I Am So High-Tech!

Well thanks to Jill, my personal tech-support, I have figured out how to take short movies with my camera since we do not yet have a video camera. The only downside is of course that there is no sound, but the up-side is that all of you can now see her live in living color! I hope this is especially nice for those of you who don't get to see her very often.

The first video is of her new trick, rolling over! Go, go go! The second video is just sheer cuteness. Without the sound, you don't get the full effect, but it's still pretty cute!

Shelby

Shelby with Rachel in the background

Where's the baby? She's camouflaged!

Sophia and Aunt Bess

Shelby is Sophia's very proud big cousin and she just turned 12!!! Yikes, now this does make me feel old! It was also a somewhat humbling experience for Charlie to realize that his little girl will also some day be 12 and he refrained from making too many jokes and giving Stacy a hard time about his little girl.



We had a nice party at mom's house and Shelby was graced with family and presents, which are more exciting to a pre-teen anyway.

It's Official!

Well, I am happy (okay, a little sad at this sign of my baby growing up already) to report that Sophia has officially rolled over! Yay for my big girl! Sadly, both Charlie and I missed it! :(

Charlie had taken Walt to the dog park and I took this opportunity to pick up a bit around the downstairs area. So, I put Sophia on her play mat and puttered around the rooms tidying up when I heard her fussing. So I walked back into the room and there she was on her tummy! Wowser! My days of leaving her in the middle of the bed while I do something are now over, I guess...darn it! She was just as happy as a clam and did it again a few minutes later, and I did manage to see it this time!

She is also teething which is a great joy! She has been very drooly and her gums are still very hard, as I think I mentioned, but yesterday she had two major meltdowns that absolutely broke my heart! The only explanation has to be cutting teeth. She had another meltdown this morning and then Charlie ran out and got the essentials: teething rings, Baby Orajel, and Motrin. She's had some of each today and seems to be doing a bit better than before. I will admit however, that I'm a bit nervous because I can't imagine this kind of anguish every time. That's a whole lotta teeth and tears to go through! Ugh!

A Chip Off the Old Fluff

Can you say adorable?!

Nothin' like some brotherly love

Any of you who really know me, know that I love matchy matchiness. I love to be twins with my friends and family any given day of the week. In fact, recently I encouraged Jill to buy the exact same jacket as me, not only because it's warm and adorable, but because we could be twins! Pam and I ordered the exact same shoes in the exact same size and color off the Internet, because again, great shoes, but I also love to match! I'm not sure exactly why I have this need but perhaps it stems from being the youngest child/grandchild in the family and my constant yearning for someone younger than me...? But, I digress...



So, when Kathleen's daughter Lily sent this outfit to Sophia for Christmas I was really beside myself with joy and delight! It is absolutely too cute! I'm not sure how she stumbled upon such a gem, but I love it. The slippers are a little hard to see in the pictures, but they match the hat and are little mini-doggies. Some pictures were difficult to take because Walter was afraid he would get in trouble if he came too near Sophia, so I ended up holding her, sitting next to Walt and taking the picture myself...yikes! Also, since these pictures were taken, Walter has had a hair cut. In fact, Walter has a had a rough go of it the past few days, but that's a whole other story all together!

American Babyator

One tough family!

Sophia and the Little Bears

Charlie and I are very excited about the revival of the reality show American Gladiators. Both of us watched it every Sat. morning as kids and loved it! Who didn't, really. Anyway, when they hype began last month we got pretty excited. Our good friends Jill and Matt were excited too, or should I say Matt was excited and Jill's just a good sport! :)



Anyway, we celebrated the show's premiere with a private launch party and in true Hirner fashion, came dressed to impress! Sophia's very stylish red headband is actually an armband, but we figured, hey, her head is small! She didn't dislike it as much as I think it squeezed her little head. As soon as we put it on she made a kind of disgruntled, confused face. The second it came off, her face lit up with a smile! I guess that was our sign to stop torturing our child! Later on, feeling left out without her get-up, she asked Daddy to borrow his headband and this look was equally cute!



I'm a girl who loves a theme party, what can I say!?

Maxin' and Relaxin'

Dog pile on Favorite Uncle Stacy (the name he gave himself) and Shelby!

Sophia is such a good baby. She is content most of the time and she is still a pretty good eater. The schedule continues to work out and she is still sleeping 8-9 hours per night. We love to play and sing songs all day. We also recently started reading books. I absolutely love to take her picture when she's naked or semi-naked as above. I am probably totally starting a bad habit, but we hang out many morning in our underwear before we get ready and leave the house. We cuddle, talk, and nap this way, it's very much fun!



I am still attempting to "nurse" via the pump, but my days are numbered. My milk supply has been steadily decreasing and I'm still not really sure why. I now only pump at every other feeding because I get so little and it kinda hurts. Logically speaking I should probably just give it up all together. She's only getting about 2 bottles of milk each day and the rest is formula. I'm thankful that she is not picky (yet, anyway) about what kind of milk or formula she gets. We've been switching up her formula due to the sample packs we got in the mail and I just recently had to buy our first can (grrrrr! it's so expensive!).



I am still dealing with a lot of that guilt stuff that I discussed in my much earlier posts. I know in my head that I have nothing to feel bad about and that I've stuck with it for as long as humanly possible, literally! But even though she isn't nursing directly from me, it's still a bond that I'd have to break. I feel good about being able to supply her with food and nutrients and it's sad to think of being without that. Besides the fact that some days my 15 minutes of pumping is the only time I get to myself! I did get some advice however that was to let my milk run dry is much better than just stopping. I can believe that, however at this stage, I don't think there's much difference. Because I have so little milk I think I would only have mild discomfort and it would probably dissipate within a day or two.



I'll keep you abreast of my decision (ha!) and if anyone has any advice on formulas let me know!

The Other Child

Okay, this was just too funny not to post! This weekend the weather was fabulous and we had to take advantage. So, we loaded up the two kids and headed to the dog park. Sophia loved to be in fresh air and watched all the doggies run wild. Walter had a great time and was more playful and social than I have seen him in a long time. There were many dogs around and everyone was sort of huddled close in and around one particular spot because mud had taken over a large portion of the play area. Where we were wasn't too bad and only required a minimal amount of feet wiping before loading in the care. Mostly we were worried that he would drip gross, muddy drool on Sophia as she was captive next to him in her car seat.

So anyway, we drop Walt off at home and head out for more errands. When we came home a few hours later we were greeted by a barrage of muddy footprints all over the floor. This was very curious because Walter was not tracking mud when we brought him home. So, we followed the line of prints back to...you guessed it...his water bowl.

In our absence he took it upon himself to rinse his feet in his bowl and then parade around playing by himself so that we had to wash the hall, kitchen and the hardwoods to free them of his feet! He is generally not this prissy about his appearance but it was too cute and too funny...we got a good laugh out of it!