4 Months Old Today!!

On the eve of her 4-Month birthday, Sophie is up at 10PM and happy as can be. She does very well up on her arms and has rolled over from tummy to back this week!! Yay!

4 Months Old today. Sophie had her 4-Month well-check with her doctor today and received her immunizations. Poor girl. She seems to be doing okay here, a couple of hours later, however. She weighed in at 14 pounds, 8 ounces (6 pounds, 1 ounce more than at birth) and measured 26 1/2 inches long (5 1/2 inches longer than at birth). She is in the 99th percentile for height (can you say basketball?) and 71st percentile for weight. To compare, Jake was 15 pounds, 1.5 ounces and 26.25 inches long at his 4 month appointment!

One more photo!!

Week of 5/15 Part Two (soon I will upload differently and get more photos on each post...sorry)

Jake with Daddy and Uncle Keith taking the first trip down the slide on his new playset. The playset is only partially done here....much more to come but Dave, Keith, and Boppa have been working very hard all weekend!!

Jake helping out today! Note the goggles (on the ground and not on his face...have to work on safety, I guess) and the toy drill in his hand. He was thrilled to be helping out Daddy and Boppa today!

Week of May 15th

Nana's Birthday on May 15th! Jake helping her celebrate and open her gifts. He doesn't look too happy but he was...I just can't get a good photo of him lately. He insists on saying "cheese" which makes him display a goofy face and then he is obsessed with seeing the image on the back of the camera....the one disadvantage of a digital camera.

16 weeks old this week!! Look how big Sophie is getting!! Her first dolly in the photo, too.

Jake was learning about North American animals all week at daycare. He's proud of his moose antlers here!

Jake taking a ride on his new scooter....a rummage sale find from Nana. Had to purchase his first helmet to go along with it (that cost a lot more than the rummage scooter but can't skimp on safety!) He's pretty good at the thing already!!

Week of May 9th-Part 3! Whew....

Well, I always post photos of the kids but I had to post this photo! This morning we had a little visitor-a male Baltimore Oriole!! He was at the hummingbird feeder. Guess I'll have to put an orange out for him although I am sure he is just migrating through. He truly was the most beautiful, vibrant shade of orange!!

Week of May 9-Part 2

Mother's Day! My gift from Jake-a handmade stepping stone with his name, the date, and his handprint. He did a great job with some help from Daddy! I love it!

This one is for Mary! See....I try to instill some creativity into our little artist! Painting on Monday the 10th. He painted then drew with crayons then markers then colored pencils for well over an hour! We are starting to see his mind develop through his drawings and projects now-he can write a "J" for his name; he drew a dolphin the other day that, honestly, looked better than a dolphin that I could draw and there was NO question that it was a dolphin; and we are starting to see a face every now and then instead of just circles. So fun to watch.

Sophie's first time in the Exer-Saucer! Wednesday the 12th. She likes it quite a bit and reaches/plays with the toys more than I thought she would. We decided to try the Exer-Saucer because she was trying so hard to sit up all the time. Thought this would help with her interest in being upright and satisfy her need to explore! So far so good.

Now, how could I NOT post a potty shot? Jake has been doing GREAT at daycare with using the potty. He has been going 3-4 times per day and even pooped on the potty! (More than you wanted to know?) He is not as interested at home but we have been trying. We think that daycare provides some natural and built-in peer pressure as he watches everyone going on the big potty. Here is what I found after I gave him a few moments of privacy to go without me staring him down!

Week of May 9th-Part 1

Here is Jake playing with his tools. He has yet to grasp the concept of how the safety goggles work!! Oh, and he is obsessed with wearing his Crocs!

Awww....a little brother/sister time. Jake loves talking to Sophie (or Dopey as he calls her and then giggles), helping by bringing her a toy/blanket/Nuk, and seeing her smile back at him. He is a good big brother and is proud to say that he is the big brother!

Our big girl! Sophie at 15 weeks old! She is getting so big, is very happy (most of the time) and LOVES to sit up! When she is lying in her swing or car seat she pulls herself forward trying to sit up.

Second time trying cereal. Sophie has been displaying some of those initial signs that they tell you to watch for: she watches us with such interest when we eat, she licks her lips when she sees us eating, etc. We decided to give the cereal a try, and was told to "go ahead" before her 4 month well-check by her MD if she showed the signs. She didn't quite know what to do with the cereal but didn't seem to dislike it! We'll keep trying every now and then.

Failed video

Okay...so that didn't work. Guess I'll go with Dana's suggestions from a couple of months ago. So much for trying to figure it out myself. Suzanne, I am up for your hints, too! I went back to using our old camara to capture some video and thought if I uploaded it to Picasa then to the blog that it would work. No such luck. It posts to Picasa as video (and stores it that way) but then it doesn't transfer over as video. HELP bloggers!

This is a test to see if I can post video! Not sure if it will work or not so if it's just a photo, I'll work on doing something different. If you all actually see video, I just wanted to post a short clip of Sophie's talking. She is quite the talker...gets it from her father!

Catch up from the week of 4/25

Nana and Jake made Dave and I a special anniversary treat of hand decorated (literally hand decorated) brownies. Jake had a special morning at Nana's house making our treat and enjoyed presenting it to us! Yummy.

I just had to show you a couple of Jake's favorite things. He loves "insects" and plays with his plastic bugs every day. He is also quite particular about how his bugs line up and are organized (wonder where he gets that from??). This morning he was lining them up on the rungs of the kitchen table chairs. I seem to find bugs all over and at times they scare the heck out of me! I still refuse to touch the cockroach! I don't care if it's fake. Jake is all about bugs, birds, and worms this spring. Such a boy....until a bug actually touches him!

We have had about a week of Sophie sleeping in her crib at night. She goes to bed about 10Pm and has been sleeping until 5-8AM! We are just thrilled. Again, insert a knock-on-wood here. This came about all of a sudden when we decided to try the crib instead of the bassinet. Guess she just wanted more room! Just like Jake, she loves the swaddler and the Nuk but she is very happy to get out of that swaddler the minute she wakes up and can certainly survive without her Nuk once she falls asleep....thank goodness.

Week of May 3rd

Monday: Jake, the chef, loves to help Mommy in the kitchen. Today we made a meatloaf for dinner. He really wanted to get his hands into the meat but we left that for Mom. He did get to crack the egg into the bowl, though, so we had a bit of shell clean-up! He enjoyed eating his masterpiece that evening.

I always post photos of Sophie calm, happy, and relaxed. This is our Sophie most evenings. She sure has classic colic but, knock on wood, she seems to be turning a bit of a corner. She has had several quiet and happy evenings since Saturday. We continue to cross our fingers that the trend continues. We have tried special hypoallergenic formula that costs a fortune, Zantac twice a day, probiotic powder daily, Mylicon by the gallon, and Gripe Water by the half gallon.......seems that the old theory that no one knows what causes colic and that it will start to improve after about 3 months of age holds true....or so we hope!

Friday 4/30: Sophie's first time touching the grass! She was just amazed and the texture seemed to thrill her. She is beginning to grasp many things, reach out for toys, and has definately discovered that she has hands. It is truly amazing to watch that hand-eye coordination develop and improve every day. It's just one of the many things that I don't remember being as amazed by the first time around with Jake.

I love this photo of Dave with his kiddos! We had a nice hour hanging outside in the nice weather last Friday evening. Jake was riding his bike, blowing bubbles, and worm hunting while Sophie discovered the lawn. We just had fun watching!