I left Charlotte on the living room floor while Jackson was on the sofa and I walked in on this.  They were just staring at each other.

It figures that just as I stopped taping Sasha said to me:

Aunt Christine…I had no idea babies were so much work.

Here is Charlotte with her 3rd cousin and mommy’s second cousin. My cousin John’s daughter was so nervous but I think she did a great job!

Charlotte turned 5 months old on monday.  This month, the comparison shot will have to wait a week but this is pretty epic.

We joined my brother and his family to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner. The waitress said that if we wanted a high chair we’d have to put the baby in it…. that we cannot rest her car seat in it. Bummer.

But what an opportunity it presented!! I laid her blanket in the simplistic wooden chair, fastened the belt and we all played offense for a few minutes until we realized that she was absolutely fine on her own. She lasted about 15 minutes before she started stretching so I put her back in the carseat and she fell asleep.

My anxiety got the best of me and it was all for naught.  The trip north was very smooth in both the physical ride of the plane and emotional ride of the unexplained.

While waiting to board, Charlotte was her cute little self as I received the eye rolls and blank stares of my fellow travelers when they saw how little she was.  Mentally, I repeated the mantra that Southwest insisted upon in the baby section of their website – “baby is a passenger too” – as part of me secretly wished that if Charlotte did bellow out a blood curdling scream that those were the exact people to hear her wrath.

Alas, after a few minutes of settling in, she fell asleep for the first half  of the flight.  The second half went very smoothly with a few protestations from the little bit we call Charlotte.  The white noise of the plane was too loud for her cry to be heard except by those in our immediate vicinity.

I sat on the aisle so that people knew I had a baby if they choose to sit next to me as it was a full flight. As I thought,  people did their best to pass us by. A pleasant looking couple smiled at us and asked me what her name was.  I replied and they looked at me, then at each other and said that these must be their seats. His mother’s name was Charlotte.

Turns out they have 4 grand babies of of their own and took to Charlotte as if she was their long lost fifth.  I’m not quite sure who charmed who.

That ends this post.  We had a great start to our 5 day adventure and it’s time I go back to sleep

Being the little drool monster that she is, I am constantly looking for teethers that are easy for her to hold (own her own) and that ease any teething pain she may have.

She doesn’t like them cold from the fridge and forget about giving her anything out of the freezer. I’ve settled with allowing her to use whatever it is she deems worthy; it’s a good thing I didn’t need those coupons.

Sometimes,  Charlotte gets uber fussy when she’s tired.  Yes.  This happy baby does not like nap time, ESPECIALLY if she is tired. 

She knows the playpen and crib equal sleep most of the time and is starting to fight us, so I decided to put her on the floor to see what would happen.  

Yeah,  I’m waiting for her to fall asleep but this change of scene seems to be keeping her occupied for the time being.