Bathtime Baby

Just to piggy back on the cute pics from a few days ago....

4 months

Dear Sophie Lou,
4 months is so big! You've had rice cereal twice now, and you are more active than ever. You are also doing such a great job and entertaining yourself lately, which is fun for everyone involved. We love watching you play in your bouncer or with your rattles or even just your hands.

Things you are/do:
* chatty
* giggle box
* smiley
* hungry!
* strong willed (your tantrums are already epic!)
* grab everything
* rolly polly - both because you roll and you're chunky :)
* bubble blower
* sweet blessing
* put your hands together like you're praying
* I'm pretty sure there's a good chance you're going to be left handed....you always have that hand in your mouth, and its the one you reach for toys and spoons with. Just like daddy and grandpa Trousdale!
* doing sit ups with mommy (ummm to clarify mommy's not doing any sit ups. you do them, I just help the process)
We love you more every day Little Lou! To quote your Daddy, "Awww, baby smiles are the best part of my day!" Your smiles and giggles melt our hearts :)

She's ready for WHAT?!?

4 months ago I had a little, tiny, sweet 6 pound 10 ounce lump of baby who couldn't hold her head up or stay awake for longer than 3 hours at a time. She had a sweet little cry and a scrunchy face. Now I have an even sweeter, happy, talkative, chunky 4 month old. She looks all over the place, and there IS a neck under those chubby cheeks! She pretty regularly sleeps through the night now, and is grabbing EVERYTHING and ANYTHING....and putting it right in her little kisser. She's a rolling baby too, rolling from her tummy to back often, and she's starting to attempt back to tummy.

Her 4 month doctor visit went fantastic....I'm don't mean to brag, but he said she IS advanced when it comes to bearing weight on her legs. Go Sophie! She had to get 3 shots in her thunder thighs, which she did not like one bit :( :( :( But, I guess polio and Hep B are worse, so she powered through.

THEN, he told me I need to start her on BABY CEREAL! No no no, big, older babies get that, not my tiny little baby girl! I thought I had 2 more months to get used to the idea of my child eating anything besides mommy milk; I'm the one that's not ready! So, being the well-read and research driven mother I am, I asked about most things I read saying wait until 6 months, and he told me smart doctor stuff about how that's true for solids like banana, but rice cereal is important for iron. He's a doctor so I believe him. So we tried it.

She was a little nervous at first.....

Then we prepared 1 tablespoon of the yummy stuff

Daddy's first time feeding a baby! They both did awesome!

She LOVED it! 60% of it ended up on her bib or in her neck rolls, but she kept opening her mouth for more!

All done! Yummy! Now she's ready to have a bath and go to sleep. I love my 4 month old baby girl!

Splish Splash

School.drives.me.crazy.
Seriously, most days I walk my students down to the door, and then I grab my stuff and I'm out the door at 3:20 on the dot. Then I drive (faster than I probably should) to get to my Sophie Lou. She may scream in my ear and burp in my face and poop while I'm holding her, but I prefer that to some of the junk that goes on at school and gives me ulcers. Oh sweet Sophie, you don't make 5th grade boys cry by telling them they have boobs (true story from today) and you don't (poorly) tell Your Mama jokes. Instead, you smile and look cute and talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk. I know we can't tell exactly what you're saying yet, but I'm pretty sure you're telling me how much you love me and your daddy. And how you think I look SO PRETTY.

Hands down, my favorite Sophie Lou time is BATH TIME! She used to HATE bath time, but now she gets so excited and kicks her legs and squeals! She has just figured out how to splash, so now bath time consists of 20 minutes of splashing and squealing, then we can actually get clean. PS, check out those fat rolls on her thunder thighs....SO CHUNKY!

Kick those legs!

Rubber duckie, you're the one....

I love bath time!

Now my hair is clean!

Hooded towel Sophie, so fresh and so clean clean

I....wanna rock and roll all night....and sleep all day!

Dear daughter Sophie,
Night time is for sleeping. Daytime is for napping. I, unlike you, do not have the luxurious lifestyle of being able to stay up all night and then spend the day at the babysitter, sleeping from 9 - 12, and then again from 1:30 - 3. I have to work with crazy 11-year-old children who make me mentally and physically exhausted. Nap time is not allowed for mommy, because mommy likes getting a paycheck. Hey, how about tonight, you sleep between the hours of 2:30 - 5, ok? That would be swell.

Oh, also.....you're getting too big. Knock that off right now.

Looooove, Mommy

On another note, Sophie Lou is rolling from tummy to back all the time. Probably because she hates her tummy, so she has quickly learned how to get out of the torture situation. For the last few days, she has rolled about 75% of the way, and then stayed on her side for quite a while! Today she just talked, sucked on her hands, and hung out on her side for 30 whole minutes. Its funny. And cute. Most things she does are.

And the tradition lives on....

Ahhh, I love tradition! The Christmas season is my favorite time of the entire year, mostly due to traditions we honor year after year. On of the best is Wadsworth Christmas, which always includes lots of food, games, and laughing until someone pees their pants. Its usually Sara.

The Wadsworths are our family best friends. They were some of our first friends when we moved to Kansas, and Jessica and I were in the same 5th grade class. We looked amazing in 5th grade by the way. Doesn't everyone?
Wadsworth Christmas has taken place for many, many, many years. I don't know that we have ever skipped a year! In the early years, we made gingerbread houses. It didn't take long for that to become predictable, so we made gingerbread trains, cookie creations, and one year we forsake decorating all together and participated in the Christmas Olympics. This year, we had the challenge of depicting a Christmas song using candy and frosting. As usual, our team ROCKED it. I don't know if we actually won according to the rubric (oh yes, there was a rubric) but I'll just say we won.

Katie, Jessica, Tim, and Bryan working hard with sprinkles :)

Jessica gives a thumbs up while Katie concentrates

Sophie did not pull her weight AT ALL. She slept through the whole thing. Not a team player.

The old folks breakin' a sweat

The young folks hard at work

Ok, this is the parents' creation. Can you guess the popular Christmas song? Answers below!

Here is the young peoples' contribution

And the BEST one, OUR CANDY CREATION!

Answers
Picture 1: Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer
Picture 2: that dumb song about Christmas shoes and not having enough money to buy them
Picture 3: duh, O Christmas Tree!

Unrelated to Wadsworth Christmas, we played poker the next night. I just want you to note Tim's small sad piles of chips and my amazing winnings. I am a secret poker star.

Stalker Much?

Hi, my name is Tamara, and I'm a Pioneer Woman-a-holic. There, I said it. And I'm not ashamed of it really, I just adore that funny lady's blog. Its over there to the right under "My Blog List", go poke around for yourself. I want to write like her, I want to take pictures of food like her, I want 4 kids like her. Basically I want to be this woman's best friend. I love the friends I have, I just want her too. I don't think I want to live on a working cattle ranch, but that's just one way we will be different. I'm actually convinced that if I saw her on the street I would stop her and said "Hey Ree! Its me, Tamara!" and she would for some reason know who I am, even though I've never commented on her blog, and be my friend back. Then we would go shopping. For shoes. Or groceries. It would be fantastic.

Reality kicks in, so I just admire from a distance and read her musings and copy down her recipes. I made this tonight: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/12/spicy-lemon-garlic-shrimp/We ate it with pasta. My tummy is HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!