Happy Half Birthday, Charlee!

Six months has come and gone, and this past month (the fifth) has been the most fun we've had with our little love so far.  At six months old Charlee now has a wide variety of baby skills which truly impress us on the daily!

Charlee started sleeping in her crib at night the same day we arrived home from Europe.  That transition was seamless; she really likes her crib and we had no issues moving from the bassinette in our room to the crib in her room.  While Charlee didn't experience a drop of jet lag upon arriving in Europe, coming home was a bit of a struggle.  We were all jet lagged for a few days, but after a week of a mixed up sleep schedule things evened out again.

Jet lag aside, while we were in Europe Charlee stared putting herself to sleep! Before we left for Europe she would fall asleep every night on Joel's lap on the couch.  We knew Charlee's bedtime "routine" wasn't sustainable, but she fixed it herself while we were away.  Most nights and naps now consist of us going in to her room to soothe her a little bit before she falls asleep on her own.  Of course there are the few massive nap refusals that take 45 minutes to get through, but those experiences are few.  We are really proud of our girl learning how to self-soothe and sleep soundly all on her own!

Charlee can now roll in all directions and she loves it! She's always been a strong girl despite her tiny size at birth, but even her doctor is impressed with how strong she is! She loves to jump in her Jolly Jumper, too.

We've got the "go ahead" for solid foods, but we haven't ventured into that territory yet.  Maybe soon.

Charlee is making a lot more sounds now and she even giggles! This is probably the cutest thing she has done so far.

Charlee is very aware of her surroundings now.  She realizes when she is in a new place and she reaches out for her toys and various objects, especially my face when she drinks her bottle.  Charlee also notices the kitties now and squeals with delight whenever one walks into the room.

Charlee loves books and will sit and listen/watch observantly when I read to her.  The other day Joel and Charlee were looking at a book together and she turned all the pages herself...who IS this child?!

While we were in Europe Charlee weaned herself (from breastfeeding) and I must admit, I am so happy about that.  This topic can be a touchy subject for many, but I can honestly say I was never really that into breastfeeding to begin with.  I understand the whole "Breast is Best" slogan and I realize breastmilk is complete nutrition for babies, but the whole experience for me was a "take it or leave it" kind of thing.  I don't believe that breastfeeding is the only way to create a sacred relationship and bond with your baby; Charlee and I have had many other opportunities to create this relationship that don't include breastfeeding and I am grateful for that.  In addition, Charlee was always supplemented with formula from the day she was born because of my drugged up, high risk c-section state of affairs.  The first drink Charlee ever had was formula from a bottle (that I did not feed her) and there is absolutely nothing I can do about that, so I've chosen to not dwell on that fact and make myself feel guilty about it.  I was advised by several health nurses to attend breastfeeding workshops back in the early spring, but I chose not to go that route because my pregnancy and delivery was a terrible enough experience...I didn't want the struggle of breastfeeding to consume my entire maternity leave.  We are happy.  We are healthy.  We are slowly moving past the traumatic birth experience and moving on to more awesome things like the fact that Charlee now weighs over 16 pounds and has grown 20cm since birth.  I am definitely going to the shortest person in this family.

Here are some photos of Charlee taken since we returned from Europe 3 weeks ago (which I have yet to write about!)

And here are Charlee's six month photoshoot pictures!  Many people think Charlee looks like Joel and while I can see that resemblance, most of the time I think Charlee looks like my sister!

Keep care,

k&j&charlee rae

Where the Green Grass Grows

We are home from our two week European tour and while we absolutely adore traveling, we always love coming home.  We've seen many beautiful corners of the world, but nothing quite compares to our own Alleyn Acres.  That said, this is a post I've been meaning to write for a while.  I recently discovered that one can get their blog(s) printed into books, so I fully intend to do that with this blog because it is somewhat of a record of Charlee's first year.  A book of Charlee's first year wouldn't be complete with a tale about our beloved home.  So here it goes...

We bought our house in March 2013 after our conditional offer sat stagnant for about five months.  We had been looking for our house for three months and we placed offers (which fell through) on three different houses before we saw the listing for our house and we knew we just had to have it.

Here are some listing photos of our house:

I know what you're all thinking...THIS thing was your dream house!? Yes, people, yes it was.  While most viewers couldn't see past the mushrooms growing out of the carpet, we took one peek in and said, "We'll take it!" (We left the mushrooms there, just in case there were any other keeners like us hoping to snag what we think was a seriously smokin' deal).

Let's back track a wee bit.  When I was 17 and freshly returned from a school exchange to Germany I made a list of all the things I wanted in a boyfriend.  This list was fairly specific and I wasn't "on the prowl", as they say, but I just thought I should put out to the Universe what I wanted.  Within four months of writing that list I met Joel and I knew within two weeks of dating him that we would get married one day.  Joel and I used this same "Hey-Universe-this-is-what-we-want" approach when we were house hunting.  Here are a few things that made our dream house must-have list:

-parking for two cars that did not require one car to be moved in order to allow the other car out
-a space for me to practice yoga
-three bedrooms
-an outdoor green space for a garden
-a "fixer upper" so we could add our own touches
-something unique...we aren't really the kind of people who enjoy "cookie cutter" homes
-neighbourhood was key: trees, forest, trails, nature...important!
-absolutely no more than our max budget

Well, well.  For those of you who have been to our house, you know how much we love it.  We got all those things on our list up there PLUS some! The "fixer upper" detail, in particular, we got tons of.  Joel, and a handful of incredibly generous and talented friends/family, have worked endlessly on our house since we took possession just over two years ago. Our house has had its fair share of ridiculous problems that a home inspector just a) doesn't care to look for or b) can't actually discover in a few short hours of "inspecting".  We had some serious perimeter drain issues...read: we didn't have perimeter drains.  The lack of drainage caused some minor flooding (I say minor because it was just puddles, no lakes) in our crawlspace every time it rained for a handful of days.  This flooding found Joel digging a 7 foot trench alongside our house in order to install the proper pipes and pumps to guide the water away from our house.  While Joel was digging the trench he discovered our house actually does not have footings.  Awesome.

Last summer Joel spent four to six hours every single day after work demolishing and rebuilding our spare room and laundry room.  We also ran in to some problems on that side of the house (also perimeter drain related).  Some of the support beams in the floor on that side of the house were entirely rotten; therefore, one of the exterior walls was being supported (wait for it....) by the roof!!!  The roof was supporting the floor.  No wonder that old spare bedroom had a serious lean to it!  The plywood underneath the flooring of the laundry hall also was completely rotten (surprise!) Needless to say, as with most DIY home projects, things got messy, messier, and then oh-so-pretty.

Before and after.  Yes, this is the same room! That little Pinterest-inspired wall you see there is made from the original wall boards, stained various shades for the true Pinterest farm house look.

The man behind all this awesome.

I must share something I learned about Joel during this whole process: this man is one of the most creative humans I have ever met.  I've had the pleasure of getting a glimpse into his brain during all these home renovation projects and I still don't think I fully understand how it works.  Somehow Joel is able to look at a room, measure it out, come up with a design idea and then execute that idea, while doing the plumbing, wiring, painting, building, etc. all on his own.  My brain is not really made for this kind of creativity, especially when Joel says, "Here, let me draw you a picture to help you understand..." Nope.  That just makes it worse.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm insanely impulsive and don't have the patience to use a measuring tape to "measure twice, cut once".  This is why we make such a great team! I choose paint and bedding colours, he does the rest ;)

When we first moved in to our house I walked around the shambles one morning (with shoes on, of course) sipping a cup of coffee and thinking, "This is my house!"  I'm not kidding when I say I have a moment like this at least once every day.  I love this house so, SO much.

  

 I'm gonna live where the green grass grows, 

Watch my corn pop up in rows,

Every night be tucked in close to you,

Raise our kids where the good Lord's best,

Point our rocking chairs toward the west,

Plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows,

Where the green grass grows.

                       

                                                   -Tim McGraw

PS - I am currently on a kick to European-ize our house as much as possible.  Once the redecorating is done I will take more photos and share some "after" shots.

xxk&j&charlee

Vaca Baby!

We had a little family vacation a few weeks ago up in Tofino.  My parents, Joel's parents and my sister and her boyfriend all drove to Tofino for a weekend getaway at Cox Bay Beach Resort.  We love staying at Cox Bay because the beach and the surf is right there and the resort has outdoor surf lockers for all our salty, soaking gear.  This trip was Charlee's road trip trial run and she did great!  We made one stop on our way to Tofino and a few stops on our way back, but overall Charlee traveled in the car like a champ.  I was interested to see how this kid would sleep away from her own bed, but that was also (thankfully) uneventful. 

While a time change was not involved, our Tofino vaca eased some of my anxiety for our upcoming Europe trip.  Actually, "anxiety" is probably the wrong word.  I'm not anxious.  I'm pretty certain that getting to Prague will be like any other day for Charlee, except it will just take place on a plane.  Of course she will be jet lagged, but so will we.  We will ALL be awake at 4am starving and ready to get the day started, at least for a few days.  Once we get back we will, again, all be awake at 4am starving and ready to get the day started...that's kind of just how worldwide travel is.  So, when people ask me if I'm nervous to travel with our baby, the real answer is "no".  My mom was right all along...the only way this trip will be stressful is if I choose to be stressed.  Oh, wise mother of mine.

Tofino sunset from my parents' suite.

Charlee and I spent some quality time in WalMart this past week gathering things for our trip like baby Tylenol and filters for the snot sucking contraption we recently bought.  Yep, you read that right: snot sucking contraption. The day after we got home from Tofino Charlee got her first cold and woke up a few times in the night crying and struggling to breathe.  We were all, "What the heck is this!?" and "You poor baby!"  It was our first night of interrupted sleep in a looong time (I know, we're jerks).  Needless to say, a few text messages to my friend Daylinn later and the decision was made, snot was sucked, and Charlee got better a few days later. 

In other news, Charlee is now rolling over (with the help of a kick off our hand), sitting in her Bumbo seat (aka. The Seat of Productivity) all the time, and she is Jolly Jumping!  My longtime friend (and former gymnastics coach), Camille, decided it was only right for her to gift Charlee with the tools that enable jumping for JOY! Charlee loves her Jolly Jumper and feels very proud of herself when she's bouncing around in it.  

"We're doing WHAT this week!?"

Everyone come see how strong I am!

Loves her new 6month sized jams.

We bought this stroller on Used Victoria to bring to Europe with us and we've been driving her around in it every night for a few weeks now.  We aren't bringing our BOB or the car seat, but this deluxe umbrella stroller seems to do the trick!

Charlee loves not being in the car seat.  This is probably going to backfire on us at some point - ha!

 We will try to post while we are away, but if that doesn't happen, we will certainly catch up upon our return! Time to pack!!

xxk&j&charlee

Charlee's 4 Month Photo Shoot

Charlee is four months old!

Fab, Fun Feb.

 So you know how February just so happens to be Heart Month?  And I mean not just for Valentine's Day, but for heart disease awareness, etc. Well, we have reason to celebrate the heart right now because Charlee had her ECG the other day and all is well.  Not that we were concerned, but it just feels really good to hear from the cardiologist that we don't have to look into things anymore.  I'm hoping that hospital visit was our last for a verrrrrrrry long time.

Onward and upward to better, more exciting things, like Charlee's accomplishments of late:

Trying so hard to roll over.

• sucking her hands all the time (she knows they exist now, which is kind of fun, especially when she stares at them thinking, "What the heck...?")
• almost rolling over!
• talking constantly.  Her best sound is "Ahh-oooo!"
• giant, full faced smiles.  Love those.  Especially when she wakes up in the morning and I greet her Guten Morgen.
• Sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.  Like 8-9 hours through the night and a few hours on either end of that long sleep with meals in between.  She wins a giant award in the sleeping department of babyhood. Note: We've been warned not to speak of Charlee's sleeping habits too liberally because other people might hate us.  Please know, we have done nothing to encourage such sleeping habits, she just does it on her own.  So don't hate us please, because it's allllll her! 
• Checking out the world.  This girl is bright, observant, and seems to understand everything we tell her.
• sticking out her tongue.  This is probably the funniest thing she's done so far.
  
  
  

Did you know we've book our plane tickets to Prague!? Our really good friends, Ryan and Nicole, moved there in September so we are taking this opportunity to go check out some new countries, see our beloved friends and visit with my family in Germany, too!  Charlee's passport arrived in the mail, so we are just waiting to board the plane now.  Here's a map of the route we will be taking during this Euro trip.

Okay, this is the most scattered post ever.  I've been working on it for at least 10 days now.  I'm just going to end it here and include a link to Tale of Two Teachers, where I wrote a post about going back to work after maternity leave...it fits the theme of this blog right now too.  Plus, it got 202 views so far today (I have no clue who reads this stuff, but clearly my going back to work decision is intriguing for many! ha).  Find that post here:  http://taleoftwoteachers.com/2015/02/26/when-i-go-back-to-work/

xxk&j&charlee.rae

ps - one more photo for good measure!

Three months old!

Charlee Rae is three months old!  Her new skills include: lots of wiggles, putting her newly discovered hands in her mouth all the time, lots of sounds/pitches/cackles (we won't call them giggles quite yet), and a few roll overs from tummy to back while laying on Joel's chest on the couch.  Charlee has been holding her head up for a while now, but she's getting stronger and stronger every day! Charlee's other awesome skill (perhaps her best one) is her long sleeps through the night.  So far her record is 8.5 hours (9.30pm-6am)...dreamy, hey? We like it!

Charlee had her first vaccinations last week and although she screamed for a few minutes, she pulled through like a champ.  She also had the ultrasound on her head this week. The doctor seems to think the little red bump we were slightly concerned about is a hemangioma (a small, harmless cluster of blood vessels).  The bump will likely disappear by the time Charlee is one year old. 

Other than that, nothing new to report!  We hope you enjoy these photos.

Hey guys, look! I'm three months old annnnnd no feet!

She wasn't really into the photo shoot against the wall this time around...she just kept reaching for my hand.

Toys, toys, toys! Charlee is starting to show interest in some of her toys.

Model in training: loves looking at her reflection.

Out of focus, but look at how much fun this is!

Ohhhhh...bright things!

We did a little photo shoot for our friends' baby guy, Cohen.  There are two months between these two...what a difference hey?

xxk&j&charlee