Silly Girl!

I just had to share this one. I went upstairs to get Sophie after her nap, and this is what I found.

She put the blanket over head all by herself. As soon as I saw her, I started laughing so hard. I had to leave her and run downstairs so that I could get the camera and take a picture. Of course she cried when I left, but stopped as soon as she saw me. She has been so silly lately. She loves to do her fake laugh, and it makes me laugh so hard. She is just a ball of fun! I love spending all day with her.

Here she is after we took the blanket off of her. I'm so glad we decided to drop the mattress when we did, because she stands up in her bed all the time.

I wanted to share this picture because I thought it was so cute. I just love the sweet look on her face. She is such a sweet baby!

Families Can Be Together Forever

Saturday, March 5th we were blessed to have our sweet baby girl, Sophie, sealed to us in the Bountiful, Utah temple. It was such a special day! I am so grateful for the priesthood power that is here on the earth today and for the temple ordinances which bind us together as families for eternity. It was a wonderful experience to have Sophie in the temple with us all dressed in white. My sister Nicole held Sophie during the ceremony, so she was dressed in white also. When she walked in the sealing room holding Sophie, they looked like two angels. Sophie came in smiling and pointing. She just learned how to point and as soon as she saw Jon and I, she pointed to us. I did very well during the sealing, until I looked up and saw tears rolling down Jon's cheeks. Once I saw him crying, I couldn't hold back my own emotions. I was filled with joy, knowing that my Sophie will be ours forever. Nothing and no one can ever change that. We have taken several steps throughout the adoption process, but this was the most important step of all. We were blessed to have our families with us in the temple. We know our friends in Mankato were with us in spirit. We appreciate the love and support and many prayers that we have received throughout the adoption process.

Don't mind my hand, I don't know what I was doing. Sophie looked like a little angel in her beautiful dress.

My angel baby! She did so well during the ceremony, other than she didn't want to leave her hand on mine. I ended up holding her hand with my thumb.

Our eternal family!

Kisses from Dad!

I just love her little smile. My cousin, Jonathan took pictures of us, so these are candid pictures that my dad took.

That afternoon, after pictures we had Sophie's blessing. We blessed Sophie at my parent's church and we were blessed to have more family and friends with us. Jon gave Sophie a beautiful blessing and in it he thanked Sophie's birth parents for listening to the spirit, and being willing to give Sophie to us, to be a part of our family. We are eternally grateful to them for their sacrifice and the wonderful gift they have given us. We love them very much and are grateful for the opportunity we have to be parents. Sophie is such a sweet baby, and we are so blessed to have her as a part of our eternal family. We had a wonderful day! It was a long day and Sophie did so well, it was as though she knew what a special day it was. She was so tired by the time we did her blessing, that she fell asleep on Jon's shoulder during the blessing.

What a surprise!

I must apologize first, I don't have a picture to go with this post. Yesterday afternoon, I put Sophie down for her afternoon nap. She didn't seem too interested and all I heard on the monitor was her cooing and playing. About ten minutes later, I went up to check on her and I could tell that she had pooped. I changed her diaper and assumed that she would go to sleep now that she had a clean diaper. Boy was I wrong! Another fifteen minutes went by and again I went up to her room to check on her and what I found was quite a surprise. Sophie was sitting up in her crib. She has never sat up on her own until now. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She had sat up all by herself and was playing with the crib bumper. She was so happy and proud of herself, it made me laugh. I was so excited, I wanted to tell Jon but he was teaching at the moment, so I had to wait until he got home to tell him. I knew right away, that the best solution for this problem would be to lower her crib mattress. I didn't think we'd have to do that for at least a few more months. Not only did we lower the mattress, we lowered it all the way. She seems so far away now and I can't lean in and give her a kiss before I go to bed. I hate that she is growing up so fast. I love watching her as she learns new things, but it's killing me that she isn't my tiny little baby anymore. Jon keesp saying she's not a baby, she's a little person now. It is so true! After lunch today, I sat Sophie on the floor to play with her toys, while I did some typing. I looked over and she was having a great time rolling around on the floor. A few minutes later, I looked and she was sitting up. I missed it again. I called Jon to let him know and while I was talking to him, I got to witness my baby girl sit up on her own. She lays on her side and gets up on her hands and then slowly scoots her hands closer to her body until she is sitting up. She's just getting so big and so grown up. I sure love her and all of her energy.