Saturday, February 27, 2010

Getting Well Soon

As many of you know I've been dealing with complications from one of the few stitches I had to fix a small tear that happened during Sofia's birth two-plus years ago. Last Thursday I had what I hope to be the last of three surgeries for what has turned out to be an anal fistula.

Don't know what that is? Google it. Actually, don't; it's not worth knowing. Ick.

Anyway, I was so touched yesterday when these arrived.



I couldn't imagine who had sent them to me. Until I read the card and I laughed my culo off.



Don't know what culo is? Google it.

Thank you to my brothers and sisters. It really made my day!!!

Uncle Bob Log - First Entry



This is Uncle Bob. He's Dan's godfather and a close family friend. He met Sofia when she was just a few weeks old but since then she's only had a handful of visits with him.

But you wouldn't know that by how much she talks about him.

I've mentioned it once before about how out of the blue one night asked for him before bed. And then she'll just sporadically say his name every once in awhile. I never really know what prompts it.

So then a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of my sister's visit I asked Sofia if she knew who was coming soon. No answer, of course.

So I say in an Oprah-esque introduction kind of way, "Tiaaaa Emmm-ahhhh-lyyyyyyyyy!"

And she gets excited and responds, "Yeah! Emeee!" And then very somberly and matter-of-factly says,

"Uncle Bob, no Uncle Bob."

These little stories really make me laugh so I've decided to start an Uncle Bob Log. Maybe we'll determine a pattern...

Uncle Bob Log 1: February 24, 2010
Just when I think she's got Uncle Bob out of her system she surprises me again. Last weekend I bought Sofia this cute little strawberry bib



and so on this day I put it on her for the first time. When I pulled it out of the bib drawer and went to put it on her and she squealed with delight, "Strawberry bib!"

"Yeah," I responded, "don't you love your new bib?" And she answers,

"Oh! Strawberry bib. Uncle Bob give to me."

And then I'm left as I usually am when she brings him up out of the blue, completely confused and thoroughly amused.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Grandpas are the Best

Bobo's Visit



Bobo came to visit and Sofia was beyond thrilled. She talks about her Bobo often and pretends to talk to him on the phone quite a bit. She sings Bobo's song, "Sofia es linda. Sofia es linda!" It's so cute.

I'm beyond thrilled that even though they have always lived apart that they have always shared a special bond. I remember last year for Papi's birthday when we went out to lunch Sofia insisted on holding his hand the entire meal.



This time was not much different. We had a fabulous dinner at Shade and Sofia sat at the end of the table in between Papi and me and periodically she would lean over to Papi, grab his arm or lean her head on his arm. It was as if to give him a hug from her confined high chair and I could imagine through her body language she was thinking, "How wonderful that my Bobo is here!"

And the love is reciprocated. Because as we all know coffee is a very important part of Bobo's meal, and only this girl would get away with feeding him cold sips from a tiny spoon.



Bobo's visit was short and we already miss him, but we're hoping to see him again soon.

Car Shopping with Grandpa
The day Sofia was born our beloved Jetta shrunk. So since then we've coveted a bigger car. And mostly because Dan's BMW has crossed the line of embarrassment (he has to start it with a screwdriver, people!) but also in anticipation of having two carseats in our cars one day we're opting for something bigger. We're looking mainly at the Honda Pilot and the GMC Acadia. So it was time to get some test driving done.

Since our usual babysitter, Grandma was away on a retreat we guilted Grandpa into accompanying us. We figured with three adults and one kid we could get it done and Grandpa could serve as part-babysitter, part-educated-opinion-giver.

I underestimated just how much fun Sofia would have in a car show room. She had so much fun driving and so much fun with Grandpa. She even stayed with him while we test drove a car and just waved her sweet little hand as we drove away, content to stay with Grandpa and test drive her own little heart out.



She hopped in the back of pick up trucks.



And she and Grandpa even had a little heart-to-heart in the show room



in which she convinced him that those cookies belonged to her. Check out that smile!



Sofia had a great weekend with her Grandpas. She is so lucky to have two Grandpas who love her so much.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Hand Me Downs for Baby K

Tia Emily came to visit last week so we could go to Babies R Us and complete a daunting task for a first-time mother: picking items for a baby registry. It was very fun, especially for me since I love to dispense advice and opinions and for once, Emily didn't mind hearing it!

I also had Dan go up to our attic and retrieve all the baby things we've been saving for whichever baby came next. And lucky for Emily and Jeff, it's Baby K.



Those are six entirely full boxes (double Sofia's height as you can see) full of little girl clothes, sizes 0-18 months. In my defense and before you deem me a shopping addict, I had three full bins donated to me by my generous sister-in-law during my pregnancy.

There are three smaller boxes full of tiny baby shoes and socks, a large tub full of baby toys and a couple of medium tubs full of bottles and other feeding items.

We also packed up Emily's car with Sofia's old bassinet. It's a miracle it all fit.

It was exciting to pass it along but part of me was sad to think that I may never need those little girl clothes again. You see, I have already determined that our next child will be a boy. This worked for my sister-in-law, Julie. She just said she was having boys and she did. So maybe it will work for me. Plus, last summer in Laredo a bruja dangled a necklace over my palm and told me I was having a girl (Sofia), then a boy and then later another girl.

I choose to believe her.

But that's only because I liked what she said! Although I'm not quite sure where that last little girl is coming from because I think I have to close up shop after the next boy baby.

We shall see...

Anyway, we are very excited for Baby K and can't wait to see her in all those cute little outfits. My sister has the boxes stacked in their home office and when she brought her friend over to see all her hand-me-downs her friend exclaimed, "Wow! How many kids does your sister have?!"

One, just one. One very lucky little girl who has a generous aunt, loving friends and family and a Mom who loves to use Gymbucks.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Brushing and Braids

Last night before bed while Sofia was busy doing this...



I was playing with her hair. She was having so much fun playing with the water brushing her teeth that I was able to give her a french braid. It looked so cute! I'll have to try it for real one day.



By the way, that first picture up there is her giving me a full-on pose. I can get some real posing out of her when she wants to. She completely understands how to smile for the camera and she already asks to "see 'fia" on the camera. She's my little ham!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Beauty *and* Brains

So we'll start with the brains...

Sofia's new classroom at daycare stresses potty training. Today marks her second week there and while she's been very good at sitting on the potty she has yet to be successful at going in the potty. This past weekend I purchased her first Pull-Up pants. Tonight right after dinner I heard her say, "No poopy." Which is usually a sign that something is coming out of her booty so I hurried her along and said, "C'mon, let's get on the potty!!!" She ran, I yanked off her pants and JUST IN TIME the poop landed in the potty.

Lucky you, I resisted all temptation to take a picture of it!

I was so proud of her. Really, I don't think she knew what she was doing, but I'm excited because I think now she'll be able to make the connection.

And if that wasn't enough... after the successful potty incident we were reading this cool book we bought in NYC called Good Night New York City.



They sell them for several cities and I highly recommend them because it's been a great way for her to remember where she's been and what she's seen. And she recognizes and says the Statue of Liberty and the Staten Island Ferry. But back to tonight...

tonight on the museum page she pointed to Van Gogh's Starry Night and she says, "Men Goh."

She's a crap-going genius. I love her!

Now to the beauty part...

Sofia's been doing some fun and silly things lately. But one that I find particulary funny is that she's been crossing her legs. Like a lady. I finally got a picture of it. So funny...



She also is going through a band-aid phase. Baby's first nose job.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Celebrating Valentine's Day





There's Sofia in one of the cute heart outfits she wore to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. Unfortunately she was feeling a little sick this week but she got to spend extra days at home with Mommy and Daddy and even a whole day with Grandma and Grandpa. Luckily after that she was well enough on Friday to go to her school party.

I read about this great idea for kid's valentines on a friend's blog and I just HAD to make some for Sofia. They turned out so cute! It was so fun to pass them to all her friends and teachers at school. We also sent some to her grandparents and all her cousins.



I got Dan a workout book he's been wanting and some chocolates.



And Dan helped Sofia make Mommy a Valentine's Day breakfast. She stirred up the pancake batter...



helped crack the eggs...



and helped to scramble them!



She even helped clean up.



Mommy made heart-shaped pancakes for Sofia.





It's been a fun morning so far. It's cold outside today and Sofia's still a little congested so we'll probably just spend the rest of the afternoon at the house playing and napping. Hope your Valentine's Day was a special one!! Love to all...

**UPDATE**

Dan came home later in the day with some sweet Valentine staples for his two favorite girls... heart-shaped box o' chocolates...



beautiful flowers...



a heart-shaped balloon, or as Sofia says, "ah-boon" ...



and a sweet little Dr. (of love) Snoopy doll.



And since the weather turned out to be beautiful I ended up forgoing a day of laundry and instead went to Discovery Green with these two cuties.



Sofia loved the park!



It was a beautiful day spent as a happy family...

Happy Valentine's Day from Sofia



Sofia's a real SUCKER for a friend like YOU!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Baby K has a blog!

It's written by my sister Emily. Check it out here.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Em.

Days with Daddy

I had some minor surgery a couple of weeks ago. Sofia spent a Friday with Grandma and Grandpa but the weekend she got to spend with Daddy while I rested on the couch.

So here's Sofia's day with Daddy.

Daddy wakes up to find a naked baby...



Daddy gets her pjs back on and gives her and her "mah-kah-ney" some quiet time with Barney.



Daddy bundles Sofia up and takes her for a jog.



Daddy lets her play at the park...



but then decides it's too cold so he lets her warm up and explore unfounded territory in the front seat of the car before heading back out.



Daddy gets her dressed up for church (I did her hair, he still has yet to master that) and lets her pick out some quiet toys to take with her.



After church Daddy puts her in an outfit of his choosing...



and she's ready for some play time!



She decides she'll make some dinner for Daddy ...



once dinner is ready, Daddy joins and they say a nice toast before their meal.



Daddy bundles Sofia up again so she can take her doggy on a walk...



and Jaxy-boy too!



Daddy waits patiently while Sofia rejects about a hundred rocks on her quest for the perfect one.



Found it!



Sofia and I both are so lucky she has the greatest Daddy a girl could ask for. We love you, Daddy!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

January Happenings

Here are some of the fun things Sofia was up to in January...

Happy Birthday ... Again!

Having a child born on December 25th will probably prove to be complicated the older this little girl gets. I absolutely loved the idea that she was born on Christmas day. Her birth, a surprise happening on Chirstmas day, had so much meaning to me and it was a beautiful way to end a horrible year. So it always bugged me a bit when strangers would lament the fact that her birthday was on Christmas. "Poor girl," they would say, "she'll get gypped on presents," or "she'll get lost in the shuffle, etc."

On the way to the hospital in total shock and surprise I said to Dan, "I can't believe she'll be born on Christmas Day." and his immediate response was, "Well, we'll have to give her a birthday party in the summer with her friends." Who knows if that's what we'll end up doing; I think every year will depend on the circumstances and her own wishes. The first year it didn't matter - she was too young to care - and we had a big bash at Bobo's house. This year was a bit more low-key. It did prove to be more work since there is so much going on with Christmas preparations too, so that's partly why it was more low-key.

I think we'll always celebrate it on Christmas night but as she gets older and makes friends we'll decide how to celebrate it with her friends. This year I just decided to put her cute little birthday cake dress back on and bring some cupcakes to day care. I left the camera with Sherry, one of her favorite teachers from her old classroom and let her document the "party." I also sent a little present so she'd have something to open. It was very impromptu and last minute but I'm guessing it will be the last year I can get away with that!













Children's Museum with Isaiah

Thursday nights at the Children's Museum is free so my friend Lindsey and I decided to take the kids to play. The Museum District is right by the Texas Medical Center and since both our husbands work there we had a little family date night. Sofia absolutely adores Isaiah so it was a lot of fun for all of us.











They had these cool chairs you could sit in and pulley the kids up. Sofia cried bloody murder so this is as far up as she got. Isaiah is a brave little boy though and went way high.





Afterward we went to dinner together where the kids went crazy...



and the dads showed off their dorkiness. It was a really fun night!



Nolan's Birthday Party

Sofia's favorite friends at school are all little boys: Kyle, Nolan, Aaden and Bennett especially. So when she was invited to Nolan's 2nd birthday party I knew it was something we couldn't miss. The party was at a Bounce House facility and I thought she'd LOVE it but alas our little princess was scared. I thought maybe forcing her to go down the slide would prove to her just how fun this place was. But that didn't really work. Check out her face in these pics. She's like, "Get me outta here!"







It was funny though that once we got her around her friends and she saw that they were having fun she was alright. Already succumbing to peer pressure... at such a young age. But, whatever works! Notice how much happier she is in these pics.







She looked like such a big girl sitting around the birthday table. This was the first birthday party she'd been invited to and I felt like she was such a big kid now.



Her boys, Aaden, Nolan and Kyle.



Her sweet daddy helping her with her cupcake.



More cupcake, mommy?



Riding the Train at Hermann Park

It was a beautiful day one Sunday so we decided to take Sofia to ride the train at Hermann Park. I underestimated just how much she'd love it. She cried when we left, talked about it for days after (the crying and the train - she always talks about when she cries) and is now in love with trains. So the other day, sick of Barney, I put Thomas the Train on for her and it seems she now has a favorite show. She calls it Phomas. The only problem is that the entire episode all she does is point to the screen and say, "Train, mommy, train. Green train, mommy, blue train, blue train, mommy. Blue train sad. Train has a boo-boo. Elephant! Oooh, train, mommy. Train!" So it looks like we may be back to Barney soon since he's like a hypnotist who keeps my kid quiet. Mother of the year, I know!

I digress; here are the cute pics from the train...








And On a Final Note...

Why would Snoopy need that tiny ol' cowboy hat when it would look so cute on little Sofs? I love that smile!