Charli's Six Month Photos

A week after Charli turned 6 months we took her back to Fotofly to have her pictures taken. If you can remember, her newborn photos were a challenge and she was super grumpy. This photoshoot was wonderful and pretty much the exact opposite. Charli interacted really well with the photographer and it was really hard to choose our favorites because they were all so amazing. Towards the end she did get a little fussy but we had already gotten so many good photos I didn't really care. Here are some of them. :)

My amazing beautiful family. So so lucky. 

Look how grown up my little stinker looks!

She was standing in this. So much happier than her original over the couch photo as a newborn lol.

Chubby babies = the best.

My beautiful girl.

So much sass. 

Loves her daddy so much.

Her hand obsession is only growing..

Couldn't get her hands away from her face but it was cute anyway lol.

Her eyes are the best.

Memories with Charli: Sixth Month

Charli saw her first fireworks on the 24th of July and absolutely loved them. She enjoyed the fountain fireworks on the ground more than the ones in the air. She also rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time and then was mad because she couldn't figure out how to roll over again.

Charli went camping for the first time on the 1st and 2nd of August. She handled it pretty well the night of the 1st but the 2nd was a little too much heat for her.

Dad was still spending a lot of time working on the basement so Charli and mom got to spend a lot of time together.

Charli started waking up twice a night and eating an entire bottle each time. She also started to eat some solids although most of it ended up on her bib. She loved peach banana oatmeal, but not chicken and brown rice.

Charli got really good at gripping and holding toys. She also figured out how to change the music on her bouncer and how to spin things. She was really good at having mom show her how to do something and then repeating it.

Charli started to yell at her toys when chewing on them. She also started to growl.

Charli finally started to get some hair although it was pretty thin still.

Charli went to mom's company party and did pretty well even though it was warm outside.

Charli could almost sit up on her own without any assistance and was really good at standing with support.

Charli was still pretty good in the car as long as she had a toy to distract her. I would often think she was sleeping and then when I would go to get her out of the car she would be wide awake and smiling.

Charli still didn't cut any teeth although she was very drolly and loved chewing on things.

Too cool baby on the 24th of July.

Hanging with Mama.

Such good head control. She rarely liked being on her tummy.

Made it to a water fall with mom and dad

Loved being outside

Family picture while hiking

Charli and Daddy camping

Charli starting to look like a little girl instead of a baby.

Charli and Daddy

Charli and Mommy 

At Charli's six month appointment she was 14lbs 10 oz and 24.6 inches long. 

Memories With Charli: Fifth Month

I can't believe my baby girl is already 5 months old. I am so in love and find myself feeling stronger and more connected to her every day. I am loving to see how much she has changed and can't wait to see what will come our way next. Her are a few of the things I remember from this last month.


1) Charli found her voice box. She made the most amazing squealing noises and sounded like a baby dinosaur.

2) One morning Dad placed Charli in front of the mirror in just her diaper and Charli squealed at herself for a good 10 minutes. Mom thought it was the best image ever to walk in and see a naked baby so excited to see herself.

3) Charli went swimming for the first time. She did okay but didn't like the sun in her eyes.

4) Mom and Dad were dealing with a lot of basement projects all at once. Charli got to go with mom and dad to pick out kitchen cabinets, pick out granite counter tops, and to pick out carpet. She did really well and slept through most of it.

5) Charli started sleeping in her crib again when mom got sick with pneumonia. Charli actually did really well and slept through most of the night on her own.

6) It became more difficult to settle Charli as it seemed like all of are methods didn't work anymore. We started using a little vibrating chair that Charli's grandma had bought her and she loved it. We were pretty sure she was starting to teeth but no signs of an actual tooth yet.

7) Charli was pretty fussy her first 4th of July and slept through most of it.

8) Charli began to find her feet more often and seemed fascinated by them. Still loved to suck on her fingers.

9) Charli still did really well in the car and fell asleep most of the time when we ran errands.

10) Charli got to meet her cousin Khloe. :)

Charli and Khloe 

The magic chair that Charli slept in when she was teething.

Charli being cute in her pjs.

Charli with her Daddy getting ready to swim.

Charli sleeping while Mom and Dad picked out cabinets.

Charli's 5 month pictures.

I love you beautiful baby girl. 

Memories with Charli: Fourth Month

1) Charli started becoming more vocal and experiment with her voice. This would make her sound fussy sometimes but really she was just practicing.

2) Started sucking on her fingers and hand more

3) Started leeping more through the night for the most part and usually only woke up once. Charli still slept with Mom and Dad because they liked having her with them.

4) Starting sticking her tongue out when she smiled ha ah and she started to have different types of smiles. Sometimes it seems like she puts her whole entire body into her smiles and other times it is just a polite close mouthed smile.

5) Loved Frozen and singing

6) Mom went back to work so Charli started staying with Aunt Kim during the day

7) Charli liked sitting up more than laying down and wanted to see everything

8) Started to grab onto her blankets with her hands and would hold onto toys.

9) Had a really good routine with mom in the morning before Mom had to go to work.

10) Pooped in the tub for the first time

11) Graduated to size 2 diapers.

12) Went on her first hike with mom and dad for mom's birthday. Charli sucked on her fist the whole way up and only got upset on the way back.

13) At her 4 month appointment Charli weighed 12 lb 12 oz and was 24.2 inches long.

Started to stick her tongue out...

Taking a nap with Uncle Ryan..

Hanging out with her cousin Carter

Hiking on Mommy's B-day

Pretty and happy at 4 months :)

So peaceful sleeping.

Finding her fingers..

Memories with Charli: third month

Still playing catch up.. Memories with Charil: Third Month

1. The third month was really hard because Charli started to have a really bad reaction to formula and didn't sleep for 3 days straight pretty much. Really scared mommy and daddy because we didn't know how to help her. Nothing seemed to soothe her for very long and she would wake up out of a dead sleep screaming. Took her to the doctor and we were told it was colic, but we knew that it wasn't. The doctors gave us heartburn medication to help Charli but it didn't help much and she started to eat less and less formula. We would still get smiles in between all of her crying but they were rare. We decided to try goat's milk and it was an immediate change. We were so happy to have something that really finally helped her. During her fussy time, one of the only things that calmed her down was taking a shower with Mom or Dad. Mom was also super worried about going back to work because of how uncomfortable she was.

2. We started to notice a lot more drool and bubbles and even called Charli "bubbles" on occasion.

3. Charli started to get more hair, but it was still pretty light.

4. Charli started sleeping with mom and dad again because we all slept better together when she wasn't feeling good.. especially because she woke up so often.

5. Charli didn't like anything messing with your routine and became very fussy if we did. Mom and dad spent less time going out due to this.

6. Charli started to make some pretty goofy facial expressions.

7. We discovered that Charli liked the lullaby on the globe that Grandma Stocking had given her. We would always play it when she was on her changing table and she would just light up and smile.

Charli at 3 months

All her goofy faces :)

She had the most genuine beautiful smile

Another awesome face!

Memories from the First Two Months

So I am super behind, but luckily I am working on these as I can so that I don't forget everything. Here are Memories with Charli: 2nd Month :)

1. Charli started to socially smile which was adorable. She also started to coo and make noises and experiment with her voice. She started to drool more and blow bubbles.

2. She loved her swing and rock and play. Started to sleep in her crib and did really well for awhile but then started to wake up every 3 hours or so again. For a while Mom would wake up before Charli and would wait for her to wake up. Loved talking to mom and dad in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. She still loved country music and being swaddled to sleep.

3. Charli loved to lay on a blanket and kick. She loved to watch bright lights, fans, and the tv and she loved the mobile on her swing.

4. Charli loved baths and being talked to.  She also liked to take showers with Mom and Dad, especially when she was fussy. She also liked being held in her carrier and was really good at sleeping through errands.

5. Loved being on her changing table and being naked, but hating getting dressed. Did not like tummy time and started to have tears when she was crying.

6. Mom and Dad went out to a restaurant with Charli for the first time and she slept the whole time. She also went to the drive in movies and snuggled with mom and dad. Also went to the park a few times as well. Went on a hike up bell canyon with Mom and dad. Also visited Dad every week during his lunch break.

7. She liked to spit her binky out over and over and then get mad when she didn't have it.

8. For Easter, Charli went to both grandparents houses. Grandma Stocking made her an Easter Basket and Grandma Norman got her footie pjs. Mom painted Charli's nails for Easter while she was asleep. :) Took pictures with bunnies and Charli was super ornery the whole time haha.

9. Dad liked to build blanket forts around Charli.

10. Charli started to react to noises more and would get startled.

11. Charli loved to stretch and raise her arms over her head. Started to look like a cheerleader ha ha.

12. She had her first shots at 2 months and was super sad when she got them but overall handled them pretty well. At her 2 month appointment she was 20.75 inches long and 10 lbs 9 ounces.

Pictures with bunnies at Thanksgiving point

Blanket forts with Daddy

Happy Girl On Easter

Two Month Picture :)

Memories with Charli: First Month

Here are some of the things I remember from Charli's first month. :)

1. I remember the day we left the hospital; it was super warm outside. I felt like that nicer weather was meant for me because I have always hated snow. How perfect was it that I had a winter baby and it felt like spring leaving? Charli was really good in the car even though we had to stop at walgreens to pick up medication for mom. Dad cleaned the house and slept while mom spent a lot of time trying to breastfeed. My parents brought over homemade spaghetti that night.

2. We had  a lot of visitors initially with a lot of food. It was super helpful in the beginning since we had a lot of adjusting to get used to a newborn.

3. The lack of sleep was probably the most difficult: baby needed to eat every two hours and would sometimes nurse up to 45 minutes at a time. We would put Charli in her co sleeper and she would just stare at us instead of sleeping. We experimented a lot with sleep. First, Charli started in a co sleeper.. then she actually slept with us. Eventually she moved to a rock and play since she liked sleeping propped up. She was really good at sleeping in the car or while Dad held her while doing chores around the house. Charli loved taking naps with mom and dad and loved her pacifier.

4. Breastfeeding was really a struggle. I didn't know that Charli wasn't getting enough milk from me initially. She was super fussy and had trouble latching so Kyle would have to walk around with her and soothe her before I could try again. I remember staying up late dancing with her to try and calm her down. Charli had a lot of doctor's appointments to track her weight in the beginning. Finally, I went to a lactation specialist when I found out you were not transferring enough milk. At this point, I was so exhausted that we switched Charli to half formula and half breast milk. I no longer trusted my body though so any breast milk she got was from pumping so I could track how much she was eating. I really hated losing that connection with her that I had with breastfeeding but I really wanted to make sure that she was fed and it had been a long 3 weeks watching her not gain weight. Charli stayed on half and half until about 6 weeks. At this time she was having tummy troubles so we switched you to hypoallergenic formula. Mom was worried about her milk affecting Charli when the new formula worked so well.

5. Mom and Dad initially watched a ton of episodes of Lost. We did get stir crazy and take Charli to the zoo where she slept the entire time. She was pretty scowly and only smiled in her sleep or when she had gas. We tried really hard to catch her smiles on camera and kept missing it. Charli started to like baths but didn't really like her swing at first. She had constant hiccups just like in the womb. We had some pretty intense diaper changes in the beginning that made us laugh in our sleep deprived states.
Dad went back to work at two weeks.

6. Mom was super emotional over everything. She cried watching Charli's newborn slideshow from the hospital because she thought her baby was so beautiful. Mom actually really missed being pregnant.

7. Mickey initially growled at Charli but become very attached and Laila liked Charli but was mostly not even interested.

Charli's going home outfit.

Wide awake while mom and dad are trying to sleep ha ha.

Charli's epic scowl.

Mom and Charli snuggling.

Memories with Charli: Recovery in the Hospital

So, I thought it would be a good idea to have some memory posts here and there because I realized I am already forgetting little details about Charli's first months. I want to be able to share a least some of what I remember with her and I want to document this journey for myself.

This first one is what Kyle and I remember from our recovery time in the hospital with her.

1. Charli came out screaming initially (super strong lungs!) but immediately calmed down when she was skin to skin with mommy. Dad and Grandma both cried when Charli was born. Mom was too excited and happy that baby was finally here to cry. The nurses had to rub her back to make her cry and clear her lungs out more. Dad cut the cord and Mom asked to see the placenta. Charli never once left our side in the recovery room because her apgar score was so good. Mommy held Charli skin to skin while she was getting stitched up and eventually asked for a diaper for her since she started to pass gas ha ha. Daddy was next to hold Charli, but Mom held her while she was being moved from delivery to recovery room.

2. Dad was too excited to sleep in the hospital and probably only slept a total of 45 minutes in the first couple of days. Charli liked to be held and rocked to sleep. Loved laying skin to skin with Mom and falling asleep while nursing. Dad was so excited that he woke Mom up when the baby got hiccups because he thought it was so cute. Mom didn't sleep very well due to nursing baby on demand and being checked on so frequently. Mom was super excited to finally be able to sleep on her stomach again.

3. Dad helped the nurse with the first bath in the hospital and did the first diaper change. Mom was more timid but jumped in with diaper changes. Her first time changing Charli's diaper was exciting because baby was not done pooping yet. Baby was rarely in her crib in the hospital and never left the room without Dad except for one time when she was taken to get weighed and only because he was asleep and Dad didn't know she had left.

4. Nurses came in every 20-30 minutes to check on Mom or Charli. Charli kept losing her identification bands off her legs. Luckily, she had an adhesive strip on her leg that stayed in place. Mom and Dad liked taking walks around the hospital with the baby. Mom lived off of pretty good food; Dad had to eat mom's left overs or snack on chex mix.

5. Grandma and Grandpa brought Mom and Dad movies to watch together since it was valentine's day. Mom and Dad were too tired to watch the movies. Charli had pictures taken in the hospital and wanted to have her cute hands near her face the entire time.

6. Baby's blood was drawn and she barely even fussed. Charli also had a hearing test that she passed with flying colors. Mom and Dad recorded goofy sleep deprived videos while in the hospital.

7. Mom thought Charli had the most perfectly shaped head ever. She also discovered that Charli had back dimples and was super excited. Every doctor that looked at Charli said she looked perfect.

8. Charli had a lot of visitors in the hospital and Mom was a little overwhelmed since she was pretty sore and tired from giving birth and was trying to learn to breastfeed Charli.

9. Mom struggled to get Charli to latch while breastfeeding but was super calm and patient in the hospital. Nurses would come in looking worried because the baby was crying and Mom was calm. Usually by that point baby was breastfeeding and had calmed down. Mom spent some time talking to one of her nurses late at night because of this. Dad tried to make friends with each nurse when shifts would change.

10. When mom left the hospital, she thought it was crazy that just 9 months earlier she had been in the hospital getting her gall bladder removed and feeling like she would never have a baby due to finding cysts on her ovaries. She remembered seeing the tiny footprints on the floor and feeling like it would never be her time. She shared this story with the nurse who brought her to her car. The day we left the hospital it was super warm for February.

The picture I used to announce Charli's arrival. I didn't announce her birth until 10 pm on the day she was born.

Dad holding Charli.

We spent Valentine's Day in the hospital with our baby girl. One of our first family photos.

I seriously thought she had the most perfectly shaped head ever. I love her hairline.

Her chubby little legs and the bands that kept falling off of them.

Charli's name tag in the hospital. :)

Becoming a Mom.

Becoming a mom is nothing like I imagined it would be. I guess when I pictured having a child, I pictured them older and spending time with them, teaching them, etc. I pictured them at a more interactive stage where I could better communicate with them. I also knew that it would be exhausting and difficult to raise a baby, but I think it was purely a vague sense of what was to come.

The fact is that if you have never raised a baby or child, it is an absolute shock to your system when you finally meet your baby. The hospital allows for a gradual transition (mostly because I had nurses taking care of me so I could take care of my baby) but it is short lived. Plus, those first few days you are on an insane high like nothing you have ever experienced. That high is what made very little sleep in two days not really matter and why I couldn't take my eyes off of my baby the entire time. Before you know it you are checking out and you are kind of wondering why the people there trust you to take care of something so amazing and fragile.

Then you go home and are immediately you are placed into sleep deprivation and hormone hell. Everything hurts, you are exhausted, and although you love your baby you are kind of wondering when their real mom is going to show up because you just don't see how you could be a mom. You get a ton of visitors who are super helpful and you try to pretend you are confident and holding it together when it's just not the reality at all. At least for me, that is how it was. I feel like in a sense I had to grieve my freedom especially when it came to sleep. I had to grieve my previous mental state and let go and try to take it one day at a time. I had to give myself a break on days when I didn't feel perfect and even now, hard days still will happen.. but I know they are just a day and that they aren't a permanent state.

At 7 weeks post partum (tomorrow), I am just starting to feel like a mom. I am just starting to feel like I understand my baby and her quirks, her cries, what she likes, what she doesn't, etc. I am just starting to clear myself out from hormone hell and starting to get sleep. Compared to when she was first born, I feel like a completely different person. And I finally feel truly bonded to my baby.. I have always loved her, but I actually am growing quite fond of this little person who sucks up all my time and energy. It's funny because I look forward to getting a break, but when I finally do get one all I think about is my baby and how she is doing and how amazing she is. I hear my baby crying all the time even when she isn't. I think it is nature's way of keeping me focused on her ha ha. And then, at 4 am when I can't get her to go back to bed and I think I am at the end of my rope… she gives me the biggest grin and none of the stress matters. Every little thing she does is amazing to me and I am loving watching her grow and change.

Becoming a parent is by far the hardest challenge I have ever taken on, but so far it has been the most rewarding and I know that it is only going to get better and better. I know that me and her are going to be close because even now she will find my voice, search for me, and give me the biggest smiles. I finally understand why my parents seemed crazy at times, because being a parent truly makes you that way. Every day I will strive to do my best for her and one day I will look back on this time and truly miss it. I already miss the initial newborn stage even though it felt insanely hard as I experienced it.

Charli at 3 days vs. 7 weeks

The strength I feel now compared to before she was born is amazing. Things that used to stress me out are no more because I know what I am capable of now and I know what I can do. I know that she was meant for me and I can't wait to show her how amazing life really is.