My Girls

I can't believe that I can use the term "girls" to describe my children (or use the word children for that matter).  I simply am still in shock that we have two healthy sweet beautiful girls.  We are so lucky.  I wanted to update what each girl is up to.  The time is going by too fast and I cannot remember all the moments I want to.

I will start with Sophia:

• At her 4 year appointment she was 39 and 3/4 inches tall and 39 pounds.  She cooperated great and is right on track with her health and development.  She had to get 4 shots which she really did not enjoy, however she has all the shots she'll need to start kindergarten and won't need any shots for a long long time now. 
• Her favorites include:
•  TV-Caillou, Dora, Sophia the First, and Henry Hugglemonster; 
• Movies-Cinderella, Ramona and Beezus, and Matilda; 
• Food- Special K, pizza with pineapple, green beans (still the pureed kind), grapes, chicken, veggie dogs, ketchup, watermelon, wheat thins with cream cheese, and apples and peanut butter
• Drinks-milk, chocolate milk, and juice water (90% water and 10 % juice); 
• Playtime activities- playing babies, playing school, crafting, doing projects that Mommy thinks of, making pretend phone call to all sorts of people including my friends, Steven's boss, her future teachers, and President Obama.
• Going for walks- she can walk two to three miles with Steven and I
• Going to the park (and we just got a new play structure, swings, teeter totter, and spinning things at the park right down the street from us- score!) 

• She loves loves loves playing babies and has a very strong imagination when it comes to her dolls.  There are three main dolls (Sister Doll, Baby Boy, and Lisa)  Sister Doll is number one.  She changes them, feeds them, takes them for walks, takes them to the doctor, packs their diaper bags for outings, plays with them, etc.  She is a good mommy to her babies.  The babies often fight with one another and she has to put them in time out in our hall.  They wake her up at nap time asking to watch movies and at night they keep her up because they are constantly climbing on her dresser and getting hurt.  Sometimes it feels to Steven and I that we have two babies instead of just one since Sister Doll is such a big part of our lives.  Currently Sister Doll has thrush (just like her real Baby Sister) and has to go to the hospital next week because it is bleeding...Sister Doll's life very much parallels her actual sister life-lol.
• She reads to Ava and I all the time.  Last week she read us a dinosaur book, my favorite line of her "reading" was "Dinosaurs have long tails and skinny babies".
• She is constantly amazing me with her vocabulary- Yesterday she was telling me "I am very impressed with the new playground". 
• We made a CD with her favorite song "Call Me Maybe" as one of the songs on it.  She is always impressed when the song comes on saying "I can't believe they are playing my song AGAIN".  She does not understand the concept of a CD and is amazed the radio always plays her song for her.  
• Last week she decided to have some Smarties left over from the pinata for her after dinner treat.  Steven was in the other room and I was feeding Ava.  Sophia was wandering between us eating her treat, then she begins crying hysterically.  I put Ava down (much to her dismay as well, now I had two screaming crying children) and was finally able to decipher that Sophia had stuck a Smartie up her nose- far up her nose.  We narrowly avoided a trip to the ER by having to hold down Sophia and pry the Smartie out of her nose with tweezers.  Luckily we were able to get it out and not have to go to the hospital and Sophia learned a good lesson about not putting things in her nose.
• Sophia is an AMAZING big sister.  She is so sweet, caring, and helpful with her baby sister.  She helps change diapers, bathe, and feed her sister.  She loves to play with her and sing to her.  Ava is so lucky to have her as her big sister!
• She cannot wait for "big girl" school.  
• She has had a cough for over four weeks and after taking her back to the doctor on Friday she was diagnosed with bronchitis.  Now we have antibiotics so hopefully she'll feel better soon!
• She is so much fun and I love spending my days and my nights with her by my side!

 Now for Ava:

• Currently Ava is 11 weeks and 2 days old.  At her two month appointment she weighed 10 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 and 3/4 inches long- which means from 2 weeks to 2 months she gained 4 pounds!  
• She has been fighting thrush for almost her whole short life- after three rounds of liquid Nystatin, one messy round of Gentian Violet (NEVER AGAIN!), and daily sanitizing of all bottles and nipples, she still has thrush.  We have talked with our doctor numerous times and have decided to just let it go and keep an eye on it for now.  As long as she is eating and happy and it does not spread down her throat we are just going to watch and wait and hopefully as she gets a bit older her body will regulate and it will clear up on it's own.  
• She recently switched to size 1 diapers.  She wears a few newborn clothes, but mostly wears 3 months clothes.
• She is beginning to sleep a little better at night.  The last few nights she has slept from 8 to about 10 then we feed her, then she sleeps till 4 or 5, eats again, and then sleeps till 7:30 or 8.  So all in all she is only getting up once at night while Steven and I are asleep which is a huge improvement from the two to three times she was getting up just a week or two ago.
• She eats 3 to 5 ounces of formula every few hours, except for that longer period at night.  Yesterday we switched to medium flow nipples and that has seemed to help her feeding a lot.  Previously it would take her an hour to finish a 3 oz. bottle and she would constantly fall asleep eating, then wake up five minutes later still hungry.  We are hoping with the faster flow nipples she will stay awake while eating and actually feel full, so far it is working.
• During the day she mainly wants to be held all the time, this can prove challenging when I am home alone with both girls.  I often wear her in the front pack or Baby K'Tan wrap, but it is hard to do certain things wearing her.  She does not nap consistently, but I am hoping now that we have the eating going a little better that this week we can try and get in a better napping routine (or any routine at all!:))
• She is a happy baby, she likes to be sang to and anytime she is fussy if we walk with her on our chests she calms right down.  As long as she is held she is content.  She is starting to babble more and coo and smile.
• She loves baths, her big sister, and movement.  She does not do well with traffic in the car. 

We are so lucky to have these two girls and I can't wait to see their relationship blossom in the years to come.