Sofia's First

Sofia's first birthday has come and gone, but it didn't slip by unnoticed or uncelebrated. We thoroughly enjoyed spoiling her and experiencing this right of passage with our big sweetheart.

 

Sofia is now ONE year old. Maybe I will continue to use months to keep my toddler sized child a baby for a few more desperate months. Sofia is wearing size 18-24 month clothes as well as 2T and even 3T in some rare instances.  At Sofia's one year check up, she weighed 24lbs even and was 31.1 inches tall (94 and 97 percentiles).  She sleeps 12 hours through the night and quietly goes down for her two naps. She now has 8 very sharp teeth and chomps anything that crosses their path.  Sofia has started to show some signs of either pickiness or maybe just plain old stubborness but we have had to coax her to eat a few things on occasion or even just throw in the towel altogether and assume she isn't hungry.  However she is interested in anything I am eating and isn't afraid to take it out of my hands to sneak a bite. She also is a fan of pb and honey sandwiches so we eat a lot of those.  She also is a big fan of water and has done a great job starting cows milk too. She has started running and although its not exactly coordinated yet, she is getting there.

Sofia's Favorites:

Getting her teeth brushed with baby toothpaste. She does a great job opening her mouth wide and letting me brush her teeth.  Of course we take breaks so she can smack her lips at the taste of the paste with the occasional "hmmm"!

Sticking out her tongue.

Facetiming. She knows the ring of Facetime and will not let me hold the phone during a Facetime call.

Sofia loves all things she shouldn't so i am going to list them all here: Greg's office full of books, Bathroom full of toilet paper to unravel, emptying my wipes container, remote controls for the tv, phones and Ipad, computers(she always comes up and hits the delete key), and pushing buttons on our space heater.

Loves when dad comes home after a long day and has started to squeeze back in hugs as well as giving kisses on demand.  She also claps, rolls her hands, waves, high fives, shakes hands, is learning to fold her arms, climbs up and down stairs and comes when I ask her to.

She always grabs her blanket and binky before allowing herself to be removed from crib.

I have discovered that Sofia loves being outside or looking outside through windows.  We have had some nicer weather so we have been spending more time in the park with her purple ball.

Sofia is a great stunt performer on her scooter ride. She does some of the craziest things but actually seems to keep her balance quite well during the majority of her "acts".

Sofia's new car seat is definitely an upgrade, however long road trips are not her forte. Can't say I blame her.

Probably one of MY favorite games to play with Sofia is Hide-and-seek. Except for in our version, the person who hides ends up chasing the seeker.  Sofia is always the seeker. So I hide around the corner and she comes just close enough to spot me and then the chase is on and she speeds back to the safety of Greg's arms as I loudly and clumsily chase her on all fours. Seriously though. It's my favorite, and so is she.

Sofia is a special little girl who knows how to show love to those around her. SHe is always giving me hugs and kisses and some afternoons chooses moms lap or lounging on mom as her activity of choice. I love that she likes to cuddle me.  She is very trusting, independent, observant and quite brave.  She is generally not afraid of anyone and easily will stay at someone's home if I need to run a quick errand.  She is a good laugh and enjoys having the attention of people in the room and has learned how to play the crowd and has a few crowd pleasing moves that we enjoyed after her birthday party.

 She has showed a lot of interest in her baby, singing and music, and likes her big purple ball which really of surprised me how effortlessly she was able learn to kick it and throw it.  Who's kid is this?? She also has started to show interest in purses, necklaces and bracelets. Carrying her purse at the elbow, making bracelets from toys and stealing moms accessories.

All in all, we love Sofia so much and are so grateful she is a part of our family.  I am so grateful I get to spend everyday with her and watch her develop and learn, this last year has easily been the best year of my life and I know that I have been truly blessed.

For our spring break we were able to rent a beach house in Outer Banks, NC. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed watching Sofia experience the beach for the first time. She ate a little sand but not as much as I expected.  She loved gathering sea shells and picked up many.

 

We soon will be sealing the deal on an apartment in Madison and although I am excited to take on this adventure with my little family and explore a new place, I really am sad to be leaving our State College home and friends behind.  This is where Sofia was born and where we made all of our "first memories" with her which breaks my heart a little that we're leaving.  However,  we have had such a great experience branching out on our own and accepting somewhere foreign to us as home and I am sure we will love Madison just as much.

Sofia's Holiday

These last two and a half months have been flat out crazy. There really is no other way to put it.  I have gone from  being a mom with a cruising baby to having an all out walking baby girl who keeps me very busy.  I love my life though and wouldn't trade being a mom for anything.

Sofia is changing so much everyday. She is now wearing size 18 month clothes and is still really tall for her age.  At her 9 month appt. she was 21 lbs 11.6 ounces. and was 29.5 inches long. We recently took her the the doctor again and she was 22lbs 8 ounces and 30.5 inches. An inch in just over a month! Not surprisingly though she has started to thin out and hasn't been gaining weight like she did before.  She is burning some major calories I am sure.  She has 6 teeth (2 on bottom, 4 on top) and will chomp on anything that enters that little mouth of hers.  She is such a good eater and still has yet to turn any food away or refuse to eat anything.

The other night, Greg, Sofia and I went out to dinner (Rey Azteca) with our friends and we were having a hard time deciding what to do about Sofia and her dinner.  She had eaten the majority of an apple sauce pouch but was still going to be hungry. We weren't sure to just share our food(which I refused because I know how much that little girl can put away) or if we should just order her a side of refried beans, or the unbelievable, order her something off the KIDS MENU.  From the get go I thought the kids menu was our best bet, however, Greg wasn't convinced Sofia needed that much food.  Anyways we ordered Sofia a chicken enchilada (which was adult sized) and a serving of refried beans and that little girl ate every. single. bite.!!! I was kind of shocked but then I wasn't surprised at all because she ate her dinner and half of mine a couple nights before(which is why I didn't want to share- I knew what she was capable of!!).  It was a good laugh and a rude awakening for Greg. I will never forget that night- nor do I want to!

While we were at church in mid-November one of our friends approached Sofia and waved to her, and to our surprise Sofia waved back. We hadn't been working with her on waving but we were excited at this new milestone. She now waves to everyone she sees.  I was able to teach Sofia to clap her hands and to high 5 during Christmas and Grandma Casper taught her to "roll em".  Which reminds me! For Thanksgiving we were able to visit Colorado for ten days and then were also in Colorado for the first two weeks of our month long Christmas break and then we spent the rest of our time in WA.  Christmas was wonderful! I think all of our Christmas expectaions dreams came true and that's always a good day.  We also got to talk with my little brother, Tanner, who is serving an LDS mission in the Oklahoma, Tulsa Mission.  He is currently in Little Flock, Arkansas.  It was great to talk with him! Overall, we had so much fun.  We were able to go see the Nutcracker in Denver with the Angus Family and then went to Priest Lake, ID with my family to bring in the New Year. It was such a good time.  Sofia had her first sledding experience and was a good sport about spending time in the cold snow.

Sofia now just roams around the first floor of our town home trying to sneak her way into Greg's office or the bathroom, (heaven forbid the dishwasher door- what is it with kids and the dishwasher??) which we usually keep closed up. She lately has started carrying her paisley minky blanket with her around the house which is a bit of a hazard because she gets tripped up on it, so I tied it in a knot to help the poor girl out.  She also has been coming into my kitchen and raiding it of the hand towels I hang on the oven handle. The more the better. She likes to carry them around sometimes 3 in one hand if she must. This last week when I had been doing laundry, I noticed Sofia always went through the load and picked out the socks and ran away with them. She's such a funny girl and does have a strange obsession with socks.  She likes to pull her own socks off just to carry them around.  It makes me smile and I love watching her discover the world around her.  Sofia also likes me to hold her while I cook which isn't something I do very often- but if I have to choose between her hanging off my legs, nearly pulling down my pants and both of us losing our balance- I'll choose holding this big girl. She sits so still and watches the kitchen aid, ingredient measuring- whatever it is I'm doing, she wants to see.  She has been working on further opening an already cracked open door too.  Along with the sweet comes the naughty. This girl throws all out feet kicking temper tantrums, which isn't fun. Enough said.  She literally walks everywhere, bends down to pick things up- Her next thing to master is standing up on her own without assistance.

At the end of the day, no matter how many naps she skipped or cut short, times she wiped her mouth or nose on my shirt, tantrums thrown, I still love her. I still like to sneak peaks of her in her crib, put my hand on her back to check her breathing or even feel around until I find her warm little head and binky plugged face.  Doesn't matter how many times I have to change her bum, change her clothes, clean her high chair tray or pick up her toys.  She's my girl. My little best friend who gets me.  This last week I was really sick with an ear infection and was easily in some of the worst pain I have EVER been in.  Sweet Sofia saw me trying to "coop" and she just had concern all of her face.  Greg said she waited by the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs for most the day waiting for me to come down. She knew mom wasn't well and gave me some big loud loves when I got to feeling better.

 

 

Greg is finishing his last semester at Penn State and then we move to Madison around the middle of May.  I am starting to get stressed about where we are gonna live and what and how we will move everything, which stuff I want to sell before the move and wondering how in the world we will buy better versions when we get there!? Lots to plan and lots to look forward to! Happy New Year everyone!

When Sofia turned 4 months old I told myself "oh, she's still so small, when she turns 8 or 9 months then you can worry.  That's when she's going to be considered "big" and my baby will be gone!" Well now Sofia is 8 months old and its killing me!

She is such a fun smart little girl who is constantly surprising me with her discoveries and know how.  Its amazing how she can go from one day not knowing how to do something and I swear the next day she has mastered it.
Sofia really doesn't care all that much for toys, she mostly interested in the simple everyday things around her. We've started to be able to play games with her where we will growl at her, and she laughs and tries to quickly crawl away from the parent chasing her (usually me) and seeks refuged on the couch with Greg. She's smart. She knows daddy will save her!  Her favorite toy is a clothes hanger and that can keep her entertained for a long time. Sometimes when I am putting her down for a nap and she's not wanting to sleep, I will throw a baby hanger in the crib for her to play with until she falls asleep. She has also started to want to pull her blanket or even a clean burp cloth up over her face as she falls asleep. It's pretty adorable.  Nap time however has been really difficult lately. She just stands there crying for a long time. and if I'm not watching the clock she will try and skip one of her naps altogether. However I need my mommy time so I try and make sure she gets it! When she does fall asleep her bottom is usually up in the air and it just makes me laugh.  She now goes to sleep anywhere from 8:00-8:30pm and will sleep straight to 6:30am, I feed her, and then she will go down until 8:30am.  Clockwork! And I can't remember if I mentioned this in my last blog post but her plugged tear duct finally opened up last month. It is so nice to to have to clean out her eye 10 times a day.
Sofia has finally learned to drink from her sippy cup and that makes me feel so much relief. I was stressed out there for a while because although I knew she could get a little bit from her sippy cup, I knew that most of her fluids were only coming from me. So I'm glad! Nursing is still going great. We have cut back to about 4 feedings a day, however she really gets her fill from her baby foods and love her instant mashed potatoes and gravy. And I can't blame her! We are working with her on trying to feed herself and her fine motor skills and are slowly giving her food from our plates.
Sofia's top two teeth are almost in and its so funny to see them when she smiles. She also is a good stair climber but hasn't figured out how to climb down the stairs. A big problem, especially when she tries to sit mid-climb. Basically nothing is safe anymore and she will use anything to pull herself up into standing position, and sometimes even lets go to stand on her own for maybe a second or two.  The DVD cabinet is where I find her most the time and its exhausting! She has had some big crashes and falls that just break my heart but I think thats just part of being a mom.
Sofia still loves everything she shouldn't. From remotes, to cell phones, ipads, computers, electrical cords, you name it.  i really think that because we don't let her play with these things it makes her want them even more.  She does like to Facetime with family but that may only be because she gets a chance to be close to her forbidden toys.
For halloween this year Greg and I dressed up as Ron and Hermione and I made an our costume for Sofia for her to go as Hedwig, which doesn't make a lot of sense since Hedwig is actually Harry's owl, but oh well. I'm over it.

Christmas shopping with mom.

 

Sofia's teeth marks.

Popsicle mouth. And that tongue is now a constant companion of ours.