Swingin in her Skivies

Sophia's been fighting a little cold and has a tooth coming in as well, so I've been having to get creative trying to entertain the little fuss bucket. Today I decided to walk to the park and see if she liked the baby swings. Since it was a pretty hot afternoon, I put a shopping cart cover on the swing to protect her delicate little thighs. She was a little sleepy from the stroller ride and wasn't quite sure what to think at first...

...but she quickly started smiling and giggling.


Yeah! I have another weapon in the Battle Against the Fuss!

Later in the day, Sophia had a sippy cup malfunction and ended up drenched in grape juice. Rather than dress her in a another outfit, I let her spend the rest of the day hanging out in just a diaper. She looked so cute playing in her skivies that I had to take some pictures and share them.

Splish Splash

Now that Sophia is sitting up, she has learned how much fun splashing in the bath tub can be. After she drenched me and the kitchen floor a few times, I realized we needed to move her bath from the kitchen counter into the real bath tub. We're still putting her in the baby bath, but she's quickly outgrowing it. Now her favorite thing to do in the bath is chew on her wash cloth.
I asked Will to take a picture of her and it was hilarious to watch her expression change from startled, to curious, to happy. I was a little concerned that her little private parts would show, but her belly has gotten so big it covers her right up!

"Oh my gosh. A man just walked into the bathroom!"
"Oh, it's just Dad. But why does he have a camera in his hand."
"Oh well. If you got it, flaunt it!"

What Is She Thinking?

As Sophia gets older, we're starting to get more glimpses of her personality. Overall she's a very sweet mellow little girl, but she's developing a few traits that are a little bazaar.
When she plays, she'll laugh and smile and squeal. Then, for no apparent reason, she'll squish up her face and start snorting through her nose. A few seconds later she'll return to squealing and playing. I have no idea why she does this. I got a picture of her making the face, and I have a feeling we're going to see her make a similar face when she's older and we tell her she can't take the car out!For the last month or so, Sophia's favorite game has been peekaboo. During the last week, she has decided she likes the peek more than the boo. She'll cover her face with anything she can find and start wiggling her feet and arms with excitement. When you uncover her face, she now looks irritated instead of happy. She'll then cover her face up again and start wiggling around. It scares me a little because I'll look away for just a minute and turn back around to find her smothering her face with a stuffed animal, burp cloth, etc. I'm hoping she'll outgrow this soon.

Let the Spoiling Begin!

Sophia's grandparents are scattered all over California and Texas, so it was pure luck that she got to see all four of them within the same week.
Gramma came to visit for the weekend baring lots of new outfits for her "little tiddlywink." She just couldn't get enough of Sophia's sweet face, so at least once an hour, she would go and peek at Sophia asleep in her crib. Sophia quickly discovered how much Gramma loved to see her face, so she started playing the cutest little games of peekaboo. She has yet to repeat the game with anyone else.
During her visit, Gramma taught Will how to use a chainsaw and they cut down two trees in the backyard. This picture was taken right afterwards.

Nana and Pops came out to visit 3 days later. They were headed to a bible retreat in Santa Cruz and decided to come to California a few days early to visit with us. Will's old ankle injuring was really bothering him, so between his injury and having an infant, we weren't able to do anything too exciting. We still managed to have fun just hanging out. And Nana bought Sophia her first airplane toy.

Pops got to feed Sophia her breakfast of cereal and apples. It's the first time he's fed a baby in at least 30 years, so we're glad we caught it on film!
Here's Sophia spending some time with Nana. Please excuse the wardrobe malfunction!
While Nana and Pops were visiting, we went out to breakfast downtown and decided to drive by some old Victorian homes that Grandpa has been renovating. As we rounded the corner, we just happened to see Grandpa walking down the street! He gave us a tour of the two buildings and went over all the incredible plans they have for the historic homes. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture, but we were all really impressed by the homes themselves and the creative renovation plans.

Since Sophia's grandparents live so far away, it will probably be one out of only a handful of occasions that she gets to see them all at once. It also gave us an opportunity to go on two date nights, which may be few and far between now that I'm back to work.

5 Months

Today is Sophia's 5 month birthday, and although I'm tired of hearing everyone tell me how fast she'll grow up, they are right. According to our scale she's over 17 pounds now, and my lower back is feeling every ounce!
Sophia is still nursing, but she's also eating 3 meals of baby food each day. Unlike bottles, she absolutely loves solid food (thank goodness!) and makes happy little cooing noises while she eats. She has also started grabbing the spoon and feeding herself, and even more importantly, she's doing it with her left hand (Will is hoping for another lefty in the family).
Sophia can sit up for short periods, but she eventually does a slow slump forward until her head hits her toes, at which time she cries or topples over. She loves to stand up while holding on and is trying to take a step or two. She hasn't figured out that you need to put all your weight on the foot that is going to stay on the ground, and we're hoping she doesn't figure it out anytime soon! She can also roll over easily from her tummy to her back. She still hates to be on her tummy, so although she can roll from her back to her tummy, she avoids it at all costs.






Sophie is already getting tired of her toys and is much more interested in playing with the remote control, phone, computer, magazines, and Trent's ears! She is also starting to laugh and giggle more when we sing, play peekaboo,make faces and tickle her belly.



She's doing something new every day now and we get more and more glimpses of what she's going to be like as a little girl rather than a baby. Will put it best the other day when he said "I finally understand what the phrase "bursting with love" means."

And I think those eyes are definately going to stay blue!

The Skeet Retreat

As temperatures rose over 100 degrees in the Sacramento valley, we decided to escape from the heat and spend some time at our condo in North Lake Tahoe a.k.a The Skeet Retreat.


All together we spent about 10 days up there and had an incredible time. Trent and I made several morning hikes around the Nature Loop, which is a 2 mile hiking trail just across the street. I love the wild flowers this time of year and Trent loves to chase the chipmunks and squirrels. Sophia went along once or twice as well, but she spent most of the time napping in the Baby Bjorn. Hiking with another 16 pounds strapped to my belly definately added to my work out!

We also found a gorgeous trail that ran right alongside the edge of Donner Lake. Will tried to ride his bike along the trail earlier in the day and somehow he ended up at the top of a huge ridge that was too steep for him to ride his bike down. Luckily he had his cell phone with him and had great reception. He called the police department first to ask how to get down the mountain, but they weren't much help. He then called home, and I was able to talk him down using his trail map, which he had left on the coffee table. We now fondly refer to the area as Dumbass Ridge!

Sophia's favorite part of the trip was the coffee table. It was the perfect height for her to hold on to. She had a great time trying to grab our drinks, remote controls, magazines, and other things she's not supposed to get into!

While in Tahoe, we also attended the wedding of Andy "Spoo" Clark, a U2 pilot, and Carly Liddicoat, an Intelligence officer, both from Beale AFB. The ceremony took place at the top of Homewood Ski resort which has a breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe.

The reception was held on the shores of Lake Tahoe and it was absolutely beautiful. We all had a great time, but by about 6 pm, Sophia's long day started to get the best of her. We took turns trying to console her but eventually we ended up having to leave a little early to get her to bed.
Here is Sophia with the stunning bride.
And here she is doing a little ballet in her fancy dress.

There was another little girl in attendance named Elizabeth who was 10 months old and had a striking resemblance to Sophia's cousin Katherine. Sophia would shake and squeal with excitement when Elizabeth would come over to "play" so we thought Sophia may have mistaken her for her favorite cousin.
During our stay, our property manager called to say that someone was interested in leasing the condo through October. It was bittersweet news because we could definately use the rental income, but we'll miss spending time up there this summer.

So long Skeet Retreat! See ya this Fall!

Fourth of July

Sophia was so excited to celebrate her first Fourth of July that she woke up at 5 am bright eyed and bushy tailed! Mommy wasn't quite as bright eyed, but after lots of coffee, we decided to get Sophia dressed up for the neighborhood parade.
All the children from the neighborhood participated and decorated their bikes and scooters in red, white and blue. There was a costume contest and goody bags for all the kids.

Many people from the neighborhood came out to cheer us on. Daddy, Trent and our neighbor Steve enjoyed the parade from our lawn. The parade was at 9 am, but that didn't stop them from enjoying a few beers.

Later that day Grandpa came over and we went to a barbeque at our neighbors house. It was a really hot day, but fotunately our neighbors have a pool. They're were lots of kids and adults alike splashing in the pool, so we all got cooled off whether we actually went swimming or not.

As the sun went down, the neighbors closed off our street and prepared for the annual neighborhood fireworks display. There was a table filled with delicious desserts, and the streets were lined with people of all ages. Unfortunately, Sophia had to go to bed, but maybe next year she'll be old enough to stay up for the show.

Will's job was to hand out sparklers to all the kids. A few of them were a little nervous, but with Will's help, they got the hang of it pretty quickly.

At the end of the night, I came in the house and found Will sprawled out on the living room floor, exhausted from all the fun we had.

We can't wait to do it all over again next year!