Yellow Squash

Chuck tries some of his homemade baby food.

Tornados

Happy New Years!! Unfortunately my date for the night crashed a little early! We have had really bad weather and may have even had a tornado ( we will know more when daylight comes). Chuck ate his dinner and we were waiting out the storm so we could take a bath. I guess the meteorologist was a little too boring because the Chuckman just couldn't last any longer. I had to hold his head up while he was falling asleep.

Well, I guess he made it to 5:30 with no bath.

As I walked around the house to make sure there was no damage in the yard or any leaks, I did notice that a tornado had in fact hit our family room. Usually they do not name tornados like they do hurricanes but I think this tornado was so severe that they named it Chuck.

Say Cheese

Well, I guess we like cheese!



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Location:Seneca Ave,Jackson,United States

Steamin' Hot

So baby food making has been successful thus far! The little guy had avocado and bananas for dinner. I have to admit that at first there was some gagging involved. I like to think it was a texture issue since this was a little creamier than other food he eats. He did end up enjoying it and finishing all his dinner. I didn't have a steamer so borrowed a couple from Ginger. After making several batches, I went to Kroger and bought one. How cool is this steamer? Bright green silicone! Just my style. Just put it in the pot and get to steamin'!

After the avocado and banana mixture, I made some yellow squash, some zucchini and tomatoes, and some carrots and broccoli. We do have to be careful with anything squash or zucchini related because I did not take the skins off and sometimes it is difficult to digest them but they should be over that problem by 8 months. Also, the tomatoes are acidic like citrus so we will tread lightly with the zucchini and tomato mixture but cooking the tomatoes takes away some of the acidity. You also have to be careful cooking carrots because of nitrates but as long as you don't use any of the water that it was cooked in, it should be alright. I got most of my help from www.wholesomebabyfood.com

The above picture is dark green zucchini and tomatoes and then orange broccoli and carrots.

Now...my dilemma for this hour. We got a pair of kitchen scissors for Christmas. This is wonderful because it is the scissors for the exact knife set that we have and we are always looking for our other pair.... like now. I have a new pair of scissors that I can't get open because I can't find my other pair of scissors. Hmmmm. Ironic perhaps.

Holy Guacamole

Holy guacamole Batman. That was fast and delicious! A whole tray of avocado and bananas!





I was just looking through pictures and found this one. Chuck found this stuffed centipede at Marmee's house and pulled it out himself and then proceded to laugh for about 30 minutes.


It's a little bit bigger than he is.



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Location:Seneca Ave,Jackson,United States

Grocery Shopping

So here was my problem. Every time I would make a trip to the store, I would ask Dr. what he needed.... if there was anything special I could get him. Our conversation would go like this:

-Me : "I am going to go to the store. Is there anything you need or want?"

-Dr.: " No, not really, just some food."

Ok, seriously? You want me to get food at the grocery store? Not 5 minutes after I got home, he would be in the kitchen looking for something to eat and he would say...

-Dr.: "We need some crackers and some juice."

Ugh, I could never win. So, I thought I was genius when I got this....

How easy would this be! Whenever Dr. was in the kitchen and thought of something he wanted, he could mark it off so I would know what he wanted whenever I went grocery shopping.

So, not ten minutes after I put this notepad on the fridge, I walk in the kitchen and see this....

Yep, the guy has checked off everything on the list except the vegetarian stuff and dog food. Might I add, that earlier that day I had already been to the store. Guess I still can't win! Ha, I am still laughing inside. He doesn't see anything funny about this.

I have been working on stocking the freezer with some food. Dr. will have a very easy next two weeks and will spend most of it at home so I knew I would be cooking dinner a lot. We now have three meals of spaghetti, some tater tot casserole, some king ranch chicken, some MK soup, hamburgers, roast, beef tips and some ham and potato chowder. Looks like I will have a good start to the second semester.

Christmas decorations are down but I could not get them back into the attic! We had just been sitting things at the top of the stairs so that now we couldn't get in the attic. I spent yesterday rearranging the attic so I could get all the decorations back in. After spending a few hours, I was so excited to get the living room clean. I went to put the Christmas tree in the box and it was stuck together. Ugh! All the straightening and I couldn't put anything up because the tree had to go in first! We finally got the tree apart. The tree is well aware of the fact that next year it will be out on the curb on December 26th. When we move, we are going real for a while.

Now, my friend got a baby food cookbook and has been making baby food. I have been trying to broaden Chuck's (vegetarian) diet. I want to get him eating more people food. ( They have to be able to walk, drink from sippy cup, and eat the daycare's finger food to go to the one year old room). So, now I am off to try and make some baby food. I am going to stick with some avocado, apples, bananas, and pumpkin for starters. I also got him some mini pasta and am going to try and give him some shredded cheese to try.

Chuck will be home tomorrow since the center is closed for New Years Eve. So hopefully it will be warm and storm free so we can go on a walk and play outside. Chuck is officially pulling up and standing in his crib. With officially pulling up, comes official accident reports from daycare. He will not sit still at daycare and is always trying to get into stuff. I knew the accident reports were coming. I guess we are just lucky we only get one every other day. I am going to have to get the child a helmet I am so paranoid about his head.

Alright, now for trying out some baby food making.

Radio Flyin'

Looks like we need to get a more spacious house so we can party in our wagon.

3rd Christmas

Riding in my new wagon.



First fire with daddy

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1st Christmas

Just a few pics from our first family Christmas.



Dr. explains to Chuck how to work his new toy.


Dr. reads directions to Chuck.


Chuck shows off his new shoes.


Trying out his new sippy cup.


What makes you think Chuck feels relaxed in his own home?


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Location:The Webers

2nd Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Granna and BobBob. Chuck is now obsessed with his new barn and loves to cuddle with his new dinosaurs. He also got a car from his Aunt Kelly and Austin but Abby claimed it as her own. Luckily,Granna and BobBob had gotten her one that we ended up taking instead!

We came home a little early because I was suffering from a stomach bug and Chuck was off schedule (which makes him grumpy) and teething. Yuck. Now we are both in bed. Nite nite



Chuck's new obsession


Chuck's rock house full of dinos


Abby in Chuck's car which is now Abby's

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Location:Granna and BobBob's

Ride 'em Cowboy

We have a hand me down pony that I believe might have been Jackson's. Anyway, Chuck loves to ride it. I think it is too cute when he gets on. He knows how to rock it himself now.

Head Bangin' Highchair

For some reason, Chuck likes to do this type of head banging thing whenever he is in his highchair. His highchair is on wheels so we don't know if he is trying to move it. He thinks it is a lot funnier than I do. I am afraid he is going to hurt himself. Dr. says that he is a boy and I have to get over it.

Merry Christmas!

I am going to have to post two videos. This video is when Dr. had just put together Chuck's push toy that turns into a car ( remember Santa came last night so this morning was our Christmas morning). Chuckster can't quite push yet so we went ahead and turned it into the car until we can balance on our own. He loves it. He is also sporting a new pair of "shoes" that all the walkers wear in his classroom. We have to get on the bandwagon.

And here is another video of the push toy. This kid cracks me up.

Waiting for Santa

This evening Chuck and I worked on wrapping all the remaining Christmas presents. We also had to prepare for Santa since we are expecting him tonight. Today, I learned that Chuck is not a good person to help wrap presents because he actually unwraps them instead. He also wasn't the best person to help put out the cookies for Santa because he ate them.

Please disregard our half lit tree. ( I didn't include the top in the picture because it has no lights). We are just trying to make it through residency with this tree and then we will buy real trees while the kiddos are young. Now that I look at it, it may be a little crooked to.

Playdate

We have such wonderful friends here!!! Our friends, Jason and Akisha, offered to play with Chuck while I went shopping today. It eased my mind not having Chuck in the car while I was in all the traffic finishing up my shopping. I took Chuck over to their house so he could play with their baby, Jake, who is 4 months old. Baby Jake slept the whole time but from what I hear, Chuck enjoyed chasing the dog around the house. Chuck fell asleep on me as soon as I walked in the door.

Akisha also wanted to practice with one of her lenses so she used the Chuckman as her model. I am surprised she got any pictures because he moves so much. I was given a very good report when I got back.

We are going to miss our besties when they move in June. At first, we thought they would be going to Dallas, which would be great if we end up in Hot Springs, but now it looks like they might be headed back home to Georgia. I guess Jackson, MS will be the halfway point for future playdates!

Here are some pictures of our crazy little guy!

If Your Happy and You Know It

Clap your hands! The Chuckster surprises mama everyday with something new!

Chill + Relax = Chillax

Yep, it is officially Christmas Break and I just realized how busy it is going to be! I am looking forward to December 29th when I can sit down and rest for a second. That will be my first day that I won't have anything to do and Chuck will be at daycare. Well, I think I might plan on cooking those last days while Chuck goes to school.

The students got out at 12 today but the teachers had to stay for professional development and we got out at 2:30. At our meeting we talked about "What great teachers do differently". Earlier in the day we had to vote on who we thought was the best teacher at the school. At the meeting she revealed the top teacher so we could talk about what they do that makes them the best. I was actually the one with the most votes! So as of today, I am the best teacher at the school. Of course, that could change day to day and I have a lot of deficits but it rebuilds my confidence and makes me feel like I am doing something right because some days I feel like I am failing as a mama, wife, and teacher. She asked everyone what makes me the best teacher and this is what they said.

1. I am able to self-reflect

2. I respect my students

3. I am a team player

4. I am organized

5. I am committed

6. I am knowledgeable.

7. I am creative

8. I share

9. I treat each child as an individual in instruction and as a person

10. and I am friendly and professional.

I also had my meeting with her about my observation. She said it was a great lesson and that I am doing an awesome job. She can see the change over the three years and how I am more confident. She has even shared some things I did in my lesson with some other people already.

We just had our first semester test. My students worked really hard and my scores were extremely high and she was super excited about it.

So it was a good ending to the semester and a good beginning to the Christmas break. Now I am exhausted and am going to sleep since Chuck is sound asleep. Tomorrow, the Chuckman and I need to finish Christmas shopping but I am a little nervous about the crowds since it is the last weekend before Christmas.

Chuck and I will be going to Mobile from Monday until Wednesday and then with Dr. to Arkansas from Friday until Monday. We will be celebrating our Christmas this Sunday since that is the only day Dr. will have off that we won't be traveling. We have told Santa and he is going to stop by a little early for Mr. Chuck.

Nighty night

Squeaky Clean

Chuck loves to get his teeth brushed!

Every Day is a Big Day

Everyone in the Weber household has been having a good week. This week, Chuck has had some big "firsts".

Today at daycare, Chuck pulled up for the first time. He has been working hard on it but can't seem to get his feet underneath him. He already likes to stand but has trouble getting in the standing position. He now prefers to play while standing up. I mentioned earlier that we lowered his mattress this past weekend because we knew it was coming.

Every morning when I get Chuck up, I bring him into our bed and give him his bottle. This morning, when he was finished, he sat up and looked at Dr. ( who was still asleep) and hit him on the arm a couple of times and said "Da...............Da". All of a sudden Dr. just sat up and looked at him and then Chuck said it again. It takes me forever to wake Dr. up and Chuck says one thing and he is up...... ok, I lose! So we are adding DaDa to the things that Chuck has said. He has said Up, Mama, Baby, Baba, and Dada. I am not sure yet if I am counting any of these as his first word because I am doubting that he actually knows what is going on. Maybe so.

Chuck is also officially feeding himself finger food. He gets upset if you eat in front of him and don't offer him anything. He LOVES to eat finger food. We have just eaten fruit puffs, tomato puffs, yogurt melts and bananas. When I get out of school, I will have some time to go to the store and get some frozen veggies that I am going to start steaming and we will have those for meals too. He is still a vegetarian. All this crawling has slimmed him down some too.

We also brushed our teeth for the first time this week.

What makes you think this child is spoiled?

This is our playroom... I mean family room.

I love my yogurt melts but sometimes I miss my mouth!

Deck the Halls

Or bushes really. Dr. worked hard this weekend making our house look festive.



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Catch Me If You Can!

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PTA

Chuck's first PTA meeting was a success. He wanted to hold my hands and walk around the whole time. Then we got tired. He said he doesn't want to do it again.



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Mommy Thumb

You know, there are times in my life (and they have seemed a lot more often lately) when I kind of just have to admit that maybe I am a little bit off my rocker. Now, I am thinking I don't give myself enough credit. Maybe I am not that crazy.

Just saw this article and now I feel less of a hypochondriac. I knew something legit was wrong! Mommy Thumb

Breakthrough and Breakdown

Yes ma'am it is true. Our teeth have decided to join us. I should have seen it coming. We had lots of super duper diapers this weekend and after looking at yesterdays daycare report, which had a dirty diaper every diaper change, I should have seen the clues! Chuck's teeth broke through. My guess is they were working their hardest between 4 am and 7 am this morning. We had a very early morning this morning. Chuck decided to wake up at 4 and not go back to sleep so it is then that we started our day. Unfortunately, we were not in a good mood and mama still had to get ready for work. So our morning consisted of me trying to shower, blow dry, apply makeup, dress, and warm up the car while our little teether sat there and screamed at the top of his lungs because he wanted to be held. Yep, I know you are jealous! What is a gal to do when she has to get ready but the baby wants to be held and snuggle? Eventually, I was driven to the floor in tears. There I was, sitting next to a shrieking baby, my makeup running down my face, crying. Oh how I needed to call in sick but couldn't because the thought of me actually being prepared and ahead at school is just a whole other story. Phew! What a day.

I felt awful dropping off Chuck at daycare because I knew all he wanted was for me to kiss on him and hug him. I had to run out of daycare before I started crying again because my baby cried all morning and I knew he needed me. Did I mention he napped on the way to daycare? Sometimes I wish I had a remote control car seat in the house. Well, don't fret, Mr. Grouchy was still here after daycare which was no fun because I got even more screeching. Finally, the little lad fell asleep while we were wrestling on the bed. That little munchkin hugging my big ol' tummy and snoring, definitely ended the day a lot better than it started, and not just because he was finally asleep.

This is what we look like at 4 a.m.

Happy holidays

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Deck the Halls

We had a nice weekend. Dr. had to work .... I think he has been working nights for the last three months. Maybe someday soon we will see him again! Chuck went Christmas shopping with me today to get his cousin's gifts. I tell you what. I really need to go shopping without the Chuckman.... I went to Target today for a Barbie and a gift card and when I got back to the car I realized that I had bought an african american Barbie and had forgotten the gift card. I guess I gotta go back to swap the Barbie out anyway. Chuck found Target amusing. I have no idea what he saw but every time we passed a certain aisle, he started laughing out loud and throwing his arms in the air. No clue but it was hilarious.

I did find out that you do not take a baby shopping when it is nearing his naptime. Chuck was getting sleepy and started slouching and falling asleep while riding in the buggy. I would have taken a picture but I was having to hold him up with one hand and push with the other.

Samer and Chuck went on a mission together today and ended up under the Christmas tree. Samer took the ribbon off the present and Chuck took the paper. They had no interest in the actual present which was just sitting there unwrapped still under the tree.

Chuck paid me back for taking him shopping by being a mister grouchy this afternoon but some jumping on the bed and some food and a bath cured the grumpies. We are ready for another week to fly by. Dr. has to work a couple of more nights and then he is off for about five days and I know Chuck can not wait to have a little wrestling and rolling around time with his daddy. Dr. was surprised when he saw Chuck army crawl from one end of the house to the other. We are going to have to lower the bed in the next week or so because I think Chuck just realized that he can pull up. He just can't quite get those feet under him. I am pretty sure that once he can pull up he will be walking.

Chuck plays with mama's pound puppy that is 25 years old.

What a ham! Ready to go Christmas shopping with mama.

This book is so good!

I'm busy.

Bathtime fun

Chuck has been talking a lot this week. I have no idea what he is saying but it is non stop. Got a video of him talking while he was taking his bath. Bathtime is our favorite time of the day

Vegetarian

We still don't like meat.

I made it.

I have never been so relieved that a week is over. It wasn't neccesarily a bad week. It was a week that I maybe shouldn't have gotten out of bed a few mornings. Thank goodness that Chuck had an easy and uneventful week. He fell asleep easily and without a fuss, slept great ( waking up once.... except last night he slept through the night!), had a great week at daycare, ate good and it was just easy going.

I had my observation this week on a topic that I had purposely skipped the first time around. I hate teaching context clues ( I just think it is a hard concept to actually teach) but it forced me to come up with a really good lesson for a topic I don't like. My student's behavior was great ( thank goodness). Preparing for a formal evaluation just takes a lot of prep work, prepping the room (organizing, cleaning, work up on walls) stress, late nights, etc. I am so glad that it is finally over ( was just looming in the back of my head my entire Thanksgiving break).

As soon as the observation was over my room just fell a[art completely. A child was in the bathroom ( in which the light bulbs have been flashing and taking a little time to turn on) and all of a sudden there was a huge pop. I immediately ran to the bathroom ( which is in our classroom), flung open the door and pulled the child out. I thought that a bulb had broken and there was glass in her eye. So I rush her down to the office, break in on a conference the principal was having. Turns out no glass was in her eye, we couldn't find a bulb that had busted. Hm mm. Then we notice her hand was a little black... kind of weird. We go back down to the classroom and sure enough the light switch was black. There on the floor right underneath the light switch was a burnt paper clip. Yes sirree, the child had put a paperclip in our light switch, shorted it out and um.... got shocked.

So we had called her dad to come take her to the eye doctor but by the time he showed up ten minutes later, it had turned into a discipline matter. Needless to say, I have a student who has now been suspended for five days because she almost caught the building on fire ( oh wait, did I mention there was smoke involved?) and she almost killed herself, her teacher ( which is me... I immediately switched off the light switch when I had run in after the pop) and almost killed the principal ( she was flipping it on and off looking at the bulbs before we realized it was the switch). Thank goodness the paperclip fell out of the switch and didn't stay in the switch or we would have been electrocuted. Amazingly this had happened before several years ago when a child stuck a pair of scissors in the light switch and shorted all the lights and zapped every single TV in the whole school.

Now today, I spent my first two and a half hours of my day trying to find clothes for one of my little girls who reeked of urine so much so that everyone in the class was getting headaches and starting to feel sick ( thank goodness the kids really didn't know why they didn't feel good). The mother would not bring the child any clothes because she doesn't have transportation ( did I mention that the children walk to school.... if your kids can walk to school, you can walk to school so that your child isn't being made fun of for reeking like urine. ) Anyways, finally when I was able to get her a uniform out of a uniform closet, I picked her out a jumper with a white blouse with a peter pan collar under it and told her to look in the mirror and said "What do you think?". She looked in the mirror and said "I look beautiful". About broke my little heart. She was so happy to have this sweet little uniform ( that was used.... but she can keep). Bless her heart.

So after spending my morning taking care of someone else's child..... ( i'm not saying I wasn't experiencing a migraine and gagging inside the whole time) I got to spend time with the illiterate literacy coach. Now mind you, this lady was so against me my first year but quickly realized that she really needed me for ideas, help, etc HAHAHA. She comes to my room everyday asking to borrow something or for me to come up with an idea or wondering how to do something. Today, she couldn't figure out how to open a document in her email and then save it to her computer. Seriously. Seriously. She owes me big time. BIG TIME . I have saved her A$$ so many times in the last three years, she better regret ever raising her voice at me that first year. Oh, yes, I do let her beg for my help occasionally just so she appreciates what I do for her.

So really the beginning of the week was just crazy stress, the end of the week was just crazy nonsense and I have never been more happy to be home with my little munchkin who is starting to use his knees when he crawls. I love that little guys so much. He makes my heart so happy.

Alright, gotta go wash bottles, start shopping from Christmas and do a little laundry. Have I ever mentioned how much I love to do laundry? I do, I really, really do. I love it.

Brrr

Just a few pictures of Chuck the past mornings when it was 29 degrees out when we left for school!!! Thanks goodness we have hand me downs from Jackson Charles or else we might have froze!

Walker

This is just a little video of Chuck playing with cousin Evie. She tied a leash onto his walker and strolled him around the house. Other than the few plants he hit, he had a blast! I think it is hilarious.

All Gobbled Out

I hate to see Thanksgiving Break end but it means we are closer to Christmas break which is two weeks vacay for this mama! We had a good visit to Texarkana for Turkey Day. We are so thankful we got to spend it with family and that we made it safely there and back.

Last trip, Chuck was a monster because I didn't stick to his schedule. This time, I made sure we were right on time with everything. He slept great and was his normal self! We got home last night around 11. I think he decided to pay me back for such a good trip so after getting him out of the car last night, he woke up every hour..... yup, EVERY hour. Finally, we crawled into the guest bed and snuggled until 7:45..... still waking up every hour.

We got lots of play time with everyone and got to work a little more on our crawling. As soon as this guy can pull himself up, I think he is going to be walking.

This week is another hectic week for me. My observation was supposed to be before Thanksgiving but since she was a no-show, it has been rescheduled for this Thursday. Ugh.

Here are a few pics from this week.

Chuck got to play in his first card board box. He also rode in it while I pushed it around the house!

Chuck and Paka Nick watch the Arkansas/ LSU game. You can tell by their clothes that they were rooting for different teams.

Poppy and Chuck work on their sword fighting techniques.

Chuck helped mama shop but was upset she took his box of rice away. ( I started freaking out that it might have rat poison or something on the outside of the box.... I know....)

Still can't seem to get it all in our mouths.... but really what's the fun in that anyways.

Yuck!

Well turns out I have strep and am now on antibiotics. Chuck gives mommy WAY too many kisses and we thought he was getting an ear infection so he is on antibiotics.

Should have known this was coming! Everytime I have a vacation I get "bed" sick where it is too painful to get up. Don't know what I would do if daycare was cancelled this week.

Still have stuff I need to do. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. Got the tree halfway decorated but it's going to stay that way. Just don't have time or energy to put any more ornaments on. Speaking of Christmas, we have our first present under the tree. It's for Marmee but don't tell her!




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