The Sophie Post

I blog as a my modern-day journaling. I like people to read my blog because I know I love reading blogs and find out how friends and family are doing, but I do censor myself because I know that what I write can't be taken back and could probably be slightly boring! I want to be better at blogging because I want to be able to read about Sophie's milestones and what we're doing as a family!

So I'll start...

Sophie is so much fun! She is very tall (33.5 inches - off the charts). Between 12 months and 15 months she didn't gain any weight but grew 2.5inches! I have noticed this especially lately. Her toes are squished in her pjs, her pants are floods, and her gut is always hanging out! We had to size up to 24 month clothes recently. It's really hard to predict how she'll grow! I am always on the lookout for a good sale or bargain so I try to guesstimate what size she'll be in what season but so fair I have failed miserably. I have a ton of things that she doesn't even get to wear!

Sophie loves me. She is such a mama's girl. If I am around I have to be with her and be holding her. If I'm not around she misses me and her Daddy/Grandma can tell! She has gotten even worse stranger anxiety. If we are out and about, if someone tries to say hi to her, gets really close to her, or gives/takes something she gets upset! I work 2-3 days a week and either Kale or my mom watches Sophie. I always think about her when I'm at work and just can't wait to get home to her! I love being with her and doing fun things. When she goes to bed at night I feel so lonely and just wish I could hold and cuddle her. She has been such a blessing and even though being a mother is challenging, I wouldn't want to be doing any other thing!

Sophie has always been a pretty good sleeper. When I stopped breastfeeding/pumping she has woken up more at night though. A good night she will sleep from 7pm to 9am. A lot of times though, she'll wake up between 3am-6am and can't go back to sleep without a bottle. I think she uses the bottle as a pacifier! We just put about 2oz of warm water in the bottle and she'll go right back to sleep. I have tried no-bottle bootcamps but honestly it's not worth the tears from both of us! She is using it for comfort right now and I don't feel like taking that from her. She'll give it up when she's ready. She doesn't use a bottle during the day, just for a nap and at night to get to sleep, and luckily it's just water. She was always such a great self soother - this all started around 11 months. She sleeps in her crib. She has two blankets that she loves, and her baby and a stuffed frog. She loves the corners of her blankets. She holds them and sometimes will chew or bite them. It's funny because I had a special blanket when I was little too. The past month she has figured out that she can stand and bounce in her crib. It's been a bad thing because in the night if she wakes up and stands up or sits and leans against the side, she can't quite figure out how to lay back down so she'll just cry until I come help her.

I love going into her room first thing in the morning. She'll wake up and talk. I'll hear her and go in there and usually say "where is my baby?" and she gets so excited! She starts flapping her hands and smiles and reaches for me! We usually come down to the living room and hang out and have breakfast.

Sophie is a picky eater! She still does mostly baby food purees but we're trying to move away from those since the nutrient content is low. She loves scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast. She likes baby food fruit purees, applesauce, plain yogurt, apples, and corndogs. She is pretty picky. She'll usually eat off our plates but is resistant to trying new things of her own. It's made it challenging to feel like she gets enough. Days when she doesn't eat well I give her a Toddler formula to make sure she's got what her body needs. I am able to get up to about 3-4oz of milk each day without having problems with her digestion. It's a delicate balance! I am glad we've been able to watch her diet an avoid any constipation.

After we eat is her happiest time so that's my window to do things. I usually run an errand or get a few groceries, head to the bank, or we do an activity. We probably go out about twice a week. She loves to go swimming, go outside, and our latest favorite: the library! They have so many books she loves to go look through them. They have a big lego table and a bunch of wooden puzzles. She can play there for almost two hours! Once a week they do story time. Last week was the first time we went but it was so much fun I wish I had been going more! The gal reads stories and sings songs and there are a TON of kids. They group them so Sophie is in the 1-3 year olds. There were probably over twenty. Sophie was in heaven, she just had so much fun with everyone singing and there was so much to keep her attention. After the stories and songs they let everyone color and do bubbles. She loved it and cried when it was time to go! Other days we stay home and play. She really likes being in her element here. I can tell sometimes she just loves being here and dreads having to go out. I try to coordinate my errands with Kale so I can leave her here because it's hard on her.

She hates the car! I have tried everything I can to make it enjoyable but she just hates it!

I can't wait for warmer weather. Last summer we had so much fun at Lagoon, I hope to get season passes again this year. We took Groupon up on their recent offer for a season pass to the Dino park. I have thought about a treehouse pass also. I can't wait to go for hikes, go to the park, and just show Sophie the world! It's so fun to see her grow and learn and experience new things.

Sophie loves to stand and cruise around. She is not walking yet. Her pediatrician said that her ankles are weak and is going to have her work with physical therapy. I am excited about that and hope it helps get her legs get stronger so that she can get walking because I know she'll LOVE it! She crawls all around and loves to 'get into' things. She always wants to pry open our entertainment center, pull out drawers, open cupboards, and open and close doors. I keep her toys in little wicker baskets and she likes to pull them out and dump them all over! I just follow her around and tidy up her little messes. We got a little bookshelf for her a few days ago and it's her latest attraction. The top shelf is books and she loves to pull them down and look at them. I have had such good luck at finding books at the DI lately. We have gotten a lot of board books (less destroyable).

She loves her new kitchen. I noticed she had a fascination with stacking bowls and cups lately and trying to put lids back on things, so I thought it was the perfect time to pull out the play kitchen for her to play with! I found it at the DI almost two years ago. It came with food and dishes and was in awesome shape so for $5 I couldn't pass it up! I've been storing it and was planning on giving it to her for her second birthday but she has just loved it I am so glad!

She loves TV... kind of in a bad way, ha! When we're home I like 'background' noise so something has always been on TV and I didn't even realize how often we were watching her shows until the last month or so. I've tried to be better at not having the TV always on, so we've been getting CDs from the library. She likes the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack, Rockabye baby, and Elmo Orchestra.

Her new smile is so funny. She squints her eyes and get the biggest grin. It makes me laugh, oh man, it is so funny. She loves to point out eyes and nose too. She loves the dog and tries to pet him but he usually gets up and moves somewhere else. There are two stray kitties that come to our window that she loves too. I felt bad for them so I put a little house out there and I feel them every few days. They come up by the window and she'll go over there and shriek at them. She loves the window too, her latest thing is kissing and slobbering on windows or mirrors.

We used to bath at night but we've been taking baths before her nap lately. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the bath tub. She likes to lay on her belly and kick around. She has been getting a bit more brave and even has started to put her face in the water. She bathes for like 40 minutes! Sometimes we bath twice :)

She naps for about two hours, and she's pretty predictable with her nap time (goes down at 12-1230). After her nap we usually have lunch and play. This is usually the time that I am finishing up cleaning or working on a project so it's usually when we watch some of her DVR'd shows. Her daddy gets home later and sometimes she'll eat dinner, other times she won't eat so we just give her some formula before bed. She gets tired quick so we watch for signs, usually rubbing her eyes is our cue. She is in cloth diapers throughout the day but we put one disposable on every night. Since she gets the water right before bed and sometimes throughout the night she is such a heavy wetter and it's too long for her to be in cloth. I love doing cloth diapers though. It has saved me so much money and I love feeling a little bit more environmentally responsible. Not to mention the soft cotton on her bum instead of paper products and chemicals. I never pictured myself doing cloth but it's been so easy. I wish more people would look into it! There are so many myths about it I think and people think of the 'olden days' type diapering.

OK I feel like I've caught up on all of Sophie's latest news. I hope I can keep blogging about what she's doing because time goes by so fast! It makes me sad to think my newborn has turned into a Toddler! I look forward to doing new things and having fun with her, but sometimes I wish I could freeze time and just cuddle and love on her.