Carb Coma!!

Maybe we just kept her up a little too long...or the carbs set in!

Peas

Butternut

Well Sofia's first veggie was butternut squash and she loved it! Yippee!

I have to tell you how much I love my Beaba baby food maker...it steams and purees in the same bowl in about 15 min. Plus I got freezer trays, so I can store about 2 weeks of food...what a time saver! Oh and the food is fresh and fabulous!

4 month check up!

Today was Sofia's 4 month Dr. visit....more shots, but she is officially 2 feet and 13.8 pounds! Tom pointed out that she is nearly half my height already...yeah great! Discipline might be a challenge when your preschooler is taller than you! ahahhahahh
No pics today, but we received Aunt Katie's (THANKS!!) xmas gifts and OMG! She sent a mermaid sleeper that will for sure get its own photo shoot!

How lucky are we?!

Ok so a few things have happened over the past few days that have totally taken us by surprise and made us so thankful for such a wonderful baby!

1. Sofia now puts herself to sleep in the crib with none to just a little fussing...even for her afternoon nap. We are still working on the morning naps

2. She has transitioned without any trouble to her first sippy cup....Stella skip buying too many bottles...I will send you all mine, and get the Tommy Tippee transition cups...they rock!! I am still breast feeding, but it has given us the ability to feed her while driving, and now when she pops a tooth we are ready for a full time sippy cup lifestyle! Yippee!

3. Her self soothing techniques have helped while driving...I am no longer needed in the back seat...this will be fabulous when Tom leaves. There have been a few times I had to drive alone and listened to her scream for 15 min and it broke my heart! And my ears! ahahhahha

All I can do is be thankful for the recent changes...very thankful!!
We are so lucky to have you Sofia!!

Rice cereal

These pics are the first attempts at rice cereal! She likes it so far!

Sofia's Baptism

We had her baptism yesterday...it was great! The Father was hysterical! Sofia got tired midway...fussed a little and fell asleep.
Here are some pics of the dress eating when I was trying to take the dress off after we got home! The video is long, but I will see if I can get it posted.

Miyamairi!

Today was Sofia's Miyamairi! It was so cool!
We entered the Shrine area and sat with a few other families. The priest entered and said a few things. He then made offerings and chanted a few things. The families then had to place an offering - a branch with paper tied to it. We then bowed and clapped and bowed again...2 times each. Then the priest came around and put rice 3 times on each baby's head. It was so interesting! The priest then gave us a gift...a lucky charm and a paper with kanji, which I will read later and give an update on, but this paper is sealed by the shrine and you put it in your home shrine to keep bringing good luck and blessings to Sofia...it shows you how and what to put as offerings...like sake and rice. I am so loving this!
Today was also a holiday where you put wishes for the new year on paper and tie it to a line that was set up at the shrine with hopes that your wish will be answered.
It was very busy there, but Sofia got so many compliments on her cuteness!!
We also ran into our post office friends...they run the extremely small post office that I get my Japanese mail at....they are so nice that I just have stuff mailed to me there and they call me to come pick it up. No PO Box. They have a very cute 1 year old! She grabbed her dad's hat off while we were talking...it was funny!
Another highlight was Tom getting a ticket for pulling a U turn where it was not allowed...we both didn't see the sign...we were so hungry and trying to get to the convenience store for a small snack. We thought maybe the kimono and the fact that we were on our way to Miyamairi might get us out of it, but no go! So anyway...it will cost around $65, but that is not too bad.
Tomorrow Baptism!

Today's Car Ride

Self soothing...thought it was wine, chocolate or the fetal position....you were wrong. This is how it is done!!

Finding our groove

Well...no crazy stories this time, but just for an update -
We are sleeping through the night for at least a month now! I feel so much better! Sofia is working on her sentences...they are more like drawn out sounds that she strings together with very serious looks! It cracks me and Tom up! She is liking her Bumpo chair and her new carrier. We really like it, too! No more broken arms!
She is also blowing tons of raspberries...aka spit bubble makers or drool ejectors!
We enjoy seeing what position she has gotten herself into every morning...normally it is a 180 out of the covers, but some days she is on her stomach.
We are going for her Miyamairi and Baptism this weekend, so I will post those pics and hopefully there are no Macgyver moments!
We are also starting rice cereal this weekend..and hoping to start the transition to a sippy cup. Isn't is amazing....they have transitional cups for as early as 4 months! Who knew!?
Sofia is very alert and into everyone and everything! She stares so hard that she ends up leaning toward whatever she is looking at....it is so cute!

From front to back

No this is not about how we should all wipe! This is about how Sofia has been working on her rolling!
We kept waking up to her upset because she had rolled from back to front, but was resting on top of her arm...she couldn't quite get that arm from out underneath her.....but last night we got to witness a full roll! We have pictures, but no video...sorry we were too late and the card was out of it anyway. It was awesome! She used the lift the head and chest technique to give room to move the arm tot he side! We were so excited, but she on the other hand needed a hug! She freaked herself out somehow!
Nevermind...just found out we don't have pictures! We both got new point and shoot cameras for easy picture taking....apparently we need to read the manuals or something! HAHHAHHA