Look Alike?

We've been told several times that Charlotte looks like the Gerber Baby. Do you agree?

A random selection of pictures...

Sitting in her little chair for the first time! A little help from a blanket around her back and she was able to sit up on her own! After her bath, sporting her personalized towel - a gift from the Roystons, a family mommy used to babysit for!

Hanging out with Daddy in the playroom!

Giggling on the floor with Mommy, Elwood and Auntie Em!

Hanging out with Auntie Em!

New Best Friends

As some of you know, we sadly said goodbye to our beloved and "special" dog Penny two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Penny was unable to understand how to be safe around a little baby and it became too dangerous for Charlotte to be in the same room with her. Elwood is now enjoying lots of one on one time with Charlotte though! (And Penny was adopted into a great family - she runs every day now and has sleeping on the bed priveledges!) Because we no longer have Penny jumping around getting Elwood excited, he is much calmer. We are able to lay Charlotte on a blanket next to Elwood on the floor and she will kick her legs and do her thing while he sits by quietly. Every once in a while, he'll lean over and lick her on the feet or legs, but he's very gentle! When she gets up, he shows us that he misses her by laying on her blankets! Apparently they are more comfortable than his own blankets. Penny, we miss you greatly, but know that you are happy in your new home! We still love you and know you will have a wonderful life.

Cute summer dresses!

Charlotte is almost 7 weeks now and she is doing great - we are having some skin issues though and I am supposed to be dressing her in lightweight clothes that don't touch her neck - she has pretty bad baby eczema and we are trying to get it under control! So, BRING ON THE SUNDRESSES!!! I always wondered if Sundresses were really practical for infants, and maybe they aren't, but they sure are cute!! We hope it helps her skin condition. She doesn't seem too bothered by it, but it looks very painful and we feel bad for her when we see it!

Last week, Charlotte got to meet her auntie Jayme, who came down from Oregon for a little home-visit! She had a great time and is enjoying reading all the books that her auntie bought her. Its amazing how in just the past week or so, Charlotte is really sitting up better in my lap and likes to look at the pages in a book while I read to her. She's such a big girl! She holds herself up so well that I can just prop her up in my lap and she just sits there and looks around - I'm worried about her strength - if this keeps up, she's going to be able to outrun me before she turns two - good thing I had her while Bryan and I are still relatively young and can hopefully keep up with her!! She must be wearing herself out with all this new activity because last night she slept for 7 1/2 hours straight! WOO HOO!!!

A Day at the Beach!

On Sunday, we had a beach BBQ with Mimi, Paw Paw, Ali, Andrew and Isla. Charlotte got a chance to wear her cute butterfly bathing suit that Lisa got for her at her' mommy's Adams School Baby Shower. We learned that it is NOT a good idea to get to the beach on a Sunday when its 83 degrees out at 3:30. It was packed!! Luckily Charlotte was asleep while we unloaded, but when she woke up, she was not happy with the heat. She ended up calming down alot and actually had a good time when it started cooling off a bit. Next time we won't be arriving at the beach until about 5:30 if we plan to grill! It was much calmer at that time! Charlotte wasn't sure what to think about the water, but we think she'll come around - how could she not like the beach when her parents love it so much??

Charlotte is now 6 weeks old and she celebrated her almost 6 week birthday by rolling over for the first time yesterday! It was so cute!! She was laying on her side, on her play mat (she loves laying on her side and has been able to pull herself to her side since she was 2 days old) and started to pull her legs over and before I knew it, she was on her tummy!! I've heard that typically babies pull themselves from their front to their back first, which makes me think I might not be providing enough tummy time for her to practice this skill. I'm going to try to be better with that!! The fact that she rolled over at 6 weeks tells me its likely I'll have my hands full very soon - this girl is on the move!!!

Happy One Month Birthday Charlotte! Happy Birthday America!

Charlotte had her first month birthday on the 4th of July! We celebrated by going over to Andrew and Ali's and eating Mexican food (well, we also had corn on the cob and strawberry pie, so I guess it was sort of American). We took a video of Charlotte and Isla together holding their flags with "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond playing in the background - we were cracking ourselves up, while, of course, making sure that the girls didn't poke their eyes out with the flags!

On July 3rd, Charlotte starting smiling at us! She isn't doing it consistently enough yet or keeping a smile on her face long enough for us to get a picture of it but we're hoping to be able to sometime soon so we can post it - she looks so cute!! She totally has my brother, Adam's, expression - she starts out with a little side smile, like she's trying not to laugh and then she breaks out into a full blown grin. Its very cute!

We hope everyone had a great holiday!!!

Play time for babies! (Charlotte sleeps through it all)

Earlier this week, Charlotte had a play date with Ethan, Isla and Baby Michael (who is still in his mommy's tummy, but only for a couple more days!). Ethan and Isla are both at the age where they are starting to be social with and aware of each other, but Charlotte really isn't there yet - she pretty much slept in the swing the whole time while Ethan and Isla played on the mats! We put the three of them next to each other to take pictures and Charlotte continued to sleep while Ethan and Isla moved their arms and legs around, often hitting or kicking her and she didn't seem to mind a bit! She is a champion sleeper - lets hope this continues!!