Together Again

This is Sofia at Petsmart picking up her beloved Thathy Boy. We dropped him off to be groomed all the while discussing how Jax was being dropped off to take a bath and then we'd go to the park and then we would come back to pick him up. Sofia stood by quietly confused as I passed him over but as we were leaving the store she was telling anyone who would listen that Thathy Boy getting a bath. Thathy Boy allll clean!

So imagine my surprise when we get in the car and my sweet little girl's face drops and her chin protrudes and her cry is a new one. It's a truly sad one. There's desperation in her voice, Where'd Thathy Boy go?

It was so sad. I'm used to the whiny, annoying cry when something doesn't go her way. Not this sad, sad cry that tugs my heart. I explained to her that Jaxy was ok and that we'd pick him up soon.

By the time we made it to the park she was fine. And when we returned as promised to pick him up she was so happy and again announced to anyone who would listen that Thathy Boy got a bath. Thathy Boy alll clean!

Trip to Dallas, March 19-21

We went to Dallas to celebrate Emily's birthday. Sofia got to have her first sleep-over with Matthew and Jakey and she got to spend some time with Banka, Matthew and Jakey's Grandma. She loved Banka and talked about her a lot when we got home. She also LOVED playing with the boys and finally learned to call Julie Dewey which is better than David which is what she used to call her!

It was a great weekend but it seems I was having too much fun to take pictures. These photos of our lunch on a patio in Flower Mound on a ridiculously beautiful day are my only real proof of our visit.







Oh! And after the gorgeous weather on Friday that was perfect for drinking on patios all day it proceeded to snow on Saturday! Talk about schizophrenic weather. Poor Sofia didn't really get to play in it since our suitcases were not equipped with any warm clothes. Oops! I guess I should check the weather better next time, but c'mon who would have guessed snow! Oh well... that was her first snow.

Overheard

Tonight was perfect. The weather is warming up. Sofia and I welcomed Daddy home from work on this Saturday night on the front porch blowing bubbles. The three of us waited on the porch until the pizza came.

Inside I grab myself a beer and one for Dan and our sweet little two-year old says, "Mommy, a beeeer, peez?"

Seems she is listening. Oops.

Two Years, Three Months

I jotted down some cute things this kid does that I don't ever want to forget... along with a sprinkle of some recent cute pics.

counts to twenty but usually skips 12-16; counts to ten in Spanish but skips 6 and seven but loves to say "ocho"

sings Twinkle, Twinkle; Baa Baa Black Sheep, some Backyardigans songs, B-I-N-G-O, Where is Thumbkin and very clearly sings I Love You (Barney song). Uncle Jeff asked her what her favorite song was and she responded, "Uhhh, ABCs" and then sang it.



always picks the "boo one" - her favorite color must be blue

pronounces things cute like: o-tay for okay; yook for look; buddy waddit for bunny rabbit; wahwee pop for lollipop, adds an few extra syllables to alligator so it sounds something like awahwaha-agtor

loves to play itsy sahwer on daddy's phone peez!



lists things and draws out the word: ... aaaaand... aaaaaand... aaaaaand... aaaaaand

laughing too hard gives her the hiccups. she has the hiccups a lot.

first answer to a question starts with: "uhhhh"



finally made friends with the old guy at Berryhill and even gives him hugs whereas she used to cry at the mere sight of him.

talks on the "phone" with her fist a lot, usually to Bobo. The other day on the phone she said "Hi Bobo. Nice to meet you," to her fist. Nice to meet you sounds more like "Machu Picchu" but to my knowledge she knows nothing about Peru.

she looks so funny when she closes her eyes on purpose



sings her ABCs but gets stuck in a loop at the end "WXY and Z. Now I know my ABCs," but instead of saying "next time won't you sing with me," she accidentally repeats, "HIJKLMNOP, QRST..." and so on until she decides she's done and celebrates by saying "Yea!" as she does at the end of almost all songs.

washes her hands obsessively

likes to cook, help, laundry, clean



calls me "Mommy-Mommy" which I find so endearing. Sometimes I'll call her "Fia-Fia" back to her.

can spell her name and drags out each letter "Esssss" "ohhhhhh" "ef" "iiiiii" "a" and then very largely and dramatically sings, "So-fia!!!!!"



We are so proud of our little girl. My heart just bursts with joy when I think about how much she's grown and learned in her short little life!

March 24, 2010

Sofia's become more and more dexterous and increasingly interested in dressing and undressing herself. So now in the morning (within reason) I've been letting her pick out her outfits and get herself dressed. I usually let her pick one thing and then we'll build an outfit together based on her first choice.

On this day she picked the purple shirt / dress that Tio Louis gave her for Christmas. It's a little big but it's ok. Then I gave her a choice between jeans and brown leggings and she picked leggings. Then I told her she had to wear her pink crocs because those are my preferred choice of shoe for play/getting dirty at school. But as you can see she had another idea. She was very insistent on her moccasin boots. I gave in.

It was so cute and she was so proud of herself that I had to take a picture. I'm interested to see what things she puts together in the future and I hope she doesn't get confused or throw a tantrum when I force her to wear the dress that I pick out for Easter - that's my day!

Autumn Rhythm No. 30

Sofia is still really easy to put to bed. Bath, books, prayers and she's down. No fuss. We turn off the light and walk out.

Lately though she's doing more things that a kid her age would do. Stalling tactics. The usual stuff. She asks for water, asks for a kiss, asks where Grandma went. But tonight was a classic.

Tonight she says, "Mommy, where'd Jackson Pollock go?"

We've been reading the book, Olivia, to her in which she visits an art museum and sees the painting above, Autumn Rhythm No. 30. And every time, I tell her the artist's name. She never seems too interested in the painting or Pollock but it seems she's listening.

I didn't have the heart to tell her he died young, an alcoholic, while driving drunk. I'll let her learn that on her own...

Parties, Parties, Parties!

My party adventures started late last month when my (pregnant) friend Bobby and I threw a very casual shower for our other (pregnant) friend, Lindsey.



Lindsey has an almost-two year old, Isaiah, who's cuteness has been featured on this blog before, so she didn't need too much stuff in the baby department. But since the next baby was to be a girl we had to shower her with pink stuff and dresses! We had a lot of fun.



Bobby, Lindsey and I all met while working at ANICO in Galveston and we've remained close. We have lunch once a week and were sad to see Lindsey put on bed rest a couple of weeks before Evie's birth. And soon Bobby will be giving birth to her little man and I'll be left all alone with no one but Michael Strickland to lunch with... I'm already missing my friends!!!!

March 13, 2010 - An Over-Scheduled Mommy Calendar Day
On this day, Sofia had been invited to two birthday parties, and me a baby shower. Funny, Dan had been scheduled to work in the ER that day. Coincidence? Doubt it. It didn't matter though, Sofia was a trooper, nary a meltdown and we ended up having a really fun day. I mean, cake three times in one day, how can any kid complain?

10:30 am - We head to a joint birthday party at a Bouncy House place for two of Sofia's friends from school, Kyle and Aiden. It was at the same place we'd been to before for another birthday party and Sofia was rather scared of the bounce house but this time she was far more adventurous. I didn't get any pictures that weren't big blurs of bouncing kids but I can tell you, she had fun!

She got to sit next to the birthday-boy, Aiden, who got his cake first. I noticed what a polite little girl she is as she sat next to him and his big serving of cake. She waited patiently for her own cupcake but I swear to you her gaze did not move from Aiden's cake for a second.



Here's a shot of Sofia's version of a hug. She walks up to Aiden and puts her cheek on him.



Here she is crying when Kyle decides he doesn't want a hug.



Sofia's favorite teacher from her old classroom who she affectionately calls, Fluffy, was there too.



11:30 am - the party is over and I have to drive 30 minutes south to get to Bobby's 2:00 baby shower. In hopes that Sofia would nap on the way I gave her the forbidden-except-in-your-crib-paci. It worked! And she got in a 20 minute nap.

We still had some time to kill. So I headed to Babies R Us to get some more presents for Bobby and then Sofia and I stopped at McDonald's for a mommy-daughter lunch. It was fun!

2:00 - Bobby's shower. Sofia had fun bringing all of the presents to Bobby



and playing with all of baby Hodge's new toys,



and helping herself to the snack table.



5:00 - we headed even further south to celebrate Mackenzie's 4th birthday. Mackenzie's mom, Kristy, is yet another one of the ANICO girls I worked with. She and her family live in San Antonio now but were in town visiting her in-laws where the birthday party was held.

We walked in and both of her girls were wearing the exact same shirt as Sofia. It was completely unplanned and completely hilarious! It was impossible to get 3 children under the age of 4 in one picture but here are Sofia and Mackenzie in their matching shirts,



and Sofia and Cameron, who are only 9 days apart, in their matching shirts. So cute!



Sofia had a blast with the girls! It was a backyard dream for her too with swings and bubbles and yet another bouncy house.





Baby Nolan had fun too,



and even let Bobby practice holding a little boy.



And Sofia got to eat her third piece of cake in one day!



Sofia fell straight to sleep when we got home and I fell straight onto the couch with a nice, cold adult beverage. It was a fun day, from 10am - 9pm, nonstop! I wasn't sure what to expect out of Sofia but she was really great all day. All in all it was a fun mommy-daughter day!!!

Welcome Baby Evie

One look at this little doll and it's easy to see why I now have baby fever. Isn't she perfect?!

My friend Lindsey and her husband welcomed their baby girl last week and I couldn't wait to get to meet little Evelyn! It will be so fun to watch her grow up and see what a good big brother Isaiah will be.

Congratulations, my friend!

Cowboys, Cowgirls Won't Ya Come Out Tonight...

... and dance by the light of the moon.

The Houston Rodeo is in town. I have never been so when a group of my neighbors invited me I couldn't turn down the invitation,



or the opportunity to get Sofia a pink cowboy hat.





Yeeha!

There was a farmer...

Baby's New Shoes

Every once in awhile when I'm at Marshall's I think Mom and Abuela are in heaven looking down on me with joy. I imagine they're so proud that they've raised a savvy shopper who can appreciate good quality items at beyond reasonable prices.

Every once in awhile I imagine maybe they are so proud of me that they ordain an especially exciting deal. This happened today. Thank you, Mom and Abuela.

I've seen this $75 brand of shoes for my dear Sofia at boutiques and I always hold them for awhile and examine them and think "Oh! How cute Sofia's little feet would look in a pair." I look at the price tag and I get mixed emotions. Usually the first emotion is related to how ridiculously priced these shoes are, the second is usually a bit of envious disdain for the mothers who can justify the price, or I mean afford, to buy them for their little girls and the third is something like, "Who knows? Maybe one day."

Well my day has come. My Marshall's angels, Mom and Abuela, had one pair (in Sofia's next size up, no less) on sale for $20. I indulged.

Sofia was so excited to model them she wouldn't even let me put her pants back on.



Oh! And I showed them to Michael and told him I worried they may get too dirty too fast and his brilliant suggestion was to Scotch Guard them. The smallest twinge of guilt I had is now gone! Now we just have to wait for her feet to grow into them - should be perfect for Summer.

8 Years Strong

Eight years ago today we married.

We are so happy. Truly happy.

We shared a lot of fun years together before Sofia came along. And since she came along we have still managed to have a lot fun and our marriage has been enriched.

So, to my amazing husband and our wonderful marriage, Happy Anniversary!

Or as Sofia said this morning,

"Happy birthday gers-ary!"