First Haircut!

Sofia had her first haircut last weekend at 'Divas 'n' Dudes' without ANY tears. It was actually really cute - they set her up in a purple jeep with an elmo video (score!) while the lady quickly snipped the stragglers in the back and cut the hair out of her eyes in the front (which basically means she has bangs - mom had a little heartburn over that but thank goodness hair grows back!) Here are the 'before' and 'after' shots...

The real birthday

Sofia's real first birthday just happened to be on Thanksgiving Day...pretty special! She scarfed up turkey dinner (this kid is an eater!) and then opened presents and THEN had cake. As you can tell, she lover her presents...

The birthday before the birthday...

So, we celebrated Sofia's birthday twice (get ready for a few posts). First, we celebrated at Papa Beach's house the weekend before Thanksgiving (which happens to also be Sofia's real birthday). We had a great time and she LOVED her cupcake

Who Needs Music?

Just had to post this video b/c it makes me laugh...apparently Sofia doesn't need music to dance...

Happy Halloween!

Sofia's first Halloween was a success! She dressed up as the rather unknown 'Pumpkin Princess' and she actually kept her costume on and seemed to enjoy running around in the dark. Rob even let her have a lick of her first lollipop (uh-oh). While I think we only got about 5 or 6 pieces of candy this year (which are pretty much for dad), I think she did a lot of studying how the other kids picked houses for candy and will have her game plan all figured out for next year....

Christening

Sofia had a big weekend this past weekend - she was christened and the whole family was there. My dad and sister even came up from Norfolk. Sofia did really well sitting through an entire mass and didn't even freak out when they poured the water on her head - although they pour it three times - father, son, and holy spirit- and she really didn't want to lay back for that last one....apparently she wasn't as interested in the holy spirit as she was the father and the son....kidding! But seriously, the church was beautiful, the ceremony went great, and it was wonderful to have the whole family together. We even got a great picture of all of the Germano family cousins...

La Famiglia

In a continuation from our last post...while we were in New York, we went to Long Island to visit with family. Sofia got to meet her Cousin Bobby and her Cousin Logan for the first time. Bobby LOVED pushing Sofia in her stroller. In fact, he pushed Sofia all the way home from the park on Sunday. Logan was extremely generous in sharing his toys with Sofia and got to see her enjoy her first NY pizza (and boy did she enjoy it - I've never seen the girl eat that much!).

Sofia takes Manhattan

So....our first trip to NY was a success! Sofia did GREAT in the car. We left at 4am so she would sleep for around half of the trip and it definitely worked. And not only that, we made it to the Holland Tunnel in 5 1/2 hours!! Once we got into our hotel, Sofia was definitely 'itching' to get into the city...check out the video below. Oh, and she was just as excited to be in the streets and walking around in her stroller, I'm sure it has to do with all of the stimulation but she really LOVED walking around. After stopping by FAO Schwartz, we spent most of Friday in the Central Park Zoo, which by the way is amazing. I'll post a few pics of that, as well. On Saturday, we had tickets for the second to last game in Yankee Stadium...Sofia took her first subway ride to the game and did great. Ok, pictures of everything are below:

This hotel room is boring...let's get into the city!!!

FAO Schwartz

Central Park Zoo

Yankee Game

Social Butterfly

Sofia was invited to her SECOND birthday party this past weekend...she's quite the social butterfly. Our friend, Taylor, turned 3 so we had to go help her celebrate. All the girls (yep, all of my friends have girls, too!) sat at the table to eat pizza together. Sofia even got to sit in a high chair and hang with the 'big' girls. A few pictures are below. The caption for that second picture should be 'Please, mom, don't embarass me while I'm hangin' with the big girls'...

Teeny Tiny Sofia Goes Grocery Shopping...

So we bought one of those things that you can put in your grocery cart for your baby to sit in and stay clean...and decided to try it out on our Sunday morning grocery store visit....Unfortunately, Sofia is so small she tends to fall over to one side while we shop...sooooo, we 'borrowed' a couple of paper towel rolls for the trip :)

NYC

So we are planning a trip to NYC next month to the see the Yankees play one of their last games in Yankee Stadium....and I caught Sofia the other day reading up on places to eat. I'd say she's definitely living up to her Italian genes! (and we're open to any advice on the best way to road trip with your 9 month old...)

Sofia's New 'Bo'

Our friends, the Strongs, were in town this past week and brought their son, Bo, by for a visit. Sofia and Bo got along great...Sofia even shared her toys with him AND let him come in and visit while she was taking her bath (hence the title for this post - we needed some sort of commitment from the guy before he could see her bathe!). And I think he impressed his future father-in-law by teaching him how to put the cap back on his beer...a few pictures and a quick video are below:

Visiting with Gracie

I babysat for our friend, Gracie, this past week and wanted to share some photos. Sofia loved just 'hangin' with the girls' and Gracie was so sweet to share her toys with Sofia...

Crawling

I just realized that I never posted a video of Sofia actually crawling. She become very proficient at the 'army crawl' (seriously, if I could figure out a way to attach a mop head to her belly, our floors would be spotless!), but just recently has started also crawling a little on her knees, and even starting to stand up! I have a quick video of her going from army to knee crawl...and crawling right to the stereo...which she, of course, isn't supposed to touch :)

Just a little spoiled...

Okay, I know you're not supposed to buy your child everything she wants...but we really couldn't resist. Rob and I took Sofia to Short Pump (local open air mall) to see some live music on Friday evening and walked into the Pottery Barn Kids store for the heck of it....Sofia wouldn't put this 'pillow' down, so we had to buy it. She has played with it all weekend, too! Maybe, just maybe, she'll inherit some of her dad's musical talent...

Playing with Dad...

Ok, these were too cute not to post. Sofia loves getting down on the floor and playing with Dad. especially when he pulls out all of the toys and spreads them all over the floor :) (thanks, Aunt Paula, for the stylish purse!)

Had to post...

In the words of Britney Spears...'We're just country....'

(By the way, Sofia LOVES Papa Beach's golf cart)

Play time...

It's been awhile since my last post and Sofia is growing like a weed - she's started to try to crawl and is playing 'games' with us. Below are videos of both (a crawl attempt and playing peek-a-boo with us). Hope you enjoy!

Beatin' the Heat!

Ok, last post for today (three in one day is good for me!) Wanted to post a quick video of Sofia in her new baby pool. She LOVES her baths, so we figured she'd get a kick out of a baby pool. She seemed to enjoy it and with the 100 degree weather in Richmond lately, I think it's a necessity...

Sitting Pretty

Sofia is such a big girl now!! She can officially sit up all by herself and play. Of course, if it's a choice between being held and sitting by herself, she's going to choose being held every time :) But she really is doing a great job balancing herself and not falling over. She also had her six month appointment and everything is going well. She's 10th percentile for weight and 25th for height - Fittingly enough, the ladies at daycare have nicknamed her 'Teeny Tiny Sofia'. Other than that, not much new in the 'milestone' department...oh! but she is starting to eat more solid foods (loves the 'p' fruits) and just for fun we gave her a sippy cup with water to see what she would do with it - she sucked on it but I think she was a little frustrated that the plastic wasn't 'squeezable' (ha)....but she did get some water out!

Father's Day

Sofia and Rob had a great first Father's Day together. Sofia (i.e. the ladies at daycare) made Rob a father's day card, which was pretty cute. Then, we all went to 'downtown Shortpump' (which is really just a huge outdoor mall) and Sofia and Rob rode the miniature train together. Pictures of both are below....

Cousin Henry

Just wanted to post a quick picture (or two) of Cousin Henry! (he looks so content in that second picture, doesn't he?) I know I've been bad about keeping up with the blog for the past couple of weeks, but I promise to blog more soon....

New Cousin & First Beach Trip

Great News! Sofia has a new baby cousin, Henry. He was born around 5:30pm on Saturday, May 24th. Everyone is doing great... We had already planned to head down to Papa Beach's house on the Eastern Shore on Sunday for Memorial Day, but we left a day early so we could meet Henry. On Sunday, Sofia made her first real trip to the beach. The water was a bit chilly, so we didn't get to do much 'swimming' but she really seemed to enjoy relaxing at the beach...check out her pictures below...

She looks like...

So Papa Beach (my dad) was watching the video that I posted to the blog and was convinced he had seen a face similar to that before. He immediately went to my grandma's (his mom's) house and dug up his old baby pictures. He sent me one and I'm posting it b/c I think it speaks for itself...so much for looking like mom or dad!!

(How cool is that highchair!?)

Mother's Day

As if just being a new mom isn't reward enough...I get a whole new holiday!! Pretty exciting. Sofia (i.e. the ladies at daycare) made me a Mother's Day card and I received beautiful flowers at work...all in all a pretty satisfying Mother's Day. See below for a picture of my card. As far as other 'happenings', Sofia's cousin, Nick, was in a 'Battle of the Books' at his elementary school. Basically, he had to read 25 books and be chosen to respresent his school in a contest where they are asked questions about the books (competing against two other schools). Well, Nick did great and his school WON!! We are very proud of him...I'll post a picture of him, too...he is the second from the right in the back row (standing up).

Update...

Sofia is starting to really 'eat' more of her solid foods...so far, she likes peas and pears (anything with a 'p' apparently). I wouldn't say she's eating a great amount, but she's getting a lot more down than when we started...and she actually seems to like it. That grand myth about solid foods helping babies sleep through the night hasn't come true for us, yet, but i really can't complain because Sofia is a great sleeper...she only wakes once a night and is right back to sleep after eating. As Papa Beach says, 'it's fun to eat in the middle of the night'!
Other than that, not much is going on...thought I'd post another video because then you really get to see what a happy baby she is, so here is a new one (we took her exersaucer outside and she's playing with dad):

Me Talk Pretty One Day...

Wanted to post a quick video of Sofia 'talking'. She really seems to like the bug toy on her changing table - I'm not sure what they were talking about but it sounds like it was funny to her!

Solid Foods Here We Come...

So the doctor told us at Sofia's four month appointment that we could start solid foods anywhere between four and six months. We started last week and we are getting a slow start. I think her face in the picture below pretty much sums up her attitude towards rice cereal so far (maybe? maybe not...)

Like Father, Like Daughter

Just a quick update on Sofia...she's almost 5 months old now and is really starting to develop a personality. She's discovered her voice and is saying a lot of 'aaah' sounds, which is fun. We've also discovered that she and her dad have a couple of things in common....an affection for miller lite cans...and the yankees (yep, she's actually drooling over the miller lite can)

Easter Bunny/Project Runway

Ok, so I'm already failing at being a 'diligent' blogger, but i do have two quick things to say regarding the Easter Bunny and Project Runway...how do they relate, you ask? Read on...

We decided to take Sofia to the middle of suburbia to see her first easter bunny this year. We also decided that the easter bunny had a strange resemeblance to the bunny from Donnie Darko...seriously, THAT creepy. The good news is Sofia didn't really cry, but she didn't really smile, either. She really wasn't impressed by the easter bunny at all. I recommend researching your bunny before you go.

As for Project Runway, we've decided that Sofia totally idolizes Christian, this year's Project Runway winner, because she is evidently copying his hairstyle....the picture is above - see for yourself...she is FIERCE!

that's all for now....more later