Five months

Yesterday marked five fantastic months with our sweet Sophie!  Time sure is flying by. Let's go back to month one...

Love this little girl!

Lots of things have been happening for this busy girl.  At 4 1/2 months, we started feeding her rice cereal in the evening for dinner.  It was hilarious to say the least.  The first bite always gets a funny face, but then she gets the hang of it and starts eating away.  Sure, most of it ends up on her face or her bib, but it's a start!  We also tried some food in a mesh "toy" for her to gnaw on.  Carrots were first, then bananas came next.  Still trying to figure out how to clean the bananas out of the mesh contraption, ick!

Yummy!  First time trying rice cereal

Carrots!

Sophie is a lot more interested in Lucy these days.  When Lucy walks past her she stares and follows her all over the room.  I will sit with Sophie on my lap and call Lucy over and Sophie will "talk" to her, smile and reach out to pet her.  Lucy is very tolerant (so far, fingers crossed), and still gets concerned when Sophie cries and comes to check things out.  This works well now since Sophie is so interested in what Lucy is doing, she will stop cying to check out what's going on.

I've also noticed that when Sophie is playing on the floor near where we keep all of Lucy's toys, she can't take her eyes off of them.  Lucy, watch out, I think we have a dog toy thief in our near future!

Here's a video I got of her giggling, I guess she's ticklish, or Mommy is just silly...

We also have a thumb sucker!  It's not something that happens all the time or even at the right time, but once in a while she will find that thumb and go to town!  It's really cute so far...

Silly face

One eye opening way that she has shown how much she has grown is when she is playing on her play mat with the toys suspended over it.  The other day she started reaching for this mirror that is positioned in the middle at the highest point.  She can reach it now!  So amazing to see her growing every day!

She is making all sorts of sounds now.  She is also mimicking the sounds we make at her.  She started making a raspberry sort of noise with a cute little trill behind it.  She loves when you repeat the noises she makes.  One evening Dan got her to start making an "mmm" sound.  So when we're feeding her, we say "mmm" and she repeats it back.  It's so crazy how quick their little minds sponge up every bit of each little thing you do.

I'm just waiting for the day that she goes mobile.  When I leave her alone in a room for a bit on a blanket, she is never in the same spot that I left her in.  From rolling over and back again, she ends up in a totally different position.  I'm suprised when I get her in the morning from her crib.  She has usually done a 180 degree turn in the crib, so when I get her she's looking at me upside down!

Ready to go mobile!

Suprisingly, I have been doing LOTS of cooking!  It's funny how things change when there is a little baby in the house.  Obviously everything revolves around her, so our evenings are touch and go.  Therefore, I try to have a meal or leftovers planned so that we can scarf something down between feeding her, bathing her, and putting her to bed in a timely manner.  I've found some great recipies on-line (along with some not so great ones).  Most of these are from searching a fun website called Pinterest.  A few of the hits follow.  Try some and enjoy!  (Dan has been cooking up some great meals for me on the weekends, but if he wants to share, he will have to write his own post here!)

Slow cooker salsa chicken


This was so easy and very tasty!  I served it with Sanish rice and black beans.  I think you could add some great stuff to the wraps as well, since it is just chicken on the inside.  (From Semi Homemade Mom Blog)

Spicy Chicken Avocado Enchiladas


This was one of the best dishes I've made in a long time!  The sauce that goes on top tastes so delicious!  You can of course make this less spicy by omitting the jalapenos, but it didn't have that much of a kick. (From the Novice Chef Blog)

Slow cooker Italian Chicken


Of course, another crock pot recipie, I find it easier to throw something in the crock pot when I have a chance with Miss Sophie rather than trying to cook at a specific time in the evening.  So easy!  And of course it was delicious.  I used chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts the first time I made this.  Not a good idea, they were a little dry.  But, the potatoes and carrots had such great flavoring.  My mouth is watering just remembering it!  (From Crock-a-doodle-do Blog)

We'll end this post with a few more pics of Sophie, yay!  Important note:  I've entered her in a Gerber photo contest, voting starts September 4th.  You can go here to vote for her once a day.

This is the photo I entered into the contest

Goin' for a stroll

Feet hanging off the swing, big girl!

We LOVE our feet!

Silly Sophie

Much Love,
The Yorks

Lollapalooza 2012

We finally made it back to Lollapalooza this year!  It's the third time we've gone together (I can't recall if Dan has been to any back in the 90's).  We seem to go every other year and thank goodness for that!  A three day concert can wear on a person, and we're not the youngsters we used to be...  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Swartz, we were able to head to the city by ourselves for three days while they looked after Sophie.  (Note: click on red words in this post for interesting links further detailing our weekend)

We took the Metra into the downtown station and hoped on the "L" to get up to our hotel in Lincoln Park.  It was sooo great to be back in Chicago, we absolutely love that city!  Of course, when we visit in the summer time, it is always hotter in the Midwest than it is in Orlando.  Our first day of concerts was no exception.  It was in the upper 90's for the first few days, and thanks to an end-of-the-world storm, the third day cooled of drastically and was quite pleasant.

Dan and I met up with our good friends from Orlando, Scott and Jen.  Some of the acts we saw on the first day were The Black Angels, The Afghan Whigs, Die Antwoord, Band of Skulls (twice!), Passion Pit, Dawes and Black Sabbath.  Thanks to social media, we got insider info that Band of Skulls were playing an acoustic set in a tent, so we headed over there and saw an awesome show!  Die Antwoord, a South African group, was the most entertaining that day, but Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath was a very close second (that man is old!).  Here is a link to a Die Antwoord video (click on the name of the band), warning: explicit language follows (in English and Afrikaans), they are "different", but there is no other way to describe this group without you seeing for yourself. =) Enjoy the mayhem...

Getting ready to see Band of Skulls

Band of Skulls...acoustic...intimate...love!

Official Lolla wristbands

Afghan Whigs

Die Antwoord

Ozzy plays the harmonica?  Who knew?

In years past, after the shows were over and we had been at concerts from noon til 10pm, we would usually head back to our hotel to shower then head out on the town.  That did not happen this time around.  We were so beat and sore by the end of every day, when we finally made it back to our room, we crashed!

The second day, after peeling ourselves out of our bed for a shower, we headed to Grant Park.  This day we saw the following shows:  JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (great show!), GIVERS, and a little bit of Neon Indian.  The lead singer of Neon Indian announced halfway through his show that he would be singing one more tune then they were kicking them off the stage to evacuate the park.  Whaaaaaattttt!?  Come to find out, a massive storm was headed our way and Lollapalooza was being evacuated.  Somehow in the chaotic cell phone service (hard to get a message out or a call in a condensed group of hundreds of thousands of people all trying to do the exact same thing) we started getting texts from my family in the suburbs warning us to take shelter as a giant black cloud was headed our way to open up and drown us.  We were even getting text from friends in other states warning us of the impending weather.  As far as we could see at that moment, it was merely overcast (a blessing since we were frying in the sun all day), and we were waiting it out, a little rain never hurt anyone.  Side note:  Since I was still breastfeeding Sophie during this time, I was continuing to pump my milk while away from her for three days for more reasons than I think you want to know (sorry if this is too much info for some of you).  So, I was doing so while at the concerts.  I found my spot in the medical tents and did my business.  While we decided to wait out the "rain", and since no one was playing their shows, I decided to knock out a pumping session.  Only then did we realize how serious these Lolla officials were in evacuating the park.  The people in the medical tent informed me that all power was being shut off to the Grant Park grid because of the storm, so I was not able to plug my pump in.  At that point we decided to follow the masses and find a bar downtown to hide in, in hopes that the storm would pass and the festival would open back up.  After walking past many bars that were no longer letting people in because they were at capacity (where else would thousands of festival goers hide out?), the skies turned black, the wind gusted and we proceeded to get dumped on.  After standing in the rain for a few minutes, we noticed a bar letting people in again and took shelter.  Needless to say, the storm passed, and the park opened up for a few more hours for the final shows.

JC Brooks

Jen, Dan and Scott



Waiting to get back in after the storm



We bought ponchos after it rained...smart

Day three was beautiful!  We took our time in the morning to grab a delicious breakfast with our friends Shana and Eric before heading to the park.  The rain had taken away the humidity and the 90 degree weather.  Sunday we saw White Rabbits, Of Monsters and Men, Miike Snow, and Jack White.  In the end, Dan and I were tired and sore.  We were looking forward to getting back to the 'burbs to see our Sophie.  Lollapalooza delivered a great concert series this year.  Not sure if we will make it back to another Lolla any time soon.  Dare I say it??  I think were getting too old for this stuff!

Much Love,

Rock on!

Jess and Dan

Chicago

I'm going to stop apologizing for not writing new posts as frequently as I think I should.  But, I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post!  I guess returning to work has taken up more of my time than I thought.  I was really apprehensive about going back.  What if I didn't remember what to do in the even of an emergency?  What if I didn't remember that one phone number that I could dial in my sleep?  What happened if a baby decided to come out before the doctor made it!!??  As it turns out, everything came back to me after being there for one shift.  It was almost like going back to school after summer vacation.  I was very excited to see all my friends and co-workers and tell everyone about my baby.  For one day I was the most popular girl on the unit!  Of course I was also nervous about being away from my sweet baby for twelve hours.  Since I am working weekends Dan takes care of her on Saturdays and Sundays, which really puts my mind at ease.  On Fridays, Sophie goes to see Lana, a nice lady we met through our friends that does daycare out of her home.  When we met her I just knew she would take great care of our girl.  Thank goodness for smart phones and texting!  I don't know what I would have done without the frequent updates from Lana.  I got texts stating how much she was eating, when she pooped, and when she slept.  It made the transition that much easier for me.  I think I also really needed a change in my daily routine, something besides being a mommy 24/7.  I have a HUGE respect for stay at home moms.  How they stay sane is beyond me.  What a difficult job they have!

Our little Sophia Elaine is now 4 1/2 months old!  Here are some very overdue pictures from her 4 month birthday.

Always moving so arms and legs turn out blurry!

At her four month appointment she weighed 13 pounds 7 ounces and was 25  1/2 inches long!  That's in the 90th percentile for height.  That's mommy's girl!

At the doctor's office, awaiting the shots

The cutest boo boo's ever!

Sophie is now rolling over every day!  She mostly rolls from her back to her tummy, and every once in a while figures how to go back the other way.  She is enjoying being on her tummy more now, thanks to her Great Aunt Linda (more on that later).  Her little legs are so strong that once she gets on her tummy, those legs get to going and her butt goes straight up in the air.  Now if we can only get those arms stronger, we will have a crawler!

She is playing with her little feet a lot lately. During bath time she manages to get that big toe in her mouth and starts sucking away!

Sophie made her first trip on an airplane to Chicago to see Grandma and Grandpa!  She did very well on the flight and we only had a couple bouts of crankiness.

Another blurry picture, I guess the flight was turbulent...

Dan and I were headed to Chicago to go to Lollapalooza for three days. Grandma and Grandpa Swartz were going to take care of Sophie as we headed to the big city!  So, naturally, the Swartz's had a three day gathering of all sorts of visitors that came to see what all the commotion was about this little Sophie.

Sophie met her Great Grandma Ardis for the first time

Four generations! How lucky are we??

She got to hang out with Great Aunt Linda.

Great Aunt Regina

And of course Grandma and Grandpa

She also got to meet her mommy's babysitter from long, long ago

Margie with Sophie

Feel familiar Margie??

Sophie got to meet her Auntie Sheila for the first time, along with Asha and Von.  And of course Auntie Mel got to play with her again.

Wow, Sophie looks as big as Von!

Asha, after a long swim!

Mel, Sheila and I with the kiddos

My loves and their pretty blues!

Dan and I got to spend SOME time with our daughter ;)

Sophie had a great time while Dan and I played in the city seeing some great bands at Lollapalooza.  (See next posting for Lolla pictures and details!)  She played on her play mat a lot.  Aunt Linda is responsible for the improved enjoyment of tummy time.  As they were watching the women's gymnastics during the Olympics, Miss Sophie was practicing her floor routine.  I believe that's how she got so interested in rolling over again and practically scooting across her mat.  The Aunties had a mirror and a musical toy that Sophie would reach for while on her tummy, so she tried to scoot to get closer.  That girl is definitely moving all over the place now!

Grandma and Grandpa went to such lengths to make sure they had everything they needed for their granddaughter to visit.  They got the pack n' plays, bathtub, toys, bottles, diapers, wipes, formula, and even a baby monitor.  I'm sure Sophie felt right at home.  Grandma was even nice enough to sleep in the same room with Sophie, getting up in the middle of the night to give her a bottle.  Brings back the memories, huh Mom?  We all had a great time back home, and hope to get back again soon!

I'll end this post with some (ok, turned out to be a lot) of my favorite recent pictures.

Tryin' out a new look

We love our duckies!

Too cool!

Hangin' with Jake

A new hairstyle!

Where's the baby??

Our little Boilermaker!

Until next time (and hopefully sooner rather than later)...

Love
The Yorks!