Sophia's 15 Month Doctor's Appointment

On Tuesday, I took the girls to Sophia's 15 month doctor's appointment.  Samantha LOVES Dr. Shoemaker (and managed to talk her ear right off), but Sophia is still quite leary of her.  She doesn't want the doctor to touch her or even look at her.  Needless to say, I was covered in tears, snot and drool by the time we left the appointment simply because Sophia spent much of it crawling up the front of me and burying her head in crook of my neck.  In time, I know that she will learn to love Dr. Shoemaker just as much as Sam and I do.

The good news is that Sophia has gained a good chunk of weight.  (She has never really lost weight, except at birth; she has just been slower to gain than most infants).  She officially moved from the < 2 percentile in weight to the 5th percentile.  She weighs 19 lbs. 5 oz. now (a gain of 2.5 lbs in three months) and has grown 3 inches!  She is long (75th percentile) and thin ...

She did have to get one shot, and that just added to the overall frustration that she was feeling.  But, she doesn't have to get any next time!  She crashed on the way home and then rested a little longer in her crib.  In a few days, she'll be feeling better -- it always seems to make my girls a little fussy for about two days post-immunizations.

I'm so thankful for my healthy and happy girls!

Note:  Tonight, while wrestling with Sophia on the floor, I discovered that she has a molar that has broken through on her top left side.  I then stuck my finger in her mouth to feel for any others (she HATES it when I do that), and much to my surprise/amazement, she actually has a total of 4 molars that have all broken through in the last couple of days!!!!  She has one on each side, top and bottom.  No wonder she has been so irritable!  My poor little girl ...

Samantha's Tomato Plants

Last year, Samantha planted two tomato plants in pots on our back deck.  We honestly weren't sure how well they would do, but they were gifted to us by one of our neighbors and Sam was excited about them.  It turns out that they did phenomenally well ... and we vowed to let her do the same thing again this year.

On Sunday, we headed down the road to a local greenhouse and let her pick out two tomato plants (and a jalopeno plant) all by herself.  (I would love to plant more, but they must stay on our back deck because we have a lot of deer that come into the back yard).

And as usual, I couldn't resist at least one other picture of my beautiful girl:

As soon as we got home, we set to work getting the three plants in pots.  The excitement was written all over her face!

Packing down the soil:

Watering them:

And posing with the tomato plants ... (The jalopeno plant is on the other side of the deck):

The hardest part in all of this is making her understand that it will take a long time (60 days) for the plants to start bearing any tomatoes.  She woke up the next morning expecting to see red, ripe grape tomatoes on her plants, and was sorely disappointed.  I think that she is finally beginning to comprehend, and I really like that she is so diligent in making sure that all of the plants stay watered on a daily basis.  Hopefully, the plants will not disappoint us!

Happy Memorial Day!

A little trip down Memory Lane ...

Samantha Murray

Sophia Marie

Sophia is 15 Months Old

Sophia is 15 months old today.  And, I am happy to report that she is (pretty much) back to her old self after her little bout with roseola.  The rash subsided within about three days and her normal appetite came back after that.  There is some crying here and there, but she seems much more happy.

She now weighs 19 lbs. 5 oz. (putting her in the 5th percentile).  Once she hits the 20-lb. mark, we will be moving her to her "big girl" carseat.  She is 31 inches long!  That means that she grew almost 3 inches in the last three months -- how is that even possible?  That puts her in the 75th percentitle for length.

Sophia is still a great sleeper.  She sleeps from about 7:15 pm to 8 am every day.  She rarely cries for me in the morning; rather, I usually go in her room and get her long before that so that Sam, Sophia and I can all eat breakfast together before 8:30 am.  If she does wake up before I go in her room, she just lays there or will occasionally yell out, "Ma!!"

She gets so excited to see her daddy when he comes home.  She merely has to hear the back door open and she squeals, "Da-Da!"  It's cute, but I fear that we might have another Daddy's Girl in the making.  (The other day, I gave Sam a big hug and said, "You know that you're momma's little girl, don't you?"  She pulled away and said, "No, I'm not.  I'm Daddy's girl!"  Great ...)

We still give Sophia a bath every night.  Because she is so small, we continue to give her one in the kitchen sink (plus, it's more convenient for us).  It won't be long before we move her to the tub on a more permanent basis.

There is no walking yet, but Sophia has been pulling up on EVERYTHING in the last couple of weeks.  I'll turn around and she'll be standing.  Occcasionally, she might take a couple of steps to the side, while holding onto something, but she still lacks the confidence to move without any support. 

Regardless of the limited walking, she is a fast crawler, and there is not a single place that she won't crawl to/through/over, etc.  Often, she'll crawl down the driveway or through my flower beds without a single thought.

Sophia has been holding her own fork now for a while.  If we put the food on it, she'll take the fork from us and put it in her own mouth in a single swipe.

She has also perfected the use of her sippee cup all by herself.  (This picture was taken when she was still a little sick this week).

She loves her books.  I often chuckle to myself when I see her "reading" one of her books so intently.

We try to make a real point to do things with each of the girls on an individual basis every once in a while.  It makes them feel special, and that's important to us.

Hanging out with Daddy in the back yard:

Momma and her girl:

Overall, this month has been a fun month for us.  Even though Sophia was sick for one week of it, we were still able to enjoy the Spring weather and do lots of activities.  I love watching her personality continue to grow and her understanding of words is becoming more and more apparent these days.  She even says a few words of her own (momma, da-da, ball, bubble, book, up). 

Onto another month of learning and milestones ...

Under the Weather

I mentioned in the last post that Sophia has been a little under the weather the last few days.  It breaks our hearts to see her so unhappy and miserable.  Even Sam has been trying her best to keep her cheered up.

I could tell on Wednesday last week that she wasn't feeling like herself.  She really didn't want much milk to drink and she seemed so grumpy.  When I got her up on Thursday morning, she was burning up.  I immediately took her temperature and it read over 102 degrees.  By the middle of the day, her fever peaked to 103.6 degrees.  I gave her tylenol to keep the fever down and made sure that she had plenty of liquids.  Her appetite was gone.

Steve and I woke her up twice in the middle of night to give her tylenol (she was sleeping, but we wanted to be sure that the fever was "kept at bay").  By Friday morning, her fever was lower (just over 100 degrees), and I suspected a virus.  I confirmed this on Saturday afternoon when the rash started.  My self-diagnosis: roseola.

This is a common virus among infants and children, and Sam had it herself when she just about this same age.  It starts with a high fever, loss of appetite, droopy eyelids ... and then finally the rash hits.  Once the rash starts, it is a sign that the virus is leaving.  The rash is not itchy and is not contagious by skin-to-skin contact.  The good news is that once a child has it, they are immune to it for the rest of their lives; this explains why Sam didn't catch it this time -- she is already immune.  And because it is a virus, we have to let it run its course.  (I would have taken Sophia to the doctor if the symptoms became any more severe).

There has been a lot of crying in this household the last few days, and it has been quite draining on me.  I'm anxious to have my little girl back and to be able to do more things with her.  Even taking a walk results in frustrated crying for her and there isn't much we can do.  (I'm even leary to leave my windows open for fear the neighbors will start to wonder and turn me in to Child Protective Services)!

Trying to stay occupied (for all of about 5 minutes):

Then, when she became irritated with that, we moved outside.

We tried bubbles:

We tried playing with toys (notice how puffy and droopy her little eyelids are ... my poor baby):

The rash is still there today, but I'm glad that it isn't itchy and that her fever is gone.  Hopefully, she will be back to her smiling self in the next couple of days!

"Touch A Truck" Event

Yesterday, we took the girls to St. Johns to the "Touch A Truck" event that they were hosting.  There were several emergency vehicles parked all around, and the kids were able to climb up in them and ask any questions that they wanted.  They also had some "goodie bags" for the kids, along with crafts and various vendors from the area.

By far, the most exciting thing for Samantha was the corn box that was set up.  The children could take off their shoes and play in it, much like a sandbox.  She did this twice, and would have done it more times if we would have let her.

The Farm Bureau booth was passing out farm animal hats, and Sam chose a pig hat.

She got to sit up in one of the big fire trucks and pretend to drive.

And she got to sit in the back and check out all of the gear.

I think that Steve's favorite part was the helicoptor.  Sam got to practice putting on the seatbelt in the helicoptor.

Sophia was feeling a little "under the weather," but managed to fake a little smile for the camera.

There was a booth set up where you could get your eyesight checked, and so we had Samantha's evaluated.  She did great and her eyesight is perfect.  Here she is waiting for the printout from the computer.

I got to do a couple of crafts with Sam and when we done, we got to choose any boardgame we wanted from the selection that was on the table.  This was a wonderful surprise, and we chose "Chutes and Ladders."  Sam loves it.

Finally, before we left, Sam was able to get her face painted -- for the first time ever.  She chose a butterfly and it turned out so cute.

The finished product:

This was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  We probably would have stayed a tad bit longer, but Sophia was starting to get antsy and it was hard to console her.  I suspect that she will start feeling better soon, and can't wait to have my little girl back to her normal, healthy self.

Midweek Randoms

I have to say that we've been pretty fortunate that Sophia doesn't really get into too many cupboards or drawers in our house.  I think that the biggest reason for that is that Samantha and I keep her pretty occupied.  Plus, she has a decent amount of room to roam in this house and therefore does not get bored as easily. 

Last week, I did catch her doing this, though:

She entertained herself by opening the door and putting her milk sippee in there.

And then she moved onto a completely harmless drawer.

Followed by a quick spin around the family room on her car (backwards, because she still isn't sure how to go forward on it yet).

********************

We had a picnic outside for lunch last week.  I think that it is quite possibly one of Samantha's most favorite things to do.  It almost doesn't even matter WHAT we are having for the meal; I just need to spread a blanket out and call it a picnic and she is thrilled.


Having a juice box just only adds to her excitement:

And Pringles are a close second:

Sophia is content with graham crackers:

Within minutes, Sam has her shoes and socks off so that she can enjoy the rays of sunshine:

********************

We've also spent a lot of time outside blowing bubbles.  Sophia "tries" -- oh, how she tries! 

Often, she will just give up and try something else, like reading a book:

Or she'll climb on her four-wheeler and take off -- pausing to see if anyone is watching:

********************

Grandpa Lapinski picked up some Lincoln Logs at a garage sale last weekend, and they have been Sam's favorite thing to play with lately ... if Daddy helps her.  I think that I have witnessed the construction of a house, barn, garage and even an outhouse now!

********************

Sophia LOVES this piggy bank.  It was Sam's when she was little and it sings while you put the coins in it.  Occasionally, Sophia will have a small meltdown when the coin won't go in the slot, but she sure works hard to get it in there.

My girls (note the casual pose that Sophia took):

********************

This scene just tickles me to death!  Both girls standing at the kitchen set, hard at work preparing something for me on Mother's Day:

********************

Sophia wants to do EVERYTHING that Sam does. 

She puts on her bracelets:

She even takes her headbands and puts them on her own head -- by herself.  What can I say, my girl knows how to wear a headband!!

********************

We made cookies to take to my mom for Mother's Day, along with her other gifts and cards.  I made the flower-shaped cookies while Sam was napping.  And then, with the left-over dough, I surprised Sam by making some dinosaur cookies.  She got to decorate them when she got up from her nap.

She takes her job very seriously:

Her "assistant" in the background serves as the taste-tester, obviously:

We love sprinkles!

Yeah, the "assistant" takes her role just as seriously:

********************

Last night, Sam took her sister for a ride in the jeep.  Sophia was strapped in (don't worry!).  They both had a blast!



********************

Steve did a science experiment with Samantha last night, and I am happy to say that we might have a future scientist on our hands!  That makes this Momma (and chemist) so thrilled, to say the least!

Pouring vinegar on baking soda:

Watching the chemical reaction take place:

Getting her hands dirty:

********************

And finally, I just never seem to get tired of taking pictures of either of my girls taking time to smell the flowers: