Happy December and Merry Christmas!

Sophie is 9 months old! Which means, she has already lived through 3/4th of her first year. Time really passes by fast when you watch a child grow. She celebrated her first Thanksgiving with friends and she's about to celebrate her first Christmas with family.
In this season of thanksgiving and celebration, let us remember our Lord Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas!

8 months

My little Sophie is getting big. She has been wearing 9 months to 12 months clothes these days and they fit her just right. I see her every day that it's hard for me to notice how much she has really grown. To me, she is still that newborn baby I first held in my hands 8 months ago. However, she can do a whole lot more than 8 months ago. Yesterday afternoon, after she woke up from her nap, she called out to me from the bedroom. I ran upstairs to find her sitting up with her blankie still in hand. She gave me a big smile when she saw me. As I put her on my bed, she crawled over to me, put her little head on my chest and then gave me the sweetest hug. I felt so loved by her, and I was sure she knew that I loved her too. She loved to cling on to me these days. She's at that stage where she constantly wants to pull herself up. And what best place to do it than from mommy's body since mommy will protect her from falling if she does stumble, and comfort her when she does fall. As a result, I have to sit with her on her play mat most of her waking hours. She is a good sleeper. She can go to bed around 8 or 8:30 at night with a bottle of milk, usually peacefully without any meltdowns. Then she'll wake up around 5 to drink milk again and then sleep again until 7 am when all of us wake up together to see daddy off to work. Then she takes her first nap around 9, and her second nap at 2 in the afternoon. In between those naps, food and toys are usually the subjects. Last night though, daddy woke up her twice, first time at 9 pm and then again at 11 pm. First time was due to daddy coming home from picking friends up from the airport and then making too much noises around her crib side. Second time was due to daddy taking a super hot shower and the smoke alarm being set off by the steam from the shower. After those two awakenings, she was too riled up. She woke up again at 3 and then was quite energetic. All three of us felt exhausted but unable to sleep. So here I am, typing away on this blog at 5 in the morning. *Shrugged* I am glad I got to update her a little though, because in a little more than a week, she will turn 9 months, right around Thanksgiving. I find it harder and harder to find time for myself these days because I've got an increasingly active and awake baby girl during the day, 7 days a week. This leads to another big news that I'd like to share. We've finally decided to move back to California. My family will be a big help to us, and maybe Tim and I will get a break from time to time so we could go on dates, catch a movie, what not. The terrific weather in California will also give Sophie more chances to go outdoors for fresh air. I think it'll be great for all of us!!! I, personally, am really looking forward to the move, though poor little baby has no clue what's about to happen. Hee hee Anyways, lots of things going on at the end of the year. My update will stop here. It's time for me to catch another hour of sleep before we all wake up again. Ciao!

7 Months

Sophie grew so much this month. She learned to sit up, crawl forward, called "Dada", feed herself on high chair, as well as stand up in her crib against the railing. It's hard to keep up with this little one these days.

Baby Girl is Sick

Baby girl is sick for the first time in 6 months. She got her 4 shots during check-up yesterday. This morning when I picked her up I felt her body heated up like a furnace. I quickly measured her temperature, and it was reading at 102.5 F. I gave her 0.4 ml baby Tylenol with milk. She drank some. After a while, I fed her some pear baby food, she ate a pretty good amount of that. Finally she's asleep now and her temperature is lowered due to the effect of the baby Tylenol. This is a nervous experience for me because I've never seen her sick before. She's not acting too differently from her usually self, so for that I'm grateful and a bit relieved.

She is 6 months now, I can't even believe it.
She is starting solids now and is way more responsive and expressive than before. Daddy and Mommy are enjoying her more and more each day.

24 weeks

Sophie is 24 weeks! She is starting to eat solid food, and she loves it! She not only loves eating solid food, she practically eats everything in sight. ^0^

Toronto

A weekend ago, we were having a good time in Toronto. I got invited to shoot a 50 year anniversary dinner party up there (pictures will be posted soon on dalingphotography.com), so we spent a few days taking a road trip there. We also stopped by Buffalo, NY on the way and just relaxed in the hotel.

Sophie did really well on this road trip. We were so proud of her. Despite the long hours of driving, she was able to eat and sleep regularly. I even started her on solids during this trip so that she can be entertained a little during her awake hours. We gave her baths in the hotel room sinks, and we let her sleep in the hotel baby cribs. She was okay with everything and it made our job super easy. As a result we were able to relax and enjoy our time together as a family.

This session was shot in Hyatt Downtown Toronto where we were invited to stay before I headed over to shoot the anniversary dinner.
As you can see here, Sophie is recently intrigued by her toes. She was one day from 23 weeks in these pictures.  =)

Yes yes, everybody says Daddy and Sophie look alike.

20 weeks

Sophie is 20 weeks! How time flies. I took her to San Jose to see my parents, grandma and all the relatives for two weeks and had just gotten back to Boston for a week. We had a tun of fun. So many people were coming to see Sophie and to hold her everyday that my job as a mom was really easy. Hehe. Too bad daddy missed us so terribly as he couldn't come with us due to work, but I think we would have had even more fun together had he joined us.

The plane ride with Sophie was relatively easy. She slept almost the whole way there only waking up to feed and to be changed. On the way back, we took a red-eye flight, and she was just completely passed out the whole 5-6 hours. Super!!!

This passed Sunday, we dedicated her to God in front of our church members. It was a joyful occasion knowing that Sophie belongs to God and that He will take care of her all of her life much better than we, humanly parents, can.

She is so smiley everyday that watching her grow is a complete joy!

I love you my dear daughter!