Famous Joe

My brother Joe has had an incredible couple of weeks. Christmas miracles, truly.

First and foremost:
My sweet brother has finally been able to reconnect with his darling daughter, Morgan. She is 12 now and lives in Florida with her mom and siblings. The background story of Morgan doesn't really matter now. All that matters is that she has reconnected with her awesome father, and boy is she proud! She loves him so much, and hopefully this next year he'll be able to actually go out and visit her. We could not be happier for the two of them, and I am stoked because Charlotte has a cousin!! And a darling cousin at that. Morgan is a sharp little kid who loves to read, and in a video I saw of her she talks JUST like Joe. It's fantastic!

Second:
Joe was signed with one of the biggest drum companies in the nation. These guys endorse multiple drummers in bands that I know quite well! He even has his own page on their website, here! He has been chosen to join the select few that are taken care of by this amazing drum company. And why not? Joe works so hard and is so good at what he does, I'm not surprised he made the list!

I'm so proud of him. So, so proud. I can barely put my feelings into words, honestly. He has come so far from where he started, and he is literally living his dreams. And to add to all of this, now he is the proudest papa of all time. He has someone else to live for now, and she is awesome in every way.

Christmas miracles do happen. They really, really do.

Videos galore!

I take so many videos and photos on my phone, and then I forget to upload them here. So here is the latest bunch of videos of my darling Charlotte. Enjoy!

Little miracles

Unfortunately my maternity leave has caught up with us. This month is going to be a rough one. Ander has been working his butt off, bless him, and I've now gone back to work but we still have to wait for a paycheck for me. And I didn't start back quite as busy as I was hoping I was going to. Yes, things will be pretty tight this month, but that's not the reason I'm writing this post. It isn't meant to be a "boo hoo, woe is me" post. I'm writing this post because something amazing just happened that I just had to write down.

Ander didn't work until noon today, and all day yesterday I was looking forward to having him home this morning for company and to help with Charlotte. Then last night we had one of those conversations... you know that ones I'm talking about. All seriousness and frowny faces.

"I think I need to go out on Lake Austin tomorrow morning," he said.
"What? But I was hoping you'd be home with me and Charlotte in the morning! You don't work until noon! Why do you have to go out?"
"We really need some extra income this month, and the best way for me to get guide trips is to pump out YouTube videos. Each time I post some videos I get booked for trips. I need to go out there tomorrow morning and prove to all my potential clients that the fish are there and they're biting."

I struggle with this. I think I will ALWAYS struggle with this. I'm not really sure why, but it bothers me when he leaves so early in the mornings. I hate waking up to an apartment without him. I don't really know why I'm arguing with him about this. Fishing has technically become his work now, after all. But I found myself getting frustrated. I wanted him to be home with me and Charlotte. I was home with her all day long yesterday all by myself. I wanted his help this morning. At least one feeding, that would have been nice. But no, he wanted to go the lake and go fishing and take some video footage so he could make videos. I knew he was right, that he had to put out videos proving that the fish we there, but I still got frustrated. I think being overtired also had something to do with it... not enough time in the day, or something like that.

ANYWAY.

Charlotte was such a good sleeper and slept until 7:30 this morning, so I pretty much got about eight hours of sleep. I woke up feeling much better this morning and Charlotte and I began our day together.

Ander came home and started getting ready for work. As he was about to walk out the door he got a phone call. I heard bits and pieces of the conversation but I wasn't paying much attention. He left for work while still talking on the phone, but I got a call from him about 10 minutes later.

"Hey, I'm about to go into work right now but I have a story for you,"
"Okay, shoot."
He then proceeds to tell me that it was a phone call for a guide trip, and that this guy, Ryan had been meaning to call Ander for a while now but just kept forgetting. He told Ander that he had just gotten off Lake Austin himself and decided to give Ander a call because he and his buddy had been out on the lake all morning and hadn't caught anything. While they were out there they saw Ander come close to a spot they had been at for a while. They watched him sit there for a moment, catch a four pound bass, make a couple more casts, and then drive away. Ryan immediately pulled out his smartphone and looked up Ander's website and said, "I need to call that guy and have him help me. He just caught a four pounder in a spot where we couldn't catch anything!"

This. This is the reason I'm making this post. I argued with Ander last night asking him why he had to go out on the lake this morning. I didn't want him to. I told him to do whatever he wanted, but deep down I didn't want him to go. But Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways, my friends. If Ander wouldn't have gone out there this morning that man would never have witnessed him catch a good fish right in an area he'd already tried over and over again. Heavenly Father knew Ander needed to go out there today, and thank heaven Ander was listening to that prompting because his wife sure wasn't.

I think this is a little miracle, and you can bet I'll never tell Ander he can't go out on the lake ever again.

Charlotte's ears

After going through weeks of treatment Charlotte's ears are finally done. The whole process was pretty painless, actually... unless you count the many times I got stuck behind some old lady driver in the parking garage slowly trying to read each sign above each parking spot while Charlotte screamed in the backseat.

We were so pleased with the way Charlotte was treated at Wellspring Plastic surgery. Dr. Cone, Lindsay, and Dawn were so kind to all of us. It was a great experience, even with a few mishaps along the way, (like Charlotte pooping all over their carpet, and peeing all over their treatment table) and now I finally have the official before and after photos!

So without further ado:

This is her really floppy ear before the treatment

And this is after!

This is her other ear (which wasn't floppy, but needed some shaping) before the treatment

And after!

And finally, the most astounding transformation of all:

Before

(obviously she is thrilled to be posing for this picture)

 And after! Look at those cheeks! Those baby fat rolls! And as Lindsay put it, "She's hulking out of her outfit!"

Such an incredible transformation in such a short time! She looks like a completely different baby! We are so pleased with the results. Charlotte never minded the earwells when they were on her ears. She did pitch some fits as Dr. Cone was putting them on sometimes, but that's all. She never noticed them after that.

So a huge thank you to Dr. Cone and his staff, our little munchkin never looked better!

It doesn't feel like Christmas to me. It didn't feel like Thanksgiving, either. Although our Thanksgiving was totally awesome, it still didn't really feel like a holiday. We had steaks, which were amazing, and even May-May got a can of Alpo dog food. But it's hard to get into the spirit when you are miles and miles away from your family. Pictures of my friends and their families were plastered all over Facebook and that was a hard pill to swallow. Usually we go home for Christmas, so at Thanksgiving im looking forward to the trip ahead in a few weeks. But this year we aren't going home for multiple reasons, so I don't feel like I have a whole lot to look forward to.

Reason #1: We're broke

Charlotte has blessed our lives in so many different ways, except financially. We knew this was going to happen, of course. No one ever told us kids aren't expensive. No, it was my unexpected 12 week maternity leave that did us in. 12 weeks is a long time to not be making any sort of income. I start back to work this Monday and I'm crazy nervous about it, but we desperately need the income. (And I desperately need the adult interaction)

Reason #2: Charlotte

So many things about traveling with Charlotte make me nervous. This Christmas she'll only be three months old, and it's the peak of cold and flu season. I didn't want to enclose my three month old baby in a metal tube full of potentially sick people to get to Utah where it is FREEZING cold. We don't even have warm enough clothing for her to wear in a place like Utah.

Reason #3: It's our year

As sad as I am about not seeing my family in Itsh for Christmas this year, I have to be honest: It's our year. We've flown home for the past three years and it is time for us to spend Christmas with each other. It doesn't even really have to do with it being Charlotte's first Christmas, either. Let's be honest, she won't be aware of what is happening. I hardly even consider this her first Christmas. Next year, when she's one, THAT will be her "first" Christmas. Ander and I need to spend this holiday together, even if he is a little bit of an Ebeneezer Scrooge. We can barely afford to get each other gifts, (not that there is anything we really want or need) but the time together is important. Besides, we just had all of our family here for Charlotte's blessing, and that was lovely. I'm thankful I even got that opportunity with everyone.

We live in a day where the meaning of Christmas has been almost completely lost. It's different, nowadays. If Ander or I think of something we want or need, we can usually just go buy it instead of waiting until Christmas. I think most people feel that way these days. And Christmas has become even MORE excessive! So many children get so much stuff they don't need, while so many children aren't given anything at all. Not to mention you hardly hear about Christ being born at all anymore. Isn't that really the reason for the season? Maybe it's good that this year Ander and I aren't doing a whole lot. Maybe it will give us an opportunity to help others more than we have in the past, or maybe it will lend us an opportunity to think more deeply about our Savior and His humble birth into this world. What He eventually accomplished and did for each of us. Next year will be full of things for Charlotte, I'm sure,

But this year we'll be celebrating Christmas with our little nugget while she still has absolutely no clue what is going on. And thanks to modern day technology, we can video chat with all of our family. We may not be able to actually reach out and touh one another, but we can at least see each other's faces and reactions. I am truly thankful for that.

I feel like this post was slightly sad. I apologize, I didn't mean for it to be sad, only thoughtful.

I'm also terrified to go back to work. Although I know I need to work for the income and the social aspect, being gone for 12 weeks has got to have made me super rusty at applying Kaje's. Not to mention all the new services and products we have to offer since I last worked. I have a lot to catch up on!

But enough. Here are some cute pictures of Charlotte.

These past few weeks have been slightly challenging, but Charlotte wasn't what was challenging about them. She has been the easy part through ALL of the past two and half months.

We were struggling to get our schedules worked out because we couldn't find child care for Charlotte on Mondays, and our rent has gone up $100 for the next year and that puts us in a really crappy financial position.

But I'm happy to say that we did eventually find some child care with someone I trust, and our schedules have been worked out. We still don't quite know what to do about our living situation, but I have faith that that will work out as well. I was more worried about our schedules and who was going to watch Charlotte for just a few hours each Monday. I can now breathe a sigh of relief! For the month of December I will be working Mondays, Wednesdays, and half days on Saturdays, but starting in January I'll work half days Mondays, then Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's perfect. That way Ander can work at the bank and do fishing guide trips on the weekends, and I get to spend plenty of time with my beautiful little baby girl.

Speaking of...

We just can't get enough of her! And she's beginning to hold her head up quite a bit these days. Any day now she'll be able to just lift her head and look around, I'm sure. She has also almost completely grown out of her newborn clothes. 3 month clothing is still just a teensy bit too big, but she's getting there. Good thing too since all her newborn onesies wouldn't stand up to the wintertime... not that we get THAT cold here in Texas. But we all have thin blood here in Austin, and after a crazy hot summer 50 degrees feels absolutely freezing!

Duty calls, it's time to feed the munchkin. :)

We took Charlotte to get her two month checkup today, and they had to give her three shots. I had been dreaded this appointment for a while now, because last time I tried to give Charlotte a bath she went crazy and screamed and screamed and I couldn't stand to listen to her screaming like that. I knew today was going to be bad, and it was! I almost burst into tears myself when they gave her the first shot. The nurse was really quick, but my goodness Charlotte screamed like a banshee. Ander kept laughing and poking fun at me saying, "You always gave me a hard time about being a sucker, yet here you are almost in tears while she cries."

Yeah, well...

It's one thing to give in to your little girl who is crying because she wants something and it's a whole other story listening to your sweet little baby cry because she was poked with a sharp needle three times and she has no idea why. I literally almost started crying. I HATE hearing her get hysterical like that. I took her into my arms and just rocked her until she calmed down, and within five minutes she was perfectly fine. But I wasn't. I felt terrible.

And now, the vaccines are doing their stupid job on her. She woke up from her nap screaming and I'm pretty sure it's because she's sore, and I think she's running a fever. I know she'll be fine but my guess is we're all in for a looooong night. We gave her some infant Tylenol and that is definitely helping, she's asleep right now, but I can't imagine tonight being a good night for any of us. Poor thing.

So to help ease my pain since hers has been eased with baby drugs, here are some cute videos:

No more Princess Leia

Little Charlotte got her earmuffs off!

Modern medicine is absolutely amazing, and so is the staff at Wellspring Plastic Surgery. Dr. Cone has worked with Charlotte's ears for the last six weeks and they look wonderful!!!

And look at her cute little skinny head now!

Even in her little ear molds, she was still a cutie!

Love this picture. Ander snapped it when we were out to a lovely dinner with Ander's dad. We were in a super loud restaurant but little Miss slept through the entire thing!