Charlotte saw that I was taking pictures of Jack and wanted to be in them. ha ha.

Charlotte just loves to open the front door and look outside. Jack has caught onto this and loves to stand at the front door too.

Charlotte's first day of Preschool.

I forgot to take an official photo before school so used this from my camera to take one of Charlotte. In the car too! ha ha. Oh well. She was SO excited to go.

I just picked up Charlotte from school here and remembered to bring the camera. She looks so grown up even though that bag is still too big for her. She loves that bag! And she's been having a great time. No crying at all. She's got great teachers and friends to look forward to everyday. Except for Miss Natalie. Sigh....that's just something we'll have to overcome. Not having the best teacher in the whole wide world at Sound Beginnings. COME BACK NATALIE!

Charlotte goes to preschool Monday-Friday from 8:30am-12pm. It's wonderful to have her go. We need this break from each other to limit the frustrations of communication and stubborness (on both of our ends) plus some one on one time with Jack and when he takes a nap, I clean or have time to work on a hobby. It's amazing! My house has been clean everyday this week instead of every few days or so. ha ha. It feels good to be on top of things too. And Charlotte just loves school. I miss her like crazy but know this is the best thing for her and she's going to do great.

I was here for this:

And this:

Gross. ha ha

Wedding Cake

Saw this cute detail on my cousin Amy's cake. Using corsage pins to hold the ribbon in place. Maybe this is a standard thing to do but I thought it was so cool! : )

I don't have very many good pictures of this cake and I hope I can get a "real" wedding photo of this cake but here it is. It was a real challenge because the other wedding cakes I've done have been covered in fondant and they always look so crisp and clean but the bride wanted buttercream so I did my best. It was so hard but I did it. The other challenge is that I've only worked in round (or oval) cakes before too so getting sharp corners was hard but here's the end product. The middle layer is at an angle on purpose. I think that also was hard in a way because I couldn't center the top layer properly so the cake looked good on one side! ha ha.

Here's a cute one of Charlotte : ) She's singing--more like eating and singing--to SingStar and the song she picked...Toy Story's "You've Got a Friend in Me". She's good at it! Don't look at me though. I was only encouraging her through my example! ha ha

So I went through my photos to send onto my family in NZ and came across some videos I forgot about! Here's a cute on of Jack in a cement boat.

Jack's hair cut

Before!

So this is the best "before" picture I could find of his hair! You might think I was crazy but I'm not. really. Ha ha. I did like how fluffy it was though. And it still is, especially after the bath!

After! Okay, so I really dislike my camera. It takes gray pictures and even with the flash, you get blurry pictures! ARGH.

Okay, so for me...I LOVE LOVE LOVE little boys with proper little boy haircuts. There's just something about it. Long hair, not my thing. If you like it, cool for you and it's your choice and that's awesome if it makes you happy but really I just don't like it for my kids. Even with guys that are my age...if you have long hair I think you need a haircut : D. I don't know what it is.

So Jack's hair has been getting FUZZY and a bit long for my liking. Don't get me wrong, he's just a dang cute kid but the hair was bugging me. And I'm so thankful Wade supports me on this. So the other day, we took Jack into the bathroom just before his bath and showed him the clippers. Wade turned it on and tested it on his own face, then mine and then put it on Jack's (Don't worry, totally safe!) just so he could get used to the sound and what it was like. I couldn't believe it. I just held Jack while Wade cut his hair. He just was perfectly still for us! I LOVED IT! What a good little boy. Charlotte was amazed at what was happening too. Hopefully she won't get any ideas later on! : D

So now, we've got a cute missionary haircut on Jack and a mighty good one, if I do say so myself. Good job, Wade!

12 month stats

Okay, so Monday, August 3rd, Jack went in for a well child visit!

He gained a little weight and is in the 12 % ! YEAH! he he (20 lbs 4 oz) so he can go in a big carseat.

He's 30 1/4 for his height...62%!

He's a happy boy ... well until he got the jabs. But we went into the dr. today and found out he got a cold! I thought it was an odd reaction to the vaccine but poor boy. He's got a stuffy/runny nose, wheezy, hoarse voice and a small cough. Dr. said it was just bad luck...just got it from coming into the dr. LAME! But oh, he's SOOOO cute.

Charlotte's NZ "helpers"

Denise, me and Charlotte

During our short time in NZ (2006), Denise came and checked on Charlotte every couple of weeks. She was always positive and upbeat about Charlotte--making sure she was gaining weight, checking to see if she needs any other help especially with her g-tube, helping us change to a different pediatrician, making sure we had enough medical supplies, giving WONDERFUL advice and encouragement to us just to a name a few things. She was so good to us and we are so thankful for her and for all she's done for Charlotte. It was so good to see her again and also that we were able to stay in touch during these years so we could show how much Charlotte has progressed. And this is all because of how much Denise cared for Charlotte. Thank you Denise!

Sad to say, but this was the best picture of Charlotte. I don't know why she's a stinker at taking pictures!

Eleanor and Charlotte
Eleanor was Charlotte's occupational therapist (there's another name for her but I forget!). She was SO good. SO POSITIVE. Oh we needed someone to tell us that Charlotte will be able to crawl or to walk and she was always making sure Charlotte was challenged enough but also that we weren't pushing her. Every time she came she would see the tiny steps of progress Charlotte was making and giving her so much praise. I wish more people would be like that...despite challenges, always be positive and see the amazing small things a child can do.

Neil and Charlotte
This is Neil, Charlotte's hearing advisor. Neil would be able to come over in a heartbeat whenever we needed a new ear mold impression. He got us hooked up with the Hearing House--a wonderful place that helped us teach Charlotte how to listen and to use (eventually) her voice and gain speech. Neil was SO encouraging and has always believed Charlotte could hear unlike when we first moved to Logan and the people that worked up here (not Sound Beginnings but the audiologist, surgeon, etc.). He loved making her turn her head to sound. And was just SO POSITIVE about everything. As a parent to a deaf child that is powerful to know someone like that--someone who believes in your child.

Neil, Denise and Eleanor. THANK YOU. You are always in our hearts. I was so nervous to move to NZ after we had Charlotte. We didn't know what the services were like and if we would get what we needed but you exceeded our expectations. Charlotte's amazing progression is from her start in NZ and words can't express how much we love you all and how much you've kept us so positive. We needed to have encouragement...ALL THE TIME and we always got it from you. And I'm not kidding. EVERYONE we talked with or had help from was so positive and encouraging. We needed that.

Anyway, I can't wait for you to see what Charlotte does in the future. I'm sure she'll blow you away! :D