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)

Run Down: The First Few Weeks

Whew! What a blur it's been! :o) It feels like it's time for an update before the little details start fading. So here are some random things I've been meaning to post on...

Sleep: Sophie's sleep habits are pretty similar to what Mia's were at this age. She's waking me up about every 3 hours to nurse, and she's really good about going right back to sleep. The biggest difference with Sophie is that she's not a really big fan of sleeping by herself. She'll sleep for about 30 minutes or an hour in her basinet before waking up and crying until I bring her to bed with me. I told this to a friend of mine who then said, "Oh, so you guys are co-sleeping?" I think I said no, but only because I'm totally in denial about sleeping w/ my kid in my bed. That and my goal is to get her sleeping on her own mattress ASAP. I don't have a problem w/ co-sleeping per se, but I have a hard time staying asleep w/ a fragile 9-pound person next to my much larger frame. And I constantly wake up terrified that I've suffocated or squished her...

Our biggest challenge with sleep, however, has been the fact that the girls have been double teaming us. Literally the 2nd day we were home from the hospital, Mia came down w/ her first earache ever. Then she came down w/ a cough and congestion. And then she came down w/ a 2nd earache. So b/c she's been in pain and can't breathe that well, she's sleeping lighter than usual. We've had a couple of nights where I've been up all night nursing the baby, and Jeff has been trying every thing to get Mia back to sleep -- including driving her all the way to Pasadena and back. To top it all off, Sophie now has Mia's cold, and our pediatrician thinks Mia *may* have mild asthma. So Sophie is having a hard time breathing, and Mia is on a temporary inhaler. I figure if we front-load all this crap, it can only seem easier later. Righter??

Diapers: I decided that I wanted to try cloth diapering w/ Sophie since we have access to our own washer & dryer this go around. We used the disposables we received in the hospital and as shower gifts to get through the first week or so, and we've been using the cloth diapers since then. It has definitely meant a few extra loads of laundry each week, but it's not nearly as bad as everyone seems to think it is when they hear we're using cloth. I bought us a diapering kit from a company called Bummis that has 36 cloth diapers and 6 super cute waterproof covers that fasten just like disposables do. We don't us a "wet" pail (for those who had to do that back in the day). Instead, we store them in a "dry" pail. We have a waterproof laundry liner, and the whole bag goes right into the wash along w/ the diapers and covers. I've been washing diapers about every other day, and the yuck factor is actually pretty small. :o)

Postpartum: Despite the general lack of sleep, I'm actually feeling really good 3 weeks out. I desperately missing teaching Stroller Strides and attending my own workouts, but I've been walking with the girls in the stroller most days of the week. We get in a least 2 miles when we go out, and today we got in a little more than 5. Maybe it's because many folks are still newly resolved to get in shape, but I am seeing runners everywhere, and I seriously can't wait to join their ranks. I've been browsing upcoming race calenders to plan out the 2nd half of the year. I'm still about 3 weeks about from my postpartum check-up, though, so I'm still taking it easy.

Sophie's 1st Tub Bath

Sophie got her first tub bath this morning, and it went really well. As usual, she was pretty upset when I messed with her clothes and diaper, but she practically went back to sleep during the bath itself. Now that her navel is totally healed, I'm looking forward to more regular baths for her. :o)

LAFD Museum

Jeff and I took the girls to the LAFD Historical Museum yesterday so Mia could look at all the fire trucks on display. Predictably, the plastic fire fighter helmet (or "fighter fighter helmet", as Mia prefers to call it) was a huge hit, but she had a lot of fun operating the lights as well. Jeff and I loved watching her trying to fill out the jacket and boots they put out for the little kids to play with.