First Tooth!

Last week Charlotte's first tooth finally popped through! You can't see it very well yet, but if you rub along her lower gums you can feel the bottom (on her right side) tooth and it's uneven ridges. She has been gnawing on her hands and drooling for quite a few months now. I thought her tooth would pop through much earlier, but it took it's sweet little time.



Now she can be found chewing on her hands or teething ring at all times. I think the tooth right next to it is about to come in too. You wouldn't know her teeth were bothering her during sleeping times. She has been sleeping 11-12 hours a night all last week.





She is also now into her high chair. We used the bumbo seat for a while to feed her solids just because it made life easier with one less piece of furniture in the kitchen. During our vacation there was a highchair in the house and she loved to sit up in it and look all around. We brought down our highchair and she still loves to be up on our level and to watch all the action in the kitchen. She is eating solids for lunch and dinner and is wolfing them down! This girl loves to eat, unless there are new people around because then she just prefers to watch them.



I started giving her a sippy cup of water the other day just to see what she would do. She instantly put it in her mouth and was trying to suck down the water and chew on the soft tip. Trey usually uses a straw or hard lid sippy cup, but yesterday I gave him an old soft tip sippy cup for his milk. I walked into the living room and he had put his sippy cup in Charlotte's mouth and she was trying to drink it. I think these two might cause some mischief in the near future!

Beach Trip Part 2

Towards the end of the week the waves got a little bit rougher, so we went shopping one day and picked out a new toy for Charlotte and Trey. It was nice to sneak out while Trey took long naps and get a chance to shop without a toddler pulling every which direction. Trey got this bead and lace kit to practice his fine motor skills. Charlotte got a really cute crocheted elephant. It plays a lullaby when you pull the tail. She loves to talk to it and eat it's limbs.



We also took a trip to the Pine Knoll Aquarium in North Carolina. It was just a 10 minute drive down the island despite the GPS claiming it was going to take 45 minutes! Trey had a great time with the fish and loved pointed at them and squishing his face against the glass. He was not hesitant at all and even squeezed his way in between other kids to get a closer look.











Charlotte was her usual content self talking to her new hands and watching all the people.





The last day we braved the sand and wind one more time. As soon as we got outside snacks were needed. Apparently the five minute walk wore Trey out. It was quite windy so Charlotte went back inside after 10 minutes. The wind was blowing the sand so hard it started sticking to her sunscreen, so Jay took her inside the house and hosed her off in the kitchen sink. He was flying solo on the adventure to clean her off so that was his inventive idea.




This child loves her some hands. She could stare at her hands all day long. Well, until she reaches for her feet...




It was a fun, relaxing time for everyone and many new memories were made. Trey and Charlotte may not remember this trip, but they will have many pictures to remind them of their time with their cousins.

Beach Trip Part 1

Last Saturday (well really Friday night for the first part) we loaded up the car with every essential known to man for three kids (yes three- my niece traveled with us) and 2 adults and headed out for the 7 which turned into 10 hour car ride. With three kids, one of which is a nursing baby and one of which is an active toddler, frequent stops necessitated the 10 hour drive. The trip down was very smooth and with plenty of toys, snacks and naps for everyone except the adults.

Trey loved the beach. He spent the first few days reacquainting himself with the sand and crashing waves, but by the end of the week he loved running to the waters edge and digging into the muddy sand. Charlotte enjoyed watching the people and the water at the beach. Social butterfly that she is, she had a smile for every random stranger who came up to say hi to her and tell her how cute she was.







Unfortunately, some of the pictures turned out kinda hazy because it was so humid outside the lens got fog on it.



Charlotte had a cute hat too, but it flew off her head at the slightest breeze, so we just settled with lathering her head up with sunscreen. Don't worry, she was never outside for very long at one time.





Charlotte spent a lot of quality time with Nana and Papa. They held her on the beach while we kept up with Trey and stayed with her at the house while she napped.



The older cousins had fun swimming in the waves. The water was a pretty rough, especially towards the end of the week so no one went out very far.

Getting ready for the waves.


Here it comes.


Total wipeout- Jacob is completely under the waves.



These toddler cousins sure made the trip funny. Two 2 year olds running around was a constant source of entertainment. In the first picture Chandler was just getting up from sitting on Trey. They enjoyed copying each other, especially at the table, and chasing each other around.

Beach Update coming soon

Don't fret- this is not one of those times where I take a short blogging break due to busyness and do not blog again for 3-4 months. Not that I would ever do such a thing :)

We just came home from a relaxing family-filled time at the beach. More pictures will be coming soon....

In the Middle of the Night

As you may recall from this post last summer, Jay is not exactly able to jump up and tackle issues that may occur in the middle of the night. Since having baby #2, though, he has really stepped it up in his nighttime duties. We have a system- he is in charge of Trey in the middle of the night and I am in charge of Charlotte. I usually wake up to the monitor and have to analyze the crying or noise being made to determine a) which child it is is b) which parent has to get out of bed or c) if the child can go back to sleep without any intervention.

Last night I woke up at 3:30 am to some crying. Unfortunately, that is not unusual in our household. I determined the crying belonged to the toddler in the house because it kept getting louder and louder to a decibel I do not think the baby can reach. I woke up Jay and said "Trey is crying, get up quickly so he doesn't wake up Charlotte!" To his credit, Jay actually did jump out of bed and go see what Trey needed. Apparently he had wet through his diaper, his pajamas, and his sheets. In the course of changing him Trey continued to scream, thus waking up Charlotte.

Charlotte had also wet through her diaper and pajamas, so she required a complete changing as well.

Jay put Trey in our bed while I changed the sheets for Trey and then we switched room while I took Charlotte into our room to feed her and he put Trey back in the kids room to sleep in his bed. Around 4:30 both kids were dry, with new sheets, and laying wide awake in their room. We are so thankful because they both put themselves back to sleep without any fussing so we could go right back to sleep as well.

I couldn't find sheets to match for Trey in the dark so he had his favorite truck sheets on his bed and a new train pillowcase on his pillow. As we are drifting off to sleep we realize Trey has seen what is on his pillowcase and he is singing to himself "Choo- Choo, Choo-Choo!"

We cloth diaper during the day and use plastic at night because they kept wetting out of the cloth diapers. Well apparently plastic is not working at night either. So mommas, I need your help. What diaper solution have you found works the best for heavy nighttime wetters?