Five Months Old

I cannot believe that in one more month, Charlotte will be halfway to the 1 year mark. Time definitely goes by faster with two kids. We are having a blast watching Charlotte learn new things and love all the attention that Claire gives her.

At 5 months old, Charlotte:

• is a rolling machine. She rarely stays on her back for long and diaper changes are becoming more challenging every day.
• has decided that rolling over onto her tummy to sleep is preferred. She started this about a week ago and we fought it for the first couple of days before eventually giving up. We would roll her onto her back and within minutes she was back on her tummy.
• is done with swaddling...we had a little scare a couple of weeks ago when she managed to flip onto her tummy with her arms still swaddled in (the girl is strong). After that, we packed the swaddle away and broke out the sleep sack. The transition went surprisingly well.
• still refuses to sleep through the night. She goes down between 7:00-7:30pm and usually sleeps until 7:00am, waking up once to eat. On a good night she makes it until about 4:30am...on a bad night it is more like 2:00am. It's frustrating, but I am finding that I am much more tolerant the second time around.
• can sit up for small periods of time (probably about a minute). She is still pretty wobbly and hunches forward quite a bit.
• has a contagious little belly laugh.
• loves her big sister. The moment Claire comes over to give her kisses and hugs, Charlotte's face lights up and a smile crosses her face. I keep crossing my fingers that they will be good friends.
• is starting to get a little more particular about who holds her...maybe a little touch of stranger anxiety (although no where near as bad as Claire had it).
• loves to grab and reach for things. Her hand-eye coordination has really developed over the last month.
• has cheeks that continue to grow bigger by the week. I absolutely love them!! :)
• loves being held and cuddled. I am really going to miss when she grows out of this stage.

Charlotte, you are a great addition to our family and we are so happy to have you!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

I'm not sure if Claire completely understood the whole Santa concept, but she at least pretended to be slightly amused. We left some cookies and carrots out on Christmas Eve for Santa and his reindeer and Claire insisted that we leave them underneath the tree. In the morning I asked her if she thought Santa ate all the cookies and she said "no". She seemed a bit confused/surprised when we went downstairs and found a plate full of crumbs...I think she was hoping he left a few for her. Anyway, Santa left this great easel for her and she has been having a blast coloring and finger painting on it. I think we are going to get a lot of use out of this!

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas has come and gone, and all in all things went pretty smoothly. I don't have a ton of pictures to show for it, mainly because we were too busy with the kids. Claire had a blast opening her presents and playing with her new toys. Charlotte was content to be held through most of the festivities. All the activity definitely wore both girls out, that is for sure. As a result we have had some long naps and have been able to sleep in until 7:30 a few mornings in a row. :)

Make it Four Weeks...

It was Claire's turn to visit the pediatrician this morning. Diagnosis - ear infection. Seriously, enough is enough. Merry sickness!

Merry Christmas...a little early

We had an early Christmas celebration at my parents last Saturday morning. Claire enjoyed opening her gifts and hanging out with her cousins Ella and Austin for a few hours. Meanwhile, Charlotte missed much of the gift opening as she took a little nap. Tomorrow we are relaxing at home until late afternoon and then heading up to my grandparent's place. Friday we will be at Art's parents. Merry Christmas and safe travels to everyone!

Three Weeks in a Row

I have now been to the pediatrician's office three weeks in a row and am getting sick of it. The first two visits I was okay with as they were for Charlotte and Claire's well visits. However, this morning I brought Charlotte in with an irritated eye only to discover that she has an ear infection. That explains why she had such a hard time napping yesterday. Poor baby. She is now napping in her crib. Hopefully the medication will kick in soon and she will be feeling better. The ironic thing is that Art & I were just talking about how healthy the girls have been so far this winter.

In other doctor related news, Claire is still a peanut. She is 32.5 inches tall (16th percentile) and 25 lbs (27th percentile). Her head is a whole other story topping the charts in the 93rd percentile...no wonder she is so smart!! :)

Saturdays

It is amazing how fast Saturday mornings seem to go by. We wake up, eat breakfast and then one of us takes Claire to music class from 9-10am while the other stays home with a usually napping Charlotte. Once we get home we have a few hours to play until lunch and then it is down for naps. Some of my favorite times are those few hours of play time...just hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Here are a few pictures from our most recent Saturday morning.

I'm enjoying how sweet Claire & Charlotte are together while it lasts...

Me & my girls
Claire thought it was pretty funny that Elmo was coloring with her.
So content and sweet.

Look Who's TWO!!

Claire turned two over the weekend and she was SUPER into her birthday. She brought treats to school on Thursday, had a day filled with birthday fun on Saturday, and ended the weekend with a birthday party on Sunday! She absolutely LOVED it!

It is hard to believe that two years have passed since we welcomed her into our lives. It has been such a wonderful ride watching her grow into the energetic little girl she is today.

At two year old, Claire:

• is extremely active. She rarely sits still and has a ton of energy!
• is doing great with potty training. She is in underwear all day, except for naps and overnight. We will probably try to transition to 100% underwear in the next few months, but we're not going to rush it. Especially since Charlotte isn't sleeping through the night...the last thing we need is two kids up in the middle of the night!! :)
• loves to talk. Her daily notes from school frequently mention her talkative nature and expanding vocabulary. It is so much fun to have an actual conversation with her.
• definitely knows how to throw a tantrum. Over the past few weeks she has had a few tantrums that have resulted in her laying down on the floor, kicking her legs. Lovely.
• has learned how to stall, especially at bedtime. Our nightly routine frequently consists of several trips to the potty and negotiations for "one more book".
• still enjoys music. She loves to sing and looks forward to her Saturday morning music class.
• is a great big sister to Charlotte. She loves to help with diaper changes and bath time, gives her plenty of kisses and is always concerned with where she is at all times.
• loves reading, helping with projects around the house (i.e. laundry, cooking), and doing puzzles. She also likes doing art and playing with her babies.
• is still a huge fan of Elmo. It is really the only thing that she will watch on TV and never really lasts more than 15 minutes.
• would eat yogurt all day every day if we let her. She loves the stuff. I think it kind of grosses Art out since he hates the stuff. Overall she is still a good eater. She definitely has her preferences, but we can usually get her to try most things. She still hates pizza and loves sweets.

The first two years have been amazing. We can't wait to watch Claire continue to grow!

We Grow 'em Small

I took Charlotte in for her 4 month appointment this morning. Doesn't look like she is going to be any bigger than Claire given her current stats:

Weight - 12 lbs 7 oz (21st percentile)
Height - 24.25 inches (50th percentile)

If Claire's growth chart is any indication I'm pretty sure her height percentile will just keep declining. I also found out today that they measure the kids in the infant room before they move to the toddler room and keep track of the shortest and tallest kid they have had. Claire is still holding onto the shortest kid record...that a girl!! :)

Four Months Old

At four month old, Charlotte:

• is rolling like crazy. You put her down on her back and she rolls right over on her tummy.
• is still swaddled at home. Some new state regulations went into affect this summer that prohibits childcare centers from swaddling, which means that she is only in a sleepsack at school. Some days she naps okay without the swaddle and other days she only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time.
• has decided that sleeping overnight is overrated. Don't get me wrong, she has had a few great nights where she has slept from 7:30 - 5:00 (and once until 6:00), but I can count them on one hand. And lately she has been sleeping awful. I think we are going to try to wean her from the pacifier this week to see if it helps...I think she is waking up when she loses it and we are more than sick of putting it back in her mouth in the middle of the night. We will see if it helps and if we actually have it in us to take it away!
• loves to smile and laugh. She has started laughing more consistently and it is adorable. Art is especially skilled at making her giggle! :)
• adores when you sing to her. She can be super sad and the minute you start singing a smile crosses her face.
• still loves bathtime.
• has discovered her fingers and they are in her mouth all the time. She doesn't really have a preference for one over the other, but definitely loves to drool all over them!
• still enjoys the swing. When we are struggling to get her to nap, it usually puts her right to sleep.
• is loved by her mom, dad and big sister Claire!
  
  

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving 2009 was busy. We celebrated with both of our families. There was plenty of delicious food and great company to be had. While Claire had a blast with all of her cousins, Charlotte was a bit overwhelmed and not much of a sleeper. She slept a total of 2 hours the entire day (which is nothing compared to her usual) and was completely done by about 6pm. We headed home and called it a night. Honestly, I think we were all tired. Luckily the rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. Art and Claire ventured out to get a tree on Friday morning. The highlight of the trip for Claire was her first taste of hot chocolate on their way home. She loved it!! We spent the rest of the day getting the decorations up and trimming the tree. Saturday night Art and I were lucky enough to catch a movie and dinner. We went to a new theater in St. Louis Park that serves alcohol and has nice leather seats - definitely our new theater of choice! We saw Blind Side, which was a great sports movie.

Today we have been running errands and hanging out around home. I fit in a nap, which is always a good thing. Especially these days when Charlotte has been giving us major trouble at night.

There are a few pictures below: one of Claire wearing Charlotte's 3-6 month sweatshirt (you think they will share clothes some day?!?!) and one of Charlotte sporting a barrette.

Weekend of Firsts

It was a weekend filled with several firsts. On Friday morning we headed out and got Claire her first haircut. She was a little apprehensive at first, but ended up doing great after a little encouragement. She didn't get much cut off, just a little trim to even things out. We were also able to take advantage of beautiful November weather and spend some time outside. I can't believe how old Claire looks in the last picture - so grown up. It is hard to believe she will be two in a few weeks. Charlotte surprised us this weekend and rolled from her back to tummy. She did it once on Saturday and a bunch of times today. She may be mellow, but she is also pretty determined when she wants something! Now I just need to catch it on video.

Sisters

Here's a few sister shots from yesterday. It is amazing to me how much Claire loves her little sister. She is always asking about Charlotte when she isn't around and giving her kisses. She has also started saying her name in the last month (instead of just calling her baby), which is adorable. I am sure it will be a different story in a few months when Charlotte starts stealing her toys, so we will enjoy it for now.

Splish Splash

Charlotte loves the bath! It doesn't matter how tired she may be, she kicks her legs with delight and give us lots of big smiles. I know that we have a long way to go, but I can't wait until the girls can take a bath together! Not only will it be a blast, but it will make the nightly bath routine a lot smoother.

Sick of Being Sick

Since I have been back at work, our family has been struck with illness several times and I am sick of it. The crazy part is that we keep getting sick on the weekend. On one hand, it is nice because nobody has to miss work, but on the other hand it has made for some pretty awful weekends.

Claire had a little bug two weekends ago. Nothing serious…just a low-grade fever and a very tired, clingy girl. But it made for a long, tiring weekend nonetheless.

Then last Thursday Charlotte came down with a 101 degree temp. Since she is still pretty young, we were advised to take her in. I brought her in Thursday night and they ran every test under the sun. After 1.5 hours they determined she had the start of an ear infection and we were off to get antibiotics. We were advised to bring her back in if her fever got in the 102 – 103 degree range. Late in the day Friday her fever reached 103. By then our pediatrician was closed, so off to Children’s we went. One of the ER doctors found what looked like a potential rash on her leg and the combination of the high fever and rash was enough to admit her for close to 48 hours. They were concerned that she could have something more serious like sepsis, which is a type of blood infection. Luckily, everything turned out just fine (she was discharged Sunday afternoon)and she is back to her healthy, happy self. She has even been giving us lots of giggles the last few days!

After two weekends filled with sick kids and lots of canceled plans (including an all-day birthday celebration for myself), I am hoping that we stay healthy for awhile!

Due to all the sickness, I have been awful at taking pictures. Here are a few from healthier days!

Grandma and her Girls

I realized lately that we don't take near enough pictures of the girls and their grandparents. Here are a few recent ones of the girls and Grandma. Hopefully we can capture a few more of them with their grandparents in the next few months.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Claire and Charlotte's cousins Ella and Austin came over to celebrate Halloween with us. The older kids had a great time trick-or-treating while our little pumpkin hung out at home with Grandma and Grandpa!

Three Months Old

THREE MONTHS OLD TODAY!!

At three months old Charlotte:

• is full of smiles and is cooing like crazy!
• drools A LOT! She is constantly blowing bubbles and the front of her shirt is usually soaked by the end of the day.
• eats 6-7 times each day and still does okay with a bottle.
• goes to bed between 7:30-8:00 and wakes up for the day around 7:30. She sleeps a 6-8 hour stretch and then goes back to sleep for another 3-5 hours.
• is still swaddled and loves her pacifier while sleeping.
• dislikes her car seat (just like her big sister did)...makes for some very relaxing driving!
• usually takes 3 naps a day. The first two are usually in her crib and the last one is almost always in the swing. Her naps are starting to get a little bit longer, which is also nice.
• loves when you sing or read to hear.
• loves looking at herself in the mirror. It brings a smile to her face when she sees her reflection.
• enjoys bathtime. She kicks her legs with delight and gives us lots of smiles as she gets all clean.
• likes playing on the floor and is still doing pretty well with tummy time.
• has discovered her hands and loves to suck on her fingers.
• is still wearing 0-3 month clothing, but I don't think it will be long before we break into the 3-6 month clothes.
• is a very content and happy baby and we love her more every day!

Spin Art

I am always looking for fun and easy crafts and art projects to do with Claire. She usually enjoys them and they keep her entertained for a good 30 minutes if I find a good one. We did this one this morning and she LOVED it. You only need a salad spinner and food coloring for the project and the end result is similar to 'spin art'. You put a piece of paper in a salad spinner, add a few drops of food coloring, and then spin away. Claire thought it was great!