Charlotte is very into kissing things right now, and thought this was so fun!

Pictures with Santa

Not the greatest Santas, but we didn't think we'd get to see one at all!


The second one:

DONE with Santa!

This is our gift from Charlotte to our parents, siblings, and my aunt. The plan was to make handprint ornaments, but that didn't work out, so we changed our game plan today. I'm really happy with how they all turned out! I took the dough and baked star ornaments first. Then came the painting:



She loved the mess!


Then came bath time:

Final product:

Then I added a white ribbon and wrote Love Charlotte, '09 on the back. I love them!

Charlotte is 6 months! (And 7!)

Ok, I'm a little behind, so here is my make-up post! First, turning 6 months old. This was written on Sept 15th:

Charlotte is halfway to one! She is getting to be so much fun, I'm looking forward to what this coming month will bring. Charlotte can sit up on her own and play with toys by herself for 5-10 minutes. I've set up a little pallet of a comforter in the living room, so she can sit and play with us in the living room. She rolled over 4 times yesterday, doubling the total number of rolls ever. Charlotte has been enjoying more foods. She's had squash, apples, peas, avacado, peaches, pears and she tried a couple bites of cantalope, but that one didn't work! The rest was ok; she liked the peas way more than we thought she would considering how much she hates green beans! She gets really mad while I am getting her food together, so I bought puffs and she entertains herself with those. She has even gotten a few in her mouth! She has also had a few bites of banana, but those mostly get squished in her fingers.

This past weekend, we went to Bryan, TX and stayed with my grandparents and attended a wedding. Charlotte woke up with a cold on Saturday, so we've been dealing with a stuffy nose and occasional fever since then. She weighed in at 16lbs, 12.5oz today and is 27in long. Didn't get percentages today, but I think it's between 75 and 90% for both catagories. What a big girl! She gained almost 2 pounds in 3.5 weeks; hit a little growth spurt apparently! Now, pictures:

Turning 6mo:


Playing with mom and the puppies in the back yard:


Hysterical face! This cracks us up every time! She makes this face then snorts in and out repeatedly. She thinks it's funny when we do it back to her.


Happy bath time:


Pro pics at 6mo:





Now, 7 months old! This was written on Oct. 15th:
Another month has passed, and it's been a fun month! She's really beginning to learn, and I'm having fun watching her realizations. Yesterday, she was waving a toy around like usual, then she hit it on another plastic toy, then stopped, realizing that it makes a noise! So she put that one down, picked up another, and re-did the experiment; it worked again!!

Also yesterday, she was playing with a cup in the bathtub and was chewing on the rim. She started talking, then realized that it is a different and louder sound than just regularly talking! So she talked into the cup for the rest of the bath. Earlier this month, she realized that if you move your lips when you make noises, it sounds different. Now she "blah, bloh, blahs" all day long!

We have had our first 2-way interaction. The funny snorty face that she was making last month when she was mad, she now makes when she's happy and in a good mood! She loves waiting for you to make it back to her then she laughs! She also makes a funny coughing/laughing noise that she thinks is pretty fun. We go back and forth with both faces and noises and she loves it!

Another funny new thing is that she will suddenly throw her upper body into a 90 degree angle and look at you (or the dog or her toys, whatever!) sideways. You have to be careful if you're holding her; all of her weight changes quickly and you have to adapt or she will fall over!

She is getting so strong; she can hold herself up on the couch or a chair for 2-3 minutes at a time before her legs get tired. She gets so happy when she is standing! Bouncing has begun too. I don't think that's as much fun as she does when I'm aiming the spoon full of pureed carrots at her mouth and she's bouncing around! I've attached some pictures from our month of learning:

Turning 7mo:


A gift made for Daddy for his birthday:


Helping Daddy pack for a trip:


Gnawing on a baby squash at Nana:


Catching the water during bathtime at Nana's:


My little panda butt helping Granddad do some work:


Cheering on the Cowboys with Daddy:


It's a good thing Charlotte wasn't in charge of Noah's Ark!


"I Love My Mummy"

Game Day! Go Cowboys!

This one is blurry, but I still like it!

Medical update

The arthritis panel was negative. My ANA (inflammation) came back positive though. He said he's back to thinking it could be lupus. He was looking for lupus when I got pregnant and we stopped all testing and medications. Lupus is a whole 'nother ball game. I'm trying not to read too much about it yet. I did that last time and just scared myself! For now, we're starting a medication (when I finish nursing next week) that will take 2 to 3 months to tell if it is working. It is used to reduce inflammation in cases with arthritis, systemic lupus and other things. Hopefully that will help.

Yep, Charlotte turned 6mo Tuesday, but I haven't put the update on here yet! I'll get to it when I have time!

Charlotte is getting over a cold and got me up 7 times last night between 11p and 7a! She ate 4 of those times, so I guess that she was finally really hungry after being sick! I'm exhausted now and have a busy day. Oh well. C'est la vie!

Update!

I went to the rheumatologist's office last Wednesday and he thinks it sounds like onset of rheumatoid arthritis (in addition to fibromyalgia). He drew blood and I should get test results on Wednesday. We'll determine a medicine treatment at that time.

They took 5 vials of blood, and I started to pass out! They had to fan me, get water, and a cool rag. I sat there for a while before they would let me leave. I've given more blood for tests before, but it came at a bad time of the month, so I was just really low in blood volume probably.

Weaning has been going well. Charlotte is taking to the formula just fine; that makes me feel a little better. It's still hard on me, but each day is a little better. I know that this is the best route for our family at this time.

Oh, the doctor said it's actually quite common for women to develop RA following a pregnancy. I have a friend that had that happen to her too! After her second son was born, hers was so bad that she had to have her husband open baby food jars for their older boy before he left for work, because she couldn't open them on her own! I'm grateful that mine isn't that bad, but I also don't want it to that point.

This weekend, we traveled to Bryan (TX) to attend a wedding. My grandparents live there, so they were thrilled to have us. The wedding was for a girl I met in first grade. I haven't seen her in 5 years, but I could not have been more excited to be there! It was great to see her, her mom and dad, her little sister, and now, her husband! We woke up Saturday morning with a sick baby. Poor C caught a cold (I think I know where, and I'm not happy about it) and was pretty miserable. Because of that, she didn't get to go to the reception with us, so we'll have to go back sometime so my friend and her family can meet C! By Sunday evening, Scott was sick too. He stayed home from work today, so it was like another 3 day weekend! :)

I started a Bible study today with some women from my Sunday school class. We will be studying Esther, and I'm really excited about it. My mom actually just finished it and said it was great.

Charlotte and I have her 6 month well visit and shots tomorrow! I'm in total denial that my tiny baby girl is about to be half a year old!! Pictures to come, I'm sure!

You asked for it

An update on me:

I am in a hard place right now. My fibromyalgia seems to have returned. I know it was probably a matter of time, but sometimes pregnancy can make this kind of stuff go away forever, unexplained. I wanted to be in that teeny tiny percentage, but I'm not.

Last Friday morning, my left knee started hurting. Within two hours, I had shooting burning pain through my calf and pain radiating in my ankle down to my toes. My heel felt bruised for the next 2 days.

Then on Sunday, the same thing happened, but this time left shoulder to finger tips. Now every single night, my arm has a burning pain for hours on end. It hurts so bad.

I have a doctor appointment (rheumatologist) next Wednesday. He'll run blood tests again. He was looking for Lupus before I got pregnant, so he'll probably run that panel too. Basically, we'll be looking for the blood results to confirm an increase in inflamation at which point he will put me on medication.

Sadly, and I'm almost crying just typing this out, this will be the end of me nursing my baby girl. My goal was a year, and it looks like I've only made it to 6mo. I feel like my body is failing me. Logically, I always knew it was an option. In my heart, I made it so long without any pain at all. I wish I could say I can just tough it out, but I know my body and I know that if I let this go untreated it will only get worse. I know that formula is not poison, Scott and I were both on it as babies, but I also really wanted to give her breastmilk til she was 1. Scott has terrible allergies and I have lots of stomach issues, so I was hoping to help prevent those.

I'm really sad about it, dreading my appointment. At the same time, when my arm is throbbing and burning, I'm ready for medicine.

This weekend starts the rest of the year for us. Between now and the New Year, we'll be going to OK 4 or 5 times, spending 1 week then later 2 weeks there straight. We'll have family here a little, and celebrate 8 family birthdays (just mine and Scott's immediate families! Everyone but our moms and charlotte!). I've been dreading the start of this. When I get more stressed, it wreaks havoc on my body. I'll be ready for it to be all done.

In happier news, Charlotte will be 6 months old in just 2 weeks! I can't believe it! Scott and I just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary Wednesday. My parents are coming this weekend and are going to keep her overnight Saturday. We're going out for a nice dinner then sleeping at a B&B in town. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get a full night's sleep! We even decided not to go to church Sunday morning, so that we can sleep as late as possible. It will be nice, I'm really excited!

So, there you go, an update on me. ;)

Adorable hats and my baby girl is sitting!

I bought a couple of knit hats from a girl online. This is one; the other is brown with a white flower.


And look at my big (baby) girl sitting up! She was concentrating on sitting and watching the dogs that she couldn't be bothered to smile!

Charlotte is 5 months old!

We can't believe that today (yesterday) we have a five month old; it just doesn't seem possible! She is getting stronger every day, loving to sit or stand whenever possible. She started tripodding about 3 weeks ago and just this week has started sitting up by herself. The longest she has gone has been about 10 seconds and we never leave her alone, but she always looks so proud of herself!

I've been asked how the dogs are doing; they're doing great! She is noticing them all the time now. She recognizes the sound of their tags rattling and their nails on the wood floor as they walk around. We go outside twice a day and sit on the living room floor about twice a day and play ball with Colby (Zoe just runs around barking at Colby, it's the annoying little sister in her). We have been working on the dogs' tolerance with Charlotte. Both dogs now let her grab, pet, hit and pull on them. Zoe just rolls over and lets C do whatever to her, including her ears and nose. Colby has even had his nose grabbed! He just moved away but no growling or anything. We've been really proud of both dogs! C will even hold their little milk bones and feed it to them. Zoe just about took a finger off grabbing it the first time, while Colby was very delicate and wouldn't pull at all. One of the pictures attached is Colby and Charlotte sharing some ball time.

This past month included a trip to Tulsa for a wedding, seeing Scott's side of the family while there, introducing cereals, veggies and fruits, her first trip to the zoo, discovering the toes can reach the mouth, swimming for the first time, and a whole new set of clothes - she is now totally in 3-6mo clothes! There were 3 babies her age at the Lake Day party so it was fun having other little bitties around in the pool. So far, Charlotte has had rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans, sweet potatoes, plums, bananas, carrots and butternut squash. The only ones she really dislikes is rice cereal (now, she liked it at first) and green beans. Bananas and plum together is a favorite! She had a few days of severe crankiness, leading us to wonder when teeth might appear. Today, the drooling had kept the whole family soaked!

Sorry there are so many pictures, I couldn't decide which ones were best, so you get them all! Also, there are a few new videos on youtube if you're interested. Go to youtube.com and search sjhovis.

PS: I sat her up facing me today with her dresser to her back and she sat up for almost 2 minutes playing with a toy with me! She only leaned back to her dresser once that whole time! What a big girl!


Hanging out with Grandma at the wedding:

Chomping those toes!

Flying baby

Thinking rice cereal is foul

Getting ready to go out to dinner with Mom and Dad

Sleeping at said dinner! In the middle of TGIFriday's

Tripodding on Mom's lap

First trip to the zoo

Lake Day



One of the new outfits

PJs that Mom bought and loves! They say "Tweet Me Nice."

Hanging with Colby

Playing Nintendo, Daddy is so proud!