Baby's First Christmas

Silver bells, Jingle bells, Baby bell...Christmas with a baby is fun! Sophie's been a busy girl this holiday season, and it's not over yet. We have Christmas with her Oma and Grandpa today, and still some aunts and uncles to see. We started on the 9th with her Opa and cousins, then the 17th with Grandmaman, Grand-dad and Mommy's huge clan. Christmas Eve saw us visiting friends ...and through it all Sophie was completely spoiled. Sophie was a welcome part of our Solstice party with our friends (although Ivor's "Grizzly Adams" beard still makes her cry). She even slept a little, despite the 12 laughing adults in the next room. Christmas Day was relaxed at home. Sophie had a stocking to open with all sorts of goodies. We watched a Christmas movie, then Sophie and Mommy took a walk down Whyte Ave, where Sophie spread Christmas smiles to everyone who was out. We look forward to all the changes that 2007 will bring with our sassy little girl!

Yum!

Sophie tried her first solid food on Sat the 16th (her 5 month birthday)...and she loved it! We prepared a little bit of rice cereal (the "literature" tells you to start with a teaspoon of cereal mixed with milk), and we were all set for her to push most of it out of her mouth. Well, she plowed through the first batch, so we quickly whipped up a 3 tbsp mix, and she ate all of that, too. So far, we're just feeding her the cereal at supper time, but I think we'll bump it up to twice a day soon. We'll try vegetables the week after Christmas, when Michael is off work. I'm so excited about this new stage...although, I think we've entered a new era of mess and smelly diapers.

Teeth! Yahoo!

Sophie's had quite a couple weeks. First she started to do "raspberries", then she rolled over from her back to her front (of course when I had my back turned) and then she got those two front teeth that caused us so much stress a couple weeks ago. And man, are they sharp! One of her favourite things is still to suck on mommy's chin, but now she throws the tiny teeth into it. I'm going to have weird vampire marks under my chin. We're getting right into the Christmas season. Sophie had a visit with Santa: no tears, she just smiled and drooled. We also had Christmas/St. Nicholas Day with my dad and sisters. It was a good test run. Sophie stayed up for over 5 hours, happily played with new toys and her cousins, and stared at the Christmas tree. I think it's going to be a great holiday season.