Leap Day

Just thought I would share these super cute faces with you today...

One of my favorite things about Jackson...how he examines things with such a serious intensity, pretty sure he gets that from his daddy!

(ps - yes, that is a mullet you see and no, he's not getting a hair cut yet!!!!)

Could her face be any sweeter?!!

This little Monster LOVES playing in cabinets! 



Please excuse the blury picture but please tell me that you see the BOW! Her hair is finally long and thick enough to get a little bow in it!!!!! :)

New Goals and Running

I am not sure if any other parents feel this way but I am over having sick kids. It seems as if when one little starts feeling better the other one gets sick and then just when that one starts feeling better the other one gets sick again. Jackson literally just stopped his antibiotic for his ear infection on Wednesday and Saturday morning Charlie Claire woke up with a fever and by late afternoon we were at urgent care.  I can not wait until spring is here and we can be outside more and open the windows and air out this house!

Now that I have that out of my system...

We updated C's short term goals last week. Since Charlie had met all of Wendy's goals, Nina and April went over theirs for her and we were able to update just about all of the short term goals we had set in December! It's so encouraging that we had to set new goals for C already and we are certainly ready to take on our new list!

OT homework sometimes gets pretty messy!!! :)

I thought I would share a little 1/2 marathon training update!

I am not sure if I have mentioned it but Jason is also training to run the 1/2 marathon.  I am super proud of him for doing this since running isn't really his favorite thing to do.  We have been following a pretty standard training schedule.  Our long run this week will be 7 miles.  I am not going to lie, the last time I trained for a 1/2 was about 5 years ago.  I got full nights of sleep, I wasn't getting up at 4:45am with a sick little one, I didn't drink LARGE amounts of coffee to keep myself awake throughout the day, etc.  For the most part the runs have felt really good - of course some days are better than others but I find myself actually looking forward them.  I think the true test will now be that we are past the 6 mile mark...it could just be me but 6 miles I one of my favorite distances and all of the ones from here on out just seem long. I do find myself constantly reminding myself why we are training and running and that makes me even more thankful to the others who are training and running this race with us.  I am really looking forward to meeting everyone in April!!!

That last time I trained I did not have the Nike app for my iphone that I have now.  If you run I highly recommend this app.  It helps you keep track of your miles and your pace and I really look forward to the little voice that pops up to tell me how far I have gone and how much further I need to go! I also enjoy the little "pat on the back" it gives you at the end...it will let you know if you set a new personal best for the mile or 5k or when you haven't had a very good run the little voice will still give you a thumbs up for running 3 days in a row! :)

I had the pleasure of having this sweet face come along with me on my run this morning....

Happy Monday...

We've got cheerios...

...And we are not afraid to use them!

Charlie Claire is freaking awesome and has managed to accomplish all of the short term goals Wendy set for her in December! We are having a meeting on Friday to update and add new short term goals but in the meantime, Wendy has gone ahead and started working with C on them...

Charlie Claire has been pulling to stand and has been dabbling in cruising along the furniture but now we are hard core working on it.  Wendy is a genuis and suggested cheerios as incentive for Charlie! Worked like a charm.  She is able to go to the left on her own without any problems but going towards the right seems to be a bit of a challenge.

My dad has been trying for some time to get Miss Charlie Cakes to do "so big" and it was pretty hit or miss and most of the time her arms went out to the side not up over her head...until recently!!! :)

Jason was off of work for part of the day today so we took advantage of the awesome weather and headed to the park! We are definetly taking advantage of the nice, warm weather February is throwing our way!!

One of the things that was hardest for me when Charlie Claire was having infantile spasms was that she wasn't keeping up developmentally with Jackson.  During my pregnancy I had all these images in my head of all the things "Baby A and Baby B" (we didn't know the genders until they were born!) would be doing together.  And while I know that all babies do things at different rates regardless of being twins or not, it was still something that was heartbreaking to me.  Jackson was taking off and C was stagnant.   Charlie Claire is still "behind" Jackson but as she is catching up it is the most amazing blessing to finally watch the two of them do things together! It warms my heart to see Charlie laugh at Jackson, steal things away from him the way he has been doing to her for months, reach over onto his booster seat tray to take food, crawl over to where he is playing so she can play with him, etc! We are so very grateful....

This fight over the cup didn't end well...





she believed she could, so she did...

When Jason and I first started the blog it was to keep our family and close friends up to date with Charlie Claire. Things with C got pretty bad pretty fast and we couldn't keep up with all the emails, texts, phone calls, etc. that we were getting. We were reluctant at first but the blog proved to be the most effective way of informing people about Charlie Claire.

When the blog first started Charlie Claire was barely 3 months old. We, as a family, were facing things that we had never imagined we would be facing and things weren't looking super bright and hopeful for us. I realize it sounds a tad "Debbie Downer" - ish but everything that we had been trying had been failing and that is extremely discouraging.

Our family is in a very different place then we were when this blog first started and we thought it was time for the blog itself to reflect that! Charlie Claire is such a sweet, sweet girl - she loves to smile and laugh. She loves to snuggle. Charlie Claire shows us on a regular basis that she is determined and because of that we are hopeful.  We realize that our journey is far from over but we wanted this site to reflect our positive attitudes and outlook!

Thank you all for being a part of this journey with us and all of the love and support you have given. It is amazing to us how many people are interested in our story and how many people have reached out to us (for various reasons!). The past 16 months would not have been the same without all of you. Thank you.

We also want to thank Angie at Thirsty Hearts Design. Angie has been amazing to work with and surprisingly enough didn't punch me at all during the process!! :) We really appreciate her taking the time and turning our ideas into a reality! You should seriously check her out!! Thanks so much Angie!

Lovie

A little while back, when we first started working with April the OT, one of the things we were working on is finding a lovie for Charlie Claire because she more or less was using me as her lovie.

Well...C's got a lovie!!! :) We named her Ellie the Elephant!

Before Charlie Claire's surgery in March 2011 I had seen a pink elephant lovie at Target.  I am not a huge fan of pink but I am a HUGE fan of elephants and I pretty much think anything with an elephant Charlie should have! So, I bought it. It made the trip to Richmond with us many times and has watched over C while she has been in the hospital.  At home, Ellie sat amongst all the other toys and stuffed animals Monster and Cakes have.

Charlie Claire didn't mind Ellie but she didn't need Ellie...until recently.  We started putting Ellie in C's crib with her and all of a sudden a bond was formed!

As happy as we are about this...Mama KC didn't think this out.  Target no longer sells Ellie the Elephant and during C's PT session yesterday Miss Wendy made a comment that I needed to purchase back up Ellie's.  Now, Jackson's lovie is a cloth diaper. We used them for burp clothes when J and C were infants and Jax just took to it.  We have hundreds (ok, maybe only 25-ish but it feels like 100's!) of cloth diapers and they are something that is an easy find. Jackson is a fan of the babies r us brand, not the gerber and don't try to fool him! :)

Last night I hopped on Google to search for the sweet pink elephant. First of all, ebay was selling used ones..I am the only one who thinks that's GROSS. I see what C's looks like and she has only been loving on it for about 2 weeks. Second, Ellie is a tad more expensive than I remember her being at Target, clearly the seller knows that a desperate parent who is fearful of losing the lovie will be buying it! :)

Meet Ellie:

Ellie keeping close watch over C in March 2011

Charlie Claire sleeping snuggled up to Ellie!

B.U.S.Y.

Charlie Claire's development just seems to have taken off! It is so amazing to watch her on a daily basis and see how many new things she is doing and how quickly she is picking up on things. It really seems that everything is coming together the past few weeks.  We still work our butts off day in and day out but it's a refreshing feeling to see all of our hard work paying off!!!

C officially mastered feeding herself cheerios and crackers and has now moved onto some new foods...this video is from breakfast, feeding herself some of her waffle!

JMonster has been on a mission these days to get into EVERYTHING! He is now tall enough to open the drawers in the kitchen and reach in and grab things!  He has also figured out how to climb up on the chairs at the kitchen table and then onto the actual table itself! There is certainly no relaxing in our house!!!

Last nights baked ziti was a success!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lots of love from Jackson and Charlie Claire!

Morning smooches from Charlie Claire!

Our little Valentine's!

2 Months Post Op

Happy Heart!

Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do.
Orison Swett Marden

I am going to be honest and say right up front that I don't really have the words to describe how inspired I am by Charlie Claire's determination and willpower; it has made me very emotional and has put me at a loss for words. Nonetheless, this video needs to be shared and we will just let the video do the talking...  



F.R.I.D.A.Y.

Aside from two babies getting multiple teeth at the same time and Charlie coming down with a cold this week has been awesome! :)

It seems that we are just in a really awesome groove right now...Jackson is doing so many new things on a regular basis, Charlie Claire is doing so many new things every day, the two of them are interacting with each other so much! It's just a super fun time. 

We have been working on a bunch of things with C and just this week she has started to:
-turn pages of books
-feed herself cheerios (sometimes she misses doesn't let go of the cheerio once it's in her mouth but we still give her credit! :))
-reach with her right hand (if we hold back her left hand!)
-put soft/fabric objects in her mouth - cloth diaper, stuffed animals, etc.

None of these things comes easily and we work hard with C on a daily basis so it is such an amazing feeling every time she accomplishes something! She seriously is a ROCK STAR and we are so thankful that she has come so far and continues to make such great gains.

We have certainly been enjoying the mild weather and have gotten some serious outdoor playtime, walks and runs in! Safe to say we are looking forward to summer on our end...I got super excited yesterday when I saw the aisle at Target with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, etc!

Little Friday Photo Fun for you!

Sweet face!

No autographs, please!

Loving on Mickey!

Park time!

Throwing a football!

Fringe Salon

My friend Emilie (the one who started this whole Flying Pirate 1/2 Marathon business!) works at Fringe Salon. When word got around her salon that she was training for the 1/2 marathon and why the staff jumped on board to help Team Charlie Claire!

During the months of February and March if you donate to the Team CC Fund you will receive a coupon to Fringe Salon for a free Redken Chemistry Hair Treatment.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Emilie @ 757.277.9932.

Thank you Fringe Salon for joining Team Charlie Claire! We are super appreciative of your support!