Some random pics

I love taking pictures of Sophia when she sleeps:

Here, I put her in the shirt that the hospital sent home with her.

It says Special Delivery BABY from St. Mark's Hospital.

At six months old, she fills out the 0-3 month shirt nicely. 

Sophia likes to try and eat my vitamins ... 

"What?"

(And thanks to Sophia's Aunt Melissa for the cute outfit!)

Clean Carpets

We had our carpets cleaned in March...

My little brother Scott came out to Vernal just to clean our carpets.

Here are some pics of Sophia enjoying the carpet for the first time:

She looks very small in our living room when there's no furniture...

Gotta love clean carpets!

Sophia's First Taste of "Solid" Food

I haven't posted for awhile ...

So, here is the first of a few posts to recap what we've been up to:

Sophia first enjoyed rice cereal around the first of March:

And things get a little messy.

Video of her very first experience with "Solid" Food:

Starting to Babble

I'm loving this stage of Sophia's development as she's starting to babble.  Here are some videos of her getting very close to saying, "ba."

Such a sweet little voice!

Jenny Jump-Up

We got a "jenny jump-up" for Sophia for Christmas.

It's a little too big for her...

And she doesn't get the concept of jumping, but we like to see her in it.

That is, until she's had enough.

Here is a video of her very first time in the jumper:

Sophia's Blessing

Here's the info about Sophia's blessing: Sunday, May 1st 2011 at 1:00 pm at the Aspen 5th Ward Meetinghouse (965 W 2000 N, Orem, UT).



We are planning to have a little open house around 2:30 pm at my parents' house (just down the street from where the blessing will take place).

A Few of my Favorite Things

When Sophia smiles when I say, "Come to Momma!"

When Sophia drools a little when she's sleeping.

After a long day, being able to talk with Danny about everything that happened.

The smell of her breath.

Watching her sleep.

Napping as a family.

Six Months Old!

Can you believe it's been 1/2 a year since Sophia was born?

I can't.

For me it's been a haze of

feedings every three hours,

pumping far more often than is convenient,

diaper changes,

bathtimes,

a nearly-constant layer of spit-up on my clothing,

and spending most of my time indoors and away from public places per doctor's orders. 

Fortunately,

the last couple of months

have also been filled with

lots of cuddling,

smiles,

and laughs.

***

Ever since we brought Sophia home from the NICU, we've been looking forward to April as the time we would regain our freedom and would finally be able to go out in public as a family.  But our hopes were dashed yesterday when I took Sophia to her doctor's appointment.

"RSV hit us late," he said.  "And because of the warmer weather we've had, we are seeing bronchitis as well.  There are six kids in the hospital right now from these things."

"When do you think we'll be able to take her out?" I asked.

"End of May," he said.  "Well, maybe the beginning of May," he said, reconsidering his initial prognosis.

I then told him of our plans to go to California in April.  Danny has a conference in San Diego the first week in April, so we thought we'd add a few days to the trip, make a vacation out of it, and introduce Sophia to members of Danny's family that she hasn't met yet.  The doctor asked if we were going by car or plane.  I told him by plane.  He said that an airplane is practically the worst place for germs because the air is just recirculated over and over.  Yikes.  But he also said we could go and just hope for the best. 

We're still going to go to California, but it looks like we'll be driving.

***

In other news, Sophia now weighs 12 pounds 11 ounces and is in the 2.88 percentile for her weight. 

She's still in the 27th percentile for her head circumference, but the doctor said that that's just because she has a big brain.  We liked the sound of that. :)

She has nearly grown out of her 0-3 month clothing.  Time to break out the 3-6 month outfits!

Sophia LOVES playing with her toys.  She has greatly developed the skills of holding onto things (including Mommy's and Daddy's glasses!) and bringing them to her mouth. What a big girl!

She also enjoys attempting to drink water from a glass.  Mostly she just succeeds in getting everybody wet, but it's hilarious to watch her try!


***

One other piece of exciting news:

Sophia's cousin Perrin was born today!
Congratulations to Dan and Melissa!!

Sophia's First Walk!

The past few weeks in Vernal have been in the high 30's and 40's...

and, while to some of  you that may seem pretty cold, to us it's been a heat wave!

(It got down to -10 degrees farenheit a few times!!)

So, I've been taking advantage of the warmer weather to get out of the house with Sophia

and take some walks around our neighborhood.

A big thank you to Sophia's Grandparents Bokovoy for giving us this awesome stroller/carseat combo:

It's perfect for our long walks!

We have to make sure that Sophia is bundled up because it's not that warm yet...

On our walks we have visited the Field House dinosaur museum:

(we just walked around the outside actually, since Sophia is still not going out to public places)

It took us only 15 minutes to get there from our house!

We also visited the outside of the library from across the street:

It took us 20 minutes to walk there.

My favorite building to walk around is the Uintah County fitness center:

It's only a 10-minute walk away and there is a fun walking path around the building.

We're excited to someday join the fitness center!

Just some more pictures...

After enjoying some rice cereal:

(She looks a lot like her cousin Parker in this picture)

Here she was actually trying to sit up on her own ...

and was about to fall over

We love our sweet little girl!

Sophia's Five Month Birthday

Yesterday was Sophia's five-month birthday!  Here are some recent pictures of her:

Our Chubby Little Cherub

Stretching after a nice nap

"You want to take MY picture?"

"Okay!"

We have just started giving Sophia rice cereal (video to follow), and she's getting so close to crawling!

It's amazing how quickly she's growing!!

Four-Month Check-up

Sophia is over her cold for the most part (thank heavens it was never too serious), and she had her 4-month well-baby check-up today.  She actually will be 5-months old tomorrow, but we were a little behind in scheduling it ... which is okay because she's 4-months old gestationally.

Sophia's Stats:

Weight:  11 lbs 11 oz (3rd percentile (up from the 1.47 percentile on Dec 31st))

Length:  24 inches (15th percentile!)

Head Circumference: I forget the number (27th percentile!!)

We're so proud of how well she's growing!

Sophia's First Cold

When we went to Orem for my brother's wedding, we knew we were rolling the dice.  Unfortunately, we lost the wager. 

Sophia has gotten her first cold.  Actually, we all got sick.  And poor Sophia has a 100 degree fever, a little cough, and a runny little nose.  In addition, we think she might have a sore throat, but since she can't talk to us, we're not sure.  Despite her afflictions, she is maintaining a sweet disposition.  She smiles after she sneezes, and she still babbles away like usual.  However, she seems to be a little more lethargic than usual.

We hope she recovers soon!

Valentine's Wedding Weekend

We spent this past weekend in Orem for my brother Andy's wedding.  He got married on the most romantic day of the year:  my birthday (otherwise known as Valentine's Day).  And he gave me a great birthday present - a sweet sister-in-law named Heather!  We are all very happy to have her in the family.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

We stayed at Danny's brother David's and sister-in-law Carolyn's house in Orem.

It was so nice to have people around to help hold and feed Sophia.

David and Carolyn's kids thought Sophia looked adorable in this outfit:

My sister Jessica made Sophia's flower headband for Andy's wedding: 

My Grandma Duersch came to town for the wedding,

and we decided to take a four-generation picture.

Here is Sophia in her dress for the wedding:

We were a little wary of taking Sophia to the wedding

since we've been so good at cloistering her this winter.

But since we couldn't very well miss my brother's wedding, we brought her along.

It was a little scary because there were a few sick people there,

however, Sophia seems to have made it through without getting sick - thank heavens!

Mommy and Sophia with flowers in their hair:

(my sis Jessica made my flower too)

Danette (Sophia's nonna) bought her this dress and shoes for the wedding: 

Family picture:

Sophia's First Laugh

Last Friday, Danny and I were sitting on the couch playing with Sophia and she was in a very good mood.  I started bouncing her and then all of a sudden, she laughed.  It was the most amazing, magical sound!  And what was even more amazing was that Danny was home to hear it too.  I kept bouncing her and more and more giggles bubbled out.  Being a mom is tough, but it's perfect little moments like that that make all the hard work and sacrifice more than worth it.

Other than laughing, Sophia's pastimes include drooling, rolling over, speaking in unintelligible syllables, and trying to sit on her own.  From this list you might conclude that she is a puppy ... but you'd be wrong.  She is an adorable little baby girl, and I have the pictures to prove it:

Drooling...

 The next series of pictures are blurry because she was rolling over when I wanted her to stay still...

"Here I go!"

"Are you watching me, mommy?"

"Picking up momentum now..."

"Did you see how fast I rolled?" 

Trying to sit up

It's no small feat for Sophia to lift her head like this...

imagine if your head were 1/3 of your body weight!

This is Sophia's preferred method of sleeping:

In my arms.

And while it prevents me from getting very much done,

I love what a cuddlebug she is.

Because, as I often remind myself,

she's growing so quickly;

soon enough she'll be

too big

to sleep

in her mommy's arms.

Sophia's first day (video!)

These are a few snippets of video from Sophia's first night in the NICU at St. Mark's.  I was in my Labor and Delivery Room recovering from the C-Section and enduring the side-effects of the magnesium sulfate (anti-seizure) medication.

Sophia just laying there ... it's kind of shocking how much her ribs are showing.

Sweet little cry:

More crying and some rooting reflex:

First diaper change:

Getting her temperature taken:

Bath Time and Ballerinas

Our little girl keeps growing and is getting bigger everyday!

Here are some cute pics:

Sophia's "Aunt" Susan gave her this outfit.

Sophia loves bath time! 

Gotta love those rolls! 

Can a girl get any cuter than this? 

 Only this girl!

Sophia's Grandma Bokovoy bought her a sweet ballerina outfit for Christmas.  

Here are some pictures of Sophia wearing it:

Our little primadonna 

Now she's in a better mood...

So graceful!

 Does this tutu make me look fat?

 Happy dancer

Sophia loves to play with her new doll that her Grandma Saxton gave her: