Sophia's First Christmas!

Sophia's first Christmas was great!  A little busy at first but such a nice time spent with family and friends!

My parents stayed with us for 3 nights over the holidays and had such a great time with Sophia.  She loves having so many Grandparents who adore her so much!

We were all spoiled this year and had to work really hard to find spots for all of our new goodies!  Thank you to you all!  Sophia has a toy room that is FULL of toys now and two new sets of wheels to get her around town in style! (a wagon and a push car)

Thanks to Skype, we also got to do Christmas morning with my sister Chrissy, Joe and the kids!  It was almost like having them there.... Really wish they were.  Miss you all!

Now it is time to ring in a new year, celebrate Sophia's 11 month Birthday and begin our new health kick!  

Happy Holidays to you all!!!!

First Santa Encounter....

If I can figure out how our scanner works, I will try to scan Sophia's official 2009 Santa photo.  These are the ones my Dad took while I was jumping up and down, waving my arms and singing to keep Sophia smiling and to prevent her from looking at Santa.  Eventually she looked at him, looked at me, looked at my Dad and then back to Santa.  Her face turned sour and the tears started pouring.  Oh well..... she lasted a good 2 minutes before that happened!

We are so excited for Sophia's first Christmas.  All of the presents are wrapped, the stockings are hung and we are pretty sure that Santa Claus is going to be really good to Sophia.  I wrote a letter to him myself and told him what a good little girl Sophia has been.

Can't wait to see her on Christmas morning.  I will post some pictures of the special day for you all to see.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!!!!

Love,

Sandra, Adam and Sophia

Home Sweet (but cold) Home!

Well it is all done!  We have officially tied the knot....

We had a wonderful trip, great weather for two weeks, lots of fun and time to relax and of course the most perfect wedding day we could have asked for.  We were told to expect rain (lots of rain) on the big day but I asked for a little help from a very special couple up in heaven and they pulled through yet again (thanks Nannie and Grandaddy)!

I will post some of our official wedding photos once I get them from my awesome photographer friend Audrey!  Big thanks go out to her for taking on that job.

Sophia had a busy two weeks in cuba and seemed to really enjoy the weather.  She grew her eighth tooth while there, learned to crawl quite fast, learned to point and say "dat", and started to learn to pull herself up onto furniture or Adam and I.  She is a very busy girl now!

I will update some more photos as they come in and fill you in on some more stories.  

Cheers to a great vacation and a great wedding!  Thanks to you all!

"My Ma-ma"....

Here is a video of Sophia saying "My Mama".  When she is tired, frustrated, mad or sad she will look at me and say "Mama" or "My Mama".  She will put her arms out for me to pick her up or crawl to me for a snuggle.  It makes my heart melt.  She also talks to herself in the morning and when she is ready to get out of bed she will start to yell "Mama" really loud!

When she is happy, excited or wants to play she will whisper "Dada" and look for Adam and then squeal and yell it louder.  She is too funny!

3 more days until CUBA bound!!!!

Busy baby girl!

Sophia is one busy/social bee!

She has play dates almost everyday with Max and Emma (her buddies).

She has birthday photo shoots almost weekly with the size of this family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RELIC!!!!!

Bath-time, nap time, play time, flu shot time :(, snack time.  The list goes on and on!

Despite it all she is one happy, healthy girl!  She is growing so quickly and changing before our eyes!

She says "Mama" and "Dada" now, waves, claps, signs "all done" and sometimes "more", crawls backwards on her hands and knees, crawls forwards commando style, yells "yee-haw" when excited and plays a sound mimicking game with her Mom and Dad all the time.

She is so much fun.  I wish I could bottle all these moments up and keep her small for even longer.  It is exciting to watch her change and grow but makes my heart ache that she isn't going to be a baby for much longer :(

Latest stats at just shy of 10 months:

Weight: 17lbs 15 oz (20th-25th %)

Height: 28.5 inches (65th %)

5 more sleeps!!!!! CUBA CUBA CUBA

Sophia and Max: A Love Story Begins.......

Sophia and Max first met when Sophia was one week old and Max was 3 weeks old.  That is where the love story starts.....

Or the forced interaction starts.....

I met Audrey (Max's mom) a couple of months before the babies were born while walking Finnigan.  We figured out we were due a couple of weeks apart and just by chance they ended up actually being born a couple of weeks apart (we both had the babes early).  After the babies were born we started hanging out lots and supporting each-other through those GAWD awful first few weeks.  We made it through breast feeding HELL, baby blues, and all the other discomforts that come with having a new baby.

We started taking LOTS of pictures of Sophia and Max together for their future wedding slide show!  They don't know it yet but they will get married someday!

Although it was forced interaction between the two, they have actually grown to really love each other.  They talk (or babble and yell random words) to each other on speaker phone every morning and have play dates virtually every day.  When they set eyes on each other they both get the biggest smiles on their face and squeal at each other.  They are starting to have squabbles over toys but for the most part play really well!

Thank goodness for Max's mummy!  I wouldn't have survived the first 6 months without her!

Thanks Max and Audrey!

Love, Sophia and Sandra

We have a SORT OF CRAWLER.....

Here are some photos of Sophia practicing her latest trick.  She is a sort of crawler now.  She can move forwards one or two crawls now but the real trick is that she crawls BACKWARDS.  She will actually get up and her hands and knees and ,without even knowing it, crawl backwards before she catches on and lays down.  Sophia is a busy girl but a bit on the cautious side.  I think the only thing holding her back from just GOING is a little bit of fear of falling or nosediving in to the ground.

As you can see from the other photos, Sophia looks as though she is doing yoga.  She gets right up on her side in a plank position and will actually balance on one arm.  She will also hold an 'upward facing dog???' position too.  Too funny!

We also officially have a talker!  Sophia says "mama" and "dada" completely appropriately now.  When she wants me she will YELL "Mama" and when she is just happy to see me she will whisper it and put her arms out for a hug.  When Adam comes home from work she will freeze, whisper "Dada" to me and shift her eyes around until she sees him.  Then she will flap her arm in the air and YELL "Dada"!  Melts our hearts!

This morning I kept saying "CUBA CUBA CUBA" and she would try and copy and say "Ba Ba Ba".

11 days!!!!!  Yipeeeee!!!!!  Sunshine, beaches and yummy drinks her we come!!!!

Laughing at Daddy as usual!

Lately, Adam is Sophia's favorite person!  She squeals when she sees him in the morning, when he walks into the room and especially when he gets home from work.

She thinks her Daddy is the funniest person around.  I'd like to ask her what she thinks 14 years from now!!!!

Anyhow, here's a video capturing a pretty regular after dinner scene around this household.  Sophia laughing at her Daddy as usual!!!

Sophia a Finn.... True buds!

Look how far these two have come!  

Finn was not too sure about Sophia the first time he met her but quickly turned on his protective doggy role!  He has become very protective of Sophia and anything that has to do with her.  Protective of her stroller, the yard, the house, you name it.

He has a pretty loud bark but it's the growl that gets me.  He just started that a few months ago and if he thinks a hears something in the house, he will stand up, gently walk past Sophia towards the noise, hackles up and the deepest, scariest growl emerges.  At first I tried to stop it and punish him when he would growl and bark but now I think it is a good thing.  Nothing will get between  him and Sophia.

Wait....that's a lie!  A ball will get between him and Sophia.  That is the only way someone could get into our house.  Toss Finn a ball and Sophia is chopped liver... Oh well!  He loves her so much but will always be a retriever at heart and that I can never take out of him!

These two are going to grow into the best buds.... I can already see it!  And that makes me smile :)

Pajama baby!

Here are some photos of Sophia playing in her crib and watching her Daddy put up some shelves just before bed.  She is such a ham and is turning in to a busy little baby girl!  Keeps me on my toes!  The baby gate is going up on the stairs permanently as Sophia is now up on her hands and knees 'rocking' all the time, can go from her belly into a sitting position no problem, can go from sitting into a crawling position no problem by nose diving forwards, and can still scoot backwards and in circles around anyone!  She's quick.

Her latest stats are:

Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz (still 25th %)

Length: 28.5 inches (70th %) (she's getting long!)

Not much else new except that Sophia has decided she really likes her bottles of formula more than nursing.  I was having lots of mom guilt and anxiety about it but am now just rolling with it.  She is happy and I guess I finally get my body to myself!  We are down to once or twice a day and even that is dwindling... It is like pulling teeth to get her to pay attention long enough....

Hope all is well and 3 1/2 WEEKS YO!!!!!  CUBA!!!!!

Happy 9 Month Old Birthday and Halloween 2009!!!!

Happy 9 months to our beautiful little girl!!!  Can't believe she has been with us that long already.  Time flies when your busy having fun!

Happy Halloween to all!!!  We had a Halloween party last night and had a few friends over to celebrate!  Many a martini was drunk, drank, ???.... Fun was had by all!

As you can see, Adam dressed up as a midget downhill skier and I was supposed to be 70's disco queen but looked more like a dolled up chick from 1981... Oh well... It was fun!

Sophia is changing every day and is so much fun.  She has really settled into our new home and is back to sleeping through the night again.  She is soooooo close to full out crawling and will rock on her hands and knees.  She still loves to stand and is able to balance herself for a good 20+ seconds now!  Pretty cute to see such a peanut standing up.

She is loving entertaining anyone who will watch her.  She will wave and giggle at strangers and play peek-a-boo with people at grocery stores.  I often here people say they have never seen such a BIG smile on a baby!  

Sophia's latest is learning sign.  We have only been using a few basics but she has started to lift her hands to say "all done" while shaking her head "no".  She has almost got the "more" sign down as well.  Pretty neat to watch and I am hoping it will help her communicate more of what she wants and needs to me.  

Hope everyone is well.  Exactly 28 days 'till CUBA!!!  

First Halloween Partayyyy!!!!

Happy almost Halloween to all!

We have had a very busy week with the BIG move into our new home so I haven't been able to get to a computer to update the blog!

Sophia is doing really well.  She is slowly getting used to her new home and has had a few rough nights adjusting to the new noises and creeks of the house.  She is also teething again (two more top teeth are getting close) and just had her seasonal flu shot and H1N1 shot.  My arms are still in pain after 2 days so I can only imagine how her little thighs feel :(  I also ended up with a fever, aches, pains and chills for about 36 hours which was not fun at all.  I could hardly lift Sophia up and spent most of the day laying on the floor beside her to entertain.  She seems to be feeling unwell today and as you can see from the above photos was not a happy skunk!

Today was Sophia's first of two Halloween parties!  Today was our Mum's group party and tomorrow is the co-workers party.  Sophia was a bit unsure of all the costumes and really didn't like my afro/70's disco queen wig!  She is also going through a real clingy stage as of late and doesn't seem to want me to ever put her down or be out of her sight.... My arms are not liking this stage.

Relic (my Dad) came to stay with us for a night and Sophia really took to him after awhile.  She was unsure at first and they had quite a few staring contests but eventually Sophia broke and giggled her way into Relic's heart....

Not much else to report.  We are slowly settling into the house and making it our very own home!!!!

Busy little bee!!!!

Sophia is a BUSY LITTLE BEE now!!! So far I love it!

She is just about crawling the traditional way but manages quite well getting around whether she scoots herself backwards, rolls over, or does circles like a daddy long leg with one leg! She NEVER stops moving..... Her feet are always tapping, her arms are always waving and her head is always shaking "no no no"!!! It is pretty entertaining!

Her latest achievement is standing. She has been able to stand holding onto furniture for almost 2 weeks but for the last two days Sophia will actually stand on her OWN for about 4 or 5 seconds at a time. Really impressive to watch! She is pretty proud of herself and will usually end up trying to jump or wave her hands to dance with excitement which leads to her tumbling over! I think our lives are about to change in BIG way! Yikes!

Sophia is also turning into a great eater. She is mastering her finger foods and really enjoys her rice crispies, cooked peas and carrots, pieces of orange and puffed wheat. She grabs handfulls and stuffs her mouth and then actually chews with her front teeth. Yes.... I say teeth because she offically has two top teeth now. Finally after many sleepless and painfull teething nights!

Hope everyone is well and we will see some of you soon in CUBA!!! The countdown is on!!!

Pics of the Day for Daddy!!! Apple of Our Eye!

Hey Daddy!!!! Me and Mommy miss you on this Thanksgiving Day and just want you to know how thankful we are for you!

I am the "apple of your eye"! See you soon!

Love,

Sophia and Sandra