A Few Long Overdue Videos

Having two cameras it's hard to get good use of both. . . or remember you can use both. But I'm glad we have both! Well, now that our digital camera is out of commission (out getting repaired), I remembered that I had a few videos on our video camera to upload. Enjoy!

Sofia meeting Santa for the first time at the Bucks Christmas party...
In case you're wondering what that crazy hootin is all about - that would be the Bucks photographer Bob Ty. I can't even begin to describe him but he is one interesting little man.



La Linda Manita...

Crawling...not so slow any more :)

What's UP?

Well, we had to lower the crib yesterday b/c Sofie has now discovered the fun activity of pulling up in her crib. She's not pulling all the way up to her feet yet, but kneeling. The first ten minutes or so of nap time are spent hanging out on the railing. (Pic below) The pic is actually of her getting up from her nap yesterday. She also decided that a good time to practice her new skill was at 5AM today. We let her hang out a while and then after about ten minutes of quiet I went to check on her. All I saw when I walked in were those big puppy dog eyes staring at me from over the rim, hanging on for dear life. I think she gets herself up there and then is not sure what to do so it's kind of amusing. So funny but not so funny at 5AM. So, I put her back down, she protested but quickly fell back asleep. I hope this is not an every morning thing. They say when babies learn a new skill they sleep a little less so we'll see!

In other news, she is using all of her signs. The ones she knows are: milk, more, food, and all done. So cool and cute to see her use them. I hope to teach her lots more so that she can tell me what's going on before she can use words!

Speaking of using her words, she definitely has her own little language. She says "CA" for quack and sometimes says "BA" for bye bye, and when she gets up from her nap the first thing she does is look for Baxter, wave and say "BACA" which I interpret as "Baxter".

She does high fives, identifies "nose" on my face (sometimes), and just loves to give kisses. She's such a sweet little angel.

She's also learning the art of a temper tantrum. She is protesting a lot more at nap time these days and also is VERY impatient at meal time. She loves her food. . . I wonder where she got that from? As soon as she gets in that high chair, if you don't put something to eat in front of her, she will let you have it. Mike and I were in agreement that this might be the first annoying thing she's ever done (at least in our eyes). Yet, we still laughed but thought... this will get old very fast.

Lastly, she is fully mobile. Crawling at full speed all over the place. Man, a mobile baby really changes the game! I love it but it is also exhausting...

A few pics of the Sofster . . .

Pulling up - HI MOM! LOOK WHAT I CAN DO! Get me outta here!



Bathtime with Dad - Mike called me in and said "LOOK, PAULY D!"

The day after "Pauly D".... still crazy hairdo...

On the Move!

This past weekend I really felt like Sofia turned a corner and really did a lot of developing/changing. She most certainly has a personality now and is growing and learning every single day - it's the most amazing thing to watch!

We had such a wonderful weekend. It was a three day weekend and no working for Mike so it was perfect. We had a wedding and then took a trip down to see Grandma, Grandpa and see Aunt Erin who was in town for the weekend.

. . . and it's official. We've got a mobile baby! She started really crawling on Saturday while Mike was running errands and has been perfecting her form ever since :) It literally happened that fast. When Mike left, she was still scooting. By that evening, she was really crawling. It's pretty funny to watch b/c she is a careful crawler. She's very much a delicate little girl in that sense. She's pretty cautious and takes small scoots but she's definitely on the move. So proud of our little angel!

ALSO, she's signing now! I was so excited the first time she did "milk" as I reported in the last blog and she's started doing a few more now as well. This morning when I put her in her high chair she did "food/eat". I was so proud! She's such a smart little girl. . . she still does "milk" while she is nursing and we think maybe clapping while she eats might mean "more". So, she still has to learn that the point is to use the signs to ask for things but she definitely is showing us that she knows the meaning. So so cool. . .

She's eating like a big girl now. I share lots of things with her that are in tiny pieces . . . she loved Daddy and Grandpa's pumpkin spice pancakes this weekend. She also had her first taste of frozen yogurt at the Bucks game and could not get enough. I think her favorite big people food is definitely cheese. Wisconsin baby for sure!

Just had to share those updates. Our camera has decided to die so we're sending it off to get fixed so I don't have lots of pics to share right now but I'll include a few from my phone for good measure.


Check out those teeth! This was us shopping. In the dressing room - bribery with Puffs...


Sofia bundled up on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house


Here is Sofia with her Grandpa S this past weekend. He put on his hat to go outside and put one on her and she was obviously amused!

9 month check up

This week was Sofia's 9 month check up. She's now as many months old as months that I carried her. Seems a lot shorter... crazy.

I'm happy to report that Sofia is a happy and healthy nine month old baby. Here are her stats:

Height - 27 1/4 (around 50th percentile)

Weight - 20 lbs, 9 oz (around 75th percentile)

Head circ - 445 cm (below 75th percentile)

Her doc says she's developing well and is doing pretty much everything that other nine month olds are. I was a little worried that she's not crawling yet (although so close and trying so hard! She can't get that belly to stay up!). But, the doctor said there is definitely nothing to worry about and that she's just a content little girl. She's perfectly fine chilling on the floor, observing and playing with her toys. Everyone tells me not to rush the mobility so I guess I'll take that advice.

A few new things she's up to:

She seems to be saying Mama in the right context. It's mostly when she wants to be held or nursed. It's super cute and warms my heart each time I hear it.

She has been understanding signs for a while now but the other day while she was nursing, she did the "milk" sign out of the blue! I was so excited! It hasn't happened since but I think she's starting to get it. So cool.

She gives kisses. It's the cutests sweetest thing. Open mouthed kisses - gotta love it. Grammie Lu started this with "besitos" and then Daddy would say "give me a kiss". And now she responds to both with leaning in to you with an open mouth. LOVE!

She has tried a few new big people foods. She still stuffs too much in her mouth and doesn't quite chew everything so this makes me nervous b/c she ends up coughing/gagging. Trying to teach her to slow down.

She understands "no" for the most part. She really likes to put the edge of the area rug in her mouth and I always have to redirect her. Now, she will grab it and then look up at me like "look at what I'm about to do... are you going to try and stop me?" It's hilarious but I have to keep a straight face - something I'm learning will be a constant challenge as a parent! I think she's going to be a funny one with a naughty streak.

That's it for now - here is a funny pic of yesterday's snack time. Hummus, bread, and cheese. YUM!