Happy Birthday Sofia

Dear Sofia Wia,
Today you are two months old, and I just wanted to write you a letter to celebrate this momentous day. You have grown so much in these first two months of your life. You are no longer a tiny baby unaware of her surroundings. You are this lively chubby beautiful creature. You love to look at yourself in the mirror and I can't say I blame you. You smile and squeal and make beautiful baby gurgle noises more and more each day. This morning, in fact, you woke up in this extremely good mood and kept smiling and squealing for mommy and daddy. I held you up to look in the mirror while daddy hid behind me and played peek-a-boo with you. Your eyes followed him every time and you were all smiles.

You noticed your carseat toy for the first time today too. You grabbed at the little animals hanging and tried to put them in your mouth. We were so proud of you.

I love nursing you. I was really stressed out about nursing you until I realized you were at the 90th percentile for weight at seven weeks. Whew! After that, I chilled out and just tried my best to relax when you settled in to nurse. You are so beautiful when you're eating and you look up at me. I love it when I slightly tug to see if you're done because when you let go of the breast your lips are still pursed, and you look as though you're in a trance. Sometimes you still have milk dribbling down your face. I apologize for all the times milk sprays you in the face.

You are outgrowing a lot of your 0-3 month onesies. They're pretty tight on you, and daddy says you look like a little sausage in some of them. Your size 1 diapers are pretty tight on you too, and I think it may be time to step it up to a size 2.

You love your pacifier, although it doesn't always work in the evenings when your crying/fussiness is at an all-time high. But you do love it. In fact, sometimes you suck on it so hard that you get what your daddy and I have coined "Ronald McDonald mouth". You've recently discovered that your fingers are good to suck on too, and often have your thumb, index finger, or entire fist in your mouth.

You cry for long periods at night sometimes. Not every night, but some nights. The sound of the running water in the bathroom always calms you. Well, most of the time. We pulled out the big guns (the vacuum cleaner) the other night when nothing seemed to calm you. It worked like a charm. You stopped crying and just looked around you. When you cry, big giant tears roll down your face and you look as though your heart is breaking. You definitely sound like a little girl when you cry and your cries are very dramatic. Your dad and I laugh at how you cry a high pitched cry if you get disconnected from my breast when you're nursing.

You enjoy taking baths and are quiet when we bathe you. Mommy is scared to bathe you by herself so you always are bathed by both mommy and daddy. And when you are done you smell like the fresh, beautiful baby you are. When your head is dirty daddy says you smell like a wild animal, so we try to bathe you a few times a week.

Your eyes are the biggest and most beautiful I've ever seen.

Daddy is lying next to you in our bed. He was singing "Old McDonald" and "This Old Man" for the longest time, and you've finally quieted down and seem to be falling asleep. You enjoy sleeping in bed between us way more than sleeping in your pack and play. You still don't sleep through the night, but I don't really mind as much as I used to. You only eat for small periods of time during the night. More like a snack, I guess. And then you go straight back to sleep.

Since you were born there have been all kinds of happenings in the world. Here are a few: This hurricane season has been the most active on record. Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated the gulf coast just a few days after you were born. Hurricane Rita also hit the gulf coast, but not where we live like it was predicted to. We evacuated like we were told to and took you with us to San Antonio to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. You did fine on our 17-hour drive. Supreme Court justice William Rehnquist died and was replaced by John Roberts. I'm sorry to say Bush is still president. And the Houston Astros made it to the World Series for the first time in history (although they're down 0-2 in the series so far).

That about does it, my love. Sofia, you are the most beautiful thing in this entire world. You are my world, and your daddy and I love you more than you'll ever know.

Love,
Mom