Things are going Swimmingly!

Things are going well at the PC household. Sophie is very close to crawling, which means we have to do more baby-proofing. Even though we try to distract her with her own toys, Sophie knows where the remote controls are, and how to use them (she changed the settings on the TV!). We've gone for a couple successful swims. Sophie complained when I put her face in the water, but then put her own face in a couple times after that. So now we're looking forward to our trip to Montreal in 1 1/2 months.

Gotcha!

For a baby who doesn't crawl yet, Sophie sure makes her way around the apartment. After she grabbed this video tape, she actually started to roll towards the VCR. Ah, perhaps we should cut back on her TV viewing! Sophie's 7 1/2 months now and we're having a lot of fun. We finally went swimming (photos to follow), and she had a blast. She even put up with splashes from her cousin Kate. She loves going out in the backpack. Every time I put her in there, Sophie lets out a whoop and tries to eat my hair. It's even more fun when Michael takes her because she's up so high. We did some "Baby Rhyme-time" at the library, but it's still hard to get going in the morning. I've figured out that early babyhood is a cycle: feed baby, change baby, put baby to sleep. Then you move to more of a routine, where you have morning and afternoon naps and mealtimes, but it all depends on when you get up. Then you move to a schedule. We're still on a "routine". I think I've got things all organized and then Sophie will wake up every 3 hours one night for no reason. Thank goodness there are 8 hour nights, or I might turn into a mommy-zombie.

Babababababbababa!

Our girl has become very chatty! It seems like 2 weeks ago, someone flipped a switch and Sophie has started to babble and react to people like never before. Her favourite activities are rolling, grabbing different fabrics, find the tag on her toys and bibs, and experimenting with different faces. I think we're in trouble with the rolling because she is fast! I stepped out of the room for 20 seconds, and in that time Sophie rolled 5 feet under the dining room table. It's unnerving to see what looks like an empty room when there's suppose to be a baby in the middle of it! Good thing she's so noisy because it makes it easy to find her.

Is that funny?

We're having a lot of fun with Sophie. She laughs at everything, and is even making her own jokes. She sneezed and cracked right up! She loves when we whistle, and funny voices are still a favourite. Her favourite game is "glasses", where she gives you this innocent look, and quick as a flash, steals the glasses off your face. I think I'm going to get some contact lenses!

Half-way to My First Birthday!

6 months old today! Can you believe it?! The official weigh-in at the doctor's office was 17 lbs, and we'll be buying a new car seat this weekend, as Sophie is too tall for her infant seat. The meals are still going well, but we bought tart apples for applesauce...the faces Sophie pulled were priceless (imagine someone's face after having a spoon full of Buckley's cough syrup). The milestones tend to come in bursts, so at the moment, we're just going with the flow.

Roll Over, Sit...Good Baby!

Sophie's quickly approaching 6 months old, and she's perfecting her skills. She can sit for about 10 seconds before she oh-so-slowly flops on her side. She rolls over whenever we're not watching, of course! I checked on her during a nap and she was on her belly across the top of her crib, chatting to Bunny. The solid food is going well. She likes everything we've given her so far. Her menu consists of rice and barley cereals, carrots, sweet potato, and most recently, bananas. We give her some sips of water from a cup every meal, and she's doing surprising well with it. She grabs the cup with both hands, and moves it away after each sip. She's also been feeding herself with the spoon pretty much from the first meal.. I just hold the end of it so she doesn't throw it around.

Baby's First Christmas

Silver bells, Jingle bells, Baby bell...Christmas with a baby is fun! Sophie's been a busy girl this holiday season, and it's not over yet. We have Christmas with her Oma and Grandpa today, and still some aunts and uncles to see. We started on the 9th with her Opa and cousins, then the 17th with Grandmaman, Grand-dad and Mommy's huge clan. Christmas Eve saw us visiting friends ...and through it all Sophie was completely spoiled. Sophie was a welcome part of our Solstice party with our friends (although Ivor's "Grizzly Adams" beard still makes her cry). She even slept a little, despite the 12 laughing adults in the next room. Christmas Day was relaxed at home. Sophie had a stocking to open with all sorts of goodies. We watched a Christmas movie, then Sophie and Mommy took a walk down Whyte Ave, where Sophie spread Christmas smiles to everyone who was out. We look forward to all the changes that 2007 will bring with our sassy little girl!

Yum!

Sophie tried her first solid food on Sat the 16th (her 5 month birthday)...and she loved it! We prepared a little bit of rice cereal (the "literature" tells you to start with a teaspoon of cereal mixed with milk), and we were all set for her to push most of it out of her mouth. Well, she plowed through the first batch, so we quickly whipped up a 3 tbsp mix, and she ate all of that, too. So far, we're just feeding her the cereal at supper time, but I think we'll bump it up to twice a day soon. We'll try vegetables the week after Christmas, when Michael is off work. I'm so excited about this new stage...although, I think we've entered a new era of mess and smelly diapers.

Teeth! Yahoo!

Sophie's had quite a couple weeks. First she started to do "raspberries", then she rolled over from her back to her front (of course when I had my back turned) and then she got those two front teeth that caused us so much stress a couple weeks ago. And man, are they sharp! One of her favourite things is still to suck on mommy's chin, but now she throws the tiny teeth into it. I'm going to have weird vampire marks under my chin. We're getting right into the Christmas season. Sophie had a visit with Santa: no tears, she just smiled and drooled. We also had Christmas/St. Nicholas Day with my dad and sisters. It was a good test run. Sophie stayed up for over 5 hours, happily played with new toys and her cousins, and stared at the Christmas tree. I think it's going to be a great holiday season.

All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!

Teething is not fun! Poor Soph--she's spent the past few days cranky, rubbing her cheeks, pulling her ears, shoving her fist in her mouth and drooling like crazy. Not to mention a few nights screaming until midnight while mom and dad pace the floor. And still no sign of those infamous first teeth! Despite the rough ride, she still manages to grin at us (she crinkles her nose now when she smiles) and she stopped (for the most part) giving everyone else "the Lip". We're planning to go swimming this month for the first time (I just have to get a bathing suit, because my maternity one just won't do). We've had Sophie in the big tub a couple times and she loves it, so it will be nice to take her somewhere where she can splash to her hearts content and not soak the room! If the swimming goes well, we might start "Starfish" swimming lessons in the new year.

Four Months and Fifteen Pounds

Well Sophie's growing like crazy and becoming more fun every day. She loves to laugh at her dad when he speaks in an Italian accent (thank you Baby Einstein vocabulary extras from the DVD), she loves her exersaucer which she commands like the bridge of a battleship (check the picture) and she is turning out like her parents...easily distracted (her feedings are taking longer as she likes to stop and look around). We're really looking forward to Sophie's first Christmas this year.

Growing up and up and up!

It's nice to be at home with a 3 month old. You start to feel more confident, you've got a bit of a routine, and you get to watch changes happening almost every day. Sophie's doing great. She still eats like crazy, but she's quicker (so I'm not watching movies as I breastfeed anymore). She's getting stronger, so she can whip her toys around and pinch her mom and dad so hard she leaves welts (I'm learning new ways to swear while trying to keep my language clean). I'm getting stronger, too, because all she wants to do is stand up. Sophie went through a stage of giving everyone else the "lip" (a big pouty lip, followed by tears) but she's slowly starting to smile at others again, so I think Christmas will be a lot of fun for everyone. I am still trying to get a photo of the "lip", because I think it's important to remember all the moments. All in all, this parenting thing is pretty cool.

Sophie's First Halloween

We took Sophie to her first Halloween party (in our new car...a "Highway Yellow" 5 door Chevrolet Aveo hatchback...pictures to follow). She won for best costume (check the picture)! Michelle is very talented when it comes to making costumes.

Life is good with Sophie sleeping in her own room (7-9 hours at night), Michael taking Ju-Jitsu, and Michelle continuing to meet with her New Mums Group.

Three Months Old

Sophie celebrated her 3 month birthday by moving out...of our room. She now has a regular crib and a nursery of her own, although it's not quite finished (it still needs to be decorated in a "funky fairy-princess" theme). The first night she slept in her room, I burst into tears at the sight of her empty cradle. Michael had to move it into the living room. And I woke up every 1 1/2 hours. Now everyone is sleeping better except me. I keep waking up because I think I won't hear her, even with the baby monitor. Ah, growing pains! Sophie's had some more "firsts" in the last couple weeks: first holiday (Thanksgiving) where Michael fed Michelle her turkey while she fed Sophie, first wedding (Curry and Faye's) where Michael ate after everyone else, so Michelle could gobble down her food before feeding Sophie, first time rolling over (from front to back), first laugh when Michelle sneezed, and she did yell "ga" at us, but hasn't done any other consonant-vowel combinations since. The adventure never stops!

Silly Parents!

We have discovered that our grand plan of sharing a room with Sophie was optimistic at best! I shuffle and the bed squeaks, which wakes Sophie up, and Sophie snores and snuffles, which wakes us up. So we're changing the apartment around (again) to make a nursery in the now-defunct games room. I'm actually excited about decorating. We're going with a funky fairy-princess theme. I'm not so excited about the fact that we need a new car. Klaus the VW valiantly tried to be a family vehicle for the past 2 1/2 months, but the stroller doesn't fit, I don't fit in the back when Michael drives, and Michael has to sit surrounded by groceries when we go shopping. Take heed, future parents! Babies are tiny people but they need big elbow room. Our tiny person laughed on Monday and has weeble-wobbled onto her side and back. Also, she's not so tiny...13 lbs!

First Date

We finally went on a big date, leaving Sophie in the capable hands of her grandmaman. And it was...ok. We made it through the whole movie without the overwhelming urge to phone and check up (or fall asleep). Sophie went on a walk with her grandparents and had a bit of a snooze. When she woke up she looked around, realized this was not her usual place and usual people, stuck out her lip and cried. My mom had to walk with her for a good part of the evening, which was no light task considering Sophie's 12 lbs 3 3/4 oz! When we arrived to pick her up, Sophie was asleep sitting up in her grandmaman's arms, her fists at the ready. She slept 9 hours that night! Well, atleast we went out. Maybe next time will feel more date-like.

2 Months Old!

I can't believe we're at 2 months already. We celebrated with a delightful trip to the health centre for Sophie's first shots! I thought I might cry more than Sophie, but we both made it through ok. Sophie was super dopey after, and it felt a bit wrong giving a nice quiet evening just the 2 of us as a result of pain inflicted on our child! Last night I went through her clothes and we already have 1/2 a tote of clothes that are too small. Plus she exploded (quite literally) out of her size-small diapers last weekend, so we had to scramble to Earth's General Store to buy larger cloth diapers. We're also moving her into a crib soon, because she's starting to grab the sides of the cradle. It's not fair! It's too fast! One minute you can't wait for them to reach the next milestone and the next you're bawling in your tea because some diaper shirts don't fit anymore. And I thought I was passed the hormonal rollercoaster!

Busy, busy!

We've had a very full week of babyhood. Tuesday, Sophie and Michelle started their New Mom's Group at the local health centre. It's great to see a couple women from our prenatal class with their babies on the outside, and it's nice to be with new moms. Later that night we were guest speakers (well, I was the speaker, Sophie was the eater) at a breastfeeding class. It's amazing how far we've come...2 months ago we were the one's in a breastfeeding class, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby, trying to imagine what was to come. I felt like such an expert mom! Wednesday, Sophie's cousins Rachel and Kate spent the morning--3-year old Kate held Sophie for about 3 seconds, but 6-year old Rachel was much more determined to hold her the whole visit, even sneaking the baby out of her swing when I wasn't looking! Michael's work threw us a lovely baby shower on Thursday and completely spoiled us. Friday was our 6 week check at the doctor and Saturday I needed a nap!!! It's good to start having a life with baby...I just need to remember to rest every once in awhile.

Have Baby, Will Travel

She's cute and portable, folks! We didn't go too far, but we had a successful trip to Sylvan Lake with Sophie for the weekend. We didn't spend too much time in the sun, because she's still so new, but we had lovely walks along the beach and in town. The bonus for us was the other 3 adults in the cottage, who were more than happy to hold baby while we blissfully read books and had a nice long bath. I packed so many clothes for Sophie, in anticipation of big messes, but she ended up messing my clothes... and of course I didn't pack extras for myself! Sophie's really started to smile at everyone, so we're enjoying that and waiting for the laughs to start. This week I'm starting my New Mom's group at Bonnie Doon Health Unit. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the women from my prenatal class. It will be cool to see everyone without pregnant bellies and with babies on the outside. Sophie has another weigh-in on Friday, and I know she went through another growth spurt, so we'll let you know if she topped 10 pounds.

Waaaaaa!

Ah, the sweet sounds of a content child! Happy one month birthday, Sophie. She celebrated by another weight gain--now she's 9 lb 6 1/2 oz. Most things are getting easier, like breastfeeding, diapers and going out. Sophie's sleeping more through the night. Last night she actually slept 7 hours. These marathon naps are usually preceded by a feeding frenzy the evening before, accompanied by such extreme fussiness we almost sent her back. Good thing she's so cute! We tried a bottle on Sunday with success, which means Mich can sneak out for a couple hours to knitting club, or we can actually have a date to the movies at some time. I just need to build up enough of a supply of expressed breastmilk, because Sophie still eats like crazy. Yesterday Sophie took the bus for the first time. She likes going over the High Level bridge. Next big adventure--going to Sylvan Lake for a weekend. We'll keep you posted.