Ten with a Grin

Hard to believe Sophie officially turned 10 months old this week.  She has gotten so big and has learned so many new things.  She has been crawling for almost two months now, pulling herself up for a little less than a month now, and is starting to walk holding onto us, or her little shopping cart.  She is recognizing people a lot more especially in pictures hanging in our hallway..several times a day Bob and I do a run through of Aunt Lisa, Uncle Michael, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric, Aunt Becky, Austin, Aaron, Grammy, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy and Sophie.  We also spell out her name on the refrigerator with the magnets Grammy and Poppy bought her.  

She has recently started waving bye bye while saying ba ba...close enough she knows what she is trying to say and she knows when to do it.  In the last two weeks she has started to eat more table food such as mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, frozen peas, and blueberries without the skins.  I have also started pureeing bananas, mangoes, blueberries, mixed veggies, cauliflower, carrots and broccoli and she loves them.  Next week I'm going to try a few more new things that are about the same consistency as mashed potatoes to see how we do.

At 10 months Sophie is a very happy girl she loves being read to, plays with her stuffed monkeys "At and Bubba," her puppy "Puddles" and her dolly "Sophie."  She also loves to have the ball rolled to her and she either kicks it back or rolls it back to us.  Her love for outside is amazing she enjoys her walks in her stroller, swinging and likes sitting in the grass with Daddy.  A hand full of times she's been in her little pool.   She really loves bath time.  As soon as she hears the water running, she heads for the tub and looks at us like aren't you going to put me in there.

It is amazing how time flies only two months until her first birthday..What an amazing ride so far.  We are enjoying every moment with her.  Children are definitely a blessing from God.

Swingin at the Park

Since the weather has been so much like Fall weather here cooler at night in the evening and morning and a little less hot during the day Sophie and I have been able to be outside for a good portion of the afternoon after her nap.  So yesterday we took a walk to the park in a nearby neighborhood and spent a good thirty minutes swinging.  She just sits back relaxes and enjoys all the sites at the park and points and jibber jabbers to the birds, trees, people walking their dogs and other kids playing

Just Grandma and Me

Wednesday my parents stopped over for the afternoon to visit.  Sophie showed Grandma and Grandpa all the new things she is into these days and kept them busy while we chit chatted and I caught up on some laundry.  If one thing is for sure Sophie loves to be read to so anytime they visit her and Grandma get in some good reading of her books.  Not to mention she thinks she pretty big stuff getting to sit up on the couch or rocking chair with Grandma.

Wedding Bliss

Last weekend Bob and I left Sophie with his parents for the day/evening and made the trek to Tiffin for my friend Megan's wedding.  We had a great time talking to Witt alumni that I hadn't seen since I had graduated.  It was good to catch up on what everyone is doing these days and see Megan and Greg so happy together as a married couple.

Love for Music

Sophie sure does have a love for music.  Wonder where she gets that from.  Well good possibility it is both sides of the family.  Her mommy was a percussionist, her grandma played the flute,  Her daddy loves to sit and listen to his music, both of her grandfather's enjoy their music as well, and realistically if we want to go back further, her three great grandfathers enjoyed listening to their records and radios as well.


You can find this girl playing her little toy piano, banging on her toys with other toys, and clapping her hands and shake her little bottom to whatever mommy is singing, or daddy has on the stereo in the living room, and as you can see sometimes she likes to pick what daddy is going to play for her.  Her favorites seem to be U2, Beatles, or Pink Floyd, Jason Mraz, and the Black Keys.  Girl's got good taste ;)

Grandpa's Birthday

This year for my dad's birthday we just had my parents over for an afternoon of visiting and playing with their granddaughter, went out to City Barbecue for some yummy food and did a little walking/shopping at the mall came home and had some raspberry angel food cake and opened gifts.  As always Sophie enjoyed playing with grandpa and reading with grandma. 

"Pick me up Grandpa"

"Grandpa is my buddy, I love playing with him.  Wait where's Grandma"

"There she is...k daddy take my picture with them"

S'more Please

A few weeks ago I found these ginormous marshmellows at the grocery store and the old camp counselor came out in me thinking it would be awesome some weekend to make S'mores before the summer was over.  Well yesterday afternoon Daddy and Sophie came home with the graham crackers and chocolate encouraging me to follow through with the idea.  So what did I do with two favorite people I spent Sunday evening enjoying some amazing S'mores Daddy made in the toaster oven. 

 Keep in mind Sophie and Mommy helped construct them.  Actually Sophie was sitting on the island right in the middle of it...so we gave her a marshmellow.. and then she ended up with two...

and then wait a minute what is this box..and what is this..chocolate..keep in mind she did not eat it..just played with it..but had a great time doing so..nothing a little soap and water won't remove :) 

They were a success and delicious..maybe next summer Sophie you can have one to eat.

 

Mommy Goes Solo This Week

At about 6 am Tuesday morning Daddy left for the airport and was heading for Chicago for the whole week.  Sophie tended to know something strange was going on seeing how Daddy was leaving first and here stood Mommy and Sophie.  As much as I hate to see him go..I put on a brave face for him and for her.  Shortly after he left we need to hit the road so I could get her to the sitter before going to work.  Mission accomplished.  Minus a few tears shed by Sophie when I left..and then a few tears shed by Mommy feeling guilty leaving her (note Daddy normally does drop off).  Once I got to work I pounded out my time there and went to pick up Sophie.. there she was big smiles to see me and had obviously forgotten what had happened earlier in the day.  We came home she ate a great lunch, we played while it rained outside, read her some books, she had her bottle and a nap while I did laundry and worked on the computer getting a few things done.  Later we did dinner, played in the bath tub which is always a hit, read her some more books, gave her another bottle and then we called it a night and she went to bed.  About 2 am we got a massive thunderstorm which awakened me...I'm thinking for sure she is going to wake up..wrong she slept right through it..thank goodness.

Wednesday morning was rough after being up a few hours with the booming and banging of the thunderstorm. I decided that day would be a glasses day. I managed to get a shower quickly before Sophie awakened to start another day.  Funny thing is it's like she knows it is time to get up..so I am completely dressed with wet hair. I think to myself okay i just have to dry my hair and get her ready..no big deal.  Well I had a little monkey pulling herself up on my pant legs to see from a closer view that mommy is blow drying her hair.  I get her ready and off to the sitter we go.  After work I go get her, get home and go through our normal afternoon routine...in addition grandma and grandpa stop over for a few hours to entertain themselves and Sophie.  This gave me a little reprieve and Sophie had a great time...oddly enough she clung to Grandpa like he was her new best friend..they played quite a bit together and swung on the front porch swing.  Then when they came in Grandma spent sometime with her reading books, they stayed for dinner and headed for home.  I gave Sophie a bath, put her in her pjs, bottle time and off to bed she went.  Okay 11pm another big thunderstorm with heavy rain..seriously you've got to be kidding me..it's barely rained in a month.  Thank goodness she slept through it for a second night.  I had trouble sleeping again..what's new when he's gone I never sleep good.

Thursday...oh one more day and daddy comes home.  Now she's looking for him when I go into pick her up from her crib.. This time I'm fully dressed, hair dried, bottle in hand.   I get her ready, take the trash and recycling out while she sits in her car seat in the car, off to the sitter, and then off to work making it on time for the third day in a row.  When i pick her up she has a super big grin for me like I"m so excited to see you mommy.  We head off to Meijer to pick up some groceries, and we stop by the fish tank area.  Sophie is just mezmarized by them and is giggling and smiling and have mini conversations with the fish as they swim in their tank..I couldn't help but laugh out loud, wished I had the video camera.   We were probably there for about 15 minutes then I decided we'd better finish shopping which she enjoyed waving at people say "goo".  The afternoon went great.  Dinner well she didn't eat much so I'll chalk it up to her missing daddy and not worry about it.  We ran to the church to drop off a baptismal banner that I made and then back home for an evening stroll at the park and a swing in the back yard.  Time for bed...both of us :)

Friday morning I wake up to my own excitement knowing that Bob will be home tonight.  I'm thrilled it's been a long week, but Sophie has been so good I really can't complain it is just a lot of work keeping up with all the housework, going to work, and carrying for her all by myself.  I can honestly say I appreciate my husband a lot and all the things he does to carry his share of the load.  We make a good team and I really missed him this week and so did Sophie.  He should be boarding the plane in about an hour to make his way home to us..Welcome home Daddy.  We Love You.

New Little Friends

My friend Melanie whom has been my friend since well practically forever and her husband Lee had a little girl just a little over a month ago, they live out in Indiana so we don't get to see them very often.  They did happen to be home on a weekend that we were able to get together and visit with them and meet Malarie Allison. It is truly awesome to share the joy of motherhood with your best friends. Give it a year or so and hopefully our two girls will be best of friends just like we were and still are.

Coo Coo for Gerber Puffs..

Over the past few weeks we've been giving Sophie Gerber puffs.  At first she just inspected them and had a really hard time getting them into her mouth.










Just this past week she has mastered getting them into her mouth one at a time and she woofs them down.  When she eats one, she bellows out for another since we only give her one at a time.  She is too the point where she can easily down about fifteen or more in a sitting.

So as far as finger foods go when she gets a few more teeth I do not think she will have too many issues learning how to feed herself.