Sister Love

I used to blog about my child a lot. I blogged with the detail that only a stay at home mother of one child can- monthly details of each aspect of her development were noted, along with more pictures than any one person should have taken of them. And then I had a second child and those posts nearly stopped. I mean, I can't remember the last time I did a monthly update, and poor Caroline has really only had her birth blogged about. Such is the plight of the second child. The thing is, I miss those posts, and I miss taking more pictures of my kids, and I definitely miss documenting their lives in writing. So I'm going to try to bring that back in some more sustainable form. This doesn't all have to be about sewing, even if my blog is called Stitched, right?

I had a moment the other day- Charly and I were at the Children's Museum, just the two of us, and we were both enjoying being able to do art projects at a leisurely pace, taking great care to choose materials and spending lots of time at the paint table. This is a stark contrast to our usual visits where I try to hurry her creative process as much as possible because wrangling a feisty almost-18-month-old in an art studio is a dangerous job. Scissors, open tubs of paint and glue with sticky brushes poking out- this is the nightmare of a mom of a toddler. The thought crossed my mind- "how many special moments are my children missing because I can't give either of them my undivided attention?" and it made me a little sad, for just a minute. It didn't take long for me to remember how much these sweet girls love each other. They aren't missing anything in life by having a sibling- they've got a playmate, a confidant, a partner in crime.

I took these pictures a day or two later. Caroline woke up from her nap and Charly went with me to get her. Charly joined her in the crib for a little post nap play session, and craziness commenced. Caroline's first words, each and every time she wakes up, are "sisser! sister!" These girls sure love each other. Aren't siblings grand? Here's to sisterly love, to siblings, to my sweet and sassy girls.

Sweet Caroline: Four Months

Our little love is four months old and delighting us every day. She is patient and happy, long and lean (25th percentile for weight, 90th for height), and adored by all. She is proving to have quite the little personality already!

A few things Caroline is doing at four months:

-Smiles at everyone
-Loves her hands (a whole lot more than she'll ever love a binky)
-Adores her sister
-Loves to be held, but isn't much of a snuggler- she likes to be up and looking around
-Rocks the dimpled chin look
-Giggles and coos
-Grabs at her toys
-Has baby blues that will melt your heart
-Rolls from her belly to her back
-Laughs every time we bring her feet to her mouth and squeal "sucky toes sucky toes!"

19 Month Update

Our little girl is 19 months old and barely any baby is left in her. She is bigger, stronger, smarter and more independent each day. Just as I marvel at a skill she has mastered or a funny thing she's started doing she is on to the next. It breaks my heart and makes my day. This being a mom thing is one crazy ride. Here is a snippet of 19 month old Charly (in usual bullet form, of course).

-She sleeps great! We FINALLY have a routine (that seems to be sticking!) where she goes down easily on her own, hardly ever wakes up in the night (and when she does she usually puts herself back to sleep) and still naps well. She wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning, which is sucky, but we'll take early mornings with a full nights sleep any day.

-She loves Dora and Diego. Remember how she wakes up super early? Yeah, she definitely watches tv every morning cause we aren't ready to be awake yet. If I'm out running Matt snoozes on the couch while she watches, and if I'm not then I snooze on the couch while she watches. It works for us. Don't judge.

-She has been playing independently really well. This is fabulous.

-Still loves her babies. She feeds them, changes their diapers, burps them (complete with sound effects) and puts them down for naps.

-She is all about saying her prayers now. It is cute how she reminds us as soon as we finish brushing her teeth. We couldn't resist recording it.

18 Months

Last Sunday marked 18 months of life for our little girl, which is reason enough to celebrate, but we were especially excited about this day because it meant that Charly could finally attend nursery! Nursery is the toddler class at church. Before 18 months the babies stay with their parents the whole 3 hours of church. It was easy when she was less mobile and independent, but the last 6 months or so have been a challenge. Now she can play with other kids her age in a room filled with toys, and she even gets snack! She had a great time last week and didn't seem to miss us at all!

Here she is, ready for Nursery, in the cute dress her Aunt Nikki bought for her:

And her cute little french braids:

17 months

I can confidently say that I love Charly more today than ever. She is a full blown toddler, which means temper tantrums and a defiant streak, but watching her grow has been the single coolest thing I've ever done. Having a toddler is hard sometimes but fun most of the time. I loved my sweet baby, who always wanted to snuggle and slept in my arms, but I love the person that Charly is. She has a twinkle in her eye and an impish grin when she's teasing or making mischief. She loves to make people laugh. She is adventurous and fiercely independent. She has a stellar memory for people and words. She loves books like nobody's business. Her personality is huge.

She's been learning so many new things lately. We took a couple of videos to try to document a little part of Charly's new skills, and, you know, to show off and impress the grandparents and stuff:)

15 Months

Charly is one funny girl. As she gets older we've seen this come out more and more. She will tease us, make funny faces, or just make herself laugh. She is quite the ham. She is a smart little cookie too. Her vocabulary is ever growing. She doesn't quite have the language skills to make all the right sounds, but we understand her and that's what counts. She stills love books and wants us to read them non-stop. Which is good, but sometimes you can't get the thoughts "if I have to read the foot book one more time I'm going to jump out the window" out of your head. With all the good of turning into a little toddler also comes the bad. The temper tantrums and whining are also more common now. But enough rambling from me, I will let Charly do the rest of the talking on this post!

14 months

Last week Charly turned the big 1-4...in months that is and I would say the older she gets the more obsessed we are with her. In our defense she is adorable.

Charly playing with Donovan, cats with hair or without, she doesn't discriminate. 

13 Months

On Valentines Day (over a week ago- I know) Charly turned 13 months! I wasn't sure if I would continue my monthly updates, but the past week has been crazy in the development department for my little dear, and monthly updates have been a good way thus far to document the fun things she does. Since I'm not so good at scrapbooking or keeping a baby book, keeping up the monthly updates on the blog is pretty much the only way I am documenting her childhood. So I'll keep em going.

11 Month Update

Our little girl is growing up so fast. She gets more and more personality every day. She's a wild little girl and hard to keep up with, but her zeal and love of life is infectious.

Ready to go out in the cold!

Ten Months

It feels like our little girl is doing new things every day now. Little things. Things that make us laugh and make us wonder. She is more of a character than I could ever have imagined- a huge personality in a little, tiny, adorable, melt-your-heart package. She's ten months old today, and I can't help but think about how strange it is that in just two short months we'll be celebrating her first birthday.

(Speaking of her birthday- I've got some party plans in the works. For all my Pinterest loving friends, I've got a board for her party ideas here- send any good ideas my way!)

9 Month Update (It's about time!)

Ok I know we have been slacking on the blog posts! But I hope an "All Charly Post" will make up for it.

Eight Months

Another month come and gone.

It is amazing how these month markers change the passage of time. Each month I have a moment of "really, already?! (blank) months old?!" and yet so much changes in such a short amount of time that to think back to her six month update seems like so much time has passed.

Matt will probably be mad at me for posting this picture, but look how cute her little grumpy face and crazy hair is!

Since we had a picture post not too long ago I don't have a lot to share in this post, so it will be a little more wordy and less visual. Sorry!

Seven Months

Is it already time for a monthly update? I feel like I just wrote Charly's 6 month one!

She has changed a lot in this past month, and it has been so fun (and pretty tiring at times, too!)

Deer in the headlights!

Here are some updates (and pictures, and videos... c'mon guys, of course I'm gonna overkill it!) of seven month old Charlotte Mae:

Sweet Six Months

As absolutely cliche as this sounds, I can't believe Charly is already six months old! I could marvel on and on about how the time has gone so quickly, how they grow so fast, how she has changed so much... but saying typing those things makes me feel old, so lets skip that.

At six months, Charly is an adventure every day. In true monthly update fashion, here are a few fun facts about our six month old baby girl:

Loving her food!

Five Months of Fun

Five months ago our little family was in the hospital enjoying the sweet newborn bliss of our darling Charlotte Mae (also, it was my birthday, and we had some awesome cupcakes). We had no idea yet just how crazy things would get (like we talked about in this post), and no idea what her little personality would be like. We did know that we loved her to pieces. How could you not?

BMW Photography

Five months later we couldn't love her more! Charly is a delight to have around. Watching her learn is one of my favorite experiences. Here are a few of the things she has been up to lately:

Charly's four month update

My little baby is growing up! Ok, so she is only four months old, but so much changes in the first four months! I am amazed at the things she is able to do, and I always say to Matt "she is such a little human!" She is no longer my little bump-on-a-log baby. She has a personality. She laughs. She plays. She even gets a little 'tude with me sometimes.

She has gone from an 8lb 9oz puffy little newborn...

8 Weeks!

I've been a mom for eight weeks now, and I can't believe how much my life has changed!! Not only do I have a baby to care for, but Matt started a new job, I left my job, and we moved to Leesburg. Yep, it seems like most everything in our lives has changed, from our day to day roles (I'm cooking now...eek!) to our home. Here are a few pictures of what my days are filled with now...

Looking at those adorable little feet- seriously, check out that long ole pinky toe!

We have a whole lot of these moments.

Sometimes we go out for walks...

...which makes her tired.

Sometimes she's sad...

...but that doesn't last long with lots of mommy kisses.

luckily she doesn't cry too much.

We try to get some tummy time in- although she doesn't like it much usually.

She does love to smile though!

Yep, life has changed a lot around here, but we are loving it!

I can't believe

...this little angel

is four weeks old! Four weeks means she and I are starting to get the swing of things, but it also means the end of my maternity leave and my start of life as a working mom. Wish me luck!