A Good Mom

A post is forthcoming (hopefully this afternoon!) with pictures and tales from our trip to Tuscaloosa. It went really well! But in the meantime I wanted to share a blog post that I read while I was gone.

Even before Charlotte was born, but especially now, I have wanted to read anything I can get my hands on about how to be a better Mom. I, of course, have a great example of how to be a great Mom in my Mom but since I'm a reader I look for other suggestions also. And so I love the Lots of Scotts blog. If you have time you should definitely check out her blog and read her whole story -- it's amazing! She has a section on her sidebar that provides links to their story. She has triplets and is always posting posts about their life and what she's learning as she mother's them. The other day she posted a post entitled "A Good Mom" and it really touched me. She is so honest and up front that her posts ring so true. Since I enjoyed the post so much I thought I'd share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Check out the post here or in the link above.

Excited about her first trip

I'm not sure about leaving Daddy. Where are we going again??

Tuscaloosa you say?!?! That's where my favorite team plays football! This should be fun!

What are we waiting on Mom? Let's go!

This afternoon, Mom and I are taking Charlotte on her first long road trip to Tuscaloosa. We'll just be there for one night -- a real quick trip for a meeting tomorrow morning -- but it should be fun. It will at least let us know how Charlotte is going to handle going to Tuscaloosa or somewhere else almost every weekend this fall during football season. I'll keep you posted via twitter! Please pray that the trip goes well! :)

Bath time!

I love this picture that I got with my phone last night after bath time! Her eyes are so wide and such an expression! I love how alert she is these days. Her eyes and head follow us around the room. She'll turn to our voices. It's so much fun!

Writer's Block

I feel like a horrible blogger since I haven't posted in oh-so-long. But, other than giving you a picture of Charlotte every day and a play-by-play of our day I'm finding it difficult to come up with something to blog about. I'm also finding it hard to find time to blog! Charlotte is a pretty good napper most days but when she sleeps I either want to take a nap or use those precious moments to do laundry or clean the house. I'm reading all of my blogs still...thank goodness for my iPhone! I would have gone crazy during these last five weeks without it. It allows me to check my email, blogs, and websites while I'm feeding Charlotte which has been a sanity saver. And it's time to feed again, but I do want you to know that I'm going to try harder this week to post. Hopefully I can do it! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Recipe Wednesday- Fruit Tea

Hi again! Jennifer asked me to share the recipe for the fruit tea I made for her baby shower. I love this recipe...in fact, I could drink an entire gallon by myself!

Fruit Tea

*Large can frozen OJ

*Large can frozen (yellow) lemonade

*1 cup sugar

*Tea bags (I use at least 8 of the big ones)

*Gallon jug

*Thaw frozen drink mixes, mix with 1-2 liters of water and pour in jug

*Make VERY strong tea and dissolve sugar in warm tea, then add to jug

*Fill the rest of the gallon jug with strong tea

* Refrigerate and enjoy!!

Hope you like it!!

Jenni

Happy One Month Birthday Baby Girl!

Charlotte,

I can't believe that you are one month old! You have grown so much from the day one month ago when we first met you. Your Daddy and I have loved watching you change over the past month. You are a constant reminder to us of the goodness of God's love and the blessings that he has given us. We have gotten a little overwhelmed sometimes over the past month trying to learn how to be parents but you're sweet face and pleasant attitude always help us find our way. We are praying God's blessings over you little girl. You are such a joy to us and to the rest of your family and friends! We constantly hear amazement from other people at how happy and content you are and they're right! As long as I haven't eaten something that you don't agree with you are one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. You rarely cry and when you do start crying you stop almost immediately when one of us picks you up (again, not when your tummy hurts but the rest of the time it's true). You are a great sleeper also! We have only had a handful of nights with you in the past month where you were up most of the night. Most of the time you will sleep until it's time to eat. I think the longest you have gone between feedings is a few nights of five hours. Most of the time though you are at four hours between feedings during the night which helps me feel so much better! You are mostly a great eater and I love the special times that we get to spend together when I'm feeding you.

We tried measuring you ourselves this weekend and we came up with 21 1/2 inches in height and 8 pounds in weight. I'm sure that's a little off but since you don't go back to the doctor for another month that will have to tide us over. But that means you are growing little girl! Another inch in height in two weeks and half a pound in weight! You have outgrown the newborn onesies that Memma had to run out and buy for you when we brought you home because we didn't have anything small enough to fit you. You can still wear a few big newborn onesies and can wear small 0-3 month clothes but your outfits are limited until you get a little bigger! I don't think you mind but I think it's torturous to have to put you in the same outfit every few days! :) You are in size one diapers and have been for about a week now. They are starting to fit but are still a little roomy since you are on the low end of the weight for them.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past four weeks that show off some of your new tricks.

You love making silly faces and are now throwing in smiles. You will lock eyes with us and follow us if we move around but aren't really smiling at us yet. But when you're playing you smile a lot!

You still love to put your arms up by your head. You had them like that in your 4D ultrasound and that hasn't changed. You use your right hand to pull your hair and it's so funny! It doesn't seem to bother you even when you are pulling it straight out but your Daddy and I get a kick out of it. You always like to use your hands to take your passy out of your mouth! We aren't so thrilled about this trick because you usually start crying when you loose your passy. But it is cute to see you waving the passy around!

You are the most relaxed sleeper! You love sleeping on Daddy when he gets home from work and it usually involves you throwing both of your arms out as far as they'll go! That, of course, is just for naps. We still swaddle you so you are super snug in order for you to sleep at night. If you're not swaddled you make all kinds of funny noises as you move around in your pack and play.

You love your activity gym and tummy time! The baby in the mirror is your favorite but this morning you were batting at the yellow butterfly and the star with the rattle a lot. During tummy time you can pick your head up and turn it to the other side. You also like to push up on your toes or hold your lower body up like you are doing exercises!

You haven't noticed Luca yet but he knows you and is very protective! He has to know where you are at all times and gets up to check on you every few minutes.

We feel so blessed to be your parents Charlotte! You are a great little girl and we can't wait to see what the next month, year, and lifetime bring for you! Happy Birthday!

Happy Father's Day!

Better late than never I guess!

Happy Father's Day Jason! You are already a wonderful Dad and Charlotte is so blessed to have you as her Daddy. She loves you so much! I love watching the two of you together -- it is so special! I hope that you had a great Father's Day!

Four Weeks

Who knew that four weeks could pass so quickly?!?! I'll wait and leave all of the stats about Charlotte for the one month post but I thought y'all might like to see the difference four weeks makes.

9:30 AM Four Weeks Ago

9:30 AM this morning

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom,

In the past few weeks I have begun to appreciate you and what you've done for me even more than I did before. You have always been a great Mom but now I'm beginning to see things that I never knew before that you've done for me. I could not have made it through Charlotte's first week without you! After surgery all I wanted was my mom to make me feel better and you did that and more. I was totally blown away when one day that week you said that you hadn't held Charlotte in two days! That takes a lot of self sacrifice and love to not love on your new granddaughter because you're taking care of your daughter! Thank you for coming and helping me navigate the new and scary waters of motherhood. I am so thankful that over the years we have become more friends than anything else. I love chatting on the phone with you and going shopping which has been our favorite past time since I read my first word -- Parisian. :) You are a great advice giver and so easy to talk to. You dedicate so much time and energy to your family to make sure that everyone else is happy without regards to yourself. You are a wonderful example of a devoted, loving mother and a dedicated wife. Thank you for being such a great Mom! I love you!

Happy Birthday!

Recipe Wednesday - Eclair Cake

As a quick recipe Wednesday I'd like to share another fabulous dessert that we were brought in the first weeks after Charlotte's birth. Candy is in our Sunday School class and she brought us a delicious meal that was topped off with one of the best cake's that I've ever had! So, here's her recipe for Eclair Cake! Thanks Candy! It was so good!

Éclair Cake

Makes 12 servings
1 box honey graham crackers
2 (3.4-ounce) packages Vanilla or French Vanilla instant pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 (8oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 container ready-to-spread chocolate frosting

Preparation
Line bottom of an ungreased 13- x 9-inch baking dish with honey graham crackers. Whisk together pudding mix and milk. Let it set for 5 mins in refrigerator. Fold in whipped topping. Spread half of pudding mixture over graham crackers. Repeat layers with graham crackers and remaining pudding mixture. Top with remaining graham crackers. Heat frosting in microwave for 30-35 seconds. Pour chocolate frosting over graham crackers. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Note:
To lighten, use reduced-fat graham crackers, sugar-free pudding mix, fat-free milk, and fat-free frozen whipped topping.

Week Three

As I sit writing Charlotte has finally gone to sleep next to Jason on the couch. We had a rough night last night. For the second time since she's been home she was crying very loudly for the majority of the night. I feel like her tummy probably didn't feel good since she doesn't do this often but we couldn't do anything to calm her down. Gas drops didn't help and neither did burping her, holding her upright, holding her at all, laying her down, her swing, rocking in the rocker...the list is exhaustive. She finally went to sleep at 4 AM. So, needless to say, we're pretty exhausted. I'm praying that her tummy feels better now and she'll give us a decent night of sleep again tonight but I guess we'll see.

Other than last night we've had a really good week. We started letting her sleep longer at night and she had been doing really good with it. On Friday my parents helped host a party at their home for a special couple that are getting married in a few weeks. So Charlotte and I went over to their house on Friday to help decorate. And then last night we left Charlotte with KayKay and GrandDavid (Jason's parents) so that we could go to the party. I think it went well...at least Kay and David lied to us and just told us it went well if it didn't.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures from this week!

With her bear for her three week picture. I love these cute Twinkle Toes pj's that I got her from Target! Notice that the feet look like ballet slippers!

I love those sweet little fingers!

All dressed up for her first "Birthday Club" experience

Loving the baby in the mirror in her activity gym

Roll Tide! Some of my parents friends gave Charlotte a soft stuffed elephant and an Alabama nightgown. She loves them both!

Recipe Wednesday- by Jenni

Hi! My name is Jenni, and I came to know Jennifer when I helped her host a baby shower for Kelly. After that she brought me a few meals while I was on best rest waiting for my little girl to be born. How nice was that...we hardly knew each other at the time and she was sweet enough to bring us some wonderful food! So, I was more than happy to return the favor when Charlotte was born.

This is a recipe for the cookies I took her for dessert. They resemble those old fashioned peanut butter cookies you probably made when you were little...but better!! At least I think so because I love chocolate and peanut butter together!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 pkg devils food cake mix

4 oz. cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all four ingredients on low speed x 2 min and then on medium for 2 min. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and put on non stick cookie sheet. Dip fork into granulated sugar and make "criss-cross" shape on top. Bake for 7-8 minutes.

My hints:

**I felt the batter was a little too dry. So I added a little water (maybe a TBLS or two). It still was really grainy and I didn't think it would work, but they came out great!

**Be prepared...the mixing is a mess. Use a big bowl!

**It makes a lot of cookies and you don't have to space them to far apart on the cookies sheet (they don't really spread).

**You can make then 1-2 weeks ahead and freeze after baked. Then take out as needed.

Sorry I didn't take a picture...that's my goal for my next post-ha!

Two Week Checkup

This morning Charlotte had her two week checkup. Unfortunately for her that meant they had to re-do her PKU and she had to get another heel stick. That was the only negative of the visit though. Charlotte's weight has increased by a pound since her last visit which was so exciting. AND she has grown two inches! Here are her stats from birth and now:

Birth:
Weight: 7 pounds, 3 ounces
Height: 18 1/2 inches

Two weeks and three days:
Weight: 7 pounds, 7 ounces
Height: 20 1/2 inches

Since I thought everyone probably needed a Charlotte fix here she is in her current position -- in her Boppy. We are down a sock because one of her socks got in her dirty diaper last time I changed her and so I pulled it off and it's now in the washing machine. But I didn't want to take off the other sock because that's the heel that got stuck this morning and I didn't want to cause any more pain. And since I could see her cute little toes I thought y'all might want to see them also!


And this is her expressing her displeasure at me taking a picture with the flash while she's trying to nap! I had to put the second head positioner in the Boppy because her head kept falling to the side in what appeared to be a very uncomfortable position. I feel much better about her hanging out in the Boppy with it!

Our doctor told us to try and keep her awake as much as possible during the day so that she'll sleep long at night. Thank goodness he told us that we can stop waking her up every three hours at night to feed! Jason and I almost cried we were so happy! :) So since we've been home I've had her on/in her activity gym which she pretty much fell asleep in as soon as I laid her down even though I was shaking rattles and such. After the next feeding I tried reading Five Little Monkeys and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Since Charlotte again fell asleep almost immediately I'm thinking Luca probably enjoyed my reading's more than she did. So, all of you Mom's out there, can you give me any suggestions on what to do with Charlotte to keep her awake and occupied? Also, do you have any milestone/first year books that you could recommend. Jason and I want to get some kind of book so that we can be aware of what milestones Charlotte should be meeting and what we should be doing to help her meet those milestones but we haven't had a lot of free time to go browse at Barnes and Noble! :) Thanks for your help!

Two weeks and her first stroll

Yesterday Charlotte and I headed over to my parents so that I could spend some time out of the house. I am pretty used to being in our house without leaving for days at a time because I work from home, but now that I'm staying inside AND am sleep deprived I'm finding that I need to get out and see the world a little more than I used to. So yesterday we headed out and it was the first time that just the two of us had left the house.

It took me quite a few trips to put practically everything she owns into the car in case she needed something and then I had to put her in the car seat in the car since I can't pick up her AND the car seat due to the c-section. But eventually we got everything in and were off. She got to go out to her first of many lunches at the pool and she slept right through it so that Mom and I could enjoy our lunches. Then when we got back we took her on her first stroll! She also slept right through that!

When we got home Jason and I took a two week picture with her bear. There really isn't much change that you can see but we feel like her little cheeks and tummy are fuller and that she's filling out her size newborn clothes much better now. We are headed to the doctor for her two week checkup on Monday and we can't wait to see how much weight she's put on. I just love the second picture of her yawning!

I'm heading out this afternoon to spend a little quality time by myself. I'm making the big, exciting trip to Target! :) Who knew there would come a day when I would be so excited about a trip to Target! Hopefully Charlotte will sleep for Jason while I'm gone. When I get back we're going to go strolling as a family of four. We'll see how well Luca likes the stroller!

Wordless Wednesday

Or not so wordless! Luca has adjusted so well to Charlotte! When I told him to quit sniffing her in her Boppy he just laid down in front of her as if to guard her. I just had to snap this picture. Thank goodness that I now have a phone with a decent camera that I can email pictures with!

Sleeping Beauty

I don't want to take a picture of Sleeping Beauty because then she might no longer be sleeping but let me assure you that Charlotte is precious when she sleeps! Which is most of the time...except on occasion at night. She is a great sleeper during the day and most night's she sleeps pretty well also. We've had a few nights recently that haven't been so much fun but I guess you adjust to the lack of continuous sleep and learn to live on whatever sleep you can get.

I did notice this morning that she's been more awake and alert after her feedings. I'm really excited because I'm guessing that this means that she's finally getting over her newborn slumber and will start being awake more during the day and we can interact more.

We've spent the past day and a half at home by ourselves and it's been a nice change of pace. Not to imply that I haven't appreciated the help. I definitely couldn't have survived that first week without Jason at home and my Mom coming over during the day. There's just something about having surgery that puts me back into a little girl state where all I want is my Mom there to take care of me. And take care of me she did! She mentioned one day that she hadn't even held Charlotte in two days and she had been at our house all day each day! Talk about sacrifice! :) Thank you Mom for helping me out! I can only hope that one day I am as good of a mom to Charlotte as you are to me!

We are looking forward to having Jason's parents over again tomorrow night. We had forgotten when we invited them that it was their anniversary so hopefully they don't mind spending their special day with us! It is a big week for marriages in our family since both of our parents are celebrating anniversaries in the next two days. We are so blessed to have parents that are committed in their relationships to serve as such positive examples for us. (We also are blessed to have four sets of grandparents who are setting the same example but they aren't celebrating an anniversary this week!)

Ok, time to wake Sleeping Beauty up to feed again!