Quick Learner

I have started asking Sophia for her pacifier before I nurse her, rather than just taking it out of her mouth without warning.  Two nights ago I sat down in the rocking chair, ready to nurse her and I asked, "May I have your binky please?"  She smiled at me and let the binky drop into my hand.

Our Little Sophie Bear!

Sophia prefers standing practice to tummy time:

She really enjoys walking too!

We love this little teddy bear outfit that Sophia's Grandma Teddi sent to her:

It's so nice (and especially convenient for me) because it's a hat, blanket and socks all in one...

it keeps her nice and cozy warm on these cold Vernal days.

Here is Sophia before being fed:

Grr!

And this is Sophia after Daddy has given her her bottle:

Such a sweet li'l bear... 

Can you tell that this girl LOVES to eat?

And a bonus video, just for fun:

She loves her daddy!

(A note about these videos:  you can make them full screen

if you click on the four arrows in the right corner.)

New Home, New Challenges

We're finally starting to get settled in our new place here in Vernal ... but the unpacking is going incredibly slowly.  But we've got the essentials out, and I get to spend my time feeding, changing, cuddling and playing with Sophia.  She has started smiling at us and it's amazing!  My favorite thing is when she wakes up from a nap and I go over to her bed to pick her up ... I say, "Hi, Sophia Marie!" and after about two seconds, she gets a look of recognition in her eyes and breaks into a big smile.  Does it get any better than that??

Here are some videos and pictures of our little princess:

Gotta love those jowls and double-chin!

Danny and I think Sophia is gaining all her weight in her head

because we're always telling her how beautiful she is

and it's giving her a big head.

She's even getting rolls on her arms:

And she's starting to drool more...

Here we are at Thanksgiving:

We put Sophia in a dress for Thanksgiving:

I love the matching cardigan!

Squirming on Daddy's lap:

Sitting up on Mommy and Daddy's bed:

Ho-hum...

Sorry this video is sideways...

I tried to get her to smile, but it didn't work ...

But I caught a bit of a smile in this video:

Another series of pictures and video of trying to get Sophia to smile:



Here's Sophia thinking she's pretty cool:

Here, I thought she was going to smile,

But she just ended up spitting up.

Success!

Looking so chubby!!

Yikes!

I took these last pictures today. 

Sophia was being smiley so I thought I'd try to catch her smiling on camera.

This is as close as I got to a smile:

I think she looks like a little elf with ears poking out of her hat here:

Such lovely lashes!

Here Sophia goes with the bold fashion choice of blue:

But I think she pulls it off!

Cheeky little girl!

Sophia gets very active in the evenings:

We love our little girl!!

On Friday we took Sophia to DinosaurLand Pediatrics to see her new doctor Dr. Kwok.

He is a neo-natologist and helps run the NICU at the Ashley Valley Regional medical center here in Vernal.  We feel really lucky to find another great doctor for Sophia.

She weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces, and is now 21 inches long - the size of a large-ish newborn!

Dr. Kwok, after finding out that Sophia weighed 3 lbs 14 oz when she was born less than 3 months ago, said that Sophia's growth was "excellent."

We're so proud!

On the nice list ...

Sophia must want something big for Christmas because she has been SO good the past few days.

She had her 2-month check-up on the 1st and she weighed 7 pound 15 ounces (she almost certainly weighs 8 pounds by now; she's getting some adorable rolls on her thighs).  She also got all of her shots.  The nurse who administered thte shots was so fast with the shots that Sophia barely had time to realize that it hurt and to cry before it was all over.  She cried for a second, but as soon as Danny picked her up she stopped crying.  We expected her to wail and scream but she didn't.

That is, until later that night.  She must have felt pretty crummy because we had never seen her cry and scream so much.  But we gave her a little infant Tylenol and she was able to sleep through the worst of it.  What a good little girl!

We have also been working on packing in preparation for our move tomorrow (see my othe blog for pics of our new house: http://brendabokovoybulletins.blogspot.com/ ).  It's been difficult to get much packing done during the day when I'm on my own taking care of Sophia.  But for the past few days Sophia has been so cooperative to take loong naps during the day so I could get some stuff done.  She's such an angel baby!

A few other updates:

Our insurance company denied payment for Synagis shots (very expensive RSV antibody medication) ... because she was born at 35 weeks and 2 days - the cut-off is 34 weeks and 6 days.

Because Sophia's not getting Synagis, her pediatrician recommended that we wait to take her out until at least March; February is the peak of RSV season.  That seems like a really long time to me, but whatever we need to do to keep her healthy is most important.

We are now debating when to have her baby blessing.  We had originally planned for January or February, but with th doctor's new recommendations, we're now thinking maybe March.  However, we recently talked to someone whose 2-year-old contracted RSV in March ... so we're considering April.  But by then she'll be over 6 months old.  So, I guess we have some decisions to make.

One last thing:  I'll be posting more pics of Sophia as soon as we get internet set up in our new place!

Two-Month Weigh-In

At two months and one day, our little Sophia weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces.  She is nearly double her birth weight of 3 lbs 14 oz!

We are hoping she'll be at least 8 pounds by the time we move to Vernal on December 4th.

She has her two-month check-up with the pediatrician on December 1st.  She'll be weighed again at that appointment.  She will also be getting all of her shots ... I'm not looking forward to that ... I'm sure I'm going to cry right along with Sophia.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cope with shots?

The first eight weeks

These past several weeks have been very busy for us ...

We've spent a lot of time feeding and diapering,

and not much time sleeping. 

And I had gallbladder surgery.

(my excuse for not posting these pics earlier) 

Here are some pictures of our first several weeks together:

Time for a sponge bath!

I love the princess towel that her Aunt Melissa got for her.

The blow dryer is a handy tool for warming her up after a bath.

She loves it!

We have discovered that Sophia is very expressive with her hands:

I don't love the pacifier that she has because it covers a lot of her face,

but it's the one the hospital gave her and she won't take any others.

Gram-gram Bokovoy!

Poppa Brady!

Dah-dah!

(The panfa outfit was courtesy Nonna (Danette) and Poppa Brady.

It's a newborn sized outfit that hangs loosely on her here,

but it fits her nicely now.

Momma!

Sophia likes to listen to Momma talk ... what a good girl!

She loves to be held by Daddy: 

All is right in the world! 

I think she looks especially young here ... almost like a fetus.

The picture was taken on October 13th, when she was 38 weeks gestationally,

so she really could have been a fetus at that time!

Somehow her binky ended up out of her mouth and propping up her cheek:

 We seem to have a lot of pictures of Sophia sleeping ...

But I'm pretty sure they were all taken during the day.

She sleeps so well in Daddy's arms!

I love this outfit that my cousins Lisa and Alisha got for Sophia. 

Unfortunately, she only wore it once before she grew out of it.

Nakey baby!

She spends very little time in just her diaper - she still gets cold very easily.

Sophia sleeps best in this position:

We think it's her mommy's familiar heartbeat ... combined with being on her belly.

The nurses at the NICU often put her on her belly to sleep.

We can't let her sleep on her belly in her bed because of the risk of SIDS

since she's not hooked up to monitors like she was in the hospital.

Uncle Andy

His nickname for her is Salsa!

(His nickname for me is Bean-dip)

Some cute car seat shots: 

We just learned that it's also an asphyxiation hazard for babies to sleep in their car seats...

so that will have to stop.

The outfit she's wearing is a preemie size (courtesy Grandma Saxton)

I love how she is really filling it out here.

This is what she's like at night:

Wide-eyed and beautiful as we like to say.

But even when she keeps us up all night, she still takes our breath away.

Lots of time spent burping:

Say what?!

Another cute preemie outfit (that no longer fits)

 ... this one courtesy of great Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway:

Sophia was a skeleton for Halloween:

Sophia is our Sweet Little Angel Baby!

Sophia loves bathtime!

Hi Daddy!

I love the next series of pictures of Sophia with her daddy:

Just look at those lashes!

Bright eyes!

Oopsy - a little spit up ...

Li'l sleepy head

Nostril shot!

Our little panda bear:

Quick update:

At her last weigh in nearly 2 weeks ago, Sophia was 6 pounds 13.5 ounces.

She's been gaining about a ounce a day.

When we first brought her home she had 6 of her 8 feedings by bottle

(breastmilk fortified with formula for extra calories).

Now she has only one bottle per day.

This makes things much easier for me now that I don't have to pump every 3 hours.

She has become a very efficient nurser - it usually only takes 10-15 minutes for her to eat!

And the greatest thing:  for two nights this week she woke up only once per night!

I forgot how good it feels to get several hours of sleep at once!!