Charlotte Ann is 3 months old!

Another seventh of the month is upon us which means another anniversary of Charlotte’s birth!  Praise God!  Today our little Charlotte Ann is three months old and what a fun day today was as we visited with two friends at the house.  When Charlotte fell asleep, my day time sub, Laura, was here for lunch and girly talk then when she awoke, a former student, Cathleen, was here for a moment.  Charlotte is quite the popular gal in drawing visitors in to our home!      ; )   

This was her Mother's Day Morning smile for me and it made up for the super early start to the day.  ; )

Snuggles on the morning of our first Mother's Day (before I knew what surprises were in store later that day)

I tried to get her to share the secrets with me but she was all like, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" on me.

Looking back at other adventures this past month, there were some significant firsts.  Just a few include Charlotte’s first outing in Pittsburgh on our first Mother's Day, meeting her Grandma Sue for the first time (from California), sleeping the night in her crib at a little over 9 weeks old (she is such a rock star at this!), and going to the babysitter’s for an extended period the first time. 

Charlotte's file (yes, she is purple in the color coded planner..hehe)

For Mother’s Day, shortly after Charlotte turned two months old, Adam surprised me with an outing to Pittsburgh. We dined at one of my favorite restaurants, Cheesecake Factory, and then walked along the river on the way home. I loved the sunshine, the treats, and just being together as a family. I had to do some extra walking to burn off the cheesecake calories though!

We had to wait over an hour for our booth to be ready at the restaurant but it was so worth it!  This is also the beloved teddy bear that was lost later on in the month during our trip home to PA...boohoo!!

Another first from this past month was to go to Play and Learn and Babygarten at the Library where Charlotte met one of my former students who happened to be shadowing on the day we attended Babygarten.  We enjoyed singing songs and playing with toys at both events and look forward to going back to the library very soon. 

Going to the library with Daddy where the entrance to the library reminded us of the entrance to the church where we were married.  Compare this picture to the ones below this one to see what we mean!

 

Charlotte also attended Adoration for the first time.  When we first arrived, there were four other people in the chapel with us.  Soon, just one other person was there which was when I fed Charlotte her bottle.  In the quiet, her gulps and dare I say it, passing gas, sounded extra loud.  I was embarrassed but the man kneeling before us didn’t seem to mind.  Jesus did say to let the children come to him….!  As we left the chapel at the end of the hour, three elderly ladies entered the chapel and made a fuss over Charlotte which was sweet.  The second time we attended Adoration we were the only ones there for the better part of the hour and enjoyed our quiet time together before the Blessed Sacrament. 

                                

Thanking God for the gift of our little family!!  <3

I had hurriedly selected this chair when Charlotte and I first entered the chapel.  It wasn't until we were getting ready to leave when I noticed we had been sitting near Mary...how calming our blessed mother is to me and what a role model!!

Charlotte started using her hands to intentionally rub her face and also started laughing her first real laugh over the last four weeks.  She tends to try to block out sunlight or light when she’s tired by rubbing her hands over her face and eyes.  She likes to soothe herself by rubbing her hair when laying down and it is the cutest thing. 

Charlotte was also was able to meet some of my closest friends back home during a mother-daughter road trip to Pennsylvania.  We loved every minute spent with Ash, Melanie, Miss Brown, Monika, and Heather and wish we could have visited with them longer and seen other friends while back home.  However, we covered a lot of ground while in the best state ever and other than losing her small teddy bear somewhere along the way the trip went really well.

Asleep already before we left the gas station for our big mother-daughter road trip (5.5 hours total)!

Upon our return to Ohio, we immensely enjoyed Grandma Sue’s visit and can’t wait for the next visit in July for Baptism Weekend!  Grandma Sue also brought with her a HUGE suitcase that had SO many clothes in it!  It was great fun to go through the outfits and imagine Charlotte wearing them soon. 

It's like she's saying, "Look at all my clothes from California Mom!"

Charlotte’s schedule is as follows:  lately, she has been falling asleep for the night between 8:30 and 9:30pm and starting her day around 7 or 8am. Depending on the time she wakes up for good, she tends to have her bottle every 3 to 4 hours.  During her 11^th week, she sometimes ate every two hours. At that point in the past month, I thought she might be teething due to lots of drool and it looked like the bottom front two teeth were appearing just below the skin. It seemed too early for the teething to me but she was about to turn 12 weeks old so maybe it wasn’t too early..?!  Now, a few weeks later, she isn’t drooling as much so who knows about the teething thing just yet??

She also has been staying awake for longer stretches between feedings but when she's ready to sleep she tends to "crash" after fussing a little or trying to put off her nap. A good nap usually lasts a couple hours but again, during when I thought she was teething the other week, she had been off a bit (like with her eating) and taking catnaps of about 30 minutes or so.

We usually put ointment on her bottom with every diaper change that has # 2 since she still has sensitive skin. We're about to switch from the 1s to the 2s in the diaper sizing. Socially, she tends to be smiley and happy upon waking up from her naps (it's the cutest thing!) but can go from 0 to 360 fast when fussy/hungry/tired.  Her newest thing is to arch her back and stretch herself all the way out when not happy. She also loves grabbing on to hair and lately clothing so I have been wearing my hair back in a ponytail more often because of the quick grabby fists. 

Dusty Shamrock trying to stand guard...

...but sleep won.

Sleeping Beauty

She has been noticing our pups more and more and interacting with others a lot more (she smiled at a friend at Moms and Tots the other week!) so can't wait for her to interact with other kiddos especially those at the babysitter’s house!  We are so blessed that a local family with three sweet children of their own is able to help us with childcare.  Charlotte will hopefully be great friends with Kevin and Rebecca’s adorable children who by the end of the summer will be five, three, and one!  She spent her first full day at the babysitter’s house last Friday when I presented at a conference a couple hours away in Columbus, Ohio.  This was also the first time I was away from Charlotte overnight and I was a wreck about it.  I was gone less than 24 hours but it felt like an eternity.  Even after careful planning and packing of items, several emails sent back and forth between Rebecca and myself, and double checking my list with what I had placed in the bag, I still somehow managed to forget to send a crucial item in the diaper bag.  Leave it to me to send an abundance of milk…42 ounces in all…a couple outfits, way too many diapers, some extra burp cloths, multiple pacifiers, and everything else that was in the bag…but I neglected to send the nipples for the bottles (OOPS!!) but it all worked out in the end thanks to quick thinking on Rebecca’s part.  She also shared that her oldest daughter stayed close to Charlotte throughout the day which warmed my heart.  It is still so hard parting from her, for any reason, but it helps so much knowing what a loving home and thoughtful caretaker she is entering on the days I have to work.  What a blessing!!

Around the 12 week old mark, Charlotte was in the middle of a growth spurt so we struggled a bit with keeping up with the feedings and her fighting naps but at the time she had taken to only getting up once in the night but lately has been waking up a couple times in the night again.  With each day though she is growing more and more alert and also with each passing day has recently started grabbing onto her clothing, or others' clothing, her blankets, still my hair, whatever she happens to be lying on, and anything else she can reach.  She has taken more of an interest in following Adam or me with her eyes and has recently started turning her head to continue to keep us in her line of sight.  Within the last week she has been having longer “conversations” with us in cooing and babbling for longer stretches.  She also has been laughing her infectious little laugh a lot these days and continues to do a great job of holding her head up and tracking the movement of others with her eyes.  She still doesn’t seem to like tummy time but has been tolerating it more often now in month three than in month two.  Something new that Charlotte played with was the exersaucer that she used for the first time at her cousin, Sadie’s, birthday party over Memorial Day Weekend.  She seemed to like it!  

Overall, her personality and temperament are really starting to come through more and more.  She has definitely spent more time being alert and taking in everything that is around her when she isn’t crying.  It has been a nice change to watching her be content in her bouncy chair, giraffe swing, propped up in her boppy pillow, or wherever else she happens to be compared to being fussy or crying.  I also love hearing her “talk” with the inflections and different sounds she is making.  In the way of recognizing family members, I don’t particularly notice if she seems to recognize Adam or me but others have said that she is more intent in tracking us or paying attention to where we are if multiple people are in the room or talking.  I can’t wait to see what the next month brings in regards to her development.

When Grandma Sue was here, Charlotte wore one of her fanciest dresses as shown in this picture.  

She had light blue bloomers under it and a gorgeous bright coral ribbon that tied in the back too. It was such a bright cheery look on a partly cloudy day that had the sun peeking from behind the clouds. 

This past month also involved lots of movie taking of our little angel and making more meals for Mamas in the groups I'm a part of...I'm so incredibly thankful for the supportive network of mom friends that exists in our little town and am glad to be able to give a little bit in light of how much others gave to us in our time of need.  I hope Charlotte grows up with a heart for volunteering and service to others as well.

Everyone was able to sleep but Mama on this night...in the napping house! 

Who needs a pillow when you have Mommy's hand?  <3

She loves looking at her balloon from her birthday in the living room.  It lasted until this morning so not too shabby for a helium balloon to last for three months!!

In this video, she is "talking" at ten weeks old.  =)

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary this month!

 She loves bath time more and more these days!

We also had our first family photo of all five of us taken on the evening of our first wedding anniversary toward the end of May.

Charlotte has gotten quite good at blowing bubbles this past month.

LOVE!!

Our grabby girl likes grabbing anything she can wrap her little fingers around these days!

She almost rolled over just before this photo was taken!

Middle of the night feedings aren't so bad when this is your view. 

Second time at Adoration...Come to me all you who are weary...

A new toy (for teething)!!

 

Charlotte also enjoys her books during story time as you can see in this video!

When she crashes, she crashes hard!!  Her motto right now is play hard, sleep hard.  ; )

That time when your pajamas match your burp cloth....

Another new toy has been occupying her time and attention.  She also likes to look at the zebra as it "dangles" from her canopy of her bouncy seat.  Who would have thought a burp cloth could be so entertaining?!

 

 Enjoy the many expressions of our girl in the following series of pictures...hehe!

We are loving the view from our gliding rocking chair!

Another time of matching her burp cloth...which is purely coincidental!

Enjoying the new rocking gliding chair thanks to Uncle Brian and Aunt Alisha lending us theirs!

3 months old today!! 

Charlotte wanted to help with the 3 month blog update.  ;)

Clothing size:  She is still able to pull off wearing some of her newborn outfits but is wearing more and more of her 3 month outfits and some 3-6 pieces are being introduced at this point.  We are still trying to get into each outfit she has in the newborn or 0-3 month sizes before she outgrows them all for good!

Diaper size:  We’re SO close to finishing the size 1s we have before we completely transition to size 2.  Lately, she has been leaking through the current diapers I think because they are getting to be on the small side.  

Nicknames:  “Milk Monster” from Dad and "Charlotte Girl" from Mom.  We have been toying around with the nickname CharLee (pronounced Sharlee) but Adam wasn't too crazy about that one.  I figure when she starts playing with other children and making friends maybe one of them will come up with a nickname since Charlotte is a mouthful for a young talker.

Health:  Everyone was healthy this past month!  I still think her little sneezes are cute.

Sleep:  She has been pretty unpredictable.  She will sleep through the night most of the time then throw that routine off by waking up at least once through the night.  She has been sleeping in her crib in her bedroom and did really well with sleeping in a pack and play at my parents' house when we took our mother-daughter road trip.

Diet:  Like last month, this entire month consisted of formula eating.  We introduced a different brand to her and she took it fine.  She continues to grow and is drinking the same amount as last month but not as often since her feedings are more spaced out throughout the day and she is waking less in the night so will miss some night feedings.  During growth spurts, she takes in a lot more but then it all balances out in the end.  She still drinks anywhere from 5 to 8 oz. in a feeding and has become more forceful in stopping when she's full or communicating with us that she wants more.

Loves:  She loves to try to stuff her fist into her mouth (or her clothes, or burp cloth, or toy or....), still loves her parents and giraffe swing, has really taken an interest to musical toys and continues to love listening to music on the radio/iPod/CD (her Dad bought her the sweetest lullaby and praise and worship musical CDs that she enjoys listening to and lately she and I have been listening to Delilah during the evening feedings), her bouncy seat, bath time, being strapped into her car seat, going on car rides, and being rocked in the new chair.  

Dislikes:  laying down horizontally in your arms unless she's about to fall asleep or is eating as she would rather be vertical and upright, she doesn't seem to care for burping against the shoulder/chest and would rather be burped in a sitting up position in your lap, she still doesn't like being put down when she would rather snuggle, and will resist burping or napping some times especially if over tired.  

Milestones:  She is doing very well with her fine motor skills by successfully grabbing onto everything with her fingers (she has quite the grip!) and coos/babbles for a longer period of time now during her "conversations" with us.  She is also maintaining eye gaze and joint attention for stretches of time which is great to see during interactions with her.  She is interacting with strangers more and more and is usually quite pleasant.  

Things I want to remember:  The way it feels when her little fingers are grabbing on to my shirt, hair, arm, neck, or anything else she can grasp while in my arms, how it feels when she takes that last breath and sighs before totally relaxing and falling asleep when rocking or holding her, and the pride and joy we feel when she does something new even if it is minor.  I asked Adam last night what his favorite thing about Charlotte right now is and he said, "that she's a baby".  I said, "Ok, what's your second favorite thing about her?" and he said, "That she's ours"....swoon!   Keep on growing and smiling baby girl!!  We love you!!