Home safe and sound

We've had a wild and crazy past couple of days. Late Wednesday afternoon, I let Louie outside in the backyard, not knowing that the bad windstorms had blown the back gate off kilter (later that evening, an entire section of the fence actually got blown down). Needless to say, Lou got out of the backyard, though it took me a while to figure out what had happened since the problem with the gate wasn't noticeable from the house.

After much freaking out on my part, searching of the neighborhood by Andy and our neighbors, and phone calls to the police and animal shelters, one of our phone calls paid off. We were notified by a shelter that a dog had been dropped off matching Lou's description (he hadn't been wearing his collar). Unfortunately we couldn't pick him up, or even confirm it was Lou, until Thursday morning.

Jack, Charlotte, and I went to pick him up on Thursday. I had a moment when we first got there where my heart sank. I saw one of the workers walking a dog outside that looked a lot like Lou, and I was very afraid that was the dog we had been called about. But fortunately, Lou was there! He was happy, healthy, and seemed none worse for the wear from his big adventure. We're definitely counting our blessings that we were so lucky, and God bless whoever the good Samaritan was that picked Lou and and turned him in.

On a different note, we showed Charlotte off on Thursday afternoon. My work was having an all staff meeting (about 100 people), and Jack, Charlotte, and I visited during the lunch break. Charlotte and Jack both behaved very well and were passed around like hot potatoes! Here are some pictures of Charlotte with my employees.

Emily and Ashlie, 2 of my Site Supervisors; and Jamie, one of my Nutritionists

Emily again (funny side note--Emily actually grew up across the street from Andy and somehow wound up working with me!)

Luz, one of my clerical staff; and Sylvia, one of my Nutritionists

Luz, Sylvia, and Lena, another of my Nutritionists

Lily, a clerical staff member, and one of the people I have known the longest since I've worked at CEDA WIC. She's pregnant with her 3rd child and due in January!

Jack getting some attention from Margaret, our Director. Jack and Margaret have been pals for a long time; I had taken Jack to a staff meeting when he was about a month old, and Jack also attended a conference in Louisville with Margaret, my coworker Michele, and I when he was 6 months old.


One more exciting thing is the results of that big exam I took 3 months ago were finally posted today. I'm happy to announce that I can officially call myself an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant!

1 Month Old!

Charlotte is 1 month old today! As you can see from her chubby cheeks, she's definitely getting bigger. From measurements at home, I've estimated her weight to be a little over 9 pounds, so she's gained about 2 1/2 pounds since birth. She's not gaining weight as fast as Jack (which is probably a good thing). He weighed less than she did at birth, but gained 4 pounds by the time he was 1 month old!

She still has the reflux problem, but obviously is still thriving despite all the vomiting. I'm pretty sure it bothers her in her sleep, but at least she has started sleeping a bit longer at night and doesn't seem to puke as much in her sleep as she used to (knock on wood). During the day, she's alert quite a bit and has quiet moments where she'll just look around and take everything in. I think she could be on the verge of purposeful smiling, which is exciting!

Aunt Lisa came over today and brought pumpkins! We hadn't carved pumpkins the last couple years, so this was the first time Jack had seen jack-o-lanterns being made.

Jack supervising Dad's carving. The green thing I'm wearing is actually Charlotte, in a wrap. She loves it!


Checking out the finished product, with a candle inside. Dad did a great job!

Mishaps in dressing

No one ever said learning to dress yourself is easy. Actually, Jack's usually pretty good at pulling his pants on, but he had some trouble this morning. He came up to me whining about not being able to pull his pants all the way up. He was right--I guess it would be hard to get your pants all the way up if only one of the pant legs has been used! It wound up looking like he was wearing a skirt, with the other pant leg as kind of a tail.


And here's Charlotte. Wouldn't you love to be able to sleep that soundly?

Sleeping Beauties

Here are some cute pictures of Charlotte napping...something that has been a bit hard to come by these days. She has her own ideas about "back to sleep;" I always put her down on her back, but she rolls around and flips onto her side. I think she's gained a couple pounds by now--note the chubby cheeks :)


The other day Jack was being very quiet, and when I went to investigate, I found him and Lou (and the monkeys) snuggled in bed together.

Charlotte cuddling up with Dad.

Starting the food-searching head bob.

Busy weekend

Best wishes on a speedy recovery for our cousin Scott! He ran in the Chicago marathon on Sunday and unfortunately had to be hospitalized until this morning. We are relieved he is better and hope this was a freak incident that will never happen again. Take care Scott.

We visited with lots of people this weekend. On Saturday, we went to our friends Dan and Sarah Flynn's house. Jack was reunited with Lilly (above in pink), who he hasn't seen in about a year. We also got to meet Dan and Sarah's 10-week old son, Colin, for the first time. Jack had a great time playing in their backyard--especially watching Dan start the fire.


On Sunday, several people came over to our house: the Johnstons, Lamkins, Words, Nolds (Ed, Cindy, and Lisa), and our friend Dustin. Counting Jack and Charlotte, there were 6 kids present, and also 3 dogs. We're definitely at that age where most of our friends are either pregnant or have young kids!

It was love at first sight for Will (6 mos) and Lou. We had to pull them apart to get them to stop making out.

Jack showing Will and Courtney his toy room.

The babies playing together--Will and Carson (10 mos)

Chomp! Will thought Carson was tasty.

Right before dinner, Jack unearthed his infant sunglasses. He hated wearing them as a baby, but occasionally now he'll get them out and wear them around for a while. He refused to take them off when we started eating dinner.

We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Nold, who returned today to Marco Island for the winter. At least the weather here is still really nice, so we're not too jealous of them in Florida just yet!

2 weeks old

As you can see above, Charlotte sleep-smiles like her brother did. This picture happened to get snapped as she was also rolling her eyes, so it actually looks like she's awake and smiling. It's hard to believe she's already 2 weeks old! She had a checkup at the doctor on Tuesday, and she was pronounced the picture of health--gaining weight beautifully and officially jaundice-free.

Grandmomma and Granddaddy Fields have already returned to Georgia, but here are some pictures from their time here.





Grandma and Grandpa Nold came over on Sunday to see the kids and watch the Bears game (what a disappointment that turned out to be).

Lou enjoyed some extra attention too. He preferred to be touching someone versus sleeping in his bed, which was right next to him. He had no problem relaxing.



I made my first venture to a store, by myself, with the 2 kids today. I timed it right so Charlotte slept the whole time. We had no problems at all. But it was just a quick trip to Babies R Us, and Jack was easily entertained by all the toys.

We picked up a wedge for the crib to insert under Charlotte's mattress. We've suspected she has reflux, and though she's gaining weight fine and the reflux doesn't seem to cause her pain, the constant vomiting has really been disrupting her nighttime sleep (and mine) lately. Hopefully getting her propped a little more upright will help.

Jack

What's Jack been up to in the last couple weeks? Quite a bit, actually. His vocabulary and language skills have really started to blossom recently. Here are some of his new words:

He's also been doing some word combinations--"more nana (banana) mama," "more juice please," etc.

On Saturday the 4 of us went to a birthday party. Nathan, the son of our friends Kevin and Nadia, turned 1 year old. They had an impressive party set-up: pony rides, a petting zoo, games, an inflatable jump house, and all sorts of yummy food. Jack wasn't interested in riding the ponies, but he did pet the animals. Here he his with a sweet little rabbit.

Dad and Jack playing a game.

Jack diving into his cupcake with a cute pig on top.

Jack loved his balloon-sword with a monkey on it.


The birthday boy

Charlotte was at the party too, but she slept the whole time, all snuggly against me in her wrap. I took this in the car on the ride home--note the Georgia cap Grandmomma Fields got for her.

Lots of visitors

Isn't that the sweetest picture? Jack finally got close enough to Charlotte to give her a kiss.

Charlotte and Jack have seen almost all their grandparents over the past few days. Here's a cute picture of Grandma Nold and Charlotte.


Grandmomma and Granddaddy Fields arrived on Wednesday from Georgia. As you can see, Charlotte really objects to being passed around like a hot potato.


She just really can't seem to relax.



Charlotte saying goodbye to Grammy Jarvis yesterday.


This was as close as Jack would get to Charlotte by Wednesday.

Then yesterday, Grammy coaxed him into showing her where Charlotte's ears are. After that, we were able to get him to kiss her.


And finally, just a couple random pictures of Charlotte I took on Monday. She's not nearly as yellow now.