Charlie's 6 week milestones

Charlie's 6th week was a busy one... he finally started smiling.

We are also in the midst of Charlie's 1st trip on an airplane (and also my 1st time flying with two kids by myself). We are in Kansas City visiting my parents. This past weekend, we had my sister Patti's baby shower. We are hoping to welcome her baby in the next 4-6 weeks, but possibly sooner. We will be here thru next weekend, when we will baptize Charlie at the Church of the Nativity. It's the same church where Mark & I were married and where Ella was baptized.

Here are a few pics from our trip so far...

Ella & Granddaddy

Ella's new friends

And Patti's baby shower

Potty Training Ella

Most of you know that I have been potty training Ella for about a year. She showed early interest, so we thought- why not!? I was hoping I would be one of those parents that had their kid trained before two. What a mistake that was! Part of the problem is that we weren't as consistent as we should have been, but the other part of the problem was that our strong willed child wanted to do things on her terms. By her 2nd birthday, Ella COULD have been trained, but she refused. Sometimes she would agree to go on the potty, sometimes not. But she knew exactly what to do, how to do it, etc.

Mark and I were constantly frustrated for the next 6 months. We had been told not to put too much pressure on her or she would rebel so we'd constantly ask her if she wanted to go, but her answer was usually no. Finally I decided to put her inn underwear, I though maybe feeling wet/dirty would push her over the hump... but no, that didn't work either and was just a HUGE mess for me. We tried rewards, bribes, we went shopping for underwear, we pointed out all the "big kids" who didn't wear diapers. We bought books and videos on potty training, and even an Elmo doll that "goes" on the potty. NOTHING was working.

Finally, with Charlie's arrival just days away, I knew we needed a break. Luckily, a friend with another strong willed girl gave us some great advice. She told us to totally STOP the potty training cold turkey. No talking about it, no asking Ella if she needs to go, no acting disappointed when she went in her diaper... NOTHING. So we did it. It was interesting... all the sudden Ella realized she wasn't getting any attention anymore. She would bring up potty stuff out of the blue, saying things like "Mom, remember when I pooped!?" and laugh hysterically, trying to get a rise out of us. Or she would go in her diaper and request to be changed immediately. We would tell her we were busy and she would have to wait. It was pretty funny to watch her get frustrated that she wasn't getting all the attention she used to.

Finally, after three weeks of no potty training, we headed out to a neighborhood birthday party where one of our neighbors starting asking Ella why she was still wearing diapers. When we got home that evening, Ella requested to sit on the potty, went pee and then told me she would like to wear underwear. I was SHOCKED. I marched her downstairs where I made her repeat her request to her Dad and my Mom (who was in town visiting). We all told her that she could wear underwear if she wants, but she had to throw away all of her diapers. She agreed! We went though the house and found all of her diapers and she put all of them into a trash bag that her Dad "took out to the trash". Success!

We've been in underwear for over three weeks now and she has only asked for diapers back ONCE. It's been a lot of work, but now I know its totally worth it. Even though we put her on the potty every hour or so, the first week we were averaging 1-2 accidents a day plus I was constantly washing sheets. We're not really trying to get her nighttime trained just yet, but just felt like putting her in pull-ups at nap and nighttime was sending a mixed signal.

But as of today, we have had 5 days with no accidents and 2 days with no washing sheets. Yeah! We rewarded her yesterday with the two gifts she has been requesting since all this potty training nonsense started: a guitar and a Curious George doll.

Congrats Ella!!!

ONE MONTH

Charlie turned one month old this past Thursday, August 5th. It was already a special day... my Dad's birthday, but Charlie's one month milestone made it that much more special to us. Happy 1 Month Birthday Charlie!

Do you think he's growing? We certainly hope so! :)

And check out my ADORABLE socks... courtesy of Charlie's Great Aunt and Godmother, Jenny. Love them!

Charlie's 1st Bath

Charlie's umbilical cord FINALLY fell off yesterday so he got his first real bath tonight. Our neighbors had Ella over for a visit, so we though it was the perfect opportunity to get him into the bath.

We were prepared for a total meltdown, but to our surprise, he LOVED it. We had NO tears at all. Charlie seemed really comfortable in the water and it went great. He even let me pour water over his head. Wow!

Family of FOUR

Here's a picture of the 4 of us before heading to a party in the neighborhood. It's still hard to believe that we are a family of FOUR!

Ella is still doing great with Charlie. She just loves being a big sister and whenever someone comes to the door, she greets them with "Wanna come see my baby brother??" Even if its the UPS guy. It's pretty cute!

We're still trying to get the hang of the sleeping thing. Charlie doesn't seem to want to sleep that much at nighttime, so we are working really hard to try and get him to sleep better.

But even though he doesn't let us get much sleep, we still can't believe how in love we are with this little guy, or "little buddy" as Ella calls him. It's so wonderful to have him here!

Charlie is 2 weeks old!

Hard to believe that 2 weeks have passed since Charlie joined the family. It seems like forever ago and just yesterday all at the same time. My Mom headed back home this past Saturday, leaving Mark and I to fend for ourselves with the two kids. (Thank goodness she will be back in a week for a couple more days!) I think we did pretty well, all things considered. We managed to keep both kids alive and even took family photos with our favorite photographer, Lindsay. I'm hoping to post some of those soon!

Today was my 1st day with both kids by myself since Mark is out of town for work. The fact that I'm posting this should tell you that I made it, thanks to a little help from some great neighbors.

Anyway- the big news is that Charlie had his 2 week doctors appointment today! Here are his stats:

8lbs 10oz (50%)

21inches (75%)

14.75 head circumference (70%)

Now that Charlie is above his birth weight, we know he is eating- yeah! Now it's time to get him sleeping better!

Welcome home Charlie!

Charlie is finally home! Here's a picture of Charlie, ready to head to his new house. Hard to believe that he will be too big for this car seat in 9-12months.

Here's a recap of what we've been up to (from what my fuzzy brain can remember!):

Nanny & Poppa (Mark's parents) visited us in the hospital on Tuesday and at home on Wednesday. They were so excited to get to see Charlie "brand new" since they weren't able to see Ella until she was 2 weeks old. Here's a pic of the proud Grandparents with their 1st Grandson!

Charlie came home with us on Wednesday, July 7th. He left the hospital down about 8oz from his birth weight and a little jaundiced, but other than that, a perfectly happy and healthy baby boy. We had a couple of check-ups on the jaundice, which seems to be getting better on its own, and Charlie is definitely gaining weight (at least according to the scale at the nursing bra store!), so nothing to worry about at all. Only bad news is that Charlie isn't the best sleeper. Right now he's getting up every 2-3 (sometimes a little more if we are lucky) so I'm really going to work on getting him to sleep better. Cross your fingers for me.

GG (my Mom) has been staying with us since we left for the hospital on the 4th and is taking care of all 4 of us, especially Ella. Don't know what we would do without her here! She leaves in the 17th and we don't know what we are going to do without her. On a funny note, GG took Ella for a bike ride with our bike trailer and totally crashed and fell. She is a little bruised up but totally fine, and Ella wasn't phased at all. Here are some pre-crash photos.

We've had so many visitors to the hospital and to our house, and so many wonderful people making us meals and offering us help, it would be impossible to mention all our great friends and family, but just know how much we appreciate all the love and support!

Speaking of Ella, she couldn't be more excited and proud to be a big sister. She is so excited to introduce everyone to her new brother and wants to hold him and touch him all the time. We're so happy that she is just as excited as we are about our new family member.

Some special visitors to note:

Our great friends, Kara & Mark Cowie just happened to be in Breckenridge on a family vacation over July 4th, so we were lucky enough to see them before Charlie was born AND after. Here's a pic of all 4 of our kids together.

Granddaddy (my Dad) visited us our 1st weekend home. We were so excited to introduce him to his 1st Grandson, Charlie.

Not much else to report. It's been a crazy week or so. We are so happy that Charlie is finally here!

Charlie's 1st Visitors

Of course we made sure that Charlie's first visitor was the most important one... his big sister Ella! GG and Ella arrived at the hospital around 5:30pm and Dad went downstairs to meet them and bring them up to our room. Charlie had been in the nursery getting his 1st bath and arrived back just in time to meet Ella.

When Ella got to the room, I wanted to make sure to give her lots of attention and not make a big deal about the baby. I reached for her to give her a big hug, but she wasn't interested in me at all. She asked me right away, " Where's the baby Mom? In your belly?" I pointed over to the bassinet in our room to show her where he was and she went right over to see him. The look on her face was so precious and she started talking sweetly to him. I told her the baby had a gift for her, but she wanted to hold him right away. I finally got a hug from her while Dad picked the baby to put into her lap.

After holding Charlie for a little bit, we exchanged gifts. Ella presented Charlie with the stuffed dog that she made him at Build-a-bear. We gave Ella her gift "from Charlie", a baby doll with it's own little crib and high chair.

The visit was so sweet and Ella responded to the baby much better than we could have ever imagined. She was sad to learn that we all wouldn't be coming home with her today.

We are expecting a visit from Nanny & Poppa (Mark's parents) tomorrow and then Granddaddy (my Dad) this weekend. We can't wait for everyone to meet him!

Charlie's Birth Story

Mark and I headed to the hospital around 7pm on Sunday evening, July 4th, for an early Monday morning induction. Before we left, we enjoyed a nice dinner with my Mom (GG) and soon to be big sister, Ella.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30pm to get all checked in and settled into our room for the evening. Around midnight, they started me on some cervix softening drugs and then at 5am on the 5th, we started the pitocin. We were ready to get this show on the road! Our doctor came in at 7:30am and broke my water and by 9:30am I was ready for my epidural. Labor was pretty easy once the drugs took effect until I had a really sudden drop in blood pressure when I was dilated to about 7cm. I was seeing spots and almost passed out! Pretty scary stuff! Turns out, baby was sitting on a main vein and was restricting my blood flow. Good news is that it didn't affect him at all, and they were able to give me some medicine to bring my blood pressure back up. A little bit before 2pm, I was ready to push and by 2:16pm, he was here!

Our little boy is actually quite a big baby, just like his sister was!

8 lbs 6 oz

21 inches

After all the stress and uncertainty of this pregnancy, it was SUCH a relief to finally meet Charlie and see for our own eyes that he was OK. Our little guy has been through a lot over these last nine months. We have real fighter!

After the baby arrived, Mark tried his best to get the news out to family ASAP, but we still didn't have a name! We narrowed it down to a couple choices ahead of time, but were waiting to see what he looked like. After making the decision, we wanted to wait a little bit to let it all "sink in" before announcing it to our families and friends who were all asking! We finally sent an email letting everyone know that Charles William Herb would be his name and we will call him Charlie. His name is extra special to us because it's in tribute to both of Charlie's amazing Grandfathers. We knew our strong baby boy needed two strong names to match his personality.

We think Charlie looks just like his big sister. He actually has even more hair than Ella did and its a little darker, but their facial features are really similar. You can look back at newborn pics of Ella HERE and HERE.

Charlie is here!

Charles William Herb, arrived this afternoon at

2:16pm. He is 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. We are all exhausted, but

everyone is healthy and happy!

Charlie is named for both his grandfathers: Charles is in tribute to his

Granddaddy, Carl Wayne Godsey (Carl is the German form of Charles) and

William, for his Papa, William David Herb. William is also Mark's middle

name and the name of Mark's maternal Grandfather and Mark's paternal

Grandfather's middle name.

Ella will arrive this evening to meet her little brother and all three of us can't wait to see her.

Love,
Becky Mark Ella & Charlie