Charlotte's 3 days of Christmas

This Christmas season was a special one for Gene & I because we got to celebrate Charlotte's 1st Christmas. On Christmas Eve my Mom and Kenny came over for dinner. We had a delicious ham dinner, opened presents and Charlotte got to spend a little time with her Granny and Grandpa.

Christmas morning Gene let me sleep in for a couple of hours and he hung out with Charlotte. Didn't get the 8 hours of consecutive sleep I asked Santa for, but I can appreciate what I do get. Charlotte, of course, is worth the lack of sleep. ; ) Watching her play with the tissue paper gets me all excited about Christmases to come when she's really going to get into it. Here she is 'opening' her gift from her Nanny (Gene's Mum).


The day after Christmas we got together with my Dad and Lori along with all of my brothers. My brother Chris has 2 girls, Layna & Kyla that are just the cutest and sweetest little things. They couldn't wait to spend Christmas with their new cousin.

By the end of the day Charlotte was wiped out. A lot of excitement for a little baby and she fell asleep in my sister-n-law's arms. Sometimes in the middle of the night when Charlotte wakes up for a feeding, I watch her sleep for a bit before going back to bed. It's one of my favorite things to do besides watching her smile or play. She just looks so angelic while sleeping that I almost cry every time. I really love watching every minute of her and can't get enough. Merry Christmas my sweet baby Charlotte. Your mommy and daddy love you sooooo much!!!

Charlotte turns 3 months!

Hard to believe my sweet angel is 3 months old already. The first 2 months were literally a blur and I can't even remember Charlotte being newborn size. I was so sleep deprived, I wore my pj's almost everyday and if I took a shower I was lucky. I thought I would never leave the house and couldn't imagine doing so in fear that I wouldn't be able to manage lugging a diaper bag, car carrier, stroller and a crying baby around. But I have to say that I've surprised myself a great deal. It's getting better everyday. She still doesn't have a set eating or sleeping schedule which frustrates me because I would like to at least feel a little prepared. Not to mention I would like to know if this one nap at 1pm today is going to be the 2 hour one so that I can take a nap or shower and blow dry my hair since it's so long and takes forever. But she decides this nap will be the 45 minute one and I barely have enough time to pump, clean bottles and brush my teeth. I do know that she was eating every 2 hours during the day and would sleep at least 5 -6 hours at night. But a couple of nights ago she decided she wanted to eat every 2 -3 hours in the middle of the night too. NOT a happy mommy I have to say! However, I understand that this is a sign of a growth spurt and it shall pass. She has started to grab her feet if I haven't mentioned that already, grabs at her toys and puts them in her mouth. She has laughed out loud for her daddy, yells alot testing her vocals, and smiles at me ALLLLLL the time. She follows me with her eyes if I walk out of the room and has started to get pretty attached to me. A few family members and friends have held her with me in the room and she cries. Breaks my heart because I think about how she'll be when I go back to work and she has to go to daycare. Daycare. . . . another blog for another day because I really don't want to talk about how much this is killing me. Let me just say that I have found a place and I think she'll adjust better than I will.

So, as we approach Christmas, I'm reminded at how precious life is and thankful that my sweet angel was made especially for me. Gene and Charlotte have now completed my life. Thank you God for all of my precious gifts. My friends, family and now my own family. Thank you God for everything.

Charlotte Meets Santa!

I know Charlotte was much too little to understand who this jolly fat man with a red suit was, but it was her first Christmas and I just couldn't resist. She did really well considering she had just woken up from a nap. And wouldn't you know it. . . she smiled really big at my mom as we were walking away. Maybe next year. Merry Christmas, Charlotte!!!!

My little chunky monkey!

So last Monday I took Charlotte in for her 2 month check-up. To my surprise she tipped the scale at a whopping 14.2 pounds and 24 1/2 inches long! That's my chubbas!! She's growing so much lately I can't keep her in an outfit for too long. She's already starting to outgrow her 3 month outfits because she's so long. Not only is she getting so big she's learning new things, too. There's this play mat she lays on with an arch over her with toys hanging down. She's been reaching for the toys and putting them into her mouth. She laughs alot in addition to making alot of babbling noises, too. In fact, while she's getting her diaper changed she pulls up her legs and laughs. She's starting to get on a regular schedule and wakes up around 2 or 3 in the morning and sleeps until 6. I'm hoping she'll eventually sleep through the night once I go back to work. Right now it's okay because I try to get a nap in during the day, but when I go back to work after the New Year it'll be a bit more difficult for me to function at work with little sleep. Gene and I will have to take turns getting up with her in the middle of the night. They say that once babies turn 3 or 4 months old they are sleeping better through the night. Breastfed babies tend to wait until they're about 6 months old. So, we still have a few months of sleep walking. ; ) I'm not nursing Charlotte anymore since she wasn't able to get enough from me without having to nurse allllll the time and be satisfied, so I pump and give her a bottle. She'd have to take a bottle anyways when I go back to work so it didn't seem to matter. The important thing is she's still getting the nutrients from the breast milk and that will be good for her in the long run. I can't even start to explain what's going through my head about going back to work. I never thought I'd feel this way for someone and when I look at her my heart aches thinking about leaving her with someone else. She's captured my heart in ways I never could imagine. I really love being her mommy!!!!