I Can Dress Myself

On day while I was in the shower, Sophie was playing on the bed with a pile of my clothes.  (And before you think I am a bad mother, she is capable of getting off the bed safely by herself.)  When I got out of the shower she had put on a pair of my basketball shorts like a cape.  By the time I got the camera, it had fallen down to around her waist.  But she is officially a big girl if she can dress herself.

13 Months

Sophie turned 13 months old at the end of August.  Here are some things about her this month:

• Sophie is crazy.  She has the silliest sense of humor.  She does the funniest things all the time to get a reaction out of us.

• Sophie loves her grandmas (and other family members).  She gets way more excited to see them than anyone else, including Mama.

• Sophie could care less about her Mama and Daddy.  This child has never had any separation anxiety.  She takes off down the street, at the store, across the park, etc. without ever looking back to see where we are.  She does whatever she wants whenever she wants.  At church she will go up to complete strangers and force them to hold her if she wants to play with their ipad or phone.
• She loves other kids and wants to be included in what they are doing, even if they are 10 years older.  She thinks she can keep up with them too.  And she can usually hold her own fairly well.
• Sophie loves swinging.  She would do it all day long if Mama didn't get so bored pushing her.

• She is an awesome walker.  She still seems a little wobbly because she is so excited, and she frequently runs into things because she isn't watching where she is going.  But she is always pushing herself to walk on grass, rocks, or other new surfaces.
• Sophie is a thrill seeker.  She loves being thrown, flipped, spun around, or anything wild.  It is the easiest way to get her to laugh.

 Sophie is a good eater, but she wants to do it herself.  She doesn't like us feeding her with a spoon unless she can watch something on the ipod at the same time.

• She is sleeping fairly well in the night and takes one good afternoon nap.  Mama looks forward to nap time because this little girl has so much energy she can wear me out.

We are so lucky to have this little girl.  She can push our buttons and drive us crazy sometimes, and she is as stubborn as her mom and dad combined, but she makes us so happy.  She is also so smart and sweet and the most wonderful girl in the world.

Cheesy Grin

Lately I have been having a hard time getting pictures of Sophie.  She either:

1)  Tries to grab the camera so she is too close to the lens

2)  Moves too much so she is completely blurry

3)  Gives me a super cheesy grin

 

But regardless of all the crazy pictures I have, I still have the cutest baby in the world.  (And I don't think anyone would disagree with that.)

Mama's Birthday

I celebrated another birthday in August.  I am getting way too old.  I can't even remember how old I am anymore.  I think time stopped for me at about 21 or 22 and I always think of myself that way even though it was a long time ago. 

I had a great birthday and got some great presents from Isaac, Sophie, and family members.  I got some new cowboy boots and a Ninja blender that I have been wanting for a long time.  Happy Birthday to me.

Splash Park and Sprinklers

This summer we took Sophie to a splash park a couple times.  She got trampled in the first couple minutes and a bucket of ice water dumped on her head, so she didn't like it very much.  (They really need to use warmer water at those places.)

But she really did enjoy playing in the sprinkler in the safety of our own backyard.

We also took Sophie swimming a couple times, and she really enjoyed that.  She liked being tossed in the air and making lots of splashes.  She is such a cute water baby.

Sophie's First Birthday

Sophie turned one at the end of July.  It is hard to imagine that she was born a whole year ago.  I remember the day she was born just like it was yesterday.  I can't believe how big she is and how much she has learned in that amount of time.

For Sophie's birthday, we went up to my family's cabin with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin (minus my brother's family).  During the day the adults went mountain biking on the Wasatch Crest trail.  I wasn't a fan of this trail and got beat up because of my dumb pedal cages.

Then we had a nice dinner and ate birthday cake.  I had such a hard time deciding what to decorate Sophie's cake as, and my sister thought I should make a Cookie Monster cake.  I had lots of fun making it and hope Sophie enjoyed it.

Sophie opened her presents--sort-of.  She didn't really understand what she was supposed to do.  But she got lots of really great stuff.

We also went for a nice walk around Silver Lake to enjoy the beautiful mountains.

Sophie started walking right about her first birthday.  I don't know how to officially decide when she was "walking".  She had been cruising along furniture for a while and slowly taking steps for a couple weeks.  But she still preferred to crawl until about her birthday.  Then she started walking more than crawling.  She is still really wobbly and wiggles her hips as she moves, but it is adorable.  She is getting to be such a big kid. 

 
Sophie is a pretty good eater.  She is eating mostly solids, but we still supplement with baby food to make sure she is getting enough.  She doesn't eat very well when we are visiting family because she gets too excited and distracted.  I wanted to finish breastfeeding by her first birthday, but was still in the process of weening her off.

Sophie has been sleeping fairly well.  She takes one afternoon nap in her crib for about 2 hours.  She still wakes up a couple times in the night when her binkie falls out.  I wanted to ween her off that by her first birthday too, but it didn't happen.

Sophie is very happy, adventurous, and daring little girl.  I love her with all my heart.  Happy Late Birthday Baby Girl!

It's Been Waaaay Too Long

I haven't updated my blog in a really long time, so bear with me while I do some catching up....

Oakley Rodeo

Every year around our anniversary Isaac and I try to go to a rodeo.  This year to celebrate our Seven Year Anniversary, we went up to the Oakley Rodeo.  We haven't been able to go to this one for a few years, since living in Milwaukee, and it was a lot of fun. 

 Isaac's parents, Lacey, Justin, Kevin, and Jamie were able to come with us.

The Oakley mountains were beautiful and it is a great place to go to a rodeo.  The temperature was perfect at the beginning of the rodeo but cooled down a lot by the end.  Sophie was a handful the whole time.  She was freaked out a little by all the noise and cried when those poor cowboys fell off their horses.

The rodeo was during Sophie's bedtime, so she was a little fussy toward the end and I had to miss the barrel racing and bull riding when I took her out.  But surprisingly she was fascinated by the fireworks at the end.  She calmed down and almost fell asleep watching them, unfortunately the show was too short didn't put her to sleep fast enough.  It was a very good time (although the Manawa, WI rodeo had much better performances by the clown and flag riders).

Donut Falls

On Saturday morning, Isaac, Sophie, and I hiked up to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

It was a beautiful hike and really cool in the mountains.  The hike was a lot shorter than I remembered, but was perfect for Sophie.  We have been loving her baby backpack and the chance we have to do some semi-adventurous activities again.

We're Back!

We are finally back in Utah!  Our family is now living in West Jordan.  We are renting a cute house that is in a wonderful location.  We got a great deal on this house because the people who lived here before smoked and didn't take very good care of it, so we have excellent rent in exchange for helping to get it fixed up again.

Before moving here, we were told that the house needed a lot of work.  But Isaac and I thought that my parents were exaggerating because they didn't want to get our hopes up.  It turns out that they weren't exaggerating.  We have had to put a ton of work into the house.  Isaac had about a month off before starting residency and we worked full time on the house and still have lots to do.  The landlord has been incredible about being willing to update things and make this a nice house for us.  We have had a sprinkling system put in, planted a vegetable garden and landscaped the entire yard with flowers and bushes, had the water heater, furnace and air conditioning fixed, worked on electrical and plumbing problems, repainted the entire house, built a shed, updated hinges and doorknobs, and replaced all the carpet.

It has been a lot of work, and my family has helped a ton with different projects.  My mom has been a great help coming over almost every day to watch Sophie for a few hours while I try to get things done.  And after 6 weeks of living in a disaster zone, we are finally in a beautiful home.  (We still have a lot to do, but at least now things are liveable and I shouldn't have to be shuffling furniture from room to room on a daily basis.)

We have been loving the West Jordan area.  We are less than 1/2 a mile from the community swimming pool.  The outdoor pools has diving boards, slides, and basketball hoops.  There is also a small recreation center with an amazing kiddie pool inside.  There is a giant park with tons of playgrounds within walking distance.  We are also within walking distance of the library and Trax station, which Isaac has been taking up to the U.  West Jordan has lots of community activities that are great for families like concerts, a rodeo, demolition derby, 4th of July parade, etc.  We are also really close to Jordan Landing and other shopping complexes where we can find any store imaginable.  So far we are absolutely loving our location.

Provo Canyon

Isaac, Jamie, Sophie, and I biked up Provo Canyon to Bridalveil Falls.  It was a really fun little ride to help us get in shape for biking at Duck Creek.

Sophie is 11 Months Old

Sophie turned 11 months old about a week ago.  My baby is getting to be such a big kid.  I can't believe how fast she is growing up, but I am loving it.  She is so much fun as she gets older.  Her personality is becoming more apparent and she is a lot more interactive.  I am so blessed to be her mom and to be able to stay home with her all the time.  I don't want to miss out on any of the things she is learning on a daily basis.  Here are some things I want to remember over the last month:

• Sophie finally started napping by herself in her crib!  I know it is a lot later than I expected, but nothing I tried in Milwaukee ever seemed to be successful.  But for some reason moving to Utah did the trick.  I didn't even have to do anything, she just outgrew wanting to be held during nap time.  This has made my life so much easier and I am able to get so much more done during the day.
• Sophie wants to eat big people food now.  She has started refusing her baby food (probably because it tastes disgusting).  But I am still struggling to know what to feed her.  It seems like the foods she can eat the easiest are all sugary and junk food.  She isn't able to chew things like hard veggies or meats yet.  It also takes her forever to eat solid foods and I worry that she isn't getting as much as when I can shovel in the baby food.  So I am working on the transition to her becoming a big kid.
• Sophie loves swimming.  We have been swimming a number of times and she has a huge smile the whole time.  She loves being tossed in the air and splashing.

 

• Sophie loves stairs.  Our new house has tons of stairs.  She learned how to go up them on her first try and hasn't stopped since.  I spend my entire day chasing her up the stairs.  Unfortunately she hasn't learned how to go down them yet, so she requires constant supervision.
• Sophie hates bananas.  She wants nothing to do with them and will spit them out immediately.
• She is a pro at standing up and cruising along furniture.  She can free stand fairly well and has started doing it on her own if she is holding something.  She has taken 2 really small steps, but is now resisting my attempts at teaching her to walk.

• She loves walking by hanging onto my fingers.  She will even walk up the stairs with giant steps.  She would walk around like that all day if she could, unfortunately my back can't handle bending over like that for long.
• Sophie loves things that aren't toys: paint brushes, tools, screwdrivers, chapstick, lotion bottles, etc.  I have baby toys laid out all over the floor for her, but she will completely ignore them and go straight for the thing I don't want her playing with.

 Sophie is such a good girl.  She makes me laugh all the time.  She definitely wears me out and knows how to push my buttons, but I love her more than anything.  I can't wait for her to start walking--even though I know it will just make her even more of a handful.  I love how much personality she has and am so blessed to have her in my life.

Duck Creek Vacation

Our family went on a biking trip down to Duck Creek in Southern Utah with my family.  We biked around Brian Head, Navajo Lake, Red Canyon, and other locations near Bryce Canyon.

On the way down there we stopped at Navajo Lake for our first bike ride.  This is a ~12 mile ride around the lake.  The dike in the lake recently broke and the lake is draining, so it was nice to see this beautiful place before it disappears.  I only rode the first half of the lake while Sophie stayed with Grandma and Uncle Kevy.  Then I switched while they rode the second half.  Sophie and I walked the trail with the backpack to meet the others.

We stayed at a fun cabin in Duck Creek Village.  Sophie enjoyed lounging with her uncles, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and going up the stairs constantly.  We also played with bubbles, which Sophie was fascinated by.  And learned that Sophie has a completely irrational fear of teatherball.  Any time my brothers and sisters started playing, Sophie would start crying.  Weirdo.  We also let Sophie wear her super cute camping PJs.  She didn't like the matching hat, but it was cute enough without it.

 

We also went on a short hike to a waterfall.  At first Sophie didn't like the backpack, but at the falls we switched to having Mama carry the pack and everything was fine after that.  She even fell asleep a few minutes before reaching the car.

 One day Isaac and some of my family did a longer mountain bike ride while Grandma, Kevin, Sophie, and I biked the paved Red Canyon trail.  This was a really nice 5 mile trail that we could take Sophie's bike trailer on.  We only rode the trail down the canyon, so it was very peaceful and beautiful.  

On the other hand, the trail Isaac did was very challenging.  We biked it years ago when we were engaged, but Isaac didn't remember much of it.

We also rode a ~16 mile trail from Brian Head Peak down to some store.  I thought this ride was a blast!  It was a really steep, technical, and rocky downhill ride which is just the way I like it.  I don't like rides with lots of steep uphill sections.  This one was challenging, but fun because we could still go really fast. 

On the way home we stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain and biked ~8 miles along the paved trail along the Sevier River.  It was really hot and I was exhausted by this point, so this would have been more fun as an evening ride when it was cooler.  But overall it was a great trip.  We are grateful to my family for watching Sophie some of the time while Isaac and I biked harder trails.  But it was also great to be able to take her along in the bike trailer and baby backpack.  We are looking forward to a lot more trips like this.