From A to Zig: July 2012

On the 4th of July, we baptized Sophia in a small ceremony at my mom's house. Our cousin Todd is a pastor and is amazing. We are so lucky to have him in our lives and the ceremony was so personal to us, because he knows us. I have a few pictures, but my battery died on my camera, so the rest are on my brother's camera.

We chose Rich and Rebecca as her Godparents. This was a big, hard decision for us to make because there are a lot of people in our lives who could fulfill that role. We chose them because they seriously do so much for us and for our girls. They came running at 1 am, when I went in to labor to stay with Emmy, they always come to the house to watch the girls, they spent the weekend at our house when we went out of town for a friend's wedding to stay with Em. Rebecca is always on the floor or in the princess castle playing with Em. It's like they know when we need a break and they pick up and take charge, giving baths, feeding dinner etc. They take care of my girls, like they are their own and I know that both girls, will always feel comfortable talking to them and going to them for advice. And really they are here. We are super fortunate because we have a ton of family in town and we get a lot of help. Our girls are good, because they have such a large family presence and consistency in their lives.

A tradition that Zig's sister created was for all our kids to be baptized in Dad's Christening gown, which is over 60 years old. It is beautiful and its an heriloom! We first baptized Emily in it a few years ago, then Livi, and now Sophia. I am not sure why Ryan wasn't baptized in it though. Jenn is going to have the dates of each baptism sewn into the gown. It is a beautiful tradition and I am so glad Jenn decided to share this with us. She has always been so thoughtful. I really admire that about her. Needless to say though, Sophia "christened" the Christening gown with a big blow out. Awesome. Thankfully, we acted quick and was able to get it out. Anyway, here are some pictures, and there are many more to come!

Sophia is 4 months old! She is seriously the most calm baby ever. Really. I am not just saying that because I am biased. She is just so super chill, it's awesome. That being said, when she does cry, it's rough. She can be really hard to calm down if and when she gets upset.

We had Sophia's 4 month check up last week. She is right on track and our Ped is very happy with her progress and how she is meeting her milestones. All this time I have thought that Sophie is so much bigger than Em, but percentile wise, they are exactly the same. Looking back at Emmy's records, she really didn't start dropping on the curve till about 6 months though. Hopefully Sophia continues being such a good eater. Here are some stats from Sophia's checkup:

She weighs 14 lbs even. She is in the 50th percentile for weight (she is a little bit heavier than Emmy, I think Em was about 13 and a half pounds at this age.)
She is 24 1/4 inches long. 50-75th percentile in height (she is about 1/4 inch shorter than Emmy)

I think the big difference between the girls in that Emmy was longer and has always carried her weight in her belly. Sophia is a little shorter and carries her weight mostly in her cheeks, but also spread out evenly through the rest of her. She has those amazing arm and leg rolls.

I was seriously AWFUL about taking pictures this month. It was hard because it was my first full month back at work, so there weren't a ton of opportunities to do so. Boo. June was a good month for us though. Sophia is really developing her personality. She is super happy, not greedy with her smiles at all, and very chatty. She is so super sweet! Here is what she has been up to this month.

She has been meeting all her milestones for her age. She reaches for toys, can clasp her hands, roll from back to belly, and she puts everything in her mouth, to name a few.
She drools a ton, but it's just the age. Emmy did the same thing and we didn't get teeth for her, for a few months down the line.
She wears size 2 diapers. After many blowouts trying to use up the size 1's we had, we just decided to move on.
She is still on the same eating schedule that she was on last month (nurse at 6, then eat 4 1/2-5 oz bottles every 3 hours during the day, and then nurse 1-2 more times before bedtime)
Bedtime is pretty close to 7 every night. She turns into a grump if we push it back much more. This was the best decision we made for our kids. Early bed time. It keeps us sane. It does suck that we only get about 2 hours to spend with them in the evening, but I would rather play super hard for those 2 hours, than have a grumpy baby/kid to deal with by keeping them up later. And it's important for Zig and I to have that time to spend together each day.
She still fits in her 0-3 month clothes, but they are starting to get snug, so we have started putting those away, and phasing in the 3-6 month clothes.
She sleeps from 7pm-2am, wakes up for a quick feed, and then I wake her up at 6 to eat again before I pump. By definition, she is sleeping through the night. She has hit the 4 month wakeful period, and while sometimes I hate waking up to walk to her room to offer the paci, she is so super smiley and happy to see me, that it kinda makes it worth it. We are just being patient and reading her cues. If she wants to eat, I am going to feed her. If she continues to wake a lot at night, we will reassess it at around 6 months and make a decision on if we want to try and do some sleep training, so she can really learn to self soothe. With Emmy, by the time I finished reading the Ferber book, she was sleeping again. At her age too, it's totally understandable that she is waking because she is so much more aware of her surroundings.
We starting letting her sleep unswaddled, because she really didn't seem to care either way, and I figured it was easier to break the habit before she got to used to it. She was still sleeping the same either way. However, I started swaddling again because she goes down much easier. Otherwise she has long (loud) conversations with her hands before going to bed. We are going to stop using the swaddleme blankets and switch to receiving ones though, that way if she breaks free, it's no big deal.
We pierced her ears. I know this can be a hot topic, but it was a choice that Zig and I made. We did it with Emmy and never had any problems and now, she is super proud of them. Soph cried for all of 2 seconds and then was back to her happy self. That being said, they turned out crooked, noticeably, so we took one out and are going to get it fixed this weekend. It sucks, I know, but I still don't regret our decision. I have heard horror stories about kids getting them done later in life and I figured I would get it done before she even realized they were there and was less likely to mess with them. To each their own. I think the sound of the piercing gun is what scared her anyway. Sweet little pearls for a sweet little girl. :)