Author Archives: playinghousewi

12-Month Vaccination Reaction

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At Charlie’s 12-month check up, she got a handful of vaccines. The two that I believe are leaving her polka-dotted and feverish are the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) and/or the chicken pox vaccine. 

They said that if she reacts, it will likely show up 10-14 days after the shots and sure enough, come day 10 – this past Friday – the little bunny woke up with a rash.

The rash was bad this weekend and even left her with a fever on Saturday, but seems to be on its way out. Besides the fever, she didn’t seem to be itchy or too bothered; although, she was crabbier than normal.

The biggest pain was that the vaccine warning said that in extremely rare cases, the rash can be contagious. That meant that little C had to avoid her baby besties during our weekend outings. 

  
   
 
 

Beach Day & Other Weekend Goodness

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How has it taken me so long to post this? Anyway, we had a great (and lowkey) weekend this past week. I’ll start with Sunday and work my way back…

It was a gorgeous day… although pretty hot (90+ deg)… so we decided to head to the beach. We picked up Mark’s dad and we were off to SUCH a lovely, local beach. The beach was clean and not overly crowded. The breeze felt amazing. The water was icy, but clear. It was awesome.

It was a great first day at the beach for C. She played with all of her new beach toys (THANK YOU to whoever bought these for her for her bday… there was no card, but she LOVES them!), loved the sand, and dipped her toes in the water. It was such a blast.


  
  
  
  
  
Other weekend highlights…

I went to see my sweet friend Carrie, her new babes Natalie, and her son Phoenix! Such a super woman… two under two (and both so cute)!


  
Had dinner with my parents and heard all about their Vegas Vacation…


 We had brunch with our friends from Chicago and found out they’re expecting a little babe this coming January. It was fun to get Charlotte out to see them… she was okay… not 100% behaved, but not too bad!

Later in the day on Saturday, our other sweet little friends came over for lunch and some catch up. They brought a birthday gift for little Charlotte that has become her literal OBSESSION. Charlotte received this purse.

I cannot even begin to explain how this girl loves the purse. I’d recommend it to anyone… but beware, the songs are SO catchy… 

 On Friday we picked up Mark’s momma and took her for happy hour/dinner at a seafood spot near us. It was DELISH and so much fun to get out on a Friday night. Charlotte was perfection. No tears, no whining… just a little table nibbling.


  
All in all, it was a great weekend!

My Big Girl

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The other day when I was counting Charlotte’s baby teeth, I said she had 7 teeth with one on the verge… HOWEVER, just yesterday (or maybe the day before), she was doing something weird with her tiny mouth hanging open and I discovered TWO MOLARS!!!

Suddenly I feel like she is a legit big kid. I mean, molars…

That brings the count to 9 teeth with at least one, if not three, on the way.

So nuts! 

My big girl…

  
Check out her eating olives like a big kid… I didn’t even show her this… Just looked over and caught her in the act!

   
 
Also, yesterday I decided to give sign language a more focused effort. I was teaching her “more” so she would stop making that terrible whining sound every time she ran out of berries. After a few minutes, she was already getting the hang of it…

Charlotte Speaks in Sentences

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I’m not sure if I wrote about this yet, but about a month ago, Charlotte spoke her first two word sentence. She pointed at Grandma and waved… Aka: “You, HI!”

I know, I know… She’s so advanced.

Well, this morning, she took it a step further.

We were sitting in the backseat of the car, sharing some hugs before I strapped her in to go to work when she yanked out her paci, looked right at me and said, “Mama” while waving and smiling at me! That my folks is baby’s second sentence… “Hi, Mama!”

She actually did the same thing again before I put her in bed for her nap. So sweet 🙂

In other news, I also gave Charlie her first mini glass of whole milk today. I gave her a little over a 1/4 cup thinking she might not like it… She CHUGGED the whole cup down and wanted more. The girl loves milk apparently.

   

 
   Cute cup, huh?? Thanks, Aunti Stef!! Xo

Also, how sweet is little a snuggling with her favorite teddy from Granmie Amy?? These pictures were taken over the course of three hours…

      
 

A Few Random Updates

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I have been so terrible about tracking Charlotte’s milestones… The worst!

So here’s the latest and greatest from the wonderful world of my sweetie pie, Charlie:

  • Charlotte currently has 7 teeth!!! 4 on top, 3 on the bottom, and one more desperately working its way to the surface on the bottom. 
  • As of Charlotte’s party, she blows kisses. Talk about melt worthy. Today when I was about to put her to bed, she quivered with excitement, blew me a kiss and then pulled my face in for a real smooch. Doesn’t get any better. Plus, it makes me laugh because I totally get that overwhelming sense of happiness and love that literally erupts out of you. 
  • Charlotte has been saying mamamama, dadadadada, woof, bababa for awhile… BUT it’s been random and not always directed at the right thing (woof was always directed at the dog or cat). However, the other night, Mark and C were sitting in her chair… I got up to walk out of the room and as I made it to the door way, Charlotte looked up and said, “MaMa!” Yay!!!! Baby’s first word 🙂 My mother in law also told me that when she got her from her crib this afternoon, Charlotte kept saying, “mom mom mamamama” as if to say, “where’s my momma???” So cute. She also kept pointing at her bread tonight and saying “ba” – such a smartie.
  • The mini Chiquita still refuses to walk. She cruises on her kitchen and other toys, but no walking.
  • We had C’s check up today and she is 20 lbs (54 percentile) and 30″ (75th percentile) – way to go!! Still tall 🙂 
  • Charlotte loves quesadillas. They might be her favorite food. We pack them with black beans and chicken and veggies and cheese… Mm! 
  • Move over quesadillas… You’ve got nothing on berries. Charlotte loves berries more than mommy. No joke. Raspberries are #1, strawberries are #2, and mommy is #3
  • On Monday we went to Mark’s friend’s going away party. Charlie must have been feeling the brofestivities vibe going on because she was all about her daddy. Either that, or she understood me when I told her to make daddy feel bad for going away on business this week (kidding…). Either way, she literally burst into lip-curling, breath-snatching SOBS anytime Mark handed Charlotte over to me. It was crazy. We had the worst ride home sans daddy. I almost cried. That little lip and the gasping for air cry is just so sad. Oy… And the whimpers. Our girl rarely cries, so it was some serious stuff
  • A spoon is an essential part of every meal. Charlotte will eat at least 30% more if she’s given a spoon at mealtime. Don’t be fooled, the spoon is rarely used for eating.
  • Charlie is still breastfeeding at least 4 times a day.
  • Charlotte wore her first pigtails on Monday!!! So cute.     

That’s all for now!

Charlotte’s First Birthday Party

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For anyone that doesn’t know me, I just love throwing a good party. I love little details and I love hosting my friends and family at the house. So yes, I’ve been pretty excited about throwing my favorite girl a birthday party since at least Month 6.

I didn’t really select a theme… the only real guideline I had was that I was desperate to see all the tiny girlies in pink tutus. I don’t know about you, but I genuinely believe that there is not much cuter than babies draped in tulle.

The other big thing was that I wanted to have the party in the backyard, BUT, did not want to BBQ. BBQ’s create more heat (Hello!! It’s July!, hazard (babies and curious hands), and work during the actual event. It was important to me that Mark and I got to really enjoy our guests and our time with the little princess.

SO, with all of that in mind, we turned our backyard into an awesome little party venue, adorned with tissue paper pom-poms, pink beach balls (I ordered these sames ones from Rakuten, but can’t seem to find the ones I purchased for $14.99 including shipping) and an awesome (and inexpensive) DIY canopy. I made the cutest little tutus and rustic flower crowns for the 4 girls, crowns for the boys using gold leather I bought on Etsy that had a very “Where the Wild Things Are” vibe, and flower crowns for the adult ladies.

I’ll post separate blogs for DIY tutus, flower crowns, leather ‘where the wild things are’ crowns, and party canopies.

We also brought in a woman to do a little song session with the kids. She’s someone who used to work at my husband’s grade school and was SUPER affordable and wonderful!

For food, I made BBQ Chicken in the Crock (I skipped the corn starch/chicken broth step… but probably wouldn’t do that again), Tortellini Pasta Salad (SO DELISH!), Red Cabbage Cole Slaw (I can’t find the recipe, but don’t worry, I didn’t like how this turned out), Watermelon Salad, and then had dips/vegetables/fruit/chips/cheese/crackers/etc. I bought the cake and cupcakes from the store and made rice krispie treats.  

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   

Just Let Us Sleep!

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Between the dog and the babes, we have been getting woken up a lot lately. Last night, the little bug decided to holler at us from around 3:30-4:30 am. I can’t remember what time we finally went in there, but ugh.

I have no idea what the deal is. Is she still just totally pooped from partying like such a birthday rockstar (aka skipping naps, etc) this weekend or is she teething? Or is she just in a bad routine?

I have no idea.

Last night, she was face down, looking like she was sleeping… But whining/crying on and off. Every time we’d decide to go in there, she’d stop crying and be totally still. 

We ended up giving her baby Advil, but are totally confused as to what the issue really is. 

Hopefully tonight will be a quieter night. 

Look at her creepily watching the camera while daddy tried to calm her…

  
   

Celebrating the Bunny’s Day of Birth

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This weekend was Charlie’s birthday party and I’m just dying to post about it… BUT, before I do, it’s time to post about the big day of birth celebration this past Thursday.

It really was such a great day.

We started the morning out by busting into Charlie’s room to sing her happy birthday. She seemed confused and maybe a little… what’s the word for that feeling when you think, “woah… my parents are really big weirdos”… because she seemed like that.

 

 
After our morning song session, it was time to show Charlie her balloons and feed her a very special breakfast of berry pancakes (BERRIES AND BREAD… Charlie heaven). She immediately noticed and fell in love with her balloons. The second we walked out of her room, she pointed at her balloons and made a squeaky noise.

   
    
 We also took her outside with the most giant balloon ever to take some cutie pie first birthday pictures!

   
    
   
Then, it was time to take Charlie to the office where we had set up the kitchen. Mark came in with us so he could see her little mini person reaction. I’m pretty sure she liked it 🙂

   
    
    
   
Then, nap time of course.

For lunch, we brought in pizza for the office and had a little lunch party. Charlie had a blast staring at all of her office friends and feeding Toby excessive amounts of pizza crust.

  
Then it was time for more kitchen play and her afternoon nap.

   
    
    
    
   
For dinner, we took Charlie for a very fancy dinner at Panera. We bought her two different kinds of soup and a ton of bread. The girl loves her soup.

   
   
Then for dessert, we took her to a frozen yogurt place so she could have her first taste of sweet yummy goodness. After about 3 bites, she pushed it away and started eating her apple. I felt a little disappointed, so we ran back into Panera to get her a cupcake.

   

 We took her home and stuck a candle in her cupcake, sang to her again and let her have at it. Again, she wasn’t overly impressed. After a couple of bites of frosting, she was done. So we gave her some presies, which she absolutely adored!

    
    
    
 We then attempted to get her to bed, but between the frozen yogurt, the cupcake, and the presies, she was SO hyper. She was literally bouncing all over the crib and laughing at nothing. I decided to take the opportunity to live out my year-long dream of snuggling with my tiny boo in her crib. So I climbed in for a VERY sweet snuggle. The mattress is seeming a bit slouchy these days, but it was WELL worth it. Such sweet moments.

   
    
    
   
Finally, by around 9 or 9:30, she FINALLY fell asleep.

It was a very special day for a very special girl. And it’s just totally crazy that this little muffin’s first birthday has already came and went. Time flies.

Happy birthday!!!!!

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We got your gift from Grandma, Grandpa & Great Grandpa all set up (which took HOURS), went to the grocery store to get ingredients for berry pancakes and a special lunch, picked up 6 pretty pink balloons and one ginormous balloon that’s bigger than your whole body and barely fit through the door of the car… And now, we are all set for you to wake up (in a few hours) because TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!

I can’t wait to make today a very special day for you, my lovey girl!