Such a trooper

Gosh, Sophie is such a trooper when she is sick. Despite the fact that snot is literally pouring out of her nose all day and her eyes are watery and red and she obviously feels like crap, she is still such a happy little baby. She had a great day overall and played and napped and had fun even though she clearly did not feel herself. You can barely tell from these photos how much snot and how many tissues we used today. I also aspirated her a ton today and the funniest thing happened tonight when I was aspirating her, SHE LAUGHED! It must feel so good to have all that stuff out of there finally or maybe she just thought the sound was funny (though she'd heard it all day long and didn't laugh then). What a trip. Now, my throat is feeling a little scratchy and sore and my nose is starting to run. I hope if I get sick, I can take a lesson from our daughter and be as much of a good sport about it as she is!



Wed. Update: I am definitely sick too. Sophie seems to be feeling better already. Ah, the resiliency of kids. Let's hope her mom can bounce back as quickly and be as much of a trooper as she is!!

Sick Again

* Note - these photos were taken pre-sickness.




Well, poor Sophia is sick again. Yesterday, she was very sneezy all day and today she has just been sneezing and coughing and full of mucus. It sure seems like a vicious cycle to keep having her get sick from being in daycare all week long only to have her feel lousy on the weekend. By the time we get her back to feeling good again, she goes back into daycare to get re-exposed to all those germs. Amazingly, she handles these colds really well and is for the most part still happy and herself but today, I think the combination of the cold, teething and being off her regular schedule (she has gone to bed quite late both Friday and Saturday nights) has really made for one miserable little cutie-pie. Hopefully, she will feel better soon!

UPDATE: We just had a nice surprise visit from Dee Ree that Sophia really enjoyed. Despite her not feeling great she rallied and had fun playing and visiting with her Dee Ree. Thanks for the visit (and presents), Dee Ree!

Happy 6 Month Birthday, Sophia

Here is what Sophia looked and sounded like this morning on her 6 Month Birthday at breakfast. We are so madly in love with this little cutie - it's ridiculous.

First Family Vacation

We just returned yesterday from our very first family vacation. We took a long weekend and went to stay at a "family-friendly" B&B in Rehoboth, Delaware called At Melissa's. It was a wonderful B&B and we highly recommend it to anyone looking for a totally relaxed stay in a beautiful house about a block and a half from the beach. It was perfect because we didn't have to drive anywhere if we didn't want or need to and could walk to the boardwalk, beach and the main strip of restaurants and stores. Melissa, the owner, was so friendly and accommodating and thought of so many small touches from having a baby monitor all ready in our room to leaving stamps out by the postcards. We have never stayed in a B&B before but after staying in this one, I can see why it's so appealing and we'd definitely do it again. That said, it was a bit tricky with Sophia because we worried about her loud noises (both happy and not so happy) since she's really into loudness these days. But, it seemed to not bother the other guests and so maybe we worried about it more than we should. Definitely, if we could afford to get a place to ourselves for the week, we'll probably be more comfortable in our own little getaway in the future but if time or money do not afford that luxury, a few nights at Melissa's sure can't be beat. Plus, we had a delicious breakfast included in our stay and complimentary beer, wine, bloody marys, sodas, water and she provides the beach towels, chairs and coolers. It really does make it so simple!

We think that Sophie did really well but boy, being away made us realize how much we have all come to rely on our certain routines here. Sophie seemed to be constantly exhausted and a little on the cranky side - not sure if it was all the newness of the environment or missing her "things" and her routines but she definitely seemed like a happier baby when we were all home.Of course, it could have also been the teething factor. That said, she did have many happy moments and we enjoyed sharing new things with her like the ocean, the beach, seagulls, balloons (she got two!) and so much more. Jim and I often felt a bit like we were running a marathon to try and keep her happy and get her to take her naps because she was so overstimulated all the time. So while it wasn't exactly totally relaxing, it was a great taste of what vacationing with a child will be like for the next several years! And, we had a wonderful time all together as a family for several days sharing our love of the shore and eating shore/vacation foods and just being together. It blows our minds to think that NEXT summer, Sophia will be running around, chasing seagulls and jumping waves!! If you are a grandma or godmom and want to see many more photos, click here!

Sitting Up and First Tooth

Here are two videos taken today of Sophie playing on her mats and sitting up by herself. Notice her ear pulling in the second video? We think this is because she is teething. In fact, as of Tuesday she has a tooth coming through on the bottom lower left of her gums. Jim was feeding her on Tuesday night and he heard (and felt) the spoon clink against something inside her mouth. Her first tooth!!! It's barely above the gum line yet but you can definitely feel it (and I'm sure she can too). Friday night she woke up crying at 3am and just seemed miserable. Poor girl is probably in a lot of pain. Today we gave her some baby Orajel and she definitely seemed to have some relief from it. Overall, we think she's weathering the pain like a real champ! She had a great, though brief, visit with DeeRee and PopPop today. And got to spend some time with her friends and had her first campfire on Saturday night. A great weekend all in all!

TGIF

That's Good Eatin' Ma!

In the ever increasing world of what Sophie can eat, today Sophie got Cheerios for the first time ever. I put some on her tray on her high chair and tried to show her how to eat them and put them in her mouth and made all sorts of silly gestures of encouragement to let her know how good they would taste once she got them in her mouth. Mostly she was just fascinated with playing with them and picking them up (as it should be I suppose when you're only 5 months old). Occassionally she would get one on the inside of her hand which would come close to her mouth but she never quite made it all the way in. Since she doesn't yet have the pincer grasp down, she couldn't really move them very swiftly but it was wonderful to see her keen interest in them and fixed study of how they move on her tray.

First Cheerios


She also started peas this week which, thankfully, she loves. So her list of foods that she loves now includes milk, bananas, pears, apples, sweet potato, and peas. Pretty impressive!!

I'm Loving These Peas

Are you sure they're good for me?

Really, a vegetable?


Finally, I just had to share what was written in the Penn Children's Center Infant Newsletter that was left for us in Sophie's cubby when I picked her up on Friday. After the anticipation of reading through the other classes I finally got to the "Little Ladybugs" which is Sophie's class. Cute updates were given about all the infants in her class. Of our cutie-pie was written, "Sophia is one of our newest and youngest infants. Sophia is a girl who knows what she wants, although she is just 4 months old she does a good job of communication her needs to her caregivers." TOO FUNNY! Yep, that's our girlie!

Labor Day Photo Shoot

We laid pretty low this Labor Day weekend. On Saturday we went to go visit Pop Pop in rehab for his knee surgery. Then Sunday, Jim had to do a lot of work on the pool, installing the new cover and getting it ready for closing. And, finally Monday we just kind of relaxed and Sophie had a long afternoon nap (she didn't get great sleep this weekend sadly). Late in the day we went outside to sit on a blanket in the lovely sunny afternoon. Jim took some really wonderful photos with the digital SLR. I wish I could post them all for you here. If you want to see more, check out the Smug Mug album.

This is the first week that Sophie will be in daycare three days. It breaks our hearts to have her in there more. Today I went to visit her at lunch and she was obviously crying all morning and sort of doing her upset chest heaving thing. It was awful. By the time I got her in the end of the day she seemed much better. Tomorrow, thankfully I'll have a work from home day with her but then she goes back into daycare for Thurs. and Fri. Sigh... It will be hard on us to have her in there two days in a row. But, maybe it will be good for her in the long-run for getting used to the new routine. Last week she missed a whole week of daycare because I kept her home on Tuesday after she started spiking a fever the next day and feeling generally miserable after her last round of Prevnar on Monday afternoon. Then, on Thursday daycare was closed for an in-service day. So it's sort of like she had to start all over again this week. That being the case, she didn't do too bad but Jim and I still feel awful knowing how upset she is in there sometimes.

Anyway, here are the photos from the Labor Day Photo Shoot. Aren't they wonderful? They make me smile...(Can you see the sweet potato stuck to her left eyelid in some of them??)