4 weeks old? and a mission? What?!

Sean's nephew Tanner is leaving today to serve a mission for our church in the Belgium, Brussels Mission and will be speaking Dutch! Tanner was only 9 years old when I started dating Sean. It's hard to believe he is old enough for a mission!Charlotte made her first debut at the zoo last week and did fabulous!
She is becoming quite the chunky monkey. I can't believe she will be 5 weeks old on Friday. How is that possible?
Carter LOVES being a big brother and is such a big helper. The other day he was holding her and singing to her, "I'm your big brother, I love you." I wish I would have caught it on video.
Time goes by so fast, I barely even have time to take a shower these days!

What's in a Name?

If you'll remember, from day 1 Carter said this baby's name was Rose. Once we found out we were having a girl, we knew we had to use the name Rose somehow. I didn't want to use it as a first name but thought it would make a cute middle name. However, the girl names we had talked about didn't seem to fit with Rose as a middle name. While discussing name possibilities with my mom one day, she suggested Charlotte. Charlotte Rose. We instantly loved it. (as a side note, the booties she is wearing in this picture were made for me when I was a baby by my grandma Charlotte)I especially loved it because Charlotte was my grandma's name (pictured below with my dad and grandad). I was really close to my grandma growing up and have fond memories of making Christmas cookies, playing rummikub and yahtzee, going on walks at the cabin, and eating her delicious cinnamon bread! So it seemed all but perfect to name her after someone whom I loved so much and who was such an example to me of someone who was loving, kind, generous, virtuous, and I could go on and on. Char has a great legacy to follow that's for sure!!

Introducing

Charlotte Rose was born on Friday the 17th a little after 5pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and is 20 inches long. Both mom and baby girl are home from the hospital and resting; the big brother couldn't be more excited!

About to Pop!

things I adore at four

*big helper

*sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating

*hard worker

*perfectionist (this is both good and bad, because sometimes he gets upset if it is not perfect and he won't believe me that it really is ok if he colors outside of the lines every once in awhile)

*strong (he's always been freakishly strong--the other day he lifted and carried a 20 pound bag of ice over his head--is that weird?--maybe all kids do that)

*momma's boy

*really good memory (this is especially great since his dad is the complete opposite!--carter will still talk about things that randomly happened a year or two ago)

*snuggles with me every morning when he wakes up

*wants me to lay down with him at night (this won't last forever so i love it)

*loves his cousins (he's asks to play with them every day and now that we are living at nana and grandad's house he can just about do that!)

*shy (last week in primary was better but when the substitute came in and sat by him, he quietly moved over to the next seat! he later told me he was just feeling a little shy)

*holds my hand everywhere we go (even when we walk in the house--again i know this won't last forever, so i love it!)

*loves to cook

*never stops moving (i wish i had half the energy he does!)

Highlights

Carter started preschool last week and goes 3 times a week now. I cried a little when I dropped him off--wonder how I'll handle kindergarten!! I was nervous with how he would do (he wouldn't even look at his new primary teacher for the first couple of weeks!), but he is really loving it and is excited to go every day. I think it helps that his two cousins Mallory and Tyler go with him. It's fun to see him be so excited to learn.
Sean and I went to Sea World just before Carter was born so we decided to make it a tradition and go before this baby girl is born. Our niece Caitlyn was able to go with us and it was so much fun. A quick trip-but so fun. They loved Shamu and getting soaked!

he won't look at his new primary teacher

but he'll do this with no hesitation!!

The surgery/recovery

(Just after surgery)(Just before surgery--he looks so excited to be there!)

New phrases heard in the past week:

1. I am going to die (usually said during the night when he wakes up coughing)

2. Why did you make me do this? (also usually said during the night)

3. I told you I didn't want my tonsils out.

4. Take me back to put my tonsils back in!!

What does he do?

I'm glad you asked. Here is a link for a news report that was done on the project that Sean's company is overseeing at the airport. Sean's been up on the huge bridge that they show--scary! Sean's not with the sub-contractors building the bridge; he is more behind the scenes, drawing the plans for the sky train, ensuring sub-contractors are doing their job, etc...

It will be great to see the finished product...one day!

Click here for the video.

Post-edit: Sean has ensured me that his job is much more complicated than what I have listed. He works crazy long hours so I can account for this, but I wrote it like I was explaining it to Carter, easier that way, ya know.

6 months

I thought I looked tan from being at the lake, but after looking at this picture, I am still pretty white. Onto brighter news, I have recovered from my back injury and am feeling great. I celebrated by mowing the yards for the first time on Saturday.

Roosevelt Lake

We did a little boatingA little tubing
A little fishing (thanks to lots of help from uncles and not clueless me!)

did a little hiking

tried skiing (carter--not me, but i was very sad to miss out on all the perfect water every single day! i guess having a baby is a little more important than skiing this year)
did a little relaxing
it was a fun week at the lake with the Forsberg family but we missed sean!!

a future pro?

Carter and Caitlyn earned a bowling trip and Wendy and I were finally able to take them. They had a lot of fun and I think we may have a future pro on our hands. (and maybe a trend setter with that awesome Spider Man bandaid on his forehead! Nelly may have thought it was cool to wear a band aid on his cheek--but he was way off. Carter has the style down.) I'm just sayin'...check it out for yourself on the video.

boys are cute too

I know it's going to be so fun to dress a baby girl but man if I was having another boy, I would for sure be keeping these onsies and not be giving them away! And I would be making a bunch more of the tie ones, tell me that isn't so cute!!

Finally it's done!

Remember when I was almost done with projects? Then I realized I had to switch rooms around for the baby. Sean was really excited about this. We took everything out of the workout room and turned half the garage into the new gym. Carter is now residing in his new room; he wanted to decorate with cars. I pretty much had everything on hand, revamped a few things, and bought only a couple of things for the room. The best news was that the room was already painted a grey/blue color so there was no need to repaint!!! I am pretty excited about how it turned out, but the best part is hearing Carter singing in his room "I love my new room, it's the best room ever, my mom made it for me, I love my new room, it's totally awesome."

Get ready for some pictures...

1. I had this picture of my dad, uncle, and great Uncle Johnny in New York in front of some old cars. I blew it up, printed it out, and painted a frame I already had red and there you have it.
2. Carter made sure I took a picture of his new garbage can. He throws everything away in it, even if we are in another room and he has something to throw away he runs to his room.
3. Sean bought this light while he was working/living in Louisiana last year. I painted it red to match the room.
4. Carter really wanted a clock in his room. My mom gave me one she had that was yellow. I painted it red and cut out the car pictures from scrap material and glued them on the clock. I also painted the picture frame below the clock to match.
5. I made the checkered banner for Carter's birthday party and it was the perfect length of one of the walls in his room. The curtains were the ones already in the room. I just glued on some Cars chipboard pieces that I already had to help tie them in.
6. Carter has been asking for his own quilt for awhile now, after watching me make some for his cousins. He loves his that I finally finished for him!
7. I used extra material/ribbon to create a picture board in the room.
8. When Sean and I got married we started collecting license plates from the places we traveled. Perfect for Carter's car room.
9. I bought the two middle signs from Hobby Lobby for 5 bucks, Sean brought the bigger signs home from work. Hensel Phelps is the company Sean works for.
10. My mom bought this trunk for me when I went to college--perfect for holding all of Carter's trucks.
11. A close-up of the quilt and the embroidery work on it.
12. This is my dresser from high school.
13. This might be my favorite part of the whole room. My mom found this Cars piece of material and I bought the wood from Home Depot for 4 bucks and made a frame for it, all by myself!! I bought the tool chest from a garage sale and keep toys in it.
14. The view from the doorway.

I heart my boys

Sean was able to have the WHOLE weekend off for the first time in a long time. So we took advantage of it and headed up north to the family cabin. I LOVED watching Carter fishing with his Daddy.