11 Months Old

How is my baby almost One?! She is such a sweet little girl! This is what she's up to this month:




She is all over the place, crawling and scooting on her bottom. She pulls up on anything and everything, and has already had 2 fat lips from losing hitting her chin on a surface and biting her top lip. Once she hit both sides of her top lip with her teeth, and it looked like she had collagen injections in her top lip! Her top two teeth are pretty much in with a space between them...that's from my side of the family :) She and Nathan love to play chase. Nathan runs around pretending that the "Baby Monster" is going to get him, and she crawls as fast as she can after him. It is the funniest thing to watch because she will put her head down and crawl like she's in a race. Charlotte loves to eat and can have pretty much anything. I really haven't found anything she doesn't like yet. She is definitely Mommy's little shadow. She wants to be with or near me ALL the time. I think this is why her sleeping is still an issue. She goes to bed really easily at night but then usually wakes up in the middle of the night. She will go back to sleep if I feed her or just rock her. Usually I do both, but then when I lay her back down, she will hold onto my finger or part of my hand and I have to gently and gradually pull it away so she doesn't realize I'm leaving. And I have to be SUPER quiet...if she hears my the slightest little creak, she sits up and cries like I'm leaving her forever. This is such a hard thing to deal with because on one hand, I don't want her to feel sad or "cry it out" for an hour, but on the other hand, Mommy gets very tired! Half the time, it's just easier if I let her sleep with me, which I know is a bad habit, but I'm desperate for sleep. The good part is that Miss Charlotte is the best snuggler. As long as I'm with her, she is completely content and will sleep all night and even late into the morning! She usually gets as close to me as she can and will wrap her sweet little arms around my neck. It really is the sweetest thing!

Planting with Grandmother

A few weeks ago, my AMAZING mother-in-law came over to help me plant some flowers. I think this is becoming a yearly tradition...at least I hope it is! While Nathan was at school one day last week, we spent several hours at Calloways getting everything picked out. We had the best time! I consider her my gardening expert! Helen planted begonias in front, 2 Knock Out rose bushes on the side, geraniums in the back, plus several more things. Am I lucky or what?! Here are some pictures of Grandmother and her little helper:

Mischief

Nathan and Charlotte were both guilty of this mess! Wayne and I were in his office going over some things while Nathan and Charlotte were playing with their toys. Then the two of them moved into the living room while Wayne and I stayed in the office. We could hear them laughing and playing with each other, and I checked on them several times, but found that they were just as happy as could be. Wayne and I continued doing some work in the office and were talking about how sweet Nathan and Charlotte were with each other. After a while, I realized that it was really quiet in the living room so I went to check on them, and this is what I saw:





When I found them, Charlotte was sitting in front of Nathan so quietly while Nathan slathered sunscreen all over her. And I mean ALL over her! I took these pictures after I wiped some of it off! He put it all over her arms, legs, head, and clothes. And Charlotte's little hand prints were on the couch and coffee table! I gasped and said, "What happened?!" Nathan looked at me so innocently and said, "Charlotte brought me the sunscreen and wanted it on. Look Mommy, she likes it!" One part of me was thinking what a huge mess this was, and the other part thought it was hilarious. I really couldn't be mad because Nathan genuinely thought he was doing something nice for her, and Charlotte had this huge smile on her face. She loved it!

Just a few days before, Charlotte found the sunscreen bottle in the laundry room while she was crawling around. When she grabbed it and showed it to me, I took it away and made a mental note that I needed to put it up where she couldn't readch it. Too late!

Easter Bunny

After our exciting morning at the church egg hunt, we all came home and took naps, and then headed to the mall to meet the Easter Bunny. Last year, Nathan wanted nothing to do with him. He thought it was so funny when we told him the story. "He's just a big bunny!" he said. Of course, Nathan had to do his crazy smile when I wanted to take a few pictures of him beforehand :)

Luckily, the line wasn't long at all. Nathan and Charlotte both sat on his lap, and neither cried! YAY! Charlotte did pull his whiskers, though :)

Prestonwood Easter Eggstravaganza!

Last Saturday, we went to our first Easter activity at our church. The had huge inflatables, tons of yummy food, a puppet show, and of course, and Easter egg hunt. Meredith and Andrew met us there, so Nathan really had a good time! Afterwards, we went home, took naps, and then headed to the mall to get pictures with the Easter Bunny. What a busy day!





For the egg hunt, they divided all of the kids by age, and they had a huge area with tons of eggs for each age group. Last year, we went to a community egg hunt that was set up the same way, but there were TONS of kids in Nathan's group. When they blew the whistle to start hunting, we practically got mowed down, and Nathan only got 2 eggs! So this time, we got competitive and told Nathan when it started, to get has many eggs as he could, just throw them in the basket, and make it like a race. Wayne and I thought he was going to go crazy with it, but when it started he just stood there and smiled at us. He was in a spot where there weren't many kids yet, so we kept saying, "Nathan! Pick up the eggs!" But he just kept smiling and laughing. Pretty soon, the crowd of kids was making it's way toward him, and all of the eggs were being taken, so Wayne had to climb over with him and give him some encouragement. I was laughing so hard! That's what we get for trying to be too competitive at a church function!














In the end, Nathan got a bucket full of eggs, plus our church handed out a gift to every family. It was a 4 piece set depicting the resurrection. It came with the cave where Jesus was buried, 2 guards, the Angel, John and Peter, Mary, and two other women. It was really neat. We thought it was so cool that Nathan had a Jesus figure along with the disciples and witnesses. Later on that night, they all ended up with their clothes off and in the bathtub with Nathan!

Charlotte and the Watering Can

While Nathan was at school, Charlotte and I had fun taking pictures!

Bath Buddies

Charlotte is finally at the age where I can give both her and Nathan a bath at the same time. That makes life SOOOOOO much easier! Although when Charlotte is in the tub, I can't fill the water as high as I do with Nathan...otherwise, she can't keep her balance. But Nathan is so sweet about it. He would rather have the water barely cover him with Charlotte in the tub, than have a full bath by himself :) The two of them play and play, and Nathan acts like such a big boy with her. Actually, he acts like a daddy. He'll say, "Look at that fat little tummy. You're Nathan's little sweetie aren't you? Come here little girl, let's wash those stinky feet." And he says these things in such a "sing song, goo-goo ga-ga" voice. It is the cutest thing ever.

As you can see in the pictures, Charlotte's favorite thing is to play with the cup and drink the water! YUCK!

Charlotte's Baby Doll

Grandma gave Charlotte this baby doll when she was born. Just this last week, Charlotte has gotten very attached to it! For the longest time, either Nathan was playing with it or trying to give it to Charlotte, but she didn't really pay much attention to it. But during this last week, Wayne and I started noticing that she was actually looking for it. When I asked, "Where's your baby doll? " Charlotte but her head down and crawled all over the place like she was on a mission. When she found it, she hugged and hugged it. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! Now, when she finds her baby, she'll hug it, pat it, and rock back and forth. And she'll crawl while dragging it in one hand. When I was taking these pictures of her, Nathan thought it was so funny to imitate her :) And he thought it was funny to try to run in front of the camera while I was taking pictures of her...but I ended up getting a really cute picture of him, and wasn't even trying! Oh and apparently, Spider-Man and Barbie are a couple as you will see :)