Dairy Free and other things

Some small updates.

1.  In December we celebrated our fourth anniversary!  I almost can't believe I've been married for that long because when I think about how old I am I feel like a baby, but when I think about my anniversary I feel old.  Either way it doesn't really matter because I'm married to the most incredible guy and feel so blessed with my little (but growing) family.  Being married and having a family is by far my greatest accomplishment and I wouldn't trade one second of the last four years for anything.

2.  When you have a baby, your other children somehow quadruple in size.  I swear I left for the hospital with a baby at home and returned the next day (literally) to a little kid.  She someone grew 4 inches and started speaking overnight.  It was crazy.  Sophie is a big kid now.  She's 19 months and has finally rolled past the 30 inch mark and made it past 20 lbs.  Wahoo!

3.  Charlotte is getting soooooo big (comparitively....we're still under 8 lbs...but for her thats huge).  She holds her head up on her own a lot and is awake a lot more now too.  She has survived a few mishaps caused (without malice) by her older sister that may have caused Rob to say something along the lines of, "It's a miracle that more infant fatalities are not caused by their older brothers and sisters."

4.  We are currently dealing with what we think is a dairy allergy.  Charlotte has lots of the symptoms so I've cut it completely out of my diet.  Hopefully it helps and her belly and stuffy nose can return to normal sometime soon.  For a girl who doesn't even like milk that much, it has been WAAAAAY harder than I expected.  Doable, but hard.

Ridiculous.

When you watch your toddler walking super strangely at the store only to realize you've put her boots on the wrong feet.  No one to blame but yourself.  And it's not the first time either.

When you realize you haven't brushed your teeth and it's 12:00 in the afternoon and you've left the house twice.

When you and your husband finish off an entire package of oreos in 3 days.  With half a bottle of whipped cream to top them off.

When you find your daughter dragging other (tiny) daughter around in circles on the floor by her feet.  For the 3rd time today.

When you realize your family has had quesadillas for lunch or dinner (in some form or variation) 4 times this week.  At least we've moved on from cereal.

When you realize your daughter is walking you by the hand to the treat drawer (yes I have one of those) for the 10th time today.  Or even when you realize your daughter knows where and what the treat drawer is.

This is my life.

Sisterly Love

This adorable, sleepy baby is still causing a lot of excitement around here.  She is a very mellow little girl and doesn't cry much...unless she's wet or hungry.  Typical baby.  But we are loving every minute we spend with her.  Especially Sophie.  

Most of the time, she looks something like this: 

All thanks to Sophie's sticker obsession.  I'm pretty sure she uses stickers much like a dog uses its urine.  She is just marking her territory.  Letting us all know who she belongs too (weird metaphor...sorry).  

If Sophie is not covering her head to toe in stickers, you'll most likely find the two of them like this:  

Sophie insists on reading to Charlotte every chance she gets.  It's pretty cute.  And she wants Charlotte to be as close to her as possible without (or with) squishing her guts out. 

As you can see, this little baby doesn't get much alone time.  Sophie even manages to interrupt her otherwise peaceful 22 hour naps by climbing into her bouncer with her.  I catch her doing this ALL.THE.TIME.

And if Sophie is not bugging cuddling Charlotte, you can probably find her like this:

Or like this: 

What a hip little girl.  Just groovin' to some tunes. 

Sophie is seriously obsessed with Charlotte.  Every single morning, the first word that comes our of her mouth is, "bebe?"  Followed by frantic searching through the upstairs to figure out where said 'bebe' is.  She doesn't like it when Charlotte is out of her sight.  

Charlotte doesn't seem to mind all of the attention.  She gets a little tired of the constant touching and poking and kissing and hugging, but that's why second children are so laid back, right?  I would know. I'm one of them ;)

At Last

Ten years ago, if I could have imagined up my life now, I'm pretty sure it would be almost exactly as it is today.  And it's pretty dang good.

We've been doing lots of this....

and this...

and we've been pretty happy about it.

Sophie loves her "bebe" and so do we.

What a cutie.

Charlotte Avon

6 lbs 12oz

18 inches long

Although we did make a visit to the doctor today and she's already weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz.  Seven days old and eating and sleeping like a champ.  That's how we roll around here.

We were not so happy to say goodbye to these two....we really don't know what we're going to do without them.   Somehow we'll manage.