#1 Clue That the Baby Has Finished Eating

Sofia loves falling into this position when she's done eating. Her head falls back and hangs over my arm. It's the cutest thing!

Why Sofia BryAnn?

I am always interested to know where names come from. And in thinking of possible names for our own child, we came up with something that helped inspire our choices. Before we started we knew we wanted the middle names of our children to be after a family member. That's how I am named, Ruth is also my grandmother's middle name, and each of my siblings are named after someone in the family.

Before we had a first name for a little girl, we had a middle name. Way back in college, before Seth and I were married or even engaged - only dating - I thought of this name, BryAnn. It's after Seth's father, Bryan, who is quite obviously an extremely important person in Seth's life, probably one of the most important (& very understandably!!) Seth has many memories of his father that he wants to carry with him into his own transition as a father. So it was a given... BryAnn would be our first daughter's middle name... A way to honor a man who so inspired Seth to be the father he is becoming, who inspired Seth to dream for years of being as amazing as his own father. (Sofia is beyond lucky!) When we began thinking of girl names, we knew the first name had to go with this middle name.

Our choice for first names was inspired by a lyric in a favorite song of mine by one of my favorite bands. I found this music around the time that I found Seth. I know he's always loved the way I love this band. :) The song is called "Black Cadillacs" by Modest Mouse. The first line of the song is, "And it's true we named our children after towns that we'd never been to." We liked the idea of setting our children up for travel to foreign places that we, ourselves, had never visited. We decided that when our children reach their teenage years, we'd take them on a family vacation to visit the town/city of their namesake. The city Sofia is named after is Sofia, Bulgaria. Someday, we'll take our little sweet pea to Eastern Europe (the part of Europe that her mama has always dreamed of traveling to with her camera).

Sofia has other reasons for why her name came to be Sofia. Last spring, around the time that we were thinking up names, my class was doing a Roald Dahl author study. He's an absolute favorite children's author of mine. I have looked forward to reading his brilliant and magical words to our children, especially my all-time favorite book of his, The BFG. And would you guess what the name of the sweet little girl in the BFG is? Sophie. And in class, we discovered that Dahl's mother's name was Sofie. It's no surprise that a children's book is being tied into naming our daughter. I am beyond inspired by great children's books and authors (often times wishing I could have written their brilliant words).

Sofia's name first came onto our radar a few years ago though. Not from a book or a city in Bulgaria. On one of our trips to Moab to see my grandmothers, we asked about their pasts, about family history. I typed up their words, knowing I wanted to remember the details to share with my own children and grandchildren someday. My Grandma Jan shared the names of her father's siblings (her aunts and uncles) and one of them was named Sophia. Seth and I were both pulled to the name, and even though we never met my Great, Great Aunt Sophia, we used her name as an inspiration for our own Sofia's name.

One of the other important things about her name is her initials. Sofia shares her father's initials: S.B.S. He thinks this is pretty special! :)

We also considered nicknames. While we aren't completely sure what we'll use for nicknames or if we'll call her Sofia mainly (I think it depends on our little girl), we do have a few nicknames: Sofie and Fee Fee (her father says he will call her Fee Fee). I, of course, have a ton of little nicknames for her that have nothing to do with he name... Jujube, Sweet Pea, Piggy (she snorts sometimes!! Grandma calls her Petunia when she snorts), and pretty much any other little love name I come up with at the moment that I am talking to her.

Daddy Holding Sofia

She loves it!!

Lots of Grandma Time

Baby girl spent her first days with one grandma and has been spending the rest with another grandma. What a lucky little girl!

Hi, My name is Sofia, & I am really good at...

Sleeping!

Many Faces

Sofia's Making an Internet Debut

Sofia has been quite popular on the Internet this weekend. She's been video chatting it up with lots of family. She even got on her party hat for Aunt Kendra and Uncle Ian.

Seth and His Girl

Love.

Too Much

Yesterday, I decided to take a walk to the library. I've been feeling great and thought I was ready. It's only 2 blocks away, so 4 blocks total seemed like a doable walk. Boy was I mistaken. I could feel my body being unhappy with me when I got home, but it wasn't until last that my body started screaming at me! I had the chills and my body was aching and cramping. I couldn't get warm or comfortable. We even called the midwife because we were scared by what was happening. She went over the symptoms for potentially serious problems, and I wasn't really having any. It was all stemming from the walk I shouldn't have taken. She advised me to spend the next few days in bed and to pretty much not leave the house until our 2 week appointment. I wish I would have listened from the start.

The night before last, sweet Sofia was up every 30 minutes to hour and a half eating for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. I was worried about how long of a night it might be for me on top of how I was feeling and how uncomfortable it was to sit and feed her. But sweet Sofia must have sensed mama needed a little more sleep and fewer nursings. (Or maybe it was the extra blanket Grandma suggested for warmth - based on how well she sleeps during the day when she's resting on someone getting their body heat and at night we put her in a bassinet on the bed between us for at least part of the night.) Whichever the case, we had longer sleep time between eating and shorter nursing sessions. I am waking up feeling much better compared to how I felt last night. Sofia is spending time this morning sleeping on Mama's chest. (Have I mentioned how much I love this little girl!?)

Sofie the Little White Bear

We took our first walk today with sweet Sofia. It's a bit chilly here so we bundled her up in her little winter bear suit that her Aunt Desi passed onto us. Isn't she just adorable!?

We only walked to the library. I've been feeling really good, but I might have to wait a little longer before I get out and about! It took a little bit more out of me than I had intended!

Baby Girl Becomes More Human ;)

This morning, while changing Sofia, I realized her cord stump fell off into her blanket. I have been wishing that thing away (the smell is a little much and I'd love to give her her first full-on bath!)

This Baby Will Have Soooo Many Photos

Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm a bit obsessed with taking photos. Lots. Of. Photos. It's kind of unbelievable how many photos I take for one occasion  So, it will come as no surprise that Sofia has already racked up a number of photos. (It would be more if I could move myself around a little easier ;) We'll ease her into this (somewhat) slowly I guess! 

Sofia getting her hair washed by Nana and her father.

It's tiring work being a newborn!

Love this sweet little smile. Comes after eating. (Daddy says it's just gas, but we know he's bitter from all the poopy diapers he's been changing... Which brings up another point - Who would have thought a baby would mean so much poop!?)