Dadadadadada

Charlie has said her first word... DADA! If she only know how much further MAMA would take her!! Really, the only possible explanation as to why she said da-da first is because she thinks I'M dada!! haha



Check out my babbling babe! (For some reason it won't upload after I rotated it.. so hopefully u won't get a crick in your neck!!!)

It's Official... I'm a Slacker!!!

Ok, I know it has been WAY too long since I've updated, but in my defense I NEVER have time!! As it is, I am posting this while I'm at work (hehe)! All is well at the Russell household :) Charlie is growing like a little weed! (I'll post some pics later... I don't have any on my work comp!) She is quite the little actress these days! We took her to the doctor on monday because I was SURE there had to be something wrong with her... she was screaming at the top of her lungs, throwing tantrums while throwing herself on the floor! Well, Dr. Chi said she is perfect :) (I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!! <insert gag>) She is, however, teething something fierce! SIX, I repeat, SIX teeth are coming in at once! Poor little girl! And although I'm sure Tylenol would help her a little bit, given the recent recalls, she is going to have to tough it out! I know, I'm a mean mom.. yet Dan says I'm raising a wuss... so I just can't win! Since my last post, we starting giving Charlie some 'solid' food. I still don't know why its considered solid food because it's all pureed... I make it all myself, nothing but the best for my girl! So far she has had rice cereal, oatmeal, apples, pears, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes and peas. The only one she still doesn't like is peas. So although it was a rocky start, she is doing much better with eating :) She still is not crawling, and has no signs of beginning anytime soon! My little lazy lady! She hates being on her belly, so when we put her on it, she just rolls over and laughs! Dr. Chi said most babies crawl between 8-9 months, so we haven't missed the 'average' mark yet! BUT he did say 15% of babies don't crawl at all... yes, I know, he is a wealth of stats! Now you are up to date! I will try to post more regularly!!

Pukey Baby!

Have you ever been so sick that when you puked it came out of your nose? I know it's gross but if this has happened to you, then you can totally relate to my little babe! I was changing her diaper (her changing table is her FAVORITE place in the world!!) and she was laughing and having a good time... telling stories... listening to herself scream with delight... then all of a sudden she became very serious. I know the face too well...something was coming out, but I wasn't sure which end. Well, I'll tell you what, I wasn't expecting what actually happened. She spit up, THROUGH HER NOSE! I mean it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Nothing came out of her mouth... JUST HER NOSE! Of course she was very upset by this. And those of you whom have been there know that burning feeling all too well and how it is nearly impossible to get that smell/taste out! Being the trooper that she is, she cried for about a min and was back to play time on her changing table in no time! I just had to share that with you, as it was a first for both her and I!! ha!!

Charlie's photo shoot 1/20/10

Here is a little sample from Charlie's photo shoot with Anne Constance Photography! (www.anneconstance.com) Anne seriously does amazing work... I mean it certainly helps that she has the cutest subject posing for pictures BUT to her credit she is an awesome photographer! Charlie is turning into quite the cutie, what do you think?

SUPER BABY!!

I could do this all day!!

The Russell Gang!!

I could just eat that face!!!

...in deep though...

YAY!

What is this?? Can I eat it????

This is what heaven must be like...

And then there were 3...

A few pics for ya!

Here is an old one I forgot to post in my last blog from Halloween

I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee...

And an newer one...

I'm 4 months today!

Charlie is rolling over!!!

As the title says, my baby girl has finally figured out how to roll over!! She hates being on her belly, so she took the initiative to fix it! (she gets that from me!!!) She would cry whenever we would have 'tummy time', but not anymore! She is so proud of herself :0 When she rolls over she looks up at you and you had better have an exaggerated reaction or else she gets mad!! So she has the tummy to back down pat, but we are still working on the back to front... she is so close. She just gets hung up on her arm. Just to bring everyone up to date, the holidays were tough on Cha-Cha. She is anti-social (she gets this from her dad!!) and HATES being around a lot of people... needless to say, family functions were BRUTAL! I spent most of Christmas Day and New Years Eve in the bedroom trying to soothe the poor thing... I hope she will grow out of this soon, so that people other than me and Dan can enjoy her too:) We went for Charlie's 4 month checkup and she grew yet again. My lanky baby now measures 25 inches and weighs 11 lbs!! That puts her in the 75th percentile for height and the 3rd percentile for weight!! o boy!! Dr. Chi heard a heart murmur again, so he sent us for an EKG and an echocardiogram. Sounds easy, right? Perhaps for the average, happy dispositioned baby... and we all know Charlie is not a happy baby! Well, what should have taken us 15 min took 2 hours!! I'm pretty sure the technician wanted to kill us! Hopefully she got enough pictures of her heart so we don't have a repeat performance. I call it a performance because if anyone were to walk by the room, they would have thought we were torturing her... After the EKG (which came after the echo), we had to remove the stickers that were all over her chest and arms. You would think this would make her scream louder... NOPE! She started laughing... it was pretty much all a game for her... 'hmmm how can I stress my mommy out today??' She is a piece of work I tell you! We won't find out any results for another week or 2. Please pray that everything is ok. Dan's parents bought us the Flip camera for Christmas, so as soon as I can figure out how to upload the video of her rolling over I will post it on here.

October/November

Hi all! I'm so sorry it has been so incredibly long since my last update... I could rattle off a bizillion excuses but it really comes down to, I just forget!! Imagine that.. ME? FORGET?? Charlie is almost 3 months! I can't believe it! She is growing into quite the cute little lady... well she hasn't really gotten the lady part just yet, but she TOTALLY nailed the cute part! Since my last post, she went dr. chi again for her 2 month check up on 10/9/09 and weighed a measly 9lbs 2 ounces! It just isn't fair! How come when I eat every 2 hours my butt gets huge but she eats every 2 hours and hardly gains a pound... it just isn't right! Dr Chi didn't seem too concerned though... He said all of her food goes to her head because that is growing and that she is going to be a doctor and go to Harvard... and I finished that thought with 'ON A SCHOLARSHIP!!" She also grew 3 inches!! She is incredibly long... I guess that is from her daddy:) He also heard a heart murmur, but didn't seem too concerned. I'm amazed that the man can hardly hear me when I am asking him questions yet he can hear a little blurp in her heart beat:) But I have heard this about him, so I am thankful he heard it so we can keep an eye (ear) on it! Halloween came and past and my little babe was the cutest bee I have ever seen! I'll post a few so you can see too:) She recently went through a growth spurt and was painfully reminded of how difficult it was in the beginning with NO sleep and her eating every hour!! Thank goodness it was only a few days! Of course my darling timed it perfectly with me going back to work, so unfortunately my coworkers had to deal with me working with a partially functioning brain... but if you were to ask them, I'm sure they would agree that this is a common thing! (now i have an excuse to have no brain.. B.C. ((before charlie)) I had to use the good 'ol dumb blonde

excuse!! I've officially worked 3 days now, and it isn't as bad as I thought it would be... I mean miss her incredibly, but I'm thankful for the little break I get... I'm sure I will be devastated when she starts doing her 'firsts' with someone other than me! But until then, I am A-ok:) Besides when I get home I get all the cuddle time I want crunched into a few hours! Well, Char should be waking up soon, so I gotta get going.. Will try to post soon