4 months

This morning was Sophia's 4-month-check-up. She is now 15 lbs 9 oz (90%) and 24.5 inches long (75%). Considering she was in the 50 percentile for her 1 month visit and 75 percentile for her 2 month visit, we no longer have any worries about her eating. She is in her 9 months clothing, but I'm guessing she won't stay there very long.

The doctor recommended we start her on rice cereal and move into solids. Moms and Dads out there, let us know your experience and how you did it. What brand did you buy? How did it go?

Since the last post, Dave got a new camera for his birthday. It is a Canon digital SLR. I signed him up for some camera classes. He will be getting a tripod at some point so that he too can be documented in the family events. I'm going to leave it him to post the pictures, so you'll have to check back later for those updates.

Miss Sophia has progressed well with her sleeping also. She sleeps between 11 and 13 hours a night. She started waking up at night when it got cold at night here. I bought her some heavier sleepers and a little space heater and she is now sleeping like a champ again. On Sunday, she took 6 hours of naps and was only awake 4 hours total that day. She usually only naps twice during the day and for only 1 hour at a time plus a quick nap in her stroller in the late afternoon when we go for a walk.

A quick round up of other developments:
-She is sitting up with assistance in her exersaucer, on our laps, and in her bumbo (video in next post)
-She rolled over 4 times about a month ago and hasn't done it again since. The Dr. said most babies don't roll over until 5 months, so we don't know what that was about. There's video there that I think Dave already posted.
-She went to the babysitter WHILE awake for the first time. Thanks to Marcela, Nikki & Ivan, and the grandparents.
-Dave's parents came for a week and had a blast with Miss Sophia. They helped entertain Miss Sophia while I got the house a little cleaner.
-I went to work for three days and left her w/ Dave and his parents. The first morning was a little hard. The second day, I stayed late to go to a reception after the conference. She was in good hands.
-She is babbling.
-She is ticklish, especially under her right arm.

Things are going to be changing in October. Wednesday is Dave's last day at Duke until January 12th. I go back to work October 20th. I'm very proud of Dave for taking his FMLA time to spend with Sophia and get to know our daughter even better. I'll only be 3 minutes away, so I can always come visit during lunch, which makes the transition easier for me.

Miss Sophia is waking up from her nap now. Best wishes.

Michele

Two weeks before and three months after ...

Sophia joined Mom and Dad for her first photo shoot about two weeks before she was born.
Here's her latest picture at three months. Enjoy.

3 months old already?

I can't believe we've reached the end of the fourth trimester. :)

Figured since Sophia was 3 months old today, I should finally get around to posting something again. I can't believe it's been 3 months! Well, as you might imagine, a few things have happened, so let's cut to the chase. New developments:

• Sophia sleeps through the night

Woo Hoo!! That's worth re-writing. Sophia sleeps through the night. It felt just as good to type it the second time as it did the first time. Truth be told, she doesn't sleep through every night, but so what! She tends to go down fairly consistently at 8:00 pm. (+/- 30 minutes) I think the first night that she slept through, neither Mommy Michele nor I did cuz we were concerned. "Why isn't she crying yet?" "Do you think she is OK?" You parents out there know what I am talking about.

• Sophia actually rolled over on her own
  

This was a little bit of a surprise. We were just chillin' upstairs getting her some tummy time. She deals with that OK. But I guess she'd had her fill and she decided to roll over on her back. I think what amazed me more than anything was how genuinely excited I got.

• Facing out in the Baby Carrier
  

Sophia has always liked the baby carrier. However, in recent weeks, she started facing out (sample picture), rather than staring at our chests all the time. This may sound small, but she likes it even more. Which translates into us being able to take longer walks together. Now, whether we actually do take those walks together is a whole 'nother matter.

Pictures from the last few weeks
(As usual, you can see the pix direct, rather than with flash.)




A Handful of videos
Mimi enjoying some time with Sophia



Waking up in the morning with a few smiles



Video trying to catch Sophia rolling over on her own. (No video evidence yet.)



A Video only a parent (or grandparent) could love (Just trying to capture the roll on video)

Sophia's first DC trip (and more)

Sorry for taking so long to post something new. Quite a bit has happened since I last posted. For example:

• Sophia had her first travel adventure (trip to DC)
• Sophia met her tia (aunt) Elizabeth, tio Diego, and 3 Spanish Cousins
• Sophia had her first babysitting experience (Grandpa)
  
• Sophia turned 2 months old (August 5)
• Sophia is cooing and giggling
• Sophia met her maternal grandmother (aka, Meme)

Hopefully the pix and video may make it worthwhile. To pique your interest, I'll start with a picture that I think may be my fave so far.

"Highlights" from Sophia's first trip to DC
Let me just start by saying that we knew the car trip would be longer than the ~5 hours we were used to. (Stop to feed, change diapers, etc.) We did not expect that it would take us 9 hours of total travel time to get to New Market, MD. Mind you, that's because we got to Tyson's Corner at around 6:00 pm Friday afternoon. Middle of DC rush hour. No thanks. We stopped and ate dinner. (2 hours at Tysons.)

Sophia Met the rest of Dave's immediate family
Sophia got to meet her Aunt Elizabeth (Dave's sister), her husband Diego, and 3 kids - Diego, Pablo, & Cristina. She also got to meet her uncle Paul (another of Dave's brothers), his wife Renee, and 2 of their 3 kids - Catalina and Mariana. (Isabela wasn't able to make it, but Sophia can't wait to meet her cousin.) It's always great to see the family, but, for obvious reasons, this time was special. It is so wonderful to see everyone, especially the kids, get so genuinely excited about meeting Sophia. Makes you really appreciate family.

Probably one of the more memorable events was going to Buca di Beppo. It is a very loud restaurant. Baby Sophia hadn't napped much that day. She spent just about the entire time zonked out on uncle Paul's shoulder. It was pretty amazing that she stayed put. (Pictures in the slide show.) There are also some adorable pix of Sophia's cousin Cristina holding Sophia. Cristina really wanted to hold her new cousin but was really nervous about what to do if she cried. Well, it lasted about 10 seconds.

2 month check up
Sophia had her 2 month check up on 8/5. She got 4 vaccinations and was not necessarily her cheerful self for the next couple of days. That was to be expected. We were pleased with her physical progress.

Weight: ll lbs 8.5oz. (70th percentile)
Height: 23 1/4" (75th percentile)
Head Circum: 15 1/2" (70th percentile)

Considering that she was at 50th, 50th, and 60th, respectively, one month before, we are very happy.

Sophia met the first of her maternal relatives
Mommy Michele's momma (aka, Meme) came up from Florida and spent an extended weekend with us. Sophia really enjoyed this time as the two of them got to spend some quality time together. In fact, some of that time was so that Mom and Dad could go out on a date.
(THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! )
We went out to the movies. Our choices were "Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia!". We both selected "Mamma Mia!". Despite my friend John Straffin's protestations, I will relinquish neither my geek card nor my man card. (I'm still singing ABBA songs a week later. :) )

Most Recent Pix
(Gotta admit, there are a quite a few, so I didn't name and / or describe them all. Sorry.)
(For those of you who don't like Flash or just want to see the photos directly on Flickr, click here.)




A Collection of Videos
Here are a couple of recent videos of Sophia smiling and laughing.
Mommy Michele giving Sophia some kisses one morning



Sophia enjoying playing with Mommy

Quick Update since Daddy Dave's been slackin'

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Sophia since we have not posted much in a while.

Here are 4 quick pix. 2 of Sophia smiling and 2 of our friends visiting from Kentucky. More to come soon. (Daddy Dave promises.)

Sophia picked up a toy

This is my 1st post ... it is being done w/ 1 hand so please forgive.

I went into the kitchen and she had picked up the toy & was shaking it. She was still doing it after I ran upstairs & got the camera.

Sophia loves kisses ... she smiles & giggles when we give her kisses.

Last nite, she was getting upset b/c she kept grabbing her own hair & pulling it. We would pull her hand off & she'd do it again. It was sad and funny at the same time. She did it twice.

One month in and we are still sane

Sophia celebrated one month on Saturday. (Time flies) I am happy to report that Daddy Dave, Mommy Michele, and Sophia are all doing well. (Couldn't really think of anything alliterative to go with Sophia.)

First month highlights and learnins :) -

• Friends and family are very generous and supportive
• Babies can sleep through almost anything. But only during the day.
• Mommy Michele is amazing. (Stamina, instincts, sacrifice.)
• Flex Spending is one of the best things we ever did.
• It's amazing how much time and effort we had to spend working with our respective HR groups to get time off, benefits changes, etc. Not a small amount of time.
  
• Truly fascinating how "everything else" just doesn't seem that important anymore.

Anyway, on to what may be of actual interest. Sophia is doing well. Today we took her to the doctor. She is 9lbs 2.5oz. That's in the 50% range. Considering that just 11 days ago she was at 7lbs 11.5oz (still below birth weight) we are very happy with recent progress. She's in the same ranges for head size and length. (I feel like I am describing a swordfish catch.) Well, we are happy with 18.6% increase. Hopefully she can keep that up.

And as is my custom, I'll finish this post with some pix and a video.

Pictures of Sophia
(Note: for those of you on non-Flash supporting devices, you can view the pics here)


Video of Sophia
A silly video of Sophia moving around. I had some requests for "action footage" so here ya go.