Charlotte At Almost Five

Charlotte is almost five! Happy due date, five years ago today! Age five! Five forever! I love five! I am about to have another five-year-old (yay)! ... My last five-year-old (sob).

But really. Look at this beautiful young lady. She hardly seems like a baby anymore.

(Hahahahahaaaaaa yeah right *wipes tear* no no, she's obviously still The Baby. Of course.)

Charlotte seems to have already entered into Age Five Delightfulness. She is old enough to be independent and have preferences and chase after what she wants and likes. But she's still young enough to have none ounces of too cool, and lots of innocent curiosity still in her.

Plus, she still says some words wrong. Syrup like cereal: syriup. The bonus room is the bennis room. Eating two pieces of toast is toast-es.When she wants you to leave something where it is (a song on the radio, the PJ's she wants to wear all day, etc) she says stay it on. And actually, stay makes more sense than leave, so I get it.

She is chatty and full of stories, half the time made up and half the time completely earnest retellings of mundane events ("and then he poured the cereal but mixed it with the other cereal can you even believe that???" *cue wild hand motions*) and unlike the other two, who we naively maybe once thought were talkative, Charlotte kind of never. stops. talking.

She has two made-up friends, Apple and Sushi (I don't even know) and when no one else will play with her, she plays with them. I have never seen a child outside of a novel so committed to her imaginary friends. Or so chatty with them. She and Apple and Sushi have an army of small toys like her Daniel Tiger "toysies" figurines, and Calico Critters, and a few Paw Patrol pups, and she creates whole worlds and houses and neighborhoods for them, and will do this for hours.

Also, she has several small purses and bags and even a portable Calico house, but her preferred transportation method for her most precious toys is a pizza breadstick box. She takes it all over the house and even on playdates. (Again, I don't even know.)

She dances and skips around the house, because why walk?

She floats around the pool in her puddle jumper, because why learn to swim? (Sigh.)

She follows Nathan and Anneliese and still can't quiiiite keep up, and "hey guys wait for me!" is still a very big part of her life.

She and Anneliese play together ever better, they are both very into dolls and babies and it has been a bonding thing for them this year. It has taken years for them to seem as close to the same age as they are (less than two years! only one school year apart! it has always seemed a much bigger chasm) but I think we are finally getting there.

She still sucks her thumb (no, I do not care anymore), and she calls it her "strong thumb" because it helps her feel better. I will never argue with that. Girl's got an overbite like whoa, braces are coming, there's no more preventing it, so thumb away, little one.

I feel like Charlotte eats almost nothing, and she is somewhat wee, but she's growing, so... meh? She does like french fries and gummy snacks. And gogurt and pizza. And sandwiches but only if they're cut in certain shapes (because obviously puzzles are delicious but dinosaurs are not). She also apparently loves the arsenal of snacks she keeps sneaking into her room and then doing a terrible job of hiding the evidence from. *mad face*

She sort of fails in her own Sneaky Wheelhouse though, replying when I call upstairs to her with things like, "I don't have my scissors, you don't need to come up here!"

Um.

She loves coloring, and is still really good at fine motor type things for her age. "Can you please print me something" has basically been her motto this year, there aren't enough coloring pages in the world to sate this child.

She loves winter, the only one in our house who grins in the outdoor chill, and bundles into her coat and hat with glee. (The rest of us glare at her properly, I promise.)

She loves being read to, but has shown very little interest in trying to read on her own yet.

She thinks she is good at numbers, and shushes everyone at least once a day to tell us "plus one plus one is two" and wait for people to lavish praise on her for such genius. (The amount of eye rolling from Nathan cannot be overstated.)

She likes to pray, and is the one who leads us in prayer 99% of evenings before dinner. She has a whole medley of blessings she likes to say.

She is off to kindergarten in a month. WHAT.

She is wheezy and sunshiney and makes the best mad faces of anyone I know. She has no modesty. She cries having her hair brushed. She cheats at games and tries to charm her way out of it. She is strong and delicate at the same time. She has gobs of friends and would play with them all every day if she could. She loves people, and new people, and she's never met a stranger. She's a good listener, always ready for a story or a joke. When she's happy to see you, she quite literally jumps up and down in excitement, and it's the best feeling in the world.

She made and makes our family complete.

Happy almost five, Charlotte Booler. You won't stay five forever, but we're sure going to enjoy it while it's here, you delightful little human, you.

Ice Skating and a Chinese Buffet (A Patriotic Holiday)

So today is Presidents Day, except not really, because Nathan has school. Except not really, because I didn't make him go, because I told him it was a holiday (I thought it was! my calendar said so! my calendar doesn't lie! except this one time) and the girls are out of school, and it's supposed to snow/ice tomorrow which means we will be out of school all week anyway, and what's the point of going for just one day? There is no lasting education happening (that won't need to be repeated) in a one-day week. Anyway, I decided to let him stay home and make the most of my mistake.

And that's the story of why Presidents Day isn't Presidents Day this year. Which is... not a story.

But what we did do with our Presidents Day non-holiday is go... ice skating. I KNOW. MY KIDS. I KNOW. But we tried for a trampoline jump place and they were closed, and ice skating was next door, so we tried something new.

Well, the girls did. Nathan wanted none of it. Although he did take some pictures for us. So, thanks for that, grumpy gus?

Charlotte mostly wanted to hold my hands (ask me what makes ME unsteady on skates? a three-year old hanging on me, that's what) but Anneliese got braver and braver and was off in the middle of the rink, pushing around the stacks of buckets they had on hand for young kids. Really cute, and she was so proud. She is asking for ice skating lessons now. Cute.

And then Nathan and Anneliese had been asking for Chinese food (I don't even know) and since I am the kind of lady who loves a Chinese buffet, we had planned a buffet date for the "school holiday" (remember that thing about how I didn't remember it was a holiday, so).

Y'all, they loved it. My picky eaters tried all kinds of new things, they made lists of what they loved and didn't love, they went back for seconds, we had dessert, we left full and happy and it was the most random thing but also delightful.

So we celebrated President's Day by trying ice skating for the first time, and then pigging out with picky eaters at a Chinese buffet. Anything else would have been unamerican, amiright?

Barbecue (The Only Meaning)

I have been on a barbecue kick recently. All kinds, any kind. Mostly pulled pork because I do it correctly.

(If you are calling anything besides slow-cooked and shredded/pulled meat barbecue, you are sadly wrong. Do not call steak or ribs or grilled chicken barbecue, or worse, tell me that you cooked them on a barbecue.  No. You did not. They are all delicious but they are not barbecue that is all.)

So I have been eating lots of barbecue. I have even been stuffing it into crunchy taco shells with coleslaw which is maybe my new most favorite thing ever, even though it might get me disowned by my father for being a failure of a north carolinian. (If you can get past that though, IT IS DELICIOUS.) (See? Proof I'm not a snobby purist or anything, I just want everyone to use the word correctly.)

Anyway with my recent re-infatuation it was kind of fun to see my kids all wolfing it down at my dad's house last weekend. Anneliese and Charlotte each put away two sandwiches!

No taco shells, but I'll teach them eventually. When my dad's not looking.

A Year and a Half

Sweet little Charlotte,

You are eighteen months old! Happy half birthday, baby girl!

You have made strides in the last few months. Literally -- you're walking! You're eating everything under the sun (although not gaining much weight; will you always be our tiny delicate baby?) and finally starting to feed yourself a bit more.

Your wide bright eyes still get lots of comments, and your head is full of wispy wild hair. A lady in St Croix last week told you that the gap in your mouthful of teeth is called a sweet tooth -- the space is for your sweetness -- and I have decided it must be true. You are seriously so beautiful.

You have been a bit scared of strangers recently. More than a bit scared actually. Like, a room full of people  (even when you're safely in my arms and don't have to interact with anyone) sometimes makes you lose your sh!t. (People love you anyway. Don't worry. You're darling.)

You know a lot of words but don't have much to say, apparently. We have to content ourselves mostly with a lot of hi and what's that? and cheer in the moments you decide to say Dada or Eee-lee or Naynay, or ball, or blow us a kiss with your newest, night-night. Oh and when you do say my name, you call me Ommy which you should know makes me a little melty.

You continue to be the most flexible person in this house, rolling with everyone else's schedules and rarely making a fuss about it. You can never have enough attention, especially from Daddy. And the look on your face standing in your crib each morning to see whose turn it is to come "wake" you and play with you -- priceless.

You will occupy yourself for looooong stretches of time emptying and unloading your play groceries from your cart, or building with blocks, or your new favorite -- bringing us balls or small toys to throw so you can toddle after them and bring them back. It's fetch! And you're basically the cutest puppy we've ever had (don't tell Bowden and Simon).

You are frequently covered on your back in stickers, the product of having two older siblings. Likewise, showing up to the church nursery clinging to sippy cups labeled with a band that says "Anneliese" and sporting bibs with Nathan's name and monogram embroidered on them. You know, classic third kid stuff.

I can't believe how old you are already. My last baby, no longer a baby. A toddler, walking around the house in clothes that I remember Anneliese wearing when we were renovating this place, when you were but a series of kicks and stretch marks, gestating inside me. Traipsing around St Croix in a swimsuit your big sister learned to crawl on the beach in, like, oh I don't know, a few weeks ago. How is this possible already? Is this a last baby thing? Will you always seem younger and tinier in my mind than you really are?

You're spending this year's half-birthday a little sick. Or, a lot sick. We've been passing around some kind of cold virus (likely RSV, apparently) that moves straight to the chest. It eventually caused bronchitis in Anneliese, and I had pneumonia the week before we went to St Croix. And while we were there, it hit you too. So much coughing, so  much wheezing, so little sleep, so many tears. We're all praying it stays out of your lungs and you feel better soon, sweet sicky girl.

In the meantime, keep smiling in between the sneezes, keep hiding behind your hands when someone says "where's Charlotte?" and know that you can put your little head on my shoulder for a hug any any any any time you want.

Love you so much. Happy half-birthday, little one.

Baby's First Cheerios

So after Charlotte got pretty sick last summer and landed herself in the hospital, unable to tolerate much of anything in her tummy, we spent months feeding her milk and only milk (of the boob/formula variety, not from a cow). She was significantly enough underweight that we didn't want to try to force calories in her that she might not be able to keep down.

The result is that she is now a sixteen-month old who eats about like an eleven-month old. Which... fine by us! She is growing great and will catch up eventually. And while we have been slooooowly adding baby food and other solids back into her diet, she is taking to it just great. Exactly like she did the first time. There really isn't even much to tell, actually. (Which is a relief for me because this has felt emotionally complicated from my end. To say the least.) Anyway yay! Food! Easy!

Anyway, we never quite made it to finger foods before we went back to an all-milk diet, so the last few weeks of cereal and fruit and bread have been Charlotte's first experience with it.

your daily Charlotte

I don't know, I'm not sure if she likes it or not...

State Fair Wins and Fails (Butter Elvis Not Included)

So, we went to the state fair... about a month ago. (I am so on top of all things bloggity.) With three kiddies, the fair is a bit different than when it was just Mark and me.  This year we didn't get on any adult rides. We didn't see any fancy crafts. We went in broad daylight when the crowds were thin enough to push strollers (strollers! plural! like two strollers!) through. We did not shoot targets to win turkeys. We didn't go into even one exhibit building.

What we did do was ride kiddie rides and eat fried junk food. Yay North Carolina?

WIN - The big kids are old enough to go on rides themselves. And Anneliese's bravery makes Nathan a little less chicken. Sibling support at its best.

FAIL - Charlotte miiiiiight have gotten a bit sunburned on her still-kinda-bald hatless head.

WIN - Daniel Tiger at the pbs kids tent. (Don't ask me why Daniel is the only one looking at the camera.)

FAIL - This was about two seconds before the rooster crowed in Charlotte's face and she completely lost her sh!t. I don't know what her favorite animal will end up being, but I think we can safely say not rooster.

WIN - A friend who helps you manages your strollers and corresponding small people who ride in them. If you don't have this friend, I am sad for you.

FAIL - This stroller might be a bit small for our tall girl.

WIN - Fried everything, and dipped cheesecake on a stick.

FAIL - It's not the state fair until someone chickens out of going down the giant slide. This year? Nathan.

WIN - Both kids eat hot dogs now. I see a light at the end of the picky eating tunnel!

FAIL - Hey Anneliese y u no looky at the camera?

WIN - Being out past naptime is easier if the baby naps anyway. Yay flexible baby! (Actually, yay anything that wears kids out!)

FAIL - no sculptures made of butter.

Another Nathan was properly horrified. You see, he comes from Iowa and in case you didn't know, Iowa has the best state fair of all the state fairs (in related news, Another Nathan has more state pride than most people we know). And at the Iowa state fair, they have a butter cow. It's famous! It's important!

He legitimately couldn't believe we didn't have any butter sculptures at the fair. He kept asking Mark "what, no things made of butter? none? you mean, no butter elvis? no butter Last Supper?" with a straight face.

Actually I just decided North Carolina's lack of a butter Last Supper might be a WIN.

Charlotte at Eleven Months

Listen, this is weird: this is my last baby-month blog update. Probably ever. Charlotte is eleven months old, which means in a few short weeks she will be one and then she'll soon be a toddler not a baby and she's my last one and this is all going too fast and nooooooooooooo.

Deep breaths.

So like I was saying (in the most logical, least emotional way possible), Charlotte is eleven months old. And doing so great.

shiny eyes and crazy hair and gappy grin = love

Since the hospital, she has stayed with her all-milk diet and we haven't re-introduced solid food yet. She's doing well on milk, and gaining weight, so why run the risk of fussing with her tummy again until she's completely caught up? (Also you don't hear me complaining. In case I haven't mentioned it once or a hundred times, baby food sucks.) She's sucking down about six bottles a day, plus nursing once or twice, and seems perfectly content with that.

She's also become (dare I say it?) kind of... mobile. I mean, she can't really crawl, but she can definitely drag herself and roll herself to where she wants to go. Yesterday that meant right out the back door and down the stoop in an attempt to go play with Nathan and Anneliese who were squirting each other with the hose. (I intervened too late. They got Charlotte too.) She's also sitting well, very consistently, and will gladly bear weight on her legs which continues to be the most shocking thing a Goettsch child can do.

We're also seeing a sensitive side of Charlotte come out now that she's moving around a little.  For months, firm words, while she certainly heard them, were really only directed at other people. But now that she's kind of into everything, we've had to do some quick yelps and grabs to save her from things like, say, power cords and electrical sockets.  And it just breaks her heart every time. The lip trembles and she cries a sad sad cry. We're trying to be as gentle as we can in our reprimands so we don't make her panic, while still also teaching her that some things really are scary. That chair! It will tip over! Really!

She's increasingly dependent on other people to entertain her. She has a high tolerance for stimulation, and a low tolerance for boredom. She doesn't ever seem exhausted of Nathan and Anneliese all up in her face with noisy toys and voices and silliness, but when they're ready for a break she's pissed. Never too much attention for this one! Did you know there's nothing more hilarious than a big brother showing how high he can jump, or a big sister blowing on your face over and over again?  True story.

I'm trying not to panic that before the next month passes, my last baby will be past her official babyhood (*sobs*) and suddenly I won't be a mom of little babies anymore. For the first time in five years. (Oh heavens. Five years. Also before the month is out, Nathan will be five. Speaking of panic. Post for another day.) For now I am going to make the most of another few weeks of her first year.

Happy eleven months, sweet growing girl.

Know What's Great About This? Hospital Edition

Well we are home from the hospital. Whew.

After four days there, we still don't have a great answer about exactly why Charlotte got so sick, but what is clear is that her sensitive little tummy isn't ready for the volume or variety of foods she had been eating.  Since babies don't technically need solid foods til they're one or so, we are just going to stick with a mostly-milk diet for the next few months, and only offer solids for... well, for practice, basically.

I will keep breastfeeding (nature's perfect food! #shoutout) and we will give her lots of bottles of pumped milk (also from her milk sister Sally's mom, emu! #shoutout) fortified with formula powder.  Yup, it's Charlotte's very own Baby Bodybuilding Shake (patent pending).

It's been an emotionally exhausting stay in the hospital (aren't they all?) but instead of dwelling on the hard and ugly parts, we've kinda decided our new thing is going to be the "hey you know what's great about this?" approach to frustrating situations.  We've had to force it, but it's there.

Know what's great about being sick in the hospital? 

Lots of baby-sleep photo ops that mommy would normally miss. Oh and the half-gown, half-PJ look to keep warm and accomodate an IV? totally the newest trend in hospital wear.

Being in the hospital means having mommy all to myself.

Learning to do ultrasounds is kind of fun. Next time I do this, it might be to hear my first baby's heartbeat!

Get-well-soon faces from Daddy make me laugh.

Wheelchairs! This is how the hospital insists on transporting us anywhere. Which mommy says is ridiculous but I say is fun.

A hospital bed means brother and sister will climb up and make me smile.

Another Nathan surprised us by bringing Wednesday coffee date to us in the hospital! He made us laugh, worrying every time the IV pole beeped.

Hospital procedures are exhausting but when I finally fall asleep, boy does mommy have eyelash envy.

And coming home feels soooo good.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and messages, everyone.  We feel so loved.

Oh Sicky Charlotte

This will be a quick and not-funny blog update because... well frankly that's all I've got in me right now.

So... underneath the giggles and milestones, Charlotte hasn't been feeling so healthy recently.  She's been throwing up most of her food for a couple of weeks -- not a great way to pack on the pounds like she's supposed to be doing. Remember how she's underweight and her growth has slowed pretty significantly since February?  Yeah.

Over the weekend she seemed to be getting worse, so we took her to the doctor on Monday and they admitted her to the hospital, which is where I'm writing this.

After a day on IV fluids for dehydration, and cutting all food out of her diet except milk, Charlotte has perked up considerably.  The vomiting has been quelled and she's in much better spirits. And now that the IV is out of her right arm and she has her thumb back, she's even sleeping a bit better.

Ummm, as well as anyone sleeps well in a hospital.  That's to say... not well.

I can't keep any food down, but this IV cord sure is tasty!

As of today we are finally putting together some information about what's going on with her. She has a mild kidney infection (and an ongoing kidney issue which will make her prone to infections in the future as well) which is probably what caused her dehydration and weakness over the last few days, but doesn't explain the weeks of vomiting.  Sadly we still don't have a clear answer about what caused that, but we do at least know that putting her on an all-milk diet is working for now.

So for now, Mark has been home with Nathan and Anneliese (who are going for unexpected grandparent visits starting tonight) while I have been at the hospital with Charlotte. For now, we are just waiting on a few more tests and results, and for her to regain enough strength and weight to go home, hopefully before the weekend.

Please pray for our baby girl?

Bibdana

To celebrate Charlotte's foray into real food (and by real I mean pureed vegetables in odd combinations, obvs), Another Nathan gifted her with two bibdanas for a stepped-up experience in food dribbling and crumb catching.

Your daily Charlotte: is it a bib? is it a bandana? it's a bibdana!

And they're pretty much so cute I can't stand it.

Feedy Girl

I've been stuck at home today, partly because we're working on potty training Anneliese which means we're sticking close to the potty, duh, but mostly because we are switching our cable providers and for some reason our house has apparently been an an usually complicated cable-connecting case and the guy has been here for SEVEN HOURS and even had to call in backups.  Yep.

(At least he's nice. And not unhott. In an old-enough-to-be-my-dad kind of way. Don't judge.)

But DON'T PANIC, I have had internet almost all day. Aside from a few minutes this morning when our cable was all disconnected and my phone couldn't find 3G service, a problem which I figured out how to fix pretty soon, I haven't been without. WHEW. Close call. Oh internet, my precious.

Anyway.

We've been home all day with nothing on our agenda but pump Anneliese full of juice, let her run around naked, sprint for the potty occasionally, and watch the cable guy fix our tv.

So I thought, why not spice this day up a bit and give sweet little Charlotte a milestone of her own?

Enter puffs. Finger food. Self-feeding. In a big-girl high chair. (Aside: we live in a world where high chairs are big-girl things? Yes we do.) My little tiny youngest don't-ever-grow-up baby is feeding herself do I grin or cry I don't know it's all so much and aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

OH THE PUFFS I HAZ THEM

Also, she has already perfected the Goettsch Baby Signature Slump.  But one of these days she'll be sitting up on her own and I'll be sad/happy about that too, so for now I'm just going to call this particular gross motor delay ADORABLE and be done with it.  Slump ftw.

Charlotte: Starting Solids Right

Last week we started Charlotte on solid* food. It was as smooth as it could have been, far far smoother than with Nathan or Anneliese, so I have decided to gift the interwebz with my third-time (read: professional) mompinion on how to start solids the right way, in five simple steps.

Brace yourself, brilliance ahead.

First, wait until baby is eight months old. I cannot stress this enough. The baby food stage is a pain (we've been over this before, right?) and those first "fun" bites quickly descend into decidedly less adorable screamy lengthy messy meals. I thought maybe there was just a two-month learning curve for babies to learn to eat fast and eat neatly. Nope. We've skipped the messy curve altogether, it seems. Delay it as long as you can. (Plus you want to make her really want it. #momoftheyear)

Second, skip the fancy high chair. (Or even the non-fancy high chair.) Any good third baby will tell you that one  all-purpose pink foam seat for eating and bathing and beaching and relaxing is just fine.

Third, start with a food baby will like. Plenty of fruits and veggies are just as easily digestible (or easier!) than that dumb rice and oat cereal that tastes so gross. Why would you feed your baby something you wouldn't eat? (Also it will constipate them. True story.) Do you want baby to hate the idea of solids? Okay then. Charlotte had apples. Huge win. We'll do prunes, and carrots/squash/yellow veggies next, then green veggies, then fruits. Babies can eventually get their cereal (and they do need it, it will be one of their only/best sources of iron) mixed in with things that taste good. Babies will take to solids better if what you give them tastes good. It's really fancy science, I know, but try to stick with me here.

Fourth, everybody gets a turn! Even let big brother and big sister help feed bites. (Why do work they're thrilled to do? That's why you had the other two kids, right?) Plus it's precious.

Bonus points if you can convince all helpers (including but not pictured: Daddy) that opening your mouth as you hope for baby's to open is totally necessary.

Fifth, have enough people on hand to get lots of pictures. From lots of angles. Capture your happy food-eating big girl baby while trying not to cry about how fast she's growing up. *sobs*

This is my official super easy patented (okay not patented) method for starting solids in a way that laughs in the face of other messy tearful alternatives. You're welcome.

*for you non-parents, solid here means not milk. it doesn't actually mean solid.

Eleven Months: Almost 1!

Anneliese is eleven months old today.  This is the last time I get to count her age in months.  (Except in mommy circles.  Mommies can think in months when no one else can.  Mommies can also think in weeks -- up to forty, anyway -- when no one else can.  True story.)  I can't believe my little baby girl is almost one.  Wasn't she born like a few days ago or something?

A year ago this week, I was getting ready for a mommy-daughter baby shower, watching Mark assemble a tandem stroller (you know, for our two babies), taking a tour of the birthing unit where Beanie would be born (a trip which ended with me overwhelmed and sobbing in the hospital parking deck), and starting a little guess-the-birth-date contest (which thirty-eight of you participated in, and none of you guessed the right date). 

And now that baby we were getting ready for is almost one.

This month, Anneliese has:

- weaned herself down to one nursing a day, which broke my heart for a few minutes (or weeks, who's counting) until I realized she's still voraciously interested in that morning feeding, and is therefore definitely not done with the breastfeeding relationship... which means she'll still feel like a baby to me for at least a little while longer.

- taken two road trips (a day trip to the beach, and a weekend in Huntersville) and slept like a champ on both of them.

- finally gotten her top two teeth in (after getting the two bottom ones really early, before five months).

- perfected her backwards sit-scoot around the house -- as you can see, she's quite pleased with herself about it.

- had gleeful fun emptying the toy and clothing bins in her room, and the dvd rack in the living room.

- started saying boo when we play peek-a-boo with her, and started saying ball and hey more consistently.  Also, new yesterday!  She is emphatically (almost frantically) saying nay-nay-nay-nay when she sees Nathan.  So precious.  (Still not as awesome as mama, but it's a very cute second.)  Video forthcoming; stay tuned (try not to fall of the edge of your seats).

- gotten herself down to one nap a day (I might or might not have (brace yourself: euphemism alert) "encouraged" this, to get both kids on the same nap schedule... which has now finally happened, praise the Lord).

- eaten lots and lots of "grownup" meals, when I toss our leftover dinners (as well as any miscellaneous produce we have left in our farm share box) in the food processor to freeze in jars (Merritt's pizza casserole is one of her favorites) -- yes, it looks completely gross, but she eats it great, poops it great, and she's growing well... plus it saves me lots of money over store-bought baby food.

- gotten very good at picking up puffs and cheerios (and small chunks of canned pears) and feeding them to herself.

- put on over a pound of weight -- she's now just over 17 lbs (7th percentile) and 31 inches long (off-the-charts tall), and we're so thankful her weight is now going up instead of down.

- stayed the prettiest almost-one-year old I know, and made her family and friends smile every day.

We love you, Anneliese!  Happy eleven months, sweetie!

Seven Updates at Seven Months

Anneliese is seven months old today! It just sounds old, doesn't it? Like, we're almost to the part where we stop counting her age in months. Weird.The last month has been kind of hectic (with my sister's wedding, potty-training Nathan, and the sense of overwhelm with Simon), but Anneliese has made the move from I'm the baby look at me I'm the center of attention ...to... hey it's cool I'm just one of the fam now with grace and ease. She has been so relaxed and undemanding and just generally a pretty easy baby. Thank goodness. She survived her first injury, is getting better and better at doing the church nursery thing, still sleeping all night, and has settled into a pretty good two-nap routine (and one of them happens at the same time as Nathan's... praise the Lord).


Here's what's going on with our little lady these days:


1.) Eating. She has become a champion eater, and likes pretty much anything we give her. Sometimes I still look around in disbelief, like... is this really happening? How is this so easy? I feel like someone might pop out from behind a corner any day now and say, haha, fooled you, we really had you going, didn't we? and then she'll turn into a picky food-refusing pain. But... it keeps not happening. So after almost 2 months, I'm close to letting myself really believe that when it comes to food, she's just... easy. She's still nursing a bunch of times a day, but she does love food-food when she gets it!


2.) Growing. She is growing like crazy. She's 17lbs and just shy of 30 inches. In case that doesn't mean anything to you, I am posting her growth charts below. Her weight (on the left) is pretty average for breastfed girl babies her age. Her height, however... um, yeah. That's what people mean when they say off the charts. We're not sure if she's going to be really tall, or if she's just in a grown spurt that will slow down after a while. Looks funny in the meantime, though, huh.


3.) Babbling. While she's not as talkative as some other members of our family (ahem), she does like to squeal and babble and "talk" to us for a little while each day. She is oh so close to saying da-da. It's right on the tip of her tongue and she's trying so hard to repeat it. She definitely knows what it means when she hears it, based on how she kicks and giggles when we say it (especially if that coincides with Daddy walking in the room). I'm campaigning hard to get mama out first, but it's not looking good. Mark's betting she says her first word (intentionally, he means) in the next month. I think that's optimistic. But we'll see.


4.) Playing. She loves trucks. Her favorite thing to play with is whatever Nathan is playing with. Fortunately he's good at sharing (for now), and is glad for an eager and enraptured audience when he wants to talk about his trucks. Which is... frequently. She also loves to read books. (And eat them.) And there are a few stuffed animals that keep her entertained and amused pretty well too. Peek-a-boo is becoming a huge hit.


5.) Adorable-ing. Despite what the picture above might imply, she's still only up to like thirteen baths or something. Oh yeah, mom of the year. (The more astute of you might notice that this picture is strangely similar to the one of Nathan that's in our bathroom right now, and yes, that was intentional. Also, fun side note -- a different picture of Anneliese wrapped in a towel is now hanging in the bathroom at our portrait studio. She's a bathroom model! I mean, she definitely has the height for it, right?)

6.) Moving. She is soooooo close to sitting up on her own. If she's not paying attention, she'll do it for a few seconds. But once she notices she's not leaning on anything, she just tips right over. :) Still no desire (on her part or mine, for the record) to try crawling or pulling up or anything looking too much like a workout.


7.) Grabbing. Anneliese is our grabbing queen. I have resorted to wearing contacts most days now, since my glasses are just too tempting for her little fingers. Ditto with necklaces, my phone, my purse, or any papers I happen to be holding within an arm's reach of her. I remember this phase with Nathan. Good times, good times.

Happy seven months, Anneliese! We love you!

18 Month Update

It's been a while since I've done an update on Nathan, and since he's 18 months today, I thought now would be a good time.

Walking Boy - After taking his first steps in mid-December, Nathan spent about a month only walking when we explicitly asked him to. (Nathan, stand up. Take some steps.) And that only worked sometimes. But a couple of weeks ago (has it only been a couple of weeks? wow it's been crazy around here) he started walking to actually get somewhere. And now there's no stopping him.

Handsome Boy - I like this picture because it captures him so well. His natural smile (open-mouthed, of course... for two earlier versions click here and here), and you can actually tell he's taking a step. I'm glad that his 18-month portrait captures him so well as he is... now. Plus, again with the cute. :)
Talking Boy - I think I mentioned a few month ago that we have long stopped counting words Nathan knows. When people ask me this question, they are met with a blank stare. It's probably a hundred or more. It's way too many to keep track of, that's for sure. Of all the words he knows, his favorites are what's that? (yes, still), applesauce, outside, big truck, help please, Bowdy (Bowden) and Sy-eeee (Simon). Before you start thinking what great parents we are to have taught Nathan good manners, you should know that he says help please for almost everything (which is not helpful, we usually need to ask "help with what?" to get more clarification on what he wants), and says "thank you" only rarely. And only when prompted. We're working on it.

Playful Boy - Nathan's favorite toys right now are his blocks, his fish book, his instruments (still loves noise), and recently he has formed an odd attachment to the stuffed hippo his Uncle Sean got him for Christmas. I say odd not because there's anything wrong with the hippo, but because as of yet Nathan has not been terribly attached to any comfort object. He has been known on occasion to ask for his stuffed cow at bedtime, and we can tell it's the most-loved of all his animals, since it's missing a nostril. (That's true toy love, people.) But even that pales in comparison to his recent fascination with the hippo. We'll see how it plays out.

Growing Boy - He weighs 26 lbs (53rd percentile) and is 33.5 inches tall (82nd percentile). Which is a far cry from losing weight, and falling off the charts like he was this time last year. He's bounced back like it's no one's business. Amazing. And now that we're on this side of the situation, his growth chart is almost humorous. Almost. Plus, he's about to be in size 4 diapers. Some kids never get out of 4's before they're potty-trained. Also, the child on the size 4 packaging is a kid, not a baby. When I look at Nathan, I can hardly believe it's time for the diapers that the kid on that packaging wears. Sure sign of growing up.

Nursing Boy - yes, I am still breastfeeding Nathan. I was talking to a friend a week or so ago, and made mention of the nursing, and she was really surprised to hear that. She jokingly called me a closet nurser. Now, I have jokingly said that, too - Nathan doesn't want it every day, and when he does, it's almost always right after he wakes up -- so we're at home. Which means it's just me and him. Which is private by default, not by intention. Her comment bothered me not because she was surprised I was still nursing, but because she thought I was trying to hide it. As if it was something to be ashamed of. As if I were going out of my way to avoid the judgement of other people. Me. Yeah.... not so much. I'm not trying to flaunt it or make a big deal about it (it's not a big deal), but I am certainly not trying to hide it either! So let the record show that I am still nursing Nathan, and my current plan is to continue to do so until he is ready to completely wean. (In my mind, the weaning has already begun, since the nursing sessions are so infrequent at this point.) And that it's still good for him. And that I have no shame in it. And that I reserve the right to revise the plan without notice, of course. :)

Hungry Boy - While I wish he would eat a bigger variety of food, Nathan actually does ok. He likes applesauce best (he'll eat it on anything), and he also likes baked beans, mandarin oranges, sunflower seed butter (we use it instead of pb since we can't send nut products with him to church), french toast, and pasta. Or anything Daddy has on his plate. Or anything we tell him is applesauce. [Side note - Mark feels bad lying to him, so he tells Nathan the food is like applesauce. "Sure, this is like applesauce, it's chicken but it fits on the spoon like applesauce," and other such nonsense. But as long as Nathan hears the word applesauce a couple of times, he's pretty likely to eat it. I just lie. Don't judge me, you've lied to your kid about trivial stuff too.] Nathan has also started feeding himself with a spoon. So cute. And oh-so messy. We got him some curvy spoons to help get the food into his mouth, but they're only made for righties. And he usually prefers to hold the spoon in his left hand. Though I'm not sure if that's because Mark taught him how using his right hand, facing Nathan, so he just learned in his left, or if it's because he's actually a lefty. Time will tell.

Loving Boy - The best thing (to me) that Nathan has picked up on recently is hugging and kissing. I've mentioned before that he's not much of a snuggler, so when he actually wants to hug, Mark and I know to freeze and let it happen. Now he also thinks it's great fun to kiss me. He has no idea what it means, and I know that, but I still love it and it makes me absolutely giddy with happy-mommy endorphins.

So, Nathan... don't listen to Daddy, this is your half birthday! It's worth celebrating because you're our big boy, growing up so fast, and we love you more every day!