6 months already?

So it looks like my last post was 6 months ago! Almost 7 months! Well, let me tell ya that flew by! Im going to try to blog more, mostly for personal use. Im HORRIBLE at keeping baby books and all that mommy goodness (ugh, my kids are gonna hate me some day), so blogspot will have to do. Or Facebook. (Is there a way to get all your Facebook statuses? Im pretty sure my children comprise 99.2% of them).

Anywho. Where to start?

My last post was about Clara's birth. Wow. That seems SO. LONG. AGO. But yet seems just like last week and I know she'll be one before I know it. When you have a child, time flies, but when you have two it REALLY flies. I can only imagine when you have more than that!

So... Clara. My sweet Clara. Or as I like to call her.... Porkchop. Chubber. Stinkybutt. My fat bottomed girl. Or just plain fatty. But she knows I love her.

Her first 3 months were... Well, they were rough, I'll just put it that way. She was extremely colicky and we just could not figure out what was wrong with her. She would scream ALL day long and it would be near impossible to get her to sleep at night. We even took her to the ER right before New Years because I just knew that something was wrong with her to make this child scream like this! But all they could tell me was "colic." Whatever THAT means?! Clara almost scared me from ever having another baby again. Almost. ;)

At about 10 weeks old, after trying everything else, we put her on Prevacid because I suspected that she might have reflux after taking this quiz on this website. She never spit up so I just didn't consider it at first, but there's such a thing as "silent reflux," which I believe is what she had. Within a week, she was a new baby! Hallelujah! No more bouncing for endless hours on a yoga ball with a hot tempered baby strapped to your bosom in a Moby wrap! Phwew! Yall, she was a TOTALLY different baby, and has just continued to improve.

Right now at 6.5 months old she is the perfect baby. Seriously. (I mean, not that fussy babies aren't "good" babies, all babies are sweet goodness... Does anyone else hate it when people imply that?) She is content all the time, sitting up so well (and has been since about 4 months old), sleeping fantastic, puts herself to sleep without a fuss (started it on her own!), gaining weight just fine, working on crawling, nurses like a champ, and is just an overall healthy and happy baby. Praise God! Now, she is a biiiiig mama's girl and won't really let anyone else besides myself or my husband hold her, but she is getting better at that. And honestly, I love it! Charlotte was such a hot potato baby, she could be passed around all day long and not give a care in the world! She never really cried when I left the room, but Clara does. Love it! :)

She is still nursing! Never had any formula (ok, except for 22ml on her second night of life, she was screeeeeeeaming, so I gave in, she drank a little, then passed out for 3 hours, ha!)... Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge breastfeeding advocate and had a very rough time with Charlotte, so I am absolutely thrilled that it has worked out so well this time. Its the sweetest and most amazing thing I think I have ever done!

I mean, look at this face?! *melt*

She's 16lb 9oz as of today and Im guessing about 27.5 in long. We started solids just a few days ago, but we are doing mostly babyled weaning, which basically means.... she eats what we eat, on her timing. I give her some food and if she eats it, then she does, if not... Then thats ok, too. :) I've given her just a little baby food. Im not a fan of the stuff, its WAAAAY overpriced!

OH! In other news... We bought a house! We weren't planning on it originally, but we prayed about it a lot and asked a bunch of questions to some mortgage companies (because at first we didn't think we'd qualify for a loan due to our student loan debt), and we found the perfect little house for us. We moved in a month ago and we have loved it so far!

My favorite thing about it is the backyard. It's fenced in and is just the perfect size. Charlotte LOVES it! And yes it has a sprinkler system and lots of cute flowers already. I'll tell ya, I dont have any kind of green thumb, so this is definitely motivation to learn.

I dont have any other pictures of the house because it's still a hot mess and the living room has to be painted. Badly. Like, it's being painted this Thursday by my mama who is flying in from Ohio in a couple days. And I wont take any pics of it til it's painted! Ha! I dont know what the previous owners were thinking, but breastfed baby poop yellow is not very fitting to slather all over your walls! Yuck. I also need to decide what to paint the girls room, either light purple, pink, yellow, or green. Yes, that narrows it down a lot, doesn't it?

Ok, so Clara. What else about Clara? Oh, yes. She absolutely adores Charlotte. ADORES. Nobody can make this bundle of fatty goodness laugh like Charlotte can. Charlotte can just hit her ("Gentle hands, Charlotte, GENTLE HANDS!") and the kid starts belly laughing. I cant ever make her laugh that hard! She looks up to her, that's for sure. I pray that their relationship continues to develop and I pray that I can nurture that relationship. Sisters are important!

And Charlotte loves Clara. Oh man, does she love Clara. Every morning she gets up and asks where the baby is (and *yawn* it's always the same answer... Baby is sleeping!) and wants to give her a hug and a kiss. It's so sweet to see them together. Warms a mama's heart! I also believe this child was born to be a mama. All. Day. Long. ALL she does is play with her babies, stuffed animals, blocks, whatever... and babies them. Nurses them, rocks them, even bounces them on her ball, ha. I call her my Lil Mama, because she really is!

Charlotte is now 2.5 years old. Wow. I can't believe it. Just a little while ago she looked like this....

And now she looks like this....

*tear*

(And how did two average looking people make such a beautiful child? I didn't think it was supposed to work like that?) ;)

Ok well that's enough for tonight. I love my little family and I love being their momma! (Ok.. most days) ;)