Funny Girl

Ok, so we sat there watching this go down and knowing we should have stopped it but we were so darn amused by her laughing so hard at her own antics that we just couldn't stop her. We LOVE it when she makes herself laugh. What a joy to watch a sense of humor blossom!

Visiting with Grammy

GGMom and Grammy with Sophie - what a treat!

Happy Birthday Grammy! (No, they are not trick candles, I swear.)

Dee Ree and Sophie doing a second round of Happy Birthday

The Deerings, Dee Ree, Grammy and us

In the monkey house

Sophie in the petting zoo

Brushing her own hair with the goat brush

Grammy was in town for her 60th high school reunion and so we got to have her stay with us for a few days. We had a great visit! On Thursday we went to lunch with GGmom so Sophie got to have lunch with her two great grandmothers (and I got to have lunch with two of my favorite women in the whole wide world). We went to the zoo on Friday and had a great time seeing peacocks, pigeons, goats in the petting zoo and monkeys! On Saturday, Grammy's brother Jimmy and his wife Carolyn came to visit us as well. On Saturday night, Dee Ree came over and we all had a nice dinner and then sang Happy Birthday to grammy who turns 79 on May 2nd. We had a wonderful visit with everyone and can't wait till Grammy comes back again soon. Oh, and nobody got sick this time - hooray!!!

Picking "Flowers"

These photos are from last week when the weather was warmer and we were out picking flowers.

(Nope, I'm not even going to talk about today.)

Random photos from a day

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way but some days (ok, who am I kidding - it's every day actually) I almost can't stand the cuteness... I mean seriously who is this adorable child???!!!!

Not sure if you can see it but I'm pretty sure in that second photo she is making her now signature "S" sound. She LOVES to make the "S" sound now that she has top teeth. It is one of her most favorite sounds to make and she makes it when she is happy and she makes it when she wakes up in the morning and she makes it when she sees something she is excited about. It's just too stinking cute.

Peek a Boo Me!

Wow - I don't know where the last week or so has gone... Has it really been that long since I last posted???

On Easter Monday, Sophie and I went to the Please Touch Museum with Jim's Aunt Ann and Uncle Tom and his cousin Cristina, her husband Todd and adorable sons Zachary and Nathan. We all had a great time and it was so nice to see them all. The only causalities were that Sophie lost a shoe and got a cold. Good news is that I got the shoe back when I drove there a few days later to check lost and found again! And, more good news that her cold wasn't too bad. Just a head cold really with no real fever and though she is still a little congested, it seemed to only really bother her for a few days. She did have a great time at the Please Touch though. Her favorite thing there this trip was seeing her own reflection in the mirror and playing peek-a-boo with herself while we waited for the others to finish their carousel rides.

In other news, Sophie got diaper burn again. I can't understand it because she didn't have anything weird to eat at all this time. So, now I'm totally vexed that she got it again and we didn't give her anything out of the ordinary. How do we know what *not* to give her if there wasn't anything questionable in her diet?? Oh well. At least we caught it early and plenty of the wonderful Silver Sulfadiazine cream on-hand.

We are getting excited for a visit from Grammy laster this week. And, we had a great time visiting GGMom yesterday for a nice lunch and visit in New Jersey.

More Easter Photos (this is it, I promise)

Here is Sophie at her Nanny and Poppy's playing with the easter eggs her Aunt Pat gave her. We had a great dinner and wonderful visit with the Oxenfords for Easter.

Easter 2009 - Our Little Family

Happy 1st Easter

Happy Easter!!!

Sophie's first Easter has been a great hit so far. She woke up and got to discover her 1st Easter Basket which had 3 books, a stuffed bunny, some candy (to play with - not for Sophie to eat yet unfortunately), and plastic eggs! Guess which are the biggest hit??? The plastic eggs, of course! And, they're a hit with the cats (particularly Ollie), too.

Then, Dee Ree and Pop Pop stopped by and gave her another sweet Easter Basket with a fantastic bunny that plays "If You're Happy and You Know It" and flaps its ears up and down. They also gave her a plastic egg filled with plastic candy (more for me and Jim, yum) and the basket itself is also an adorable sun hat!

Now, she is upstairs sleeping and after she wakes up we'll get the whole family ready to head out to Pottstown for Easter Dinner and more fun.

Other than all the Easter activity, we had a wonderful time visiting with the Snedikers yesterday. Unfortunately, since Jim got strep throat this week our visiting with them got cut short but after three days of antibiotics, Jim was up for a little visit over dinner in the evening and we were so happy to see them again before they left this morning for Ohio.

Hope everyone is having a very Happy Easter so far and much love to all our family and friends this Easter and always...

Hayride to Bunnyland and Easter Dress Hunt

This has truly been a week of Easter fun!! Yesterday, I decided to take Sophie to go get her photo with the Easter Bunny. I had been holding off on this because well, frankly, I couldn't find an Easter dress I liked for her and because she still had that darn shiner!! But, with it being holy thursday already and the possibility of even longer lines today (Good Friday), I figured I better just bite the bullet and take her anyway.

After much searching for "The Perfect 1st Easter Dress" I ended up getting her two little sundresses from Kohls and figured one of those would have to do. Yes, I know how silly it is to obsess about an Easter dress for a 1 year old (What??? ME? Obsess about something silly?? No, never.) but you know I have really fond memories of getting dressed up for Easter and getting my photo taken in front of my Mom Mom's door. So I was in search of the perfect 1st Easter Dress for Sophie and no matter where I looked, I didn't like any of them for her. FYI, in the past two weeks I have checked Lord and Taylor, Macy's Sears, JCPennys, Boscov's Childrens Place, Gymboree, Babies R Us, and Target. So, anyway, here are the two dresses from Kohls that I tried on her yesterday for a little photo shoot (but it was morning and she was awake and happy and had a little trouble sitting still for me). After deciding on the purple flowered one, mostly because she liked the little buckle on the belt so much), I hauled her off to the mall for a sit on the bunny's lap. And, once again, not only was she not scared of him but she was happy to see him and tried to go back to him even after her photo was done. (The little 13 month old girl in front of us who was happily waiting in line with her little pink dress on totally lost it in a spasm of crying and protestation when placed on the bunny's knee and even when her mom sat with her she still lost it so her mom took her and left without any photos). Oh, and for the shiner, I just put a little cover-up on her eye so I think you can barely see it, right?

Anyway, she had such fun with that Bunny and it was such a gorgeous day that I decided to take her to Linvilla Orchards for a Hayride to Bunnyland afterwards!! Oh. My. God. She LOVED IT. She was sleepy not having had much of a morning nap and then all the excitement of the Linvilla Orchard petting zoo and all the kids but she tolerated the hayride ok, pointing out various things along the way. When we got to "bunnyland" and the Bunny emerged for his grand entrance, she rallied and was in rare form! She had the whole tractor full of folks laughing at her because she kept pointing at him and screaming. The bunny walked around the tractor giving hugs and having photo opps with all the kids and he seemed to pay special attention to Sophie since she was so enamored with him. I swear, I don't know what it is about the Bunny but the kid adores him.

All this bunny activity and it's not even Easter yet!!

1st Easter Egg Hunt

Our good friends, the Snedikers, are in town for Spring Break so on Sunday we all went out to enjoy the beautiful weather and take the kids to the Lansdowne annual Easter Egg hunt. Sophie had such a great time! And, she LOVED LOVED LOVED the Easter Bunny (or the "Spring Bunny" as the Lansdowne Egg Hunt organizer kept reminding herself and us that he should be called). Sophie just couldn't get enough of that darn bunny. She kept trying to butt in front of other kids to see him and go up on his lap again. I have been wanting to take her to the mall to get her official Easter photo on the bunny's lap but have been waiting for this shiner to go away. Now that I know how much she loves the bunny, I am really hoping I can get her there one day this week amidst all the visiting with the Sneds. What fun!

Having fun with Daddy and Sophie's 1st shiner

Ok, this is officially one of my new favorite photos of Sophie. It was taken on Monday by her Daddy during a photo shoot where she was having fun trying to grab the lens. Despite the bed head and runny nose, I think she is just beautiful in this photo. Happy and having a ball. This is the epitome of Sophie having fun. What a sight!!

In other news, Sophie and I went on what should have been a very happy little morning playdate yesterday. We met up with our good friends the Powells and Bannisters at the Media Playroom which is this indoor playroom with toys and books and train table and it's all carpeted and safe. Or so it seemed.... Sigh...

Soph was having a great time playing and running around with the kids and new toys when she apparently took a face dive and met the business end of a wooden train table. The child had a shiner in seconds. And, it missed her eye by less than half an inch. Needless to say, I felt horrible. And, what was I doing during the time she fell you might ask? Well, I was reading a book to three other amazing children and thought Sophie was ok but I was wrong. So, poor baby got her first shiner. Conveniently, we had a doctor's appt immediately after the playdate so the pediatrician said it looked fine and her eye movements were good. To add insult to injury the poor kid had a blood draw and two shots and was absolutely miserable about the whole ordeal. Other than the freak out, she checked out well for her 12 month well-baby check up. Today the shiner is better. She was a little tender today but otherwise seemed no worse for the wear. Hopefully tomorrow it will be gone.