Oh how time flies

Summer is here and Charlotte and I have been keeping very busy. She had a successful year at Mother's Day Out.

First day of school...

Last day of school.

She seems a lot less like a baby and lot more like a little girl these days. We can understand about 90% of what she is saying. She loves to count, dance, and sing. We do a lot of singing. Charlotte started swim lessons at the beginning of the month and she has been doing really well.

We plan to see all of our cousins this summer, including our Swiss 'cousins' in September! We are really looking forward to their visit.

We hope you all have a lot of fun in the sun. I will leave you with some funny photos.

Katie

 

Long overdue

I know, I know. 

We have been very busy here at Agnew Central and things like blog posts (and laundry and dishes *ahem*) tend to take a back seat. 

October came and went in a flurry.  Charlotte was very popular and had several events to attend all of which required a costume.  So, of course, I couldn't buy one, I had to make one.

Our little ladybug loved her wings (I loved them too). 

We went to a birthday party for a friend, and we had her school festival and parade, AND we went to the annual Memorial Hermann NICU patient caregiver reunion at the zoo.  It was such a good time and we even got to see our favorite nurse and her two sons, which was wonderful.  Aaron and I were both surprised that she remembered us and our ordeal and relayed it to her kids without prompting from us (almost two years later).  I guess we made an impression.  I only regret that I didn't thrust Charlotte at her and demand a photo.  Next time *fingers crossed*.

And just in case any of you need a reminder, we are one week and one day from her 2nd birthday.  When she looked at me and smiled and said "Hapffy" today for the first time, I thought yes, yes I am very happy.

I promise to blog about her birthday....at some point :)
Katie

P.S. I heard this blog inspired and helped.  I am so very happy Charlotte, Aaron and I were able to help and even more glad to hear you have a healthy little one at home. Strength in numbers really applies in a variety of places :)

School Days

Charlotte started Mother's Day out last week.  She goes twice a week and so far, she has been doing really well.  She has gotten great reports from her teachers.  She is a great "sharer" and plays well with the other kids.  On the first day, Ms. Jan told me that she was so sweet to a little girl that was very upset after her Mom left.  Charlotte was patting her back and saying "It's ok, it's ok baby". Now if we can just get her to eat her snack and lunch all would be perfect!

Charlotte and I are starting a Mommy and Me music class next week.  I am pretty excited about it and I think Charlotte will really enjoy it.

I hope "back to school" was a breeze for all of you.

Cheers,
Katie

Charlotte's First Day

Thumb and Jelly Toast

Earning her keep

Dance Party

This is what 20 months looks like around here.



Charlotte is quite the dancer. I have to be pretty sneaky with the camera. I think you see why.

19 months going on 16

The tantrums have started. You know the kind. The yelling, screaming, fall to the ground, won't stand up tantrums. It is all I can do sometimes not to have my own. Along with the tantrums, the sassing has really cranked up. I mean, the kid can't even really talk, but boy you know when she is sassing you. I have taken counting to 10 to an art form these days.

To be fair, I should let you know that it is far from being all bad. Most of the time Charlotte is loving and sweet and downright hilarious. She loves to read books, especially if she can climb in your lap to do it. She loves to play outside and ride in her wagon. Her all time favorite thing to do is dance. If there is music on, she is dancing. She will pull me into her room and point to her radio and say her version of on (which sounds a lot like up). All good stuff.

Our little weight project seems to be helping. I can tell she is filling out a bit and I am sure we will impress our docs when we go back for her weight check up at the end of July.

We hope you are all enjoying your summer.
Team Agnew

I know, I know. It has been too long.

But to be fair, Charlotte is no longer the "stay where I put you" kiddo. She LOVES to get into things, climb on things, jump off of things, and cause mischief and mayhem wherever she goes. Aaron and I were joking that if she isn't supposed to do it, she is doing it. Sound familiar? I am sure more than a few of you can relate.

Charlotte is 18 months old now. 18 months! Developmentally, she is doing really well. Walking, running, talking, etc. Unfortunately, we did not get a good report on her growth chart at her check up yesterday. Declining growth charts are no fun. The doctor would like her to see a GI specialist and a dietitian and I really, really don't want to get caught up in that circle again. We agreed to give her a couple of months before taking that step. We have an appointment at the end of July so until then, we are on Operation Gain Weight around here. Initially, I was pretty disappointed with the report. Feeling like a bit of failure, I guess. I quickly realized how silly that was and turned my frown upside down. I mean really, things could be so much worse and I have nothing to complain about. She is small, it isn't the end of the world, and we can fix it.

We signed her up for a Mother's Day Out class that starts in September. I think it will be really good for her and I know it will be good for me.


Perhaps I will have time to actually clean up all the messes she makes :)

It's April?

Where does the time go? Really, where? March was a busy month with a lot of traveling, hosting guests, planting the garden, etc, etc. I blinked and the month was over.

Our little ray of sunshine is now 16 months old and doing very well. She was recently evaluated by ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) and passed all of their tests with flying colors. She tested at 16 or 17 months for everything except fine motor skills and that range was 14.5 -16 months. So really, not a deficiency. I was most surprised to hear that she was "scattering" up to 24 months in some areas, mostly her gross motor skills and problem solving.

With all of the traveling and hosting, she was able to have some play time with most of her cousins, including her Swiss cousin, Joshua. It was a lot of fun to watch them all interact. I think I will be seeking out more opportunities to socialize her now that RSV/cold/flu season is over and she seems to be eager to play with other little ones. We were at the park last night and a group of older kids were hanging around (Side Note: Were we ever that annoying? Surely not). They had no interest in entertaining Charlotte and she was not very happy about that. It will probably be good for her to be around people that don't live and die by her smiles and eyelash batting :)

Helping Dad plant tomatoes

Messy Eater

Curly

Terrible Twos at 15 months?

She isn't quite there yet, but boy do we have a boundary pusher. Telling her not to do something is like an invitation for her to figure out a way to do just that, without getting caught. *Face palm*

Now that she is walking and climbing, we have been diligent teaching her how to get down from things and how to navigate stairs. She does pretty well, even "repelling" off our bed, which is too high for her to slide off of easily, using the bed sheets.

She says Momma and Daddy regularly, but even funnier, most of the time she just says Mom. I don't know why that makes me laugh. I guess she seems too young or small to have already gone from Momma to Mom. She also says duck, quack, and yes with clarity. She has other "words" that I understand, like kiki for monkey, but as Aaron says, I have my baby gibberish ears on.

She is still under 18 pounds, but we are getting there. We have her 15 month check up next week and I am hopeful that the doctor will agree that it is time to change her over to whole milk. We have already started giving it to her at times and she seems to like it and tolerate it well.

Now I must run along to stop Charlotte from swan diving off the couch....

One Year

A year ago today marks one of the happiest days of my entire life. On February 6, 2010, we were finally able to bring our sweet little girl home from the hospital. It seems so long ago and just like yesterday, all at the same time. Time flies and stands still? Curious.

We are very proud of her and are loving watching her grow and develop. Walking, talking, and yes, sassing. She definitely keeps us on our toes.

14 Months. An update in pictures.

Charlotte eats big girl food and loves it.


She holds her own bottle. Finally.


She can be a REAL stinker.......


although, she is a sweetheart most of the time.


Wait, who is this guy?

He would be my genius little brother that asked Kate to marry him and he was lucky enough that she said yes! Congrats little brother.

Big changes around here :)

Happy New Year!

A Blessed Season Indeed

12/25/09:

12/22/10:

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Year!

The Agnews

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

How far we have come in 12 months time. From 2 pounds 2 ounces:

To 16 pounds 4 ounces:


Someone once told me that Charlotte would be throwing that caterpillar around before I knew it and they were so right. This birthday caught me off guard, even though I was preparing myself for over a month. It all goes so quickly.

In the weeks leading up to today, I have thought a lot about what was happening a year ago. I remember how terrifying that trip to the hospital was and how upset I was when they told me that we had to have her and they couldn't stop the labor. I remember talking to a good friend who has been in the same situation trying to steel myself for what was to come and fight off the fears of what possibly could happen. I remember being thrilled to hear her crying when she was born and petrified when they took her away from us so quickly. I remember how strong Aaron was throughout the entire ordeal, never letting me see him upset and staying positive even under the most trying circumstances. But most of all, I remember all of the love and support that we received from our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. Without even asking, we were taken care of at every turn. Our support group pulled together with nary a meeting and made sure we had food, clean laundry, a healthy dog, sleep when we could get it, a hug to come home to after a long day at the hospital, nice messages of support on the phone when we needed it, countless prayers, and encouraging notes and comments posted here.

Thank you all so much for helping us through those 74 days in the hospital and in the months following. It is a true gift to know that you are loved.

She was meant to be born near Thanksgiving because she truly is a blessing.


Happy Thanksgiving from Team Agnew.

Pitter Patter?

Not quite, but this little munchkin is now 11 months old. She is getting close to walking, but I keep telling myself that she needs to get much stronger before she can free herself from the couch cruising. I am sure I will live happily in that denial right up until she turns away from the furniture and walks across the room.

In other news, Charlotte is officially teething. Her two bottom, front teeth are making their painful debut as I type this post. She has been doing fairly well with it, but there have been a few times in the last few days that nothing, NOTHING, would make her feel better and we just had to cry it out.

I can't believe we are one month away from her first birthday. Where does the time go?

We like to throw Cheerios to the dog

That pretty much sums up our life right now. Charlotte spends most of her time trying to get into things she shouldn't be getting into and doing things just to see how we will react.

She is 10 months old now. 10 Months! Everyday I think, wow she is growing up so fast. I wonder when that stops? My guess is, it doesn't.

She is pulling up on everything and cruising the furniture. A few days ago she let go of the couch to balance. That didn't work out so well for her, but I am sure she will be trying again before we know it. Don't be surprised if she is walking by her first birthday. I am pretty sure she heard the doctor say she wouldn't be doing that and decided to prove her wrong....again.

Enjoy the photos. The last one was taken at Charlotte's baptism.

Happy fall to everyone.
Katie, Aaron, and Charlotte

Well, that didn't take long.......

Sigh.

Addendum

I just realized I left out a very important piece of information from my previous post.

Dr. Sidiki was extremely surprised that Charlotte has only had one little bug since coming home almost 7 months ago. She told me that in her experience, most children Charlotte's age have had at least 6 different bugs or sick spells, which made her curious about how we were socializing Charlotte. After I assured her we had not locked ourselves in a bubble for the last 7 months, she gave me a verbal pat on the back, telling me that she was very impressed.

All of that to say, thanks a million friends and family, for helping us keep Charlotte healthy and relatively bug free. All of those healthy months have helped her grow bigger and stronger so that when the nasty RSV season comes around, she will be better prepared.

High five everybody.

9 Month Check-up

Charlotte had her 9 month check up today. Dr. Sidiki was extremely happy with her developmental progress, pegging her at 8 months, instead of her corrected 6 months. We were really happy to hear that. Charlotte impressed everyone with an array of her newly acquired talents and then promptly gave them all her stink eye after getting her shot. She now weighs 15 pounds and 4 ounces, which puts her in the 25-50% for her corrected age of six months. That was the only thing we weren't thrilled with, Dr. Sidiki wants to see a little more weight. No cause for concern, but I don't think we will be taking her off the higher calorie formula anytime soon. She also still has a ginormous head with it falling in the 90-97% corrected, 50-75% actual age! That means her head is as large or larger than 50-75% of other 9 month old babies. Crazy.

After her appointment, we went over to the hospital to see some of our favorite doctors, therapists, and nurses. I try to make it over there any time we are in the medical center. We just love showing Charlotte off and those folks work awfully hard to get and keep so many babies healthy, they like to see the success stories. We were really excited to see our all time favorite nurse AND we found out that she will be going to work for our doctor group next month. That means we will get to see her every month starting in October because we will be taking C in to get her RSV shots :( Not fun, but necessary.

Developmentally, Charlotte is crawling and pulling up....on everything, even unstable things. Bumps, bruises, and scrapes are here to stay for awhile. She only pulls up to a kneeling position, but I think that is just because she hasn't figured out she has to grab higher to be able to stand up all the way. I am sure that is not far behind. She hasn't really started speaking yet, but she does repeat certain sounds, like she is trying to speak. Although, the other day, I was admonishing her with a "No Ma'am" for doing something she had been told not to do and she looked at me sweetly, laughed, and parroted "No Ma'am" right back at me, same inflection and all. Let me tell you, I should get an award for not laughing.

Signing off for now,
The Agnew Clan

8 Months? What?

Yes, Charlotte is 8 months old! This little smarty pants is dangerously close to being a full blown crawler, as you can see below.


She scoots like greased lightening, but the crawling coordination isn't quite there yet. It is coming though, soon.

She is also eating three different veggies and in a few days we will be trying fruit. Maybe a banana? Who knows. Luckily, (knock wood) she hasn't turned her nose up at anything we have given her.

We are seeing her personality more and more these days. As my mother would say, she has two little horns propping up her halo. Most of the time she is as sweet as she can be, but every once in awhile she has to push the boundaries. I know this is normal kid stuff, but it is so fun to watch first hand.

What a great adventure the last eight months have been for us. Trying at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Until the next update....

Newsflash!

Charlotte found the baby we keep in the cabinet...

and she's in love.

I guess I should mention that I put her on the floor roughly ten feet from this spot, and when I came back from the kitchen, this is where she was. The scooting has been kicked into high gear.