A post from Charlotte.

Dear Grandmas,

I imagine many of you are wondering, "What could a tiny thing like Charlotte possible want for Christmas?" It's true. I don't do much. But, I do look cute. And I try my best at that. So, for Christmas this year, I was hoping to update my wardrobe. Things go out of style so quickly, you know, and in the short 5 months or so I've been around some styles have come and gone. Take my footwear, for example. Baby booties are so out. I've gotten many, many compliments on my Mary Jane socks, but I burn through them so quickly wearing them every day. Just this morning, mom and I were perusing the internet (by the way, she vehemently insists that she did not put me up to this) and we came across the Trumpette website. We found some cute things that may be just the thing I need. Like these Lucy socks, for example:

Stylish and perfect for special occasions

Mary Janes are always practical

The Tootsies are cute, but they might be a bit much, don't you think?

But my absolute favorites are the T-straps

Just something to think about. I love you all and I can't wait to see you in a few days!

Love,

Charlotte Amy

Yesterday I had Charlotte try on a bunch of her 6 month clothes and a bunch of them fit! I know this is, like, what every mom says, but I feel like she is growing so fast! This picture of her on the stool is in several articles of clothing that now fit her.

Charlotte contracted a little cold yesterday. She has been so adorably pathetic. She constantly has snot running down her nose and is making all of these snarffly noises. We took some of her five month pictures today, which was really difficult (and not usually difficult at all) because of how yucky she is feeling. At one point I looked up from the camera and she had drool running down her mouth, snot running out of her nose, and tears streaming down from her eyes. It was so sad and cute. Kyle helped me keep her somewhat smiley for the photos... except the last one. She was DONE.

Charlotte loves to stand. Sitting, not so much. This is what she does when we put her in her Bumbo seat.

Every time I grab her little hands and let her pull herself up, her whole little body goes rigid and she locks her knees to pull herself to standing. I have to, like, push her little thighs down to make her sit down. So. We're working on sitting up by ourselves this week.

Recently Kyle and I took Charlotte for her first (very short) bike ride. She looks less than thrilled, wouldn't you say?


She actually fell asleep on our ride.


Yesterday I participated in my first craft fair! I signed up really late and spent Thursday and Friday crafting like a mad woman. It went pretty well. I sold about $100 worth of stuff. I am already planning on signing up for another one in a few weeks.





And today. A lazy Sunday afternoon.

So many things have been happening in the life of our little Charlotte lately. But first I'm going to tell you about me and Kyle, because, really, we hardly tell anyone about ourselves anymore. On Wednesday Kyle and I celebrated our third anniversary. It seems way longer than that. Kyle surprised me with breakfast- a Weight Watchers frittata! Isn't he the best? And later that evening our friends, Chuck and Jane, watched Charlotte while we went to the Station in town for drinks, snacks, and games with our wedding album. It was really, really fun. And then we came home and watched our wedding video.




In other news, I (Jenny) have now lost 18.4 lbs. on Weight Watchers and am just 10 lbs. away from my goal weight again! Hooray!

And. I'm not sure we've ever said this on the blog, but it seems to be common knowledge... Kyle has been accepted to North Park Seminary and will start classes next fall! We will be moving to Chicago probably at the beginning of next summer. We are so excited for new things in our lives, but also a little sad to leave camp and our church and our friends here.

Okay, okay. Here's Charlotte.

She has really been into playing in the exersaucer lately. All she ever wants to do is stand up and has little interest in sitting. She displays this by making her body totally rigid and unbendable when you try to pull her up to a sitting position or set her down in a chair. So. The exersaucer is the perfect toy.

Even to sleep in.


We bundled up to take a walk around camp and I thought Charlotte looked like she should be in a Gap ad.



Kyle has started giving her baths now as part of her bedtime routine and she LOVES it. When I was giving her baths once a week in the mornings, she did not love them. Mostly she had a look of mild tolerance on her face, but sometimes she would cry. Now, with daddy, she kicks and splashes and laughs and laughs. It is so fun to watch.



On Sunday I put her in this cutie dress from her Auntie Megan. I had tights for her to wear but they have always been and still are enormous, so I decided to take them in and now they fit and look so cute. Charlotte decided that eating her dress might be tasty.




And today, TA DA, Charlotte ate rice cereal for the first time! Now, not really for the first time. We tried to give it to her a couple of weeks ago... our doctor has suggested it at the last couple of appointments because of Charlotte's strong trunk control and her eating fussiness (now solved by the new bottles!). At that trial she spit much of it out and was all hunched over in her Bumbo seat. Today, however, she actually ingested some solid food! She probably ate a good two or three tablespoonfuls of cereal. It was a disgusting mess, but so cute. And I'm so glad that she knows what to do with a spoon in her mouth now. She was actually getting a little frustrated, waiting for the next bite to come and when I would bring the spoon to her mouth, she would open her mouth and wait for it.


After lunch, Charlotte and I went for a walk around camp to visit Kyle. When she first wore that yellow hat this summer, I had to take the hat in and take the chin strap up because it was so gigantic on her. I let the hat out a few weeks ago and today I finally let the chin strap down and I think this might be one of the last times she wears it :( Sad, because she looks so dang cute in it.

Good news!
We bought Charlotte some new bottles that are the same brand as her pacifiers (MAM by Sassy) that she likes. They are also medium flow nipples. And her eating has improved tremendously!

The funny thing is that I have been looking for these bottles for a while and could not find them at Target, Walmart, Babies R Us, etc. So, the other day, out of desperation, I was like, "Kyle, let's just go to Pamida and see what they have." And they had these MAM bottles! Isn't that crazy?! God is so funny sometimes.

Why does Charlotte eat like a crazy person?



Seriously, does anyone have any thoughts?
She eats like this in any position- totally pinned down in my arms, sitting up, lying down, laying on her back free. She has always kind of eaten like this (one of several reasons I stopped breastfeeding), but it seems to have gotten worse in the last couple of weeks.

Gas is one of the suggestions I always get, but she becomes IRATE when you try to stop and burp her and even if she burps, it does not get better.

Teething has been another suggestion, which could still be true, but I have tried to give her Orajel, Tylenol, and Motrin before eating and none have helped. And... she never appears to be in pain and she usually doesn't cry when she is acting crazy, it just looks like she keeps coming up for air or something.

I've tried giving her rice cereal (upon my doctor's suggestion), but she's still not sure what to do with a spoon in her mouth and hardly ingests any food, it mostly all comes back out.

The feeding wrestling match 4-5 times a day is driving me BANANAS. Can anyone help?

When we got home from Trunk or Treat, Charlotte was pretty wired from all of the candy she ate. Just kidding. But she was wired from all of the naps she took. So, we stayed up and played a little to tire her out again.

Charlotte has been rolling, rolling, rolling. Tummy to back. Back to tummy. Back to tummy, then tummy to back. I think she's going to just crawl away next week.

Blogger keeps flipping this picture. Grrr....

In addition to putting everything into her mouth, she's really into her feet lately.

Yesterday our church hosted it's very first Trunk or Treat. It was SO FUN. We all decorated our trunks and handed out candy from them, dressed up, and ate free chili, hot dogs, donuts, popcorn, and other snacks. We ran out of candy three times and had to run to the store to get more- we think there were probably 2 or 3 hundred people at church over the course of three hours last night! Charlotte was snatched up by a friend from church and then we didn't see her for an hour or so. By the time we got her outside it was cold and getting dark, so we didn't get a ton of pictures of her, but there are a few.

This is Charlotte after church yesterday morning, in her Halloween outfit.

Our friend, Paul, dressed up as Colby.

Our other friend, Nick, dressed up as Lauren, Colby's girlfriend.

Linnea was her favorite children's book, Caps for Sale.

Lisa was a ladybug and Laurel was a monkey.

Lynn and Bill were Ma and Pa.

Our friend, Andrew, is a state trooper and locked up these two burglars.

Us and the little lady.

Super Charlie saves the day!

Soaring through the evening sky.

Wind whipping through her cape.

Our trunk!

Kyle hollowed out a pumpkin to put our candy in.

Linus!

This is supposed to be Arnold Drummond (Gary Coleman).

New daddies and babies at church!
From left: Chris and Quinn, Kyle and Charlotte, Colby and Peyton

The little pumpkins, Quinn, Charlotte, and Peyton.
Quinn and Peyton were both born about a month after Charlotte.
Charlotte weighs almost 12 lbs.
Quinn: 15 or 16 lbs.
Peyton: 13 or 14 lbs.