is getting longer, and the fact that she now walks around upright. She talks a lot...sometimes in English. She says "Hi" and "Bye" and "Hello" clearly (with an accompanying wave), "Baby", "Uh-Oh", "Bapple" (which means apple, and as far as I'm concerned she can keep on saying that for the next 5 years if she wants, because it's so daggone cute...)

I am full of love and joy and gratefulness as I write this, on her 18-month birthday. I thank God for this precious little person and look forward to all that is in store for us together.

And yes...I do hope to return to blogging - about both my girls, and the rest of my life. Thanks for reading!

Dorothy's Second Birthday

Dorothy turned 2 years old on January 14th. How time flies! We had a party for her at our house on Sunday, January 11th. This post contains a ton of pictures, so I will let them tell the story.


Here are the cupcakes I made, and the beautiful centerpiece Rob's mom made.


Rob's mom is an incredibly gifted scrapbooker. We were able to display a few of her beautiful pages at the party. Above are the pages from Dorothy's first birthday. It was amazing to see how much she (and her hair!) had grown.

And the above pages showed pictures taken in May of 2008. (By the way, she's not picking her nose in the one picture on the bottom - she's pointing to her nose in response to the question "where's your nose?" But from far away, it does look like she's picking her nose!)

At the beginning of the party, Dorothy was finishing up her nap, and when I got her up, there was already a house full of people. This probably wasn't a good way to bring her in to the party, and she was being rather shy. To escape, she climbed into the bottom of the entertainment center. Needless to say, everyone found this quite entertaining! I wish I had a shot of the "paparazzi" - training a dozen or so cameras on her at this moment.

As a side note, this was the day that the Ravens were playing in their wild card match. (The STEELERS, having won their division handily, had a bye week.) Kelly's family all loves the Ravens (I know, sad, but true) and many of them showed up wearing their purple jerseys and stuff. So it was kind of funny that Dorothy was hiding from the Ravens fans and preferred to curl up on our new Steelers blanket (a gift from Aunt Jackie, even though she is a big fan of the Ravens, wasn't that sweet of her!?)

Next, Dorothy climbed up next to her cousin Porter. Dorothy really loves him and gets so excited when she sees him!
It was time to eat, so Dorothy got in her high chair and her fan club began to gather. Here is her cousin Noah - she really lit up for him!

Next, Emma stopped by to share a giggle.

Emma, Ryleigh, and Dorothy

Ryleigh, with Uncle Dan

Lots of folks enjoying the food.

The big pile of birthday gifts. Our family is so generous!

In this photo she is wearing her birthday "Princess" headband with Daddy looking on as she opens her gifts. She was really funny with trying to open the next gift when she hadn't finished with the current one yet. Daddy helped make sure we were keeping track of which gifts were from whom!

I love the way she is holding up her shirt in this picture (from Uncle Shawn and Laurie). She got a ton of cute clothes, and did a great job of holding everything up for us all to see.

Aunt Jackie gave Dorothy The Potty Book (For Girls). We've been giving this book a workout!

Much to my surprise, my family had decided to honor me with cards and gifts since the day of Dorothy's party was also my birthday (our birthdays are 3 days apart!)

Kristin and Peter were among those who were laughing as I read one of my birthday cards. The card, which was a very sweet card from my brother Shawn, said something about doing "whatever you want to do all day long, because it's your birthday". I had thought it was funny since I spent all day working on Dorothy's party, so sitting around all day was not for me! (However, in reality there is nothing else I would have rather been doing than celebrating the day God gave me my very own daughter!)

Rob gave me another Life Is Good t-shirt. This one says simply, "Laugh." For Christmas he had gotten me the one that says "Love." We both really like the Life Is Good apparel.

Rob also got me some socks, which I was very excited about. Woo hoo!

Dorothy's cupcake with two candles for her to blow out. She did a GREAT job!

After Dorothy blew out her candles, everyone started singing again, and I was confused. I thought someone had missed getting a picture of Dorothy blowing out her candle and wanted to do it all over again. Then I saw another cake being brought out, which was a yummy carrot cake that Michelle had made for me!

As expected, Dorothy made short work of her cupcake!

One of the great gifts that Dorothy got was the Thomas and Friends starter set from Rob's Mom & Mike. Over the next few days, they got her even more pieces of track and more engines and cars for the train. She has really enjoyed playing with them!

Christmas 2008 and New Years 2009

We had a wonderful and blessed Christmas. It was Dorothy's second Christmas, and since she is almost 2 years old, she really got into it this year.

First, there was the excitement when we put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations at our house. She was so fascinated by the ornaments and would ask me every morning to turn on the lights - "kiss-is tree lights on?" she'd say as soon as she came down for breakfast. She would point to the various ornaments and say their names - "angel", "snowman", "star", "bell", "ice" (for a few we have that look like ice cubes), and "mommy and daddy" and "Dorothy" for the various photo ornaments we have.

She was also fascinated by the nativity we displayed in our foyer. It provided a lot of wonderful moments for us to talk about the baby Jesus in the manger, and the shepherds and wise men who came to worship the newborn King. Unfortunately, I kept meaning to take pictures of our nativity display, and I failed to do so (and now it's been packed away!)

The family Christmas events began on Sunday December 21, with a get-together at my sister Michelle's house with my siblings and my dad Gil & Joan. This was our first chance to see how Dorothy would do with opening gifts, and she did very well! She seemed to know exactly what to do, tearing off the paper and "oooh"-ing and "aaah"-ing with joy over each gift.

This was also a wonderful opportunity to see Michelle and Dan's new house for the first time, and it is truly beautiful and perfectly suited to them. I'm so grateful for how God finally provided a buyer for their previous home and allowed them to buy a new home in a nearby town within a different school district.

On Tuesday, December 23, we visited Nanny at her place in Baltimore. Nanny is my grandmother, my daddy Tom's mother. (my Daddy passed away in 2006 when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with Dorothy). My Uncle Pat, my daddy's brother, came over too. We had fun eating lunch together and Nanny & Uncle Pat gave Dorothy some awesome gifts - from Nanny, a pink learning laptop computer and a set of Mega Blocks in girly pastel colors, and from Uncle Pat, a jungle book with exciting pop-ups and sound effects talking all about the different animals found in the jungle (this is one of Dorothy's current favorite books; she begs me to read it to her several times a day).

On Christmas Eve, we attended the service at our church. When we got home, I put Dorothy to bed, telling her that in the morning there would be presents around the tree for her to open. She got very excited but also began to cry - since she is a toddler with no concept of time, she thought we were going to open gifts RIGHT NOW. But it did not take very long to settle her, as she was very tired and fell asleep easily. Meanwhile, Rob and I made our final preparations for Christmas morning, putting the gifts around the tree, rearranging the furniture to make more room for Dorothy to open her gifts, and of course, taking pictures.


Christmas morning we all slept in. When Rob and I woke up, we took showers but put our pajamas back on (since Christmas morning is all about staying in your PJ's, right?) When the cameras had been set up, we got Dorothy up from her crib, changed her diaper but left her PJ's on, and brought her downstairs. I still usually carry her all the way to the family room, but this time I put her down in the foyer and let her run towards the family room.

She remembered that I had told her the night before that there would be gifts. She was visibly delighted when she entered the room and saw all the gifts piled around the tree.

We told her that the gifts were from Mommy and Daddy, and it was because God had provided us with the money for us to buy them. We also told her that the reason we give gifts is because the greatest gift was given to us 2,000 years ago, in the birth of the baby Jesus. We let her begin opening gifts. I did not know what to expect - I feared she might be overwhelmed and quickly become demanding and unreasonable - but she was so excited and joyful the entire time! She opened each gift and truly loved each one of the modest gifts we were able to give her.

After opening our gifts, we ate cinnamon rolls (the Pillsbury orange rolls have become our tradition, but I could not find them when I went shopping this year and I got the cinnamon rolls instead). As we ate at the table, Rob read the first chapter from The Life of Our Lord, a book Charles Dickens had written for his children to tell them the story of Christ. The first chapter tells the story of his birth. (I am a huge fan and student of Charles Dickens, yet I never knew this little book existed until I married Rob and he showed it to me.)

We rounded out our breakfast with eggs, toast and bacon. After breakfast, we started getting ready to travel. We put Dorothy down for a nap while we finished packing our suitcases and loading up the car - this was a good move, since it ended up taking us 3 hours to load the car, allowing her to have a nice long nap before we hit the road.

We went to my mom's and visited with her for a short time before she went to bed (she works nights) and then relaxed and talked with Charlie. The next day, December 26th, my mom got some shut-eye in the morning and we had a nice breakfast when she got up. Shawn came over and brought his girlfriend, Laurie, whom I really enjoyed meeting for the first time, and we all spent the afternoon opening gifts at my mom's.

On the night of the 26th, we got on the road from my Mom's at about 11pm to make the drive to New York during the overnight hours. We hoped it would be a shorter drive if Dorothy slept for most of it (which she did) and we didn't need to stop for meal breaks. We made it to Rob's dad's house by 7am and collapsed in the living room while Rob's dad played with Dorothy.

While in New York, we got to visit with much of the family on Rob's side, including a Christmas party at Robin's house on the 28th, a visit to Grandma Roth (Dorothy's namesake) at the Clifton Springs nursing home, and a New Year's party at Ray's on the 31st. On New Year's Eve it snowed all day, quickly producing about 8-10 inches of snow accumulation. This is much more common for them than the annoying "wintry mix" we Marylanders always get. We took Dorothy out in the snow, but only for a short time because the winds were blustery and extremely cold.

During our time in New York, Dorothy made significant advancements in her potty training. I probably haven't kept the blog as up-to-date on this as I should have, since it has happened so quickly. Her first time going pee-pee on the potty was back in early November, but after that it was only sporadic and it would be another 5 or 6 weeks before she'd do it consistently. Around Christmas she started asking to go on the potty more regularly, and by the time Christmas came, she was actually going pee-pee on the potty several times a day, at her own initiative. While we were in New York, she went poopy on the potty 3 times - twice at Rob's Dad & Sharon's house, and once while we were having dinner at Denny's and she asked to go potty, so I had to take her to a public bathroom for the first time! Thankfully it was fairly clean, spacious, and there weren't any other people in there during the whole 20-minute ordeal (since we had to make several trips back and forth between the changing table and the stall before she was successful in going poopy, so my diaper bag and supplies were all over the place). We're so proud of our girlie for how she seems to be embracing potty habits at an early age! I do need continual wisdom for how to proceed, how to encourage her while remaining positive, and when or if to try more aggressive measures (such as letting her wear cloth training pants, or no pants at all, for a few days to move the process along). And even more than that, I need PATIENCE. She has not gone poopy on the potty since we've been back from New York, even though there are times when I know she needs to. I guess the early success gave me high hopes that it would be a continuing trend, but I may need to wait a while - or maybe even a long time - before that happens.

Also while we were in New York, Dorothy showed us more of her demanding side. She started loudly saying "no want it!" in defiance of everything from what or when she would eat, to requests to give someone a hug or a kiss or simply to greet them. She showed that she would be willing to greet someone, but only if it was her idea and not a request from anyone else. She started to display more strong preferences on everything from what color spoon we let her use to what outfit I would dress her in. While preferences in themselves are not a bad thing, and I do see this as a vital developmental step, we also are trying to teach her that she needs to ask respectfully and that she is not allowed to complain or melt down into a tantrum when the desired preference is not accommodated. I'm sure we'll just be repeating this for the next 16 years or so, right?

I put about 49 photos of our Christmas/New Year's activities on my Facebook page, and instead of posting all 49 of them here on my blog, I have posted only a handful. So if you want to see more, you can click here and view them on Facebook, even if you are not a Facebook member. Every other time I post pictures, I put the same exact pictures in both places, so PLEASE don't feel like you are missing something by not being on Facebook! It's just that, since there are so many of them this time, it will save me a lot of time not to have to put them all on the blog.

If you have read to the end of this lengthy post, THANK YOU! We are grateful to have this means of keeping everybody informed of the happenings in our world, and grateful for everyone's interest and care for us! Please, feel free to post a comment to let me know you're out there, whether you are a family member or a close friend or even an acquaintance, it would be great to know who's reading :)

'Tis the season to be...

This Christmas season has felt different than many in the past. There has been much joy, especially as we've watched Dorothy take it all in! But I've also been a bit reflective at times.

God saw fit to provide us with a new home during this past year, for which we are grateful beyond words. As such, we have arrived at December with somewhat limited finances. We had to simplify (limited gifts, no Christmas baking). Yet, at this time, we find ourselves blessed beyond anything we can even express. We have a beautiful, healthy daughter, and God has made us into a family. We have a lovely new home which exceeds anything we could have asked or imagined from God. We have family and friends we love tremendously and who love us also. We have a church, a faithful local expression of God's family in a nation where we're free to publicly worship the God who created us and redeemed us without fear of persecution. We have an income - Rob has just marked 21 years with Marriott and at this point God has seen fit to keep him employed there. And though it's not extravagant, this income is enough...enough for us to put gas in our car, to buy groceries for our family, to allow me to stay home with Dorothy full time, to go out on some dates, and to pay a babysitter. I could go on and on.

So...this Christmas has been a time where I've sought to cultivate more gratefulness for the many ways God has provided for us instead of focusing on what we "don't have" or "can't afford".

At the same time I've also been sobered this season by the awareness of those around me who have suffered unimaginable losses this year, and how Christmas for them can be a painful reminder of people who are no longer with them, and a time when even the simplest tasks of wrapping a gift or addressing their Christmas cards have probably been difficult for them to even want to do. My heart breaks for these friends and I pray that they will depend on God more than ever and see that he really is sufficient for their every need.

As I think about these friends and others who are suffering, it inclines me more to focus on what Christmas is really about, without the many competing ideas of what we can tend to make it all about. It is not about gifts or decorations or cookies. It's not even primarily about spending time with family and friends (although it's a wonderful blessing to do so, and helps make the season one that we anticipate even more). But really it's about celebrating the Incarnation - the fact that, at a specific moment in history, the eternal God took to himself a human nature, became flesh and dwelt among us in order that he could provide the salvation of many, and in order that he could most fully provide his people with grace in their time of need.

I think for me, this season has been one where I've reflected on these truths even more than ever before. And I hope each of you reading this will take time to reflect on them as well, so that your joy in this season may be its most complete.

Though this post is already long, I will leave you with the lyrics from my favorite Christmas hymn, "What Child Is This?" written by William Chatterton Dix.

What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through,
The Cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh;
Come peasant, king to own Him.
The King of kings salvation brings;
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise, the song on high,
The virgin sings her lullaby;
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Merry Christmas!

Tagged

This is the first time I have ever been "Tagged" by a friend who also keeps a blog. So I don't know if I'm doing it right, but here goes. I was asked by Debbie to post the 5th photo from my 5th folder and comment on it. Here it is! It's a photo of my dear husband from when we were in California celebrating our 1-year anniversary. This one was in front of the Ravenswood winery in the Sonoma Valley where we tasted some excellent wines! It's kind of fitting, because we just celebrated our 4-year anniversary a few weeks ago, and as part of our celebration we opened our priciest bottle of wine that we had purchased on this day, at this winery. Sweetie, I'm so grateful for you!! Thank you for being a wonderful, caring husband and such a devoted father.

So, now I'm supposed to tag 5 more friends. But I don't actually know too many friends who keep blogs, just a few. So, I'm tagging Stacy, Tara, Jon's Michelle, Maria K., and Jonalee. This should be fun. I'll have to send them emails since I don't think anyone except my family checks in on my blog, so none of these girls will ever know they've been tagged unless I tell them.

[...the sound of crickets...]

More of Thanksgiving

Dorothy made this feather headdress in preschool as part of the Thanksgiving lesson. She loved wearing it, and I thought the photos were really cute, so I couldn't move on from Thanksgiving without posting at least one of them. OK, three of them.

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day we went to my mom's and celebrated with a yummy feast of turkey and all the best side dishes. Since my mom had recently been in the hospital, she decided to order all the food from Boston Market, but it was really good. I highly recommend it for anyone who isn't able to cook for whatever reason but still wants to entertain. (My Nanny also did this last year because the kitchen in her apartment is more like a closet, but she really wanted to host everyone at her place. God bless her!)

Anyway, my mom was determined to serve everything from real serving dishes, and eat at the dining room table with china, crystal, and silver. So, you would never have known that the food had been ordered from someplace if you had stumbled upon our gathering. Of course, if you HAD stumbled upon our gathering, we probably would have offered you a place to sit - but we didn't have one. My mom's dining room table was full. My mom's husband Charlie and Nanny's companion John were even warned about the "overhang" at their respective ends of the table - where the table pad underneath the tablecloth extended about 6 inches past the end of the actual table - so they were under strict instructions not to put their elbows on the table or there'd be a disaster. Funny enough, both Charlie and John heard the word "overhang" and thought it was a comment on their bellies - but this was BEFORE we ate. Ha ha!

But, I digress. Here are some pictures from the day:

Dorothy wore her black velvet dress with red cherries all over it. It is from Gymboree but I bought it at a consignment store and it was like new. There was no question of what dress Dorothy would wear to my mom's - cherries are special in my family, since Cherry is my mother's maiden name.

These photos were taken after we'd put on her second pair of tights because about 10 minutes after making her entrance, she stepped into the dog's water bowl while wearing the first pair. I mention this because the first pair of tights were white with a cherry print that matched the dress.



Here is a close-up of the dress.






Hey! It's my beautiful cousin Shannon. She is 16 and a junior already at John Carroll, the same high school that I went to. She is a smart, multi-talented, and very sweet young lady. I'm so proud of her...can you tell?


My mom and Aunt Jackie looking at some recent pictures of Shannon from her Homecoming dance. Aunt Jackie saves everything from Shannon's high school in an album (photos, correspondence from faculty, programs from school assemblies, you name it), just like my mom did when I was in high school. Someday Shannon will probably be buying a piece of furniture just to house all of these albums!

My brother Shawn, Dorothy, my mom, and Nanny (my grandmother and Dorothy's great-grandmother). The green fuzzy hat was something Nanny brought for Dorothy and she couldn't get enough of it.

This picture cracks me up - Dorothy looking at the Doorbusters ads with Uncle Shawn.

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Then, on Saturday, we were planning on hosting my whole family (including some who were not able to be at my mom's on Thursday.) Sadly, everyone either cancelled or got sick - so Rob and I were cooking an 18-pound turkey and all the trimmings, and as of Saturday morning it became clear that no one was coming to help us eat it except Rob's cousin Kristin, Peter, and Porter. So, we started making phone calls to our friends! Thankfully, our good friends Paul and Sandra were able to join us with little Anna, who is 1 month younger than Dorothy and one of her preschool and playgroup buddies. I didn't take any pictures, but we had a wonderful time and the food was SPEC. TAC. U. LAR. I mean, wow. God gave me a husband with some serious culinary skills, y'all. (And training, of course). We are still eating the leftovers and I'm still going "mmmmhhh" with every bite - even days later.

Kristin and Peter, Paul and Sandra, thank you so much for coming over and sharing our Thanksgiving feast with us. We really enjoyed spending the time with you!