not a fan of carrots

Charlotte just tried carrots for the first time...she was not happy with me. I guess she gets her distaste for carrots from Matt's dad :) Thanks for that, Grandad!

Pumpkin Patch

We took Charlotte to a pumpkin patch yesterday here in Kingwood. We had such a good time taking pictures, exploring and meeting lots of people. Our Charlotte certainly loves to be social :) Here are a few pictures. As always, if you would like to see more go to our photo share site :)

Beach

Charlotte went to the beach for the first time this weekend in Galveston...I think the picture explains how much fun she had :)

Cloth Diapers

Anyone who has ever had a baby knows how expensive child rearing can be! Matt and I have been looking for ways to save a little here and there. One of the biggest changes we’ve made recently is the move to cloth diapers. I know, it seems crazy. But I promise cloth diapers have come a long way! It's not as gross as you would think (trust me, I'm super girly-so if I can do it, anyone can!) There's really nothing to it. You just pull the insert out of the diaper and wash them in hot water and tumble dry (if it's a dirty diaper you just shake/spray it off into the toilet first---sorry, that's gross) And that's seriously all you do. Pretty easy :)

We’ve discussed using cloth diapers since I was pregnant with Charlotte. I’ve felt like this would be a great thing to do, but wanted to talk to other families who do this and wanted to adjust to motherhood a bit before I made this decision. After much thought and discussion, we have officially made the change! We decided to go with The FuzziBunz one-size diapers. They’re incredibly adjustable…they fit babies 7-35 pounds. You can adjust around the legs and waist which is pretty ideal if you have a baby with either chunky or skinny legs :) The disposable diapers dig into her thighs but leave a wide space in the back (not so fun). The cloth diapers have snap closures which are supposed to withstand 3+ years of use. I found this especially appealing. Take a look at all of the different settings:

I love the idea of not having to buy tons of disposable diapers for all of our children. Ideally, these will last through all of our diapering years (we ordered all gender neutral colors). Clearly when we have babysitters or take her to the nursery we’ll put her in disposables, but the majority of the time the cloth diapers will work great! Hopefully this will prove to save money, and at the very least it's great for the environment :) If you're interested in seeing a chart of the cost breakdowns of the many different kinds of cloth diapers vs disposables click here. It's very interesting :)

We're starting with 10 diapers and if we need more later we'll order them. Next on our list are an antibacterial pail liner (you wash it with the diapers) and a diaper sprayer

Wish us luck!!! :)

5 Months Old

My sweet Charlotte is 5 months old as of Sunday. I just can't believe how quickly the months are passing by. Sunday after church I put away all of her 3-6 months clothes. I was sad to see the pretty smocked dresses and tiny bloomers all folded up. And while I will miss her as a snuggly, tiny baby that could nap anytime/anywhere, I sure do love getting to know her more every day as her little personality starts to blossom. She's so giggly, and squirmy...and just too much fun. She's almost figured out how to put her pacifier back in her mouth. She can take it out, but hasn't quite mastered the art of putting it back in. Most of the time she ends up putting it on her eye. She prefers me to sing Beatles songs and old hymns to her over the traditional lullabies (thank goodness), and anytime she's really upset I can just play music and she’ll almost instantly calm down. We have this in common. Her eyes are slowly becoming green like her daddy's! Lucky girl ;)

The whole world is opening up to her and we get to stand by and watch. What a gift! God is so good :)

Charlotte's favorite things are:

watching our chihuahua, Tako

Football (yes, seriously)

being in charge (holding the spoon, bottle, etc)

sitting up by herself

being naked

Swinging at the park

Charlotte's least favorite things are:

putting clothes on (she throws a fit)

nap time (she doesn't really believe in it)

not having her paci

hairbows (she takes them out and eats them)

Milestones she reached this month:

playing with her feet
sitting up by herself
two lower teeth!

started solid foods...she now eats sweet potatoes, avacado, bananas and peaches (her favorite!)

ps- I post all of the photos I take to our Shutterfly share site. If you'd like to see them click here!