Two Months Old

Two Months Old! Charlotte has been busy this last month eating, sleeping, and letting her personality shine through! We are enjoying her more and more each week!

At two months old, Charlotte:

• is smiling like crazy! It is super easy to get her to smile, which I love. Often times just the sound of my voice is enough to make her grin!
• is starting to focus in on objects more. She loves looking at the animals on her activity mat and also enjoys toys that light up.
• eats about 7 times a day. She eats every 2.5-4 hours during the day with one longer stretch at night. She hardly ever spits up, which is nice.
• is sleeping longer stretches at night. She usually sleeps a 5-7 hour stretch and then goes back down for another 3-4 hours.
• loves her pacifier when she is falling asleep. If she is tired and we give her the pacifier she usually falls asleep within minutes. She is also still swaddled.
• has been attending a mommy and baby yoga class for the last couple of weeks. She seems to enjoy all of the other babies and is getting quite good at all the 'yoga moves'. :)
• naps 3-4 times a day. She goes down super easy for her naps, but the length is still unpredictable (especially in her crib). Often times she wakes up after 45 minutes and can't put herself back to sleep. Usually she ends up in my arms or the swing after this because she is still tired.
• is strong. She does tummy time several times a day and doesn't seem to mind it at all. She has rolled from her tummy to back several times now. She is also pretty good at 'standing up' when you hold her.
• weighs 10 lbs 2 oz (31st percentile) and is 23 inches long (75th percentile). Much to my surprise her head is only in the 33rd percentile. Claire's has always been in the 90th percentile, so I just assumed Charlotte's would be the same!

Girly Girl

I love the fact that Claire is so into accessories! Not only does she love shoes, but also hair bows! She was so excited about our recent purchase that she demanded that I put them all in her hair at once!

In other BIG news, Claire had her first success on the potty last night when she pooped in the potty chair. I never thought I would be so proud. She got off the potty chair, looked into the bowl and said, "look what I did!" In addition she also kept saying "I poop in the potty chair" last night with a big smile on her face. Hopefully her excitement lasts! I think part of the success is due to the new toilet seats that Art bought over the weekend. They have a magnetic toilet training seat that lifts up and down, so your child can use the real toilet instead of a traditional potty chair. I think it makes the whole process more real for kids, and as a parent there is no disgusting clean up that goes along with a potty chair.

She's Back!

Claire was off all last week. She had tired eyes, was super clingy to me and wasn't eating very well. I thought maybe she was fighting a little bug or working on a few new teeth. On Friday she woke up from her afternoon nap earlier than usual. I went up to her room and she looked exhausted...I couldn't get her to fall back asleep or quit crying. After 30 minutes, I knew something was really bothering her, so we headed to the doctor's office. Sure enough, she had an ear infection.
We headed to the Target pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics, a trip that never fails to frustrate me. We arrive, drop off the prescription and are told it will take 20 minutes to fill it. I'm thinking, "not so bad...we can pick up a few things and I'll be able to keep Claire entertained." After 20 minutes we head back to find that it is not ready and will only be a few more minutes. Five minutes go by...still not ready. Five more minutes go by...still not ready. By now Claire is sick of sitting in the cart and keeps repeating (quite loudly might I add), "my medicine almost ready" over and over again. She desperately wants to get out of the cart. In an effort to keep her there I tell her to sing a song to pass the time. She then proceeds to sing (or should I say scream) her ABC's. By now people are giving us looks, partly amused and partly annoyed by Claire. I can't really fault Claire...not only have we been waiting for quite some time, but she isn't feeling well either. Finally, 35 minutes after dropping it off, our prescription was ready. I'm not sure if it is all pharmacies or just the one we go to, but this is my experience every single time. I just don't understand why it takes so long.
At least we got the medicine and Claire was feeling much better by Saturday morning. Here's a few pictures from our weekend.

Trendsetters

Art and I are apparently quite the baby name trendsetters. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. had a baby girl over the weekend and named her Charlotte Grace. They have great taste!

Getting into a Routine

We seem to be getting into more of a routine with Charlotte, which has been great for everyone. She has been having her last feeding around 7:45 or 8:00 each night and then going to bed for the night after that. On a typical night, she usually wakes between 1:00-2:00am, again at 5:00am and is up for the day some time between 7:00-8:00. Hopefully her first feeding gets later in the next few weeks and we are down to one feeding at night before I go back to work. Her naps have still been somewhat of a challenge...at least in her crib. She goes down great for them, the problem is that she wakes up after 40-45 minutes nearly every single time and does not want to go back to sleep in her crib. If you pick her up and hold her she falls right asleep, but this can get tiring when she is still napping 3-4 times/day. She did nap for 2.5 hours straight in her crib yesterday, so I am sure we will get there eventually.

She continues to get stronger and more alert every day. She rolled from her tummy to back twice last Thursday! Crazy that she will already be 2 months old next week!

Here are a few pictures from the last few days. While her hair continues to thin out on top, she is still pretty darn cute!!

All Smiles

Charlotte has been smiling like CRAZY...could she be any cuter?!?! :) She is getting more interactive every day and I am enjoying her more and more. Her fussy time at night is getting shorter and we are working on getting her into bed earlier as we are pretty sure that most of the fussiness is related to the fact that she is overtired.
We went to baby yoga this morning at Blooma and had a great time. Charlotte seemed to enjoy it - at least until she dozed off into sleep mid-way through the class! It was also nice for me to get some streching and core work in at the same time. We are definitely planning to check it out again!

Baby Burritos

Outdoor Paints

I saw this painting idea online a while back and have been meaning to try it with Claire. You fill an ice cube tray up with water and food coloring and let them freeze. Once they are frozen you take them outside and use them as paints. They were super easy to make and were a pretty clean art project. Claire had a lot of fun not only painting with them, but watching them melt!

"Is this a popsicle?!?! Looks tasty."

"Oh, paints...what fun!"

"Look at my masterpiece." "MORE PAINTS, MOMMY!!!"

Sleep...I Miss You.

I like to sleep. Not so much that I sleep in until 10 am and take afternoon naps, but I do appreciate a nice overnight slumber. I need 8 hours of sleep a night in order to feel great and be at my best (just ask my husband).

When Claire was born, I experienced a type of sleep deprivation that I never thought was possible. Everyone told me I would be tired, but I was SHOCKED by how exhausted I felt. My muscles ached, my head hurt and each day I feared I would never make it through another day on so little sleep.

This time around, I thought I was prepared. I remembered how awful the nights would be for the first few months. What I didn't remember was how it actually felt to be so exhausted all the time. I also didn't factor in the fact that I have a toddler that gets up between 6:30-7:00 each morning, so I wouldn't be able to lounge around in bed until 8:00 if the baby was still sleeping.

As each week has gone by I keep hoping that Charlotte's nighttime sleep will get longer and more organized...patiently (or should I say, not so patiently) waiting to feel more rested. Don't get me wrong, she is getting better with each passing week. For the last 5 nights she has been sleeping at least one 4 hour stretch and until last night was going right back down after feedings. The problem is that her sleep still isn't that predictable. She was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night last night - why?!?! She was tired and would fall asleep in our arms only to wake up right was we laid her down. So frustrating!!

The good thing is that she is getting cuter and more interactive each day. She is smiling like crazy and she adores snuggling with anyone that will hold her. So while I desperately miss sleep...Charlotte, you are more than worth it!! Just look at those cheeks...they are enough to make you melt!!

Twenty-One Months

I thought about waiting until Claire was two to document her latest happenings, but given the rate at which she is changing I decided it was much too long to wait until then. By then I am sure I will have no recollection of what she was doing three days ago, yet alone three months ago (especially in my current sleep-deprived state). It is amazing to me how much she continues to turn into a little person. With that comes so many new and exciting developments, as well as challenging moments.

• Her vocabulary is exploding. I swear that she says a series of new words and phrases on a daily basis. She understands everything and not much gets by her. The other night at dinner I was trying to get her to take a bite of broccoli before I gave her more strawberries and after several attempts she finally said, "Mommy, you eat the broccoli!" Guess she told me! :)
• In addition to tons of new words and phrases, she is getting good at both her numbers and colors. She can count to five on her own and knows most of the other numbers up to ten (she skips nine almost every time, but definitely knows eight and ten).
• I'm still not sure where she gets it from (definitely not me) or if it will last, but she LOVES music. She knows the words to several songs including, "Twinkle, Twinkle", "ABCs", "You are my Sunshine", and "The Wheels on the Bus". Along with singing, she also loves to dance to the radio. Her current moves consist of bouncing up and down and shaking her head...guess she has a ways to go in that department.
• Like most kids her age, she loves running around outside. Whether it is a trip to the park or playing with water and chalk in our backyard, she is in heaven while outside. She is also a sand magnet, especially at daycare. I'm not sure what exactly goes on in the sand while she is there, but she comes home almost every day with sand in her hair, on her body and in her diaper. The nightly bath is definitely not optional.
• She is independent and can get very frustrated if she doesn't get her way. She has officially entered the world of temper tantrums, which usually consist of LOTS of crying and whining. We have found that our best approach is to ignore her completely. Most days these tantrums only last a few minutes. On other days I am convinced that the behaviors that go along with the saying "terrible twos" start much earlier than the actual age of two!
• Elmo has officially stolen her heart. She has absolutely no interest in any other animated character or cartoon besides Elmo. We turn on Sesame Street and within minutes, she is demanding that we fast forward to 'Elmo's World".
• She absolutely adores her little sister. She is constantly giving her kisses and has shown very few moments of jealously since she arrived. Hopefully this means good things for the future.
• She has started to get into the act of pretending, especially with her babies. She loves to change their diapers, feed and burp them, and put them down for naps. She also loves to cook in her pretend kitchen, especially when I am making dinner.
• She loves being chased and sequels with delight when we actually catch her.
• She definitely has a sweet tooth. The mere mention of a treat or cookie puts a smile on her face. She savors each and every bite and a half a cookie can take up to 30 minutes for her to actually finish.

We are enjoying the laughter, communication and development that come with this age...all of these things are definitely worth the challenging moments that come with it. She is such a joy and we love her very much!