Easter/9 Month Pics

We took Charley on Friday to have some pictures made for Easter which will also serve as her 9 mo. pics. We went to the same place that we took her Christmas/6 mo. pics because we thought they did a pretty good job, and their prices are very reasonable. We had so much fun with these...Enjoy!

8 months

Whew....this month has been an adventure to say the least. As we revealed below, Charley has officially learned to crawl! And of course, 2 weeks later (since the original crawling video was posted), she can get anywhere she wants to go and FAST!! As stated on the crawling video, we started a new babysitter this month (March 1). It is amazing the difference in her now that she has some exposure to other children. Since day one of staying with Mary, she has begun to "talk" our ears off...seriously, the child just jabbers on and on from the time she wakes up until she finally closes her eyes at night...have no clue who she got that from ;)

We also got our first ear infection this month too...and boy, that was far worse than the flu...believe it or not. Also, for some reason, since then, her oh so wonderful sleep habits have been not so wonderful. It's kind of unfortunate that we started a new babysitter, got an ear infection, began crawling, and the time changed all in the same week....because we cannot seem to figure out the sleeping issue...it's CRAZY!! But it is basically to the point now that she wakes up every night/morning around 5:00 a.m., I go in and nurse her for about 10 minutes and she is usually back to sleep and will sleep until 6:73/7:00. This is about as good as we have gotten it recently and we have just learned to be happy with it for now and pray that she goes back to her normal patterns at some point.

Finally, the most fun part about this month (not really) is teaching Charley the word "No". Since her newfound freedom of mobility, she just assumes she can do whatever she wants...and we have had to demonstrate otherwise ;) Her little personality has begun to really flourish and she can be a little hard headed at times, but she's done very well for the most part! Oh, the joys of parenthood...the good and the bad :)

Here's her timeline for the month.

- Begins staying with Mrs. Mary (3/1/10)

- Begins attempting to climb out of the tub, and learns the word "No" (3/1/10)

-Is able to get anywhere by running in her walker (3/6/10)

-Diagnosed with ear infection (3/8/10)

- Crawls for the first time!! (3/11/10)

- Learns to play peek a boo (3/12/10) (see video below)

- learns to wave; mostly to say hello, but occasionally to say good bye (3/19/10)

- Begins eating off the table occasionally (3/23/10) (thanks Mrs. Mary for feeding me yummy homemade mashed potatoes!)

It's funny to even post this picture, because now this seems like months ago. This was the beginning of the crawling.

I want to get it sooooo bad!

Mom..this is exhausting!!

Peyton came over again for a playdate. It gets more fun each time we get these two together. They are starting to realize each other is in the room. They aren't exactly "playing together" just yet, although this picture might lead you to believe otherwise, they are getting there! Regardless, Peyton's mommy and I don't take a breath in chatting the entire time they are here...we LOVE it!!

Who knew that the fav toy would be packages of babyfood...why is that surprising to me?? Charley has been demonsrating for 9 months now that anything is more fun to play with than a real toy...hello mommy...get with the program...toys are not cool anymore, just don't tell Toys' R us that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Charley made this hat at Mrs. Mary's and mommy thought it was so cute, we had to eat dinner in it :)

Peek a Boo!

We were on our way out of the house today and we started playing a little game of Peek a Boo with Charley, just for fun....little did we know that she would actually play back!

We really liked this game, so we thought we would try again while eating at a restaurant....and yes, we did draw some attention, but that's ok :)

Crawling for the first time!!

Well...here it is...the moment we have all been waiting for!! She finally did it!!

The good thing was, we literally got her very first time on video (below). Unfortunately, it wasn't me nor Robert behind the camera :) Yep, she actually did this at the babysitter's house. She has recently started staying with a lady, Mary, who keeps a few children in her home, and it has been VERY good experience for all of us so far. So, although, we didn't get to see it in person, we were so thankful that Mary was able to give us the next best thing. We are very blessed to have someone who loves and takes such wonderful care of our precious baby!!

7 months!

Man, how time flies when you're having fun. I can't believe our little baby is growing up so fast!?!? Many people told us that after about the 6 month mark, you better brace yourself, because it just flies, and they weren't kidding, but it's all so much fun!!

This month we are practicing mobility and independence, along with a few teeth appearances along the way. We are trying to encourage crawling, it doesn't help that mommy has two very good friends who are OT's and keep me on my toes with regards to physical development (Thanks Jaynah and Lindsey ;). As I'm sure you all remember, this child hated tummy time and that fact has yet to change. If you put her on her tummy, she will pretty much just roll across the room to get what she wants....so we are working on it. She has a walker that she absolutely loves, and can get around in it fairly quickly. But each time I put her in it, I can just hear said OT friends' voices in my head..."don't do that!!!" So...we're getting there, but she has definitely become a little more mobile.

Other notable items this month:

She begins holding her own bottle consistently(1/26) - unfortunately mommy doesn't get to witness this one too often as she pretty much only gets bottles when I am not around ;)

Her first tooth begins to poke through (2/8) - Note: teething has not been too terrible. We have used motrin occasionally when needed, but nothing out of control.

Her second tooth pokes through (2/12)

Both of her teeth are on the bottom, so we are anxiously awaiting her top friends to join her soon :) Enjoy the pics below of this month.

I must inspect everything I come into contact with directly with my tongue!

I gave her a small mixing bowl to play with one day while I was cooking and this is what she did with it....cracked me up!!

Fun in the Sun!!!

Finally!!! It got warm enough outside to walk out the door without a jacket for 24 hours! So you better believe we had this little family in the sun as quickly as we could get there. We pulled the exersaucer out, put a hat on baby and washed the cars while soaking up the sunshine...it was such a fun and beautiful day!

I just adore this picture!

Goofy face :)

Sweet little profile

Yay for sunshine!!

Helping Daddy clean the house!!

See....this is how you do it Daddy...just trust me, I'm a girl, I know these things ;)

Playing in the floor with Great Grandpa :)

Look, my shoe...soooo exciting!

6 Months

To everyone's surprise I am sure, this month was another fun and exciting one. Charley did several new fun things, but most of the change this month evolved around her sleeping routine.

Most of you know that she has been sleeping through the night since she was a mere 5 weeks old!! The caviot is that, until now, we have always swaddled her to go to sleep, which I always feared in the back of my mind was the reason for her incredible sleep habits. As such, as any sane person would, I was very nervous to attempt what we called the "swaddler removal"

We both agreed that it was time that we remove the swaddler and allow her to have her arms free while sleeping, although I knew it was going to be a nightmare. The first night we tried it, she cried for 30 minutes (note, I rocked her completely to sleep, then put her down, once she woke up, she cried for the 30 minutes because she didn't know how to put herself back to sleep with arm freedom), the next night 15 mins, then none.

Well, since that was so easy, we decided the next week to stop the rocking to sleep and begin putting her down completely awake. Again, just a few nights later and no more tears...and it has worked ever since. We put her in her crib between 7:00 and 7:30 each night, completely awake and most of the time, we hear nothing else from her until 7:00 the following morning, it's just Glorious!!

Sorry, seems as if this post might be a little long...

Additionally, we took her in for her 6 month checkup and shots. Her stats were as follows:

Weight: 16 lbs 6 oz (65%); Length: 27" (90%); Head 17.5 in. (90%)

To sum things up, the doc said she was tall and thin with a big head! Everything checked out perfectly and she has a perfect bill of health....Praise God.

Other notable items for this month

- Charley says "Hey" and "Dada" (12/26)

- Pulls up in the tub (1/21)

- says "Mama" (1/23)

Sweet kisses for my sweet Daddy :)

Mommy and me!

Mommy getting those sweet cheeks

I'm sure you are all tired of seeing bathtub pictures, but I cannot reiterate enough how much we all three enjoy this time each day. I posted these pics below to show you the first time this silly monkey pulled up to stand in the tub. I had the camera right there when it happened and was able to get several shots in action. Note, she just got this toy caddy for the tub for Christmas from her Mimi and Pop (Robert's parents).

Almost there...

And she made it...check out the look on her face, I think she was about as surprised and proud of herself as we were!

Charley's First Christmas!

We had so much fun celebrating Charley's first Christmas this year. It also happened to be her 6 month birthday as well...what a fun day of celebration!!

Santa came!!

Our sweet little elf :)

Reading one of her books Santa brought her.

Next year, Santa is thinking of just filling the boxes with tissue paper as it was the biggest hit!