She bites!

Aubrey bites! She pretends she's going to snuggle into the nook of my neck and then she bites me anywhere in the vicinity of my collarbone, shoulder and neck. OUCH!!!!

Imaginary friends

Sophia has three imaginary friends - that I know of. She's named them Jordan, Holly and Jessica. She met Jessica at a party. Holly sleeps at the top of her bed post. She told me some gibberish word about where she met Jordan. In fact, I don't even know if Jordan is a boy or a girl. . . . I guess I better ask!

FFF @ CAC

We went to the Family Fun Fest at The Contemporary Art Center this afternoon. We've been a few times in the past and Sophia always gets to create a work of art and since she's been having daily art shows at home we figured she would love it. She had a good time.

I think her favorite part was eating two Oreo cookies when it was over. Maybe that or just chilling with Daddy!

The theme was "cups" and each kid was given a few paper cups and told to get as creative as they wanted with the scissors, markers, whole punches, pipe cleaners, tape and string. Sophia did these:

Story time at the library

I have Aubrey signed up for the Mommy & Me story time at the library. She loves going and interacting with the other babies. All the babies in the class are between 6 and 12 months. Aubrey and Maggie (on the right) are the two youngest girls in the class. They are 8 months now, but were both 6 months when the classes started.

I also need to proudly announce that Aubrey Has Arrived! Her little personality is coming out in full force and, boy, is she stubborn! When she wants something she will try whatever it takes to get it.

I think I've written this before, but it deserves special mention: The girl loves to eat! Now that she's figured out how to pick up Cheerios and other small bits of food she doesn't want to be spoon fed anymore. She wants to feed herself. This is new to us because Sophia never showed any interest in feeding herself and, in fact, to this day she still prefers if one of us feed her. Boy, it's
messy.

Aubrey doesn't exactly crawl across the room, but she gets there. When she starts off it looks like she's going to crawl and then she immediately gets into a sitting position. Then she takes off again and immediately gets back into a sitting position. She does over and over again until she's reached her destination. She's turning into quite a little explorer and I think she might even be part monkey.

A few new pictures

Zip it!

On the way home from school today Sophia told me that she was crying in time out and Ms. Lisa told her to "zip it". Does she even know what that means? I'm not sure. I asked her what she did to be placed in time out. She told me she was running in the big room (that's their indoor recess room). I thought it was kind of funny that she was ratting out her teacher, but I didn't want her to see me chuckling.

What Animal Are You?

I took an online quiz tonight and found out that I am most like
a Llama

(Here's the description)...
A lot of people don't realize this, but llamas are the coolest animals on the planet. They are totally laid back, they have stylish hairdo's, and they've got good attitudes towards all creatures, big and small. They're like the "awesome next door neighbors" of the animal kingdom.

You're a llama! Be happy, be proud. Then go out and spread the word that there's nothing cooler than a llama. The world has got to know the truth.

Mommy, it snowed!

We woke up to this view out of our window. Sophia couldn't believe it had snowed and was chomping at the bit to get out there to play. I didn't get any "good" snow pictures, but both Sophia and Sadie had fun. The photos are here...but not very good.

Aquarium

We went to the Aquarium today. This was the first time Will joined us since we became members. Coincidentally, we ran into Liam, Sophia's classmate, and his family again there today. Sophia proudly lead the way though the turtle and shark exhibits. I could tell she was beaming because her Dad was there with her today!

play date on Valentine's day.

Sophia had a pizza making/cookie decorating play date today for her friends Haley, Addie and Cameron. Haley got sick this morning and wasn't not able to join us this time. The girls also decorated foam hearts with markers, stickers and glitter glue. Sophia enjoyed having the girls jump on her trampoline and play with all of her toys and she actually cried when the girls had to go home.

After the play date I took the Sadie, Aubrey and Sophia to a play ground near our house. Sophia got to ride a swing and the slide and run around a bit, but didn't stay long. A group of teens showed up to play hide and seek not expecting to be barked at the entire time by a somewhat ferocious looking dog. I decided we should take Sadie home and go to a different play ground, but before we arrived at the both girls had fallen asleep. I decided not to chance waking them so I kept driving for over an hour and took advantage of Peaches, my navigation system, to learn some short cuts around the area.
Looking forward to banana pancakes tomorrow morning and then spending a few hours at the Aquarium in the afternoon.

From which side of the family does the snaggletooth descend?

Click on the image and it should enlarge to give you a great view of Aubrey's upper row of teeth. The two on the hidden side just poked through so they are tiny, little nubs. The two on the left look like they belong in Sophia's mouth.

Excuse me?

Twice today!....Sophia decided to blatantly disobey me.

Well, I guess the first one wasn't as blatant as you might think, but still she didn't listen. It was before school this morning. Sophia was pretending to bake cookies and wanted to decorate them with real Mickey Mouse sprinkles. I told her, and Will can vouch for me, NOT to open the sprinkles. I kept an eye on her for a while and then walked away to finish packing her lunch. When it was time to leave I found her sitting/hiding behind the couch and she had not only opened the sprinkles, but had decorated all the "cookies for Santa". Then she asked me if I wanted one. (How can I be mad at that cuteness?)

The second time:
This afternoon I was sitting on the floor stacking up a pile of soft blocks for Aubrey to knock over while Sophia was beside us feeding her stuffed "pet cat". Sophia wasn't paying attention to us at all until I decided to get up to go into the kitchen for a bit. As I was stacking up the blocks for Aubrey one last time I noticed Sophia eying up my stack, practically licking her lips. Before I walked away I made eye contact with her and made sure she knew that it was Aubrey's pile and that she was not allowed to knock it over. She said OK. No sooner had I started to walk away I turned my head to look back and she had already clobbered the pile. She was smiling at me with her now "innocent" eyes. (Again, how can I be mad at that cuteness?)

Guess who....

70 degrees on Saturday

It was 73 degrees on Saturday so after swimming class and lunch (and our futile attempt to get the girls to nap) we took Sadie for a walk around the big loop. Sophia had an ice cream cone right before we left and then had to change her clothes. (Notice that she's practically sitting on top of her portable DVD player. The DVD player we have hooked up to the TV is on the fritz and requires the following steps for each disc: unplug, plug in again, open tray and blow air inside that tiny little space, immediately press play 5-10 times, cross your fingers while shaking your hands toward the sky and chanting 'please work, please work' and finally dancing a jig if it does work).

I asked Sophia to do a fashion show for us while she was changing into her new outfit. Click here to see how well she cooperated with me. She wanted to do the show and really liked it when Will and I showed her a few poses, but she just couldn't contain her excitement and had a hard time standing still for a good pic. I'm pretty sure this girl won't be a model like everyone claims she should/could be. She'll definitely have the height, but I don't think she'll enjoy making a living in front of the camera!

Little Miss Social, Aubrey Constance, might be our model. Not sure that she'll have the height her sister has, but she's a ham and she knows how to work a room! She rode in the front seat of the double stroller. She likes to swing her feet.

I can't wait to go to her 9 month appointment on the 27th so we can see how big she's getting. Personally, I think she's getting long, but she still feels so light. I love it.

Two sisters holding hands & watching Barney

Aubrey - trying to crawl...

There are more videos if you want to watch them:

Shirley's rant - part II

Why do my kids have it out for me?

They literally don't sleep during the day time hours (between 7AM and 5:45)! Monday through Friday!

Aubrey is awake between 6:30 and 7:00 AM each day. She will entertain herself in her crib until I drag myself in to say good morning. She's up all day. She might take a nap if we're driving, but otherwise she's awake. She can barely hold her eyes open in the late afternoon, but she won't sleep. She doesn't want to miss out on any of the Sophia action. At 5:45 each evening she'll pass out for an hour and then she's up until 8:45 PM because she wants to see Daddy.

Sophia, on the other hand, is up and ready to go by 7:20 AM every day and doesn't stop all day. She'll be going on fumes and refuses to close her eyes. I've resorted to hanging a dark blue sheet across her blinds and light pink curtains to try to make the room darker, but she doesn't sleep during the day. Even during her quiet time alone in her bedroom I can hear her through the monitor and she'll play by herself for 45 minutes and then call to me. Because she doesn't nap she goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and once her head hits the pillow she's done.

However - and here's the rant - Why is it that every single weekend they both take a nap when Will is "on duty" or we're both here?

AND here's my next rant: I just sent Will to Redbox to get a free movie and he came home with The Hulk.

Aubrey says BA

Sophia's first word was BA too.

Well, she's moving...

it's more like pre-crawling, but here's the proof. She's been practicing for a while now and finally figured out that she can push off with her feet. I've caught her practicing every single time I leave the room and come back. I think she wanted to surprise us and just get up and do it...which she basically did tonight.



Yesterday she started saying BA! BA BA BA BA BA (I'm still trying to upload the video).

Two stubborn girls that won't smile or look my way.

Shirley's rant

This is so rare: Sophia is STILL sleeping at 9:47 AM on this terribly cold morning in Virginia Beach. (and this part makes it even more special) I just put Aubrey down for her morning nap. I'm free!!!! I have some time to form a complete thought and here's what I want to say (and I think it's the frigid 30 degree weather we've had the last 2 days that has prompted my desire to complain). Here goes.

You lost! Can there be a rule?: Kindly remove all the McCain/Palin stickers off the backs of your cars! You lost. You looked a little stupid driving around with those stickers on your cars in October, but now you just look foolish. (Said without any intentions to offend my faithful blog readers)

--shoot-- I hear Sophia and have lost a bit of concentration, but will continue until she starts her Mommy (wait) Mommy (wait) Mommy (wait) calls.

Honestly, I just forgot all of my complaints. I had two more in mind when I began typing. Darn.

Oh well...back to getting the house back in order after our Superbowl party.

Let's play learning

Sophia: I'm the teacher. You eat your snack. I'll use my pointer (a long stick) and you can learn.

Shirley: OK, Teacher.

Sophia: (Pointing at Aubrey's crib) What color is this?

Shirley: Brown.

Sophia: Good. And do you see more brown in the room?

Shirley:

Sophia: How about this. (as she points at the dresser).

Sophia: What shape is this frame and this box?

Shirley: Square.

Sophia: Yes...

And.....we continue through yellow, white, green, rectangle. What fun!!!!