I'm stunned. She's communicating with me.

This is the third consecutive day that Sophia has communicated with me by "walking" to what she wants. When I say "walking" I really mean she's walking with my assistance. She's holding her arms above her head while holding onto my fingers and I'm offering her my hands by bending at the waist so I'm at her level. You know what I mean, the back killing "walking" that pre-walking babies want to do all the time. It certainly makes me feel old when I attempt to straighten my body back to normal and am basically stuck midway up for what feels like forever. Oh well. Back to the good stuff...

The past 2 days I could tell that Sophia was getting hungry for dinner. She was puckering her lips in her cute little pursed way and acting antsy. Normally I ask her if she's hungry and offer her an empty spoon to see if she opens up for a bite. If she does then we begin the mealtime routine. I decided to skip my part to see how she would react. In fact I didn't even let her know I knew she was hungry. Instead I offered her my hands to take a walk. She proceeded to "walk" from the dining room into the kicthen straight to her highchair and then she stopped. It really floored me.


I tried it again last night and she did the same thing. Whenever she was hungry for dinner she led me over to her highchair and stopped.





Just this morning she did it again. This time we were playing in her bedroom. I had attempted to put her down for a nap only 10 minutes earlier and she absolutely refused to be placed into her crib so we continued to play with her toys and Sadie. When she acted like she wanted to walk I gave her my hands and she walked right over to her crib and stopped. I lifted her into it and she immediately grabbed onto Lamb and started rolling around and cuddling with him. WOW! Lights out!

Do all babies do this? Personally I think she's a genious, but I'm slightly biased.

Sophia plays with Bitty Baby

You've just got to watch this video of Sophia playing with her baby doll. She loves her new playmate. She can't get enough of the plastic head and blinking eyes. I think Sophia really thinks Bitty Baby is a real baby.

Sophie turns 8 months old

Wow. Once again I have to comment on how fast has gone by since Sophia's arrival.

It's hard to believe that she used to weigh only 8 pounds now that she's reached the 20 pound mark. She's wearing 12 months clothes and eating like such a big girl. She's even started figuring out how to drink from the sippy cup.

We had to switch her out of the infant seat last weekend and so far she loves her big girl car seat and has a much better view. She's still facing the rear, but she looks 100% more comfortable now. She'll be in this seat for a few years.


Sleeping. Hmmm... Sophia has taken to waking up in the middle of the night ready to practice standing, crawling and walking. I hear her sqealing in the baby monitor and when I go in to check on her she wants to get out and play with me. This has happened on 3 different nights to far and she's usually up for an hour and then goes back to sleep after playing and drinking a bottle. It's no fun for Mommy who isn't quite so exited to practice with Sophia in the middle of the night. Oh well, I had 2 solid months of her sleeping through the night.

Ba!

Well, today Sophia decided to say BA. Not a string of ba ba bas. Just a single ba and then a few seconds later another ba and then she said it a third time. We both heard her. It was really cool.

Her previous language skills include mostly blowing bubbles and shrieking. I have a feeling she's going to figure out how to add more consonants soon. I can't wait until we can babble with other all day. I babble all the time now, but it will be awesome to have her babble back at me instead of ignoring me. :-)

Sophia can play Peek-a-boo

She's learned how to hold her arms up!

Everything she can get her hands on these days seems to go over her head. We've turned it into Peek-a-boo and we try to "find Sophia". She beams each time she raises a blanket or a sippy cup or a diaper up over her head/face and then lowers her arms to reveal herself.

It's adorable.

Sophia's favorite things...Part II

Sohpia's favorite things include:

Lamb and Kitty Cat - her sleeping pals
Slapping her open palm on any hard surface

Favorite Songs/Games: BINGO, Pat-a-cake
Favorite Toy: The Learning Table, The Little People Farm Animals (she loves to eat their hair/fur), and her V-Tech Car Bike - however she ONLY likes to stand on it.
Favorite Person: By far, Daddy.
Favorite Food: Sweet Potatoes
Favorite Activity: Standing
Favorite Word: Anything super duper loud that resembles a squeal.
Favorite Noise: MMMMMmmmmmmm - it means she's hungry
Favorite New Way to Eat: Slurping

Sophia's Dislikes include:

Having dirt wiped off her face
Having water poured on her head
Being strapped into a car seat or stroller
Going to bed without seeing Daddy

Videos of Sophia

Here's all of the videos of Sophia to date.

Sophia and Sadie Crawl

Sophia Crawls Day 2

Sophia Crawls

Sophia Tries to Climb Mt. Daddy

Sophia on the Rocking Chair

Sophia Reads the Circulars

Sophie on the Boppy

Sophie

Sophia Practices Walking

Sophia Kicks Off

Sadie Likes Bubbles.

Sophia Eats a Magazine

Sophia and Daddy at the Learning Table

Sophia Sings Along with the Radio

Sophia Can Roll Over

Sophia Rotating on the Table

Exersaucer Part III

Exersaucer Part II

Fun in the Exersaucer

Sophia Eats Rice Cereal

Sophia and the Pink Princess Bear

Sophia Talks to Herself

Sophia - 24 Hours Old

Sophia Amber- Just Born

Some recent shots of Sophia

Great news...about Sophia

When I got home from the grocery store this evening I was pleasantly surprised with Sophia's brand new skill....creeping/crawling.

She's been testing the water on her belly for a while but has been more interested in standing and walking rather than crawling. Well tonight she was able to get up on her knees and pull herself along with her elbows and kick off with her feet. She cruised across the floor. We were so proud of her and so was she.

Her motivation was to play with the toy bone that Sadie was happily chewing. She got the bone. See a video.

She's 1/2 a year old already

Holy cow. Time really does fly, but considering that my wonderful husband got me a laptop for my birthday, I'm hoping to stay more connected and to update Sophia's blog more frequently than I have been.

With that said...she turned 6 months old yesterday. It's hard to believe how quickly the first 6 months have gone. Her progress is HUGE every day. It amazes me how much she develops overnight. I'm happy to report the following milestone updates:

MOBILITY: Sophia can roll from her back to her belly...going in the left direction no problem. Just today (11/15) she rolled to the right side - by accident. Rolling from the front to the back hasn't happened yet, but it's coming. She's just now tolerating being on her belly at all.

SPEECH: Sophie loves to hear the sound of her own voice. She squeals in delight at Sadie. Whenever Will and I are talking in the car and she's alone in the back seat, she strikes up a conversation with herself and chatters away

FOOD: So far she loves squash, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes. Grean bean fall into the YUCK category. Bananas are new to the menu this week and so far so good. Next week we're going to start pears.

SITTING: Sophia can sit all by herself already. I'm not saying that she doesn't fall over too, but she can definitely sit up on her own.

Favorite Toys: Daddy's glasses and hats. Mommy's hair.

Isn't she adorable?

Exploring the world of solid foods

Sophie is eating solids now. Well, she's been eating rice cereal for the last 7 nights before bed. Whoever said that solids will help a baby sleep through the night must have been crazy. It hasn't helped us one bit. Sophia goes to bed anytime between 6:30 and 8 depending on how tired she is and how long its been since her last nap. Sometimes she has a midnight snack when mommy is going to bed. Other nights she can wait until 1 or 2AM for something to eat. Then she'll get up for another snack between 3 and 5AM. She's awake each day like clockwork at 7:30 and can usually entertain herself until 7:45 and then she gets fussy. Yes, mom is tired!

Tonight we added sweet potatoes to the menu and after a few "yucky" faces she didn't seem to mind them too much. Maybe baby food solid food will help her to sleep through the night. We'll see. Sophia's doctor recommended introducing solids in this order: veggies, fruits then meats.

Phew, time flies...

It's been 2 months since my last post. (Gee that sounded like a 'confession')

Sophie turned 3 months old yesterday and is truly the light of my life. She is so happy and smiley. She melts my heart every single time she smiles - still! Check out some of these photos.

More to come about Sophia and the rest of us, but first...the pictures:

Sophia turns 1 month

You are 1 month old! You've been sleeping through the night anywhere between 3 and 5 hours. You love tummy time. You also really enjoy taking walks and just going outsideto get some fresh air.

It's hard to believe that a month has gone by already. You are getting so big. Tuesday you weighed 10 pounds 15 ounces. So I'm thinking that today you probably weigh 11 whole pounds.

I was very proud of you yesterday when you got a bath. You usually cry your eyes out during the entire bath, but yesterday you only screamed bloody murder when you got your hair washed.

3 weeks old today

Sophia is certainly a handful. She's got a mind of her own and doesn't seem to like to follow a schedule just yet. Some days she'll sleep for 4 hours straight without waking up to eat and other days she wants to eat every 45 minutes. This doesn't allow for mom to get much sleep. :-)

She's just a darling little girl. We're having so much fun with her so far. She's been out to eat three times. She went to her first BBQ at our neighbor's house on Friday night. She's been outside for countless walks.

She hates getting a bath and just to prove her point she cries (I mean wails) the entire time. She cannot fall asleep unless she's being held. She loves to bounce on Will's knee. She loves sleeping on her stomach while being held.

Meet Sophia Amber Alexander, our little angel

Sophia was born at 11:27 PM on May 14. A truly awesome Mother's Day present.

Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz
Length: 21 in
Apgar Score: 9/9
Hair: Full head of dark brown hair
Eyes: Blue for now
Digits: 10 fingers and 10 toes. Her second toe is longer than the big toe. Her ring finger is longer than her index finger.
Interests include: sleeping and eating. Will is certain she likes quantum mechanics and Linux and dogs.

A future Nobel Prize Winner according to Dad.

We're on our way to the hospital

My water broke shortly after midnight. I'm still not contracting, but at least the process has started. :) Yea!!!!

Will got about an hour of sleep. I couldn't. Every time I shut my eyes my mind started racing.

So, it seems like Sophia will be born on Mother's Day. What a wonderful present. :)

Stay tuned.

4 days overdue

hmmm.....at this point I'm beginning to think that I'm never going to go into labor. I'm open to all tips at this time. If you have a secret weapon to start labor, let me know. I've been eating a ton of fresh pineapple. I heard that helps, but no luck yet.

We're taking Sadie to the K-9 Carnival today at the dog park and I'm hoping that I will run into our birthing class instructor since I've seen her there before. I want to see if she has any tips for me.

Since tonight there is a full moon, Will is predicting today will be the day. Maybe I'll get lucky!

Update on mom and baby! 3 days overdue now

I had my doctor appointment yesterday. Surprise surprise - I have made no additional progress. I'm still 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. My blood pressure was borderline high and there was a trace of protein in my urine. Those 2 things coupled with the excessive swelling that I have could be leading to toxemia which means that the baby's oxygen supply can become compromised. The doc did not officially diagnose toxemia, but said that I could be developing it.

The doc did a non-stress test on Sophia by having me lay down for about 30 minutes and they monitored her heartrate, movement and the contractions that my uterus had. Everything checked out ok. Movements were great and Sophia's heartrate was between 145 and 175 the entire time (which is fantastic). :) I was slightly scared because the doc said that if the test didn't turn out ok she was going to send me straight to the hospital to be induced. As it turns out I got to come home to a nice surprise. Will came home early because he hadn't heard from me after my doc appointment. He basically put me on "rest" for the rest of the day.

As it turns out - I have to go back to the doctor on Monday afternoon to be checked again and the induction has been scheduled for Wednesday of next week. So, if Sophia doesn't arrive before Wednesday, we'll be going to the hospital at 7:00 AM. In the meantime, I have to watch out for blurred vision, headaches, difficulty breathing and sudden swelling in my hands and face. If any of these symptoms occur then we're supposed to go call the doc and go right away to be checked. Unfortunately, I KNEW this was coming because I've been swelling for a month and my blood pressure has been getting slightly more elevated each time I've gone to the doc in the last month (but it was never in the danger zone until yesterday). It's so amazing to me that it took the OBs sooo long to come to the same conclusion.

Regardless....the baby is definitely considered full term and I carried her to full term without the toxemia problem. Now, when is this little girl going to arrive?????

May 11th

Today is May 11th. We're 2 days past our due date. Mike, Will's brother, put all his money on today as Sophia's birthday. Considering that I just took Sadie for a walk and am about to head out to a doctor appointment, I don't think Mike hit the jackpot.

However, the day is not over and hopefully I'll go into labor today.

Here are the other predictions on her birthday:
May 12th - Grancy (Will's mom)
May 13,14,15 - My mom
May 13 (Because it's a full moon) - Will
Last weekend (Totally convinced) - Me
Yesterday (Kind of convinced) - Me
Today (Hopeful)- Me
Tomorrow (Praying) - Me
May 17 (The day I will pick to be induced if I get to choose) - Me

Sophia is a day late

This morning I was thinking that now Sophia will have a double-digit birthday. Oh well. Her mom and dad both have double-digit days too.

Here are some pictures of her nursery. Now we just need a baby to put in it. :)

Well, today is/was my due date

It's no wonder they call them estimated due dates. :) Baby Sophia is moving and kicking, but doesn't want to come out and meet us yet. I'm now thinking she'll arrive on Friday the 12th. We'll see. Stay tuned for the big announcement that she's coming!

Just for the record - I was 11 days late and Will was 3 weeks early.

Due date is tomorrow

Tomorrow is our due date. At this point I'm thinking it will pass without even a contraction. It's true that I have been having more and more Braxton Hicks contractions (mostly in the evenings after dinner), but they are not consistent nor regular.

I really believed that I would go into labor this past weekend. Deep down I had "that" feeling. I guess it must have been something else... I had the same feeling when we found out that I was pregnant. Deep down I just knew we would be having a girl and that turned out to be true...at least I hope so because if not we'll have the prettiest little boy in town dressed all in pink and purple.

Only 5% of women actually deliver on their due date. I'm willing to stick it out as long as it takes for Sophia to arrive naturally. At this point, I really don't want to consider an induction. I go to see the doctor again on Thursday so we'll see what they say. I know that I'll have to be induced if I still haven't delivered by the 19th. That day seems like next month to me at this point!

4 days until my due date

It's Friday...only 4 days until my due date and when I went to the doctor yesterday, I learned that I am STILL only 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. That's 2 full weeks without progress... So much for really hoping she would arrive early. At this point, I'm beginning to think that baby Sophia is hibernating! My next appointment is going to be Thursday of next week - 2 days after my due date. Hopefully I won't get to keep the appointment. :-)

My hands and feet are completely swollen and the doctor said there is really nothing I can do about it. My right hand is still numb and almost to the point where I can't use it. I had a hard time gripping onto the coffee pot this morning to pour coffee. EEK!

Overall, I've had a completely normal and very nice pregnancy. It's only been in the last 3 weeks that I've been uncomfortable so I really should not be complaining. Even Will commented that I will never be able to say to Sophia "I carried you around for 9 months" and use that against her. He said at most I'll only be able to say 1 month. hehehe It's crazy how much my belly skin is has stretched, when I look in the mirror I can see blue veins everywhere. Luckily I've avoided stretch marks, but I've slathered on tons cocoa butter cream for preventative measures.

It's finally May!

Today I flipped all of my calendars to the month of May. It made me smile to see that on each calendar I had marked May 9th as the baby's due date complete with stars and smiley faces. It's just around the corner now. Only 8 days away.

We're also half way through a gallon of milk that has a "sell by" expiration date of May 9th.

Some fun facts about the Month of May:

• Emerald = Birthstone of May


• Holidays = Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day and Memorial Day


• Flower = Lily-of-the-Valley and Hawthorne


• Taurus (the Bull) = April 21 - May 21. Traditional
  Taurus Traits Are: Patient and reliable, Warmhearted and loving, Persistent and determined, Placid and security loving
  On the dark side....Jealous and possessive, Resentful and inflexible, Self-indulgent and greedy


• May is:
  Better Sleep Month
  Date Your Mate Month
  Healthy Baby Month
  Military Appreciation Month
  Physical Fitness and Sports Month
  Teach Appreciation Month
  Tennis Month
  National Asparagus Month
  National Barbeque Month
  National Egg Month
  National Gay Pride Month
  National Hamburger Month
  National Salad Month
  National Strawberry Month