To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question…

Little darling Sophie has been quite a stinker in the sleep department lately (well, really since 4th of July when she started getting teeth).  There are some nights (like last) that she’s up 4-5 times.  Sometimes it’s a quick fix:  move her to the middle of the crib so she stops banging her head against it, turn on her side, give her a binky, and that’s it.  Other times (like last night) something is truly bothering her and she just screams and I have to actually get her out and comfort her…and comfort her…and comfort her.  She still has a full night of sleep every now and then, but I really need her to string together a few nights in a row for me!

I mentioned before that she has two teeth on the top (not symmetrical though, middle one, skip one, and then side one) – well, now she’s trying to fill in the blanks.  I can see the middle one starting to poke through and I’m sure that other side isn’t far behind.  Because of this, she is definitely chewing on anything she can find.  The only time she chews on her fingers is when her teeth are bugging her and there’s been some serious chomping going on lately!  Mike gave her a chicken bone (drumstick) the other day to chew on – she really enjoyed getting at that; probably didn’t hurt that it tasted like chicken too!  She definitely gets all smiley when she sees her Grandpa, but then she turns her head like she’s being shy.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this might be a little game of peekaboo though because she does it at home too.
 
 
I think we’re really close to all-out crawling.  She’s got the quick army crawl down (though yesterday without pants she moved her legs back and forth better, still out to the side a bit though – try to keep pants on her though because otherwise she’s getting a rug burn from dragging her legs behind her) and can get from the living room to the kitchen in no time.  At first she’d just go to the edge of the couch and then turn around but now she is into exploring the house.  She’ll also try and get you to “chase” her because she’ll look back and if you say you’re gonna get her she’ll turn back around and squeal and start moving and kicking.  She still has a lot of fun if you carry her around to chase people or the dog.  Making noise is definitely a favorite pastime as Mom can attest since Sophie likes to take anything hard and then find the wood floor to bang.  In our house she likes to get to the kitchen wood floor and either bang her hand or slide it back and forth so it squeaks.  Yes, that sound is annoying.

This weekend is GermanFest in Frankenmuth but it doesn’t look like Sophie and I are going to make it this year.  The plan for tomorrow is to head to the city and get stuff set for Jen’s Baby Shower next weekend.  It’s crazy to think back to either this time last year when I went to GermanFest or even my Baby Shower and think about all the unknowns and anticipation over Sophie finally getting that whole gestation thing over with and getting out here and into the world.  And then there was the waiting for her to open her eyes.  And the waiting for her to actually smile.  And the waiting for her to open her hands or play with a toy or roll over or get a tooth.  Man, kids do a lot in this first year!  These first eight months have been great and just keep getting better (well, maybe I don’t feel like that at 2am, but…) and I can’t wait to see what’s next!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rushing things and I really do try to enjoy each stage for what it is (as opposed to Tom whose nature is usually just to get things over with and then you can look back and enjoy…not the best trait when you’re hiking up a mountain, but it is a useful characteristic sometimes).

In other news, I am working to get the pictures up to Ofoto and will repost links on the side of the page.  Thanks to everyone who’s mentioned reading the blog lately, it’s nice to know who my silent-because-I-won’t-comment stalkers are!  We are maybe/probably/kinda looking for a boat right now so I’ll give you a prompt for comments:  boat name ideas.  If we do get a boat and are going to name/rename it I’ll put up a poll – who knows, your idea could end up there (but you’ll never have the chance to see your idea in pixels unless you COMMENT).  It’s easy and painless…trust me!