Christmas 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We had a great, but quiet, Christmas this year. We woke up and had yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast before opening presents. We helped Sophie open her presents, and she did surprisingly well. We would pull out a little strip of paper for her to hold on to, then we would move the present until the wrapping paper came off.


Sophie got a stuffed shark and wooly mammoth (in the picture, she is sitting on the elephant, but Isaac says it is a wooly mammoth). (I actually bought these stuffed animals for a Sub-for-Santa present for a little girl. I thought they were really cute. But when I brought them home and showed Isaac he told me that I couldn't give those to a little girl. He made me go buy her cuter (i.e.: more girly) animals, so Sophie got to have the shark instead. She loves chewing on his tail.


Sophie helped Mama and Daddy open their presents as well. Sophie also got a baby backpack for hiking. Daddy carried her around in it all afternoon as we made dinner. She thoroughly soaked the whole thing with drool and then fell asleep in a position where she seemed to be choking herself.


We went to a short church meeting before coming home and making cards for Peter and Jane. Every year Isaac and I write them a Christmas letter and put it in their stockings. I finally made stockings this year with the help of Isaac's mom, sister, and Isaac.


We then talked to our families on webcam and the day was over. It was a great holiday. I couldn't believe how busy it was considering we didn't even have any family to visit or other plans. We hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well.

P.S.- We also celebrated a mini-Christmas in Utah with my family where they gave Sophie her gifts. These pictures were taken at grandma and grandpa's house.

Road Trip

It is hard to believe, but Isaac is almost finished with medical school. He is half way through his 4th year here in Milwaukee. Isaac has decided to become a Pathologist. Lately he has been applying for residency programs, which require him to travel for interviews. Since I haven't been working anymore, we decided to make a trip of it and go with him.

First we drove from Milwaukee to Iowa City. Isaac interviewed while Sophie and I tried to entertain ourselves. That didn't go very well, so I don't think very highly of Iowa City.

Then we drove from Iowa City to Omaha, Nebraska. The city downtown there is really nice. I had a much more pleasant experience during Isaac's interview, so I think Nebraska is a nice place.

Then we drove from Omaha to my friend, Lucy's, new house. It was so great to see her and the family again. They have a beautiful home and seem very happy there. It was so generous of them to let us crash at their place for a while. It was also great to find out that Lucy is expecting a little baby boy. Hooray!

Then we drove all the way from Lucy's house to Salt Lake. It was a crazy long drive and there were difficult times with Sophie, but for the most part it was okay. Fortunately the weather was great the whole time and we didn't have any travel problems.

When we got to Utah we spent time with Isaac's family and my family. Isaac fly from Salt Lake to Arizona and New Mexico and it was nice having my family around to keep me company while he was gone.


This is a picture of Sophie's crazy hair when she woke up one morning.


Sophie enjoyed spending time with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. (Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures with my own camera, and I never got copies of the ones with Isaac's family.)


On the way back to Milwaukee we stopped in Denver for another interview. One of the hotels we stayed at didn't have a crib for Sophie, so I tucked her into one of the beds. I was worried she was going to fall out because she can roll, but everything worked out fine.

We spent one more night in Nebraska before the long drive back to Milwaukee. It was great to see family and let them spend more time with Sophie, but I wouldn't recommend driving again. That is way too long of a way to go in the car with a baby.

Isaac's Birthday

This post is really late because of our road trip, but here it is anyway. Isaac celebrated his 28th birthday in November. Sophie helped him open his gifts. He got a movie, shirt, and candy for our trip. We left on his birthday to drive to Iowa for a residency interview. Happy Late Birthday Isaac.

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Story

One of Isaac's favorite Christmas movies is "A Christmas Story". He laughs like crazy through that movie. I never really enjoyed that movie until after we got married, but now it is a family tradition this time of year. I never believed a family could be that dysfunctional, but...

Over the last few days I have realized that my poor little Sophie is living a life very similar to "A Christmas Story". Sophie has a sleeper that looks a lot like the bunny suit Ralphie was sent for a Christmas present.And the other day I ordered Sophie a winter coat. I thought it looked cute online, but when I put it on I couldn't help thinking of Randy yelling "I can't get up! I can't get up!"

I guess that means the only thing left to do is give Sophie an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

Does this make me a bad mom?

Sophie 4 Months

Sophie will be 4 months old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. This little girl is growing up so quickly. And I love spending every second with her. Here are some of her accomplishments this month:

• Sophie can stand up like a pro. She loves standing, although she often looks like a hula dancer with her wobbly hips.
• She recently started enjoying smashing her face against my cheek. Sometimes she turns her head to slobber on my face. Now whenever I put her on my shoulder, the way she used to like sleeping, she will just smash faces. Usually it is cute, but she presses really hard and my neck starts hurting after a while.
• On Thanksgiving Sophie learned that she can make a high-pitched squeal. Now she does it all the time. Needless to say, that was something that I was not grateful for on Thanksgiving.
  
• Over the last week Sophie has been sleeping longer through the night, but not as long in the morning. She has gone from about 9pm to 6-6:30am without feeding, but then she wants to get up and play.
• Sophie does not like eating breakfast. She is so excited to get going and play in the morning that she will not eat.
• Sophie's hair is getting too long for a Mohawk anymore. I have tried brushing it down, but she has a cowlick in the back where it always sticks up at crazy angles. My hairstyling abilities are still hopeless.
• Sophie has finally learned how to suck on her Binky. She can keep it in all by herself which makes our lives so much easier.
• Sophie has become a drool-monster. She is always trying to suck on anything and everything, but her hands and fingers are her favorite.
• She is finally starting to become interested in toys--a tiny bit. She can grab at them if they are held directly in front of her. Her favorite toy is mommy. Her second favorite toy is her burp cloth.
  
• I am so lucky to have my beautiful and funny baby girl. She is my whole world. She makes daddy laugh all the time and has us trained to meet her every demand.
  

Sophie's First Trip to the Zoo

Milwaukee had a free Zoo day yesterday, so we decided to take Sophie to the Zoo. It was a little chilly, so we bundled her up really well and took off. Unfortunately Sophie didn't care about the Zoo at all. She didn't see a single animal and slept through almost the whole thing. Oh well, Isaac and I had fun getting out for a little while.

Our Little Puppy

Sophie has recently started panting like a little puppy. Here is a short video clip of her panting and babbling. She also makes a little howling noise when she is upset, so we call her our little puppy.

Happy Halloween

This is Sophie's first Halloween, so we were excited to have fun with our little pumpkin. We started the day by carving a pumpkin with Sophie wearing her cute Halloween tutu.

Then Halloween afternoon we went Trick-or-Treating at Isaac's school. The administrative offices decorate their areas and give candy out to the kiddos. Sophie didn't like Trick-or-Treating very much, she just had a kind-of scared expression on her face the whole time. Sophie was a cute dragon and lots of people thought she was a boy. Mom and Dad got more candy than we have in years--don't worry, Sophie gets the benefits of Mommy eating lots of chocolate (chocolate milk is yummy!).

Sophie's First Laugh

Here is a video of Sophie's first laugh:

This is a video of a typical morning with Sophie. She is such a morning girl. She never cries when she wakes up, she just starts struggling to get out of her straight-jacket. Then we go in and she is all smiles. (Note: We have been forcing her to be swaddled at night, even though she hates it, because otherwise her hands freeze since she hates having them covered by blankets.

Sophie - 3 Months

Sophie turned 3 months old yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. We are so blessed to have this sweet little girl in our lives.

Last week my friend Kjirstin came over to take some pictures of Sophie. She took so many cute ones. These are some of my favorites.

Here are some fun things that Sophie has been doing:

• Sophie laughed for the first time this week. It is really funny. She looks like it takes so much effort to laugh and it comes out in one big "Ha".
• She has been sucking and licking her hands non-stop. She has been refusing the binkie more than before because she likes flesh better. She has shown no preference to a specific hand or finger and she doesn't really suck the way other babies do, so we don't know if she will be a thumb sucker.
• The other day Sophie was hanging out on my shoulder and started sucking on my neck. I didn't think much of it at first because she was enjoying herself. But then I wondered if she was giving me a hickie, so I pulled her off quickly. I was too late--she gave me a massive hickie right on the base of my neck. That's why we call her our little vampire baby.
• Sophie's hair is getting even more out-of-control and I have no idea what to do with it. Suggestions??? I think her hair is adorable, but unfortunately I am hair challenged.
  

Apple Picking and Pumpkin Patch

Isaac is on a really easy rotation this month, so we have been enjoying going on some outings together as a family. Milwaukee has free days for most of the museums in town, but we have never been able to go before because I have always had to work. So we finally had time to go to the Art Museum and The Domes (botanical gardens).

We also drove to an orchard for our annual apple picking. We had a great time, although Sophie was tired. We were able to make 14 quarts of applesauce and a yummy apple pie. I saved some more apples for caramel apples this week. Yummy.


The orchard also had a pumpkin patch, so Sophie got to pick out her own pumpkin. We will have fun carving that with Sophie when it is a little closer to Halloween.

Sophie at 2 Months

Sophie is such a darling little girl. She had her two month appointment the other day and is one big girl. She also had her shots. She was really good right after the shots, but that afternoon she was really upset and started screaming inconsolably for about an hour. Here are her stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 6 oz (90th percentile)
Height: 25 1/4 inches (100th percentile--off the charts)
Head Circumference: 40 cm (93rd percentile)

Sophie is getting to be so much fun these days. Here are some of the things she does:

• She smiles all the time. She absolutely loves attention and any time someone talks to her she will light up with a smile. She is the most happy when she wakes up in the morning.
• She sleeps very well at night. I feed her before I go to bed (usually between 9-10pm) and she can usually make it until 2-4am. Then I get up to feed her again, she eats and immediately goes back to sleep. Then she can make it until 5-7am before her next feeding. But she doesn't nap very well during the day unless someone is holding her.
• She has started cooing a lot. She has two distinct sounds--one happy and one sad. The happy one is hilarious. She looks like it takes so much effort for her to talk. Sometimes she looks surprised that she made the noises she does. But after everything she says she will smile like she is so proud of herself. Her sad noise is also hilarious. She definitely knows how to get attention. If we aren't paying her enough attention she will start whimpering like a little puppy. We just laugh at her because she has the cutest pouty face to go along with it.
• She loves having her tongue out. She has a really long tongue and sticks it out when she smiles.
• She likes her baths much better now and often starts kicking to make a really big mess.
• She loves blowing bubbles. The bubbles will dry on her cheeks at night when I am not around to wipe them off and leave milk crusties all over.
• She has her fussiest time right before bed between 7-8pm. She resists falling asleep until she is upset.
• Sophie is really strong (I think). She can hold her head up pretty well but will start bobble-heading after a while. She can also mostly support herself with her legs. She has started standing as I burp her over my shoulder.
• She absolutely hates tummy time. She knows how to get out of it by crying and mashing her face into the floor until I flip her back over. I am a total push-over when it comes to tummy time. My doctor got mad at me because she is supposed to be doing it three times a day for 20 minutes. (She does it about once a day for 30 seconds. Oops.)
• She still loves cuddling on my shoulder to fall asleep. She doesn't like Isaac's shoulder. But she squishes her face on mine and loves sucking on my neck.

We love having this little girl in our lives. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by with her. It is so fun to see Isaac interact with her as well. He is definitely enjoying her being more interactive these days. We still think she is the most beautiful baby in the world and thankfully we don't think she looks like either one of us. ;)