Dear Sophia: 10 & 11 Months Old

Dear Sophia,

You are now only weeks away from your first birthday and I can’t believe how the time has flown! You are a true joy and I can’t believe our luck that we have you for our daughter. You really are changing into a little girl now and you seem to be understanding more about the world around you.

You’re a cheeky little character and you get into everything, especially all of the things we don’t want you to get into! If there is a little bit of fluff or a wire not quite strapped down, you’re straight there making mischief and we love you for it.

This month saw Mummy finishing working in Birmingham to spend more time with you and so far I’ve been loving it! We have our little routine and enjoy our daily walks, play times and story times. We also have been going to two groups a week – stay and play on a Monday and a library singing group on Friday’s. We always get new library books while we are there as you’re such a bookworm! You love getting out and about and joining in with all the world has to offer.

Your 10th and 11th month has seen you come along so much, both in your development but also in you appearance. Your hair is really growing now and makes you look so much more grown up.

Eating

You still have a fantastic appetite! You eat all the food we give to you and I enjoy finding new, healthy recipes to feed you. Meal times are lovely all together at the table and you love to see that we’re all eating the same. You are gradually weaning yourself off your baby milk and are eating more food during the day. You eat most of what is on your plate and when you’ve had enough you pull your own bib off and push the bowl away (or sometimes start trying to throw the bowl on the floor!). Up until recently I used to load food (like porridge or yogurt) onto the spoon and you’d then put the spoon into your mouth yourself but now you can use the spoon more or less yourself to scoop up the food. You’re trying hard to use your fork too but that’s a little more tricky!

You enjoy having a snack here and there now too, we usually share some fruit or rice cakes in the afternoon to keep you going until dinner time.

(Eating a pear like a big girl)

Development

The last two month have seen more changes.

• Teeth. You now have two teeth on the bottom gums which are completely through and look so cute when you smile.
• Copy sounds. Your speech has come on a lot in the past few weeks. What you say is now starting to sound more like words. You copy the sounds Daddy and I make and you say ‘mud’ for Smudge and ‘bu’ for bye and bubbles as well as ‘mummummum’ for me and ‘dadda’ for daddy.
• Standing unaided. You can stand completely on your own without falling over which is really exciting! You have taken a step on your own and I don’t think it will be too much longer until you are walking.
• Kiss. You kiss us when we say ‘kiss’ which is the sweetest thing!
• Stroke Smudge. You used to be really rough with poor Smudge but gradually we’ve been showing you how to use gentle hands and you now stroke him really nicely. When you stroke him gently you look at us and start clapping, knowing you’re doing the right thing.
• Look at books independently. I’ve noticed that lately you prefer to look at books rather than play with your toys. You sit with them and turn each page carefully. Sometimes you’ll chatter away while your doing it which is a fantastic sign of a budding reader! Although you do this a lot, you’re favourite thing to do is clamber onto our lap to listen to the story.

(Some water play on a quiet afternoon)

Five Favourites at 10 & 11 Months:

Favourite toy: This month it is probably your ball tower which you got for Christmas. You put the balls in the top and they then fall down through the levels to the bottom. Once it reaches the bottom you’ll clap in delight then do it again.

Favourite book: You’re favourite books this month are the book you had for Christmas, ‘Tales from Acorn’ wood which is a lovely rhyming book with flaps in it. You’ve also really been enjoying our nightly bedtime book ‘Goodnight Moon’. It’s a lovely soothing book which we read up on our bed before putting you down for the night.

Favourite food: Cheese! You are like a little mouse! It’s always the first part of the meal you’ll go for. I’m glad you like cheese as much as Daddy and I do!

Favourite activity: Probably still reading. You spend most of the day with a book!

Favourite thing to do or say: You love playing peepo! You like to be the one to hide and then surprise us! When we put you into your cot you pull the blanket up over your head and wait for us to say ‘Where’s Sophia?’ then you’ll pull the blanket down and give us a cheeky smile.

(In this picture Sophia is wearing a little snood that I crocheted myself for her – I love how it turned out and is perfect for this chilly weather!)

We love you so much Sophia, every day you make us laugh and you’re always doing something new and different. Soon you’ll be turning one and a whole new adventure will begin!

Happy 11 month birthday beautiful girl!

Lots of love from Mummy and Daddy.xxx

Changes

I have seriously been neglecting this blog lately. Since finishing work at Christmas I thought I’d have lots more time but it seems to be the opposite, I feel so busy!

We’ve been spending lots of time trying to get the house a little more homely – putting up pictures, changing things around and adding little touches here and there. We’ve also been busy planting up some seeds and bulbs ready for the spring, some of them are starting to grow already which is exciting to see! Though it doesn’t feel much like Spring today – it’s currently snowing outside and is pretty chilly! Our next plan is to get the garden a bit neater and to start digging some vegetable patches – lots to do!

As well as applying to Ofsted to become a childminder, I’ve also been working on an exciting project the last few weeks and am nearly ready to unveil it. If you have been an avid reader of my blog, you’ll know I am very interested in the Montessori theory of educating children and that I love traditional, wooden toys. This has inspired me to create my own wooden and Montessori-inspired toys for babies and children. Previous to this I would trawl the internet for a long time looking for the kind of toys I wanted only to find that the toys I loved the most were in America and would cost a huge amount in postage making them too far out of our budget. So that’s what prompted me to set up my little craft business, The Little Bird’s Nest. So far I only have three products but I have lots of ideas for more. It feels nice to find something that I’m actually fairly good at and be able to make items to sell on too!

Now that Sophia is approaching one – how on earth did that happen?! – I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do with this blog and have decided to make a few changes. James and I are currently working on my website for The Little Bird’s Nest and I’ve decided that I’m going to link this blog with my website. I will still have all the usual kind of posts I normally do – snippets, occasional updates on Sophia’s development and of course family days out/occasions but I’ll also be including more educational ideas – the toys/games I use with Sophia, messy play ideas, more recipes and lots more. Nothing will change as far as accessing the blog, just come to the usual web address and we’ll be here.

I hope nobody will mind these changes. I first of all wanted to have a separate blog for the business but knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with two blogs and knew this one would probably get neglected which I don’t want to happen!

If you have any thoughts on this please feel free to comment below.

 

**If you want to ‘like’ my new business on Facebook please search ‘The Little Bird’s Nest’ and keep a lookout on www.thelittlebirdsnest.co.uk it isn’t launched yet but hopefully will be soon!**

Instagram Snippets

Our week in Instagram pictures...

I will do a 'proper' post soon and an update on Sophia's development but for now some little pictures of what we've been up to.

I've been keeping up with most of my resolutions - this was our new recipe last week, Chinese Yuk Sung. All three of us thought it was yummy!

Homemade bread.

Fluffy bath hair!

My crochet creations ~ granny squares for cushion covers, a star and flowers. I'm really wnjoying crocheting and it's becomming slightly addictive!

Yum yum! Sophia has such a good appetite, we really are very lucky!

My Smudgey boy.

I've also been sticking to my resolution of being more active. As well as my daily walks with Sophia, I've been walking on Whycliffe with my best friend Kay and Sophia, and to Wyre Forest yesterday with James and Sophia. I'm hoping to start taking Sophia swimming in the next few weeks too!

I hope everyone has had a great week!

(Don't forget, if you have Instagram you can search for 'beth_littlebird' and follow me). 

Instagram Snippets

I love Instagram! I think it's great for posting little snippets of life and what we get up to. Here are some recent snippets of our little world...

Christmas morning with her present sack.

Birthday roses from my love.

Beautiful smiles.

Cousins.

Getting organised by writing in my 2014 diary.

Learning to crochet...not quite there yet but practise makes perfect!

Playing with new toys.

Our bedtime story - we read this every night and it's so soothing!

Snuggled in bed with my kindle, reading Bridget Jones.

Out for a walk...and promptly falling asleep! 

It's been so nice to have time together as a family the last week or two. 

2014…Looking Forward

Happy New Year!

 

My 2014 Motto is…

As I said in my previous post, 2013 has been an amazing year, so much has happened! Last year I didn’t make any resolutions apart from growing and giving birth to our little Sophia. This year I thought really hard about what I would like to achieve this year.

I thought it’d be a good idea to write down my New Year Resolutions in the hope it’d make me stick to them better!

In 2014 I want to…

1. Get Active. I want to do more exercise and get fitter. It’d be nice to go walking and swimming more as a family. I’d love to take up running but as I’m so unfit I think that’s a bit too ambitious…maybe next year!
2. Play more. Now Sophia is much more interactive I want to find fun and different things for us to do and make time in the day to really play and have fun with her.
3. Read more books. In 2013 I think I read about two books to the end – one about natural birth and the other about baby-led weaning so not exactly a relaxing read! I’m lucky enough to have a Kindle so really have no excuse! And obviously the library for free books. I’m going to set aside time to sit back with a book and a cup of tea.
4. Spend more time with family. Both James and Sophia and wider family. I’d like to go on more family days out and visit family more regularly.
5. Sort the house. Since moving to our new house we’ve made the main rooms habitable but haven’t really been able to put our stamp on the place. Partly due to money and partly down to just not finding the time or knowing where to start. We’ve also got the spare room to unpack and Sophia’s room to finish off and move her in. Also the garden will need some serious work! We dream of growing our own fruit and veg and to have a couple of chickens clucking around. We’re in no rush but would like to finish as much as we can within the year.
6. Try something new. This year I’m going to start a new hobby; crocheting. I think crochet is really pretty and is something which I’d love to learn and make beautiful things for our home and for gifts. I also want to get on my sewing machine more often to make a few things.
7. Less screen time. Since getting my iPhone a few years ago I feel like I’ve got it glued to my hand all the time. I want to cut down on staring at a screen and just enjoy the moments. James and I have already decided that we will leave our phones after a certain time in the evening and just relax together. Which leads me onto my next resolution…
8. Make time as a couple. Since having Sophia James and I have only been out together on our own twice. This year it’d be nice to get out a bit more together or at least set aside evenings to really enjoy each others company by watching films together or relaxing outside in the warmer weather.
9. Capture moments. I love taking pictures of everything and want to continue to capture memories and continue to learn how to use my camera in order to get the best pictures I can. I also want to be in more of the pictures rather than just taking them. I don’t want Sophia to look back at photos and wonder why I wasn’t in them.
10. Try new recipes. I cook almost all of our meals from scratch and really enjoy cooking but feel I’ve got into a bit of a rut with our menus. I have about 20 cookbooks and I’m pledging to try one new recipe every week in 2014 to widen our cuisine horizon. It’s something I used to do a lot before I had Sophia and was something I’d always look forward to so it would be lovely restart this.

And I think that is enough to be getting on with this year! Hopefully I manage to stick to these as I don’t think they are too hard and they are quite fun resolutions. Maybe I’ll do an update post in a  few months to see how I’m doing.