O.N.E

I haven’t even begun to process the photos from her 11 month shots, 12 month shots, and birthday parties. Those will come in later posts.

I don’t even know where to begin with this post, so I guess I’ll begin at the beginning.  Just a warning, you are about to scroll through a billion photos… I had a really hard time choosing which ones to revisit with you all. And if you are dying to see her monthly posts again I’ve linked them up throughout the post {just click on the month – i.e.: ‘Eight’ to see her 8 month post}.

20 week check-up. It’s a girl!

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You can read more about Charlie Grace’s arrival HERE and about our second visit to the hospital HERE.

Goal for today: Have a baby!

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About an hour before she was born.

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The nurses washed her hair 3 times and called it a ‘hot mess’ {just like her mamas}

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Proud daddy. {my OB took this one, haha, and I’m so glad she did!}

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I am so thankful I brought that pink pillow with me. If you know me, then you know I need color in my life!

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Charlotte’s newborn photos with Sarah Halstead Photography and the quilt my mom made.

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Throwin’ gang signs in her sleep.

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Crazy hair.

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One.

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Snuggles after bath time.

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Two.

Her first cloth diaper day!

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Tummy time.

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“I’m with the band” onesie.

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Three.

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Big feet.

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Four.

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Five.

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First time in the snow.012-IMG_7733-001

First time sitting up on her own {boppy added for ‘just in case’ support}

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Sharing their love for music.

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First time eating solids.

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Six.

Six month photos with Kelly from Kreative Snaps Photography.

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This is the ‘roll-polly-est’ she has ever been. So glad I have this shot of her briefly chunky legs!

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Seven.

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First time in the swing.

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Eight.
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Disgruntled about something.

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Nine.

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Ten.
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Eleven.

{no 11 month post yet, hopefully coming soon!}

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Twelve.

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And so it begins.

Charlie Grace took her first steps this afternoon. The miracle: Chris and I were both there to watch it!

Disclaimer: shaky video, trying to wrangle a cell phone and a baby results in video of the carpet, “no biting please” thrown in there, and loud barking dog at the end. I don’t know how to edit a video yet, so we’ll just have to suffer through to enjoy the adorableness.

Other than breaking the “World’s cutest toddling baby” award we have been planning our girl’s first birthday party, finalizing our foster parenting paperwork, and I have been picking up a few extra days of patients for some spending money {we have an Ikea trip planned for next week!!!}. I will post her 11 month update in a few days.

Charlie Grace is 10 months old.

Technically, as of today, 10 months – 3 weeks.. Meh, it is what it is.  Fortunately, I jotted down notes on what Charlotte was doing at 10 months to make things easier for to type up once I had the chance to sit down {now 3 weeks later}.

I see a trend forming with her monthly photos now. Lots of defiance being shown here.
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oh, so dramatic.

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pink puppy helps.

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Eventually she got what she wanted… which was to play with her toys and books.
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At 10 months, Charlotte:

  • Has started to clap and loves to fill in her part of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” {unless she has an audience… she definitely doesn’t like to perform if mommy wants her to show off}.
  • She has begun signing ‘more’ while eating. Success! Unfortunately, she started signing ‘more’ the day she had a terrible stomach virus {the speech pathologist inside died a little each time she signed ‘more’ and I wasn’t able to give her more to eat}!
  • Is not saying any new words this month, but continues to be spontaneous with her regulars: “uh-oh”, “dada”, “ball”, “bubbles”, “bye bye”, and “ba” for Baxter
  • Has been to two birthday parties for friends {kiddos other than her cousins}

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  • Is not really loving the pool like I thought she would, but I hope she will warm up to it. She absolutely loves bath time so I think she’ll come around. Until then, she’d prefer to stay by the snack table 🙂

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  • Loves spending time with her grandparents. Here she is reading with Lola and at Papa and Honey’s yard sale.
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  • Keeps me on my toes as far as baby proofing goes. She is definitely a daredevil. Note to self: no more big toys in the baby cage. She loves pulling up and cruising around our coffee table which is nice and round with no sharp edges.

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  • Is now occasionally standing unassisted. Here is the video of her first time standing again for your viewing pleasure in case you missed the earlier post:

  • Battled her first case of hives from a virus and had her first visit to Urgent Care {just to make sure she wasn’t battling something else}. Keeping her entertained at urgent care was the hardest part though.

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  • Has begun throwing tantrums when toys {and non toy items she has become attached to} are taken away from her. The photo below was her reaction to the ‘clean up’ song for the foam noodles at her friend Hunter’s party at The Little Gym. Oh boy.

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  • Dances and sways any time she hears music or singing. The fun part about this one is that it is not something we taught her, she’s just got moves!
  • Is a master at isolating her index finger to point and will point to anything that catches her attention or that she wants.
  • Will occasionally grind her teeth, which really scared us when we first heard it; after researching it though, it seems that many young kiddos grind their teeth as a way of exploring the new chicklets in their mouth, and Charlie has 8 which means she has a lot of exploring to do!
  • Is starting to fit into size 9 month clothing, is almost in a size 3 shoe {long, narrow feet}, refuses to keep a hat or sunglasses on, and has discovered that she has bows in her hair and now yanks them out any chance she gets.

Stay tuned {next week, lol} for her 11 month update!

 

Real Life Parenting: vomit.

Sick babies are never fun. Charlotte is very healthy, and for that we are truly blessed. Today she succumbed to her 3rd illness though (the first being a head cold at 7 months and the second being a high fever from some sort of virus at 9 months). The really sad part about this time is that I didn’t even know she was sick! One moment we were playing by the pool, the next she had thrown up and was feverish. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and as I look back on the course of the day it seems completely obvious that she was sick.

My first clue should have been the surprise waiting for me in Charlotte’s crib when I went to get her this morning:

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No that isn’t blood. It’s blueberries from her dinner last night. She must have thrown up at some point in the night. I feel awful that she slept in yucky blueberry regurgitation, but she never woke up or cried so I had no idea! I thought that it was the blueberries that upset her tummy so I didn’t think much of it. Also I’m sure Charlotte will thank me for posting this lovely photo of her ‘bed head’ and blueberry ‘schmear art’ in 15 years.

I got Charlotte cleaned up and started the sheets soaking {I’m fairly certain they will never come clean but I’m willing to give it the ‘ol college try…. not that I would have ever spent this much time cleaning something in college. I most likely would have just thrown it away}. After nursing for a bit after waking up she actually vomited again! I know, I know… any sane person {parenting experience or not} would have figured out that something was wrong.  I thought it was because she drank too fast and choked, which is something she used to do when she was much younger. I just assumed her tummy couldn’t handle the amount she drank.  After that she ate a great breakfast and was her usual giggly and playful self so I wasn’t worried.

We visited my office for lunch and Charlotte socialized with all her loves there and was on her best behavior.

After that we met up with some buddies for a spashy play date.

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Charlotte wasn’t in love with the cold water, but she loved watching her buddies play.

After a little while though I could tell she was beginning to not feel well and then she threw up again after nursing!

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I am so sad it took me that long to realize I had a sick kiddo on my hands. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. She was just as playful as usual until the afternoon when her fever spiked. Poor baby. image-57

For a kiddo battling a tummy virus, though, she certainly had a very successful day: Standing unassisted for the first time and SO proud of herself.

Does that look sick to you?!