Charlotte's 6 month checkup and 7th month of life

Charlotte had her 6 month check up on November 18 with her new (for now) pediatrician. Being in the Army means that my kiddos see several different Dr's and they can change from appointment to appointment. I am not always OK with this but there are times it benefits. Sometimes a different opinion in nice but sometimes it would be nice to not have to go over their entire life story (not that that is very long for her!) every appointment...anyway back to subject at hand!

Her measurements were: 18 lbs (98%) and 23 inches (2%). I can't remember her head circumference but it was in the normal range. The Dr was concerned about her height/weight and we talked about her eating and adjusted it a little to include more fruits and veggies and less formula (she is still well within the normal formula consumption). The height is the biggest issue. While there isn't really anything that can be done it is something the Dr wanted to watch. She was was 19.5 at birth so that is a 4 inch increase and the typical height should be around 25 inches at .5-1 inch of growth a month.

The other concern is how tiny her feet are! Seriously she is still in newborn shoes and they are too small. She doesn't need to wear shoes yet but we cannot find any that tiny anyway. Comparing her foot prints they have grown about a centimeter in 6 months.

While the doctor was not super worried about her development I was very concerned! She has only rolled over from tummy to back and stopped doing that a few weeks ago. There is no attempt to crawl or even scoot, she will not stand unless in her jumperoo. While this is helpful and means that I can still lay her somewhere and be pretty certain she is still going to be there it is sad and hard to watch the other children her age doing these things and her not being able to.

She is sitting VERY well and can lean in every direction and get herself back up and the doctor said this could be why she gets so upset when she is laying down. She is feeding herself finger foods and trying every food I will let her...she is not a picky girl!! She is starting to get very curious about how or why things work. I can almost see the wheels turning as she plays with new toys or watches Clayton play with toys.

Socially Charlotte is a hoot! She smiles at everyone and even flirts with the men :) She will look around my shoulder or whatever is blocking her to look at noises people are making.

Verbally Charlotte is "talking" up a storm! She babbles and makes this noise that can only be understood if heard! This noise can be a tad bit annoying at times!

She is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

Sleeping is still great. The only time she wakes up is if she gets cold or on the rare occasion she falls asleep without eating enough. But she often falls back to sleep pretty fast.

I touched on eating earlier but basically her schedule is
630  5 oz
715 solids
930 5 oz
1230 5 oz and solids
330 5 oz
630 5 oz and solids

She also eats finger foods throughout the day just for practice. The sippy cup is being introduced but she is still trying to get the concept.

Charlotte has recently started to play by herself pretty well (thanks babywise!) We have added playpen time to her schedule and she is doing great with it and gives me a little time to get some stuff done other than at nap times. Plus she is a little bit of a mommy's girl so this is helping her branch out :)

I am disbelief that she is getting so big and that she is actually 7 months old as I write this!

Charlotte Grace turns 5 I mean 6 months old!

In good Danielle fashion I am roughly a month behind! Oops...The whole family had been really sick over the last month. Flu/pink eye/bronchitis/stomach flu sick FOR A WHOLE MONTH!! So there that is my excuse for not blogging for the month including missing Charlotte's 5 month update.

5 month birthday

6 month birthday

When we left off she had just turned 4 months now she is 6 months and the sweetest, cutest and fun baby ever (besides Clayton of course)


Her schedule is pretty much the same except moved up and hour and she goes to bed a little later (otherwise she would never see her dad!)
6-wake up 6 oz
9- 6 oz & solids
12- 6 oz
3- 6oz & solids
6- 6oz
8 bedtime

She is now eating solids! I love this stage, it is so fun finding out what they like and don't like. So far green beans are her only not like. She has tried: sweet potatoes, squash, peas, avocado, pears, peaches, apples, bananas, green beans, barley, rice, oatmeal. Usually at a meal she has 1-2 tbls of a fruit and veggie and 2-3 tbls of a grain. I make her food, which is actually really fun so her food is portioned out into 2 tbls ice cube type blocks and it is super easy to keep up with what she needs to eat. She is super interested in our food and when we eat but it makes more sense for her to eat when we are not so at dinner she gets a small snack..biter biscuit or some puffs to keep her occupied and give practice with grasping.

 She is 90% still sleeping through the night and taking roughly 3 naps day. Because she has been so sick and will cough her self awake her sleep and naps are a little off but now that she is better she is getting back into her schedule very quickly...thank goodness!!

She is still loving her Jumperoo and slowly getting tired of her bouncy seat and swing :( She loves people mostly men and kids Clayton's age.

She is becoming quite attached to me and that makes things pretty hard but she is so sweet and lovey I have  hard time not picking her up when she cries.

She is wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. At her 4.5 month checkup she was 15 lbs and 23 inches, so in the 5th percentile for height and 25 percentile for weight...short and stout...are you singing the teapot song because I am?! As far as shoes goes she is still in newborn sizes...so tiny

She can finally roll from front to back and getting so close to rolling back to front. She can sit for  few minutes without support. She can grab anything and does! And it goes straight in her mouth every time...speaking of mouth I am pretty sure a tooth is on the horizon!

 Sitting on the couch alone

 Holding her bottle

 Always chewing on her fingers

 She can sit in highchairs and shopping carts now!

Look at those tiny feet and not so tiny legs!!

 Playing hide and seek with Clayton he was in the tunnel peeking out at her :)

Pretty princess!

She has a Dr. appointment on November 18 and I can't wait to see her growth.

Charleigh Grace turns 4 months!!

****I was looking back to compare while writing her 5 month update and realized that I never posted this one...oops!!****

Charlotte is 4 months old already! And she is growing like a weed (a chunky weed). She has changed so much since I last wrote an update on her.

Schedule:
Her schedule is pretty relaxed yet pretty firm. On a normal day it looks like this:
Wake up-7 am 
nap-8:30 am
eat- 10 am
eat- 1 pm
nap- 1:30
eat -4
nap-5:30
eat-7

Eating:
She is eating 6-8oz every 3 hours and starting to show some signs of wanting to taste what's on my plate! Hello grabby, grabby :)

Sleeping:
She goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7! I love it. Napping is not going as well. She usually falls asleep around 1.5 hours after she wakes up and sleeps for 45 minutes sometimes 30. I think she is getting ready to move to a 4 hour schedule and I think that will help with that.

Activities:
She loves going to church and playing and smiling at everyone during the service. It makes my heart happy! When we are at home her first choice it to be in my arms but when that isn't possible she will settle for the bouncy seat or the excersaucer and even the bumbo during her movie time. Once a day I play a baby signing time movie and she is hooked...so is Clayton!! This is usually while I am cooking. Her favorite toys are still Clayton, her daddy and I :)

Growth:
She is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes but some 0-3 month stuff still fits and in PJs I have found that some 6-9 fit the best. I am guessing she weighs around 12 lbs but will find out for sure in a week at her appointment. She is wearing size 1-2 diapers. OH and she can finally fit into some shoes!!!

Development:
She is still not rolling over but getting very close!

Grabs for everything
Can sit with very little assistance
Can bounce like a champ in the excersaucer
She laughs, coos, squeals, and screams in a cute way of course!

Dr. Appointments:
About mid month she started projectile vomiting every time she ate was extremely constipated. It turned out to be a formula issue that was solved by switching to Enfamil AR which is made for reflux and spit up. All is fixed and she is much better now :)

Week 13 July 27-August 2

I'm posting this a day late but it is completely intentional. Now that Charlotte is 3 months old I am going to blog her updates monthly instead of weekly. I know that you all just patiently wait around weekly to find out the feeding, pooping, sleeping schedule of my princess but lately there has been so much more eating, playing, pooping than sleeping equalling less blogging time for mommy! So this is my last weekly update the next update will be on her 4 month birthday and I will be typing through tears :(

I am still going to use Your Baby's First Year Week by Week as my reference and combine the 4 weeks into one post covering more development at a time. As far as the rest of the family we will get our blog time in too, promise!

Week 13...

Schedule: Same as last week

Eating: She is still eating every 3 hours until 6 pm and then I wake her between 9-11pm and that was carrying her though until at least 5:30 but lately she can only make it to 4. I have experimented with waking at different times and she still gets up 4-4:30 so I'm just going with it right now. But in the end she is still getting the same amount of feedings. She is getting 2 formula bottles a day per her pediatrician. She needed a little help gaining weight and processing food so instead of supplementing a few ounces randomly through the day I give 2 whole bottles and pump. She did move to the medium flow nipples on her bottles.

Sleeping: She sleeps great at night until 4am and she goes right back to sleep after I feed her. Napping has not been great. There are several naps that only last a 30 minutes or so and she will cry the rest of the time...45 minute intruder? At night she is CIO and that is working great. She never cried more than 15 minutes and if she does it is usually an indication that something is wrong. She no longer sleeps with a swaddler and that was her choice. The nights she has it take much longer to fall asleep!

YBFYWBW
-laughing more...she will "talk" to us and toys
-smiling...she is smiling in response to people other than family

-tummy time...still screams and because of it she has not even attempted to roll over or push up on her elbows or arms...I'm getting worried :(
-toys... loves her mobile, and still loving Lilly the Lion but her favorite toy is her fingers!
 - Pacifier...she needs her paci when she is going to sleep but she has starting taking it out and sucking her fingers instead. When we see her we try to give her the paci back but she likes her fingers

-started napping in her room
- skin getting a little better now that she is on medicated lotion and running the humidifier
-getting excited...she will get super excited and kick and laugh and then in the next second burst into tears. I'm guessing she is getting over excited and doesn't know how to calm her self back down.

-sitting...she can sit in her Bumbo and against the Boppy or pillows
-grasping...has learned to grasp but not always to let go
- bubbles..she is blowing bubbles like crazy!!

Clayton: Finished up Space camp last Friday and has a little break until school starts on Friday. He is getting a new teacher AGAIN. This is the 5th time he has changed teachers! Got to love the Army life. We have been spending more time with friends such as he twins that live next door and our new friends Anora and Anya. He will be going to school (not in the same class) with Anora and Anya and is very excited about it!

                                                           This is our neighbor Faith
Me: I am feeling smaller after 2 weeks of workouts but numbers are not reflecting :( Maybe its muscle maybe something else but I do know that WW is not working in my favor! My milk supply is suffering and I am not taking in enough calories for a good weight loss from working out. So I am just writing down what I eat so that I am holding myself accountable but not worrying about the points and focusing more on healthy eating and taking in enough protein.
 

Jason: J changes command on the 31st and then back into his second command on the 6th of October. He is looking at some options for future in Army and needs prayer that we make/are given the best option for our family!

Week 12 July 20- July 26

It has been a rough week! We were getting back into the groove of things and it was super hard. To adjust Charlotte decided to go on a nursing strike and is currently in a huge napping strike...grr :) But overall we are getting back to normal.

Baby wise and schedule: We have moved into phase 2 of the BW "plan". This mean that she should be dropping her late-evening feeding (11:00 pm) leaving 6 feedings, she should average 10-12 hours of sleep at night (she goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes around 6). It also says that she should have 3, 1.5-2 hour naps but she has 4 right now and is doing her best to drop the earliest one (7:30 am) so I am just letting her lead on that and laying her down when she is sleepy. So her schedule looks like this:
6 wake up and nurse
7:30 ish nap
9 bottle
1030 nap
12 nurse
1:30 nap
3 nurse
4:30 nap
6 nurse
9-11 I let her chose but never later than 11 a small bottle of night time formula

Sleeping: She does great at night and loves to watch her jungle crib light thing as she falls asleep. She is sleeping in a sleep sack now and starting to move away from the swaddle. Naps are still a bit of an issue and part of it is the 2 morning naps are interrupted to go get Clayton from school but there is really no way around it right now. She has been sleeping in her swing more than I really like.

 She was so tired but so not wanting to sleep

Finally sleeping

Wake time: We have introduced music time and at first I was making it when Clayton was in school but Clayton joined in one day and they both had a blast so I have moved it to a wake time that he can participate. Tummy time is still awful and I am really trying but she HATES it!!

Eating: As it said in the schedule above I have added 2 formula bottles to her diet and at first I was really struggling with it but I honestly believe that by adding these 2 feedings I have extended breastfeeding. She could not seem to stay full after the 9am feeding and it would set the stage for fussy all day. With the bottle at that time she seems to be able to handle the day with more smiles!! The bottle at night is to carry her through the night and because by then I am empty. I pump at night to store some for times I am not around so there is not much left for her. There are times though that she wants to nurse for comfort and I will let her for a few minutes and then back to bed!

Growth: YBFYWBW says that she should be around 12 lbs but she is only 11 max. But filling out t the point that I packed up the newborn stuff and she is now in 0-3 month clothes and size one diapers.

Packing away NB clothes and organizing her closet

YBFYWBW:
-We listen to music all the time..the book says although this may not make her smarter she will enjoy it and she does. It brings a great calm to her.
-she can lift her head but not from her tummy for very long at all
-she seems to be able to see from a farther distant and reacts to me when I am farther away from her.
-she makes so many facial expressions now

-she is started to babble a little
-holds her hands open more than in a fist and is very into them...looks at them all the time
-starting to but things in her mouth
-reacts differently to speech than other sounds
-seems to see Jason and Clayton and I as different people

-her soft spot is getting thicker
-is in a great routine
-has a favorite toy...Lilly the lion

-is not really able to do the "mini push up"
-loves to play song/games that involve hands and toes...this little piggy and loves when Clayton does it with her

She has been having some bloody snot when she wakes up so we put the humidifier in her room at night and it seems to be helping.

Clayton

He is really into hand washing these days...or maybe it is water play! He seems to remember everything. For example I tell him he can not have another snack until after dinner, as soon as dinner is over he asks for the snack. He is also learning to ignore me and it is not a fun stage at all! I'm not sure how to discipline that but I need to do something soon!!

C and his scentsy buddy

Clayton sings ALL THE TIME...he loves "Hush Little Baby" and changes the words. He will also talk to us in song, its like living in a musical.
When I was pregnant with Charlotte Clayton was "pregnant" with a puppy and we worried that when I had the baby he would want a puppy but it turns out he is still pregnant : ) When we ask what is in his tummy he tells us Himpey the Hawk...which is also what he calls this toy he got from Burger King. And there are times when he is tired or just not into whatever is going on around him he will say he is wishing bout Himpey the Hawk but will never tell us what it really means...weird !?!?!

He is finishing up his last week of camp (Space Camp) and starts preschool again on Aug. 5. He has one more year of this type of school and will then move on to actual Pre-K. I am getting together some prep stuff together for him to practice before school starts. We are working on drawing shapes and faces, recognizing sounds and matching them t the correct letter, writing letters and his name. He is really a smart boy and I hope he continues to love school and the school setting and really flourishes from it. We started him so young I worry that he will burn out!
Clayton is such a big boy that we took down the lower level gate this weekend so now we are just trapped upstairs. He has also learned to put his lower clothes on...we are still working on the top half!

And he has found a new love for Care Bears. He could watch it all day!!

Me

I am into week 2 of the Firm Express and I am still loving it. It is a hard workout but is so much packed into 20 minutes that I feel like I am getting so much and not taking up hours that I don't have to do so. I am not keeping up with WW as well as I should be but I have lost 2 more pounds but more importantly my clothes are getting closer to fitting!! My milk supply is starting to suffer from the dieting and working out so I am really looking into changing my diet to adjust for that. Most importantly I have to drink more water!!!

Jason

J is back to work out and trying to spend as much time with us as possible.