5 Months

Time seems to fly by even faster with Charlie. I can't believe she is 5 months old already! She is such a happy little girl and makes things pretty easy for us. She adores her big sister and grins from ear to ear when she watches Evy jump on the bed--this is the activity that is most likely to generate big laughs from Charlie! She has recently taken to sucking on her bottom lip (top picture)...guess that eliminates the need for a pacifier?! She has rolled over a few times and has just started sitting with a little help--she would still crash face first into the floor if you didn't catch her! Such a smiley, chubby, sweetie!

Vocabulary Explosion

Evy has been using a lot of new words lately. I'm not sure what is causing this recent explosion of words, but it has been fun to hear her roll out some doozies. When she uses a new word for the first time I usually have her repeat it because I'm not 100% sure what she's saying and then I'm amazed that she usually uses it in the right context. Some recent ones:

Gasped: "Mommy, I gasped when I saw the Easter bunny at grandma's last year." I know she has heard this word in some of her books. Cracks me up that she used it correctly.

Options (pronounced Osh-Pins): Me: "Evy, what book do you want to read tonight?" Evy: "Tell me my Osh-Pins."

Disgusting: The chocolate brownie version of the Clif Kid Organic Zbar, which I bought an 18-bar case of is disgusting, according to Evy.

Cracks?

While Evy and Papa Jake were playing Evy got up very close to Papa's face and said, "Papa, why you have cracks in your face?" She decided that he needed lotion on his cracks so she applied some for him.

Snow!

We've only had one major snow this year so we took advantage of it and made a snowman. This is the first snowman Evy has built! Before we went outside she told me that we needed to take a carrot for his nose. Evy has really enjoyed playing outside in the snow this year. She likes to dig with her shovel and make snow angels. Scott snapped the picture of Evy and me from inside--someone had to stay with the baby!

Similar?

Evy

Charlie

People ask if Charlie looks like Evy as a baby. Many people think they don't look at all alike. I think they look similar. I mean, they're both chubby and bald.

Nemo. No, I mean Dory.

Scott loves to get Evy excited about pets. I have no interest in having any type of pet ever. I find it challenging/fulfilling enough to keep the humans in this household fed, clean, and entertained. Last summer Scott got Evy an ant farm as our first entry into pet ownership. The ants were mail order and it took about 4 "batches" to get the ants to arrive alive. They kept getting fried in the summer heat during delivery. Sorry PETA. The ant farm was kind of a bust and it all ended up in the trash after about a month. So, this weekend Scott thought it would be fun to get a fish. I envisioned a glass bowl with a gold fish that would live about 7 days. $60 later Evy is the proud owner of a Little Mermaid fish tank complete with her choice of pink rocks. Of course. The fish was named Nemo for two days until Evy found out that her idol, Ellie, had a fish named Dory. So, Evy announced last night that she has changed the fish's name to Dory. Welcome to the family, Dory. I hope you you fare better than the ants. Or, do I????

Yum Yum!

Charlie tried rice cereal for the first time, this weekend! She took a couple of bites really well, but wrinkled up her forehead with the look of "what in the heck is this stuff?" A couple of bites down. First eating session well documented. Mission accomplished.

Playing

Evy thought she needed to build a tent over Charlie's playmat. They played well together and we only had to remind Evy a few times not to suffocate her sister.

Reading on the Rails

Yet another great program in our community! Today we participated in "Reading on the Rails" which was an hour and a half train ride complete with stories over the loud speaker and book characters walking through the cars. I thought we were pretty literate, but I will admit I only recognized one of the book characters! Evy loved when the conductor punched her ticket and had a blast looking out the window. We spotted geese and turkeys! She also spotted a lot of animal tracks in the snow and was pretty sure the tracks were made by Kiera the lion. She hid in my coat when the characters walked by; she's scared of most things in costume including book characters, Santa, Herky, and the Chick-fil-A Cow! We're hoping we'll have the opportunity to read on the rails again next year!

4 Months

This girl is seriously the happiest baby* which makes us pretty happy parents. At four months Charlotte is off the charts in height and weight, greater than the 95th percentile at 17.9 pounds and 27 inches. She is taking 6 ounce bottles every 3 to 4 hours and naps great in the swing. She sleeps from about 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. in her crib. This month has been rough with sickness so we are off schedule with both eating and sleeping. Poor pumpkin has the stomach flu now and is just starting to keep food "down" after 3 days. Charlie is content doing almost everything so it's hard to identify her favorite activity; riding in the stroller, sitting in the bouncy seat, or grabbing toys. She lets out awesome belly laughs while watching her sister jump around or talk to her. We love you Charlotte Marie!

*We're not being boastful, it's just that we also have experience with a "not-happy" baby and are amazed how easy it is to have a content baby!!!

Charlie's First Day of School

Today is Charlie's first day at daycare! She started a week late because she and Evy were sick last week. As luck would have it, Scott is out of town so I had to get both of these munchkins ready, out the door, and delivered to school in time for me to be at work by 8. My goal was to be out the door by 7:20 and we were backing out the drive at 7:38. I only had to run back into the house once to retrieve a forgotten item! Evy was so excited that Charlie was going with us today, she proudly delivered Charlie to the nursery with me and then exclaimed to all who met us in the hall, "My baby came to school today. Her in the nursery." Charlie was as easy-going as ever as we put her on the play mat and handed her some toys. I grimaced as I thought about all the germs that were likely on those toys, but thanked my lucky stars that Charlie will only be in daycare 30 hours a week. Not 50 like her big sister was!

Evy Says:

Just a few things I want to remember:

"I will do it by my own" This is Evy's combination of "on my own" and "by myself"

"Look a-hind you" This is Evy's version of "behind"

-------------------------------------------------------

Evy: "Mom, Lightning McQueen is a boy, right?"

Me: "That's right."

Evy: "Then why he named Queen?"

Miraculous Day!

Several miraculous things happened yesterday:

1. It was 60 degrees here and that was warmer than Miami, Florida (acording to ABC News)

2. The girls slept simultaneously in the stroller while I took a 45 minute walk!

3. Perhaps the most miraculous was that Evy continued to sleep in the stroller, in the garage*, for an entire hour after we returned home from the walk.

*Don't freak out--I did not leave her alone in the garage! Charlie and I hung out in the garage while Evy slept.

Lions, Lions, Everywhere are Lions

Several months ago we rented The Lion King 2, the story of Simba's daughter, Kiara, and ever since Evy has been obsessed! All of Evy's imaginary play is based on her being Kiara and one of us being Kovu, Kiara's friend. I will admit it's slightly annoying. But we can use the imagination to our advantage at dinner time by telling Evy her steak is Zebra and her vegetables are antelope. She eats them up just like Kiara!

Since Lion King was just re-released the stores are packed full of Lion King items so for Christams Evy got a tent and stuffed lions. We told Evy that the characters are Kiara and Kovu. Luckily all lions look the same so she doesn't realize they are actually Simba and Nala. Here she is in her lion tent, with her lion stuffed animals, watching The Lion King 1 1/2.