6 months

Sofia turned 6 months on the 28th (of October)! It's so crazy how fast the time has gone by. We just went to her 6-month well-child check up & she now weighs 14 lbs & is 26 1/2 inches long. She right about 40% for height & 10% for weight. What a shocker! She's going to be short & skinny, just like her brother ;) Here are some things she's started doing recently.

-She loves to roll over but generally only rolls from her back to her stomach & stays there. She'll prop herself up but hasn't quite figured out how to lift her stomach up off the ground.
-She can sit up! She's still a little wobbly, but usually she will stay sitting up just fine on her own. Yay! It's so fun when they start to sit up.
-She still has just her bottom two teeth & she doesn't seem like she's going to start teething any time soon.
-She's getting pretty good at eating solids. She still spits out the majority of it out so it takes quite a while to get it all in her but it's getting better!
-She is a super happy baby & loves to be around people. When I pick her up after not seeing her for a while, she'll get really excited & sometimes try to eat my face. ;)
-She sleeps through the night pretty well. She'll typically go to bed between 8 & 9 & then sleep until 5:30 or 6. Sometimes she'll wake up earlier than that, but that's usually because she's gotten cold. Whenever she wakes up, even if it's just because she's cold, she thinks it's time to eat.
-She loves her big brother & loves to play with him.

  Sofia sitting up

"Boo!  I scare you!"

I just love her face in this one :)

Sitting up but about to fall over

What a beautiful baby I've been blessed with :)

Steven & Sofia in Steven's bed before reading stories at bedtime

Occasionally, if she's hungry enough, Sofia will manage to hold on to her bottle to feed herself.  This comes in really handy around 6 pm when she's super hungry but I'm trying to fix dinner.

Steven & Ethan helping to feed Sofia :)

Family Pictures 2010

Last year we got family pictures & I loved them.  Unfortunately, the photographer raised her prices shortly after we got ours done & were a bit out of our price range right now.  I looked on KSL's classified section for photographers & found this year's photographer.  Check out his website here.  He was trying to expand his portfolio so he did our pictures for free!  Yay! 

I wanted fall colors so we went up to a place right near Brighton ski resort.  You might not be able to tell, but it was freezing!  I wish we could've gotten more poses & more locations, but it was cold & it was free, so all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome :)

It's hard to tell on the blog how funny this picture actually is.  I especially love Sofia's pose...Oh & the we'd ask Steven "where's the dinosaur/zebra" so he would smile but he would point at the toy instead of just smiling...

Steven was not too thrilled about staying in one spot or being a good sport about the pictures...but I think we still got some pretty cute ones :)

 I think this one's pretty funny

 The photographer had some toys & Steven was only really happy when he was holding them...hence toys in the next few pictures

 I LOVE this picture!  Sofia was such a good baby even though it was pretty dang cold

 :)

 The dinosaur & zebra were fighting...

 Too bad there are animals in this one...

A Higher Standard

I love food.  It's just a fact.  I also love baking.  Growing up, I baked cookies once in a while but now that I'm married & living in my own space, I seem to have an urge to bake way more often.  Not just cookies but eclairs or chocolate souffles or cookie salad, etc.  For a while after Sofia was born I felt like it was an almost all-consuming thing.  It was really frustrating because I felt like it was a really hard struggle to not eat sweets/ice cream, etc. all the time.  Fortunately, that intense kind of craving has subsided but I still struggle with trying to work out, eat right, spend time with my family, as well as the miriad of other things I have going on in my life.  For a little while about 2 months ago I decided to "give myself a break" & not worry about working out so much & just do it when I "had time".  I quickly realized that that wasn't really working for me.  A few weeks ago I'd got up to about 7 lbs heavier than the lowest point I'd gotten after having Sofia.  I realized that if I kept going with "giving myself a break" I could easily end up at the point where I was before having Steven.  I did not want that!  I made a new goal: 10 lbs by my birthday (November 22nd...feel free to buy my presents! ;) ).  I still don't know if I'll make that goal but I've realized something in the process.  I don't really ever remember a time when I'd set a weight loss goal & actually met it when I had planned to.  The only time I've had a lot of success when it comes to weight loss is after I've had my kids, & that wasn't because of anything I had done.  I also realized that that trend carried on into other parts of my life as well.  There are a lot of things (especially big plans) that I've said I was going to do but never did or finished.  I also started thinking about how awesome it would feel to complete a goal I'd set for myself by the time I wanted to finish by.  I really need to hold myself to a higher standard.  I shouldn't say I'm going to do something unless I'm actually going to do it.  With that being said, I don't know that I will realisticially be able to lose the 10 lbs total I had wanted to by my birthday but I am going to try my hardest!  (I still have 7 more lbs in 3 weeks... :-/ )  Yes, it's definitely hard to resist the urge to bake & eat lots of yummy food, especially around the Holidays.  And yes, it is hard to find the time to work out.  But I can definitely tell a difference in my mood & attitude when I work out & when I don't.  I really only have time to work out early in the morning (except on the weekends).  I've started to feel lazy if I sleep in until 6 or 6:30, let alone 7!  I especially love being able to work out on the treadmill.  I've taken to reading a good book while I work out & it makes it even that much more enjoyable.  The workout room in our complex is fairly nice & I've never seen anyone else in there, which makes it nice & quiet.  I just wish the hours weren't so lame...it's only open from 2-7 pm.  Anyway, I'm trying to do better & am very determined to do better with my goals!

Sofia 5-month pictures

Yes, yes, I know these are late.  I know that Sofia's going to be 6 months in a week...sorry but I hope you enjoy these anyway! ;)

Josh with Sofia :)

 Sofia & I

Sofia getting ready for her first solid food experience.  She was staring very intently at the box of rice cereal...

 Yes, the above picture is at a different time than this one.  I was alone when I took the above one & then I had Josh take some pictures of her actually eating

 She's so happy to be on her belly!  She loves to do push-ups, too ;)

 This is a toy to help strengthen a baby's neck.  Josh's mom got this for Steven but he didn't really enjoy it a ton.  Sofia likes it pretty well.

 Steven did really enjoy spinning her around, though...



Steven's Birthday Pictures (amended)

Steven coloring his birthday crown at daycare

 Steven wearing his birthday crown.  Nice face ;)

Outside with all the kids

 The birthday trio (their birthdays are the 9th, 10th, & 11th)

Cupcake time!

Here is Steven at the bowling alley for his birthday

Josh & his pretty dang good bowling stance.  He's WAY better than me!

Steven watching Josh bowl

Josh helping Steven bowl with the ramp & bumpers.  They put the bumpers down when it wasn't Steven's turn...I was hoping to use them, too! ;)  (The sad thing is, I'm really not joking...)

Our final scores.  Steven didn't do too bad!  I've had worse scores as an adult...

Steven with his cousin, Anna, at his birthday party.  He was way more interested in playing with his cousins than anything else at the party....

...even this big pile of presents

Josh setting up Steven's basketball hoop

Steven's first experience with basketball.  I'm sure it won't be the last :)

...and in the hoop it goes!

Steven's first golfing lesson

Is it going to go in??

Super excited!

Opening his present from Aunt Lisa (my sister)

Steven loves his new book