Baby's First Christmas

Sophia's introduction to Christmas began during our Thanksgiving trip when we took her and Katherine to see Santa. Sophia stared at Santa for about 3 seconds...and then the terror set in! She saw Santa 2 more times this year, and she had the same reaction each time. For Katherine, the terror was instantaneous, and I have a feeling it'll be the same for Sophia next year. Aunt Traice and Gramma drove up on the Sunday before Christmas. Although Sophia hadn't seen Aunt Traice in a couple of months, the two hit it off immediately. Sophia thinks everything Aunt Traice does is totally entertaining.
Here's a video of Aunt Traice dropping leftover Halloween candy into a bowl, and although Sophia was battling a case of the hiccups, she giggled every time!

We spent Christmas Eve in Napa at Aunt Susie and Uncle Greg's house. We were excited to get Sophia together with my cousin Erica's 2 boys, who are both under the age of 3.The kids didn't really want anything to do with one another, and Sophia was far more interested in chasing the cat around. Oh well, maybe next year they'll have more fun together. Sophia definitely looked cute in the Christmas outfit my BFF Jennie gave her!
Daddy came home from work at about 10:30pm on Christmas Eve. We woke up bright and early on Christmas morning to see what gifts Santa had delivered.

Sophia had a great time pulling her gifts out of her stocking.
Sophia's first gift was from Gramma. She had surprised us all by refinishing the old rocking ram that my grandfather gave me for my first Christmas (it is a ram rather than a horse in honor of my astrological sign of Aries)
Santa must have seen what a good girl Sophia was, because she got lots of presents. It would take me forever to list everything she received, but one of her favorites is a toy piano from Moyses.
She was also really excited to receive a toy Elmo from Sharky, one of Daddy's U2 buddies.

On Christmas day, we drove to the Bay Area to Aunt Sandi and Uncle Mike's house. We met Grandpa and the rest of the Caretto clan there. The only rule in Aunt Sandi's house was that there weren't any rules. Sophia was allowed to touch and/or break whatever she fancied. She went straight for the digital camera, but fortunately she didn't break it.
Gramma stayed one extra day before heading back home. Sophia and Trent enjoyed the last bit of spoiling by sharing Gramma's toast.
I think Sophia was a little overwhelmed by her first Christmas, but hopefully she'll be more aware of what's going on next year. She is definitely enjoying all the new toys and books she received, and is looking darn cute in her new clothes!

Like Mother Like Daughter

I know the entry about Sophia's first Christmas is long overdue, but I'm having some technical difficulties getting the pictures from Gramma's camera onto my computer. In the meantime, I thought I'd share the gift Sophia gave her Gramma.
The first pictures are of me with my mom, followed by pictures of me and Sophia.




And here is Gramma trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears after she opened her gift:

Blackmail

The other day I realized that we didn't have any naked baby pictures of Sophia to use as blackmail for when she becomes a way too cool teenager. So, off went the diaper and out came the camera. Sophia loved this new freedom... ...and proudly showed off her adorable love handles...
...but then she scrunched up her face and tilted her pelvis forward. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late:

I think that will be the last of our nude photo shoots!

10 months

It's official -we now have a toddler in the house! Between cruising along the furniture, using her push toys, and taking a few steps on her own, Sophia can now get just about anywhere. Her favorite destinations are the Christmas tree and the the front door (where we have some bells hanging) Here's a picture of her admiring the garland on the Christmas tree:

Her favorite activity seems to be making messes. She loves to "organize" the tupperware
empty the drawers in the office
and help sort the mail
Sophia can now clap and dance, and she's been trying to make what I call "indian noises" (she covers and uncovers her mouth while yelling). She's developing into a very generous little girl who loves to share her snacks with the rest of the family. She'll go around in a circle and carefully place a cracker in Mommy's mouth, Daddy's mouth and Trent's mouth. We've been trying to discourage her from feeding Trent, but so far it doesn't seem to be working. Our efforts to keep her away from boys haven't been working either. Last week she made out with our neighbor's 2 year old grandson - he hugged and kissed her while she licked his cheek!

And I can't end the post without sharing this picture. Trent was a little jealous and wanted in on the action!

The Adventure Begins

SOPHIA'S WALKING!!!!

Let the baby proofing begin!

Poor Baby!

Our sweet little girl has come down with the worst cold. She has tears streaming down her cheeks, snot streaming down her nose and chin, and if you can call a cough cute, Sophia's got one. She also has a rash on her face that seems to be spreading to her legs and backside. She's still sleeping great at night and during the day, but she wakes up every 10 minutes or so to cough, then she'll whimper, roll over and go back to sleep. It's so sad! Amazingly, she's still her sweet self and can't help but giggle when Mommy plays peek-a-boo or when Daddy tries to sing Neil Diamond Christmas songs! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Uhnn Tiss Uhnn Tiss Uhnn Tiss

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Skeeters side of the family in Dallas. I was anxious about the flight because the last time we flew Sophia screamed (not cried, but screamed) the entire way and I was still battling flashbacks. Fortunately, she did GREAT and the flight attendants and I got a few giggles at how much she resembles her Daddy.
Nana made a delicious traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. Over dinner, we had fun chatting with Christy and Sam who had just returned from a three month business trip to Norway.
We made a plate for Sophia, but she did not enjoy the food and she made sure that we were aware of her food preferences with a dramatic array of facial expressions. Dessert was another story - she gobbled up the pumpkin pie!

I enjoyed dressing her up in a cute little outfit, and our little girly-girl had fun strutting her stuff. She even took 2-3 steps by herself!!

The best part of our holiday weekend was getting to spend time with our niece Katherine. She is the sweetest little girl. She loved to be with her Aunt "Maimee," her Uncle "Wow" and her cousin "Fa." Sophia and Katherine weren't quite sure what to think of each other at first, I think because they are not used to sharing the spotlight. But by the end of the weekend, they really seemed to like each other.

They eventually came to the realization that together, they could easily dominate any situation. At dinner, Sophia would start "singing" and Katherine would quickly chime in, creating a deafening noise that put a halt to all adult conversation. The next time these two get together Sophia should be walking, and we can't wait to see what sort of trouble they get into together!!

Sophia also did amazingly well on the flight back home. She made several friends before and during our flight, and we were shocked at how many people waited at the gateway to say goodbye to her, waving "Goodbye, Sophia!" On the way to get our baggage, Will said "Oh my gosh - our daughter is a rock star!"

9 Months

Who knew having a nine month old could be so much fun?? Sophia is a whopping 22 pounds now and is full of energy. She sings, babbles and laughs nonstop with one condition - she needs to be walking! All this little girl wants to do is hold onto our fingers and walk. She can cruise around the furniture and walk behind her toys now, but after several steps, she stops and tries to grab our fingers again. Even when she's sitting on our laps, she'll search around for our fingers, and by the time we realize what is going on, she has already slid onto the ground and taken 2-3 steps. This is not the most ergonomically sound activity for us 30+ year old parents, so occassionally we'll use a towel as a harness.
Sophia has developed a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh that sounds a lot like her Pops. She has started a new dance where she bounces up and down, shakes her head "no" and then puts her ear to her shoulder. It's a litte unconventional, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it on MTV soon! She enjoys going to the playground, but if there aren't any kids to play with, she's happy to just sit and eat wood chips. She loves to play silly games with Mommy....


...and wrestle with Daddy.


She is no longer breast feeding at all anymore, so I celebrated by drinking waaay too much caffeine, having one too many cocktails, and eating really spicy thai food! Woohoo!! Sophia has done great with the transition, although she has developed an unusual habit of sucking on the palm of her hand when she is sleepy. We are working on getting her to eat more grown up foods, but she has been somewhat picky about it and will often shake her head "no" and spit food right out if we're able to get it in her mouth at all.

And of course, she is still ridiculously cute! Will and I have come to terms with the fact that we're going to have a kid that is way better looking than us, and we've already had to deal with some admiring boys.
Will says she will not be going on a date until she's 30.

Baby's Best Friend

Sophia and Trent are becoming great friends and it's so fun to watch. One of Sophia's favorite activities is chasing Trent, and he seems to enjoy playing along too. She'll hold on to our fingers and walk after Trent. As soon as she gets close, Trent will run away, and Sophia will squeal with excitement. Trent will then wait until she gets close before running off again.
I let Sophia "wrestle" with Trent the other night, and he was SOOOO patient with her. The poor guy just laid there while Sophia gave him wet slobbery kisses...

...pulled his ears....

...and then took his chewie away!

However, Sophia has also gotten very good at petting Trent gently, and of course, throwing him all the food she doesn't want, so I think they're both coming out ahead in this relationship!

This video is a classic!!

Liltte Drummer Girl

I swore I'd never buy a set of drums for my kid, but after only 8 months, I've already broken my oath! We went to a large consignment sale a few weeks ago and I bought a Leapfrog Learning Drum for Sophia. It has different settings so that when you hit it, it will make drum sounds, music sounds, say the letters of the alphabet, or count up to ten. The first time I put it front of Sophia, her face lit up and she grinned ear to ear. It has quickly become her favorite toy, and we'll often get bored waiting for her to finish playing with it so she'll play with us!

Bye Bye Baby

Today Sophia started waving "bye bye" to her reflection in the mirror, and it was nothing short of a miracle when she continued to do it after I turned on the camera! (I apologize because the angle is a little strange, but I needed one hand to hold Sophie and the other to wave.)

Happy Halloween

Sophia's first Halloween was so much fun. We started the festivities last week by taking her to a pumpkin patch just up the street from us. There were at least 25 other families there, which surprised us since it was a Wednesday morning. Sophia had fun picking out pumpkins, looking at the gorgeous sunflowers and watching all the other kids run around and play.


Here is Sophia and her Daddy proudly standing at the entrance of the corn stalk maze: I would have posted a picture of us at the exit, but we never found it! We truly got lost and actually had to cheat to get out!!
And here's our little baby bumblebee on the big day:

We went over to our neighbor's house for pizza before the trick-or-treating began, and we quickly realized when you have that many kids that are that excited, it's impossible to get a good picture!
Sophia decided to forego the trick-or-treating this year so she could help hand out candy. She loved seeing all of the kids in costumes, but she can't wait until next year when she will be able to toddle up to a few doorsteps with her buddies.