"The Business of Being Born"

Okay, so this isn't related to Charlotte (well sort of because she was born in a hospital but without any medical intervention). I saw this movie last night and thought it was excellent. It's definitely making me reconsider my options for the birth of our future children. Check out the website for theatrical releases. Unfortunately it's not being shown everywhere but I think you can get it on Netflix or buy the DVD. http://www.businessofbeingborn.com/

Work playgroup

Charlotte pulled our her quilt and baby toys to share with her younger buddies from Mommy's work. We've started a monthly work playgroup since there are so many new babies. Above is Lisa and Ryan (5 mos) on the left and Courteney and Kelly (almost 1 year!) on the right. Lisa is an ex-employee but her baby is cute so we'll let her hang out with us :)

More mommies and babies join us - Veronica and Caroline (9mos) and Donia and Aiden (5 mos). Can you find Charlotte in this picture?

Kelly already shares well - she's handing me her toy. She turns one in 10 days!

Charlotte chilling next to Ryan. Charlotte and Ryan had the exact same due date just one year apart. Ryan and his parents just moved back to the east coast from California. We're glad they're back!

Sweet baby Gracie. She's the youngest in the crowd at just 13 weeks!

Gracie and her mom, Julie.

"Outside"

Charlotte is starting to use more and more words these days and not just signs. We're up to 64 signs which is great but I'm happy to hear her talking too. Some of her newest words are outside, duck, socks ("gocks"), and truck ("guck"). She's also calling all of her grandparents by their names - Nanny, Papa, Mem and Poppy ("ba-ba"). If Charlotte had her way, we'd spend all our time outside. As soon as I let her out the door, she takes off down the sidewalk as you see here.

Navigating the steps on her own.

Holding onto the rail with an apple in the other hand.

She leads me all the way to church, and...

...then I have to tell her church is closed, so we head back home.

On the way home, Charlotte started chasing a stray little black dog. He disappeared and she was holding her hands out like this like "where did he go, Mommy?"

Monkey Business

I took Charlotte to the grand opening of "Monkey Business" (http://www.monkeybiz4kids.com/) this week. It's another "gymboree" type place where they have classes, parties, or just open play for kids. It's too far for us to go there on a regular basis, but we always take advantage of the free play time especially in the winter. Her favorite activity was this little trampoline.

Charlotte also liked the banana slide. In case you're wondering, her shirt says "I play with my food."

The Scab

Playing with the scab from nuggetsmom on Vimeo.
The scab from Charlotte's fat lip was starting to fall off while we were playing outside. She was running around playing with it and it was so gross. I just wanted to pull it off. Ultimately, I think she ate it. Yuck!

Springtime in January!

It was a balmy 65 degree sunny day in the Wash DC area today. It felt like May not January!

Charlotte and I got to spend some time playing on the new deck.

17 months and something to show for it!

Charlotte has had a rough start to the new year and definitely looks like a toddler. Yesterday, she fell and hit her face on the sidewalk on our way to church. She was bleeding pretty bad but nothing but a few scratches and a fat lip. After cleaning her up, she wanted to go back out again.

On New Year's day, Charlotte got her first burn. She reached out to touch the egg skillet and truly learned the meaning of "hot"! She also learned how to say "boo boo" and shows it to us all the time. It was a pretty bad burn but she really took it well. I don't think she'll do that again.

Early this morning, I took her to the doctor because I was worried she might have her first ear infection. She had a fever on Friday/Saturday and has been waking up screaming at night. Her ears are fine but the doctor commented that she's definitely teething. Her top molars are still breaking through and the bottom molars look ready. Poor baby!