Charlie Dawn: 3 Months

Three months have come and gone so quickly, I feel like I will be back at work before I even realize it, even though its close to 9 months away from now. Although its a few days late, here is Charlie's 3 month update.

beanie

STATS:

Length - approx 24 inches

Weight - I'm guessing around 12 or so pounds. We don't have another weight until her 4 month point.

SLEEP: Charlie is a perfect sleeper. Since around the 6 week mark, she has been waking only once in the night, if that. Lately she has been sleeping a solid 8-10 hours without waking. She goes down to bed around 10 and wakes between 6 and 8. If she's up at 6, she feeds and goes back to sleep for awhile. Happy mama, for sure!!

We are getting about 3 naps in throughout the day with Charlie, which is perfect. We have started the transition to napping in the crib. It use to be that the minute you laid her down in there during the day she was wide awake again. I am hoping to really solidify a routine and schedule now that the craziness of the holidays is past. 

SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT: The smiles coming from this girl are almost non stop. Her social smiles are the sweetest thing! It's like she is learning her name too because nearly every time someone says  "hello, Charlie" she gets the biggest smile! Charlie is starting to do some cooing sounds and it is so sweet to hear her little "voice". She is able to track objects and people with her eyes, and will really focus on faces. I'm sure she is starting to recognize me, Mitch and Palmer.  

SISTER: Palmer is seriously the best big sister we could have ever asked for. She is full of love and hugs and kisses. Every day just gets better and better with these two. Palmer is always trying to help us with Charlie and the way her face lights up when Charlie smiles at her; it could bring tears to my eyes.The past couple of days has been hard on Palmer because we told her she isn't able to kiss Charlie because Palmer has had a cough and runny nose. Her sweet little voice says "I wanna kiss Charwee. I wove her." Hopefully her snotty nose clears up soon so she can go back to giving Charlie all the cuddles.

MY THOUGHTS: The transition has continued to go so smoothly. I really couldn't have asked for two better kids. Charlie fit so seamlessly into our family. Our family of 4 is perfectly complete. I was so worried that the second child would be so much harder. Palmer was fairly easy (for lack of a better word here) when it came to sleeping and not being fussy. Charlie has followed suit almost to a tee. It has been wonderful so far. I'm hoping all goes as smoothly as it did the first time!

Happy (belated) THREE months, sweet Charlie girl.

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

From our family to yours!

Friday Favorites

This past week seems to have gone by extra fast. We kept ourselves busy with crafts, gift wrapping, and snuggles all week. I'm glad the weekend is here though!

One: Ever since Saturday, sweet Charlie has slept through the night and when I say through the night, I mean 7-9 hours of glorious sleep, right through the night! How lucky did I get?? 

Two: My sweet friend Tawnya had her baby boy this week and I couldn't be happier for her! He is so sweet, and already the most stylish little guy I've ever seen! I can't wait to cuddle him next week!! 

Three: Our Christmas Elf, Chippy, made his appearance last weekend. He arrived with some special ornaments and Christmas Jammie's for the family. Palmer excitedly looks for him every morning. now, our elf doesn't do fancy things, and he doesn't look like all the other elves, but she loves him and understands the idea that he is here watching her to send info back to Santa. She also understood that Chippy didn't come one night because the day before she was a total threenager and was a bad girl that day!! 

Four: I had been watching Season 5 of Scandal on TV this year (thinking it was only season 3) so I have been binge watching it on Netflix to get myself all caught up! It's so good!! And, now that we have Netflix again, what are some other good shows to watch?? 

Five: Sweet Charlie turned 2 months on Monday, and she has her 2 month shots today, so I'm expecting all the baby cuddles today! 

Happy Weekend, everyone! 

Becoming a Big Sister

I had no doubt in my mind that when it was time to introduce a second baby into our family, Palmer would embrace it with open arms. We are now two months into Palmer being a big sister and every day just gets better and better.

From the time we told her there was a baby growing inside mommy's tummy, she was the best big sister. She would sing to the baby, give the baby kisses, and include baby in anything we were doing. "Mommy, can we go outside with Mommy and Daddy and Palmer and Leafy and the baby?"

I talked up her being Mommy's big helper when baby came and she has slid into that role with pride. She is so happy to help me with Charlie. Picking out her clothes. Giving her a bath. Even "helping" to change the diapers. 

That moment when my two babies met for the first time is something I will never forget. The joy and love already felt for baby Charlie by big sister Palmer was enough to make my heart burst. She was amazed by her baby sister and I know Charlie was amazed by her too.

Palmer simply adores baby "Charwee" and transitioned from the only child role into big sister seamlessly. I couldn't be more proud of Palmer. She has truly embraced every moment of becoming a big sister. With her coming up on turning 3, I know this was the perfect amount of time between our children and the perfect age for Palmer to be. 

Although she shows a lot of attention to her new baby sister, Palmer continued on with life as normal. But the love Palmer shows for Charlie radiates out of her. She wakes up in the morning, comes to my room, and asks where Charlie is. She loves her hard (sometimes a little too hard! haha), and is giving Charlie kisses all day long!

This love, I know, will carry on for her lifetime and form one of the best relationships the two of them will ever have. 

Charlie Dawn: 2 Months

Two months already...I can't even believe it. Part of me feels like she is still so brand new, but the other part of me can't even comprehend how 2 months has gone by so fast. 

STATS:

Length - approx 21 inches

Weight - I'm guessing around 12 lbs. She weighed in at 10 lbs exactly on her 6 week check. Friday we have her 2 month immunizations and will know her weight then

SLEEP: Charlie is taking after her sister and has become a superstar sleeper!! 3 out of 4 nights, she is sleeping 7+ hours at night! Can you say happy mama???

headband

Our typical day is we all wake up around 7:30. We eat and play until about 10 when Charlie has a nap. She sleeps on and off through most of the day until around 5 or 6. Then she's awake and alert for most of the evening until about 10:30 when I put her down for bed. On an average night, she sleeps until around 5:30. I put her back to bed until 7:30 when we all wake up again for the day! Pretty sweet if you ask me!!

I have started to notice more of a pattern now with Charlie as she is getting older and staying awake for longer periods of time during the day. It's nice to have a little more of a schedule so I have a little idea of what to expect each day!

headband | chair

SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT: Girlfriend can roll from front to back (for almost 3 weeks now). Her neck strength is awesome too, and can hold her head up for long periods of time.  When I am making supper, I will often sit her in the bumbo and she watches me cook. Her real smiles are more frequent now and its so sweet. She loves kisses. And this weekend, she had the best and longest smiles I've seen from her when she was playing with Daddy. It was so sweet!

FAVORITES: Charlie loves the bath. She would lay in there all day as long as the water was warm, I'm sure. She enjoys her swing (as Palmer did), and going for walks in the carrier. She mostly loves to be held and moving. She hates tummy time (as I think most babies do) but we are very conscientious of it because of dealing with Palmer's Positional Plagiocephaly and being sure to avoid it this time!

SISTER: Palmer has so much love for Charlie. It's so sweet. She has become the sweetest big sister ever. She always needs to make sure Charlie is ok. If she fusses for just a minute, Palmer is there checking up on her. She advises me when Charlie needs "baby milk" and will start singing to her if she is fussing for too long. The way her eyes light up when Charlie smiles at her could make my heart burst! 

MY THOUGHTS: Charlie has been a dream baby, much like Palmer was. We lucked out with two mellow, easy-going babies. Our transition to a family of four has been perfect, aside from the fact that Mitch is away for work every Monday to Friday. 

Happy TWO months, sweet Charlie.