Nine Months

At nine months, Charlotte:

- can crawl fast, pulls up on everything, prefers to walk if you will hold her hands, can climb upstairs to her toy room all by herself, stood without hands for the first time this week!
- loves to explore her environment - she touches all knobs, outlet covers, tags, ties, faucets, blinds, leaves, rocks, etc that cross her path
- still loves water and will play in her bath as long as you let her
- prefers to eat real food instead of baby food and likes to pick it up herself (she even ordered and ate her own chicken nuggets and fruit cup at Chick-fil-A on Thursday... wow, big girl).
- is doing better in her car seat and stroller
- still loves her bed and sleeps 11-12 hours every night. She usually likes to put herself to sleep but a few nights last week she cried and we rocked to sleep instead. It was like she was saying "Mama, you've been too busy and I miss you". I agreed 100% and we rocked long past her falling asleep. It was lovely.
- can say bye-bye and Pops.
- still loves all things Macy - her bed, toys, doggie door, bowls and of course her tail.
- loves to be outside. Martha says that her favorite time of day is when they sit outside in the afternoon to watch the kids get off the bus. She loves big kids.
- loves her daddy's football games (last night she made it until 10pm without a meltdown because she was having so much fun!) Keep in mind that is 3 hours past bedtime!!
- loves her books. She sits and flips through them herself which I think is so adorable and also will sit with me and listen to the whole basket of books.
- loves to go to the park and climbs up the stairs and slides down with Mama over and over again
- prefers to whisper when she talks
- has 5 teeth and 3 more coming in - poor baby!
- is also known as Peanut, P, Lotte Lou and Gracie Goose

My dear Charlotte, you are more and more fun every day that goes by. You are turning into a very active and happy little girl. You are still a spitting image of your daddy, thank goodness he is a pretty boy :) Your smile can light up any room. Your hugs can make even the saddest hearts a little bit happier. You bring so much joy to me and your daddy. I could not have dreamed of a sweeter, happier or more beautiful baby girl. I thank God everyday for you.

Love,
Mama

9 month stats:
Weight 19 lb 14 oz (70%) - the formula is treating her well!!
Length 27 in (25%) - still a short stack
Head Circumference 46.5cm (97%) - smart girl!


Recent favs:
What Mama?!? I was not going to eat this leaf!

Climbing to the top!

Showing off the new pearly whites :)

Daddy's idea of multi-tasking - doing the dishes and bath time all in one. She loved checking out a different type of faucet!

Playing outside with her new Thanksgiving Little People set that Nana sent - she loves it! Thank you Nana!

Playing dress up

Lots of drool with all these teeth

Pretty baby

More park fun

Just a swingin'

Helping daddy dig a hole

My favorite face in the whole wide world

Somebody get me out of here!

Thank goodness for the doggie door when I am trying to make dinner or clean the kitchen - it provides hours of entertainment!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lauren!

Happy 31st birthday Lauren!! I know that your two little miracles from heaven are the best gift that you could ever ask for this year. 31 should prove to be a year of excitement, change, joy, love, fatigue, gratitude, hellos, goodbyes, blessings, fears, surprises and adventures. You will become an even stronger person, an even more supportive wife and somehow you will find even more love deep down in your heart to share with two more sweet babies. You will have to let go of some perfection, let go of some control and accept help from many to make it through. You will have to remember whats important - swinging with Owen, rocking a sleeping baby, date nights with your hubby, escaping every now and then with girlfriends.... and what's not important - laundry, homemade dinners, schedules, losing your baby weight, a clean car and stressing over bank accounts. The time will go all too fast and you will be left with a whirlwind of memories from "when the kids were little"... I hope that those memories are lovely. That is my birthday wish for you this year and I am looking forward to doing anything I can to make it come true!




This picture is from our early birthday celebration last weekend when the Black's came to visit! We had so much fun as usual! I miss them already!

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch

Fall is here!!!!! This is by far my favorite season and I get so excited every year about all things fall and especially holidays! We started a tradition this year... driving out to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls to their awesome pumpkin patch! It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful day. Charlotte was flapping her hands with excitement when we got her out of the car like she knew she was in for something really fun! Unfortunately they only took cash and checks, neither of which we had. So we just walked around and enjoyed the afternoon. We decided that this would for sure be the last time we would be able to get away with that (no goat food, no pumpkins, no maze, no painting pumpkins, etc, etc). Next year we will be prepared!!

Meeting Great-Grandpa Cecil

Last weekend was a very special weekend for our family. Charlotte is named after my dear grandmother, Charlotte Rita Bosworth. Grandma Charlotte was quite an amazing woman who passed away shortly before I found out I was pregnant. She and Grandpa Cecil have quite a story to tell, they lived a life that all of us should aspire to follow. They fell in love before Grandpa left for World War 2 and spent almost 4 years apart awaiting his return. One of my favorite stories about them is that they both joined the Catholic church during that time without knowing that the other one had done the same. (Clearly no i-phones or facebook!!) I believe that God brought them to each other and to Him and had an amazing plan for their life. They were married for almost 63 years before Grandma passed away last spring. They had 8 children in 11 years and raised them on what He provided. Their priorities were God, family and work. They sent them all to Catholic school and went to church every Sunday. They had 2 bedrooms for their kids, one for the 4 boys and one for the 4 girls. They eventually had 19 grandchildren and now have 12 great-grandchildren with 3 more on the way (if I am counting right)! They lost one of their babies to cancer at the age of 30, my Uncle Steve. They were never quite the same again, always missing a piece of their heart. But they picked themselves up, knew that they would see him again someday and carried on. They are proud of their family and they should be. Everytime I call Grandpa I get the update on what everyone is doing these days. He always says, "We've had a good life, just a few bumps along the way." I love spending time with Grandpa and would give anything to do it more often. It is hard for me to see him without Grandma, it is easy to see that another piece of his heart is missing. He has a great sense of humor at 86, is always offering everyone else a hand and has great stories to tell if you have time to listen. I am so thankful that Charlotte got to meet her great-grandpa Cecil. By the way, he keeps on mentioning that the name Cecil is still available. It cracks me up. Grandpa has an extra soft spot for little Miss Charlotte. He said that she is the prettiest little girl he has ever seen before (which made her mama cry). Quite a compliment coming from someone who has been around for 86 years. I wonder if her name makes him a little biased... Here are some pics of the fun:


We got to spend the weekend at our favorite spot, the lake!!!!

Lotte is finally big enough for her little turtle!

First fish!! The boys had a big fishing trip Saturday morning and fried us up some yummy dinner that night!!

Playing with Pops after he got in from work

Playin' in her pool

Playtime with Dada (which isn't too often right now during football season, they both enjoyed their time together!)

Swimming with Nana

Happy 26th birthday Uncle Vinny!!! We are so happy that we got to spend it with you! (Note... can of beer, kethcup bottle and single match in the cake... so Gun Barrel City and soooo Vinny's b-day!!)

Fisherman coming in from an evening troll

Watchin' for the boys to come in... love it.

Playing with Dada before bed

One of my favorite pics - Grandpa and Charlotte

And then she decided to chew on the oxygen...

Family pic with the celebrity

3 generations

Do you think they're related at all?!?!

Love my Grandpa Cecil!!

Milestones

I have not been good at all about documenting Charlotte's milestones so before I forget them all, I decided to get them written down!!

First smile - 5 weeks
Rolled over - 4 1/2 months
Sat up - 6 months
First 2 teeth - 6 1/2 months
Army crawl - 6 1/2 months
Real crawl - 8 months (last weekend at Nana's!!)
Pulling up - 8 months
Push up to hands and feet - 8 months
Waved bye bye - today!!! (8 1/2 months) - fyi... other firsts today, first yogurt, first chick-fil-a chicken and the first time I brushed her HAIR after her bath!!! Yay!!!!!

My sweet girl is learning new things everyday, I think this is my favorite age so far (although I say that every month!) She "talks" all day long and she is so happy. The temper is much better and she only cries if she wants to go to bed or wants out of the car seat. She understands "no" and stops what she is doing when I say it, but turns to me and cracks up... uh oh. She has this new shy face where she puts her bottom lip out and puts her head down when somebody new says hi to her, it is sooooooo adorable. Macy is still her favorite and her dad comes in a close second for getting smiles. She loves Miss Martha and never cries when Mommy leaves for work which makes Mommy's life soooo much better. Her favorite toys are her leap frog table and her books - she turns the pages herself, so cute. She loves attention from her grandpas and loves watching big kids play. She has become a total food snob and only eats her homemade food from Martha, no gerber for her. And there is one person's arms who are still the absolute best for holding and those are her mama's. I dread the day that she wants me to put her down and "do it herself"... I know it won't be long. For now I will just continue to spoil her :)

8 month pic

Labor Day Fun

After a rough Thursday for both of us, I sent Lauren a few texts joking that her and Owen should come visit and she would write back, "ha ha I wish". Finally I called her that night and convinced her to change her weekend plans and by Friday at noon they were southbound on 35!!! I was so excited to spend the weekend with them!! We had so much fun as usual. The kids are starting to interact more which was soooo adorable. My favorite part was when Charlotte would go crazy with her carseat toy, then Owen would laugh hysterically at her, and then she would stop and look over at him and crack up. It was so cute to see them make each other laugh. We had plenty of fun and some much needed rest for all of us. Thank you so much Lauren and O for driving down to see us, we are already looking forward to the next trip!

We started the weekend out with dinner at Waterloo so Owen could get all of his energy out on the playground after being in the car all afternoon, he loved it! Then we headed to watch the Knight's play some football! The kids loved being outside and playing on the field. Owen is ready to be one of the big boys and play some football - we will have to bring him a ball to play with next time! These pics are terrible (taken with the iphone) but I had to include them!

Owen with Uncle/Coach Sammie at halftime

Charlotte's 3rd quarter nap with Aunt Em - she also came in town to visit Jeanne Ann for the weekend, we decided it was sister's weekend!!

Saturday morning we headed to Zilker Park and played on the playground, rode the train, played in the water and had a picnic lunch. Charlotte slept through her very first train ride!!

Playing in the rocks

Watching O's every move... and ready to be a big girl so she can play in the water too!

Playing in Barton Springs - Owen is a true Austinite now!!

It is totally impossible to get a picture of these 2 both looking at the camera (and yes, Charlotte is eating rocks!)

Owen's first (and only) bite of a snowcone!!

Playing at JaJa and Papaws - thanks to them and Aunt Em for the wonderful surf and turf dinner and swim, we had fun!

Running in the fountains at the Hill Country Galleria

Favorite weekend pic on the swing