The Amazing Standing Baby

For quite some time we have been calling Sophia the "amazing standing baby" because she loves standing so much, but now she's pulling herself up, standing on her own, and even gliding along the edge of the couch. From crawling to gliding in 5 days (she started this yesterday). She's growing by leaps and bounds. Tonight she also started clapping. It's very cute. But then we think most things she does are cute.

Poor Abby

See what I meant about our cat being in big trouble now that Sophia can crawl?

Today Sophia chased the cat about 15 feet from the family room, down the hall and into the living room before Abby finally bolted down the hall and into safety. Poor kitty, this isn't going to be a good time for her because Sophia thinks she's the most interesting thing in the house!

Crawling Baby!

We have a crawling baby! Oh boy are we in trouble. Sophia has been close the past few weeks, and taking a few crawl "steps" for about the last week, but last night she took off. Now she can go wherever she wants and is really enjoying this new freedom. The poor cat is staying very far away.

What is an appellate attorney?

Often when I tell someone what Paul does for a living they have no idea what an appellate attorney is. Well, if you want to see him live and in action before Oregon's Supreme Court, click here, http://webcast.chemeketa.edu/webcast/OregonSupremeCourt.htm, and go to the case State v. William Ernest Birchfield, and download the podcast. I will warn you, it takes quite a while to download. His arguments before the Supreme Court are not usually recorded, but the Supreme Court periodically travels to the community colleges of Oregon and Paul happened to be on the docket for a recent visit. The community college recorded the arguments and posted them online. Enjoy!

7 months old and Sophia is still meeting new family members!

Today Paul gave a continuing legal education talk over lunch in Roseburg. As that is a couple of hours away, we seized the opportunity to go to Roseburg a day early and visit our good friends the Simmons family. Sadly, I did not take any pictures with them, so if you need to be reminded of them, you may go to the blog post from Sunday, July 02, 2006.

Today while Paul was off educating lawyers, I went to visit my cousins who live to the northeast of Roseburg. To be technical, and to please my father, I visited my first-cousin-once removed, Kathy, my second cousin Diane, and Diane's sons Luke and Stanley, who are my second-cousins-once-removed. Luke and Stanley are Sophia's third cousins.

Ok, Dad-duties done, we had a fantastic time with them and Sophia took immediately to Kathy, wanting Kathy to hold and play with her. She got upset when Kathy left the room to make a salad. She was also highly charmed by Luke and Stanley who were amazing playing with her. It took longer to warm up to Diane, but once she did, she happily used Diane as a Johnny-jump-up.

After the wonderful time I spent with them today I left asking myself why I don't see them more often. I enjoyed myself so very much and Sophia seemed to as well. It is so lovely when people are more than family, but are also people you truly enjoy being with.

New Sophiemobile

We have joined the ranks of the uncool. Of course, it is entirely possible that we have been uncool for quite some time, but now it is official. Yesterday we bought a minivan, and so now we are truly uncool. We, however, have lots of space for Sophia's gear and all of our friends and family to ride together in comfort, so we're ok with our loss of status.

Also yesterday we met my parents and our friend Joanne (not pictured, unfortunately) for dinner where Grandpa John assisted Sophia in mounting an assault on Grandma Nancy. Grandma Nancy does not seem too upset by this.

Sophia is so close to crawling. This morning she actually did crawl forward about four paces, but hasn't repeated it. Apparently when she sees something she wants enough, she's willing to crawl as her form of transport. She is much more mobile in other ways too. She has learned to scoot while sitting upright on her bottom and that's pretty funny to watch. She also pushes herself backwards - her most frequent mode of transport - and uses the old standby, rolling. For the first time today we had to use the ottoman as a barrier to the kitchen. I think this is a sign of things to come. Pictured to the right you see her going after the toys in her box. We've been letting her choose her own toys lately and she really loves that.

She also is frequently interested in helping feed herself. When she is getting grumpy about eating we let her help. But we are not yet courageous enough to let her eat without us holding the end of the spoon. That mess is coming soon!

Happy Halloween!

Sophia couldn't decide if she wanted to be a penguin or a pumpkin, so she was both. She was a penguin to visit mine and Paul's works, and pumpkin to visit our neighbor's house for her one stop of actual trick-or-treating.

Weekend Round-up

This weekend we saw lots of people. Friday night we had company for dinner, the Ivins family who watched Sophia before her regular day-care started. It was fun to see them and they are such nice people. Their little girl, Talia, worked pretty hard bringing Sophia toys and keeping up a running commentary on lots of things. Rachel, who is a kindergarten teacher, even read to the girls some. Sophia was duly impressed by this much more professional reading-outloud standard.

Saturday Paul and Sophia went to Battle Ground to visit Grandma Darla and Grandpa Earl and watch a fairly tragic Husker game. At least they had Sophia to keep them happy. I had to work.

Tonight we had dinner with my parents. As usual, they were charmed by Sophia. Sophia in turn seemed to enjoy them. She was especially chatty, making lots of sounds. When she got close to Grandma Nancy she kept petting her arm and rubbing her face on her. I think she liked the way Grandma's sweater felt, but maybe she just wanted to snuggle with Grandma, you never know.

Finally I'm just including a few cute pictures of Sophia, because that's mostly why people come to the blog.

Halloween Card

Today Sophia received a card from Aunt Sue.
What does she do with a card?

Oh yes, it goes in the mouth. (Don't worry. I didn't actually let her chew on the card.)

Tantrums and New Hats

Yesterday we ran errands and hung out around the house. It was exactly what we needed after a few busy days.







Paul tried to teach Sophia to crawl. It didn't work. He continues to try.









Then she threw a massive tantrum when we fed her dinner.












Today she and I have been running errands and spending time just the two of us (with the exception of having lunch with Paul). This evening Paul took her for a walk and since it's chilly, she had to wear her new hat. I think it's a cute hat, so I took a picture.

Time with Aunt Sue

Friday was a very mixed day for me. We started by attending a memorial service for a much-loved family friend, Barb, who died a week ago. It was a lovely celebration of her life but it was very hard to say goodbye. After the service Sophia and I went to Scappoose to my aunt and uncle Sue and Jim’s house. My cousin (ok, if you want to be technical, 1st cousin once removed) Justin is the quarterback for the Scappoose High School football team and we wanted to see him play at least once. The plan was for Paul, Sophia and I to race up to Scappoose after work Friday in time for the game. But the memorial meant that I didn’t go to work at all Friday and Sophia and I were able to have a wonderful, relaxing afternoon with my aunt, and time with Sue is always time well spent. I know few people who are more likely to cheer you up when you’re sad. We had a fun afternoon with lots of playing with Sophia and looking at old pictures. Sue’s daughters Cheryl and Amy and my uncle Jim were all with us for dinner and Paul made it just in time to scarf down some soup and head off to the game.

It was Sophia’s first live football game, although as you may have noticed since she is a Smith she has watched a few football games on T.V. Since the game didn’t start until 7 and she usually goes to bed between 7 & 7:30, and she’d had such a strange day with the memorial, reception afterwards all the time in the car, and being in a new place, we did not know what to expect from her at the game. She was perfectly behaved! She looked around with wide eyes all the time, and frequently seemed to be watching the game. I’m quite sure she understands football better than I do. She and I left at halftime because we didn’t want to push our luck, but she was very good. The red snowsuit she is pictured wearing was mine when I was little. It kept her nice and warm.

Saturday morning we hung out with Sue and Jim and had a lovely time with them. Sophia and Sue had some good time to bond. I am really lucky to have such a good relationship with my aunt and I hope Sophia will too!

Grandpa Weekend

Sophia's Grandpa John stayed with us this weekend. He was in town to attend a Willamette University Board of Trustees meeting and instead of going back and forth to Portland each day; he spent Friday and Saturday night with us. My mom’s friend Brenda stayed with her. It was quite a treat for all three of us to have him visit and Sophia seemed quite fascinated by him. Granted, for these few days, he has been the most interesting and strange member of the household, so who can blame her?

Today we tried to go to a farm that has all kinds of fun fall activities, corn and hay mazes, a hay ride, a pumpkin patch and other things. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was pouring and we decided not to wander around outside. We did take the opportunity to pose for a few pictures in their gift shop and buy fresh corn to have for lunch. At least Sophia is too young to be heartbroken by the change of plans. But the ride to and from the farm was fun for Sophia since with my father here, she got to have someone ride in the back seat with her and she loves to have company back there.

I don't think we reported on Sophia's six-month doctor's visit which was held on Tuesday. She had all of her vaccinations and weighted in at 18 lbs 13 oz. She is 27 3/4 in tall with a head circumference of 17 inches. She remains slightly above the 90 percentile, the same place she has been since birth, which is one of the things doctors look for. They don't want to see dramatic decreases in percentile position. She is quite healthy, but we think she may have a skin allergy to apples. Her six month visit was a little late because the doctor wanted to wait until she was over her ear infection.

Lately we have noticed a tendency for Sophia to create what we are calling a "blast zone" of toys around her: whatever toys she is playing with end up spread in about a circle just beyond arms' reach. It certainly increases the mess around here!

Things continue to go about on schedule for her. She really loves eating her finger foods, but we've only got her on the veggie puffs so far. Today we gave her some mashed potatoes. She seemed to like the taste but have a hard time with the thickness. She isn't crawling yet, but looks like she's about ready to sit up from lying flat on the floor. That will be a big step since one of the things she's doing a lot lately is falling over and bonking her head into things that are giving her bruises. It's awfully hard to see her with bruises on her face, but I guess we'll just have to get used to it as she gets more mobile.

More fun and excitement

Today we had more fun and excitement in the Wittmayer and Smith household. (Or as everyone else likes to think of it, Sophia's house.) This afternoon Sophia and I went to a lovely party with my friends who work at our branch library. They are not people I get to see a lot but I always enjoy them. They made the most lovely gift for Sophia. Pat painted the picture and Mary

Beth did the calligraphy. It is a very special gift and we'll hang it up in Sophia's room tomorrow. If you can't read what it says, click on the picture, which should take you to an enlargement so you can. The words are worth reading.

I was having such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures of Sophia with everyone. But she sat in the middle of the room and entertained folks the entire time. I think it's her job. If only it brought it more money!

Later in the evening, Grandpa Earl and Grandma Darla stopped in for a brief visit. They had been in Eugene most of the day with Barry and Jess. Sophia is always happy with the attention she gets from her grandparents!

Today Sophia is wearing this pretty new dress that Grandma Nancy bought her. Grandma Nancy takes her grandmotherly shopping duties very seriously and picks very cute clothing! This was the first day in this new dress and it was quite a hit. (The hem was quite nice to chew on for one thing.)

I've seen these very cute baby birth counters on websites and forms a lot and thought it would be a fun thing to add to our blog. Unfortunately, I'm not savvy enough with html to figure out how to keep it up top or someplace permanent, so it's going into this post. At the time I'm putting it in this post it shows that Sophia is 6 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old, but I believe it will advance every day.

Big day in Eugene

Today we spent most of our day in Eugene. It is about halfway between Salem and Roseburg where our good friends the Simmons family live. We met them for lunch and a walk in the park.

Alex did an excellent job pushing Sophia in the stroller, although she kept a sharp eye on Daddy to be sure she was safe. Or perhaps she was keeping an eye on Daddy giving a ride to Gabriel wondering why he was sharing his shoulders with another child.

She also loved hanging out with Ann Marie and especially loved touching her sweater.
After the park, we went to visit Aunt Jess and Uncle Barry who live in Eugene. While there, Sophia had her first taste of ice cream. It was a big hit.

Also popular was playing with her aunt and uncle who seem quite taken with her. It had been a while since we'd seen Aunt Jess and Sophia got to show off her more hair, new teeth, and ability to sit up.

After the fun, full day, she slept all the day home. If only both Mommy and Daddy could, but one of them had to drive home!

Visits with the grandparents

Sunday Grandparents Earl and Darla came to visit for the day. They took care of Sophia for a few hours while Paul and I got a much-needed break and went to see a movie. This last week has been pretty tough with Sophia sick, and we're both quite drained. Tonight, my parents came for dinner.

Sophia continues to improve, although she is still a bit grumpy, tires easily, and her sleep patterns are off. The last few mornings she has woken up about 3:30 needing to eat. That's just way to early! She is also crying a lot in her sleep. It's almost like she's having nightmares. Do babies have nightmares?

Today her day care provider thought she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic and that was causing a rash on her stomach. We think this is unlikely since Sophia hasn't had any antibiotics since Thursday. The day care person assumed she was still taking them. It seems that the rash is more of a heat rash from having a fever for so long. But it just seems to be one thing after another! We talked about starting a new food yesterday, but decided that with the way things have been going lately, it probably wouldn't go well, so we'd hold off. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Whatever normal is.