Pre-Party Preparations

Samantha's birthday party will be here in less than 6 weeks. That means that I have already started the preparations, and the plans are coming together nicely. It brings me such joy to plan these events, right down to the last detail with decorations. I want my kids to always remember that Momma went "all out" with their birthdays ... for I can't think of a better way to celebrate the day of their births -- the happiest days of my life.

The theme of Samantha's birthday party this year is fish. She tells EVERYONE that she is turning 3 on November 19 and is having a "fish party." Her excitement is contagious and I wanted to be sure to keep her involved in a lot of the plans and decisions -- afterall, it is HER day!

So last week, we sat down together to make one of the decorations for the party. She LOVED it!

Working hard to get all of the stickers in place on the angel fish:

Ta-da! The semi-finished product. It will now go in a frame and be on display at her party ...

Go Spartans!

We are big Michigan State fans in this household! In fact, we just taught Sam to say, "Go Spartans!" and she sounds so cute when she says it.

In honor of the big Michigan State/Ohio State game on Saturday, we all wore our Michigan State shirts:

And, it must have brought the team some good luck, because they won! Go Spartans!

Daddy's Home!

On Friday night, Steve came from Mexico (for the millionth time in the last four months). The good news is that he is wrapping up his project there and should only have to travel back to Mexico one more time ... we are keeping our fingers crossed, anyways.

Sam was "over the moon" with excitement to see her daddy, especially because she knew that he was bringing her a special surprise -- a cowgirl hat all of her own. This would be a follow-up to the cowgirl boots that he brought home for her the last time.

Checking out the other "goodies" that Daddy brought home:

"What's up, Daddy?"

All in all, I think that everyone is glad to have Daddy home ...

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.