Three Months… How could it be??

Posted on October 8, 2014 by playinghousewi

It seems so unbelievable that it’s already been three months since the first time I kissed my precious little girl. So much has changed since then.

Unfortunately one of those things is not her sleeping habits. While she is great at napping (kind of), she is still waking up twice a night. Last night she was up for 2 hours and ended up milk barfing all over me and the upholstered chair at 4 something in the morning. Thanks, Charlotte! Nothing beats cleaning up milky barf.

This week Charlotte has really discovered her toys. She loves them… And loved shoving them in her mouth (see photos)…

She is also one of the biggest fake criers I know… Take that with a grain of salt. I don’t really know any fake criers.

We’ve also been noticing that she’s not the biggest fan of strangers. She tends to cry when handed off… But usually will eventually settle.

Oh! She is also loving sitting up. She holds onto my thumbs and pulls herself up (with my help of course). It’s so cute!

Did I mention that she’s somehow become even cuter? I love this little monkey… Milk barfs, fake cries and all!

ELEVEN Weeks Old! Holy Cow!

Posted on October 3, 2014 by playinghousewi

This little munchkin of ours is getting so big so fast. (She’s already in 3-6 months now… as of this week… although everything is a bit big on her.) It blows my mind. The lovely lady is still not sleeping through the night anymore, but is doing really well with her napping. At night, she’s up about twice a night… 11ish and 3 or 4ish. Not horrible. She is still boycotting a bottle, which is a pain in the butt… especially because this past weekend, I came home from the gym to find Mark trying to give her a bottle. He had been trying for 20ish minutes. I decided to try and give it a shot and sure enough, she took the bottle from me. Think she’s trying to tell us something?

Baby Boo has also been pretty weird with her evening nap. She’s usually due for a nap between 4 and 5, but has been refusing it… so I end up either trying to put her down for hours or, I get her to sleep and she thinks she’s down for the night. Ugh. Last night I decided to keep her up, so instead of 1.5-2 hours of wakefulness, she had 2.5. It went really well.

Besides sleeping, this child has been also getting quite the little personality. She absolutely loves to smile and seriously, melts my heart with every grin. I can honestly say that I love her exponentially more every day. She’s so delicious.

The Rest of Our Weekend…

Posted on September 30, 2014 by playinghousewi

In photos!

Have I mentioned how much I love my family???

Gutting the pumpkin

Posted on September 28, 2014 by playinghousewi

While hubs gutted the pumpkin, the bambino and I got to snuggle and enjoy the perfectly sunny day.

Please note the enjoyment in Charlotte’s face. This sentiment continued into her photo-shoot. Hopefully the photographer was able to get a good, non-crying shot. And of course, as soon as we had officially given up on the chance that she might smile for the camera, she was happy as a clam. Typical.

And for fun… I think Toby is trying to hint at his desire to be Todo for Halloween…

Dancing Queen

Posted on September 27, 2014 by playinghousewi

Today was a tutu kinda day… We danced to Taylor Swift and told each other secrets. Sweet times with my little cherub-faced girl.

The Superhero in Our Lives

Posted on September 25, 2014 by playinghousewi

“I heart my dad.” -C

It’s been awhile since I’ve gushed over my husband and I’m feeling like it’s long overdue. While this lovely man has made me want to punch him a few times (can we say Seattle??), he’s really been so amazing.

The amazing started long before sweet Charlotte arrived. Have I mentioned that my husband went to all but one prenatal appointments with me? That means every ultrasound, non-stress test (and there were at least 6), and regular check up. I didn’t have to beg him or pout… he just did it because he’s pretty damn amazing.

Then our labor/delivery/recovery experience. Hubs stayed in the hospital for all 5 nights and was the most active labor partner I’ve ever heard of. In fact, the nurses on the floor were all asking if he had a single brother. Mark was literally with me for every second of my 24 hours of hard labor (and the 12 or so before that) except for the one time he went to the bathroom and the one time he went in the hall to talk to the doctor. Other than that, his hands were on my back or around my waist the entire time. We were in the tub, in the shower, up on the bed, walking the halls… we were everywhere. And without complaint or hesitation, my guy was by my side. It was our labor.

And now, since our girl has arrived, he’s just been wonderful. He comes home just about every day to have lunch with us and spend some time with Charlotte. He’s been to all of her doctor’s appointments (and my post-birth check up). I didn’t change a single diaper until Charlotte was just about 2 weeks old. He still changes 99% of all diapers when he’s home. He lets me sleep whenever possible. He loves on both baby C and me. He’s pretty amazing.

Truly, we don’t know where we’d be without him.

Wahhh, my daddy’s a superhero!

I’m cute.

And by the way, look at me playing with my new toy…

And did I mention that I tried out my bumbo today??

I think I might like it… maybe…

Our Little 10 Week Old

Posted on September 25, 2014 by playinghousewi

Well, here we are… Another week has gone by. Charlotte’s made some big changes… Some good and some a little less pleasant.

In fact, this week the sweetie pie has decided she will officially no longer accept a bottle, she will not be sleeping through the night and on top of that, she has a cold! A rough week.

On the positive, she has been doing so well with sleep training (besides not sleeping through the night)! She’s been napping in her crib every two hours and even “put herself to sleep” tonight (for the first time). I breast fed her and we swayed around the room for a bit. Then, I put her in her crib awake and rocked her gently for a few minutes. She wasn’t falling asleep and I was getting impatient, so I went to get the hubs. We decided to let her fuss for a few and see if she’d fall asleep on her own (note, she was not crying… Just fussing).

Sure enough, after 5 or so minutes, she was out!! Yay!! Hopefully we can recreate that tomorrow. As for timing, she’s been falling asleep in the 730/8 range these days.

Other developments… She LOVES sucking on her hand (see photo below), she is even more personable than last week, and is my favorite little thing on this earth.

Enjoy the pictures! See if you can pick out the photo where she decided to work out a poop! No better time than photo shoot time, right? Babies are awesome! No shame 🙂 She smiled after. I was proud.

And just a couple others from our day!

Did I mention that she loves to suck on pretty much anything but a paci? Exhibit A: my sleeve after she sucked it like crazy while I made dinner with her in my pouch.

Baby’s First Cold

Posted on September 24, 2014 by playinghousewi

At around 1:45 this morning, the sweet bambino woke up totally congested and coughing. It was really sad. We used the nose frieda, which actually worked really well… Although Charlotte does not enjoy it. Her eyes bulge out of her head and she desperately tries to sniff all the boogs back into her nose as I’m trying to suck them out. Yuck.

As an FYI, we called the doc this morning and she said to monitor her temp and make sure she doesn’t have a rash. If her rectal temp was over 100.6, she would need to be seen.

Anyway, the sweet girl was sick all day, which made my attempt at getting her into good sleep habits easier. She took a 3 hour nap, a 2 hour nap and a 45 minute nap today and was asleep by 8. Pretty good! Sleeping after 1-2 hours of wakefulness, as our sleep book recommends.

Hopefully her good sleep habits will last through the night. This momma is tired.

Despite her stuffy nose and cough, she was in pretty good spirits today. Check out her mini smile on our walk today (and don’t judge her for rocking pjs all day… It was a sick day!).

And here she is reading and playing with her pops and pup…

I heart growth spurts (said no one ever)

Posted on September 21, 2014 by playinghousewi

Charlotte has been in a growth spurt for the past few days. Last night this lovely spurt meant no sleep. I literally spent 3 stress and anxiety filled hours sleeping and about 6 house bouncing and/or feeding the little one.

Remember when I was all excited that the lady was sleeping through the night? That is no longer the case. Hopefully it’s only temporary, but sheesh. I’m tired.

As a slight tangent, I have an app called Wonder Weeks, which helps to predict a child’s developmental leaps based on their due date. It provides symptoms to recognize the leap, information on what to expect after the leap and activities to help you through the leap. I’d definitely recommend it.

Anyway, send me positive vibes for a peaceful evening.

In the meantime, some pictures of the crankster staring at the chandelier (the best way to soothe her lately… Chandelier bouncing):

And nap time on momma today (please note the hand print impressions on her face… A symptom of sleeping face down)…

And some others from the weekend including a sneak peak of the naming ceremony, pedicures, a gorg scarf my friend made me, and my new favorite children’s book. A must have!

If you’re interested, here’s a link that includes the full “wherever you are my love will find you” book: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a25640907/wherever_you_are_my_love_will_find_you

Charlotte’s Terrible Two Month Appointment

Posted on September 18, 2014 by playinghousewi

As much as I love selfies, I have to actually post, too. Yesterday we had Sweet Charlotte’s 2 month check up. It started out well… Baby Boo is no 12.5 lbs and 23.5″ long. That puts her in the 85th percentile for weight and 85th-95th for height.

Look at her cute “I’m going to the doc” outfit…

Cutie pie 🙂

Unfortunately, the appointment went downhill in three pokes. The sweetie pie had three vaccinations via shot and one orally. Those shots were terrible. I had the sucky job of holding the babe while she got poked and it was just terrible. I was literally crying inside and the princess was crying… so loudly.

Oy.

Sweetie pie settled enough for a trip to Kohl’s, but as soon as she woke up from her nap, the tears were flowing. It was so sad. She cried (and screamed) for at least an hour. I literally have not heard her cry for more than 5 minutes, so the whole thing felt pretty intense. Thankfully after an hour and some baby tylenol, she settled down and went to bed… and this momma had a glass of wine. This morning it was like none of it ever happened. She was back to being our happy little munchkin.