8 Months

Sophia, you are 8 months old! I am LOVING this age! I have loved each moment with you and I don't take a single second for granted, but you are really developing quite the personality and it makes my heart melt. Here is what you have been up to:

*You wear 6-9 month clothing. I have to roll most of your pants over a time or two at the waist because your waist and booty are non-existent. You can wear 3-6 in pants, but they are usually too short.

*You are still in a size 2 diaper. Again with the no waist/no booty.

*I'm not sure about your weight. My guess would be 18 pounds? I'll have to remember to get on the scale with you soon.

*You have a tooth! It started to erupt about 3 weeks ago and took about a week to completely cut through. You were a champ when it came to that tooth, nothing like what I'd heard it would be like. It messed with your sleep, gave you bad diapers, and you spit up for a couple of days, but there was nothing a little Motrin and ice cubes couldn't cure! I just pray the rest of the teeth are this easy! I can see that another tooth is about to erupt...

*You are army crawling like a fool. You go really fast and sometimes get too excited and lunge yourself across the room. You have gotten on all fours several times, but haven't gotten anywhere just yet.

*You clap all.the.time. It is your newest "trick" and you are so proud of yourself. You clap when we say "Yay!," when someone walks into the room, when you hear clapping on TV, and, well, just about anytime you see fit.

*You are beginning to wave goodbye. It is so stinkin' cute!

*You say mama, mamamama, babababa, and have begun dadada. You jabber all the time. Looks like you are going to be a chatterbox like your momma!

*You are in love with Micke.y Mous.e You will break your neck trying to find the TV anytime you hear his voice. It's so cute watching you stare at him in a trance and smile/"dance" when you hear the music. (*disclaimer: We don't use the TV as a babysitter. A little MM Clubhouse in the mornings gives momma time to get ready for the day ; )

*You still love bath time and have begun throwing fits when it's time to scrub you down and wash your hair. You would rather splash and play than get clean and get out.

*Your hair cracks me up. It's like a toupee with a comb-over. I'm thankful you have hair, though!

*You are still seriously the best baby ever! You LOVE people watching and you are beginning to be a real ham. I love love love your little personality!

*You are beginning to want to go to bed around 6:30 and wake up at 5:00 am. I go in, feed you, and you go back to sleep while mommy gets ready for work. Then, I get you up at 7:00 to get you dressed and ready to go.

*You eat 3 bottles while at Ms. Cain's and nurse morning & night with me. We made it to 8 months with this and I am so proud of us both! We are now in the weaning process because I'm just not able to pump even half of what you need. You are taking to formula pretty well. I'm still nursing morning & night until that supply tanks, too.





When you first began trying to crawl, you went backwards the easiest and would often find yourself stuck under the furniture and in corners. silly girl!


<~~~Happy Valentine's Day!

<~~~Rockin' a ponytail (and her momma's big forehead. Sorry sweetheart ; )

<~~~Poppy got caught trying to share his sucker

<~~~Memaw brought presents!

<~~~You are getting SO big!

I am slowly going crazy..

..1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, switch! Crazy going slowly am I, 6,5,4,3,2,1 switch! Anyone remember that song? I'm pretty sure it was from The Elephant Show. haha

But, seriously, I'm going crazy. Tomorrow will be day 3 of snow days for the week. 6th for the year. Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm all for a snow day or two for the year, but 6??? We'll be in school until Father's Day at this rate! Guess I should start looking up some Father's Day activities for the kiddos.... Oh, and before you think "quit complaining, you have the rest of the summer!", that's not the (whole) point. That is over a week of instructional time. A week that I won't get back until AFTER the state assessment. As in, the big, standardized, important test that weighs so heavily on teacher's shoulders? Yeah, that one. That big 'ol test won't be moved back to accommodate the 6 snow days. Nope, that just means I have 6 less days to teach and prepare the kiddos for that ugly old test. SIX days is A LOT of days! Okay, breathe Jess...

Besides all of that, Sophie and I are going a bit stir crazy. I LOVE spending these days with her, but there is only so much we can do within these walls! It's too cold and icy to get out and about, so we are spending our days playing on the floor, practicing crawling, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, snuggling, being cranky because of cutting teeth, and laughing our heads off at the mere sight of the dogs. It's fun stuff. Really. But, I'm sure Sophie is getting tired of my ugly mug and would like to have some other interaction besides with me. We'll probably head to the mall or something tomorrow because the "real" roads aren't bad. Oh, to top it all off: Jeff has been working 10 hour shifts all week, plus Saturdays so we haven't seen much of him lately! Boo. hiss.

We also had a little photo shoot today to pass some time. Sophia has some really cute Valentine's clothes, but has had nowhere to wear them! So, we dressed up in a couple and took some pictures. She's ready for her close up! Well, she'll be more ready once that tooth finishes cutting through...she hasn't been very smiley since it began poking out. Oh, and I've been feeling crafty lately, so I've been sewing during her naps. The housework will get done later...I hope...

<~~~Excited to see daddy finally come home. This is an outfit I made. My first attempt at ruffle pants and they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

<~~~If you look closely, you can see the drool and pink cheeks; courtesy of teething. I made the ruffle butt onesie and the ba.by legs. Love!


<~~~The front of the onesie, I just used iron-on letters to put her name on the front of the ruffle butt onesie.

7 Months

Sophia Faith, you are now 7 months old! That is officially closer to 1 than it is to being a newborn. Oh my! I'm already throwing around birthday party ideas in my head...

Anyway, here is what you are up to this month:

*You wear 6-9 month clothing. Some 3-6 months sill fit, they just aren't long enough.

*You are in a size 2 diaper

*You weigh about 15.3 pounds. I guess after my little freak~out of you not gaining but 13 oz in 2 months, you decided to start putting on the weight!

*You nurse in the morning & at night and you eat 3 5oz bottles of breastmilk at the babysitter's.

*You eat 1 container of baby food per night. So far you have been a fantastic eater! The only thing you haven't liked so far is sweet potatoes with corn. It was so cute: you kept taking bites of it but cried each time you'd open your mouth for more. Your favorite is mixed fruits with oatmeal.

*You still have no teeth, and I still think they will come "any day now!" You drool enough to fill a small pool and you are constantly chewing on everything, especially your fingers. Your Daddy says I need to quit looking in your mouth 10X a day!

*You are thisclose to crawling. You rock and manage to go backwards, but haven't quite figured out how to for~real crawl. You can roll very quickly to whatever you are wanting, so that's your method of getting around for now.

*Your sleeping has not been so great lately. Luckily for us, it is still much better than most babies your age. You go to sleep at 7pm and sleep until 5:30am. You used to go back to sleep until it was time to leave at 7, but now you think it's fun to play with mommy at 5:30. This makes it hard for mommy to get ready for work. But, I can't lie...I enjoy having that little extra time with you each morning! You have also decided to drop one of your naps. So, now, you only take 1 45 minute nap a day...we need to fix that!

*Your newest "tricks" are: fake coughing, kicking your legs as hard and as fast as you can while getting dressed/diaper changed, banging toys on the side of the tub while taking a bath, and taking your socks off every chance you get.

*You are the absolute light of our eyes. We love you SO MUCH!




<~~You can now sit in shopping carts...with a blanket or two stuffed around you ; )

<~~I love this goofy grin!

<~~Still the happiest baby I have ever been around

<~~This is how daddy does your hair. ha!

<~~This is how your hair usually looks...it is wild! Oh, those eyes and cheeks! yum!

Out of the mouths of babes....

This is going to be a pretty random post, but I wanted to have a record of some of the funny things I've heard while working with kids. If you know me, you know that I'm a 3rd grade teacher. I absolutely love my job and I'm so glad that each day holds something new. I adore the age I teach (8, 9 & 10 year olds) because they still want to please the teacher, are lovable, have a sense of humor, and aren't too smart-alecky. They say some pretty funny things, too. Here are a few of my favorite:

*names have been changed to protect the innocent ; )

* Sally comes to me one day and tells me that her ear hurts. I ask her if it hurts on the inside or the outside and if she's told her mom about it yet. She tells me "I don't know. It just hurts. Like, it really hurts when I'm using my brain. It's so hard for me to do my work because every time I think, my ear hurts. It's so weird that my brain is making my ear hurt." I smiled at her, looked inside her ear, and told her that she could give her brain/ear a break for a few minutes and then she needed to finish her work.

*One day during bus duty, I had 2 of my boys run up to me and say: "Johnny thinks you're hot!" I smiled and said "oh, what a crazy kid" and begin to walk away, so as to not embarrass Johnny. As I turn away I hear, "yeah, he is crazy because you're really not hot." Ouch.

*I had a student who needed to use the restroom every.single.day. during Social Studies. One day I said "Jack, you always go to the restroom during Social Studies. Please hurry up." He looks at me, grins, and says "Well, what can I say?! I'm pretty regular! I gotta poop after I eat." I no longer questioned his bathroom using for the rest of the year.

*I use a citrus scented air spray in my room sometimes. We refer to it as "Smart Spray" because studies show that citrus smells can trigger memories. Anyway, little Bobby comes up to me and quietly says "Mrs. Walton, will you spray some Smart Spray by my group because I farted and it really stinks." Gotta love honesty!

I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting and I'm positive these aren't the last kid-isms I'll ever hear....but it's all I've got for now. Sophie is waking up from her nap and she's been asleep for over 2 hours so I wanna go scoop her up for a bit! Ciao!

She's so smart....she's already skipping grades!

...Or, her momma's so behind, she accidentally skipped updating a month. Oops! "For sooth and for shame" as my High School AP Psychology teacher would say. (Still not 100% sure what that means?!) Anywho, here is the scoop for Sophia at 6 months old.

Wait! Did I just say SIX months?! How can my baby already be half a year old?! Wow...

Sophia you are:

*14 pounds and 27 inches...that would be 30th percentile for weight and 90th for height. You are long and lean!

*You are beginning to wear 6-9 month clothes for their length. 3-6 still fits, but you are too long, especially for the pants.

*You wear a size 2 diaper

*You are beginning to chew on your thumb...you don't really suck on it, but you love to chew on it.

*You now go to bed at 7:00, sleep through the night, "dreamfeed" at 5:30, then get up for the day at 7:00. Thank you SO MUCH for this!

*You had a week or so of waking up a couple of times during the night, but I thank teething and separation anxiety for that.

*I think you are going to begin cutting a tooth or two sooner rather than later.

*You began to sit up unassisted a week before Christmas and began full time sitting on Christmas Eve. You would now rather sit on the floor to play than lay down. A few (light) falls has taught to to lean over very slowly..smart girl!

*You are attached to mommy still. You like to play with daddy, but you'd prefer if mommy were in the room with you at all times.

*You had your first Christmas and you were the best.baby.ever. You did GREAT being around so many people, totally off your schedule, and with so much going on. You loved having so much attention and you thought tearing off paper and eating it was pretty cool. You got so many great presents...you are definitely LOVED.

*You are still the happiest baby I have ever met. You have the biggest, gummiest smile and it melts my heart.

*You have realized that you can get to where you want to go by rolling and wriggling around. You have managed to get on your knees a hand full of times. I think crawling is in your near future.

*Your hair has a mind of its own! I love the fact that you have hair, but it sure is wild!

*You prefer vegetables over fruit. I'm hoping this means you don't have your momma's sweet tooth. ; ) You really like green beans, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. You don't particularly care for peaches or apples.

*You are still nursing like a champ and prefer to hold your own bottle when getting one. Miss independent.

Half a year has already blown by and I can't wait to see what the other half has in store for us! You are such a blessing and a joy to us all. Love you, baby girl!




<~~ You actually liked Santa! It just doesn't show in this pic

<~~MmMm...prunes!

<~~Our 1st Christmas as a family of 3!



<~~Someone was a good girl this year. Santa came!

<~~Christmas morning...can't decided which new toy to play with. OH! And those cheeks?? Paired with those lips?? OH.MY.WORD...I could eat you up!