Weekend Firsts

We had a good weekend. It was my mom’s first weekend back so Adam and I took advantage of a live in babysitter and had a date Saturday night. Our first since the baby was born! I had purchased a discount coupon for a new wine bar in Ybor and thought it would make a fun date night.

I changed my clothes 4 times before finally going back to my first outfit, which included my sparkle shoes that Adam got me for Valentines.

They were probably a little too fancy for the location, but I didn’t care! We had dinner at Tampa Bay Brewing Co. (location of our first date) then we headed to the wine bar where we each got a tasting flight.

After the 5 samples we still had $ to spend so we decided to buy a bottle…then they informed us we could drink some and take the rest home. It was nine o’clock and my mom told us it was too early to leave so we had a glass and watched Michigan take on Syracuse.

Side note: 1 beer, 5 samples & a glass of wine is not a good thing to tackle on your first night back on the wagon. 4 am I was up…and it was not pretty :(

Sunday we had planned on going to the beach for the first time this year…and Charlie’s first visit ever! After church we packed up and headed out. I was trying my hardest not to die and drink as much water as i could. :/ After a subway stop and picking up my friend Kristi we finally made it to the beach 2 hrs after we left! It was hot and busy so mom bought us two cabana’s on the beach and we popped up Charlie’s new beach tent.

It was time for Ms. C to eat so we got situated under the cabana and tried to nurse. It was hot…I felt like crap…and for some reason Charlie was not happy. We tried this for about 30 minutes before I finally gave up. Luckily I had put some single serving formula samples in the diaper bag (and a bottle) so grandma gave her that and she gulped it down! After that she was the happiest baby at the beach! I was so lucky my mom was there to help out!

Adam got a round of Pina Coladas and I started to feel a little better.

 

With a full belly Charlie napped like a pro in the comfort of her own cabana.

When the cabana rentals closed up at 5:00 we headed to the pool to meet up with Tara. Charlie nursed once more (much better this time) before we headed home to a bath, pizza and Mad Men.

It was so nice to get back to the beach. Adam and I love going so much. We talked about that first summer we dated and how we spent every weekend there. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that again and Charlie will become an beach bum like her parents.

We've got a wine problem...

Problem isn't that we don't have wine.
Problem is that we don't have any place to put all our wine!

What you can't see are the two cases under the desk on the other side or the full wine rack (10 bottles) in the living room or the new case that was recently added....sheesh!

I won't go into WHY we have all this wine...but don't worry, we're not alcoholics...but we do have it and we're both sick of tripping over it!

So in true Adam&Stephanie fashion in order to solve our storage problem we've designed a new piece of furniture to hold SOME of this wine and liquor.  It was also very important to build it soon as it will replace a very tippy shelf that holds a lot of glassware that will become a hazard in a couple months when someone decides she's sick of lying on her back in one spot :)
 
Like all the pieces we've designed, first and foremost, we wanted something functional. I'm a firm believe in the form follows function philosophy. (opening up a can of architectural worms!) We also wanted it to be in similar style to what we already have.  In the end I chose to follow the design of our end tables…

 

…over that of our Ikea Hutch.
Anyway…here is what we’ve come up with.

The lower portion is a cabinet, that will have a door on the back side as well, to hold liquor and glasses and..well more stuff! Don’t worry, it will definitely be lockable!

 
The idea with the two doors is that it is a 4-sided piece. That way when we move, we won’t be stuck putting it only one way in a room. It could be used perpendicular to a wall (as a room divider) or on the left or right side of a room.

I don’t know when Adam will get to building it (he’s hoping soon) but we’ll definitely share the finished product with you.  We’re happy with the way it’s shaping up and look forward to getting the majority of those bottles off our floor!

Bright Horizon

Over the past almost 3 years Adam has been looking for a job; a career job. He’s worked continuously since he was laid off in 2010, but he’s never been happy with the work/pay/positions. We were lucky though. He was working sometimes 2-3 jobs.   He’s been to multiple interviews and so many looked promising, but in the end, none worked out. Yes he’s been exhausted and frustrated, but we've gotten though it and knew that in time God would lay out our plan.
Now he’s got two opportunities. Both of which could propel his career and both of which interest him. And he’s going to do them both.
The first is a Management training program with Delaware North (the company he works for at the Forum). This opportunity has the potential to get us out of Florida…our longtime goal.  DN is in 65% of all the arenas in the country, so with this training he’d be able to apply or even get transferred where there’s a need. The program is 10 months (originally it was 6 wks) He will spend time in each of the departments; retail, suites, concessions, restaurant… etc learning the ropes.  He isn't guaranteed a position when he’s finished, but chances are there will be openings as they are considering adding an assistant GM to every venue.  This is a full-time paid training, so it will be nice to have steady money coming in every week for the next 10 months. Even if nothing comes of this he will still have this training he can put on his resume.
The second opportunity is with his old boss from Gulf Coast Displays; not the boss that “laid him off” the boss that sold the company. His 5 year non-compete is up and he’s starting a new trade show display company and he wants Adam with him. Adam will be helping him start it up, but doesn't have to put in any equity except time and sweat, so the risk to us financially is nill. They have started getting the office ready and purchased computers yesterday. Adam will work when he can between his training. And if he does end up getting a job out of state next year he could continue to work on sales and such from home ala a “branch” office. The company is Osprey Exhibits and they are both excited and eager to get it up and running. I may even be doing some graphic work for them!
So the future looks bright. My husband has been diligent over the last 3 years to provide for us any way he can and it’s finally paid off. He is so happy to be done with the furniture company and to focus on his careers. I’m proud of him and his determination and drive. He will be working a lot over the next year, there maybe days we don’t see him, but in the end, hopefully it will all work out.
Thank you for your prayers, your support, your referrals and recommendations. He appreciated everything and we’re so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family.
PS Charlie is wonderful happy and good.

3 Months

Charlie is now 3 months old. It still feels like she’s been with us forever and should be walking by now! Despite the feeling of time moving slowly she IS getting so big. Adam took her to be weighed this week and she’s 12lbs 11 oz and 24” long! On Sunday we took her to Penny's for her 3 month portaits; the photos in this post are from that.

So what is she doing? well, she’s sleeping though the night…in her crib. We put her in her crib at 9 weeks. And she’s been sleeping 8-10 hours since 7 weeks. She’s rolling over to side from her back. Sometimes she inadvertently grabs objects and doesn’t let got. Sitting up is a lot more fun than tummy time. Getting out of the bath is not fun. But if that’s the only screaming she does, we’ll take it.

All in all she is a great baby. my mom is still wondering how I got so lucky, since i was a pain in the a** baby for her :) I say she takes after her daddy. My mom has been with us since the beginning of February. She leaves on Saturday and Russ arrives that evening. We’re so lucky we are able to keep her out of daycare until she’s 5 months. But I must say I'm going to be a wreck leaving her when the time comes. Family is one thing…but a stranger!?!? yikes!

We are enjoying every minute we have with her and are looking forward to the next stage. It’s hard to believe that she’ll be able to start eating food soon!
Big girl!

She looks EXACTLY like I did at this age in this picture. However if you turn your head, she looks nothing like me…weird. Mostly she resembles Adam.

What’s in her name?

I realize that I never explained where Charlie’s name came from and how we decided on it.
Charlize:
Long before I met Adam I decided that if I had a girl someday I would name her Charlie. Charlie was my  grandpa Hamel’s name.  I never got to meet him. He died in  October of 1977 and I didn't show up until December of 1978.

But my mother would tell me stories about him and how sweet he was to her or how he and my grandma met.  I grew up knowing only of his spirit.  So for some odd reason I thought it would make a cute little girls name. That was my plan.
Then I met Adam.
He wouldn't even discuss names until we were pregnant. Then not until we knew what it was. Then we lost the first baby. But the name still stayed on the top of my list. I never let the name drop. I basically informed him that if we had a girl that would be her name. He would gave me a hard time about it…but eventually I think he started to come around and admitted that he liked it. When I got pregnant the 2nd time I brought it up again…and we started talking about if it WAS a girl that we should give her a proper female name, with every intention of calling her Charlie. I liked Charlotte. Adam didn't see how you’d get Charlie from Charlotte and being from NC he wasn't budging. He liked Charlize.  It wasn't my favorite, since the only Charlize I’d heard of is an actress; Charlize Theron. But I guess I couldn't win them all. Then we found out we were having a girl. In my mind she was already my Charlie girl. Ironically I don’t think we discussed names much after finding out she was a she…Then I left vacation with Adam following a few days behind.  We were excited to share the news of a GIRL, but hadn’t really discussed the final name.
When Adam finally arrived and we decided we couldn’t keep it in any longer we announced the sex to my parents.  It was later while Adam was napping that my dad asked if we had discussed names. I told him we had, but hadn't recently. Later my mom asked the same thing, Adam was around, I looked at him and said “have we? Is that it?” He nodded “If that’s what you like” So I turned to my mom and said “Her name is Charlize Linda” That was the first time I had said it aloud.  With just a look of our eyes in my parents kitchen we had named our daughter. My mother thought it was such a beautiful name and I started to think so to. It wasn't until I told her that we would be calling her Charlie that she started to cry.

 
Linda:
My middle name is Marie. My grandmas name is Marie. My Aunts name is Marie. It’s kind of a family name. So as all girls do when they pick out “Dream Names” they always choose a middle. Mine was Charlie Marie (both my grandparents)

Then I met Adam.

He had never given much thought to his future children's names, but early on he said that if he ever had a little girl he’d want to name her Linda. He would ask his dad first, but that he wanted to honor his mother.  Linda Young passed away from breast cancer when Adam was 11 years old.
As much as I wanted to honor his request I told him that I just couldn't see a little girl with such an adult name, but that I liked Linda for a middle name.  He agreed and from then on it was known that whatever we named our first born daughter, her middle name would be Linda.

So there you have it, the story behind the name Charlize “Charlie” Linda Young.  We like it and even if it is a little unconventional we’re sure that everyone will soon realize there isn't a more perfect name for our little peanut.

Final bump

*Now that I’m back at work…and sit at a PC all day.. I have time to finish up all I had hoped I would do while being home with a new born*

Here is the culmination of our “Bump Watch 2012” photos.

This last picture was taken 2 days before Charlie arrived. I was 39 weeks.

 

Looking back now, it’s hard to believe my belly was every that big.

Charlie’s Room

It has been two months now since Charlie has entered our life.  We have slowly gotten the hang of things and are falling more in love with our little sweetie every day. I have only a few days until I go back to work. Part of me is ready, but a growing part of me is not. I asked Adam what it’s like to be gone at work all day away from her; he said “It sucks, I miss her like crazy”. Great. Monday is going to be tough.

Right now Ms. C is chilling in her crib. So i thought it would be a good time to finally reveal her room since it’s pretty much finished.  As you recall it was our guestroom/office back in August.

Then I was put on bed rest and it was my “work room” all while it was being prepped for our little girl.

Adam did a lot of the work I did the designing. (as it should be ;)

Ok, enough talk, here is her finished room:

Adam painstakingly did that mural while I sat in bed calling off dimensions from my AutoCAD drawing. It is a design by Frank Lloyd Wright from the Storer House. Adam also built the floating shelves in the corner, which we realized we needed after seeing how much stuff this little girl had. My mother sewed the beautiful curtains. I did the bed skirt and the pillows. Everything else, we bought or was given to us.

 Yes, we still have room for guests :)  I spy a baby…

 

(before the shelves)

The big question…does Charlie like it?

Yes! She loves her mobile, she loves rocking in her chair and staring up at the Ikea light, getting her diaper changed is her favorite thing and just the other day she discovered the pink elephants.  Happy baby, happy parents.  We are blessed.