The 18th.

Last night we ventured out to Sare’s house for dinner. We haven’t seen her in a while and I thought it was time to reconnect. Sofie did pretty good while we were there. When she started getting tired we should have packed up and left, but I wanted to hang out some more. I used my secret weapon (I.E. nursing) on Sofie so that bought us more time. It was fun catching up and eating the yummy lasagna Sare made.

Sofie made me pay for that fun later though. We got home kind of late. Once we got in bed, miss wiggle worm would not stop moving her feet and kicking off the blanket. She was so tired, but she would not give in. For well over an hour she’d lift her legs up and move her legs like she was riding a bike and pull the covers down. When she wasn’t doing that she would push off my leg with her chilly baby feet. I couldn’t keep her warm because she kept kicking the blankets off. I only allow the blankets to go up to her belly so she didn’t have to move much to get them totally off, but still. I tried to remind her of how much she likes sleep and it was WAY past her bedtime and she needed to go to sleep, but baby girl had none of it. Finally she started to wind down so I stuck the sound machine right by her ear (again) and she drifted in and out of dreamland. I started to fall asleep too, but I scared myself awake. I had been holding the sound machine over her head and I felt it slip. I didn’t want to hit my almost sleeping baby so I chose to put it down even though I thought she might fully wake up again. Luckily all she did was look up at me for a few seconds before closing her eyes for the night. Our girl sure does love noise.

New tricks.

Uh-oh! Sofie just started rolling over from her back to tummy last night. She's getting more mobile by the day. Before we know it, she'll be crawling all over the place! Exciting and scary. We have baby-proofed nothing.

Sunday, 1/15/12

We slept in. We went to church. We prayed. We went to my parent’s house for a few hours. We came home. I put our girl down for a nap. We got some chores done. We had some wine. We cuddled up. We talked. We watched some TV. We watched our girl on the monitor. We had some dinner. We had a fire going in the fireplace. I got our girl up from her nap. I fed our girl. We laughed when she laughed. We laughed when she grunted. We laughed when she smiled. I gave our girl a bath. He walked the dogs. We got in our comfys. I fed our girl. We prayed. We went to bed one happy family. All in all it was a normal day for us. I’ve never been more fulfilled, happy and in love.

My heart still goes out to the Roth and Marquis families. I wish no one had to feel the pain of losing their child(ren). Their stories have given me so much perspective and have made normal (some would say boring) days like the one described above seem wonderful, amazing and a gift not to be taken for granted.  

...

Tripp went to Heaven on Saturday. My heart hurts for his momma. http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com/

Friday the 13th.

Steve said that it’s casual Friday. That’s why he kept Sofie in her PJs. He’s so silly.

Today marks the last day of my first full week back at work. I gotta say; it wasn’t as long and bad as I thought it would be. I know, without a doubt, that it was easier on me because I spent every lunch with my family. I don’t think I could have made it without them. It makes me so happy and relieved that Steve gets to watch Sofie while I’m at work. I know he loves her just as much as I do so I know she won’t be neglected.

It has been a sad week. Nothing happened to me or our family, but I was sad none the less. It looks like a precious EB baby is heading to Heaven soon. I’ve been reading about Tripp for a couple years now. His momma keeps a blog and said that Trip is going down hill fast. Also, a woman on the message board I visit lost her 3 ½ month old son to SIDS this week. Her beautiful Zackary was born the day after Sofie. This particular woman was very active on the board so I recognized her name immediately. I’m sad for their family. Honestly, her story could be anyone’s story. It’s scary, but it also makes me appreciate every moment I have with my little Sofie. Tripp’s story makes me appreciate having a healthy baby. If you’re the praying kind, please pray for these women and their family. You and I may not know them, but God does.

I hope to never take my family for granted. I never want to be so caught up in daily, ordinary life that I don’t take the time to let my family know how much I love and appreciate them. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for the ones that I hold dear to me. Extended family and a couple friends included.

16 weeks old!

Today at lunch our little Sofie let out a real belly baby laugh for the first time. Just for a second, but it was still a heartier laugh then we had gotten outta her before. Steve and I were so happy she did it while we were all together. What was I doing to make her laugh? Lifting her up over my head (only a little bit since we were sitting in Steve’s truck) setting her down in my lap real quick and bringing her back up for a kiss. I did it a few more times and she just kept belly laughing for a second. I can’t wait for the day that we find something that makes her belly laugh for a long time.

Tuesday, January 10th:

The story from dad is that days are going pretty well for him and Sofie. It makes my heart happy to see the love they have for each other. It’s only the 5^th day back to work for me, but I know things could still be rough. She had skipped her afternoon nap yesterday, instead waiting for me to get home. After a meal and some non-stop snuggles she relaxed and slept for a while in my arms.   

After we got to bed later that night, Sofia and I had a great conversation. When we went to bed she fell asleep pretty quickly, but once Steve came in she woke right up. I tried to get her to go to sleep again, but she wanted to talk to me first. I was all for it since I still missed her because of being fussy and/or sleeping most of the time I had with her after work. With her little head resting on the crook of my arm and her hands wrapped tightly around my fingers she told me the best baby story ever. It had grunts, squeals and soft cooing. I soaked every bit of it in. Her little face is always so expressive when she talks so it makes for an interesting conversation. I let her say what she wanted to say then she let me successfully coax her into dreamland for the night. Oh, how I love my baby girl.

3+ months!

Henry sharing his candy with his baby cousin.

Nanny: That sure is a lot of candy for a baby.

Henry: That’s ok. It’s soft.

<3

How did 3 months pass already? Sofie is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and toys each day. She’s talking so much more these days too. It’s absolutely adorable. Even when she clenches her fists, widens her eyes, furrows her brows and grunts like she’s frustrated and mad. I’m sure that won’t be as cute when she’s older, but for now it makes Steve and I crack up.

Sofie loves to stand up and show off how strong her legs are. We think she might just skip right over that whole crawling thing. We’ll see about that soon enough. She also is gripping and hanging on to so many of her toys lately. It makes for great hand holding time, or finger holding time in Sofie’s case.

Sofie has had some new tricks up her sleeve that I wanted to get down on “paper”. On my birthday she started holding on to her left foot for the first time. This was when she started holding on to her toys more too. Then on the 31^st she giggled for the first time in response to me jiggling her arms and making her shake a little before kissing her face. Right after that Steve gave her a big smile and she giggled at him too while she buried her face in my chest. It was like a little game between them. Made my heart swoon! Next came a biggie: On Jan 2^nd, our little Sofie rolled from her front to her back!! She did it once, no problem. I got my camera and we set her up to do it again. She fussed and cried through the whole thing, but she did it again for the camera! Even grandma and grandpa got to see her roll over for the first time. It was pretty amazing.

Around the same time as all these firsts Sofie started taking a pacifier pretty regularly. It’s opened up a whole new avenue for her comfort. She still chews her hands, my hands, Steve’s hands, blankets and pretty much anything that feels like a blanket, but she keeps the pacifier in her mouth the longest and can actually fall asleep with it like a real baby. J

The start of a new normal.

First day back to work….not awesome. I tried to really enjoy my time with her yesterday instead of being all down in the dumps. I think I did a good job until bedtime. I cried all last night and a lot more this morning. Leaving Sofie was hard to do. I fed her, burped her, put the pacifier in her mouth, rocked her till she got her sleepy eyes on, kissed her cheek and put her in her swing. She totally woke up and gave me a few giant smiles. Man, that was hard to walk away from. I know she’ll love being with her dad all day, but I feel like I’ll be missing so much. I can’t wait to see her at lunch today. That is all for now. Gotta go so I can stop crying.