It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Christmas is so much more fun with Sophie in my life!

I love singing to her and showing her the lights on the tree. Oh, and dressing her in her Christmas outfits. Just this week, we were in Bedford baking Christmas cookies with Mimi, Grandma, Grammy, and Great Aunt Dot. Sophie is sooooo big! At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 13 pounds 6 ounces!! (That was a MONTH ago!!) And tomorrow, she will be celebrating her 3 month "birthday." She can drink juice now and she LOVES it. All of the new flavors are apparently very yummy to her.

She is going to see Santa on Saturday and she will be baptised on Sunday. We have a couple of very busy weeks coming up and I am so excited for every second of it. As busy and exhasuting as parenting is, the good definitely outweighs the bad. I love my precious baby girl!!!

Smiles!! :-)

Sophie has started smiling and it is the best thing in the whole world! She is the most "smiley" in the morning when I go to her crib. Her face just lights up! She is up more during the day but she just wants to be held and it is pretty exhausting...I will be relieved when she can hold her head up and start to play more on her own. I am her primary source of entertainment right now, haha! I started doing Christmas shopping for her already. It is so much fun, even though there is not much she can play with at her age, so I am buying mostly 6 months and up. She will start to get some use out of it in the Spring at least. In less than 2 months, Sophie will be eating baby food and I am doing research now and am pretty much decided that she will be eating organic. The benefits are awesome! Here are some pics...

Halloween 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Sophie celebrated her first Halloween! All of these "firsts" make me a little sad, but she has to grow up...:-) I don't like it very much though! haha...She was a flower child for halloween and looked so adorable. We went to Aunt Kelly's because Daddy had to work. We trick-or-treated at a couple houses but we didn't get any candy because then I would have eaten it and we don't need that!! My girl is growing so quickly, she has already outgrown her 0-3 months clothes and she outgrew her newborn clothes before she was even born! haha Here are some pictures of her from Halloween...

Me and my big girl!!

Daddy had to go to work! :-(

Sweet Pictures

PICTURES

We had some pictures taken while in Bedford. Here are a couple...

Sophie & her GREAT-GREAT Grandmother! She is so lucky. :)

Five Generations

The pictures below were taken by Ms. Kim when Sophie was 2 1/2 weeks old. All of the pictures were so beautiful, these are just a few.

Our Family

Sophie & Mommy

What an angel!

Fall Festival

Sophie's First Trip to Bedford

Sophie and I traveled to Bedford, Pennsylvania for the first time this past weekend. We went up on Thursday with Mimi and then Lewis, Po-Po, and Uncle Michael came up on Friday night. We had such a great time with Grandma and Puppy. On Friday, we all had our picture taken of the five generations. They are going to put it in the Bedford Gazette and we are going to try and get it in the Independent as well. On Saturday, we met up with Nana and Pop and went to the Fall Festival. The weather was unseaonably warm but we had a good time. Sophie was awake for most of the festival and she just loves being pushed around in her stroller.

Here is Sophie in her stroller wearing her new outfit from Tina! The sun was a little warm on her face so we put a hat on her too. She looked so adorable!

After the festival on Saturday, we all had a nice dinner and then "birthday" cake for Sophie's 1 month! We all sang to her and she enjoyed it but she let out a cry as soon as we stopped! I blew out the candle for her and made a wish....that I won't tell because it might not come true. I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by. She is already getting so big. (11 pounds 2 ounces as of last Wednesday)!! She holds her head up like a pro and she is probably the nosiest little thing I have ever seen. Happy 1 month sweet girl!

First Bath and First Doctor's Appointment

Sophie's First Bath

Sophie's umbilical chord finally came off when she was two weeks old. We could not wait to give her a "real" bath and thankfully, she absolutely loved it! She was so content and only cried when we had to take her out. She loves getting water poured on her so I do the washing while Lewis does the rinsing. Just like her Daddy, Sophie will definitely love taking bubble baths!

Poor Baby! :-( She wanted to go back in the tub.

Sophie's First Doctor's Appointment

We are taking Sophie to the same pediatrician that I saw when I was younger. Her first appointment was at two weeks and she did so much better than I thought she would. She was awake the entire time! Dr. Mike and Nurse Pat were so kind and I think Sophie liked them too. :)

She weighed 10 pounds 2 ounces and is still growing like crazy. She LOVES her bottles and they said to just keep doing what we are doing because it is working. My sweet baby had to have her heel pricked for some tests. She cried but it was not as bad as I thought it was. As soon as I picked her up, she was fine. She is such a tough girl.

Go Redskins!

Sophie was born a Redskins fan and her Daddy would not have it any other way! She has yet to miss a game and we are convinced she is their good luck charm (until yesterday of course)! She sleeps very soundly through the game, even with all of the yelling and cheering going on around her. She wears a different outfit every Sunday and she still has not worn all of her Redskins gear. GO REDSKINS!

Sophie Elizabeth Payne

September 11, 2008 @ 11:36 p.m.

9 Pounds 9 Ounces, 21 3/4 Inches Long

I went into labor at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, the 11th. I was scheduled to be induced the following morning but Sophie had different plans. I went to the hospital at about 5:00 a.m. and was in labor all day. It was very easy once I got the epidural. I started pushing around 7:45 p.m. and that was when it got difficult. Little did I know she was going to be such a big baby! When she was finally born, I was so relieved for it to be over that we did not immediately ask whether it was a boy or a girl! She was very lady like and came out legs crossed so we could not tell for ourselves. They said, "It's a girl!" and I knew my gut feeling was right. We left the hospital on Saturday and that was when the fun really started...

Welcome Home Baby Girl!