8 Months

As the days get colder we are warmed by hugs and smiles from our sweet girl. Charlie has been keeping us on our toes now that she is a crawler.  She moves at lightening speed and is interested in climbing on everything.  Lately, she has been crawling from her bedroom to the bathtub naked.  Watching her buns truck down the hall is pretty cute.  We are looking forward to traveling east at Christmas to see our families.  We can't wait for them to see Choo in person again.

Morning snuggles

Dad and Charlie playing around

Blueberry face

Hanging out with Aunt Casey

John watching Sunny and Charlie while the Moms hunt

Waiting for Dad to come home

7 Months

Another month in the record books!  Charlie is 7 months old!  We have had an awesome month with our little lady.  She is developing all new skills and impressing us daily.  She gets into a crawling position and moves back and forth, she is sitting up with out any help, eating solids, and learning how to pull herself up on things.  Her nasty diaper rash is finally gone thanks to Nanny Natalie.  And she is well on her way to eating more solids.  Her favorite foods right now are carrots and bananas.  We also had guests this month!  Aunt Emily and Elliana flew from VT to MT to say hello.  The girls had a fun time rolling around on the floor together.  Here are pictures of Charlie Choo from this month!

Polebridge with Ophelia and Charlie

Ladies picture at Bowman Lake GNP

Merry-Go-round fun

Elliana and Charlie riding in the truck

TT and Choo playing

Carrot face

6 Months

Charlie is half a year old!  It has been a crazy month filled with travel, sickness, and a nasty diaper rash.  Charlie, Mimo and Libby went to Las Vegas for a conference and to try their luck at the slots.  The trip was wonderful because we got to see Penn State friends and hang out by the pool.  Charlie came down with a cold while taking in the sites at the Bellagio and gambling away her college fund.  Although she was a trooper in Vegas, after we returned she came down with an ear infection resulting in a scary fever. We are happy to say she is doing 100% better and back to her smiling self.  Here are some of our favorite pictures from the month!

Charlie's airplane mode

Hanging with Nate in Las Vegas

She holds her won bottle

Mimo and Charlie eating gelato at the Bellagio

Dad's holding babies; John & Sunny, Drew & Berit, and Alex & Charlie

Mom's holding babies; All three girls were born in the past year

Sick Charlie getting snuggles from Dad

Fall weather calls for jeans

5 Months

What an incredible month!  We are pretty certain that we have the best baby in the world.  She is an awesome sleeper, she is always laughing and smiling, and she loves the outdoors!  We cannot get enough of our little Choo Choo.

She has recently started with a nanny 3 days a week. Charlie is sharing the nanny with her bestie Sunny.  Sunny is 4 months older and is crawling.  We can tell Charlie wants to move the same way Sunny does.  Hopefully Choo will hold out for a few more months before she crawls.

Here are some pictures from the last month of our very awesome little lady.

Pretty Charlie

Uncle Luke and Charlie

Too cool for school

Grandpa and Charlie

Snuggly Buggly time

Jenny Jumper

Dad and Charlie ready for the Shintangle Dance

Mimo and Charlie

4 Months

Charlie is 4 months old!  Every morning we wake up and notice that Charlie has grown a little bit more.  She makes more sounds and movements, she can hold on to lots of different toys, and she can follow Mom and Dad with her eyes.  Any day now she will be rolling over.  Right now she is arching her back and getting about halfway over in a roll.  She loves her play mat and being held in a standing position.  Charlie is still having troubles with her naps.  She will only go down for about 30-40 minutes and wake back up.  This is normal and is linked to her sleep cycle becoming more like ours.  We can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

Sleep regression

You won't know it from this post, but Charlie has been in a bit of a sleep regression lately. Testing her parents' will and need for sleep. We're all working on a plan forward and it seems to be taking hold these last few days (knock on wood).

Charlie is growing so fast, sometimes literally overnight. She wakes up with new sounds, new abilities to track things with her eyes, grab things with her hands. It is remarkable to watch.

She's in love with her play mat right now - focusing intently on the little circling stuffed moths/butterflies. She holds onto her ball and passes it between hands before (intentionally?) throwing it across the room. She loves to stand up, particularly when she's getting tired. Dad's lap is a happy place. Anywhere with Mom is just tops!

But most of all, she's just loving and sparkly! We can't get enough of her. The worst part about getting her to sleep the night through is that we don't get enough Charlie time. By morning, we're the ones waking her up to bring her into bed with us. This will change with time, I'm sure.

Babysitters are slowly making their way into our routine, a few hours at a time. Just enough to allow some joint work, a break from the diaper and drool and bottle/breast game, or a few moments as Libby and Alex.

Birthday fortnight is upon us and Charlie has made it the most special one yet. We're in love!

Enough words; here are some pics!

First swim - Blackfoot River

Just relaxing at Splash! Montana

Test drive in the new Tundra

Cross dressing at Seeley Lake. "Hey buddy!"

Family selfie

I'm your Mom!

She articulates some very interesting sounds with some very interesting faces...

Learning every second.

Swimming is tiring

A beautiful sight.