Hey Look, A List!

I pretty much never blog in list form. Which is funny, because I love lists, and "list posts" are very popular with bloggers and blog readers alike. So here is a list of thoughts I wanted to share but was not about to put into posts of their own.

1. I forgot to say, in Sophia's 3.5-Almost-4-Month post that she is grabbing things mostly with her left hand. We think we might have a left-hander. Which is interesting, because both Art and I are right-handed. I wonder if perhaps hand preference/dominance is not driven by genetics? Hmm...

2. A couple of weeks ago, one of the blogs I follow (Pregnant Chicken - very hilarious) did a giveaway, and I won! I never win these things! The giveaway was $25 worth of merchandise from the Etsy shop Lulu's Nest. She makes the cutest wool felt hair accessories for little girls. I chose a ballet slipper clip, a butterfly clip, a dessert clip set, and a cupcake bookmark.




I can't wait to put these in Sophia's hair!

3. My sister and a friend gave me similar advice for Sophia's not-so-good napping situation. I then realized that it was pretty much what I did to get Sophia to sleep in her playpen at night. Duh! I need to employ the same method, but now I'm doing it during the day instead of at night. I'm excited and hopeful, and also nervous that I'm going to give up after one day. So I'm only going to start on Monday. That way Art can enjoy his weekend and not have to deal with the frustration of Nap Time Experimentation. *Fingers crossed!*

4. My mom is going to buy us a swing-that-also-turns-into-a-highchair. I'm hoping this will help keep Sophia entertained a little bit longer than her bouncy seat, and then maybe I can actually prepare a meal! *Again, fingers crossed!*

5. Speaking of preparing meals, Art has been doing most of the cooking these days. And by "cooking" I mean "sometimes baking." It's so cute seeing him in the kitchen, stirring a bowl of flour and sugar and butter, and rolling the dough in his hands, and popping pans in and out of the oven. And since I'm a bit of a cookie monster myself, I don't complain when we end up having cookies for dinner (followed by a little bit of chicken much much later.)

I don't know what it is about summer that makes us go, "health food shmealth food." It was like this last summer too. Pizza and slurpees and ice cream and Taco Bell. All the time. I think it's so funny that people told us we got pregnant because of our healthy eating. I kept thinking to myself, "But we haven't eaten healthy in a couple of months now!"

6. A year ago today I was approximately one week pregnant, and I had no idea!

7. We basically didn't do anything for the 4th of July this year. We were going to watch the parade in Oak Harbor, but we left the house too late for that. So we hung out with Art's parents instead. Which means we sat inside and watched TV for several hours. And then we went home before it got dark, so we didn't get to watch any fireworks. I could hear them going on somewhere outside (and some were so loud! I can't believe Sophia slept at all that night), but I couldn't see them. Oh well. July 4th comes around every year. It won't always be like this.

8. I changed my blog. Did you notice? Do you see the white space behind these words? I have wanted my blog to look like this for a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long time, and I finally figured out how! And then I changed the background (outside of this white space) to something "coast-like", to better represent the name of my blog. I'm quite happy with it. Except the header. It's close, but not quite perfect. But I think it's a huge improvement.

9. It is a perfectly warm and sunny day, and Sozan and I going to a small market that sells farm-fresh produce. I've been dying to get my hands on some strawberries and raspberries and Ranier cherries. We also promised that we would go berry picking this summer. We have promised to do so every summer since I moved here, but it has never happened. This year WILL be the year. There are so many U-Pick farms around here, so we have no excuse.

10. And now I must stop typing, because I have reached the magical number (10), and Sophia just woke up from her first of many lap naps, and Art is about to serve up some peppercorn steak and eggs for "breakfast." (It's noon.)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

3.5, Almost 4 Month Update

My little girl has changed so much in the past couple of months. All of a sudden she started cooing and "talking" and moving and playing.

Some of the new things she's up to are:

1. She has discovered her hands and is very quickly learning how to use them. She sucks on her fists when she's hungry, grabs at things, and even brings them to her mouth.



2. She blows bubbles and drools like crazy.


Here is what her talking now sounds like:




3. I got her weighed today, and she is 11.5 pounds. Four weeks ago she was measured and, at that time, was 24 inches long. That's five inches in less than three months! I wouldn't be surprised if she has grown another inch since then. She's a tall girl.




4. She still doesn't like tummy time very much, but she's very strong. She can push herself up quite far! She also loves to "stand." If she feels something solid beneath her feet, she'll straighten her legs and try to support herself.


She's still very wobbly of course, and I know it will be months before she can do it on her own. But it's still exciting to see her try.


5. She's starting new fashion trends. She came up with this one all by herself!



6. She sleeps through the night. She has a late bedtime (10pm, sometimes later) and she's usually up around 6:00 (sometimes a little earlier), but that still means I'm getting a solid seven hours, at least, so I can't complain. Plus, after her 6am feeding, she goes back down

Daytime sleeping isn't going as well though. She takes several short naps (between 15-20 minutes long), and she takes them in my lap. If I try to move her, she wakes up. So I'm praying that naptime will get better, but in the meantime, I can deal with it (since she's sleeping so well at night).


7. She is a much more efficient eater. Most nursing sessions last less than half an hour. Sometimes, she's done in under 10 minutes! She's not really on any feeding schedule though. Sometimes she has a nice long playtime and goes an hour and a half between feedings. Other times she cluster feeds for a couple of hours at a time.

I don't know how other mothers do it. I haven't fully prepared a meal (other than breakfast) since she was born. Art does all of the cooking now. I'm trying not to wish that time would pass quickly, but I'm definitely looking forward to her being able to entertain herself long enough for me to make dinner.

Of course, when she becomes more independent, I'll probably tell you that I miss having a little baby who needs me all the time... :)

Smiles

These days, Art and I find ourselves doing all kinds of silly things in order to get Sophia to smile. Eliciting a smile is getting easier and easier. Capturing it on camera? Not so much.







Finally I decided just to take a video when Art was playing with her.



I live for my little girl's smiles.