Almost 6 weeks old!

Charlotte loves her jogging suit. She looks slightly gangster-ish, in a harmless, chubby sort of way.Charlotte went to Tettegouche State Park with her parents, Grandma Cindy, and Grandpa Mark. She loved the campfire and the meteor shower after dark. Maybe when she's a little older we can stay overnight in a tent.
Strong legs!
Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Mark think Charlotte is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Charlotte and Daddy were thinking about making some money out on the street as a father-daughter musical act, but Charlotte put a stop to that idea after her fingers got pinched in the guitar case.
Daddy and Charlotte spending some quality time together.
Charlotte is a grill master!
Charlotte with her 2nd cousin Megan.
Mommy loves this goofy-looking picture of Charlotte.

Charlotte is growing like a weed! On Monday August 6 she weighed in at 10 pounds 2 ounces! She's probably around 10 and a half pounds or more now! Some of her newborn clothes are getting kind of snug. One good thing about her getting bigger, besides a good arm workout for Mom and Dad, is that her cloth diapers are starting to fit her. Since they are one-size-fits-all, she had to grow into them a little bit. We have about a weeks worth of disposables left and then she will be in her cloth diapers full time. Thanks medical school friends for all of those diapers!

Now that Charlotte is almost 6 weeks old, she has become more of an interactive baby. She looks at us and focuses on things now and then. Sometimes she gets a little bit cross-eyed, which is pretty funny. Once in a while she smiles and it seems semi-intentional, but we're still waiting for the breakthrough moment of her first real intentional smile! Not only is she more interactive, but she's a lot more awake these days. As a newborn we rarely saw her open her eyes. But now she is awake and looking around for several hours every day. She is so cute with her big round eyes and chubby cheeks; sometimes we can't believe how adorable she is. I know we're biased since we're her parents, but let's be honest--she's cute no matter who's judging.

Charlotte decided that she was going to be nice and start letting her parents get some more sleep. She now only gets up once a night to eat, and never gets up just to be up or fusses inconsolably. (When she was younger she liked to have Daddy walk around the apartment with her for hours at a time, much to Daddy's delight...) She is on a somewhat fluid schedule of eating every three hours, being awake for a little while, going to sleep and then waking up to eat again and repeat the cycle. It has been working very well and helps us be able to know what she needs and wants without a lot of crying and fussing (well, Charlotte is not crying and fussing, but sometimes Mom and Dad feel a little bit fussy). She eats for the last time around 10 or 11pm, and then doesn't wake up until 3 or 4am to eat. After that she goes right back to sleep until 6 or 7am. Then she starts her day. Sometimes Mom and Dad are ready to start their day, and sometimes "nighttime" continues until the next feeding at 9 or 10am.

Good news--we think we may have found someone to do daycare when we move to Buffalo, MN for our 9 month rotation (starting in November). Through some connections with Matt's mom we found a lady who does daycare out of her home with 4-5 kids at a time. Matt had an extended phone conversation with her yesterday that answered most of our questions, and she sounds like an ideal daycare provider. We're going to meet with her when we are down in the cities in a few weeks. Hopefully it all works out and we don't have to search any further!

Charlotte is a great baby and we love being her parents. Thanks for keeping up with us!