6 months old

Zoe turned 6 months today! She is cuter than ever and really starting to show off her personality. Some new things that she is doing are: sleeping through the night consistently (yay!), laughing at things that people do besides tickling her, turning the pages in books and actually letting me read to her! Zoe used to protest being read to, but she has begun to really enjoy reading and chewing on books. She can almost sit up on her own. She tends to fall to one side after a few seconds, but occasionally she will sit by herself for awhile. We celebrated her 6 month birthday by going to the doctor. Zoe got 4 shots and Sophie got one shot. Sophie was more upset about having to get weighed (a right of passage for all girls) than she was about the shot! The official stats are:

Zoe: 16 lbs 11 oz (50th - 75th percentile) and 27 1/8 in (90th percentile)
Sophie: 27 lbs 7 oz (75th - 90th percentile) and 33 3/8 in (90th - 95th percentile)

Last days

Here are a couple of pics during our last days here at the old house. The picture of the girls together was taken on Thanksgiving before I got them dressed in their "nice" clothes. Sophie had her hair in pigtails but you can't really tell. Check out the cheeks on Zoe! She stores drool in them so you have to watch out when you squeeze or kiss them! Lately she enjoys sucking her bottom lip in too, which only shows off her chubby cheeks even more.

Swinging at the Park

18 months old

Yesterday Sophie turned 18 months old. It was a busy day so we didn't get to take her picture until today. I promise that she didn't change too much in those 24 hours. Lately though it does seem like 24 hours is all it takes for huge changes! Some days Sophie wakes up doing brand new things and saying new words. Her brain must be working hard at night, which may account for her sleeping 12 hours at a time. Sophie's favorites at 18 months include: going to the park - especially the slides and the swings; putting the cats and Zoe "to bed", which means covering them with a blanket and a lovey and saying "milk"; trying to do snaps and buttons on her clothes and trying to get dressed by herself; drawing pictures; rough housing with daddy; looking at pictures of family and watching home movies, especially of herself! She still loves books, and now she even points to the words when we read. Sophie also has a small obsession with anything related to Winnie the Pooh. I could think of worse things to be obsessed with, so I don't complain about it. In all honesty, I find the Pooh Bear movies quite darling! We don't have official stats on Sophie's height and weight, but last time she went to the doctor she weighed about 26 pounds. She is still tall for her age, but we all expected that!

Outside

Every afternoon when the girls wake up from their naps we go outside to play. The weather has been beautiful, and a lot of times we stay outside until daddy gets home. Sophie likes to draw with her sidewalk chalk, kick and throw the ball, sort rocks, and look for stray kitties. Lately she's also been heading to the neighbors to borrow their little walkway. She likes to practice stepping up and down without holding on to anything. It's not a big step, but it's enough to provide her with a challenge and some entertainment! You may be wondering what Zoe does during all of this. She gets to be held by mommy and watch Sophie play. What more could a 5 month old want?

Picnic

This past Sunday the Tucson Moms held their annual family picnic. There were games, hayrides, vendors and food, but it was so hot that we didn't get to do many activities. Sophie's favorite part of the picnic was the inflatable bouncing toy. She had never been in one before, but after a few minutes she was a pro at jumping and bouncing. There were a few tears when it was time to go. We also took a picture with some of the moms from one of our play groups. It was very hot, so while we were waiting to take our picture, Sophie got her feet wet in the fountain. Later she soaked her entire outfit, but at least she was cooled off!