Rub-a-dub in the tub!

Charlotte loves her bath time. She has always been happy during baths, but now that she can sit up and play, she really enjoys it. She loves playing with her toys and making big splashes. The duck tub also makes quacking noises when you press its bill, which she finds quite amusing. This small duck tub has turned out to be the perfect thing for her to bathe in. It is just the right size and has a no slip seat so she is pretty secure. We want to say thank you to our friend, Katie, for the wonderful tub!

From last week:

From tonight:

6 months old

Charlotte Ruth is 6 months old! Here are her stats:

weight: 16 lbs. 9 oz. (50-75%)

height: 25 inches (10-20%)
Can I keep her at this age forever? Charlotte is SO much fun! She is so happy and loves to smile all of the time. Here are some things about her at this age:

- she can sit on her own! Yay!

- she loves to smile and giggle all the time. The things that usually make her laugh are blowing raspberries, jumping, swinging, and herself. She thinks she is hilarious!

- she loves to sit and play with her soft clothe blocks. We think she likes these so much because she can easily grab them

- started figuring out her toys. For example, she has a toy laptop that has buttons that make noise when you push them. She tries to push them but can't quite get them pushed correctly but keeps trying. However, she figured out it makes noise when it opens and closes. She spent five minutes tonight just opening and closing it over and over again.

- LOVES jumping in her jumparoo. Whenever she is fussy we can put her in the jumparoo and she will immediately become happy again :)

- She loves to swing. We bought an infant swing for our house and she smiles the whole time she swings.

- She can scoot backwards and sideways very well.

- She has been rocking on her hands and knees for about 3 weeks now. She tries to reach for toys in front of her, but just ends up scooting backwards. I predict she will be crawling by the end of October.

- She is teething. She reaches for everything around her and then wants to put it in her mouth. She isn't cutting teeth yet, but definitely teething.

- Loves the outdoors - She loves going for walks around the neighborhood.

- eat oatmeal and just started green beans this week

- takes 8 oz. bottles of formula during the day; still nurses in the morning and evening

- just started putting herself to sleep and sleeping through the night!!! Yay!!!

Here are some recent firsts:

New ducky bathtub

Sits by herself

Tried green beans for the first time and liked them

Can sit like a big girl in the Target cart

This isn't a first, but was too cute not to post!

Like a rock star!

Charlotte took to sleep training like a rock star! We started sleep training on Friday, Oct. 1. We wanted to start it on a weekend because we didn't know how well she would do. So, on that Friday we put in her bed for bedtime without a swaddle and still awake. For nighttime, we use a sleep sack. This is a blanket that zips up, so it will stay on her, but allows her arms to be free. We also laid her on her stomach. She started crying. We let her cry for 5 minutes and then went in to pat her on the back. After 10 minutes we went in again. Then, after 15 minutes we went in again. Very soon after that, she feel asleep on her own. She woke up several times during the night that first night, but only twice did we actually have to get up and put her pacifier back in.
Every night since then she has slept 11+ hours straight through the night! Most mornings I have to wake her up to get her fed and ready for daycare. On Saturday, Mark and I got to "sleep in" all the way until 6:30! We are both just so shocked at how wonderful she has been doing. I am also now obsessed with taking sleeping pictures. Every morning when I walk into her room to get her up I have to refrain for taking another picture. She's just so cute!

Naps did not come as easily as nighttime sleep. It took her almost the full week to start to go to sleep with no crying or just a little crying. Of course, that changes from day to day. This past Saturday she didn't cry for any naps but then on Sunday she cried for 20 minutes when I put her down for each of her naps.

I know that there will be things to disrupt her sleep in the future, but for now Mark and I are loving getting a full-night's sleep!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere . . .

Today we made our way to the Dallas Arboretum. Every year they have a big display of pumpkins for the Fall season, but we have never been able to attend. It was super crowded, but it was still so incredible to see of the pumpkin creations. The only thing I would have changed was the weather - it was a little too warm for October! We got a ton of cute pictures of Charlotte, it was hard to narrow them down. Her Daddy is a great photographer and of course, he had a really good subject to capture!

The pumpkins everywhere we so interesting to look at! There were thousands of pumpkins!

Texas Forgot to Fight . . .

This past weekend, we made a trip down to Buda to visit my family. Mark and I also took the opportunity to go to a Texas Longhorns football game. We always like to go to one game a year. Unfortunately, it was not a good game to go to! Even with the very sad outcome, we had a great time getting to spend some time alone together - well alone with 100,000 other people. Charlotte stayed with my parents and spent the day being entertained by her cousins.

On the way to the game, we saw a very interesting vehicle. It was powered solely by the people on the sides pedaling!

All the kids in their burnt orange!

Hook 'em Horns!

The girl has lungs!

I showed this to my 4th graders today. That thought it was SO funny! See if you think it is as hilarious as my 10-year-olds . . .

(Click on the arrows on the bottom right of the movie to make it full screen.)

First Annual Balloon Festival

Two Fridays ago, we attended the Plano Balloon Festival. We got free tickets and decided to take advantage of them. Because of some rain, we didn't get to see the balloons launch, but we did get to see them inflated and "glowing" at night. We invited Justin and the twins to join us. Alli was out of town. We had a wonderful family night and plan on making at a yearly event.

Hanging out and eating dinner

The first balloon finally gets inflated!

The dads and their kids

Just a swinging . . .

Smooth Moves

Charlotte is becoming more and more mobile with each day that passes. No longer can I set her down in one spot and expect to find her in the same spot when I come back. She can roll and scoot backwards around the room. Here is a progression of her movements on Saturday morning.

Oreo paid a visit

All of that was in about a 5-10 minute span. In the past week she has also started to get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. Last night, she spent a good 30 minutes rocking back and forth on the ground. I fear that she is going to be crawling WAY too soon!

Here is Charlotte in her Cowboys outfit on Sunday. We had a weekend filled with football attire!

This and that

Here is a little bit of what Charlotte has been doing the last few weeks:

Hanging out with Mimi and Papaw who came to visit us

Spending lots of time with Mama and Daddy

Doing a little bit of sleeping

Wearing some sassy outfits!

Taking walks around the neighborhood in this cooler weather.

Playing!

Playing even when we are tired!

Practicing sitting

Spending time being adored by friends

And cheering on the Longhorns!