Spring Bazaar

This weekend, we did something new as a family: we were vendors at a Bazaar! For the past couple of months, I've been a distributor for a Christian jewelry company. I've mostly done home shows, but I thought I'd try to sell some of my display items at a Bazaar. We weren't sure how it would go, and we were a little discouraged to see several other jewelry vendors setting up shop. It started off slow, but we ended up selling 22 items. It was worth doing and we plan to do it again this Fall at two other events we know about. In addition to the jewelry, I hope to sell some homemade goodies. I've been working on Christmas stockings and magnets, but I also have a few other surprises up my sleeve. Since the Bazaar, my mind has been going crazy with ideas!

Charlotte did great at the Bazaar. She got pretty cranky at one point, so Chris walked with her until she fell asleep. The vendor next to us also came with her husband and daughter. Her daughter, Jenna, is only a week younger than Charlotte! We let them play with each other for a little bit. They were so sweet together. Unfortunately, Charlotte started pulling her hair. Oh boy. Sweet Jenna never made a peep when Charlotte did it and we couldn't believe it!

Here's some pictures from the day:

Our table all set up and ready to go!

Another view of our table. We were in between a local artist and a lady who made soap (she was the one with a daughter Charlotte's age).

Charlotte had her own little "play area" behind our table. We brought a box full of toys with us to keep her entertained.

Here is Charlotte and Jenna playing together. Jenna was good at sharing, and Charlotte was good at taking. :-/

Charlotte was a good sport all day and she eventually clunked out right in Daddy's arms. :-)

Shots, Shots, and More Shots

Charlotte got 3 shots today. Once again, Daddy held Charlotte while I went to the hallway. It's just too much! The only "good" part about Charlotte getting shots (besides her being immunized against different diseases!) is that we get to find out her weight and length. Here's her 7.5 month stats:

weight: 20 lbs, 12 oz
length: 29"

The sticker on her dress says, "I got a shot today." :-)

The Valley of Vision

Chris and I have been reading a prayer from the Valley of Vision every evening, and I thought I would share a few snippets that have impacted our thinking and have enriched our praise of such a great God:

There is no comfort in anything
apart from enjoying thee
-From "GOD THE ALL"

I rejoice to think that all things are at thy
disposal, and it delights me to leave
them there. Then prayer turns wholly
into praise,and all I can do is to adore and
bless thee.
-From "GOD THE ALL"

O God, it is amazing that men can
talk so much about man's creaturely
power and goodness, when, if thou
didst not hold us back every moment,
we should be devils incarnate. This,
by bitter experience, thou hast taught
me concerning myself.
-From "GOD THE ALL"

Thou art all my good in times of peace,
my only support in days of trouble,
my one sufficiency when life shall end.
-From "THE ALL-GOOD"

For I was no more ready to receive Christ
than were others; I could not have begun
to love thee hadst thou not first loved me,
or been willing unless thou hadst first made
me so.
-From "THE MOVER"

Help me to honour thee
by believing before I feel
-From "THE DIVINE WILL"

Teach me to believe that all degrees
of mercy arise from several degrees
of prayer
-From "THE DIVINE WILL"

I know but a part, but
that part exceeds all praise
-From "DIVINE MERCIES"

I bless thee that thou hast made me capable
of knowing thee, the author of all being,
of resembling thee, the perfection of all excellency,
of enjoying thee, the source of all happiness.
-From "GOD ENJOYED"

While Jesus is representing me in heaven,
may I reflect him on earth
-From "GOD ENJOYED"

Another Milestone

Just a few days after learning how to crawl, Charlotte has learned how to pull herself up. :-)

And yes, things are definitely more fun around here now that Charlotte is crawling!

Sewing Projects

That's a lot of batting! Let me explain...every fall, there are two fairs that are popular among ex-pats in Bahrain. Chris and I didn't go to either last year, but from talking to others, there's apparently not a lot of Christmas stuff even though the fairs are held around the holiday season. I had the idea to sew a bunch of Christmas stockings and other Christmas-related things to try and sell at the fairs this fall. I'm starting early since it's going to take awhile to sew everything. The picture above is the batting I ordered from JoAnn's...it's huge! Charlotte was climbing all over it the other night. She was also eating the batting before Chris noticed it and stopped her. Haha!

Below are a few pictures of other sewing projects I've been working on the past two weeks. Besides the pictures below, I've also made another shirt and dress. They're not pictured because I forgot to have Chris take pictures when I wore them. You'll have to trust me when I say they're cute!

A dress I made for Charlotte. Below is her wearing it. It's a size 2, so it's a little big for her yet. Okay, it's a lot big!

I didn't make the dress Charlotte is wearing, but I thought this was a cute picture!

And Away She Goes....

Fun days are ahead of us because....Charlotte is officially crawling! Chris was on the floor with Charlotte tonight while we were watching TV. He was holding the remote in his hand and Charlotte started crawling towards it. She loves the remote and is always reaching for it, so it's no surprise that the remote is what finally got her moving! When she started crawling, I could hardly believe it. She's been working on crawling for a couple weeks now. Before tonight, she had managed to take one or two "steps" before collapsing, and she'd even figured out how to get into a bear crawl stance, but I just knew that one day she would figure it out and take off. Well, today was that day. After Charlotte crawled to Chris and grabbed the remote, he took the remote and backed up further to see if Charlotte would crawl towards him again, and she did! After the second time, I got out the video camera. :-)

A Different Side of Our Little Darling

Just about all the pictures of Charlotte I post are of her beaming from ear to ear. She is a very happy baby but she does have her moments. She can be a rather "clingy" baby and loves attention. I hate to say this, but so far she's a mommy's girl. If she sees me walk out of the room, she'll have a breakdown...even when Chris is home and is holding her. Other times she'll just start crying because she wants our attention or wants us to play with her. It's a little ridiculous! And I don't want you to think that we've made her like this or indulge her...we usually don't since we want her to learn to play by herself! So here are some photos of a side of Charlotte you haven't seen...during one of her many "I want some attention" breakdowns. :-)

Once a Wiggle Worm...

When I went to get Charlotte out of her crib the other morning, I found her like this:


I still can't figure out how she managed to wiggle her arm out of her pajamas without unfastening any of her buttons!

Another Old T-Shirt Dress

I told you I'd be making more of these! To see the first one I made, click here. I need to remember to take "before" pics of the t-shirts so that you can better see the before and after. Before making it into a dress for Charlotte, it was a baby doll t-shirt from Gap. I added front ruffles, which took off some of the length. So instead of a dress, it's more like a long t-shirt. Ah, it's so nice to have such a cute model!

My First Mother's Day

When Charlotte was first born, the hospital gave us a bottle of sparkling grape juice with a special label on it. The hospital was the name of the vineyard, Chris and I were the producers of the juice, and they used Charlotte's birth information for the juice's name, bottling date, and volume. It was so creative and such a cute gift from the hospital. Well seven months later, Chris and I finally got around to drinking it!

Yesterday at church, Chaplain Hall gave the mothers a carnation and had us all stand in the front of the chapel while he prayed for us. [On a side note, it was really weird to be apart of Mother's Day this year and not just be a "gift giver"] So we had the carnation and an empty bottle of sparkling grape juice, and guess what my creative husband did? I walked into our dining room last night and there in the empty bottle was my Mother's Day carnation! I loooove him!

7 Months

Charlotte turns 7 months old tomorrow. Since tomorrow's going to be a busy day, I decided to take her pictures this morning. The clothes she's wearing in the photos are 12-18 months. I figured she might fit into those outfits by the summer, but I definitely wasn't expecting her to fit into them now. The bubble dress fits perfectly, which is really sad since it's so cute. I think I'm going to try and copy that dress into a larger size...a hard task since I'm a novice sewer, but try I will.

Charlotte is super close to crawling. For the past few months, she's been rolling completely around, but just within the past week, she's started to get up on her hands and knees and move her legs a bit. It wouldn't surprise me if she's crawling within the next couple of weeks. Here is a video of her trying to crawl:



And here are Charlotte's 7-month photos. One of these days I'm going to get a new camera, and it's going to be fantastic. Until then, I'll keep playing with photoshop to appease myself. At the very least, I wish I could figure out what happened to my attachment flash. I really hate all the shadows behind Charlotte. OK, I'll quit complaining. Here's the pics of Charlotte: