Charlotte in February

Yes February, before I move on to March (hopefully it won't take a full month to do that). It's hard to keep up with a growing baby on the blog while taking care of that growing baby -priorities you know :-)

Snoozing with daddy- looks like daddy could use a little sleep too!

She has discovered her hands and she loves to chew on them.

Mommy with Charlotte at about 2 mos.

Gotta love that dimple!

Must have been a tiring day.

Holding her fancy rattle from Grandma.

Silly kids- those are socks tied around her with a ribbon and a flower clipped into her almost non-existent hair. Good thing she's pretty tolerant of their shenanigans.

Charlotte on Valentine's day. We had a lunch date with Daddy.

Alli decided to do a photo shoot with her one day. She had all kinds of props and interesting poses- most were too silly or fuzzy to share, but she got some cute ones too...

Notice all the blankets, stuffed animals etc. - all part of the staging.
I thought this actually turned out sweet - Charlotte was starting to fuss and she caught me shushing her.

At 2 mos, you weigh 11 lbs 4oz and are 23 1/4 in long. You are becoming more vocal and are cooing, smiling and interacting with us. You enjoy staring at and occasionally "talking" to the ceiling fan. You really like diaper changes and you LOVE bath time. You are truly a water baby! You are very much a momma's girl and rarely spend much time being held by someone else before you're ready to return to mom. You're still a little uncertain about daddy and what he might do to you like tickle or growl at you. We spend a lot of time walking around and bouncing especially in the evenings when you tend to be fussy. You like to be upright and able to look around and see the world. You enjoy the outdoors and being out and about, but unfortunately you HATE your car seat especially for any prolonged amount of time. It's amazing how fast you are growing and changing already. We are having so much fun loving on you and are so grateful that God gave us you!!

Spring Break

The kids and I started the week off with a fun day at home. We were supposed to have friends over to play and dye eggs but Alli woke up with an ear infection, so we cancelled. Thankfully we did because the next day, she had pink eye too. We quickly got some antibiotics from the doc and continued with our spring break fun.

After dying eggs I got the idea to try to tie-dye some shirts...
They turned out great and the kids thought it was awesome. Unfortunately I have since discovered that egg dye washes out of clothing, so it didn't last. But, we will definitely be trying it again with fabric dye. It was super fun and easy!

Then, we headed out to the ranch for a few days...

Dwaine's parents joined us and we enjoyed lots of hiking and digging for arrowheads. The mountain laurels were in bloom. They looked and smelled amazing!

Alli accidentally whacked TJ on the head with her walking stick right before this pic was taken which explains the ugly face.

That's better.

The kids gave Charlotte a cute "hat" and thought it was hilarious.

TJ practicing his shot with his BB gun. He's getting pretty good. I love the looks of concentration on his face.

After we got back from the ranch we spent one day at home to rest, and then on Saturday we headed to Enchanted Rock for more hiking.

Happy St Patrick's Day from E-Rock.

Finally inside the park after spending an hour in the very long line of cars waiting to get in the park. In hind sight, maybe a spring break Saturday was not the best day to go to such a popular state park, but the kids were actually pretty patient and we had a great time once we made it in!

They literally ran up most of the way while Dwaine and I were getting winded just walking up. We used to be in much better shape when we did this on a regular basis.

TJ was posing to have his pic taken at every scenic rock or view. I've never seen him quite like that. He was cracking me up.

They love feeling like they are on top of the world.

The view from the top. A perfect place to stop for a snack. I forgot how beautiful it is here.

Charlotte's first Enchanted Rock experience that she will never remember.

Good thing this little girl likes being outside cause we don't give her much of a choice. You get a lot of stares and looks when you're hiking with a baby strapped on- not sure how many were in admiration and how many were in judgement. But she seems to love it(she usually sleeps through most of it) and we make sure we're extra careful with her in tow.

Now that's a big rock!!

Have I mentioned how excited I am that the wildflowers are in full bloom this year?

After lunch in town and a quick wardrobe change for the kids, it was time to attempt some pics at the wildflower farm...

Getting all 3 kids to cooperate at the same time is not easy- no surprise there! I didn't quite get the perfect pic I was hoping for, but I will still cherish the ones I did get.

And I might just try again a little closer to home and maybe a little earlier in the day, and not when everyone is tired from a long hike.

Charlotte's Newborn Photo Shoot

My favorite pictures from Charlotte's newborn photo shoot when she was 2 weeks old...

We scheduled the time of the shoot during her sleepy time of day hoping we would get lots of sweet sleeping baby pics. As you can see, she didn't do a lot of sleeping. She did a lot of wiggling and squirming and a little crying, but I still love the pics the photographer was able to get!

The newborn stage does NOT last long enough. I love the way she is already changing and starting to coo, smile and laugh, but I sure do miss when she was so tiny, cute, snuggly and precious. And that newborn smell! Her little head had the most sweet newborn smell. Beautiful memories!!