Super Bowl Bound!!

Our little Packer backer is already in bed for the evening so I had to use an old picture to celebrate the fact that the Packers beat the Bears today and the Pack are headed to the Super Bowl!! We are so excited!! Tim and I are die hard Packer fans and I think Sofia has caught the bug as well. We watched the game with our friends Sam, Lea, Dave, Rachel, and their son Jude. The game was mentally exhausting to watch, especially with the events that took place the night before.

Saturday was the night for SCO's annual formal dance, the Eye Ball. We decided to go out to dinner with our friends but not to the dance. Tim and I didn't want to spend 50-60 dollars on a babysitter for an event that is usually full of wasted first and second years acting ridiculous. We had an awesome meal at Bosco's, a local Memphis restaurant/brewery. It was so nice to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen much lately. Sofia came with us and was awesome, especially considering the fact that we kept her out an hour and a half past her bed time. She went to bed easily and Tim and I thought we would get our normal night of uninterrupted sleep. We are very lucky to have such a great baby, she has slept through the night since she was about 3-4 months old. Around midnight she started crying so my awesome hubby let me sleep and tried changing her but she only started screaming more, with no fever, this is extremely odd behavior for Sofia. She hasn't really been sick since before she had her tubes put in and had regular ear infections. We assumed that she was cutting a new tooth but she had no fever and we couldn't feel anything but we gave her some Tylenol and Oragel just so we could cross that off as a possible problem. We tried feeding her, rocking her, and the only time she wasn't screaming was when Tim was moving around with her. Tim was a trooper and kept this up until 5:00am with a few breaks from me. Finally I think she feel asleep from pure exhaustation and slept until 7:00am. With the daylight I was able to notice clear fluid draining from her right ear. I called Sofia's ENT (who is an awesome doctor by the way) and we were able to start drops right away and give her Tylenol for the pain. I just feel awful that she was in so much pain throughout the night. Overall she had a pretty good day with a long nap in the middle of the day. Hopefully we have an easier night. Tomorrow morning I have to bring her in to the ENT so he can check out her ear and make sure everything is ok. So much for getting ahead on sick days at work. Last night gave me a new appreciation for people with fussy babies or babies who don't sleep well at night. Tim and I have felt awful today from getting so little sleep, but we really can't complain about one rough night in the past 6 months.

10 months old!!

It's amazing how quickly Sofia is learning and growing. I just had to write a post about all of the new things she has started doing in the past month. She started "officially" crawling about a week after Christmas. I say official because before January she would crawl around backwards or find other weird ways to move her body around or grab something she wanted. Now that she is crawling, she is a very busy girl. She literally does laps crawling around the apartment. At first she would only crawl far enough so she could still see me. That stopped quickly, now she will go off on adventures by herself. Her favorite destinations include the pantry, Frodo's water bowl, and her bathroom (if there's water running she pulls herself up on the tub and starts screaming and clapping, she LOVES bathtime). Speaking of bath time, Sofia is a wild lady in the tub. I'm convinced she would do back flips if I'd let her. It's actually a little scary giving her baths now because she climbs all over the tub and wants to stand in the tub. She loves to splash, play with bath toys, and is always disappointed when it's time to dry off.

Sofia loves to play, dance, and be active but she still loves to snuggle. She gives great hugs and is working on kisses. Tim and I play a sneak up game with her and I just love it when she screams in glee and nuzzles her head into my neck. Sofia also loves to read on her own and be read to, she will sometimes even babble as if she is reading. She is so sweet when we read to her, she snuggles in our laps, points to pictures and babbles, and even turns the pages.

Other random information about Sofia at 10 months

• Wears 18 month clothing
• Eats a comination of pureed food and table food
• Sleeps from 8pm-6am
• Wakes up with a smile and cooing most days, morning are very busy but a ton of fun
• Still doesn't nap, we're lucky if she'll take a 30 minute nap during the day. Although this can be frustrating, Tim and I are happy she usually sleeps so well during the night and she is just a kid who doesn't need much of a nap during the day.
• Is totally obsessed with Frodo
• Uses Mama and Dada, we think she's starting to figure it out because sometimes she will specifically use one or the other for one of us. However, she will also say Dada when she sees Frodo so who knows :)
• Just started wearing her first pair of Keens since she is really starting to cruise around on furniture and she needed big girl shoes since she moved to the Infant II room at FLICC

Snow Day!

We are lucky to be in the midst of our second three day weekend. Last Monday we woke up to a few inches of snow and in Memphis, that means total shutdown. All of the school districts within about 50 miles were closed and I think everyone enjoyed a great snow day. Tim is currently at his school's clinic which meant that he also had a snow day. We inflated our pool rafts to take Sofia sledding down by the Mississippi river. It was a decent sized hill, probably the biggest you could find in Memphis. The only downside of the snow day is that my school district will require us to make the day up.

Tim and Sofia after their first run down the hill.

Getting ready for another run.

Even Frodo got in on the action.

I LOVE snow days!!

Christmas 2010

Things are finally settling down a little bit since returning from Christmas in Wisconsin. The long drive up and back were a little crazier with Sofia being older. She naps less and is not pleased sitting in the car for the 11 hour drive one way. We returned last Sunday just in time for the Packer game and barely unpacked and it's been a crazy work week for Tim and I until today. Tim and I were fortunate enough to both have two weeks off for Christmas and since we haven't been in Wisconsin since April we decided to spend a week with each of our families. We started out the trip in Waukesha to see my family. We had a nice time catching up with my parents and sisters. My Uncle Kevin was also in town for a day to visit my Grandma so it was nice to see him as well. Tim and I also met my sister's boyfriend Carlos. He was not only a great guy but Sofia adores him. Christmas Eve we attended my cousin Bobbi's church. She just had a beautiful baby girl who was baby Jesus in her church service so we just had to see that. We spent Christmas Eve doing our traditional "fondue" dinner and teaching everyone a new game.

Here are some highlights from our week in Waukesha.

Here is Sofia hanging out with Sean & Ian, the children of our friends, Charles & Kelly.

When Tim and I lived in Milwaukee one of our favorite things to do was hang out on the lake shore and explore the art museum. Here is Sofia visiting the museum for her first time.

This is all of my family at the Christmas Eve church service.

Sofia hanging out with Tim & Carlos, waiting for our fondue adventure to begin!

Christmas Day we left for Baraboo to spend some time with Tim's family. We timed the trip pretty well so Sofia was able to sleep in the car most of the way. Shortly after we arrived the Sullivan side of Tim's family arrived and we all opened presents together. Some presents were more interesting than others as you will notice in the pictures below. The next day many of the Ruders came to visit and watch the Packer game. We were sad that we didn't get to meet Tim's cousin's new baby, Nimueh, but hopefully we will meet her in the near future. The rest of the week was pretty relaxing. We spent some time cross country skiing, sledding, building a snow man, ice skating, ice hockey, lots of games of ping pong, and of course, a few nights of Settlers of Cataan. Settlers is a board game that we learned about four years ago that Tim's family is OBSESSED with. To be honest, Tim and I like the game a lot too. Before everyone moved from Memphis for externs we got together with some friends of ours to play almost weekly. Go ahead, call us nerds! We also spent a day meeting with some different optometrists in Wisconsin exploring different opportunities for Tim. It will be very interesting to see how things work out in the next 6 or 7 months. Tim and I love Wisconsin, but we also love the mountains and the ocean and Wisconsin is close to neither. So although we are definitely looking in Wisconsin, we are keeping our options open for different locations as well.


Here are the highlights from our week in Baraboo.

Sonya, Liam, and Sofia checking out Uncle Christopher in his "morph suit' Christmas present.

She wasn't sure what to think at first, but Sofia quickly warmed up to Uncle Chris in his suit.

Jon, Chris and I cross country skiing at Mirror Lake State Park

Sofia's first ice skating experience at Bob & Bobbi's cabin in Pardeeville. She didn't exactly skate but she definitely enjoyed being pulled around the lake.

Sofia seems pretty comfortable hanging out in her chariot.

Family picture in front of Sofia's first snow man.

Sofia's first time sledding

Sofia hanging out in Tim's rocking chair he had when he was her age.