Accessories

I made Sylvie model her sunglasses again and Brady model his new kicks this morning.

Taking a walk- the view from the front and the back...either one is Adorable!

Cutie Clean

We've got some foot lovers and some bubble lovers in this house.
I just love freshly bathed cuties!

5 months old

Happy Birthday Sylvie! Sylvie's definitely becoming more aware of her surroundings. I think I'm still her favorite person...and I'm holding that in my heart as long as I can. :) Often her little face lights up with a big gummy grin and she thumps her legs and lets out a delighted squeal when she sees me. She's ticklish and has a cute sense of humor emerging. She is amused by the typical things that infants find funny- peek-a-boo sort of games, goofy sounds, and her always-on-ever-performing big bro! She loves loves loves the bumper jumper and happily bounces around for a crazy amount of time. It's hilarious! The exersaucer and a burpie cloth that she covers her face with and pulls off are her other favorite things these days. All of these easily elicit squealy little giggles that are so genuine and so sweet!

It seems that her sleep patterns are trying to stabilize. Sylvie's always been a great sleeper. She has spoiled us from day one. She never seemed to confuse her days and nights...well, maybe she did and just thought it was all just one big night. ha! From the beginning, she'd go right back to sleep after getting up to nurse at night. But the past week I've noticed what is sometimes described as the "four month wakeful period." After her 3 AM feed, she doesn't close her eyes. She doesn't fuss- just sucks on her paci and STARES at me with her big blue eyes. She just lays there in her little bed. It is the cutest thing and if I wasn't half asleep, I'd probably break all the rules and engage her b/c she's just so stinkin' cute with those big eyes just taking it ALL in. She goes to bed around 7:30 (I'm still working on developing a night time routine that accommodates both kids and that I can do by myself consistently.) She wakes to nurse around 2 or 3 AM and then gets up again around 6 or 7 AM. At times there is the need for a few paci resets in those stretches. But once that little button goes back in, her eyelids grow heavy and (night) life is good again. She still sort of naps whenever and wherever she wants to, but I'm thinking in the next few weeks her naps will move towards the typical 9 AM and 1 PM occurrences. She always greets me with a smile when she wakes up. It is so darn sweet. In this picture, I had just put her down to go sleep...but she can't help but smile. Little cutie!

As evidenced by her baby chubba chubba thighs, she continues to nurse and take a pumped bottle (at daycare) well. She also started solids this past week. Well, just oatmeal for now. But once we have that texture thing mastered, the menu will open up.

It appears Sylvie's Zoolander condition (her inability to roll left) is lapsing. Our little "ambi-roller" (a modified Zoolander term) now goes to both sides, but still seems to prefer rolling to her right. She continues to get stuck on her tummy though. I've only seen her roll from tummy to back once.

There isn't a wellness visit until next month so we don't have official stats. Suffice it to say that our "little" 5 month old is growing quite well. :)

Sharing is Caring

This morning Brady asked me to put Sylvie in his big boy bed. He told me he would share his bed, his animals, and his books with her. How nice! It was such a sweet morning with my wee ones. :)

He asked me to take video (apparently he wants documentation of his sharing? lol!) It's reflective of some of the typical moments of life around here these days. Sweet. In addition to sharing his Spot Doggie with Sylvie, you'll note he is sharing his shorts with his best bud, Elephant and consequently is bottomless. ;p

Rain Shower

We had a summer-like thunderstorm this evening and went on the porch to check it out. Brady decided to take a rain shower.

I love a rainy night
...and we all love the Eddie Rabbit song too! :)

(It was just the other day that Brady and Daddy were downstairs jamming to this classic- love it!)

I also love toddler happiness- it's contagious!

He's A Rebel

Brett bought an SLR camera today- the Canon Rebel. There's definitely a learning curve with this one and I'm not sure I'm giving up on my point-n-shoot just yet but here's a few practice shots he took. The clarity is amazing!

Tim-berr!

I was all excited thinking Sylvie was sitting up on her own today...until I kept clicking away and watched the progression of her horizontal descent. Despite the "tim-berr!" (and her shiny Vaseline face as we battle her eczema) she is still smiling happily and quite adorable!

FavDay x2

Today was my first FavDay now that I'm back to work. It was doubly fun with these two little people! After breakfast, we pretty much just played together and had FUN all day long.

See the JOY in their faces? LOVE it...and it's an accurate depiction of how we all felt today. :)

Grandma and Papa came over to babysit in the evening so that I could go out with the girls to see Sex and the City 2. FavDay, indeed!

Brady took a picture of me taking a picture- lol!

Sylvie's Annaprasan

Okay, so it wasn't really her annaprasan (like Dev's or Aidrek's) but it was her first time trying solids. :) Our little baby birdie did Great! She sat there very trusting with her little mouth open allowing me to spoon in a bunch of baby oatmeal, despite the fact that I made it pretty thick. When we first fed Brady solids (at pretty much the exact same time as Sylvie- almost 5 months) I made his first meal runny so that it really was just like thickened milk. Sylvie's definitely had more of an oatmeal consistency and I can see that now that I look at the pictures. Bless your heart Sylvie for being such a good girl!

She kept grabbing at the spoon. (These days everything gets put in her mouth so I'm sure she was thinking, "I know what to do here!") Oh little baby girl, you are growing up too fast for me!

She even allowed her big brother, who asked so sweetly if he could "have a turn," to feed her.

I just found video that Brett took...I had no idea! Yay!

DVDeeb

Brady asks me almost daily to watch his Bob "DVDeeb." LOL! I think his pronunciation of DVD is so stinkin' cute so (just like "strawberry" when he was 1.5 years old...a year ago!) I made him say it a bunch of times. Then just for kicks, I made him sing the Bob the Builder song. :p

*Another cute mispronunciation of Brady's is "kangaroof" for kangaroo. I find it hysterical and need to get that on video some time. He really doesn't have too many mispronunciations, but the few that are there crack me up!

UV Protection

And for our final day of daycare this week, Sylvie's wearing one of Maya's fun shirts. Her poofy hair is a result of me not combing if after her bath last night. I think she's embracing her "crazy hair" in this picture. SO cute!

Additionally our daycare celebrity is accessorizing with her Hello Kitty sunglasses from Grandma and Papa. Is that a riot or what?! (Brady would respond, "what." to this...he always does when Grandma asks him questions like this. It's very funny.)

Laid back sibs just chillin'

Oh, and I plan to start Sylvie on solids tomorrow. One of the signs of readiness to start solids is an interest in food. I captured this moment today while Brady was eating his snack on the couch next to his lil sis. Yeah, she's showing interest. :p

Hey, hook a sister up bro!
Go go Gadget Arms! Reeeeach!

Identifying the New Girl

So I guess I'm taking pictures of Sylvie all week long. Her outfits are just so fun! It's a little bit cooler today so we busted out her cutie striped pants. She's also wearing her "I'm the Little Sister" onesie in an attempt to respond to many of the other parents' question: "Who's this new little one with all the hair?" lol!

Day Care Day 2

Well I was much better this morning and I believe the little people are happy too. :) I took another picture of Sylvie in her cute outfit. This was the one Ms. Omayma got her when she was born...she just knew that Sylvie would be in the 6 month size when she would start coming to her for daycare. :)

After school Brady insisted that we go for a ride in the wagon that our neighbors recently gave to us. He said " I need my helmet to fall down" Umm, okay well not quite bud. You wear the helmet to protect your head in case you fall down. He also said, "I need my 'noculars to see the birds." So this is how we roll: one-head-injury-preventing-bird-watcher and his sweet sister (who had to use the back-up outfit at daycare today; hence the wardrobe change).

Care During the Day

My baby started daycare today. I really thought it was going to be easier to leave this time around. What was I thinking?! I cried and felt like my heart was being taken out of me when I dropped her off this morning. It was tricky this time- as I didn't want to let Brady, who was running around with his friends, see me crying. I was so sad at the thought of not being with Sylvie for our longest stretch of time ever. She's just so darn sweet that I was worried that she'd be sad and no one would even know b/c she's so quiet and good. It was also hurting my heart to think that she might get in to one of her fits where only I can calm her down. She works herself up to this frenzied state, but immediately settles as soon as she's in my arms.

I took this picture of baby girl this morning on her first day of school. I love her clueless look. :p She wore the cute little barrette that Ms. Flori put in her hair when we were picking up Brady last week- adorable! That's one thing that the wonderful ladies at daycare will give Sylvie that I won't- super fun hair styles. They are great like that! {Funny story: one of the times when I was picking Brady up and daycare was crazy with the kids running and playing and shouting. Mr. Don, Landon's dad, looked at Sylvie and said, "Just think, ALL of this will be yours one day little lady!" LOL!} Today's the day, sweet girl.

As I was leaving, sweet Sylvie- the new celebrity at daycare was surrounded by the little people and was taking it all in with her big blue eyes. It was Brady who was crying and holding on to my leg asking me not to leave or to take them with me. We're on the same page there pal. I asked him to please take care of Sylvie for me today and he said, "Okay Mommy. Sylvie's my sister." Yes she is bud. She's our baby.

Anyway my tearful heartbreaking morning aside, Sylvie did just fine. Omayma told me she took her bottles well, napped well, and was thoroughly entertained by her brother, his friends, and her new friends too! They told me that Emma, who is 4 months older, was sitting next to her cooing away and Sylvie just laughed and laughed at Emma's funny tales. Apparently it was an inside joke among the girls that only they understood, but everyone else found the scene to be adorable! :) Big bro proved to be an unreliable source of information. He reported that she cried a lot...and then he said she cried a little. So who knows? :p Nonetheless, 5:00 was a super happy time today. It was SO fun to be greeted by a bounding toddler who crashed in to me with a huge hug and a gummy grinning baby who recognizes her mama.