Tres! (months)

Oh our little Charlotte is a quarter of a year old! Seriously, this last month flew by. I think it flew so fast because she just picked up a lot of new skills all at once. we weren't waiting for the next one, or the next one..it just all came together. The little precursors to the bigger skills, like, crawling, rolling, holding, and grabbing ( I CAN'T WAIT til she can pop her own binky in her mouth!)

This last month she has learned to, proudly, sit up in her bumbo or in the corner of the couch for a few minutes at a time, and can really hold herself up on her arms when doing tummy time. She has learned to ooh and aah longer and louder and is so expressive! For those of you who have had the chance to hear her talk, its pretty dang cute. She likes hearing us sing Itsy Bitsy Spider to her and can pay attention to 2-3 pages of a book. We also have a feeling she could be teething as well. The drool and the hand in the  mouth seems like the indicators. We could be wrong..but babies are such mysteries!

 

Every morning I place her in her bumbo on the kitchen counter and I make my coffee and we 'talk' about her night. 

 

mommy and me selfies are so fun!

 

I'm so fancy!

Charlotte been sleeping longer stretches at night...phew...cause I thought for a second there she wasn't understanding how to sleep. The frustrating part,though, is she will have a long first stretch of sleep , 6-7 hours, and her last stretch will be 2. I need it to be at least 4...sooo, c'mon already. and I think I got her addicted to swaddling. It has been rough to transition her away from it.

For her 2 month check up she was so light, and we had to go in for a reweigh two weeks after. Luckily though her weight went from 9 lbs 13 oz to  10 lbs 3 oz   . From her last check up, here are her stats:

15th percentile for Length
15th percentile for Weight
close to the 50th percentile for Head Circumference
50th percentile for Weight to Length
40th percentile for BMI to Age

I'm not entirely sure if I read the charts right or what but I think I did. I don't know if any of you go through the University of Utah for healthcare, but they post all of our records for us through their mychart site.

I don't know why mommy blogs always blab about the stats of their child.  I always read them before I had her and it was always a big skip over for me. And now as I am blabbing about hers, I'm realizing that this could be a branch extending from the mommy wars tree. Because with her , I know she is little, you can just tell..but I bet some stranger out there stumbling upon my blog (it's actually never going to happen, really) will have an opinion or question about why she's small "is she eating enough"  will be the first one. Yes, she is. "is she formula or breast fed? Cause I've noticed formula fed babies are bigger"  She is formula fed, and still tiny. " I love chubby babies, I hope she gets a growth spurt"  I love chubby babies too, but I love my baby more, no matter how small or big.

I also know for some people, reading about her progress is interesting because you are comparing it to your child and are in awe about how different every child is. There is not one child you can squish into a cookie cutter and label "Normal"  So now, as I read other mommy blogs, I do compare and really love that we have all created such cute and fun babies, growing and developing and hitting milestones, but are also seeing how different they all are in each aspect of growing up.

 

How you doin?

 

Almost getting to big for the changer in the pack n play

 

Sometimes she hears things that scare her or confuse her..haha

Things that have been handy or lifesavers (or both) in this first quarter:

 1- For night time baths we use Johnson's Baby Bedtime Bath wash followed by Aveeno Calm lotion..I am convinced it helps her go to sleep.
2- A few times a week when she is being extra fussy, I will give her a day time bath. Baths really calm her down, and she loves sitting in the water. It's an instant, and long lasting, soother for her. So I use Burt's Bee's during these baths followed by their fragrance free baby lotion
3- Another part of our bed time routine are the 12 hour overnight diapers. So far, the Huggies have kept her dry until her next diaper change the next morning and she has no problems with them. We are trying the Pampers Baby Dry now, I will report back as to the effectiveness of pee absorption and keeping her bum dry. As soon as I remove the over night diapers the next morning, I put on her regular diapers followed by some diaper cream..as a safety and comfort thing for her.
4- A playard with a changing table. This one isn't ours,  but the way the  changing station is installed and positioned should be the one you get. The ones with the elevated changing stations seem to not be as sturdy, and from the reviews I've read, they don't hold a lot of weight after a certain point. The changing station pictured on this Graco one and the Eddie Bauer one we have are heavy duty and sturdy. It's been handy to have down stairs at this infancy stage where she is going through so many diapers. The real changing table is upstairs.
5- A baby swing. We LOVE this swing. All three of us...it has been one of the best purchases we have made. With her colic and her acid reflux, she needs to keep moving to stay calm and this thing just keeps going and going. Every nap, she is in it and it swings. and the seat turns  so she can be swinging side to side or front to back. its a great investment..or register for it or gift it. I am serious! Eventually we have to wean her off the swinging part unless its for play time.
6-Angel Dear Blankie. We got this as a gift and I started introducing it to her about 7 weeks..and now she is aware of it and how soft and cuddly it is. We are using it as her security blanket for the car seat or when she is fussy during naps, or fussy in general. I think its a great sensory blanket because of the texture.
7-Most of you know that I swaddled the heck out of her in the beginning with those aden and anais blankets, but now we only use those during naps, but for nights we put her in this sleep sack. It's better at holding her arms down at night and helps her sleep longer. As soon as she starts rolling, we will remove the 'wings' and use the other part as a wearable blanket. I also purchased a Miracle Blanket, on clearance at Target for $15. The Miracle Blanket works great as well.
8- Play mat. We started putting her on this between naps when she was about 6 weeks, around the time she was getting used to her voice. She loves seeing herself in the plastic mirror (haha) but as she continues to increase her vocabulary and her volume, she 'talks' to the animals and it really is one of the best things for her and helps keep her learning and entertained so we don't have to keep holding her. I can actually get things done while she's lying on the mat and talking to her 'friends'
9- Stroller toy bar. She hates the car seat..hates it hates it. Unless we are moving, she won't stop crying. This doesn't solve all her issues with the car seat, but it helps. she just stares at it, and hopefully long enough through the red light!
10- Car seat stroller. I was one of those who bought two strollers. I bought the travel system and then this lighter stroller. It's compact and light and narrow. I can take it into restaurants and it doesn't take up 3 feet by 3 feet of space. And it definitely came in handy when I had my c-section..I was limited to what I could carry, and I didn't want to risk any problems with my incision so I'd always put her in this stroller cause it was light. This is my favorite stroller and I will probably use it until she wants to sit up in the other stroller.
11- Bottles. we tried a lot of bottles and she took to these tommee tippee ones quickly. They are so expensive though, so I was hesitant to make the investment but I am glad she uses them.
12- Formula. We finally found a formula that works for her. Gerber Good Start Gentle. We get it through the subscribe and save on Amazon and only pay $18 for a tub, compared to $26 at the stores..eep. At night, we add rice cereal so she doesn't have a high chance of spitting it up. The Dr said it was fine..so all you anti rice-cereal-before-the-age-of-6-months  people can calm down. It actually helped her with her weight gain as well.
 13- Nuk binky's. Always have it on hand and its the best thing to help her calm down.
14- The binky clip- its easier to find the binky when its attached to something like this.

 

Her Swing, her Little Lamby and her Binky...life is complete, and mama can get some cleaning done

 

clipper incident #1

 

Clipper incident #2. My friend finally came over with baby scissors and showed me how to use them and kindly loaned them to me.

 

The day I took this picture,  I noticed she was starting to grow out of her infancy stage.

 

Lunch with dad

 

Cousins: Charlotte and Gryffin, 6 days apart

 

Recently learned to roll to one side! Such an exciting day for us! So proud, so proud!

 

At a friends wedding, I dressed her all up..she was such a doll!

 

Uncle Ryan

 

Heather with George who is only 2 1/2 months older than Charlotte. They came down from Seattle and I am visiting them in September- First plane ride for Charlotte coming soon!

 

Her buddy Everett, she is 11 days older than he is but he is 16 lbs already!! 

 

Auntie Cassie visiting from St. George

 

She loves bath time! She calms down right away, its her cue that its bedtime and we put the tub infront of the mirror and she is fascinated with her reflection.

 

 Getting stronger everyday! her head strength for a 3 month old is phenomenal, we are so proud!

 

Took her to the Farmers Market..appropriately sporting a big sun hat.

Now for un baby related things ( haha)

Our garden has taken off. I remember when it was just this 

And now it's this!

 Our strawberries and spinach didn't make it. But we have lettuce and zucchini and green beans and we just dug up all the carrots and planted butternut squash and spaghetti squash. our corn and tomatoes will be a little late though.

Parade of homes this year was fun as well. 

My cute mom in her wig in one of the homes 

Got to try waffle love for the first time as well.  It was okay   My waffle was doughy. 

And I was able to fit in a wedding this year to plan.  The couple got married at High Star Ranch. These are instagram pictures that Native Flower Company took for me, Pam subbed in as the Day of Coordinator- Thanks Pam!

A lot of their guests were from Texas so the couple showed these out of towners the beauty that was Utah in a fun way- a great outdoor setting, a food truck, a great DJ and band, rustic and simple decorations, and of course beer from local breweries! The couple set their guests up in a nice hotel in Park City so they could enjoy the town, and then bussed them from the hotel to the Ranch for the Wedding. 

If you want to know what vendors we chose for this beautiful day, shoot me a text or email :)

Charlotte is 2 Months Old!

Our Char-Bug is two months old!

She is amazingly alert and loves to stare at objects and digest all that's around her. She smiles and 'talks' in the most adorable ways.

She only weighed 9 lbs 13 oz at her two month checkup, which only put her at the 36th percentile, so we go in for a re weigh in a couple weeks, we are hoping she gains an ounce by then. Dr said sometimes it happens when healthy babies just don't quite gain as fast. We know she's eating well, the diaper genie can attest to this- just ask him.

Her head measured around the 45th percentile and her height is about the same. so basically her weight is all noggin right now. Her brain is growing faster than expected ;)

  She is still as feisty as ever and she will let you know if she's not into something, or if you aren't paying attention to her the right way. Wes says she gets that from me...I can, admittedly, see that. When Wes and I started dating, he was really into a certain computer game and I'd get jealous and tell him "Attention, Attention!"  and if some of you know me well, if I'm not into something, I totally speak my  mind about it and make a face of some sort. Charlotte can express this with a facial expression combined with a scream or cry.

 Also at her check up, the Dr told us she is colic. Oh man! I, mean, I kind of new she might have had a mild colic, but its bonafide now. The Dr also said we are at the peak of it too. It makes a 24 hour day feel like a 36 hour day. I can't wait to put her to bed every day so that I can have a little time to myself without listening to her cry. But there's always that saying 'This too shall pass'

Sleeping at night has been going okay. she sleeps for 3 hour stretches. Luckily, going to bed isn't tough for her. She knows that when its bedtime, its bedtime and she doesn't fuss too much. She also sleeps in her crib and that's a relief, with her acid reflux I wasn't sure if she would be comfortable but she is and doesn't mind.

Books: We are loving the Baby 411 book, it really is a good resource and the Pediatrician said it was too.


I have this condensed version of Baby Wise from my SIL, and Im also comparing it to the 90 minute sleep solution, which bags on BabyWise through out the book. I'm taking a little from each book and making it work for Charlotte. One of the tips I really liked and implementing is the red light bulb for your lamp. When you have that early morning feeding and need to see her, the red light bulb won't bother her or throw her off her sleeping schedule.


Wes has a coworker her wrote a book, literally wrote a book for moms called The Mothers Book of Well Being and all the chapters are separated into weeks- its a short read but its very comforting to me at times when I think I'm being dramatic about certain things. I have this thing where I HAVE to do some housework before I can begin to take care of Charlotte. Some people are probably cringing at that and are thinking 'baby first!', but the book tells me its normal and I'm  doing things just fine.

Finally, we downloaded this app called the Wonder Weeks, which is a supplement to the actual book. There are a number of mental 'leaps' babies go through to keep them progressing and learning and growing.

 Before they finish these leaps, they have a phase of fussiness. For instance, her second mental leap is making her aware of her surroundings and objects and really trying to learn it instead of just staring into oblivion at it. Her 'cloudy' phase, as their chart illustrates, is between 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 weeks. Which also is her 2 month mark, which also is the age where people told us her crying and fussiness would peak, which ALSO marks her peak of her colic. Coincidence? No! It's Science! ( or not, I'm not sure)


She's getting better with car rides and sitting in her carseat for a while without fussing. the main thing is having her calm before we put her in the car seat and making sure she has her binky. We hope she naps during the trips, but sometimes she gets fascinated with looking out the window.

Wesley's first Father's Day is in the books. We surprised him with matching Star Trek shirts and I made him breakfast. I think he liked having a day to celebrate other than his birthday, Father's Day is just a bit more meaningful.

Although I love having her with me 24/7, it's been nice to have some me time. Wes has his golf and I have my shopping, though not as liberal as it was before baby, but I love getting in the car by myself and just driving.

(Haha, this song isn't a literal parallel to what I'm feeling, don't get the wrong idea- I just like the remix.)

And spending an hour and a half at the storeby myself, even it's for cleaning supplies and gift wrap

Wes is generous enough to have her in his room twice a month overnight and handle all her feedings and diaper changes. Mom can get a solid 8-9 hours of sleep, but most of you moms know that there's a sixth sense we have with babies and if they are not near you, you are always listening. But it's still nice for me not to have a 4 am feeding ;)

If you have instagram, I post most her pictures there, @pikamoo. Here are some that I've shared, and some new ones. Happy two months my little bug!