amazing

that is how i feel now that charlie has discovered that being laid in his crib does not mean the end of his life is coming. i am not sure what happened around 9 months, but a flip just switched. it took a bit of time and crying, but nighttime and naps are no big deal. the crazy thing is naps now happen when i want them to!!! i just walk into his dark room, give him a pacifier, sing him his favorite lullaby (st judy's comet), lay him down, close the door and walk away. amazing!
i did read some sleep books (i was desperate) and i would not give any credit to the book suggestions. i think a lot of it was he was ready and i let him cry it out alone for a few days. i had let him cry it out before, but this month he was ok with it. no more back arching, standing and screaming at the top of his lungs "moamomamooo", nothing. his naps are still not long (about 1 hour), but 2 breaks a day are what this mom needs. thanks charlie!

what a good helper

charlie now has this thing where he does not want to be laying on his back for a very long time getting dress, changing his diaper, etc. so i now dress him standing up. the other morning i was getting ready to get his socks on and he was holding on to his rocking giraffe and i said "ok charlie it is time for your socks". all of a sudden, a little foot came off the ground. it was too cute. he was "helping" me put on his socks. charlie - you are the best!

pat the bunny

charlie loves reading "pat the bunny". here is charlie reading/playing with "pat the bunny". he doesn't even wait for you to read the page. he just does the action that he know the page asks for. it is too cute.

moamoamoammmm

here is charlie in action saying "moamoamoammmm". once he realizes i am not playing with him on the floor he goes into full on momomom action. i do love and cherish that he loves to be by me and play with me.

102...

is the number of hours bill worked from friday through thursday of this past week (if you go from friday to friday it would be 117 just yesterday was a 15 hour day!).   he also slept at the hospital 3 of the past 6 nights. the 102 hours are just the hours that he was at the hospital it doesn't count the hours that he spent on the computer doing surgical listings or reading every single night after he got home and scarfed dinner down. thankfully he has the weekend off, but in residency that means you still go in every saturday morning to round on your inpatients. so he just left and will probably be gone for at least 2 hours, but i plan on 4 so that i don't get frustrated when he doesn't show up after 2. ahhh the life of a doctor's wife - sounds glamorous doesn't it?!?!

on a separate note, charlie is doing great and so fun to hang out with every day. bill and i concluded this morning that he definitely is saying "mommmomamomamo" and "dadadadad" to each of us or when he really wants one of us. yeah charlie! late in the afternoon when charlie is getting cranky and really wants to be held or played with he will follow me around in the kitchen and say "momommamoamomm". it is cute, but sometimes impossible to always respond to him. dinner would never happen if i always picked him right up after that. 

charlie is currently up to going into every cupboard and emptying tupperware and cookie sheets out (don't worry - i have all of the dangerous cupboards locked!). here are a few pictures of charlie's new activities.

 

he also is learning what "don't touch" and "no" are. it is surprising how much he understands. he has made a lot of progress this week on not touching the bookshelf, which is encouraging. i have spent a lot of time watching him crawl toward the bookshelf and saying "charlie, where are you heading? you know you can't touch that bookshelf." then he crawls towards it and he used to just reach out to touch it, but after a lot of "no touch" when he would reach out to touch it. he now crawls up to it and looks and then continues to crawl past. i bet if i didn't remind him not to touch it every time he came close to it he would not remember to not touch it. however, i do feel like he is learning to listen to our tone of voice and most importantly learning that the world does not revolve around him.

"what?...i am not doing anything mom. chill out"

 

finally...

charlie is sleeping through the night...consistently! i guess it has been over 9 months since i have spent my entire night in my bed. last night he went to sleep about 7 pm and woke up at 6:20ish talking away in his crib until around 6:45 when i got up to feed him. i think it helps that since we got home from christmas vacation i have been more at ease about letting him cry it out and he is definitely understanding more about what it means to be in his crib - alone - in the dark....sleep! i also put a space heater in his room so the temperature does not get below 70 degrees - maybe he likes that? either way, i love that i am getting more consistent sleep.

learning to fall asleep alone...

charlie is continuing to learn how to fall asleep alone and put himself back to sleep alone (we have honestly been working on it since he was born!). yesterday during his morning nap, he had been crying for awhile and was sitting in his crib obviously getting tired but trying to fight it. when i checked him out on our monitor (yes we have a video monitor which i love!) he had fallen asleep folded in half! too funny.

then again last night, he went to sleep peacefully, but woke up after about 1 hour tossing and turning. bill and i were laughing so hard because he was trying to curl up next to the bumper and use it for a pillow. he would be happy as can be if he had a nice down pillow to bury his head into. too bad dr. lynch would not approve!

9 months

charlie is a crazy 9 months old! at our appointment this morning he weighed in at 20 lbs and 1 oz (44th percentile) and is 28.5 inches long (61st percentile). his head is still in the 93rd percentile!

here is the classic charlie and lily picture.

it is quite challenging to keep charlie sitting for long enough to snap a cute photo so we took a standing photo too.

here is the list of the things charlie is currently up to....

*he is crawling really fast and pulling himself to standing on anything he runs into.
*he walks while pushing anything (ie: cat truck, box, etc) and walks around using furniture.
*charlie can stand alone for awhile, but when he attempts to take a step will try to reach out to catch something or use a hand to help him walk so he doesn't get very far.
*continues to eat enormous amounts (ie: 3-4 "meals" with 2-3 snacks and buckets of cheerios).
*i have weaned him down to nursing only 4-5 times per day.
*he is improving his sleep habits and now sleeps pretty consistently until around 5am, eats and then goes back to sleep for 1 hour (i am working on getting him to sleep until later than 6 am, but he just wants to start the daytime party. i, on the other hand, just try to pull it together and drink extra coffee!)
*he does "sooo big", waves (sort of - it is more of a point or thrusting a fist), claps
*he is a blast. he is happy, squealing, babbling, fun loving baby.
*we have started to play hide and seek and it is adorable to watch him crawl around trying to find us.
*charlie loves flipping the door stoppers, vent registers, and playing his glockenspiel.
*continues to love when daddy gets home. when i know bill is coming home i whisper "charlie...guess who is coming home???... your daddy!!!!" he gets a huge smile on his face and starts squealing. then we start our daddy fight song and he just marches by the top of the stairs until bill picks him up. i love it!
*he laughs at his own farts.
*he doesn't have stranger anxiety, but stranger distrust. he refuses to smile until after touching a new person's nose. he is therefore often described by nursery workers as a "serious baby".
*continues to love bath time and splashes up a storm.
*he got his first mole! it is on the back of his left calf.

our happy baby!

what happened to my baby!!!

now that we are home i cannot believe how much charlie has changed over these past 2 weeks! i feel like i left with a cute, quietly crawling, slowly walking behind things baby and came back with a fast crawling, practically running behind his truck, always climbing, investigating child!
i can no longer leave him on the floor quietly playing with his books or toys. he checks them out and is on to other things that he must have been starring at before but was never able to get to (ie: cords!). he sure does loves his new activities and it is fun to watch him explore.

the butz schmitt show - big sky montana 2009

merry christmas! christmas this year was spent in big sky montana with both my family and bill's. it was wonderful. we rented a big house and lived as one big family....basically centered around charlie. lets just say that yesterday was quite an adjustment for the little man. i could post a million pictures on here, but i will try to do a small recap.

charlie's first time on skis.

us checking out charlie on the chair lift.

charlie spent a lot of time with auntie mary on the trip. she had been in a car accident the sunday before we left and her right hand was broken. she had surgery at mayo the thursday before we left and was such a trooper on the trip. her left arm sure got a work out.

here are "the singles" preparing their meal. we had each couple/group prepare a meal one night and the group responsible did everything - set up, cook, clean up, etc. it worked great and the singles won for best overall meal. the infused water and ginger ice cream palate cleanser put them over the top.

charlie opening his one gift on christmas morning. good thing nana brought a gift- we gave him a little people nativity set for christmas this year. if you think charlie didn't get a lot of stuff - check out the next few pictures. this kid got whatever he wanted...

charlie playing with his favorite toy - glass bottles (and no he does not taste any of the stuff inside!)

trying really hard to pull it to his mouth!

anything you have - especially if it is food or drink - he wants!

working on standing alone. he would let go for short amounts of time and practice his standing.
this is too cute - bill and charlie were watching the shuffle puck game after skiing one day. the schmitt family

the butz family

we had a small gift exchange with everyone where we each brought one gift of about $15 and it was a blast. mary was lucky and opened my gift!

i was laughing so hard explaining it...basically i brought all of these crafts i had made at a group i am in. i had no idea what to do with them so i wrapped them up together with a starbucks gift card. pete and margit's huge bottle of wine they brought and remade the label on - i loved it.

the entire fam. what a fabulous christmas!