Charlotte wants to move

So, the baby's decided that she wants to become more mobile. I introduce the "Baby Push and Pull" - A fun Christmas event for everyone. She really enjoys pushing herself off Dad's hands and using her own hands to pull herself forward.

Happy Holidays!

touchy feely

We received this fun taggy felt hedgehog from a Secret Santa gift exchange. She really enjoys it as it has different textures, bright colors, and makes fun crinkly sounds. Here she is trying to figure out the easiest way to stick it into her mouth:


Aha!




Finally, I promise we're not being lazy about holiday cards this year. It's been very busy between the baby and work, for both of us, so we've decided to opt out on sending holiday cards. But, we wish friends and families the best for the holiday season!

tell me more

Charlotte cooing at the camera. Don't know how to rotate, sorry!

gotta teach 'em young

Not saying she's gonna start composing anything anytime soon, though.

Comparison

uh oh

Charlotte's started shoving things in her mouth - other than her fists. We were just talking about this with ours friends this past weekend!



Earlier she tried to chew on one of her shoes and the dangly bits on the blind cord.

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I decided to change the format of the photos on our gallery site. Instead of doing weekly updates, I consolidated everything to monthly. It was becoming a bit tedious to make a weekly folder for baby photos.

Charlotte had her first overnight stay without us this past Friday and she did really well. Apparently she slept from 11pm-6am! Wish she'd do that all of the time. ;)



Good morning~

we really need a proper video camera

Charlotte playing in her Jumperoo. Sorry for the cruddy quality! This was filmed using my Fujifilm A45 digital camera. Feel free to cringe at that statement. My wish list now includes a video camera. Preferably one that records in HD. :)


And a photo, of course.


.. or two.

Jumperoo

Now that she has good head support, it's time for new toys!









"whoa"

dropping hints

Xmas ideas for Charlotte

Anything on the list we do not have and I update/view it daily to make sure things aren't doubled.

In other exciting news: the results for my cyst came back and it was benign. :)

bad habits

No idea where she got this one from. ;)

post surgery

Surgery went as well as can be expected. They did not have to remove my entire ovary, but removed half. My OBGYN lifted my uterus while in there and discovered that there was more cyst hiding behind it. Now we wait for the biopsy results. I'm recovering well. I'll be returning to work the day after Thanksgiving so at least I'll be busy my first day back!

In other, totally unrelated news Willow, one of our cats, has seemed to have lost her meow. It's the most bizarre thing ever.

interactions

Charlotte's really starting to touch and feel things. She's also starting to interact, visually, with items.





Everything is oh so interesting and confusing!

More pictures!

Where did our tiny baby go?









And on a completely unrelated note: My surgery's been changed from Wednesday the 18th at 2pm to Friday the 20th at 12:30pm.

'tis the season

I got bored yesterday and put up the christmas tree. I was really, really bored.



Charlotte's kinda figuring out what her hands do. This includes grabbing mommy's hair and yesterday she grabbed her toes.

I was kind of sad that I bought her a couple of dresses and she never had a chance to wear 'em when it was warmer out so we made it work..



.. and she was ok with this.

A hat

She likes hats. Actually she's just a happy baby in general and likes pretty much everything.



.. and hands.

10 Week Check-up

24" : 13.4lbs Upper 95th percentile for height and weight. She's perfectly proportional, just a big baby. Also had our first round of vaccines. After a bit of comfort nursing she was just fine. ;)





Going on our first playdate today!

It's been a good 6 years

I found out today via 3 conference calls that my store, along with 200 others will be closed by the end of January. Here's a complete list of all the store closings in the country:

BSR Closing List

pre-op

Surgery is scheduled November 18th at 2pm. Of course, I've been told that the time can vary by a few hours but the date is definite. Unfortunately we won't be able to take the baby with us (hospital regulations) so now we're going to need someone to watch her at least on the 18th and possibly the 19th if I end up having to stay overnight. The consultation went well, overall. I was informed of what could happen and what to expect. They're also going to run a biopsy on the cyst to make sure it's not cancerous. My OBGYN is hoping that she can take care of everything laparoscopically, but if the cyst has hard bits in it she'll have to make either a vertical or bikini incision to remove it (this is why there could potentially be an overnight stay in the hospital). She's hoping they can drain the cyst without removing the ovary, but it's unlikely due to the size. Overall it's not a very invasive surgery, for the most part.

I plan on taking time off work for about a week (18th - 24th) and Matt will be home with me the 18th - 22nd. Any help would be welcome and fresh cooked meals would be awesome, of course. ;) And because we need a little cute, here's a recent picture of Charlotte:

Happy Halloween

Fun Chronicle

I have a Flickr account and had been uploading pregnancy belly photos. I actually got around to adding baby photos, as well. It's kind of a fun chronicle of the baby's progress from belly to birth to infant.

Baby Flickr Set

Here's a sneak peak with me at 38w 4d:

How do you feel about skirts?

Alright. How do you feel about "leggings"?



Success!

The Beginning

Matt finally got around to uploading the pictures from Charlotte's birth.



The rest of the photos can be found here.

Nana Grace is leaving tomorrow morning. We'll miss her, but it was so great that she had an opportunity to see Charlotte at this age.

Nana's in town

Nana Grace is visiting us from Australia! Yesterday Charlotte had her first out of state trip and I must say she was fantastic the whole way through. Unfortunately she decided that since she was so great during the day that this was a good opportunity to not sleep during the night. ;)



Snug as a bug in the travel system at Ikea.

On the work front, I was going to step down from the store manager position, when the big boss just said that I could work only 32 hours. We'll see if this helps, and if it's feasible during the holiday season.

Concentration

It's hard supporting that big ol' noggin.

I'd also just like to say that last night was wonderful. Charlotte managed to only wake up for one feeding and then afterwards slept for 5-6 hours. This is the second night in a row! Here's to many more.

Oh hey, my baby can smile

I've been taking pictures every week of Charlotte as she grows. This week is no different as we're embarking on her 8th week of life. I finally got a picture of her smiling and it doesn't involve her being gassy. Rejoice~



As a recap here are links to the previous weeks:

Week 1 * Week 2 * Week 3 * Week 4
Week 5 * Week 6 * Week 7 * Week 8

And, of course, all of these pictures can be reached from the link on the side-bar under photos that says "Charlotte".

Surgery

As most people know by now, my body's been growing a cyst on my ovary. What most people don't know, and what I didn't know until recently is that the cyst is inside my ovary and will require surgery to remove. The cyst itself is 8cm, but my ovary has ballooned to 11cm. Obviously, this is a problem.

The outlook is not good for the ovary and I go in for a pre-op visit November 4th. Surgery is scheduled the 18th of November and afterwards I'll likely be short one ovary. It's bittersweet, really. On one hand I'll no longer have to worry about this giant cyst every day. On the other hand I'll be missing a vital part of my reproductive system. Ah well. "Que sera, sera."

Everything in life is being downsized

I've decided to start a family blog which will also be the main source for updates about Charlotte. Her original site which chronicles everything from her first heartbeat, to her birth, and her first few weeks of life can be found here.

This site is for family and friends interested in the comings and goings of our lives.