Charlie's Hair

I have gone back and forth about Charlie's hair, and I continue to debate what we should do with it. I love his blond locks and I love the idea of long baby hippie hair :) Every once in a while I find a cute hair do and decide it is time to cut it.... then thankfully Kaitlyn makes me think twice before making any rash decisions, and I always change my mind. By the way, Kaitlyn has stopped me from making A LOT of bad hair decisions! Below is a picture of Bruce and Charlie... with his growing hair :)

The problem we have had for months now, is that Charlie's hair is ALWAYS in his eyes. He is always tipping his head backwards so that he can see under his bangs. Below is a picture of Ryder, Kate Hudson's son. I would LOVE it if Charlie's hair could some day look like that!

I have been working on ways to keep his hair out of his eyes until it is long enough to tuck behind his ears. I have tried gel, which works (not all day) but for most of the day. However, at night, combing through it is NOT fun for me or Charlie. So this week I decided to go for it and put a clip in his hair. I went to Walgreens and bought black clips, so it is not like he is wearing pink sparkelie ones! But some of the looks/comment's I have gotten you would have thought I put the kid in a pink tutoo! Our pediatrition even said something! My thinking is, why do YOU care what MY kid's hair looks like? He isn't even 2, so its not like kids are making fun of him at school, they don't even know the difference between boys and girls! Plus, Charlie say's that he likes his hair. The minute he says he doesn't, we will cut it. Until then, I am going to enjoy my gorgeous little boy and his gorgeous hair! 

12 Month Healthy Habit Program

At the beginning of July, I decided to begin a 12 month Healthy Habit Program. Each month, I will focus on 1 healthy activity. The plan is that focusing on 1 activity per month will allow enough time to make it a habit. Then, the next month, I will add a new healthy goal to focus on. HOPEFULLY the previous goal will now be a habit, so I won't NEED to focus on it. Some of the goals that I want to focus on are:

1.       Increase fruit intake

2.       Increase veggie intake

3.       Cardio  

4.       Strength training

5.       Improve sleep

6.       Reduce stress

7.       Floss

8.       Increase healthy recipes

9.       Decrease sweets/make them more healthy

10.   Decrease T.V. time

11.   Decrease the amount of alcohol I drink

12.   Monthly breast exams

13.   Increase “lifestyle” activity level

14.   Decrease sodium intake

For July, I chose cardio. My goal is to do cardio 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes per time. And the odd part is, my July goal started while we are on vacation... and I still did well! And since then it has been going well too!

Another positive thing that came out of vacation is... Bruce & Kristi decided to start making healthy lifestyle changes! It makes me so happy that we as a family are talking about healthy eating and exercising! We will be happy & healthy together! 

Waterbabies!

Dave, Charlie and I signed up for a Waterbabies class at Fitness World West in West Des Moines. The first class Charlie and I decided to try it out on our own.... after 15 minutes of Charlie screaming his little head off we got out of the water & left class early. I then decided it might be better for Charlie if Dave  came with us.

 Something you probably didn't know about Dave... he does not like public pools :) it kind of cracks me up a little. He is this manly man and at the same time public pools gross him out - haha! But Dave being the good daddy that he is came with! Class was AMAZING, Charlie had such a good time! Great for me and Charlie, bad for Dave... that meant he had to come to EVERY class!

Each class we learned a new skill. By the third class we were going under water... Charlie (ear plugs in) LOVED to go under water, he was laughing like no other! However, that night Charlie was in pain :( poor baby. The only way he would sleep was sitting up in a chair rocking, so he and I sat in a chair all night and I rocked him. Needless to say, we did NOT go under water after that night!

All in all, it was a great experience, by far Charlie's favorite thing to do was to jump in and we are all very excited to make a lot of trips to the pool this summer!

Running

Each Sunday I set my goals for the week. I carry my little purple notebook with me everywhere... tracking my progress and to journal in. A few weeks ago I traded Barb (Dave's mom) my elliptical for her treadmill. I began to set goals around running, first it started with running 1 miles 3-4 times a week, then it went up to 1.25, and now 3 weeks into my running I am at 1.5 miles 3-4 times a week! I am never too sure how fast to increase my distance, but so far I feel like I'm doing OK.

So 3-4 times a week I get my butt out of bed at 5:15, make my way down to the basement to hop on the treadmill. I pop in my Ipod and jam out! Some days I get done and it seems like that was the easiest thing that I have ever done, some days 1/2 way through I want to die, and some days my legs feel like they weigh 100 pounds EACH! Whatever kind of day it is, I push through until I reach my goal (and sometimes even exceed it) and I feel like A MILLION BUCKS! It puts me in a great mood for the day, gets me energized (no need for coffee anymore) and I don't have to worry about working out the entire day!

If you haven't tried working out in the morning I highly recommend it... try it out and you will be hooked! Just like I am!!

Cougars, wolves and hedgehogs..... Oh MY!

One night last week Charlie, Dave and I decided to do something a little out of the norm. We went to go visit wildlife at the mall... I know it sounds absolutly crazy and white-trashy, which it kind of was, but it was so cool! Charlie got to pet the little baby cougar....

we also got to see 3 wolves and pet a hedgehog. The cougar was so cute, I could have brought him home! Charlie was WAY more interested in the dead animals (skins) than the live ones.... kind of weird. But we all had a great time. Channel 13 was there doing a story and I was interviewed... so cool! If you would like to see the video go to Channel 13's website and you can find it there! What a fun experience, and it was Charlie's T.V. debut. He is probably going to be a movie star some day, so we will have to remember this, his first minutes of fame!

Tubes

July of 2010 Charlie had tubes put in his ears. After about a million ear infections and going through every possible antibiotic multiple times, we made the decision to have tubes. Not going to lie, it was NOT a fun experience. We were at the hospital at 7 am and waited about an hour and a half before Charlie got called back. Mind you... he could not eat or drink. An 11 month old baby who is hungry,thirsty and bored is NOT a fun baby to be around. Below is a picture of Charlie and I right before he went in to surgery.





Charlie was a little trooper, he was his happy self after surgery... and some food! The tubes seemed to help a little... we only had 4 ear infections in the following 5 months. The only difference between ear infections before the tubes and ear infections after was the amount of NASTY discharge! EWWWW!

Last week I got a call from daycare (as you mom's know... when daycare's number pops up on your caller ID your heart stops beating for a minute) saying... Charlie's left ear tube fell out. They saved it in a little baggie and we brought it home that night. And yes, I will be the crazy mother who keeps it :)

Today we visited our ENT and it has been decided that Charlie will have surgery again in the next few weeks to replace his left ear tube. As much as I am NOT looking forward to surgery, and as much as it scares the crap out of me for him to go under, I know the tubes help him!

I blame all of Charlie's ear problems on his father. Dave had 4 or 5 sets of tubes when he was little. And I, have NEVER had tubes in my life. I feel confident in saying it is "all Dave's fault!" :)

Family Traditions...

I am ALL about new family traditions.. I love everything about them! I love having something that the entire family can be a part of & look forward to! Our newest family tradition is "Friday Night Breakfast and a Movie". Each Friday we rent a movie and have breakfast for dinner!



This week we had french toast and watched Easy A. My plan is to keep this tradition going for many years, when Charlie is 16 he will still be spending Friday nights home with his parents watching a movie and eating breakfast! :) I know that is totally a mothers dream... not too many 16 year old boys spend Friday nights home with their parents!