Bumbo...

For those of you that watched Sesame Street in the early 80's this is for you:

Can you guess which kid is doing her own thing?
Guess which kid is kind of the same.
Well can you guess which kid is doing her own thing?
Now it's time to play my game...time to play my game...

Open invitation....

There is a standing open invitation to any and all of Sophia's picnics. Look at how many of her friends showed up to the one she had on Friday!



She spread one of Aubrey's blankets out on the deck and then went to gather her "friends". She put them all in the stroller and then wheeled them outside with her. Then she asked me to sit down with her and place all of them on the blanket. She said HI to every single thing - even the purse and the plastic food.

When I suggested that we go back inside she loaded everyone back into the stroller (without me even asking) and she wheeled them all back into the house.

Sophia would be thrilled to see you at the next picnic.

Aubrey videos

I cannot begin to explain to you how happy Aubrey is - ALL THE TIME. She begins grinning as soon as she sees me. In fact, she grins at anyone who says hi to her. She even laughed at me last week. She especially loves watching Sophia these days and has attempted to interact with her a few time.

Here's a video of Aubrey laughing


Here's a video of Aubrey doing some tummy time

Aubrey Alexander

Before Aubrey was born, I honestly don't think I ever even heard her name. AuDrey, yes. AuBrey, no. In fact, I googled Aubrey a day or two before our darling was born and discovered that the only famous Aubrey, to date, is a sexy, 20-something female in one of Puff Daddy's hip hop bands!

Well, it seems that everywhere I go I find out about another Aubrey. I've already posted about the family we met that has two daughters - Sophia and Aubrey. On Friday at the WoW Garden I heard a Mom telling her Aubrey to be careful. This morning at the grocery store the cashier told me that her sister's 6-year old is named Aubrey.

According to the Social Security Administration's website Aubrey ranked 69 in 2007. It's growing in popularity:
2007 - Rank 69
2006 - Rank 92
2005 - Rank 153
2004 - Rank 190
Etc.....

Hopefully our Aubrey will put the name on the map and be the most famous one of all.

Three Girls (and a Lamby)

Now that Aubrey can hold her head up all by herself I can wear her so that she can look out onto the world. She loves it. The other night Will took this picture of the three of us. I was wearing Aubrey and suddenly Sophia asked me to HOLD YA and I just couldn't resist picking her up.

WoW with Taylor & Riley

We hit the WOW Sprinkler Garden this morning with Taylor(6) and Riley(18 mon) and Amy(Mom).

Sophia simply adores Taylor so she had a fantastic time leading Taylor around and showing her all the cool parts. I had to feed Aubrey when we arrived so I was stuck in one spot for a while. It was so cute to watch Sophia touring Taylor around the Garden. I was so proud of her and so humbled when after each little adventure she ran back to say HI - to me!!!

Sophia's imagination is running wild these days and she played "House" with Taylor today in the playhouse so I'm sure next time we're there she'll be "making" and serving tea and cookies.

See all the pictures.

Growing Up

We're going to tour a preschool today at a church pretty close to our house. The program is called Mother's Day Out. Several of my friends sent their kids there last year and are also enrolling again this year. Sophia won't be starting until October because they require all the kids to be 2 1/2 before they start school. It's a 1/2 day program (9:30 - 1:30) and she'll be going Tuesday & Thursday. Will is in shock that she'll have to carry a sack lunch with her and eat in the lunch room with all the other kids.

.....Is it October yet?

Don't you just want to pinch these cheeks?

Dopple-namers

Oh my gosh...have I mentioned on the blog yet that we have a neighbor who knows a family with two girls named Sophia and Aubrey?? Pretty amazing, huh?

Well this is even more bizarre. We actually met that family today! We took Sophia to play mini golf and they were the family playing behind us! A few times I heard the Mom calling one of the little girls Aubrey. I mentioned it to Will because we've never met another Aubrey. After we were done playing we introduced ourselves and Aubrey...then we figured out we both have a Sophia too....then we figured out that we both live on Mulberry Loop and then we figured out that each of us is "the other family".

Anyway, Sophia didn't golf. She carried around a club and a shiny red ball. She tried at first, but didn't want any help and quickly grew bored the technique. She found entertainment at all 18 holes and Will and I enjoyed a nice competitive game of putt-putt. Will won. I was horrible today! Must be all that "real" practice Will's had lately.

Recap of Nana's Visit

Sunday: I met Nana at the airport with the girls. Sophia really enjoyed "finding" Nana in the crowd. Aubrey enjoyed meeting Nana. We headed straight to the mall for lunch, play time and shoe shopping for Sophia. It was tax free shopping weekend so I splurged a bit on three pairs of shoes for Sophia to wear this fall. On our way out of the mall Sophia and Nana rode the carousel not once, but two times.

And thus begins Sophia's 6 night stint of going to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 at night! By Saturday she was exhausted and when we went to Daisy's birthday party her horrible mood was in full throttle.

Monday and Tuesday: After breakfast, I left with Aubrey to run errands for a few hours. It was so nice to only have one child to worry about. And I have to admit, I got the easy one! Nana and Sophia entertained each other with ALL of Sophia's toys on Monday and on Tuesday we took Nana to the library. On Monday night Will, Aubrey and I went to see Batman. Believe it or not, Aubrey slept through the entire movie. Oh yeah, and on Monday morning we had Aubrey's 2-month doctor appointment.

Nana was commited to potty training our little darling, but after 1 day Sophia was uninterested. I should mention that we did all celebrate a very special, coincidental pee, but no correlation was made on Sophia's part.

Wednesday: Beach Night! The plan was to take the girls to the beach around 5:00 so we could grab a bite to eat and then have ice cream and watch the puppet show. Oh, and I dressed both girls in white and wanted to get a picture of them on the beach together! As reality would have it the night turned out much worse than anyone expected! Sophia didn't think it was important for Nana and Mom to have dinner and literally whined and cried for 45 minutes until we let her play -- er-- get completely covered in sand for another 45 minutes. This was the same night we LOST Barney! He was replaced within 2 days with a smaller version that sings the same song.

Thursday: I honestly can't remember what we did during the daytime, but since it was our 4th wedding anniversary my mom babysat the girls so we could do out to dinner. We ended up going to McCormick and Schmick's and had a lovely time alone. I had a fancy sweet raspberry drink that was simply delicious. I think I actually liked the sugar on the glass best of all. Yum...

Friday: Chuck E. Cheese's. This is always fun. Sophia likes to cash in her tickets to get mini tootsie pops. In the evening we went to our very first Farmer's Market Hoe Down. Sophia absolutely loved dancing on the kids stage. Will bought her some real kettle corn to share with the other little girls in the "club". Nana really enjoyed listening to the music, but she was stuck on the kids stage with Sophia the whole time.

Saturday: Nana stayed home while we went to Daisy's birthday party. Sophia was overtired so we didn't stay very long.

Sunday: This was Nana's favorite day. We went to CAC (Contemporary Art Center) for their twice a year Family Fun Fest. We toured the exhibit hall while on an easy scavenger hunt and then Sophia got to do a few different craft projects. She loved "making art" and was really proud of her work. Afterward we hit the beach for a few hours of building real sand castles and dipping our feet into the ocean.

Monday: Sophia started a week long Bible school at our church. She loved it and it kind of makes me regret not signing her up for preschool for the fall! Sophia chose to take NEW BARNEY with her on the first day of Bible school. When I picked them up Barney was soaking wet. Sophia had given Barney a bath in the sink and the whole way home she told me we needed to get a towel.

Tuesday: Sophia took Lamby with her to Bible school. Once again she had a blast and didn't want to leave when I arrived to pick her up.

Wednesday: We skipped Bible school so we could take Nana to the airport. Afterward we went to feed the ducks, fish and turtles at the Botanical Garden before we met up with Haley and Addie for a day of fun.

Sophia finished up Bible school on Thursday (accompanied by Digger the Dog) and Friday (accompanied by old faithful, Lamby). She made a noisemaker and a fancy mask with a feather sticking out of the top. She LOVES it. Since Nana has left she's been giving us a run for our money. She hasn't eaten any of her meals at the kitchen table...they must all be eaten on the couch while watching TV! She's not napping and she's been getting up at 6:30 or before every single day...ouch.

We took hundreds of pictures. View at your own risk....there are many, many variations of the same shot.

Twin 1 and Twin 2

Sophia and Aubrey have matching outfits from the Disney store. They look adorable when they are both wearing their Minnie Mouse rompers and people always comment. I've made several other attempts to take a picture of them together, but Big Sis won't allow it. I've got plenty of individual shots of each of them, but can you believe these are THE BEST ones of them together?

Sophia likes it when I call them Twin 1 and Twin 2. She, of course, is Twin 1.

Look what I found!

So kissable....

Aubrey's 2 month doctor check up

Aubrey went to see the doctor on Monday morning. I was really curious to see how much she would weigh and how long she would measure. Drum roll........

Weight = 12 lbs 8.5 oz (90th percentile)
Length = 23 inches (75th percentile)
Head was in the 50th percentile

Sophia was a little skinnier and longer than Aubrey at 2 months.

Weight = 12 lbs 2 oz
Length = 23.5 inches
Head was in the 50th percentile

Nana comes for a visit

Nana arrived on Sunday afternoon and is staying with us through Wednesday the 13th. Sophia is in her glory! I have to say she's being completely spoiled, but we expected that. Each day we've done something fun together, but for the most part Sophia doesn't want Mom or Dad around while she's showing off for/playing with Nana.

Tonight all the girls went to the beach to watch the puppet show, but the puppet show wasn't happening. Instead we were treated to a short high school production of School House Rock. It was a great show. Sophia danced with Nana throughout the entire thing.

We took our time walking back to the car and sat on a few benches. We got back to the car we realized that Barney was missing. This photo documents the very last Barney sighting! I ran back down the boardwalk looking for him, but he was gone. Sophia cried. He will be replaced tomorrow for sure!

Google Baby

Will and Sophia have two songs that they sing and dance to regularly. Both are hip hop songs and it's so cute to watch Sophia dance her ballerina spins to the hard beat.

The refrain of one of the songs says: Google me, baby. You better ask somebody. Google me, baby. etc... I heard Sophia singing "Google Baby" on her way to bed tonight.

The other refrain says: Put the lime in the coconut and twist it all up, twist it all up, twist it all up. Sophia likes to "stir" during this song.

Cause and effect

Aubrey learns about cause and effect. Or maybe these are involuntary kicks? Regardless, she really enjoys playing with this thing.

All of the animal sounds and noises are coming from the toy!

I apologize up front for the shaky camera movements.

Dancing on the Boardwalk

Grancy took this video when she was in town a few weeks ago with Aunt Gennie. It's so adorable.

I'll set the scene:
After dinner at the Oceanfront we were walking down the boardwalk and past a live band performing on the 7th Street Stage. Sophia loves to dance and sing, but on this particular night she was a free bird in her glory while she ran circles around herself the whole way down the boardwalk. Her audience was double it's normal size too.

A day in the life...

It started out so innocent, but quickly turned ugly.

T E E T H ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Sophia is getting another tooth. One of the back molars (bottom left). I honestly thought she was finished teething, but this must be the very last one. THANK GOODNESS!

Each new tooth has brought with it days upon days of misery for all of us. Sophia simply cannot handle cutting new teeth. Since Saturday she's been in the absolute worst mood while suffering from frequent, if not constant, outbursts of whining and screaming. Here are some yelling pictures to prove it:





As usual, I'm spoiling her. Will calls it "giving in to her". I call it "making her comfortable and happy". I went to Target on Saturday night and stocked up on my supplies...and I'm sad to say...as of Tuesday night, I'm fresh out of goodies! Sophia got a new pair of sandals, which she needed, and a pair of butterfly galoshes, which she also needed. From the $dollar$ bins she got an elephant fork and spoon, 4 new "big girl" plates and a shape puzzle. She also got a baker dress-up kit and a hop scotch game and she loves both! Oh yeah, she also got a new Barney movie about wheels and things that go around and around. Lucky girl!

Both girls - 2 months pics

Aubrey turns 2 months old

Aubrey turned 2 months old yesterday and what a cutie she is!

Playing outside all day

Just playing outside in the water....having a blast....here are a few fun shots.

Check out the rest of the pictures.

Fun in the sun with our special visitors

Sophia spent all of Wednesday recovering from her fun-packed visit with Grancy and Great Aunt Gennie, who was visiting all the way from California. Ok, I'll admit it, I got as much out of our day of "recovery" as Sophia did and I was thrilled to get so many great photos of her. I let her play in water all day, one of her absolute favorite activities, because that was what seemed to distract her from the fact that Grancy had GONE HOME to TAKE CARE of CHARLEY.

Grancy and Aunt Gennie arrived on Monday afternoon and came over for a bit before we headed to the beach for dinner. It sure was hard to find a break in Sophia's conversation with Grancy to even ask how their trip was going so far. At dinner Sophia insisted on sitting on Grancy's lap and basically rejected her own dinner for the apple and cucumber slices she hand-picked (stole) from Grancy's salad! Sophia loved having an audience as she ran circles around us on the boardwalk during our stroll back to their hotel/our car.

Sophia was up early on Tuesday because she knew we were meeting Grancy and Aunt Gennie at the WoW Sprinkler Garden for a day of fun in the sun. And, boy was it ever sunny (translation = hot and muggy)! The temperature read 99 in my car on the way home. We spent a few hours at the Botanical Garden and then hit the Pizza Hut buffet on the way home.

Grancy and Aunt Gennie came to our house that evening for dinner. They brought champaign, beer and a 'Welcome Aubrey' cake and we had a celebration. Aubrey was up to her old tricks and seemed quite restless for most of the evening, but I know she enjoyed all the special attention. And, we all agreed that Aunt Gennie had the magical touch because she was the only one who could calm and settle Aubrey.

Take a look at the pictures from the Botanical Garden.

A roasted pig

Yes, we went to a pig bbq roast this weekend. To clarify, the pig was roasted at a local pig? shop...? Will actually picked the 100 pound fire roasted pig up (face and all) and delivered it to the party. For this Will got to taste the sought after hog jowl and he claimed it was one of the best things he's ever tasted! Gross if you ask me! I didn't think to take a photo of the pig, but I'll see if I can get my hands on one.

Sophia picked out her outfit. She loves this kitty cat shirt.

A fluke?

On Friday afternoon Sophia finally asked to sleep in her "big girl" toddler bed during her nap. After about 2 hours of playing quietly with every single toy/book in her room she decided she was FISHIN (finished) with her nap and I found her on her way downstairs.

On Friday night she slept in her toddler bed all night long. She didn't once get out of bed or even call out for either of us.

We attempted the bed again during her afternoon nap yesterday and it ended with me putting her into the crib after an hour of Silent Sophia sneaking out of her room and into Aubrey's room to play with baby toys. Last night was the same story. I put her in the toddler bed, read her the same book 3 times in a row, shut off the light, turned on her music and left the room. I was wise enough to wait upstairs to see what she was going to do. Almost immediately she was in the hallway calling for me. I tucked her into bed again and left the room. Again, almost immediately, I heard her little feet trucking across the room to the door. When she found me waiting for her she turned around and walked straight over to the crib. So I tucked her into the crib and didn't hear from her at all after that.

Looking at her big sister

Sophia was playing with SISTER yesterday. She was showing Aubrey a butterfly rattle and making it dance. Obviously, Aubrey loved the interaction.

Aubrey is awake for an hour or more several times a day now and at least once per day I make it a point for the girls to "play" or read together. Sophia loves telling Aubrey about colors and animals. Aubrey loves the attention. It's a win-win for all of us.

Name that Nursery Rhyme

Do you remember that game show that used to make people name the tune? Well this is kind of like that...Sophia's been reciting a few rhymes for a week or so...can you figure out what they are?

NUMBER 1
Baa Baa Sheep
Any wool
Yes, sir. Yes, sir
Three bags full
1 master, 1 dame
1 little boy lane

NUMBER 2
Patty cake patty cake
Man
Cake
Can
Roll it
Pat it
Mark Bee
Putitinoven
Baby and Me

NUMBER 3
Peep
Lost sheep
Find them
Leave em lone
Come home
Tails hind them

Just playing outside on a nice day.

Sophia looked so cute today I just had to take a ton of pictures of her playing in the front yard. Take a look for yourself.

Another Costume

Sophia has a rather dreadful bin of costumes. Here's another one of her beautiful concoctions. This was the first time she's put the plastic pink shoes on her feet. She loves playing dress up right now. She runs around the house shouting COSTUMES. And she's really into playing with all of her stuffed animals too.

Today we ate lunch again at a picnic table at a brand new playground. Then Sophia enjoyed the "big girl" swings for a bit before we had to come home for a nap.

She's so smart - and I can prove it!
A few days ago I told Sophia that we were completely out of Playdoh because, frankly, I'm over picking up little tiny Playdoh crumbs left all over the house. I told her that she would have to remind me to buy some the next time we went to the store. Well, she reminded me yesterday.

After a half hour of pushing her on the swing I told her we had to leave to go to the store. At first she loudly protested. NO! STAY HERE!! SOPHIA STAY HERE! I explained to her that it was going to rain and that we had to leave anyway. I told her she could have 5 more minutes. That's when she said - PLAYDOH AT STORE, MOMMY? PLAYDOH? SOPHIA GET. I said something like, "Oh yeah, good memory, we'll have to get some." Then she looked at me with her big, beautiful eyes and said BUBBLES, MOMMY? I told her we didn't need those. She thought about it for a while, looked at me and grinned and said NECKLACE, MOMMY? And I told her she had to ask Daddy about those types of things!