The Howell Family: April 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Ace is 30!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ace! Yesterday was Ace's 30th birthday & I surprised him by taking him to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, Stoney River. I also called a few of his best friends to meet us there...I hope it was a fantastic birthday, my love! I'm so glad I'm in good company now with the 30's!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

1 Year Stats & Food Wars

Charlotte is growing so fast that she even eats more than Parker at some meals...not to mention that she'll pretty much eat anything (veggies, meat, really anything), & Parker will not even let a vegetable sit on his plate (he takes it off & pushes it as far away as he can reach), & lately he doesn't even want to eat meat. Ugh, but that's a different story...well, no, let me tell you about it anyways (I need to vent)...so I've been giving him that juice that is mixed with vegetables, you know, the one that says it has 1 serving of fruit & 1 serving of vegetables. Well today he saw the tiny picture of the carrot, which is much smaller than the huge apple on the bottle. So he said "no carrot, I want APPLE JUICE!" The type of fruits he'll eat keeps getting slimmer & slimmer too. UGGHHH! I use red sauce that supposedly has a full serving of vegetables in it too, but how much red sauce does he really eat once he's sucked in each & every piece of spaghetti? So I'll just keep trying. I guess some of this is just a side-effect of the terrible twos, & the Dr. doesn't seem worried, she just says "just keep trying, don't give up!" And I just say "Oh ok." (yea thanks for the great advice, Baby Doctor, my friends have better advice than that). I know, I need to buy "Sneaky Chef" or something like that.

ANYWAYS, back to Charlotte's 1 Year Stats:

- Weight: 20lb. 8oz. - 25-50%

- Height: 30.5" - 75-90%

- Head: 44.5cm - 25-50%

Disclaimer: I sort of take the height percentiles loosely, it's not very scientific the way they measure her, she is laying down in the paper & as fast as she can, the nurse reaches up to the top of her head & (without actually looking) draws a line with a pen & then quickly pulls one leg straight & draws another line below her heel (barely looking again), all while Charlotte is trying to break free. So I'm guessing she's above average, but maybe not quite 90th percentile.

And I was so excited that she had hit the 20 lb. mark so I could put her in her new cute (matching to P's, of course) car seat, forward facing, so she could watch movies, until the Dr. said "well, they are recommending that kids are rear-facing until age 2 now" (now I had heard this before when P was about 1 1/2 but MY doctor didn't tell me that, but I guess the guidelines have changed in the last month or so & all Pediatricians are supposed to tell their patients this now)...sorry Char, that crick in your neck from trying so hard to see the "Hotdog" dance isn't going to get better any time soon :( I love my sweet babies!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Moving on Up to the North Side

Well after many trials & tribulations, it seems that we are finally on our way "Up" to Cumming! We have had our house on the market since September & got a contract on it in mid-March. After much negotiating on our agents' parts, & stressful inspections & appraisals, we are free & clear to pack up our things & begin the "in-my-head-decorating" of the new house. Exciting! Looking forward to the neighborhood pool & playground this summer! I'll post pictures of the new house once we're actually there, in less than 3 weeks! Our move date is April 29th. Yay!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Happy Birthday Charlotte Mae!

Our baby girl's 1st birthday was a few days ago, on March 30th. We celebrated with family at our house, kept it small for her 1st Birthday. Here are some pictures from the day of our Sweet little 1 year old baby girl, Charlotte Mae.

She's also started walking, & she's getting better & more brave every day!