Christmas

Charlotte thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. She had a very busy weekend of opening presents, eating tissue paper and hanging out with family. She received so many toys I am not sure where to put them all. Although she was more interested in the wrapping products while she was opening the toys now she has really started to enjoy playing with some of them.



This is one of her favorites, from Aunt Janet and Uncle Ken.



The classic ring stacker from Grandpa Maher is also at the top of her list.



Aunt Aimee gave her a Mrs. Clause outfit, and she looked adorable in it.

Cats, Dogs...and Giraffes?

Charlotte has really taken a liking to the dog. She loves when Zoe kisses her cheeks and licks her toes. Charlotte sticks her little hand out when Zoe is around and tries to pet her...or pull on her ears. Zoe doesn't mind one bit and usually lays near Charlotte every chance she gets. The cats on the other hand basically refuse to acknowledge Charlotte - as far a they are concerned she doesn't exist.


We recently had our kitchen cabinets painted, which required all of the drawers and cabinet doors to be removed. This allowed Linus to find all sorts of new hiding places...which drove Zoe nuts!!!



And finally, to wrap up my animal post, below are pictures of Charlotte with her favorite stuffed giraffe. "Geoffrey" usually sits on her changing table so that she can play during her diapers changes. Last night we brought him into our room so she could play and she refused to let him go.

Bath Time

Charlotte has a new habit of squeezing her belly fat while she is in the tub. She just squishes it over and over again. I tried to get her to stop when I realized it was making her skin red and blotchy...but she doesn't seem to mind. Silly girl.


Here is another shot just because I think it's cute.

Meet Katie Scarlet

On November 29th I got a call from Chrystal, a good friend from my days in Oxford at McCullough Hyde Hospital. Her water broke and she was having a baby!!! Now this was truly as surprise, as she was only about 36 weeks pregnant. I was so hoping to see her pregnant belly before she delivered, no such luck. The little peanut was breech so Chrystal got to the hospital and was in surgery for her c-section within a few hours. Katie Scarlet was born at 12:08pm weighing in the 6lb range. On December 6th Miss Charlotte and I made the trip to Oxford to meet the new baby. Let me just say she was the smallest newborn I have ever seen, I just wanted to cuddle her.


I was also happy to introduce Charlotte to Reba, another one of the ladies I used to work with. It was quite a fun afternoon.

5 Months Old

My apologies for slacking on updates. I can't find my stupid camera cord so I am unable to transfer pictures to the computer at the moment, ugh!

Charlotte is 5 months old. I can't believe it! On the 5th Dave and I took her to see photographer Sonja B to get some Christmas/5 month shots. They came out beautifully. She is always so smiley at home, but as soon as we got to Sonja's house she became very serious. She didn't cry, just looked at all of us like we were crazy. For the most part, she is right....we were dancing around like monkeys trying to get her to crack a smile. Finally toward the end of the shoot we got some of her classic tongue-out smiley faces. Here are some of my favorites.

Eating

Charlotte got her first taste of "solid" food on November 28th. We started her with oatmeal, which surprisingly tasted good (yes, I tried it). She was a little confused to start with, then her face turned to disgust. After a few bites she seemed to be having a little bit of fun. She has eaten oatmeal every day since then and is finally catching on. I'll estimate that about 80% of it gets into her belly, while the other 20% ends up on her face, hands and bib. I think we'll be trying bananas or sweet potatoes this weekend.

Charlotte has been quite the busy body for the last week. Grandma Maher was in town for a few days and she took Charlotte on her first visit to the zoo on Friday. I hear she had a great time looking around at all the colors, lights and animals.

On Saturday, we took Charlotte on her first trip to Terry's Turf Club for burgers. The place was very noisy but she didn't seem to mind, as she decided to join in by babbling loudly through most of our meal.



Aunt Aimee also had her first art show on Saturday. Because Charlotte is a party pooper and goes to bed at 7:30, she went to Leo's house while Dave and I went to see the show. They had fun playing with each other before bedtime. She was in awe of Leo up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth. She can't quite match his skills so she decided to chew on his toys, sit in his chair and read his book.....that'll show him!!




Sadly, we woke up to the horrible sound of Charlotte coughing and wheezing Sunday at 4am. It was the unmistakable sound of CROUP! Dave and I decided to take her to Children's where she received steroids to help relax her airway. We were instructed to keep her home for 72 hours and sent home. She has been doing surprisingly well, although she hates having her nose suctioned and screams bloody murder each time. Today is the end of her quarantine and she is happily back with Tricia the babysitter.

Nap Time

My family has always joked with my Mom about her habit of falling asleep in weird places. There are countless stories of her nodding off at parties, while playing card games, and watching movies in the theater. Looks like Charlotte has inherited Grandma Maher's uncanny ability to sleep...anywhere.

Hungry Baby

Charlotte has been a very hungry baby for the last few days...5 days really. She usually eats four ounces every three hours and then sleeps through the night for about ten hours. She must be having a growth spurt because she has been demanding a bottle every two hours most of the day, and sometimes she takes 5 ounces!!

Last night she woke up around 10pm wanting a bottle. Dave and I didn't mind, she looked so cute with her heavy, sleepy eyes. She tried to grab the bottle straight out of Dave's hands in an attempt to get it to her mouth faster. She polished it off and was fast asleep for the rest of the night.

This morning she woke up at the same time I did...5am (yuck). She ate and was wide awake. She played while I got ready for work. Here she is, playing in her PJs.

The Sippy Cup

Last night Dave and I decided to assemble Charlotte's high chair so she could sit at the dinner table with us. She really liked it, specially since we put a few toys on the tray for her to play with. She needs to get used to sitting here because soon it will be time for her to start eating solid foods.


Then I decided to give her a sippy cup to play with. I didn't expect her to do much but bang it around. I held the empty cup up to her mouth and much to my surprise she grabbed it with both hands and attempted to drink out of it!! I quickly added a few tablespoons of water and gave it back to her. Wouldn't you know, she started to drink it all by herself. She had never tasted water (or anything but breast milk for that matter) so the look on her face was priceless. She spit it right out and tried drinking it again. She made many attempts to drink the water and actually swallowed a few sips. Although most of it ended up soaking the from of her shirt. I am so proud of her!


And finally, before bed, she played on her activity mat and Zoe decided to join her. I couldn't miss this photo-opp.

The Big Girl

Charlotte had her 4 month check up on Monday night. She has consistantly been in the 75th percentile for height and weight since she was born...until now. She is a whopping 15lbs 8oz and is 25 3/4 inches long. This puts her in the 89th percentile for weight and 95th for height!!! I just double checked the CDC growth chart to make sure the doctor was correct, I can hardly believe it. We were also given the okay to start solids at 5 months if we want to. YEA!!

Charlotte has been showing how grown up she is latley. We went out to lunch with Grandpa Maher and she sat in the big girl high chair while we ate, and loved it. She stared accross the table and babbled to Grandpa every time he had to answer his work phone.



Speaking of awesome babies, Charlotte would like to send a "shout out" to her buddy Leo. Congrats on sitting up unassisted, such the little man. Did I mention he is only 5 months old?

Charlotte and Friends Weekend

Charlotte had such a fun and busy weekend. She was able to visit two of her favorite buddies, Abe and Leo.

Saturday night we went to the Hiltz's house for some wine and a baby play date. Charlotte hasn't seen Abe in a few weeks and she couldn't stop talking to him. We held them up looking at eachother and Charlotte babbled on and on and on. Abe stared at her like she was a little crazy. As soon as we put Charlotte to bed, Abe started talking up a storm. We all laughed because we knew that he was learning fast...when there is a girl around it's best to keep quite.


Sunday, Miss Charlotte and I went to a baby wearing class with Sarah and Leo. Before the class they played on the floor together. Charlotte loved talking to Leo too! Her Daddy is going to be in big trouble when she gets a little older, she enjoys talking to boys way too much. She was in awe of Leo's physical strength, that little booger was up on his hands and knees ready to crawl! I hope she was taking notes on how to enjoy tummy time so she can keep up with him.

Oh, and I must mention that Charlotte turned 4 months old on Sunday. Such a big girl. However, being a 4 month old came with her first stuffy nose.... Doh! She sounded so congested last night. She was not happy when I used the salene spray and snot sucker on her nose, but it helped her sleep better. I hope this doesn't last long.

Sophie the Giraffe

Meet Sophie

Apparently Sophie is the coolest teething toy a baby can have. She's been around for 40 years!! You have to admit she resembles a doggy chew toy. Zoe certainly agrees, she hasn't taken her eyes off the toy since it came out of the box last night. Moms say their babies go nuts for her. For 17 bucks, Charlotte had better go nuts.