a lot.

a lot has happened in the last couple weeks, obviously...christmas, new year's...but also, charis has had a lot going on! she has three more teeth (which we found consecutively on jan 2, 3, 4), and two more to come -- so she will have eight teeth soon!! she spent most of last week sick, and new year's eve was the worst...poor thing was miserable, but we think it was just a cold and she is doing much better now. she is pulling up on EVERYTHING! which also means she's falling down a lot and bumping her head...

as for christmas, she had so much fun opening presents! she quickly learned how to tear off paper, and at first was solely interested in eating it...but soon discovered there were surprises hiding under the paper.

we've spent most of this past week just trying to help her feel better...derek was off from dec 23 thru yesterday, so we had a nice long break together. yesterday we took down the tree and derek spent some time trying to babyproof the fireplace, which is still a work in progress but soon to be completed.

derek gave me a bunch of knitting stuff for christmas -- books, yarn, needles, etc...and i am knitting like crazy! he found a free class on monday nights that i'll be going to for the 2nd time tonight, and i am loving it! i'm almost done with my first little project, and i'll soon be starting on a little sweater for charis.

ok, so enough talk, more pictures, right??? we'll start with christmas morning!


sick little charis with red/watery eyes and runny nose :(



i took these today for my sister who gave charis this cute dress/leggings and the little stuffed lamb for christmas...enjoy, sis!

seven months already.

my, how the time does fly.

on sunday when i was taking her 7 month pictures (soon to follow), she crawled over to her exersaucer and pulled up on the thing. that crazy girl! she pulled herself up and started playing with the toys on it. today, she did the same thing, and was walking around it to get to different toys. this kid is not going to stay on the ground for very long.

i made some more baby food today...peas and apricots. she had some peas tonight and that seemed to go over fairly well...we'll try the apricots next week and see how that goes.

i'm so excited about christmas, and perhaps even more excited that today was derek's last day of work until january 5. it will be fabulous to have him at home for a while. i need the company. things can get overwhelming at times, and it will be a much-needed break for my full-time mothering all day long.

we bought charis a snow suit this weekend and are anxiously awaiting the snow required for her to wear it. can't wait to see what she thinks of that. there will definitely be video.

so merry christmas to everyone! i'll try and post early next week, but we'll be out of town over the weekend so don't be too anxious for those first christmas pictures!!

six months???

holy cow, how time gets away from us. here we are with snow on the ground and charis is six months old. ...not to mention how soon thanksgiving will be upon us. i am so behind on pictures here, and i do apologize. we're going to play catch-up today...

meanwhile, charis is growing up so fast...we've been trying different solids with her every day...we've finally gotten to the point where she doesn't gag on everything we give her (that was attractive)...and how she's actually beginning to ingest some of it. we got her a little booster seat, so now she sits at the table with us during dinner and learns about gravity (drops toy, looks longingly over edge of high chair at toy, mom or dad picks up toy...and again and again).

she's working so hard to crawl, but can't move forward yet. she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks like a banshee, but hasn't figured out how to pick up her knees and put them forward. she is, however, very good and quick at scooting backwards. and she rolls over so quickly now, we've had to start paying attention to what's on the floor around her.

she has not been sleeping well at all lately...she's been getting us up about every 2 hours, if not more frequently...it's really taking its toll on derek and i...we are pretty exhausted. it's pretty obvious though, that in addition to that 6-month growth spurt that she's probably in, she is teething again...i think it's only a matter of days until that first top tooth pokes through.

i'd have to say that one of the sweetest things with her lately is that she has learned the sound of the front door opening and closing. even when she can't see it, she knows it means someone is coming or going. so when derek gets home from work every day, she hears the door and looks in that direction, anticipating who's coming in...when she sees it's derek, she gets a HUGE smile on her face. has to be one of the best parts of my day. i'm sure it's derek's too :)

charis and i went to ikea with a friend yesterday to pick up some furniture for charis' room. i'm planning to paint and re-organize things in there so it looks proper. i'll post some pictures when it's all complete -- which may be a while :)

we're looking foward to thanksgiving and i am just enjoying the snow on the ground. now for some pictures!!!

my first batch of home-made, organic baby food, ready for the freezer...mmm, sweet potatoes.

bath time in the sink

halloween cow (the irony of which was pointed out to me by a friend yesterday...
the kid who's allergic to dairy dresses up as a cow for halloween.)

a few shots from her baptism on nov 9...

finally eating sweet potatoes!

and here she is at six months old!

a crazy week.

well, charis is 4 months old!!! she turned 4 months on my birthday last week, september 21. it was a frustrating day...we had planned a great day at the aquarium in newport, but as we were putting charis in the stroller in the parking garage, i threw out my back. i could hardly stand or walk, but not to be thwarted, derek got me a wheelchair so that we could still enjoy the aquarium. i held charis, and he pushed us all the way through. it was somewhat disappointing, but we did our best to make it a great day in spite of it.



we were fortunate that my chiropractor was willing to go in to the office that day (on a sunday!) to adjust me and get me some relief...but leaving his office, the car's exhaust slammed on the curb and impact broke the catalytic converter! so we're frantically trying to find a replacement vehicle at a decent price that will last us...i think we've settled on a used honda odyssey, but we've yet to seal a deal.

the friday before my birthday, charis had a really rough day...very irritable, wouldn't nurse, etc. well, saturday morning we discovered the source of her discomfort -- a tooth! yep, she cut her first tooth, one day shy of 4 months old. she's about to pop that 2nd one through as well...it should show any day now.

so most of this week has been spent trying to find a new car (or van, as it may be). but when we haven't been focusing on that, charis has been becoming a fabulous little sitter, sometimes sitting for as much as 10 minutes at a time. she is really starting to reach for things, including our dishes at dinner time. she's getting really good at grasping and figuring out how her hands and arms work in 3d space...and when she is on her stomach, she is pushing up on her arms, getting herself so high above the ground! she's also trying to get up on her knees, and it seems that she is building the muscles she'll need to crawl. this little girl is growing up way too fast!

i'll leave you with a few pictures from her 4 month photo session. my sister has been begging for profile pictures, so i made sure to shoot a few this time. enjoy, sis! :)

(well, the first one is actually from celebrating my birthday at my mom's on saturday night)

learning to sit.

well, she's not spectacular at it yet, but charis is slowly and surely learning to sit. she is always trying to pull herself up when she is laying down, but obviously still needs help to get up. derek jokes that she's building a little baby 6-pack in her belly.

she gets very excited when we help her into a sitting position, and she's getting better at balancing. we like to practice with her on the bed so she can tip over and not get hurt...that way, she can still build the muscle tone and balance she needs, but isn't bonking her head on the ground all the time.

this morning, she was sitting for more than a minute at a time, which was by far the best she's done so far. it's fun to see little improvements in skills like this day by day. makes me really glad i'm at home with her, and makes me sad for the next kid that i won't be able to spend as much time doing stuff like this because i'll have charis to take care of as well. :)





here's one of charis mid-tip...



she's also really digging her exersaucer (insert shameless plug for evenflo products here).



and on a final note, for those of you who have had kids, how stinking amazing is it when you can make your baby smile and laugh???? oh, man. it's the best.

photography tips.

so i got some photography tips from our wedding photographer yesterday...here are a few new photos of charis in which i'm trying to learn from her advice...the last one is our favorite. enjoy!