doctor

Sophia and her mommy loved Sophia's pediatrician right from the start. Unfortunately, when Carl started a new job with the Cleveland Clinic we had to find a new pediatrician. This was very difficult for Sophia('s mom). We finally settled on a new one after talking to several doctors and some families at church.

While the new doctor isn't quite the same....she is winning some points with mom and Sophia.

Everytime we go the nurses write sweet messages on the exam table for Sophia.

I think she likes it, what do you think?

best friends

Sophia likes to hang out with her two best friends, Sophia the giraffe and Ms. Froggie. They often snuggle in the jumperoo together.

When it gets a little crowded Sophia gives one the boot.

There's no question who Sophia's number 1 BFF is. Sorry Ms Froggie... It's rough being number 2...

a glimpse at our days

I got an iphone for my birthday and have been taking pictures like crazy on it. Having it always with me means I never miss a cute moment. The quality of the pictures aren't great but there are some cute ones nonetheless. I thought I would give everyone a little glimpse at some of the typical things we do everyday through iphone picutes!

Going for a walk in the stroller with our favorite toy.

Playing with stacking cups and working on our crawling.

Going for a stroll through the grass.

Those are just a few of the fun things we do to fill our days!

wise beyond her years

coffee table

Sophia's newest game is standing at the coffee table and banging on it. She needs help getting up there but can stand pretty well on her own.

The game is even more fun when Thor is on the table. We tricked him into staying there by leaving his favorite Parenting magazine up there. Not joking, he LOVES that magazine.

Almost as much as Sophia loves smacking the table with stacking cups. Luckily we have a dented up old coffee table so mom says, bang away baby girl, bang away.

knees

Last week Sophia started rocking back and forth on her hands and knees! She has been determined to figure out how to crawl for a couple of weeks now. She's been really good at the "downward facing dog" position but hadn't quite figured out that she needed to bend her knees.

After some hard work and practice during nap time, Sophia did it! She bent those knees!

We'll be crawling any day now!

7 months!

I feel like I just wrote Sophia's 6 month post! I swear these months are going faster and faster and despite the fact that I keep telling Sophia she doesn't need to get any bigger she keeps growing! Pretty sure I am in denial that she is 7 months because I continue to tell anyone that asks that she is 6 months. oops. I will accept it soon enough.

It is getting harder to take pictures with giraffe. We are either trying to eat the giraffe or throwing him on the floor.


We are darn adorable while doing it though.

I love her smile. I never ever tire of seeing this beautiful smile.

7 months has brought on wonderful things and challenging things. Sophia is as happy as ever. Seriously not bragging when I say she must be one of the happiest babies (okay maybe just a little). Wherever we go people comment on how happy she is and what a great smile she has

While she is a happy baby a lot of the time 7 months has brought on object permanence. A wonderful and important milestone and also a very challenging one. Sophia now knows that her super fun parents are still around when we are not in sight. Meaning, crying at bedtime has returned (insert one very sad momma). Sophia has been going down for the night without crying since 4 .5 month. This week she has cried a few nights and when I go in to make sure everything is okay she smiles and starts making silly faces. Nice try cute one, it's still bedtime. Lets hope this passes fast!

At 7 months Sophia:

• is wearing size 6-9 months clothes


• is 25" long (not sure of her weight yet)


• nurses 4 times a day and eats two solid meals a day


• does not like pureed bananas or applesauce but likes everything else we've tried (prunes, green beans, carrots, pears, peas, etc etc)


• is rocking back and forth on her knees and is so determined to crawl


• loves stacking cups, her music table, and tags


• smiles and laughs a lot


• likes to give "kisses" (more like eat your face)


• is very very loved!

saturday family fun

I started this post on Monday and am just now finishing it because our computer (yes, our new one) has not been uploading my pictures.

Anyways, last Saturday was a really fun day for the Carter family. Carl's cousin Maria and her husband Steven had an open house so as soon as Sophia got up from her afternoon nap we hit the road! Maria and Steven live about 30 minutes from us in the town where Carl's dad grew up! This summer they bought Carl's grandparents home and have been updating it and making it a home for their family! Despite how close they are Sophia hadn't met her cousin's or Great-Aunt yet. This was the perfect excuse to head down to Cuyahoga Falls and introduce Sophia to everyone!

Sophia and cousin Maria!

Sophia and Great-Aunt Betsy! Aunt Besty has been a loyal follower of the blog. We were so happy she could finally meet Sophia in person!

Sophia LOVED Steven and Maria's dog Joey. He came up to her and licked her hand she just laughed and smiled. Everywhere Joey went Sophia wanted to follow! I have a feeling as soon as she can talk she is going to be asking for a dog!

and that is Steven holding Sophia in the picture... I am terrible! I reallized when I got home that I didn't get his face in any of the pictures! We'll just have to visit again soon.

Thanks Maria and Steven for inviting us! The house looks beautiful! We can't wait to visit again soon!

toy basket

Sophia is getting better and better at getting to the things she wants. We have a basket where I keep all her toys. I take a few out at a time to help contain the mess and so there is always something "new" and interesting to pull out when boredom strikes. The other morning Sophia spotted some of her favorite things still in the basket and just had to have them.

She not only managed to get over to the basket all on hwe own but she pulled out her taggy blanket made by Emily and Sophie the giraffe!

So proud of herself!

clean baby

Remember how dirty Sophia was the other day after eating? Carrots on her onesie, under her chin..... Well, we solved that problem. We now eat in just a diaper :) No more food stains on this little lady's onesies!

wedding weekend

This weekend we headed up to Ithaca, New York for my friend, Robbie's wedding! Robbie and I met in middle school and were great friends all through high school. I am very blessed to still be close to my group of high school friends. All of them were at the wedding including our friend, Jan, who was an exchange student from Germany!

Of course we had to stop along the way to commemorate Sophia's first time in the state of New York! Look at the happy family!Oh wait, here we are. Our friend Caitlin road up with us and helped entertain Ms Sophia

Our only family photo from the trip! I need to do a better job at getting pictures of the three of us!

The wedding was held on the campus of Cornell University where Robbie and Sarah met. It was raining so Sophia checked out the campus from Caitlin's hotel room. What do you think Sophia, will you be a Cornell alum?

The wedding ceremony was a beautiful Catholic ceremony and our little Sophia was so calm and quiet through the whole thing. She loved the lights in the chapel and the music. Towards the end she was a little warm and sleepy so she laid her little head down on me and sucked on her thumb. So sweet.

We are very excited for our beautiful friend, Erin, who is getting married in less than 3 weeks!

Sophia wore one of my dresses from when I was a baby so I had to get a picture of us. Beautiful dress on an even more beautiful baby girl!

We had a little break between the wedding ceremony and the reception. A perfect time for cocktails, appetizers and an attempt at a photo shoot. I wanted a picture of Sophia and me and my 3 best friends. Joey took about 15 and in not a single one are we all looking at the camera. haha!

I totally failed at taking pictures at the reception! We were all having too much fun eating and dancing! Carl and Sophia came to the cocktail hour and the headed back to our hotel so the little lady could get some sleep. She probably would have stayed and partied all night if we let her. This lady LOVES a crowd.

Sophia slept pretty well at night with just a few brief whimpers during the night. When we got up the next morning we found this pretty path along the lake and took a walk.

After breakfast at the Ithaca Farmers Market and some final goodbyes to our dear friends we headed home! All in all it was a lovely weekend! Can't wait for Erin's wedding in 3 weeks!

Sophia holds the world record for..

Longest strand of spit! Beat those teenage boys by at least a 1/2 centimeter.

going for a ride

If the sippy cup wasn't enough to make this momma feel like her little lady is growing too fast the grocery cart sure did. Since Sophia was about 3 months she has ridden in the beco carrier whenever we go shopping. The carseat became too heavy for me to carry with her in it and she liked being up and able to look around while we shopped. This past week, on one of our almost daily Target runs (thank goodness it is 2 minutes from our house) I decided to try out sitting in the grocery cart.

Sophia did really well for the first part of the trip and seemed to really love sitting up. I think the comfy grocery cart cover helped :)

By the end we were getting pretty tired and slumping over a lot... we'll still use the beco for long grocery trips but pretty soon I imagine we'll be in the cart full time. Makes this mom sad but proud!

do I have something on my shirt?

No....
What about under my chin?

No...

Good, I thought some carrots might have got under my bib, all over my onesie, on my hands, on the chair, and maybe some on the floor. Glad I am clean as a whistle.

sippy cup

I introduced Sophia to the Sippy Cup the other day. Sophia occasionally still has a rough day with the bottle since I nurse her when I am home (which is 6 days of the week). I am hoping the sippy cup will be an alternative for my mom to use if she's having a rough time getting Sophia to take the bottle. Plus, with all the solid food she is starting to eat I wanted to make sure the little lady didn't get thirsty.

Sophia has mastered the suck and squirt. No, not suck and swallow, suck and squirt. I thought we had a very leaky sippy cup until I watched closer and realized Sophia was gumming the cup and squirting the water out the sides of her mouth. Too funny.

The cup was a winner the water was not! Mommy's secretly happy, this means she's still my teeny weeny baby ;)