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.