5 Months

   Well last weekend Little Miss went right on ahead and turned 5 months....

which is almost 6 months.....

which is half way to a year....

which means she is practically graduating and heading off to college

I love and hate how fast she is growing, Im losing my floppy squishy newborn but I am gaining a laughing playful baby, so bittersweet :)

This month has been a big one! Lots of changes in the world of Charlotte, including
- moving into her crib in her own room( this was way harder than I thought it would be on me and honestly I still really miss having her right beside me but she is sleeping sooooo much better so I guess I just have to suck it up)

- solid food! We are doing a mix of purees and Baby Led Weaning aka "table scraps" as Daddy calls it :) So far she has had avocado, sweet potato, carrots, apples and bananas. Her favorite is a toss up between sweet potatoes and apples.

- scooting. Its slow and uncoordinated but she can inch her way from where she is to where she wants to be, everyday she gets a little better at it!

- growling. Its her favorite noise to make. She sounds like the Exorcist and loves doing it in public. I swear she creeped one older lady out at the grocery store the other day :)

And she continues to be a super busy baby. She loves play dates, going shopping and anything that is new and exciting. I love that busy bee of mine <3

xoxo
Ashlea

Why I love staying at home

    I am so incredibly blessed to be able to stay at home with Charlotte, there are days when its really hard but it is always worth it. The times when I realize it the most are when Charlotte is really into something and I can just be in the moment with her - no rushing back to work or deadlines to meet - just me and her playing and discovering.

   Yesterday as I was doing the dishes I had Charlotte up in her Bumbo seat beside me on the sink, we were singing songs and she had some toys on her tray but she kept looking at the faucet and the water coming out of it, so I switched to cool water, scooted her over and sure enough she tried to grab the water. She was MESMERIZED! I signed and said "water" to her a bunch of times, talked about how it felt - wet, cool etc. And then I stepped back and watched her "play" with the water. She loved it and was engaged for an easy 10-15 minutes.

   It is so great to see the world through her eyes. I never give the faucet a second thought but I guess it is pretty neat :) Towards the end I videoed her, you can see how much she loves it and how happy she is!

Charlotte plays with water

xoxo
Ashlea

photo dump

New Favorite

This is my latest favorite picture of Charlotte. I mean come on, how did I get so lucky to Mama this preciousness?

xoxo
Ashlea

Pumpkin Patch

 There is a fantastic place around these parts called Tate Farms. They open in the Fall to the public for all sorts of Autumn family fun. We went this past Saturday and even though Charlotte is a little too young for most of it we still had a great time and cant wait to go again next year when she can actually do a lot more of the activities.

Entering the hay maze

We made it out!

Attempting and failing at getting a picture of Charlotte as a goat

Checking out the bunnies

and sweet sleeping goats

On the hayride to go pick our pumpkin

It was sunny and she chewed on my fingers the whole time. Nothing like some farm germs to strengthen that immune system :)

pumpkin patch

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Our first semi decent family photo!

xoxo
Ashlea

Love this weather.....

The weather here has been perfect. Cool mornings with sunny mild days. I love Autumn in Alabama, its perfect hang outside, toes in the grass and listen to some music weather and we are soaking it all in :)

Photo Dump

xoxo
Ashlea

4 months!

 A week late here is Charlotte's 4 month photo and recap.....

I know she isnt smiling in this one, she actually didnt smile for any of them. I thought about redoing the photo shoot in hopes of catching a smile but I thought better of. This is Charlotte at 4 months. Little Miss has attitude. She has been figuring out what she wants and letting you know. If she is happy you know it. If she is made you definitely know it. This little baby is becoming a little person and I love it.

xoxo
Ashlea

New Recipe

  One of the silver linings I keep telling myself about this whole n-eating-dairy nonsense is that it is making look for new recipes and try new things. (For the record Id rather be eating a block of cheese with gravy on the side and wash it down with a pint of ice cream) But back to that silver lining.

This is the latest new dinner we tried and it was EASY and DELISH so I thought I would pass it along. The temperatures are dropping next week into the 70's which means soups, stews and roasts are on the menu for next week!

Cashew Chicken

xoxo
Ashlea