One Month

The last 4 weeks have been both challenging and wonderful.  My recovery from my surgery has been a bit slower then last time and this has been driving me crazy.  I am improving each week and for that I am thankful.  I am not excited about all the plans that I keep having to modify or postpone until later.

Charlotte has been nothing short of fantastic.  She is sweet and lovable.  She has been pretty easy overall and watching Addy give her smoochies and take an interest in helping with her has been truly amazing.

Charlotte's one month check up went well!  She is growing fast - she's 9 lbs 8 oz. 
haven't been able to get a full smile out of her yet, but she is teasing me.  She is almost there - her eyes light up and she almost smiles for me when we are playing on the changing table.

Here is her one month bear picture.  She was giving me an almost smile. (Because of the smile I couldn't pick one of these.  So you get two this month.)

 Below is her one week photo.  You can really see how much she's filled out - yea!!  She is also so much more interactive.  (As interactive as a one month old can be!)

Sweet Tooth

One of the gifts we got with our new addition is a very sweet book called "I Will Love You Forever".  Scott read it to Addy the night we got it.  He was pretty choked up as it reminded him of his Mom - who lives pretty far away from us.  Addy was quick to help.  She said that she would draw a picture of Grammy so Daddy wouldn't forget what she looked like and he could see her any time.  She made this heart with a picture of Grammy and Daddy's "two precious daughters for him".

Scott now keeps this on his nightstand.  So sweet!


And guess who lost their first tooth?  Addy came home a week ago with a loose tooth and then about a week later when I came to pick her up at school she came running over to show me that her tooth fell out!  I tried not to cry right there in her classroom as I came to grips with my little one growing up!  She was so excited.

Addy made a little pocket to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy. 

Funny Face

With my first baby I would only select the cutest pictures to put on the blog.  Now I find myself trying to capture all Charlotte's many faces, good,bad and ugly.  I love to see all the cute and silly things she does.  And I just had to share her newborn silly faces:

I am going to do something, not sure if its stretch or cry.

Oh yeah, I am gonna work myself into a good cry.

Just sitting and chilling out.  I finally have my eyes open and I am not eating!

She was making some really cute faces and I ran to get my camera.  When I returned 10 seconds later this is all I could get.  These make me laugh out loud.

Poor Charlie - she'll not be impressed with these when she is older, but I just had to share because so many of you have young kids and you will appreciate these silly faces.

Fall Projects

 We collected some lovely fall leaves for an art project - we'll do that tomorrow during the football games.  We found some really lovely ones. 

Scott took Addy to the pumpkin patch and they carved a couple pumpkins.  They look great.  Addy loves the lights we got for the inside that change colors.  Thanks Grandma for finding those for us.

And today I am making a huge batch of my absolutely favorite cookies - pumpkin chocolate chip.  Thanks to my lovely sister in law Brandy for the recipe a couple of years ago. :)  Still my favorite.

Scooby Art

The artist continues her work . . .

Scooby-doo's Velma:

 Daphne:





The gang chillin out on the bed together:

We just got a book on origami and Scott and Addy are working their way through it.  :)

Remembering this Season

I am surprised by the number of things I forgot about having a newborn in the house.  Like . . .

I forgot the way a newborn smells.  I find myself having a hard time putting Charlie down to rest some times because she smells so good.  I just want to hold her and smell her head all day long.

I forgot how hard it is to do nothing.  And by nothing I mean nothing but bonding with Charlie and hanging out with Addy.  So, I am not doing nothing - but I am supposed to rest and do nothing as part of my recovery from my c-section.  I don't do nothing well.  It is hard for me and I get frustrated a lot.  I also find myself getting down on myself for not contributing more.  All silly I know, but its true.  Really looking forward to the time when I don't have to assess everything I am doing to see if I can do it or not.  And of course I don't always make the best decisions on what I should or shouldn't be doing . . . then I pay the price.

I forgot what it is like when you are changing a newborn and they decide to bless you with a special gift and go to the bathroom again, while you are changing her.  Then you get to change all the clothes, the changing pad and clean yourself up too.  When its the middle of the night and dark it is even more fun!

I forgot how many times on a 5 mile drive I will ask Scott to look back and tell me if baby is okay.  Or I ask Addy to tell me - she does a great job because she'll go into great detail including showing me exactly the position of Charlie.

I forgot how hard it is for me to go back to sleep at night once I get up to feed the baby.  I think of the most random things during that time.  Like what needs to be cleaned out of the fridge and what I think Addy will do with her life when she grows up.  Last night I was thinking about rides at DisneyWorld.

I forgot the funny faces they make.  I can watch Charlie for hours.  All the little stretches, eyebrow raises, wrinkled forehead moves.  It is endless and so heartwarming.

I forgot how you can actually forget how to speak intelligently when you are tired.  Charlie is pretty good at night, but once in a while we'll have a really tough night - like last night.  Today I find that I can't put the right words together when I am trying to talk.  :) 

I forgot how small your world really becomes when you are in this early season.  Most of our household conversation revolves around feeding, pooping and sleeping.  All of a sudden our complex world has been reduced to the essentials.  When I talk to people outside of the household I am surprised by the random issues they are dealing with.  It is funny how quickly you get sucked into this baby world.

I forgot the amount of stuff.  Changes of clothes, burp clothes, diapers, bottles, there is so much.  Its coming back and I am remembering the way things worked best for us.  But yesterday I was just laughing about the amount of stuff I was trying to organize.  Stuff in the our bedroom for night time, stuff in the kitchen, in Charlie's room, stuff in the living room . . . oh don't forget the diaper bag. :)

Each of these moments has brought me joy - remembering our time with Addy when she was a newborn, sharing another new baby season with Scott, and getting to know my little Charlie girl.  We are so lucky!

Today Addy, Grandma and I went out and collected fall leaves to make a fall craft project and Scott and Addy are now carving pumpkins.  What I didn't forgot - because life is different this time - is how fun it is when you have an Addy Bear to share this season of life with.  I was worried about how these two worlds would merge together - and honestly, I couldn't imagine how rich our lives are with these two lovely girls. :)

Tired or not, this is a good sesaon!

Pics

Charlotte got her first bath this week.  As you can imagine - she didn't care for it much.  Addy enjoyed helping, although I think she felt bad that Charlotte was so sad about it.

Addy also helps us feed a bottle to Charlotte.  Until her arm gets tired. :)

Pics

Hi All!!  I am continuing to recover well and we are enjoying our time together.  Here are some random shots from the last few days.  Addy was excited to help Charlie try her first tummy time. 

Charlotte taking a little rest in her boppy pillow.  She is so snuggly.  (Courtney - do you recognize the pillow - thanks friend!!)

Charlotte is not loving tummy time.  But we try it once in a while.   When she wrinkles her forehead like this she looks like a grumpy old man!! 

And the pirate look.  Addy really likes this shot. 



And finally this picture reminds me so much of Addy.  She always did the "stick-em up" at nap time look.

The First Week

We are doing well and made it through our first week home.  Charlotte is doing well, she is finally getting into the swing of eating and is starting to put on some weight. :)  Addy is enjoying her new sister and continues to amaze us as she adapts to her new world.  Scott and I are enjoying our time together with Charlotte and Addy. 

Addy enjoys holding Charlotte and giving her kisses and snuggles.  Charlotte is a good sport and plays in lots of games with Addy. 

Like with Addy we are going to take monthly photos of Charlotte with the bear.  Here is Charlotte's first week photo.

Here is Addy's first week photo.  I think the girls look quite a bit a like, don't you?

 

 

5

I find that this post is a little hard to write today - I am home with my newborn and still pretty emotional.  But, this week was a very big week for us . . . and I don't just mean our first week with our new little girl Charlotte.

Our daughter Addy turned five.  As you know we did a big party celebration a few weeks ago since we knew we'd be otherwise occupied with new baby.  We had a small family party Wednesday night to celebrate - pictures below.

It has been a little bit surreal thinking about 5 years ago when we just went through the same thing a week ago.  In many ways I think this made it even more special because we were reliving so many of the feelings and excitement of Addy's birth.  And even the challenges of a c-section and bringing home a newborn.

I truly can't find the words to describe how amazing my Addy Bear is and how much I love this little 5 year old person!  She is a true blessing to us.  Even with a new baby, she continues to wow me with her loving and thoughtful personality.  Addy has many different aspects to her personality but at this moment the things that stand out the most are her creative interests and her quest for learning.

Addy is so creative.  She can't get enough of coloring, cutting, taping, and creating things.  A day doesn't go by that she doesn't make some crazy thing.  Lately she has a rock named Charlie that she makes clothes and toys for.  She loves to make things for all of us.  Right now we have signs posted in the front hallway she made that says how much she loves us.  She made Charlotte her very own Ya-Ya out of paper.  I hope she always keeps this love of being creative.  I love to watch her work and see how she figures out ways to do different things.  She continues her love affair with tape!

Addy loves to learn new things.  She is constantly asking questions and exploring different and new interests.  Scott and I love finding new activities and interests to share with Addy.  Scott especially is great at finding different things to spark her interest.  She is working on her kindergarten skill sets and loves to solve puzzles and other types of games.

Addy has strong opinions and isn't easily swayed - she is definitely going to grow into an independent girl.  (Which I love!)  Addy loves to go to TJ's and find Big Foot or the bookstore to read books.  She loves to snuggle and get tucked in by her Mommy and Daddy.  I am so thankful she loves to be affectionate and enjoys little hugs and snuggles.

I am so thankful for this lovely little girl.  We are so lucky to have her in our lives and Charlotte couldn't ask for a better big sister.  So, here is to 5 wonderful years with my lovely little Bear.  I wish so much for her and will do everything I can to make sure her dreams come true.  I love you Addy Bear!

Not sure what was up with the gansta posin'.

This is Addy talking with Grammy and Plumbly in AZ.  Having a happy birthday chat!

Blowing out her 5 candles.  It was so nice to share the special evening with the Peltons and Grandma and Grandpa.  Charlotte enjoyed the party too.  Addy was so tired at the end of the night - but she took the time to say a prayer and she talked about how special her birthday was. :)