Weeks 9 and 10

Well the past two weeks have been fun!  I love spending time with my Char Baby.  We hang out and play during the day.  We watch movies, have tummy time, sing, read, and nap. She is just so much more alert and interested in things.  It is wonderful.  She is such a blessing!

We went to the movies this week with my sisters-in-law and Charlotte had a blow out in the theater!  My sister-in-law was holding her and feeding her a bottle and when she sat Charlotte up to burp her, she felt wetness.  A big ole poop stain.  So she changed her into the extra set of clothes that I had and Char was all better.  She wanted to talk and play during some of the movie but for the most part she slept.  An interesting first experience for us both.   :  ) 

Charlotte has been losing interest in taking naps during the day.  She is going for longer periods without sleeping.  However, this can make her quite the fusspot.  She will be uncomfortable no matter where she is laying and she is squirmy and fussy.  But eventually she just tires out.  After 2 hours of the fussing and squirming.  So that is super fun.  She is still sleeping well at night and has really done well adjusting to sleeping in the pack and play.  She still really loves to be swaddled and knows that when the swaddle is on it is nighttime.  We are now slowly trying to break her from her swaddle.  If she starts to roll soon, she can't be swaddled anymore so we are trying to get her used to that.  I think when she can roll though and will be sleeping on her belly she will sleep a lot better.  I know I am going to freak when she is sleeping on her belly but I have read not to flip them every time they roll.  So that will be a huge adjustment as well.   I have started trying to get her to nap in her crib too. This is pretty new and is taking some patience but she will get it eventually   :  )

Charlotte is her father's child and loves to watch sports.  She loves to watch football.  I don't know if it is the colors or movement or what but she will sit and watch it and coo at the TV.  It is pretty funny.

Charlotte met some of our college friends this past weekend.  We met a few after the Florida game and one came over before the game to meet the Char baby.  She is always a hit  : )  I always forget to take pictures of her meeting new people.  I am trying to do better.

My mom comes this Friday to stay for the week.  I am so excited.  I am asking for one night of sleep.  I have plenty of milk saved for mom to use and I am going to ask her to just let me sleep.  Just one night.  That is all I need.  Like I said, Charlotte does great through the night but she still will make some noises or I will wake up just to check on her when she is sound asleep and after her 5am wake up sometimes she can be noisy.  So just one night of uninterrupted sleep will be wonderful.  I am not even going to wake up at 5am to pump - hopefully.  I figure one night won't hurt my supply.

Sleep is interesting to me.  When Charlotte was first born and was waking every two hours to eat it was easier for me to wake then it is now.  Because she sleeps for hours, I wake to check on her because I am panicked something will happen to her.  When she was waking so often I knew she was ok.  Then, like I said sometimes she will struggle and grunt and squirm between 5 and 9am and it can be harder to get her to go back to sleep.  Sometimes she is just up and wants to talk and smile.  Def not happening at 5 am.  The newborn period was so much easier because she just drifted right back to sleep SO easily.  I knew that this time would come when she would require more help to sleep and it is now here.  

I went and got my hair done and left Charlotte with a friend of mine on Friday.  It was so nice to have those 4 hours to myself.  I never thought I would say that.  I LOVE Charlotte with all of my heart but sometimes you just need a break.  I didn't understand that when moms would tell me that when I was pregnant, but I do now.  Charlotte was quite fussy that day.  She was so tired and was refusing to sleep.  I was just as frustrated as she was.  I just kept trying to tell myself to relax and that she would eventually fall asleep but after over 2 hours of fussing it just wears on you.  I started to cry right along with her.  It is like the lack of a full nights sleep for me, the fussiness from her, and the feeling you get that you just want to make it better for the baby and don't know how had all caught up with me.  About 10 minutes later she did fall asleep and she was really good when I dropped her off that night.  I would much rather her be tough for me than when she is a visitor somewhere else so I was very proud of her for that.  But the point of this story is that motherhood is not easy.  Any mom who acts like everything is honky dory and easy all the time is LYING!  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade one minute with Charlotte for anything else but if there is a day where I find myself crying in the closet, I'm not going to feel bad about it, think that I am a bad mom, or think that I am going crazy.  Just saying.  And I know that there are plenty more hard times coming my way but I am ready to take on anything for my girl. 

Well I am looking forward to 11 weeks!  I will be headed back to work soon so I am taking in every minute that I can.  Thanksgiving is coming up as well and it will be fun to celebrate Char's first Turkey Day!  Here are lots of pictures.  Enjoy!

Go Gamecocks!  Beat Mississippi State!

The closest that men come to understanding pregnancy.

The 2 month old!

She's in love with that tongue.

9 Weeks!

Big girl holding her rattle

Tummy time!

 

10 Weeks!

Mommy's girl!

Daddy being silly!

Bath time!

Snoozing on the couch in Granddaddy's office during the Florida game

Watching the game on TV!

Carolina Girl!

The big girl napping in her crib.

Week 8

 This week was Charlotte's first Halloween!  So fun!  She wore her very cute tutu that my mom made to the Coaches' family dinner and her other outfit to the Sheriff's birthday party at work.  She was a hit at both places!  How could she not be?   :  )  We had lots of trick or treaters, which was new for us since we did not get many at our old house.  We got one group.  It was 3 kids of different ages, and what I remember was a little one using a backpack as a candy bag and a 17 year old using a black plastic bag - ya know - like the ones you get from the liquor store.  Super.  So both Scotty and I were excited to have more groups.  Made us feel like grown ups :  )  However, the first people that came, came early and Scotty wasn't home yet, and they rang the bell 3 times but I was elbow deep in a diaper and couldn't get to the door so I hurried with the diaper and didn't even snap Charlotte's onesie and I grabbed her up and ran barefoot down the street with my pumpkin dish full of candy to catch them.  They appreciated it. 

Well this past weekend was my first trip away.  I flew with the team to Missouri for the football game.  My mom came down for the weekend and stayed with Charlotte.  I have been pumping since about 3 weeks after Charlotte was born so I had a stash built up for mom to use.  And she and Charlotte for sure used it.  They drained it in fact.  But I pumped the whole time I was gone and I have pretty much rebuilt the stash and more.  However, I was almost in a really bad spot.

So I was kinda freaking out about leaving.  I knew Charlotte was in great hands, but I was still just nervous to leave my baby for the first time!  So I was packing and trying to make sure I was prepared for the weather, and that I had everything I needed.  Well I spent a while making sure I had my pumping supplies ready and making sure I had a refrigerator and plan of where and when to pump while at the game and all that jazz.  I finally make it to Missouri and we get on the buses to head to the hotel and I get a text from my mom asking if I had a second set of tubing for my breast pump.  Oh crap.  In all my OCDness to get ready, I cleaned the tubing (which doesn't really ever have to be done) and I left them hanging up to dry.  At home.  In South Carolina.  I was in panic mode.  Luckilly, one of the other wives there told me to call the hospital (which I would have never thought of) and they had the tubing!  Yay!  So we took a cab over and got those tubes and I was A-OK.  Thank the Lord.

Well Charlotte is still just growing and developing more and more everyday.  I can't believe it.  She gets more vocal, she can focus more on things, and she is still just the most lovable baby.  She is so good when we have company or when we are out.  I really hope it stays that way.

Another thing that I have noticed about her, since she has been smiling so much more, is that she smiles with her eyes.  It is the sweetest little thing.  It melts my heart because when she smiles she is so genuinely happy.  It makes me feel so good  :  )  Speaking of her eyes, - they are lightening.  They are looking more blue.  I am hoping that they do not stay blue. Neither Scotty or I have blue eyes and I would like for her to get one of our colors, but if they stay blue - who doesn't love blue eyes and her most likely dark brown hair? 

She is officially sleeping through the night.  She sleeps 10:30pm-6 or 7am and will go back to sleep until 8:30am or so.  Awesome!  Loving it.  We shall see if she keeps it up after I move her out of the rock and play and into the flat pack and play.  Scotty and I both keep putting that transition off.  Selfish Mama and Daddy. 

Well we are headed to the game tomorrow since it is a home game this week.  I'll try and get a good picture of Charlotte in her Carolina garb!  Until next time - enjoy some pics!

Look at that lip!  She will have her daddy wrapped around her finger!

Big girl in her Bumbo!

Whole bed to herself!

Watching Baby Einstein

Our pumpkin!

Happy Halloween!

Happy baby!

Pure sweetness.

Scotty and I on the Missouri field after the big win!

Weeks 6 and 7

This week, Charlotte and I both had doctor's appointments.  I had my 6 week check up and Charlotte had her 6 week check up as well.  I got the all clear to resume my normal activities.  It seems that everything has healed properly and I am all set!  Well this now means that I have lost my excuse to not vacuum and not do more exercise than walk.   Yipee.  Just kidding.  I am happy that all is well and I have actually been looking forward to working out again.

I purchased a jogging stroller and Charlotte and I have broken it in!  We have gone for 2 jog/walks.  She enjoys it and I have been dealing with it....   When I first found out that I was pregnant, I had been running and I planned to keep it up as long as I could while I was pregnant.  However, the first time that I ran I had some very very minor spotting and after that I was all finished running for the next 9 months.  I walked and did yoga throughout my pregnancy but I have forgotten what real exercise feels like.  It will take me a while to work back up to where I was but I am motivated.  I also purchased a step.  I love step classes at the gym and I thought since I am home right now I may as well try and step at home and I love it!  My step came with a great DVD that is just my style of aerobics and it makes me very happy to step it up and watch my little Char at the same time : )  When she gives me the 45 minutes to do it that is...

Charlotte's doctor's appointment went well too.  She now weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces and is 22 inches long.  Her head has grown as well and she is right on track for all of it.  Yay!  She also received her first round of shots  : (  Sad for Char and sad for Mommy.  I got my flu shot while I was there.  I tried to get it through work for free but they would not give it to me since I am nursing.  Whatever.  I got my shot first and I did it like a champ  : )  Maybe I am getting over my fear of needles.  Kinda hard not to after all of the sticking they do when you are pregnant.  After my one shot it was time for Char's.  She got one thing orally then she got three sticks.  The nurse told me to come hold her hands and I was thinking  - ya know - people hold hands for support when getting sticks - I know Scotty held mine for a lot of them.  Well that's not what she meant.  She meant hold her hands down.  So I hold Char's hands for the first shot and I'm loving on her and then she sticks her and her hands fly out of mine and I realize what she meant about about holding them down.  Char screamed and then the nurse stuck her 2 more times and she was screaming so hard and jumped everytime she was stuck.  When I could pick her up she was sweating so hard.  Poor baby!  I was proud her and proud of myself as well.  One for not passing out and two for not crying.  I cried in the hospital when Charlotte got her Hep B shot.  Oh well.  That is over for this time and she doesn't have to go back until 4 months.  But that will be here before I know it.

Charlotte has discovered that she has hands.  She now places them in her mouth.  She sucks on her fist all the time and I have now caught her sucking her thumb.  Crap.  I have been on her like white on rice trying to keep that hand out of her mouth and the paci in instead.  I am not happy about the thumb sucking at all.  Such a hard habit to break so I am trying very hard to nip it in the bud early.  Fun stuff.

Well I have woken up in the bed wet twice now.  One from milk leakage - TMI I know.  The second from sleeping on a wipe.  It looked unused when I picked it up.  Geeze.  That's what happens when you have to change diapers in the dark.  Sometimes when I change her she spits up and I don't see it so I then get her back to sleep and finally can climb back into my nice warm bed into a lovely puddle of surprise spit up.  Yay.  The things we go through as mothers.  I just climb back out of bed, lay the burp cloth on top of the puddle and climb back in.  It will dry eventually  :  )  Sleep is more important than a little wet spot.

Speaking of sleeping, Charlotte does pretty good.  She will go down about 10:30pm and then wake up between 4:30am and 5:30am.  I'm good with that.  She will then go back to sleep and sleep until 7 am or so then back to sleep again until 8:15am.  After that she is ready to get up for the day.  That is when she comes into bed with mommy and we play and snuggle and I get some of her best smiles.  It is my favorite part of the day!  During the day it varies.  Some days she sleeps all day long!  Other days she can be very needy and will only sleep if she is being held and will not sleep if you lay her down.  Those days I get nothing done.  She is funny too because she is picky about where she will sleep.  She does not like flat surfaces.  She does not like to sleep in the pack and play or the cradle.  She will sleep in the swing and in the rock and play.  Both of those sit on an incline and they are more enclosed.  I think they make her feel safe.  I am still working on the flat surface thing because she can't sleep in the other two forever!  

I have discovered the best baby thing ever.  It is called Gripe Water.  It is a ginger and fennel based liquid substance that cures hiccups.  CURES them.  Like instantly.  Charlotte gets the hiccups all the time and she is starting to get frustrated by them.  Before she wouldn't cry when she got hiccups and now she does and these drops save the day.  They hit her tongue and the hiccups are gone.  I am so trying them on myself the next time I get the hiccups. 

Well my mom comes tonight to stay for the weekend.  South Carolina plays Missouri this weekend in Missouri and I am making the trip with the team.  My mom is SO looking forward to having Charlotte all to herself this weekend.  I am sure Charlotte will get lots of snuggles and be held the whole time.  Spoiled rotten thing.  It will be so weird for me to not have Charlotte with me.  She has been with me like literally every single hour since she has been born.  It will be nice to have a break but this is a long one!  I am sure I will be calling my mom for updates.  A lot.  It will still be work for me though since I have to keep up with my pumping the whole time I am gone.  That should be interesting.

I am looking forward to seeing what Missouri looks like.  Who knows when I would get a chance to see it again.  I actually am looking forward to the cool weather there as well.  It is finally starting to cool off in SC and it is really nice.  Plus I love fall clothes :  )

Well here are some pictures from the last two weeks.  My girl is getting so big!

Jogging Stroller

After her shots  : (  She her sparkly band aids.

Scotty using the boppy

The 10 pound baby!

Strong girl!

<3

The Thumb Sucker