I Really, Really Love This Age

Sophia is now 7 months, and the best way to describe her is pure joy. She smiles 99% of the time, is loving, cuddly, curious, and has such a calm and sweet nature.

She's still not sleeping through the night :(, but she is down to 1-2 times a night. The girl LOVES to eat, and has liked everything we've given her with the exception of apricots. She still eats them though:)

She's a tall one, just like her brother, with a 95th percentile for her height and 75th for weight.

She's really into her army crawling, is VERY vocal, and loves to explore. Walks and nature are very calming to her, and I love to watch her as she explores with her eyes, taking it all in. I cannot imagine having a better, more loving baby:)

A Pretty Typical Day...

The kids have been crazy today. I think they are conspiring together to wear me down so I will just completely cave, let Sophie chew on anything she wants and let Max watch t.v. all day. 

Some of the highlights...

Sophie was not able to sleep at all due to Mr. Max. I would have her in her room, rocking her, almost completely asleep, after giving Max strict orders to stay downstairs and play. Instead, he would sneak up the stairs like a Ninja, burst into her room in full costume, and yell, "Captain America is here!", before trying to get the "bad guys" out of her room. Sophie would cry, and we would start all over.

At the library, I was changing Sophie's diaper and turned around to see Max had a HUGE stack of toilet paper pulled off. He said his shark was hungry and needed a snack. We cleaned it up, I put Sophie in her seat, and went to wash my hands. He stated his shark was hungry again, and was spinning the toilet paper off the roll like his life depended on it. Yeah, I received some looks from others....they must not have kids!

Our First Visit to the Kalamazoo Nature Center

We were just able to see a little bit of it, but we'll be back-we're now members!

Sophia is on the Move!

Sophia, in continuing her competitive nature with her brother in regards to all milestones, is THIS close to crawling. She's rolling across entire rooms, scooting in every direction, rocking on all floors, and projecting herself toward objects. It's going to be busy with two on the move.

Oh, to be a kid again

I want someone to encourage me to go play, read me stories, and make me special snacks. I want someone to clean up my messes, pay all the bills, and make me dinner every night, without fail. I want someone to make me take naps, and do so by tucking me in, reading me a story, and rubbing my back. And to think, when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was grow up. Sometimes, when I'm in the midst of paying the mortgage, taking care of the kids, and doing other adult stuff, I stop and think, "Wait, I'M in charge of this? How did this happen?"

Sophia Slept Through the Night...for the 3rd Time!

Well, I'm so sleep deprived I get excited by the little things. I really hope we're on to something here.

Until we started her on solids, she was waking up 4 times a night. Then, it's gradually decreased to 1-2 times on a pretty consistent basis. I looked back to see where Max was at this point, and he was also still up once a night, so I hope she can show him up!

She's not napping as well as he was though; he consistently took 3 naps like clockwork, but she takes 2 that can vary, and some days, it's only 1.

Looking back at Max at 6 months, it's amazing how much his looks have changed; I wonder if Sophia's hair will lighten up that much, too.

Sophia at 6 Months and Max at 3 Years

They are within 2 days of being exactly 2.5 years apart, which I think is a great gap.

The time since Sophia has been born has been one, long blur, and since this current semester started, each day has felt like a marathon. It's truly amazing how much I can do in one day-more than I ever thought possible. I also have less free time than ever before; I can't believe I thought I was busy with Max!

I truly love to watch the exchanges between them, and my heart grows with love for them every day. Max isn't completely into her yet, though. Oh, he loves her, and tells her so, tries to make her laugh, and brings her toys, but then he likes to run away and do his own thing too:) Sophia, on the other hand, is completely smitten. For the first few months, she seemed quite skeptical and just observed him with a very serious look; it was as if she could not decide what to make of him and his bouncing antics, but she's since decided she adores him.

She has continued to be a good eater, and we started her on solids at 5 months; she took to it like she had been eating her entire life and continues to astound me with the amount she is able to put away. She is sitting up for brief periods on her own, rolling across the room, and scooting all over the place. At the rate she's going, I'm sure she'll be crawling soon, and this was the age Max was crawling, so there's some competition!

Max is entering a fun stage. Sure, he still fights going to bed, brushing his teeth, refuses to go to the bathroom on his own, and still has temper tantrums, but he is a bit more portable (that is, we can take him some places in public and not expect meltdowns), and he is in a really fun, imaginative stage. I love his creative little mind and the level of scenarios he conjures up during play. He is also really getting into dress up, and there have been a couple of days he insisted on dressing up as a fireman or Spiderman for school.

He's still as spirited and stubborn as ever, and I love that he's still a mama's boy:)