Casa Lennon has a new (web) casa

Hey,

Many of you already know, but just thought I'd make it formal. We have moved this blog to a new site. Stay up to date by following http://blog.casalennon.com/ for the latest goings on.

Month 9 (and part of month 10)

Good evening,

The post is taking longer and longer each time. This time, it is Michele doing the post. I broke the pictures out into four different groups: Friends, Family, Around the House, and Around Town.

Here are a few quick items since the last posting about a month ago:

We are really happy and enjoying spending time with our precious, happy girl. She has been sick a termendous amount (ear infections, pink eye, stomach bug ....) and we are fortunate to have jobs that let us be flexible about how we get our hours. Since Sophia started Jan 12th, she has only been to daycare all five days in a week twice! I think she missed more school than she went in March.

Sophia just moved into the next class at Primrose. I think she is in love with the teacher, Mrs. Lopez. She is from Columbia and speaks Spanish to Sophia. When I used to get her, she was ready to go and held onto me for dear life. Today, her first full day in the new class, she kept pushing me away to get down and play and move around. She also ate and slept really well there. It made me really happy that she enjoys where she spends so much time.

With how much Sophia was sick, her 9-month check up revealed what we guessed ... she weighed less than she did at her 6-month check up. She went from the 75% in weight to the 25% in weight. Luckily, she's already gained a few pounds since then and is well on her way again. The leeks, potatoes, carrots, and peas puree is one of her favorites along with yogurt, apple sauce and the always popular Cheerios.

Even though we don't get out as much as we used to, I realized when looking at the pictures that we get around alot still. Two weekends again we spent some time with Layna from KY, Maryjo read Sophia her bedtime stories and put her to bed, and we visited the Floyds, the Tanners, and the Turners. By Sunday though, we skipped out on a BBQ b/c Sophia napped the entire time of the BBQ.

For Easter weekend, we took a trip to DC to visit Dave's family and celebrate Grandpa Peter and Great Aunt Eileen (the twins) turning 70. Mike and Renee spent alot of time organizing and Elizabeth flew in from Spain. Sophia had a blast getting to know her family better.

Tonight Sophia moved from the infant tub to the real tub (pictures in the slide show). Luckily, I had no items on the Town Council agenda, so I got to play with Sophia instead. Other updates include her almost walking on her own (she now holds just one of my hands), three more teeth are coming in (that will make five), and she now knows Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa. I LOVE hearing her blabber Ma ma ma ma. She is happy and doesn't really whine ... her nickname with many is the "amazing baby". We truly adore her.

Without out any more blabber from ma ma, here are the links to the pictures. I'm going to leave the posting of the videos to Daddy Dave.

Click here to see Pictures of Sophia--Friends if your Flash isn't working.

(Just a few pictures)


Click here for Pictures of Family Pictures in DC



Click here to see Pictures of Sophia around Town -Just a few pix


Click here to see Pictures of Sophia around the house

Several pictures (about 30)--only the die hards will sit through this :).

Crawlin' and on the go at 8 months

After Sophia's abuela called Daddy Dave and gently reminded him that he hadn't posted pix in a while, He knew it was time to finally do it. The irony is that Daddy Dave posted pix and some videos a little while back, but never got around to actually putting some prose around it. So here goes, a quick overview of some of the things that have happened since the last post a month and a half ago. :(

The three of us took an unplanned trip to DC to spend time with the grandparents after Sophia's abuelo had a medical scare. Thankfully, he is doing very well. Sophia had a great time entertaining family in DC in her exersaucer. She absolutely loves that thing. See pix for proof. :)

From a development perspective, Sophia is advancing very well. At about 8 months, she decided to start crawling. She literally picked it up in about 3 days. It was an amazingly quick transition. As Mommy Michele said, "I think she just downloaded the 'crawl' program." (View this clip, if you don't get the Matrix reference.) She's actually pulling herself up, too. But no doubt, she is crawling around quickly.

Another step in Sophia's development is her ability (and interest) in holding her own bottle and feeding herself. For non-parents, that might just sound kind of neat. As other parents know, this is a super-cool step. It makes getting out the door easier. It enables the three of us to eat together and engage more than we have been able to. It really makes things a lot easier.



(The pic to the left is from a day stroll we took to Dunkin Donuts.)

One thing that Sophia has been wrestling with of late is being sick. I'm sure it is the combination of winter season and starting day care. Nevertheless, her nostrils are ever-flowing "snaucets". (snot-faucets; charming I know.) She's had a few trips to the pediatrician. She is doing much better now.

One thing that we are very happy about is that for the first time since she started day care in mid March, Sophia has finally gone all 5 days in one week. It took 2 months, but she finally made it one complete week. We need we could do it, we just had to be patient. Sophia has adjusted pretty well to day care. We were just informed that the second week of April she will begin her transition to the next class. We are very excited about that because Sophia is enamored with the main teacher in that classroom. Mrs' Lopez is Columbian and speaks to Sophia in Spanish. Sophia totally lights up when she speaks to her in Spanish. Incidentally, we estimate that Sophia's Spanish will be at Daddy Dave's level within 3 months.

One last anecdote that we find very amusing is Sophia's interest and fascination with brushing her teeth. Both of them. Sophia always seemed transfixed when we brushed our teeth. So Mommy Michele gave her a toothbrush once while brushing her teeth, and Sophia mimicked perfectly. Sophia now has her own toothbrush that she uses to brush her teeth. It's quite cute actually.

Alright, enough for now. Here are the pix and video.

Pictures from Months 7 - 8
Here is a slideshow of the pix. As always, you can view the pictures directly by going to the Picasa web folder.


Videos from Months 7 - 8
Here a few videos from the last couple of months. I love the first one.
This is Daddy Dave goofing around with Sophia and having a good time. (Direct Link to video.)


Sophia playing with Michele and crawling at 8 months (Direct Link to Video.)


A video of the 3 of us relaxing one night. Sophia at 8 months. Likely something only family might like. :) (Direct Link to Video.)

Sophia (kinda) starts day care and Daddy Dave (kinda) returns to work

I'd hoped to update this sooner, but it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. When you last left our intrepid family, we were re-covering from the holiday season and we were getting ready for Sophia to go to day care. Well, as many you may know by now, that did not exactly go quite as planned. (I'm learning that is a theme with a kid.)

THE PLAN
- Daddy Dave takes Sophia to day care a few times before she actually begins.
- Sophia starts day care on Monday January 12.
- Daddy Dave returns to work on Monday January 12.
(Sounds simple enough, right?)

THE REALITY
- Sophia got pretty sick the Friday night before she was to go to day care. Hmm, that's ominous.
- Sunday before day care, Mommy Michele gets that bug. Hmm, this is getting worse before it gets better.
- Monday, January 12 (first day of day care), Daddy Dave stays home to take care of the girls.
- Tuesday, Daddy Dave gets sick, too. Another day not going to work and Sophia still not in day care.
- Wednesday, January 14 - Daddy Dave finally makes it back to work for about a half a day. Mommy Michele still looking after Sophia.
- January 16 - We finally take Sophia to day care. (Yeah!) It lasts about an hour before they tell us she threw up (and more). Mommy Michele goes to get her.
(Quite an interesting "first week" of day care)
- Second week shortened by snow day and Sophia getting sent home Thursday afternoon with a rash (along with two classmates. OY!)


You can tell Sophia was not well because she was really "clingy" and quiet. (See pic on the right. :( ) So what made this return even more special was an insurance fiasco. Apparently, Sophia's pediatrician is no longer covered by Daddy Dave's insurance. Duke emailed this information to Daddy Dave about a week after he went on leave, so he didn't get it until about 3 months later. In the mean time, Sophia's pediatrician, Rex Pediatrics of Cary, has been submitting claims that have been refused for about 2 months. Sure wish someone would have told us. Especially before Sophia had some blood samples and chest X-Ray. :( Long story short (too late), Duke allowed us to switch insurance providers retroactively to January 1 so that claims could be refiled. (Thank you, Duke!)

Well, this has been a pretty gloomy post so far (sorry), so thought we would end on a more positive note. Sophia got to experience her first snow. We hesitated to take outside since she was not doing well. But, thankfully, abuela Lennon and Mimi both got her snow suits and we felt better taking her out. Sophia enjoyed the fresh air and weird white stuff.



More importantly, Sophia is doing well now and is acting like her usual cheerful, smiling, laughing self. Having a sick kid is awful because you want nothing more than to have them get better. But when they get better, you seem to appreciate and love them even more. (Is that possible?)

Oh yeah, Sophia has made it successfully through two consecutive days of day care. Of course, she was not there for 8 hours either day, but oh well. Daddy Dave dropped her off and Mommy Michele picked her up. I think picking up may be the easier of the two. ;) Although Michele got to take Sophia out of Dave's Accord coupe. I think we may be closer to getting Daddy Dave's much desired Honda Odyssey. :-D

Some Recent Pictures
OK, well here are a series of pics from January.
(Note: You can view all the pictures at your own pace here.)


Some Recent Videos
I like this first video because there are a couple of cute smiles by Sophia.

2008 Holiday Season and Year Recap

Happy New Year, everyone.

Well, I failed to actually post before the end of 2008. C'est la vie. (That's for you, Jacob. Look it up.) Since we have so many pix and videos since the last post, I figured I would break up this post into 3 mini-posts. This is a really long post, so I apologize in advance. Each section has its own set of pix and videos. If you want to see them all, have at them. The 3 general categories are:

• Health, Development, & General Stuff
• Thanksgiving 2008
• Christmas in Florida - 2008

A note on viewing the pix. For the time being, I am simply putting slide shows in the post. You can view the albums at your pace at any time by going to Dave's Picasa Albums.

Health, Development, & General Stuff from Nov & Dec 2008

Been a while since we last posted so I figure starting with some of her recent developments is a good place to start.

• Sophia had her 6 month checkup in early December.


• 18 pounds and 6 oz - ~70 percentile
• 25 3/4 inches tall - ~70 percentile


• Of course this was technically a week late. Sophia had her first sickness. When all the Lennons got together for Thanksgiving (more on that later) Daddy Dave got sick. Sure enough, Sophia got sick a little later. And lastly Mommy Michele got sick last. We all ended up taking antibiotics to clear things up. It was Daddy Dave and Sophia's first time ever taking antibiotics. The only scary time was when Sophia's temperature got up to 102 F. The after hours nurse told us to give her a cold bath and not to really worry until she got to 105. Frankly, I don't think that's very good advice, but I'm sure she stayed a Holiday Inn Express the night before. I have to admit that I now know what it feels like to feel completely powerless. We wanted nothing more than for Sophia to get better, or at least feel good. But we could only soothe her as best our biological instincts (and many google searches) allowed. When Sophia was young (hah! I guess a couple of months old) she didn't mind the aspirator. At 6 months, she minded. And now she is mobile, strong, and independent enough to avoid our efforts to help her breathe. As many parents before us know, that is most fun at 03:17am.
  
• Getting around. Sophia has made some good progress in this arena. She can scoot around the room pretty easily now. (See videos below.) She's also able to roll over from her back to her belly consistently. The other way still requires some effort. (Or is it dumb luck?)
• Along these same lines, in the last few weeks, Sophia has started being able to remain sitting up straight unassisted. Well, for up to a minute or so at which point - "Timber."
  
  

  From Casa Lennon Pics for December 2008

  
  
• Our friends, the Turners, gave us a Johnny Jump Up. (See Video below.) Holy guacamole. She loves that thing. All newer-than-us parents or parents-to-be must invest in one, especially all our extended volleyball family. What's funny is that ever since she started using that, all she wants to do is bounce, hop, jump, etc. The sad part is that she now has mo' mad ups than Daddy Dave.
  

Here are some pix from the last month
(Remember - Xmas and Tgiving photos are further down the page)


December 2008 Videos
1 of 4 -Many people seem quite intrigued by how Sophia gets around while she is lying on her back. I figured I would try to capture it. It isn't until about 25 seconds in that she actually starts moving. Anyway, you'll see why she has a bald spot on the back of her head.


2 of 4 - Sophia can only move forward on her back, so, of course, she can only move backwards on her belly.


3 of 4 - This is a video of Michele and Sophia playing one night. I love Sophia's giggling. I also like the face Sophia gives the camera at the end of the video.


4 of 4 - Our good friends, the Turner family, passed their Johnny Jump Up to us. We are eternally grateful because Sophia absolutely loves it. She is just getting used to it in this video, but she can't get enough of it now.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had the good fortune of celebrating Thanksgiving twice this year. Once with friends when the Dois hosted a Thanksgiving dinner the weekend before, then our family get together on Turkey day. Dinner with the Dois was great and Sophia definitely enjoyed playing with people her own size.
Turkey Day was especially sweet this year because the Lennon Clan descended on North Carolina. It definitely made "traveling" easier for us since we only had to drive to Chapel Hill for a phenomenal Thanksgiving meal prepared by my cousin Travis and Michelle. YUMMY! The meal deserves its own blog post.
Of course, the truly important part of Thanksgiving was to get together with the ones we love and we are extremely fortunate that we were able to do that. (For those who couldn't make it, we love y'all, too.) We had a total of 12 people in our home. That may be a new record for us. It was snug and was very special for me because it reminded me of holidays at Grandma Lennon's house in Edgewater Park where we seemed to fit people everywhere. (Whenever Dave wonders if we'll have enough space for something, I just think of 49c Edgewater Park.)
The day after Thanksgiving, we joined every other Triangle family with young children at the NC Museum of Life and Science. (I must admit that I was disappointed the lemurs were not out.) We had a nice picnic and birthday celebration for Peter, Catalina, Renee, Gary and Cousin Michelle before going in. The cake sure was crowded.

Here are some pix from our Thanksgiving celebrations

Christmas and Florida Family Visit

Christmas was in Florida this year. (Central Florida, north of Orlando.) We debated for a while whether or not to fly or drive. The drive would have been about 3-4 days of travel - cuz we would have wanted to stop in Savannah, Charleston, and/or Saint Augustine. Then Southwest offered non-stop flights for less than $90 each way. SOLD! So Sophia had her first ever flight. We (and all of our co-passengers) are very happy to report that it went very well. Sophia slept on the original take off and other than that she was unfazed. Thankfully, RDU to Orlando is a relatively short flight.
When we got to Florida we opted to upgrade at a big discount from 3 door Hyundai Accent to a Toyota Avalon. Money well spent. We stayed in one of Michele's father's homes. (Making him sound like a McCain. ;) ) Thankfully felt comfortable there and was able to sleep comfortably. What made the experience even more fantastic was the kindness of Shane and Jamie. (Mommy Michele's brother.) They have a beautiful baby girl, Kielynn, who is just a few months older than Sophia. Shane and Jaime let us borrow a pack-and-play and several toys for Sophia. Made life (and packing) much easier.
In Florida, Sophia got to meet a lot of her Hane family. She had met her maternal grandmother, Mimi, a few months ago. But on this trip she met her cousins, aunts and uncles, grandfather, and many others. For the most part, Sophia did pretty well with being handed to a bunch of "strangers". Sophia has started to develop a bit of stranger anxiety, but she did pretty well. She seemed really intrigued by her grandpa Marv and cousin Jacob. Who knew?
Daddy Dave thought it was really cool that Sophia got to meet her great-great-aunt Lois and great-great-uncle Francis. (Lois is Michele's paternal grandfather's big sister.) That just seems so cool.
We shared a Christmas Eve dinner with Mimi, Shane, Jaime, and Aunt Helen. It was quite delish, and it made quite a dish. (That's for you, Straffin. For anyone who is curious, here is the source.) We finished the night with some board games with Shannon (Michele's sister), Ben, Chloe, and Jacob. Everyone had a great time. We also had several big family gatherings that made seeing more people while we were down much easier.
Christmas day finished very nicely because our friends Maryjo and Scots were kind enough to come over and cook Christmas dinner for us. They knew we were flying back that morning and had no food. We are very grateful to them for their kindness. They even brought presents for Sophia.

Sophia opened her first present while we were in Florida. Michele's cousin, Cindy, sent Sophia a wonderful book. See the video below. Many others were very generous and helped stock up on age-appropriate toys and books for Sophia. We are very grateful for all of the generosity of friends and family.

Here are some pix from our Christmas celebrations & time in Florida


And a few videos
1 of 5 - This is Sophia officially unwrapping her first wrapped Christmas present. (Thank you, Cousin Cindy). Of course, she didn't do much of the unwrapping, but she loves the taste of the present.


2 of 5 - Sophia met a lot of new people in Florida. For example, she got to meet her great-great uncle Francis and great-great Aunt Lois. How cool is that. (Lois is Sophia's maternal great grandfather's sister.) This video also has some more of the extended Hane clan who were in Florida for Christmas.


3 of 5 -Went to Florida and Sophia just would not stay calm for 3 seconds with her Aunt Shannon. Shannon made the most of it by having fun with Sophia.


4 of 5 - Sophia had a great time in Florida meeting her maternal extended family. She really enjoyed playing with her cousins. Just take a look.


5 of 5 - A holiday family tradition is to play some board games and have a blast. Christmas Eve we played Jacob's Christmas present, Cranium. Jacob is supposed to hum or whistle the tune and Ben and Dave are to try to guess. If you can't figure out, don't worry, we didn't either. (My favorite part may be Jacob's excuse caught at the very end of the video.)




UP NEXT TIME ...
Daddy Dave goes back to work January 12th and little Sophia starts daycare at Primrose Schools. The daycare is just a mile from the house and a mile from Mommy Michele's work, so Mommy Michele plans to see her during lunch at least once a week. We are very confident that things will go well. We've heard only great things and we have friends who have sent their kids there for years. We got on the waiting list January of 2008 and were confirmed for a spot in November.

Best Wishes in the New Year!
Love,
The Lennons!

Just past 5 months and kicking along

Sophia is just over 5 months old and she seems to be developing so quickly. I don't know if it's because I am home with her now and I see it more readily, or if she's just growing up so dern fast. :) Some of the new developments since our last post:

• Sophia has decided to try quite a few different foods. We introduced rice cereal last month at the recommendation of our pediatrician. Of course, many sites and books tell you that the American Academy of Pediatricians recommends no solids til month 6, but oh well. (Actually, looks like 4-6 months.) Foods she has had since:
  
  

  Avocado - She absolutely loved it. She finished all of what we gave her.
  Banana - This was not as popular. The banana may not have been ripe enough. But she did not inhale it (literally and figuratively) like she did the avocado.
  Butternut squash - She has had quite a bit of this. We bought one to make some risotto and blended the rest for her. we mix it up with her rice cereal and she goes to town.

• Sophia has decided that while lying on her back, she can actually scoot around the room. On the one hand, we love it because it is a sin of progress and development. On the other, it is not so great, cuz now I can't just leave her in the middle of the room and walk away. She will find the hardest object in the room and head (pun intended) straight for it. It got bad enough that we broke down and bought bumpers for her bed. Daddy Dave thought she'd get used to it, but when she rams her head at 3:00am, she doesn't just "deal with it." :)
• We have started referring to Sophia as our little Baby raptor. (As in a baby velociraptor.) Quite often, she will start to cry/screech in what can only be described as the wail of a baby velociraptor. (No idea what I am talking about, see some other random baby making the noise.)
• Sophia had her first Skype call earlier this week. Abuela Lennon called, and it was feeding time. So I went ahead and turned on Skype with video chat and Sophia's paternal grandparents were able to watch. sound didn't work, for some reason, but who cares, that's not the important part.
• Earlier this week we also tried to introduce Sophia to the sippy cup. Though we know we'll be there some day, it did not go so well today. It was very much a foreign concept to her. (To Daddy Dave, too, to be honest. Took me a minute to figure out that the rubber part inside needed to be "split".
• Sophia also got a new stroller thanks to Abuela Lennon. This new stroller (pictured in the slideshow below) is much lighter than our original one. We still use them both, but there is definitely a difference between a "jogging" stroller (original) and an "umbrella" stroller (new one). As long as Sophia is comfortable in either, we're happy.
  

The Usual Dose of Pictures
Here are the latest round of pix. Only 23 this time, so I won't waste your whole day. :)



The Usual Dose of Videos
This video has Daddy Dave's annoying voice trying to describe Sophia's new found interest in moving around on her back. Daddy Dave was in a good mood cuz she had a great nap. :)


This is Sophia having a "conversation" with her daddy. She likes to just sit there some times and half giggle half talk.


This video is more amusing for Mommy Michele's efforts to get Sophia to do something of interest. I especially like her singing.

Almost 5 months old - Finally getting around to posting

You'd think with Daddy Dave beginning his 12 weeks of parental leave, he'd have time to make a few blog post entries. You and he would both be wrong. After much delay, I am finally posting the pix that Mommy Michele promised last time. Apologies for the delay.

There were a couple of quick anecdotes I wanted to share.
Sophia's First Word
After deciding she has finally mastered Klingon - I verified her annunciation with the Klingon Language Institute, Sophia decided to try on something new. I am proud to announce Sophia's first word: "Galarraga". Who knew she was a fan of the former Braves first baseman.
(In case you are still wondering, yes that's a joke. But say that name with your best baby voice out loud - come on, you know you want to. See, easy to hear how I think she said it.)

Daddy Dave Begins Parental Leave
So it's true, I have started my official leave. Those of you following me on facebook and twitter already knew that, I suppose. Today is the first day of my second week. The 3 of us had all last week off together. It was great. We relaxed and had a nice stacation.
Michele is now back to work. As much as she doesn't like being away from Sophia, she is also happy to be back at work. She likes her work and enjoys the people she works with. Being only a 1 1/2 minute drive (sorry, Larry) from home also means she can come home quickly if she wants.

Peter and Abuela (maternal grandmother) came down
Daddy Dave's brother Peter made the trip to Morrisville to ostensibly run in the Morrisville 5K. That didn't happen. Instead, they attended a photography class. Dave needs to learn to use his sweet Canon EOS Rebel Xsi that Mommy Michele got him for his birthday. (Most of the pix on this post were taken with that camera.)
To make us feel better, we did some trail riding the next day at Lake Crabtree park. I was surprised that Peter had never been "mountain" trail riding. Lake Crabtree is not much of a mountain, though Loop 6 can kick my... sorry, family blog.

Sophia kinda starts on solid foods
Sophia was given the clear by her pediatrician to start rice cereal. Our pediatrician should have told Sophia that. As you'll see in one of the videos below, Sophia wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to (a) start eating non-liquids and (b) eat from this new fangled thing called a spoon. She likes the nipple just fine, thank you very much. (Again, family blog, so keepin' the entendres to a minimum.)

First ever visit to her day care
Today, Sophia took her first ever visit to her daycare. She will be going to Primrose Schools. We can't wait for her to start because you see, one mortgage is not enough. :( Seriously though, we are very happy with our choice and know she'll be happy there. Ironically, we met a nice lady named Sylvia who is from Spain. She was very excited to meet me because she said that she had yet to meet anyone in this area from Spain. I guess I'll just have to do.

We know we are lucky, but when we heard that one of Sophia's future classmates comes in from Pittsboro every day? D*&M!! For you non-locals. (Sorry again, Larry.)

Pictures (94 of them)
(If you want to see the photos individually and not in a Flash slideshow, here's the album.) You may want to go there also if you want more control of the slideshow. If you want to start the slide show below again, you'll need to refresh this page and scroll down to see the sldes again.


Videos

Mommy Michele making Sophia Laugh (45 seconds) Note that Mommy Michele was the one holding the camera, so not only is it artistic, it is impressive.


Solid Foods. Kinda. (2:39 in length)


Mommy Michele Making Sophia chuckle some more (1:01 in length)
(if you listen, you can here abuela, cousin michele, and cousin travis in the background.)