Sleepy Girl after her nap

My sweet cuddle bug just after she woke up from a nap :)

These are taken mid-February...amazing how she has at least two more teeth in that smile now!

Paper Towels

Who needs toys when you have paper towels in their packaging around?
Pics from last month after a trip to Costco....

SPRING BREAK

Eric has had spring break this week at school and it has been so awesome. I don't want it to come to an end! Sophia and I love having him home with us and we have had beautiful weather all week. Some fun activities we've gotten to do include: going to the park, going to the science center, going out for frozen yogurt (Sophia's first taste), sleeping in thanks to Pacific time jet lag, having movie night at home once Sophia is in bed, cooking steak/salmon outside on the grill....it has been such a fun week!

Birthday Girl

I have had a wonderful birthday week this year! The celebration started in Seattle with a birthday lunch, coffee date with all the girls (Mom, Katie, me, Sophia, and Juliet), and yummy pumpkin roll w cream cheese icing made by Katie (she is so amazing to be able to bake a homemade cake while somehow making dinner and taking care of her newborn and 2 yr old!). Luca lead the charge of singing me "happy birthday" and helped me blow my candles out. :)

On my actual birthday, Eric took me out to breakfast (hello almond croissant from Ollie's bakery!) and we had a fun family day enjoying some beautiful, warm Spring weather! I had our plane de-iced Tues am in Seattle and the next day, wore a tank top in sunny GSO! Always kind-of crazy how different the weather can be in various parts of the country/world.

Eric got me a pair of Toms for my present - I've been wanting a pair for a while! They are super comfy and I like that they give a pair of shoes away with every purchase.

Enjoying lunch and sunshine in Friendly Center

Beautiful birthday flowers sent to me from Aunt Sandy! They are so lovely and I felt very special!

It was a really fun, low-key day! Only 2 more years of being in my 20s left, I don't mind though, because each year of life seems to be getting better and better!

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

Marzell has a favorite toy that is a stick (it used to have a feather boa at the end but that was destroyed long ago). Sophia absolutely loves playing with it because she uses it to successfully lure the cat over to her. She belly-laughs sooo hard while he is chasing it and jumping around in cat play. Here is a video of her laughing while Marzell plays with it. Unfortunately, it is the back of her, but hopefully you will be able to see how much fun this brings us all at our house.

What a 1 yr old can accomplish in 30 seconds left alone....

You mean, you DIDN'T want this entire box of tissues emptied one-by-one, Mom?!?

*Notice that even caught red-handed, she is continuing to pull out tissues as fast as she can?

Flying...

Our flight TO Seattle was best flights on record. The flight attendants were great, seat-mate was so nice and even played with Sophia a little bit. Sophia flirted with everyone who walked by us, waving 'hi' and blowing kisses. She is irresistible of course and everyone was smitten with the perfectly behaved, little sweetheart traveller. There were no delays and the layover was seamless (and short!) We arrived feeling great which was wonderful for kicking off our week there.

The way home was less than perfect....a bit more challenging. We sat in the last row of the airplane (in a WINDOW seat) with two burly men (think wide and took more than their share of the arm-rest kind of dudes) who exchanged an annoyed look in the aisle when they spotted a child next to their assigned seats and both took sleeping pills upon departure (umm...hello? You really expect a mother of a 1 yr old to stay seated during a 6 hr flight?) Apart from one brief trip to the bathroom mid-flight (which I had to wake them both up for, but Sophia's diaper needed changing!), we did indeed stay in our seat the whole time. it was challenging but not too terrible. Once we got to Newark, we saw a 2 1/2 hr delay (groan) but appreciated not being confined and being able to walk around for a bit. The second flight, which was only 1 1/2 hr long, went great....after 11 hr of travel, Sophia finally succumbed to some sleep and rested that whole flight, so I crossed my fingers and sang the hallelujah chorus in my head the whole way. :)

Baby's sad airplane face

distraction to cheer her up...

The best part of the whole travel report is for the first time ever, we did not get THRUSH! Praise the Lord! I am so so so thankful. I took a very strong probiotic before I left and when I got home (thank you, Maria!) and I think that combined with prayer helped prevent imbalance. And I can confidently say, at the end of the day, the joys of being with Katie & Juliet for the week FAR OUTWEIGH any challenges that flying with a little one bring. So glad for the gift of having been able to go!

For the record, Sophia has now been on a total of 12 flights! I added the individual legs of all our trips up and all together, Sophia and I have spent over 53 hrs in the air together. That's not too shabby for a 13.5 month old!

Seattle!

Sophia and I were so thankful to get to go visit Katie, Luca, John, and little miss Juliet Elizabeth last week! My Mom was there too, which was an added bonus!

Juliet is such a sweet baby, loves to snuggle and be held. Sophia did exhibit a little more jealousy than I thought she would when it was my turn to hold the precious little bundle, but she seemed fine as long as she was just SHARING her Mama (stayed close) and not giving her up. :) Luca continues to light up an entire room and say hilarious things...he played with Sophia better than any other visit. Suddenly, compared to a newborn, Sophia seemed older and more capable of interaction! She cracked up at pretty much everything Luca did and said so he had a live, easy-to-please audience. It was so fun to see them together. He would confirm his understanding of her abilities often...'she can stand! she can crawl! she's TOO little to walk yet though' :)

Katie and I got some wonderful sister time: quite a few walks, lunch out one day, and blissful quiet in the evenings/afternoons when all 3 kiddos were snoozing/resting. I am going through withdrawal from having such a good time together! Sophia didn't sleep well at night while we were there, so it is nice to be home to be getting sleep again, but it is always so hard to leave!

Here are some fun photos from the week - such a blast!!

Juliet passed out

sisters and the kids!
This is classic....Sophia interested in Luca and what he is doing. She didn't take her eyes off him!

Uncle John playing with Sophia...she loved this cat-piano

Sophia was looking at Katie like, 'I'm going to touch her, ok?' she was very interested in touching Juliet's head (with supervision to encourage gentle touch) :)

Sophia, being a silly cheese-ball! :) so cute