Week 40: Happy 9 mo & Thanksgiving!

Great Grandma Penny stayed with us through Tues. and we had fun playing at home, shopping at Wal-mart and recuperating from the ear infection.

Sophia is standing with her walking toy (hand me down from Paul, thanks!) and taking very very small steps, but has not quite learned to walk around with it.

She is getting better at cruisin from the couch to the table and then on to me.

Happy 9 month birthday Sophia! What a happy girl she is after getting over her sickness.
At 9 months, Sophia is:

*Eating finger foods on her own and chewing- peas, corn, carrots, toast, blueberries, pasta shells, chunks of cooked sweet potatoes, apple, pear (in addition to her 3 jars of stage 2 foods and cereal)

*Standing alone holding on to something

*Pulling up in her crib

*Walking with assistance

*Cruisin on furniture a little bit
*Crawling army style when she feels like it (not often)

*Saying Uh Oh when she drops something (or just because)

*Saying Da-Da when Daddy is present (or just because)
*Sleeping through the night 12 hrs. (most of the time)

*Finally on a regular schedule with 4 feedings and 2 semi predictable naps

*Always happy to see her Daddy when he enters the room

*Raising her hands over her head "so big"

*So much fun that I look forward to every day we spend together

Sophia is picking up her veggies like a pro this week!

My friend from high school (Christina) was in town from Seattle and came up to the burbs for a quick visit on Tuesday before we went to Nonnie's wake. Chris is getting married in Jan in Mexico. Unfortunately, we cannot go but we wish her all the best!

Back from the funeral on Wed, we had a little bit of playtime before bed.

Sophia has been talking it up this week saying Da-da, uh oh and a lot of other fun babble.

Pop pop, Dorothy and Jonathan stopped by for a visit on their way back home. I remember when Jonathan used to be the baby, and now he is an uncle!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sophia must have been so excited for her first Thanksgiving that she woke up at 4am. Nick decided to start the turkey and his tradition of putting up the tree by the fire. This was her first fire out of the womb and she was mesmerized.

The new lights are on..We got multicolored lights this year instead of white. She liked the tree so much better than pumpkins for Halloween.

The tree is ready and so is the boo for her Thanksgiving party! It was so much fun to watch the boo play by the tree and we are looking forward to a whole new experience of Christmas.

"So Big" ..or does it mean "I have had enough, get away from me with that spoon. "

Chuck was over and brought his yummy pumpkin pie and airplane rides for Sophia.

We took some family pics by the tree, while relaxing and playing.

Sophie had a craft project and with some help made a turkey out of her hand print. She also opened her first Christmas gift, an ornament from her Daddy. We have a lot to be thankful for this thanksgiving. I did a poor job of saying grace at dinner but this is what I meant to say "thank you for all the blessings ... new and old..we have had in our lifetime... for the joy of watching our little girl grow up and for those who have passed who have touched our hearts forever."

Ahh, the joy of leftovers. Sweet potato chunks are yummy, but she was a little skeptical of the bits of turkey.

For once, we did not get up at 5am and go shopping on black Friday. Instead we slept in all the way to 6:30am and played all day.

Becki, Casey and Chance came over for a visit with Grandma before she has to head home on Saturday. They brought us Colony pizza which we quickly ate up.

Sophia hung her new ornament from her Great Grandma. I wonder if Nick realizes that he is sticking out his tongue just like Sophia does (see last picture on this page, how funny).

Strips of toast? That is what her doctor suggested.. and she loves it! Just spread some mashed banana, pear or apple as "jam."

Uh oh! I found her standing in the crib for the first time on Saturday. I should probably take the bumpers off now..

We went to visit Jenny, Gabe and Claire on Saturday - thanks for lunch and the fun bath time book! The guys thought I was crazy for waiting in the car while Sophia finished her nap, but Jenny got it. If she doesn't sleep she will be a cranky mess.

We also went over to John, Johanna and Paul's house to give Paul his birthday present and then we went to Trinity one of our favorite restaurants. Sophia just barely made it through dinner, but she did great considering it was a long day for her.
Sophia's first snow? It doesn't look like much, but it was enough to keep us inside for the day - not enough to play in but just enough to cause poor driving conditions. We lost heat Sunday night and thought we would just have a cozy fire and everyone could sleep in the living room.. well Sophia did not like that idea. She cried for hours and we could not do a thing to get her to sleep. Before we take another vacation we better have her practice sleeping in the pack n play or it will not be fun for anyone...