Bowman West

I had composed a long, creative post but then I tried to cut and paste a picture and the entire post disappeared unsaved. Great. Anyway, Charlie and I have been in and out of town for most of June. It was great spending so much time with my sister, April, and visiting with our family down in La Grange. Charlie had lots of cousin time and now we miss them! It's always good to be back home though especially since we were missing Andy like crazy.

Anyway, Charlie's been changing a lot lately. Although he's previously always been the sweetest, cuddliest little boy, lately he's learned how to be one mean little toot when he wants to be. Man, I'm really struggling with how to keep that under wraps and what to do with discipline. I find myself saying "no" and "stop" a lot more than I want to. It's tough because he differs so much from day to day. On Wednesday he threw a 20-minute fit screaming at the top of his lungs because I wouldn't take him outside and push him in his red car. So instead of going crazy on my toddler I pushed him and his red car into his room and ignored it. I then went into the kitchen to make a fruit salad and a few minutes later he came walking in smiling and carrying his little soccer ball, completely oblivious to the pain he just caused his poor mom. Yesterday he was back to being the sweetest little perfect boy again. We read books, sang songs, cuddled. etc. Then today he threw a fit on the way home from the playground because he wanted to eat his animal crackers in the car and I wouldn't let him. I know, I know. Big deal. I've got a happy, healthy boy and I should be thankful. I really truly am. I thank God one hundred times a day for my little boy. I just want to be a good mom and figure out how to help him be a good kid. Anyway...

I love both my guys. It's hard to be a good parent when it's up to me a lot of the time though. Andy's schedule has been so busy lately and there's no end to it anytime soon. It puts me in charge of doing a lot of what would be "husband" stuff: installing smoke detectors, fixing light fixtures, changing air filters, taking out the trash, re-caulking the shower, etc. It feels good sometimes to do that stuff on my own but it gets overwhelming on top of the regular Charlie-care, laundry, dishes, cooking...blah, blah, blah. I don't even do that regular stuff most of the time! I'm so thankful that Andy loves his work and it really is a blessing to have the opportunities that we do. I just want my husband home and awake sometimes!

Okay, two more things:

1) Kelly Clarkson's new CD came out Tuesday morning so like any true fan I got it that morning. Wal-Mart had it for $9.82 so if you want it I'd head to Wal-Mart. I think it's a great CD. I like the edgier stuff since the fluff songs like "Breakaway" and "A Moment Like This" make me sick.

2) Charlie developed quite the pacifier addiction from all our travels these last few weeks. He pretty much got it whenever he wanted because I really didn't want a meltdown on the airplane (which happened anyway) or on the 8-hour car rides. So now Charlie's in paci detox, which I'm sure contributed to his "red car" episode. Now he only gets it when he sleeps. I'm seriously considering taking it away completely though. I know there are TONS of different opinions out there. What's been your pacifier experience and what do you think?

I think that in this picture Charlie looks like a dronkey from Shek 3.

Charlie and cousin Landon

Charlie & cousins Jordyn and Landon