Hello 2014!

I love this time of year. We got through the holidays and we are at the half way mark to spring. The year is fresh and new, full of promise and possibility. It is also a time of reflection. 2013 is definitely one for the books! I began the year unemployed and pregnant. Yowsa. To say we were stressed out is putting it lightly. But then voila, baby is born and life is better than we could have ever hoped or dreamed. She really is like magic, sprinkling happy little baby dust over everything and everyone. I got a new job a couple months after Sophia was born and although I cried every day leaving her for quite some time, I am so grateful for my job! I love the people I work with and its so nice to feel appreciated for a job well done. We don't have to be as stressed about money and its part time which means I still get tons of Sophia time.

I really cannot think of a better situation. Well, OK, being ridiculously rich and neither John or myself ever having to work again would be slightly better. Sayings like, "be careful what you wish for" and "the grass is always greener" come to my mind when I get to thinking that money equals happiness. I've seen it ruin people. I've seen it make good people turn ugly inside.

ANYWAY, I'm very happy with our current money/work situation. And I'm deliriously, over the moon, shit myself with excitement, happy about my baby girl. Not a day goes by that John and I don't mention how much we love our little family. I'm not saying our lives are perfect, we have ups and downs, but we have each other and that's all that ever matters. So yes, 2013 was a year of big surprises and lots of love and joy. I'm so excited to see what 2014 will bring! Knowing us, there will definitely be a few curve balls. 

In Sophia news, she is doing wonderfully! As of this post, she is about 9 1/2 months old. She has started walking! We are so proud of her. She was cruising on the coffee table and decided to be brave and walk over to me. I was sitting about 5/6 steps from her. She has started doing this regularly and sometimes her momentum gets the best of her and she runs and falls into my arms. Its so cute! 

MORE BABY UPDATES:

• We have started giving her a variety of real foods, her favorite is scrambled eggs. She'll eat anything by the fistful. Which reminds me, 2013 also brought our first gagging/choking experience. Damn you, little puffs.
• She goes to bed around 6:30 pm and sleeps through the night until 6:30 am. What a blessing that has been! She slept through the night (waking only a couple times to eat and then right back out) until she started teething and then she was up constantly. We co-slept for pretty much months 6 through 8. And then BAM she was ready to go back in her crib and now sleeps the whole night away. No more middle of the night feedings. No more waking up, standing up, holding onto the edge of her crib and crying for us to come get her. Just peaceful sleep. I pray this continues until she's 30. 
• She says Mama, Dada, Yiayia (Greek for grandmother pronounced yah-yah), and dogs/dotes.
• She knows lots of other words: diaper, bath, more, elmo, kitty, night-night, sippy, baba, binkie etc. If I say "Do you need a new diaper?" she will touch her hip or look at the changing table. When I say cold she makes a surprised face, shakes her body and goes whoaa.   
• She will shake her head "no", but doesn't nod "yes", yet. 
• She can hi-five and clap, although the clap is one hand on top of the other instead of both palms together
• She can wave hello. And does this often to strangers when we are out to dinner or in line at the grocery store.
• She does the same movement when I say either dance or bounce.
• She is a nightmare to change, always rolling over and trying to stand up and pat the wall. I keep a basket of toys on the changing table and I have 3 go-to songs to sing that keep her laying still. Inevitably, none of these tricks work when she has pooped. 
• She hugs me most tightly when I go in to get her after a nap or in the morning. It is, hands down, the absolute best feeling in the world. 
• She cries when we won't let her have something that she simply cannot live without. Like Christmas ornaments. 
• She has 4 teeth on top and 3 on bottom.
• She doesn't give kisses on her own yet, but if we ask for a kiss she will open her mouth and bring it to ours. Then she giggles when I make the pucker sound.
• She enjoys pinching the skin on our necks and chests until we grimace in pain. We have started teaching her about not hurting others. 
• She likes giving the dogs bits of her food which has turned the dogs into big time beggars.  But we love that she wants to share with her buddies. 
• She loves drinking out of the faucet when getting her baths.
• When telling us something important she gestures passionately and makes dramatic faces while saying "doh, doh, doh" at different speeds and volume levels. 
• Her favorite thing to do is throw things out of her crib, pack n play, or high chair, just to see who gets to them first, Mommy and Daddy or the doggies. 
• She makes the sweetest sound when giving hugs. Its like a combo of aww and mmm.
• John gets the biggest laughs out of her no matter how hard I try. 
• But its in my arms she wants to be when she's tired or has a boo boo that needs to be kissed.
• Nobody, not even Mama or Dada, is as awesome as Elmo.