Yummy Fingers & Lots to Say!

Here is a 4-month-old Sophie with lots on her mind and a left hand full of yummy fingers. :o) Enjoy!

Mia Holding Sophie (Again)

I couldn't resist sharing this picture of Mia holding Sophie. I took this one yesterday while we were waiting to see their pediatrician. Mia asked (as she often does) if she could hold her sister. I love that there is only about 12lbs difference between them and that their heads seem to be about the same size! :o)

Sophie at 16 Weeks

Sophie is still growing like a weed! (She weighed in at 16.5lbs this morning!!) And as you can see, she's still a super happy baby. :o) There have been quite a few exciting milestones in her development over the last few weeks, too.

First (as far as Mom is concerned!), I think we're getting to the sleeping-through-the-night stage. She'd done it twice randomly over the last month or so, but this week has been the turning point. Three nights ago, she slept from 11pm - 5am. Two nights ago, she slept from 8:30pm - 6 am. And last night she slept from 8:30pm - 5am. It's so awesome to finally see her getting tired at a consistent time in the evenings, which means she finally has a *bedtime*! Even more awesome is the fact that she's slept until morning for a couple nights in a row. :o)

Sophie holds her head up really well when lying on her belly, and she can do a pretty good baby push-up from there. She loves to sit up and look around, and she has very little tolerance for laying on her back while sleeping. She really wants to be able to see what's going on. From the tummy position she's made a couple of attempts at rolling to her back, but she hasn't made it all the way over yet. I do think the ginormous cloth diapers put her at a bit of a disadvantage, though. :o)

I *love* Sophie's laugh! She laughed for the first time at breakfast with our friend Rochelle a few weeks ago. She'd been next to me in the car seat, and when I took her out so she could sit on my lap, she made eye contact with Rochelle and just started giggling. The two of us kept her giggling for about 5 minutes, and it was the sweetest sound. Now I can get her to laugh by playing peek-a-boo with her, which she seems to love.

Sophie is pretty coordinated with her hands/fingers and spends lots of her waking hours with her fingers in her mouth. She loves to bat at the car seat toy my mom got her for Christmas, and she loves to hear the chimes inside of it.

Sophie still "talks" a lot. She makes tons of "goo" sounds, and even Mia will tell you that Sophie says "aaahhrrr" a lot.

Today was a pretty nerve-wracking day as we made another unplanned visit to the pediatrician this morning. Sophie has had what I figured was a birthmark on her back since, well, birth. It grew into something of a mass this week, so Jeff and I took her in to have it looked at. Luckily, we got the best possible news one could get, and the pediatrician told us it's still just a birth mark. It's a type of birthmark called a Hemangioma, and this type tends to grow rapidly in the first year of life, and then it flattens on it's own over the next few years. It doesn't seem to bother Sophie at all, and Jeff and I are just thrilled that it's nothing scary. It's a bit terrifying to take your kid into the doctor to have any mass checked out!!

Here are a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Sophie at 12 Weeks

Here are some shots of the girls from the last several days. Sophie is trying to use her hands to reach for toys, at least when the toy is on top of her. She is still super smiley, and she's a total chunk.

There are also a few photos from the Huntington Library. We visited the gardens w/ Regina, Mike, and my sister. Sophie slept through most of our visit, but Mia had a blast getting soaked in the Children's Garden. :o)

I really like the picture of Mia holding Sophie, but it belies the fact that the violence has begun... Twice this week, Mia has inflicted some horrible painful act on her little sister. The first time, she smacked Sophie on the forehead with a plastic rattle. :o( The next day, she knocked her off the sofa as she snatched the Boppy out from under her. :o( I think both times she was legitimately surprised by Sophie's bad reaction, but it made me so sad to hear little Sophie scream. And I know that it's all just beginning!!

Sophie is Sick Again!

Poor Sophie was born right in the middle of this ridiculous cold season that simply will not end. She got her first cold before she was two weeks old, and I felt bad for her that she'd been breathing air for such a short period of time before she had so learn how to breathe through phlegm. She's had the sniffles and a little cough off and on since then. Last week she picked up a double-eye and double-ear infection that morphed from some simple cold Mia had had. So she's been on a class III antibiotic and eye drops since then. Today she was a lot crabbier than usual, and looked like she was wincing in pain every time I picked her up. In fact, she looked like I feel right now, and I feel like I've got Round III of this cold coming on right now. So I took her temp and she was running a bit of a fever. I called her pediatrician, and we got an appointment in this afternoon. Her temp had come down slightly, and the doc knew it couldn't be a bacterial infection since she's been on such strong antibiotics for 8 days now. It's probably a viral thing that will just have to run its course, and hopefully she'll be feeling better in a couple of days. If she's still running a temp on Monday (or if her fever spikes over the weekend), we take her back in to see the doc. Poor baby!

Coffee Break

When the girls and I were leaving the park after Stroller Strides this morning, I asked Mia what she wanted to do today. She said, "I want to go to the coffee place and have a bagel." That girl is definitely my offspring! :o) So we shared a bagel, and I ordered a milk in a coffee cup for Mia. I think it made her day that we were drinking "the same thing".

Bubbles

Date Night at the Drive-In :o)

Jeff and I finally found a drive-in theater in Southern California, and we got a night out w/o our toddler. We love her to pieces, but it sure is nice to escape her nonstop questions and boundary testing... ;o) Our sitter came over to stay w/ Mia for a few hours, and we took Sophie with us. (Sophie has only taken 2oz of milk from a bottle so far, so it's not a good idea to try to leave her w/ anyone yet.) We picked up some sushi take-out and watched Watchmen. When Sophie started crying, we rolled up the windows and took turns rocking her until she fell back to sleep. It was pretty neat to be able to see a current movie and have the little one in tow. :o)

Sophie Digs Her Mobile

The mobile over Sophie's crib has been a premium source of entertainment lately. Check out the seriously eye contact and even a few squeals. ;o)

Bowling with Mia

Over the weekend I took Mia to one of our local bowling alleys so she could burn off some energy before nap time. I'm constant amazed at how fast she's growing and how strong she's getting. She's now big enough that she (almost) fits into the smallest shoes the bowling alley rents out, and she can pick up and carry her own 6lb ball. I love that this bowling alley has a ramp for the toddlers to use. (One of the employees offered it to us the last time I took Mia bowling after he had to rescue her ball from the mid-point of her lane 2 or 3 times...) Her attention span lasted a little longer this time, too. :o) This time she played all the way through the 7th frame and let mom finish off the game. You can see below that Sophie took the opportunity to get in some ZZZs. ;o)

Sophie Sleeps Through the Night!

Aaaahhh.... :o) Eleven weeks and two days after her birth, Sophie slept through the night for the first time last night! I woke up once around 3am when she grunted in her sleep the way she normally does while waking up to nurse. So I sprinted over to her cradle to find her sound a sleep. This has happened before, and she generally finishes waking up about 30 minutes later. So I stumbled back to bed, prepared to wake up again in a half hour. But the next time I heard Sophie was a few minutes before 7am, which means both girls let me sleep in today!! I really, really, really hope this sleep trend continues.

Sophie's Big Two-Month Update

As you can see here, Sophie is a pretty happy baby. :o) She smiles a lot, and we can tell that she's really trying to laugh...though it always comes out as a high-pitched chirp or squeal. And though she smiles easily, she's quite a little diva. Jeff and I affectionately call her the Firecracker, because when she starts crying, she just explodes into some powerful vocals as if we'd been ignoring her cries for at least 20 minutes. Luckily she's usually pretty easy to soothe with a diaper change, a cuddle, or her next meal.



Sophie is a super cuddly baby. I think she could happily nuzzle in someone's arms 24 hours each day. I end up wearing her in her carrier often b/c she likes being kept so close by. She's also had a strong preference for sleeping at my side since birth, though we are starting to make some progress in getting her to sleep in her own bed. She usually falls asleep in the evenings between 8:30 and 9:30, and she'll got down in the cradle in our room.



She generally sleeps until about 1am, and then she wakes me up about twice between then and 5 or 6am to nurse. I usually bring her to bed w/ me at that point so she can nurse while I sleep. This seems to be working out pretty well b/c, even though I would *love* to sleep for 8 hours straight, I don't feel as wrecked as I did when I was still nursing Mia 2-3 times a night.

Sophie had her two-month well-baby visit last week, and she's doing really well. She measured 23.5" and weighed 13.13lbs, putting her in the 97th percentile for weight. (She had been in the 98th percentile a month earlier...) So the girl is clearly eating well! I love that my pediatrician just chuckles when she looks at all of Sophie's pudginess and jokes that the breastfeeding is clearly going well. (We had similar conversations about Mia a couple of years ago.) Sophie also got 2 more shots at this appointment, and she took one vaccine orally. I'm already amazed that some of these things have changed since Mia's well-baby visits. None of Mia's vaccine's were oral until she got her last flu shot.



Sophie did manage to get us on our toes this morning. I had called the advice nurse at our pediatrician's office yesterday to ask about some heavy eye discharge she's had the last few days. I got a message back from her toward the end of the day suggesting that I bring her in for a walk-in sick visit at 8:30am this morning. So we were there at 8:30am, and I learned shortly afterwards that the poor thing has a double eye infection and a double ear infection. So we've got 10 days of oral antibiotics and 5 days of eye drops. But the doctor did comment that Sophie was the happiest baby she's ever seen w/ a double ear infection. :o) Told ya she's a happy one!



As you can see here, Sophie still really likes sleeping on her boppy. I am getting better, though, about having some of her day time naps in her cradle. Slow but steady progress.



One thing Jeff and I have both noticed that Sophie has in common w/ her sister is that both girls really enjoy(ed) being on the the changing table. Sophie loves to kick her legs, stretch her arms, look around, smile, and coo while she's on it. It's a pretty fun time during the day, b/c we have some great conversations. We get lots of cooing, gerring, and aahhring. :o)

Poof!

Sophie speaks!

Sophie's Smile

From Sophie smiling

Sophie woke up from a nap today in a great mood, and here are some of the awesome smiles I captured.

Legos & a Dancing Dress

This is becoming sort of a fun routine. :o) The last few mornings I have put Sophie in her bouncy seat where I can keep an eye on her and bounce her with a free foot while I'm getting dressed, and Mia has planted herself right next to Sophie with whatever she happens to be playing with. Today I got to watch Mia build towers for me and Sophie while wearing the flower girl dress from her auntie's wedding. You'll notice that she carefully tucked Sophie's tower into the strap of the bouncy seat.

Mia & Sophie

I wanted to share this shot of both girls. :o) Sophie is alert and looking at the camera, and you can see that Mia has become very interested in wearing her babies in the baby carrier. (Obviously, that's how I have been carrying Sophie quite a bit lately.) I'm so grateful for all the baby doll toys Mia got for her birthday, b/c she's got an outlet to mimic parenting Sophie...besides Sophie herself. You can see from the video below the risks involved there. Enjoy!

5 Weeks Already!

It's hard to believe, but our little Sophie is already over a month old. She's growing like a little weed, too! I weighed her yesterday morning, and she's already up to about 12lbs 3oz!! She's already gained over 3 1/2 pounds. That's nutty. But we've been nursing nonstop, so it makes sense. ;o)

Sea World

Jeff and I took the girls for a three-day weekend at Sea World in San Diego. There is a section of the park that is more or less geared towards toddlers called Sesame Street Bay of Play that is essentially a theme park within a theme park. There are three kiddy rides and and the rest of it is a water- and Sesame Street-themed playground. We spent a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday letting Mia run around the Bay of Play, which you can see some pictures of above. We also went to see one show, and we figured Shamu's Believe was the one to see if you're only going to see one. At the end of it, Mia was saying, "More animals. More animals." So I think it was a good pick. On our last day there, Mia got to meet Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Elmo, and Big Bird. The look on her face when she hugged Cookie was just priceless! :o)

Mia also seemed to enjoy walking through some of the aquariums (especially the ones that had any hands-on component), and she definitely loved the exhibits that let her touch animals. She absolutely squealed at the rays when they splashed at her. :o)

The Starry Night

Our little Sophie is a fan of Van Gogh. We have a print of The Starry Night hanging above our sofa, and whenever she's lounging on the sofa in her boppy, she stares directly at it. This morning I was holding a fussy Sophie in my lap while drinking my coffee, and whenever I sat back so I wasn't blocking her view of the print she would stop fussing for a bit to stare at it. I'm thinking I need to hang a print of The Starry Night in every room of our house! At the least, there is probably a trip to the museum in future. ;o)