Sophie @ 2 years old

Sophie's 2 year WBV was on 9.4.08. She weighed 27.0 lbs and was 36.5" long. That translates to the 50 -75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. Still tall and skinny. She's a sweetie. Enjoy the pictures!

Bless you, Thank you, Help you

These are 3 endearing phrases that Sophie has been saying for several months. We cannot get enough of her saying these words. Our heart melts when she talks because it's so dang cute. Honestly. The more she talks, the more I just want to kiss her, squeeze her, and tell her how damn cute she is!

When you sneeze, burp, yawn, breathe heavy, you get a "bless you." When you help her, give her food, put her shoes on, or even play with her when she wants she says "thank you." The cutest, though, is when she needs help. She says "mommy, help you?" It's when she needs help, not me, not John, but she needs it. It's so damn cute. Love it!

Wait, the best is actually when she says "I love you mommy" or "I love you daddy." Nothing can get better than that!

Tripp is 7 months!

I have to say that Tripp is such a momma's boy. I absolutely love it. A snuggler and a momma's boy.

- Personality: Gentle, serious, and very happy at the same time.
- Based on my home scale, Tripp weighs at least 21 lbs.
- Eats breastmilk (4 to 5 bottles per day)
- Eats solids - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Still not loving solids, that's for sure. Tolerates it, doesn't love it. Seems to like peas, apples, and carrots the best.
- Not to jinx us, but Tripp has been a great sleeper for the past month or so. He goes down around 7:30 and wakes between 6:00 - 7:00. Usually early, but sometimes let's me sleep in until 7:30. Such a good boy!
- He's still a crazy sleeper, rolling and crawling all over the bed at night. I'm not sure how he stays asleep.
- Drools like crazy, buckets of drool ... puts everything in his mouth and I mean everything ... see below.
- Has 3 teeth, with 2 or 3 more ready to pop through. Teeth are center bottom left, top center right, and top next to the center left.
- Has an amazingly strong grip.
- Wearing 12 month clothing. Can fit in a few 9 and 6-12 month items still, but is moving up to 12 - 18 in some others.
- Wears size 4 diapers.
- In the last week or so he has started napping well. Today he slept from 11:15 - 2:00. That's not typical though. More like 2 or 3 naps per day 1 hour or so each. Better than those 20 - 30 min naps.
- Sitting like a champ. Still not a big roller although he'll do it when he's board on his back or tummy.
- Tries desperately to sit up from a laying position on his back.
- Starting to show signs of wanting to crawl. Definitely trying to pull up.
- Loves the "big boy" bath. Takes most of his baths with Sophie now, and they both love it! He just splashes away.
- Babbles some. Likes to say "grrr" and "eeeggg" ... kinda like rolling his tongue with those letters. Hard to explain.
- Not a fan of the exersaucer or jumperoo. Confusing to me because he likes to grab toys and jumb. I don't think he likes the confinement aspect of those toys.
- Talking about confinement, he doesn't like the high chair at all.
- He likes the anticipation of things. For instance, if I'm going to tickle him and I say "I'm going to tickle you" and move my hand towards him, he starts laughing before I even touch him.
- Loves stuffed animals and being "attacked" by them. The anticipation thing again.
- Smiles non-stop now. Laughs, too! It's the sweetest thing ever.
- Not a fan of my singing, humming, or anything associated to those things. Understandable. LOL
- Half way through September he got really bad in the car again, but seems to have gotten better. Definitely still has his moments. Hates the car ride to Aunt Tara's. He does fall asleep now occasion.

You guessed it ...

Tripp has another tooth. Yep, he has 3. There are at least 2 more on tap just waiting to come down at any moment. When they do, there will be 4 on top and 1 on the bottom. Maybe the right center bottom will come through soon so there isn't just one lonely tooth on the bottom. There are just too many teeth in this little baby's mouth ... he's only 7 months old! Alright, I'm stopping there ... no rambling about teeth tonight.

I stand corrected!

Tripp has another tooth! That makes 2. In a frantic post earlier today, I wrote that Tripp now has 1 tooth. I stand corrected. He now has 2.

When Tripp went to school today, he had 1 tooth ... when he came home he had 2. Wow! There is another tooth just waiting to pop through next to the one that came in today. I actually thought the third had come through, but I can't feel it so I guess it's just under the surface waiting to make its entrance.

So to recap, Tripp has 1 left bottom center tooth, 1 top left next to the center tooth, and the right center tooth just waiting to pop through. That is one strange pattern ... how weird is that?

Ok, I'm rambling about the teeth, mainly in disbelief that he has them, so I'm just going to let it go for now.

We've got a tooth!

The day is here, the day I dreaded for both Sophie and Tripp ... tooth day is here. Tripp has a tooth! Ugh.

Was that a little dramatic for an opening line? LOL I'm serious though. I just have never wanted my kids to get teeth. I was lucky enough to be able to stare at that sweet, gummy smile of Sophie's for 9 months, but I guess I'm out of time with Tripp's gummy smile. I know Tripp will be cute as a button with a tooth, but I love his little gummy smile oh so much and I'm just not ready to give that sweet smile up. Plus, I swear it seems like when a baby gets a tooth he or she just looks that much older. I don't want my baby to look any older. He's my baby and now that he has a tooth I feel like he'll speed right thru to toddler-hood.

Tripp's tooth came through on Saturday, 9/20. It's very hard to see, but you can feel it. It looks like he may get another 6 teeth any day now. Seriously! I better hurry up and take a few more pictures of his gummy smile before the tooth becomes very noticeable. :-)

As parents, you all know how a "first" anything is a momentous occasion. Nobody wants to be away from their babies when they experience a "first", even a first tooth. I'm sure that is why the tooth popped through on Saturday. John and I were out of town. The kids were staying with John's sister and mom. Grandma Nancy and Aunt TaTa called to tell us that Tripp had a tooth. We were in Boston at the UCF game and, believe it or not, I actually cried to hear the news. Both because I didn't want him to get a tooth yet (we already covered that) and because he got it when I wasn't there.

I guess the silver lining in all this is Tripp isn't bothered by the teething process. He slept all night and just woke up with a tooth. No crying, no night waking, nothing .... just a tooth! That's much better than some of the horror teething stories I've heard. Knock on wood, let's hope it's like that with all the other teeth that still have to come in.

Tripp at 6 months

I can't believe Tripp is already 6 months old. It's unbelievable to me how fast time goes by these days. I try to cherish every minute, because before too long I know I'll no longer have a baby but another "preschooler."

Tripp's 6 month WBV was September 4th. He was 19.3 lbs (50th - 75th percentile) and 28 inches long (95th - 97th percentile). Even though he got 5 or 6 shots, he did well crying only when the last few shots stuck him. Dr. Hardin told me she's sure he'll have brown eyes and be a "big" boy ... maybe even a linebacker based on the size of his thighs. LOL

We had Tripp's professional pictures taken on his 6th month birthday. When I got home, I stuck him outside in the backyard and took some pictures of my own. He was pooped, but a good trooper. I posted a few below. Enjoy!

Little Teacher

I have to tell you about this! Last Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of Sophie's little friends, Lawson. He had a construction themed party and there was a tattoo station set up. A Little Tykes table was lined up against the wall and a sign was hung above. I saw Sophie start to climb on the table, something she does now that we try not to allow her to do. She climbs everything! So of course I get up and say, "Sophie, we do not climb on tables." She sits down, looks all cute and innocent, and starts to play again.

I look up and to my surprise there she is sitting on the table again. This time I watched her before I reacted. She had a ruler in her hand and she was touching it against the wall and mumbling something. I got closer and I heard her saying "A,B,C,D ... A,B,C,D" ... she was mimicking her teacher! Oh my gosh! It was the cutest thing ever. I said to Sophie "are you teaching?" To which she replied. "teacher mommy. A,B,C,D ... 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 ... yay mommy!" My heart melted. She was too cute for words at this moment. My little girl, growing up in front of my eyes.

Sophie officially started "preschool" a few weeks ago. She started the Tuesday after her birthday, so I think that was September 2nd. I learned on that day that I no longer have a "toddler", I now have a "preschooler." That made me wonder where my baby went ... but, that's an entirely different post.

Crazy Sleeper

My little monkey is so loud at night when he is "sleeping." The other night I clicked on the monitor and watched him. He was sleeping, but boy was he moving. He was literally crawling on his belly up towards the top end of his crib. Keep in mind that he does not crawl when he is awake - yet. So it was interesting to me to see him crawl in his sleep. Now I know why he ends up at the opposite end of his crib from where I initially laid him and why he's on his belly and not his back.

I've also watched Tripp do 360 degrees in his crib. He's all over the place that I sometimes wonder if I should put bumpers back in. I can hear him banging things on the crib rails. Hopefully he's not banging his head! LOL! Ok, that actually wouldn't be funny. One time I went in his room after several minutes of banging and Tripp had his feet propped on the top of the crib rails. Crazy! Tripp's sleeping habits remind me of stories my mom tells of Johnny and his sleeping

I will say, Tripp is sleeping so well. I don't want to jinx myself, so I won't go into detail but he is sleeping pretty much 12 straight hours at night. I love it! I don't want to get to used to it, though, because I'm pretty sure some teeth are on their way and that always disrupts sleep. I'm just thankful that I have a good night sleeper ... daytime naps, well that's an entirely different post.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Goodballet blog!

We hope to make this a place where our family and friends can come visit to get updates on our lives. Our hope is to keep this blog up-to-date so as to serve as a little journal to keep track of all the fun and neat things the kids are doing. They grow so fast and we can't wait to have a good record of what Sophie & Tripp are doing. Of course, I'll post pictures too!

Thanks for visiting!

Love - The Goodballets