Baby Baker

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Charlotte meets her grandparents and a Missouri Thanksgiving

Charlotte met her grandma and grandpa Baker for the first time 2 Fridays ago! She was a good sport and waited very patiently at the airport (She looks so serious in this picture, which is unusual for her).

Waiting at the airport

ESCUSE ME, I Mustache you a question…

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It was love at first sight for everyone and we are so glad to have them back in the States!
meeting grandpa

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The following Monday we were on a plane headed to Memphis where we would then drive to Chris’ father’s hometown of Kennet, Missouri to be with the Baker clan for Thanksgiving.

Charlotte was SO unbelievably wonderful during the flights and car traveling. I was one proud mama!

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When we landed in Memphis we stopped for some good ‘ol Memphis BBQ before hitting the road to Missouri.

“Charlotte, next time please save some ribs for everyone else”!

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Here’s a tour of Kennet:

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Haha, just kidding. There is more to Kennet than dirt roads, I just didn’t take many pictures while we were there.  I can only juggle one valuable thing in my hands at a time and lately I’ve been choosing the baby!

Causbie’s Bakery is a must when visiting.
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And I always like to visit some thrift stores and antique shops while I’m there.

Swyngomatic? Really, Graco? I wouldn’t trust that contraption with a ham sandwhich, let alone an actual 10+ lb baby.

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I was very sad to find my favorite (after my one visit there previously) antique shop was closed both times we tried to visit; I’m guessing because of the holidays. Very sad. I had my heart set on some blue mason jars. womp womp.

Charlotte got lots of snuggles from her family, especially her Lola and Grandpa Baker. I am realizing that I didn’t really get any pictures of other family members while we were there… so not like me at all!

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(‘Thankful for Mommy’ shirt for Thanksgiving!)

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And she met her great grandpa Baker for the first time.

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Her smirk cracks me up. I think she knows something we don’t know. She’s a very wize baby.

 

 

The Baker family. Grandpa Baker has 4 children, 10 grandchildren, and 18 great grandchildren.

So glad we were able to get a family photo.Baker Family 2012

Charlotte was loved on by all of her new family members and was gifted with some very adorable clothes from Aunt Brenda and Aunt Jeannie (thank you!) and her Lola Pam. I CANNOT get over these shoes. SO cute. I am kicking myself for not buying more in bigger sizes while we were there. I haven’t seen this brand anywhere!

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Charlotte was, again, a very good traveling baby. I pretty much kept her in my k’tan wrap while moving through the airport so my hands would be free. Also, we (meaning me) experienced changing a poopy diaper in an airplane bathroom TWICE. Actually not as bad of an experience as you my be imagining in your head right now but it definitely earned me a new ‘mommy badge’!

I wish so badly that this picture (below) had been in focus, but what can you do with a cell phone camera in a moving car trying to take a picture of a moving baby?! I will post it anyway in all its blurry adorableness because I love the face she is making.

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Sleeping on her daddy on the plane.

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We had so much fun with our Missouri/Arkansas/Tennessee family and were sad we couldn’t spend more time with everyone but were so glad to be back home.

After all, Virginia is for Lovers.

LOVE

 

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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.