Birthday Part 2

Geema, Aunt TC and (the soon-to-be) Uncle Moises came up for the weekend intending to celebrate Sophia's birthday at her bounce house party. Unfortunately Sophia's temperature was up to 103 that night, so the party had to be postponed. Sophia perked up with all the visitors and still ended up having a fun filled birthday weekend. She proudly showed off her newly acquired bike riding and hopscotching skills. You'd never guess how sick she was!

Ally was very excited to see her Geema and even gave her a big wet kiss!

Ally rode her bike too, although she preferred to use it as a teething ring rather than a bike. It obviously isn't working too well since she STILL doesn't have any teeth!

Sophia got lots of presents, but at this point her strength was wearing thin and she was starting to look a little under the weather again. You can't tell from the picture, but she was super excited about the butterfly net and knew exactly what it was. Watch out butterflies!

She also got some gifts from Geema and TC's trip to Belize.

Aunt TC thought the alphabet puzzle may have been a little advanced for Sophia, but she aced it!

She had lots of fun decorating the fancy mirror that Geema got for her, and impressed everyone with her glitter glue skills.

Ally hadn't seen her Aunt TC since she was about 6 weeks old. Hmmmm...do I see a resemblance??

And Ally got to show off her favorite activity: rockin out to Yankee Doodle Dandee!
After the family left, my friend Jen and her daughter Mallery came by with another gift for Sophia: princess dress up accessories and art supplies.Although Sophia refused to say thank you (grrrr!), she obviously loved the gifts.

7 Months

Wow! Where did this last month go?? Between Sophia's marathon birthday celebration, Will's surgery, and the never ending cold that we all battled, this month seems to have flown right by. Ally is still happy as ever, although she's starting to show a little separation anxiety when she can't see us. For the most part, she's all smiles and giggles, and we still cannot get enough of that big gummy grin.

We're still patiently awaiting the arrival of her first tooth. She doesn't seem to be drooling much these days, but she still puts anything and everything into her mouth. Her hair continues to get lighter and lighter, and I now have to pull it back to keep it out of her eyes. Luckily she doesn't seem to notice if she has a barrette, headband or rubber band in her hair. I know it won't be long before she starts pulling them out.

She slept through the night for almost 2 weeks straight, but unfortunately, it seems to have come to an end this week. She has given up her old sleeping position (The Starfish) and replaced it with a new one we call the Rico Suavay.

She seems to be getting a little annoyed by the constant attention from Trent. She's not spitting up much anymore, but he still thinks she's a sweet as sugar and is constantly licking her. Her infatuation with her big sister continues, and she's always watching her and laughing with her. And most of the time, it's mutual.

She's nowhere near crawling (woohoo!) but she's starting to get frustrated that she can't get to what she wants, so it probably won't be too much longer. She has an amazing ability to stretch out and grab things you were absolutely sure were out of reach. She's also trying hard to scoot forward while sitting, but doesn't seem to be making much progress. I think her big belly may be creating an obstacle. Her little pot belly is so big that Sophia is sure that Ally has a baby in her tummy!

Ally is taking after her sister and seems to really enjoy music. She loves toys that play songs and has started "dancing" when she hears music. Below is one of my favorite Ally videos where you can see her little feet moving to the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk5i67thaUw

Between both my girls, I smile more each day than I knew was possible. What a joy!

Sophia's 3rd Birthday: Part 1

The celebration for Sophia's 3rd birthday unexpectedly spanned about 3 weeks, but it has all been so much fun. Nana and Pops came to visit to celebrate Sophia's actual birthday. After playing with the girls all day and watching the Olympics all night, they were exhausted by the end of their visit!

Since Sophia's birthday fell on a school day, we took cupcakes to school to celebrate. Sophia's been asking to have a birthday at school since early December, so I'm glad it worked out this year.

That afternoon we opened up presents. Nana and Pops got Sophia several special gifts, including a Mr Potato Head and her first digital camera. Sophia loves taking pictures with her camera and it's fun to see things from her point of view. I'll have to figure out how to download them and post some of our favorites.
One of Ally and Sophia's favorite games to play is parachute under Mommy and Daddy's comforter, so Ally got Sophia a real parachute. We're hoping this will help curb the amount of spit up in our bed!

Since Sophia is very into Disney Princess this year, we got her a Disney Princess CD and Cinderella figurines. She loves to listen to "So this is love" and dance her little figurines around the room. It's so cute!

We had Sophia cover her eyes while we revealed her last gift....

...a new scooter!! Her neighborhood friends ride bikes and scooters all summer long, and since Sophia already inherited a gently used 2 wheel bike, she now has a scooter to add to her collection.

She fell about 15 seconds into her first ride, but after a hug from Mommy, she got right back up and got some coaching from Daddy and Pops.

Word spread quickly that Sophia had new toys, so it didn't take long for her neighborhood friends to come knocking on the door to play!

That evening we had Grandpa over for a special birthday dinner of Sophia's choice: pizza and ice cream cake. Grandpa's gift was a kids Italian cookbook, and he's going to come over once a month so they cook something together. We sang Happy Birthday, but unfortunately, in an attempt to salvage her self esteem, Daddy blew her candles out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAPFzzP1UqY

That night Sophia kept saying that her mouth hurt, but I figured she just bit her tongue. The next morning she was glued to Nana's lap, which was sweet, but suspicious since she never stays still that long. When I got home from work that evening, she had a fever and looked horrible. Poor thing got a nasty cold for her birthday!

Happiness is.....

....playing with your older sister's toys without her knowing!

Sophia's New Hairdid

I'm still feeling some pangs of guilt after Sophia's last homemade haircut, so as her bangs started to cover her eyes again, we decided to take her to a professional this time. The salon is especially for kids, so the waiting area is full of toys, the chairs look like cars, and the kids get to pick out a movie to watch. You can't tell from her face, but Sophia really liked it.

When the hairdresser was done, she let Sophia pick a flower to put in her hair and sprayed glitter on her bangs. She also gave us a certificate, complete with a lock of hair, to document Sophia's first hair cut.


It was a great experience, which is good because we'll probably have to go back with Ally soon!

6 Months

Oh how I wish I could freeze time. I love, love, love this age! Ally is always happy and content, she can't move much, and most importantly, she can't talk back! At her 6 month appt, she weighed in at 16lb 1oz and measured 25.75 inches, which is about 50% for both. Her head was in the 50th percentile too, which is the lowest it's ever been for our kids!

Ally is sleeping much better. She goes to bed at 7pm without a peep, wakes once to eat, and gets up for the day around 6:30. She takes her morning nap in her crib, but still likes to snuggle with Mommy or Daddy for her afternoon nap. Will and I both love to nap with her, even if it destroys any hope of productivity for the day.

She was nursing 2-3 times a day, but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to maintain my supply, so she is now a bottle fed baby. She also gets 2 meals a day of solid baby food. She LOVES to eat "real" food and we have already bumped her up to stage 2 foods because she was eating 2 or more containers of the stage 1 foods at each meal. We have also started feeding her from a highchair because she was dangerously close to escaping from the Bumbo.


Ally now rolls both ways regularly. She is able to squirm and roll to get to what she wants. I'm still in the habit of laying her down on blanket, but I don't know why I bother because she's never on the blanket for long!

Her new favorite hobby is jumping. She'll spend over 30 minutes jumping in her excersaucer, the doorway jumper, and the jumparoo (which we borrowed from a friend when it became apparent Ally was part kangaroo!) You can't help but smile as she looks longingly at Sophia on the trampoline!

For weeks now I've been thinking Ally had a tooth breaking through, but no toofers yet. She drools, has a mild runny nose, and puts anything and everything in her mouth, so I don't think it'll be too much longer.

One of Ally's other favorite pastimes is "reading" books. Granted, they usually end up in her mouth, but of all of her toys, she is happiest with her books.

The relationship between Sophia and Ally has really started to take shape, and it's so heartwarming to see them enjoy each other's company. Sophia rarely says "I love you" to anyone, but she tells Ally she loves her several times a day without prompting. Ally saves her biggest belly laughs for Sophia and is constantly watching her with total admiration.

Ally definitely gave us a run for our money for a couple months, but now she is truly an easy baby. She is such a joy that I even look forward to her 4 am feeding! (But don't tell Will that)

Sisterly Love

Just a couple months ago, Ally would cry whenever Sophia got near her, and honestly, I couldn't blame her. But now, she just loves her big sister to pieces. She thinks Sophia is the funniest person ever, and it just fills my heart with joy to watch them laugh together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYfHjPtvs4Y