4 Months

Sydney had her 4 month check-up this morning. She has had a cough since last Thursday, and it turns out she has acute bronchiolitis. They told me they could still do immunizations since she didn't have a fever, but being the paranoid first-time mom that I am, I told them I'd rather wait until she's over it. Plus, I don't mind putting off the trauma of shots for another week or so. Even though she's sick, Sydney continues to be a happy little girl.


Her growth stats:

• head- 68th percentile
• length- 25 inches (80th percentile)
• weight- 12 lbs 11.1 oz (31st percentile)

So for now she's tall and skinny. The doctor told me she has big feet too, which I thought was kind of funny since that's what one of the nurses said when she was cleaning Sydney up right after she was born. (Spencer's reply was, "Hey, just like her Mom!" It's true... I have big feet. I just hope I haven't consigned her to a fate of having to search for fashionable size 10 shoes when she's older. Believe me, it's no easy task finding them amid the support heels and geriatric footwear that seems to always fill that row of the shoe stores.)

All in all, month 4 has been pretty similar to month 3. Sydney is getting better at holding onto toys and usually directs them right to her mouth if she can hold them long enough. She ALWAYS grabs onto her binky and yanks it out of her mouth, and then just tries to eat it. She definitely prefers to be held facing outward so she can look around. One of my favorite new things she started doing in the past month is rubbing her eyes when she's tired or when she's just woken up. I think it's so darling when she does it!

We also get an occasional laugh out of her:



This was right after we got home from playing games with some friends. It was FREEZING outside, hence the pink marshmallow suit :)

Last Minute Guests

On Friday I got a message from my friend Katrina, a dear college roommate that I've known since freshman year. Her family was doing a little road trip, and since they were going to be fairly close to our neck of the woods, they wanted to see if they could come visit for a night. Of course we said yes! I think it's been a good 2 years since we've seen each other, and neither of us had seen the other's baby.

Katrina, Jared, Asher

We had a good time chatting, watching American Idol, and snacking on Girl Scout cookies while Spencer studied for a test and Jared wrote a paper. Asher was such a smiley little guy and enjoyed grabbing everything he could get his hands on and eating it (I thought it was especially cute when it was Sydney's feet).

The obligatory "hooray, we got to see each other & now I need to blog about it" photo.

Unfortunately it was taken at an hour when make-up and regular clothing hadn't quite made it on my to do list. Sydney was still asleep, so she missed the photo shoot. Don't my arms seem a little empty without her?

Bowling Night

On Friday we got to go bowling with the Psi Omega dental fraternity- we were excited to go to this activity since we've missed almost all of the others they've had this school year.

Getting ready for some fun.

Spencer took a break from eating pizza to take a pic with the babe.

While we bowled our hearts out,

Sydney played with her friend Addie (which means she sat in her car seat and ate her hands),

and gave Daddy lots of pretty smiles.

Note: This is Macie. She's about 2 and a half years old.

And my score was WAY too close to hers the first game.

Before you think I'm too pathetic, I did break a hundred in our second game :)

Are We Doomed?

When the TV is on and we put Sydney down to play, we try to position her so it's hard for her to see the TV.

Apparently is doesn't work very well.

Is it bad that when I was trying to cut her nails this morning and she wasn't cooperating, I laid her down in the living room and turned on the TV? Worked like a charm... she was occupied with ESPN while I trimmed her nails.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks to my sweet Valentines!

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Yes, I'm sorry to say this is a picture of my actual shower curtain in the peak of its disgustingness. But I just wanted to share a little secret I learned this summer (or has everyone else known about this for years and I was just out of the loop?). When my shower curtain starts to look like this:

I throw it in the washing machine and pour 1/2 cup baking soda in with my normal laundry detergent (and usually a few rugs to balance the load), and it comes out looking like this:


Not bad, eh?

Going for a Walk

We got a little respite from the snow this weekend, and when the thermostat said it was 50 degrees outside, I felt obligated to thank Mother Nature by going for a walk.

Had to get a shot of Sydney on the maiden voyage of her stroller. Sexy boots, Spence!

Bless you!

Sydney fell asleep about 5 minutes into it, she just loves to be jostled around. Turns out 50 degrees is still pretty chilly, so we ended up covering her face and cutting the walk short. The whole experience just made me even more excited for spring to come.