The Beach

About two weeks ago, when the weather was a little warmer, we headed down to the beach for one of our last "bathing suit" visits of the season. We still continue to spend time there these days, but we are often clad in jeans and long sleeves.

The beach is one of Sam's favorite places, and she begs at least twice every day to go down there. Sometimes when we head out for a walk, she has a small meltdown if this Momma chooses to go the right when we exit our driveway instead of to the left ... which will take us down to the beach.


The water was just starting to cool down for the season, but Sam didn't mind:

Her favorite thing is the slide:

The rings are a close second to the slide:

It's amazing what a difference a year can make. Last summer, I had to watch Sam "like a hawk" down at the beach; she would run from one end to the other and I was fearful of her getting too close to the water without supervision. She had limited interest in the slide at that time, as well.

This year, I was able to just sit back and watch her, without worrying so much. Of course, we always had Sophia with us while we were down there this summer, so I had to balance my time between the two girls. It wasn't as relaxing for me as it could have been, but we created a lot of fun memories while we were there.

Sophia is Seven Months Old!

Sophia is seven months old today! Her personality is developing more and more these days; we're starting to see more expressions from her and she reacts very strongly when she is left alone -- she wants to be included in everything we do and is insistent that we be within her sight at all times.

Yesterday, I witnessed her laugh out loud at her sister for the first time. While she has been laughing for months now and we can get her to giggle almost on command, this first laugh at Samantha still tickled me. Sam was playing with her while she was still in her high chair and it just made Sophia so happy. (And it made this Momma happy too).

** I don't have any stats on her weight or length this month because we don't go back to the doctor until November (when she turns 9 months old).

** She eats breakfast, lunch and dinner with us, and continues to nurse about 4 times a day (she is very efficient at it and it doesn't take her long to get her fill). When she's ready to nurse and sees me get the boppy, she literally hyperventilates until she gets her milk. I won't begin introducing cow's milk until she turns a year old, so I am treasuring the last few months of nursing her.

** She has a bath before bed every night (it is part of our nighttime routine) and then she goes to bed at about 8 pm. She will typically sleep until 7:30 - 8 am.

** She usually takes a morning nap for about an hour or a little longer. And then she takes an afternoon nap for about the same length of time. I try to time the naps for Sam and Sophia so that they coincide. We have been finding that Sophia also needs a little snooze right after dinner for about a half hour. Without that little rest, she can get irritable really fast.

** Sophia prefers to suck her pointer and middle fingers on her left hand, upside down. She sort-of used a pacifier for the first couple of months, but she has no use for it now -- rather, she LOVES those two fingers.

** Her two bottom teeth are coming in nicely. You can (kind of) see them in the picture below:

** Sophia is close to sitting up on her own, but still hasn't quite mastered it yet. She still topples over to one side every once in a while. I am convinced that she will reach that milestone pretty soon.

All in all, these months are going by too fast for me. While I love watching her grow and change and reach milestones, it doesn't seem possible that the holidays are fast approaching and that her first birthday will follow soon after that. It feels like she has been a part of our family forever, and I love that.

Sophia is starting to love her jumper a little more these days. At first, she was still a little small for it, and we had to "stuff" a blanket or animal behind her in the seat in order to keep her from wobbling too much. But now, she'll stay in it for a longer period of time, scooting around in a circle, and even pushing the buttons for music to play.

I also like that we have recently moved the jumper out into the kitchen. I spend the majority of my time there, and Sophia is more content when she can see someone in her line of vision. Overall, she's a pretty happy baby, but she gets bored easily. So, having something like this to keep her slightly entertained is very helpful ...

Barbershop Beauty

Last night, I found Samantha in my bathroom with all of her hair accessories spread out. Apparently she was going to style her My Little Pony's hair, because I caught her in mid-act, just as she was ready to apply some hairspray and mousse. I said a few little "thank-you's" in my head, grateful that I intercepted her before the sticky mess actually took place. Then, I made a mistake; I left her alone in there to put everything away and I took Sophia with me to get her ready for her bath.

As I was undressing Sophia in the kitchen, I heard the water running in my bathroom. That is never a good sign when you have a toddler in the house. Yup, there she was, standing on an open drawer, washing her hands in my sink. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied, "I so washing my hands, Momma." Ok ... I followed that up with, "WHY are you washing your hands, Samantha?"

She said that she had "blue stuff" all over hands and needed to clean them. It turns out that the "blue stuff" was shampoo, taken out of an overnight bag that I had in my closet. And she used the shampoo to 'clean' her My Little Pony's hair. Great ...

Here is the little Barbershop Beauty -- you will notice the "blue stuff" in her pony's hair. And the shower cap, well, apparently you need to wear that when you are working hard to wash and style hair.

The Boots (con't)

I mentioned in the last post how much Sam loves her new boots. I think that she has worn them every single day since she received them. And I am pretty sure that she would sleep in them if we would let her!

She is pretty cute in them:

Boot Scootin' Cutie

Steve came home from Mexico for the weekend on Friday. Sam was SO excited to see him, especially because he brought her something special -- her first pair of cowgirl boots!

Trying them on:

All decked out and looking so cute:

Sophia was pretty happy too that her Daddy came for a couple of days:

Sophia and Her Food

Sophia loves food! There isn't a single food that I have made for her that she won't eat, and she has become such an expert at eating with a spoon. We had to work with her, at first, to keep her fingers out of her mouth while we were feeding her. Now, she is a pro and often cries when I give her the sign that we are "all done!" We still keep a cloth handy, but she makes very little mess now and the clean-up is minimal.

Sometimes, I have a "helper, and while I am grateful for the assistance, I don't always enjoy cleaning up more messes!

As a snack to keep Sophia occupied while I am preparing her food, I often give her some "puffs." My "helper" will usually help her sister with them, but just recently, Sophia has started doing it by herself!

So far, she has had apples, peaches, pears, peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, plums, avocados and a taste of strawberries. I will begin with carrots this week.

I am continuing to make all of the baby food by myself and it is completely organic. While I realize that it won't always be possible to feed her organic foods as she starts to get older, it is important to me that her first tastes of solid food are completely chemical-free. When she starts with cow's milk (at one year of age), that will ALWAYS be organic; this is just something that I feel very strongly about. I did the same thing with Samantha and do not have one single regret; I love knowing that all of the food that she eats is being prepared fresh, without preservatives, and with all of the nutrients that she can possibly get. It is one of the best gifts that I can give her.

My Sister's Birthday

Saturday was my sister's birthday and Sam had been excited all week to celebrate with her. I would dial Aunt Minnie's phone number and Sam would leave voice mail messages for her, reminding her how many days she had until her birthday.

Sam picked out the birthday plates and napkins for her (she chose Hello Kitty), and we decorated with balloons before Aunt Minnie came over to our house. But perhaps the most special thing for Sam was that she found a cheap, plastic microphone at the store the day before Aunt Minnie's birthday, and was INSISTENT that I needed to buy it for her so that she could sing "happy birthday" to Aunt Minnie with it. How could I resist??!!


Posing before the party (and yet another picture of Sophia just staring at her sister in awe):

A birthday kiss for the birthday girl (and yes, we made her wear the princess crown):

Singing "happy birthday" with the infamous microphone:

Blowing out the candles (I love the look on Sophia's face):

Priceless:

Happy birthday, Aunt Minnie!

Random Pics

Whew -- time seems to be flying by lately. For that reason, it has been difficult for me to sit down and work on a new post. In the meantime, I found a few random pictures that were taken last week that I wanted to share.


This picture was taken right after the girls had gotten up in the morning. Sophia loves to just stare at her sister:

Sam has been working on her "balance beam skills:"

Taken the day before she got her ears pierced:

Sam's first ride on an escalator:

Sophia's Ear Piercing

Today, we took Sophia to get her ears pierced. Samantha got her ears pierced when she was 6 months old, so we wanted to do the same with Sophia. Sam got to watch the whole procedure, and I think that Sophia did really well ... she cried for a few seconds (like when she gets her shots at the doctor's office), and then she was happy again.


Before shots of both girls (Sam wanted to be included):

Waiting for the earrings to be loaded into the gun (I chose small, 14 carat gold balls):

Just finishing up:

It's all over:

Content with Mommy:

I was nervous when I got Sam's ears done that she would pull on them and try to play with them. But, surprisingly, she left them alone and they never seemed to bother her or get infected. For that reason, I am confident that Sophia will also have a good experience with this. While the earrings look a little big now, she will grow into them, and she looks so "girly" and so adorable!

Sophia and Her Sippee

I mentioned in Sophia's "Six Month" post that I gave her a sippee cup to play with a few weeks ago. While she doesn't always have the strength to hold it up completely by herself (when it has liquid in it), she totally understands the concept. In another month or so, I think that she will have it completely mastered! (Sam was using sippee cups exclusively by the time that she was nine months old).