Little Artist

Kris and I are so proud of Charis' art skills. This is the first time I have ever seen her draw a bird. She named it Petey because of a story that Kris tells her about a bird he knew.Then a few days later she drew a great picture of a boy with a little beard.

Wildflower Center and Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, I had to work for a few hours and then we wanted to take Charis to a pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins. So Charis and Kris came with me to work - since it was on the way.
We found a praying mantis that Charis loved and called Mantis the rest of the day.
Charis helped me sweep a little. But mostly just played around with Daddy.
We got to see all four turtles at the pond.
The pumpkin patch was about an hour and a half away so Charis decided to take a nap.
The pumpkin patch was lots of fun! And there was lots to fill our time with. We will definitely do this again next year.
Charis helped Daddy pick out one of the largest jack-o-lanterns.
Then she started picking out ones for herself. We found ones her size on the other side in a truck and boat.

Charis loved "driving" the boat of pumpkins and "driving" the tractor.
They also had animals, hay rides and mazes.
Then back to picking out more pumpkins.
We took home 3 large, 3 medium, and 2 small pumpkins and 6 funny gourds!
But we could not leaving without letting Charis have some of their famous homemade berry ice cream from berries on their farm.

Catch up September

Wow, we have been busy and a little stressed. So there was no time or energy left for blogs. Therefore even though I hate to do it I will once again do catch up.

SEPT 11th - Learning to ride a bike
Kris and I took Charis out after dinner to practice riding her bike. The handle in the picture looks useful but is not for anything other than stopping her. She is getting better at pedaling and is pretty good at steering when she is paying attention but has a hard time doing it both together. Also anytime someone walks by, she has to say hi and takes her eyes off the road and stops steering. It can be funny or frustrating depending on your mood.

SEPT 18th - Doctor
In Minnesota, Charis loved playing with Evie's doctor kits and instruments. So back home she started pretending that her tools were doctor tools.
She makes herself a "doctor's table" and listens to her own heart, looks in her ears, eyes and mouth, listens to her lungs, and checks her ribs. It is hilarious!

SEPT 18th - Making friends and swimming
Charis makes friends so easy. She must get that from Kris.
Kris and Charis went to the fountain park and Charis immediately made a friend and played and "swam" in the fountain. She loves going to this park with Daddy.

Children's Dell Hospital

Yesterday, Charis fell out of her grandparents bed while taking a nap and was pretty lethargic then threw up. Kris and I are not usually not the type to take Charis to the doctor for a little bump (we have never done it), but with the throwing up, we were concerned. After calling her pediatrician, we both wanted her to see someone. So the ER was the only option. I was given wrong directions by her doctor as to where the Children's Dell Hospital was and drove for about 45 minutes extra. So we got there at about 6:45. We waited 3+ hours to get moved to a room and see a doctor. Charis was really great! She made friends, read books, colored with her new friends' makers and sat with me for most of the time. Kris joined us at 9:15 and brought me dinner. Poor Charis was still not allowed to eat or drink. She had not eaten since lunch and started asking for food finally at 9:00. That actually seemed like a good sign to me, since she had not been wanting food which is really not normal for her.
Once we got to her room at 9:45, the nurses got her a gown and did another work up. At one point five nurses gathered in the hall to come look at Charis, because someone was spreading the word to come see the cute kid in Room 29.
Finally at 10:20, I gave her a pacifier so that she would rest. Then the doctor came in and examined her. He did not want to expose her to unnecessary radiation if we did not have to, we agreed. She also no longer had the bump or bruising that I saw when I picked her up. And since she had been there for 5+ hours, he wanted to give her some food and just observe her for a little longer.
This was the best news Charis had gotten all day. Teddy grams and apple juice!
She did fine with it and we were released. We got home around 12:00. She is doing fine today. And we are happy to know that everything is okay.

Charis cut her own hair!

Well, today I cut Charis' bangs and then put the scissors on the bathroom counter. I guess she really wanted to try it out herself because later she ran off to her room and then came to show me what she had done.


I found all this hair on her bed. I tried to wet it and comb it in. It looks a lot better than when I first found her. But once dried it tends to curl out where it was cut and have a weird flip. She cut both sides but the other is even easier to hide.


At first, it made me really sad but now it is okay. It will grow back! And in this last picture, it is not that easy to even see. Good thing she has thick hair.

Blog catch up

I have been being lazy and not posting much so now I will do a quick catch up.
LETTERS
As part of Charis' eye exercises, we bought Charis a dry erase board with letters to trace. This was her first attempt. I was very happy and proud. She loves it and has even gotten a lot better at it very quickly.
LUNCHES
A fun lunch at the park with daddy.
Lunch with the girls and daddy.
SWIMMING
We went swimming with a few of Charis and my friends. She put on her water shoes, swimming glasses and floaties and got her floating fishes to share with the boys.
She really loves hanging out with these boys and the babies in this group. One of the boys who is 3 1/2 is swimming a little on his own. So Charis swam with floaties a little away from me. It was the first time she asked me not to hold her while swimming.
MY GYM
I took Charis to the free 1st class at My Gym. She played baseball, hung on the rope triangle, swung on the uneven bars, jumped into the ball pit, walked on the balance beam and jumped on the trampoline.
They also had circle time and music, block and cars play. Which of course, she choose music.JUDE
And last week, I watched baby Jude (6 months) for an hour or so.
Charis woke up towards the end of our time. But was really excited to him. She loves him!
Okay so I think that bring us up to date and I will try to go back to one event posts.

Charis' 1st photo

Because of the situation with Kris being really sick and the ambulance ride to the hospital instead of a calm birthing center birth, we thought that we only got photos on the digital camera the next morning after Charis was born. But yesterday, I went through the old camera and rolls and got everything developed. And it turns out that the midwife did get a couple of pictures of Charis and me.

Samantha (me) in labor with Charis at the birthing center.
Our first photo; seconds after she was born.Second photoBack in our room after we were all cleaned up.
Daddy holding Charis the next morning.

Last day - tea party and boats

On our last day, Joe and Jen took care of all the kids in the backyard for a few hours. They played and had a tea party.For dinner, we went to one of their friend's house and enjoyed a nice boat ride on the lake.Joe and Jen - Thanks again for the great vacation!!!