Sofia's World: 12 Months

12 months little girl, I cannot believe it! I am so excited to celebrate you at your party tomorrow. This month has brought a lot of changes, the biggest being that you are walking! Not just taking a few steps, you are fully walking!   I'm still not used to seeing you toddle around the house but you look so cute. You can tell you are so happy and proud of yourself when you are walking around! Ethan thinks its the coolest thing ever that you are walking now and he claps for you and holds your hand to help you. I'm excited for the whole new world this opens for you. We went to the Children's Museum and I could tell how much fun you were having now that you can walk around and do some things on your own. You love your freedom!

Another milestone is that you finally have some more teeth! You've only had two until less than a week ago. You literally got your top 4 teeth overnight, it was crazy! I can't believe we didn't know they were coming in. You would think you would have been crabby as heck with 4 teeth cutting at the same time, but not you, you are all smiles! You are still talking like crazy and you are really starting to repeat things we say to you. I've added "words" as a new section below because I can tell we will be adding more and more as each month goes by. This month we have added, "uh-oh," "thank you," and "dog". A funny new thing you are doing is sticking your tongue out and its hilarious! You do it a lot when you are walking so we say you are walking "Michael Jordan style."

Sofia, every day you surprise Daddy and I with something new. You are always just the happiest, most fun little girl all the time. As you develop and learn new things, we are just in awe of you. We are the luckiest parents alive to have you for our daughter.  We can't wait to celebrate your first year of life at your birthday party tomorrow. We love you so much little girl!

Weight:

We won't find out until next week, but I would guess around 23lbs.

Height:

We measured you the other day and you are 32 inches but we will get your official measurement next week.

Clothing Size:

You are wearing 18-24 and 24 months in clothes.

Diapers:

You are wearing size 4 Pampers and they are fitting you comfortably.

Feeding:

We are done with bottles and mostly done with formula. You are being a bit of a stinker and did not like straight milk. So right now we are working on tapering you off of the formula. I was so surprised that you didn't take to the whole milk right away like Ethan did, but that's okay. You are getting plenty of vitamins and calcium with the food you eat. You are still an eating machine, people can't believe it! There is literally not one thing we have given you that you haven't liked. When we eat in front of you, you stare at us waiting for us to give you some and if we don't, you start to scream at us! You have had eggs, chicken, beef, turkey, broccoli, carrots, sausage, pizza, bread, pasta, potatoes, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, avocado, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, corn, yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, watermelon, pomegranates, nectarines and I'm sure a bunch of things I can't remember. I am crossing every finger and toe that you stay this way and don't become picky like your brother! I'm still amazed you are eating everything you are only with two teeth too!

Hair/Eyes:

You have super blonde hair and it is getting a lot longer. I actually cut your bangs a little because they were always poking you in the eyes. I love putting your hair in ponytails and pig tails now! You still have beautiful blue eyes like Daddy that everyone comments on pretty they are!

Sleep:

Sleep has been fantastic and you have been on the same schedule since you were 4 months old. You typically go to bed around 6:30 - 7 after story time with Ethan and you sleep until 6:30 - 7 in the morning. You take 2 naps a day, usually 1 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. 

Fun Stuff You Did This Month:

Walking!
You are officially on the move and it is so much fun to watch! I still can't believe you started walking before you were a year old, but you are a very determined little girl. You are already trying to climb things so we need to keep a close eye on you! You are loving your newfound freedom that walking is bringing you.

Apple & Pumpkin Picking
Last year you were still in my belly for apple picking and you were only a week old when we went pumpkin picking. It was fun to have you be there and interact a little more this year. Next year you will be running around with your brother!

Your first year month-by-month

Dear Sofia, you are 1!

My beautiful Sofia,

You are officially 1! You will always be the biggest, most unexpected, wonderful surprise I will ever receive. I didn't have to go through IVF in order to be your Mama and you were a girl, two things I never thought would happen! You are such a blessing little girl and I am so lucky to be your Mama. Apparently you wanted to make things easy on me because you have just fit in and gone with the flow from the very beginning. When you were born and I heard you screaming your head off, I looked at your Daddy and said, "Uh oh, she's already trouble!" But then they put you on my chest and I said, "Hi Sofia!" and you immediately stopped crying. You just wanted your Mama, you knew you were home! You were the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen, you always will be, and I will always remind you of that.

From the day you were born, you have been such an easy baby. You ate well, slept well and have only been sick twice. We have taken you everywhere right from the beginning and you always have seemed happy to just be with us and watch. You charm everyone you meet with your smile and those piercing blue eyes. We can't go anywhere without someone stopping us to say how beautiful you are and I always say that I agree! You keep us laughing every day with your fun loving personality. You are quite the talker too! You are constantly babbling and adding new words to your vocabulary. Your brother was/is the same way. I think we are forever going to have a very noisy house, which I am fine with! You love your books. You love to turn the pages and you study and touch every single thing on the page. You are so smart and pick things up so quickly. You can figure out how a toy works in no time. Ethan or I just have to show you how to do it and you study our movements a few times and you try it out for yourself. 

Speaking of Ethan, one of the things I have loved the most about this year has been watching you bond with your brother. I tell everyone that I literally watched him fall in love you the moment he laid eyes on you in the hospital and it's true. It was as if he knew from the first moment that he was your big brother and he would always protect you. You are obsessed with him and have watched his every move from the very beginning. He can make you laugh like crazy and you love playing with him. Your favorite thing is to play trains with him. He doesn't always love it because you usually destroy everything on the train table, but in time you will learn how to roll the trains along the track just like him. Ethan has loved bringing you to all of his favorite places this Summer, like the Morton Arboretum, the Zoo and the park. He loves pushing you on the swings and in the stroller when we go for walks. Next Summer will be even more fun since you'll be able to run alongside together. I look forward to watching your relationship grow as you get older. I'm sure there will be challenges, but you will always have each other. I'm so thankful to have my Fridays off still to spend them with you and your brother and when he goes to school in a couple of years, we will have time with just the two of us. I can't wait to do so many fun mother and daughter things with you!

You are growing and changing so much right now. You have started walking in the past few weeks and I'm still not used to watching you walk around the house! I love watching you walk and maneuver because you are very aware of what you are doing, and where you are going. You are incredibly determined. If there is something out of your reach, you will attempt to climb, crawl, whatever it takes to try and get what you want. As sad as I am that my last baby is 1, I love you at this age and its so fun to watch you become a little person with her own personality. It's exciting to see you reach new milestones and watch you learn and grow. I can't wait to see what a wonderful girl you will become!

The thing I love about you the most is your smile and happy demeanor! I love saying good morning to you and you have just the biggest smile on your face! You always have a smile on your face and I'm not just saying that. I might need to remind myself with pictures of this quality when you're 13, HA! You have blessed our lives so much Sofia and I hope you always know how loved you are. You and your brother will always be our greatest achievements. You were worth all the weeks you made me puke when you were in my belly! I cannot wait to watch you grow and change every day, week, month and year ahead.

Thank you for giving us the gift of being your parents, you are such a joy in our lives. We love you so very much,

Mommy and Daddy