Charlotte Walked!
Charlotte just took her first steps... 3 of them... in a row... from Mommy to Daddy... all on her own! Labels: milestone
No video of course... but I'll try to get some in the next few days to share!
5 Teeth
Today, Charlotte's 5th tooth broke through. If you've ever had a baby then you know the idea of me sharing a picture with you is hilarious! Labels: milestone
The Big Move
It all happened so fast. One day in April we decided the SabinDome was not to be. So, we listed it with AI Domes and had a potential buyer within the week. We are hoping to close the deal in July if all goes well. Labels: milestone
Then, after pondering our life without a dome, we began dreaming of a life with only one income. That dream was a lot bigger. It required more faith. And a smaller mortgage. So... we set about finding a less expensive place to live and tenants for the house we had been in for almost 5 years.
And this is where the fast part came. We found a new place and moved last week. I've lived in our new town in central FL for only 5 days. Instead of having an acre to take care of, we now have 1300+ sf of town home to call our own. No more lawn work! I've spent my last 3 weekends packing up some of our belongings and dreaming about our fresh start. It is amazing how much stuff one can accumulate in 5 years time.
Honestly, I am grateful for an opportunity to start over again and try to live the life I know God wants for me. We purposefully chose to move to a town home community so that Charlotte and I would have neighbors. I want to meet these neighbors and invite them over for simple meals. I've given up my fancy china and hope that a warm smile and a meal prepared with joy will be enough to help them see God's love.
I have a gazillion thoughts swirling around my head right now about the changes in our life. I hardly know how to share it all coherently. I'll try to get it out in bits and pieces over the next few weeks.
Bear with me... I have a lot on my plate right now and I need time to sort it all out. Praise God that I get to spend more time with my baby!
9-month Checkup
Charlotte is now 9-months old! I can't believe how fast time has flown past us. Just today I was looking at a 3-month old at daycare and trying to remember Charlotte at that age. Here's a photo to remind you: Labels: milestone, picture, weight
Her head looks so funny in this one doesn't it? And I just went looking for a recent picture of her in the Bumbo, but can't find any. I'll take one tomorrow if I think about it.
We also had her 9-month well baby visit today. There are no shots for her to get now which is good because I have decided to put her on a modified vaccination schedule and still need to figure out my plan for that. My biggest fear for these appointments is that the doctor will complain about how small Charlotte is.
But he never does. Today Charlotte weighed in at 15 lb 6 oz. Her length is 25 inches and her head circumference is 43 cm. (Don't ask why they use 2 different units of measure, I don't know!)
Since the doctor didn't even mention her height or weight I was curious to see where she was according to the charts and this is what I found (click on it to see a larger image):
The red dots represent where Charlotte is. Now, I don't think this chart accounts for the fact that Charlotte is still primarily breastfed so I am sort of dismissing it. You will note she doesn't even fall anywhere on the length chart. My family is short... that's genetic and no amount of breast milk can change that!
So, I went to my trusty Kellymom.com site and found this chart, which IS designed for breastfed babies:
Look at the right chart (for girls) and you will see she is 5th percentile for weight.
Charlotte has accomplished all of the milestones on the info sheet our pediatrician gave us.
She can
Overall, Charlotte is a wonderfully happy baby. We have some sleep issues to work out, but I know they will come in time. We love her more than words can express and can't wait until we get more time to spend with you over the summer!
Crash!
I know it is wrong to laugh at one's daughter when she falls flat on her face. But c'mon. Tell me this isn't hilarious!
Grabby-Grabby
Charlotte is On the Move
She's about 8 1/2 months old and right on schedule, despite her tiny size. I don't know what the deal with using the knee/toe push-off combination is though... but it gets her moving!
Crawling from Jennifer S on Vimeo.
Thanks for the tip on Vimeo Steve. I just needed a place to put my raw footage so I could share it here. This works great!
Tiny Babies
I work in the nursery during the early service at my church on the first Sunday of every month. Until about 2 months ago, Charlotte was the only baby in there. Then, we got to meet Trenton. He is about 12 weeks old and such a cute and compliant little baby. Labels: children, church, milestone, teaching
One thing I realized this past week as I picked him up out of his car seat is that I had already forgotten how tiny Charlotte used to be. She is so good at sitting up and since holding her head up isn't even an issue any more, I forgot that she hasn't always done these things. She used to be all squirmy and floppy-headed too. Even though its only been 5 months since she was Trenton's age, my mind has begun to move on and look forward to what she will be doing next week, next month, and even next year.
I remember when Charlotte was about that age, I couldn't even THINK about her growing big enough to walk, go to school, or even get married. Now that she is learning new skills it is fun to think about those things. Well, sort of. :)
Things About Charlotte
Since you bore with me and read my previous post and because today is Charlotte's 8-month birthday, I thought I'd share some interesting tidbits about my sweet daughter with you. Happy 8 Month Birthday Charlotte!
Friday Night Firsts
While technically, Charlotte first tried sweet potatoes on Monday evening, tonight was the first Friday night she had them, so it still counts! Please excuse the video quality, I was trying to feed her and videotape her at the same time. I was mainly trying to capture how she likes to lean into the spoon instead of waiting for it to come to her. Labels: food, house, milestone, video
My Other Blog
In case you forgot, I have another blog. Last night, I made a special post there about Charlotte and thought that my faithful readers (all 5 of you!) might like to see what she has been up to. Head on over to EatingItUp to check her out.
We Made It
Labels: breastfeeding, lactivist, milestone
I am very please to announce that Charlotte and I made through our first 6 months of breastfeeding! We followed the advice of all the medical professionals knowledgable in the subject and the advice in my heart and made it! I am so happy knowing that I did what was best for Charlotte and also that I can continue to do it even though I have to work outside of the home right now.
I have been very blessed that we experienced only minor issues along our breastfeeding journey. I am an avid reader of the forums over at KellyMom.com and know that there are many things that could go wrong. Through this experience, I've learned there is nothing more valuable than a strong support system to continue on in breastfeeding. To that end, I'd like to publicly thank my husband, family, and anyone else who has not been freaked out to see me nurse in public, or in their homes. I appreciate that no one (at least to my face) questioned my decision to do this for Charlotte. I feel it is one of the best gifts I could give her - me. It has been amazing to watch her grow and know that God designed the milk from my body to give her just the right kind of nourishment for the first year of her life. He is awesome!
Smitten
As I mentioned previously, Charlotte has really honed the skill of sitting up straight. And while this last video isn't nearly as exciting as the first, it does show off more of Charlotte's sitting up skills. She loves to beat things now that she knows how. This includes beating mommy on the back in an attempt to burp mommy, beating the ground to make noise, and beating mommy in the nose to wake her up in the middle of the night. I don't mind the first two, but a simple noise or wiggle would be enough to wake me up! You can also see though, that she is able to pull herself back up into a seated position after leaning over to play the drums ground.
Last night while we were at dinner with our friends, Charlotte experienced another first. I wish I had pictures of it, but she sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time! This skill of sitting up is coming in handy for us. I did put a pillow in there so she wouldn't get worn out from being in the chair and so she would be more comfy. Sorry though, no pictures of the chair since I didn't have my camera on me. Stay tuned... I'll announce my giveaway winner soon! Labels: friends, milestone, picture, video
I am so in love wih my daughter. There doesn't seem to be anything she does that doesn't automatically prompt me to kiss her and tell her how cute she is. I think about her all of the time and when she is sleeping I like to look at her pictures and watch videos of her. (I hope this is normal.) It really isn't fair though for Bruce and I to keep her all to ourselves though, so here are some pictures and video from the last week or so.
Except for the drool she is constantly trying to share with others, she really is quite the little lady. Last night I was trying to help Caleb, a kindergartner, understand that Charlotte is about 6 months old. He doesn't understand fractions yet though, so I asked if he had ever had an apple. Of course, he had. So I explained that a 1 year old baby was lilke a whole apple, but Charlotte was just half of an apple. He seemed to understand that better and it helped that Charlotte had apples embroidered on her outfit.
Big Day
I've known for a couple of days that Charlotte is capable of rolling over from her back to her tummy. It's just that, she wouldn't let us see her do it. Until today. And let me tell you, once she started... she didn't want to stop! We hope you enjoy the video.
Entered in the Silly Day, Silly Picture contest.
Ooh lala mon cherie
Labels: cute, milestone, picture
Our little girl is growing up! She is working very hard on learning to sit up on her own. Once put into a seated position, she can stay there for several seconds occasionally and about 2-3 seconds most of the time. Charlotte is learning to hold herself up if she starts to lean forward as well. It is so cute to watch her try to 
balance herself when she starts to wobble. We tried reading her book again today, but she got caught eating it instead. The look on her face is priceless! Oops! I did it again!
In other news, I haven't forgotten my list of goals for 2008. That post is almost done.
Charlotte's First Post
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Sippy Cup Practice
We have been trying to work with Charlotte using a sippy cup instead of a bottle. I don't think we are anywhere close to making the switch, but we are getting there. This is a video of her trying to use it today. Bruce picked a time when she wouldn't be too hungry to concentrate but she was alert enough to try a new thing. I also think she is getting ready to roll over back to tummy soon because she keeps arching her back, like you'll see in the video.
Baby Discoveries
Charlotte has finally figured out that she has toes. Yep folks, our little girl now knows what those things on the end of her legs are for. They are for pulling and tugging and playing with and pretty soon I am sure she will decide they are for putting in her mouth!
By the way, this is the last day she will wear this adorable, organic cotton outfit... it is too small. I couldn't even button the top button this morning! She's growing up so fast!
100th Post
I thought long and hard about what to talk about in my 100th post and couldn't come up with anything that was funny, elegant, or insightful enough. So this is it.
Now we return to you regularly scheduled blogging program.
First Virus
They don't put a spot for this in the baby books. But if they did... we'd have our entry as of last night. Labels: breastfeeding, doctor, milestone
Charlotte and I went for a lovely photo session yesterday afternoon and then decided to visit a friend's house for a little party. Just as we were getting ready to go, Charlotte decided to leave the contents of her stomach for our hostess. (Who, coincidentally, had been dealing with her own sick baby.) Once we got her all cleaned up and out of her now yucky dress, we tried again. About 5 feet from the door, she said, "Wait Mommy, I have more to leave behind." So I cleaned her up again then soothed her so we could make our journey home.
I called Daddy who was driving home from a training session and told him about his sick little girl. Once I pulled into the driveway I heard a familiar sound. Yep, Charlotte was heaving and leaving more 'gifts' behind. I could hardly get her out of the car and into the house due to my extreme nervousness. She has thrown up before, but never anything this long and with heaving!
Oh my! What is a new mom to do when over the next hour, her sweet baby girl continues to heave and bring up yellow stomach acid because there was nothing else left in her little belly? Call the pediatrician of course! The doctor on call for our practice said to watch her and if she continued to throw up over the next hour to take her in to the closest ER. At this point, she was still alert and didn't have a temperature.
Of course, I know better than the doctor and when Charlotte tosses her cookies 5 minutes later declare to my husband that we are going to the ER. Yes, I know it's late and you have to be at work tomorrow, but no, I am not going alone. This is too traumatic. Once there, she heaves a few more times over the course of an hour or so, and they tell me to give her pedialite and monitor her for 12-24 hours. If she keeps vomiting after 12 hours, bring her back in. They weren't much help for this new mom's rattled nerves. In all fairness to the doctor, I would have still taken her if we waited an house and probably have received the same advice from the ER anyway.
So by 9:30 pm, home we went... she managed to fall asleep in the car on our way back. That was a blessing because at this point she hadn't slept any since about 2:30 this afternoon. She stayed asleep long enough to be taken out of her car seat and placed in her swing (which we didn't turn on). After another 20 minutes she woke herself up by getting sick yet again! Hasn't my little daughter had enough?
We carry on with her throwing up every 20 minutes or so. Of course, there's nothing but bright yellow acid coming up. I google that and decide it really isn't so bad until the vomit turns green (bile). At 2 am she is really hungry so I give her 1 ounce of expressed breastmilk mixed with 1 ounce of pedialite (per the doctor's instructions). She hungrily takes it in and then just as quickly gives it back to me. I knew motherhood would come with a lot of gifts, but didn't realize this would be one of them!
By now, I've not had more than 10 minutes of sleep because every time she makes a noise I have to check that she is okay. At 3 am she heaves again, but nothing comes out. Her little body seems to have given up the ghost. Through Charlotte tries, she can barely muster a good cry. We both fall asleep in Daddy's chair until about 4 am. Somehow, I don't feel refreshed after that nap.
At 4:30 am she is no longer satisfied with sucking her pacifier and she hasn't kept anything in her tummy since 6:30 the night before. She quietly takes 1 ounce of pedialite and goes back to sleep. Miracle of all miracles she keeps it down! At 5:30 am, we try a little more fluid. She keeps down another 1.5 ounces.
Now that it seems we have moved past the vomiting stage, we got to move into the diarrhea stage. Strangely enough, I find this MUCH easier to handle than vomit. It doesn't involve my little girl straining her whole body and she can soil her diaper without much effort. It seems this next phase of her virus is easier on her body as a whole.
It is now a little after 9 am and I just finished giving Charlotte another bottle, this time 1/2 breastmilk and 1/2 pedialite. She has kept it down and even managed to play in her swing a little. While changing her last diaper, she gave me a smile that could light up New York City. I love being her mommy.
