A Good Report at 6 months!

Sophia had her 6 month check-up today and everything went very well. She weighs just under 17 lbs and is 26 1/2 inches long - between the 50th and 75th percentile for both height and weight. Dr. Lee thinks she is right on track with where she should be for everything and for once, did not refer us to any specialists!!! That was such a relief! She has continued to make progress sitting up this week and is now sitting up all by herself and can play with toys sitting up for long periods of time. It has been fun for Evan and I to be able to sit with her on the floor and play, rather than always having her flat on her back to play. I took a few pictures and videos this week of her sitting up which, if I can find the time this weekend, I will post on the blog. My main objective this weekend is to get all of our clothes ready and packed for our trip to Florida - only a few more days before we leave! I looked up the weather this morning and it is saying high 60's for our arrival - of course that is warmer than New England, but we are still hoping for it to be a tad warmer for us during our vacation. Regardless of the weather, we are so excited to see our family in Florida and to visit with Mickey Mouse too - Evan can't wait! Hopefully I'll get around to posting those videos of Sophia sitting up this weekend....stay tuned!

Sophia's 6 months old already!!

Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe that Sophia is a half a year old already! Since I only seem to be getting around to posting about once a month, I will try to make this a newsy one! Let's see, what's new? We had a bout of sickness that hit the kids hard, and Jeff and I very mildly. That is behind us thank goodness and the last two weeks have been good weeks. Sophia is finally on a schedule for the most part - I have found it to be so much harder to get Sophia on a schedule than it was for Evan, party because it has been so busy between houseguests, holidays, doctor's appointments and such, but mostly because Sophia's schedule has to work with Evan's school and activity schedule too. The last two weeks we have had a good routine down that seems to be working well for us all. She is waking earlier - between 5:30 and 6:30am which seems like it wouldn't be ideal, especially since you all know that I love my sleep and am not a morning person, but it is actually working out well. I like it because I am able to give her a meal of cereal and fruit even before we take Evan to school - that way she can go down for her morning nap having already eaten. I have also been able to transfer her from her carseat and into her crib when we get back from taking Evan to school and she goes right back to sleep, so that makes me feel better than her having to have her morning nap in her carseat! She is down to 2 GOOD naps per day. I am so lucky - she is a great sleeper, like her brother was/is. She takes about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning and another one like it in the afternoon. This has made it easier for me to plan my days too - I have finally started working out, for the first time in years....I mean REALLY working out - full cardio routine/arms/abs. I have been pretty sore this week but it feels good. It had been so long that I had done aerobics that I actually only had VHS tapes and had to go buy a DVD! Oh well, I guess I have had a decent excuse the last few years. We are still getting somewhat broken sleep at night, but Sophia seems to be able to calm herself down and get back to sleep, usually on her own. It just always seems like it is one or the other - two nights ago Evan had me up twice because he swore he saw alligators on his floor. When he finally went back to sleep Sophia ended up fussing. I have somewhat resolved myself to the idea that once you become a parent a full night's sleep is not in the cards anymore - at least not for a LONG time! Sophia's eating between 2-3 meals a day on top of her bottles - cereal, fruits of all kinds and veggies too. She is a decent eater so far - not quite as enthusiastic about meals as I remember Evan being, but then again, Evan was almost 19lbs. at her age so he needed to eat! She has also started drinking a bit of water from a sippy cup. She's done well so far and seems to be getting the hang of it. Sophia has two teeth now and possibly more on the way - it looks like she may have a couple more bottom teeth in the works. She has rolled over a handful of times, but not consistently, she is sitting up unsupported for short periods of time, and is also standing up and can even stand without my support for brief periods - we swear she wants to walk in the worst way, probably because she sees her brother running around the house constantly! All in all, she is doing great and we are really enjoying this age. It seems like every day is something new and she has settled into a happy, fun little girl which is a welcome change from the often fussy, sometimes inconsolable infant that she was. I think this post sets a record for the longest post of all time, but my mother told me that Auntie Meg feels like she doesn't know what Sophia is up to these days so hopefully this gives the distant relatives a good snapshot of what she is like at 6 months old!!
On the Evan front - he, too, is doing great. He loves school and is constantly talking about all of his new friends. I had a conference with his teachers and they had all good things to say about him, which made us proud. He has been very busy painting, creating different forms of artwork, practicing writing his letters and playing lots of Disney computer games this winter. I swear he does better than I do at some of the games! He started a new swim class last week and I am actually going in the water with him now during the class and it has made the world of difference. He was diving into the water last week, as opposed to the first couple classes where he seemed afraid to even go into the pool. We think this will be a good transitional class for him, so that he can get used to the big pool and the structured swim classes. Evan also went snow shoeing for the first time today. He did great and really seemed to like it! We are looking forward to hitting the trails this weekend, perhaps with Lilly since Marti is away and Lilly is staying on Lowell Ave at Barb's. It will be just like old times!
We're off to Florida in two weeks and cannot wait. We are excited for the Pelletier's (aside from Grandma and Pepere) to finally meet Sophia and to see how big Evan is now - the last time we saw everyone was over a year ago. I think that about covers it. Our next post will probably be after our Florida trip and we will then be into March - with spring around the corner!
Valentines Day kisses and hugs to all from the kids. Here are a few recent pictures and videos so you can see the kids in action.