Thursday, June 25, 2009

18 months

Today our little girl turns 18 months!

She is such a joy to be around. She spends her days singing and laughing and being silly. She dances and runs and keeps us in awe with how much she's learning.

Here's a recent picture of her at her friend, Isaiah's (she calls him I-yah) 1st birthday party.



I love that huge grin!

Before she was born I used to fantasize about how she might look. The only wish I had was that, like her Daddy, her smile would brighten her entire face.

As you can see, my wish came true.


Portrait Session
Last week I took her to have her portraits made. Here are three of the shots I chose. Below is a link of all the shots that were taken. If anyone wants one let me know...

Here she is doing her "happy dance."



She picked the bright red chair and dragged it herself into the shoot. It turned out so cute. Notice the pom-poms on the leg of her little outfit. I love it!



And my favorite. My little beauty...



Click the album below for the entire shoot.
18 Month Portraits

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sofia's First Race / June 5-7


On June 6th Sofia competed her first race. She ran the Heights Fun Run Kid's 1K.

Well, let's be honest.

She walked a block of it while holding Daddy's hand. But she crossed the finish line! And she had her own number and everything.

We made it a family affair. Louis, Emily and Papi had all come in town the night before. We (Louis) made an awesome (diet-friendly) dinner



and rested up for the big race the next day.

The next morning Grandma came over



and we headed out to Heights Boulevard. It's a beautiful street with old, historic homes and a tree-lined median. Dan and Louis ran it



and the rest of us walked while pushing Sofia in her stroller. Dan's goal was to beat his time from his last 5K. He did it!





Now it was Sofia's turn. Look at the determination.



Once she neared the finish line she got a bit shy. She usually puts her hand in her mouth when she's shy. It's better than her finger in her nose which is what she used to do when she got shy!



But she did it! She crossed the finish line. The crowd was very supportive of their littlest "runner."



She got a blue ribbon and I'm sure she won first place in her age division!







It was a lot of fun. Hopefully she'll stay active when she gets older and can tell people she's been running races since she was a baby!

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon lounging around. Sofia got some bubble time outside with Grandma and Bobo.

"Bubbles! Outshide!"






That night I had to take everyone to our favorite park downtown, Discovery Green. I'm telling you they have the best burgers in town. And the bonus is that Sofia loves to run around there. I took about 500 pictures. Here are a few...





Sofia showed off her new run.



We visited the Listening Vessels again.









Sofia showed off her tummy



and showed Louis how to "Get down!" and how much fun it is to kick your legs back and forth when you're on the ground. For some reason she loves to do this. Now Louis does too.





She showed interest in the water fountain



so Louis let her experience it up close.



She showed interest in the beautiful flowers



so she decided to taste one.





She tried to take off on the park's SUV. Good thing her feet couldn't reach the pedals.



She loves straws although she can't seem to figure out how to actually use one with a drink. In time...







It was another great day at the park and luckily it wasn't so hot that we couldn't enjoy ourselves.

The next day we spent some time in a cool new coffee shop in the neighborhood. Sofia, like me, doesn't drink coffee. So she read a book.



Papi drank some coffee (strange, huh?)



and Louis very seriously held a scone.



Sofia was too cool for this place. So we left.



Papi and Emily hit the road and we talked Louis into staying another night! Then he and Dan were kind enough to finally install my new light fixtures in the kitchen. The one on the ceiling and the sconce above the sink.



And on another note, just last weekend I finally painted the kitchen the color everyone was wary of: dark brown. I must say, I love it. I was a bit nervous at first but it turned out even better than I hoped. Here are some before and afters:









It will look even better with a new kitchen table and built-in benches in the corner. But all that in time.

Anyway, back to our weekend: Sofia woke up from her nap and couldn't believe this bassinet was where she once slept! We just got it back from David and Julie. It's where Jakey was sleeping and where Sofia's future sibling will sleep and also where all of Sofia's Coussirat cousins once slept.



Since we were able to get Louis to stay we headed on over to Mel and Dee's house



to enjoy their awesome backyard. We grilled out and had a few beers.

Since it was so hot we brought over a little kiddie pool for Sofia.





She loved splashing around outside of it but for some reason she never wanted to get in. The neighbor, Savannah, came over to play too. First Sofia just checked her out.



Then she went in for a kiss.



Finally, she'd had enough fun. She and Jax stood at the door waiting to be let inside.



We had a great weekend!!!