Exploring the rest of WOW

Yesterday Sophia and I went to Tunes for Tots at the Botanical Garden. Once again she had a great time - especially when it was time for everyone to get an instrument to play. She even grabbed one for Mommy! We did a song where every so often we had to "freeze" and she got a kick out of it. She was grinning ear to ear.

Since the sprinklers have been turned off until the spring we had a chance to finally explore the rest of WOW (Worlds of Wonder).

She loved banging on this drum in the "hut" house.

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As we were walking she saw this giraffe and simply had to run ahead and give him a hug and a kiss.




I put her on the bench to try to get a cute picture and I got these ones.


I think we found a new love - walking over bridges. She simply couldn't get enough and proudly pranced around on the bridges. She even had to run back to the stroller to get Lamb so he could walk on the bridges with her. I could tell she felt so proud!


We had a blast. You should take a look at the rest of the pictures.

Happy Halloween!

And you've just got to watch this video of Sophie saying Boo - I mean Bo!

St. Patty's Day

Will asked me if it was St. Patrick's Day when he got home last night. I guess he didn't like her green velour "tennis" outfit, but I thought it was really cute. OK...maybe the light green long-sleeved tee underneath was a bit much, but I didn't have white (or yellow).

Sophie was bouncing all over the couch last night before bed and I couldn't resist taking pictures.

New toys

Sophia got a gift card from Great Aunt Carole for Halloween so we went to the store and she picked out 2 toys and I picked out a really cute pair of shoes for her.

Her selections: a grocery basket full of plastic play food and a new baby doll.

While I was making dinner she sat on the couch and literally tasted all of the food from her shopping basket. I think her favorites were the 2 ice cream cones. YUM! She actually ripped the milk carton apart with her teeth and she tour one of the soup labels off the "can". Sadie ate the strawberry! Sophia had fun taking all the food out of the basket and putting it onto a plate. Once I looked in on her and she was wearing the basket!

The baby doll came with a bath tub, robe, hooded towel, rubber duckie, and tons of soap and lotion bottles. When we got home she not only gave her new baby a bath, but each and every single baby doll she has took a turn in the bath tub. Some day we'll graduate to a baby doll bath tub that uses real water, but not any time soon.

Nana and Poppy

Sophia has decided to call my parents Nana and Poppy (or Pop Pop).

I'm pretty sure Nana and Poppy had a pretty good handle on "normal life at the Alexanders" while Will and I were out of town. From the pictures it looks like they all had a great time.

One of Sophie's favorite things to do is read books in her room. She's got a chair that's just her size and even knows how to turn on her lamp. She will literally select a book from the shelf, carry it over to her chair, climb up, turn around, get situated, then read her book out loud to herself. I love standing in the hallway listening to her little voice....and I think Nana got a kick out of this too.

Friday included lunch at Chic-fil-A and lots of screaming fun in the indoor play area. Sophie loves to scream and believe me, this can be quite embarrassing at times! Then they all went to the playground where Sophia saw a few spiders and a real squirrel eating a nut. Squirrel is one of her newly acquired signs so this was awesome for her.

I'm pretty sure each night after dinner and before bed Sophia played one of her favorite games with them. It's called "You guys sit on the couch and I'll run back and forth in between you and jump on you". Doesn't that sound like fun?

On Saturday I suggested that Nana and Poppy take Sophie to the Children's Harvest Day at our Farmer's Market. There are tons of pictures from this day. Sophie got to pet a baby duck, get lost in a pumpkin patch and participate in a bean bag toss and select a prize afterwards. Surprise, surprise, she chose a book.

Nana told me there was a band playing and that Sophie turned into quite the groupie. She didn't want to leave until she heard the band's second set of music. She really liked watching all the little kids dance although she didn't join them. Believe it or not, she's still on the shy side.

Sophie really enjoyed playing in the back of my parent's minivan on Sunday. Nana said she was sliding down the reclined seats and would take breaks by reading a magazine she found in the car. I'm sure this enclosed space - just her size - was the perfect playground for her active imagination. Nana said she was acting like it was her little house! How adorable.

Walks, walks and more walks. I know Sadie was lucky enough to go for a long walk everyday with Poppy - a treat for her since I've been slacking a bit lately. Sophie also got to go on stroller walks and wagon walks. She pushed her baby in the baby stroller one day. And simply walked on her own around Mulberry Loop (an impressive .6 miles for a 17 month old).

One afternoon Nana was in the kitchen and realized that Sophie was awfully quire in her playroom. Will and I call this the "Silent Sophia" - and we know she's usually up to no good when we can't hear her. We also have "Silent Sadie" - which typically ends up being 100 times worse than "Silent Sophia". Sophie found her brown magic marker (which I think had rolled under our china cabinet) and was silently drawing all over herself, a little trick her dad taught her a few weeks ago! Fortunately all of her markers are washable! She protested very loud when Nana took it away from her!

It appears that Sophia learned another new trick while we were gone. The picture speaks for itself. She's my little dare devil for sure!

Take a look at all of the pictures.

Our trip to Kansas

What a fun trip! Baby Jack is adorable. He loves to be cuddled and snuggled and he hardly ever fusses. I kind of forgot what it's like to hold a baby.

Will and I were a single couple on this trip and I must admit he handled it much better than I did. My parents volunteered to spend their vacation babysitting Sophia and Sadie! Of course, now that we're home, I'm ready for another trip away already!

Our itinerary:
Friday: Depart Norfolk, VA. Brief layover in Charlotte, NC. Final destination: Overland Park, KANSAS. We went to Mike's house for dinner. YUM!!! Misty, I need that corn recipe. They guys had some beers and spent alot of time outside - grilling?? Madeline presented us with some colorful drawings when we arrived. Two for Shirley, one for Will and one for Sophia. It was great to catch up and chat, but before we knew it the clock read 11:30 and it was time to head back to the hotel.

Saturday: Spend time with Mike, Misty, Madeline & Jack. Lunch, Madeline's soccer game, and the adult dinner. Before we went to Madeline's soccer game, Will and I went to The Great Mall of the Great Plains, an outlet mall with tons of stuff to do that Sophia would have loved! Will bought the official Redskins players '07 hat and a pair of sunglasses. We got Jack a Daddy's Little Monster Halloween bib at the Carter's outlet store. Can you believe I refrained from buying tons of stuff for Sophie?

Madeline's soccer game was over before we knew it. Unfortunately, they lost this week, but she played great. Time for lunch at Jersey Boyz sub shop. Again, I have to say YUM! Back to the hotel to grab a quick nap before going out with Mike and Misty for dinner. They arrived at our hotel around 6 after dropping the kids of at Grandma's house. We ate at Benton's Steak and Chop House which sits 20 stories above Midtown Kansas City and has a spectacular view of the city.
Mike kept suggesting the Lamb entree, but I told him I was morally opposed to eating Lamb, considering Lamby is Sophia's very best friend! I got the seabass. Will got a steak. After stuffing ourselves, we walked around Union Station, a grand historical building and the second largest opearational train station next to Union Station in NY. We almost crashed 2 weddings, one where the chicken dance was blasting from the speakers and another where all of the bridesmaids wore cream irridescent sequence dresses - no joke! Stood outside for a while and enjoyed the water fountain in front of Union Station.

Sunday: Crown Center. Watch the Redskins Game. Burgers at Mike & Misty's house. Dancing and a "professional" fashion show with Terra and Madeline. Will and I drove into the Kansas City again on Sunday morning to go to the super fancy mall called the Crown Center which is located directly beside/and probably even attached to the home of Hallmark Cards!
Imagine my disappointment to find out the Visitor's Center is CLOSED on Sunday, although Mike did warn me. We loved spending time in the Crayola store, me wishing Sophia could see this store and Will memorizing interesting facts like "how many crayons it would take to circle the earth" and the "number 1, 2 and 17 most recognizable smells". 1 = coffee. 2 = peanut butter. 17 (or maybe 18?) = crayons.
On the way home, we went to Hooters, literally the only "bar and grille" on Metcalf Ave, to watch the Redskins game. Yea! They won and Will didn't even wear his new hat!!
We wanted to take Mike and Misty out to dinner on Sunday night - actually we wanted to go to Gates BBQ, but as it turned out Mike made burgers and brauts on the grill and surprised us with a visit from Terra. While Mike and Misty were busy, Terra, Madeline and I put on a killer fashion show and then danced our heads off to "Party Girl Pop" or something like that! I was out of breath after only the first song. They kept it up for hours and performed a fantastic number after dinner for the adults. Then Will and Misty entertained us all with some juggling. We headed off to the hotel around 9ish. Got in just in time to watch the Steelers suffer a crappy loss!

Monday: Yea! I get to see my little girl today! Geez - what a long day of traveling. We won't get home until 5:30 PM! Good bye Kansas City. We had a great time.

Sophia, Nana and Poppy were waiting for us in the yard when we pulled down the street. Sophia was really happy to see us. She wouldn't let me put her down all night.

Click here to see all the pictures from our trip. Mike, please feel free to add as many tags as you want!

A tragedy!

I cannot even begin to explain what a day all of us had on Friday! I had a doctor's appointment in the morning so Will came along to "babysit" and would go staight to work from there.

The doctor was running behind in her schedule and we were all stuck waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes before my name was even called. This incredibly long "wait" was creating a bit of anxiety for all of us. At least Will and Sophia were able to duck out and go across street to the playground during my appointment. They got back just as I was paying the co-pay and we all headed out together....all 4 of us.....me, Will, Sophia and, of course, Lamby.

Sophia was carrying Lamby. Will had Sophie on his shoulders and he put her into her carseat for me. I guess he didn't realize that she didn't have Lamby and I didn't even think to check because I assumed that we would notice something as HUGE as a missing Lamby. I hopped right into the drivers seat and we headed for home. However, when we got home I immediately realized that Lamby wasn't in the car. I put Sophia right back in the carseat and we drove the 10 minutes back over to the doctor's office.

MUST FIND LAMB!

My heart was racing. Sophia was already crying and rubbing the side of her face, her sign for Lamby! I did circles around the parking lot (I knew she had Lamby when we left the building so no need to go inside!) and I didn't see that Lamb anywhere. My heart sank and I felt sick! I knew it was going to be a BAAAAAAAD day (no pun intended).

We went straight to the Mall. Hurry Hurry...we raced into the mall. I swear I was stopped more on this day than ever before. Every kiosk worker wanted to put lotion on my hands, see my nails, ask me a few qustions, or show me their new line of stupid fake jewelry. I wanted to shout, "GET AWAY PEOPLE....can't you tell we're on a mission?".

We went to Macy's first because I know you can buy Lamby on their website. Well, guess what? They only carry the 12 inch Lamby in stores. I bought the 12 inch Lamby on Ebay two weeks ago and "Little Lamby" simply isn't/wasn't/will never be Lamby! Macy's did carry some other Gund lambs so I purchased the white Winky Lamb which has a rattle inside (see photo). Sophie hugged it in the store, but as soon as we left she didn't care about it anymore. She wanted Lamb and I was the mean mom who refused to hand him over!


We headed off to Dillards to see if they carried Gund animals. Ironically they carried the Jesus Loves Me Cozy Lamb which has something around his neck and different ears than REAL Lamby has. Dillards also carried some other really cute ones including the adorable pink spotted doggie, but NO Lamby. We bought the pink dog because of his long ears, but this was no substitute for Lamb.

JCPenney didn't sell Gunds at all.

We got some lunch and then headed home. I had my fingers crossed that Sophia would be able to take a nap with her new pink doggie, the new lamb rattle and Little Lamby, but when I put her in the crib she cried her eyes out! While she was in the crib crying I was online desparately trying to find a Lamby within 50 miles of our house. I finally found a Lamby at Nordstrom in the Macarthur Center in Norfolk. They put Lamby on hold for me!!! Sophie and I hopped in the car and raced to get Lamb. I watched Sophie breathe a sign of relief when the saleswoman handed Lamby to her. She snuggled right into his face. The tragedy was over, but it lasted all day. Sophia and I got home at 4:30!

Will and I spent all weekend trying to get Lamby dirty and stinky the way old Lamby was. I even washed new Lamby to lose the "new" smell.

Believe me, Will heard about it and we "quietly discussed" how this could have been avoided if Lamby would have been included in the original head count! Oh well....we now have a fresh Lamby, we know where we can get another one at a moment's notice, and Lamby acquired a few playmates out of the whole day!

Winky the Rattle Lamb - $12.00
Spunky the Spotted Dog - $32.00
Lunch at Chic-fil-A - $9.50
Comfy Cozy Lamb - $32.00
Icecream at the mall - $2.99
Parking at the mall - $1.00
Watching my princess drift happily off to sleep with Lamby in her arms - PRICELESS

Playing with her baby

Our first ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound yesterday! We got to see the baby and the heartbeat. It was 150 beats per minute. The doctor said everything looks fine so far. Our next appointment is in 4 weeks.

The doctor confirmed my due date - May 28, 2008 from the size of the baby. So that means I'm 7 and 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Kiss the baby...

Sophia actually gives my belly kisses. It's adorable! And when I ask her if she's going to be a big sister she nods her head and smiles. I'm sure she really doesn't understand what's going to happen, but it's fun to watch her think she knows.

She's going to be an excellent big sister. She takes wonderful care of her baby dolls and makes sure they have blankets, bottles and sometimes even a paci.

Grancy comes for a visit

Grancy came to visit on Sunday. Even though it was just a short overnight trip, I know Sophia had a super time with her Grancy. As soon as she got here in the afternoon we went to the playground. Sophia had a great time riding on the swing, going down the slide and playing on the ride-on animals.

We went straight to dinner at Red Robin where Sophia didn't last very long in her high chair. We tried to keep her occupied with crayons, a balloon, a delicious strawberry milkshake and french fries, but by the time the "adult" food arrived at the table, Sophia simply would not sit in her seat anymore. Instead she insisted on climbing all over Grancy for a while and then decided to settle for just a bit in between Grancy and Daddy and nibble on an apple slice.

She stayed up for a while when we got home and played with her balloon ~ until it popped! Luckily I had another one that I was able to blow up for her amusement. Then she introduced Digger to Grancy and then proceeded to give Grancy a ton of puppy kisses. I'll let you use your imagination to figure out what puppy kisses really are!

Sophie definitely didn't want Grancy to leave on Monday. In fact, I had to put her into her stroller and take her for a walk with Sadie just to avoid a potential tantrum.

A fun Saturday

We had a big day on Saturday. Will and I took Sophia to the 19th Annual Children's Fetival in Norfolk. The batteries died in the camera minutes after we arrived, but we managed to get a few pictures.

We had a great time in Toddler Town where Sophia got to meet Little Bo Peep and her stuffed sheep. Sophie introduced Lamby AND Little Lamby, a smaller version of Lamb that I thought could become our only "travel" companion but has actually become an additional travel companion, to Bo Peep's sheep and the Three Little Pigs. She especially loved seeing the real live sheep in Colonial Town where she hung over the fence and offered her very own Little Lamby as a peace offering.

Miss Virginia, Sophie's music class teacher, was performing all day in Toddler Town and Sophia really enjoyed showing Dad how she uses the music sticks. Sophia made some spin art and rode on at least 5 different rocking horses. She got to pet a miniature pony and see an owl. She was afraid of meeting the 7-foot tall costumed giraffe, but didn't mind Peter Rabbit.

We headed home around 1:00 to pick up new batteries, Sadie and Digger, Sophie's little plastic doggie, for the Dog Day celebration at the library. I was in charge of pictures. Sophia and Digger walked in the parade as did Will and Sadie. Take a look at the pictures.

Nauseous all the time

Tomorrow I will be 7 weeks pregnant and for the last week I've been getting nauseous. It started out just in the evenings around 5:00 and if I ate a snack or dinner it went away. However, for the last few days this nauseous feeling has been lasting ALL DAY! I haven't actually gotten sick at all, I just completely feel awful.

I didn't have this problem at all with Sophia. In fact, I had the perfect pregnancy with her.

Hmmm....does that mean I'm having a boy this time?

Ginger ale doesn't seem to work. I just got some Preggie Pop Drops which are a sour hard sugar candies. These seem to work quickly to relieve the nausea, but the remedy doesn't last very long.

I just read online to try eating dill pickles and drinking lemonade. Hopefully this will help.

Dad's office

Since Dad's car was in the shop this week Sophie and I had to pick him up one night.

Will introduced her to some of his co-workers and she was pretty shy for all of the introductions, but did manage to tell everyone what the kitty cat says. :=)

As soon as we got to Will's desk she started typing away on the keyboard. She's probably close to 75 words per minute at this point.

Hahahahahaha

Tunes for Tots

The WOW garden at the Botanical Garden started their Tuesday Tunes for Tots program today. This program runs every Tuesday morning in October and November at 10:15. We're going to go to it each week after Sophia's music class at 9. The timing works out perfectly.

Before class started Sophia was relaxing on the floor. Um, gross! The instrument she got to play was "jingle bells". If you look really close you can see that she's playing with it in the second picture. She loved the sound it made.

Sophia had a wonderful time, such a good time that half way through she decided that Lambie needed to get out of the stroller and join in on the fun. Our stroller was parked outside the room, but that didn't stop her. She marched right through the middle of class and out the door to get Lambie.

After class she ran around and rode on the swing, climbed the stairs and literally got soaking wet in her jeans. It's a good thing we always keep a change of clothes in the car.