Big Sitter!

Five Months

Sofie-bean, I've been feeling like an awful excuse for a mama this week. Mostly because you turned five months old on Monday, and I haven't found a spare moment to sit down and write to you until now. I've been compiling tidbits to write about in my head and crossing my fingers that I'd remember them all when I finally got a chance to write them down...here goes:

You are getting to be such a big girl. You are out of your 6-9 month clothes now, and fitting quite well into 9-12 months, mostly because of your long legs. I went out and bought you some footie-less things in an attempt to lengthen the life that you get out of an outfit...wishful thinking! You sit on my hip when I carry you now, which makes lugging you around just a bit easier and reminds me that you're not a wee baby anymore. You're getting pretty good at sitting up on your own too. We've been practicing a bit everyday. One day we noticed that if we sat you up in the glider rocker it would counterbalance you when you wriggled and you could sit up in it for long periods of time. It has been an excellent tool to help you gain control over your body without the frustration of falling over all the time!

You have developed such a goofy sense of humor. The other day you were sitting on my lap facing me with your legs dangling down on either side, and you were launching yourself backwards squealing and giggling as if you were on a roller-coaster. You've also started to "flirt" with me when I get home from work and you're nursing. You'll make a little peep so I'll look down at you, and then you'll grin. You do it over and over and over again, and we've started to make a game out of it. You always have me cracking up! You think it's hilarious when grandma or I dance (and to your credit, it probably is!) You love it when we clap our hands or snap our fingers. You're also a huge fan of patty-cake; your favorite part is popping it in the pan.

You've taken an intense interest in your toys this month and you really take the time to inspect them now. Your favorite toy is your lullaby gloworm (appropriate!) and you get a dazy smile on your face and gaze at it each time it's face lights up and it plays you a tune. You crack me up when you play with the piano on your jumpy toy. Your excited flailing arms will punch a button and it will start to play, lights flashing along to the tune, and you will bend down low and hold your face two inches away from it as you watch the lights so intently. You like to inspect your face in your little mirror in the same way...what a narcissistic little worm!

Wormy this month has flown by so quickly it makes me catch my breath and wish for time to stand still. These days there isn't time to let things sink in before something else has come along. I am anxiously counting down days (5 months!) until I can be with you as much as a mama should be. You should know, though, that I'm watching you, loving you, thinking about you constantly even when I'm not able to be present. You are my core, my center, my ground...you are everything.

Half a Mystery Solved

I'm sure you all recall that we had Sofie in the hospital for a few days in mid-December after she spit up bright red blood, which eventually turned brownish and then made several appearances in her diaper. We never did get a definitive diagnosis, but we were told it was probably a milk allergy and they gave us some Pepcid to give to her twice a day. I diligently (and I mean super diligently) cut milk out of my diet entirely and almost faithfully made sure that she got her medication daily. Then several weeks later (Dec. 30th) it happened again, though not nearly as dramatically. We took her in to the doctor once again. This time they guessed it was probably some other kind of allergy...soy perhaps? They set us up with a visit with a pediatric GI specialist for the 24th of this month. Since Sofie has never shown any signs of distress there wasn't much immediate concern, although we were instructed to watch her carefully and take her to the ER if she continued to spit up. She didn't, and we went about our merry routine, sceptical and frustrated.

Yesterday it happened again. This time we didn't even bother to call the doctors who don't seem to have any real idea what's going on, and who we knew would only reiterate the same instructions they'd given us the last time it happened. Sofie's appointment was scheduled for the 24th anyhow...we'd make note of this recent occasion then.

This morning I got up and decided that I'd express some extra milk since I had come just a bit short of what Sofie will need on Monday during my Friday sessions. Wouldn't you know I expressed about half of an ounce of pure blood. Now, I've had my suspicions that the blood was coming from me since the very beginning, but because I've had no visible cracks or abrasions, and since I pump three times daily Monday through Friday and never see blood, it struck the doctors who've been treating Sofie as an unlikely idea.

It's so good to know that Sofie is just fine and to be able to stop worrying about her health, and I've been enjoying a steady diet of chocolate and cheese all day, but I'd be lying if I said that I'm not freaking out just a wee bit over what could possibly be wrong with me. Unfortunately, I can feel those unanswered questions sinking me just a little bit deeper into the winter melancholy that seems to grip me about this time every year.

So I'm sending out a request for sunny days and good news this week...hopefully at least half of my hopes will be fulfilled!

Righty?

Do you think you can tell whether a baby is right or left handed at four and a half months old? Sofie is definitely more agile with her right hand. She can hang on to her toys better with it, tends to reach for things with it, and recently she's started to transfer toys out of her left hand into the right (mostly accidental, I think) if we put them in her left hand.

I'm hoping that she doesn't have some left-sided weakness...so I think I'll just chalk it up to her being a right-handed kiddo instead!

Three Month Portraits

Here are a few of Sofie's (very poor scan quality) three month portraits. I thought maybe I'd better post them before she got any closer to her six month portraits! We have about a billion other poses (or maybe just 5 or 6 more) because I can't seem to turn down a picture of my bean, but these are probably the cutest of the bunch. I'm really excited to take her for her six month shoot because we are going to an honest to goodness photographer who I know is amazingly talented because we received an engagement picture that she took of Kyle and Deanna for Christmas this year and it is just beautiful. You can check out her work at www.rannb.com!!

Yum!

Thought we'd share Sofie's first bites with everyone. She wasn't too sure that she was all that interested in mooshy stuff on a spoon at first, but she got the hang of it eventually!

Is it just me, or is she just as proud of her accomplishments as we are?!

Four Month Stats

We had Sofie in for her four month well-baby appointment today. Thought you all might like an update on how our little bundle is growing:

Weight: 15 pounds, 6.4 ounces

Height: 26 inches

Head Circumference: 41 cm.

Weight for Age: Between the 75th and 90th percentile

Height for Age: At the 95th percentile

Weight for Height: At the 25th percentile

Head Circumference for Age: At the 50th percentile
Smiles for Age: Off the charts!