Sophia is 1! {Party Post}

I can't believe it finally came...and went. My baby's first birthday!
It was a great time. I would say it was bittersweet, but really it was only sweet.
Sure, I may have gotten a bit misty and squeezed her extra tight putting her to bed the night before her birthday in her special birthday PJ's. But even that is sweet.

Sophie had a nice party here at the house. I considered a park, but wanted all her creature comforts in easy reach in case she got tired or cranky.

I read a blog post about celebrating birthdays from a mother of 6 children. Her first advice was to NOT visit Pinterest for ideas. I wanted the party to be easy and stress free. So I didn't! Even a simple party is $50, so I decided not to up the cost with supplies for a bunch of DIY deco and crafts. I used tissue poms from her baby shower (that hang in her room full-time) and all my other decor was from Dollar Tree. My best friend Sarah made cupcakes and cake pops. I made chili and broccoli cheese soups. It was tasty and simple to do.

Maybe some year when Sophie can really appreciate the effort, I'll throw some DIY themed party that takes months of prep or hundreds of dollars on Etsy. Not this year.

Sophie got many wonderful presents. I was really blessed by everyone's generosity. She also got lots of really cute clothes.

Sophia is 9 months!

Sweet Sophia,

    You're getting to be more like a toddler than a tiny baby. Although, I still think you're a baby and think that "baby" covers up to age 2. I don't want you to feel pressured to grow up too fast, and I don't want to coddle you so much that you grow up too slow. For instance, I still hold your bottle. You can hold it, but you like to shake and slosh it around and spill milk everywhere. So it's somewhat convenience on my part too. But, I'd like to think if you were still breastfed I'd be holding your "bottle" for you :)

    Oh but in almost every single other area you are Ms. Independent. I wondered if you might be a bit headstrong, being a first born and all. But, I'm told this is just part of normal development. You want to stand even though you can't, you want to feed yourself even though only 10% of your food makes it in your mouth, you want to grab and swipe and hold everything you get near, especially if it's something you shouldn't. I'm not even sure why you have your own toys. You rarely want them. You crawl over to the dog's toy basket 90% of the time. Bottles of all kinds, pens, sunglasses, straws, phones, jewelry and electrical cords are just a few of the things you're keen on. Oh and shoes, you love to chew those, yuck.

    You've said several "words" but I think we can say your first real one is "uh oh". It's the only one you use appropriately (sometimes). I'm not sure why you picked that one. It's cute though! You are mimicking words a lot now. You've tried to say "no no, mama, night night" and today you added "papa". Your dad was so excited!

    We went to your new pediatrician for your well check. You're no longer off the charts for height. You're 28.75 inches and 20.25 pounds. That puts you around 90th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight. Still a big girl :) Tonight I tried to put a 12 month sleeper on your (open foot style) but it was too short. I got it snapped but you were so cranky in it I changed you back to your onesie.
You now have a total of 7 teeth! Four on top and three on bottom. You also finally started hands and knees crawling, although you only go a few feet at a time. Your pediatrician said we need to cut back your formula and increase your solids. We're working on that. You don't eat very much in the way of solids so I'm not sure we'll completely follow her advice. She was nice but we still miss your old pedi a lot :(

   You had your first fever. You ended up being feverish for a little over 24 hours. The nurse practitioner checked you and said it was likely just something viral. It was really worrisome. You woke up in the middle of the night (which is fairly unusual) and dad checked on your, re-tucked you in and you went back to sleep for about two hours. You woke up crying again and I checked on you. I decided to pick you up to comfort you and I was very taken aback. You were burning up! I called for your dad and the thermometer. Your temp was 100.4, but you felt very hot. You got a tepid bath, sips of water, and Tylenol. But you wouldn't go back to sleep unless I was holding you. So you slept on my chest on the couch for a couple hours. You were so pitiful and it heart mine and papa's hearts so much. And exhausted us all! It was as if the world stopped for a day and we were consumed with you. Mama is also not used to sleep deprivation anymore since you're such a good sleeper. It was hard on us all.

Your 9th month also included a trip to Disney World! It was just for about 8 hours but we had fun. You did really well and took two naps! It was a busy week with family so I think you were pretty tired. Now I know you really can sleep anywhere if you're tired enough. You actually fell asleep in my arms on the Haunted Mansion ride and then slept through walking, talking and two more rides.

Disney day was also your papa's birthday. That night we went out for Hibachi and you ate a decent amount of vegetables and noodles/rice. But- your papa was holding you when they sang to him and brought him a cupcake. He had a bite, then fed me a bite. Usually you explore new foods before eating them. But at lightning speed and in one fluid motion you grabbed a handful of cake and stuffed it in your mouth. We were all very surprised and everyone had a good laugh. I'm telling you, you only want the stuff you aren't supposed to have!

Mama and papa love you so much pretty baby! We couldn't have known how much joy you'd bring.

On our car ride to Tampa. You thought throwing paper balls was hilarious!

At a baseball game

"No pictures please"

Pool time!

Teeth!

Eating a leaf on vacation in Orlando

With your papa and grandpa

Great Grandma Joan

Aunt Tiffany and Aunt Hali the night before Disney

Disney day!

Giving kisses!

With your papa having fun!

With the aunts!

Your Aunt Hali ADORES you!

And so does your papa. It makes my heart overflow.

You're also enamored with your Uncle Jeff

And Grammy Melanie wants to bite you!

And you're the light of MeMe and MawMaw's lives!

Weekend Update 05-28-11- birthday!

Hi all-

Hope most of you are enjoying a three-day weekend and remembering those who have served and who are serving! Thank you military men and women.

This year my birthday fell on the holiday weekend. Which is very nice!

Friday we went yard-sailing. I got several things but took no pictures :) A purse, two black wrought-iron wall scones, a wrought-iron candle stand for the fireplace, a brown pashmina scarf and a white ball-cap style hat. We also went to a few thrift stores and found a few things for re-sale.
After this John surprised me by taking me to Four Winds for lunch. This is a local specialty grocery store that includes an amazing deli. I have lived in our area 20 plus years and still had never been. It was soooo delicious! I told John "I hear angels singing" as I was eating our feta dip and turkey salad sandwich. Their deli items are mostly Mediterranean. They have over 300 cheeses and free range grain fed meats. It was just to die for! Their feta dips are for sale at the Online Store and information about what all the store carries and a menu can be found here: Four Winds Online .
After we came home feeling full of goodness, we headed off to the beach for a few hours. This is one of the few times a year I can convince John to go (birthday queen rules!). The water was a bit rough but we had a nice time. Then we came home and ate sandwiches made with our feta dips and watched a movie while eating large bowls of popcorn :)

Saturday we slept in! No up early for yard saling on my birthday! I woke up to this adorable face next to me:

Sleeping angel

I had a leisurely morning making breakfast and doing a bit of tidying around the house. Then John and I hopped in the car and headed for the beach. But we took an hour detour to attend a baby shower. John graciously occupied himself with a book on a bench under a tree while I visited with the ladies and momma-to-be. Then we continued on to the beach. It was gorgeous water that day! Still quite a few waves, but the sand bar had come in almost to the shore line. So the water was shallow and clear for at least 100 feet from the shore. It was warm but not miserable and the wind was blowing.

Fantastic

After spending several hours at the beach we came home and cleaned the salt and sand off ourselves to head to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. The wings were yummy as usual and being with my friends is always a treat, but I may have chosen another place if I would have known it was a UFC match night. Things got pretty loud in there! Afterwards we went over to our friend's house and just talked and enjoyed ourselves.

Birthday means free chocolate cake and ice cream! It was really good

The ladies who helped me celebrate

Best person to celebrate a birthday with!

Sunday I had taken some herbal sleep aids and I was out til 11am! Then we headed over to my grandma's to have lunch with her in celebration of my birthday again! :) A distant cousin and her two granddaughters were also in town so we chatted a bit with them and then we headed to the dog park. It was a lovely afternoon and I got lots of good photos so I will try to narrow it down. The best part of the afternoon was that Ernie decided to get into the water! All on his own! He was just running up and down the shoreline chasing and barking at other dogs (as usual) when he chased another dog into the water! He even went deep enough that he had to swim a bit. After that he was running all in the water for the whole afternoon. So proud :)

Couldn't resist getting a pic of this! This owner has 3 Mastiffs! The males in front are about 240lbs each!

Ernie running

and harassing big dogs that could eat him

and finally diving in!

He's into it now!

Eby played too but was taking a break here

Ernie lives for giving wet kisses!

Sunday evening sweet hubby went a rented Tangled for me since I've hinted a few times I'd like to see it. I did enjoy it :)

...and this Monday morning off here I sit. Taking care of photographing and listing some items, blogging and fooling around. We plan to get a few more beach hours in today and then get ready for the coming week. I have loved my four days off and will be sad to go back to work. But, I need a job and I have one so for that I am thankful!