late, but not not forgotten!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! I have lots to say, if you can believe that!!

Last weekend we had the Preister family Christmas at a "cabin" outside of Columbus. The weather was a little cold but everyone had a nice time I think! The owner of the cabin has a HUGE black dog (that I didn't get any pictures of) that Charli was so afraid of! We couldn't believe it, probably the first thing she has really be scared of. She kept one eye on that dog the entire night and made sure she didn't get too close! She discovered that she really enjoyed her Great-Aunt Janice's chocolate covered pretzels, and was asking for them all night! So, after her 2nd or 3rd one I told her that if she would pet the dog she could have another, not thinking she would...and she braved up, walked right over to him (behind him) and pet him! She looked me in the eye and said pretzel please!! She earned it! Later she asked again, so again I made a deal with her to pet the dog and again she did it for the food!! Although, this time the dog lifted its HUGE head to look at her and it scared the snot right out of her! And again...she got the food :-)

Last weekend we made a trip to Omaha to get Charli's furniture for her BIG GIRL room! We ended up getting the first one we picked. We are waiting on one small but important piece to the bed so we won't have it until February 14th, if all goes well her room will be ready to sleep in that night! She seems excited to have her new room, but not to leave her old room!

Bedtime has been a struggle the past two weeks or so, so I am not looking forward to making the change! I know she is too big for the crib, but we can keep her confined that way! She talks to herself for about 40 minutes before yelling for a bandaid for one reason or another. Tonight, 47 minutes after putting her in bed she is having an argument with her stuffed animals about something.

Charli has spent the entire weekend talking up a storm! Chad has re-named her "little Brenda" because of her talking skills!

We have started to watch Charli's baby video, which we haven't watched before! It is amazing how little she was! And, sad how life with Charli was turned into "Charli with cancer" and "Charli after cancer", but I had forgotten all about the "Charli before cancer". She WAS happy and amazing and little...and all the things she was supposed to be! All I could ever think of was her crying in a hospital bed, bald, and then healthy again! It is sad how much of her little life cancer took, while not taking any of her life at all -- if that makes any sense. Lesson learned, I hope, I hope to take less for granted with this baby. I also got to see the last three minutes of video of Charli before we knew she was sick...I wish I could go back in time and realize what it felt like before we "knew". I think in the video after that day, you could hear the difference in our voice and the look in our eyes. But, it is what it is...and Charli is amazingly perfect now - and we are thankful for the road we have been given. Just remembering...

soon-to-be great grandpa...and great-grandma Preister (wedding to come!)

the FAVORITE chocolate covered pretzel!

she will surely need glasses after wearing these!

with grandma and grandpa Preister

she got a keyboard with a microphone! yay us :-)

my favorite gift!

we are guessing her hands got cold while she was sleeping?!!

matching john deere shirts today! I think daddy wanted to wear his pink one too, but knew I would take pictures!!

two peas in a pod!

Charli played with Coco in her room for about 15 minutes this weekend, and she loved it!!

those ponies are getting longer and longer...