And We Are Walking!!!

5 mins ago Sophie took her first Steps... 3 to the mirror and to see if she'd walk back to me.. and sure enough she did!! Yay, I'll have good news to tell the doctor at her 1 year appt. today!! We officially have a toddler, and I'm so excited. On to the next step!

The Past Few Months

Family pic
I havent' updated for a while, so sorry guys. Well we've just been enjoying the summer so far. I've been trying to get everything prepared to start LPN school August 26th, I have a first aid class next week and after that I should be set to go besides buying books, and other necessities required to be in Clinicals. Sophie has childcare lined up to start, so hopefully she adapts well. It's crazy to think that in just a few short weeks Sophie will be 1, I'll discontinue nursing her, I'll be in school and she'll be off to daycare part-time. This coming fall will definately be an adjustment for our little family.

As for Sophie, She's just been becoming a little person who jabbers and has lot's of personality. She however has made no progress in learning to walk. She's over cautious and is very comfortable just crawling everywhere. So, like me, I think she will also be a late walker. She must not have her dad's sense of fearlessness :) She can stand there without holding on as long as she has something in front of her to grab onto as needed. Sophie says mama often and pretty well and has been now for over a month. She will sporatically use some other "words" too. I've heard her say hi a few times, cat, and she'll say "git" for when she wants me to "git" her out of the tub. That was kinda cute. Sophie can also Dada but she doesn't always use it for Daddy, sometimes she just likes to say it. She's become and avid stair climber whether or not we appreciate it at this time. She giggles and plays hide and seek with mom, and is still by far a MOMMAS GIRL.. hands down. But she loves her daddy too. In the next couple weeks I'm going to make an appt. to get her dark ends cut off before her first birthday party. I've been planning it for a while. It's pink/gold elephant themed. This will also be her golden birthday so.. hence the gold. I 'm working on elephant invites and an elephant pinjata (sp?) I also have a rocking animal. It's a cuddly soft stuffed elephant that's like a rocking horse and plays music. I'm so excited for her to play with it. It will match her room I'm thinking.

Well as for Clinton, he's been enjoying driving truck for the dairy and playing softball for two seperate teams. He plays in Cannon and in Hastings. Clinton had an undefeated team until the last game last night when they lost by one :) bummer. I think the hastings team was maybe undefeated too, but I'm not sure. Clinton's friend from H.S was married in June and we all drove out to Pierre SD for that. It was a great time and Sophie really enjoyed the pool.. Nate and Alice are also Sophies God parents so hopefully the pictures we took will be nice for her to look at when she is older.. I'll post some pics of that too.

Daddy and Sophie in the pool at the Ramkota Inn in SD.

Mommy and Sophie.This is the river that ran along side the campsite where Nate and Alice Grilled out for their rehearsal dinner.



Sophie at my sister Kim's surprise birthday party while she and her husband Steve flew in from AZ.
My sister Kim and Sophie.
Sophie LOVING her blueberries.

That's all for now,.. hopefully I'll get to updating after Sophies birthday... if we're lucky she may be walking but I'm not counting on it yet : )

ZOO

Clinton took and afternoon off from the farm and the three of us went to the zoo then to Buff. wild wings afterwards. Sophie seems to enjoy lookihjng at all the animals. She kept pulling herself forward as far as she could go to see the animals. I didn't want to upload a lot of pictures but you get the point. The last exhibit Sophie fell asleep. The fun day really wore her out.

May

Well This past month Sophie is pretty much just growing into a little girl. No new skills really, just improving her already accomplished ones. She can stand up and get down faster everyday. She likes to play peekaboo atleast once a day especially on days I do laundry. She uses clothing to hide under. She loves looking through her books and now I think she's starting to pretend she's reading them. She'll flare her arms around and make noise as she looks and turns the pages. She gets kinda noisy sometimes. She's learning more and more everyday to walk around furniture. Standing is her favorite. Whenever I'm cooking in the kitchen at some point Sophie will crawl over and use my leg to stand and clutch me, arms wrapped around tight and she'll cry out for me to pick her up. Just this morning I helped her get up and balanced to her walker and off she went. She was great. The more we encouraged her the more she seemed to enjoy it. I'm excited for her 9 month checkup on thursday. Here are a few pictures that I took this past week.

Past Week

It's funny how all I really have to say is about Sophie. But I suppose that is how every new parent is.

Clinton and I have been going to "Parenting Class" at our church every 2nd and 4th monday nights every month. I believe they have had two so far and Clinton and I went to both. We have enjoyed going because we get to spent time with other parents and it's interesting how alike some parents think. With so many things to worry about when trying to raise a child "right," it's nice to know other parents share the same concerns as we do. I know Sophie is only 7.5 months old but we're talking future things to be worried about I guess. Clinton and I have been trying to go to church atleast every other weekend. It's nice to get Sophie out and exposed to church and other people. I'm already excited for sunday school for her. It's nice knowing the kids who will be in her class and being able to watch them grow up.

Now as for just Sophie, she has been changing so much lately. I'm really starting to notice how much of a little girl she has become. She interacts with me all the time. It seems we have our own lingo. She has started to be able to feed herself. A month ago I tried giving her some crunchy stars and she did not like it one bit. Now I just tried again and she took to it just great. She'll have her tray cleaned in no time. Next week I might try some other soft cut up veggies... we'll see though. I've really been enjoying making baby food too. There are so many foods out there that I want to expose her too that they don't have in the store, not to mention saving some money. That's always a bonus. Sophie has taken to most of her foods. Also, Sophie is getting better at crawling. She's kinda lazy about it though. She's been army crawling for almost 2 months I suppose. About 2 weeks ago she took some of her first crawling steps. Yesterday she did a great job at crawling and trying to get up on things when her cousin was over. She must have been competing for attention. Then an hour or so later she pulled herself up, not straight up but up atleast. She's changing so fast and I'm just so excited for her. This summer will definately be a blast with her. I can't wait to take her to the beach... I'll just have to watch so she's not eating the sand :) Oh Sophie also cut her first top tooth the first of the month so now she has three teeth and the other top one is close behing the other.

Despite being very demanding for her mommy, she seems to be a very sweet mild mannered little girl. She does like her daddy too though. If he comes in during the work day she always gets all smiley and just stares at him until he leaves again. Well, here are a few pictures....

So much for organization. Sophie loves pulling out all the DVD's

Sophie's Friends

For a few hours one afternoon, Sophie spent time with Reese and Rowan Nordling. Pictured is Sophie and Reese.
Two of Clinton and I's friends, Rich and Kelly had their baby girl this weekend. Peyton Mae Gustafson. She's adorable and will be in the same class as Sophie. Pictured here is Maddison, Peyton and Sophie.
Sophie got to spend some quality time with her youngest cousin Josie almost 4 months. They too will be in the same grade in Cannon. Sophie really enjoyed playing with Josie, they seem to get along great together.

Easter 2008

Another dress made from Grandma Chris. She looks so cute, kinda like little Bo Peep :)

She of course had an Easter basket from that a friendly bunny :) left for her.
Gosh I love taking pictures of our little girl.. I sure hope we can keep it up for when we have more children. She'll get spoiled until then.

Well the last month and a half have been same old same old. Sophie had her 6m checkup, 96% for Head and Lenght and 75th for weight... She's going to be tall I'm sure. She's so close to crawling these days. She's on all fours a lot and has mastered army crawling the last 6 weeks. She can go any where this way.
I've been spending a lot of time pretty much just taking care of Sophie, cooking and maintaining the house.. I've also taken an interest in making my own baby food. It's really kinda fun.. I've also been cooking for Clinton, his brothers and dad for lunch a few days a week sometimes so that can occupy a little of my time too.
Clinton had his Bball tournament 2 weeks ago up in Hutchinson; they lost both games :/ He's looking forward to the summer too I think. He'll be starting softball up which will be a fun family filled activity for us. We also have a few weddings to go to this summer that will be a good time as well.

As for Easter, we had a family filled fun day. Church-Grandma and Grandpa Chris's then off to the my side of the family... Nelson get together. Next family get together I believe will be at Clinton and I's home for the 4th of July, probably not that day but around then. I'm so excited to throw a gathering here.. Horse shoes, a fire, maybe some badminton :)
Anyways I had been putting off updating this but I finally got to it... wahoo!

Six months or so....

These pictures of Sophie are from a few days before she was 6 months, it was such a cute little outfit, I had to put it on.
This picture was taken at a girlfriend of mine's baby shower... on the 9th. It goes Miley 2m, Catherine 4m, Addison 11 months and Sophie just over 6months. They all are so different but appreciate the time spent together :) very cute.
The above picture is of Sophie laying on a quilt given to her by Clinton's godmother Carolyn. It was made especially for her, what a lucky girl.

These Times I Will Miss....

Sophie was sitting and playing and somehow pulled her sock off. I checked on her and it was in her mouth. It was one of the cutest things she's done yet. Five years from now I'll look back and miss these times. She's so cute. She cut one tooth on the fifth and she's about a day away from cutting another. She hasn't been as fussy as I thought she would be. She does get upset easier and cries sometimes just because it hurts but we're doing ok. The oral gel doesn't seem to work as well as baby tylenol but I don't like giving that too often. She's still mommys girl though, and always want to be in my arms. I get most of the house chores done while she's sleeping.

Our cat is trying to hide while she cleans herself,,... but I still see her

While I was in the kitchen Sophie rolled underneath the couch. For some reason she always likes doing this.

Literally the spitting image of me I swear. I wonder what she will look like when she is older... will she start to look more like daddy??
What a little stinker
Anyways that is all for now. She is changing everyday. It is such a blessing to be able to witness her grow up.

January

I haven't posted for a while so hence the title. Nothing much has really gone on this month besides alumni bball tournament this past weekend. It was so much fun to see everyone this weekend from Clinton's graduating class. So many people came back, more than usual. Clintons team won two of three games on Saturday so for the first time ever they played on Sunday and won their first then lost the next game. It was the farthest their team has ever gone, woohoo! Clinton sprained his ankle so it is black and blue on the inner and outer sides of his ankle. This year it was his right ankle the last two it has been is left. I'm pretty sure both he and I have weak ankles. I'm starting to get the itch for spring, a couple nights ago with the rain it was a quite tease. Of course then that froze and became the coldest night of the winter :/ Sophie as usual with any baby is changing all the time. Mostly this month I've noticed her interest in interacting with me and becoming more and more of a little person and less baby. I think I will look back at this time when she is one and miss it. She's just such a snuggle bunny especially with me. She is 100% mommys girl but I'm sure that will change once she learns to appreciate her playtime with daddy. Here are a few pic's I'll leave you with. Several at that. I take a lot!