OKC Zoo

We went to the Zoo Saturday. Our main purpose was to try to get Charity's Mommy to go into labor but that didn't work so we just enjoyed the animals instead. Charity had a really good time. She has been to the zoo before but wasn't really old enough to enjoy the animals. She really got into it this time. She already knew what many of the animals were. She has several books of animals and they are her favorites to read. So now we are all still waiting for Mommy to go into labor so Charity can have her baby sister. She tells everyone that her baby sister is in her tummy and pats her tummy to show them. It's really quite funny. I am sure it won't be long now. I hope....

"He's a little guy"

Charity met her new cousin Collin Saturday. She says he's cute and that "he's a little guy". She is really fascinated by him and wanted to hold him. It took her a couple of days to realise that she was going to have to share her Nanny. She looked at me the other day with a little pouty face and said "My Nanny". I told her it was ok. Even though I am Collin's Nanny now, I'm still her Nanny too . This is just a warm up for the real test. Baby sister. Not only will she have to share Nanny again but she will have to share Mommy and Daddy too. I will be making a new blog for Collin soon and then for Mallory too when she comes. I will post a link from this one and let everyone know where it is.

Goofball again

New and improved

A new kid. Charity is finally over her surgeryand feeling much better. She is eating everthing she can get her hands on. Its just amazing the difference!

Charity's big 2nd birthday will be here in a couple of days. We had a big party for her and her big sister Brianna Saturday. Bri's 5th birthday was the week before. Charity is still recovering from her surgery and she seems to have a sinus infection now so she really isn't in the best of moods. She had a good time anyway. She goes back to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully he will get her fixed up and we can have our happy baby girl back.

Just a quick update. No new pictures. Charity is home from the hospital today. She had her Tonsils and Adenoids taken out yesterday. While they were at it they put tubes in her ears. Kids are amazingly resilient. She doesn't feel great but spent the afternoon today playing and watching tv. Except for the fact that her face is still a little swollen, you would never know she had surgery yesterday. We all hope that this will make her life much better. She has been sick too much and this should help. Dr. Visor said her tonsils were "huge", her adenoids were "gigantic" and her airway was "tiny". In other words he did not have an easy time of it. Then he asks " Is she asmatic?" Our reply was officially No, but yes. It's just not been officially written in her medical records. Then he said she had an asmatic reaction to the anesthesia and she caused a little excitement for the anesthesiologist. All is well now. She is fine and when all the swelling goes down she shouldn't have so many ear infections or strep throat. I promise I will post new pictures soon.

OK, Here it is .....

the terrible two's

Just like Carlee, despite her ever growing vacabulary her favorite thing to say these days is NO. But, she is not always disagreeable sometimes she is still the same sweet little cutie we all love.

I am sorry to our few fans that I haven't posted anything in ages. I've had a lot to deal with. I will try to keep up and keep some fresh new pics posted.

Charity is talking a mile a minute. Anything you say, she can say and I really mean anything. Just a fair warning for her loving parents. So far she has only spouted one profanity that I know of, but it was a doosie. Virginia was shocked and tried to divert her into saying something else. I guess it worked I've never heard her say it since. This morning we went with her Mommy to see the doctor and listen to her baby sister's heart beat. She told Dr. Sparkman and every single person in the waiting room " Bye Bye, see ya later"

Here are a few pictures I had in my camera from the last few months.

More Snow Pictures

Babies in the Snow

We got about 8 inches of snow last week. Actually we still have snow on the ground. Jeremy worked at the fire department Saturday and Virginia took the girls up to the station to play in the snow with Daddy. These are some really cute pics.

Behind the times again!

Here are a few pics from the last couple of months. I really am falling down on the job these days. I skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving. Now we have started on Christmas. Charity is all about body parts and animal sounds. She knows where her nose is along with eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, hair and her belly. Her new favorite animal sound is a cow. She can't just say mooo, she has to bend over and act like a cow too. I have been trying to teach her that Santa says "Ho Ho Ho" but I asked her yesterday what Santa says and she bent over and said "Mooooooo". We got lots of pretty snow today but it is way too cold for her to go outside. Maybe tomorrow it will warm up enough to take her out for a few pictures in the snow. We got about 2 inches of sleet and freezing rain last night and this morning, and it has been snowing all afternoon. I figure we have at least 5 or 6 inches already. She got to spend a free day at home with Mommy since she couldn't make it to Shawnee to work today. Uncle Galen has pictures of their trip to the Aquarium in Jenks. Aunt Jane would appreciate Charity's sentiments about the fish. She said lots of "OH My's". Like mother like daughter. Its and inside joke.

First Football Game

I took Charity with me to the homecoming game last week. I didn't figure she would last long but she really enjoyed it. She clapped and said "Yeah, Yeah" with everyone. She was engrossed by all the people and things going on on the field. She was especially interested in the cheerleaders with their pom poms. She had a specially made shirt for the occasion.
SHS class of '23. She got lots of complements on her outfit. We sat with our friend Dianne and her grandson Ty. He just turned 2 and has beautiful blue eyes just like Charity. Dianne and I used to go all over the state taking Charity's mommy and Ty's daddy to football games. Charity's mommy was a cheerleader of course and we watched Ty's daddy play. I have a feeling we will again be cruising the country side when Charity and Ty get a little older.

New words

Charity has always had a lot to say, but she usually doesn't say much when we are out in public. She likes to be bashful. She suprised us the other day at Walmart. We were in the checkout line and she looked over and started saying something to someone. But it turns out she saw a walmart gift card with a rubber ducky on it. As soon as I saw what she was looking at I knew what she was saying! "Wack Wack, Wack Wack". She had to quack for the ducky. It was probably one of those things where you had to be there to really appreciate it. But we thought it was pretty funny.

Pictures!

Uncle Galen gives kisses.

Look at all that blond hair. It seems to be growing much faster than the rest of her! Yeah! It's hard to tell by these pictures but it is also starting to get curly in the back where it is the longest.

Two sisters in a toy bucket. Having a great time.

Charity on the run.

I have lots of new pictures to post but at the moment I can't find my camera. So you'll have to make do with a verbal update until I find the pictures.

Charity is definitely a toddler these days. Talking, walking, climbing, throwing fits.....
She is a chatter box, always talking. You don't always understand what she says but she definitely has a lot to say. Climbing is her new thing. She likes to get on things and stand up. She climbs up on the little foot stool of the rocking chair and stands up on it and gets in trouble. She is so smart sometimes she scares me. Mom won't let her go in the kitchen but there is no way to use a gate or anything to block her. She does however have to go right past mom's recliner to get there so they have this constant battle over the passage to the kitchen. It has become a matter of principle for both of them. Charity has started to try to think of ways to distract her Granny so she can get past her. She tries sneaking past from the other direction by going around behind the rocking chair and crawling up the hallway. The other day mom had her toy box sitting in the way to block her off. She just kept going for more toys. Then she climbed in the toy box ( oh how cute) except the purpose was to distract Granny. I was in the kitchen cooking and next thing I know she is standing next to me with a triumphant smile on her face.

She loves books. I keep buying her the sturdy books. She will pull them out and bring them to you. The amazing thing is she will sit and let you read to her. When you finish the book she will get down and go find another or sometimes if I read to her she will take the book to Granny so she can read it to her again. I don't think I have ever seen a 14 month old who loved to sit and be read to.

We had a milestone today but it was kind of sad. She cried when Virginia dropped her off this morning. She was not happy to see Mommy leaving. She cried at the door. I picked her up and we watched as Mommy got in the car to go to work. I'm sure Virginia had a little cry on her way to work. It looked like it was killing her to walk away. She has never done that before. She usually doesn't seem mind that Mommy is leaving, sometimes she even tells her bye bye. Of course one day last week when Virg came to get her Charity saw her walking up to the door and started saying "yeah yeah yeah Mommy Mommy Mommy!" It was too cute.

Happy Birthday Charity!

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks, including the big birthday bash. Everyone had a good time. Charity enjoyed playing with the cards on the packages and the tissue paper. She had her 12 month check up the day before her birthday. She weighed in at all of 19lbs 14 oz. and is 27 3/4 inches tall. That puts her firmly on the 10th percentile for height and the 25th for her weight. I just say she is a little condensed. Lots of baby in a small package. She is walking everywhere now. She had been walking some for a few weeks before her birthday, a few steps here and there, but the day after her party she decided she could walk anywhere she wanted and just took off. She is slowly giving up her bottle. She is happy with the sippy cup most of the time now, but she is not ready to give up that pacifier. In the words of Emma Rose ( one of Granny O's Church ladies and wise grandmother) " Baby stoppers are wonderful things!"

Hula Girls

These two beauties spent the afternoon playing in the pool with Dad. You see there is that little kitty Mango (or Baby as Charity insists) in the background. He was stalking the grass skirts.

Big Smile

The whole gang

Here is a nice snapshot of the Tipton side of Charity's family. It is sad that it takes a funeral to get most of us together in the same state. I think we figured it was 1992 the last time both of my brothers and I were together in the same place. Mom was happy to have all of her kids together for once so we took pictures to document the occasion. And yes I know the date is wrong on the camera it really was 2006.

New Pictures

OK, quick update. Charity is all about food. Especially whatever someone else is eating. She thinks she should have some too. The only problem is we seem to have a blooming food allergy problem so we are a little weary of what she gets. She has had two episodes of hives and welts on her face after eating something in the last two weeks. Last time it was followed by projectile vomiting in the backseat of my car. That was nice.

Then their is all her words she uses so judiciously. She has quite a vocabulary for a not quite 11 month old. She says bye bye, kitty, puppy, baby, Hi! and Momma and Daddy too. The other day I was eating yogurt ( which she loves) and I was sharing with her but obviously not enough because I was talking to Granny and watching TV at the same time and wasn't feeding her fast enough. She got our attention quickly by very clearly protesting "Bite!" Don't get me wrong she still speaks a lot of Chinese or Charityese. But when she takes the notion she very clearly says what she wants. She has also decided that Mango ( her cat who is not orange) is no longer a "kitty". He is now a baby. She pounds him not so gently on his head and says"baby". He used to be a kitty but not anymore. For a kitty who was once the meanest cat I think I have ever seen he is so gentle with her. He has been since the beginning. I think he knows if he ever lays a claw on her he's dead.

She is growing fast but still a little on the short side for her age. She is standing alone and has been walking holding onto your finger for weeks now. We are still waiting for her to take out across the room. It will be very soon. I guess it's harder to walk on tiny feet she is still wearing size 2 or 3 shoes which she hates and she likes to walk on her tiptoes.

Life is starting to return to normal so hopefully I will be able to post more often and get some new pictures for everyone.

In loving memory of Clara Luvicie Works Owen, born February 18, 1907 and passed from this earth April 30, 2006. We will always miss you.

I have to apologize to Charity's many fans for not posting anything for so long. We lost our Granny O today. She has been really sick for the last six weeks and she got better today! She went to heaven to be with God and lots of other loving family. Of course we are all distraught. She was such a strong and ever present person in our lives I think we all just thought that some how she would always be there for us. She will always be in my heart even if I can't give her a hug and kiss on the head. I can't think of much of anyone who has had such a profound impact on my life. My little Charity is such an unbelievably special gift to me and I hope that I can come close to being the kind of grandmother to her that Granny O was to me. I hope as she gets older she can learn what a true privilege it was for her to spend the first ten months of her life with her great-great Granny O and how much she loved that baby. No matter how bad she felt or tired and defeated she was she always had a beautiful smile and a kiss for Charity. I can not imagine how awful these last few weeks would have been without Charity Ann to brighten our days. She is always smiling and happy. I tell people she is like a drug. You just can't get enough of her and I have to have a Charity fix everyday, even if for just a minute. She has been there to remind us all that life goes on and even in death there is life and happiness. The picture posted above is from our last birthday together. This past February 18, 2006 when she was a very young 99 years. How awesome is that.