My daugther really didn't stop aging at 13 months I'm just lazy

The seasons have changed, Sophie has learned to stand up and cruise, she says mama, papa, hi, and buh bye and I'm just now getting around to posting these exciting milestones. I must rededicate myself to posting on here more frequently! She also has 12 teeth. Four in the front top, four in the front bottom, and molars to match. The molars are still coming in but they have all broken the surface of the gum. Things she is lacking-walking skills and enough hair to put in an incredibly cut Bam-Bamesque pony tail. How are we supposed to go trick or treating if the kid can't walk? Oh well she's still super cute!



Her first bike ride

Enjoying a snack at the pool

Learning how to wear her sunglasses





She loves this chair we are borrowing from her godparents. It talks, sings, and is obviously just the right size.

Look Ma, I'm standing!

So this picture needs an explanation. I think Sophie remembers breastfeeding. She sometimes will try to pull my shirt down (especially when I'm wearing a v-neck) just to see what's going on in there. One day she put a wind-up penguin in my shirt. Phillip found this funny and explained to Soph that my shirt could be used for all sorts of storage and he commenced to putting his wallet, car keys, pocket knife, books, and anything else he could find within arms reach into my shirt including my box o' wine. (Yes, I said a box of wine. It's a tough economy folks.)

Sophie being Sophie

Sophia Celebrates the BIG ONE!

Sophia turned one on April 20. We acknowledged her birthday on the 20th but since it was Reunions week at work we didn't celebrate until the first weekend in May. Sophia's grandma, grandpa, and nana all came to town and some of our friends came out to help celebrate. Sophia indulged on a homemade cupcake and received a lot of fun new toys. She does like all the toys she received but a kid being a kid also really relished in the wrappings.

On her birthday-before heading to daycare.

Sophia, how many are you? "I'm ONE!"

Cupcakes!

That's for me? (Notice Dolly thinking -hey, ma, drop that down here.)

Besides the sugar rush, I think her favorite part of the cupcake was seeing exactly how much of it she could SHOVE into her mouth!









Sophie opens presents

Easter

Catching up on my blog posts. Sophia's first Easter was great! We went to church, enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt, had Becca over for dinner, did another egg hunt and learned the joys of "robin's egg lipstick.
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Long time no post

Wow, it has almost been two months since I last posted and in baby months that's like 17 years! Wheww. It is funny to me that I seemed to have more time to post when Sophie was just born. I guess all that sleep allowed me to have "me time." Oh, well. I wouldn't change it for the world.

Sophia continues to be the Happiest Baby on the Block! She is so mild mannered, calm, and happy. Phillip and I both just love to be around her and look at her and marvel at her cute squishyness. I'm not being the mom who thinks her kid is better than the rest, Sophie really is a very happy and contented baby.

We started feeding her solids around 7.5 months and she has yet to turn away from food with a "I'm not eating that face." Thank goodness she gets her palate from her dad and not me! She happily eats kale, broccoli, and asparagus. She can make a mess but enjoys eating. After first feeding her broccoli she somehow ended up with a broccoli beard. Not the most attractive thing but funny nonetheless.

She has been sleeping solidly through the night for several months now. It is so delightful to get a full nights sleep and be functional the next morning. She often sleeps on her tummy and usually holds her bear, Smokey, over her eyes. Recently however she has discovered he makes a nice pillow.

In her spare time Sophie enjoys picking Daddy's nose. And then makes him eat the boogers.

In my spare time I enjoy taking Sophie to swim lessons! She loves being in the water and has done well so far. Doesn't fight when on her back learning how to float. Enjoys "wheels on the bus" for warm up and really liked playing Humpty Dumpty last week when teaching her how to find the wall in case she ever falls in the pool. It will be nice this summer when we go to Hilton Head that she is already a bit acclimated to the swimming pool.
Yesterday was a big day at the pool because she got to go under the water. Sophie only had a look of confusion on her face not fear. I imagine the more we go under the more enjoyable the experience will be.

Little miss Sophie still is not crawling yet. She gets about 96% into position and pushes up on her hands a little bit but only to reach the item she wants and then sits down. At this point she may just become a walker! She is content with schoocing to her destination or the toy that is out of reach.

We are looking forward to the warm spring weather, the opening of the farmer's market and celebrating Sophie's first birthday.

Sophie Speak

Sophie is a little over 9 months now. She hasn't started crawling yet but does have some new tricks. She is not giving us razzberries as much these days but just yesterday or the day before has started to babble with more gusto! A 'b' sound is her dialect of choice at the moment and it is adorable. I personally love the facial expression she makes while babbling. Here is a video for your entertainment. (The audio comes in and out because I omitted some extra background noise and conversation. The loud babble in the middle is me encouraging Sophie.)

Sophie has enjoyed eating solid foods and her diet now consists of sweet potatoes, mango, banana, cottage cheese, and kale. This weekend we will introduce tofu or carrots.


The bowl is just as good as the bananas!

Working on the crawl, but not there yet.


Michael Jordan tongue! Yup, I think she'll play basketball.


In her free time she enjoys the daddy jungle jim!

Sophia learns to wave

Sophia has learned to wave hello and goodbye.

Sophia's Firsts

It has been a while since I last posted. Just too busy and when I do have down time I find I am doing something else. Hopefully now that we are once again ditching the TV I will rediscover some "free" time and recommit to updating the blog more often. A lot has happened in the past 2 months since my last post.

Sophia now has 3 teeth on the bottom and we have learned it is no longer fun to have her suck on our fingers because she bites!

She had her first Thanksgiving in North Carolina. We had a small family gathering with Phillip's second cousins. Sophia also experienced her first "kiss" during this visit.


Her first Christmas was a noisy, chaotic, exciting, family filled blast! Per our family tradition she had her first photo with Santa and didn't scream.





She started solid foods over our vacation and has enjoyed sweet potato, banana, avocado, and of course, rice cereal. She is a pretty good eater and I trust the experience will become even more rewarding when she has a highchair to eat in instead of her walker!

Mmmm.....brown sugar. She's definitely my daughter:)

She uses rolling as a main form of transportation and can sit unsupported most of the time. She occasionally looses her balance but enjoys the world from this new perspective.

Cuddling with Aunt Julia

Resting my eyes with Uncle Skipper

On the steps of 123 Sesame Street at COSI/ Sesame Steet THE BODY exhibit

The "youngests" waiting to go down stairs and see what Santa brought. Grace (8), Julia (22) and Sophia (8mos.)

"The Modern Gramma" drinking a mimosa Christmas day while holding Sophia!

There are many many fun photos to share from out time at home over Christmas including pictures of the Sibling Bake-off between Skipper and I. I will try to set up a Picassa or Fliker account so I can share the photos with you all. I hope you have enjoyed this little update!

More soon.