Oh, what do you do in the summer time?

The most common scene here on a sunny day in our backyard.

Yep, it's fun being lazy.

Got to love her beautiful eyes.

Feeding time!

That momentous event! The first real food!

Sophia was very ready and excited.

All smiles.

Give me that food!

What? Slow down you say? Never!

6 Months?!? What the what?!?

H

Can you believe it?! Half a year already- it has been so fast!

So much change and so much fun and so little sleep. :D

It is amazing to see how this little girl has grown and changed so much from the itty bitty baby we brought home 6 months ago.

Stats:

length 26 3/4 "

weight 13lbs 8oz

She's our little cutie

Favorite things right now:

1. Squeal- she makes her little baby shrieks that are too cute (at least for the time being). Especially when she makes them when we come to get her out of her crib.

2. Sooo curious- she is all over, trying to explore everything all the time

3. Sleeping on her tummy- it is small, but she sleeps on her tummy with her bum in the air and it is so cute. I love it.

4. Play time- she loves to play with her toys and will get upset if she can't get them

5. Babble baby- more and more all the time

6. Dive bomb- she loves to roll every two seconds, and has almost taken a dive off the changing table- good thing Daddy was there to catch her

All in all- we just love our little girl.

On a side note, I just want to say thank you to everyone for the kind words and encouragement on the difficulties I expressed last time. It really meant a lot, and a lot of those things have since started to resolve and are going great. Eczema is soooo much better after cutting out dairy from my diet. And we found a new pediatrician and hooked up with the La Leche League and everything with her feedings have improved a tons and she is gaining weight slowly but appropriately. But, I want to reiterate that the support of others means so much, and to know that we aren't all 'perfect' and are just working on it is empowering.

On to the pictures.

I tried to get a nice picture with the 6 month sign- and the wiggle worm attacked! I know usually Sophia is a pretty for her monthly pictures, but with this active little girl this is the best we could get.

Starting to sit on her own- can't hold it for horribly long, but quickly learning.

Don't take away her toys- cry!!!! She's the one that flung them away- silly baby.

Happy 6 month birthday Sophie!!!

Wearing the blue...or pink

My Mom got Sophia this cute t-shirt from BYU. Early indoctrination? Why yes!

 So proud to be a cougar!

 Me telling Sophia BYU basketball went to NCAA finals...

Sophia finding out they lost! Oh no!

Go Cougars!

5 months

So, this is a few days late- but here we go! 

I can't believe Sophia is already 5 months old?! Where does all this time go?

Things are going good, along with their up's and down's of being a parent. Sophia continues to get more and more personality and is super fun to watch and play with.

Some of my favorite things this month have been:

1. giggly face- she just laughs more and more all the time when you play with her

2. going mobile- she'll scoot all over on her back, and is starting to get the crawling position on her tummy

3. foot in mouth disease- alright, maybe it's not a disease, and it's actually just a really cute thing that she does. You can ask Rick, I was super looking forward to her getting her feet to her mouth because I think it is so darn cute when babies do that

4.starting to sit- she can sit propped up with the boppy really well, and can sit on her own for a few seconds at a time. Most of the time she'll just slide from sitting to her tummy.

5.teeth! aak! - should this go in the favorites colomn? it's exciting, but the process of teething is no good. She has 3 or 4 little pokers out- all canines or molers- just decided to skip the incisors part ;) This explains the mass amounts of drool in her pictures lately.

6. I'm gonna eat your family- or just everything else in sight. Chomp, chomp. I guess that goes along with teething. Favorite teething toy- mommy's fingers! nummy!

Next are some new mommy thoughts- so if you don't want to hear them, and would rather just see the pictures- scroll down. Okay, so to be honest, I get annoyed with other mom's I know always acting like everything is soo easy and peachy-keen all the time. I understand not airing your dirty laundry, but I think it is good to share our ups and downs and feel supported and not so alone. Although, the majority of times are great- there have been some really hard things for me to deal with as a Mom this last month. First, Sophia's eczema- I'm sure you notice it in the pictures on her face. Everyone is always asking about it- poor little girl. It makes her face a bit itchy, but other than that doesn't seem to bother her. We're trying some different things to help it, and it does seem to be getting better- so hopefully it will continue to improve. Second, sleep training- ugh! it has been going up and down. Sleep training a teething baby is definitely two steps forward, one step back. Third, breastfeeding and weight- Sophia has been having trouble breastfeeding for the last few months- just really fussy and angry while trying to get the milk. She was so good at it before, I think she may have developed a preference for the bottle that she gets the few nights I work- it is just easier to get milk from a bottle. So she is so fussy, and now she hasn't been gaining as much weight as she should. In my mind, the two things are obviously connected- and it is super frustrating. I love nursing her, and want to keep doing it for a whole lot of reasons, but it has gotten just so difficult. And now I am worried about her getting enough to eat. With all those issues, as a first time Mom I feel guilty. I know I shouldn't, I know that nothing is my fault, but I just feel like I want to prevent bad stuff happening to her ever- so when it does, I feel like I somehow let her down. I just never realized how personal I would take everything that happens to my own child, and sometimes it is really hard on me. It has been a humbling experience to realize that I need to just do my best, and let go of things sometimes. I'm sure I'll look back on this and realize how ridiculous I sound, but there you have it. The thoughts of a new mother. Sorry for the rambling, but it does feel better as I talk about it with people. 

On to more pictures!

She's so thoughtful

drool in action

This is my favorite- her cute little face when daddy swings her by the arms- she loves it!

The beginnings of a scoot/crawl

A post without a baby in it?!

I know, I know- how can there be no baby?!

I swear I do think about and do other things than take pictures of my baby with large flowers on her head.

For instance- our garden this spring!

I've wanted to get a real garden going for so long. We first moved to Michigan in August, so it was too late in the season. Then the next year we moved from that first house in the middle of July, so there was not a lot of motivation to get really going on a garden we'd leave halfway through the summer. And by the time we got settled in to our current house, it was again to late in the season to really get anything going.

So finally, we are staying put for awhile and have this wonderfully big backyard to do whatever we want to it. It has been neglected for a long time, so we've been putting a lot of time in to cleaning it out this year. Hopefully by next year all the stuff we are planting now will have really filled in. And of course, we are starting our little vegetable garden! I don't know why I am so excited about this, but I am! Since our yard is so big, at first I wanted to go crazy and plant this HUGE veggie garden- but then I realized I would have to take care of all that. So, we have a smaller section all dug up and are getting plants ready to go in (you can't plant until after Mother's Day in Michigan). I am very excited to see if I can make these things grow, and protect them from the bazillion squirrels that live around here.

But there is nothing as rewarding as working in the dirt and getting a veggie you grew back from it!

Marten got to move outside too with the nice weather- he is in bunny heaven after being couped up in doors all winter. He literally does flips in his little bunny run out here. It's amazing.

Raspberry bush

Lettuces, etc. getting ready to be planted

One part of our yard was super shady, and grass didn't want to grow there. So we built a little feature and transplanted a bunch of fiddlestick ferns and hastas in to it- they are growing sooo fast. Rick calls it our 'Fern Gully'.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's love us the best.

They make us believe in ourselves.

I never could have comprehended the joy of Motherhood, and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women out there!

My First Easter

One of the most fun things about having a baby is everything is a first!

That makes everything twice as exciting!

At least for me...I don't think Sophia really cares all that much.

Easter was wonderful and it was so much fun to make a little kid Easter basket for my own baby- getting my Easter basket each year was always one of my fondest memories as a child.

And the other awesome part about Easter?

Little girl Easter dresses!

So pink, so fluffy, so ridiculously un-necessary and cute!

My sisters and I always had fun new Easter outfits, many times with matching hats, gloves and purses. As I said- ridiculous, but the tradition must continue!

Excuse the massive amounts of drool around her collar.

Sophie really didn't care about the basket,

but she did love her new stuffed bunny

And just like all other things currently,

it went straight to her mouth.

I know that Easter isn't really about toys, and bunnies, and candy-

it's about something much more important,

the chance to live again- to be new once more- through Jesus Christ.

Celebrating it with someone so precious and new,

that means all the world to me now.

Happy Easter!