Molars!!!!

What the heck? I really thought this kid was done teething, but here we go again!

Sophia's been having very restless sleeps for the past few nights - waking and yelling out or whimpering in her crib. Not enough so that I have to get up and go into her room, but just enough to wake me up. Will can miraculously sleep through anything.

When she's awake, she literally has her entire fist in her mouth and is trying to chew on an anything she can find that's hard. I've been giving her lots of cold things to eat, but other than that she hasn't had much of an appetite.

She hasn't felt like napping either, which was OK today because we had to go to Babies R Us to pick up some gifts. On Sunday, I'm going to a baby shower at 1:30 and then we're all going to a First Birthday party at 3:30.

This morning Sophia was playing with her FAPES (shapes). She can identify and label the CIRCLE, FARE (square), TRI (triangle) and the SAR (star). We had a low key morning because Sophia was acting tired when she woke up.

After lunch (cucumbers and gold fish) we went to My Gym for an hour of free play. Then we headed to Babies R Us which is a 25 minute ride in the car. I was hoping that she would take a cat nap in the car, but no dice. It had been been sprinkling all day, but right before we got to the store the sky opened up and it started to rain pretty hard. Good thing I bought Sophia a new raincoat yesterday! Isn't it adorable?

Anyway...picture this: Sophia's first tantrum happened in the car because she didn't want to get out! Meanwhile I was standing outside of the car getting soaking wet trying to grab onto her and trying to hold the stupid umbrella between my neck and my shoulder. When we finally got into the store I immediately noticed they didn't have a single shopping cart available for us. So, Sophia had to walk beside me.

Did I say walk? What I meant to say was wander/dart off/stray/linger behind me - and totally stress me out. Here I am walking around the store with eyes in the back of my head (are you still picturing it?) and trying to read a baby registry and figure out where in the store we needed to be verses where in the store we currently were simply because Sophia decided it was time to touch everything in that department. (Oh, the joys!)

When we did finally get a cart it was pretty wet even though it had been wiped dry. Oh well. I'll take wet over stressed out any day.

She was pretty patient in the cart until the very end while we were standing in line and she proceeded to throw things within reach out of the cart. Now that's a really fun game!

She did fall asleep in the car about 5 minutes before we got home. She was snoring too. She woke up when I tried to transfer her to the crib from the car and wasn't able to take a nap at all. Oh well...it'll be another early night to bed for her.

Keep your fingers crossed that her molar breaks through soon.

PONY

At swimming lessons Sophia is learning to blow bubbles except she refuses to put her face in the water. You should see how she arches her neck back to keep her chin from getting WHET. The teacher suggests that we teach them how the HORSEY does it - and Sophia loves acting like a HORSEY. She's been blowing bubbles all the time, but she won't try it in the water - in the pool or the bathtub. Oh well.

She's obsessed with PONYS now. In fact, you can see her blowing BUBBLES riding on a PONY and holding her other little PONY in this picture.

Someone got bit by the Cling to Mommy Bug.

Yesterday at My Gym a little girl sat on my lap. I don't know the little girl, but her mom was standing close by and I think she thought I was her. I was sitting on the floor near where Sophia was playing, but as soon as she noticed the little girl on my lap she immediately ran to me and climbed on too. She wrapped her arms around my neck and was clearly upset by the fact that someone else was sharing her Mommy! When the girl's mom picked her up, Sophia hugged and kissed me and played with my hair for what seemed like five minutes before she was comfortable releasing me.

Hmmmmm.....

Today we went to a play date at the mall and Sophia refused to let go of me. She protested whenever I turned away from her to chat with some of the other moms. She pulled me around by my finger and made me play with her the entire time we were there.

Ever since she didn't want to stay at the Y by herself this weekend, I kind of had a feeling this was going to happen. Keep your fingers crossed that this is just a short lived phase.

Exercise for everyone.

We usually go to the Y on Saturday and Sunday mornings because the Child Watch area is open for Sophia. She normally loves the weekend mother/daughter pair that works in there so it's always easy for us to drop her off and hit the gym for at least 45 minutes. This Sunday proved that to be untrue. She literally started screaming for Mommy as soon as I left the room. Even when Will stayed back to help get her interested in the doll toys, she still seemed unwilling to be there. We ended up leaving about 10 minutes later.

Fortunately, later in the afternoon, I was able to go for a run by myself! Sophia was down for a nap so No Stroller to Push, Will volunteered to let me workout first, AND Sadie wasn't coming!!! YEA!!!!! I put on my belly support band so I would be comfortable, I strapped on my Walkman and remembered to bring water. I was ready for a super awesome 4-mile run - BY MYSELF. I hit the pavement and literally 3 minutes into it I started to feel a fine mist coming down. Mmmmmm.....it will pass, it's been sunny all day. The mist gets a little harder for a few minutes, but I keep going. Eventually it stops all together. Awesome. Onward!

Just then I started feeling the baby kick in a way that I've never felt before. It hurt and it felt like cramping. I slowed to a walk and every time I tried running I had to immediately walk because the baby was kicking and making me so uncomfortable. At this point I'm a mile into the run and I'm thinking maybe I should just turn around, go home, get Sadie and take her for a long walk. But then I realized that I was alone - or as alone as I can be with a kicking baby in my belly - and I noticed how awesome that felt and I thought "screw Sadie!" I'm going to take a long walk by myself!

So, I walked for half a mile and it was lame. Who wants to walk when there's running to be done???? And then suddenly I had an epiphany! My belly support band was on too tight! I loosened it up and presto! was off running again. I decided to only run for 3 miles since I didn't want to press my luck. I ended up having a great run!

Ironically, Sophia woke up soon after I got home so Will didn't get to workout until later in the evening. He's been doing jump-training for the past 2 months which requires some extreme hard work. You should see how high he can jump and the various objects he can scale. It's very impressive. He's also doing clapping push ups. I cannot wait until I'm not pregnant anymore so I can try one. There is no way I can do one. I've never been able to do one, but watching someone else do almost 10 successfully in a row makes someone like me want to try it for myself!

Anyway, we took Sophia to the playground where Sadie escaped about 2 weeks ago. Will wanted to run around with Sadie and also do some jump-training intervals. Sadly, the playground has turned into the scene of a what looks like some teenage racist rage. The bottom of one of the slides was burned, other attempts had been made to burn other parts of the equipment and there was graphiti painted all over it. It didn't stop us from playing there, but it made me very sad and it made Sophia's hands and face filthy! Click here to see all the pictures.

You can see the burned slide in this video:

And here are some links to other videos of Sophia and Will running around.

CHASE

Race to the Pole

Jumping over Sophia If you look closely at the fence in the background you'll see the hole where Sadie escaped 2 weeks ago. It was/is impossible for me to fit through that hole to get to her - so it was a very good thing she came back!

Sadie had a friend come over yesterday for a doggie play date. The people across the street went out of town for the holiday and asked if I could feed/walk their puppy in the morning and in the afternoon. I decided to bring Deagan, their dog, over to play with Sadie so they could both get some exercise. Sophia loved watching the dogs play and run around. Lots more pictures to look through.

And now for some audience participation

If you'll remember, last time around Will and I had a terribly hard time coming up with Sophia Amber as "the" name. This time is no different. We each have a favorite (I'm on my 2nd favorite now), although I'm kind of partial to his name now that I've had some time to think about it.

We're not definite at all...and we're not going to tell you our favorites. Over the next 15 weeks we're going to play a little game with you which requires your participation. It's simple. Just vote in the poll each week! ENJOY...

100 days to go until baby's due date

Time is certainly flying for us and soon the new addition to our family will be here. Only 100 days until her due date. Yea, tomorrow I'll be in the double digit countdown.

We're going to paint her room a light melon color and go with a melon, yellow and lime green room this time. Sophia seems to have cornered the yellow, pink, purple market and I want their rooms to be different.

We hit the beach

We thought the weather was fairly nice on Saturday so we all hopped in the car and headed to the beach. When we got there we found out the weather was actually COLD and windy. Even Sophia admitted it was cold, but Sadie didn't seem to mind one bit.

We played a while in the sand and stepped in the BUBBLES (foam left behind on the beach by the waves) and then Sophia had a major tantrum when it was time to leave. She didn't want to leave at all and sat right down on the Boardwalk in protest. During these public tantrums a Mom is supposed to physically remove the child from the scene and let them cool off. This is proving to be more difficult for me the heavier/bigger she gets.

See all of the pics.

Last night Sophia and Dad and I went to Blockbuster and rented a few movies. We rented Badass (a recommendation from Rob) and Mr. Brooks (a recommendation from Daniel) and we splurged and rented a Barney DVD for Sophia to watch. She's been really interested in numbers and counting lately so I saw one called Numbers Numbers and we decided to rent it for a few days. Turns out it's a pretty short video so we're a bit disappointed, but Sophia loves it.

On Friday afternoon she counted to FEE or sometimes FWEE. ONE TWO FEE, she counted for me. Then when Will gave her a bath she counted to FOUR!

But, oh my gosh....While we were in Blockbuster she alternated counting all the way to 10 with me. Honestly, she counted to TEN with me and she's done it with both of us a few times since. I had no idea that at 21 months old she could count all the way to 10 - in the correct order! It's so amazing! TANKS, BARNEY!!!

Fun on Friday

We went to a play date on Friday morning at my friend's house. Sophia always has fun when we go there because she loves to play with Kate and Tyler's toys. Tyler has a train table that Sophia just can't get enough of, but this time she mostly played with Kate's nursery station toy (which is single piece of plastic that has something different on each side of it - highchair, crib, changing table, swing).

We left the play date and headed to My Gym for an hour of "free play" and since I had the camera with me I snapped a few of her on some of the different activities. Take a look.

Will had to work through the nights from 3-6AM on Tues, Wed and Thurs this week so Sophia and I tried to be out of the house during the mornings so he could get some sleep. We usually saw him around 2 in the afternoon. It was nice to have some company in the afternoons!

Photos from our day

Here's a link to our Valentine's Day pictures.

We gobbled up the strawberries! YUM

Happy Valentine's Day

We've got a big day planned today.

Sophia and I have swimming classes at 10:45 and then we're going to pick up a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries to surprise Dad with later. It's kind of a tradition in our house. I've gotten the delicious strawberries every year for Valentine's Day dessert since we've lived here - although we've never had to share them with Sophia and we will this year - so maybe I should get 2 dozen. She LOVES strawberries.

Nana got Sophia this coat and I'm so glad she reminded me of it the other day on the phone. I thought Sophia had outgrown it, but she hasn't!!! How perfect is this coat for today?

At 3:30 this afternoon we're going to meet a few of our friends at the local retirement home and and hand out valentine's to the terminally ill ward. That should be fun...! I did 32 valentine's last night and still have 10 more to do before we go. I'm going to put them all in a white basket and have Sophia hand one to each person. We'll see if she calls them Nana and Poppy. That's what she calls everyone she sees that looks "older".

Fun times with Dad.

Sophia was supposed to be posing for a picture in this adorable outfit because it's the first time she's permitted me to put the hat on her head for any length of time. Just as we were about to take a few cute pictures Will came home and and Sophia and Dad let loose. Take a look at the pictures.

What's for dinner?

Cute video of Sophia playing with a balloon and then repeating to Mommy what she's going to have for dinner. Just click on the arrow play button.

Sophia voted

Sophia voted tonight. Well, I should say, I selected the best candidate and she verified my selection and cast my ballot by pushing 2 big green buttons on the monitor. You go girl! And then she proudly wore 3 "I Voted!" stickers to the grocery store.

Update on Mom and Baby Girl

I saw my OB this morning. Everything is moving right along without a hitch. My belly is measuring exactly at 25 weeks (which I will be tomorrow). The little girl's heart beat was in the 150s again though it was hard for the Doc to find it because the little one wouldn't stop moving. The Doc said that she must have been running (left to right) across my belly. Believe me, this one never stops moving. Honestly, I don't feel like Sophia ever moved this much.

Just for a comparison:
Last pregnancy: At 23 weeks I had gained 22 pounds
This pregnancy: At 25 weeks I've gained 16 pounds

Nobody likes BOO BOOS

Of course nobody likes to get BOO BOOS, but Sophia seems to be especially afraid of them! In fact, when I had a band aid on my thumb earlier this week she pointed at it, cried her eyes out and literally said NO NO NO NO over and over. She wouldn't touch my hand until I took it off.

A few weeks ago when she was really into crayons I colored a picture of a spotted dog for her and she was terrified of it for a while. The picture is still hanging on the frig, but now it's up high where she doesn't notice it anymore. When it was hanging at her eye level she would walk by it and almost start crying saying NO BOO BOO NO NO NO. (I thought I did a decent coloring job, but I guess my color choices make the DOGGIE look hideous in her eyes.)

Grancy gave her a pink Boo Boo Bunny at Christmas time and so far she's been afraid of it too. However, she has a small pink bunny that resembles the Boo Boo Bunny (if you pull on the cotton tail, it will HOP across the floor) and she's labeled it her baby dolls' BOO BOO (bunny).

The Mom Test Fable

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. 'Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff, you are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.' We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OH...I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad. ''Exactly' I replied back with a big smile on my face.

I forgot to tell you

Guess what? On March 5th I get to have another Ultrasound! I found out that pregnant mothers can volunteer as the subject during a "final exam" ultrasound test for a student at our local community college (TCC).

When I called to schedule the appointment they told me to bring a DVD so they can burn all of the images to it and I've heard through the grapevine that they will put music on it too. I will be 28 weeks pregnant by then so we should get a good view and great pictures of the baby. YEA!!!!!

I'm permitted to have 6 adults in the room with me during the exam so if anyone wants to join in the fun, let me know!

Ahhh.....recovery is bliss.

I'm breathing a sigh of relief today. I finally feel better even though I still sound awful and cough a lot. It was nice to have enough energy to carry Sophia down the stairs today instead of scooting down on my butt with her on my lap. Although that act has sparked a renewed interest in Sophia learning to scoot her own butt down the stairs! YEA!! Believe me, she's no lightweight - she's a solid 30 pounds.

I was able to find a play kitchen on craigslist for Sophia and she's been having so much fun with it. She likes to open the cabinet doors and put her dishes inside. I think her favorite thing about the kitchen is the sink - where she does HAPPY (washes her hands). Oh yeah, another favorite thing to do is to walk behind the kitchen and peer through the "window" above the sink where she announces that she's SIDE (outside). Ha ha ha.

She ate breakfast at her "table" this morning. As you can see Barney and Baby Bop have chairs at the table too. Sophia takes turns feeding herself and offering some to her friends. She also decided that Barney needed to wear a baby doll outfit today. Too bad he's got a tail! Click here to see all the pictures.

Our tale of Friday....

I'll try to make this recap short and sweet:

4:00 AM - Sophia is awake! Are you kidding me? You got up at 5:30 AM yesterday, didn't nap at all and then went to bed around 8:30.

4:15 AM - I make a bed on the floor beside Sophia's crib so see if she'll fall back asleep with me in the room.

5:00 AM - Sophia demands to get DOWN and points with her finger to the floor. She wants out of her crib. Not only does she want out of the crib, she wants to go DOWNstairs to watch Barney!

6:00 AM - I try to get on my laptop. No connection.

6:15 AM - I wake up Will to help me get online to see how I can ease Sophia's pain. She's completely stuffed up and her nose is leaking non-stop and her cough sounds really scratchy and painful. He diagnoses that our wireless router is dead! OH MY GOSH...WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ALL DAY WITH A SICK KID AND NO INTERNET. I'LL GO NUTS. I'M PANICKING!!!! Relax, he tells me. You can sit 2 feet from the TV and plug into the cable modem. Um, okay - it that's what I have to do.

8:30 AM - Will leaves for work.

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM - Sophia alternates between crying and moaning, wanting to be held, wanting nothing to do with me. She refuses to eat anything.

1:10 PM - Sophia announces that she wants fries.

1:15 PM - We hop in the car and go to the McDonald's drive through window. I jump in the back seat and try to give her some fries. She throws them at me and all over the car. I notice that her eyes are rolling back into her head because she's sooooo tired. I decide to start driving to see if she'll fall asleep.

1:15 - 3:30 PM - I drive and drive and drive. I literally toured the entire city of Virginia Beach. I even took a detour along the way and hit the Dairy Queen drive through for a cherry chocolate blizzard (the flavor of the month). Not as good as some of the others in my opinion.

3:30 PM - We're home. It's now pouring down rain and Sophia wakes up as soon as we pull into the driveway.

3:30 - 6:00 PM - Barney and the rest is a blur to me.

6:00 PM - Will gets home. Thank goodness. I run out to the store to get a new humidifier for Sophia's room and some more vapor plug ins.

8:00 PM - We decide to give Sophia a bath before bed. She POOPS in the tub! Yep, can you believe it? That was the very first time that's ever happened and it was probably my fault. She didn't want to get a bath, but I knew it would make her sleepy so I told her she could wear a bathing suit in the tub. She must have thought that was "her diaper" and let loose. UGG!

I'm going to end it there, but believe me, it was one of the more interesting and trying days of motherhood.

Full Blown SMS

So, yesterday Sophia woke up well rested and I could tell she was feeling much better. Unfortunately, I was feeling awful. I actually feel worse today: totally drained of energy, stuffy nose, achy, ears are popping, low grade fever, throat hurts, and the list goes on... A definite case of SMS...Sick Mom Syndrome.

Will actually came home early from work yesterday so I could go to the medical center down the street to get tested for strep throat. And, the answer is yes, I have it too. In fact, I think the entire city of Virginia Beach has it. I overheard a mom on the phone yesterday at the medical center and she said that 80% of her son's school has strep.

Yesterday was the first day that Sophia actually took a nap, so I knew that she was feeling better. It was a beautiful 4 hour nap.

Swimming classes started this morning. We went. Sophia had a blast. She was a little unsure about leaning all the way back and getting her hair wet but she was thrilled to sit on the steps and then jump into the water. She also really wants to learn how to blow bubbles, but can't quite figure out how to keep her mouth closed. Today when she tried she took a big gulp of water, but that didn't seem to deter her. I thought all that water play would make her a bit sleepy, but she refused to nap when we got home.

Since it's 75 degrees today we took Sadie to the playground and she almost escaped from me. Well, she did escape. She weaseled her way through a fence and was on the side walk of London Bridge Road by herself! I literally had to pretend I needed help and was shaking the chain link fence to get her attention so she would come back. Once I got her attention I took off running away from her and she dutifully came running to save me. I'm sure Sophia thought our "show" was awesome as she sat in the swing eating her Teddie Grahams.

When we got home, she wanted to watch Barney. I wanted her to go to FEEP. We had a minor battle about it and I won. She went into her crib, screaming and crying, but she went in! She's not napping yet, but I know Mr. Sandman will be dropping by soon for a visit.

Will just called and he left his keys in the car at work this morning and probably needs me to bring him one of our jump start kits. Believe it or not, both of our jump start cables are in the garage instead of in our cars....for various reasons.

Alexander Update

Just wanted to touch base with a quick update.

We took Sophia to Doctor today because it didn't seem like she was getting any better. In fact Friday was the worst day for her (believe me, you want to read about our day which will be blogged about later in the week).

She was diagnosed as the proud owner of strep throat! This was traumatic for all of us considering that is was her first infection/sickness. She's on a liquid bubble gum flavored antibiotic now and it should kick in within the next 24 hours and start working. The doc also told us to give her Motrin to reduce the swelling. Unfortunately, Motrin has always kept Sophia wide awake and I've avoided giving it to her in the past, but I'm going to following the doctor's orders and just deal with the fact that it makes her bounce off the walls. Not that it really matters - she hasn't taken a nap in her crib during the day in over 4 days now.

To top it all off....our wireless router died on Friday morning and if you want to get online in the Alexander household now you must sit on a hard wooden chair or on the floor about 2 feet from the TV and plug directly into the cable modem! Believe me, this is no fun!

Oh yeah, how come nobody ever told me about the SMS....Sick Mom Syndrome? This is when the mom feels like she's getting sick and knows her body will stay strong and fight it until the child is feeling better and then the cold/flu/etc... will hit hard! It is at point this point when child wants to resume all normal activity and the mom is forced to comply.

Another Relaxer

Poor Sophia

Up at 5:30 AM this morning. Her little eyes already have purple circles underneath them - at 7:15. Bringing her into Mom and Dad's bed this morning was a futile attempt at some extra sleep for Mom. No dice! I ended up giving Sophia a vapo/menthol bath since she's been coughing up lots of phlegm. She loved her early morning treat and afterwards refused to take off her bathrobe. So, she's snuggled up on the couch in a blanket wearing clean pajamas and her bathrobe. (A true sicky!)

How ironic is it that today of all days turns out to be the day that I'm signed up for (and prepaid for) a Mom's Morning Out at the Y? From 11-2 Sophia was supposed to go to the YMCA today while Mom gets to do whatever she wants! Normally parents are not allowed to leave the facility when kids are in the Child Watch program, but one day a month they do the Mom's Morning Out and have special activities and lunch planned for the 10 kids registered. Today was going to be our first try at Mom's Morning Out, but I think we'll pass! I was planning to go to the mall by myself to find a maternity bathing suit. Sophia's swimming class start on Tuesday and Mama needs a new suit.

Circle, Nines, Green

THE CIRCLE

Sophia Alexander drew a circle this morning!

Then she turned around, looked at me, and announced CIRC. She's been saying the word so that doesn't surprise me, but she actually drew one or maybe even a few! She drew the larger ones on the top portion of the page and my single CIRC is the smaller, darker one.

My kid is a genius and I attribute it to the following: my own hard work, music class, My Gym and Barney (unfortunately). I'll explain...(1) I've been working with her on shapes for months. (2) In music class she would draw a note in front of the class each week with Ms. Virginia.(circle, stem, color it in, etc...) (3) At the beginning of each My Gym class we have to sit around the enormous red circle in the carpet and do our exercises and songs. Last week Sophia literally did forward rolls all the way around the circle and then dizzily stood up only to fall over. She got a kick out of that. (4) Barney. Yes, Barney does talk about shapes in some of his DVDs, but honestly, I think he mainly focuses on Triangle.

THE NINES

Another story to prove my theory that Sophia is a genius.

Nancy, my mom's good friend, gave Sophia a wooden puzzle and she's recently been playing with it quite a bit. When a piece is removed from the puzzle it empty number space shows that number of objects. For instance: nine soccer balls, one pencil, five bowling pins, etc.

When we're upstairs together, Sophia is usually playing in her room and running back and forth into whatever room I'm in to check in on me or to tell/show me something. Last week while I was putting on makeup in my bathroom Sophia ran in to show me NINES and she was holding the 6 and the 9. NO WAY! I couldn't believe what she brought to me! Part of me thought it was a very strange coincidence that she had picked up 2 numbers that could both pass for being a 9 and call them NINES. I decided I would "test" her later to see if she produced both 9s again. Minutes later she brought me the 1 and the 7! She didn't call them anything, but UM, they could be twins in real life, right????!

The answer to the NINES question is YES! She knows that 9 is a 9 and that a 6 is also a 9.

This past weekend when she ran to Will with her NINES he had the exact same awestruck feeling/look that I did!

GREEN

This one is definitely, probably, maybe a coincidence, but I'm on a roll.

Sophia's been really interested in colors lately and knows that Moe has red hair and that BOP carries around a yellow BANKY (blanket). She also is starting to call green things GEEN, but I've also heard her label blue and white things GEEN too. We'll see. Colors are next, it's just a matter of time. She repeats almost all of them and yesterday she tried an ORANGE for the first time and then said it. Some other favorites seem to be PINK, BOO, REH, PURPLE

Not feeling well

Little Miss Sophia isn't feeling well. I can't decide if she's stuffed up because she's getting another molar or because she's got a cold. She's been getting up really early (6:30 this morning) and not getting very restful sleep during the nights. She's stuffed up and her appetite has been less than impressive lately.

This is going to be a low key week for us so she can recover and feel 100%.

When she gets up so early I try to bring her into Mom and Dad's big bed, but she doesn't always like to stay quiet. This morning we came downstairs around 7 and she's been cuddling with Lamby on the couch watching Barney ~ and big surprise ~ she's happy!

We made a cake yesterday together. Sophia stirred in the sprinkles for me and while the cake was baking she kept looking through the glass door to see how the came was progressing. This morning as soon as I put her into my bed she asked for a piece of cake. She only ate a few bites when I offered it to her, but she was beaming with pride!

FIM @ the POOL

This morning Will and I took Sophia to FIM (swim) at the POOL. Sophia starts swimming lessons in a week so yesterday before we left the Y we took her into the pool area to show it to her. She had a mini temper tantrum when it was time to leave because she wanted to FIM. Of course we just HAD to take her today.

Will and I took turns swimming laps and playing with Sophia. She really enjoyed kicking her feet and moving her arms underwater. I could tell that she felt more comfortable with Will. Probably because his hand are bigger.

We played in the water for a good 35 - 45 minutes. Sophia cried her eyes out when we got out of the pool. She was desperately trying to get back into the pool. Her nap lasted for a few hours this afternoon and Will and I were able to organize the garage a bit.

The Alphabet Wall

Sophia's getting a new molar, or so it seems. She's been rubbing her ear, crying out in the middle of the night and acting extra sleepy this week.

This morning we went to My Monkey, our name for My Gym, and then we went to story time at the library to visit COCO the story time monkey. After story time the kids were allowed to stamp a letter onto the new alphabet wall.

Sophia sat in the middle of the floor for a while and watched everyone else. Eventually she decided she wanted to put a stamp on the wall too. She did an S for Sophia and she chose a dark shade of green for her color.

There was no way this kid was going to smile...not today. She's just way to serious today - another sign that she's getting another tooth.

Graduating from "SSSS" to "PEASE"

Please is currently pronounced PEASE or even PWEASE in the Alexander household. Sophia has learned to whine/cry/beg PEASE whenever she needs help with something. She's asking for HELP PEASE, but she can't combine the two words together yet so it comes out as plain old PEASE. Whenever she gets a piece of fake plastic food stuck in her teapot, she moans PEASE like it's her own hand stuck in the teapot. Or whenever she's trying to read a book that has sticky pages and some are stuck together she's start her shrill PEASE PEASE PEASE which sounds like she's actually in pain and cannot possibly sustain any more. She's my little Drama Queen!

Yesterday she threw a super temper tantrum right in front of me because I wouldn't let her open a box containing about 100 foam stickers. She crinkled up her face, stood in front of me and wailed! I didn't give in and I knew she was faking it so I tested her to see how long she was going to protest. In the end, I didn't let her go 'crying' on and on, I found something to distract her attention, but she wasn't going to stop - Stubborn - just like her Zodiac birth sign - TAURUS.

In these two videos Sophia is playing with "fun, nice guy" Dad before bed and wants him to PEASE keep doing whatever game they are playing.

More PONY PEASE


More ??? PEASE

WOKS

Sophia loves to play in the WOKS (rocks). She thinks it's really fun to dig them up with the beach shovels. Every single time we walk through the garage she's immediately into the basket of beach toys. Well, it's either the beach toys or dad's tool box.

It snowed!

Yes, it actually snowed. It barely covered the grass in our yard. It was fun to go outside with Sophia for 10 minutes - that's all I could stand!

She fell once and didn't seem to mind. She enjoyed playing ball in the yard and sitting on her snowy, wet chair. See the pics.

PAYING HAT ON and OAF

Sophia received a fireman's hat party favor at a b'day party in October and has not grown tired of it yet. She often puts it on, but I don't think I've ever had the camera around for it. Take a look at the rest of the pictures.

By the way, we were in the middle of PAYING BABY when she got distracted with the HAT. She was pushing a few of her baby dolls around the house in her stroller.

I think this is funny

While stopped at a red light yesterday on the way home from My Gym Sophia pointed past my head in the driver's seat and said NANAS. I looked through the windshield to see if she saw a Grandma somewhere because she calls all Grandmas NANAS and she calls all Grandpas POPPY.

Anyway, I didn't see a Grandma anywhere so I asked her again what she saw. She repeated NANAS. I looked through the windshield again and this time I noticed a Chili's restaurant across the street. There was an enormous Red Chili Pepper on the side of the building. A big red pepper with a giant green stem. Take a look next time you drive past a Chili's...

Sophia was pointing out the apple that she saw on the side of the building. Her name for them is NANAS and when I figured it out she was tickled pink with delight!

I chuckled to myself the whole way home.

Rain Rain Go Away

It's Saturday afternoon (4:30) and it's literally been raining since 10:45 AM. The meteorologists are predicting rain/snow by later tonight. We'll see. Regardless, it's a really gross day outside.

Sophia and I bundled up and went to the Y this morning. She likes putting her coat hood on and running outside in the WHAIN (rain) and in the WAHEE (water). She thinks it's really funny when Mom gets WEH (wet).

Adjusting to our new schedule

Sophia and I have a new set of "classes" and activities we're enrolled in for the winter season. I feel like we're starting a new semester, but I'm sure Uncle Rob and Aunt Claire would disagree.

Here's our schedule:
Monday - gym class @ 10:15
Tuesday - swimming lessons (in Feb)
Wednesday - library @ 10:30
Thursday - library (Jan - 10:45); swimming lessons (in Feb)
Friday - my gym free play @ 12:45

As you can see, we're gone most mornings during the week. You would think that Sophia would get tired out and want to take a nap at some point in the afternoon each day! Nope. A nap really hasn't worked it's way into the schedule yet. Last night, for instance, Sophia went to bed for the night at 6:30 because she didn't take a nap all day. Mom definitely doesn't like those days.

Today we went back to the library after taking a few months off and Sophia really enjoyed it. She remembered the name of the monkey stuffed animal that the instructor uses as her "child" as she shows us the moves to the songs, etc.. The monkey's name is Coco. As soon as Sophie saw Coco she yelled out CO. She picked out 5 books and a movie to bring home with us.

After lunch I had to go to the ATM and then pick up a heart worm pill prescription for Sadie at the vet's office. When I got back into the car Sophia told me she would like to EAT FIES (french fries). Thankfully there was a McDonald's across the street! We hit the drive through and picked up a hamburger happy meal. When we got home she dug into the FIES and ate all but 3 bites of her hamburger patty (a HUGE accomplishment). She also had some apple bites which she calls NANAS and BEANS (kidney beans - one of her favorites!).

And now, guess what? She actually went to FEEP (sleep) and is taking a nap!!! ..... Oh thank you for being a rainy, dreary day!

Q&A with Sophia

What does the cow say?
MOO MOO (She's graduated from the mmmmmmm sound, but never a single moo)



What do you use when you eat?
FOOD, PATE (plate), POON (spoon), MILK (for any cup) She played with a kitchen set for over an hour yesterday by herself at our play date. She stacked plates and put them in the cabinet, frig and microwave. She put them in the sink too. At home this morning she was pulling out my cookie sheets and placing her plastic food on it. I've got to get her one of the big kitchen play sets.

What are big dogs called?
SADIE

What are little dogs called?
CHARLEY

What do you want to do, Sophia?
She'll get a book, bring it to me, and command me to REAd (the d is silent) to her.

The Sophia Gazette

The Sophia Gazette is undergoing a slight transformation to make room for some new content additions and changes. We'll still be covering your favorite subject: Sophia, but we'll also be adding new material: the new baby girl. You will still be able to access the And Baby Makes 4 blog, but we make no guarantees on content freshness.

You may have noticed our new temporary name: The Alexander Journal.

Ultrasound photos

Here's a picture of the baby's face and her fists are up by her eyes. Can you see her?
















In this picture you can see her profile and her spine is really bright white. She's on her back.

Happy 20 month old b'day

Sophia turned 20 months old today (gosh it's really hard to believe how fast time flies)! She's taking after Daddy's passion for the computer now that she's finally figured out how to turn her "laptop" ON. Now she likes to sit at her desk and PAY computer for a while each day.

A proud mama

We had company over tonight and Sophia was an extremely nice hostess for the entire evening and then as soon as our neighbors left she crawled right up the stairs, brushed her teeth and went right to sleep. It was amazing.

I was so proud of her. She shared all of her toys, games and baby dolls with Taylor (6) and Riley (10 months). And she didn't hit or push once. I think now that she has some more words under her belt like MOVE and NO she's much better around kids. We'll see if the pattern continues tomorrow morning at gym class. I have high hopes!

Lately it's been hard to get Sophia to stop playing when it's time to go somewhere, eat or even to get a new diaper. She shouts out the word PAY (play) all day long and usually when we're driving home in the truck she'll recognize when we get close and says HOME, PAY. It makes me laugh every time.

Click the arrow in the video to play it. It's not broken even though it has no preview image.

It's a girl

Will and I both thought this one was going to be a boy or at least we both voted that way in the poll. He said he changed his mind from Boy to Girl a few weeks ago, but didn't say anything.

Regardless, Cousin Jack is definitely going to be outnumbered.

We're very excited to be having another little girl. I cannot wait for Sophia to have a little playmate and best friend.

The ultrasound was a lot of fun. They commented on how wiggly and active this baby is and I have to agree. I'm always getting little pokes. The baby is doing great and is exactly where she should be so my due date of May 28th still stands.

Names - no idea yet.

New Sophia movies

Here's a few movies that we took in the last couple of days...

Sophia's been staying up later and later each night. It seems like once or twice a week she'll go to bed at 7:30. Once a week she won't take a nap at all and she'll go to bed for the whole night around 5:30. Most other nights she's been staying up until 8:30 or later. This is Will's attempt to tire her out so we can put her to bed.

Bouncing the ball with Dad before bed I

Bouncing the ball with Dad before bed II

Yesterday afternoon when we were outside I took a few pictures and movies of her, but she really didn't want to be my subject! She also knows that she can preview the photos right after they're taken and she runs to the camera sometimes to see them. In these movies she simply didn't want me to be taping her and she kept running up to the camera to make me turn it off.

Playing outside I

Playing outside II

18 month wellness check-up

well, we were a little late....(she'll be 20 months on Monday).

Here's the vital info:

HEIGHT: 35 inches - 97% (which surprises me, I thought it would be higher)

WEIGHT: 29 pounds 10 ounces - 95% (our scale at home says she's 30) It's scary for me to know it's actually accurate!

SHOT: Only 1 today and it was the last one she'll have to get for almost 2 years! YEA!!! She cried when the nurse was preparing her leg for the shot, but as soon as it was over and she sat up she didn't cry anymore! She knew it was done. I handed her a juice box and a bag of raisins which made her very happy.

Everything else checked out too so she's a perfectly healthy kid. We saw a female doctor today and she was really nice and gentle with Sophia, but that didn't stop Sophia from crying, clinging to me and calling out 'Mommy, Mommy, Mommy' for the entire visit. Sophia definitely remembered where she was and knew she didn't like it! She kept saying HOME.

We got home just in time her to see Moe and the rest of the Doodlebops!

Watermelon outfit

This morning in music class Ms. Virginia commented that Sophia looked so cute in her watermelon outfit. I'm pregnant, so I'm forgiven for this, but it really annoyed me at the time because I don't agree on the name of the color. It's not watermelon (watermelon is pink and this is more of a peach/melon color), but I simply cannot come up with another name for it and have been driving myself up the wall for hours now!

Hmmm..now I'm even more stumped because I just spent 10 minutes looking on the oldnavy.com website for the outfit so I see what they called the color and it's not on the site! Unreal.

Either way, decide for yourself. Pictures.

We're so lucky

The weather has been like spring the last 2 days. Yesterday it was 72 degrees and I was able to go for a run with Sophia and Sadie. Today it's already 67 (supposed to get up to 71) and we just got back from a run to the playground. Very tiring for a prego!

Sophia played outside before lunch today and when she came in her hair was super wind blown. I tried to take some pictures, but I think it was one of those "You had to be there" moments. What do you think?


She woke up at 6:15 this morning after fighting Mr. Sandman in her crib last night until 10PM. It's like she doesn't want to miss a single moment of what might happen around her.

My Gym

We (Sophia and I) joined My Gym yesterday. My Gym is an indoor children's gym with tons of cool activities for her to learn new skills and to burn off some of her intense energy! Plus it will get us through the winter months as mommy gets bigger. Sophia will have a structured 1 hour class each week and an additional hour on another day where they have open play time. The class is on Mondays and I think we'll go to the free play on Fridays. She still has music class on Wednesdays and the Library on Thursday too so I think we'll be able to keep fairly busy.

Sophia was off and running as soon as we entered My Gym and her absolute favorite thing to do was play in the ball pit. She was bouncing up and down in the ball pit and then hiding her entire body under the balls and peeking out at me. At times there was another little boy in there with her, but she kept her cool with some coaching from Mom.

She loved the trampoline, the balance beam, the rope hang/swing, and simply jumping and rolling around on the padded floor mats. If she had the final say she would have skipped the part where we had to sit down for the songs and structured exercises, but she managed to do it with me. The two instructors alternate between structured activities and open free play. Hopefully Sophia can get the desire for free play out of her system a bit on Friday when we go back.

Bowling

Sophia got a mini bowling set for Christmas from her Great Uncle Roger. Tonight was the first time that she's wanted to play with it since we've been home. When she took it out of the carrying container she immediately said Nana (of course this is what she calls both of our moms), but in this case she was referring to Nana Bonnie. I wasn't sure if she was saying it because Nana played bowling with her as soon as Sophia unwrapped the present or if it's because Nana really had some fun bowling on the Wii while we were there.

Either way, these are Sophia's rules for bowling:
1) Have Mom or Dad set up the pins.
2) Take the ball and knock over the pins with the ball in your hand. Do not throw the ball.
3) Repeat step 2.
4) I repeat, do not throw the ball.

Will saved her.

Ok, so yesterday morning we went to IHOP for breakfast. Everything was going perfect and then the food arrived at the table. Sophia gets the Baby Cakes meal with silver dollar pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon and in the past she's loved it. She went straight for the gross, fatty piece of bacon and shoved it into her mouth. I was able to break it in half before she devoured it. Phew...

One of her new habits lately is to shove the entire piece of (fill in food here) into her mouth at once. She's given up on biting, but I digress...

I had just commented to Will how fatty the bacon was and how gross it must be. We looked at Sophia and she was literally choking on it! I started hitting her on the back. That didn't help. Will is still chuckling at how I looked at him and "shrieked", "Will, she's choking!". I swear her face was turning blue and she was looking at me like HELP! I shoved my finger into her mouth and found nothing.

He started giving her the Heimlich maneuver and up came the bacon and all the milk and cereal she had eaten at home before we left! GROSS! I consider it her very first barf! He definitely saved her.

Here's a video of Sophia playing outside yesterday.

It was in the 60's today (Sunday) and we all got out of the house for a walk around Mulberry Loop. Sophia said HI to all the boys on skateboards as we passed them. She seemed fascinated with the all the older kids playing outside with their big kid toys.

Tomorrow I will tell you about Sophia's near death experience this morning at IHOP. Don't worry, Will saved her from choking on a piece of bacon.

Boo Hiss

A double disappointment: Redskins loss followed directly by Steelers loss!

2008 off to a great start

I'm hoping that this trend continues...and I hope not to jinx it by blogging about it, but Sophia has been really really nice for the past week. She's already had a few opportunities to be around kids and has done spectacular. She announces that she's going to be nice as soon as I tell her that she's going to be around other kids.

We're going to a neighbor's house this afternoon to watch the Red Skins playoff game and 2 little girls live there so I hope she can keep her hands to herself. I kind of have a bad feeling about it since kick-off starts at 4:30 and it is presently 2:30 and she hasn't napped yet, but I have high hopes.....!

--UPDATE--

It's now 4:25 and Sophia went down for her nap about 1/2 an hour ago. I guess all the playing Sophia did outside today really wore her out. I hope she wakes up before 1/2 time. Will just left to go to the neighbor's house. Go Red Skins.

Sophiaisms

Sophia has been doing some extremely adorable things lately and I just have to share.

Sophia = ME!
-- Sophia was riding nicely in the shopping cart this afternoon at Toys R Us when I asked her a question I've asked a ton of times before: Who Is Sophia? She looked right at me, pointed to her chest and yelled out - ME!!! I asked her again and again and she kept doing it. Way to go!! She can say some of the names of her friends. She'll say Addie, Haley, Cole, Riley and Uh-oh (that's Isabella's name because Sophia visited her over Christmas and pushed her down a few times).

Drag Mom & Dad Around
-- Whenever she wants either of us to play with her (and lately we've only been playing Little People) she takes one of our hands and pulls us toward the play room. When we arrive at the play destination she commands us to "DOWN" (which means sit down and play with me please).

Cold or Hot
-- Sophia declares everything either COLD or HOT. Most of the time she thinks her food is going to be "HOT". Whenever she's outside and the wind blows she shouts out "COLD". Her milk and cucumbers are COLD. The running bath water is HOT.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service
-- Unless she's wearing shoes, this kid will run around in her bare feet all day long. She's let you know the floor is COLD, but she won't keep her socks and slippers on at all. She also prefers to be totally nude these days (yes, that means sans diaper) and will not stop running around long enough for me to change her clothes or put new clothes on her. It's one of her favorite games! Make Mom Chase Me and Then Wail When She Catches Me Because I Hate Clothes!

Duck Duck Goose
-- This game started as a remedy for her Make Mom Chase Me to Put My Clothes On game, but has since progressed to a real game of duck duck goose. Sophia loves it when Daddy plays and giggles and grins each time she's pecked on the head and named Duck or Goose - it doesn't matter to her!

Home from Christmas

OK - I think I've finally recovered from being gone for over a week. Sophia too. I feel like I'm finally caught up on getting the house back in order and things put in their proper place. I've used my awesome Christmas present, the Dyson, a few times and so has Will (yea!!).

Sophia finally went to bed at her usual time last night - 7:30 pm - and that's after finally! taking a 2 hour nap in the late afternoon. She woke up around 8:30 this morning. Phew...things are getting back to normal.

Well, maybe not totally normal. For starters I'm feeling the baby move all the time now. Little kicks that feel like thuds and thumps. And.....Sophia's speech has exploded in the last week and she's saying so many real words now. She's repeating lots of new words all day long too. In fact, she just held up a Little People Daddy person and told me he is "COOL".

When she isn't playing Little People House with the Daddy, Mommy, Baby, Nana and Car she's playing Little People Farm. Yesterday afternoon while she played Farm she put all of the animals in the silo and then had each on "FALL" out of the door opening. It was hysterical. Right now they are all stuck in the rain drain gutter of her Front Door house toy. Mom and/or Dad need to "save them".

I wish I knew what she was saying....

Please go to sleep

Dear Sophia,

You've been up in your crib twice already today and still haven't fallen asleep for a nap. What gives? It's going on an hour now that you've been up there talking to Barney, Bop and BJ. I was waiting outside your door on the floor for about 35 minutes, but that got a little boring for me. Mom really wants you to take a nap so you'll be rested and happy for the rest of the day.

Love, Sadie

PS - When you wake up, can you please get the bone from underneath your crib for me?

Baby Update

I'm 19 weeks along now and almost at the 1/2 way point (20 weeks). Next Friday, on Jan 11, we're having the gender ultrasound done in the morning. I cannot wait to find out. My intuition is suggesting it's a boy right now. At first I was convinced we were having another girl, but now I'm not so sure.

The baby is about 8.5 ounces now and 6 inches long. It can hear and distinguish between sounds/noises and voices. How exciting to know.

I haven't felt any flutters yet, but I'm pretty sure I have felt a few faint kicks in the evening for the past couple of nights.

Photo Review of our Christmas Travels

Click here: Our visit with the Annie, Adam and their future famous gymnast or Parkour athlete, Isabella (16.5 months)...

Click here: The 2nd Cousin Christmas Tradition Photo Session...
Morgan Baker (6 months)
Cole Hurley (1 month shy of 4 years old)
Sophia (19 months)
Rylee Hurley (15 months)

Click here: Great Aunt Carole gave Sophia a 5x5x5 Dora Tent. It's huge! Sophia absolutely loved running and crawling through the front door and out the back door. Some pictures are taken through the "window" so they look a bit blurry.

Click here: We were at Nana & Poppy's house from Sunday - Friday. Sophia had so much fun playing with all of her new toys and watching her new Barney movies. Lily, Daniel's hamster, was quite a hit too, although I think Sadie wanted to "play" with her the most. (wink wink)

Click here: We stopped at Grancy & Big Daddy's on the way to PA and again on the way home for two days. Happy Anniversary!

Click here: Sadie and Jinx always know how to stir up some fun.

Happy New Year

Wishing you a happy & colorful 2008!