Things tend to change when you least expect them to ... it is God's way of putting things into perspective.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

First Football Game

Charlie attended his first football game last night. After the 4 pm mass at Corpus Christi, we headed to the stadium at KU so that we could check out the action. Luckily, we were able to sit upstairs in the suite so Charlie was able to stay out of the sun and the noise was not nearly as loud. People were a little worried about him though as he passed out next to the cooler of drinks :) Good thing it said Coke and not Bud!!!

Overall, he did great and the Jayhawks won so it was a fun night!!!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Four Month Stats


I haven't had time to post Charlie's 4 month stats, but here they are a few days removed from the doctor's visit this week.

Height = 26.5"(85 percentile)
Weight = 15 lbs, 5 ozs (42 percentile)
Head Circumference = well, we won't go there, let's just say he is a CAPPS (known for BIG heads)

He did have to get another set of shots this time around, which made him scream bloody murder. It was so sad!!! He was pretty sore the rest of the night. I didn't mind holding him though and Eric even managed to get a few giggles out of him.

D0c said that Charlie looked great! She was surprised at how fast he was catching up given his early arrival, but was very happy with his progress. She told us to go ahead and start on cereal now with him. I know that many of you started your little ones much earlier than 4.5 months, but with Charlie being so small at birth, we decided that it would be best to wait and let him "catch up" before we start throwing anything new at him. I think he is doing pretty good, so we had our first taste of cereal last night via a spoon. He gagged a few times and I think more ended up on his bib rather than in his belly, but overall the experience was pretty good. We will keep trying as we are going to work our ways up to fruit and veges. The looks we get are precious and hilarious!

Not a big weekend planned. Charlie is going to attend his first football game on Saturday. We have a suite for the game so it should be alot easier on him (noise wise). I have a baby shower then Sunday afternoon for a soon to be girlfriend of Charlie's and then Sunday night Eric and I are going to dinner to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. It was three years ago this weekend that we tied the night in Illinois. Because Sept. 3rd is a Wednesday this year, we are going to go out a few days earlier.

Have a great Labor Day!! I

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Bank Account

My mom sent me this, and it sort of put into persepective how to view your day/life .....

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. 'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. 'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.' That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he replied. Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do . Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more .
5 . Expect less.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Great Weekend!!

We really didn't get alot accomplished this weekend, and it was GREAT! I was up bright and early yesterday morning so that I could get some shopping done on my own. I went before the boys were up and was able to hit a HUGE consignment sale, Sam's Club, Kohl's and the mall. I will say, the ladies at the consignment sale don't mess around. I had never really been to one of these, man 'o man, these women weren't messing around. They had their bags, laundry baskets and buddies with them to haul their findings. No strollers were allowed and for GOOD reason. I found a couple of toys and some books, but missed the big deals as I didn't realize I needed to be there before the doors opened. Now I know! (Although I don't think that I need anything that badly -- they are still fun :)

When I got home, we just sort of hung out at home for the remainder of the day. I did finally get Eric to the tuxedo place to be fitted for his tux for Bobby's wedding. Was supposed to have this done in April .... only 4 months late! It is done though and I will call his measurements in tomorrow morning. We then stopped and got some groceries before heading home and grilling up.

Today then, Eric had planned to work out in the yard for a good part of the day while I hung out with Charlie and cleaned indoor. Well, after about 3 swipe of the yard, I heard a big boom and saw black smoke from the side of the house. Upon making my way over, I found Eric just sick to his stomach. The riding mower that David had let us borrow was DEAD!! Eric said the engine had blown and he felt horrible as it isn't even ours. He let it cool down, while he push mowed the rest of the side/front yard. Once he was able to get a look at the engine, he was right, there was a hole about the size of a quarter in the side of the engine. He was going to talk with some of his mechanic buddies about getting a new engine, but the mower itself is over 25 years old so we might see what David thinks before spending the money to get this one running again.

Since his time was limited to the mowing, Eric and I spent some time out with the neighbors before both coming inside to clean. The house was not bad at all, we just keep getting more "stuff" now that Charlie is here. We are trying to keep everything (beside the "entertaining toys") out of the living room, so I spent time putting things away and back where they go. The house is once again looking presentable so we made progress. We have found that now that we are back at work that things like cleaning can wait on the weekends as that is our time with Charlie. We want to enjoy him and spend as much time playing with him and snuggling so those "other" things can wait till he is napping or has gone to bed for the day.

Tomorrow brings about another week. Not too much planned as far as big deals, so it should be pretty easy going. Here is another pic of Charlie ...... Hope all had a great weekend!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Prayers Needed ...

Please add Russell Coleman and his family (Wife-Ashley and 8 month old daughter-Annie) to your prayers tonight and for the next long while. Russell, a good friend of Eric's, was diagnosed with a very RARE disease that has left him unable to walk. It is called TM for short and affects only 1 in 1.3 million people! Russell and his family recently moved to the DC area so they are in an unfamiliar place with so much uncertainty. They are in need of all the prayers they can get!

To learn more about Russell and his illness, Ashley has created a BLOG (like this one) and is keeping people up to date. Please check it out .... http://keepinupwiththecolemans.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 18, 2008

Too Cute!


Rebecca came and took some 4th month pictures of Charlie ... here is a sneak peak. The rest will be ready in a week or so!!


Saturday, August 16, 2008

Long Day ...

Before I really even talked with anyone today, I got a text message from my older brother that read "jerk." I guess it was deserved as I kept a secret and lead him to believe that he would be flying to see me today and play in our golf tournament this afternoon. Instead, his wife had planned a "big day" for him in Chicago to celebrate his 30th birthday. He was able to have breakfast with all the family (except me) and then golf with the boys and finally had a surprise party at his home later in the day. I hope that he is not too mad at me, I am just REALLY good at keeping secrets like that!!

Later in the morning, I headed to the golf course where I spent the remainder helping with our booster club golf tournament. We had 58 teams in the tournament, which was a great showing. Eric kept Charlie throughout the day while I helped out at the course. Following the dinner at the golf course, I headed home and spent some time with little man before putting him down for bed. He went down just in time for me to catch Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal -- all I can say is "WOW!!" I love watching this guy swim and have really enjoyed watching the Olympics this year. He is a great Olympian!!!

Tomorrow, Rebecca is coming to take pics of Charlie at 4 months. She has a really cool way of working with him so I am excited. I am pretty tired and am ready for bed. This is the last weekend before school starts out here so I am trying to enjoy it. Not hard to do when Charlie and Eric are around :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Time to Slow Down ...

Eric and I have been on the go the past few weeks. We spent time in NC and SC for a week, then returned home to work for a few days and then headed back to IL this past weekend to help throw a couple of wedding showers. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but I am worn out and ready for a couple days of peace and quiet. This weekend, though, we have the Hardwood Club (bball booster club) Golf Tournament, so I will be busy meeting and greeting all day on Saturday. Then on Sunday, Rebecca is coming to take pictures of Charlie .... that will be fun though!

Things should be pretty quiet this week. School has not started at KU yet so we don't have to worry with players here and several of the other coaches are out of the office this week so the days are pretty quiet. I have pretty much caught up at work now so I am not too stressed there. The biggest thing is getting camp wrapped up and putting together the fall schedule so that will take some time. Nothing too crazy, though!

We had thought about returning to KY for Labor Day weekend, but I don't think that we are going to make the trip. With all that we have done the past few weeks and the fact that it is our anniversary weekend, I think that we are going to take advantage of the long weekend and get some things done around the house and just relax. I think that we are actually planning to have a date night that weekend as well. We always said that we would not be one of those couples who stay home all the time after their child is born. We don't stay home, but we do take Charlie when we go. We LOVE being with him and don't feel like we have missed out on anything this summer. We are going to take some time for ourselves though and have someone spend the evening with Charlie so that we can have some "us" time, which I think will be good for both Eric and I.

Well, I am headed off to bed. We have been going through bags and trying to get the house picked up tonight. We are both tired so we have pretty much called it quits and are headed to bed!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Charlie goes to the Beach!!

I just finished uploading all of our vacation pictures to my wal-mart site. There are nearly 200 of them!!! WHOA .... I sent them out to several people, but if you did not get them and want to see all of them, please drop me a note and I will forward the album to you. Here are a couple of my favorites from the trip! We got to see ALOT of family and friends and it was a great time!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

We're Back!!

Ok, we got back home last night about 1:00 am. We had a GREAT time, but both Eric and I agreed that we were happy to be home. I have lots of pictures so I will try and post some tonight for you all. Charlie had a very FULL week ... met a ton of family and new friends, went to the beach, swam in pool, traveled throughout NC and SC!!

Today is also my first day back at work. I dropped Charlie off at the babysitter's this morning and then headed here to the office. I was very proud as I didn't shed a tear (I was close a couple of times). I am very comfortable with the lady that will be watching Charlie so that makes it easier I think. I have been off from work for nearly 4 months so I have lots to do ... I am just going to take my time and tackle one thing at a time. I did work at home and spent some time in the office while I was on "Maternity Leave" so it won't be too bad.