I was so totally excited for the time change until I remembered that I have a baby. Everyone loves the fallback time change. How can you possibly go wrong with an extra hour of sleep or awakness (whichever you choose)? This was my minds thought as we headed to Saturday night then at some point in the excitement it dawned on me that yes, I do have a child and yes, she will need a little time change as well. Gee Whiz! There is yet another thing to add to the instruction manual that you do not get with a baby. We ended up keeping Charis up for an extra hour on Saturday night and then she got up a little early Sunday morning to make it to church. We thought that we were so cool and had mastered the time change but Monday morning proved otherwise when Charis awoke at 6:30. Lovely! She just chatted with her self for the next hour and a half until it was time to get her out of bed. We shall see what tomorrow holds but I am no longer a big fan of this time change thing. Who knows what spring forward will hold.

Charis LOVES oatmeal! We had been giving her the rice cereal but just switched this weekend when the cereal ran out. Everyone says that the oatmeal is much healthier for her so it was a good excuse to try something new. The child LOVES it! She opens her mouth for the oatmeal and is so excited for each and every bite. It is quite amusing and fun to watch. I am not sure how long this will last but it is fun while it does last.

How cool is my sister-in-law? So cool that she started her own blog to keep the fam up to date on all the happenings in Florida. You will have to check out her site, as it is quite entertaining. We love you and miss you Matt and Becca, thanks for all the updates!

http://www.mattandbecca05.blogspot.com/

We have been all over town today looking for the PERFECT costume. We had seen a lobster costume and it was perfect, however we failed to buy it when we first saw it so now all the other cool people in town have the lobster costume and not us. So the great search began today for the runner up costume. It needed to be versatile incase we go to our Sunday school class fall harvest and costume party so we could go as one “theme”. If we had the lobster Brad and I were going to be chefs. Cute, I know that is why it was so perfect. Anyways, I headed to several stores each time checking in with Brad to collect his thoughts on the current costume of the moment, but nothing would do but the long bought out lobster costume. It was even sold out online except for one store that wanted almost $80 once you figured in shipping (overnight shipping that is). We did contemplate the purchase for a moment then decided that we were out of our minds! Well, finally it was Target to save the day. They did have the traditional bee and ladybug costumes, which everyone else in the area had as well, but then I saw it. It was hanging all alone and it was almost like a spotlight came out of nowhere and shown brightly on it. Hark the cow costume! Brad did not sound to thrilled about it but time was running out and there was really nowhere else to turn except for the check out line. I decided that with the cow costume we could at least dress as farmers with Charis. The kid is adorable (I am not biased though) so I am sure that she will look cute even as a cow.

The new DVD set for The Wizard of OZ just came out! I do love The Wizard of OZ. Just ask Brad who went all over town one year to find the Wizard of OZ trivia game in the collectable tin. I am sure that he will tell you all about my passion for OZ. He got the best hubby ever prize that year because he even played the game with me. Lets just say that I won! Anyway, we have not watched the remasterd DVD and all the extras yet but I love the fun stuff that they threw in the case. There are copies of advertisements, tickets, fascinating facts etc. Just way to many interesting facts to be found for a WOOZ nerd like me. For example did you know that for the poppy field scene they had to make 40,000 poppies and then ten men spent a week placing each one on the two acre set. How cool is that? They could not use real poppies because the lights were too hot. The lion’s costume was made from real lion skins and weighed 50 pounds. No wonder it looked so cool! The wicked witch’s nose was made from metal. Weird! I will not keep sharing all the new facts that I have learned but there are many cool facts listed throughout the little books and it is a definitely a fun buy, especially for all the WOOZ nerds out there.

I never knew just how incredible Vaseline was until we had Charis. Vaseline is the best thing that you can put on a diaper rash and it really works. Who knew this when we were buying all the expensive diaper creams before Charis arrived? Vaseline is also great for eczema. Charis has it badly and the doctor said that Vaseline would do the same thing that the Aquaphor (by Eucerine) and other expensive lotions and creams would do. Who knew this? Side note, my mom even uses it to take off her makeup; you can forget the expensive makeup removers. Hip hip hooray for Vaseline!

Brad’s sister Becca got married this past weekend. I have known her for half of her life…how crazy is that! I totally did not realize that she was getting married until just before she walked down the isle. All these months of preparation the doing, going and picking it never hit me that she would be married and move away to Florida. When did it hit you ask…right before we all walked down the isle. Lovely, I know! I was the matron of honor and I spent the whole day by her side. You would of thought it could hit me when she put the dress on or during pictures but no. We were all lined up to walk down the isle and I saw her struggling to pull the blusher over her face and I went to help her fix it and then it was all over. For some reason when I pulled the blusher over her face I just totally and completely lost it. It hit me that my little sister was all grown up. She was not the middle school girl that I pictured in my mind she was a woman about to be married. Well, I did totally loose it as I mentioned and then she totally lost it and then her dad totally lost it and well there went the bridesmaids as well. We all walked in bleary eyed and crying uncontrollably (okay maybe the crying uncontrollably was just me but all the same). Tissues were passed during the sweet ceremony and I am not sure that there were many dry eyes left by the end. To defend myself though I did owe Becca a good weeping at her wedding since she wept all the way through our wedding!

I went to the dentist this morning and it occurs to me that I am one of the only people that I know who enjoys going to the dentist for a cleaning. I think that one of the reasons that no one likes the dentist is that they are afraid to ask for the flavor of polish that they really want. Most people just get mint since it is “safe”. I always ask for bubble gum. Yes, the hygienist gets the look on her face like that is for kids, but hey, why not have fun at the dentist! The stuff is a little gritty but a good flavor really helps. Next time you go to the dentist for a cleaning don’t be afraid to ask for bubble gum or even chocolate! At least try to enjoy the experience of the cleaning.

Speaking of bouncy seats. I almost think that we need three! Hear me out on this one. We have a two-story house so of course we have two (I almost killed myself carrying the one up and down the steps with Charis in tote as well). We have two different kinds of bouncys though. The first one that we have is a Carters brand that is ideal for sleeping. It has toys with it and such but we pretty much use it for nap times. I do not recommend this bouncy seat as it just has not held up as a Carter’s brand should, maybe it is from carrying it up and down the steps before we got the second bouncy, I am not sure. Anyways, the second bouncy seat that we have is super great! It is a Kick and Play by Fisher Price! We used it at a friend’s house and Charis loved it! Thank goodness for the clothing sale at church because we were able to get one for cheap. It has become our upstairs bouncy. It sits up more and Charis can kick it to her hearts content (which she does) and it plays music and has toys hanging from it. I really like that it sits up a lot. Since Charis cannot sit on her own yet it works great to feed her in it. The downstairs bouncy is almost too reclined to feed her in it, therefore you need three bouncy seats (the sleepy time one, a sit up one downstairs and then another one for upstairs) in a two story house that is not big enough to hold them all. Oh, what we do for our children!

Naps, I love a good nap but it is rare that I will take a nap in the bed. I like to naps on the couch or floor or just wherever I am when I fall asleep. I do not want to miss something exciting if it were to happen. Well, it seems that I have passed this “gift” onto our child. She sleeps splendidly in her bed at night but just you try to put her down for a nap in her bed during the day. Gee, the fits that have been pitched. She sleeps on schedule pretty much everyday just in her bouncy seat in case something exciting was to happen. Oh, the things that we pass to our children!