Growin' like a Weed: Mommy - 360 months

Height: 5' and .5"

Weight: 124 lbs

Likes: Jesus, our family, spending time outside, eating (especially sweets and chocolatey candy) and baking!  She's always doing her best to keep the house clean and keep us healthy and happy!  

Dislikes: Fussing, whining, temper tantrums, a messy house, Daddy's farts, and when things don't go how she wants/thinks they should go.  She also dislikes pizza and fried chicken, since Charlotte was born. Strange! 

Sleeping: Mommy wishes she could sleep, all day.  She says it's tough being a Mommy, we really wear her out!  She sleeps in Charlie's room, there's a bed in there for her, because the baby eats a lot.  She doesn't sleep with Daddy because he snores and it wakes her up.  Daddy listens to the monitor for the big girls, and Mommy wakes up with Charlie.  Daddy says he needs more sleep than Mommy.  Mommy doesn't agree, but she always stays up late getting things done while we're all sleeping.

Eating: Mommy always eats standing up and her food is almost always cold.  A lot of times she just grabs food and shoves it in her mouth (sometimes dropping it on Charlie) because she's always helping take care of us as we eat.  She likes to go out to eat by herself.  It's like her favorite thing to do since the baby has been born.  She leaves Daddy at home with the kids during nap time and goes to Cook Out or the Hibachi Buffet and eats.  Silly Mommy! 

Playing: Daddy is better at playing than Mommy.  Mommy plays, but usually has a baby on her so she can't be as rough, loud, or crazy as Daddy.  Mommy is also with kiddos all day so she has to "reserve her energy".  She really likes to play with toys with us and use her imagination.  Her favorite toy is her phone.  She likes taking pictures and looking on Facebook.  Mommy doesn't have any friends. She's too busy. But we are glad she's at home taking care of us, we love it! 

haha I hope you enjoyed this "humorous" spin on my monthly blog! I've done for each of the girls and thought, heck, why not do a funny little post for me.  It's just another year, just another day.  Praise God for 30 beautiful years. I fail, miserably each day, and often which I had a little more time to poop/shower/eat/take care of myself/have friends/have fun times with said friends, but this is just a season, a busy and stressful season, but a perfect season that God designed for me and is holding my hand through each and every day.  Charles, Brooke, Taylor and Charlotte, I love you and am so thankful that I get to spend each and every day with you all! 

Growin' like a Weed: Charlotte - 1 month

Height: 21" 

Weight: 9lbs 1oz 

Likes: Mommy, Mommy's milk, sleeping, and being held.  She is constantly on me in my Baby K'tan Active wrap (seriously, I spend over half the day with her snuggled in there) as I play/referee/love on Brooke and Taylor. She seems to be a MUCH more easy going baby and I am soooo very thankful for that! haha God knew I needed a little help because of how... lets see how I can put it... challenging Brooke and Taylor can be! haha 

Dislikes: HER CARSEAT! Lord have mercy! You'd think I laid her in a bed of nails!  Which is highly unfortunate because we are out and about A LOT going to take Brooke to and from preschool, or going to the park, or running errands.  The carseat stays in the car and I get Charlotte out of it as quickly as possible when we park.  Like beet red face, tears, the works!  She also seems to dislike not being held, okay, got it, the others were like that, and when we try to keep her awake.  She only cries when she's hungry or sleepy.  Plain and simple.  She's great! 

Sleeping: We started out in the rock-in-play sleeper, but that didn't last long.  She quickly migrated to my amazing sleeper right by my side.  Yep, I said it.  I slept with Taylor in bed with me a bit, and realized wow, this works! Like she sleeps, and I sleep! I can nurse her laying down and we both drift back off to dream land!  I've honestly only had 2 nights where she stayed awake for any length of time.  Once again... praise the Lord for this precious creation! haha She sleeps a lot and is a lot less alert during the day than Brooke was during this phase of life.  She takes a killer 3 hour-ish afternoon nap everyday, which is a God-send, because it works perfectly with Taylor's nap time and Brooke's quiet time.  Taking care of household duties and my tiny bit of work (I work from home) is all done at this time. Oh yes, I swaddled her at the hospital, and a few days after that, then I stopped.  She sleeps with a blanket wrapped around her tummy/legs and socks on her hands.  She kind of takes a paci to help her fall asleep, but isn't a huge fan of it.  She makes a pretty killer stank face sometimes when I place it in her mouth.

Eating: She awesome! No spitting up, but she does suck pretty wimpily (yep, not a word, I made it up) sometimes and makes a clicking sound and gets frustrated.  Other than that, she's amazing!  Yellow seedy stool, tons of pee diapers and she's gaining weight like.a.boss!  She has her fair share of blow outs, which I think are caused by too small of diapers and her daddy's bowels.  Charlotte sleeps 3-5 hour stretches at night in between feedings and is truly on demand with all other nursing sessions throughout the day. 

Playing: I haven't really let her try to play.  I mean, I will sit and hold her on my legs looking at me, and she really likes to "chat" while laying on the changing table.  Guess I should bust out the activity mat and see what she does.  Brooke is CONSTANTLY in her face, like RIGHT UP IN HER FACE saying "aww Char Char Baybee" and other little baby talk and patting her head, face, belly, etc.  Looks like I need to let her "play" more.  Tay is a bull in a china shop and seriously has almost flattened her a few times.  

Big Sisters: Lord have mercy!  Three kids is no joke.  I loose my cool ALL THE TIME! I love them. To pieces. With all my heart. But seriously... enough!  Brooke fusses and whines all day.  She's a little bossy Momma Bear who pushed Taylor around, physically, and verbally all day.  Sometimes it's sweet, like she's teaching her to count to 10 (repeating after Brooke) and she'll help her when she's fussing by getting one of her favorite toys.  The big sisters LOVE Charlie, and ask to hold her often. Tay loves to give her her paci and watch her/try to help if she's crying.  Taylor has her fair share of temper tantrums too.  She's stubborn and will scream/fuss FOREVER!  Basically, she just wants to be held "UPPY" and you have to muscle her chunky butt up and hold lil Charlie at the  same time.  I sweat, all day.  It's a lot of fun to sit back and watch B and T grow in friendship and love.  I adore that they have a built in playmate, but still love that they like to include me in their play time.  I think Charlotte is the "best" with the newborn phase and I'm so very grateful the Lord blessed our precious family with her!  We love you Charlotte Gray!