Charlie Dawn: ONE YEAR OLD

Our sweet Charlie girl, how are you possibly one year old already? I swear I blinked and now it's your birthday! You have fit perfectly into our family, and I cannot even remember what it was like not being a family of four. 

I've been trying to soak up every last minute of my last baby being a baby. You really aren't a baby anymore. You are a toddler, stumbling all over the place. It makes me so happy to see you growing and learning but in the same breath, sad that the time is going by so quickly and my baby isn't much of a baby. Bittersweet, for sure. 

Charlie is full on walking now, and she keeps up quite well with Palmer. She follows her back and forth from room to room, watching what she is doing. In one sense, I love that she is walking, but on the other hand, she doesn't want to sit with me and cuddle anymore. She is just far too busy for that. 

Charlie is always busy waving, or "talking" and doing something new. She likes to copy everything Palmer does. Palmer has actually taught her many things. She is always trying to teach her new words and sounds, and its so cute to watch. Palmer loves that Charlie pays so much attention to her, and Charlie loves doing anything Palmer is doing!

Sleeping is getting a little better. We started hardcore sleep training last week, meaning, cry it out. There was very little sleep had by anyone but Palmer for a while, but I am hoping its all worth it soon. Sleep is by far, the hardest part about Charlie. She goes down fine, but often wakes around 1am and doesn't like to go back to sleep. It might not be so bad if her bedroom wasn't right across the hallway from ours!

Charlie had a viral bug a couple weeks ago, so I am partly blaming that for her poor sleeping as of late. It really took a toll on everyone, when we all got sick.  Charlie is finally back to acting and eating like her usual self; happy and eating everything in site. Girlfriend is a pro at finding old cheerios in the corners of the kitchen. I'm almost convinced she hides them there for snacking later. 

Charlie has seemed to adjust well to me going back to work. We have had family watching the girls for us this past month, and the girls will be starting at the day home next week. They have gone for practice days, and it seems to be a good fit for everyone, which is a relief because Charlie is still a mama suck. 

We attempted a cake smash a few weeks back, and to my surprise, Charlie wasn't having much to do with it. Maybe it was my bad baking??? At least the photos turned out kinda cute. 

Happy ONE, sweet girl! We love you!!  We can't wait to watch you grow and learn more, and become the sweetest little babe! XO

Summer Vacation

I know, I know. Summer vacation is over, Fall is nearly here, but I just wanted to do a little recap of our family vacation (a month ago!)

We headed out to Ontario for a couple of weeks to do some sightseeing and family visiting. The majority of Mitchell's family lives in Ontario, and we were able to see all of them while we were there. The weather was HOT (like hot, humid, and 40 degrees - thats over 100F!)

We tried to do as many things as we could when we were there. We visited Niagara Falls a couple of times.  Palmer especially loved visiting the Midway on the main street by the Falls. We stopped in there twice and she loved collecting all the tickets from her games and trading them in for prizes!

We managed to hit up a splash pad more than once to keep cool. With it being so hot and humid, it was a definite MUST to keep from melting!

We enjoyed taking in the beautiful scenery of Ontario and having picnics by Lake Erie. The scenery is drastically different than what we are use to here in Alberta; a different kind of beautiful!

We swam many times in Mitchell's aunt's pool. It was so nice and refreshing! And, Palmer learned to swim by herself while we were there! She got so brave as to jump in and even put her head under the water! She was so proud of herself. I had a few proud mama moments too!

Mitch, Charlie, and I, along with his aunt, uncle and cousins went to a Blue Jays game! Also, so fun!

But, I think one of Palmer's most favourite parts was visiting MarineLand. I had reached out to MarineLand prior to our trip and was given passes to the park, which was perfect! MarineLand has many things to offer, and it is great for families with small children.

We started out by seeing a show where the dolphins and seals did tricks, then we made our way to the rides. The line-ups really weren't that bad (we did go in the middle of the week) so Palmer managed to go on almost all the rides for kids her age! She loved it!!

After the rides, we made our way over to the picnic area. It was nice that MarineLand had a nice big area full of picnic tables with umbrellas and shade for people to eat at. After lunch, we made our way to see all the animals. Palmer liked this part the best, especially the Beluga Whales. She and I went over and touched and fed the Belugas and Palmer is still talking about it to this day. 

MarineLand was a full day of fun for Palmer. She got to not only touch and feed the Belugas, but she pet some deer, fed more fish, and see all kinds of aquatic animals. I think MarineLand will be on our list of things to do the next time we are out there too, so Charlie can partake in all the fun too!



We all had a great time out east, and the time went by much too fast. Now that we have settled back into our new normal, I am already looking at where our next vacation may be!

Disclaimer: We were given day passes to MarineLand in exchange for this post. 

From The Mouth Of Palmer: Volume 4

Here we are, at 3.5 years old, and the things Palmer says on the daily just makes my mama heart smile. If she isn't telling us how much she loves us, then she is teaching Charlie a thing or two, telling us jokes, or making up these lavish stories that my imagination can't even begin to think up. So, I thought it was time for another version of "From the Mouth of Palmer." (see versions one, two and three here)

• She hears me call Charlie "honey" so every time she is talking to her, "oh Charlie, honey" or "Honey!! come over here."

• She starts every made up story with "Once upon a time, there was a BEAUTIFUL princess named Palmer Madeline Lowe."

• And every morning when she is getting dressed, she says she want's to be "a beautiful princess" and picks out a dress and a clip for her hair.

• I was telling her a story about me when I was a little girl, and she asked "but where was I?" so I was trying to explain that when I was a little girl, there was no Palmer yet. She couldn't quite wrap her head around that, and said, "Ohh, when you were nine, where was I? Was I at the doctor?" 

• Once, I was doing a snapchat of Charlie, as I said in the video, "Charlie, what are you doing??" and just as I asked that, Palmer walked by and said "I got a cold butt." so its a running joke with her, that anytime I ask Charlie what she is doing, Palmer laughs and says "I got a cold butt!"

• She loves giving Leaf treats, and always asks him to "do a paw hand" and the poor dog has no idea what she's talking about, cuz we taught him to shake a paw.

• and one time, it was "I just don't remember that year mom, when you were five and six." No, baby, you most definitely wouldn't remember that!

• In her room at our new house, there were already flowers painted on the walls, so one day when Grandma was tucking her in, grandma was saying there are flowers on the wall, flowers on the table, and flowers on your blanket, and Palmer replied with "No Grandma, those ones are weeds!"

• and I always want to remember the way she giggles and says "Charweee!" 

Milestone Baby sent me these cards and they are perfect for capturing sayings like these. I always want to remember the funny things the girls say, and these cards are a great way to do it. I am going to love looking back at these cards one day and laughing with the girls about the funny things they use to say!

Charlie Dawn: 11 Months

Ok, so I am more than a little late getting to this post, but as per usual, life has been pretty crazy. Charlie is only 20 days away from being one. ONE! I can't even believe how fast this past year has gone. My last little baby is almost not a baby anymore. 

Bow c/o Sadie Sky Boutique

STATS:

I am not exactly sure on her height and weight. I will know for sure at her one year checks. 

She is still in size three diapers and wearing stuff between 9 and 18 months. 

SLEEP:

Oh my. Where to begin. I don't even know anymore. Sleep is all over the map. Some nights are good. Others (like last night) are BAD! We started her on whole milk a couple weeks back, and sleeping was bad. She would wake up in the night, so fussy and would only sleep when I was sitting up in her chair holding her. So we switched to lactose free milk and stopped cheese and yogurt, and that seemed to work for a couple days. Now she's up either once in the night, or several times, or like last night, for 3 hours. I don't know if this is night terrors, or some terrible habit being formed, or what it is.... I am not even sure where to go with this sleeping thing. Ugh!

EATING:

We have cut back to nursing only 3 times a day and taking a bottle 3 or 4 times a day. We had to make the switch when I went back to work 2 weeks ago. She's eating almost everything we eat. She LOVES fruit and noodles. I'm pretty sure she eats more than Palmer does at meals!

SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT

Charlie is walking now. She still takes quite a few tumbles on her bum, but everyday she is getting better and better. 

She says "mama" and "dada" although screaming is most of her vocabulary these days. 

She can wave "hi" and when you ask "how big is Charlie?" she puts her hands up in the air over her head! Cutest thing!

We got a trampoline when we moved into the new house, and Charlie absolutely loves sitting on it while Palmer jumps. 

BIG SISTER

Palmer is loving Charlie. I think she is just excited that she can actually play with Charlie more now. Most of the time they are laughing and giggling. I love watching the two of them play. 

Now, to figure out a first birthday!!! AHHH!