Long update.

So I have a feeling this will be a longer update, but I've included pictures for all those out there that just come here to look at my pretty baby, not to toot my own horn, but....toot toot! So, where to begin? Well how about with how tired I am? Now that Sophia is mobile and has the ability to chase after what she wants, I spend a lot of days chasing down a baby who is playing in the dog food...again. Even so, its quiet a lot of fun now. I never really realized how exhausting the little babies are. You think that all they do is sit there and sleep but they can't entertain themselves yet and that takes a lot out of you! Sophia is becoming much better with independent play and it even more fun to get down on the floor and play with her!
Another cute thing she has been doing is hanging on my pants leg when she wants attention. Usually its a game for us, but sometimes she wants to play this game at the worst times. Cooking dinner is hard with a baby hanging on your legs!

I've been home with Sophia now for almost a month. Its been such a weird adjustment period too. There is a lot of stress, but its a different sort of stress than when I worked at my last job. The difference is that I enjoy what I'm doing here! But, man, its a thankless job I'm learning. I'm mean, there is no pay raise for washing dishes and cleaning the toilet! But either way, I feel so much better now that I don't regret my decision!

It also means that I've been babysitting now for nearly a month. One thing I've learned from that is that I don't want any more children until Sophia is more self sufficient! Its hard to breastfeed one baby while bottle feeding another. And to say that Sophia gets jealous would be a understatement! In fact, I rarely nurse her when Shayna is here simply because Sophia wants everything that Shayna has,which includes a bottle!
So that does make it a little easier. Its also

quite fun, and interesting, to see the differences between another child and Sophia. I've already known how lucky we've been with Sophia's temperament, but being around Shayna has made me realize just how lucky we were! The other babies younger than Sophia that I've seen have been more like Shayna than Sophia in there attitudes but until recently I just thought that was from the environments they were in, I have never had the chance to spend any extended amount of time with them and now I'm seeing that my happy, giggly, social little girl is not like the other babies around us. And that makes me thankful. Sorry Sarah for making a case study out of your little lady. Babies intrigue me!

Now, I'm sure you all realize that right around the corner is the holidays, and whether I like it or not, right around the corner from THAT is Sophia's 1st birthday! So I've been thinking of various presents for her. So far for Christmas all she has is the Chatter Phone. I know I also want to get her some wooden blocks and I was also thinking about this tea set. I'm wondering though if I should get her this activity table for Christmas and save the tea set for her birthday? It seems like 10 months might be a smidgen early for the tea set and I'm the only one who will be playing with it. But the activity table she could use. But the tea set is cute and teaches her manners.....Ahhh the choices! Plus, I've got some Amazon gift cards stashed up from Swagbucks

and I have no clue what to purchase with that free money! I'm adding a poll to get your input!
And I think I'm finally finished now! Hope you enjoyed reading!