Round and Round She Goes.....

This is the funniest video I have taken of Charlotte in a LONG time. She thinks it's hilarious to just turn and turn in a circle and then pass out like a drunken frat boy. I keep laughing out loud at this video!

Today, I gave her chicken and dumpling soup for lunch. Silly me, I tried to feed it to her with a spoon. She promptly spit it out all over the place...which is strange because she had it at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Monday.. Then, I figured it out. I took all of the dumplings and vegetables and chicken and put it on her tray. She ate every last drop..she just wanted to do it herself. She is very independent!

Charlotte is going to be a BIG sister!

Well, I imagine most of you already know this....but if not, we are going to have a new addition in our house (and, NO, it is NOT another new dog this time!!).

Charlotte is going to be a big sister!!! I am due with our newest little one on November 10th. But, if history repeats itself (and there is a good chance it might) the baby will more likely come sometime in October. I am 12 weeks today.

I am sure most of you are as surprised as Kevin and I were to find this out! We are more than thrilled and feel very blessed that we will be adding to our family! I am feeling fine, just a little tired (and still a little shell shocked).

So, in addition to updating you on Charlotte, we will post about the progress of her newest sibling every now and then.

Lil' Miss Smarty Pants

100th Post!!

The following pictures explain why mommy has to give Charlotte a bath every night after dinner.

She is such a messy eater and totally delights herself by rubbing her food all over her face and in her hair. Are we sure this is my child??? Her new favorite thing is feeding the dogs. I always know when she is doing it even with my back turned, she starts killing herself laughing... I look over and there is Charlotte leaning to one side with her arm hanging down and one of the dogs licking her hand like a popsicle!

Today, Charlotte and I went to the park again. We stopped at the ice cream shop, got a couple of scoops of strawberry ice cream and had a "picnic" on her blanket. Then we went on the swings again since she really loves it. Here are a few pics of today's park adventure..

And, last but not least, here are a few shots of her doing what she loves to do best....playing with her doggies. (Please don't judge our ghetto paper blinds, ours are in the shop being restrung)

Happy 100th post everyone!!! Thanks for continuing to log on and check in on us!!! (And, yes, ever after 100 posts, I still can't figure out how to make the wording look nice around the pictures!!) Also, I just realized something.... when I created this post, it said it was my 100th post, but when I look at the tally on the left, it adds up to 97. So, for the math whiz's out there...let's forget that added up wrong and just call it 100, okay?

Friday in the Park

Here are a few pics from last Friday when I took Charlotte to the park for the first time. She had such a great time on the swings!!!!

Charlotte is now "pointing" at everything. She points constantly at whatever she is looking at. So, Kevin and I always tell her whatever she is pointing at. Like, "doggies" or "couch" or whatever. She is also starting to associate words and items. If we ask her "Where's your paci?" she will look around the room with a furrowed brow like she is concentrating really hard..the she finds it, gets a great big smile and goes and gets it. She can find her paci, her sippy (sippy cup) and her baby. She also points to her nose when you ask her "Where's your nose??" Such a smarty pants for her age!!

Bath Time!

Here are a few pictures from last night's bath time.  She is sporting a baby shampoo mohawk in a few of them.  Also, in the first one, you can see how she has learned that splashing mommy can be a fun game while taking a bath!  

My First Easter!

Happy Easter from Charlotte!!!  We had a great weekend, busy with family.  On Friday, Charlotte and I drove down to Grandma and Grandpa Cannata's house to see Aunt Emily and Aunt Liz who were coming home from school for Easter. On Saturday, we went down to Grandma Clinnin's house for Colleen's birthday. When we got there, we found that the Easter Bunny had made an early visit to Lansing and left a basket there for Charlotte.  On Easter, we went again to Olympia Fields to spend the day with my family. Charlotte was sporting her yellow Easter dress with a little white cardigan.  She had yellow socks and little patten leather shoes.  The shoes didn't last too long (as pictured).  And actually, when she went down for her second nap, I put her in some jammies and after she woke up, I put her in jeans.  The dress was nice, but who wants to be in a dress all day long??  The Easter Bunny also left a few things for her there. She's a very lucky little girl to be so spoiled!  Charlotte had a great Easter and she loved playing with her little plastic eggs all day long. 

Charlotte woke up at 6:00 am this morning!  I walked in there and was like, "Baby, this is a little early..."  She needed a diaper change and then I turned on her music and put her back to bed....thankfully, just like me, she was not ready to be up.  She went back to bed until 7:30. Her latest thing is trying to give me a pacifier.  She tries to shove one in my mouth and just laughs and laughs.  It is very amusing to her.  She is hilarious with her pacifiers.  She is in her crib right now with one in her mouth and one in each hand.  You know, just in case she loses one during the night.  She continues to crack her daddy and I up on a daily basis.  

 

Getting Ready for Easter

Here's a few pictures of Charlotte enjoying her Easter Eggs.  We have also been working on using a sippy cup and I have a few pictures of that. Charlotte likes to just walk around with it hanging out of her mouth.  

She's so funny...and she knows it!!   

No More Sick Baby!!

Charlotte is almost all better..I would say about 90% better.  She still has a runny nose, but she is not wheezing at all and barely coughing.  My cold seems to be lingering a bit longer than her's and Kevin is going through his share of it now.  So, needless to say, our house is like an infirmary. Kevin has been out of work two days!  Hopefully, we will all be better in time for the Easter Bunny's visit.  I had to go to Walgreen's to get some cough syrup for Kevin and I got some jelly beans....and I have to say that Charlotte is a fan of the jelly beans!  I obviously did not give her a full jelly bean, but I gave her a few small pieces and she was all smiles!  I'm telling you, that girl will eat anything!!  She is such a fruit person these days...she can't get enough peaches, pears or oranges.  I even gave her some of my grapefruit yesterday and she ate it right up.  I think it's funny how much she loves oranges because that is the biggest thing that  I craved when I was pregnant with her!  

I'm glad to report that Charlotte is better and hopefully, Kevin will and I will be fully recovered soon too!

Better Today

Charlotte is doing better today.  I gave her the steroids last night because she wasn't getting any better.  She isn't wheezing as much today and has a much better appetite.  Yesterday, she turned her nose up at Mandarin oranges...and Grandpa will tell you, that's just not Charlotte!!  She took a three hour nap yesterday and she really just wasn't her self for most of the day.  Today, she had some yogurt and bananas and she just had some pastina for lunch.  We also just took a bath, which I think always helps.  She is also playing more today, yesterday she kind of just wanted to be held on the couch (which I actually really like, she never wants to be held anymore!)  Anyway, it looks like things are looking up!

Still Sick this Morning

Charlotte is still sick....in fact, she woke up with a 101.6 fever.  So, I gave her some Motrin and it is going down.  She is still coughing and wheezing.  I don't think I am going to give her the steroids just yet.  She didn't wake up once last night.  If she had been up all night, I think I would give them to her.  We'll see how she does after her morning nap.  

Charlotte has "A slight case of the croup"

First of all, she is okay...no one panic.  I have a chest cold that started on Saturday; and last night, I heard the sound that I had been dreading, Charlotte wheezing on the baby monitor.  She got up early (for her) at about 7:45, I think it was just getting hard for her to breathe through her nose and keep her pacifier in.  She did okay throughout the morning.  She was wheezing, but nothing too alarming.  After her morning nap, she went downhill.  I just did not like the sounds coming out of her.  Kevin said she sounded like Darth Vader.  So, around 2:00 I called the doctor to see if we could get her in.  Unfortunately, the earliest appointment that they had was at 8:00 during their "after hours."  Since Charlotte goes to bed at 8:15, I was dreading this.  The wheezing and coughing was getting worse as the day went on.  Even Grandma and Grandpa Cannata could hear her wheezing over the phone when we called them.  When we got to the doctor, she told us that Charlotte sounded kind of "croupy."  So, she wanted to give her a breathing treatment of saline.  (See attached picture).  She didn't really love it at first, but I laid her back, put her pacifier in and she sort of fell asleep.  I know it's a bad picture, but I took it with my cell phone in my left hand as I was holding her and giving her the breathing treatment with the other hand...pretty impressive.  She is now fast asleep with 2 humidifiers going full blast in her room.  I will most likely have to get up with her and take her into the steamy bathroom sometime tonight.  She also said to take her outside for a few minutes, that the cool night air sometimes makes it better.  I also have a prescription for steroids if she isn't doing better tomorrow.  Despite the fact that she is sick, she is surprisingly happy and active.  The doctor even said that she was the happiest baby with the croup she has ever seen!!  That Charlotte...she's such a trooper!  We will keep you updated, we hope she (and I) will be feeling better in the morning. 

And, NO...this is NOT an April Fool's joke...I am not that cruel!!!