Fall Pictures

So, I think we are under-using our mobile me gallery. We have had a link to it on this blog since Sophie was born, but I don't think I update it and I doubt anyone clicks on it. My friend, Alanna, sends a link to a new album on her mobile me weekly, and it is perfect. Every week I can go to her gallery and click through her new pictures. So, that's what I am going to attempt to do. This also means that I don't have to sort through all the pictures to find the best ones to post on here, which is obviously good for me. :)

This first album does have like 400 pictures. I promise that I will do this more often so that the next album only has a few!

Becky...does this work in Africa?

http://gallery.me.com/hoffmape/100034

Nap Nanny

Where was this when we needed it?! If you read the description, it says that it was created to mimic the shape of a carseat. Sophie would have loved it! And, she could have started sleeping in her crib a lot sooner...

I guess we will just keep it in mind for the next baby!

http://www.babyearth.com/nap-nanny-nap-nanny.html

Little Angel

She's so pretty when she's sleeping.

Sophie at the Outlet Mall

This is Sophie's shopping face....

And a few non-birthday pictures...

I couldn't resist posting these!

Birthday Pictures!

So, most of the actual birthday pictures (cake, hats, etc.) are on Nancy's camera. I will post those soon! But, in the meantime, here are some we took with our camera. Her birthday was PERFECT!

Keeping with the Hoffman tradition, Sophie started her day with presents in bed. One of these presents was her new piano!


We had more presents waiting for her downstairs that she opened later that day.


I taught her a new trick. When I ask her how old she is, she does this:


Later that day, we found out who had sent the mystery monkey...it was Uncle Drew!


And, here is the birthday girl...all dressed up for her birthday party.


I will post pictures from her party soon!

It's almost birthday time!

I just wanted to write a quick update before Sophie's birthday. I just feel like, as usual, there is just so much to write about and I can't keep up with it! She seriously amazes me. I feel like in the last couple of months she has just been pulling out new tricks left and right. It feels like every single day she knows something new!

Here are some of the highlights:
1. During "patty cake", she "rolls" it. :)
2. She knows animal noises! I ask, "what does a cow say"...she says, "mmmmm." I ask, "what does a sheep say"...she says, "baabaabaa." I ask, "what does a dog say"...she says, "rururururu." I ask, "what does a horse say"...she says, "nnnnnn" (with the right intonation). She also makes her squinchy face when I ask what the snake says. I guess that's her attempt at making the "s" sound.
3. She knows all of her flashcards. I can put all of them out randomly, and she can find every, single one.
4. She likes opening and closing things, taking things in and out, and getting in and out of things. A couple of her favorite things to get into and out of are the dog bed (with Abe in it) and laundry baskets.
5. She knows tons of body parts, and she points to them on others AND on her own body. She knows hair, eyes, nose, teeth, tongue, ears, hands, belly button, feet, and toes.
6. She understands SO many words, and she says quite a few. She says, "mama, dada, num num, hat, hot, off, hi, bye, night night, dog, bath, wa wa (water)"..........
7. She has been consistently doing the sign language for "all done." It's very helpful!
8. She is terrified of walking. She loves walking while pushing her walker or while holding our hands, but when we try to get her to walk to us alone, she falls on the floor and sobs. She has done it a few more times, but she definitely doesn't initiate it anymore.
9. She gives tons of hugs and kisses, she blows kisses, she gives high fives, she claps, she dances, she bounces, she shakes things, etc.
10. She has developed a grunt. She points at things EVERYWHERE, and grunts.

Oh my gosh. I could go on and on! I can't even think of everything...

Have I mentioned that she sings on command? I must have! Well, if not, she sings on command. It is HILARIOUS. And she waves while saying "hi" and "bye bye".

I will definitely post pictures after her birthday! I can't wait! I haven't been this excited about anyone's birthday...including my own...for decades!

Who needs pants?

Baby Steps

Last night, Pete was watching Sophie, and he asked me if Sophie always walked like "this" for me. I was like, what? So, I came in the room, and he proceeded to show me that she had been standing up holding the couch and then propelling herself forward into Pete's arms...and taking a few steps by herself in the process.

Now, I'm sure this doesn't really count as her real "first steps", but it's a step in that direction nonetheless. :)

Just like Daddy.

Superman t-shirt, remote in one hand, Playstation controller in the other.

I had to do it...

"Ga Guh"

Two big things happened this past Monday.

1. Sophie stood up on her own...like, without holding onto anything. She has done it for like one second a million times before, but this was for such a long time. I don't even think she knew she was doing it, and she hasn't done it since.

2. She may have said her first real word. Well, I guess I don't really know what determines what a baby's first word is...I mean, she has pointed at me and said, "Mama", she has pointed at Pete and said, "Dada", and a few other things like that, but she also goes around saying, "Mamamamama" all day long and pointing at other things. Anyway, this seemed different. She kept pointing at the dogs and saying, "Ga Guh." AKA, "dog". She even pointed at a dog in a book today and said it.

Either way, I am guessing this means that both talking and walking are just around the corner! How exciting!

Squinchy/Squishy Face

Pete blames this face on Sam.

Baby Legs

I love Baby Legs. Please observe her knees when I forget to put them on.

Curly-Haired Baby

Sophie, like her father as a baby, has curly-hair tendencies. So, since it is about a million degrees out and really humid, her hair tends to do this. Do you see those little ringlets?

Ha ha!

Why so sad?

She isn't really sad. As usual, she is the happiest baby in the world. Also,

1. Her two front teeth popped through.
2. She has started a cute little screaming thing. She screams, we scream, she screams, we scream. The higher the better.

Her First Trip to the Zoo

9-Month Pictures

I had to skip over a couple months of pictures. There are just too many. So, here are a couple from the past few weeks.

I am a bad blogger. We have tons of new pictures that I need to post, but they will have to wait. Things have been crazy around here. It has been a long, emotional summer, and I have fallen behind on everything...including this blog.

Sophie, on a positive note, is doing great! I absolutely love this age. She is so much fun, and she really is her own little person. Here are some updates:

1. She is a great eater. Her favorite thing is cheese...in any form. Cottage cheese, shredded cheese, cheesy pasta, melted cheese, etc. She really is a true Wisconsinite. :) She doesn't really like baby food anymore. She only wants to eat things if she can pick them up.

2. She is still pretty big for her age. At her 9-month appointment, she was a little over 20 pounds (78th percentile) and 28 inches long (82nd percentile). Her head is still smallish (24th percentile), but I really am over worrying about that.

3. She is always happy. She smiles and laughs all day long. She claps, gives high fives, lifts her arms for "so big", crawls around, walks holding our hands, crawls up stairs, climbs up stairs holding our hands, pulls herself up, and so much more.

4. It seems like she has a new sound every week or so. For that week, she says that sound over and over. She says "mamama", "nananan", "bababab", "gagagaga", "dadadada". My personal favorite is when she "blows bubbles"...saying "bbbbb".

5. She seems to know a lot of words. She USUALLY looks at Pete when I ask where Daddy is, Pete is convinced she says "mamama" when she wants me, she looks at the dogs when I ask where the doggies are, she says "numnumnum" when she wants more food, she can SOMETIMES point to certain things in books or on my face when asked, etc.

6. She loves the water. We took her in the lake at Pete's cabin, and I have been bringing her to the pool as often as I can. She LOVES it!

7. She has been consistently napping for a long, long time. She is down (or up) to two naps. One mid-morning, and one in the late afternoon. She also still goes to bed at 8:00 PM and gets up around 8:00 AM. Sometimes she wakes up once or twice, but she usually goes back to sleep quickly.

And so much more. She is just perfect, and we are so lucky. I will post pictures soon!

Mom...doesn't this look like my baby pictures?

Piggy Tails

Two little teeth...and another cute picture...

I'm pretty sure this is her proud face.

Here she is after her bath. If she ever goes into her crib during the day, this what she immediately does. We REALLY need to lower the mattress.

She liked them... :(

Just kidding. I know it's a good thing that she liked the peas. I will just have to get used to their smell. And their texture. And their color.

Pete Owes Me

We have SO MANY cute pictures of Pete and Sophie, thanks to me.

Food

Here is a list of what Sophie has tried so far...and what she thought.

*Rice cereal...she was interested at first, then she hated it, and now she likes it.
*Carrots...she thought they were fine. At that point, she didn't really know what to do with solid food.
*Oatmeal with bananas...she LOVED it.
*Pears...she thought they were fine.
*Sweet potatoes...she hated them, then she loved them, and then she hated them again.
*Apples...she LOVED them. Especially warmed up. Actually, ONLY if warmed up.
*Green beans...at first, she acted like they were the grossest thing ever. But, she ended up LOVING them!

I KNOW that I need to give her peas. Unfortunately, even thinking of them makes me want to gag.

Updates

Caitlin had her baby! Finley Scott Johnson was born late on Saturday night. Hooray!

I feel like Sophie has had a big couple of weeks. In addition to crawling:
1. She has her first tooth!
2. She repeats us when we say, "Ah bbblll". She basically talks all day long...alternating between, "Ah bbblll", "Ah goo", and "Mmmm".
3. When we put her down, she instantly crawls/army crawls to whatever is closest to her and climbs up. Including when she is in her crib. We NEED to lower the mattress because every time I put her in there, I find her standing there with a huge grin on her face.
4. Even though now she can sleep alone in her crib, I am nervous to leave her there, because she FACE PLANTS into the mattress. She purposely flips over and literally smushes her face into the mattress. Oh boy. We are going to try to get a picture of it.
5. She still loves to look at herself. When she plays with her mirror, she looks at herself and starts licking the mirror.
6. She has really improved her fine motor skills. :) She can dial the dial on her toy with one finger, she can take her paci out and put it back in, she turns pages, she knows right where to touch on her touch and feel books, she bangs her drum, she pushes buttons, etc.
7. She has a facebook page. I'm sure you can guess who set that up.

She did it!

Yesterday, one day before she turned seven months old, Sophie crawled. REALLY crawled. Pete saw it first, and she has done it a bunch of times since then.

Sophie's Future Husband

Alison had her baby! Carter John Simison, AKA Sophie's future husband, was born on May 13, 2009! This day was also extra important because it was Sam's first birthday! And, last Friday, my friend Tatiana had a baby girl...Harper Olivia! AND Pete's cousin Caitlin is going to be in labor ANY SECOND!

On top of that, my sister, Linda, is having a baby in August, Pete's other cousin, Paige, is having a baby in September, my other best friend from high school, Sarah, is having a baby in November, AND Alison's sister, Alanna, is having TWINS that are due the same day as Sarah!

If you lost count, that is EIGHT new babies. Harper, Carter, Caitlin's, Linda's, Paige's, Sarah's, and Alanna's (2).

Sleeping

Although Sophie has been sleeping through the night for a long, long time, I still haven't figured out her nap schedule. She used to sleep every single day from 1:00 until 4:00, but those days are long gone. Now, it seems like she wants to take two or three little naps throughout the day, but the timing isn't consistent yet. And, it is getting harder and harder to get her to go to sleep...she just wants to play!

Books!

Sophie has moved on from her feet and our phones. Well, she actually still is obsessed with our phones, but she has moved on from always playing with her feet. Now, her favorite toys are her books! Even though she does enjoy eating them from time to time, she actually does enjoy reading them and turning the pages as well. She also enjoys crawling over to bookshelves, pulling books off shelves, and making a scene in the "quiet" section of the library...at least that's what happened when we walked there today. :)

Too much sunshine...

We accidently gave Sophie her first sunburn. It wasn't too bad, but her cheeks, as you can see, got a little bit pink. The good news is that I got baby sunscreen and from now on she will be safe.

New Tricks

Sophie has a couple of new tricks. The first one is not really new...she has just been pushing herself up on all fours and rocking a lot. I think crawling - real crawling - is right around the corner. Her other new trick really is new...she has been pulling herself up onto her knees AND onto her feet. When we put her on the ground, she goes right for her toy bin, pulls herself up, and looks inside. She LOVES it.

Dear Sam

Dear Sam,

Here is a list of things I learned from you while I was in Pennsylvania.

1. Sitting still while having my diaper changed is boring.
2. Rolling around while having my diaper changed is fun.
3. Getting kisses from Mommy is boring.
4. Getting kisses from boys is fun...but ONLY if they are from my boy COUSINS.
5. Saying "Ah Goo" is boring.
6. Saying "Bbbbb" is fun.
7. Crawling forward towards my toys is boring.
8. Crawling around the room chasing an empty water bottle is fun.
9. Delicately pushing buttons on toys is boring.
10. Banging on tables is fun.

Love,
Sophie

Rice Cereal!

We have been waiting patiently for Sophie to be 6 months old so that we could feed her rice cereal. Since she is 6 months old tomorrow, tonight was the big night! Needless to say, we aren't quite sure how much she really ate and how much she just spit out, but it was a lot of fun to watch her anyway. And, as you can see, even though she didn't seem to love it, she didn't hate it enough to not finish the bowl! We will see how she feels about veggies next week!