Taking time to stop and smell the flowers

When Jim and I became parents there were so many new things I cherished about life with Sophie in it. How much her smiles and laughter would bring us joy. How fun it was to watch her grow. How excited and proud we would get for each new milestone (first smile, sitting up, first word, walking). But there are also so many things I didn't expect and that I love just as much. Like finding things scattered throughout the house in odd places. Sophie loves to pick things up and move them around. Carry them in things. Take them to other places. We find crayons in book baskets, stacking cups in the hamper, shoes in buckets. Tonight she took her shovel and her little ladybug book and put them on the phlox. Outside. Too funny. Sophie's everyday objects in life juxtaposed in weird places warms my heart in unimaginable ways!!

Happy 14th Month Birthday Angel

Today was Sophie's 14 month birthday!! Happy Birthday to our precious little dancey girl!! We love you more than you'll ever know!!

Sophie loves music and dancing. She plays some of her toys that play songs and just dances and sways to the music. She also has developed quite a thing for drumming. She is quite good at it (no I'm not at all biased) and likes to drum on everything - buckets, boxes, her chest and of course her drums (of which she has quite a growing collection).

Other 14 month old accomplishments include:
- spinning in circles
- walking backwards
- CLIMBING CLIMBING and MORE climbing. (Have I mentioned the climbing?)

Happy 2nd Memorial Day

We had a pretty nice Memorial Day here in Lansdowne. Our day started out at the Lansdowne Memorial Day parade which Sophie seemed to enjoy despite it being smack dab in the middle of nap time. Then, after lunch we went outside and played with bubbles and the sprinkler in the garden. Sophie loved playing in the sprinkler! It was a hot Philly day and I think cooling off really made her happy. Later on at the grocery store we picked up a little kiddie pool for her which she also seemed to enjoy dipping her feet (and butt) into later in the afternoon. We are all tired and hot but happy. A great second Memorial Day all in all (look at Sophie's 1st Memorial Day last year)!!

Baby Smash and a Summer Preview

Jim's got a program installed on his laptop called Baby Smash which lets babies, yep, you guessed it - smash on keyboards. Cool huh??? Whenever they press keys (press being quite the euphemism in this case) various shapes pop up on the screen. Sophie of course loves it. I'm looking into getting a version for the Mac so she can play it on my computer, too.

And, here is a preview of the summer with Sophie trying on her cute surfer girl bathing suit from Old Navy. Can't wait for the pool to be ready for her to start splashing away.

Sounds of Sophie 2

Random photos of late

Sophie's teeth seem to be bothering her a little less. They're obviously still bothering her but she seems a bit less troubled by it all. She is really enjoying being outside in the nice weather. It makes the day so much more fun for everyone to go outside. Today Jim opened the pool so just imagine the fun to be had in the days to come!!

Another Day in the Life

Here was Sophie outside on Mother's Day before we left for Nanny and Poppy's house. She is wearing a pretty dress that was a present from her cousins Madee and CJ (and their mom and dad Judi and Chris, of course). Notice how intent she is on those white flowers? She just loves flowers so much. Points to them all and I tell her the names of them if I know them. Then, when I ask her "Where is the azalea? Where is the maple? Where is the phlox? Where is the hosta" she goes right to it and points to the right one. Isn't that the best??? Ah.... too cute. Oh, and if she sees a flower in the ground (dandelion, buttercup, little purple weed) she SCREAMS real loud indicating that she wants me to pick it, which of course, I do and give to her and she just lights up and smiles when she has her little "bouquet".

Poor Sophie is teething pretty bad this week. She has been really putting her hand in her mouth and is much fussier than she has been lately. I know she is in a lot of pain and Jim and I so wish we could just get all these teeth over and done with for her sake. But, with some extra TLC and tylenol and teethers she seems to be hanging in there ok.

Yesterday was pretty comical...she was napping in the car for over an hour after spending most of the day having a really great time at the wonderful Elmwood Park Zoo with our friends, The Bannisters. She had been sleeping for over an hour so it was time for her to wake up but you could tell she was really sleeping hard (she barely moved or woke up the whole time we were driving). When I got the grocery store and woke her up she was *very* unhappy. She was crying and heavy and screaming I know she just wanted to be back asleep but it was too late in the day and I had to pick up a few things quickly in the store. So, I tried to put her in the cart and she lost it. I mean, LOST IT. So, I held her. I carried her through the whole store pushing the cart and having a very heavy and sleepy and sad baby in my arms. We checked out quickly in the self-checkout lane and then I went to put her in the carseat to go home and of course, she LOST IT again. Screaming, crying, wailing etc. Well, at that point my cart with the groceries and my purse and everything starts rolling away across the parking lot toward another car. In that split moment I had the urge to go after the cart but she wasn't strapped in yet so of course I chose baby (shwew, good mom instinct, huh? Imagine if I had chosen cart over baby) and continued to fight to get her strapped in while the cart just rolled and rolled. Finally, I got her strapped in safely and turned to sprint across the parking lot while she wailed and wailed even louder. Oh, good times, huh? Welcome to a day in the life of a SAHM!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

We are so incredibly blessed to have so many moms and grandmoms to love this and every mother's day!! Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous moms out there.

We love you all so very much!!!
xoxoxox

Grandma Kathy

Nana Mary

Nanny

Dee Ree

GGMom

Grammy

Outside fun

The sun is shining again here today so we hope to spend much of the day outside picking flowers and exploring!! It has been such a great week. Sophie is such a joy and so much fun to be around these days. She just seems to be overall so happy and content. It warms a mommy's heart, I tell ya...

You are my sunshine

Round these parts the sun hasn't been shining too much lately. We've had rain, rain and more rain. Oh, and some more rain. So, when there is a dry moment, we make the best of it and head outside to pick "flowers", walk around in the back yard, look at birds, point to plants and so much more. Everytime an airplane goes by overhead (and this is quite often actually given our proximity to Philadelphia International Airport), Sophie throws her arm up in the air, points and grunts loudly. This is how she indicates she hears it. Her hearing is really quite good actually and she will do this inside when the airplane sound is remarkably faint. What good ears, our little angel has!!!

This is such a fun age. I'm enjoying Sophie sooooo very much these days. She is full of kisses and hugs and laughter and new words. Of course, there are still challenging moments and she is teething a little but my gosh, this age is a blast!! I LOVE to hear her attempts at words. So far her lexicon includes: momma, dadda, yesssss, ice, puffs, nana, and no (which sounds more like nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh as she wags her finger at something she knows she is not supposed to do. I admit I am thankful she hasn't figured out to say no when she doesn't want something yet). I also swear I have heard her say again, bye and car sometimes and a few others I know I am possibly forgetting. The cutest has to be how often she says yes. To wit:

Me: "Sophie, do you want some puffs"
Sophie: "Yessss"

Me: "Sophie, would you like some cheese?"
Sophie: "Yessss"

Me: (after reading a story about a family where the daddy likes green beans, the mommy likes peas, the baby likes cauliflower, "pass more please") "Sophie, do you like greenbeans"
Sophie: "Yesssss"
Me: "Sophie, do you like peas"
Sophie: "Yessss"
Me: "Sophie, do you like cauliflower?
Sophie:

Addendum: Sophie TOTALLY does say "no" when she doesn't want something. Why she did it to me by wagging her hand and saying nuh, nuh, nuh at breakfast just yesterday. I don't know who I was kidding. Denial is a powerful thing...

Random moments from the past week or two

"More cheese, please"

"Look, a flower!"

"Yay, letters are fun!"

Hanging with my Dee Ree