Quote of the Week

Yesterday while I was changing Sophia, I called out to Sam and asked her to come into the bedroom with me. (Most of the time, I don't really need her for anything in particular, but by having her come into the room with me, I can be assured that she isn't getting into something that she shouldn't be. This was one of those times).

So, after I called out to her and asked her to come to me, she arrived and with a straight face, she said, "Yes, Sweetie?"

Apparently, I must say that to her a lot. And being the sponge that she is, she copied that phrase. Too funny ...

And because no post is complete without at least one picture:

A Visit to the Orchard

Last weekend, we traveled out to the orchard so that Sam could visit my parents and to see the baby pigs that were born a couple of weeks ago. The whole way to the orchard, Sam kept saying, "baby pigs, baby pigs" from her seat in the back of the car. As soon as we got there, my dad took her out to meet them:

There was a lot of mud, but Sam managed to get a good look at them through the fence.

She even got to see some of the reindeer:

This was our first trip out to the orchard with Sophia (it has just been too cold to head out there any sooner than now), and this meant that we were able to introduce her to several of the people there. One such person was my Uncle Scott (Sophia's great-uncle):

This was also the first time that my Grandpa Koan was able to meet her (Sophia's great-grandpa):

Grandpa and the girls:

We look forward to many more visits out at the orchard when the weather warms up a little more. Samantha loves to go there and see my parents and all of the animals, of course. I am sure that Sophia will soon learn to love it as well ...

One Month Check-Up

Sophia went for her one month check-up yesterday. I was anxious to see how much she had grown since our last visit because I know that she is definitely eating well and looking much bigger to me ...

She now weighs 9 lbs, 5 oz (2 lbs more than she did when we went for her newborn visit one month ago!). That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight.

She is 22.5 inches long and that puts her in the 75th percentile for length. (I still don't know how my girls manage to be so long when their parents are definitely not very tall!).

The doctor was very impressed with how strong Sophia has become. When placed on her belly, she can very easily lift her head up and look around. She still flops her head a little when trying to sit her up, but I imagine that she will be holding her head up completely on her own within the next couple of weeks.

She has a some "baby acne" on her forehead which started appearing a couple of weeks ago. The doctor explained that this is normal (some impurities coming out at the surface) and this should clear itself up by the time Sophia is 2-3 months old.

All in all, it was a good check-up, and we will head back there in three weeks for her 2 month check-up. She will have to get shots then (I always hate that part -- what mother doesn't?), and we will see how much she continues to grow.

Samantha's New Favorite Things

We love our new neighborhood (I keep referring to it as our new neighborhood, but realize that we have been here for 10 months now ...). We have wonderful neighbors and are excited about the various neighboorhood activities that are coming up this year.

One of our neighbors surprised us this week by sending over two packages -- one for Sophia and one for Samantha. Sam is absolutely giddy over her gifts and Steve managed to take a few pictures of her with them:

She received new sunglasses (which I swear she would sleep with if I would let her), a new purse (that also hasn't been out of her hands since she opened it), a cute play flower for Spring ... and this:

A jump-rope!

Steve had to modify the length of the rope for her, and she is determined to master the art of jump-roping sooner rather than later. She wakes up in the morning and immediately asks me where her jump-rope is. And then, I observe this act about 40 times a day!

Yesterday ...

... was a long day. Oh sure, I accomplished a lot. In fact, at one point in the morning, I vaguely remember calling Steve at work to tell him that I felt like a new, rejuvenated woman -- all because I took both girls with me inside the bank and to Meijers ... by myself. Yup, with Sophia in her car seat in the front of the cart and Sam in the main basket portion, we managed to pick out and purchase groceries with no breakdowns (from either me or the girls!) and every grocery item was unopened and undisturbed (which says a lot when you have a two-year old helper with you). Yup, that was in the morning ...

The afternoon (and evening) presented a whole new outlook. And to be blunt, that outlook was muddied up by poop and pee. Sophia didn't feel well (an upset stomach and change in her pooping pattern resulted in a major "clean-up on aisle 5" incident). The cupcakes that Sam and I were making and decorating were put on hold as we worked together to clean up the major mess and give Sophia a bath.

Then Sam had an accident of her own (at least Steve was here to assist). We have been trying to encourage frequent trips to the potty with Sam, but we didn't catch it this time and she was wearing "big girl panties." Oh well, accidents happen ...

At the end of all of this, when I finally laid my head down in bed (which was much later than I would have liked since Sophia was still battling the upset stomach and wasn't ready to settle down), I couldn't help but smile because of this:

That's our family of four. I know that some days are going to be longer than others. And then there are going to be days when I feel that everything is moving quicker than I would like and that my girls are growing up too fast. But at the end of those days, one thing will always remain the same -- I love our little family so much!

Sophia Is One Month Old

Sophia turned one month old yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time is flying by...

It just happened to work out that Sophia also received her first bath in her tub yesterday. Sam and I have been giving her regular sponge baths up until now (one of Samantha's favorite things to do), but we wanted to be sure that Steve was here for the first real bath ... Surprisingly, Sophia didn't mind the bath too much (I remember that Sam HATED her first time in the bathtub, and then quickly learned to love it).

She is getting SO big!

Realizing that the bath isn't too bad ...

Mommy and her girls

(I love that look on Sophia's face!)

All squeaky clean after her bath!

Grandpa and Grandma Lapinski stopped by for a quick visit this week to see the girls and Samantha was so happy to see them!

We had a lot of company over this week and Sam never seems to tire from showing off all of her latest antics. Her vocabulary continues to grow (I don't think that there is a single word that she won't repeat) and she is getting better at stringing more and more words together into phrases. She seems to speak very clearly; occasionally there is a word that I won't understand, but she immediately uses gestures to make me comprehend.

I am so fascinated with watching her personality develop. I smile whenever she accomplishes something on her own and claps afterwards while saying, "Yea! Did it!" I love that she is eager to please (most of the time anyway) and can now follow directives when she is given them. I also cherish the fact that she can show emotion easily -- She's not afraid to tell me that she is sad and to tell me why when I ask. Likewise, she also admits when she had fun doing something (no matter how simple it may have been).

I often wonder how similar my two little girls are going to be. I have a feeling that they are going to be very different in both their personalities and in their looks. I am excited about that ... Regardless of how they change and develop and grow together, I know that they are already on the way to being good friends ... And that makes me so happy!