October in Review

I have been so busy that I have gotten behind on posting. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so we have had a pumpkin, ghost, and costume filled month. Charlotte seemed to like the decorations, making costumes, and especially the candy. She has also been busy climbing and talking. Favorite words include toe, oh oh ( when she throws something on the floor), oh ( with a shoulder shrug, when you tell her she should not do something), and momma nak (snack). She has such a great personality and is so funny when she decides to show it.


15 months old, 21 pounds and 31 inches tall.

Getting ready to go to a football game with daddy.

At the pumpkin patch with best friend Landry.


Picture for their rehearsal dinner.

She was very excited about the huge pumpkins.


Playing blocks with daddy, her favorite. He builds, she destroys.


Watching TV in the recliner.

On her way to the top of the bathroom counter.


I was soaked after her bath.


Finally enjoying cake and frosting. To bad it was 3 months after her birthday.

Discussing with cookie monster what to do next.

Cookie Monster (Landry) going after some more goodies.

Favorite UPS truck driver (Jansen).


My sweet, sweet butterfly who would not stand still for the picture.

Laughing at the witch.



Frankie dressed up like the Travelocity roaming gnome.


Trick or Treating wears a girl out and makes her hungry. I told her she was going to have to get a bath because her face was dirty. She wiped her face on her shirt then her hands on her belly. I guess that was going to solve the problem.

A week of firsts.

This was a week of firsts for Charlotte. Her first lie, first time to meet her new cousin and the first time of dancing on a table. Let's start with the beginning... the lie. Tuesday afternoon we were at home doing a bunch of nothing and I smelled something as Charlotte walked by. I simply asked if she had stinky pants? She kind of looked at me like I was crazy so I repeated Charlotte did you make stinky pants? As she was shaking her head no she said "daddy did". And we have our first lie along with her first sentence. Today she met Anna Kathryn for the first time. She kept her distance for a few minutes then warmed up to her new cousin that is smaller than some of her dolls. She climbed in my lap and just laid her head on AK's stomach to give her a hug. It was so sweet, so loving, then she tried to poke her eyes. We are still working on the concept of gentle. The last first and I hope it will be the last time of dancing on the table. Well she wasn't really dancing, just standing on the table, pulling the flowers out of the large crystal vase. NOTHING is safe, I repeat NOTHING.

Mom or Dad?

I do not have a baby picture of Anna Kathryn's daddy but her mom, that is a different story. It is kind of hard to tell much detail from the 1981 pictures, but I think she looks a lot like her mom.
Our dad holding Becca on her birthday.


Becca at 3 weeks old. She had such a wonderful older sister.

Becca at 2 months.

Anna Kathryn Selby

Anna Kathryn is here. After a little worry and trouble to her momma she made it safe and sound this morning around 9am. She weighs 6 pounds and is 20 and 3/4 inches long. Has a head full of black hair that looks as if it may be curly. Hopefully everyone will be home on Saturday.


Taken by her daddy right after her 1st bath (I think).

Sweet, precious baby.

Loving grandma already.

What Charlotte did at the hospital.

Much needed break

We were all off work this week for a much needed break. Our plan was to take several day trips and spend some quality time with Charlotte. Since it rained all week our trips were sightly altered. Charlotte also celebrated her 14 month birthday this week. Her new tricks include taking off her shirt and her diaper. She now says ight (light), hi dad dee, my, ba (nocturnal flying mammal), momma (if she is happy) and maaa (if she is upset at me).



Ready for church, looking like a big girl.

Family photo with thermal imaging camera, in honor of Ghost Hunters.

Climbing a ladder.


Playing at museum of discovery.

I asked her what she wanted to do, she went to the kitchen, looked at all the cabinets and shrugged her shoulders.

Practicing driving a bass boat. Her daddy was so proud.

Happy Birthday.

Reading a book.


Pretty little girl.

Into Everything

It has been a while since my last post. Things have been crazy around here because of work and I just have not taken the time to blog. As many of you know the flu has made its appearance early this year. I have answered so many questions about the swine flu, the pig virus, strep throat, head lice and any other possible disease that someones brother could have been exposed to when he was visiting an uncle that had a co-worker whose cousin had said disease. Needless to say these questions zap all of my energy. However we are on vacation this next week and we could not be more excited. Back to the reason of the blog. Charlotte is in to everything. Her favorite places are inside of a drawer, cabinet, dryer or anything else she can climb into. Her new words are bun (bunny), bath, and esa (Lisa, her babysitter). She is a very smart girl and we are so thankful that she belongs to us. She will even go to her room and try to climb in her crib if you tell her it is time to go to sleep. Sometimes she screams if you put her in the crib but at least she tries. I can't wait to see what the next few months bring. Especially since Charlotte will have a new cousin to play with on the 24th of this month. Please pray that Ann Kathryn will have a safe and easy entrance into this world and both mom and baby will be healthy.


Spaghetti and meatballs. It was Wednesday night before church and I thought it would be a good idea if I took her clothes off. Not so much, there were meatballs stuffed in the top of her diaper.

We had to have a bath before we could touch anything much less go somewhere.

Playing with Grandpa's cat.

This basket is usually located in her room filled with toys. As you can see she unloaded the toys and brought the basket into the kitchen. I can't count the number of times she filled it up with silicone bake ware then unloaded again.

Standing in the bottom drawer of the bathroom. She couldn't quite reach the top of the counter so she climbed in the drawer for some added height.


Rearranging her daddy's DVD collection.

What a difference a year makes.

It is amazing how much she has grown. Found these pictures and just had to include them. She is 1 month old here. She still spreads those toes out when you try to put shoes on her.

So sweet. Jansen holding Charlotte. He still loves to play with her and is so sweet towards her. He has even taught her to play cars. She will dig her tractor out of the toy box then get on the floor and make "car" sounds as she pushes it around.

13 Months and counting.

I am posting a little late but Charlotte is a whopping 13 months old. I still cannot believe that a year ago she was a little bundle of joy. Don't get me wrong she is still a bundle of joy just not the little part. It is the most wonderful feeling when she is so excited as you walk through the door. She will do her best to jump up and down when her daddy comes home from work.

One of my favorite parts of Charlotte is that she has perfected the role of drama queen. She is absolutely wonderful at throwing fits. Last night at church she cried when I dropped her off at bible class. This is the first time she has ever made as much as a whimper. I stepped outside the door and listened for a moment to see if she was going to be OK. It took about 2 minutes. Not 2 minutes for her to get over the fact that her mom had left her, but 2 minutes for her to recruit the other 5 children to throw a fit with her. One of the teachers told me she would just look at the others in such a pitiful way they would whimper and pout with her. One little boy even patted her on the back. I have this nagging feeling that we are in for it and Frankie's bad behavior as a child/teenager has come back to haunt me. :)


Laughing at her daddy.


Instead of sitting still and taking pictures, Charlotte wanted to play with her quilt and throw toys in the floor.


Playing peek -a -boo with me.

Looking a bit frightened.

Loves to watch Paula Dean. She will get her bowl and measuring cups and just stir while she watches. As long as she does not pick up the accent we will be OK.

1st Wedding

Charlotte was able to attend her first wedding this weekend. She was a very good girl both at the wedding and on the 6 hour car ride. I was worried that she would be bored and we would not have enough toys to entertain her. I was wrong. My child can/will play with anything. I know we unrolled a single roll of toilet paper 7 or 8 times. I just feel sorry for the housekeeper that came to our room at the Opryland Hotel.


Jumping on the bed at 1:30 am. She fell asleep in Memphis Friday night so we went ahead and drove to Nashville. Checked in to the hotel around midnight and Charlotte had to release a little energy before going to bed.

Looking at the fish at Bass Pro.

View from our room at the Opryland Hotel. Charlotte would stand by the window and squeal at the people walking by then look around and grunt because they would not acknowledge her.

Making a few phone calls to China.

She would rock back and forth like she was on a rocking horse.

Enjoying popcorn and a movie. There was popcorn everywhere. Again I feel sorry for that housekeeper.

Daddy and Charlotte.

We could not get a picture of Charlotte looking at the camera because there was so much stuff to look at.

Looking at the flowers. There were pots of orchids hanging just left of our seats at the wedding. They were so pretty and they kept a little one quiet.

Little boy at the wedding. He made a bee line for Charlotte. They stood there for a moment looking at each other, hugged, then went their separate ways.