Charlie & Her Puppy

Poor Charlie… she LOVES her puppy, but he just doesn’t seem to reciprocate her feelings.

She literally lights up when the pup comes near. Her eyes widen as she flails her body towards the puppy grasping desperately for his soft puppy fur. This affectionate act is usually rejected with a gentle growl or bark as Toby the Wonderpup scurries away.

Maybe one day he’ll learn to love her… and for his sake, I hope it’s soon, because once this tiny chiquita learns to crawl, he’s in big trouble.

Thankfully, the two times she’s used her death grip on poor Toby’s fur, he just stood there shaking until we unclenched her little clam hands. Poor Tobes.

These two need to learn to play nicely 🙂

But for now, it’s pretty silly to watch (please note that after review of the video, Mark noticed that Charlie Girl hit Toby and was not just trying to play. Sorry, Toby!)…

Just let me pet you!

Just let me pet you!

Going in for the face!

Going in for the face!

Heeerrreee, puppy puppy!

Heeerrreee, puppy puppy!

Whatcha playing with??

Whatcha playing with??

Yeah, okay... I'll play, too!

Yeah, okay… I’ll play, too!

You don't mind, right?

You don’t mind, right?

Not forced at all... :)

Not forced at all… 🙂

Just out of arm's reach.

Just out of arm’s reach.

She's not so bad when she's sleeping!

She’s not so bad when she’s sleeping!

The Changing Table

Charlie Girl is suddenly unable to stay still for a diaper change. She is desperate to move and groove. That means I’m already struggling to find something to distract her during diaper changes.

She literally rolls over onto her belly almost immediately or grabs onto each foot and rocks around.

Total goofball, but SO cute!

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Detoxing…

Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I’m feeling pretty unsatisfied from my meals today. I have to admit it, I’ve been drinking either a keriug Chai Latte or Hot Chocolate every day after lunch for an embarrassing amount of time… and I’m missing it. I’m staring at a clementine right now just knowing that it’s not going to do the trick.

I know, I know… it could be worse. And it’s definitely not the worst thing in the world to have my bad habits broken. But still… I want a cookie.

Honestly, the worst part is the fact that all of my stored pumped milk is unuseable. That means that despite the fact that my wonderful husband takes any and all night feeds, I have to wake up to pump so he has milk to give our girl. Our “reserve” went from probably 100 ounces to 4 ounces. We’re saving all of my “dairy milk” in hopes that maybe there will be use for it in the future, but I’m not hopeful. Plus, that means that I have a LOT of pumping to do to earn a sans baby field trip. Totally sucky.

As an FYI, hubs takes the night feeds because tiny Charlotte gets way too excited to see mommy and thus refuses to go back to bed making night feeds go from 20 minutes (how long it takes with daddy) to over an hour (how long it takes with mommy).

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Holy Cow (Milk)

Warning: this post contains a photo of green, slimy baby poop. (Stef, that was for you…)

This morning, Charlie’s poop had blood in it. For months now, her poops have been varying shades of green. Based on my doc and my other doc (Dr. Google), it seemed to be an oversupply issue. However, today’s diaper was a game changer.

The poor little princess had green, mucousy, bloody poop today.

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Nasty, right?

Well, as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to call the doc. I spoke to her nurse and waited for a call back… Which took about 2+ hours. In the meantime, I managed to uncover what sounded like a dairy intolerance.

After checking out the little one later that afternoon and seeing the poop pic, the doc confirmed my guess. This is most likely a dairy intolerance.

So, what does that mean? Well, it means that I can literally eat nothing with milk protein. That includes the obvious cheese/milk, but also a lot of breads and packaged foods. To add to it, I can’t eat anything with soy.

Because of the strictness of the dairy/soy ban, Hubs and I figure this might be a good time to try the paleo diet… For the next 8 months.

Woof.

I already miss cheese. Yummy, Melty cheese.

But I’m going to stay positive.

Wish me luck!!

Here’s the extensive list of dairy no-no’s…

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But here’s what makes it totally worth it…

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4 Lovely Months

As of one week ago, our little princess turned four big months old. It’s really so crazy how fast the time has flown by. I’ve heard that I will continue to say this with each age, but I am head over heels with this age. The past month has been absolute perfection (even on crappy days like today) and it seriously gets better all the time.

Why? Our cute little tiny infant is turning into the mini person. She’s interactive and sweet and funny. She plays and rolls over and copies and laughs. She loves. Oy.

I am just mad about this tiny lady. Lately, she loves to touch and grab faces. I know this is going to become a painful little habit, but for now, it’s so endearing.

I just love her. Ohhh!! I almost forgot… She cuddles. Oh does she cuddle. It’s just so sweet.

What can I say… I’m smitten!

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Can We Call it a Day?

Today has not been going well. It started at 2 am when my husband got home from hanging out with friends. Without going into all of the details, I was super irritated. I had expected him back by 9 and when I called him at 930 he led me to believe they were wrapping up. This continued on until he finally came home at 2 am.

Anyway, with a 2 am argument weighing on us, the next morning was no picnic. There we were arguing about something else. I left without much to say.

Now, I hate fighting with my husband and I hate it even more when it isn’t resolved. It just lingers there… it weighs me down. I’m sure that Charlotte is picking up on that because holy shit has our day been rough.

It’s almost 1:15 pm and she has literally napped 15 minutes total since she woke up this morning at 7:40. On a normal day, she would have already napped 2-4 hours. It’s been a lot of crying and a lot of stress. I didn’t get much sleep last night and I just don’t have the energy for this.

To make things even worse, Charlotte’s 4-month check up is today… so that means she’s going to be overtired AND in pain from all of her shots. Ugh. I need a break.

No, mom... Even if you break the rules and try to let me nap in your office, I WILL NOT SLEEP. But, aren't I cute?

No, mom… Even if you break the rules and try to let me nap in your office, I WILL NOT SLEEP. But, aren’t I cute?

It can't be a coincidence that she keeps sticking her tongue out at me...

It can’t be a coincidence that she keeps sticking her tongue out at me…

My First Mom Nightmare

The other night I woke up totally jolted. I was just snoozing away, minding my own business, when I was hit with quite the nightmare.

My friend Annie and I went to yoga. This was a first for us, but we had a great class. I was so impressed with how well I was doing and had what I think was a conscious thought about making sure to go to yoga more often.

We were walking out together and I noticed that Annie didn’t have her daughter Ellie with her. Then suddenly like a ton of bricks it hit me… Where was Charlotte?

I started running. I couldn’t remember where my car was, but there I was, just running. I pulled out my keys to push the panic button, but ultimately, that’s not what led me to her. It was her cry.

I heard her crying from across the parking lot and when I arrived at the car, Mark was there. He looked at me with this severe look of disappointment. A total reflection of what I was feeling. And just as I thought it couldn’t get worse, a CPS (child protective services) worker popped up from the front seat.

I woke up instantly.

Holy shit.

I know I’ve been holding onto some mom guilt about the car seat incident, but holy smokes. That was intense and terrible.

Needless to say, it took every single ounce of self control not to wake up Mark. I just hugged my pillow, looked at a few cutie pie pics of my sweet girl, and somehow managed to get back to sleep.

I guess I’ve officially entered the scary, paranoid world of motherhood.

Lucky Number 18

I’ve been terrible about updating this week! I still need to post the little lady’s 4 month update, which was this past Tuesday, but for now, we’ll focus on the fact that our sweet princess is now 18 weeks old.

This past week Charlotte decided she wanted to sit up, so she’s been nonstop trying. From an inclined position, the wonder woman can fling herself up to a sit. She can’t really hold herself up in the sit, but she gets there and flops around before tumbling. She does it in her car seat, too. It’s cute. It makes it seem like she’s trying to help me get her out because she’s lifting her head and trying to lean forward. She also does it on the changing table. I’ll put her down and she’ll lay there with her head off the table for a few seconds desperately trying to get up. Thankfully she can’t yet because she’s already a TOTAL wiggle worm on the changing table. A complete mad woman.

Here’s a video of my little sitter. Sorry for the slo-mo… User error 🙂

Video of the Princess Sitting

Hmm… Other than that, it must be mentioned that she is sleeping WAY better. Most naps are super easy and she’s been taking a long (1.75-2.75 hours) nap most days… But not today. Her afternoon nap has been a little trickier. A couple days this week I let her sleep on the floor in my office instead of the “nursery”… Aka the conference room.

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Don’t be fooled by the photos. Toby is still not a fan of the little child. He’ll lick her face and hands nonstop, but the second she touches him back, it’s over. He growls and or barks and is then banished for a minute. Lovely.

The youngin is also desperate to crawl and move. I’m thinking its time to get this lady an old school walker.

She’s also laughing… Not huge laughs yet, but laughing. I’ll post some videos in the coming days, but for now, here are her 18 week pics!

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