Thursday, July 31, 2008

First smiles captured on camera! 9 weeks old

Charlotte has been smiling for us for about two weeks now and we are loving it! We at least get several a day, especially when she is on her changing table, but we had yet to capture any on camera...until today! She is 9 weeks old today and is officially 2 months old. Enjoy the photos of her cute little mug and of Lorelei and Charlotte having "naked baby" time!

Here they are:

2008-07-31 Charlotte 9 weeks old

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Big 8 week old!

Eight weeks old already? Wow. We are still absolutely in-love. What a cool kiddo Charlotte is!

Here she is:

2008-07-27 charlotte 8 weeks

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Our girls...

We've had a pretty mild summer (so far) with only about a week's worth of days over 100 degrees. This means that we have been spending quite a bit of time outside, especially in the evenings. Lorelei is a big almost-23-month old now! She amazes us every day with how much of a little person she is becoming: lots of talking, singing complete songs, counting to 20, bossing the dogs around, grasping the concept of "later", showing empathy towards Charlotte when she is upset, diapering her dolls and stuffed animals, helping us do our chores and showing a HUGE personality in that little body. One of her favorite things to do is to play with the dogs. She loves to throw their ball for them and give them treats and we posted some photos of this. There are also some photos of her "hamming-it-up" for the camera during lunch time.

Charlotte is getting cuter and cuter every day! She is a perfect, cuddly little bundle to squeeze. She is smiling now and this just lights up our days! At seven+ weeks she is in three month size clothing already (a foreign concept to us since Lola was always such a peanut) and is doing better sleeping at night...THANK GOD. Her reflux seems to be a bit less of an issue now which has been a relief. Her fussy time is usually between 7 and 8pm...and nothing works to quiet her during these spells. Oh well. That's an infant for ya! She loves to be outdoors and actually enjoys car rides now. She used to scream whenever we put her in her carseat! Watching the girls together is still our favorite activity. Lola always asks, "Charlotte lap?" and will cuddle her until Charlotte has had enough. We are loving life right now.

Photos:

2008-07-23 Charlotte and Lola mid July 2008

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Random photos from June

Here are some photos from last month that were not posted. Some were from my friend Brandie's camera while she was visiting. Anyway, they are fun and cute and deserve their place on the internet!

Enjoy!

June 2008 photos from Brandie

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

7 weeks old!

Just a couple of photos of our darling Charlotte at 7 weeks old! It is so hard to believe! We are enjoying her smiles now (a couple smiles a day) and we know we'll be seeing more soon!

Here are some photos:

2008-07-16 Charlotte 7 weeks

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Monday, July 14, 2008

FIRE! (next door)

Ok...in the past year, properties on either side of us have burnt down.

We were coming home from the East Bay on Sunday night and as we were about to exit Highway 99 we saw flames shooting up into the air near where our house is located. There were huge fire balls...not good. Matt and I started to panic but didn't want to upset Lola. As we approached the turn for our street we could see our huge tree and realized that the flames were not coming from directly under it which meant that our house was not the one on fire. Thank God. Our dogs were home and I kept having visions of them trying to escape. As we pulled up it was clear that it was our neighbor's home which is also a nursery. The fire had just started and we followed an off-duty ambulance to the property that had seen the flames and decided to see if they could help. As we passed our house and pulled up to our neighbor's property, their entire barn was engulfed in flames shooting at least 150 feet into the air. Fifteen minutes later, 6 fire engines appeared on the scene from our volunteer fire department. A water tanker truck also arrived to battle the flame. The fire soon traveled from structure to structure on the property burning trees, part of the adjacent orchard and 7 greenhouses. The smoke from the fire was pitch black from the polycarbonate burning along with chemicals and fertilizers too. Soon, half of Lodi showed up on Curry Avenue and lookie-loos blocked the road making the property hard to access for the fire department. People were even parking in our driveway to watch! The fire blazed for several hours and the tanker truck must have made 50 trips to retrieve more water. Flying embers set the back of the huge property ablaze as well and even started a structure on fire that was located on the next country road east of us. We watched closely hoping the already gusty wind didn't shift and spread the fire in our direction. It was crazy! Lola was very excited by the flames and fire trucks. We were happy that instead of freaking her out it actually provided entertainment!

Here are photos from our front yard as well as from our upstairs windows:

Nursery Fire July 2008

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Charlotte is six and a half weeks old!

Charlotte is changing every day. She started to show signs of smiling over the last few days and we are very excited! She is pretty go-with-the-flow and falls asleep the second she is in a car. She seems to sleep most of the morning and is VERY awake in the evenings. Oh boy. Charlotte loves to watch the dogs and tracks us as we walk across the room. Lorelei just can't seem to get enough of her. She is always asking to hold her and likes to giver her a pacifier (sometimes a bit too forcefully). Lola is also pretty tolerant of Charlotte's screams but everyone has their limit. When Lorelei's limit is reached she screams "NO CRY CHARLOTTE!!!!" and frantically pats her on the back. It is pretty funny (and cute). Charlotte also has quite a few rolls on her legs, arms and neck. We are not used to a chubby baby since Lorelei was always such a string bean! We think that it is adorable. She is always making kitten-like sounds, hiccups a TON and makes quite a fuss about pooping which seems odd to us. Wouldn't it be pretty easy to push out something that is practically water? We are having fun with our two girls and have found the transition far easier than we expected. It is hard to remember what it was like with only one child and Charlotte has really made our lives even brighter.

Here are some photos:

2008-07-14 Charlotte July 2008

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Monday, July 7, 2008

Charlotte is a month old!

We blinked and our baby was a month old! WOW. It seems like she has been with us forever...it is hard to remember how our family felt as a family of three. But at the same time it has gone so fast! The past few weeks have been fun. Charlotte is responding SO MUCH MORE to us. She makes great eye contact, tracks us across the room, responds to our voices and is alert much more. She is sleeping much better at night (giving us 3 and 4 hour chunks of sleep at a time) and we are figuring out our little routine slowly but surely. Lola continues to be an amazing Big Sister and has transitioned SO well. She amazes us. Lorelei is talking a blue-streak and is becoming more of a little girl every day. Fourth of July was spent with both of our families at the Baker's house and the weather was perfect! Lola had a blast in the pool with her cousins and Charlotte was passed around the entire time and met some family members for the first time. Both of the girls were able to spend quite a bit of time with my good friend Brandie over the last few weeks since she was here for Brie's wedding and also moved to the Bay Area a week later! We are so excited to have her nearby and she is SO great with the girls. The past few weeks have been wonderful and we thank God every day for the blessing that is our precious family!

Here are some photos of our girls:

Charlotte weeks 4 and 5

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Brie's Wedding

On June 28th my parents, Brandie (college girlfriend) and Matt, Chalotte and I ventured down to Bakersfield, CA to attend our dear friend Brie's wedding to Paul Kruger on her family's farm. Lorelei stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Baker and had a great weekend. The wedding was BEAUTIFUL...they were married in Brie's father's almond orchard and the setting was perfect. Brie and Paul were made for one another and we were so happy to have been able to share in their joy.

Here are photos from that perfect (but hot) day!

bries wedding

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Some more photos from June

Here are a few random photos from June that just didn't seem to fit anywhere else!

Enjoy:

june 2008

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