One month old

Charlotte is 1 month old! She weighs 9lbs 11oz and is 21 and 1/4" long. She is staying awake for longer periods of time and watching more of what is going on around her. She likes to keep an eye out for her big sister! Her sleep at night is not consistent, but her big sister took a long time to sleep at night, so any sleep is better than none! The first month has really flown by, but I definitely can't remember what our life was like before she was here!

The days after Christmas

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we are enjoying all of the great new things that both girls got. Everything is getting tried out, and some days it seems like Christmas morning all over again with the excitement.

Charlotte got a cuddly mat to lay on and do tummy time. It is so cuddly that tummy time turned into rest time. Mary Ellen was showing her one of her toys and put it right by her face. I couldn't resist taking a picture of it!




Mary Ellen loves her new tricycle. Since it hasn't been outside yet, we have been letting her ride it around the house. She is still learning how to pedal, but she is doing really good.


We weren't able to bring the easel in our car on Christmas day, so Bo brought it for us. It was definitely like Christmas morning again when Mary Ellen saw it. She has been painting ever since she got it!

Christmas day

Christmas day was so exciting at our house! Mary Ellen had been asking about it for weeks, so when we told her on Christmas Eve that when she woke up, it would be Christmas day, she was so excited. She did actually sleep in on Christmas, which was a shock, but she was ready to go when she woke up. When I walked into her room and said, "Merry Christmas," she came running towards me and was immediately ready to see what the day held!

Here is what Santa brought the girls. Charlotte didn't quite have as much, but she wasn't too interested in her toys anyway. I am sure that she will enjoy it with time!




Checking out her stocking:


Trying out her new tricycle:


Trying out her new laptop, or as she calls it her field journal (This is something from Diego!):


Showing Charlotte one of her new toys:


Mary Ellen loves her new Dora mic. That morning, she went all around the house, singing and dancing, and it continues:


Once we had opened presents at our house, we went over to Caki and Bo's house for brunch, presents, and dinner. It was a fun-filled day with a lot of excitement. Mary Ellen was very patient in waiting to open presents. We open them one at a time, and she did really good about it. We did let her jump ahead and open all of her presents towards the end, so she could take a nap!

Charlotte with Granny:


Daddy and Mary Ellen ringing their bells:


When Mary Ellen opened one of her presents, another one was brought in for her. It was an easel. As you can see she was so excited to see it!


Trying out the easel:


Modeling her new raincoat and rain boots:




And once the festivities died down, Daddy and Charlotte taking a nap!


Charlotte slept through much of the day, so we didn't get many pictures of her. In years to come, we will have many more pictures to share of her having fun at Christmas!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful candlelit service at church, and then Caki, Bo, Granny, Connie, and Susie came back to our house for dinner. I managed to get pictures of the girls before the service, but once we got back, it was a whirlwind of preparing for dinner and then preparing for bed that we didn't take any family pictures. (Actually, I realized that we went through all of Christmas without a family picture. Just couldn't get everyone going at the same time!) But, we had a great time, and it was a wonderful way to start the holidays with our family!

Earlier in the day, I heard Mary Ellen calling to me. She was so excited because Charlotte was holding her hand. She told me that I needed to take a picture!



I don't think that this picture was on Christmas Eve, but here is an attempt at tummy time. Mary Ellen never liked tummy time as a baby, so I thought that I would start earlier with Charlotte. She wasn't too fond of it either right now, but as you can see, Mary Ellen really enjoyed it!



And, the day before, we decorated cookies again! Mary Ellen had a blast. Charlotte enjoyed her nap time!

Santa and such

Mary Ellen talks about Santa all the time. When we first started mentioning going to visit him, she said she didn't want to go. But, the other day, she started to say that she wanted to visit him and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She continued to say this for a couple of days and would get very excited about it. So, today was the day, we ventured out to see him. The picture shows what happened once we got there!


She did end up telling him what she wanted with Daddy's help, and she wasn't completely traumatized by it, because she continues to talk about visiting him. I guess we can say with the picture we have the memory!

And here are just a few pics from the last few days. In many ways, Charlotte is like Mary Ellen's baby doll, and as you can see, she thought that the baby dolls needed to lay with her!


We had pictures done this week, and these two are quick pics of the girls in the various outfits that I manage to get on my camera. I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out and share with everyone!

It was an extremely warm day in December, so Mary Ellen enjoyed running around outside, barefoot in her tutu!


All dressed in their Christmas best!

Christmas time!

This is what we hear from Mary Ellen about every 30 minutes these days! She keeps asking if it is Christmas time, yet! We had Christmas presents under the tree from Nene and Pops, and she would ask over and over if it was Christmas time yet, meaning she wanted to open them. We decided that we would have this Christmas on Friday night. It is very hard to have a 2 year old look at wrapped presents and not want to open them. Therefore, there will be no more presents under the tree until she wakes up on Christmas morning! It was a lot of fun seeing her open the presents, because she really got into it and was throwing the paper everywhere. The neat thing was that she was so excited about everything and very grateful. With the first present she opened, she looked at it and said, "It is exactly what I wanted!" I hope that she always keeps the appreciative spirit that she has. She loves opening presents, but it is so great to see how excited she is to see what it has inside. She has been playing with everything and enjoyed it all.





Mary Ellen also gets excited about wearing Christmas clothes. This morning was Charlotte's first trip to church, so of course, they both had to be in Christmas outfits that coordinated! Mary Ellen loved seeing that Charlotte had Santa on her dress just like her. She also liked that they both had bows.



Mary Ellen always wants to help burp Charlotte, and this just turned into a great picture with Charlotte half-way dressed!


Last year, Mary Ellen had to have her picture taken by every tree. Well, the tradition has begun again, and we had to do it with the pics of both girls! Mary Ellen is such a sweet big sis!


My Sweet Girls!



We also made some Christmas cookies today. These were the simple ones that are already done that I let Mary Ellen add sprinkles too! She is so excited and proud of her work! (And in case you were wondering, pants have become optional in our house. When Mary Ellen takes a nap, she doesn't like to sleep in them, and then the afternoon goes on without them ever being put back on!)


And finally, in case you were wondering, M&Ms don't just melt in your mouth!

The girls!

As much as I try, I am not as good about taking pictures these days. It never fails the camera is in the other room, and then you just miss the moment. But, here are a few to keep everyone's interest, and hopefully, over the next week with Christmas and other things, there will be many more memories to share!

The new days of our lives!

These pictures are in no particular order, but just a little sampling of what things are like in our life lately. The days are different, but great. It is hard to believe how quickly one is able to forget what it was like before. I may feel different, when I try to venture out with both girls by myself for the first time, but I am sure it will just be another life adventure to add to the list!


Mary Ellen either wants to hold Charlotte or have her lay next to her. Here they were laying on the couch. Mary Ellen was watching tv, as Charlotte watched her!


Mary Ellen had a Christmas program at school today. We tried to get a picture of the girls together, but it wasn't working too well. You can see the attempt.


This was Mary Ellen after the program. They got to wear their pjs for the program. Mary Ellen did a great job and sang with her class. The pictures that I took of her on stage didn't turn out, but Paul did video it, and if that worked, we will see about getting it uploaded on here soon!


The weather has turned cold here, so we have to bundle up when we go out. This is how she looked as we went to her first doctor's appointment! She was cozy and very content.


Hanging out!

And of course, here is a our little Christmas present!