Seven Months Old

Wow! Another month gone by...another month that has brought many new milestones. At seven months old, Charlotte:

• has perfected sitting up by herself. She is super steady and can sit for long periods of time.
• has perfected her crawling form. This development means that she can get from point A to point B much faster. The girl is everywhere and loves being on the move!
• has started pulling up on things. She isn't all that strong at this, but is getting better every day. I have a feeling it won't be long before we need to lower her crib.
• LOVES to eat. She hasn't met a pureed fruit or vegetable that she doesn't like. So far she has tasted rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, pears, bananas, apples and peaches. We started giving her Puffs this last week and she LOVES the independence that goes along with feeding herself.
• is doing really well with sleeping through the night. While her wake up time could be much later (she is usually up for the day between 5:45-6:30am), we will take what we can get.
• is pretty content playing by herself for small periods of time. She discovered the tupperware drawer in the kitchen, which has made making dinner much easier!
• still doesn't have any teeth (lucky for mom).
• loves to blow raspberries. The other night I put her to bed and shortly after I heard some strange noises coming through the monitor...it took me a few minutes before I realized she was blowing raspberries up in her crib. Silly girl!
• is a very happy and smiley baby. She is so much fun to watch grow!

Moments

I'm not going to lie. Being home on Fridays is exhausting. By the time the girls are in bed, I am more than ready to put my feet up, relax and head to bed shortly after them. They are busy, busy, busy. And require a lot of energy and attention. But they are so worth it when I think about all the moments I get to spend with them during the day.

They are already good friends and I keep telling myself to enjoy it while it lasts. While they don't play with each other, they LOVE to play around each other. They make each other laugh...big belly laughs. It warms my heart just watching them.
They are constantly growing and developing. Charlotte has been perfecting her crawling form and working hard on pulling up to a standing position. Claire's bed is the perfect height for practicing.

She loves getting into Claire's toys, especially the ones that Claire is playing with. It doesn't matter what it is, she is determined to get her hands on Claire's things. Good thing Claire is a decent sharer most of the time.

Claire has really taken to creating artwork lately. She loves to color and will spend large chunks of time creating. It is so amazing to watch her mind at work...even if it means that marker ends up in places other than paper (like the couch!!).

Her imagination continues to grow. She adores her babies and loves changing their diapers, putting on their pajamas and putting them down for naps.

So many moments from my amazing daughters.

Ponytails!

Remember this post? Charlotte came home from school today with her first ponytail...7 months earlier than her big sister!

Jumping and Scooting

As promised, here are a few recent videos of my jumping and scooting girls. They are both very busy!

Stats

Here are Charlotte's official stats at 6.5 months:

• Length - 26 inches (46th %tile)
• Weight - 15 lbs 7 oz (27th %tile)
• Head - 16.5 inches (24th %tile)

She is almost exactly the same size that Claire was at this age. It will be interesting to see if they end up around the same size when they are fully grown!

Defeated

The cold winter days. The lack of sunlight. The inability to strap the girls in the stroller and head to the park. The constant battle to keep our family healthy. The struggle to keep up with my career as sickness strikes our family again and again. Lately all of these things have left me feeling defeated.
Most days I love my life. I couldn't ask for better friends or a more supportive family. My husband is wonderful and I adore my two little girls. But lately, I am having a hard time keeping up with all of life's demands. In between work and family time, I am constantly picking up the house, trying to squeeze in a workout, and keep up with bills, groceries and laundry. There are never enough hours in the day. And, quite frankly, I am flat-out tired.
I took Charlotte to the doctor for her 6 month appointment this morning, an appointment we rescheduled 2 weeks ago because she was sick. Turns out she has a double ear infection and is on the tail end of recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease. She had a low-grade fever over the weekend, so that explains that. So much for all of the benefits of breast feeding.
On the bright side, I know these things are only temporary. In a few months the sun will be shining and we will be living at the park. The girls will have fewer colds and Charlotte's immune system will continue to get stronger. Fewer worries at home will allow me to be more focused at work. Life's demands will get a little more manageable. It will be worth these difficult times.
Being a parent is hard, but at the end of the day I wouldn't change it for the world. Defeated or not.

Happy Valentine's Day!

From our two little LOVEs...

Happy Weekend!

The girls and I had a great day today. We hung out around home all day. It was fun to play, watch the girls interact and relax. Usually I go a little stir crazy if we don't get out at all, but the day just flew by.
Claire came down with another cold in the last few days (I swear her nose is running more often than not this winter), but luckily it hasn't seemed to bother her. She was complaining about her ears bothering her earlier this week, so we eventually took her to doctor. Her ears were clear and I'm convinced it was just a ploy to go to the doctor. She loves it there. In fact the pediatrician even said "wow, she's a showy one" while we were there!
Charlotte's mobility seems to increase daily. She hasn't quite perfected the crawling form, but is more than proficient at scooting around. She is now getting into all of Claire's toys, which hasn't gone over that well with Claire. Overall, she has been sleeping well since we started sleeping training. She has had a few bad nights, but most nights she is sleeping until around 6am before needing to eat.
I have a few cute videos from today. Hopefully I'll get around to posting them in the next few days!

Playmates

Last Saturday night we headed over to the Cannons house last Friday night for a playdate/dinner with the Flynns and Kirschbaums. It was fun to watch the three older kids start to interact with one another. Charlotte tried to keep up, but eventually crashed for the night. Little Madeline hardly made a peep the whole night...such a mellow baby. It was a fun night and we are looking forward to doing it again soon. In other news we have been battling sickness again this week. Last week Claire was out of commission for a few days with an ear infection and after several days with a nasty cold Charlotte ended up with the same this week. I think we are on the road to recovery, which I am more than thankful for. I am starting to regret the fact that we decided not to go anywhere this winter. I am in desperate need some warm sunshine!