Month: November 2012

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video goodies

Charlotte has not yet met her Grandma and Grandpa Baker. I know, right?! It definitely hasn’t been by choice. It just hasn’t been feasible, with them being in another country and all. They have been living in Germany for the past 2 1/2 years but are flying home for good tomorrow! I’m sure it has been very difficult for them to miss the first few months of their first grandchild’s life. I have been trying to post as many experiences and photos/videos as I can for them to see so they don’t feel so out of the loop.

I am sure they are already in the air flying over the Atlantic as I write this, but here’s another video of Charlotte, complete with a baby sneeze, a dog bark, and a surprise appearance from her daddy.

{my apologies for the video quality and the weird angle – Charlotte was taking a quick cat-nap in my arms but decided to cut it short to chat about something. It’s also quite long… I can never decide when it’s a good time to stop recording. “Okay….now! No….um, now! wait, she’s talking more….. ok, er, stop now! gah… just record forever. people will watch it anyway”}

This week she has also started blowing raspberries {which I thought was supposed to be a cute little innocent and playful baby noise but somehow makes her sound disgruntled and angry, like she’s expressing her feelings at her current situation – which right now, is swaddled and forced into a nap because she was cranky}.

 

 

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DIY Crib Mobile {Grey and Yellow}

Yes, It’s been over 3 months since Charlotte was born and way more than that from the time we first started on her nursery. No, her nursery is not finished yet {still waiting on a few shelves to be hung by someone other than me}.

There are quite a few DIY projects in her nursery and I will share them all soon, but today I’ll just share how I made her mobile.

I started with one of the hanging paper lanterns we used in our wedding {you can see them in the background here}

Technically, the lantern I used for Charlotte’s nursery was in the ‘wedding bunch’ but not actually hung that day because it was yellow and it was the only one {I didn’t want one lone yellow lantern}. Anyway, I followed this tutorial {which I found on Pinterest, where else?!} to make the mini bunting using some fabric scraps that match her nursery. It turned out alright, but certainly wasn’t as cute as the tutorial girl’s turned out. And I was also thinking that the purpose of a mobile is to be eye catching for a bambino laying on his/her back in the crib. Well, the bottom of the lantern is just a hole that lets you see all the way through to the ceiling. Not very ‘eye catching’ if you ask me! So I decided to add some pizzaz. I covered a cardboard circle with some scrap yellow fabric.

Then I sorted through some sequins to find the ones that would fit with my white/grey/yellow color combo {I don’t believe in being perfectly matchy-matchy so I used orange, yellow, white, opaque, gold, and silver}. I also added a sparkly yellow butterfly to dangle from the bottom of the lantern.

Once it was dry I affixed the bedazzled cardboard circle to the bottom of the lantern and hung the whole shebang from the ceiling with a little white eye hook. It’s not quite as gaudy as the picture below makes it out to be, but it is fun and sparkly!

I really like how it turned out and, after testing it out during her afternoon nap, Charlotte gave a squeal of approval. I also like that it probably doesn’t even weigh a 1/2 pound so if by and chance it falls on her it definitely won’t leave a mark.

Stay tuned for a complete look at her nursery {with or without those shelves, because that could take another year}.

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Charlotte’s 3 month update!

I am trying to be diligent in writing Charlotte’s accomplishments down in blog post form so that eventually I can transfer them into a baby book of sorts. It’s much easier for me to jot something down on the computer than to write it in her baby book because a) I don’t have a baby book for her yet, and b) if I put it on paper then it would be lost in a pile of 2 billion other papers in my house and then eventually thrown away during a ‘purge’.

At 3 months, Charlotte…

– weighs… who knows?! We don’t have another pediatrician appointment until her 4 month check-up and we don’t own a scale so all I can tell you is it’s 10+ lbs {because she weighed 10 lbs at her 2 month check-up and since then has gained lots of yummy leg rolls}.

– can push herself up with her arms while laying on her belly (and has rolled over twice in the past week)!

– has great neck control and is able to hold her head up for a while {unless she has just woken up from a nap or is about to take a nap…then all muscles are apparently powering down and have forgotten what their job is}

– loves to chat it up with mommy or daddy but is otherwise very selective with who she will converse with {so if you’ve experienced it you should feel honored}!

– self soothes by rubbing her own head and playing with her hair {so cute to see} – this is something I know she got from me – the second someone touches my head or plays with my hair… instant calm and I’m out like a light!

– Can sit up {but with a lot of assistance from mommy, daddy, or chair}. I don’t typically leave her up so long that she falls over but I wanted to see how long she would last. Kaboom. She remained happy throughout the ordeal though, so I didn’t feel like such a bad mommy for letting her fall over.

– Is pretty much always full of smiles and snorts and will let out some infectious giggles every now and then.

– Is really starting to find her hands a lot {and frequently gives them a good gnawing while jamming them in her mouth simultaneously, causing a continuous drool flow}.

– Rocked her first cloth diaper experience {love them} – I’ll blog more about the details later but I love not having icky chemicals next to her skin 24/7 {I’m not totally cloth yet because I don’t have a big enough stash of diapers}!

– Has been such a trooper with mommy going back to work {and she LOVES staying with Aunt Melissa during the day}.

I just had to include these because I love all of the faces she makes. So much personality in that little nugget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe it has been 3 months since I first saw her sweet face and awesome head of hair.

Love her to pieces.

 

 

 

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This week…

On Sunday we ventured to Papa and Honey’s house for a family lunch. Charlotte adores her Honey.

I attempted to snag a few shots of my sister and her troop for a possible Christmas card photo. The results were …typical – typical of any family trying to get a nice photo when there are kiddos involved. But I wouldn’t dream of tossing the ‘not so perfect’ shots because those are the ones that really capture this family in this moment of this year… and that’s the whole point of taking pictures, isn’t it?

In other big news this week: Charlotte rolled over for the first time. She’s kind of a big deal. If you missed it {like I did} then you can read about it here.

I’ve been trying to capture it on video all week but she didn’t do it again until today while we were putting clothes away in her room, so of course I didn’t have the camera with me. I’m sure she planned it that way. All week she’s been on the verge of rolling over every time I put her on her tummy. She is getting very strong.

Charlotte rocked her “I’m with the band” shirt at church on Sunday morning then jammed with some friends playing Rock Band in the afternoon. True talent, I tell yah!

{In case you’re wondering, no the entire band does not have jaundice… I’m just not talented enough with my camera to combat the effects of stage lights – they do some crazy things to focus, too. Well, at least that’s what my story is…. and I’m sticking to it}!

On Sunday evening we had a bonfire on our church property {We have several acres in Chesapeake but have not built a church facility on it yet. In the mean time we rent space from another church and use their building, but still try to enjoy the beautiful land God has given us by lighting things on fire and moving dirt around with church member’s front loaders. Tractor ride anyone?}.

Silly Charlotte, don’t you know you’re too young to play with sparklers.