Strawberry Festival

Another successful Strawberry Festival is behind us. We made it there in time for Sophia's first parade on Saturday morning. She loved sitting on Will's shoulders to watch the cars and floats drive by and she became especially excited when they had costumed characters on them. She waved to Miss Va Beach, Miss Teen Va Beach, Miss Pre-Teen Va Beach, AND Little Miss Va Beach as they went by in their convertibles. (And honestly, there were two extra cars for Mrs Philippines Va Beach and Little Miss Philippines Va Beach which puzzled me. Who knew?) When the bands marched by she couldn't get enough of the drums, trumpets and flag girls. Overall, I'd say she enjoyed the parade the most.

We walked around the festival and tried some giant chocolate covered strawberries, listened to a little live music and did some serious people-watching. We took Sophia inside the stinky petting zoo and spent some time admiring the filthy, lonely cows. She sat on a kiddie-tractor and a cow. Last year she touched the baby duck and this year she wasn't interested. We went into the "ride/carnival" area and let her try a few games - "fish" and "pick a duck". One game booth had a giant Barney that she pointed out to us. Will quickly figured out that he would have to win 24 times in a row to actually win that Barney doll. It was the "throw the dart and break a balloon" booth.

I brought home a strawberry crumb pie and it's delicious. Will has eaten 1 piece to my three so far. I've got 1/2 a pie to eat in the next 24 hours! Yummy!!!

Take a look at all of the pictures from the festival.

Baby should be here on Tuesday!!!

I had an appointment yesterday morning and was still 2cm and about 50% effaced. So, no progress, but I had expected that. I've felt great for the past week.

The doctor offered me an induction date for next week since I will have reached my due date and because I've already had a successful delivery before. Soooo...drum roll.....we're scheduled to begin labor at 7:30 AM on Tuesday.

If you ask me, it can't get any better than that. We can have an awesome long weekend together as a family of 3 and then welcome baby girl on Tuesday. Hopefully if labor is going to start on it's own it will wait until Monday evening. I really want to go to the Strawberry Festival tomorrow. I also think we should take Sophia to the Botanical Sprinkler Garden one day. And, I'd like to go out to dinner one last time (actually I wouldn't mind a few times) :-)

Sophia is a Taurus. I just found this Taurus description from a post I wrote when we were waiting her arrival two years ago. Let's see how she measures up:

Taurus (the Bull) = April 21 - May 21.
Traditional Taurus Traits Are:
Patient and reliable: False, but it's reliable that she's NOT patient
Warmhearted and loving: True, true, true. She loves to cuddle.
Persistent and determined: True!
Placid and security loving: I would say true.

On the dark side....
Jealous and possessive: We'll see when her sister arrives.
Resentful and inflexible: At times this can be true.
Self-indulgent and greedy: Self-indulgent - true. Greedy - False.

Sophia's sister will be a Gemini.

Gemini (the Twins) = May 22 - June 21.
Traditional Gemini Traits Are:
Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively

On the dark side....
Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistent
Cunning and inquisitive

This is the Aquadoodle toy that Haley gave to Sophia for her b'day. It's a water pen and doesn't make any mess at all and she loves it. I showed her how to trace her hand and now that's the only thing she wants to do!

Will showed her how to make her footprint in play doh last night (with his help) and this morning I found her pulling off her socks and stepping into the play doh (all by SELF). Hmmm....what will she get into next?

Opening Birthday Presents

After Sophia woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon she got to open the presents from her party. I think I took a video of each present, so you can click on the links below to view the videos.

As you will see....each time she unwrapped a present she wanted to OPEN and or play with it right then and there. She obviously inherited her mother's patience.

Look at the excitement in this face!

Present from Avery

Present from Clara

Present from Lola Grace and Jackson (the twins)

Present from Liana and Lorenzo (they couldn't make it to the party)

Present from Lauren and Olivia (the two taller girls in the group photos)

Present from Haley (she was sick and couldn't make it)

Present from Daisy

Present from Liaba and Amayr

Birthday Party

Sophia had a blast at her birthday party. She certainly was treated like a "Queen". It was a wonderful place to have her party. We literally didn't have to do anything except show up with our cake and drinks. The My Gym girls cut and served the cake and took drink orders. It was fantastic!

I took a lot of pictures, none of them great, but you can see how much fun everyone was having. I have tons of movies to upload, but don't have them ready yet. Look for them soon...

Still here

Monday is 1/2 over and I'm still hanging around like a big pregnant lady! So, I don't think today will be her birthday.

NAMES - Um, we're pretty much 98% sure that we know her name, but it could certainly change too. I've been 99% sure on a few others (some you've heard and some you haven't) and then changed my mind.

I know the name poll is not over yet, and we're currently voting on the name Elisabeth, but I thought I would show you just how the Name Poll has played out so far. I have a really neat looking spreadsheet that I'm trying to turn into an image so I can post it on the blog, but for now......

Based only on poll votes - her name would either be Hannah Alexis or Hannah Ashley. Hannah is the clear winner so far. Alexis and Ashley tied with 8 Love it's each. I can 100% assure you that her name is not going to be either of those combinations.

Hilary was just as unpopular as Hannah was popular - each receiving 11 votes. You also hated Daisy, Lillia, Willow Rose and Eden.

You didn't mind Vanessa, Julia or Alyssa.

Full moon is coming.....

Earlier today I predicted that this little baby is going to be born on Monday! I just found out there is going to be a full moon on Tuesday. Maybe just maybe this baby will be born early this week!

I'm pretty sure I'm having some early labor symptoms...fun fun!

Last time my water broke at midnight on the full moon. Of course, we didn't meet Sophia for another 23.5 hours, but that's a whole different story!

Sophia's Beautiful Birthday Cake

You may remember Sophia's b'day cake from last year! Well, this year's cake is even better! I LOVE IT. I'll take more pictures of it tomorrow at the party.

Bad mood for Avery's b'day

We went to Avery's 1st birthday party today. She actually turned 1 on May 15. Avery is so cute and petite!

Sophia was a bear today, but she's getting one of those pesky molars and that always puts her in rare, mean, nasty form! She singled out one girl and pushed her down every time she saw her. It was especially frustrating for me because the little girl (15 months) she was picking on just happened to be born with a cleft palate and has gone through some rather rough looking surgeries, but Sophia doesn't know that! Goodness, does she?


Just look at this grumpy girl.



I really hope she's nice to everyone tomorrow at her birthday party! We had a play date last week with Rajchel from Sophia's swimming lesson class. Every time Sophia saw her at the pool she would immediately push her down. The girls haven't seen each other for over 2 months and the first thing Sophia did was push Rajchel to the ground.

I think I've narrowed down her targets: Girls age 15-18 months or about that size. We'll have 4 at the party tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Two Birthday Videos

I finally had a chance to upload the two random videos we took on Sophia's birthday.

This one was taken at Chuck E. Cheese's.


This one was taken while Sophia opened her two presents. She got a set of alphabet blocks and she got these two baby doll bottles.

Roller Coaster pictures

We finally had a chance to take some pictures last night when Sophia was outside "riding" the roller coaster from Grancy and Big Daddy.

She like pushing the car back up the track, but her favorite thing is trying to slide down the track on her butt.

Take a look at all the pictures.

Birthday pics.....

Click to view all the pictures.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sophia

Two years ago (at 11:27 PM) Sophia became part of the Alexander Family. It certainly doesn't feel like 2 years have passed, but amazingly we now have a full-fledged toddler on our hands!

We're having a rather "normal" day so far except both of us had to go to the doctors. I wanted total accuracy on Sophia's measurements so I scheduled her appointment for today. She didn't have to get any shots so I knew it wouldn't be bad. (No shots until she's 4!)

The birthday girl weighs in at 33.3 pounds putting her in the 97% for weight. She's 38 inches tall! She was so far off the charts in height the doctor couldn't even give an accurate %. I just looked it up and 38 inches is the 95% for kids just four months shy of turning 4. While she was standing on the table being examined by her doctor, she was touching the doctor on her head and shoulders and labeling her parts. It was adorable. They were examining each other. I asked the doctor to tell me, once and for all, how many more teeth we can expect - and the answer is........1 and 1/2. One nasty molar is breaking through right now and then she's only got one more to go! ....{that explains the 'Mommy-only' thing she's been doing lately and it explains why all of her toys go straight into her mouth right now}....

On the way home from the doctor we stopped at the grocery store for a b'day cake. Sophia picked out a little round white cake with pink icing balloons and bright orange trim. I would have picked the same one!

We came home, had lunch, ate some cake and then Sophia went to play at Riley's house while I went to a doctor. 2 weeks until we're due! I'm 2 cm dilated, but the doc said it didn't look like I'd be seeing him any time soon. (I have to say, I really thought I'd have her early, but now I'm changing my mind. I'm going to say she'll be a June baby.) UGG!


Sophia is taking a nap at the moment, but when she wakes up we are going to the mall. We're going to Build a Bear and then Daddy is going to meet us for dinner at Chuck E. Cheeses. Sophia has already told me that she's going to be scared of Chuck E.

When we get home this evening she can open the two little presents that I got her - alphabet blocks and baby bottles for her dolls. I assuming she's going to be really into her babies once our new little arrives.

Her true b'day party is on Sunday. We're all looking forward to it.

Phrases

Some of our new favorites are:

1) Happy Birthday Party (we can't figure this one out)

2) Outta Here, Daddy or Sadie or Mommy (this means Get out of here, I want to play by myself)

3) Lookin' at Sophia (she says this when one of her stuffed animals is looking at her)

4) Thank you, Mommy (when I give her a drink...how polite!)

She knows something's up

As stated previously, this could just be chalked up to the Terrible Two's phase, but I think Sophia's fully aware of what's about to happen and I think she's milking her situation.

All of a sudden she's become very clingy to Mommy. She wants to cuddle all day long. She only wanted Mommy to change her diaper last night. She insisted that I carry her around in Target today. She didn't want to walk/run/ride in cart.

We'll see as the days go on and more and more starts to change around her. We're going to install the infant seat into the back of the Explorer and probably put one of her baby dolls in it until the real thing arrives.

Sophia goes for her 2 year baby check up tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see how "off the charts" she is for her age!

37 weeks 5 days

I'm 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant right now.

I will see the doc on Wednesday afternoon to see if I'm starting to dilate at all. I'm looking forward to finding out and to hearing what the doc has to say about it. At this point all I can think about is having this baby.

Still need to:
1) finish painting the nursery...just want to get the room complete before she arrives so we don't have to worry about it afterwards.
2) get Sophia a new dresser/changing table. Since she'll be transitioning to her toddler bed and it's white so I figured we should get her a white dresser. The baby is going to get her old dresser and her crib.
3) get a rocker/glider and ottoman for the nursery.
4) pick a name! This one is stressing me out the most.

Sophie and her playmate, Riley

Sophia had a little playmate come over on Friday morning while her Mom took care of something. Riley, 15 months, is one of our neighbors. She just learned how to walk and loved doing laps around our house. Sophia really enjoyed sharing all of her kitchen toys and baby dolls. The girls didn't really play together, but I noticed that Sophia was definitely more interested at interacting than Riley.

See the rest of the pictures.

Mommy and Sophia

OK - I bit the bullet and took Sophia to have her picture taken with my big prego belly. Enjoy the pics.

Update on Baby Girl

Yay! I'm officially full term now! 37 weeks is full term which means that baby's lungs are developed and if she was born now she would be fine. We actually got to see her "practicing her breathing" on the Ultrasound today.

We got a great report today after the Ultrasound. We didn't get to see her face this time because she's "ready to come out and meet us" and she's in position. We did see a hand and an ear and her heart beating (143 BPM). The Ultrasound tech told us that she had a full bladder too.

They predicted that the baby currently weighs 6 pounds 4 ounces and will probably gain 1.5 pounds over the next 3 weeks. That puts her somewhere in the 7+ pound mark. Sophia was 8 pounds 13 ounces - and 5 days late.

Either way - Will told me tonight that he needs two more weeks to get ready at work. I'm torn. I want to meet this little girl, but since she doesn't have a name yet, I'm OK waiting a few more weeks too.

WOW!

Sophia and I spend the morning at the Sprinkler Garden yesterday with her little friend, Daisy, and Daisy's mom, Ali. The girls had a blast! It was Daisy's first time and she really enjoyed the sprinklers. Sophia was so independent yesterday...I think she was showing off a bit, but it was cute. She was running around as if she owned the place and was naming the alphabet letters as she saw them in around the path.

Sophia wore her little pink SPF50 sun suit that I got her last summer. As you can tell she's out grown it a bit. Love that belly!!!

See all the pics.

Pictures from our walk

This RABBIT is hanging from a tree on our street. Every time we take a walk Sophia's got to get out of the stroller to PUSH the RABBIT. She asks us to take him OFF the swing. She says BYE to him and waves as we walk away. She's been asking me to take her PICTURE with him for a few days now and I finally remembered the camera.





We kept walking to the entrance to Castleton where Sophia and Will played on the hill and then walked across the stone wall. This is a favorite activity. We usually let Sophia walk all the way from our house to the entrance and by that point she's ready to get into the stroller and let Mom do the rest of the work.






We saw this little baby bird on the ground under a tree. How sad. I don't think he's going to make it and we didn't even see his nest in the tree.

Mom and Sophia

It's too bad the first picture is a bit blurry. It's really cute. From looking at these pictures I don't think Sophia looks like me at all. In fact, is that what I really look like???

Getting close and no name yet!

How funny is this...I was just looking at blog entries from almost exactly 2 years ago when I was "just about due with Sophia" and I read a couple of interesting things:

1) I was sleeping just as crappy 2 years ago, but back then I was super swollen and my hands/fingers were getting numb all the time. This time I haven't had a single ailment/ache other than feeling worn out at the end of each day. I'd already put on a lot of weight by then for heading toward the disgusting grand total of 61 pounds at the end! HOLY SNIKEYS!! This time I'm holding steady at 27 pounds so far. That's much more realistic if you ask me.

2) On April 12, 2006 a blog entry was published announcing our decision on her name: Sophia Amber Alexander. If you compare the time frame exactly with this pregnancy, that wold have been a few days ago! This time we're nowhere near deciding on a name. Honestly, nothing is jumping out at me yet and Will seems to cling to one for a while and then jumps ship to cling to another. Ocassionaly I'll ask him to tell me his favorite name of the day. Mine changes each time. He's been stuck on Ashley for a while, but only after he got over Alexis as a first name.

The playground

We went to the playground this afternoon. Sophia had a great time and there was a nice breeze blowing so it kept us cool.

See all the pictures.

Now I know my ABC's

Sophia and I were exploring some toys that have been out of sight for a few months and we found her two sets of magnetic alphabet letters. I tried my best to put both sets in the correct order, but we are really missing quite a few. I suspect the missing letters are under the refrigerator and will probably make an appearance at some point in the far-off future.

Sophia has been really practicing her alphabet lately and when I did finally find the letter C and offered it to her - she put it in the correct spot in the line up! How awesome is that for a 1-year old!!!??? Here's a closer look:

SEE

Sophia runs into the bathroom anytime she wants to hop up on the stool and take a look at herself in the mirror. Usually it's after she's eaten a Popsicle or something she knows is going to make her tongue a funky color. This morning I saw her running in there because she had put a puffy sticker on each cheek and she wanted to see herself!

Our big month has finally arrived!

It's May 1 and what a big month we have planned.

Sophia turns 2 this month and she also gets a sister...at least she better get her sister this month. Mom doesn't feel like waiting one second beyond May 28th for this little girl. Sophia was 5 days late. If that happens with this baby then she'll have a June b'day.

She also needs a name......we absolutely haven't even come close to deciding on a name yet.

We'll see. On this coming Tuesday, I will be 37 weeks and finally considered FULL TERM. So, anytime after Tuesday works for me, except the following days:

May 14 - Sophia's b'day. Who wants to share?
May 15 - Aunt Claire's b'day. Again, who wants to share?
May 18 - Sophia's b'day party this year.
May 24-26 - The Pungo Strawberry Festival.

Actually, now that I think about it, May 11th would be a nice day. Then it could be on Mother's Day again.

Goofing off with friends on Sunday night

I finally had a chance to upload this video of Sophia playing with her friends at their house on Sunday night. The three of them were having a ball and Will was thoroughly enjoying it too (you can hear him laughing).

late late late

For a good two months or even more Sophia had to run down the sidewalk before she would even think about allowing me to put her into the car seat. She's graduated to insisting upon climbing up into the front passenger seat, over the middle console, and straight to the drivers seat where she pretends she's driving and then pushes as many buttons and turns as many knobs as she can.

This new fascination with driving makes us late for everything. Yesterday when we were leaving My Gym she wanted to DRIVE but I wouldn't let her and she threw an all out temper tantrum. Welcome to the "terrible twos".

The Countdowns Really Begin Now

Sophia's 2nd birthday: 2 weeks 2 days

New Baby Girl's Due Date: 30 days

Water/sand table - a huge hit

Sophia got an early birthday present last week from Nana and Poppy. She absolutely loves her sand/water table. I've decided we'll only fill it with water this year and maybe next year introduce the sand!

Here's the series of events:

Dry Sophia - exploring the table for the first time.


Wet Sophia - 5 minutes into her exploration.


Almost Naked Sophia - eating a SICLE after playing outside in the water for over an hour.


Naked Sophia on Saturday morning - showing her water table off to Dad. No point in clothes anymore...

March for Babies

First let me say that Will woke up right after I posted my previous entry and he was ready and willing to go with me! Sophia had other plans (she slept in until 8:15) so I left without them. They met up with me about 1/2 way through the walk and then we spent some time in the park and listened to music and enjoyed the crowd a bit. There were several costumed mascots walking around and Sophia loved them from afar, but didn't want to get too close. She talked about the TIGER, the EAGLE, and the WOLF all day.

I had a fantastic time walking on the boardwalk. It didn't rain at all. I saw dolphins not far off shore.

YAY!!!! It's not raining!

I'm heading out soon to the March for Babies and it looks like the rain is going to hold off for a while! That is wonderful news!!!!

We had some friends over for an early dinner last night and Will made his drinks a bit too strong and fell asleep on the couch before 10:00. Sophia stayed up an hour past her bedtime - she got to sleep around 9:30. They're not awake yet and it looks like I'll be flying solo on the walk - at least for the first part. How funny is it that Sophia has woken up at 7AM or earlier every single day for the past 3 weeks and today she's still dead to the world at 7:30! Ahhh, just my luck. Of course this couldn't happen on Monday - Friday! Oh well...

I'll post the pictures later this afternoon! Wish me luck!

CLOTHES

So, I've finally had a chance to organize all of Sophia's baby clothes and had also washed and sorted them! No small task, but it's done. YAY!

Sophia found this little skirt and bloomers combo in the laundry basket and decided to put it on her head. A much different view than the last time she wore it - at 4 months old. :-)

March for Babies

The March for Babies is happening this Sunday morning. I'm excited for the walk, but the weather report is looking pretty bleak. Rain on Saturday and Sunday, but warm. Walking up and down the boardwalk in the rain probably won't be any fun!

I'm happy to say that I made my target goal of $150.00! Special thanks to my supporters!

Ironic??

Is it ironic that I'm walking in the March for Babies this weekend?

I had my OB appointment this morning and the doctor told me that I'm measuring small. I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow and I'm measuring around 31 weeks. She scheduled an ultrasound at my next appointment to take a look to see if everything is ok.

She said I could be measuring small for a number of reasons.
(1) The baby may be tightly curled up in my uterus.
(2) She could have dropped.
(3) The placenta may not be functioning at 100% capacity.
(4) I could have low amniotic fluid {from here...the rest of this paragraph is what I learned on the internet and was not mentioned by my doctor}(- which turns out to be a fairly uncommon thing called oligohydramnios. The treatment is usually rest and can include steroid shots to increase the fluid. I would be monitored with ultrasounds every week to make sure there was an adequate supply of fluid. Most often a spike or flux in blood pressure indicates low amniotic fluid, but mine has remained steady at 100/62 roughly since I first got pregnant. So, it's all speculation. I'm sure that for the next two weeks it's going to bother me, but keep your fingers crossed!

The doctor told me not to worry. I can't help but think that it's the low amniotic fluid problem because when this baby moves I can literally feel her bones and often it's very uncomfortable. (In some of the stories I read online I learned that when the babies move it can be agonizing for the moms.)

Will reassured me that if there was a really big problem the doctor would have sent me for an ultrasound today. He's probably right.

On my way out the door the doctor told me that it's probably nothing and reminded me that if they had to induce at any point now (even today) the baby would be fine. I'll be exactly 37 weeks at my next appointment and that is considered full term. I've been saying all along that I think this baby is coming early! Maybe I should look up names that mean early and see if we like anything!

Sophia-isms

Sophia's language development has exploded again and she's now about to say lots of complete sentences. She repeats almost everything we say. In fact, she heard Will say damn and then all of a sudden it was her favorite word. Go figure.

Here's some of her other new words or phrases:

• BRAZEE - This is what she calls zebras.


• HOLD YOU - This is what she says when she wants one of us to hold her. She holds her arms up and looks at me with puppy dog eyes and says HOLD YOU. I've never been able to resist!


• GOODNESS - She says this when she sees/makes a mess.


• BEE BOP - This is what she now calls Baby Bop - instead of just BOP


• BJ - BJ is no longer called BEEJ


• STAY HERE - Now she can tell us if she doesn't want to come inside, or go upstairs or leave the playground.... She says STAY HERE!


• IRIS - Iris is the older girl (15) who lives across the street and now Sophia calls every older girl IRIS.


• SAY CHEESE - She picked up a camera in the nursery at church yesterday and said SAY CHEESE


• BARNEY MUSIC - As soon as Sophia gets strapped into her car seat she requests BARNEY MUSIC

New Favorite Foods

Strawberries - she's literally eating 1 lb a day!
Hamburgers - plain with ketchup. No bun, no mustard!
Ranch - she loves dipping cucumbers, peppers & tomatoes.
Cake - a girl after my own heart!
Sicles - better known as Popsicles (especially the blue ones)


Old Favorites that she no longer likes:

Fruit snacks - YAY!!!!
French fries - YAY!!!!
Sweet potatoes

New Feats

• She comes and goes as she pleases now. She can climb or walk up the stairs on her own and she can scoot down on her butt. She always checks in with me first to make sure I know where she's going, but then she's off on her own!


• Will went into Sophia's room this weekend to get her up from her nap and she was shirtless. She took her shirt off when she woke up.

ME EAT THEM

Late last week we realized that a Mama bird has built a nest inside the beautiful Southern Living (plug plug) door hanger on our front door. And guess what? There are 2 little eggs inside! I'm just short enough that I can't even see them unless I'm standing on my tippy toes, but I had noticed that every time I opened the front door a bird would fly away. It never occurred to me that she was living in there!

Will held Sophia up to take a look. She exclaimed ME EAT THEM! ....... And she doesn't even like eggs.

We decided to let the Mama have her babies on our front door and planned on not using that door for a while, but I'm really bummed because I think the Mama has disappeared. One of our neighbors walked right up to the door this weekend after being told about the bird to "check it out". I'm pretty sure that he scared away the Mama.

A sunny day

This morning Sophia and I were playing outside on the deck before it got too hot. She wanted to wheel her little table outside and have a tea party - so we did. We also invited Sadie out to join us and she was tied up on her 20 ft. leash basking in the sun. After our tea party Sophia decided that she needed a real drink and climbed up onto the "big" chair to rest.

It was up in the mid-80s this afternoon so we went out and got Rita's ice. She had blueberry and I had tropical island - we went straight for the ice and skipped the custard although I'm already thinking that we'll have to visit again with Dad in tow. We sat in the grass on the lakeside hill beside Rita's and Sophia watched for ducks while I obsessed over two high school-aged couples paw at each other and talk on their cell phones.

Cute Sophia movies

Sophia and Dad were playing hide and seek the other night and Sophia CHEATED and then she thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard! Just watch these videos. To be honest, it was also about 1/2 hour past her bedtime so she's just a little loopy too.

JUMPING on the COUCH

Sophia is a jumper. She jumps on our bed and watches herself in the mirror. She jumps on the trampoline at My Gym and gets upset when other kids try to join her. She jumps off the last step every time we walk downstairs together. (Although twice today she successfully walked herself down the stairs.) She runs and jumps into her beanbag. She jumps on the couch - as she is in this very blurry action shot.

Countdown to Sophia's birthday

Yesterday Sophia turned 23 months old! Amazing that in less than 1 month she'll be 2.

We've got her birthday party booked at My Gym on Sunday, May 18 - just a few days after the real day. She can invite up to 20 other kids (and we may be getting close to that since lots of her friends have siblings.

I just need to take her to Party City so she can pick out a theme. It would be appropriate to celebrate in Barney style, but you can't get Barney birthday plates anymore. So, I'll see what she likes in the store. Maybe Mickey Mouse and Minny.

I'm so glad we're not having her b'day party at our house this year. Just an FYI. Haley's mom went into labor early in the morning on Sunday (3AM) - the night of Haley's birthday party. She was scheduled for a c-section on the 22nd, but I guess the stress of the b'day party really wore her out. All are well. They named their little girl Carly.

Baby Shower

Two of my friends co-hosted a baby shower for me this afternoon. It was a really fun afternoon and this little baby girl was spoiled with lots of adorable summer outfits. She's going to look so cute. Click here and you can see some of the outfits close-up.

Everyone that brought a package of diapers was given a raffle ticket for a Southern Living gift basket. What a wonderful idea! Just look at the diapers I brought home. Sizes Newborn - Two. How nice.

Haley's Birthday Party

Sophia had a wonderful time at Haley's 2nd birthday party this morning. All the little girls looked adorable in their dresses. Haley is the girl sitting in the chair.

Sophia was scared of the clown and absolutely refused to have her face painted. She did accept a tattoo, but I had to apply it for her. At first she chose a puppy and then later decided she wanted a second tattoo and selected a colorful Big Bird & Friends one.

Sophia devoured her entire piece of cake and then had a scoop of ice cream! Just before the cake was served I saw her stick her finger into the decorative icing on the side and then smear it on the kitchen table. Haley was trying to get to the icing too!

She didn't put the hat on until we just about to leave the party, but she did wear it the entire way home in the car and couldn't wait to show Daddy when we got home. See all the pics.

Popsicle play date @ Redwing Park

Sophia and I hosted a Popsicle play date today at 1:00 for my Mocha Mommys group. Sophia and I both ate 2 Popsicles except she may have been wearing more of her second one than actually went into her mouth. It was close to 75 degrees and those puppies were melting fast.

She was extremely nice to all the kids that were there. Two were older and two were younger. She liked giving Hunter, the boy in the stroller, his sippy cup. She also liked following the 2-yr old boy around. He was playing with sticks. She loved CHASING his 4-yr old sister around, but the little girl kept running so fast that Sophia would lose sight of her and then get distracted by something else. It was hysterical to watch.

Sophia simply did not want to play with the little 18-mon old girl in this picture. Sequoia didn't know how to share yet and Sophia couldn't tolerate that. She basically ended up ignoring Sequoia the whole time. At the end Sequoia wanted to give her a hug and Sophia had a fit! There was no way she was letting anyone hug her! Hugs are reserved for Haley and Addie and other close friends. :-)

Haley's second birthday party is tomorrow morning at 10:00 and we're really looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll have lots of great pictures to post tomorrow afternoon.