New Favorites

Sophia has discovered two things: the bathroom and the refrigerator. She loves them and we basically have to wrestle the kid away from them both.

Sophia loves the bathroom because the toilet is the perfect height for her to pull her self up on, and bang on the lid. Yeah, yeah, ew the toilet. But at least its my toilet, and I know who cleans it (me), how often and with what. Sophia also discovered toilet paper. How she loves the toilet paper!! She shreds it all to pieces and then tries to eat it. Oh yeah, good times with The Husband and I trying to force her to open her mouth to pry out the worlds biggest spitball....





Sophia also loves standing in the open refrigerator. I have no idea why. Maybe its because the bottom of the fridge is off of the ground, so it provides a "step" for her to climb up. This means I can't store my eggs in the bottom of the refrigerator door now. Oh well. This love of the fridge also extends to the wine fridge. Sophia stands up on it and stares at the bottles. She hasn't tried to open it yet, but when she does, the thing is armed with a lock that The Husband and I will have to put to use.


oooooh, is that a 95 Opus in there?????

Now, the next few photos aren't new favorites, but I had to share. Like all babies her age, Sophia is starting to eat "finger foods" and chunkier things. This includes Cheerios. Sophia LOVES Cheerios. I can't leave the house for any extended period of time without a baggie full of "the o's" in my bag. Also like all babies her age, Sophia is chewing and putting everything in her mouth. Given access to the Cheerio's box, this is what happened:



Finally, we had our first big rain of the "winter" season [what San Diego calls winter, at least]. Sophia's playpen/pack n play is up against our patio doors, allowing her to look outside all the time. In the morning, she wakes up, gets a bottle and spends some time playing by herself while The Husband and I get ready for work. So, the morning it was raining, I walked into the kitchen to find my baby girl pondering the rain.

Looks like she's going to take after her Daddy and love the rain...

Early presents...Sophia still hates Santa

So, as everyone knows, The Husband and I both work full time. This means Sophia goes to day care. Everyday, she is dropped off at someone's house and is picked up in the early evening. The person who watches Sophia arranged for Santa to pay an early visit to San Diego.

Yeah, my kid still hates Santa. This time, she even tried to run away when I set her down at his feet.




Sophia also received some early gifts from her Granny and Grampy (and Skippy!) Because we had plans to spend Christmas in Chicago with my family, The Husband decided that his family Christmas could be celebrated early- by opening gifts more than a week early! Right now, Sophia is more interested in the wrapping and tissue paper than the gifts.

Granny and Grampy sent books, flashcards and toys. I know Sophia is going to love playing with all of it.


I love the adventures of Olivia..


Daddy shows her how to open presents



What's more interesting, paper..or the tree?


The best present I received all year....

Teefers

In all the hub-bub of the holidays, I've not been as dilligent as I should have about posting all of the new developments with Sophia. Instead of trying to find the time to write a massive update with lots of pictures, I'm going to try and do several shorter entries, with pictures and slide shows, to update everyone about the last few weeks.

Sophia has not one, but TWO new teeth- both top front teeth are currently coming in. The tooth on the right, next to the front one is going to be next. The gum is swollen, but I can't see white yet. Tooth #3 took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to come in- about three weeks from seeing white under the gum to the tooth cutting thru. Tooth #4 took about a week. If you thought taking pictures of the bottom two teeth was tough (but funny), you should try and photograph these two new ones. Impossible. I had to wrestle the kid to get her to open her mouth. On top of the general lack of cooperation, she wanted to eat the lens cap of my camera, which is attached to the camera by a cord. Here is the result of my work (I do not even want to discuss how many pictures were taken, then deleted, in order to get these 4) :

Me: So, Sophia, how about you show everyone those new teeth?



Sophia: No, I don't think so, Mommy.

Me: Aw, come on. I know everyone would really like to see...


Sophia: Ooooh, is that the lens cap? I looove lens caps.


Me: Sophia, open your mouth!


Sophia: I WANT THE LENS CAP, GIVE ME THE LENS CAP!!

Me: [taking pictures like a paparazzi while tickling the kid in order to get her to open her mouth]



This time, you don't even need to click on the picture to get it to enlarge- the top two are definitely there. It's so funny to see her with teeth. Now, her smile changes everyday. I can't wait to share a picture with everyone of a big toothy grin- instead of a big gummy one.

Per the request of The Husband

Apparantly, cartoon images are too much as well. So that too has been deleted. And Those Who Wish to be Unnamed, shall be exactly that.

But you shall not take my words. Oh no. The text stays. And if you don't like it so much, then please stop visiting this blog. Be as mad as you want at me. I can weather the storm.

For the love of God

Cropping pictures was not satsifactory to some people. So the picture of Niece 2 was removed and replaced.

A death to free speech and expression...a sad day indeed.

Musings, and a new policy

It has certainly been an interesting few days. Events occurred that made me reflect on sharing. Specifically, sharing photographs.

As new parents, we all but wallpaper our homes, refrigerators and wallets with pictures of our family. Typically, we want our extended families to share in this enthusiasm and practice. In order to accomplish this, and share our excitement, we share pictures with family.

I use this blog as a method to share pictures and stories of what's going on with Sophia. A digital scrapbook, updated regularly, with the expectation that the contents will be shared.

But what happens when the people we share pictures with share our pictures with others? I know that when I send my mom photographs, she will whip her wallet out at the smallest provocation in order to show others her grandchild. Sophia's grandpa has her picture, along with her other cousins, on the wall at his store. But what if Uncle Sean asks my mom for a copy of a picture I gave my mother? Is it reasonable for me to expect my mother NOT to share the picture with Sophia's own uncle?

I think the answer to that is no. That would be silly. Why else would you share a picture, if you didn't expect others to look at it too?? I don't expect the pictures I share with others to sit idle in a dark drawer, unappreciated and unloved. But it turns out that not everyone agrees with me.

There are certain people who have asked to not appear on this blog. They feel that, although the blog is used to share pictures of family with family, I do not have a right to "infringe on their privacy" and share images of those family members with others.

Therefore, I will no longer feature their images, or refer to them by name in this forum. For reference sake only, they will be referred to by acronyms which I will define as need be. For example, all nieces and nephews will be referred to as Niece 1, Niece 2, Nephew 1, Nephew 2 (in birth order) rather than by name, unless their parents agree that I can use their name "on the internet." In the event that I use a picture that they appear in, the image will be cropped or manipulated so that their face is unrecognizable.

I am making this policy as a request of BIL (Brother in Law) to make his life easier. While I do not agree that he has a privacy interest in pictures that are shared, we came to an agreement.

My baby is such the trendsetter!!!

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery- and in that note, I am flattered indeed! Remember when I did this:




Adorable, I know.

Well, it look's like Someone knows a good idea when she sees it!!
And both pics at seven months!! How about that...

May all your holidays be happy and bright?????

I know I sent this to just about everyone, but I had to put it on the blog. It just makes me laugh. Yes, yes, it's wrong to laugh at your baby's fears. But this picture is just so adorably funny to me.

Sophia is growing by leaps and bounds. She goes to the pediatrician tomorrow, so I'll report back with her newest stats. Her top left front tooth FINALLY broke through the gum and is coming in. The one on the right is not far behind.

Tonight, Sophia officially started "real" hands and knees crawling. I couldn't believe it. She was army style crawling on her belly, and then just popped up on her knees and kept moving. She is also pulling herself up to stand on everything and everybody. Standing is the new sitting in my house. Sophia has just figured out how to get down from a standing position, so we're making progress. I swear, the kid is going to walk before I know it. I guess I better baby proof the house now.

Baby bulemia, tree hugging and the beach

Soooo, my kid is a puker. She always has been. As a brand new infant, she could spit up a higher volume of fluid than she ingested. Unfortunately, this has not yet gone away. Insead, it has morphed from "spitting up" to, well purging. Sophia is in the process of discovering her gag reflex at the same time she's in the "everything goes in her mouth" phase. This usually results in the kid gagging herself. She has not yet realized the corrolation between sticking things down her throat and vomitting. Needless, it makes for real fun in my house. Yeah, good times.

Sophia is crawling all over the house now, but still a military style crawl. She contemplates getting up on her hands and knees, but we're still not there.


Sophia has a cold-again. This one is not as bad as the last one, but it was making for some rough nights. She's just very congested, so breathing can be difficult. Needless, if the baby doesn't sleep- no one sleeps. Daddy did manage to get her to go down- and himself as well.


Ok, the new "it" baby thing are these things called "Baby Legs." All the mommy chat boards are a-blaze about who has what pattern, and how many pairs they have blah-blah-blah. What are "Baby Legs"? They are little baby leg warmers, oh so fabulously "She's a maniac" and all that. Anyhoo, the husband saw them online, and thought they were cute, and we ordered a pair. And for the record, my kid is sooo flashdance in these things. Take that Jennifer Beals.





Now that Thanksgiving is passed, it's time to turn our efforts to Christmas, specifically, our Chirstmas card. Now, the Husband and I have had some killer cards in years past. But since this is Sophia's first card, we really want to make this year's card special. Naturally, we want a photo card so everyone can see how big she is.
So I find and order this fancy dress and get her all dressed up and we are READY to take some pictures outside. And by "ready" I mean only the Husband and I- as Sophia was not having this one bit. She was much more interested in eating the leaves on the ground.
The Husband gets this bright idea- let's stand her up and have her hold onto the tree and that way we'll get this really great picture. When he says this to me, I think this sounds like a pretty good idea. Ok, go ahead. Stand her up. Little tree hugging California born baby wants to eat the damn thing.


On to Plan 2- The Beach. Very Southern California- No? I still can't believe I was at the beach 2 days after Thanksgiving. As you can see, it was basically glorious. Sunny, low 70's and not a cloud in the sky. This was Sophia's first real trip to the beach. She went with the Husband and her Granny when she was about 9 weeks old, but slept thru the entire experience. This time, we had to stop her from eating sand. (The kid wants to put EVERYTHING in her mouth.)


Is everyone looking down my shirt??





These are just a few pictures. The best of the group will be shared later (shhhh, top secret!!)

Gettin' fancy

Not alot to report right now. We're pretty sure tooth #3 is trying to come in, but it hasn't cut through yet. Sophia continues to get bigger and stronger. Her personality is really starting to show- and it's pretty funny to The Husband and I. Naturally, being a redhead, Sophia is already starting to show a stubborn streak. She's starting to throw big fits when she doesn't get her way. But even more interesting, it appears that being anal retentive is passed through the genes! Today, Sophia lined up all of her blocks in a very neat row and then later, in my closet, she actually matched up shoes and lined them up. I guess I can look forward to a neat and tidy child.

We went to Zoe's baptism last weekend. Here are a few pics of Sophia dressed up in the most adorable dress ever. I just loved the thing. Please note the fancy patent leather shoes. She wore them for about an hour before she managed to figure out how to get them off- and then off they stayed!!

And the other adorable milestone is wardrobe related. Sophia wore tights for the first time. I put her in this dress that didn't have "fancy pants" as I call them. Well, I couldn't take her out with her diapered butt just sticking out for all to see. So, I had a pair of pink tights in her drawer that happen to match the dress I already picked out. Of course, some of you know- I don't normally put shoes on Sophia. So it was tights with no shoes. I don't think she cared too much.

My new favorite thing

How cool is this?? Now I can share even MORE pictures.....and there are a TON of effects and themes. Oh I am going to have soooo much fun with this.

Back to normal

The fires that were closest to our home are now extinguished. It got pretty scary for a while, as many neighboring communities were evacuated. Fortunately, our neighborhood was not asked to leave. In fact, we were told to stay at home, off the roads and not to talk on the cell phone or run electrical appliances between 11 am and 6 pm and to keep all of our windows shut. It's like house arrest.

Most of that is now over. Both The Husband and I are back to work. We are opening the windows every now and then, but the air quality is still pretty bad (but it doesn't smell anymore), so we're still not taking Sophia out for walks or to the park yet for any extended amounts of time. Hopefully that will change by the end of this week.

The weather here (both pre and post fire) has been a real mixed bag. Early mornings and evenings are pretty cool- in the 50's and 60's. But daytime highs have been in the 80's and even in the low 90's in parts of the county. That is crazy for October! Bcause it's late October, I want to dress Sophia like it's FALL-



But this weekend was warm and sunny, so Sophia was sporting a cuuute dress-




The Husband and I think that Sophia will be getting some more teeth soon. I don't see anything in her mouth yet, but she's gnawing and drooling like crazy lately, and she's been pretty cranky lately. Normally, Sophia's pretty easy going and generally in a good mood. These past few days, well, The Husband and I call it "woman on the edge." One minute she's fine, the next she's crying. Hopefully, this tooth will come SOON and we can have our baby back.

So, with all this crankiness, Sophia refused to take a nap yesterday afternoon. So, since it was sunny and clear out, we decided to get her dressed up in her halloween costume and take some pictures outside. All I have to say is - ADORABLE!!!

Update on the Fires

In case anyone checks the blog to find out what's going on with us, the house, and the fires:

We're ok. The fires are pretty close (about 6-10 miles away) but we haven't been evacuated yet. Basically, we're on lockdown- the mayor requests all people who have not been evacuated stay in their homes, off the roads and off cell phones. It's going to be 90 degrees today- and we dont' have air conditioning! UGH.

We promise to keep everyone informed w/ whats going on.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Costumes

I purchased Sophia a halloween costume. But when it arrived, it turned out to be Waaaaaay too big. So I'm going to save it for next year. It should fit then. But even though she was swimming in it, it's still adorable.

So the Husband went to Disneyland on Friday with everyone from work as a team building exercise. (Yeah, MY company wants to build the team, the bosses treat us to lunch. HIS company takes everyone to Disneyland). While there, he visited the Princess Store and picked up a Tinkerbell costume for Sophia. Seriously, it is too cute for words. (and, you can tell from the look on her face that she just thinks its the best costume ever!!)

Let's discuss: You know you're from Chicago when....You put your baby's halloween costumes on over long sleeve tee shirts, because, as we all know, you have to wear clothes under your costume or else you may freeze to death and/or catch a cold. I am still not accustom to the fact I can wear tank tops and flip flops in late October. It's just not right.

I also asked the Husband to pick up some Mickey Mouse ears for Sophia. Now, I meant the beanie thing with the ears on it and her name embroidered on it. Granted, I did not say "Get some Mickey Mouse ears, the beanie kind with her name embroidered on it." I know, I know, I should be specific. But I thought he would know what I was talking about. I was wrong. The Husband came home with these:

That is not a beanie with her name on it.



Yesterday, we met Mike and his family at a pumpkin patch. This allowed us to take some pretty cute pictures. I'm not sure how much Sophia liked it, as she was pretty tired, and was refusing to nap. I wanted to take a picture of her sitting in a vat o pumpkins. But she wasn't having it.

A photo tribute to 7 months