Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

WARNING:  Lots of Christmas related posts coming your way!  My goal is to be caught up prior to New Year's Day...anyone want to take bets on if that's actually going to happen?!  LOL :)

Santa and Sophie at Old Town Spring

(December 5, 2010)

She was totally fascinated with his beard and there was a lot of petting and pulling going on.  

The catch ~ Santa's beard was real!  Poor Santa :(  

The Two Amigos with Santa!  

(December 5, 2010)

At least she's looking at the camera this time ;)

Santa and Sophie at Taste of Texas 

(December 20, 2010)

A great night with friends!  By the way, this was the calm before the storm.  About a millisecond later, she was crying :(  Santa is torture I tell you...just absolute torture! 

P.S.  Santa did not take offense to either the beard pulling or the tears.  He still made an adequate absurd delivery of toys on Christmas Eve!

Old Town Spring - Capturing Christmas Part 2

When we had our Christmas portraits taken at Old Town Spring, we also met up with Aunt Debbie, Uncle Daniel and Julian for some hang out time and of course, pictures with Santa!

The town is really cute ~ precious little houses that sell any number of things ~ candy, toys, food, Christmas decor, and the list goes on and on! We are definitely planning to make a repeat trip next Christmas and hopefully, this time Kevin will get the turkey leg he missed out on this year. He was quite disappointed that they were sold out when we were ready to leave :( Maybe next year, Honey!

And now for what you've all been waiting for...MORE PICTURES :)

Family and Friends ~ doesn't get much better than that!

Our little cuddlebug :)

If we only knew what they were thinking...

The two amigos all bundled up!

Capturing Christmas!

Yes, I was very excited about Christmas photos this year :)  Can you blame me?  I have a sweet, adorable baby girl to share this Christmas season with.  And that's the best Christmas gift that one could ever ask for! 

We went to Old Town Spring to meet Sabrina for our photo session and for the record it was COLD!  You can tell in a few of the pics that Sophie was just a little chilly (but it made her snuggly which I happen to love)!  Crazy Texas weather ~ you can just never tell from minute to minute :)

Here are a few of my favorites :)  Thanks Sabrina for capturing these memories for us!  We are truly grateful :)  See you in a month!

Already Eight!

Months old that is!  Where in the world did the time go?  It is almost Christmas and this time last year Sophie still had another four months of baking left to do.  That is just absolutely crazy to me!  She has totally changed our lives ~ I truly had no idea that you could love another human being as much as I love her.  She is definitely the light of our lives!  And why wouldn't she be ~ have you noticed how stinking CUTE she is???  Yes, I'm biased as her mother.  But honestly, she REALLY is one CUTE kid!

At eight months, our sweet Sophia is...

• MOBILE
• MOBILE
• And MORE MOBILE
• Crawling, Climbing, Pulling up on EVERYTHING, Letting Go and Trying to Stand Unsupported.  Did I mention yet, that she is incredibly MOBILE?!
• Into anything you don't want her to be into...favorite "no-no" items...cords, fireplace screen and picture frames.  By the way, there is just absolutely no way to fully child-proof a home ~ believe me, we tried!
• Loves the dogs :)  Annie = AAAAAAAAAAAA at a very shrill volume.  George = Bubu (and if that doesn't work George becomes a much shriller version of Annie.)
• Can say the following words:  Bye Bye (with a wave), Mama, Dada, Bubu, Baba and a number of other jibberish things that we entertain as true conversation :)
• Missed a week of school due to a cold, a virus, then an ear infection and severe congestion.  For the record, she still sounds AWFUL when she coughs.
• Clothes are a nightmare...6-months are the right length but too big, 9-month onesies fit ok but are still too big, and basically my kid needs to wear leggings of some form at all times as she is too skinny and too tall for most jeans. 
• Is still in Size 2 diapers but I am going to change that on our next diaper shipment.  Moving on up Kiddo!
• Weighs in at a whopping 16 lbs.  I threw that whopping in there just because it makes me feel better!  She's tiny ~ what do you do??
• Loves baby food, especially yogurt. Strawberry is her favorite, but peach and banana are satisfactory.
• Has tasted her first "solid" food...you know those little dissolvable yogurt drops and rice cake looking things...yeah those things.
• Met Santa Clause!  And did very well I might add :)
• Has a brand new pair of Roller Skates.  That is sort of an inside joke which will be explained in a separate post ~ Stay Tuned!
• Still loves school and all her friends.  She also seems to really enjoy her big girl classroom (6-12 months) which is definitely set up for more mobile infants.
• Has the best smile and laugh ever.  Though it has been missing for the last week...stupid sickness!
• Had her Christmas pictures taken ~ also a separate post to come (I'm a little behind on blogging!).
• And I'm sure I'm leaving out a million and one other things, but the most important is this ~ you are our precious, perfect gift from God!

We love you Sophia Grace!  You truly are our little angel!

Always and Forever,
Mommy and Daddy (and George and Annie)

Here is Sophie at almost 8 months old.  I failed to take a picture ON her birthday for the first time ever :(  Granted we were both miserably sick, so I'm going to blame it on that!  You can also use this as a sneak peek to the upcoming Christmas post previously mentioned!

My Little Pink Bundle of Happiness :)

All bundled up and ready for school this morning!

Super Duper Cute...

...and sort of sad :(

We have started the "cry it out" method...and I hate it...but it works...and I hate it! Did I mention I hate it?  Thankfully after a couple REALLY long nights, Sophie actually puts herself to sleep, or in some cases back to sleep, pretty well.  And the crying typically only lasts ten minutes at the most ~ which may seem like a long time, and it is to a Mommy's ears, but it's really not that long (at least that's what I tell myself!).

Anyway, think what you may of our parenting tactics, but I promise she is happy and healthy!

Today she was refusing to take a nap via swing or rocker so, enter Mommy putting her foot down.  After seven minutes (yes, I do time it!), this is the result...

Now how many of you just went, "awwwwwwwww"?!?!?!?!