April 9, 2013 - admin

A quick morning update.

Here’s a brief Baker family update {and a mini photo purge} – I haven’t posted in weeks, there is so much you’ve missed.

Chris and I have begun taking foster parenting classes through the City of Virginia Beach. Let me answer some questions that you may have to save you from having to ask them: It will take 9 weeks to finish the classes. A home study must be completed before anyone will be placed with us. No, we don’t know if we are ready for another child to be added to the mix {who does?!}. Yes, we are freaking out about bed space, car space, and pretty much just space in general. Yes, we will have age parameters for whomever will be placed with us {3 and under}. Yes, I am terrified. Yes, we are trusting God – He is leading us down this path so we are trusting in His best judgement. I’m trying to keep my ‘thinking’ and ‘planning’ out of it because that can only screw things up. No, we are not parenting experts {as we haven’t even gotten to the tough parenting tasks with Charlotte yet}, but as long as there are children in the world who need loving, patient, kind adults in their life to live out and show Christ’s love for them then we will be obedient to what God asks of us.
Charlotte is now quite mobile and is crawling everywhere and pulling up to her knees. She will be 8 months on Thursday of this week so I will fill you in on her latest developmental milestones in her 8 month update post.

That’s all I have time for at the moment, I hear one little 7 month old who wants to get up and join the action.

Chris and Charlotte - hat

March 25, 2013 - admin

While mommy’s away the baby will play…. er, crawl actually.

Life is refusing to slow down {despite my begging and pleading}.

This week has been, and continues to be, very crazy with me being out of town last weekend and Chris out of town during the week {both for work trainings}. I am so grateful this is not the norm for us! I feel very disjointed at the moment. Not to mention exhausted. Charlotte is currently having some constipation issues, which are subsiding but once you’ve given them what they need to remedy the situation all you can do is wait. I am typing this very speedy-like so I can go to bed at a reasonable hour. Last night she slept for only 3 hours; which means I slept for only 3 hours. Somehow we made it through the day and are looking forward to some relief from tummy and sleep issues tonight. We’ll see.

I spent the weeks leading up to me being out of town worried that Charlotte was going to reach some milestones and show off some new tricks while I was away. Must have been self fulfilling prophecy because not only did she do the very things I was worried about her doing… she did more that I hadn’t even thought she could do. I was heartbroken and slightly mad at Chris that he allowed her to be so awesome on his watch, but really so glad he was able to experience those things with her. At least she didn’t say her first word while I was away. I mean, I am a speech therapist. It’s only right. On a side note… I think she imitated me saying “hey’ twice tonight while we were at my parent’s house. 🙂 So social. I love it.

Charlotte’s new tricks include: crawling {I don’t know that I’d label it crawling for sure, but she’s definitely mobile}, feeding herself puffs, and pulling up onto things from a sitting position. Baxter dog is in for a rude awakening once she is able to chase him around. And we really need to get this house baby proofed. for serious.

Charlotte’s favorite ‘move’ at the moment is called the ‘Fake-out’ in which she looks like she is going to crawl forward and grab the toy but instead, slides backwards into a sitting position. She continues to be very silly and usually quite dramatic.

No videos yet on the feeding herself puffs and pulling up but I’m doing my best here in my ‘way past sleep deprived’ state. Stay tuned.

March 14, 2013 - admin

Oh Happy Play!

My job is play. As a pediatric speech therapist everything I do revolves around play in some way or another; the type and tools of play vary depending on the patient and his/her needs at the time, but it all boils back down to the fundamentals of play. In the outpatient setting, however, I haven’t had the opportunity to see the development of ‘typical’ play skills in an infant. My caseload consists mostly of kiddos over 2 yrs. {younger children usually receive services in the home}. Only since having a child of my own have I been able to witness the development of communication and play in a very young baby. I would love to say I know all the milestones for babies under age one but this is all quite new to me and I am surprised every day at some of the things Charlotte is able to do; playing with this gum ball machine toy is no exception. Chris and I bought this for Charlotte for Christmas even though I knew she wouldn’t be ready for it for a while. I love this toy and use it with children in therapy almost every day; I knew I wanted Charlotte to experience this type of ’cause-effect’ play {and secretly wanted to be able to take the toy to work to add to my personal stash once Charlotte had outgrown it}.

I hadn’t invested too much time showing her how to play with this toy because I honestly thought it would be a few more months before she would be able to activate it. However, it was one that I let her explore independently quite frequently {independent = on the floor in the living room surrounded by toys while I fold clothes or clip coupons}.

My apologies for the crazy mom commentary… I was very excited!

I tried to capture another video of her putting the ball back in the top when my dad {Papa} was over visiting but my iPhone camera wasn’t able to capture it because it was too full of other photos and videos. smart phone fail. Added to tomorrow’s to-do list: sync up iPhone and clear out some space! I would be so sad if my phone died and I lost some of the great photos on it… gotta start keeping up with that.

March 12, 2013 - admin 2 Comments

Seven months.

Our girl turned seven months old yesterday. I know I said six was hard to hear… until I heard seven {and I’m sure I will want to punch 8 in the face… these numbers are coming too fast}! Charlotte is so completely different in just one month’s time. Pardon her red, puffy face… she’s just coming off the back end of a bad cold.

7month collage

Gone are the days when I could plop her on her back and take a few photos, easy peasy. She is rarely still now, which is tons of fun… but I know this is just the beginning, and things will never be the same once she’s totally mobile!

seven months 3

seven months 4

Seven months 12

At 7 months, Charlotte:

Is eating about 2 oz of puree veggies or fruits 2x a day with some oatmeal or rice cereal. I’m not sure if that is normal, but that’s the amount she seems to be happiest with right now. no more, no less. Believe my, I’ve tried. I am so glad I made large batches of her purees and froze them into small cubes because that makes it so easy to have her enjoy breakfast or lunch and dinner with us. I am barely able to get dinner on the table as it is {and when I say ‘I’, I mostly mean ‘Chris’}, without having to worry about her food as well. So far she has eaten {and loved} homemade applesauce, carrots, prunes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, avocado, mango, and cantaloup. She’s still on the fence about banana’s {and with every right…. they have icky strings}!

Is still waking every 3-4 hours at night to nurse. It is exhausting. I’ve tried getting her to eat more and nurse longer before putting her down to hopefully keep her belly full longer, but she refuses and I don’t want to force it. Chris and I did discover that if he is the one to go in an soothe her, instead of me, she will fall back asleep more easily. If I go in to soothe her she will become more and more upset and ‘angry’ until I nurse her. “Oh, mommy’s here… yeah, I guess I could use a drink. WAH!”
Is just getting over her first ‘sickness’ – She had a pretty bad cold that lasted about 10 days and just finished up. It was terrible to see her so uncomfortable and stuffed up. We tried everything to help clear her congestion but nothing really seemed to help much. The combination of being stuffed up and teething really threw her sleep habits out the window and we are still trying to recover.
Has been ‘teething’ for quite a while now and with only the two bottom teeth {that appeared at 4 months} to show for it.
Has cradle cap for the first time. Yuck. Not something I expected this late in the game, but ‘this too shall pass’.
Is sitting up like a champ and even enjoyed swinging at the park and a ride in the cart at Lowe’s for the first time on her 7 month birthday.
Is loving her Little Gym classes. I’ve never hear so many squeals and giggles from her as I do when she is around the other babies. The classes have really kicked her physical development into high gear, leading to the next things she is becoming a pro at…
starting to pull herself up onto hands and knees from a sitting position and from her tummy. Outlet covers are on, baby gates are about to go up, cabinet locks are on… all that’s left for this stage of baby-proofing are clearing out mommy’s piles of ‘stuff’ all around the house.
Is really good at entertaining herself for about 15 minutes at a time {which allows me to shower or get a load of laundry done…or not, depending on what Pinterest has to offer}
No new ‘speech sounds’ but definitely a lot of vocal play. Each week brings about some new noise she has discovered. This week it is spitting with her cheeks puffed out.