this is my blog: July 2009

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sophia's Latest Accomplishments

I haven't made a list in a while, and I thought it was time to share some of Sophia's latest accomplishments, since she's such a big one-year-old!

1. Sophia can stand on her own for a few seconds, but isn't ready to take that first step yet. :) She does love to walk holding our hands, and walks a whole block that way to the park every evening! She also cruises quite a bit, and pushes the furniture all over the house!

2. She is a crawling MANIAC

3. One of Sophia's favorite things to do now is crawl up the stairs---any stairs she can find!

4. Sophia has 5 words that she uses consistently: "Mama," "Dada," "Bae-ba" (baby), "Puppa" (puppy) and "hi."

5. Sophia loves to wave

6. Sophia loves to clap

7. Sophia loves to dance! Even when I'm just reading her a rhyming book she'll pick up the "beat" of the poetry and start dancing in my lap!

8. Sophia loves to point at trees when we go for walks

9. Sophia gives hugs now by pressing the object of her affection to her face.

10. Sophia eats everything we eat...even spicy thai noodles and pickles!

11. Sophia can put her toys away now. If she sees me putting her toys into a basket she'll help put them in the basket, too! (Of course, she thinks it's fun to put things in baskets...we don't tell her she's cleaning!)

12. Sophia loves books. She'll take a book out and turn the pages and "read" to herself. She also loves to be read to.

13. Sophia loves playing with other kids (she's still wary of most adults)

14. No, she doesn't even come close to sleeping through the night, but she goes to bed very well! I can put her in the crib while she's awake and she will snuggle on her pillow and fall asleep on her own

15. I can tell that Sophia is starting to get a grasp on language...she definitely understands "no" and if I ask her to give something to me she will, etc.

16. We're entering the independent toddler stage! Sophia has tantrums...goes stiff and screams!...and it's getting more difficult to redirect her behavior. She's becoming a big, independent little girl!

17. One of my favorite aspects of Sophia's personality is that it turns out she's quite the cuddler. She loves to be held and cuddled and kissed. In the last few weeks she's started to cuddle back--put an arm around me, press her face into mine--and tries to kiss back (sloppy, sloppy kisses!). She loves to cuddle tight and sing and rock back and forth together. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most people, but to feel her cuddle and love back after all the cuddling and loving I've given her is the most amazing, wonderful feeling. :)

The Big One Year Old's Big Adventures!

Sophia really loves hanging out with the twins! She's hugging William :)

We've been going to the splash pool a lot lately

Thanks for letting us borrow your floaty, twins!

We go to the park almost every day now!

We especially like to burn off energy and get all hot and sweaty on the play equipment before we go in the pool!

Sophia loves to go down the slides! (With mommy and daddy, of course!)

Is this not the best animal picture ever?? Sophia is SUCH an animal lover, and we are so lucky that all four of our pets are so good with her!

The littlest dog whisperer...

One of Sophia's favorite "toys" to play with while I'm cooking is a bowl of dry rice and a cup!

Speaking of rice...she loves rice cakes!

Sophia has strawberries almost every day...they're one of her favorites!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Party Pictures!

Sophia on the day before her party, hanging out with her BF, Dali!

Party day! This was her SUPER cute party dress!

Magdalene showing off her body art...

The girls got really into the body paint on the craft table!

More Magdalene art!

All the cousins at meal time!

Sophia had a big party!

The shortcake eating begins!

She got really into it!

So messy!

The aftermath

Opening presents!

She opened presents AFTER I let her loose in the splash park!

The party made her very tired :)

Sophia hanging out with Jaylin as we left the party!

She scored a new toy obsession from Aunt Lindsey...A bouncy zebra!

Hanging out with Aunt Lindsey! What a big day! It was SO fun!!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Some Birthday Pictures!

For Sophia's birthday lunch treat she got to have Ben and Jerry's Super Fudge Chunk ice cream! (After eating a tofu burger and fruit, of course!)

She LOVES ice cream!

Messy, messy

The highchair was in ruins!

Later in the evening we had a birthday picnic with her daddy since, unfortunately, Travis had to work overtime on her birthday...

And she got ice cream AGAIN! This time it was the Ben and Jerry's strawberry cheesecake flavor, which she also loved!

Sophia opened her very cute, Vermonty present from Grammy (a train of wooden letters that spell "Sophia!"). Sophia had a nice, low-key birthday. Travis was the one who got her flowers and icecream the night before her birthday...she loved her suprises from him! Next up, pictures from her birthday party, which will be on Sunday!

This is a picture of Sophia getting stuck inside her exersaucer...too funny!

Sophia is SO in love with all of our animals! She spends all her time pursuing them, and all 4 of our pets are WONDERFUL with her!

This looks nice...

Hmmm...a little scary for Dali, maybe

Ok, sometimes she loves Dali a little too much!

He's very tolerant :)

And, of course, more dolls!

Sorry the video is sideways...how cute is her dancing??? She LOVES to dance! If I even ask her "Sophia, dance?" she'll do a little boogie!

I had to get more of that high-pitched baby laugh before it's gone...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Some First Birthday Thoughts

Incredibly, today is Sophia's first birthday. I can't decide if it seems like the day came up too fast or too slow, or if a year seems reasonable given all that's changed. I think it's a little like pregnancy. Time seemed slow for a very long time, and then all of a sudden the big day is here and I'm scrambling to get all that time back. How is it that a year has gone by already?
Today has been a day for reflection. One of my favorite games is "This Time Last Year." Especially for the last couple of weeks I've been enjoying remembering things like, "this time last year Travis and I stayed up until 2am watching disney movies." These days I would NEVER EVER waste an opportunity to sleep with Disney movies! On the 4th of July I enjoyed remembering that, on the 4th last year, Travis and I spent the day lounging in the sand at Detroit Lakes. And my water broke (not that I knew it until the 7th!). Of course, today has been the most wonderful and melancholy day to play "This Time Last Year." It was the end of one wonderful life that I had built with Travis, and the beginning of a new life that included our child.
Right now, as I'm typing this, I can remember "This Very Moment Last Year." Nine PM on July 8th. Our last visitors had just left, and Travis had taken a swaddling blanket and gone home to tend to the dogs and let the animals smell the blanket. I was left alone with Sophia for the first time. I remember how relieved I felt. I remember Travis worrying about me being alone with her, and saying that he wished his parents had stayed while he ran back to the house. I remember feeling grateful that he hadn't asked his parents to stay. I was so grateful to sit quietly in that big room in front of the huge windows with all of Fargo laid out in front of me, holding Sophia. For the first time I got her to nurse with nobody around to watch me and make sure I was doing it right. I felt the thrill of providing for her; of feeding her myself. I remember holding her warm, soft head cupped in my hand and stroking her downy cheek with my thumb. I remember her little fingers curling loosely around my index finger. Mostly, I remember the silence. The relief. The meditation involved with feeling all the warmth and softness of my new baby without any other distractions.
There are a lot of things I've been thinking about writing today, and I'm sure I'll put some lists and more thoughts on the blog later, because today is a big day and it means a lot of things. But I think for right now I'll leave this post here, with a single moment instead of all the lists of other things. Maybe every year at 9pm on the 8th of July I'll be able to be quiet and think. To wonder how I'm feeling as a mother, to examine what Sophia means to me. To fall in love completely and quietly, over and over again.