10 Months Baby!

Sophie is 10 months old today!  I can't believe we have survived 10 whole months raising a precious little human!  Time seems to fly, I'm already planning for her first birthday.  It seems I need to take a minute to sit back and take it all in...

What a difference!

Happy girl!

Our little girl brought something special home to us from day care at the beginning of this month, a stomach bug!!  One evening, we were having an especially difficult time getting Sophie to go to bed.  We had her asleep 3 or 4 different times, and as soon as we would lay her down, BING! Eyes wide open crying again.  As soon as I decided to let Dan have a go at putting her to bed, I walked into the living room, Sophie let out a little whimper, and then proceeded to vomit all down the front of my shirt.  (Please excuse the graphic content that follows)  I saw her entire days worth of undigested food come up all over me, then when I ran to the bathroom and held her over the sink, more followed.  I'm not sure I'll ever look at black beans the same way ever again!

Not knowing what we were dealing with at the time, I felt awful that her stomach was emptied and decided to give her a bottle of formula.  She got sleepy and as soon as I got up to put her in her crib, eyes wide open, whimper, barf...  Silly mommy, nothing is going to stay down at this point.  Needless to say, Sophie got better in about 24 hours, I got it on day 3, Dan got it on day 4.  Thank goodness it conquered us one at a time, I'm not sure how Dan and I would have survived if we were sick at the same time and Sophie was running all over the place.

Sick and tired, napping on Daddy

Snuggles with Minnie, she napped a lot while sick!

On top of having an upset tummy, our little girl had another tooth pop through just after being sick.  Poor thing was teething at the same time.  Rough life!

Look closely, 2 bottom teeth!

Here are some other things Sophie has been up to this month:

Pointing!  No matter where she is, but especially in your arms, she is pointing at something.  It's really sweet.  When she gets up from sleep or naps, she immediately points to her stuffed animals that are sitting on top of her dresser.  We walk over there and she carefully chooses two animals to pick up and cuddle.  These are a necessity when performing the next task which is a diaper changing.  Oh, how this little wiggle worm hates laying on the changing table anymore.  We've become masters at the 60 second diaper change.  That's about all she will give you.

"Dancing"  When she hears some music being played she has started swaying back and forth.  She is her Daddy's girl, loves that music!  It's so cute to watch.

She loves her "Good Morning, Good Night" book.  It's a book with furry animals to touch on every page.  She always knows exactly where to touch as soon as you turn the page.  She especially loves it when you make the animal noises to go along with each one.

The dog gate.  It has been put up at the kitchen, because as things go with any child, she makes a beeline for the dog food every chance she gets.  One time, she managed to dunk her hand in the water dish before I could get to her.  What fun!  So, now that the dog gate is up, she loves to pull up on it and babble at me if I'm in the kitchen.  Lucy is terrified of the dog gate.  I think at one point, it had fallen over when she was least expecting it, and it has scared her ever since.  Seeing that Lucy can scale our chain link fence in the back yard, she could clearly jump over the baby gate.  But she stays at least one room away from it whenever it is up.  So, when Sophie is pulling up on it, Lucy is at first a little worried about her.  She will hang around for a few minutes, but when Sophie starts banging on it, all bets are off!  Lucy seems to say, "Alright kid, I can't take it anymore, you're on your own."  And she goes to the other room.  The same can be said for the vacuum cleaner.  Sophie was crawling right behind me when I was vacuuming the other day.  Lucy stuck around for a bit, seeming to be concerned that the vacuum was going to suck Sophie up, but quickly retreated to our room after trying to tough it out for a few minutes.  Silly Lucy!

Dare devil at the dog gate

"Helping" put away Christmas

Micky Mouse Club House.  I swear this show must have infant subliminal messages in it.  Most people I know who have kids Sophie's age say they all go nuts for it!  As soon as the music comes on, Sophie will stop what she is doing and stare at the TV and start babbling or screaming in excitement.  Any other show can be on TV, but when this one starts, she just can't help herself.  I've become wise to this, and when at the dreaded changing table, I have begun to sing songs from the show and she is mesmerized 85% of the time.

Food!  Sophie loves, loves, loves certain foods.  Cottage cheese and yogurt are two of her favorites.  No matter how much she has had to eat for the meal, she gets excited for these two items.  She also loves Ritz crackers, veggie puffs (they look like Cheetos, but for babies), and peaches.  She is also still enjoying her pasta.  I just tried giving her a baby dill pickle to chew on, expecting her to crinkle her nose from the sourness.  She loved it!  Just like her mommy.



A black bean?  On my eye?



Monster Pillow!  Sophie LOVES the monster pillow Santa brought her for Christmas.  She enjoys wrestling with it, diving into it with her mouth wide open.  I often imitate her doing this and she thinks it's hysterical.

First Swing!  We took Sophie to the park and put her in the baby swing for the first time.  She had a blast and giggled almost the entire time.

I recently sent a letter with Sophie to her daycare babysitter, Lana.  Sometimes it is necessary for a Mommy to pass along some information that a Daddy may forget to mention amidst the chaos of dropping off/picking up a child.  Just to be sure we were on the same page and things were going well there, I wrote Lana a letter.  To my surprise, I received a letter back from her.  It was so sweet, I wanted to share some of the things she shared with me.

"Thank you for writing notes to me often, they are always helpful and appreciated. We love Sophie!  I am blessed to have her as I am to have this job.  The kids give me back so much more than what I do for them.  Sophie's bright eyes and beautiful smile are my very favorite!  Her smart ways keep me charmed and entertained every time....Sophie is enjoying her new foods.  Finger foods are great for her small motor skills.  She is also crawling everywhere and spends a whole lot of time exploring and playing.  I am very pleased to see how well she is doing physically and emotionally."

Every mothers dream, right!?  We're so lucky to have found Lana.  Despite coming home with messy clothes, someone else's clothes, someone else's diaper, or another kids bottles, we couldn't ask for her to be in better hands.

Oh, you just folded these clothes?

Good morning!

First balloon from Publix

New bathtub!

Riding the Lion

With Love

The Yorks

A Whirlwind Month!

It hasn't been a month yet since the last post, yet so much has happened in so little time!  I wish I could sit down and write more blogs in a more concise manner, but life is busy and there are more important things to concentrate on!  So, this is a long one, hang in there folks!

Squirmy

Our baby girl is 9 months old now and she is up to all sorts of new things.  Somewhere around mid December she started crawling!  By the time my parents got here she had mastered it and there was no stopping her.  She seems so proud of herself, now that she can get to wherever she wants to go.  Crawling was an interesting accomplishment, especially since our house was decked out for Christmas, tree and all.  The twinkling lights on the tree were so tempting to her, she made several attempts to pull them off the tree.  The ornaments were no exception, they too found themselves in Sophie's grasp.  I finally decided to put a few soft ornaments on the bottom branches.  Sophie seemed to know they were put there especially for her, as she would find them immediately and take them down to play with.

And then she started driving!

Sophie received a very special gift for Christmas this year, her first tooth started coming through!  This mommy is so proud!  It didn't seem to be a very rough teething experience, except for a few fussy nights, it definitely could have been worse.  I noticed that she seemed to be using her tongue to feel something on her bottom gum.  When I put my finger in there, sure enough, I felt a little nub of a tooth coming through.  Despite this one lonely tooth showing up, Sophie has decided to start eating some soft whole foods.  She works those gums like none other!  She is "gumming" cereal pieces, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, pasta, cottage cheese, and black beans just to name a few.  It seems that she is getting less interested in her pureed foods.  When she is done with her meal, she is looking at mine, patiently waiting for me to put something yummy in her mouth.  A little crankiness ensues if she doesn't get a taste of some "real" food at mealtime.

Cucumbers, yum!

As soon as this little girl learned how to crawl, she was pulling herself up on things.  Her favorite things to pull up on are mommy and daddy's legs, but she finds any other place equally challenging.  Now she is standing in her crib by the time we go in to get her when she has woken up.  I can't believe how quickly she has changed in less than a month!

It seems that Sophie has started to figure out how to say "Ma Ma".  She says "Da da" all the time, usually when she is playing and having a good time.  The few times I have heard "Ma ma" come out have been in the middle of sobs, when she wants something she can't have, or when she is getting "whiny" and tired.  Great!  Oh well, she knows I'll be there for her when she's down.

We celebrated my 32nd birthday on December 5th.  Since it was in the middle of the week, we decided to have a date night on the weekend.  On the actual day, however, we decided to get in the Christmas spirit and take Sophie to see Santa, then we were off to get a tree.  There is a very popular Santa in Orlando, and he resides at the big mall in town.  Being the savvy parents we are, we went to see him on a Wednesday afternoon.  At first glance, the line did not look too long.  Three hours later (!!), we were visiting with Santa.  This wait for Santa seemed to go by fairly quickly, thanks to the loud music, gigantic decorations, and interesting people watching.  The wait took so long that Sophie took a nap in my arm and woke up in a great mood just in time for the big man!  Thankfully, the man who directed the photo shoot had done this once or twice and advised me to turn Sophie so that she never saw Santa and set her down in his lap.  The "director" immediately went into action making faces and noises and using his props to get her attention and make her smile.  Job well done!

We took Sophie and her friend Sloane and her parents to Universal studios for "Grinchmas" and the Macy's Christmas parade this month as well.  The girls enjoyed watching the parade with it's giant balloons and all it's participants.  The adults took turns riding a few Harry Potter rides and some roller coasters!  The night ended with a concert by Mannheim Steamroller, talk about getting in the Christmas spirit!!

But first, a nap

Sloane and Sophie

Watching the parade

Santa!

Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Bob came and visited for a week for Christmas.  Since my mom is always cooking fabulous meals for us and spending a lot of the time in the kitchen, Dan and I decided she was not to step foot in the kitchen until Christmas Day (we know our limits, ok?).  So for the days leading up to Christmas, we cooked a few dinners for the family.  Thanks to mom and dad, Dan got a new grill for Christmas, so we grilled up some hamburgers for our Christmas Eve feast.  I had to work a half day on Christmas, and when I got home everyone was itching to start opening presents.  Our little Sophie was spoiled by all the wonderful gifts everyone got for her!  There were so many, and it took us so long to open gifts that our little girl had to take a nap in the middle of everything.  It was obvious to us it was nap time when Sophie was sitting in the middle of wrapped and unwrapped presents and started crying from being overwhelmed I'm sure.  Even I was overwhelmed when it was all over!  We had a great time and a great holiday.  The time sure does fly when you're with the ones you love.

A bow? Where?

Somebody must have been good this year!

First gift from Santa!

Opening presents

A push walker from Gma and Gpa

Santa butt!



Too many treats...

Grandpa and Lucy's favorite spot (and favorite pastime!)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Love,
The Yorks

Sophie, 8 months!

Happy 8 months to our sweet girl!  November 28th marked the official day.  This girl is moving around so much these days, it's hard to get a picture of her.  Here are my attempts at getting a "still" photo.

You gotta do what you gotta do!

"I think I see something I need"

I had just moved a shelf into her room next to the rocking chair, and this was obviously very new and very interesting to her.  After a few seconds in the chair, she was clamouring over the side to grab at all the new goodies on the shelves.  This was the first time I've seen her pull her self up to her feet, not quite standing, but a start.

Other new things Miss Sophie is doing...

• She is saying "Da da da da da" like none other!  She doesn't necissarily refer to Dan yet, but I have a feeling she will figure it out soon.  Maybe she will say that in the middle of the night...I'll have to let him know she is calling for him and NOT me =)  I have tried to throw in a "Ma ma" now and then, only to get a response from her in the form of "Da da da da".  A girl who knows what she likes!

Mama's girl

• She is starting to clap her hands, with two open hands.  She cannot be prompted to do so, but gets very excited when she remembers what she can do!

• She frequently gets up on her hands and knees and "rocks".  The hands and knees sometimes move a bit, but no crawling.  My mother-in-law, Elaine, tells me that her kids weren't so interested in crawling, they went very quickly to pulling up to standing, to walking.  Uh oh!

On the move!




• She will sit up on her own.  If she is on her belly or back, she will get on her hands and knees then stick one leg out to eventually fall to her butt in a sitting position.  I have found her in her crib several mornings, just sitting in the corner, babbling and having a fun time.

Helloooo? Someone get me out!

• Sophie LOVES going for walks in her stroller!  Lucy is very thankful for that.  Sophie is very quite most of the time.  I frequently check on her to see if she is sleeping since she is so quiet.  But then I find her just taking it all in.  These walks also make for great photo opportunities!

Ok, so she fell asleep one time!















Extremly busy right now!






Despite being really chilly this day, we still enjoyed our walk!

• She still has NO teeth!  I've been trying to teach her to "gum" things like cereal pieces, bananas, etc.  She has not gotten the idea and tries to swallow things, resulting in an eye watering gag.  She manages to "gum" things if I hold them in her mouth for her, and has a good time in doing so.  We will continue to work on that.

• Bath time is getting to be more fun these days.  All she wants to do is play and grab for everything.  Dan and I have been delaying the fact that it's probably time to start bathing her in the actual bathtub.  Our backs hurt just thinking about bending over a tub for any amount of time.  So, we still put her baby bathtub in the kitchen sink.  She grabs the curtains.  She grabs the automatic soap dispenser.  She turns the faucet on.  She pulls the faucet toward her, resulting in a splash of cold water giving her the shivers (hee hee).  No matter how many toys we put in there with her, something else is always more interesting.

Excuse me? A wash rag where?

Bath fun!

• Her hair continues to grow!  It's especially noticable in the bathtub, when we wash her hair.  It just "flows" down her back.  So cute!

Proof that she can "roll" her tounge!  Sorry Mom!



Long locks

• We just added lunch to Sophie's daily meals, so she is now getting three squares a day.  I was playing on the floor with her one day, snacking on my lunch, and soon enough she is climbing on me, trying to get at whatever I was eating, licking her lips.  If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is!

I can't believe it's December and Christmas is quickly approaching.  We are so looking forward to celebrating this year with Sophie on her first Christmas!  Grandma and Grandpa Swartz will be here to join in the fun for one whole week!

Until next time...

Much Love,

The Yorks