Sophie Sleeps Through Night

I will count this as sleeping through the night - Sophie had her last bottle around midnight last night and woke up early this morning - I think maybe around 6:00... but Dad gave her her pacifier and she dozed until time to get up, which is 7:00. Sophie is pictured above with Grandpa - this was taken just before we left Georgia on Christmas Day. We are so proud of her for sleeping at night! She is getting better at being awake during the day too and is smiling a lot. So she must also be pleased with the progress.

Both girls are doing better with sleeping at night - I think they are starting to get the concept. They wake up in a good mood when they get a lot of sleep too. Mary slept last night from 8:30 PM to 7:00 this morning. Actually, she stirred about in her crib until about 9:30, but that was still the longest stretch of sleep she's had. I woke her up this morning and she was all smiles. Which is especially nice, since she is just getting over a cold.

The girls and our two dogs did great on the trip down to GA and back to VA. We were all road warriors, stopping only to get gas and for Mom and Dad to use the restroom. Simon and Bailey stayed in the backseat of our rented minivan the whole time. They could not really get out of the van w/ the car seats in the middle seats anyway. Before you go thinking that we are cruel to animals and children for leaving them in the car the whole time - we made our voyage at night - leaving around 11 PM and arriving around 7:30-8 AM on both trips. The girls pretty much sleep as long as the car is moving. So either way we would have lost a night's sleep - better it be making progress on the road then up all night after driving w/ 2 infants all day long plus stopping to feed them.

Sophie and Mary had a nice first Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Forsyth. Santa came to see them and brought them some fun toys that make noises. They can't really play with them yet, but they enjoy listening to the sounds and looking at the bright colors. It won't be long before Mary will be playing her little toy piano and Sophie will be beating her drum.

Turns out that Sophie is the #1 name for 2007. Grandpa heard it on the radio while we were down visiting. We did not know we were so trendy. But that's a cool little fun fact - think I'll write it in the baby book. Once the girls are sleeping at night I'll get right on top of that.

There's Something About Mary

I'm dedicating this post to Mary today because I am so proud of her - she slept through the night last night! She went to bed at 12:30 AM and woke up at 7:00 this morning doing just fine. Sophie on the other hand drank like a fish around 2:00 in the morning but then she slept until Mary decided to get up. We have to work on keeping Sophie awake and eating better during the day.

Hopefully a similar post dedicated to Sophie will be coming soon??

I think it helps to stay optimistic.

Holiday Outtakes

Isn't it the law now that all parents of newborns have to feature their picture on the family's Christmas card? In order to retain our status as upstanding citizens, we've been working on capturing that perfect photo (not pictured here!) to mail out to our family and friends. We finally got it I think. Well, close enough - before Sophie spewed her milk all over Mary. But just thought I'd share some outtakes on the blog. Thanks to Grandma for the Christmas outfits.

Sophie's on the left and Mary on the right in each photo.

Fun with Babies

Sophie

It's been a while since the last post so here are some more baby pictures. Today we all went shopping together at Whimsies - it's a cute children's clothing store but kind of boutique, so we've never been there. We had a gift certificate from Peter's boss and his family so we bought some winter hats for the girls.

I'm not sure how much they weigh now but they've been growing and must weigh much more than they did last doctor's visit. Unfortunately, I weigh about the same - I know it will take time to get off the baby weight but they really talked up breastfeeding in all those books and childbirth classes. It's supposed to burn 500 calories a day and that's just for one baby. But enough about me. Besides if I go somewhere with the girls, they get all the attention. And they are much more fun to buy clothes for! I think Grandma Carol would agree - we just received more outfits in the mail from her today. :)

So since we bought some cool hats we had to take pictures of the girls wearing them, of course. We got Sophie's picture first. I took Mary's picture after some play time and the next feeding, by that time she was already tuckered out, but still cute in the hat.

Dad, Sophie and Mary

Playful Mary

Sleeping Mary