Charley's First Bath

Beautiful girl, minus the pacifier :(
Charley's first bath
Shampooing her hair for the first time
Wide Awake...
and seconds later, she's out


Since the arrival of our new camera, we've become obsessed with taken photos of Charley (no big surprise there) and she's had quite the week to document with a very full social schedule. She's met many friends and family members, she had her first bath (just a sponge bath at this point), and she even went to her first squadron event.

The accomplishment of Charley's that we are most proud of at this point is her ability to sleep through the night. She has settled into a routine of sleeping at 5-6 hour intervals at a time during the night and 2-3 hour intervals during the day. We're not counting on this habit to stick quite yet, but we sure are praying for it.

Overall, our first week home has been amazing. Many people have told us how much fun being parents is, and we couldn't agree more. It's scary how fast they change, every day we notice something new, even if it's just a new expression she makes, her fingers filling out a little more, or her ability to hold her head up for just a little longer. Anyways, I had better get back to her so I don't miss anything else!

A Day of Firsts

Donna keeping Charley warm during her shoot
Trying to sooth our crying baby

Proof that Paul changes diapers

What a cute baby!

Dressed in pink from head to toe

So today was a day of many firsts. We started off with Charlotte's first photo shoot, which went very well. (Go to www.seasideportraitsbymarsha.com/blog to check out some of the photos from the shoot.) During the photo shoot, Charlotte peed on her mama, another first. After the photos, we headed off to her very first doctors appointment. Unfortunately, in our effort to get to the doctor on time, we forgot her diaper bag. Of course, she needed it as soon as we stepped into the office and after taking off the dirty diaper to get her weighed, she peed all over Paul (another first). Other than this little incident, the appointment was great. Charlotte had lost 9 ounces from her birth weight in the four days in the hospital, but has gained back 8 of those 9 ounces. She is in the 25% percentile for both weight and head size and is in the 75% percentile for length. Overall, our day of firsts was so much fun, and we look forward to many many more.

Introducing Charlotte Rose!

Charlotte's coming home from the hospital outfit

Looking pretty

Paul testing out his soothing techniques

Paul cutting her umbilical cord

Charlotte just after birth

Charlotte has finally graced us with her presence just four days after her due date. She arrived via C-Section at 8:49pm on January 20th. Yes, she is an inauguration baby! After being induced at about 8:30am, a long day of labor and 3 hours of pushing, she was just not coming out. It turns out Charlotte was "sunny side up" and the cord was wrapped around her neck, so we feel very blessed that she was born healthy. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz at birth and has since shed a few ounces and bottomed out at 6 lbs 5oz.

We were able to come home Saturday afternoon and are still adjusting to life at home with a baby. Our first night was a little rough but we are feeling pretty confident about our parenting skills (probably a bit premature for this). We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks that Paul has off work to spend with his girls.

Enjoy the pics of Charley's first week of life, we think she is absolutely beautiful! Also, thank you again to everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this first week of life for little Charlotte, she is such a blessing and we feel so lucky to have her in our lives.