My 29th Birthday!

My birthday was last weekend and we had a great time celebrating. My mom kept Sophie for us. After I dropped Sophie off, my friend Macy took me to get my hair cut! It felt so great to relax and have some nice adult time. After our hair cuts, Macy and I did some shopping for the evening and went back to my house for a while before dinner. Our friend, Brad, stopped in for a surprise visit and Danny's parents came over to drop off my birthday gift (beautiful earrings that I think I've worn every day since!). We went to Chuy's for dinner and had a great time. They sang "Happy Birthday" to me, but apparently mis-heard my name. So they sang "Happy birthday Izzie!" After dinner, we came back to our house and enjoyed sitting outside with the fire pit and playing on the slip and slide. Later, we played the Just Dance game, which was pretty hilarious! All in all, it was a great night. And I got to sleep in a bit the next morning! :)

5 months!?!

Not sure how it happened, but Sophie is already 5 months old! Time is truly flying by! She's a bit more mobile and squirmy now and really didn't want to sit still for her pictures! She's continuing to grow, change and learn everyday it seems. She's now eating baby food a lot better than before. Last week, we tried green beans - she loved them! Yesterday, we started on peas. She's enjoying those as well! She also eats oatmeal. My mom did a great job working with Sophie, feeding her everyday and now Sophie really has the hang of it. She was cracking me up earlier tonight with her mouth wide open waiting for the next bite. After we get through the peas, we'll move on to the orange vegetables - squash, carrots, sweet potatoes. Then, we'll let her try some fruits which I'm sure she'll just love.

She's not quite sitting up on her own yet, but she's close. I'd say she'll be there any day now! She still prefers to stand up, but would rather sit in my lap than lay down. She laughed harder tonight than I've ever seen. I was fake sneezing and she just thought it was hilarious. Her little giggles were so cute! There is nothing in the world better than that sound!

Here are her pictures - my how she's grown!

2 weeks



1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months!

Change

I've been thinking lately about all of the changes that we have endured over the past few years. Since Danny and I got married in November 2008, we have both changed jobs, we lost my dad, we bought a house, I changed jobs again (our gross monthly income decreased as a result), Vannah started high school, we had a baby, we bought a new vehicle....and so on. Things have constantly been changing and as much as I crave consistency and structure, here are I am getting ready to embark on yet another new adventure. I'm changing jobs....again. Leaving is harder this time than it was the first time. My relationships with the girls and families I work with are on a completely different level than they were in the past. It's hard to walk away from a program that I was a key part in starting, but I'm moving on to another challenge. In my new role, I'll be working with adolescent boys (glutton for punishment much??), but the job I'll be doing will be similar to what I'm doing now. From my interviews for this position, I really feel like I can make some positive changes in the program that I'll be joining. Time will tell. My last day with my current job is August 25. I'll have a three day weekend to celebrate my birthday and then start on August 29. I'm already getting nervous - what will I wear? Should I take my lunch? Will I have anyone to eat lunch with? Will I have to sit alone on the bus?? Oh wait, I went back a little too far! I am definitely feeling a little nervous, but so excited at the same time. Maybe after this change, we'll be a little more stable for a while. That is, until Danny starts trying to go work for Metro PD...

4 Month Check Up

Sophie had her four month check up today. All went well! She now weighs 14 lbs, 15 oz and is 25 inches long! She has officially doubled her birth weight. At her two month appointment, she was 11 lbs, 13 oz and 22 3/4 inches long. She is growing like a little weed! She's still in the 75th percentile for height and weight and 50th percentile for head circumference (she's at 41 cm now, at 2 months, her head was 38 1/2 cm). Everything has stayed consistent. She was so good and happy during the appointment, even smiling a lot at the doctor. And then, they gave her the shots. Poor baby! I will never forget that look of shock on her little face after the first stick! It's just so pitiful!! She did handle it like a champ, though. After some comforting, we loaded up and she was asleep in her car seat within just a couple of minutes. We were out and about for most of the afternoon, but I think it was starting to bother her more this evening. No fever, though, so that's a positive.

It's just amazing to me how quickly she is growing. She's so fun right now - laughing, giggling, rolling, and jumping. She's learning so much from day to day. She has learned that when you pull on the little doodlebug that hangs on her car seat, he shakes a little. She knows when mommy is here and when she is not. She is starting to have more of a reaction to me when I come in from work. When I came home earlier this week, she was sitting on Danny's lap, perfectly content and I walked in and said "hellooooo." Her little arms and legs started flailing...absolutely made my heart melt.

Morning times are still my absolute favorite time of the day with her. She loves to eat her bottle and then just snuggle with me. We sit together and she babbles away, looking up at me and grinning. I know that we will miss these moments, so I'm really trying to savor all of the wonderful things about having such a wonderful little girl. Soon enough, she'll be crawling all over the place, so I'll be sure to hold on to her as much as I can until then.

watch me grow...month 4!

How can it be that Sophie is four months old today? Time is really flying! We go to the doctor for her check-up on Friday. I'm interested to see how much she's grown.

A few milestones -
- She's rolling over (back to belly and belly to back)
- She has found her toes!

- We are officially finished breastfeeding...makes me a little sad, but it's time
- She's had a few tastes of cereal...she liked it better the second time than the first. I'm waiting to go to the doctor to give other foods.

- She loves to babble, especially when she's sleepy!
- She is giggling now, which is absolutely precious!
- She still loves bathtime, being held tightly, and having her bottom patted.
- She wakes up around 6:30 every morning and is normally asleep between 9 and 10 in the evenings.

Now for the "month by month" pictures!

About 2 weeks:

Month 1:

Month 2:

Month 3:

Month 4:

danny's birthday

Danny's birthday was last week and to celebrate, we went to a Bats game! We had four tickets, so we invited Lance and Vannah to come with us. We had a really great time, and Sophie was pretty well behaved. I took this picture while Danny was feeding her. She would not take her eyes off of him!

dad's day

With Sophie's baptism on Father's Day this year, I was a bit distracted from the hoop-la surrounding Father's Day. I was happy to celebrate Danny's first Father's Day with him. I gave him a photo book that I made for him and I think he really liked it. Father's Day, like so many other holidays, is just a tough day for me and my family. Yesterday was especially difficult because I reallywish my dad was there to see Sophie get baptized. It seems that having a baby has made the loss of my dad reach a little deeper than it did before. I miss him terribly, every day. And I'm so sad that Sophie will never know her Gramps. He would have loved her so very much and I just know she would have been crazy about him. Sometimes, it still doesn't feel real, even though it's been more than 2 years since he died. I know that it's not something we will ever "get over" and most days now are easier than before, but it still hurts and I still miss him.

This is just one of my favorite pictures of me and dad. I miss you.

Sophie's Baptism

Sophie was baptized on June 19, 2011, Father's Day. It was a really special day for all of us. Our friends and family came to the church, St. Louis Bertrand (where Danny and I were married), to take part in the baptism ceremony. In the church I grew up in, babies weren't baptized. They were "dedicated" to the church. Later in life, when that person was ready to accept Jesus and choose to become a Christian, they would be baptized. Danny and I attended a baptism class prior to Sophie being baptized and I really learned a lot. I've learned a lot about the Catholic church since Danny and I started dating (9 years ago!), but somehow missed out on the beliefs about baptism. This is not a theological blog, but I love learning about religion and different faiths. I loved learning more about the beliefs of the Church in this class and look forward to learning more as we, as a family, try to find a church home of our own.

All that to say, I did not take lightly the decision we made to have Sophie baptized in the Catholic church. We have committed to raising our daughter in the faith and will do our best with that! Thankfully, we have chosen godparents for Sophie that will help guide her as well. We asked Danny's sister and brother in law to be her godparents and they were of course thrilled to take on the challenge!

Sophie did great during the baptism. Just before the service started, she started to get fussy and I was praying that she would not have a major meltdown. Thank God for pacifiers! We gave her the paci and she fell asleep. She slept until the actual baptism. The priest pours water on the babies' heads three times. The first time, she stirred a little and the second a little more. By the third pour, I thought the paci was destined for a dip in the holy water, but thankfully I caught it before it went that far. Following the service, our family came back to our house and enjoyed some good BBQ from the Frankfort Avenue Beer Depot. Danny's parents brought a delicious cake and cookie cake. All in all, a truly great day!

Rolling, rolling and more rolling!

Sophie rolled over for the first time on Sunday night (June 12), but I didn't see it, so it didn't count. I did see her do it over and over again last night, though. She's so funny now that she has learned her new trick. She is changing and growing so much. Just a few weeks ago, she woke me up by babbling in the bassinet (even scaring me a little). Now, she "talks" all the time! Today, she's getting the rolling thing down and soon enough, she'll be crawling! I'm really trying to cherish every moment that I have with my sweet girl. Being a working mommy is just tough. My house will never be as clean as I want it to be, the dishes will pile up, and that's just going to have to be okay. I know I need to slow down and enjoy these precious moments with my little one. She's growing so fast!

watch me grow...month 3

at about 2 weeks:

month 1...

month 2...

month 3...

she was not very cooperative this month!