May 20, 2013 - admin 2 Comments

Charlotte’s 9 month update

Charlie Grace is now 9 months old. In order to get her to sit still for even a moment I had to resort to mega bribery using her favorite toys: pink puppy, giraffe and monkey, and a peekaboo ball. It worked… sort of.

At 9 months, Charlotte:

Weighs… who knows how much. Her 9 month well check is tomorrow so stay tuned! All I know is that she is able to wear a few 9 month outfits, but is mostly still in 6 month clothing {and size newborn shorts, apparently}… so still itty bitty compared to most of her peers, especially when she is wearing a disposable. When she has in a cloth diaper {which is practically always} she is able to wear 9 month clothing because her round rump fills it out.
Loves to be outside {mama’s girl}, but is still cautious on grass and mulch at the playground. Not so cautious about eating said mulch and grass, though.

9 months at the park

Loves to ‘read’ books {and gnaw on book corners}

Has become quite mobile; she loves to zip around the house chasing Baxter down, grabbing his tail and making a ‘vvvvv’ sound. Not sure why she pairs that sound with him, haha, but she is persistent and it’s so funny how he tries to ignore her.
Loves playing peekaboo {really she just loves being surprised… which must come from Chris, because we all know I don’t do well when frightened or taken off guard}

Loves to pull up on/climb onto/climb over anything and everything in her path. Last week she climbed the first flight of stairs in our home {with Chris spotting her of course}
Is beginning to eat more volume at each meal. This morning she ate an entire banana! She is also quick to remind me at each meal that she prefers to feed herself; it’s hard to keep up with her demands! I think more finger foods end up in the “food graveyard’ below her highchair but she is persistent and it keeps her really busy so I can finish other things in the kitchen. Win – win! Her main source of nutrients is still nursing and she is showing no signs of weaning. Each month that passes I allow myself a mini victory dance for that accomplishment 🙂
Is still loving her classes at The Little Gym. She’s the cutest bug in class! {note: opinions may be biased}

Has been introduced to her daddy’s video game love {don’t worry, she just gets to mash the buttons on the remote, no screen-time for her }

Continues to babble throughout her day and has said a few more words after we say them {what we in the ‘speech’ world call direct imitation}: up, ball, puff, all done, hey, bye bye, dada…and my personal favorite…. apple. She’s a little distracted by her cheering squad of ladies at the nephrologist’s office, but still delivers 😉

Is not yet sleeping through the night. She will typically wake up once {but occasionally twice) each night, usually around 3am to nurse. She takes two naps during the day {one around 10am and the other around 1:30 or 2pm}. She is flexible with her schedule though and goes down easily for the most part.
Has graduated to a new ‘big girl’ carseat {thanks to Lola and Grandpa Baker}. It was difficult to finally decide on one, especially since our current car is small… not the most ideal for a giant carseat. She seems so itty-bitty in it now but I know it will keep her safe. The only drawback is that it is hard for her to fall asleep because it is not as reclined as her previous seat. This is the only photo I have of it since it is so spankin’ new. I think it’s a good representation of Charlie Grace at 9 months though: pink cowgirl boots, leopard print dress, pigtails, and snuggled with her favorite toy-of-the-day… a spoon.

It’s driving me nuts that the mirror in the above photo is crooked. If I am driving I have to have it straight before we can leave the driveway!

This little miracle has grown into a sweet squishy nugget with oodles of personality and confidence. I can’t believe it’s been 9 months already. Time to start planning the 1st birthday. I am in serious denial.

Later this week I hope to post about what we’ve been up to for the past month. Spring always seems to bring with it a slew of events and activities. I was just telling someone a few months ago how easy it would be to find a time to hang out because “our schedule is so flexible”… just kidding, I can barely find time to put a stamp on a card and stick it in the mail right now!

April 28, 2013 - admin 2 Comments

Babies just keep growing, there’s no stopping it: 8 months.

I’m not gonna lie to you – This post is over 2 weeks old, so Charlotte is technically 8 1/2 months old now. I started this post 2 weeks ago on her 8 month birthday but things have not slowed down for a second around here in the Baker home. I’m sure this is what I can expect for the rest of my life as a mother.

Another thing that I feel confident in reporting… I will never again get a nice still photo of my daughter. It was a huge challenge to take her photos this month. Typically I take a few of her on her back and a few of her in the rocker in her nursery. This month’s series also showcases some nice shots of her confined to her crib {out of necessity, and slight frustration… but mostly necessity}.

Toy bribery was also successful in catching her attention for a moment.

Next month I may have to resort to ironing a number on her back as well to make my job a little easier.

Notice the lovely red mark on her forehead? Proof of her numerous attempts to escape the confines of her crib.

8 months 11

8 months 10

At 8 months, Charlotte:

Is crawling everywhere. Notice the scuffed up knees?
Has become a daredevil {and I’m pretty sure we have the Little Gym to thank for that… giving her a crazy amount of confidence… how dare they!}. It only took a few days of being mobile before she began pulling up on things, first to her knees and now all the way to a stand.
Has been struggling with her nap/bedtime routine because of this newfound mobility . As soon as we place her down into her crib she bolts to the corner that is closest to the door, pulls up to a stand, and assumes her ‘i’m so desperate to get out of here’ stance with her head thrown back in the most dramatic way. I don’t have a photo of her standing at the end of her crib, but this is her talking to herself and exploring her spacious sleeping quarters at 9pm.
Has 2 top incisors coming in {barely peeking through the surface of her gums so no photo yet!} so she is gnawing on anything and everything she can get her hands on and has also started to drool. She has never been a drooly baby before these teething episodes so this is a new experience for all of us.
Has said her first word – “dada”. You can read about that adventure here. Her new favorite sounds to make are: ‘ooph’ {which she vocalizes any time she is ‘working hard’ – as in ‘these blocks are so heavy it’s taking all my might to lift them, ‘oooph’} and ‘mmmm’ when she is eating something yummy.
Has been enjoying 2 meals a day of purees {about 2 ounces each meal} and will not eat any more than that despite my best efforts to stuff her {particularly before bed time}. She still nurses about 6-7 times a day. She is loving some new fruits and veggies this month in additional to her usuals: papaya {provided by her Lola Pam}, kiwi, clementines, and peas. The clementines and papaya are some of her favorites to have in the mesh teethers – I limit the clementines, though, because of their high acidity. I am just now getting around to introducing peas because I had a difficult time finding froze peas without salt added {and kept forgetting to look for other brands – I finally found some at Trader Joe’s but have since found them in several different grocery stores, usually from organic brands}. I don’t make all of her food from frozen, but there are several types that are much easier to prepare from frozen than when buying them fresh; mostly green beans and peas}. Once the local farmer’s markets open up we will be experimenting with many more fruits and veggies – I can’t wait for seasonal watermelon!!!
Love. Love. Loves her Little Gym classes. Here she is with the other Bugs playing with some bubbles. I love watching her socialize with the other kiddos, even if she is a bully {pulling hair, rounding up all the shakers for herself.. you know, all the typical 8 month old stuff}

Is not really ‘waving’ anymore, though I’m not too concerned because I know she has been developing so many other skills these past few weeks – something has to take the back burner!
Is not quite sure of the grass, cement, and mulch mommy has put her on during play-dates at the park, but is warming up to the idea that she may have to move on them someday.
Can entertain herself independently for quite a long time {in a safe place like the pack-and-play, of course} until she notices me walk past and realizes that I haven’t been watching her every second of the past 15 minutes… then she becomes dramatic and the laundry/cleaning/anything mommy-related is put on hold until I can get her distracted again.
Loves being outside in the sun, just like her mommy. She refuses to keep a hat on, so I just try to be diligent about applying sunblock and sticking mostly to the shade when we are at the park.
Is now pretty good about sitting up in the front of the cart, though she did throw her first mega tantrum in Michael’s the other day when I wouldn’t let her hold the spray paint. She wailed and did her usual ‘throwing her head back for dramatic effect’ move, but then hit her head on the back of the cart seat, so wailed some more. It was rough and that cashier said to her: ‘Is that you who was making all that noise?’ Yikes. And I know this joy will only continue as she gets older. I am fairly certain God gifted me with a daughter who is exactly like me when I was little – Sorry mom for all I put you through.

We love our bug and find ourselves saying ‘I love our family’ almost every day.

Thank you God for this sweet life you have entrusted us with!

February 20, 2013 - admin 1 Comment

Charlotte’s half-birthday

It’s only a months difference but 6 months sure seems ridiculously older than 5 months. Charlotte was a trooper at her 6 month well-check.

She is now 26 inches tall and weighs 14 lbs 9 oz.

At 6 months, Charlotte:

Still loves reading with her daddy, and the ratio of ‘looking’ at the book compared to ‘eating’ the book is improving and these books may just survive long enough to see our next child.

Has begun her first parent-child class at The Little Gym of Chesapeake. She’s in the ‘Bugs’ class every Saturday.

I may be a little biased, but I think I love the Gym so much because I have seen firsthand from working there how many wonderful things kiddos can gain from these classes: physical, social, emotional development.

Is rocking her cloth diapers. We are almost 100% cloth now; she is only in sposies 2 days a week when she is with my sister and I am at work. My sister has said she doesn’t mind venturing into the cloth world on T/Th with Charlotte but we have quite a few size 2 sposies {which she is finally fitting in to} that were gifted to us in an awesome diaper cake – that’s just one less thing to get together on work mornings. And, since we are confessing all sins, I have to admit I will sometimes put Charlotte in a disposable just because I want her to wear a certain pair of pants that don’t normally fit her if she’s in a cloth, ha!

Is sitting up like a CHAMP! It happened so quickly. One minute she had absolutely no interest in sitting up and would fold over like a taco and gnaw on her feet any time I would prop her up; the next minute she was sitting unassisted and was rarely falling over, able to grab toys and play with them.
Loves music and is very content when we sing to her; she is very attentive to books, singing, and baby signs right now. I can tell she is understanding the meaning of quite a few words; it is so much fun to see her language developing and her personality is really reflected in her babbling and ‘talking’. I think we have a strong willed, very opinionated child on our hands!
Is itching to crawl but isn’t able to get her knees up under herself yet, which is a relief for me… and very frustrating for her. She isn’t stationary though, she will roll and shimmy her way around on the floor to get to toys, shoes, anything her little heart desires.
Is still only trying foods for taste and texture experience. So far on the yummy list: carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, prunes, avocado and apple sauce {all made by me and frozen for convenience. so easy to do… really}. On the naughty list: bananas. I thought for SURE she would like bananas but the past 3 times they have been rejected and we are presented with a tightly closed mouth after the second bite. I am going to try at least 7 more times because research shows that it may take as many as 10 tries with a new food before a kiddo decides whether or not they truly like it or not. If you think about it, they are just learning to process the taste, temperature, texture, and smell of all kinds of new things all while refining their open-mouth-then-swallow skills. A baby may reject a food based solely on one factor of that bite {smell, temperature, etc}. I won’t give up on you bananas!
Is teething like crazy, but still only those 2 teeth on the bottom have come through. She will gnaw pretty much anything she can get her hands on; I don’t normally let her chew on her binky like she is in the video, but it was just so funny I didn’t want to pull it away from her.

Is still sporting the cockatoo hair plume in the back and the long bangs comb-over in the front. Very trendy. It seems to be getting a little better now that she is spending most of her awake time on her tummy or sitting up
Is waking up for at least one feeding throughout the night {remember a bit ago I told you she had stopped that and was sleeping 8+ hours and how I sort of missed our night-time snuggles? Well next time, tell me to can it! She must have heard me say I missed snuggling her in the middle of the night because she has been sacrificing and waking up at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times, just to spend time with me. What a peach}.
We are still battling some sleep issues, but it is definitely improving. Around 5 months Charlotte really started struggling with going down to sleep. Starting at about 2 months old I made sure I never rocked her completely to sleep and that she was still pseudo-awake when she went down, we’ve kept the routine the same, etc. I really think she is entering the phase of development that includes comprehension of object permanence {i.e.: mommy still exists even when I can’t see her}. After a few ‘wake up, cry, mommy comes in to snuggle’ scenarios…. we’d reinforced a bad bedtime routine. I’ll go into more detail in another post but she is definitely getting better with both daytime napping and bedtime.

Here are some sneak peeks at her 6 month photos, taken by a friend and owner of Kreative Snaps Photography. We had a blast taking these photos. I can’t wait to see more!

I’ve really wanted to cry each time I typed ‘6 month old’ today. I LOVE this age. She’s the perfect amount of baby-baby and toddler- baby right now. Still loves to {and needs to} snuggle and be held but is also able to play with us, give us a laugh of anticipation and recognition, and express her feelings.

You’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming to 7 months.

OHappyDaze

Looking for the lovely in life.

The Little Gym of Chesapeake

Charlotte’s 9 month update

Babies just keep growing, there’s no stopping it: 8 months.

Charlotte’s half-birthday