Lucky 13

I weigh 13 pounds!

When I'm squirmy, it feels like I weigh 15 pounds.

When I'm sleeping, it feels like I weigh 18 pounds.

Daddy calls me "Tons of Fun", but don't worry-- I'll get him back someday (probably during my teenage years).

Announcing the arrival of Nicholas Raymond Cherek!

Andrew's lovely sister, Ali, had her baby yesterday at 6:42pm! His name is Nicholas Raymond Cherek, and I believe he shares his middle name with Daniel's grandfather. Nicholas is 6 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long. Isn't he positively handsome?!?


We are ridiculously happy for Ali, Daniel, and Nicholas.... They have so much joy ahead of them. I can't wait to get to Texas to give my new nephew some schnuggles! And I can't wait for the first cousin convention-- Sonia and Nicholas are going to be best buddies, I just know it. It's so fun that the two cousins are so close in age! I cherish my memories of hanging out with the Wagner kids while growing up; they are my cousins who are closest in age to me and my siblings, and we still keep in touch as adults-- even though we have never once lived in the same city.

If your baby loves her Bumbo....

....you can also try sticking her in a Pampers baby wipes box!

(but then your cat will insist on taking a turn as well)

Best buddies

Sonia and her daddy are a couple of goofballs!

Oops!

Whilst driving our rental car in Arizona in July during Grandma Jane's 80th birthday party weekend, Andrew apparently got caught driving 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. The automated traffic camera took quite a nice picture of him don't you think?


It all amounted to a $181.50 fine we had to pay to AZ and a $25 affidavit fee we had to pay to some company who handles the traffic fines that rental car drivers incur. Oops.

Sosi and Shakey, sitting in a tree....

....g-r-i-n-n-i-n-g! (Okay, so that doesn't fit as well as k-i-s-s-i-n-g, but you get the idea).

We love these cute pajamas from Steph, Don, & Quinn Sanderson!

Goofing around on a rainy Wednesday

Sonia is 14 weeks old today! And she would like you to know that she has developed a pair of cute little thunder thighs (shown off quite well by her sweet cherry onesie from Auntie Em Borlik).

Sometimes it's fun to have a bit of tummy time on the Boppy pillow!

Sonia is learning how to sit upright in her Bumbo.

Check out the hilarious teddy bear feet on these adorable pajamas from Sonia's Great-Uncle Bob and Great-Aunt Anita!

Taking back the night?

Last night, Sonia slept through the night for the very first time! The night didn't start out promising; the kid had a rough bedtime. She fell fast asleep on Daddy's shoulder midway through a feeding, but when he tried to put her down to sleep, her little eyelids went "BOINK!" and flipped right open. Andrew fired up his new found expert daddy skills and eventually got her to sleep at about 9:15pm or so. Meanwhile I prepared night feeding bottles, pumped, washed dishes, baked banana bread, and did other chores-- that's how long it took for Andrew to get this kid to sleep. Then, Sonia decided not to wake up for 8 hours! What a good girl.... I got 7 hours of sleep in a row! After slurping down 6 oz at 5:30am, she fell back asleep long enough for me to shower, eat breakfast, pump, wash dishes, and type this blog post. I don't know what to do with myself-- this whole "baby sleeping" business is great!!

Knowing my luck, though, Sonia sleeping through the night will be kind of like Sonia rolling over-- she shows off a few times, and then she decides not to do it ever again.

In other Sonia news, she has also decided that she loves to blow raspberries (click on the picture to make it bigger and you'll see the "fruits" of her labor)....


This morning, Sosi and I are hanging out, waiting for a plumber to come fix the leak in the basement. While we're happy that our basement flood was not due to a foundation problem, we're still sickened by the amount of work and money it's going to take to fix everything back up! Home ownership is not as fun as it should be....

The inaugural stroll

We tried out Sosi's new jogger stroller this evening-- it rules! It's an InSTEP 2008 Safari Jogging Stroller with a front wheel that swivels, a handle that adjusts (so both Andrew and I are comfortable pushing it), and a great under-seat gear carrier. Sonia seems to like it a lot, even though unlike in her other stroller, she isn't vibrated as much when we walk on the brick walkways near our house. She fell asleep about 20 minutes into the walk.... We can't wait to take her off-roading in the Morton Arboretum.

Until she gets just a tiny bit bigger, we are using the attachment bar on the stroller to attach her Graco car seat carrier securely to the frame.

Sosi's elephant friends kept her company on the walk.

Andrew let me take a turn only after I begged him.... He loves this stroller!

ZZZzzzzzzz......

Sosi and Shakey the Octopus

Sosi would like you to meet one of her bestest buddies, Shakey the Octopus. He hangs above her on her play mat and makes the most marvelous rattling noises when she smacks him (still pretty much only on accident, as far as we can tell). When she looks him straight in the face, she smiles! Andrew took Shakey off of his hanger and made him kiss Sonia, and she grinned like a little goofball. She loves Shakey! Too bad she looks a little somber in this picture. She kept smiling right after I took each picture, and eventually I just gave up trying to capture her goofy Shakey-induced happy face.

Friday play time

Sonia and I had a great time playing around while Andrew expertly grilled a tri-tip for our Friday night dinner. She was wearing a new brown and pink striped pair of pajamas that are nice and schnuggly!

3 months young!

It's been 3 months since Sonia decided to pop into the world! I still can't believe I was in labor for only 2 hours. Sosi was ready to join us even though she was just 36 weeks and 6 days along. We love you, Pork Chop!

I know this picture is from a couple of weeks ago, but it makes me smile! She was just so photogenic that day....

State of the Baby Address (and a Margie Cat picture)

Sonia is now 13 weeks old! Tomorrow, she'll officially be 3 months old. This morning, I weighed her and the scale proclaimed her to be 11 pounds, 4 ounces. Chubba bubba! She'll be double her birth weight in no time at all. She loves to shake her rattles on the play mat, and she also bats at the hanging octopus (named "Shakey") and turtle toys. We had to move her up to the larger sized Kiddopotamus swaddles, and she's just about to move into size 2 Pampers diapers. I think her stint in 0-3 month clothing (at least the pajamas with feet in them) is coming to an end, too.... Sosi is getting bigger!

She's losing a lot of her hair that she was born with-- even though I knew it would probably happen, it's still freaking me out to see large bald spots appear on the back of her head (from sleeping, play mat time, etc.), sides of her head (from laying and squirming on the nursing pillow), and top of her head (why? I have no clue). The thick bunch of hair on the back of her head right above her neck is going strong, though. At this rate, she's going to look like a baby-sized Friar Tuck soon! Oh well....

Her eyes are still blue, and every time I think perhaps they're getting darker and starting to turn hazel or brown, I look at her again and the blue seems even more brilliant. I have read that babies' blue eyes can change as late as one year of age, so we're still waiting and wondering what her irises' final color will be.

We are officially done breastfeeding. For many reasons, we have finally decided that Sonia will do better drinking a 1/3rd breastmilk (that's as much as I can pump right now) and 2/3rds formula diet. I have had to re-learn everything I knew about feeding my child, though! How do I know she's done? When do I wash the bottles? What's the best way to do everything?

Oh, and in case you were curious, Sonia is a champion burper!



We just bought a jogger stroller because the other stroller was not good for jaunts off the path in the arboretum. Margie Cat instantly became enamored with the stroller and played in the gear holder below the part where the kid sits. She was going around and around in circles, chasing her tail! Marge, I hate to tell you, but kittenhood passed you by loooooooong ago.....

What's up, peeps?

Hanging around and being silly!

Andrew is trying to teach Sonia to cook already....

Margie Cat discovered the pretty kitty in the mirror and stared at her for a long time.

Sonia loves to smile at Daddy while Mommy snaps pictures! Auntie Em (Borlik) gave Sonia this cute onesie with a watermelon on it. Sosi loves clothes with fruit on them!

Chillin' with mum

Numbers

As an accountant, I live by numbers. As a mom? Same there, too.

12: Number of weeks since our beautiful daughter was born



9: Weeks have elapsed since Sonia's original due date of June 4

35: Roughly the number of pounds that I have lost since the day before I gave birth

25: The number of pounds I would like to lose to get to my goal weight (time to start Stroller Strides and stop eating so many dark chocolate mint UFOs from Trader Joes!)

6-4: Sonia's weight at birth (in pounds and ounces)

10-3: Sonia's weight yesterday (in pounds and ounces)


10: Margie Cat's weight (in pounds)


12: Bobo Cat's weight (in pounds)



3: typical number of burps per feeding

7: record number of burps during one feeding

4: the number of ounces that Sonia drinks when we feed her formula

?????: the number of ounces that Sonia drinks when I nurse her (I don't trust the "weighing her before and after" method because she is one squirmy chicky!)



1,000,000: Number of ridiculously cute outfits Sosi has (why does she have a better wardrobe than me?)



19: weeks until Sosi's cousin, Petey, is due!

4: weeks until Sosi's cousin, Nicholas, is due!

1: number of older girl cousins (first cousins, anyway) whom Sosi will always worship and imitate



6.5: longest number of hours she's ever gone from the beginning of one feeding to the next (it was the first night in Prescott, AZ!)


There are so many more numbers I could mention, but I need to step back, look past the numbers, and go schnuggle my baby. I hear her grunting and squeaking on the monitor.... Awakening from her 1 hour nap is imminent!

Yes, I do impressions....

Here's Sosi's impression of what her cousin, Nicholas (aka Senor Kickypants), is doing while he bides his time in the womb. Ali, does this seem accurate?

Sosi's 2009 ND Football Season Preview!

It's only a month away from the beginning of the football season, and Sosi has carefully studied Notre Dame's football schedule. Here is an interview between Bob Costas and Sosi, in which she explains her thoughts on the Irish...

Bob Costas: Sonia, I know some ND fans are concerned about their first game against Nevada. What do you think of Nevada's pass offense, and whether Colin Kaepernick will prove to be elusive enough to escape the ND pass rush?

Sonia:

Bob Costas: You're right, Sonia. They probably stink just as bad as all the other teams in the WAC. Now, people have claimed that Rich Rodriguez will turn things around at Michigan this year. What do you think of Michigan's chances to compete despite starting a true freshman quarterback?

Sonia:

Bob Costas: Interesting. Though we'll have to bleep some of that out for prime time. On to the Irish. I'm going to say two words. I want you to tell me your first reaction to those words. Okay, ready? "Golden Tate."

Sonia:

Bob Costas: You're absolutely right. Golden Tate is the man and he could be an All American this year. About the Irish defense, what do you think the ramifications are of John Tenuta taking back over gameday playcalling duties? Do you think that will lead to more of a 1-gap defensive alignment, and if so, would you expect Darius Fleming to line up at defensive end rather than Will linebacker?

Sonia:

Bob Costas: Sorry, Sos. I guess that was getting a little technical. Let's get back to the Irish season. I have to let you know of an early prediction I've come up with, and I want your reaction: ND 31, USC 30.

Sonia:


Bob Costas: Thanks. I have one other prediction, and I want your thoughts. ND 87, BC 3. I also predict that some time in the first half, ND will be rushing for so many yards against BC that all of BC's fans will burst into flames. Then, Ethan Johnson will sack BC's quarterback with extreme prejudice, and will high step into the endzone.

Sonia:

Bob Costas: Well, Sonia, thanks for your thoughts. It was very enlightening, and we're all very excited to see the Irish this fall.