7.5 Weeks

So this is like the third post I've lost since Charlotte was born - and I don't have much time for posting these days! Honestly, I can't even remember what I did yesterday, let alone last week! I did go ahead and change the post title to 7.5 weeks instead of just 7.

So my favorite new trend of Charlotte's - SLEEPING 6 HOURS in a ROW! Sunday and Monday night she actually slept closer to 7 hours. Its SWEET! Of course my new concern now is that she is getting enough to eat since she is basically missing between 1-2 feedings that she used to get. Of course, she is a chunky little monkey at 13 lbs, so I guess I shouldn't worry too much ;-).

I had a total freak out moment last Wednesday. I had finally lulled Charlee to sleep in her bouncy seat ( it took almost an hour!) and she actually stayed asleep for more than half an hour. She was still sleeping and it was almost time for us to leave for dinner with our friend James, so I had to break my "never wake a sleeping baby" rule to feed her before we left. I picked her up but she didn't seem to move at all so I panicked! Jiggling her in my arms, I cried "Charlotte, Charlotte, wake up!" (Imagine a extremely dramatic reenaction.) From behind me, Fred calmly said, "she's fine, she's fine." Charlotte moved three fingers and blew some bubbles out of her mouth, not enough of a response to satisfy me - I needed a crying baby at this point - so I jiggled (okay so it was more like a frantic shake, but much softer than "shaken baby syndrome!") her again and got a half flicker of her eyes. So she was totally fine, just sleeping like a rock, and I'm a crazy, paranoid mother. Of course, she DID wake up fully to scream about how badly she needed dinner right that very second.

Thursday a friend of mine from high school, Sunida, brought us lunch. We had a great visit and Charlotte was a sweetheart! Afterwards, we went over to Beta and Granddad's house to see Michele and Helen who where in town from LSU. Charlee loves to visit with her Aunts who where excited to see her. I dressed her up in her little LSU outfit that Christy bought her and will take pictures of her in it at this weekend's football game.

Saturday night we left Charlotte with Michele at my parent's house and she gave them fits! Even though she's been taking a bottle almost daily and guzzled one on Friday, she decided Saturday night that she didn't want one. Poor baby and poor Michele (and everyone at the house)! Fred convinced her to take 2 oz on Sunday, but not before she threw a fit at Dad's birthday lunch at Carrabba's. So Monday I finally got her to drink from a bottle, but it was from the SOLITARY Dr. Brown's bottle that we own. Grrr - I have EVERYTHING Avent, including a sterilizer that the 8 oz Dr. Brown's bottles won't fit into. I picked Avent in the first place because the nipple seemed like it would be the best for maintaining breastfeeding, and the Dr. Brown's bottles have more parts to wash and keep together. I'm going to keep trying to get her to take the Avent bottle, so keep your fingers crossed.

With her Aunt Helen at Carrabba's before
Charlotte took out her fury on the Avent bottle:

Monday we had lunch with Jeannette at Texas Children's before Charlotte's ultrasound appointment. Apparently, hip dysplasia tends to run in families, so our pediatrician ordered an ultrasound, even though Charlotte's hips do not make any of the tell tale clicking noises associated with a dislocated hip. While the ultrasound confirms that her hips are indeed in place, they also show that she has shallow hip sockets, so now we will see a specialist. Hopefully he will say that we just need to monitor it as she grows, but otherwise she'd need to be in a special harness for a while to ensure that her hips form correctly as she grows.

In the last week and a half, Charlotte has really started to coo and smile a lot. Between feedings and her 30 minute naps we often play on her Baby Einstein floor gym. There is a star on top that flashes different colors as it plays music. One of the settings allows the music and lights to play when the gym jiggles, so I lay her down with her feet touching one of the support bars. When she kicks her feet and then the bar, the star comes on. She smiles and coos at the star - she loves it so much that she goes from fussy to happy in a heart beat. I love playing with her, but since she can entertain herself as well, it gives me up to half an hour to take care of whatever (but who can stay away from something so cute for a full half an hour!?). I'm working on catching the cuteness on video and hopefully can post that soon.

Ahhhh, pretty lights!

Fred and I have also been reading to Charlee since birth, but not really children's books since we thought her too little to make a difference. (I have been reading Sense and Sensibility to her.) However, I just realized that the colorful pages of children's books will hold her interest for a while. So cute!

Charlotte pondering the rhymes of Mother Goose:

I hope you all hadn't given up on me posting! Sorry they don't come as frequently or as consistently as they were.