FFF @ CAC

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

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

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

Story time at the library

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

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

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

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

A few new pictures

Zip it!

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

What Animal Are You?

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

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

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

Mommy, it snowed!

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

Aquarium

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

play date on Valentine's day.

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

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

From which side of the family does the snaggletooth descend?

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

Excuse me?

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

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

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

Guess who....

70 degrees on Saturday

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

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

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

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

Two sisters holding hands & watching Barney

Aubrey - trying to crawl...

There are more videos if you want to watch them:

Shirley's rant - part II

Why do my kids have it out for me?

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

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

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

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

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

Aubrey says BA

Sophia's first word was BA too.

Well, she's moving...

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



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

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

Shirley's rant

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

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

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

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

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

Let's play learning

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

Shirley: OK, Teacher.

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

Shirley: Brown.

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

Shirley:

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

Sophia: What shape is this frame and this box?

Shirley: Square.

Sophia: Yes...

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

January must be for animals

Boy am I glad to get the new February preschool calendar on Tuesday! And considering it's only Thursday night - that really seems like a long time from now.

I'll be happy to put the January calendar away for good. It really seemed like an extra l-o-n-g month.

For the most part it was animal month at preschool. Sophia made a polar bear, a panda, a penguin, a lion, a snowflake, a mitten, and spelled her name out on a flag (which she asked the panda bear to hold up on the frig for her). Oh yeah, Sophia can actually spell her name out for you if you ask her. She knows it's S O P H I A. Isn't that incredible? She's been bringing crayons and pens to me and asking me to help her write letters like A, B and C. She also has written the following letters and numbers. All on her own:
7 (although it was backwards)
8 (it was perfect)
C (it was long and skinny, but a C nonetheless)
L (perfect)

She also knows and can say all the days of the week, but if you ask her when something happened or what day it is she always replies THURSDAY.

Enjoy...

Aubrey turns 8 months

Click here if you want to see Sophia's 8 month old photo and if you take the time to re-read the post you can apply the same exact personality/behaviors to Aubrey. The only exception is the car seat situation. Aubrey's still in the infant car seat.

Aubrey is 8 months old...as of yesterday. She's such a happy baby. She adores Sophia and Sadie, going for walks, laughing out loud, playing with mom and/or dad and, her all time favorite, eating!

Here's Aubrey's version of talking (view first video). She screams and makes some real deep throaty squeals. In fact, a week has passed since this video was taken and we've thrown away the box that she's sitting in because she doesn't spend much time sitting anymore. She flips herself onto her belly and is trying to crawl. That's what you'll see in the second video.





There are a few other Aubrey and a few new Sophia movies posted here.

She'll be moving any day now!

Take a look at her teeth:

These are the top two that have already broken through. The middle ones are coming any day now. (If you click on the picture it will get enormous and you can really see her gums).

Aubrey & Daddy

I love this photo. SSShhhhhh.....Don't tell Sophia that Aubrey was playing with her doctor kit.

Sophia and Aubrey

55% of pollsters think the girls have the same face structure (I voted this way)
22% think they have the same eyes (this I don't understand at all)
11% think they have the same lips (I think they do too)
11% think they have the same cheeks (yeah, they both have huge cheeks)

I can tell you one thing they do have in common is that they both want to be doing whatever it is that Sophia is doing!

Aubrey cannot get enough of Sophia. She wants to be just like her big sister. Sophia, on the other hand, doesn't quite see it the same way.

Sophia's Preschool Class Photo

So, here's Sophia's preschool class - all of these kids were age 2 when the school year began, but some of them have already turned 3.

She' s the tallest kid in the class and one of the youngest too.

Ms. Dawn is on the left and Ms. Lisa is in the blue sweater on the right.

Top Row (left to right): Liam (she calls him Mam), Sophia, Joey (her good buddy)
Middle Row (l to r): Tori, Olivia (Sophia's favorite girl in class), Sarah (another fav), McKensie
Bottom Row (l to r): Daniel, Ryder, Zachery, Keagan

Aubrey FINALLY likes the exersaucer

It only took 7 months, but Aubrey officially enjoys bouncing and playing in the exersaucer and riding in the swing too. What a relief! She lunges forward from a sitting position onto her belly now all the time like she wants to crawl... And she's trying to use anything she can to pull herself into a standing position. For the most part she still needs assistance to stand up, but at least I can put her in the swing or the exersaucer now, leave the room for a few moments and not worry about her cracking her head open on something.

This video was taken while I still getting used to the new camera. It was taken on Aubrey's very first enjoyable day in the exersaucer. She definitely does not bounce as much as Sophia did, but she still likes it.

Aubrey in the bathtub

What a morning!

How irritated would you be if you were running a tad late in the morning and.............

1) It's 27 degrees outside and
2) You don't have a clean travel coffee mug to fill and
3) You actually manage to get both girls in the car (after emergency diaper changes for both as you're walking out the door) and
4) Then you finally arrive at preschool (9 minutes late) AND get both girls out of the car (in the 27 degree weather) and
5) Then almost pull your arm out of the socket as you attempt to pull open a LOCKED DOOR!?

School was canceled! There was a only THREAT of snow! A meager THREAT!

Guess what? We didn't get any snow today. The sun shone bright all day and it even got up to 38 degrees, but I digress.

I raced home to get Sophia's portable DVD player so she could accompany me to a doctor's appointment where she ended up spilling her goldfish all over the carpeted floor in the doctor's personal office. Then as we were picking them up she stepped on quite a few and ground them into the carpet.

Then I had to take her with me to BJ's Wholesale Club where she ended up leaving Dash, her new meowing & walking cat, in the plastic race car attached to the front end of the shopping cart. I had returned the cart into the large corral area in the parking lot and, can you believe, that by the time I got into the car and Sophia asked me where Dash was, the cart had actually been taken back to the store entrance by the little gnome that constantly monitors the parking lot.

Oh well. We finally arrived home and the afternoon returned to normal. Sophia cracked me up when I opened her bedroom door after her "quiet" time to find her only sporting her diaper. She had taken off all of her clothes and tried to put them on Baby Bop. She was so proud.

Deja vu

I've been through this before...a mere two years ago, but man, this teething thing is relentless! I was able to get a pretty good look in Aubrey's mouth this morning and saw that, indeed, tooth #4 AND #5 are about to break through her gums. Both are on the top. I cannot believe the rapid fire pace at which these teeth are appearing. If memory serves me correctly (and that's kind of a long shot these days...) Sophia got her teeth at the pace of maybe one per month, but each one was worse than the previous one.

Aubrey got her first tooth on Dec 22nd and less than one month later she's already got three showing and will probably wake up with 2 more tomorrow. With that said, she's been handling it fine up until today. With a face this cute it's hard to get frustrated with her, but COME ON, AUBREY!!!

She's been waking up around 4AM every morning for the past four days and then having a really hard time staying asleep for more than 45 minutes at a time after that. I have to go into her room, find her paci and coax her back to sleep. She's fully awake just before 7 ready to start day. She hasn't taken more than one nap per day for the last week, but putting her to bed at night has been especially brutal. She simply doesn't want to be left alone in the crib to "face the pain" on her own. She cries so hard it breaks my heart to walk out of the room. She thinks she's clever when she turns over onto her belly and wails even louder so that either Will or I will go back into the room to rescue her.

Tonight it took over 4 hours for us to get her to fall asleep! I'll just leave it at that.

Cute pictures

I took some cute pictures of the girls this past week:

Swimming class

We've signed the girls up for swimming classes on Saturday mornings at the YMCA. Sophia's making great progress. She was kicking her legs and had her arms extended all the way out in front of her today. I think she's the oldest in the class. She's definitely the tallest by far. Today she was actually singing along with the parents when we "sing" all the songs and move the "babies" around in the water.

As you can tell Aubrey seems to be quite shell shocked and doesn't know what to think about the pool. She's not enjoying the pool the way Sophia did at her age, but she absolutely loves splashing around her Winnie the Pooh bathtub.

Aquarium with Daisy

Sophia, Aubrey and I went to the Aquarium yesterday with Daisy and her mom and baby sister. Sophia and Daisy sure did have a good time. They are like two peas in a pod and Sophia loves to take Daisy by the hand/wrist and pull her around. For the most part Daisy doesn't seem to mind.

While we were there I ran into a few of my ex-coworkers from BCF and had a chance to say hi and catch up on some office gossip. Boy, I DO NOT miss any of that at all.

We also ran into one of Sophia's classmates, Liam. Ironically, on Thursday I just found out that his family only lives 5 minutes from us....and they also have an Aquarium membership. I already told Liam's mom that we would let them know the next time we go to playground and they're going to try to meet us there.

Sophia and Daisy had such a fun morning. The Aquarium is undergoing a renovation right now, but they have opened up their new kids zone which has tons of toys and play stations for the girls to enjoy. Ali, Daisy's mom, and I had to drag two crying girls out of the building (while pushing strollers and toting enormous diaper bags)! ....But we both love it.

And, check out the headline of a news story Will and I heard on the 11:00 news last night. Virginia Aquarium worker bitten by young Komodo dragon! HA!!!

Aubrey's 7 month picture

Here's Happy Aubrey at 7.5 months old. View all of the pictures of Aubrey in the chair.

Preschools

A few years ago I remember my one and only "friend with kids" talking about interviewing preschools for her son. I thought she was a getting a bit psycho-mom on me, but now I totally understand!

For the past week I've been intently researching, frantically placing phone calls, taking tours and..... have finally deciding on a preschool for Sophia for next year. Bellamy Manor School. Actually now that I give it a second thought it might be Broad Bay Manor School. As I'm sitting here writing this post I'm now debating which location I should send her to since there are four of them. We live centrally to three of them so I basically need to decide where Aubrey and I want to spend our time and run our errands next year. Will and I really like the philosophy and the individualized curriculum of the Manor Schools.

Aubrey will be home with me again, but Sophia will turn three in May and will start 3 days a week in the fall. She will not eat lunch at this school so her day will be 1/2 hour shorter than it is this year. (Boo hoo! Poor me!)

They offer extra curricular activities like ballet, Tumblebus (literally a hollowed out bus turned tumble gym), Spanish and karate.

Can't wait until tomorrow morning so I can drop off the application and check. I think I will breathe a bit easier when I know she has a spot at this school. Fingers crossed.

Thanks everyone!

Thanks to my parents and my in-laws I was able to purchase an awesome new camera today and two 4GB memory cards with my Christmas money. It takes high-def video. Take a look at some of the of practice shots I took this afternoon.

Took this of Aubrey after dinner tonight so she's quite messy, but I was trying to get a good one of her bottom teeth while she played with her bottle. I just love this grin.

Below is a shot of Sophia's "beautiful (or cool) new hair cut" as Sophia calls it. To give the new do some credit, I took this picture after she spent 20 minutes jumping on the trampoline this afternoon. She was hot and sweaty and her hair is sticking to her forehead, but this is it. She LOVES it. Will loves it. I wish the girl would have left two more inches on the bottom, but it's hair and it will grow. No bangs this time. She looks so much older to me and to be perfectly honest, I think she's acting a bit older too. She's very grown up these days. Especially when it comes to reprimanding/scolding Aubrey!

I took this one of the two of us and cropped myself out of the photo. She's looking up at the camera.

Must get a camera!

Today was the first chance Will and I had to look for a new camera. I hope to either purchase one tomorrow or make a decision and order one online. I'm dying here without my camera. Here's what you would have seen pictures/videos of this weekend:

1) Aubrey's first trip to the pool...for her very first swimming lesson. We're taking both girls for swimming lessons on Saturday mornings through the end of February. Sophia had a blast taking the class with Will. Aubrey didn't seem to mind clining to me or getting her face wet.

2) Aubrey got her THIRD tooth! I noticed it this morning. This time it's on the top, but it doesn't look like it's one of the top middle ones. It's off to the side.

3) Sophia keeps telling us: IF THERE'S EVER A FIRE IN THE HOUSE. DON'T GO BACK INTO THE HOUSE. I'm not sure where she heard this safety tip, but it's a good one!

4) Sophia is a nose picker. This news shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone that saw her over Christmas break, but it's definitely official because she told me this weekend that the marks on her walls are ALL HER BOOGIES. She told Will the same thing. At this point, I'm pinning this yucky new habit on Uncle Dan.

Aubrey - 41st most popular GIRLS name

Here's an update on Aubrey's name and how it's growing in popularity. 2008 stats just revealed her name at #41.

2008 - Rank 41
2007 - Rank 69
2006 - Rank 92
2005 - Rank 153
2004 - Rank 190
Etc.....

Sophia is still at the top of the list at #2. Emma took over again as the #1 name for 2008.

The Amazing Aubrey

I've got so much to report about Aubrey, I hope I can remember it all.

AUBREY
7 months old
17 lbs 13 oz (almost 18 pounds) - 67% now

1) Yesterday Aubrey got her second tooth - another one on the bottom.

2) She's trying to pull herself up on everything! She often uses random things or toys that don't offer enough support and end up tumbling over on top of her. She doesn't seem to care, if she can reach it she's going to try to use it to stand up on her own.

3) She loves to eat. She eats two or three different things at each meal. I couldn't get the food into her mouth fast enough today. After each bite she sat with her mouth open demanding/waiting the next bite.

4) She was really cranky today and wouldn't take a nap no matter how many times I put her in the crib. Normally she will go into the crib while she's still awake and she'll put herself to sleep within 5-10 minutes. Each time I put her down for a nap today she would try a different technique to make me come back in and rescue her from her. During one of my particularly memorable attempts she was "pretending" she would take a nap, and then as soon as she heard the door click closed she would flip herself onto her belly and scream. This went on for only 6 times before I gave up.

5) Aubrey is a huge Sadie fan. After Will gets home each night and she gets her daily dose of Dad she then likes to have her Sadie fix. She cracks up when Sadie runs around. Will Aubrey's first word also be Sadie?

6) She can wave, well, almost.

7) She still doesn't like peas.

8) And the cutest thing ever....!.....she sleeps and cuddles up with Little Lamby every night. Seriously, it's the exact same thing that Sophia has except it's the 12 inch version instead of Sophia's 24 inch Lamby. Can you believe that?

Inquiring minds want to know...

We're entering new territory with Sophia. It's the infamous WHY? stage. I thought this was an age 3 thing, but she seems to be in full swing right now. She wants to know everything.

It's kind of gross, but at the moment she also wants to know if she can eat everything, including her pee pee and Sadie's food. She always asks with a coy grin. She knows the answer, of course, but she likes it when I play along.

I actually think I've figured out why toddlers ask the never ending WHY question

Here's my "Stay at home mom" perspective:
They are asked WHY questions so many times throughout each day that they must think it's the most important thing to know! Here's a handful of why questions that Sophia may hear in any typical day...
Sophia, why did you spill your crackers/cereal/carrots/etc?
Sophia, why are you crying?
Why are you sad?
Why did you break that?
Why did you push Aubrey/Sadie/her/him/that?
Why don't you want to eat your lunch/dinner?
Why did you write on that?
Why are you frustrated?
Why are you disappointed? (This is one of her favorite new words)

And the answers to those questions are probably really, really hard for a 2 1/2 year old to answer.

Her inquisitiveness is so cool. She's discovering so many things right now and the very best part about it is that she wants to share each and every single discovery with me! LUCKY ME!!!