Play date at the Zoo

It was in the 80s this afternoon and Sophia & I spent the afternoon outside with some friends at the Zoo. It was a really great afternoon. Sophia loved the giraffes. She claims that's her very favorite animal!

Since I forgot to bring a hat and I didn't have the sun-shade for her stroller in the car, I had to buy her a hat from the gift shop. She picked it out on her own and I must proudly say wore it the entire them we were there.

Our arrival time at the Barnyard area was perfect. A Zoo staff member was passing out feed for the goats when we arrived and Sophia and I both got handfuls for her to feed the goats. When she finished our free feed, she proceeded to pick up all the left-over morsels on the ground and continued to feed the goats.

See all the pics.

Sophia's new house

This morning Sophia simply wouldn't allow me to put this big box on the curb for garbage pickup. She insisted that she get IN the box to play.

The box was a little too tall for her to sit in it and still be able to see the tv so she requested PIWWOWS, but they didn't quite offer the comfort she was seeking! Before she got too frustrated I created a SEAT for her .... and she was hooked - for about 3 minutes!

The entry is coming....but in the meantime

....view the photos from our Easter weekend trip.

We left for Uncle Dan's house on Friday morning and arrived just in time for dinner. Sophia enjoyed seeing Nana and Poppy and getting completely spoiled with attention. See all the pics.

On the way back on Sunday we stopped at Grancy and Big Daddy's house. They had an Easter Egg Hunt set up for Sophia in the front yard. See the pics.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Here's a movie Grancy took when she visited...It's Mom and Sophia coloring Easter Eggs.

Grancy's Spring Break Visit

Grancy came to visit Sophia on Monday and was here until yesterday afternoon. She was only gone for about 2 hours when I started missing her already - coincidentally that was exactly when Sophia woke up from her nap!

Sophia was so excited that Grancy was coming for a visit. For two days she was carrying around the panda bear that Grancy brought back from China. Sophia was standing at the front door waiting for her RED car to pull up to the house and it only took a few seconds before Sophia was pulling Grancy by the hand into her play room for some FUN.

I headed out for the afternoon and the two of them played all day. They took Sadie for a walk, played FOOD and EAT with Sophia's kitchen set and put puzzles together. Sophia didn't miss me one bit (what a wonderful and expected relief).

On Tuesday Grancy and Sophia went to Tunes for Tots and then out to lunch while I enjoyed another free day to run errands and get Tropical Smoothie Cafe for lunch. YAY! I could tell they had a great time because Sophia practically went straight into her crib when they got home and slept for about 3.5 hours.

Yesterday the three of us colored a few Easter Eggs (or as Sophia is calling it - EGGS GET BATH) and then we went to the mall to visit the Easter Bunny. Being the mean mom that I am I made Sophia sit on my lap while I sat beside the Bunny for a photo session. I can't wait to see the pictures that Grancy took because the "professional" one certainly wouldn't win any awards. Of course, Sophia was terribly frightened of the Bunny and really didn't want to be anywhere near him - even on my lap! However, when we went upstairs to the food court after our "crying spectacle", Sophia was delighted to watch the Bunny. I would even go as far as to say she was giddy!

Before we left the mall we stopped to ride/play in the ice cream truck, the train and the firetruck. What a great day.

Check out all of the pictures.

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt with Sophia's two friends, Haley and Addy. The batteries were dead in our camera so we only managed to get one picture.

There were a variety of fun activities for the little ones to do/participate in...

Face Painting: Haley and Addy got lady bugs and Sophia refused to get one. She sat down in the chair and then changed her mind at the last minute.
Decorate a Cookie: As you can tell by the picture, Sophia participated in this activity. She chose purple icing. She ate the cookie in the car on the ride home.
Decorate a Mini Cupcake: She ate 2 cupcakes - shoved the whole thing into her mouth each time. She also enjoyed eating the jelly beans that were supposed to be decoration for the cupcakes.
Bubbles: Nothing beats a gallon of bubble soap with fun, large wands! This activity was a winner!
Color a Bookmark: We skipped this one.
The Egg Hunt: Sophia let me carry her basket as she ran around looking for eggs. We practiced at home all week and this was a blast for her!

The best part was coming home and opening all of the eggs to find the surprises inside. Sophia was totally exhausted and in desparate need of a nap, but her sugar high kept her awake long enough to take this movie...

29 weeks prego

I hit 29 weeks yesterday! Only 9 more weeks to go! I'm starting to feel a bit tired in the early evenings now. Sophia definitely wears me out during the days - she's super tall and heavy for her age. This is nothing new to any of you faithful readers, but she's wearing some 3T clothes already and yesterday someone asked me if she was 3. Inside I was terribly offended!! No, my little peanut is still only 1. In fact she has 2 months to go before she even turns 2. She's definitely as tall as some 3-year olds so I can see where people can get a little confused, but she talks and walks like a 1-year old.

I'm now going to the doctor every two weeks. Everyone I see tells me that I'm small for being 7 1/2 months pregnant, but the doctor didn't mention anything like that on Tuesday at my appointment. She said everything looks fine! I've gained 21 pounds so far - that's great compared to Sophia's pregnancy.

Baby's heart rate was in the low 140s on Tuesday. She was sleeping and not moving around at all. It seems like she sleeps for 3 hours at a stretch and then wakes up to work out those arms and legs. She's even had the hiccups a few times, something I didn't ever notice with Sophia. Can't wait to meet her!

GRACIE

Yesterday Sophia and I were in the spare bedroom packing up books so that we could remove the bookshelf and start to get that room ready for it's nursery transformation. There is a photo in the room of the whole Alexander clan that went on the cruise. Sophia looked at the picture and then pointed to Grancy and for the first time said GRACIE. What an awesome milestone that was for her. Up until now she's called every single woman older than me NANA. Will and I have always referred to Grancy as Nana Grancy to expose Sophia to her real name.

She called Big Daddy, Uncle Mike and Uncle Rob "BOY". She called Aunt Claire and Terra "GIRL". So, now we'll work on their names.

This morning I showed her a different picture of Grancy and she said NANA, but I think a little practice will seal the deal!

The time change

Sophia decided to sleep right throuh the time change adjustment. She went to sleep for a nap a 5PM yesterday (which probably felt like 4PM to her) and she didn't wake up until 7:30 AM this morning! Will and I were shocked and amazed! She also took a decent nap this afternoon. I wonder if she's going through another growth spurt?

COURSE...that's her newest word. She must hear me say "of course" alot (although I never realized I say it). She says COURSE now and grins from ear to ear like she's an adult!

Play date @ Addie's house

Addie and Haley are Sophia's first friends. You may remember them from the picture on the couch from our holiday party.... Sophia says ADDIE and HAYWEE all the time.

We went over to Addie's house on Thursday morning for a play/lunch date. Sophia didn't eat anything. She was completely preoccupied with all of Addie's toys. At one point all of the girls had on a "princess" costume. Sophia just happened to have a red long-sleeved shirt which looked perfect with the Snow White outfit she selected. Take a look.

Ultrasound Pictures

Will and I got to see baby girl Alexander for 1.5 hours today when I volunteered to be the subject for a morphology exam - which basically means "performing a full-body ultrasound on the baby".

Our precious little one was on her best behavior and allowed the student to take all of body measurements she needed. However, she absolutely refused to stop moving her head around for a picture and then when she finally did settle her face wasn't anywhere in sight. The instructor took over at the end and she was able to capture these pictures, but not without baby's hands/feet in front of her face. But, she looks really pretty already. In fact, she looks A LOT like Sophia to me. Can't wait to meet her.

Her stats: Everything looked perfect in their eyes. The heart has 4 chambers and a really great rhythm to it. She was very settled and sleeping when the heart rate was taken, but it was 130. She has girl parts. She has eyes, lips, chin, nose, bridge, etc...all the stuff she's supposed to have. They predicted she would have a lot of hair...Sophia had a ton of black hair when she was born. She's measuring only 1 day greater than her due date. They said he due date would be May 29. She weighs 2 pounds 8 ounces which seems huge to me already! Anyway - take a look. Some are much easier to see than others.

Tunes for Tots resumes...

Yesterday Sophia and I went to the Season Opener Tunes for Tots at the WOW Garden of Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It took her a while to warm up to the extra large crowd that was there, but once she felt comfortable, she really got into "dancing" with mom. We had a blast.

Afterwards she really enjoyed running through the house and even though she pinched her hand in the door, that didn't stop her. SHUT DOOR is what she calls this particular boo boo. She coined the phrase over the weekend when her hand got sucked into the automatic sliding door at a store. I had to pull it out for her. Again, quick thinking on my part. Looking back on it now I can see how that could have been quite ugly. Sophia cried and exclaimed SHUT DOOR for the next hour.

We had a wonderful day together just running around in the garden. Sophia definitely remembered the WOW Garden from this fall, but was puzzled by why the sprinklers weren't ON. I was thoroughly enjoying myself just watching (and chasing) her. It was as if she was enjoying all of it for the very first time again. She's so much more mobile and active and curious now.

On the way out we stopped to smell the flowers and chase the DUCKS/GOOSE because they produce EGGS. Enjoy the pics... You may not believe me that she was having fun because I don't think she's smiling in any of the pictures, but trust me, she was thrilled to be there.

PAYING with BLOCKS

For the past week or so Sophia has shown an interest in PAYING with her BLOCKS. She can stack the large blocks up pretty high and she's getting better at these smaller, wooden ones. She knows they're going to FALL.

I took a couple of videos and you'll see her moving from activity to activity. She seems to tire with her toys so quickly these days and she hasn't been very into Barney or the Dooblebops either (YAY). This is a kid on the move all the time - her mind and her body. Except when she's tired and then she totally zones out and falls into her trance-like state of rubbing and smelling of Lamby's ear.

Her favorite activities right now are: talking, going outside, running around, jumping around, kicking big balls, throwing little balls, climbing up on furniture, and practicing how to walk up the stairs while holding onto the railing like a big girl (no more baby crawls up the stairs). She's even walking down the stairs holding onto my hand.

Here's the first video. Make sure you have sound. It's cute.


Here's another one. She's naming all of her zoo animals.


And - just for kicks.....watch this one too. This is the very first time she says the word PAMAL (camel).

A fun weekend

We had a great weekend. The weather was warm and wonderful and nobody was sick. Today is supposed to be in the high 60's so we'll be hitting the playground with Sadie later this afternoon.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. They have twins that are just getting ready to break into full fledged crawls. Sophia was an amazing little playmate for them even though she was mostly just running around and playing on her own. Before they arrived we picked out a few toys that she was going to share with them and I think that made her feel important. I was really proud of her.

Will is holding Jackson, who was really smitten with Will all night. Mike is holding Lola, who is quite the Mommy's girl, just like Sophia was/is. The twins were so well behaved. They really enjoyed playing with Sophia's toys that light up and play songs and make sounds.

Sophia picked out a Bunny at the store on Saturday and has been carrying it around with her like Miss Bunny is her best friend. On Saturday she HAD TO have the bunny in the crib with her during her nap. She kisses Miss Bunny each time we leave to go somewhere. I've even see her place Miss Bunny in front of the TV whenever Barney is on so they can watch together! I suspect she loves the Miss Bunny for several reasons....(1) she has a cool purse, (2) she's almost as tall as Sophia, (3) and she has bendable ears! Check out the rest of the pictures.

Swimming is over!

Sophia had an awesome time in class today. She was smiling and squealing during the Wheels on the Bus song. Today she had to try on a life vest and swim around the pool with it on. She enjoyed wearing the COAT for a few minutes, but quickly grew tired of it and wanted it OFF. After class she got this certificate - she completed the Inia class. The inia's picture is the one in the top right - so I guess an inia is some sort of dolphin (FINYA).

*** Okay, I looked it up. An inia is a South American freshwater dolphin. 10-12 feet long and has a hairy snout.

MOMMY, MOMMY, LOOK

I heard Sophia calling to me this afternoon. I was in the kitchen and she was in the play room/dining room. When I got in there she was standing in Bitty Baby's crib as proud as can be. Then she tried to bounce on it. She literally tries to bounce on everything these days. She loves the trampoline at My Gym, loves jumping on the couch and especially loves jumping on mom and dad's BED.

After holding up everything in the KWIB and labeling it for me, she took Bitty, Bitty's BANKY (blanket), and the yellow polar bear (which she called a TIGER) upstairs to her crib and tried to climb in. She's actually been climbing up the side of the crib at night to get into bed. Funny, she has yet to even suspect that she can climb out. Thank goodness.

Check out all of the pictures.

If there was a Sleeping Dance

I'd be doing it!

Sophia took a nap yesterday afternoon. I didn't give into her screams and cries and she didn't last as long as usual. Maybe she was a little bit more worn out yesterday from going to swimming class.

I'm also happy to report that Sophia is sleeping in this morning. It's 8:45 and she's still SEEPING.

Tomorrow is our last swimming class for this session. I'm not going to sign up for the March class. FIMMY (Swimming) has actually been a big pain in the butt, but I'm sure if I wasn't pregnant and it wasn't super cold and windy on most of the days, we'd both be more into it. If Will and I keep taking her to the pool on the weekends she'll be good by summer!

Sophia's been timid throughout most of the classes, but each time she has gotten a little bit more open to the idea of getting her face/hair wet. Yesterday was the first day I really thought Sophia felt comfortable and wanted to be there. At the end of class she willingly went to Meghan, the instructor, and Meghan dunked her - using our safe method, of course! She cried again when she surfaced, but not as much as the first time. I was so proud of her. Everyone near us in the pool cheered for her.

Well, I'm happy to say that it's 9:00 and she's still snoozing. Woo hoo!

Day 5

Um....Mom is about to have a nervous breakdown! We're now on Day 5 of Sophia refusing to take a nap. If these stupid molars don't come in soon I don't know what I'm going to do! You may think that refusing to take a nap isn't sooooo bad. Well, I thought I would give you a treat. This is what happens when I put Sophia down for a nap. This was taken 10 minutes after I put her in the crib. WARNING: PREPARE YOUR EARS FOR SUPER LOUD SOUNDS...

There is nothing wrong with her! She's not in pain. These are FAKE screams and cries. I'm sure her throat hurts from screaming like this...., but OH MAN!!!

Usually I can only take about 1/2 hour of this noise before I cave and go in there and get her out of bed - and then suffer through a terribly long, cranky afternoon!

Yesterday afternoon I put her in the stroller and took her and Sadie for a walk. Sophia fell asleep for about 3 minutes in the stroller, but was up the minute we got home. I feel so bad for her. At least she's been sleeping through the night!

Party Day

Party Day = Cake Day! YUM!!!!

I went to a baby shower at 1:30 and ate lots of yummy finger foods and then a great piece of chocolate cake.

When I got home from the shower I was supposed to head straight over to our neighbor's house for their little girl's first birthday party. As I was walking out of our front door I suddenly heard my name being called. It was Will and he was carrying Sophia. They were heading over to the birthday party too! They were leaving another birthday party at a different neighbor's house. Will said they called and invited us over for a slice of birthday cake. How nice. Will told me that Sophia was pushing a chair over to the table so she could climb up on it and get a piece of cake. Lynne emailed me these pictures.

Then we all got to have a vanilla cupcake with purple sugared icing at the birthday party! What a great day!!!!

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