Charlotte Chillin' on the Sofa

These are three cute pictures of Charlotte hanging out on the sofa this month with her Mommy & Daddy!

Three Month Birthday

Erin & Charlotte's Trip to Bonita Springs

This weekend Charlotte and I took a trip to Bonita Springs, Florida with Grandma and Aunt Sancha. This was a work trip for me to attend the Real, Property, Probate & Trust Law Section’s Annual Convention. Since this was our first overnight trip, I was a little stressed out but with Charlotte behaving well and Grandma and Aunt Sancha’s help we had a successful trip. While I attended the Legislative Update Committee meeting Grandma visited with Charlotte. While Grandma was exhibiting Aunt Sancha and I took Charlotte for a walk on the estuary boardwalk. There is a great picture of them with charlotte wearing her big floppy white hat. Grandma really got Charlotte talking one of the afternoons and I have included a picture or two. It was a great weekend and really makes me look forward to the trip we are taking with Wayne to The Breakers in July! For that trip a lot of our family will be together for work purposes but I hope we can squeeze some fun into the extended weekend.

Month Three Musings

Things I thought of in between Wayne, work, Charlotte, eating, sleeping… you know how it is.

The only routine we have for Charlotte is that we try to feed her as soon as she wakes up (in the morning or after a nap) then let her play until she is tired again. That way she is not being put to bed by an overfull stomach or learning to need a bottle to sleep. So sleep, eat, play, sleep, eat, play etc. We try to put her to bed around 10 or 11, make sure she has had a full feeding before (then some play or cuddle time) and then she will sleep till about 7:30 or 8 am.

We bathe her at night every other day or so, depending on our schedule and what we have been doing. For instance, if she has been out and about all day – in the hot sun – we’ll give her a bath or if we are going to an event the next day we’ll give her a bath the night before. After a bath we put diaper cream on (the only time we do, since she has not developed a rash…yet) then we slather lotion on her body, brush her hair, trim her nails (yes, like three times a week cuz they grow like CRAZY) and then I give her a “mini facial”. The facial is because her face gets SO dry. So, I put a light layer of baby oil then Vaseline then lotion on her face. I know it sounds like a lot but truly her face is super dry by the next morning! As far as products go, we have been using Johnson’s cuz we have a lot of it and she seems to be doing fine so far.

I use the Boppy ALL the time. I am lucky enough to have Sancha and Jen’s hand me downs and so I keep one at my office and one at home. Obviously, with breastfeeding I used the Boppy for that but I also use it to lay her over for tummy time, prop her up to feed her a bottle while I type one handed…. etc, etc.

Charlotte has been sleeping in her crib since about 2 months. Before that she would only nap in there and then sleep in the co sleeper at night. Once we noticed that she was not getting us up a couple of times a night, we started putting her in her crib. Plus she stirs in the middle of the night, whimpers and then finds her thumb which puts her back to sleep. When she was in our room that would wake us up every time, so in her crib she sleeps better and so do we.

Mother's Day Dinner with Nanny & Grandma

Mommy & Me

Today Charlotte and I went to our first Mommy & Me class. This is a class for moms and babies under six months old to gather meet other moms and listen to educational speakers. Today’s speaker talked about what items in our houses were poisonous and what local plants and bugs were dangerous. The speaker was very informative and the other moms so friendly. We met Hillary (Mom) and Emma (Baby) again – they were in our Mommy & Baby Tea a few weeks ago. Even if the picture makes it look like she hated the class, Charlotte was happy as a clam until we started taking pictures!

Erin’s First Day Back To Work

Charlotte and Mommy

Having lunch with Grandma

Grandma & Charlotte

Charlotte's Desk

Charlotte's Office

Yesterday was my first day back from maternity leave. Charlotte loved the office and I have to say even though my desk was towering with files to attend to - it was not too bad. Charlotte had so many new things to look at and toys to play with so of course she slept most of the day away. Thanks Nanny, Auntie Gwen and Kelvin for the fantastic pack-n-play, its so fancy and Charlotte is going to be lucky enough to use it everyday! Thanks also go in a big way to Aunt Sancha and "Uncle" Jen for so many hand-me-downs. Thanks to you two, we really have everything else we could need. Gonna miss those lazy days with Charlotte though, two months is just not enough!

Out From Under The Fog

Just now (sorta) out from under the fog!

Well ten week old Charlotte is a DREAM we did not fully realize how much we wanted or needed. She has started to SMILE! YA - plus she really gets excited to see us by opening her eyes real bright and kicking her legs. We are so in love with her and just amazed at how happy and brilliant she is. Some of her 3 month clothes do not even fit anymore because she is so tall. On the other hand even though she is still in #1 diapers, its hard to keep pants on her because she is so skinny that they just fall down!!! And STILL she has rolls - it makes no sense?!? Its funny because she really is so sweet and cute but photos just don't do her justice - I know we are biased... Wow, every day she does something so cute it just takes your breath away - I could just gush for hours.

I started back to work today - very sad even though I get to bring her with me! Its not so bad to schlep her around but it is hard not to just stare at her all day. I also start a Mommy & Me group this Wednesday which should be fun. It runs for three months and will give me a chance to spend time and meet other Moms with babies of similar age. Plus I learned so much from the other Moms at the Mother & Baby TEA, which I attended when Charlotte was three and four weeks old, I hope this will be the same.

Early Mother's Day for Grandma

Today we gathered at Sancha’s (my sister) house to celebrate an early Mothers Day for Grandma. Sancha will be traveling to our friend Carrie’s wedding on the official Mothers Day so we got together today so that we could all celebrate together. Anyway, Sancha made us all her delicious chicken cordon bleu and I made strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Everyone had a great time – especially Jacob whom as usual kept us all laughing and moving the whole time.

Visit From Grandpa & Nonie

Today Wayne’s Dad, Desmond, and Susan his step mother, came in from Jamaica to meet Charlotte for the first time. She was so taken with them both but especially enjoyed watching and listening to Grandpa. Their visit was too short but we did get some great pictures! Isn’t it funny that Wayne and his dad are wearing practically the same thing? HA!

Visit from "Uncle" Kevin

Tonight “Uncle” Kevin came over to check on Charlotte. She really liked his visit, you can tell because she was watching him so closely! He even brought her this neat Pooh Bear that plays lullabies and lights up. At the time she was more interested in him but I think she will enjoy her bear more when there are less interesting distractions. Kevin was even able to stay for dinner, I made a beef enchilada thingy – first time ever making that - but the guys even had seconds! Guess they liked it, suckers :)