Long Time, No See!

I've just read the last post and realized it's been four months since my last report on Sophia. Wow. Time has a way of getting past us and babies have a way of growing up! Sophia is doing just that. She's 19 months and 4 days old today. She's still extremely busy and now can not be held back! She spends most days playing with her blocks, beads (she has a whole mess of Mardi Gras beads and she loves them!), books (we're not allowed to read them to her though...), stuffed animals, which she arranges in a circle around us on the floor (priceless!) and various other things she isn't supposed to get her hands on! She's now in Mom's Day Out two days a week which gives me a nice break and some time to get things done. Otherwise, all of my time is spent with her. She pretty much demands my attention most of the time, except when she may be paying attention to the TV for five minutes. It makes for some pretty unproductive days around the house! Thank goodness her daddy takes over when he gets home and I'm able to do my chores. Let's see, we've been through Halloween and yes it's the second year she's dressed as a Steeler Cheerleader (thanks cousin Phyllis for the great outfit) and she liked the little bit of candy she was allowed to have! We are getting to the end of the Thanksgiving weekend right now and she enjoyed that as well. She was more fond of the cranberries than anything else at dinner, but that's because Aunt Cindy's cranberries were awesome! She's been through an excruciating two months with cold symptoms and then a full-blown ear infection. It's cleared up now but she's still cutting teeth so we never know when there will be a fever. She's talking up a blue streak....and can say difficult words like bathroom and elephant!! Weird that we can't get her to say "car," but she can say elephant. We're gearing up for our move back to the Northern VA area. Alan changes command on Monday, December 7th and we hope to be driving out of Alabama sometime around the 15th. We've found a home to rent in Springfield and we are anxious to see how Sophia will adapt to it all. We'll likely spend Christmas in Jeannette so hope to get to see lots of family and friends then. Christmas photos will be on their way very soon...watch out for them!

I want to take a minute here to say thank you to all of our Alabama family. This was the exact right place for us to add Sophia to our lives and you all have been so supportive and have loved her as much as we do. We will never forget that.... ACLC, LASSIES, FRCSC, Community Foundation, Enterprise and Daleville friends.... thanks to you all. You will be missed.

MidSummer - Swimming Lessons and Kindermusik!

Happy Mid-Summer to all our friends and family the world over. It's July 13th, Sophia will be 15 months old in 12 days.... and let me tell you, girlfriend is B-U-S-Y! My apologies for not keeping up with the blogging. The summer is a busy time on a military post and there are plenty of you reading this who know what I mean. We are winding down our change of command and farewell and welcome season. Seems we've had at least 4 events every week since the end of May. We've had to say goodbye to some of our wonderful Ft. Rucker family....so there have been sad days. But, the wonderful thing about being in this crazy business is that we now get to make some new friends! But, you don't want to hear about mom and dad's boring lives....let's get to Sophia Marie!!

Since Sophie's first birthday, she's grown some more teeth (she's got six up front and one back molar the whole way in and the other just busting through), she's gotten way taller (I'll report on exactly how much after her 15-month check up next week) and she's so heavy now that I'm making her walk everywhere!! She still isn't saying much clearly but she can say "Hi Cheen" (for Chena...our cat!) and Mom and Dad and she says "Da" for "bye" but she waves at the same time so that's how we know. She barks when she sees a doggie and meows when she sees a cat. She's eating everything and liking most of it. If not...it gets thrown on the floor. Can I just mention here how much I hate that?! She's still a champion sleeper and most nights we get 13 or 14 hours out of her. She is transitioning into taking one nap a day, but it's usually nearly 3 hours long. We've got her taking swim lessons from a good friend of mine who comes here to the house. She seems to like the water but is still just a little afraid to fully let go of me. This week we work on going under....yikes! I've been taking her to Kindermusik...which is a great half-hour long class for singing and movement. So far, she hasn't sung a single song or done any of the scripted play with the rest of the group. She just runs around the gym, steals toys and tries to climb on the various gymnastics equipment. I'm pretty sure I have her in the wrong class and am looking to take her to baby gymnastics next week!! I truly believe that because she isn't exposed to other children on a daily basis, she isn't sure how to interact with them. Hence the "classes".... We'll keep on trying and see how she does. Sooner or later some other little varmint will haul off and whack her for stealing his toy and maybe she'll catch on!! :) Hopefully I won't become "that mother" any time soon....

We took Sophia to Tybee Island, Georgia (near Savannah) in early June for our yearly visit with the Ernst/Lanier/Porier families. She loved the beach and wasn't scared at all when Daddy took her out into the ocean. One of the nice things about Tybee is that when the tide goes out, there are miles of sandbars and tidal pools for the kiddos to play in without having to worry about waves hitting them or scaring them. Sophia enjoyed sitting in the sand and splashing Daddy especially. She did very well while we were there and I think she really had fun with the four granddaughters. Our love and thanks go out to the Laniers for hosting us at their beautiful home once again and to the whole family for loving us enough to put up with us!!

We had cousins Sarah and Blake Roden here from Huntsville over the fourth of July and we made a day trip down to Panama City Beach to visit with the Packetts. Another good beach day ... but Soph enjoyed the pool much more! She really had a lot of fun with her cousins and she told me she hopes they come back to visit again soon!

Sophia also recently helped her BFF, Ava Biland, celebrate her first birthday. It was a fun party and Ava, being the sweet and unselfish child she is, shared her "baby jail," toys and high chair with Sophia. She even let Sophia finish her snack for her! We're having a bit of a hard time teaching Sophia the concept of sharing. She loses her patience and is quick to anger, which scares me, but everyone tells me it's normal. I blame it all on her father...

We've been very fortunate this summer to have a wonderful babysitter, our friend Megan Stockhausen. She's been taking great care of Sophia for me during all of the events I've had to attend on post and she's been phenomenal at helping me out so I can get things done. Al and I have paid for Megan's next year at college, but it's been well worth it to have someone to rely on to take good care of our baby when we need her. And, Sophia loves her ... until I get home.... at which point Sophia starts telling Megan, "da" and waving her away!! It's pretty funny.

So, that's the update on our sweet Principessa. We send our love to all and as always, our invitation to come visit us any time!!

We Have A One-Year-Old!!

Ok...so I know I'm a terrible mother. Sophia's first birthday was weeks ago, and here I am, finally posting on her blog about it. I apologize. I can only give lame excuses.... well, and one not so lame one: I HAVE A TODDLER!! Anyway, here are some photos and the latest update on our girl.

Her birthday was a spectacularly fun and joyful day. We had a terrific party here at the house with about 40 of Sophia's family members.....both her blood family and our Army family were here. My sister, Jeanne, and our good friend, Mary, came from PA to share the special day with us. And let me tell you, if it weren't for those two, the party would have been a colossal flop. Jeanne and Mary helped me so much.... with the food and preparation and just generally being here to keep an eye on Soph while things got done. I thank them for all they did that day.... and I can only hope I have them for every birthday party from here on out!!

Sophia's cake was gorgeous.... and she loved it. She smooshed into her piece pretty well, but didn't make near the mess we thought she would. She mostly just enjoyed eating it. I guess she has Daddy's sweet tooth! She played for a long time in an old-fashioned playpen (provided by Auntie Therese) with her BFF, Ava Biland. She and Ava are very close in age and we look forward to helping Ava celebrate her big one year birthday in June. She got wonderful gifts.... the biggest of which came from the folks that Alan works with. They pitched in and bought Sophia a house!! Yep, a real house.... with a doorbell and a phone and opening and closing door and windows. She loves, loves, loves her house. Her newest thing is to stand at the back door and scream until I take her outside to get in it! Thanks a bunch ACLC family!!

Aunt Jeanne brought Sophia a cute birthday dress that had feathers on it and said "Birthday Princess".... she was adorable in it. For the first half of the day, we had her in a t-shirt that read: "Her Royal Highness is One"! That came from Auntie Christy and the Cook family...much love and thanks to them. I'm going to try to get all the photos I can on here to show what I'm talking about...we'll see.

All in all, it was a glorious birthday and our girl kept her wits about her and never even fussed the entire day. As a matter of fact, I think she was disappointed when everyone left! She's very social. Not sure where she gets that!!! :)

As far as her growth...well you know that's happening at lightning speed. While Aunt Jeanne and Mary were here, we took Soph to her one year doc appointment and our pedi deemed her "perfect." She's getting so tall and she's really walking like a champ now. As a matter of fact, she's got the running thing figured out as well. But, if she goes too fast, she goes down. I understand completely where the term "toddler" comes from! She's finally gotten her top two front teeth in and it changes her appearance when she smiles now. No more cute gummy smiling.... now she's got real teethums. Daddy's ready to give her steak! We're working on phasing out the formula and giving her milk and that's going well. She never seemed all that attached to her bottles, so I think getting away from them will be an easy transition. She is enjoying all kinds of table foods now and she just had manicotti last night to celebrate Daddy's birthday. She loved it. She's a carb queen and loves her bread. Just like mommy.... and her Italian heritage is obvious.....she'll eat anything with sauce on it!! She loves scrambled eggs too and we have those for breakfast a couple times a week.

We just got back from a week in Nashville at the Opryland Hotel and she had a great time. Her wonderful Auntie Diana came along to babysit for us (we were there for Al's professional association convention -- Army Aviation Association of America) so that we could attend the sessions and the parties at night. It worked out beautifully.... we had adjoining rooms and Sophia had a ball toddling from one to the other and out on the balconies. She slept well after the first night and getting used to the different crib.... and we decided she's an outstanding traveller. Much love and thanks go out to Diana for helping us and loving and taking such good care of our girl.

So, that's the update from here. Our next big adventure will be our yearly beach visit to Tybee Island in Georgia the first week of June. Looking forward to seeing the Ernst/Porier/Lanier family and getting Soph on the beach. Look for photos sometime in mid-June.

For now, we wish you all a happy Summer and send our love from Southern Alabama!

Baby Steps.....

The big news? Our Principessa is WALKING!! She's been prancing around the furniture for what seems like months now, but just in the last few days she's gotten the courage to take steps without holding on. Our friends, the Andersons, were here for a week for their Spring Break and they got to witness the cuteness.... And just yesterday (right after they left to go home to Illinois) she took 5 steps in a row.... baby steps, but steps nonetheless! Daddy knew she'd walk before her 1st birthday and he was right. She's amazing!

In addition to the amazing walking, which, by the way exhausts me already.... She's growing more and more independent by the moment. She already wants to do things herself and will let you know it. She's got a bit of a temper....not sure where that comes from.... ! and she likes things the way she likes them and that's it. No negotiation. She's not too happy with change (boy was she born into the wrong family!) and doesn't care for sleeping in a different place or taking a tubbie anywhere but her own bathroom. Lately she doesn't care for having her diaper changed or for putting on clothes. Just doesn't want to be on her back. It's almost impossible to keep her from flipping herself over and off the changing table.... Not sure what that's all about and hoping she'll grow out of it. She's still just saying Dadadadada a lot and the occasional Mama slips out when she's tired or upset. She says nananananananana a lot... and she responds with a high pitched shriek when you ask her "how the cat goes." It's too cute. She can identify her ears, hair, nose, eyes, tongue, teeth (all two of them) and toes. We're working on legs and arms currently.

Teeth .... still only the two bottom. We keep thinking we see white poking through on the top but nothing yet..... and every time she's cranky for any reason, I try to blame it on the teeth .... but that argument doesn't hold water when you can't see or feel them bustin' through the gums.

Sophia Marie's first birthday is just weeks away. We're excited about her party but I'm still trying to locate the ponies and the petting zoo! (Not really....barbecue on the back porch.... paper princess plates and napkins and lots of beer for the adults!) My sister will be here for the celebration, which is awesome, and we've invited just about everyone we know. If you are reading this and haven't heard from us about it, consider yourself invited. April 25th, 3 p.m. at our house... Don't bring gifts...the child is already beyond spoiled!!!

That's the update from here. Today was Sophia's first Easter and other than loving the bunnies she received (one of them dances and sings a song to the tune of "Rock Around the Clock"...it's sooo cute...thanks to Oma Ingrid! The other is sweet and soft and we named her Bella...thanks to Auntie Jane Hughes in Illinois!)....she really had no idea at all that it was Easter. Being the bad parents we are, we didn't get her to an Easter Bunny for a photo op, but I did dress her up in her pretty green smock dress and tried to snap a few photos. I'll post them here. All of her latest photos are on my Facebook page for those of you who do that....

We send out our love to everyone and our wish that you had a joyous Easter with your loved ones. We did. Happy Spring!!

Spring is Springing in Alabama! And Sophia is Ten Months Old!

I know, I know. It's been some time since I've written and posted photos. There are a hundred reasons why, but I won't bore anyone with those. Howabout I just update you on our royal girl and leave it at that?

Our Principessa is growing and changing and developing a personality that, dare I say, may cause her mother a great deal of heartache in the coming years. She's a bit on the stubborn side and wants what she wants when she wants it! Again, they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Sophia is still crawling at lightning speed and she stands up very well... and she's started to move around the furniture and has even let go once or twice to see if she can take a step. Of course, she's fallen on her bootie, but she's giving it some good tries! She loves to walk around with our help, and her newest fun thing to do is get us to lift her up onto the furniture where she likes to throw herself around and play. I fear the little monkey will be climbing over obstacles much too soon!

Her nine month appointment went well and the pediatrician assured us that she is within all normal growth percentages. She only had to have one shot this time which made us happy (but not her) ....however, they did have to take a blood sample by sticking her finger and squeezing out a small vial's worth. That was painful for us all. Naturally, as young children do, she came right through it and got over the drama quickly. She continues to be a good baby and we can take her just about anywhere with us with the expectation that she will charm all of those around her and she will behave as long as she is being paid attention to! She's doing really well with solid foods and she has yet to try something that she doesn't like (again, much like her mom!) I gave her some cooked cauliflower tonight and she scarfed it down.... She also ate nearly an entire one of my meatballs this past weekend! She's such a little DiFonso!!

So, I am posting some photos here to show how tall and gorgeous she is. She's figured out the camera (it flashes once before it takes the photo) so we have to kind of catch her off guard. But, I still had to post one or two of the ones with her eyes closed, they're precious. The one in the high chair is one of our first attempts to let her feed herself. It ended in disaster.... more cereal on the chair and her than in her mouth.... We mostly just let her play with the spoon now!

Her big One Year Old birthday is approaching fast and I am starting to plan for the gigantic party! We've booked the band, rented the tents, lined up the petting zoo and are in the process of finding an elephant for rides.... Of course, that's all a bunch of hooey and we are just having a nice little birthday barbecue that will end up being mostly about the adults ... But, as she is our Princess, we will be getting her a castle cake and making sure she has a lovely little (fake plastic) tiara. (I point out the fake part for Christine....she knows why)..... And, while I am sure a lot of attention will be lavished upon her that day, it's sad to me she won't remember any of it. We'll be sure to take a lot of photographic evidence to show her though. And, the good news is that we will have "blood" family here in the form of my sister and most likely, Al's sister and brother-in-law. Our Army family will also be in attendance.... We're looking forward to a fun birthday for our girl.

Ok... these days, with the teething (she still only has the two on the bottom, but we are watching the top middle.... I swear I see white there!).... we never know if she is going to wake us up at night, so we've learned to play it safe and go to bed early just in case! G'nite.....

Crawling, Standing and Teething... Happy 9th Month La Principessa!

And, so it goes. Tonight is the eve of Sophia's ninth month birthday.... my goodness. I want to wax poetic here about time and it's swiftness through our days and nights.... but really all I need to say is Wow. Sophia is 9 months old. It feels like yesterday that Alan brought her to me in the hospital and I looked into Alan's face superimposed upon this tiny baby and fell in love again... I seem to fall in love with her face each new day. Particularly because things change about it each new day. She's such an absolute joy and makes us laugh harder than we ever have. Nine months. Lord, have mercy.

Now, most importantly, as the title of this post intimates, Sophia is not only crawling, but she is standing up (in her crib as you can see by the photos) and she now has her two bottom front teeth peeking through with one on top trying to get out. We have devised a system of moved furniture and blockages to keep her away from the things she wants most. The giant ottoman from our chair and a half now blocks her passage into the dining room, where all of the glass resides. She spends most of the day crawling between the living room, breakfast area and kitchen. She's an expert at tupperware and wooden spoon drums, she can pull herself up on the open dishwasher door, she has found the wine rack and continues to try to pull a bottle out and we have to raise the blinds because she likes to bang them against the window. She consistently pulls herself up on the marble and wrought iron coffee table and we know this is just an emergency waiting to happen. We've gotten the "corner guards" to cushion the corners, but they don't seem to be an issue. Just watching her when she tries to lower herself back down makes me as nervous as a, a, well...as nervous as a new mother watching her child discover the strength in her arms and legs! I'm thinking about prescription medication more and more these days!

The teething saga has just begun and so far, it isn't unbearable for any of us. She's a bit crankier than usual and we're having a little trouble with her sleep habits, but it's no where near as bad as it could be. She loves her frozen teething ring and I just bought her some teething biscuits (Zwieback) today and she devoured one and made a great big mess and was happy, happy. It was fun to watch. It's wild to feel those sharp little baby teeth coming in and I'm looking forward to letting her try more and different foods now.

Sophia continues to be a happy baby most of the time and she's still as friendly as ever and not at all strange with people. She doesn't mind when we leave her with a sitter but she must be in our company when we're at home. She has developed a lovely habit of emitting a high-pitched scream when she can't have something, which isn't at all pleasant and makes me grit my teeth. Where do they learn these things? I keep telling her that "Mommy doesn't like that screaming Sophia" but she doesn't much care. Most days, I'm loving being Mommy...but lemme just say that occasionally I dream about her entering a convent in Italy at age 11 or so. I have a lovely vision: Alan and I in a nice Tuscan villa adjacent to a quaint nunnery with a very strict order where we will send little Sophia to work helping the nuns until she is old enough to take her vows. Daddy will grow grapes and olives and make wine and oil and Mommy will make all the fresh pasta for the convent. Sophia will be married to God and we won't have to worry about any slimy teenage boys chasing after her. Isn't that just the sweetest picture? If you hear of any villas for sale near convents in Italy...do let us know.

Happy Birthday La Principessa..... We love you beyond all reason.

Mommy and Daddy

Christmas In Pennsylvania!

Happy New Year One and All! We have returned from our 8-day trip to Pennsylvania and Sophia's first plane ride. It was, generally, a success! Sophia did really well on the plane, both ways, and the altitude didn't seem to bother her a bit. She was a bit fussy on the trip out at first, but that was because she was sleepy. Once we got airborne, she fell asleep and we didn't have one single passenger give us dirty looks! Here is a shot of us on the plane on the trip back from Pittsburgh.... it was hard for Daddy to get a good photo.

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends in Greensburg, Jeannette, Indiana and Pittsburgh. Seems we spent a lot of time running around, but that's the nature of visiting home when you have a big family and lots of friends. Both Alan's sister Sheila and my sister Jeanne were our gracious hostesses and allowed us to trash their houses for four days each. We spent Christmas eve at the DiFonso homestead, where my brother Gary and his family have made some wonderful improvements. While we really missed Daddy this first holiday after his death, his presence was in the room in everything we did. The meal was delish...which just goes to show that all of Frank and Marie's children have learned how to carry on their traditions and paid attention to how to make the important and special meals!! On Christmas, we spent the day at Sheila's with Alan's family and managed to eat ourselves into food comas while playing cards, laughing at Sophia and enjoying the company of those we love. The day after Christmas we visited Al's brother Mike and his family in Indiana PA. There were six children under the age of 4 in the house....Wow! It was great fun and total chaos and we loved it. Pat fed us...not one, but two meals..... and we left with full bellies and smiles on our faces with Sophia sleeping in her carseat on the way home!

The rest of our time was spent visiting. We had great evening in Mt. Lebanon with my childhood friends and their families at Chris and Carmen's newly remodeled home. It was so good to see these girls that I've been friends with for more years than I'm going to admit. All of their children are growing so fast..... The joke to me is that our friend Eileen has a son who starts high school this year, while I have an 8-month old! Wow. Of course, Sophia also entertained this group and paid special attention to the men (she LOVES the men!).... with most of her flirting in the direction of Rick Wilson. Not sure why, but she just batted her eyes and smiled demurely at Rick all evening. It was way cute.... On that subject, I just have to tell you that our little girl was charming to pretty much every man she came into contact with. She especially enjoyed smiling at Uncle Muggles, Uncle Lee, Uncle Dan and cousin Tommy. She was enamored with Casey and cousin Anthony as well. It seemed like every time we turned around, she was flirting with someone. Dad is worried. He's already buying firearms!

We all three ended up with head colds after being subjected to so many people travelling and during our visit, which made our trip home a little more harrowing than it would normally have been. Sophia rallied though, and did fine on the plane, which worried us because of her snotty head. She's still stuffed up as I write this and Al and I are also coughing and blowing our noses quite a bit, but we're taking it easy at home and hoping this will all pass by the time Monday rolls around. We've been relaxing quite well these first days of the new year. It's nice to be home and once I've tackled the mountain of laundry, I'll really feel good about things! So, on that note, I'll finish this post and get some photos online. To those of you that we didn't get to see while home, we apologize. Seems no matter how hard we try, we can't get to see everyone. Do remember though, that our door is always open. It's warmer in Alabama!!!

Happy New Year from the Stulls.

PS...I forgot to send thanks to all who gave Sophia such nice Christmas presents! Your generosity is much appreciated.