Your first time in church.

Dear Sophie,

Tonight is Christmas Eve - your first! We aren't regular church-goers - though sometimes I think about becoming more active in church.  I felt like tonight was a good night to try out the Lutheran church here in our little town. 

You were in awe of the big room and the big stained glass windows and candles and, of course..the ceiling fans.  Have I told you about your love for ceiling fans yet?  I will.  Soon.  In another post.

We sat near the back.  We weren't sure how you were going to be since it was past your bedtime and kind of a long day for you, but you were in great spirits.  Smiley, too.  You kept staring at and pretending to be shy with the lady sitting behind us.  I think you made her day. 

Anyway...at one point in the service the pastor had all the little kids come up to the front.  They were going to sit and talk about the scene in the manger the night Jesus was born. 

The pastor says, "Ok...so there were some animals there...can any of you make animal sounds?"

Right on cue, you let out the biggest, loudest, funniest squeal you had in you!

The pastor exclaimed, "OOH! There's one!" and of course you drew a whole room full of eyes and smiles.

If you've seen any videos of yourself around this age, by now you probably know how loud and cute you can be. 

For now though, you are tucked in to bed in your red & white striped Christmas jammies with the reindeer feeties and reindeer butt with visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.  Mama and daddy can't wait for tomorrow to spend our first Christmas morning with you and in our new house.

Love you, little bear.
Mama

8 Months!

Dear Sophie,

Today you are 8 months old and, as usual, things are happening so fast.  I'm sorry I missed 7 months.  If I blink my eyes again it will be your 16th birthday.

You are so wiggly!  I can't imagine how this is going to go as you get stronger or learn to crawl and walk.  Mama and Daddy are going to be in trouble!  You are sitting up by yourself all the time once we sit you down, and you'll stay that way and play for a very long time now.  You can't get yourself to that position on your own just yet, but it's definitely coming.  You are also starting to pull yourself up to stand on us or anything you can grab, so I went ahead and lowered your crib mattress to the lowest setting this month.  We don't need you taking any nose-dives out of the crib yet.  Or ever.

You have learned how much fun it is to clap your hands and you do it for just about everything you like.  Sometimes all we have to do is say "yay!" and you will start clapping.  It's too dang cute.  Your high chair is a fun place to clap too since you think food is pretty fun.  You pretty much ONLY want to feed yourself now and get pretty pissed off if we try to feed you.  I've discovered that the only way to make this work is to give you your own spoon and sneak bites in with the spoon I'm holding.  We are trying to figure out what kinds of finger foods you like best and can handle best, but chances are if you couldn't figure them out today, we could try them again tomorrow and you'll be a pro.

We are still breastfeeding.  I think my goal was originally 6 months.  Then, before you were born, daddy and I went to a breastfeeding class and I was gung-ho to make it to a year.  Then we had some problems early on (never-ending thrush, latch problems, clogged ducts, etc) and I decided my goal would be 9 months.  Then things started going MUCH better so I was all about the year again.

And then you got teeth.

Now...with a proper latch, they can't really even be felt.  But when you decide my boob is your favorite funny chew toy that is another issue altogether.  You think it is just SOMUCHFUN to chomp down, then pull off really fast and smile up at me.  While it's painful and you definitely shouldn't be doing it, it's still almost impossible not to want to laugh or smile at you when you're grinning up at me.

It didn't stay quite that cute though.  I actually decided that it was never going to stop and we would transition you to formula.  We tried a few different kinds, but you hated them all no matter who gave them to you or what bottle they came from.  So while most people give up on breastfeeding, mama had to be different and give up on formula.  That stuff is expensive - there was no way we could afford to try every kind there was and take the chance of them not working out.   I don't have that kind of patience anyway.  We'll just work on the biting thing or I will suck it up.

This month brought your first ear infection.  You think your bubble gum flavored antibiotics are delicious.  I am so paranoid about missing an ear infection with you because when your teeth are bothering you, you swat at your ears a lot.  This time you seemed extra miserable and screamy.  I hate that you weren't feeling good but man did I love how snuggly you were.

You're saying "mama" and "baba" and "dada" and a few other random syllables here and there, but it's pretty easy to see you don't associate them with us yet.  They are just really fun to say!

You've started putting your hands on your hips when you don't like something.  Is it even possible for this to start so early?  Is it some kind of built-in instinct women have from birth?  Oh well...either way, it's darn cute.

Til next month, Little Bear.
Love,
Mama