Month 7 Letter

Dear Sophia,

You are now 7 months old, can you believe it? You are getting so big, and are already growing out of your 9 month clothes. At your last doctor's appointment, you were 26 inches long and weighed 19.8 pounds, which puts you in the 75th percentile for height, and 90th percentile for weight. This, of course, isn't surprising, given how much you eat every day! You are now eating solid foods 3 times a day, along with 2 snacks, in addition to your formula. We make all of your baby food for you using organic fruits and vegetables, and you have now tried over 15 different foods! So far, you like most of them. Here's what you like and don't like:

Acorn Squash- LOVE!
Apples- LOVE!
Avocado- Eh, can take it or leave it
Bananas- LOVE!
Cantaloupe- ICK!
Corn- LOVE!
Cauliflower- ICK!
Edamame- ICK!
Green Beans- Eh, can take it or leave it
Mango- LOVE!
Oatmeal- only if it's mixed with something sweet, otherwise, ICK!
Pears- LOVE!
Peas- Eh, can take it or leave it
Rice Cereal-ICK!
Sweet Potatoes- LOVE!
Yellow Squash- LOVE!
Zucchini- Eh, can take it or leave it

We've started getting tricky with you, by mixing the things you don't like with the things you do like to get you to eat more things. So far, this has worked great, but there are some times when you look at me as if to tell me "um, mom, I totally know what you're trying to pull, here, and I'm not buyin' it." And then you shake your head and purse your lips and will not let a spoon go near your mouth until it has one of your favorites on it. It has been so fun to watch you develop your preferences and clearly communicate to me when you are NOT INTERESTED.

You have also started to express your independence while eating. You keep trying to take the spoon away and put it in your own mouth (this usually results in getting food all over your face, of course!), and you are holding your bottle all by yourself now (even though sometimes you drop it on yourself or spill formula all over your face).

Developmentally, you are still having some trouble staying on your tummy and pushing yourself up with your arms for more than a couple of minutes, so you aren't quite crawling yet. However, you are now already standing on your own, so we think you might start walking before you crawl (or maybe you won't crawl at all!).

You are also talking up a STORM! You talk all day long (you take after your mother in this regard), and are really starting to play around with different sounds. What's funny is that you are also experimenting with volume. Especially in church, where you think it's HILARIOUS to scream "AAAHHHHHHHHH" at the top of your lungs during the gospel reading. Now you are clearly associating the sound "ba ba" with your bottle, and you ask afor it as soon as you wake up in the morning. You are also saying "da da" and "ma ma" quite a bit, and we're pretty sure you know who those refer to. Sometimes you will look right at me, especially when you're tired, and just say softly "ma ma..." and let me tell you that is probably the most precious sound in the world. Well, other than your laughter, anyway.

You are such a happy baby, and you laugh at everything. You are even starting to do a "fake" laugh just to get our attention. You say "heh heh" in a low tone and then as soon as we look at you, you start to giggle. It is so funny! You smile most of the time, and it so infectious that when we are out in public with you, you get SO many compliments on what a good baby you are and how adorable you are. In fact, when we're in church, you like to flirt with whoever is behind us by playing peek-a-boo (you hide your face in our chest and then peek over our shoulder and smile, and then hide your face in our chest again).

You've started to identify your favorite toys this month, too. You have a serious penchant for books (just like your mama- yay!) and usually pick those out of a pile of toys to play with. You really enjoy turning the pages and looking at the pictures. You also like to play with your "Sophie the giraffe" teether and your daddy's old cell phones of all things. But perhaps your most favorite toy is the remote control for the television. You cannot keep your hands off of that thing, and you get SOOOOOOO angry with us if we try to take it away from you. And, of course, you like playing with Kleenex. I don't know why, but you do.
























This last month, you also celebrated your first St. Patrick's Day and your first Easter! I've gotta tell you, your daddy and I are having so much fun dressing you up for all these new holidays!






















This month, like all the others before it, has clearly been a joyous one for your daddy and I, mostly because you are in our life. In fact, we have had SO much fun, we are already working on a brother or sister for you! We'll keep you posted :).
Love,
Mama

Month 6 Letter

Dear Sophia,

Today you are officially six months old! And, like every month since you were born, your daddy and I can hardly believe you’re that big already! You are now officially 24 inches long and 18.5 pounds. WOAH. You are getting so big that it’s becoming more and more difficult to carry you around with one arm. But in addition to getting so big, you are also getting even more adorable, if that’s even possible. At least, your daddy and I sure think you get more and more cute every day (but of course, we’re incredibly biased). I mean, who could resist this kid:



This last month, you traveled to Albuquerque with me to spend some time with your grandpa, who was in the hospital. You also got to spend a lot of time with your aunts and uncles and cousins, which you absolutely loved. Of course, you were spoiled rotten while you were there, especially by your Nina, who wanted to hold you and cuddle with you all day long. It was such an emotional trip for me, but every day, you brought a smile to my face. This is such a gift to me…all you have to do is give me one of your silly faces or laugh out loud, and it immediately reminds me of all the good that there is in the world. And you didn’t just lighten MY mood, but you also provided a lot of comic relief to your aunt Cathy and aunt Marie, who were (like your mama), a little stressed out from all that needed to be done while we were there:



It’s pretty amazing… in the above videos, which were taken just a few short weeks ago, you were barely learning how to sit up on your own. Now, as I write this, sitting up by yourself is a task that you have already mastered! We expect you’ll start tackling crawling next, or maybe even walking! You have definitely been doing a lot of standing with assistance lately, and making walking movements, and there’s no question that you LOVE your jumparoo. Sometimes after you’ve been jumping around for a half hour, we will take you out of it, and you’ll keep kicking your legs for the rest of the night as if to say, “Hey! Put me back in that thing! I was having fun! Sheesh!” Let me just tell you, that after getting kicked in the thigh, in the stomach, in the face, and in the shoulder from all the squirmy-wormy moving around you do when I try to hold you, I think you are DEFINITELY going to be a first class soccer player.

In addition to sitting up by yourself, you’ve mastered another developmental milestone this month: TEETHING. You now have both of your little teeth popping out from your gums, and you just LOVE chewing on mommy and daddy’s fingers (but truth be told, it is really starting to hurt!). What this means, of course, is that you are also in pain sometimes, and therefore aren’t sleeping as well through the night. Thank goodness this is temporary! Also, as a result of your teething, you have become a serious drool monster. I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen a human being drool so much in my life! It’s everywhere! On your clothes, on your bibs, on the couch, on your blankies, on my cashmere sweaters… and the good news is, you have 24 more teeth to grow! And then they’ll fall out and we’ll start over again! YAY! (~ note the sarcasm~)

Unfortunately, you won’t SHOW anyone your teeth, so we have to be sneaky about trying to get a glimpse of them:



This month, you’ve also been eating solid foods like champ! You’ve moved from rice cereal and baby oatmeal to pureed sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet peas, bananas, and avocados. We also tried apples and pears, but those gave you a really bad diaper rash, so we’re going to wait to reintroduce those until later when your body gets more used to trying different foods. I’ve been making all of your foods for you, because your daddy and I feel it’s important to give you organically grown fruits and vegetables as your first foods. It’s remarkably easy, and surprisingly, you seem to like almost everything we give you (except for peas, which you are still trying to decide if you like or not).

All these new foods that you’re trying are fun, but there’s one major drawback. And that is, of course, the fact that your poop right now has gotten SUPER STINKY. I mean, WOAH, kiddo. It’s BAD. The funny thing, though, is that your little poops come out whatever color you’ve eaten earlier that day. So we’ve seen lots of orange and green poop. Even better…after you eat bananas, you poop out little banana seeds.

I know, someday you are going to read this and be completely mortified that I’m talking about your poop on the internet.

Let’s see, what else have you been doing this month? Oh! How could I forget? You are REALLY starting to babble a lot lately, and your daddy and I will often find you in your bassinet just talking to yourself and playing around with different sounds, seeing how loud you can make them. So far, you’ve been saying “bababababababababababababababa” and “dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada” and “mffffmmmmmmfpphhhhbbbttttttt”. Which I think loosely translates to “I have the weirdest parents ever.”

One of the neatest things for me to watch is how you are starting to make associations between yourself and objects in your world. I can almost see the wheels turning in your cute little head. For example, when you play with your toys, you are really paying attention to how they sound, how they work, and what they do. You will spend hours turning pages in your books or playing with your blocks if I let you. And you are now developing a sense of object permanence, so when I hide one of your toys under a blanket, you look for it and wonder where it went. This also means that you are learning the high chair game, where you throw your spoon or your pacifier over the side, and then lean over to look at it and then look at me as if to say, “um, aren’t you going to get that?”. Of course, when I do, you repeat the whole process over again.













































I think, though, that of all the things you are learning to do these days, my favorite thing is your developing sense of humor. You used to smile and laugh only in imitation of other peoples smiling or laughing. But now, you are laughing at all kinds of things: when someone makes a silly face, or makes a silly sound, you just burst out with the most adorable laugh on the planet.

The sound of your laugh is the best sound in the whole wide world to me, and I intend to make sure that you will always have something in your life to laugh at. Like your daddy when he is doing his silly dance.

I know I’ve said this a million times before, but I am so in love with you, baby girl, and I feel so fortunate and grateful every single day that I have you. Happy 6 months!

Love,
Mama

Month 5 Letter

Dear Sophia,
I know I keep saying this every month, but OH MY GOODNESS you have grown so much in the last month! You now weigh more than 16 pounds, and you are 23" in length. That puts you in the 95th percentile for both height and weight! Your head circumference is also in the 95th percentile, and some might say you just have a big head. *I* say of course you have a big head- you have a ginormous brain in there!

Let's see... what are some of the new things you've accomplished this month? First of all, you are now doing a LOT of standing with support. In fact, you prefer standing to sitting, as evidenced by your whining every time I try to get you to sit on my lap. You can even stand up by yourself for a few minutes while just holding onto my hand (this is pretty advanced for your age). You want to stand up and see the world, darn it! No point sitting around, no sireee, not for you! It's true, though, that you are definitely a curious baby. Everyone who knows you mentions how intently you look around at everyone and everything with your big, beautiful eyes.























One of the funniest things you started doing this month is blowing spit bubbles and making raspberry sounds with your mouth. I think you started doing this because you were imitating your daddy and me when we would make funny sounds at you. I even took a video of you doing this one day because I couldn't stop laughing!



You are also really learning how to play with toys- you will transfer them from one hand to another, you will repeatedly shake or squeeze or nudge toys that respond to movement with light or sounds, and you have even learned how to turn pages in a book. Right now, your favorite toy by far is your jumparoo.We put you in that, and you bounce all around, laughing and giggling the whole time (have I mentioned how absolutely amazing and infectious your laugh is? I have? Oh. Well, I can't help it- it IS!!!).








































You've discovered your feet this week, too. Which isn't to say that you didn't know before that your feet were attached to your body. No, what I mean is that you are now actively seeking out your feet so that you can grab them and play with them when you're in your crib. You spend alot of time in your crib, grabbing at your feet and talking to them as if they're your friends. I have no idea what you're saying to your feet, but it is clearly a VERY important conversation.


















One thing that's interesting is that you really like to hold different kinds of fabric with different textures. You will take just about anything- tissues, paper towels, plastic baggies, hand towels, burp cloths, cotton and fleece bibs, mommy's cashmere sweaters- and touch, hold, and squeeze it, the whole time paying very close attention to whether it makes a sound, whether it tastes good to you, or whether it feels good on your face. Unfortunately, you also really love to grab onto my hair, and of course you never fail to give it a good yank. Let me say right now... that HURTS, kiddo!

You are drooling a lot these days, and you've started chewing on your hands. Your pediatrician says that you are starting to get your first teeth already, which is why you're drooling so much. We even gave you your first taste of solid food (rice cereal)this week. You didn't like it very much, and I think you only swallowed about one spoonful because the rest of it ended up all over your face and bib.


















Your daddy and I STILL cannot believe that you are already old enough to eat solid food. We think you are growing up too fast!.

Unfortunately, there is some sad news to report this month. For the last week, you have been in New Mexico with me because your Nino is really, really sick and is in the hospital. He's been sick for a while, now, but he is getting worse and worse every day. I am SO glad that you came home to Albuquerque with me over Christmas and SO glad that you are here with me now, because I am just so grateful that you got a chance to meet your grandpa. He won't be with us much longer, so the fact that you get to spend this precious time with him is such a blessing.























OK, enough of that. I don't do very well with emotional stuff, as you will soon discover. Instead, I just want to say that you bring us so much joy, Sophia, I can't even express to you how much more your daddy and I smile every day since you joined our family. You are one amazing baby, and every day I am grateful that I get to come home to your beautiful, smiling little face.























Love,
Mama

Month 4 Letter

Dear Sophia,
My goodness, how quickly time is flying! Every day I look at you, you seem to be growing so much bigger. If I wasn't so excited to watch you grow up, I would ask you to please stop growing so that I can savor each and every moment even more than I already am. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY love being your mom and spending time with you. In fact, I can't imagine anything else I would rather do. Every new skill you aquire makes me so proud, and even though millions of babies all over the world are developing the exact same skills, I still want to climb a mountain every day and shout as loud as possible "my baby girl is AWESOME!".

You've had quite a month so far! You now weigh about 14 pounds and are 24 inches long, and look almost as big as your cousin Amilia who is 10 months old! This month, we have also noticed that your personality is really starting to develop- you smile all the time, and have started laughing out loud (which, I should add, is absolutely the best sound in the universe). What's really neat is that you are starting to realize cause-and-effect. This is most noticible when your daddy and I are playing the tickle monster game- when you see our fingers wiggling above you, you laugh so hard in anticipation of the tickles soon to come! You are also figuring out that you have an effect on your environment, and this is most obvious when we put you in your bouncy chair and you spend most of your time kicking and touching the little stuffed animals hanging above it just to watch them move around. You even try to talk to them, which is SO funny.

You've been reaching many of your developmental milestones this month, too. You can now hold yourself up on your arms when you're on your tummy, you are learning how to roll over from your tummy to your back, you've started to hold your bottle by yourself, and you are able to support your weight when we hold you in a standing position. Actually, you spend a lot of time "standing", because when we try to get you to sit down, you kick and kick your legs until we stand you up. Only then are you content, which makes your daddy and I feel that you will probably walk before you crawl. Either that, or you are destined to become a world-class soccer player!

In December, you went on your first plane ride (well, the first one after you were born- when you were in my tummy, you travelled all over the place)! We were worried you would get fussy on the plane because you still cry a lot when you're hungry or when you're tired, but you did great! We went to visit my family in New Mexico for Christmas. You got to meet all your aunts, uncles, and cousins! Everyone was SO excited to meet you, and I don't think your daddy or I got to hold you once, since everyone also wanted to hold you and cuddle with you. I was so happy that you got to meet your extended family and start to create memories with them, because they are really special people who will play a big role in your life as you grow up.

You also got to spend a lot of time with your Nina and Nino. In fact, your Nina threatened to hide you from us when we were about to leave because she didn't want to put you back on the plane to Seattle. She sure does love you- she had her house all prepared for you with a brand new pack and play, swing, bouncy chair, and a lifetime supply of diapers. She also spent a lot of time getting everything ready for your baptism, and made sure that everything was perfect for that day. Speaking of your baptism, you were baptised on December 28, the day of the Holy Family. Your godparents Michael and Anne were there- they are such amazing people, and they will soon have a playmate for you since they have a little girl growing in Anne's tummy right now! You had a big party afterwards at your Nina's house, with about 50 people celebrating your very first sacrament.

A few days ago, your daddy and I also celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our finding out that you were in my tummy. On January 1, 2008, we discovered that we were pregnant with you. It seems like such a long time ago, and yet the time has also gone by so quickly (how does that happen?). I know I've said it before, but we both feel so very lucky to be your parents, and we honestly don't know what we ever did without you in our lives. We absolutely adore you and love you so very much.

Happy New Year, sweetheart.
Love,
Mama

The Chubbmeister- Month 3 Letter

Dear Sophia,
Today you are 3 months old. I can hardly believe it- where did the time go? You are getting so big already, and while you are still so incredibly cute (so much so that I just want to munch on your little cheeks), I admit that I miss how itty bitty your fingers and toes were when you were first born.

It seems that every day you acquire a new skill, and your daddy and I can hardly keep up with you! You are now able to hold your head up without assistance, you can sit up in a chair all by yourself, and you are getting better at pushing yourself up using your arms. When we feed you a bottle, you try to hold it in your hands too, and you are beginning to understand that when you touch or grab your toys, they actually move. You are eating a lot more these days, so your adorable cheeks are getting rounder, and I now have to use two arms to carry you because you're getting so heavy. You are starting to bend your legs while you're on your tummy as if you want to crawl, and best of all- you are trying to talk to us all the time! I took a video of you the other day when you were talking to me:



This month, you have also been a much happier baby. In fact, you are now starting to giggle and laugh out loud, which is the most amazing sound in the whole world to me. The first two months of your life, though, we were still trying to find out why you were so colicky, because you were crying almost all the time. We think you are allergic to something in my breastmilk, because as soon as we started you on hypoallergenic formula (the super expensive kind... *groan*... apparently you already have your mother's penchant for expensive food), your tummy quieted down and you didn't cry as much. This was a great development, not only because you are now getting more sleep at night (and so are your daddy and I! Woohoo!), but because you have more attention to direct to exploring the world around you.

You've now been in daycare for about a month, and you are doing really well! All your teachers adore you, and you even have a best friend there whose name is Oliver. Being around other babies has made you more communicative, I think, because every time I go pick you up, you are babbling away and watching all the other babies with your wide, curious eyes.

Last week, we went to Thanksgiving dinner at your auntie Lynn's house, and all I could think about that day was how much I have to be thankful for. I am thankful that I have a good job, especially in the current economy (this year, a lot of people lost their jobs and their homes, so we are very lucky in this regard). I am thankful that I have your daddy around, because he is the most incredible husband and daddy and I love him SO much. I am I am thankful that you have now met all of your grandparents, especially because your grandma M and your grandpa B are both really sick right now. I am thankful that you will soon get to meet all of your cousins and aunts and uncles in New Mexico.

But mostly, little one, I'm thankful for YOU.

Love,
Mama

The Hardest Thing About Being A Mom So Far

Dear baby Sophia,
You started daycare this morning. I didn't want to leave you there (even though it is a fantastic daycare and I knew you would be in great hands), and when we turned around to leave, I started bawling. And I cried for the next hour as your daddy and I drove to work. Because I missed you so much it hurt.
Love,
Mama

Month Two

Dear baby Sophia,

We can't believe that you are already two months old! Where has the time gone? Right now I'm sitting on the couch with you sleeping away on my lap, which, believe me, is amazing in itself considering you rarely sleep long enough for me to get anything done. So yeah. Yay sleep!

A lot has happenned to you in the last month, which hardly seems possible because we haven't really gone anywhere or done much but spend as much time with you at home as possible because you start daycare this week and OH MY GOD I DON'T KNOW HOW I AM GOING TO HANDLE THAT so I want to take advantage of the little all-day time with you I have left. I used to think that I would totally be able to manage going back to work full time, but now that you're here and I've totally fallen in love with you, I just want to be with you ALL THE TIME.

This month, you have continued to grace us with your colic, which means we're all still having a hard time getting enough sleep. You'd think that the lack of sleep would make your daddy and I irritable and cranky, but in fact we are managing pretty well. We make a pretty good team, your daddy and I. We help each other out when one or the other of us is exhausted, and we aren't as stressed as one might think because we've entirely given up on the idea of having a spotless house or having clean clothes to wear. Is it worth it, the messy house, the dirty clothes piles, the dark circles under our eyes and the inability to form coherent sentences?

TOTALLY.

This month, I took you to see a pediatric gastroenterologist just to get your digestive system checked out, since it seems to be the root cause of your discomfort. We found out that you have an umbilical hernia, but this is normal and probably isn't causing you any pain. I started on a milk-free diet, thinking that you might have an allergy to cow's milk protein, but it's been 3 weeks now and you aren't feeling much better. So the gastroenterologist told us to put you on a special hypoallergenic formula for a while to see if that will help. I hope you start to feel better soon because the formula is costing us a small fortune (which is really too bad because breastmilk is totally free! And breastfeeding will make my gigantic boobs smaller! And breastmilk is best for your cognitive development! And breastmilk is completely portable! And there isn't any bottle-washing with breastfeeding! And I'm going to stop complaining now!).

One quick comment about infant formula: it makes your poop bright green! And woah, stinkpot. And woah, volume. In fact, you pooped on your daddy this month for the first time, which made me laugh so hard! Your daddy, on the other hand, wasn't laughing. But it was still funny! Speaking of poop, that seems to be a primary topic of conversation in our house these days. In fact, most things related to your butt are a common discussion point. It really is amazing how two intellectually curious people such as your daddy and I, who USUALLY spend most of our time talking about economics or politics, are now discussing at length topics such as "was Sophia's poop more of a MUSTARD yellow, or a GREEN yellow?" and "Wow, I think even the neighbors heard that fart!".

The most exciting thing this month is that you've started smiling!!! Which is to say, you've been smiling back at us when we smile at you. You were doing the "ha ha, I have super butt gas" smile a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn't count. You are so captivating when you smile, and we spend most of our time trying to get you to smile when you aren't crying.

Other milestones you've reached this month: you are starting to grasp small objects (such as a rattle) really tightly, you are making small vocalizations (like cooing), and you can raise your body up on your hands and arms. You are also right on target with your growth, and you now weigh almost 11 pounds! Unfortunately, at your 8 week doctor's appointment, you also got your first shots. Wow was it hard for me to watch you get them, because you cried and cried, and your face contorted and turned bright red. I started to cry FOR you because I don't like shots either. I just wanted to take you away from there, hold you, and make you feel better. The next time you go in for your shots, I think I'm going to send your daddy to go with you.

This month, another incredible thing happenned that has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with history-making. Just a few short days ago, this country elected its first African American president, Democrat Barak Obama. I truly never thought I would see that in my lifetime because unfortunately, Sophia, there is still a lot of bigotry and hate in this country, a country so divided along lines of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and political affiliation. Because of that, both your daddy and I have become incredibly cynical about politics and politicians. But seeing Barak Obama elected President made me feel so proud, so full of hope for the future, because voters turned out in historic numbers to make a STATEMENT. The election was significant in other important ways, because a woman, Hilary Clinton, almost became the Democratic nominee but was beaten in the primaries by Obama. The Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican party was also a woman, Sarah Palin. Never in our nation's history have we come so close to having a woman or an African-American elected to the Presidential or Vice-Presidential positions. And it is this, the willingness of the American people to do something that so many never thought possible (regardless of political party), something so very significant, that makes me so glad that you were born during this very historic time because you will always be able to say "I was born the same year that the nation elected its first black president". Wow. How cool is that?

Love,
Mama

P.S. Have I mentioned that being your mom is absolutely, without a doubt, the most magical thing that's ever happenned to me?