Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy girl at Baby Boot Camp

I could just sit here all day in this funny little hat.

It was the rainiest St. Patrick's Day on record here in KC and it was dreary all day! It would have been nice to go to the parade, but it was just too wet and yucky...maybe next year!

I'd also like to send out a happy birthday to my dear friend Kathleen who is filled with the luck of the Irish on this particular day! And whom should be very thankful that the pictures I spend a long time scanning into my trusty computer just wouldn't work right! :)

I had a great time flipping through old pictures and reminiscing about all our times together. Kathleen, her husband Carl, and daughter Lily are getting ready to head back to the Midwest soon from Baltimore and we can't be more excited! Charlie is already thinking about how to plan our driving trips to visit them depending upon their final destination (it's between St. Louis and Iowa City and they will find out SOON!) and I'm just thrilled that they'll actually be within driving distance! Woo hoo! Kathleen, my personal favorite picture that would have been number one on this blog, had it worked, was an oldie but a goodie from our long ago trip to the St. Louis zoo. It shows Carl leaning out of the hippo's mouth, Sarah and me on top of the hippo, and your little ol' head and one foot dangling from a hole in the beast's belly. I'll have to get you a copy! I hope you all had a great day!

Sleepy Time

One. More. Minute and I'll be there...

Sleep? Who you kiddin', it's time to party!

Sophia is still doing a great job of sleeping 10+ hours at night and we can't be more thankful! She goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up anywhere between 7 and 8. We are still working on a nap schedule but she seems to be falling into one naturally. It will be great when we can get that down and I have some guaranteed time to do laundry, etc.

She is now getting cereal twice a day and we're working up to three times a day soon. I've gotten a lot better at getting the food IN her mouth and we've developed quite a routine! I think eating is helping to wear her out during the day too because it's hard work!

Just Cute

Work those abs, girl!

Sophia is already refining her tastebuds by enjoying some duck.

Bama and her three grandkids!

Fun with Cousins

Shelby, Sophia and I had a day of fun last week before Shelby flew off to Wisconsin for spring break. We baked cookies and played all day! Shelby is turning into quite a little baby sitter and Sophia loves her big cousin very much! They played, read books and snuggled. We went to visit Bama at her job at the Hallmark store and Shelby even toted Sophia around opening all the musical cards so they could jam to the beats! Cody, Pam and Bama joined us for homemade lasagna and fresh baked cookies later that evening.

Big Sister, Julie, holding Baby Angela

We spent a fun evening with the Hain Clan, Chris, Oli, Julie and Angela, this past Friday. It was nice to relax, have a beer and play some Wii while the girls kept themselves busy! Angela didn't do much playing, she mostly slept, but that was nice too! Julie is adjusting to being a big sister and even practiced on Sophia while she was testing out the Johnny Jumper. Sophia enjoyed being around her cousins and wanted to play with Julie all night long! Both Chris and I have a feeling that in a few years Sophia and Angela will be two peas in a pod following eachother around and probably creating havoc!

Six Month Stats

Sophia officially has her half birthday on Tuesday (the same day as her Grandpa Leo's birthday!) and I truly can't believe it. I know that line has been used a lot by me in the past few months, but it is so true! It's hard to imagine that she's six months old. On one hand I feel like six months is such a short period of time and that she was just born! But, then I think, whoa...that's half a year...in this same amount of time she'll be turning ONE...YIKES! If I were teaching school I would be getting ready for MAP (state testing) testing and spring break. The end of the school year would be within reach and I'd be planning my summer off. The difference a year can make is unfathomable sometimes!

Sophia had her doctor's visit last week and she is still growing up healthy and strong! Charlie and I really like her pediatrician. We weren't really sure at first and we went through some times where we considered changing docs and half-heartedly looked around and consulted others. However, we're both very glad that we stuck with her current doc. He is extremely knowledgeable, understanding, and realistic! He doesn't pressure us to get vaccines that he thinks are unnecessary and he will talk at length with us about questions or concerns. I never feel rushed or pushed out of the office and that is a very good thing!

Sophia now weighs 17lbs 12 oz and measures 27.5" in height. She slowed down her growth spurt only a bit since the last visit but is still in the 90th percentile for height, 70th for weight, and 50th for head size. We got some pointers on how to transition to other foods like veggies and even talked about introducing juice. He told us that he wasn't real sold on the idea of juice b/c water is just as healthy, but Sophia pretty much refuses to drink water. I would like to keep trying, though. Honestly, I don't know if she'll like juice much better! She absolutely refused to drink the Pedialyte we had to give her a few months ago. I am sure juice is sweeter than that, but still, I wonder!

The doc continued to laugh and comment on how friendly and strong our girl was and even went so far as to say that he's seen 18month olds that aren't as social. Ha! Have we got our hands full or what?!

Cereal Pics

On the Road to Capn' Crunch

Things have been a bit crazy around the ol' Hirner Household lately, so I've been a bit lax in updating the blog, but I feel that these latest pictures are well worth the wait!

Yesterday we began feeding Sophia cereal. I must admit that I did indeed put this off for as long as possible. I put it off mainly because I am on the go so much and I knew that once the "real" eating began I would be much more housebound. Now of course I want what's best for my child, but until the last few days she has been completely satisfied by her bottles. I always told Charlie that as soon as she longed for more I would give in...well long she did! She started having days where the bottle wouldn't satisfy and we'd have to refill, it wasn't every day and it certainly wasn't every feeding but when it happened at least once for two days in a row I figured it was time.

We waited for the weekend, because I really did want Charlie to see this first time as I assumed it would be pretty cute and entertaining. We only fixed 1 T but she sucked it down and them drank the rest of the bottle too. She couldn't eat it fast enough and would suck, lick and hold the spoon in her mouth. I literally had to wrestle it away from her just so I could put more cereal on it!

She didn't get as messy as I anticipated and she ate much better than I anticipated so all in all it was a great experience had by all. Charlie and I laughed through the whole thing and managed to capture a few precious moments along the way!


Footnote: I have now tried for two days to upload my photos and it keeps giving me an error message...ARG! I will go ahead and post this and keep trying to get the pictures up! Sorry, guys! Look again soon for adorable pics (hopefully!).