3 months old

Our little bear turned 3 months old last week!! I can't believe he's growing up so quickly. When I hold or rock him, I try to make memories and remember these sweet moments with him. I've been reading some of my friends' blogs and how they update the growth of there babies, so here are a few things about Charlie at 3 months old:

Height: about 25 inches (soooo long!!)
Weight: about 12.5 lbs (a rough estimate from our home scale) still skinny like his dad
Likes: Charlie loves to talk and smile. He has the biggest grin!! He still likes to be swaddled, loves to play on his playmat, enjoys sucking his fist or thumb if he gets it in there, hearing his mom's and dad's voices, lots of kisses, and pretty much anything else in life. We have one happy camper!
Dislikes: pretty much nothing except long car rides in his car seat (he's not a fan!)
Charlie has learned... to giggle! It's the cutest thing I've ever heard in my life! He hasn't started rolling over yet, but he's enjoying his tummy time more and more. He's really trying to grab for the toys on his playmat.

Good news!!!!! I started taking some herbals and some medicine from my doctor and my milk supply has increased. Thank goodness!! I have gone from giving him 6 ounces of formula per day to only 2-4 ounces, and sometimes none!! I cut all dairy out of my diet and he stopped having bloody stools. Thank you so much for your prayers. I started drinking soy milk, so I can eat some cereal. It's not too bad. And I've been able to eat some cheese and it hasn't hurt him any, so that's good. I even snuck in a small cup of ice cream a couple nights ago and he did fine! :)

I prayed throughout my whole pregnancy and still to this day for Charlie to be "happy, healthy, and to love Jesus." If you think of Charlie just lift up that little prayer for him! :) (more pics coming soon)

New pics of our cute baby!

I apologize for the much needed update, so sit down cause this may take awhile (sorry they are all out of order and I'm too tired to fix it)....

My friend Kristen and her sons, Dalton and Austin, came to see us last Friday. Here are the three boys snuggling on the couch. They were so sweet with our little bear and loving on him. Austin (on the left) was unfortunately diagnosed with leukemia last July. You can read more about his story here. I think I made a post last summer and praying for her son. She is still an oncology nurse and had to put PNP school on hold during his treatment. So far he's doing great!

I babysat the sweetest boys ever when I was at TCU. Hunter and Matthew are big now and love when I bring Charlie over. Here they are chilling out on the rug... (Hunter above was the ring bearer in my wedding... and now he's 11, going on 25!!!!!! I feel so old)

Matthew (7)

All the boys

I had to take a picture of this with my cell because we call it the "Charlie Taco." My mom gives me a hard time about swaddling our baby so tight, but hey, he loves it and sleeps great!! Carson and I can't get over how stinkin' long he is. He practically takes up the whole bed.

He's starting to really know where is hands are and always putting his fist in his mouth... not his thumb or fingers, but his fist. If he manages to get his hand out of the "Charlie Taco" he wakes up! Therefore, we wrap him up tighter. :)

As I mentioned before, Carson is obsessed with duck hunting. Here he is with Chris and his dog, Rivers, and their kill for the day. (Yes, Carson seriously set the tripod up to take this pic, that's pretty hard core if you ask me). Chris' son, Benjamin, was due a week before Charlie's due date but the Lord had other plans for Benjamin. He was not expected to live, but after many, many prayers, he was born at 35 weeks, doing great now, and he's just a little miracle. I think Emily and I hope that Benjamin and Charlie are hunting buddies like their dads some day. There are some cute pics of Charlie and his friend, Benjamin here towards the end of Emily's post on their blog.

Well, I started back at work last week on January 11th. I cried ALL day on the 10th just thinking about it. Then I cried when I left the house, when I got to work and they hugged me, and then every time I pumped that day and thought about him. Needless to say, I missed my little bear! It was hard enough to start my new job, but leaving him was horrible. It has gotten a little bit better everyday. I only cried the first day though. The people I work with are great!! But... I wish that I could work part time and be able to spend more time with my little man, but the Lord has a different plan for us right now. Thank you everyone for your sweet prayers.

We found a babysitter to keep him at the house and she's great! We're learning to trust her more and more. I feel like a psycho mom cause I literally typed up FIVE whole pages of info to tell her before I started work. Seriously Julianne... it's going to be ok! Carson and I laugh that she probably goes home and talks to her friends about this crazy lady that she works for.... no not really, she's too sweet to say anything bad about anyone!!

I'm a huge fan of Kimberly (the babysitter) because she sends me pics of Charlie throughout the day, as well as, multiple texts and leaves me notes for when I come home about his day. Oh- and she takes him on a walk everyday that we have good weather. Carson told her she scored major brownie points with this momma! I leave at 6:40am for work, she gets here at 7:45am, then Carson goes to work and relieves her by 5:15pm and I get home about 5:45pm. When I get home he's asleep, but when he wakes up I make sure he gets about 200 kisses from me before he goes to sleep for the night!

Uncle Andrew came up from Baylor to visit our little "Bear"

I love his little upper lip how it curls up and his toothless gums! So cute... well, there is nothing about him that isn't cute, right???

We went to Jack's 3rd birthday party this weekend. I can't believe he's already 3. I remember going to the hospital the day he was born .

Here are Ashley and Mac (he didn't want to pose for the pics) I love that Carson is eating in the background and holding Charlie!!

Lilla (Ashley's baby) chilling in her carseat. How fun that Lilla, Charlie and Tucker (Debbie's baby, see below) will all be in the same grade!

Jack opening his presents and Debbie prego with Tucker (38 weeks)

Family pic

So big!!!

Hilarious... Jack's only request for his birthday was orange jello!

Our bear, happy as always!!

Oh my goodness I love him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(p.s. I put on my robe and pjs as soon as I get home from work) :)

Cute video of Carson teaching his son the important things in life... hunting and fishing! (This was taken right before New Year's so its a little old, just takes me awhile to download these pics from my other camera, sorry.)

Prayer request: Charlie has had some bloody stools the past couple of weeks. I've spoken to our pediatrician and multiple other doctors and nurse practitioners and we all agree that it is probably a milk protein allergy that just slowly developed. So, as of Saturday, I have cut all dairy products out of my diet (because I'm breast feeding). Stinks for me because I love milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. And his diapers were worse when I drank milk. Also, I'm not making enough milk so I have to give him 4-6oz of formula everyday too... and the only kind that doesn't have milk protein in it is expensive!!!!! So my prayer requests are:

• That his bloody stools stop.
• That this is ONLY a milk protein allergy and not something worse.
• That the Lord will heal his little GI tract.
• That he grows out of this allergy.
• That I make more milk so I don't have to buy the expensive formula (it stinks too!)
• That I don't have serious withdrawals from not eating any ice cream!!!! :)

The good news is:

• He's not in pain!!!!!
• He's still smiley and happy 99% of the time he's awake!! (only gets fussy when he's tired)
• His stools have less blood in them since I cut the dairy out of my diet.
• He sleeps 10-11 hours every night!
• We are blessed with such a wonderful son who's just a little angel!!!

Thanks for your prayers and enjoy the pics. Love to you all! This working mom is tired....

Christmas post (late)

Hang in for the ride... I have a lot of pictures!
Here I am with some of my sweet friends from Marshall, Courtney, Lauren & Rebecca
Carson had a little cabin fever, so he geared up and he decided to shoot some crows in my dad's pasture (said it was almost as fun as duck hunting)
Charlie with my Granny (his great grandmother)
Sitting like a big boy on the couch, Christmas Eve, pondering what Santa will bring him!!
With Mom A, Carson's grandmother
Carson with his sweet mother, Wendy... she raised a wonderful man.
Four generations of Anderson boys
Charlie with all of his grandparents
This picture makes me laugh because he has 6 people wrapped around his little finger!
My brother and I with our babies (7 weeks apart). Charlie's first time to meet his cousin, Izzie.
Santa brought bikes for Jordan and Ava!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(If I had that bike when I was 6 years old, I would have been really cool!)
Four generations of Anderson boy toes!! (they're all long)
Tummy time with Daddy
Our first Christmas as a family of three.... it was the best EVER!!
Lovin' on my boy
Uncle Andrew
It was so beautiful outside so we went out to shoot some skeet in the back pasture. I love this picture that Justus, Carson's brother, took of Carson.
Laura (new momma) with a gun! She knows how to handle that 12 gauge.
Proof that I shot the gun. I hit ZERO of the skeet... oh well.
3 brothers, 3 guns. Sad thing is Landon was sick with the flu so he couldn't come to celebrate Christmas with us. :(
Gary with 3 of his boys
Ava holding Charlie
Charlie after Christmas
We were sad to miss all the snow on Christmas Eve in Fort Worth since we were in Marshall... but there was a light snow the next week on December 29th. I took Charlie outsided (super bundled up) for about 30 seconds to get his picture in the snow. More came down, but it was time for his nap.

Happy New Year!!!

Here is Charlie wishing you a Happy... and I mean, really Happy New Year!!!