Charlotte meets Santa

We went to visit Santa at the Northpark Mall during our Christmas break and what a surprise we were in for. HAHA! I knew there would be a wait, but we ended up waiting 5 hours for a 30 second trip to see the BIG man. It was well worth it! This picture was taken at 10:15 PM and she is ALL smiles!

We celebrated Christmas with Bill's parents and Grandpa before they headed to NY to visit with Emily and Nicholas and my parents and sister came in to celebrate the day before Christmas Eve. I think both families had a great time visiting! Charlotte loves the sound of paper, but took her about 15 minutes to open one gift! She's practicing for next year!

How time flies....

I just cannot believe Charlotte is going to be 6 months old on Thursday-Thanksgiving Day!! She's growing and learning so much! She's been teething, but no teeth yet. I think I'm going to cry when that first one pops up! Next is going to be crawling, walking, talking, talking back, boys and the list goes on and on.....
I am happy that she's sleeping through the night. Now how to I get her to sleep in on the weekends??? She loves to know what's going on. Just today when Bill picked her up from school the teacher said she always falls asleep once the last baby leaves! She'll also start on baby food next week and it should be an adventure.
She LOVES to jump in her jumper/activity center. It's soooo cute. Check her out on the below link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqzk0Vadw7c

daycare and work

WOW! I've been busy!! I started back at work a month ago and Charlotte is now at daycare. I always heard these stories of the first day of dropping off your kid. I do admit I had a little tear, but now waterworks! I know it's the best for both of us. The start of the 2nd week she caught a cold! I knew it was going to happen, but the 2nd week into it??? The "teachers" are all nice except for the "head honcho." She called day to tell me Charlotte was pooping too much and I might have to come pick her up. Then she called b/c Charlotte had a bad diaper rash and she was screaming her head off. OK - when I took her home she didn't scream! Maybe she doesn't like you! The head honcho also said she sleeps through the night b/c doesn't sleep at daycare and fusses all day. She just wants to be held. What do they expect? She's a BABY!! Bill thinks she tries to find anything wrong with the babies to send them home and and make her job easier! I'm beginning to believe it myself. We've talked to other moms and they have the same problem. One more comment and she's going down!!

Charlotte's 2 month checkup 7-22-07

A few days before our doctor appt I noticed Charlotte was getting red in her diaper area. I thought it was a diaper rash and when Dr Hubbard saw it she said no it wasn't. They took some swabs and sent it to the lab. Comes back that she has Strep!!! How did she get this??? I wipe her well and bathe her!!! This Dr must think I'm a horrible mother, but I'm not! We get medicine and a few weeks pass and she gets it again! I'm thinking what could cause this? One morning when Charlotte woke me up at 3:30AM, I'm changing her diaper and I lean over to the wipes warmer and the light bulb goes off in my head. This is it!!! The wipes warmer is causing all this bacteria! It makes sense, bacteria grows in wet, dark places! I stopped using it immediately and within the day it cleared up! If you are expecting or plan on having a baby, do not waste your money on a wipe warmer. We survived without one!

Charlotte Coos

Charlotte is now cooing and smiling for a purpose! :) Click the link below to see Charlotte cooing and laughing.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GcGk4y3zKA

My previous LOVE

So before I met Bill and had Charlotte my first love/obsession was Dave Matthews. If you don't not know who Dave Matthews is, shame on you! Just to name a few things I used to do are: I would plan my vacations around DMB shows and write the lyrics to my favorite songs instead of listening to professors (I still got an A in those classes thank you very much). In college Mandy, Amanda and I would would pretend we were members of the band and play air guitars and sing along to our fave songs, Tripping Billies and Stay! I miss those girls! Reunion? In recent years I haven't been able to keep up with DMB b/c of work and since I've been on maternity leave I've been catching up. I came upon the following article "You know you are obsessed with Dave Matthews when" and decide to share a few of the obsessions. For some of you that know me well will laugh and say, "yeah, that's Katie." Enjoy!

*You've tried to excessively mimic that crazy ass dance he does at live shows.
*You do the eyebrow and facial type gestures that Dave does when singing a Dave song.
*You make your friends stop the radio on a Dave song when they're flipping channels, even if you know the song is already or almost over.
*You feel light headed and woozy 5 minutes before DMB takes the stage at EVERY concert (and you are not drunk) I don't drink b/c I'm afraid I'll have to leave and use the restroom.
*You day dream about becoming rich when you are older so you can hire the band to play at your wedding, playing a set list completely devised by you.
*When you are at a concert and everyone around you thinks your psychic because you can tell what song it is by the combination of Dave's guitar, Stefan's bass, and what note Dave has his hand.
*When you are 100% certain your very first dance song at your future wedding is I'll Back You Up. Or Crush
*When you proceed to inform your family on how many which ways you plan on getting to a concert halfway across the country. Traveled to Rhode Island, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Colorado
*You make a romantic play list of ONLY DMB songs. I'm in the process of making Charlotte a cd
*You join a Dave Matthews Band MYSPACE group.
*You get pissed when somebody tells you they have no idea who Dave Matthews Band is.
*You have a dream about meeting the band, but then wake up and are horribly saddened by the fact that it was only a dream. Ha! I met him. Please see pic below!
*You don't go out with a person because he/ she says the band is trash.
*When you just can't fathom how people could NOT love this band, and you try to get everyone you know as hooked as you are, despite what they listen to.
*You have a majority of your bookmarked pages on your internet explorer being DMB related websites.
*When you stick a camera in your chest to get it past security so you can take pics inside the venue.
*When you strongly think of naming your first child Dave, Boyd, Stefan, Carter, Leroi, or Grace.
*Know every word to every song.
*Listen to at least one song of DMB everyday.

These are just a few obsessions, please let me know if you'd like to read the full list. :)

Please check out the below picture. HA! Me and Dave!

The Huggies nightmare.....

Charlotte was swinging in her swing and I decided to pick her up to play. I noticed she leaked through the front of her diaper, then I turned her around and the diaper leaked all the way up the middle of her back and all over the swing! I opened up her diaper and it was the BIGGEST mess so far! I reached for the wipes and there were none! Let me remind you her diaper is still open and her feet and hands are flailing about. As you guessed by the time I opened a new pack of wipes, it was all over her limbs! I think, "why did I not close it up!" As all this is happening, Charlotte's looking at me like a crazy woman! I probably could have used the whole pack of wipes for this mess, but decided to put her in the tub and hose her off! I'm switching back to Pampers diapers!

WOW, the joys of motherhood!

Week 7 of Charlotte

I kinda have a daily routine, it starts around 5 am when Charlotte wants to eat. She did have 2 nights that she sleep through the night. Then we go back to bed and wake up about 10. She eats again and we play - well kind of - I make funny faces and read books to her. She's probably thinking "What the heck is this crazy lady doing?" For nap time, I used to hold her and not get anything done, now I'm putting her in her big girl crib. It's nice to take a shower and clean up!

Charlotte has now discovered her hands and feet and she recognizes our voices and perks up, especially Daddy. She is definitely a Daddy's Little Girl! One of her favorite things is bath time. She kicks her feet and flails her arms in the water. She gets so upset when it's time to get out. I thought maybe she was cold when getting out of the tub, but I put her back in and she plays! Next week is her 2 month check up with shots! Stay tuned!

Charlotte Grace Brown

Bill was amazing during our pregnancy! As I was always feeling fat and bloated, he would look at me and say "I've always thought you were beautiful, but you are extremely beautiful pregnant." So sweet! He went to every dr appointment (except one) and probably never wants to go back into the room with me again! The last month visits were never fun!

Charlotte was due on May 15th (my birthday) but she just didn't want to join us so we induced on May 21st and she was born on May 22nd. It was not easy! Especially when the lady next door was screaming her lungs out! Bill thought that baby was coming out sideways! The nurse came in and informed me that the screaming lady did not have an epidural....that was dumb! I'm a wimp, I had the epidural as soon as I felt pain! The quick version of the evening/day:

-May 21st 7 pm: arrive at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
-8 pm start induction; feel contractions through the night, but not painful
-May 22nd 3:30 am; now I'm feeling really uncomfortable and in some pain
-4:30 am Bill and I decide it's time for the epidural. Now, I was really scared about the epidural and thinking it was going to be the worst thing. It was so easy, it felt like a bee sting! Unfortunately, Bill couldn't be in the room with me, but a had a wonderful nurse to hold me still. -6 am - 11:30 am; After that I couldn't sleep and was really anxious and nervous.
-Around noon the nurse said it was time for this baby to arrive!!

I push and push and push for 2 hours to find out she'll never be able to come out though the birth canal! We didn't know this, but I have a crooked pelvic bone! After all that hard work the dr said we had to have a c-section. At this point I was so sleep deprived and exhausted and now upset that I need a c-section. It felt like a whirlwind after she said c-section. Like her team was right outside the door just waiting. People were poking me and then wheeling me down to the OR. It was like I was in a movie! 45 minutes later Charlotte arrived! She was born at 3:47 pm and weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and 19 and a half inches. OK - maybe that wasn't a quick version...
Charlotte with Dr Crockett

Our new addition to the Brown Family

Charlotte and Mommy

Charlotte and Daddy

Our Marriage

We were married on March 30, 2007 by Pastor Dean at Grace Chruch in Plano. The ceremony was small with just our parents and Bill's grandparents. When I was getting my hair done the stylist asked me what the occasion and I told him I was getting married. He was in total shock that I wasn't freaking out. I just know that Bill and I are meant to be so why worry?! Bill is truly what I've looked for in a husband and best friend and I'm so thankful that he is in my life.

This isn't the best picture, but oh well!

Katie & Bill - How we met

Here's a quick overview of how we met:
Just like any other Friday night, Kristi (my then roommate) and I went to the Quarter Bar in Uptown Dallas. We said hi to a friend that was talking with Bill and his friend and we were introduced. Our mutual friend left and Kristi and I spent the remainder of the night with Bill and his friend. Now, I'm not the kinda girl to be looking for a guy at a bar, especially in Dallas. Kristi was getting marriend in two weeks, so what does every taken friend do for her single girls? Try to find them a nice guy. Right when we were leaving Kristi goes, "If you want her number she'll give it to you." Bill called about a week later and we went on a date. The rest is history.....