Happy 8 Months!!



Sophia is 8 months today!!

 

This last month has been an exciting one full of milestones. She has given kisses when asked and is on the verge of clapping - both taught to her by adoring big brother Michael!

 

Sophia weighed in at 16 pounds today (7.3 kilos). She's getting heavy!!

 

 

We also had a good time this past month with a visit from Nana and Aunt Heather! (Will get up that post eventually.)

Tia Heather, she wasn't  fan of this head bow... 

Revenge!!

A new face she seems to make when her gums hurt?

When she's happy, she's a delight. But when she's teething or tired...which sometimes seems like all the time, since she still resists sleep like it's poison...watch out!!!

Flushed cheeks when she was cutting her first tooth :(

She again has all of the signs of a month ago when her first tooth made it's appearance, so we're constantly checking for (and even dreaming about) her second. I'm a little nervous... I've just come off a rough 2 weeks of healing the first wound she inflicted on me! That's the closest I've come to wanting to wean. And the bite came less than a week after two clogged ducts in a row, including on my birthday (thanks to being at the hospital several hours waiting on CDA's heart baby to come out of surgery the day before, sans baby). It was a VERY VERY PAINFUL month, wow. I've used pain breathing techniques more in nursing than I ever did in a relatively short labor....

 

 

Our new mei-tai carrier! We both love it!

Speaking of carriers...

The baby was having a blast playing "horsey" with her brothers a few days ago!

Michael giving her a special up-do during bath time

"What are you doing, brother...?"

SUPER BABY!!!

 

This was how the boys kept the baby (and themselves) busy one morning while I got ready for the day. They are so sweet with her!!

Michael had a horrible cough for a couple of weeks recently and it was torture for him to stay away from Sophia. It was hard for me and Sophia, too! So glad he is back in the game with us. :)

Reading a book from Nana with brother Joel (he had a challenge keeping her from ripping the pages, but he was patient!)

New warm pjs for a Cochabamba winter!

 

 

A gift from the Beaty Grandparents, already much enjoyed. She loves sucking on a piece of frozen banana!

Little snack on a crazy hair morning

 

One Saturday morning at the market, one of the flower vendors gave Sophia a bouquet of pansies.

Checking them out...

Hmm...

 

Attack!!

Sweet baby

And here I thought I didn't have many pictures of the past month!! I have to keep my camera always at the ready, and the next week will be no different. Tomorrow morning, we travel to La Paz and Copacabana/Lake Titicaca for a week! This will be the first time traveling by plane for any of our four kids, and for us with kids, so it should be memorable all around. :)

Talking and Teeth

Since today is Jake's birthday...

Sophia is TONS of fun now when she's not suffering with teething! Within just a few days in May, she started sitting up steadily, got her first tooth, began waving (we hadn't even tried to teach her that yet), and started working hard to repeat words.

Her first word just might be "da-da", as this video shows! I filmed this on May 21, the first day she started really trying to mimic what we were saying. Somehow it provides me with no end of entertainment to watch her smacking her jaws together, copying me. :)

(Duct-taped toy on highchair is thanks to - you guessed it - daddy!)

Jake works with her on "mama" and she tries, but her forte is still "dada"!

When Daddy Naps the Baby...

In spite of the title, this isn't actually a funny post. Sleeping our baby is serious business around here, because in this house, if baby isn't happy - nobody's happy! ;-)

 

And when Daddy puts the baby to sleep, I find his touches.

 

 

Found a good spot for her hair clip!

 
 

Daddy always folds this blanket special

 

 

And a few more sweet naptime pictures I found while looking for the two above:

 

 

 Sweet sleeping (and unswaddled!) baby...

 

 

 Popped out of her swaddle blanket, a common sight

 
 

A normal naptime "look"... Wide awake!

 

 

 This was back in early April before the temps started to drop for winter.

 

 

 Slobber face!!

Jake recently told her, "You could water an orchard with that face!!" and I laughed out loud. :-)

   

 

The Yellow Outfit

 

At some point, all three of my sisters and I wore this sweet smocked onesie:

 

 

 

Last week it was Sophia's turn! She has almost outgrown it so I got it on her just in time. I just hadn't been able to find a time when she was happy, rested, and hair clean - all during daylight hours when I have a moment!

She also pretty much HATES clothes changing time. Coming out of clothes is usually okay, but being dressed again is the pits, so this was the very first picture:

 I'm offended, Mom!

(Come on, don't you want to play doll?!)

My bright-eyed baby!

I love these on her dad's colorful baby quilt, one of my favorite things!

Here's our little sitter!!

Looking like she needs a nap here, but still so cute!!

Jennifer went to the market to buy vegetables...

Special post by Jacob Beaty

 

Jennifer went to the market to buy vegetables, and I stayed home with the boys and Sophia. I finished what I was reading on the internet about geology and propped Sophia in her bouncy chair. Michael was recreating a soccer game on the floor of the living room using colored plastic bottle caps for the different teams. I thought I would sit down with my book in the living room, watch the baby a little, watch Michael a little, but mostly read.

I sat down with the book and read half-way through one sentence. “Daddy, look!” Michael then showed me how the white cap with red letters was Messi and how he could kick the rolled up gum wrapper ball. I re-read the first half of the sentence. “Daddy, look!” the white cap with blue letters was Ronaldino. I re-read the first half of the sentence, and managed to make it through two more. All the while, Michael was saying, “Daddy, look! Daddy! Daddy! Look, Daddy, look!”

The red caps were Real Madrid. I read a sentence. “Daddy, look!” Real Madrid scored a goal. “Daddy, look!” I read another sentence. “Look, Daddy!” I ignored him and kept reading. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” I looked up. I don’t even like soccer. There was a fight with the goalie. Michael was making punch impact sounds with his mouth and producing a spray of spittle with each hit. I tried to read another sentence, but had to read it again for the sound of spitting concussions. He was adding to the drama by making some sing-songy string of seven distorted notes, repeated endlessly like a drunken rendition of the Mario Brothers background music.

“Daddy, look!” Some other story about the bottle caps. “Daddy, look!” I read another sentence and put my finger on the spot. The white team was subbing in blue caps, they’re not as good, but Messi was injured. I lost my spot on the page. After some searching, I found it. “Daddy, look! Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Look, Daddy!” It was like a battering ram! He was relentless! Even a pencil can break down a door with enough hits.

Jennifer left me for over an hour. She finally came through the door, arms loaded down with bags of vegetables. She set them on the floor and walked into the bedroom for something, it doesn’t matter. I followed her and told her about my day, well, the hour. She walked back out of the bedroom into the kitchen to deal with the vegetables. I followed her and kept telling my story. I think she was trying to get away, but I wasn’t going to let her. “Honey, listen!”

“Now you know how I feel!” she exclaimed with a grin. “It’s going to be great when you’re working from home.”

“Oh no, I’m going to have my own private little special little office!”

“I want my own office, too!”

It’s a good thing I have so much patience.

Pinterest Fail :)

Now that the grandparents have received their little gifts from their grandchildren, I can tell the "behind the scenes" story! :)

Jake's dad sent us the above picture, with the hint that we should try to do it. I thought "How cute!", then, "What an easy keepsake!"

As a warm-up, I first had all the kids give me their handprint. That went well enough! Sophia's print was a little complicated to get, but this was back when she was barely 5 months old and definitely less active than now.

It took over a month later to realize that I had a volunteer heading back who could take these for us, and that I needed to actually do the requested handprint picture.

Jake did his the day before, to let it dry. Then me that night, then Sophia the next day.

Now remember, this was our goal:

After Jake did his handprint, which came out decidedly less "defined" than the above, he asked "Is this going to be like those pinterest fails?" I replied "Aw, of course not. It will be great!"

Famous last words!

Here's our BEST attempt:

...and with the caption

 

Joel helped me with different colors for Sophia's handprint, but to no avail.

Our last three attempts...

We cleaned up the baby's hands and clothes, and I washed out my jean jacket. And then I thought to myself, "Why waste all of that beautiful rosy paint?" I grabbed some good paper and painted Sophia's hands again.

 

Well, that also didn't go so well!! She's just so ACTIVE and grabby now!

 

At one point Joel was hollering "MOMMY!! SOPHIA!! LOOK AT SOPHIA!" I looked up at him and he was demonstrating how I was holding her neck while stretching out her arm for the handprint.(See retake, below.) OOPS!

 

 

 

So, yeah.... 

That's the end of my craft attempts for now. :)