An update

Man, I feel like I have been horrible with just old regular, no reason, posts. I have only been posting when we have done something special.I just can't figure out what type of blogger I am.

Am I one who always just blogs about my kids. Do I want to be a blogger who shares cool ideas and information? Do I want to be the blogger who only blogs about rainbows and butterflies and how amazing my life is? Do I want to be a Debbie Downer blogger? I think the answer to these questions is yes.

I want to be all of the above. I want to be me. I want to be real. When I look back on our blog, I want to know what we did from day to day. With that being said, I want to post when Avery says crazy things, or when Brooklyn has a poo through (which happens a lot). I feel like I am trying to please an audience, but what matters is that I'm documenting our lives, boring for some people to read or not. So if I only talk about how sometimes I don't wash my hair for days or if I only post pictures of my beautiful baby, don't hate me, just hate my blog. I'm doing it!

Now that I got that out of my system, I feel like I should start fresh. Here is an update of the Charles family as of late...

Travis

OK its kind of sad that I had to scour through all of our pics to find just a picture of him by himself... note to self, take pics of things besides your babies!

Travis is working hard these days. Right now he wakes up at 4:45... snoozes for 30 minutes, gets out of bed and has to be at work by 6. Sometimes he will be home by 5, and other times he is not home till about 7:30-8. Last week he pulled a 90 hour week. No, its not always like this, this is the extreme part of residency. I joke with him that he is aging like a dog. I feel like he has aged 7 years this past year. He can't make it through a movie to save his life and he is in bed by ten most nights. The great thing is that next month he will officially be a 2nd year resident. Rumor has it is that residency is mostly all down hill after a couple of months in 2nd year. Woo hoo!

Travis is still a major ball hog in soccer. He still loves sports.

He is way into "words with friends" right now. He's pretty good at it.

He loves coming home to his girls.

He puts Avery to bed every night. I don't know what those two do for so long when he puts her to bed, but I think its pretty special for both of them.

He was the pusher of getting the mini van. I was surprised. The guy got rid of his Audi to sport a mini van and he loves every inch of Paige, she is the other woman.

Its so weird to think that he is an actual doctor. I think its pretty cool when a neighbor calls and asks if he can come and look to see if their kid has an ear infection. I think its even cooler when he can diagnose our own kids.

Anyways, Travis is hanging in there. He is doing a good job of balancing a busy work schedule and the moody woman who he lives with. Although, I do think he is turning into a bit of a ditz. He knows what I mean. He he, I sure do love you Boo. PS I call him Boo now, because he told me I needed to call him something besides Trav because Avery has started calling him Trav a lot!

Milli

I have been lambasted with baby number 2. Seriously, its been so dang hard! Its not Brooklyn though, she is easy. Its just physically draining. You have to get them both ready, drag them to places, clean up after both, tend to both of their needs (sometimes at the same time). Two is just a huge adjustment. I've had my moments lately. Especially with Travis working so much. I whine a lot. I cry a lot. But in the end, I know I'm growing into what I need to be. Blah blah blah, life if tough right now, but enjoyable too, in a weird way.

On a lighter note, I haven't dyed my hair since August. I'm trying to see what the heck my natural color is. I think its reddish, blondish, brownish. I'm bored with it. I want my blond locks back, but I made a goal not to touch it till at least the end of the Summer. I really do think blonds have way more fun.

Whoa, I sound like a drag don't I? I really am happy right now, but I'm just in total mommy mode. I still like to hang out with my girl friends. Every Monday I watch the bachelorette with them. We like to make treats.

I'm really into cooking right now. I love all the cooking blogs out there. I love to eat. I wish I hated it, but I don't. So therefore, I am working out a ton too. I'm really into bootcamp at the gym these days. I haven't been biking or running much. Its too hot here!

I just got into the Ipad world, and I do have to say that its only been about a week, and I don't know what life was like before that. This contraption is amazing. Steve Jobbs needs a nobel peace prize. Hey I'm not going to get all political, but if other people can get it for no real particular reason, I'm pretty sure Steve deserves one just as well. Wow, I'm rambling. Moving on...

Avery

This girl already acts like a teenager. Heaven help me when that comes. I'm not going to lie, she is a tough cookie. She requires a lot of attention and she has a lot of spirit in her. So she wears me right out. But I also love this about her, there is NEVER a dull moment. She is hilarious and says some of the funniest things.

She is a very smart girl and she remembers everything! She speaks like a grown woman. Which throws us off because she still acts like a two year old. She cannot sit still for the life of her. I don't understand when I'm at church and I see other two year olds just sitting there and coloring for the whole hour.

She is the sweetest thing when she wakes up in the morning. We will have the funniest conversations. As the day gets later though, she slowly gets sassy, defiant and she finds herself in time out a lot!

She is nothing like Trav and I. She is a born leader, she is very confident and not shy one bit. She is so social. She loves to play with friends, but of course loves to fight with them as well.

She loves oatmeal, and would eat it for every meal if she could.

She loves pretty dresses. I don't think she has ever said the word "dress" without the word "pretty" in front of it.

She is obsessed with getting married. She is going to marry Jude Taylor, he is her prince. I told her she can't get married until she is big and tall like Momma.

She eats vegetables, maybe its because I tell her that they will make her big and tall and that is her ticket to get married?

She is a fish. She loves the water. She is in swimming lessons and they bumped her up to the 4-5 year old class because she is pretty much doing cannon balls around all the kids.

She loves her sister, but sometimes is a little bit too rough with her.

She is our monkey and we love her. We call her Crockett (Avery Crockett).

Brooklyn

I can't believe how different she is from her sister.

She is mellow.

She sleeps in till about 9 every morning.

She is chunky. She weighed 14.9 pounds at her last appointment, which meant that she was in the 75th percent for weight. This girl has some intense thighs. She is growing so fast, she is in size 3-6 month clothes, and I think she is ready to be in a size 3 diaper.

She plays with her toys for long amounts of time. She will sit and just watch and be content.

She will let me cuddle with her. I take a nap with her every day.

She laughs a lot. It is easy to get her to smile.

I feel like she has an old soul. I feel like she is really mature, like she understands that Avery is a bit of a handful, and that she wants to help me out.

She just started rice cereal, and she usually eats two bowl fulls. She loves to eat. But she is more of a grazer.

She does take after her sister in that she will not take a bottle!!! My girls are boob girls I guess, can't keep them away.

Brooklyn is very handsy. She will grab everything within reach. Sometimes she pinches me, and it really hurts.

She loves to be in the water as well. We have taken her swimming a couple of times and she loves it!

This sounds weird, but I feel like Brooklyn can sense the feeling in the room and she takes it on. For example, if I take her to the gym and some babies are crying, she will usually start to cry. If we are happy and laughing, she will usually join in. If I feel stress, I think she can feel it too. I tell you, she really is an old soul. My mom even said that last time we were with eachother.

I really do love this baby. Before she was born, I wondered if I could love another baby as much as I loved Avery, and it is very possible.

So now that I have updated with a million words, I think I want to post a million pictures. I haven't posted enough of my girls lately. Here they are...

Sisters?

This is Jude, her prince

Yes, this was Brooklyn's blessing dress

First rice cereal