Los Porchs

Better late than never... Charlotte was a miserable bug on the 8th so we opted to focus on taking care of her rather than trying to capture photos.  We've had a busy, busy month and as hard as I thought those weekly bump updates were, it's even harder to keep on top of these updates; I think this is partly because I refuse to admit that another month has passed and partially because I am exhausted at a l l times.  All of them. Stats We had multiple opportunities to measure Charlotte this month; we had THREE doctor visits in 2 weeks for our sick little nugget.  She's currently weighing in around 19 pounds, 15 ounces.  She goes for her next well-baby visit in early May and I suspect she'll 20 pounds and somewhere in the vicinity of 29 inches. Teeth:  2 lower chompers have emerged! Charlie is kind of a big deal.  She wakes up around 5:30-6 and snuggles with Mama until it's time to get up for the day.  We get ready for school and make the 30 minute d...

One of Charlotte's favorite places is on the couch, looking outside at the cars & people going by.... she is such an observant little bug & I love it! She doesn't miss a thing. I'm so happy she has something to watch here & I don't feel a need to keep her away from windows like I did in Uptown. It's a whole new world here in Wisconsin! So much to discover this spring...... just have to get the snow to stop falling! :)

I say this every month and I mean it every month:  I don't know where the past month has gone.  I don't understand how time passes so quickly and in the blink of an eye, I am rocking a nearly-mobile chunk in the glider and gone are the days of rocking a (relatively speaking) itty bitty.  Every day, Charlotte's personality emerges just a little more and we learn who we're workin' with and I am so incredibly thankful for the baby we know and love.  The other night, I was rocking Charlie and looking down at her, sleep-drunkenly thinking about the logistics of how we came to meet this sweet girl.  Of course we had wished for a baby 4 years before we met her, but if that had happened, we wouldn't have had Charlotte.  Because when you think about it, right down to a cellular level, it physically would not have been Charlotte.  It wouldn't have been the exact combination of egg & sperm that brought these cheeks into the world.  Sometimes I thank God ...

Tonight, Charlotte enjoyed green beans for the first time! She has been playing with her spoons for a while now so she seemed pretty comfortable getting them to her mouth... it was pretty entertaining to watch her get them all over her face with her hands. I'm easily entertained these days.

I feel like since the Cheeks turned 4 months and found her hands, people have been speculating that she's teething  (on account of the drool). Let the record show that drool is not directly correlated to teething; it's a developmental piece from her hands being in her mouth, creating extra saliva. Ok. But I think now we might really be teething. I've heard Charlie make some sounds in the past few days that I've never heard before.  Like save me, Momma, I'm in so much pain cries. I'm curious to see if that irritability continues or if it's something else. Or if she just wakes up one day soon with a toother. Toofer, if you will. Of c ourse you will. Any words of sage wisdom from you, my fine friends who have experienced the call of a teething baby? Xo Momma Porch

Gearing up to pack up Charlotte's 3 month outfits.... little miss is sporting an awful lot of 6 month outfits these days! She's so long, she needs the extra length.  Costco has the cutest Carters fleece jammies on sale for $5.99 so I got her a pair of pink jammies since so much of her clothing is gender neutral. I can't really even get mad when we're out in public and people tell me how cute my son is..... girlfriend rocks those neutral colors like a boss. I can't get over how quickly time is going and how much C has grown in just 12 weeks (almost 13). She'll be 3 months this weekend and I'm so excited to snap some pictures this weekend of her big gummy smile, complete with dimple. She makes me happy.

Today marks 6 weeks since C joined our family... in some ways, it feels like a lifetime and in other ways, it feels like I blinked and we're already at this benchmark! 6 Things @ 6 Weeks * C now weighs 12.5 pounds (!!) and is 23 inches long. * C loves to cluster feed at night before bed.  I try to be bothered by it, but really?  This sweet chunker wants mommy snuggles and I am more than happy to oblige (as long as I can eat at the same time). * C is no match for the Baby Bjorn.  I think all but one time she has been defeated and asleep within 5 minutes of being snapped into it!  I love baby wearing but am still trying to figure out how to get her out of the thing without waking her up.  I know, never wake a sleeping baby.  But this kid is huge and my back can only take so much at a time.  I'm building my strength :) * C is almost halfway through reading Charlotte's Web.  She's pretty into it ;) * C has already traveled to 5 cities in W...

Umm, so after that post yesterday where I mentioned Charlotte seemed ready to roll her hot body over, Porch and I were attempting to help her burn some energy with extra tummy time in the evening and my little bug rolled from tummy to back as we watched & cheered her on.  I mean, when I said, "Show us how you roll," I didn't expect this one-month-old infant to actually roll herself over.   Clearly, our child is gifted.  (How come that tactic doesn't work when I politely request that she go to sleep?) Thankfully, I totally get that children can reach certain milestones early & others late... I suspect she'll have some wicked linguistic skills as we've been talking to her nonstop since her arrival and reading her novels (currently digging Charlotte's Web).  Plus, this kid has the body of a three-month-old so I'm not too shocked.  Just anxious that now she's semi-mobile and cannot be left alone in any position where she might roll away.  And...

It's true!  Somehow, a month has already passed and today Ms. Charlotte celebrates her 1-month milestone! Porch & I stare at her frequently and wonder aloud how we got so lucky to have such an amazing baby to call our daughter.  We also marvel at just how big she looks!  She wasn't small by any means upon arrival, but let me assure you, this girl likes to eat & is gaining weight (hopefully in an appropriate fashion). || Charlotte likes || ... cuddling on Mommy or Daddy's chests ... pacing back and forth down the hallway ... reading stories ... being sung to (her favorite song is Swing Life Away by Rise Against) ... giving people the ocular pat-down with her one eye stare ... eating ... having her forehead rubbed to calm her down || Charlotte dislikes || *We're pretty aware of Charlotte's dislikes -- she's pretty vocal about it. ... diaper changes ... putting on clothes, especially pants --- forget about shoes or socks ... her crib ... be...

I have never been a fan of those cheesy newborn pictures but I am quickly appreciating the fact that it was likely the cloud of infertility and the fact that I had never had a child that made me laugh every time I saw a picture of baby feet with wedding bands on them.  I mean... really.  Then I met my daughter and I won't even apologize; she has made me into a sentimental basket case.  I'm already thinking about holidays and traditions and forcing myself to savor and remember every moment with her as an infant because I know all too well that I am going to blink and be sending her off to college.  Or at least kindergarten. I enlisted the help of an outstanding up and coming photographer, Cecil Ramirez , from Chicago whom I had had the pleasure of working with at work.  I had been following his work on Facebook and wanted to capture the first days of Charlotte being home with us and asked him to come into our home to take some candid shots of our little family ...

After four years of struggling to conceive, I can say without hesitation that Charlotte was worth the wait.  She is exactly the baby we were meant to raise together and makes our family complete (for now).  She is the answer to many prayers and every time I look at her little scrunched up face, I am reminded how lucky we are to have her in our arms. I have heard people (a member of my extended family even) comment on "our generation" and how selfish we are for bettering ourselves, particularly women, rather than having children right away.  Times have changed, women no longer are expected to put their careers and education aside to be a mother and wife (unless they want to).  For the first time, now that I'm a mother, I understand why a parent might want to be a stay at home parent.  But let me be clear:  my education and career have shaped me into the mother that I am.  I am confident.  I am strong.  I have a solid understanding of child d...

Porch returns to work on Friday... I'm now accepting bets as to when, on Friday, I lose my mind.  I'm guessing there will be a point at which I strap Baby Porch into the Baby Bjorn and high tail it over to Starbucks (and I'm guessing it will be before noon). Until then, Porch and I are tag-teaming this adventure and we rock as a team.  We've been binge watching House of Cards on Netflix together. The only tears I've had so far were (1) when the Dr. called and ordered us to the ER at Children's immediately and (2) when Baby Porch refused to nurse and I had to let Porch give her a bottle.  And I guess the moment I saw those chubby cheeks and realized she was ours!  Not too shabby for a chick with raging hormones! Maybe you've heard this song, You're Gonna Miss This, by Trace Adkins.  It's kind of become my theme song as I spend late nights and early mornings with Baby Porch rocking and nursing... I know there will be a day when these moments are go...

I'm a little more than a week deep into my maternity leave from work and as I was all excited that I had 5 weeks left and man, won't it be awesome that we'll someday have a routine and life will be slightly more cohesive than just me sitting around, watching movies, napping, snuggling, and feeding Baby -- two things occurred to me.  Two semi-distressing things: Porch goes back to work THIS Friday. School starts for me next Thursday. So my super awesome partner in this baby experience will be out of the house roughly 8am-7pm (on a good day) and Charlie & I will be left to our own devices.  Very much a sink or swim scenario, but I suspect we'll swim.  And then find our way to the nearest Starbucks before binge watching Sex & the City seasons (much to her father's dismay) and working on internship stuff. I have to go back to school for the fall, though luckily, I will be working on my internship and only have seminar and (1) it's not every week (2)...

Thank goodness this isn't my 40 week update; I was really nervous that I'd have to write one of those and even possibly the dreaded 41 week update!  Today was her due date, but we got to meet her just a little early.  Charlotte Esther joined our family at 2:07am on Friday, August 8th... and changed our lives forever.  There's now a squishy baby who calls for us and loves nothing more than snuggling on our chests.  We are, in fact, living the dream.  A dream 4 years in the making and worth every moment.  My heart is so full of love for Charlotte and I am so excited to see how she grows and changes. I have always enjoyed reading the birth stories of my blogger friends' babies and felt it gave me hope as it was the final moment in the battle against infertility, the crossing of a finish line.  So today, in celebration of love and this chubby cheeked baby girl, I share with you the story of Charlotte's birth. Charlotte's Birth Story... I woke up Thur...

Ugh.  Here I am, still pregnant, still working... I really thought this gig would be up by now.  I'm so thankful though that my body has made it this far and that Baby Porch has had the opportunity to grow safely in my body.  I remember how excited I was to make it to 24 weeks (viability, baby!) and that seems like it was so long ago.  Now I'm actively encouraging her to make her way out of there, even though I know it's going to hurt like hell. Which is another thing.  Every ache and pain, I begin to wonder, "Is this it?  Let's go!" and then nothing.  I'm  a little anxious about labor & delivery and what to expect, but I also trust that my body will do what it's meant to or that Dr. G will help us along as needed.  We're 7 days from her due date and I'm not too sure when we'll get to meet her... maybe we should start a pool! How far along?  39 weeks Progress:   None.  Well, cervix is closed. She's dropped a l...

The world of infertility is a cruel one but the sense of belonging that the blogging community brings to me is overwhelming supportive and has indeed gotten me through rough times before our IVF and along the way.  In very happy news, one of my fellow IVF gals had her baby on Saturday!  I've followed her story closely because our timelines are so similar.  Check out her story and that precious new baby here .  My thoughts and wishes for peace are with those who are still in the trenches of infertility, particularly with a girl I've known for a very long time who is starting an adventure with her husband in the realm of embryo adoption.  We were fortunate that IVF worked for us, but for some couples, that (painfully) expensive and intrusive process does not work.  Embryo adoption is such an amazing thing and Porch and I have discussed the possibility of donating unused embryos when our family is complete.  It's certainly something that demands careful ...

I let out the biggest squeal of joy when I went to get the mail today and found this package waiting for me! Seriously, I've been stalking Bobbi's life and seeing everyone's amazing teasers was making me so much more excited to get our pictures!  I'm so happy to share the amazing work done by Bobbi at The Salty Peanut.  I highly recommend her to all of my Wisconsinite friends, particularly those in the Madison area, though she's willing to travel.  Check out the website here  and let her know that Mrs. Porch sent you her way!  Her work speaks for itself so I won't gush too much...... I seriously cannot pick a favorite.  So I'm not going to.  But you can!  :) Just 19 days until Baby Porch is predicted to arrive!  I'm so happy we got these back before she arrived; it's such a fun way to remember this exciting time in our lives.  And soon, we won't look nearly as well-rested, but we'll have ...