Charlotte is here!

Our sweet little Charlotte Rose joined us on February 22 - one month ago. She has the most pleasant demeanor and is growing fast. We adore her!

Charlotte Rose on day one.

If you know me, it is no surprise when I tell you that she is on a schedule and our day go by fast. My dad asked me what we do during the day - well, here it is! We try to follow the schedule recommendation in the book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer called EASY - eat, activity, sleep and you time - repeating every three hours or so. Now this is all subject to change with illness, a growth spurt, etc but this is the general course of the day. 

Sometime between 12-3am she wakes up and I nurse. Yes, she can sleep a long time! I wake up more frequently than her as I hear her little noises or go into her room to put her pacifier back in while she sleeps.

6am - Our house wakes up and I nurse.

Followed by breakfast for the rest of us and getting Lucy ready for school and out the door. I throw in a load of laundry and do other tidying up. 

9am - nurse

When Charlotte sleeps, I shower, get myself ready and prepare food for the day ahead - when nursing hunger strikes I need healthy snacks on hand! 

12pm - nurse

Followed by lunch and a nap when Charlotte naps

3pm - nurse

Followed by a walk around Old Town to do errands or just enjoy the weather. Then I get dinner and things ready for Andrew & Lucy's return home. Occasionally I pick Lucy up from school so our afternoon walk is to school and the Nannie Lee rec center playground.

6pm - nurse

Followed by dinner, baths, books and bed time for both girls at 7:30. I 'tank up' Charlotte before she goes to sleep. To our amazement, Charlotte is pretty good at putting herself to sleep when we lay her down at night. Yay!!

Then Andrew and I clean up and watch some tv. I go to bed around 8:30ish and Andrew takes the monitor and is "on duty" until he comes to bed a few hours later. This ensures that I get a few hours of undisturbed sleep. When he comes up the monitor goes on my night stand and I am on duty throughout the night. Andrew helps out in the middle of the night too when things get tough - like last night when Lucy woke up multiple times. 

This seems to be working pretty well for all of us for now. We will see what the next month brings!

A month later - just want to kiss those cheeks!