The Magic of the Season

Christmas is finally here! And of course this Christmas is extra special because it's Sophia's First Christmas! We embraced the season and tried to make lots of holiday memories, filled with Christmas parties, cookie baking, Rudolph books, a trip to the Nutcracker and visiting Santa!  We didn't know how excited Sophia would be about presents and the big man dressed in red,  but Mommy and Daddy could hardly contain their excitement to make all of these "first memories." 

Sophia meeting Santa for the first time.

 Our first big project...to decorate the house with all of our wonderful holiday decorations!  I was so excited to see Sophia's face look at the tree, all lit up, and expected her face to do the same.  She didn't quite light up like I thought, but she was definitely interested in it.  Mommy and Daddy didn't realize how different Christmas decorating would be with a baby!  The festive silver reindeer statue has now become a pointy ear weapon...

the tree needles have become a choking hazard, and the ornaments on the bottom branches have become toys!  But we made some adjustments, hung our stockings, put on some Christmas music, and enjoyed the decorating task, while watching our little angel discover Christmas for the first time.

Next project on the holiday checklist...christmas card pictures.  We undressed our small package, down to her diaper, plopped her in front of the tree, threw on a Santa hat, and tried to get that perfect smile.  We managed to get some really cute, unforgettable shots, and then we also got some not so fun shots when this little Santa had just had enough pictures!  Which are just as unforgettable in Mommy's eyes!

Enough pictures already!

It's not to hard to get a good picture of this little cutie! I tried really hard to get the finished project on here, but I must not be tech savvy enough for that.  So here are some of our favorites that we put on the card.  Not too bad for a unprofessional, home photo shoot!

 

Finally, the time had arrived!  Christmas Eve was upon us.  We packed up the car with LOTS of presents, and hit the road to Indian Lake for Christmas with the Young family, and then later the Best family.  The festivities started at Grandpa and Grandma Young's house with breakfast and lots of presents.


Reid and Sophia...anxiously awaiting present time!

Sophia was surely not going to go without this Christmas!  Here are some snapshots from the Young Family Christmas.



Eating wrapping paper...her favorite Christmas pasttime!



Fashionista baby!

Riding in Reid's John Deer...thanks Uncle Jimmy for the ride!

Pink pony from Grandpa and Grandma Young!

And later that day we got to Mamaw and Papaw Best's house, and Santa had already made a stop there too!  More and more presents!  Sophia did good politely tearing little strips of paper of the package...but really she was more interested in eating the pretty paper!


Learning Home from Mamaw and Papaw Best...she loves it!



Eating paper...yet again!

We had so much fun celebrating with all of our family, it was hard to end the night.  But we packed up again and headed home to Cincinnati, for our first Christmas as a family. 

Christmas morning came and little Sophia was up right on time, (even though we had a very late night).  It's almost as if the anticipation of Santa's arrival has already began in this precious girl.  We set up the video camera to capture all of our memories, and tackled the stockings and presents! 

Christmas morning!

Again, Sophia was more interested in eating the wrapping paper then playing with her new toys, but it didn't matter.  We were together, and we were a family!  The magic of this time together was simply priceless and I still am in awe of how blessed we are to have received the joyous gift of Sophia.  What an angel!  Our first Christmas...we will surely never forget!

Sophia's First Christmas

Forever Thankful

So here we are again...admiring at just how much Sophia is growing up and amazed at how much we have to be "Thankful" for. Sophia has forever changed our lives and we are so grateful that Dan and I have been blessed with the responsibility of parenthood. And I must say, this little girl makes it so fun!

This month brings a 7 month birthday and a whole lot of new skills with it! Our girl can definitely get to wherever she wants to go, in a very thought out, creative combination of rolling and scooting across the floor! She absolutely loves eating big girl food, along with drinking from a sippy cup. It's so amazing to see her sit, play and discover things totally on her own. She is so curious and loves to read books! We are also noticing that our little peanut can be very mischievous! Look at this face and can you see that she has definitely figured out how to manipulate us already?!?!

How could we not give her anything she wants after looking at this face?

 We have also encountered our first official virus this month...making Sophia an absolute "Mommy's girl" and bringing back memories of sleep deprivation to Mommy and Daddy!

But after a few sleepless nights, lots of late night snuggles and a little bit of patience, Sophia is back to her normal happy, smiley self! And oh, how glad we are to see her return!

We continue to be simply amazed with how blessed we are to have this "turkey" in our lives! And are so lucky to be able to watch her discover life, each and every day. We just can't wait to see what next month brings!