Charlotte - Weeks 14 & 15

What a fun couple of weeks we've had! Christmas was a lot of fun this year, we were soooo happy to have Auntie Em with us and both Mommy and Ruby were in tears seeing her go. I wish I had a magic wand that would keep family close all the time.

Charlotte is changing so much, she is getting such a fun personality. She LOVES to talk now and she talks a lot! It's like she really, really wants us to know what she's trying to say. Right around Christmas, she started reaching out and grabbing things, I remember when Ruby started doing that, I LOVE this stage. As soon as Charlie grabs something, she puts it directly in her mouth. I think I'm in trouble with this one. :)

Charlotte is also really enamoured with Ruby now. She watches her all the time and is always smiling at her. Ruby is a really great big sister and genuinely cares about Charlotte and loves her so much. It's really fun to watch them together and I know there will be so many fun times just around the corner.

Ruby had a great Christmas, she was very excited that Santa came but since she was able to open Charlie's, Mommy's, Daddy's, Auntie Em's AND her own presents, it got old pretty quickly. She was so happy to get the coveted "make-up" that she wanted and books were a big hit again this year too. She's been loving all the Christmas music and has been singing non-stop. Her favorites seem to be Silent Night and Jingle Bells.
We couldn't of had a better year, 2010 was great and I'm so excited for 2011. As I reflect back on the year, I'm also savoring each and every little thing I love about my little family. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Ruby:

-I love it that she still says "b" instead of "v", she's "Ruby Bogt".
-I love that when I lay with her before bed, she says: "I'll rub your arm if you rub mine."
-I (secretly) love it that she crawls in bed with us in the wee hours of the morning.
-I love her bedhead. It's a bitch to brush out, but I love it.
-I love the freckle on her nose.
-I love that I can still kiss her boo-boos better.
-I love that she thinks she's beautiful.
-I love the she calls the TV remote "the fremote".
-I love her sense of humor. She's such a goof!
-I love that she loves books.


Charlotte:
-I love that she rubs me very gently when she's breastfeeding.
-I love that when I get her up from her nap, she smiles at me so big that she looks like she's going to explode.
-I love her dimples.
-I love that she has one eyelash on each eye that's longer than the rest. Just like me.
-I love how she coos to me when she's tired.
-I love how she opens her mouth like a baby bird when I'm about to feed her.

Doug (P.S. happy 6th anniversary babe!):
-I love how much he loves me and the girls.
-I love how hard he works so I can stay at home.
-I love how goofy he is, man, he's a goof!!
-I love how generous he is.
-I love how easy-going he is. He turns mountains into mole hills. :)

Happy New Year everyone! Check out Ruby singing Silent Night at the bottom of this post. :)

With the Santa at the mall. I was amazed Ruby got on his lap.

Tummy time.

Santa's cutest Elf.


I love this so much. So many sweet times ahead!


Getting ready for her school Christmas concert. Goof with a capital G.

Auntie Em!!!!

Spinney carousel ride. Em was a trooper.

Rubes and her silly friends, Ben and Lucy.

Ruby showing Charlie her new toy.

Matching Christmas PJs!

Charlotte loves her new mobile.

Taking/dragging her new puppy for a walk.

Applying the eye shadow. Oy.

Em did a great job at getting her cuddles in with Charlie

while Rubes was pre-occupied. :)

Sweet sisters.
OK, well the big one has a little devil in her. :)

Slobbery, juicy, wonderful Charlie kisses.

Is that Doug's girl or what??

Hehe!

My loves.

Charlotte - Week 13

I can't believe Charlotte is 3 months old!! She is getting sweeter by the day. She's so smiley and happy and is cooing up a storm. I even got her laughing a little bit the other day. She is just happy to be alive. :)

So, I can happily say that Charlotte is now "sleep trained". I sent Ruby to school 5 days last week so I could have a solid uninterrupted week to get Charlotte to go down for naps on her own, in her crib. It worked!! She now goes down in her crib while she's still awake and self-soothes herself to sleep. It was a hard 3 or 4 days of listening to her cry it out but she learned pretty fast and now hardly cries at all. She's also sleeping through the night from about 10:30 to 7ish. She seems to have a pattern of waking up around 3am and 6am but after a while she goes back to sleep on her own. It's so nice to be getting a good night's sleep. Now if we could just keep the 3 year old bed-hog from creeping into our bed in the middle of the night, that would be the icing on the cake!

Charlie's done with the pacifier, she doesn't want it at all anymore but never goes to sleep without sucking on her fingers or thumb. I'm happy that she's not interested in the pacifier anymore - one less thing to have to think about bringing when you leave the house.

Charlotte loves her baths, she is starting to realize that she can make the water slash if she kicks her feet. But most of all she loves looking at the baby taking a bath in the mirror. She is so strong, she's always trying to sit up if she's laying down or in her car seat. I think she'll be sitting up a lot sooner than Rubes did.

I've had a couple really great days with Rubes. We started a "responsibility chart" where she earns stickers for good/helpful behaviour but gets a big X over a sticker when she has bad behaviour. On Sunday, if she has 10 stickers, we'll take her to ride the carousel. Seems to be working really well so far! She has just been so challenging lately that I cherish these good days.

We took Ruby to an event put on by my charitable mom's group this past Sunday - it was called a "Pajamagram Party". You put a pair of infant pj's, a board book and a stuffed animal into a shoe box, decorate the box, and then it gets sent to a transition house for teen moms and their babies. It was so fun to do something that Ruby actually understood and it was sweet to see her decorating her boxes for "the babies that don't have any pjs".

Check out the video of Charlie talking to Daddy. Hope every one's having a great week!

One happy girl. xoxo

Our real-life Pipi Longstocking. This is usually what her hair looks like when I pick her up from school.

Crazy, crazy girl!

Sisters. Charlie's planning her next defence move.

Rubes with some of her little friends at the Pajamagram Party.

Decorated Pajamagrams from Rubes and Charlie.

Santa's helper.

I have a feeling that soon enough, Charlie will be the one tackling Ruby.

Showing Charlotte the Christmas card from El & B.

Laughing at mommy's silly faces.

"Oh mom, you're so silly."

"Who, me?"

Look who I found in my bed!

Charlotte - Week 11 & 12

It's hard to believe that Charlie is almost 3 months old! The past two weeks have been big developmental ones for our little peanut. This week we put her in her crib for the first time and for the past 3 nights she's slept through the night! I think she likes her crib! I decided to bite the bullet and start "sleep training" Charlotte for naps so that I can just put her down and she can put herself to sleep instead of us walking her to sleep and then having her nap in her swing. In other words, letting her cry it out. I had to mentally prepare for this week because it is so hard on me to listen to her cry and I've found out since we have a video monitor now that it's soooo much harder to watch her cry her little eyes out than just listen to her cry. :( But today was day 3 and she's doing really well. We're getting there and it will be so worth it when we're done.

Charlotte is getting so long, we have to put her in 3-6 month sleepers so she can comfortably stretch her little legs and toes. She loves kicking her feet when she's in her bouncy seat, she's a strong little girl! Charlie loves to talk now and I usually have the best conversations with her right before her naps when she's peaceful and relaxed. It's the sweetest thing. She has developed quite the fascination with her hands and will study them for a lot of her awake time. I remember this phase with Ruby and I just love it!

Ruby. Ruby. Ruby. She's either making us laugh hysterically or making our blood boil. Being 3 is very hard. We're trying to get her excited for Christmas but she's only somewhat amused. We've been slowly decorating the tree, she's been putting a few ornaments a day which usually ends in some sort of melt down. Her one and only thing she wants from Santa is make up. Yikes, I guess we're at that stage now. Her new saying is "Oh Lordy". It sounds hilarious coming out of a 3 year old's mouth.

Ruby loves to come home from school and do "home work". I dot out letters and numbers and she traces them. She's getting really good and I love the she loves to learn. Every time we do it, it brings back memories when mom used to do that for us. Ruby and I have a date this weekend, we're going to see the movie Tangled and then going to pick out a Christmas gift for Charlotte. I'm so excited, I can't wait for just Ruby and Mommy time! She is really excited too but who knows, by Saturday she may not like me again.

We had a great time with Pop Pop and a wonderful Thanksgiving with our neighbors, the Comforts. Can't believe Christmas is only a few weeks away! Check out the video at the end of this post of a sweet moment between the girls.

This picture is so typical Ruby for about the first 1/2 hour after she wakes up.

Charlie loves her play mat, especially the star in the middle - just like her big sister did!

Watching the Macy's parade with Pop Pop.

Rubes tackle-hugging Chris.

Ruby and her besties Ben and Lucy.

Riding a PONY!!

Awww!

Hmmm, what is this thing attached to my arm?

Very interesting.
Precious moment.

First time in a real swing!

Just waking up.

Oh hi Mommy, it's you!

Sooo sleepy.

Talking up a storm.

Smiling at big sister Rubes.

I just love how they're starting to interact.

Found her thumb.

Doing her "home work".

Great job, Rubes!

Deep in conversation.

Hanging the first ornament.

Charlie's preferred method of soothing.

Rubes and Daddy watching Charlie Brown Christmas.

More ornaments, we're getting there!

She fought it for a long time!