Where We're At: Sofia

Oh man, am I slacking. I typically write these little summaries of the kids every few months, and I haven't done much of anything for poor Sofia. Sure, I've taken lots of adorable pictures, but I haven't written much about her. Truthfully, I've done this in the past, in large part, as a way for me to revisit certain ages so that I can remember what worked and what didn't work. Sofia is our last so I really don't give a crap need to worry about that anymore.

But, I do wanna remember some of the little things that make her who she is as a baby. I have exactly 18 minutes so I'm gonna try to jam it all in.

Sofia is independent and driven. She is already trying to crawl and is successfully making her way around the house. She is 5.5 months old. All of my kids are early with their motor skills, but she is the earliest. I'm happy for her because she likes being able to get around. I'm sad for me because my life will suck for the next year while I try to wrangle her.

She eats Neocate because of milk/soy allergies. She doesn't eat much - maybe 4.5 oz every 3.5-4 hours. Sometimes, it's only 3.5 oz. She's horrible to feed. And I mean, it's just a pain to feed this kid. She looks around. She squirms. She tries to roll over. She's so uninterested in eating. She can't quite hold her own bottle or I'd just throw it at her and let her fend for herself. I really can't wait until she's off the bottle and at the table with us. We've started her on solids. Rice cereal was a problem so we waited a couple of months and went straight to sweet potatoes. She likes them and we'll be adding different foods here pretty quickly.

She still gets Prilosec three times a day. I still crack open the capsules and make our baby "crack" lines. I put each dose in cupcake liner and pour it into a syringe filled with apple juice. She loves it and her reflux is managed pretty well.

She does not sleep through the night. She still eats around 4 or 5 a.m. This is the longest we've ever had a kid need to eat in the middle of the night. We're kind of getting sick of it 'cause we really like to sleep and we want to start doing that again.

Sofia is a slobbery kid. And a spitty kid. Ugh. She spits up all. the. time. Super gross. If she wasn't my own kid, I wouldn't want anything to do with her. She is also a very loud child. She likes to yell. Not because she's sad or mad or hungry. Nope. She just likes to hear herself. She just straight.up.yells.

She is somewhat high maintenance in that she's not content to just hang out for very long in any one place. Again, with the independence and being driven. She's pretty much over this being a baby thing.

One milestone that has been life changing is that she doesn't hate the car anymore. In fact, when she's fussy and we're trying to get out the door, we put her in the car seat (she's back in the infant type you carry) and let her chill while we get organized. She rides quiet most of the time and is happy to hang out in there when we are doing errands, at church, etc. I'm super, duper, like doing a cartwheel happy about this because school starts tomorrow and driving around with a screaming baby is worse than water torture.

I happened to be reading a baby summary of Addie at this age and I could have almost just reposted it for Sofia. Addie was a little more easy going, but otherwise, they are identical. Sofia doesn't like to cuddle at all. She wants to face out. I still dream feed her and I'll try to sneak a cuddle in after she finishes her bottle. The minute I put her up on my shoulder to snuggle, she jerks her head up, and pushes away from me. I mean, from a dead-mouth-gaping-open sleep to straight-up-stiff-arming me. Then, she gets mad and cries. I put her in her bed, she rolls over, and falls immediately to sleep. She puts everything in her mouth. Her hunger and sleep cues are just like Addie's were - a mild whine that escalates to shrill screaming in a matter of minutes if she's not fed or put to bed when she's tired or hungry. She is a pretty smiley baby. She giggles a little bit now and then. When she's excited, she breathes in and out really fast and waves her arms wildly about.

We are all pretty enamored with this little girl - spit, slobber, and all. Her sisters are wonderful to her. They love her, squish her, and make her giggle. They genuinely enjoy her being in our family. She has really rounded out the bunch.

 As parents, we are more mature about the whole baby thing. We know it's finite. We know that the difficult moments are just that, moments. We know that it does, without a doubt, get better. That the rough patches last only days or a couple of weeks until she's onto the next thing. We know that we'll blink and it will be a year from now and she'll be a toddler, using words, and fighting for independence. We so look forward to doing all the things we've been waiting to do as we've been immersed in the "getting them here" phase. We're done with that mission, and now we're moving into the "enjoying our kids" phase. They are growing and becoming capable and trustworthy little humans. They are adventurous and eager to learn about and see what is going on in this world. There is something so fulfilling about being a family, building those bonds of suffering joy, and experiencing this life together. We're so glad that Sofia is finally here; she's completed us.