Charlotte's Slideshow

My friend Angela is a wonderful photographer and took these beautiful pictures of our family. I love them! Here's a slideshow she put together...make sure your volume is turned up because there's music to go along with it. Enjoy!

http://angelajoyvaughan.blogspot.com/

3 Weeks Old!

I can't believe today is Charlotte's 3 week birthday! Time is already going by so fast! Our little girl is definitely a GROWING girl! At her two week appointment, she weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz (her birth weight was 6 lbs, 11 oz) and she's 21 inches (she was 20 inches when born). Charlotte fits into this family perfectly because she has a good appetite! I feed her every 2-3 hours during the day, and then at night, I feed her around 11:00 pm and she'll usually sleep until 3:00 or 3:30 am. I feed her again, and she'll sleep until 6:30 am. So far, this is working out well because I feel like I'm getting somewhat good sleep and I'm able to feed Charlotte and get her back to sleep before Nathan wakes up at 7:00 am. Even though I say I'm getting "good" sleep, I'm actually starting to feel exhausted :) What's hard is that Nathan has SO much energy, and he's not sympathetic to the fact that Mommy is tired.

So far the adjustment from 1 to 2 kids hasn't been too bad...it's been challenging at times though. Charlotte is getting to the stage where she is awake more, and when she's awake it seems like she's content to lay there looking around for about 5 minutes and then she either wants to be held or eat. So it's a juggling act to take care of her but also be able to do things for Nathan at the same time. I've been lucky with Nathan's attitude towards Charlotte. He ADORES her. He wants to be with her all the time. It is so sweet how much he really does care for her. As soon as he wakes up, he says, "Let's go see Baby Charlotte." Nathan also loves for me to let Charlotte lay down with him before he takes his nap. He puts his little arm around her and just looks at her. I was so worried, he would be jealous of her or feel neglected when she came, but so far Charlotte's the best toy ever!

Nathan's Swing Set

I never got around to putting the final pictures of Nathan's swing set on the blog! Here it is! Wayne promised me he'd try to have it finished before Charlotte came, and he did! I really can't believe what a great job he did...I'm so proud of my handyman husband, but I think he told me that this was the last swing set he'd ever put together :) Nathan loves it, and wants to go outside to play and swing ALL the time. He even said "I have my own park now." How sweet is that?

Auntie Carrie Meets Charlotte!

Carrie wasn't able to come the week that Charlotte was born, so she came the next week and stayed for 5 days. It actually worked out better because Wayne had to go out of town, and I was so thankful I didn't have to be alone with two kids just yet :) When Carrie is here, it's like a vacation for me. She wanted to do everything for Charlotte and Nathan...Carrie when are you coming back?!


I loved seeing her reaction when she first saw Charlotte!

I think the only time Carrie didn't hold Charlotte was when she was either asleep at night or playing with Nathan. I just took it easy and got caught up on rest!

Carrie always brings Nathan a present, and this time, she went BIG! She got Nathan a basketball goal!

Nathan loves to watch basketball with his daddy. When Carrie told Nathan she had a surprise for him, she told him to close his eyes, and then she brought in the box. Nathan's reaction was priceless! He put his hands on his cheeks and said, "OH...MY...GOODNESS!!!" Then he started running around the house SCREAMING with excitement, saying "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" It was hilarious!

And when Daddy got home, Nathan couldn't wait to show him his new toy. He and Wayne have been playing basketball constantly! Pretty soon, I'm going to have to move it outside...I'm always worried Nathan is going to break something in my house! He gets crazy with that basketball!

Pictures of Charlotte and Nathan

While Carrie was here, we spent a TON of time taking a TON of pictures and videos! So here's a post of some of our favorites!

Here is Charlotte sucking her fingers!

This is a video of Charlotte sucking on her fingers...not that exciting, but I think it's so cute!

Our First Swim!

Wayne and I decided that last weekend would be our first weekend to swim in our pool. To get Nathan excited, Wayne got us several new pool accessories: Goggles, a dolphin float, and a big raft for me!

On Saturday afternoon, after Nathan's nap, he and Daddy got all of our pool gear ready.

Even though Charlotte can't get in the water yet, she does have her own swimsuit that she wanted to model.

My little bathing beauty

I kept Charlotte outside long enough to have one family picture taken...Nathan was in a hurry to jump in so we had to take this picture fast!

Isn't this swimsuit cute? Her Auntie Carrie bought it for her :)

Nathan and Daddy...the water felt great...it was a little cold in the beginning, but we got used to it. I was planning on just relaxing on my raft until two sharks snuck up on me and turned it over!

And then one little shark stole my raft!

"I sure wish I could be out there with my big brother."

First Bath

Charlotte had her first bath at home 2 days after leaving the hospital. She is two weeks old, and I'm just now adding the bath entry! Life is a little crazy right now! Actually, it's been a somewhat easy adjustment (I prepared myself for worse). Nathan is in love with Charlotte and wants to help me as much as he can. Whenever she cries, he runs to me and says, "Mommy, Baby Charlotte needs milk!" He has really been so patient with Wayne and I trying to adjust to life with a new baby.

When we gave Charlotte her first bath, Nathan was right there helping us...

I love naked babies!

Charlotte wasn't too happy about getting wet :)

Nathan washed her hair, but was worried about her not being happy :)

Here she is all nice and clean and dressed in her pajamas.

Charlotte and her Daddy

Here are my 3 babies...one big baby, one medium baby, and one tiny baby! I love them all!

Videos

And here are two videos I took. The first is when we first brought Charlotte home, and Nathan wanted her to lay down on the couch with him. The 2nd is just of Charlotte stretching and looking around :)

First Doctor's Visit

I had to take Charlotte to her first doctor's visit two days after we left the hospital. Here she is in her first real outfit :)


Pretty in pink


And here she is waiting for the doctor to see her. She was such a good girl and was awake and happy the whole time!

A close up of my beautiful daughter...I love saying daughter!

She sure likes to pose!

We got a great report. Charlotte was born weighing 6.11 lbs. She lost a few ounces and weighed 6.5 lbs when we left the hospital, but is now 6.12 lbs! She gained her birth weight back plus an ounce!

When we got home from the doctor's office, this is what I found in my room...

Even though he's almost 3, he's still our baby!

Going Home

Wednesday was the day we got to bring Charlotte home with us. I know lots of people who say they can't wait to come home from the hospital, and I was excited to bring Charlotte home, but I also really enjoyed my stay! It was really nice to spend two days laying in bed with my new baby, watching tv, taking naps, and having everyone wait on me :)



Here is Charlotte taking a little nap before it was time to get her ready to go.



This is the dress that I wore home from the hospital when I was born! I was a little fatter than Miss Charlotte though :)



We can't forget the bonnet!

We sure are proud parents!!!

I couldn't believe how tiny she looked in her car seat! It was so amazing to me to think that the last time we did this was to bring Nathan home. And now he's such a big boy!

She is going to have her Daddy wrapped around her finger! I can already tell that Wayne will be a pushover when it comes to his little girl.

Big Brother Nathan

He loves to give her kisses.

My sweet family...life is perfect!

Nathan was so sweet with Charlotte. All he wanted to do was hold her, sit by her, lay down with her, kiss her...he even wanted her to sleep with him!

This was Charlotte's first time to watch cartoons with her big brother...look how interested she is!

Daddy with his two babies!

Grandmother and Charlotte

At the hospital, the nurse gave Wayne a pair of scrubs. We knew someone who might like to put this costume on and play doctor...

Nathan couldn't wait to give Charlotte a shot!

Mama and Charlotte wrapped up in the blanket Mama knitted for her.

Papa has Nathan to play cars with and Charlotte to play dolls with! Or she might like to dress him up...I remember when Carrie and I were little, we used to put bows in Daddy's hair and make him look pretty!

Wayne's mom and my parents fix us dinner each night, and we loved it! How long do we get to have this special treatment? At least a month, right?