Cold, cold, cold, our trip to PA

Last week Sophia and I took a quick trip to PA to visit Grandma and Pappy. We flew through the Cleveland airport each way and literally had to walk outside of the airport and then climb up the steps of the plane. Um, yep, the plane only had 1 seat on either side of the aisle. EEK, but we made it.

We had a fun, but the cold winter snow really threw us for a loop. We really enjoyed coming home to 64 degree breezy weather.

Here's some of the pictures from our trip.

Sophia's Baptism

Yesterday we had Sophia's baptism. She was a doll through the entire 11AM church service. We sat in the front row so we had easy access to the Baptismal Font. Will held Sophia while Dr Moore cupped the water onto her head and dedicated her in front of the congretation. Then Dr. Moore took Sophia and carried her around to all of the pews as she was "welcomed" into the church. She was delightful. I think she knew she was the center of attention. She was on her best behavior throughout the rest of the service.

As we were driving home we opened up the certificate expecting it to read Sophia Amber Alexander, but instead it read: Abigail Elizabeth Gilbert. A slight mix-up. There was a message on our answering machine when we got home asking us to make the exchange this week.

Sophia Stats - Updated...

Sophia just turned 9 months old.

Height - 30 inches. Dr. Mitchell declared her "off the charts" for her age.

Weight - 20 lbs 5 ounces. (the 80th%)

Crawling - Yep, she just graduated to the full fledged crawl.

Pulls Herself Up - Yep, using anything available to her.

Talking - Not really, but she makes the mmm...mmmm...mmm sound when eating her favorite crackers. She also shrieks, squeals, squawks and screams all day long! Dr. Mitchell told us this is her way of babbling. He thinks she really likes the sound of her own voice.

Food - She's a big girl now! She doesn't really like Mommy feeding her with a baby spoon anymore. She wants to finger feed herself. Some of her favorite foods include vegetable crackers, cheddar cheese, yogurt, apples, pears, mac and cheese and toast with jelly.

Best Friends - Bitty Baby and Sadie

Favorite Toy - The Learning Table (of course)

Sophia's New Action - Blow a Kiss (and she loves to receive them too - with a light blow of air to the face). It always makes her smile.

Valentine's Day Party

Sophia and I went to a Valentine's Day party earlier this week. It was so cute to see everyone decked out in red and pink. Sophia received so many Valentine's from her little friends. She gave out candy message hearts to everyone. That's her red bag in the front left corner of the photo.

Sophie's reached the separation anixiety phase. She clings to me when we're around strangers. Once she warms up a bit, she can even be pleasant to interact with, but she wasn't even interested in mingling at the party. This was the ONLY salvagable photo of her from the entire party. As you can see, she's interested in playing with her Paci which has been her best friend throughout this teething pains.

A Romantic Valentine's Day Gondola Ride

Yesterday we went to take a "romantic Valentine's Day gondola ride" at the Y. The only bit of information we knew was that between 2-4 the YMCA was offering gondolda rides in the indoor pool. I thought we should wear our bathing suits. Will had a good point, we would never get wet on a gondola ride, so we did not wear our bathing suits. In fact, our plan was to go out to dinner afterwards so we wore nice clothes.

When we arrived we saw the canoe. We also saw that the only people riding in it were kids. Well there is NO WAY Sophia could ride on her own so they suggested that I ride with her. Um, OK. Just let me climb in a sit on the sopping wet floor of the canoe and hold Sophia...which is exactly what happened. When I got out of the boat at the end of the ride my pants, sock and shoe were all soaking wet. I was sitting on my left leg, so only one side of me got wet. I might even go so far as to say that the entire canoe floor was dry. We all had a good laugh about it. And yes, we still went to eat sushi for dinner. Well we were the only customers so it didn't really matter.

Sophia didn't really care for the experience and seemed a bit stunned the entire time. I'm not sure if she even noticed the balloons tied to the boat. I tried to show her, but maybe the boat-rowing teenage boys wearing their glittery masks and speaking in really fake accents scared her too much.

Daddy was playing cameraman - and took 2 videos!
Watch a video of us on the ride.
Watch Sophia at the end of the ride.

Babygarten

We went to Babygarten this morning. Sophia really enjoyed watching all the other kids in the class. In fact that's all she did for the first 10 minutes. I think she was just being a little bashful, but she took the time to stare intently at each little face in class and then decided that she felt comfortable and started shrieking in delight.

Sophia totally got a kick out of learning the hand movements to Itsy Bitsy Spider and she recognized them when we practiced this afternoon at home. It was so cool.

We stayed for the open playtime after class. The teacher got out a frog bubble blower and gave each kid a bubble shower.

Sophia's Favorite Activity

Sophia's favorite thing to do right now is stand up! She'll stand using whatever she wants. She's not always successful, but most of the time she can get herself up. Take a look for yourself...

A few more Sophia Videos

Sophia playing in Sadie's water bowl.

Blow Mommy a kiss.

Playing before bath time.

What a couple of days!

Poor Sophia has had a nasty cold all week. This thing has hit every little kid that I know so who knows where she picked it up, but it was a killer especially for Mom.

She's been completely congested all week and now on day 4 she's developing a nice little cough. Just yesterday afternoon she finally realized that when I come at her with a tissue I'm trying to help her. She hasn't wanted to sleep and I've had to really coax her to eat. The only thing she's wanted all week is to be cuddled. I haven't been able to put her down and when I do she screams and immediately follows me.

I don't think it would be nearly as bad if she wasn't teething at the same time. I know her mouth has been really bothering her because she grinds her gums together so hard that I can hear the "rubbery" rubbing noise they make. Her teething pacifiers are helping a lot.

Will has been out of town all week and comes home THIS EVENING. I cannot even begin to explain how happy I am. He left Monday morning, but got a dose of what was coming on Sunday afternoon while I was at the grocery store. Maybe he can work from home tomorrow...(wishful thinking...)

She's truly mobile now

Last night at 4 AM I woke up to Sophia crying up a storm. When I entered the room I saw her standing in the crib. This is the fourth time Sophia has amazed her mom and dad by standing in the crib all by herself. I suspect she starts crying when she realizes she can't sit back down on her own. She gets stuck!

Sophia has also learned that she can move from room to room and explore the house all on her own. She frequently ditches her play room (which is supposed to be our dining room) to "find Mom" or to eat one of Sadie's gnarly bones. And if you've ever been in our house you'll appreciate her effort. We had to put up a baby gate between the kitchen and the dining room to prevent Sophie from getting into Sadie's food. So when she wants to find mom she has to crawl all the way from the dining room through the living room and the entryway and then down the little hallway into the kitchen.

Sophia has practiced her little butt of and can now successfully crawl up a flight of stairs. Thankfully she hasn't discovered that she can crawl to the stairs and attempt to climb them on her own yet. I've captured it on video. Take a look. Of course, I have to admit, this footage is a few days old and she has improved a lot. Enjoy!

To Gymboree or Not to Gymboree

Yesterday morning Sophia and I went to a free review of Gymboree's Music class for her age group and we had a blast. We got to sing and dance, bang on drums and ring different types of bells. Sophie squealed in delight throughout the entire class and was a big hit with Teacher 1. She even wore her name tag the entire class without ripping it off and it was only a little soggy when we got home. Even though we had fun I still wanted to try another place called My Gym before we commited to Gymboree.

Well, lucky for me, I didn't sign up yesterday because today we went to a free program at the Norfolk Public Library called Babygarten. Today was even better than yesterday. Granted, the library does not have the fancy facility, but we still had a great time. We sang and danced, we read a poem and then read an alphabet story. Then there was open play time for 30 minutes. Sophia had a great time. Sophia is the girl in red on the floor with the green ball.

All I want for January is my two top teeth

Both of Sophia's top teeth appeared today. I didn't notice them until lunchtime, but there they were poking through her gums. Maybe that's why she slept until after 9AM this morning. It was heavenly!

For a week now she's been getting up in the middle of the night at any random time and staying up for almost an hour. She'll eat and play with me and then go back to sleep. Could it have been she was teething and needed some middle of the night cuddles? We'll see if they continue...

Look for a picture of Little Miss Toothy soon....

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: