the brown family

Charlotte in April

Here are some pictures of Charlotte on the move this past month.

Charlotte taking a bath with her friend Abigail.

Charlotte trying to go through the fridge when Mom isn't looking (she's checking to see if I'm coming to get her).

Standing on her tiptoes trying to get stuff off the hall furniture.

Taking a walk with Mom.

Posted in: on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at at 7:32 AM 0 comments

Well, Charlotte will be 11 months next week so I am beginning to wean her now. I'd like her to be ready to drink milk on her 1st birthday. She is really good at drinking from her sippy cup so hopefully this will be a smooth transition! Since she was about 6 months old I've been nursing her 4 times a day (7, 11, 3, and 7). But, as she's been eating more and more table food she has really lost interest in her midday feedings. We have to be in a private place because she is so easily distracted! So this week I dropped her 3 pm feeding.

We had such a rough time getting started with breastfeeding. The lactation consultant said she was just sucking to shallow?! and that hopefully as she got older she would be able to do this better. The first week home was horrible - she lost way too much weight and cried literally the whole time (I would too if I wasn't getting enough to eat!). So after a trip to the lactation consultant I had to begin pumping to get my milk supply back and get her some food to eat. Ahhh pumping....little did I know that I'd be pumping ALL the time for the next 2 1/2 months!! But, PRAISE GOD we finally got the hang of it! I appreciate being able to offer Charlotte a bottle every now and then but breastfeeding is so much easier! All this to say, I am very thankful for all that the Lord taught me during that very trying time and that we were finally able to breasfeed. Besides the fact that breasfeeding is nutritionally superior, provides all kinds of immunity, and helped me lose the baby weight (yeah!), I have really come to love the special time spent with Charlotte. And I will miss it!

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at at 9:02 PM 0 comments

Pictures of Charlotte

Our friend from church Elizabeth Marx came and photographed Charlotte last week. She is a wonderful photographer - her business, Almond Leaf Studios, is helping her fund her way back to being a missionary in India. Check out her blog with pictures of Charlotte:

http://almondleafblog.com/

Posted in: on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at at 9:54 AM 3 comments

Easter

We went home to Spartanburg, SC this past weekend to celebrate Easter - that Christ has risen indeed! We are so thankful for all the wonderful family we have to celebrate our Lord with. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Charlotte and Mom

Eating - one of Charlotte's favortie things to do!

Our family

Charlotte with her great grandfather - Papa (David's Mom's Dad)

Charlotte with her great grandparents (David's Dad's parents)

Posted in: on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at at 9:25 PM 0 comments

Florida Beach Trip

Charlotte is on the verge of walking! She is definitely cruising now and likes to pull herself up to standing and not hold onto anything - such a big girl! She is eating all kinds of table foods now, likes to point at things, and loves to say "bye bye" to people. I've really been enjoying her growing personality!

In other news, David will be doing a residency for a year at Forest Hill Church starting in July. This is such an answer to prayer and such a great opportunity for him to train as a Christian Counselor. It looks like he will graduate with his MACC in December of this year and his MDiv in May of 2010. I am so proud of all his hard work these past few years!

We were at the beach from March 21 - 28 in Florida with David's family and had a wonderful time. Charlotte LOVED the beach - she crawled all over the place and ate a lot of sand. She also had her 5th tooth come in (on the bottom) which caused her to run a fever and stop nursing for about 36 hours (yikes for Mom!). So that was a little more excitement than we wanted to have at the beach!

Posted in: on at at 8:59 PM 0 comments

Charlotte's 9 month check up

We had Charlotte's 9 month check up this week (it was actually 2 weeks later so she is really about 9 1/2 months old now). She weighed 22 lbs (90%) and is 29 1/4 inches long (90%). Our doctor said we can start trying basically all kinds of table foods. She will eat anything I put in front of her!

Posted in: on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at at 7:53 PM 1 comments

Update / Trip to Toxaway

Charlotte started crawling at 8 1/2 months! She is all over the place now - loads of fun for Mom! She also is now at 9 months pulling herself up to standing and taking a few steps. We have her 9 month doctor appointment tomorrow so I'll get her stats then.

We took a weekend trip to Lake Toxaway with our wonderful friends Nate & Joni, and Mark, Leah, & their daughter Abigail. It rained the whole time we were up there but it gave us an excuse to stay in our PJ's! Here are some pics from the weekend.

Posted in: on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at at 7:59 PM 2 comments