Christmas Pageant

The school that our neices go to always puts on a great Christmas pageant and as many family members that can attend do. This year it was on December 18th. The following picture and videos are of Sonia walking/running around in the big room where we all ate refreshments after the pageant.

Overalls

My very cute, little baby is quickly becoming a very cute, little girl. These pictures were taken on December 5th.

I'm Gonna Getcha!

Sonia's favorite new game is the one where you tell the child, "I'm gonna getcha!" and they take off running and you eventually, well, get them. She's not real good at it yet, though. In mid-run, she often looks back to see your proximity to her and falls over from the weight of her head turning. It's pretty cute. She doesn't seem to care much though, since she always gets right back up and wants you to chase her some more.

She's getting tooth #4 on top now (the two on the bottom are still there). She's been so good with getting her teeth in. I think this last one has made her a bit more crabby than any of the others, but still, it's nothing like what I've seen with other kids. Her gums aren't even red one bit. I can't believe it.

She almost always sleeps through the night now and still takes four hours worth of naps each day, which is nice for me. She lights up when daddy comes home or tosses her around on the bed, or does pretty much anything with her. She loves the "Counting Sheep" CD from Colin Raye that Don's sister gave us.

And she loves it when I read to her. We have three main books, "Oh, My, Oh, My, Oh! Dinasaurs!" and "Barnyard Dance" and "Pajama Time!" all by a lady author. I don't want to go into her room to get the author's name because I don't want to risk waking her. She doesn't always let me have time to myself in the morning before she gets up, so this morning is nice. My cousin gave us the set of three books and they've turned out to be one of the most utilized items. "Pajama Time!" is the one I read to her every night before we put her to bed. I just say to her the first couple lines of the book and she knows its about time for bed. Bedtime is not a struggle - I read the book, say goodnight, hand her to Daddy, he says goodnight while I put on the (at the moment) Charlotte Church CD and then we leave the room. She cries for 3 minutes or so about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, not a peep. You can't ask for much better than that. We are so lucky to get to be her parents.

Well, she's officially walking. From the 16th to now, she's gotten better and better. These pictures and this video were taken on November 22nd.

For the Record

Sonia now has the two teeth on the bottom that came in in late August, and now, two more that appeared around about November 1st. The latest two are on the top, but not the top middle two, rather the right middle one, and the tooth next to that on the right.

She says "Kitty" lots, but she has two ways of saying it. The first, is the "K" sound followed by a rolling of the tongue like you'd do to make an "R" sound in Spanish. It's hilarious. The second way that she says "Kitty" is to scream at the top of her lungs, that wonderful baby girl scream of delight. That means "Kitty" too. She's taken to screaming mostly in the last week. She's discovering how loud she can scream and how high. Don and I aren't annoyed yet as we still find it funny. I'm sure that won't last forever.

As of the last two days, she's taking as many as five or six steps in a row before deciding to sit down. Yesterday, she actually turned after a few steps and began walking in another direction for a few more before sittting down. Everyone tells me my work is just about to increase lots. Somehow I believe them.

Sonia is still on a very regular nap schedule, which is nice. She sleeps for 2-2.5 hours each morning, beginning around 10am. Then, she sleeps for 1-1.5 hours in the afternoon, beginning around 4pm. I think God invented naps just as much for mothers as for babies.

She eats just about anything now. Sometime she eats baby food, but mostly it's just whatever Don and I are eating for supper either mashed or cut up. She does well with Cheerios and diced apples (the usual breakfast) and really loves cookies, although I don't give them to her often. Bread and crackers are also favorite foods.

As of the last doctor's appointment about a month ago, she weighed 18 pounds and was 26 inches long. This puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Tall and skinny like her father. It fits that her body should take after him since her facial features all do too. Daddy loves having a little girl that looks so much like him. She is wearing mostly clothing for 6 mo. old babies. Some 9 mo. old stuff, but mostly still in the 6 mo. range.

Mom's Helper

Yes, we can get into cupboards now. These pics were taken on November 1oth.

Seeing Mom's Family and Friends

Sonia and I traveled to see my family and my best friend from high school from October 31-November 5. Everyone was so great to us. It was so nice and comfortable to be around people who I love so much. Sonia ate up all of the attention from the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, greatgrandparents and friends. What a rough life...wouldn't it be nice to be 10 months old again?

My best Mindy and her new little baby, Kaia with Sonia and I at a restaurant. Two hour breakfasts are the best!

Mindy's daughter, Ayla, with Sonia out in Mindy's front yard. This is my favorite picture of the trip. Sonia with my Dad. What a great picture of the two of them. You can tell they were having fun together.

And here's all the grandparents and great-grandparents with all of my mom and dad's grandkids...

And Sonia with her newest cousin, Marc.

And the great-grandparents with Sonia. They are so wonderful. Young at heart and lots of fun to be with. I was so happy to see them this trip as I hadn't seen them since their 60th anniversary celebration just over 3 years ago.

And the prized four-generation picture that my mom has been talking about wanting ever since Sonia was born. Here you go, mom... I even rescheduled my trip to make this one happen. It was well worth it. :-)

I Voted Early

While Don was out on the East Coast for work, I took Sonia to my local grocery store where they had voting booths for early voters. Sonia was such a good sport that the attendants even gave HER an "I Voted Early" sticker to wear. Lucky kid...and I had to WORK for mine...

Apple Hill

We had a wonderful time at Apple Hill this past weekend. The apple orchards and the beautiful Northern California landscape were absolutely worth the 3-hour drive. Grandpa accompanied Don, Sonia and I and we stayed with Don's great aunt and uncle who were the most wonderful hostess and host for our much needed weekend vacation out of town.

Sonia is seen below in a pumkin patch at one of the orchards. It was difficult to get her to look up at us for a picture as the pumkins and the grasses were WAY more interesting than ol' mom and dad.

The last picture is of me in the same pumpkin patch just over a year ago with the pumkin we now call "Sonia" still in my belly. Wow...one year can sure make a big change. :-)

Dancing Baby

Last night, with Daddy at Aunt Kerry's house, Sonia took her first steps...and they were...you guessed it....towards the cat. With her first word "Kitty" and now this, sometimes I wonder if I should just put a little more cat food out in the morning and not worry about mixing bottles anymore... The cats seem to be her greatest joy other than being turned upside down by Daddy or tickled by Mommy. I guess we rate somewhere decent on her approval meter. Maybe not as high as cats, but I'll keep working on it.

She does walk behind her little, toy walker that you see in the photos/video below, often times falling over to the side or backwards. She'll learn. I don't see any permanent brain damage from the falls, so I think we are still doing ok.

She got into one of my cupboards for the first time today. There were a bunch of magazines in there and my good crystal (a vase, some candle holders and a decantor). Needless to say, the crystal has been put up in a higher cabinent and, well, I still think it's funny watching her rip up magazines, so I let her "have at it" on that.

In one of the videos below, you'll notice the camera is rather unsteady in a couple, short spots. That's just me shaking with laughter on the other end of the camera. Enjoy!

On Mom and Dad's Bed

My baby is growing up day by day it seems. Her favorite thing to do now is to grab both of your hands and take off walking...whether you were ready to or not. She continues to chase the cats, cruise around the furniture, dig in my potted plants whenever she gets the chance, and eat anything she can get her hands on (yes, including potting soil and all the "what's THAT?" stuff she somehow finds on the floor). It must be doing well for her, because she is still happy. She goes to bed at 9pm and this is my hour of adult time before bed. Love it, love it..... Thanks for visiting the blog. Take care.

First Cold

And again, for the record, she now has her first cold. She got sick on September 13th and I am still wiping her nose today. She HATES that little nose suction thingy. She caught the cold from the babysitter's daughter and it has gone through their whole family as well as ours. Don called in sick to work the last two days. I'm just lucky I can work from home becuase I wasn't getting out of my pajamas for anyone.

Two Teeth

For the record, Sonia got her first tooth on August 27th and her second a couple days later. They are the two bottom middle teeth.

Crawling

Although she's been crawling for a while, I haven't documented it this good thus far in a format that I can easily put online (i.e., shot it with my digital camera instead of with a video camera). Anyway, notice the cute smile at the end. Enjoy!

Look, I'm Standing!

This video is quite representative of the last three weeks at our house. Notice the cute smile at the beginning and at the end of her doing her most favorite activity.

The Music Baby

With mommy in a band and daddy taking drum lessons, our house is often filled with the sounds of music rehearsal. Mommy makes a point to sing to Sonia every day (right now we are working on the ABC song and the "Doe a Deer" song from the Sound of Music with "I've Been Working on the Railroad" thrown in there for variety every few days).

Sonia is "cruising" around the furniture now and is best friends with anyone who will hold on to her hands so she can try her hand at walking. She babbles and laughs often, likes to have her feet and belly tickled, and enjoys chasing the cats around the house. Her idea of crawling is to travel with hands and one knee and one foot. At times she tries to walk on her hands and on both feet, but quickly falls over as her hands cannot keep up to the back end. Everything goes in the mouth now, which has been quite a chore for mommy in putting things up and out of baby's reach. Recently, I fell while running to take something out of her mouth and hurt my arm and got nine stitches in my little toe. Ouch. At least she was ok. Maybe the kiss she gave me in the doctor's office was to say "Thank you."

Summertime Outside

I the last weeks Sonia has joined her Mom and Dad in numerous outdoor events. From camping and four-wheel driving in the mountains, to swimming in pools and lakes, she has become quite the outdoors baby.

The Blue Key

We had good times with family in Florida. Sonia loves to get in the water and swim. We also bought her her first piano, complete with four keys - a blue one, a green one, a yellow one and an orange one. She'll graduate to black and white ones someday.

First Plane Ride

Here are some of the best photos of the latter part of June. Sonia now sits up very well, eats cereal and grabs and holds on to anything within reach. At the end of this month, we flew to Florida (her first plane ride) and Sonia had a chance to meet her new, first cousin, Mark.