Rolling, rolling, rolling...

It's kindof funny... a bunch of books and people say that most babies will usually start to roll from their back to their tummy first. Already Sophie's doing her own thing! Yesterday she started rolling on purpose - from her tummy to her back. She doesn't really care too much for tummy time, even though she's getting better at it. She'd still much prefer to be on her back. So she's been working very hard at finding a way to get out of tummy time as quickly as possible...and now she can. She pushes her self carefully over until she flops gently right back on to her back, without even scaring herself or hurting her head. Her mummy and daddy cheer and make smiles with her, and then we put her right back on her tummy again. And this is one of those times that she gives us that well-known look that says "You two are incredibly confusing! Just what are you on about?"

Things we are learning

It's a time full of little milestones.

Sophie is learning that her mouth isn't only for eating - and she wants to put everything into it! Fortunately she doesn't have quite the dexterity for everything yet, but when she does get her hand, fingers, rattles or the wrong end of her dummy into her mouth, she has a rather excited chat about it at the same time. It's awefully cute. I'll have to get it on video soon.

She's also learning to hold her head up, and bit by bit getting more confident with tummy time. She loves to look at pictures and at that strange little person in the mirror. But the absolute best way to do tummy time is on Mamas knees! Yes, she's now strong enough to play airplane on my legs...and I can do my sit-ups at the same time. She thinks that's fantastic. I've got that on video - we'll upload it soon.
She still hasn't mastered the head control thing. She wants to be held upright and look around, but you have to spot her with one hand, cause without warning she'll start throwing her head around and butting into things. If your collar bone or shoulder is one of those things, it's not very nice for anybody, and she lets you know all about it! But she can sit up on a lap with support quite happily, and insists on being included in family chats on the couch.


She's learning to laugh! she has all kinds of unusual sounds for it, but she definately finds life amusing. Just in the last 2 days she laughed at me - twice! I did something funny and she found it hilarious. Both times I was reading to her... she was listening intently and looking at the pictures and occasionally telling me about it...
The first time it was a picture of a yellow fish. I made a fish face, and crossed my eyes and she squealed and laughed! The 2nd time I think I was trying to do a voice of a donkey ... it was something really low and unlike my normal voice, and she thought it was hilarious. ahhh...some of the best moments of my life to date.

And speaking of dates... I am slowly learning to leave her with family for an hour or 2 ... she got to hang out with Nana on Tuesday, since she was taking the world's longest nap and I absolutely had to get to the shops. So I left the sleeping baby and plenty of milk and a very happy grandmother in my house, and I did the fortnight's shopping all by myself. It was weird. But not too bad. I'll work my way up slowly so that soon I can go out for a dinner date with Dan, and then eventually back to work. And I might not cry buckets. maybe just cupfulls.

I've also learned tonight that I should never be allowed to make clothes for Sophie (or anyone I like for that matter) in any way shape or form! All I tried to do was put an iron-on transfer onto a plain pink romper, so she could wear something cute and unique. It's much more unique than I wanted it to be! It's off center. Instead of having a beautiful artistic dragonfly in the middle of her chest, it'll be in the middle of her armpit! okay, it's not quite that bad. I thought I had it centered when I put it on the ironing board, but I was off by about half an inch. Amazing how obvious that distance is on a 3-month old! I'm so glad I've learned this now, when she can't be embarrassed by me. At least I won't ruin her prom dress. (If I forget by then, email this to me and remind me.)

And the best thing of course is that we're both learning each other. My mothering confidence in the last 2 weeks has more than doubled. I don't really know how to do math on confidence, but it was just a little bit and now it's a lot. Well, a lot more! The difference isn't that I really have that much more information... I've had lots of information and it's sent me batty trying to figure out which of it was right for us, right for her. They say to just relax and do what works for you, but I didn't know what worked for me or for her yet. The difference now is that I feel like I know her. I have a sense of her personality, her needs...the way she eats and sleeps. I can make some predictions about how she will respond to various situations. She keeps changing and I'll keep learning her as she grows, but now I feel like I have a baseline. And she knows me. She trusts me. It's like we're discovering a world together, and figuring it out together, and teaching each other new things everyday. And it's beautiful and I am unforgivably sappy now, so I'm going to bed!

Can You Talk Like An Aussie?

http://www03.quizyourfriends.com/quizpage.php?quizname=071020063242-760156

Here it is - My Aussie terminology quiz. I got a wee bit of help :) Hope you have as much fun takin it as we had makin it! I wanted to add extra info about the answers, but this website wouldn't let me. So you'll just have to write me a question if you've got one. So if you're not an Aussie, give it a burl! Have a go, she'll be right. And if you are Australian, this should be too easy! But by all means, take it and have a little laugh anyway. Enjoy!

We did it!

For 2 accomplishments yesterday, I am proud.

First, if you'll have a look to the right of your screen --->
you may notice that I have finally updated my links! Yesterday Sophie slept for an irregular 2 extra hours in the morning, and I used some of that precious time to make my website just a tad bit more interesting - and accurate - just for you. :) I've added a family blog that was missing (The Miller cousins - love your cute kid photos and quotes!), corrected a friend's blog (Josh - I just live vicariously through your globetrotting adventures now!), and shared with you a few of my favourite sites. They're mostly about small children and food - what else do I really think about these days...when I'm not plotting my next sleep of course :) But I've also posted some of my fav radio stations-from out in Minnesota and here in Oz. There's my brother Adam's University station - here's a shameless plug: find his radio show and give it a listen sometime if you have a moment of freedom online... he's pretty funny :)

And secondly, the real celebration!
Last night Danny and I went out for our first date since before Sophie was born! We put her to bed, she slept like an angel, we left her grandparents with her to wonder if she'd wake up (she didn't), and we went to see a movie. I can't remember when I've ever appreciated going to see a movie quite so much! Even all the gaggles of teenagers cutting in line in front of us couldn't dampen my spirits. We went to see Stardust - which has been out at the theaters for so long that it was only showing in one place, and not for much longer. It was great fun. We really enjoy the genre, and for us, it was The Perfect Romantic Escapism for another first date.
The cost of course, was that after chosing to stay up late on purpose for the first time since before she was born...soon after we'd gone to sleep, Sophie decided this would be the perfect night to go back to waking every 2 hours for a feed. Bless her crazy little heart! She's napping again now, so I just might do the same.

Happy weekend. May you find great joy in each little accomplishment!

Look who's napping!

So I've been doing lots of reading lately... when I get a chance. Finding all kinds of websites I never cared to know about before. And one of the most interesting articles I read lately made me laugh and cry - it was all about sleep.
For new parents, sleep is an obsession. Like an illusive drug they're addicted to but can never quite get enough of...even more alluring than sex. New parents talk about this constant obsession with other new parents - they compare sleep victories: "When did you last get some? How much did you get? How did you get it? Was it any good? When do you think you might get some more?"

:)

Wishing you much enjoyable deep sleep.

A walk in the park

Hope your weekend has been well. Ours is relaxing. We're all getting plenty of sleep these days, so all is right with the world :)

Practicing tummy time... she always tries to get her whole mouth around her fist!





We went for a family drive to the Mt. Cootha Botanical Gardens yesterday. She loves being outside. Had a really nice time :)

Chatting to the the trees and the sky. There's so much to see!

And we're very chatty at bathtime!

Our first video

Ok, here it is! Sophie on Saturday (It was a good day.) This is massively long for a little video clip! And it's disgustingly sappy. But what can you expect...we are proud parents of a completely amazing new person. We are in way over our heads. We do tend to get a bit excited :) (especially me)

Enjoy!