Oh, i don't know...summer fun!

Adam gave Charlotte her first case of poison ivy. I managed to make it 26 years before I got poison ivy - Charty got her's within her first two years of life. She wouldn't stop scratching it. I called Nurse 1, they said hydrocortisone and benadryl. Charlotte and I headed out to Wal-Mart 10:30 last Monday night. Big adventure. I know I could have gotten Adam up out of bed...he told me and told me...but it was an adventure for Charlotte and what else would we have done? Except sit there and scratch. Next day, to try and keep her from scratching it I covered the area with Dora the Explorer Band-Aids. We put them on Baby Martha too. I turned on Barney, hopped in the shower. When I finished up and pulled back the curtain, there's Moses, sitting on the rug - completely defeated - covered in Dora the Explorer Band-Aids...

We found a new pediatrician. I wasn't sure if I'd like him...didn't like his nurse. I have a thing out for pediatric nurses. Charlotte has dropped to 75th percentile in height and weight. She's weighed 26 pounds now for about 5 months and she keeps getting taller and taller. I was prepared not to like the pedi so I laid it all out on the line: yes, we're still nursing, she sleeps with us, I feed her M&M's, I hardly ever use sunscreen AND I'm concerned about vaccines and want to look into an alternative schedule. Just tell me I'm wrong doctor, I'm all ready to walk out and never come back anyway...But he didn't. He was thrilled that we were attachment parents, that I'm still nursing and went on and on about how fantastic that is. After that, I was all ears to everything else he had to say. We talked all about the vaccine controversy...I feel much better and we'll continue on with recommended vaccine schedule (all you grandparents can relax). He's telling me how great I am and I'm enjoying every second of the visit until I tell him - by the way, I'm enrolling her in Pre-K starting in August, 2 days a week, 4 hours a day for her socialization and education. He tells me, 'no, I don't think you should do that. That is a bad idea.' He wants me to hold off at least 2 years on that and enroll her instead in gymnastics and take her to the park and church to meet other kids. (BTW if you're not ASL fluent, that's a picture of Charlotte signing "candy" - now, tell me, would you be able to deny that little bit of precious M&M'swhen she's running around doing that?!)

The next day we had our first gymnastics class! SHE LOVED IT!!!

http://www.my-gym.com/

We have another class this afternoon when she wakes up from her nap.

Popi's birthday was Saturday and we had a big party for him! It was so much fun but that cake gave me fits. Drives me crazy, baking cakes, they never turn out right...I woke up in the middle of the night to check on that stupid thing and sure enough, the icing had run...

Noni & Popi took their new camper out and stayed in Warm Springs, near Callaway and then drove in for the party. Later that evening we drove down to have dinner at their campsite. It was a beautiful evening and Charty had a blast! That's her idea of fun - being OUTSIDE, running around and exploring. Then, since we didn't have her booster, she got to eat her dinner sandwiched between mommy & daddy, perched on the cake Tupperware.

The next day was Sunday - we went to church, a new church, which shall remain nameless since we didn't like it and Charty didn't like the nursery. We'll keep looking...But we went! Yay us!

Arts in the Park was across the street and we went over there as a family after church and Charlotte got out of her stroller and toddled, no RAN after every dog she could see. We let her pet some shelties...what, shelties are almost always a safe bet...

Later, we went back to listen to some music. Charty woke up from her nap and wanted a brown cow, chocolate covered ice cream bar. I gave her one, stuck her in the wagon and away we went. We were there two minutes when some old men came up to her in the wagon and started laughing and telling her, 'yes, ma'am, sugah, wallah' in it - that's whuchu s'pose do with ice cream' I turn around and sure enough, she has taken the chocolate off the stick and is rubbing it all over herself. I was mortified. Meanwhile, all these little girls behaving themselves just like little dolls in their hand-smocked dresses all around us. Luckily, our house was 15 seconds from where we were so we ran got a washcloth.

Charty got to play in the sprinkler last week. First time - BIG fun! She wasn't sure at first but before we were finished she ran through it.

I painted her bathroom last week, thought I'd take advantage of her being on Benadryl at nap time. Sea-Green - What a mess, what a disaster and right in the middle of it, like out of a dream almost, the painter we'd hired for the exterior shows up to talk to me about the color, or something, I said, 'thank god you're here, come in her and tell me how much you'd charge to finish my little girl's bathroom'. He's great, now - let me just say, very courteous and professional, takes his job very seriously. When I showed him the bathroom and what I had done so far I thought he was having a coughing fit - hand flew up to his mouth and he turned his back. No....no.....he was laughing at me...at my hard work...

So, he gave me his estimate for that and our room and bathroom and the trim in the living room and I said, 'oh don't you worry, I'm going to call you with the colors, I know I can talk my husband into it', you know with a little wink, trying to convince myself I'm one of those women that has the power to talk her husband into whatever she wants... And that evening after Adam got home and told me no, absolutely not, well, I was a little depressed and down on myself for not being one of those women...

But I do have a BMW, ahem...