Toes in the sand...

Sydney, Geoff and I went to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers for a few days for a little birthday get-a-way. It was nice getting away from the cold. Sydney enjoyed the sand, ocean, pool, and warm weather that allowed us to take walks and not have to bundle up. She hates putting her winter jacket on. It's hard to believe she's already 7 1/2 months old. It's been several weeks now that she's been sleeping all night, never fail, 11-12 hours. We're enjoying every moment and she just cracks us up daily.

Sure, I'll try broccoli... I'll try anything

Dunking dad

Loving the pool

Splashing and getting water in my eyes!

Floating in the pool with dad

Walking with mom in the sunet

Mom & me in the sunset

Posing with a sand snowman

Toes in the ocean for the first time

Touching the sand for the first time

I love being on dad's shoulders!

Wearing my pumpkin hat Katie got me in Bali

Visiting friends and already mimicking?

Sydney (7 months) and Cooper Alvarez (10 weeks).

She was happy to see cheeks like her own and just had to squeeze them.

Sydney and Bailey Faldzinski (14 months)

I think she went for a squeeze of Bailey's cheeks too.

Flinging the spoon during dinner is fun.

Look at all of my toys in my new toy box!

Nice play, right dad?!

What kind of move was that?!

Sydney's first pancake

Cruising around in her walker.

Mastering the sippy cup.

Loving to eat her toes

Sydney is expanding her menu options daily. She had a pancake last week and some cake, ice cream and frosting at a birthday party. Luckily, she also likes cooked vegetables (mainly carrots) and will share a banana, peach or pear with me. Her bottom two teeth are coming in nicely, but we haven't seen any other teeth yet. That limits the variety of food we can give her.

A few weeks ago, Sydney went to a Syracuse basketball game with us. I was a little nervous that she'd get nervous with all of the noise, but she is one of those babies that likes to be startled and scared. She thinks it's funny, so I figured we'd give it a try. She did get nervous when all 32,000+ people there started cheering all at once, but that only lasted a few seconds.

Sydney loves to "fake" cough. She thinks it's funny to hear someone else cough and then she'll mimick it. That is her latest fun thing to do.

Eating, eating, eating...

Sydney's new chair... quite warm and furry. Tyra has been so good with Sydney. Sydney has a big smile when ever she sees the dog and reaches right out to pet/grab her. She usually grabs right for Tyra's eye or ear and then grabs a handful of skin squeezing it as hard as she can and Tyra just tolerates it.

Sydney LOVES ritz, graham crackers, biter biscuits and just about anything she can hold onto and feed herself. She always gets it everywhere though!

Jumpin' Jumperoo!

Sydney's Aunt Kristin & Uncle James got her some adorable letters for her room that we put up the other day. I had to share how cute her room looks now...

Sydney has figured out how her jumperoo works. Here is a short video of her daily jumping exercises.

Our 6 month check-up

We had a very busy weekend driving out to Saratoga for Jack's 1st birthday and then celebrating Sydney's half birthday at a Superbowl Party yesterday. She had a fun time watching all the kids running around her at both.

Sydney's 6 month check-up was Thursday. The doctor's words were "she's perfect," which, as biased parents, we already knew :) She's been surprisingly healthy with all well visits to the doctor's so far. Sydney is 27" long and weighs 19 lbs. 6 oz. She's in the 90th percentile for her length and head measurements and 95 percentile for her weight. In other words, a very well rounded girl, according to her measurements, and her belly too :) She also had 3 more immunization shots and didn't cry again. She's tougher than her mother, that's for sure. Her bottom tooth poked through and a second bottom tooth isn't far behind. The pediatrician said her top gums are all swollen too, so her top teeth are coming in as well. She's sitting on her own, blowing raspberries, and learning to feed herself. She's pretty independent. Often times I have a hard time feeding her with a spoon, but if she can help, or if I hand her a cracker that she can feed herself she'll eat.

Sydney's been going to bed around 7:00-7:30 and waking up around 7:00am. Typically she'll wake up once for a bottle during that time and go back to sleep afterwards. The doctor recommended putting her to bed a bit later and letting her go if she wakes up for a bottle at night. Last night we tried it, putting her to bed around 9:15 and she woke up at 1:00am. I went in to let her know I was there and then left. I felt like I made it worse, because she cried harder when I didn't pick her up, but about 15 min. later she fell back asleep and didn't wake up again until 7:15am. This little trick might just work! We'll see how it goes the next few nights. She's still napping pretty good too. One nap in the morning and two in the afternoon about 1-2 hours each time.

Catching up...

Not crazy about hats...

She totally looks like a 3 year old in this picture!

Suited up for the big snow!

Game day with dad.... the Giants lost :( Another one and done outfit...

Sorry! It has been a while since we have updated, so we have a lot to cover. Last Friday, January 23 I felt a tooth coming in on the bottom in Sydney's mouth. I think it's been bothering her because she just hasn't been herself lately. To top things off for her, she got sick last Sunday. It is really her first illness besides a few stuffy noses here and there. She has had a stomach bug most of the week. Poor thing. Geoff, her Uncle James and I all caught whatever she had and were very sick earlier this week. Luckily the worst of it lasted only 24 hours. The flu shot didn't work for this strand and it was BAD.

Sydney is getting the hang of her walker and jumperoo (that is a free-standing jumper). In the walker she was only scooting backwards for a while, but now she's figured out that if she stands and leans forward she came move in that direction too. In the jumperoo a few days ago she would push off with one foot then the other so it looked like she was dancing. Now she's figured out how to coordinate her feet and jump. She's learning so fast.

She is no longer in the same spot I leave her in when I set her down. She immediately rolls over and is scooting backwards. I found her under the coffee table the other day. We'll have more updates soon - we have her 6 mo. appointment later today...

Christmas & Key West

Sydney went on a plane for the first time on her way to Key West. We left the day after Christmas and were there for about 9 days. I was nervous that her ears would pop on the flight and she would scream, but she was totally fine. On the last leg of the flight home she actually slept through the take-off and landing.
I'm having a hard time believing how big she's getting. We had gotten all 3-6 month clothes for Key West, but she was in 6-9 month clothes weeks before we left. She had to squeeze into the clothes we had gotten for her! She is now rolling from front to back and back to front. She is also sitting on her own pretty well. I am right there to catch her if she tips while sitting, but she does a good job balancing herself. Teeth must be on their way because she's been chewing on everything near for weeks. When she's on her belly she can hold herself up, straightening her arms and reaches for toys in front of her. We're making some good progress and I'll have to baby-proof this house soon! Here are some photos from Key West - Enjoy!