Our final first birthday celebration is in the books and it was a sweet one. I feel like I’m enjoying everything a little more the second time around. With Carter, I think a lot of me was thinking about survival, wondering if we were doing this parenting thing correctly, learning about what was coming next, etc.⠀
With Charlotte, I feel much more relaxed and able to just ENJOY the moments as they come. Charlotte seems to be enjoying herself too. She partied hard!⠀
We kept Charlotte’s birthday party pretty low-key with a backyard cookout and cake. I designed the invites on Etsy to go with our bunny theme, which matches her nursery. I also matched Carter’s first birthday theme to his nautical nursery, so we had to keep that tradition going with Charlotte. I printed all of her monthly pictures to hang on her birthday banner and went with super simple decor.
It was a really nice time, but I have to say… I think the cake was the star of the show for Charlotte. ;)
A Look Back at Charlotte’s First Year
Charlotte’s first year got off to a rough start, and to be honest much of the year was kind of a blur. If you’re connected with me on Instagram, then you know that I was admitted to the hospital again just one week after delivery with postpartum preeclampsia. What followed was a long recovery process including brain scans, heart monitors, and a whole lot of fatigue. Charlotte herself was also a fairly needy/clingy baby until well after the six month mark.
As a result, I feel like I didn’t do the best job documenting her milestones the same way I did for Carter. I decided to go back and compile her monthly updates into one post that I can save for her in the future.
Newborn
The top pictures were taken our second day home and I am so thankful we were table to take them before my health mess started. Then her professional pictures were taken a week later.
1 Month
Happy one month, Charlotte!
She currently enjoys drinking all the milk and listening to Carter make animal noises or play peekaboo.
2 Months
Happy two months to Charlotte!
She sleeps like a champ all night and then acts like a diva all day.
Currently hates being put down and car rides. Loves her milk and snuggling with mommy.
She loves watching Carter and he gets the best smiles out of her.
Weighing in at 11 pounds, she makes the muffin top look cute.
She enjoyed her first trip to Louisville, her first Dragons baseball game, and her first picnic with Carter’s play group.
3 Months
Miss Charlotte is three months old today.
Weighing in at 12.5lbs, she is a little peanut compared to Carter.
She is starting to talk to us quite a bit and gives the best smiles. Mommy is still her best friend, which she likes to prove by being held most of the day. She’s starting to warm up to car rides, so there’s hope we may be able to leave the house regularly again soon.
She enjoyed her first trip to the zoo and two trips to Lake Erie, where she spent most of her time sleeping.
4 Months
Charlotte girl is 4 months old today.
She’s just over 14lbs and so skinny compared to Carter at this age. It feels like maybe she’ll stay my baby a little longer.
On the other hand, there is no stopping this lady. She rolls over on her stomach pretty much every time I put her down. She loves to stand and bounce with help. Her giggle is an easy one, and so is the screech she’s discovered.
She has finally accepted car rides for the most part, so we are on the go. She’s been back to the zoo and King’s Island, made lots of trips to the park and farm, checked out the air force museum, and even let us enjoy a few meals out too.
5 Months
5 months. Some days I look forward to Charlotte getting bigger and more independent, but others I wish time could slow down a little because the past 5 months have been an absolute blur.
Officially weighing in at 16 pounds, I think we’ll be retiring the last of her 0-3 month clothes soon. She has started eating real food and loooooves it, so watch out for those pounds she intends to pack on over the holidays. True to her role as second child, she can count Oreos as one of her first five foods.
She briefly tolerates her play table or jumper, but her favorite activities still include napping in the swing and standing in mommy’s lap most of the day. Fortunately she still sleeps all night like a champ and has graduated to her own room. She has discovered her feet and plays with them every morning before calling for me. Carter continues to adore her and they are playing together more and more.
Charlotte took her first train ride, celebrated her first Halloween, enjoyed watching the fish at Newport Aquarium, and dressed as Belle for Disney on Ice.
6 Months
Sweet Charlotte girl is 6 months old today.
Her personality is starting to mellow out and she’s giving some pretty good giggles and grins these days. Little miss has gone through a growth spurt recently and isn’t quite-so-little either. She’s just over 17.5lbs and 2ft2in already, which means she’s on track to eat us out of house and home, especially with yogurt. Carter continues to be her favorite partner in crime.
Holiday traditions are in full swing. Charlotte enjoyed the zoo lights and made her first trip Winterfest at King’s Island. She was thrilled with the carousel and requested one for Christmas. She also spent her first night at Mamaw and Poppy’s house for Thanksgiving. Charlotte met Santa Claus and thought his beard was the best. She’s also attended several of her first Christmas parties. A trip to Sesame Street Live was the highlight of her month.
7 Months
Sister bear takes her sweet time with just about everything. No teeth, very little hair, no interest in crawling, and finally decided to sit up on her own yesterday. Unless it’s eating, in that case she can’t get food in her mouth quickly enough. She’s packing on the weight at 18.8 pounds.
She really loves watching Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street. I’m pretty sure I’ll always be second fiddle to Carter. And I’m fairly certain one of her top three goals in life right now is to capture one of the dogs. She is the ultimate sock ninja and kicks them off in record time, usually the second you turn your back.
Charlotte enjoyed lots of holiday activities. She thought the carousel at Carillon Park was awesome and got to ride the Polar Express train. She was very offended that her baby ticket came with a juice box instead of a cookie, so she made sure to take bites of everyone else’s. She ripped open a good amount of her presents on Christmas, but her favorite part was probably eating the paper. Santa stuffed the kids’ stockings with glow bath toys, so Charlotte has been enjoying bathtub raves with Carter several times a week.
8 Months
This month has been full of firsts. Charlotte girl popped her first two teeth and has finally started to get forward momentum army crawling. She continues to be an eating champ and tops the scales at exactly 20 pounds. Blowing raspberries is her current favorite way to communicate, though screeching is a close second.
She enjoys riding in the shopping cart, especially on free sample day. If Carter isn’t paying attention, Charlotte will end up with his snacks too. She is very interested in the dogs this month and has figured out how to use Cheerios to lure them within reach. Bathtub raves with Carter top the list of favorite activities, and he is training her early in the art of Lego. They also enjoy snuggling for stories before bed and Carter makes sure to pick out favorites for each of them.
In addition to play dates with Mommy and Carter, this month Charlotte visited the Air Force Museum and Get Air with the boys. She also went on a Daddy-Charlotte date to see the Apollo 11 exhibit in Cincinnati. We took her to see Ms. Jamie for updated pictures, where she decided to show her dominance by refusing to smile at all.
9 Months
Charlotte is 9 months old today, and what a BIG month it was!
She’s in a growth spurt and my tiny little lady is starting to chunk up at just under 22 pounds. She loves pulling up and would rather stand than sit. She’s starting to cruise, but you have to watch for her because she’s crawling all over and loves being right underneath your feet wherever you go. Some favorites include playing peekaboo, clapping, and blowing kisses. Carter is, not surprisingly, STILL her favorite person but Mommy is a close second. She keeps pretty good track of me and fusses when I get too far away. She’s still determined to catch one of the dogs.
Charlotte celebrated her first Valentine’s Day, but no boyfriends until she’s at least 32. She also went swimming for the first time and loved splashing in the water. She enjoyed Carter’s birthday Adventure Week with trips to Newport Aquarium, Kid Clubhouse, and COSI. Charlotte surprised Carter by dressing up as Batgirl for his birthday party and he deemed her the best sidekick ever. We took both kids on a wagon ride to the park and Charlotte loved the swings and slides. She has been loving the warmer weather and is intrigued by the breeze. We’re ready for spring!
10 Months
She is incredibly attached to her momma and literally follows me everywhere. She will cruise or crawl to wherever I am and beg to be picked up. She’s reached the stage where she loves running around behind her push toys, but gets outrageously mad when she gets stuck up against something. She gets equally mad if she’s riding on them and you stop pushing her. She’s showing more and more interest in reading and my teacher heart loves watching her go through the book bin. Charlotte is truly Carter’s partner in crime. They spend a lot of time at this Lego table together, have started wrestling around, and enjoy splashing in the tub together too. Her current goal in life is to capture a power cord.
Girl still loves to eat. If you give her a veggie mix, she will pick out the carrots and eat those first. She also has a strong love of cheese. Don’t you dare try to eat anything in front of her unless you plan to share. I think all the extra movement is starting to slow down the chunk factor though.
Since we’ve all been social distancing, we haven’t gone any new places. We have enjoyed lots of outside time though. Charlotte loves rides in the wagon or bike trailer. She doesn’t mind the grass on her feet at all, but instead treats it as her personal endless buffet. She loves playing peekaboo in the swing set and banging on windows.
11 Months
For spending all day every day together, this month actually went by quickly. Charlotte is gleefully yelling and talking all the time, but we usually have no idea what she’s saying. She’s nailed “hi!!!!” though. She also decided she’d just go on and take a few steps earlier this month. I am not ready, but she wants to keep up with Carter so I think she’ll be completely on her way sooner rather than later.
Charlotte girl finally popped her 2 upper teeth, so she says she’s officially ready for her birthday steak next month. She also decided to catch up on some of her weight gain by packing on 3 pounds this month. She is almost 24 pounds!
This month she celebrated her first Easter, but she ate her eggs before it was her turn to dye them. She enjoys climbing stairs, wrestling with Carter, and get into absolutely everything. She also really likes bouncing on the trampoline. She’s extremely musical and I think the whole neighborhood can hear her drumming on the table, her chair, the toilet lid, etc. We’ve had several nice days, so she’s been playing with Carter outside in the swing set and water table. I think she’d jump in and go swimming if we’d let her. She also loves bike rides in the trailer, but only once we stop four or five times to make sure she’s perfectly comfortable first. We’ve done quite a bit of baking this month and she’s always down to eat whatever we’re making.
12 Months
One whole year. Where does time go?
Charlotte is fearless and independent. We joke about making her wear a helmet everywhere she goes because she is full on running now, usually headfirst! She is also so sweet and snuggly. Charlotte started to say “I love you” just in time for her birthday. She follows me around and asks me to pick her up often. Then the independent streak kicks back in and she arches her back, ready to be back on her way. All that running hasn’t slowed down her growth though. She’s 25 pounds and 29 inches tall.
Her love for Carter hasn’t changed. I’ve accepted that Carter is probably always going to be her favorite. She can pick a wrestling match like no other and Carter is usually her target, but I pray they will always be close and rely on each other.
We’ve played outside so much this month with lots of wagon rides, bike rides, racer rides with Carter, a hike through the woods, and picnics on the farm. She loves ice cream and don’t you dare eat in front of her. I think her favorite thing is water though. We’ve played on the patio a ton and are very thankful for our little backyard escape.
We love you!
