Great Independence

Sophia has become such an independent little girl -- or at least she thinks so. She must feed herself for the majority of her meal. Thus we are steaming lots of veggies. She also definitely has a will of her own; she prefers to go where she wants to go. She certainly crawls all over the place, but loves to have us support her so she can barrel around the house on her feet. When she stands up she leans a little forward hanging onto our fingers and becomes a little powerhouse moving with definite purpose. She is really itching to take her first steps all on her own though. She has pretty good balance, but just can't seem to stay up after one or two steps. It is just on the horizon however. And then... well.. look out.


She is an absolute joy to us. I miss her a lot when I go to work; it doesn't help that she has started to get very upset when I leave in the morning after only having time to say good morning. I am sure she gets over it quickly. Fortunately I get a warm welcome when I come home!! It is wonderful! She is growing up so quickly. I can't believe she is 10 months now. Praise God!


I just realized that Sophia is contained in these videos, so I'll have to add some of her on the loose! But I hope you enjoy these little snips of her personality!

Life is SO fun!

Sophia has really grown into such a happy and giggly baby girl. She is so joyful (aside from when we try to put her to bed). She loves cantaloupe, especially since she gets to feed it to herself. She also LOVES bath time now. Just in the past couple days she has discovered how exciting it is to splash. Looks like its time for some bath toys! She crawls everywhere -- she'll even follow Cobalt around. She pulls herself up to stand supported by the couch and shimmies herself along it. She is also getting very courageous, holding on for support with one hand and even stretching to her very fingertips to move from the couch to the coffee table. In short she is absolutely delightful and an incredible blessing. We hope you enjoy these little glimpses of our baby.

Happy Mother's Day (Belated)!

Happy Mother's Day to all the beloved moms of our family! In particular, Nonna, Ne-Ne, Gammy, and Great-Grandmom in AZ! We are so thankful for you and all your prayers and care for us; we honor you. May God bless you and give you great joy!!

Sophia giggles.

Sophia asking, "What have you got there?"

"Ah-ha! The real thing!"

"A delightful bedtime snack..."

Sophia is so much fun. She is really itching to crawl and just today demonstrated the correct form of the army crawl for us in her fervor to reach an accordion file on the floor. She clacks her tongue and babbles a lot now. Life is good for our little Sophie. (Aside from her recent pink eye woes.) She is still eating well and loving vegetables. We are planning to branch out in her finger foods when we move apartments next weekend. We will be living much closer to the World Relief office where Laura works and will also be extremely close to the Dekalb Farmer's Market, which is an awesome place with great and inexpensive produce. We'll be sure to post some of Sophia's future interactions at the farmer's market on our family outings...

She's still got two bottom teeth and rolls all over the place. Yesterday she sat up from lying down on her own, but neither of us saw her in action. Matt just turned around and where she was just lying, she was then sitting. She is a very determined little girl. Very quick to laugh, curious, and observant. And obviously has the best cheeks ever.

A Mover and A Shaker

Sophia is so sweet, so exciting, so amazing. We love to get her laughing; she really likes games of anticipation -- it is remarkable the absurd things we will do (oh the sounds we make!) just to get her to smile. She likes to play peekaboo, to swing about in our arms, and to launch like a rocket. A particular favorite that always get laughs is "riding the horsey" on our legs. We'll have to defer to Auntie Kelly as to what is a true gallop and what is a canter. Sophia is also really enjoying her solids -- she is the biggest fan of sweet potatoes. Many a time has she gotten bored with squash or carrots, but as soon as she tastes sweet potatoes, things get serious. There's no playing around when eating sweet potatoes, and every bite warrants murmurs of delight. There will be no eating of hands between bites or rubbing of eyes with said food-covered hands. It is all about the sweet orange stuff. On that note, Sophia does not like fruits. Really. It is quite odd; we have tried all kinds to no avail. But we will keep trying occasionally, expecting that at some point she will realize the joys of fruits.

Sophia also has become very interested in getting places. If she wants to get somewhere, she rolls and rolls and rolls until she makes it. She also pushes up a lot on her arms and has started getting her legs in gear. It won't be long before she is crawling everywhere -- something we are both excited about and a little fearful of. But mostly excited.

We are so proud of our beautiful little girl, so thankful for her life. Amen.

What is a sound you love?

Hello All,
New things are happening in the Schultz household. I am now working full time at World Relief Atlanta as the Volunteer Coordinator for our refugee resettlement operation. Matt gets the awesome job of caring for Sophia at home -- what a great and blessed dad! And Sophia gets to explore and experiment with life in general. She loves to make the "raspberry" sound, loves sweet potatoes, then carrots, then squash, with oatmeal bringing up the rear, loves sliding her head over to the left to look at things sideways, and loves to skip naps. We had to raise her exersaucer a level since she is getting so tall. She also prefers to eat with us, wanting to participate in what we are doing. And she wants to touch whatever we are touching, and grabs for anything we pass by. Of course whatever she does get a hold of goes straight into her mouth. She is truly wonderful. We can't believe she will be half a year old on Sunday!