Ree Drummond Shares Her Favorite Snapshots of Granddaughter Sofia From the Past Ten Days

You've seen this one before, but just wanted to share again because I love the pride and love on Ladd's face. 😊 Once we heard from Alex and Mauricio that they would be having the baby within the next day or two, we loaded up and headed to Dallas (and Paige headed down separately). We saw Alex and Mauricio before active labor really kicked in, then we all let the two of them have the time to themselves and eventually headed back to our hotel since we knew it was going to be awhile. Mauricio texted us a little after 2:30 am with two words: "She's here!!!" We brushed our teeth and headed to the hospital to see Sofia and I cried. We eventually went back to the hotel to sleep a couple of hours, then of course wound up back at the hospital not long after that. What a little peanut!

One thing I saw right away is that once you've had/held/raised babies, you never forget a thing. It's been awhile since I've consistently held a baby; after all, I've been dealing with very tall teenagers and young adults for the past several years. But these hands and arms didn't miss a lick. While the uncles and sisters and grandfathers were gingerly passing Sofia to one another, I'd grab her with all the confidence of a grandmother lioness, knowing exactly what to do. Rawr!!! (Okay, enough of the parallels to the animal kingdom.)

Ladd and I drove home late that next day so Ladd could manage some cattle workings on the ranch, and within 24 hours I'd whipped a figurative U-turn and headed back to Dallas to help Alex and Mauricio during their first day back home. Sofia was a couple of weeks early so she's just so sweet and wittle, I mean little. (I'm going to try really hard to speak and write normally during this very baby-centric time, but I'll be honest that it's going to be difficult.) As for who she looks like, I really see Alex as a baby, but there's plenty of Mauricio in there, too! A beautiful blend of mom and dad.

Paige and her fiancé, David, came over on Sofia's first day back home, and I love this photo! As is the case with most young men in their twenties, he hasn't had a whole lot of baby experience, so it was fun to watch him jump right in and enjoy his niece (or soon-to-be niece, if we're being technical). 😊 Paige and David's wedding is in May so they have a little time to relax, and while I don't think they will be rushing into parenthood, I think it was fun for them to get this tiny glimpse at what might be possible for them one day!

It feels funny to talk about being tired considering Sofia's parents had done all the heavy lifting over the previous 48 hours. But I'm no spring chicken, and both the round trip drives and the emotion of Sofia's arrival (along with her cozy warm cuteness) hit me by about 6 or 7 that evening. Paige took a bunch of photos of her napping mom, and this was the least unflattering: there was one where I was having rapid eye movements and drooling! (Haha, I'm kidding on that one. Just wanted to make sure you were still reading.) Speaking of muscle memory: There's nothing better than napping with a baby! I feel like I did that a lot. 😂

Alex sent me this photo yesterday, and I knew I wanted to share it with you. I love it for so many reasons, not the least of which is that Mauricio has been such a sweet, attentive dad. He shares the load with Alex, feeding, waking up with, changing, and (yes) burping his daughter. I love that this photo shows that dads can also revel in the sweetness and the baby smells, and the tender middle-of-the-night moments. And I love that you can see how sleepy Mauricio is--haha, there's no getting around that reality! I've always loved Mauricio, as you all know, but it's been so wonderful to see this whole side to him. I also love this photo of squishy, beautiful Sofia.

I really could have just posted this single photo and skipped all the others. This is another one Alex sent to me yesterday, and my response was about the same as all my other responses to photos she sends me of Sofia: "OMGGGGGGG I can not handle this any longer. Moving to Dallas now." As I stated above, buying a house in Dallas is highly unlikely for me, but I know browsing Zillow is just a defense mechanism to make myself feel better about the five-hour distance between me and this glorious little girl. Thank you God for Sofia! I think I'll go fuel up my car now...