Sophie is 7 Months Old

The other day I was thinking about my life before Peter, Jane, and Sophie. I always knew that I was "supposed" to have children, but I kept waiting for the desire to be a mom. I have always been a very practical person and recognized the challenges to having children--sleepless nights, no more sleeping in, poopy diapers, crying, etc. But I had a hard time imagining the joys of parenthood. When I was finally pregnant with Peter and Jane I experienced the unconditional love associated with being a mother. I would have done anything to have been able to keep my babies with me. I loved them with all my heart and my life felt meaningless without them. Once I became pregnant with Sophie I felt my life had a purpose again. Although my pregnancy seemed to last an eternity and was incredibly stressful for me, the reward of having a healthy and happy baby was worth it all.



Sophie turned 7 Months old about a week ago. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. My pregnancy seemed to drag on forever, but since Sophie was born the time has flown by. She brings me more happiness than I can even imagine. And even though I imagined the practical things about parenthood, the challenges aren't nearly as difficult as I expected. No, I don't really enjoy changing poopy diapers, but it only takes a minute or two once or twice a day. No, I don't like it when Sophie cries, but I didn't realize how much hearing her sorrow would break my own heart. And I didn't realize the joy of being able to comfort my baby girl just by holding her in my arms.
This baby girl is my best friend (Isaac too) and I am so lucky to be able to spend all my time with her. I was thinking about how I used to be partial to little boys--I was worried about being a mom to a little girl, because as everyone knows, I am not the best with hair, make-up, fashion, dancing, pink things, dolls, and tea parties. But now that I have a little girl, she is so much fun. She is so cuddly and lets me hold and snuggle her all the time. My poor little girl is smothered with about a million kisses from her mom everyday. She has the most fun personality and makes me laugh all the time. She has the cutest little voice, and the most ear-piercing screech. Sophie is so sweet and loving. She makes me happy all the time and Isaac and I are so blessed to be her parents.

Here are a few things she has done over the last month:

• Sophie is really good at rolling around. She can make it across the living room in about 10 seconds. Unfortunately she still can't really aim and often gets frustrated at her lack of ability to move forward.
• She is no where near crawling. She has really weak arms and is just barely starting to realize that she can support herself up on her arms.
• She still gives me the cutest sleep smiles, especially when I get up at night to feed her.
• Sophie has been spoiled her whole life because I have held her while she naps. (This is completely my fault. I just didn't want to set her down as a newborn. I was so worried about SIDS and feeling like I was neglecting her by putting her in the crib all the time.) I have been trying to transition her to nap in her crib, but it still isn't working out very well.
• Sophie got sick for the first time right when she turned 7 months old. I am so grateful that she made it this long without having any major illness.
• She has such long hair. I still have no idea what to do with it. Isaac makes fun of the "comb over" that I do on her. She has worn a nice bald spot in the back and has only a few wisps yet that give her a nice mullet. The poor girl is going to have to get used to her mom's lack of hair styling ability until she is old enough to do it herself.
• Sophie likes to feel things with her thumbs. Isaac says she is playing "thumb wars" with him all the time.
• She has started saying "Baa" as her new favorite word. And has been doing a fake scream where she opens her mouth and screams silently. It is a little strange, but better than her high pitched squeal.
• She is a really good eater. She likes everything except peas. She now eats rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce, peaches, pears, prunes, bananas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. She likes to drink water from mommy's straw when I let it drip in her mouth.
  
• These pictures are just funny because we were trying to take some photos of her and the flash on our camera makes a really bright orange light before it goes off. Sophie was really freaked out by the orange light and kept making some crazy faces.

6 Month Stats: (since I never posted them in my that section)
Height: 28.5 inches (off the charts >98%)
Weight: 17 lbs 10 oz (80%)