Happy Halloween!

Update

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while.  The good news is that, we took Charity to the surgeon back in September and we don't have to dilate her anymore!  She has to go back to see the surgeon in March and then when she starts potty training.  Here are some pictures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARITY!!!!

First off, sorry for not updating.  I plan on updating more often, please bug me if you want more pictures.

Charity turned 1 on July 13th!    We can't believe it's been a year since she was born and had to be in the NICU for 9 days.  This year has been amazing with our little girl and we are so happy that we have her.  She is our little blessing.  Everyday she puts a smile on our face.

On Charity's Birthday we took a trip to Wildlife Prairie park to look at animals.  We had cake when we got back.  We also threw a Birthday party for Charity a few days after her Birthday.  It was a great day filled with water, pulled pork, presents, cake, ice cream, and lots of family and friends.  Charity had a great time. Here are pictures from her actual Birthday and her party.

This picture was Charity's actual Birthday.

On her party day.

Messy cake face.

Waiting to open the her next present.

Opening presents.

More cute pictures

Here are some cute pictures of Charity from this week.  The pictures include Charity's first trip to the park (we were there for a Birthday party) and Charity's first trip to the pool. 

  We took video too.  Once Jamie figures out how to put the video up, the videos we took will be on this page.

Pictures

Some cute pictures of Charity.

Deck

Last weekend, we all hung out outside and built a deck!  We've been planning on a deck since we got the house and now we have one!  Here are some pictures.



Here is Charity hanging out outside while the deck was being built.




Here is what our backyard looked like before.




Here is the deck after. This was what the deck looked like at the end of the day.



Here is the finished product.  The railing was put in this week.

Easter

Charity had a great Easter!  She got to visit with Jamie's parents and her Aunt and Uncle a few days before Easter.  On Easter she went to mass in a pretty dress and then she saw a bunch of family members. Charity had a great day.  Here is our attempt at getting a picture of Charity in her dress.

Trip

For the past three days, our family took a small vacation to St. Louis.  We did a lot of things including the St Louis Zoo and the Science Center.  Here are some pictures.

Here is Charity at the Arch.

Here is Charity at the Zoo sporting her new hat.

This is Charity at the Science Center.

Tunnel

Yesterday, we converted Charity's play mat into a tunnel.  Charity enjoyed crawling around.

Very Big Girl

Charity is 8 months old today!  The past 8 months have been so awesome.  Watching Charity learn and grow has been amazing. Charity has just started crawling and she is a crawling machine.  Before she started crawling she loved to roll around everywhere.  But, she likes to crawl more than roll.  Charity has been practicing pulling herself up.  She pulls herself up to her knees but just can't balance herself enough to get to her feet.  She did earlier today succeed in pulling herself all the way up, but she hasn't been able to do it since.

Stay tuned for more updates on Charity.  I will update more often and put up more photos.

Big Girl

Charity is 6 months old!  I can't believe how big she is. Six months ago Charity was born in Pekin Hospital.  Boy,  does time fly!  Charity is becoming such a big girl.  She can sit up by herself and play, she can stand while holding on to something, and she can hold a sippy cup.  Here are some pictures.

Christmas Photos

Here are some photos of Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

Busy Day

Charity had a very busy day today!  It began with her first solid food feeding and ended with a trip to see Santa Claus!  We decided to post some pictures of the big day!

First of all, her feeding.  Charity enjoyed some céréale de riz.  (That’s rice cereal in French.  It’s her first meal, so it should seem fancy!) 

This is Charity before her meal.  It was also the first time in her high chair.  No wonder she looks a little confused!

 

This is Charity during her meal.  She is still trying to figure things out.  In this picture, high chair out, Bumbo in.  We decided one new thing was enough.

This is Charity towards the end of her meal.  She decided that she wanted to try the spoon her self.  Can you spot the other change in this picture?  That’s right, Charity moved on to her second bib!

 

Seeing Santa was a good experience for Charity and an interesting one for us.  (We’ll leave it at that for now!)

If you noticed, these look may look kind of far away.  Charlie had to take covert pictures to avoid paying the exorbitant fees.  Once again, good experience for Charity, interesting for us.

Why we do it…

We decided to write about some of the choices we have made so far with Charity.  To start things off, we might as well look at a decision we made during the pregnancy – not finding out if we were going to have a Charity or a … (Sorry, we’re not giving up our boy’s name.  It took us too long to come up with it!)

Before we even got pregnant, we discussed not finding out.  Right away, we both decided that we didn’t want to know.  We knew several people who found out and we knew a few that didn’t, but it just wasn’t us. 

We wanted to have a surprise the day our baby was born.  (Little did we know that the day was going to be full of surprises.)  It was also fun to make a neutral nursery. 

Another reason is money.  I know that it doesn’t sound like a plausible reason, but it was definitely a major contributor to our decision.  Knowing that babies grow out of things so quickly, we wanted to get as many neutral items as possible.  So, yes, if we have a son next time, we very well may bring him home in the same outfit as we did with Charity.  Right now, we have a great stockpile of birth-3 month neutral clothes to choose from.

We are still really happy that we made this decision.  It seemed to make the whole experience just that much more magical for us.  It also lead to some great discussions and dreams when we were pregnant.  When we envisioned our child wearing different outfits or playing with different toys or playing in the backyard later on, it was so much fun to think of a boy one day and a girl the next. 

I am sure that this decision also helped us with the first few weeks after Charity was born.  We wanted to see what gender our baby was going to be and God taught us the patience we needed to get through the tough time with her in the hospital. 

Hopefully that same patience will be with us the rest of her life! 

Doctors Appointment

On October 14th Charity had an appointment with her surgeon.  I thought he was going to dilate her and look and her.  He did, but he also told me that Charlie and I need to start dilating her at home.  We will be doing this for 14 weeks straight.  There is no problem with Charity we are just doing this to "open things back up".  But she is doing great.  She is 3 months and developing well.  She gets cuter and cuter every day.

Update.

Wow, Charity is almost 3 months old!
Ok, it's been a few weeks so here is an update.  Charity has had two more appointments.  On September 13th she had her 2 month check up.  Her pediatrician looked at her and she got her first round of shots.  Charity was not happy after her shots.  On September 16th she had another follow up with the surgeon. The surgeon didn't actually look at her this time.  Another doctor came in first and looked at her to see if things look normal..  Then the surgeon came in and he talked about certain signs to look for if things go bad again.   Our next appointment with the surgeon is October 14.  Charity has a whole month without having anybody look at her.

Also, Charity and I went to the breastfeeding resource center to get another lesson.  Although there are ways to get Charity to nurse, it is very frustrating for her and for me since she is old now.  Although I will continue to use the suggestions the resource center gave me, my main concern is that Charity is getting breast milk.  So, I will continue to pump and build up a supply.

Finally, on the 26th of September Charlie and I had Charity Baptized!  It was a great day and we are very excited that she has entered the faith.  Here are some pictures.

Charity's God parents