18 Months

Showing off those pearly whites.

A year and a half has gone by since I was able to meet my baby girl for the first time. I still remember my first thought after seeing her face - "She kinda looks like an old man." That was quickly followed by a wave of overwhelming love that has never gone away.

Sophie's first picture and my first view of her - my sweet little "old man" (ignore the giant bump on her head from the internal monitoring device. If you look closely though, it looks as if there is a face on it. Creepy!)

These past 18 months have been the best of my life. There have been some very challenging times, but Sophie has made them all worth it. I can't imagine my life without her (this month especially, for many reasons). I remember people saying that they couldn't imagine their life without their kids and that their lives didn't really have a purpose before their children were born. I used to just politely smile and thought, "Surrrreee..." What a fool I was! I completely understand what they mean now. My life now has meaning and purpose. The life I had before was so insignificant compared to what I have now. Having kids isn't for everyone, so I am in no way saying that people who don't want kids won't ever live a meaningful life. For me though, I always knew I wanted kids and that my life was missing something without them. Sophie has brought so much to my life and I am forever grateful to her for that.
Ugh, I always seem to get sappy in these monthly posts. Enough!

Highlights from the month:

• SOPHIE CAN WALK!! Everyday she walks more and more. It is unbelievable. I am in awe every time I watch her walk around the room. She still crawls, but I think she is walking more than crawling now. Even while sick, she was walking a ton. I am so excited and relieved! - no PT in the near future! (I'm sure she will break some bones or something equally bad later in life that would make us take her to PT.)
• I am pretty sure our scale doesn't work properly. Sometimes it does, and other times it doesn't. Joe and I weighed her two weeks ago (before she was sick). It said that she was 15lb 3oz. Strange, because last month it said she was 15lb 9oz. I think we are just going to go by the doctor's scale now. (They did weigh her on Tuesday at her sick visit and she was 14lb 15oz! That makes sense though since she hadn't been eating or drinking. When the nurse was gone, I fed and reweighed her - 15lb 1oz. I like that one much better).
• Sophie is still in 6 month clothes. They fit well in the waist area, but most of the pants are too short and the sleeves on her long sleeved shirts are too long. I already had to put away many of her 6 month pajamas for being too short (and therefore too tight) for her. I know that I should bump her up to 9 month clothes, but I selfishly don't want to sew the waists of all of her pants for them to fit. Plus, I like so many of her 6 month winter outfits. It is probably time to at least add some 6-9 month clothes though.
• Sophie keeps adding words to her vocabulary. I can't even remember them all now. Some of her new favorites are "ball," "nana," and "diaper." She is also working on her color words like "yellow" and "purple." (She still can't point out which color is which though, but knowing the names is good enough for me.)
• Sophie loves brushing her teeth and cries when I take the toothbrush away.
• I can't get over how much Sophie understands now. I can ask her to go get something and she brings it to me. If I ask her to blow her nose, she blows her nose. If I ask if she wants a bath, she will say yes (or, very rarely, no). I will ask if she wants to read a book and she will go get me one to read to her. She even understands things like "take a sip" or "take one bite." It is amazing!
• Sophie had her first haircut. I still am sad that some of the hair is gone, but it looks so much better. You can see her eyes in all of her pictures now!
• Sophie loves music and even dances to it. Of course her dancing is either shaking her hands or bouncing up and down. It is pretty adorable though!
• Sophie keeps working on her fine motor skills. She still loves playing with zippers, and makes me laugh in the mornings when she has her zippered pajamas off and in her hands. She has perfected putting the coins in her piggy bank toy. She will even find the smallest little crumb on the floor and pick it up and give it to us.

• Sophie's two favorite games right now are Peek-a-Boo and Put and Take (you know, putting things in a basket or bag and taking them back out). Peek-a-Boo cracks her up, though she would rather hide from you than you from her. Put and Take will keep her occupied for quite some time. That has proven to be very helpful during those moments when I need to get something done.

• Sophie loves taking her clothes off and trying to put them back on. She has been able to put her legs back into her pajamas and pants, but not pull them up. She even tries to put her socks on.

Here are some photos from this month (just click the link below):

My little walker!

One of my students brought me this box of chocolate. It is almost as big as Sophie!

Sophie loves books, especially this one on cats. She will point to each cat on the pages and say, "Cat!"

Sophie loves playing with the railings. Hopefully her head is too big to get her head stuck in there. Eek!

Molly pushing Sophie around in a baby stroller. Perfect fit!

This kid didn't really walk at the beginning of the month and now she is walking on couches.

It is scary that she knows how to correctly use a remote.

Giving Lucy a hug good-bye.

Sophie in her pretty dress from Becki.

Sophie's signature grin

My little monkey climbs on everything.

Sophie won't drink her Pediasure out of a sippy cup. At least the bottle nipples will fit on the Pediasure bottles. No more washing bottles!

I remember taking her monthly pictures this way in her crib thinking that Sophie would never fill it out. Now look at her!

Sophie loves to try to get the cat to play with the cat toy.

She also likes trying to eat the toy.

So serious