Deep Breath

Well, today marks a new milestone...for Mommy. Charlie and I are going on a one night camping trip tonight and leaving Sophia with Bama. I'm a little bit beside myself. Truthfully, I wasn't worried about it all until about 5pm last night and then I started thinking, and that's always bad.

I'm not sure what exactly I'm worried or nervous about, but I just am. It could have something to do with the fact that I'm a control freak, but whatever! ;) She manages just fine every night in her own bed. She's slept in the crib at mom's house many a times, it just hasn't been all night. I know they'll have a great time and mom is super excited, so it will all work out!

The really terrible part though, is that it's been raining all night and there are supposed to be thunderstorms all night again tonight. Super. The one night we choose to get away could end in disaster, or at least a very wet and leaky tent!

Busy Baby

This is a collection of Sophia pictures when she's on the go and busy, busy, busy!

Getting the camera away from Mommy was more fun than watching Walter play.

Shake, Shake, Shake...listening to Cheerios is better than eating them!

This play-gym is no match for my brute strength!

Daddy is helping me ride the horsey...so much fun!

Hello, Cheerio

This is a sad little video about a girl and her lost Cheerio.

Yet another milestone within the past few weeks is the introduction of the finger food. I broke out the Cheerios and there have really been some really priceless moments! I will admit, that the thing that truly fascinated me was the fact that the with the first Cheerio I gave her, she knew that she was supposed to chew. It seriously impressed me, which I know is stupid, but c'mon...who taught her how to do that!

The first day all she really wanted to do was push them around and play with them. The second day she knew she was supposed to eat them but that was a struggle in and of itself. Recently I gave her a Goldfish and that really threw her for a loop! It was more than she could handle and I ended up fishing it out of her mouth instead!

Fun with the Favorites!

Stacy and has now started calling Pam, Favorite Aunt Pam, no doubt to match his own name! :) I am so thankful that both Charlie and I have such loving, helpful siblings to love this little baby! I would hate to be away from family and deprive both them and Sophia of a such a life! Thanks for all you do, guys!

Sophia went to Stacy and Pam's to play for a day last week. They all had a great time and Sophia absolutely loved being around their two Golden Retrievers. I must get some video of them next time because, unlike Walter, they let her grab, pull, tug, and even taste! Sophia loves dogs and cats and lights up every time she sees one. In fact, even when we're in the park and a dog walks by, she moans, wiggles and squirms to try and touch it! She's our little veterinarian in the making!

Milestones

Hello, faithful Bloggers! I first must apologize for my serious lack of posts lately, but now that we have a crawler on our hands, our life is a different story all together! Sophia is officially on the go! A few weeks ago we dropped her off at Grandma Sue's and she took her first crawling "step". She actually moved each knee one time! I figured that by the time we got back from dinner, she'd be taking Grandma on a tour around the house, but in fact, she didn't. I think that because she had carpet, and all we have is hard woods, it was way easier for her to get started but it still took her another 5 days before she actually crawled again, and since then she has become increasingly more adept at both moving around and creating havoc!

This is actually pre-crawl mode. Fav. Uncle Stacy really tried coaxing her, but she did the belly flop instead.

Now that she can crawl, she can reach all kinds of forbidden fruits...her favorites include Walter's toys and magazines.

See ya later, Mom!

Ah, and finally, teething...that was the other milestone. Crawling also enables her to access lots more things to chew on...again, favorites include Walter's toys, magazines, and the glass table top! Since this picture we have actually purchased a "cover" for the edges of a coffee table. It looks more like a table diaper and I don't think it's going to last long the way she pulls on it and plays with it!

Her bottom tooth (her left) finally popped up enough to be seen and then on Saturday I noticed the second bottom tooth poking through. She didn't seem to have too much trouble with that one, but I think another one is on it's way because she's been fussy the past two days, so we'll see! I have tried those Homeopathic Teething Tablets that I've heard lots of people rave about, and I must say, they do seem to work very well! They don't actually dissolve in her mouth, which is fine b/c she'd just spit them out, so I crush them up and shoot them in with the Motrin syringe. I love that thing! It comes in handy for lots of things besides Motrin!

Now that she crawls, she is really more interested in learning how to pull up and walk. She's getting the hang of it, but isn't all the way there. So far she's trying to use her abs and sheer will to just pull herself upright and hasn't quite figured out how to use her legs to push just yet.

The first video is just cute. It shows mostly her stubborn behavior as she's just toying with me, but it's pretty adorable. The second video shows some serious crawling action! And...an added bonus...you get to see the table diaper up close and personal! How hideous!

A Mother's Day to Remember

I was racing somewhere, but it wasn't the finish line!

Our only Mother-Daughter bonding of the day

An adorable picture of Baby Angela in her car seat-cocoon

Ah the joys of motherhood...you tirelessly take care of a sick child only to have the favor returned! I began my Mother's Day with an early visit to the bathroom, as our friend Jason would say, calling God on the big white phone. God and I had many conversations that day, sadly for me.



I'm putting this one on the list right under stretchmarks and the time she made me have a C-Section.



I was supposed to take part in the local Mother's Day 5K and was then hosting brunch at our house for a gaggle of our friends and family, needless to say it was cancelled. Well, moved actually. Mom volunteered to host it at her house and since the food was all made, we made the transfer. Charlie recruited Shelby and they tag-teamed Sophia, the food, some folding tables and various other brunch related tasks. My giant jug of chocolate milk was returned to me however, as mom was nervous about her white carpet! ;)



I hear that a nice time was had by all, but I was quarantined here in my bedroom.



On a lighter note, Sophia seems closer to her cheerful baby self today. She has actually eaten something besides formula and seems to be getting back on track. Additionally, and here's the really exciting part...she has a tooth! Sort of...She was chewing on my finger earlier this afternoon and I felt something awfully pointy and jagged in there. She won't let me look at it but I can feel it and she keeps sticking her tongue there and making funny sucking noises! Yay for teeth! I imagine I will not be feeling so cheerful about teeth in the near future, but the first one is pretty exciting.

So for those keeping score, her behavior within the past week may have actually been a combination between teething, constipation, and actual sickness. She was one busy baby.

Lastly, I must say that I have the most amazing husband! He was my little Cinderella all weekend helping me get ready for our company and no one even got to see his beautiful floor cleaning. The hardwoods really do look 100X better! He even took off work today to help me with the baby while I was still recuperating. I love you, Honey!!!

Obvious??

Getting some play time with Daddy

The Little Sicky with her Pedia-Pop

So, the seemingly obvious choice of a flu-bug seemed to elude us as to a cause of her vomiting...hmmm. That is now our latest theory as to why our darling daughter is sick. Later yesterday afternoon she couldn't keep anything down and continued to vomit all day. She fell asleep around her regular time and slept through the night with no other incident, thankfully.

We got through the constipation and we are now battling the diarrhea...fun!

Today she has still not had an appetite but is drinking at least a little bit of milk. We keep trying to spike it with Pedialyte, but I think she's figured it out! Charlie also read that giving her those Pedialyte popsicles are a good idea because she will be more inclined to suck on it and get the nutrients that way. It works better than the cup, but it's not great.

Hopefully tomorrow she will feeling more like herself, especially since we're expecting a house full of people for a Mother's Day celebration!

This has definitely been one of the hardest parts of motherhood so far! It is hard to see her feeling yucky and not sure what's the cause or how to fix it! Boooo!