Happy 1st Birthday, Sofia!

* This post was written over a month ago...oops!


Sofia, you are 1 year old!

You are such a sweet, happy baby. You love to watch your older brother and sister play and are starting to interact more with them. You started playing peek-a-boo about a month or two ago and started taking steps on your own in the week before your birthday. Won't be long until you're walking all the time!

Words you say

- What's that?
- da da
- Hi!

Sizes

- You weigh 15lbs, 14oz. and are 27.5 in long.  You are TINY!
- You wear mostly 9 month clothing, but are starting to fit into 12 month stuff.
- You wear size 3 diapers

On the move

- You are a fast crawler!
- You stand and cruise around furniture
- You've started standing up on your own in the week before your b-day and taking a handful of steps. You are so proud of yourself when you do this!

Sleep

- You typically take 2 naps a day, length and time are never consistent.
- You are not a good sleeper. You cannot soothe yourself to sleep (my fault) so when you wake, which is often, you cry for someone. Up until about 2 weeks ago, you were still waking every 1.5-2hrs at night. You've now stretched it out to only 1 or 2 times per night, but who knows how long that will last!

Play

- You love stuffed animals and baby dolls. You laugh and hug them and push them around in your doll stroller
- Books...you love 'em and it makes me so happy to see that.
- Like most babies, you love phones and remotes. You're always after them!
-You LOVE the water. Tubs, pools, a puddle...doesn't matter to you, you just want to play in it!

I'm 3 months in...

Moving away from home - away from friends, family, comfortable smells, routine, a language we know - has proven to be difficult.  I'm 3 months in and there's so much I miss about 'home' that, if I allow myself to dwell on it too long, stirs a little ache in my heart.  I miss my friends so much - playdates, bible studies, getting together for dinner and wine, missed birthdays, not being able to watch friend's babies grow (big kids, too!).  Sometimes it's all too much.  That's when I turn my focus to what I have here - new friends, playdates, a bible study, birthday parties...so much history to explore!  I've found that I need to be intentional with my thoughts and make it a point to get out often.  Afterall, there was a time when Minnesota was new to me and I didn't know anyone or anything.  That all changed; this will too. 

I always ask the women I meet where they are in their stay here in D'dorf.  Did you just get here?  Been here awhile?  Leaving soon?  Almost all of them say they've been here for the length of their husband's work contract (most often 2 or 3 yrs), but love it so much that they extended their stay another year.  I love hearing that.  It gives me hope that I'll get there too.  Actually, I do love it here.  I just love it back home more.  We've been told that will change and I can see how it would.  Life is so laid back and family-oriented here.  The public transportation is easy, fast and reliable.  I've figured out the grocery store, am okay with only having one car and am not afraid to explore on my own.  My bike has seen more road in the last 3 months than it ever had in the past 10 years.  Our stroller is used many times a day.  Our tv is almost never on. 

I'm 3 months in and I think I'll like it...especially after visiting this -

Cathedral in Cologne, Germany

Fast forward 1 year, 6 months...

I'm not going to try to catch-up on the happenings over the last year and a half.  Just thinking about the work and amount of posts that would involve has kept me from updating the blog for the past 3 months so I've decided to jump back into it; not where I left off, but in the present.  Right now.  And what better time to do so since we're on the adventure of our lives.  I started a blog for our travels when I thought I was going to let this one go, but I can't let go of all of these memories!  I decided to continue to add to them, especially because Natalie (still!) doesn't have a baby book and so much of her life is documented here.  And also because, true to form, littlest sister doesn't have a baby book and I should probably jot down some memories and milestones of her's as well. 

Most of our daily life isn't interesting to anyone other than the grandparents, aunts and uncles so here's the link to our travel blog - Adventures in Wonderland  It's a work in progress!

Pics from today:

Imagination at work - a fort built by the kids.