3 Months!

Little Letty Rose is three months old; such a transformation newborns go through around this time.  All of a sudden, we have a baby who seems like a little person rather than a newborn who is all work!  During her third month, Charlotte has continued to develop such a happy disposition.  She smiles so easily, especially when rested and fed.  She has become quite an agreeable baby, and she's sleeping on her own at night now.  That feels like a huge victory!  We seem to be done with co-sleeping, which eases my worried mind so much.  She will sleep for 3-5 hour stretches, and that makes us all happy.  Yes, the first two months Charlotte (and all babies, I suppose) felt like we were in survival mode, but some time during the past couple of weeks, we are enjoying life so much more!

On to month four!  May it bring warm spring days for our little family to enjoy!

Two Months

Another month has passed; Charlotte is two months old!  She loves her Daddy the best, and she's a girl with sweet smiles and plenty of coos.  She's a great sleeper... when she's held.  Someday she will sleep for longer than 20 minutes on her own.  I'm sure of it.  Her eyes are already beginning to turn brown, and her dark newborn hair seems like it's staying.  Letty Rose is learning to relax in her car seat, so trips to take Forrest to school have been less screamy lately.  We're all glad for that.  

One Month

We've spent one month getting to know our little Charlotte and remembering what work a newborn is!  After a few bumps and some problem solving, we're doing well (most of the time!)  Here's hoping for more sleep during month two (ha!).

 

New Year, New Baby

Charlotte Rose arrived just before Christmas, surprising most.  We're doing well so far!

Forrest Update

It's probably just me, but it seems that it's been awhile since we just had a nice Forrest post.  (Yeah, it's just me...)

Forrest continues to grow and learn in ways that make us smile daily.  He's been at the Montessori School since the end of August, and though he would still rather stay home, he's comfortable there.  I had the opportunity to observe him at work a few weeks ago, which was so nice.  I miss seeing him at school after being his toddler classroom assistant in Monticello.

Here he is working on matching sandpaper letters, his current passion.  After over two years of kitchen appliance love, he has moved on to letters and numbers.  He's consumed!

 

Besides becoming quite the scholar, Forrest's speech skills are finally beginning to clear up.  My goodness, he's kept me waiting such a long time!  Within the last two months I've had his hearing tested and his speech and language screened.  His hearing is normal, and besides a couple of remaining odd-ball speech errors, he's doing so well.  So, here's to being patient and trusting of the development he is doing. 

Five Weeks!

And here we are, December 1, with five weeks to go until Charlotte Rose arrives, or so we think.  Babies have minds of their own; I did learn that lesson well with Forrest.  Since moving into our new house at the end of September, we've been busily and happily settling in.  Things are starting to move into the comfortably "done" stage, I think.  There are projects I would like to do still, but nothing feels missing, really.  After six weeks of no furniture in the living room, our new couch, chair, and la-z-boy recliner arrived.  We are comfortable!  And just this morning, I finished things up in Charlotte's room.  Here are a few pictures.

Yes, a twin mattress on the floor in addition to the crib (Aunt Kathy's this time around) was a must.  Too many nights trying to doze in the chair in Forrest's room made that an easy decision.  Also, it was great being done with Forrest's crib at an early age.  Hopefully we can transition to the low bed early with Charlotte as well. Traveling is so much easier when we aren't dependent on cribs.

 Ah, the blue chair!  I love it!  Before I graduated college a hundred years ago, Mom and Grandma got two of these chairs and the ottoman at an auction for five dollars.  I reupholstered them in ivory, and we've enjoyed them since.  Well, eight years later, the ivory was looking rough, so something new was in order.  I must say, redoing the chair and ottoman (the other chair is still ivory and in Forrest's room), was a project, and not really my favorite, but I do love the result.

Thanks to cousin Abby, Charlotte's closet is full, and the little wooden hangers make me smile every time I see them!  Yes, I think we're as ready as we're going to be for this next chapter.  Hoping the next few weeks pass smoothly!

Happy Halloween!

This year marked Forrest's first trick-or-treating experience.  We've been preparing for a few weeks. After campaigning for a costume of "Cuisinart ice cream maker with cat and rabbit spinning around," we finally settled on yellow m&m.  I just wasn't sure my creative skill could handle an operational appliance costume.

Despite the few raindrops, we had a very nice 15 minutes of trick-or-treating.  Forrest was ready to go home and enjoy his candy.  Yes, he did choose the one full-size bar that he was given.  Very exciting!

While we were busy trick-or-treating, Dad was working on installing a new swing in our garage.  It's called a Super Spinner (sort of a cross between a regular swing and a tire swing); it's a hit.  I haven't managed a good action shot yet, but we love it!  I'm looking forward to using it through the winter, given it's place in the garage rather than outside.  

We're a happy little family these days.