Bathtime Beauty

While I was at work last week, Sam got pampered after Sophia went to bed. Her daddy let her take a bath in "Mommy's bathtub." And then afterwards, she got to wear "Mommy's bathrobe." Of course, it was a little big for her (the sleeves had to be rolled up and the sash had to be cinched), but she was loving every moment of it!

And look at that curly hair ... she's definitely her momma's girl!

Sophia is Eleven Months Old!

This has been an big month for us, in terms of Sophia's developments and milestones. She is growing up so fast; sometimes I do wish that she would slow down ... just a little bit for me.

During the first week in January, Sophia cut both of her top teeth. It was a hard week in this household, because during that time, both Sam and Sophia were also sick with colds. We've been waiting for those chompers to come in for a while now (her bottom ones came in at the end of August), and she is already getting good use out of them!

Sophia crawls EVERYHERE now. Not so much using her actual knees, but more of a belly crawl/scoot. And she's FAST! I'm just thankful that I have a good big sister that watches out for Sophia and alerts me whenever she is somewhere that she shouldn't be. For example, this morning she almost tipped over my plant by the front door. Sam was quick to inform me and the near-disaster was nipped in the bud (no pun intended).

(She looks so sad here, but I assure you that she was just tired).


One of her most favorite things to do is pull toys out of a container and throw them on the floor. She'll dig and dig, entertaining herself for quite some time. Sam did the same thing when she was this age.

And like Samantha, she loves my phone!

Sophia loves to be included in everything -- especially whenever we get out any games or puzzles to do with Sam. And Sam is pretty good about letting her play.

Sophia's happiest time of any day is when she is eating, or has just eaten. For as little as she is, she will eat anything and everything, and she cries when all of her food is gone. She eats whatever we are eating now (unless it is something too spicy), and the only things that I have not given her yet are eggs, fish, peanut butter and cow's milk. Some of those, she will be able to have after a year of age.


Sophia, casually observing her sister's fuller bowl of snacks:

And then moving in for the swipe:

The last eleven months have brought with them some of the happiest moments of my life. I can't begin to express here in words how powerful it is as a momma to watch your kids interacting and loving on one another.

This morning, I overheard Sam say to Sophia, "I love you, Sophia. You're my best little sister." Whoa, I'm sure that I gripped the wall and had a moment of pure emotion right there. I mean, sure, Sophia is her only little sister. But she said that all on her own, and when she didn't even think that I was listening.

On days when I am stretched so thin, and my Type A personality is in danger of blowing a gasket, I put my girls together in a room full of toys and stand back to watch them play. They have no idea what kind of therapy that is for me. It totally put everything into perspective.

And this is what being a mom is all about -- celebrating accomplishments and milestones, while also teaching your kids to love one another and hoping that they realize just how much they, too, are loved. I love my girls dearly ...

Snowflakes

For the last few days, Sophia has been very "needy," more so than usual. I'm not sure why she's been like this, but as a momma, my first instinct is to nurture her; to cuddle her more; to devote a little more time to her.

As a result, my time with Samantha has been shortened a little. I thought that I was doing a decent job of juggling both needs, but apparently it hasn't quite been good enough because now Sam is demanding more of my attention. And just mine.

I laid in bed last night pondering all of this. I was trying to justify why the girls are less independent this week, and why there is so much "mommy dependence." But more importantly, I was making a mental list of some things that Sam and I could do together -- just the two of us -- so that she feels just as special as Sophia right now.

Item #1: Make coffee filter snowflakes.

It's been a weird winter around here this year. We've had a few snowstorms with minimal snow accumulations and that's it. Frosty officially toppled over yesterday and began to melt with the higher than normal temperatures, so I figured that we could make winter come alive INSIDE, with our very own well-decorated coffee filter snowflakes. Sam loved it!

And the best part, we worked on them early this morning (just the two of us), while Sophia was still sleeping.

And then Sophia woke up to this:

(Nevermind how dirty the back deck is right now ... That will be a big project to accomplish when Spring gets here)


Eight inexpensive, beautiful snowflakes to adorn our back family room and one very happy, fulfilled little girl. So worth it.

Our Weekend

We had a pretty relaxing weekend around here. It was nice to just "go with the flow" this weekend -- no major plans, just spending time together as a family.

We did head to dinner on Saturday night with some friends of ours. Sophia was a little fussy on the way there (which we were hoping was not an omen for how dinner was going to go), but it turns out that she did great.

Before we went, I took a quick picture of her in her "skinny jeans" and tennis shoes (I'm not sure what kind of pose she was doing!):

Steve blew up some balloons this weekend for Sam, but it turns out that Sophia loved them EVEN more! They kept her entertained for quite a while ...

After Sam's nap yesterday afternoon, I promised her that we could make some Valentine's Day cookies. She is really excited about Valentine's Day this year, as we spent some time the day before making a few projects together to decorate the house. What can I say, my girl loves a good project!


Daddy jumped in for a quick photo:

And to help her sample the frosting:

Hard at work:

In Sam's opinion, no cookie is ever complete without sprinkles:

(And, yes, that cookie above is not actually a Valentine's Day cookie -- that is the United States! Aunt Deb got Sam a cookie cutter of the United States for Christmas because Sam knows all 50 states!)


The next month is going to be pretty busy around here because of birthday planning and celebrating, so I was grateful for a chance to get a few things accomplished around the house, including some laundry. I also got a lot of my schoolwork done (grading, printing, etc.) in preparation for this week. It feels good to be on top of things for once on a Monday!!!

My Two Little Monkeys

I tried to get a decent picture of the girls sitting together this morning, and this was the best that I could get ... Go figure, Sam was cooperating; Sophia was not!

My two little monkeys:

Frosty Lives!

As soon as Steve got home from work yesterday, we bundled Samantha up in her snowsuit so that she could go outside and play. Little did she know that Daddy was planning on helping her finally "build a Frosty!"

Putting on Frosty's magical hat:

Posing after creating their masterpiece:

I questioned why Frosty wasn't facing the road, so that all of our neighbors could admire his beauty, but Steve told me that this way Samantha could look out the window and see him whenever she wanted to ...

Our only fear is that Frosty is going to melt soon becuase the temperatures outside are going to be above freezing for the next couple of days. We tried to prepare Sam for this, but I have a feeling that she doesn't quite understand it yet. Oh well, we have a lot more winter to get through and I am sure that we will be able to "build more Frostys" before Spring comes!

Happy Snow Day

The other morning, we woke up to about 4 inches of new snow on the ground. It's been a while since we have had any snow, and Samantha has been dying to be able to go outside and "build a Frosty." While we were waiting for the temperature outside to warm up a little, we baked a cake (any excuse to bake a cake is fine by me!).

After we frosted it, Sam said to me, "Whose birthday is it, Momma?" I told her that it wasn't anyone's birthday, but we baked a cake to celebrate our big snow day. Boy was she excited about that!

The next day, we celebrated the snow day in full spirit with Frosty plates, napkins and candles. We even sang "Happy Snow Day to Frosty ..."

Here is Sam, leading us in song:

And then blowing out the three candles, because she is three (which she reminds me of quite often!):

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And, an update on Sophia:

I took her to the doctor today for a quick weight-check, just to make sure that she is continuing to gain weight. I was sure that she had put on some ounces in the last month, and was so happy to learn that she had gained 9 whole ounces -- more than a 1/2 lb. in the last month. That's good for how active she is!

I will take her back to the doctor at the end of February for her 1 year old check-up.

The Common Cold

It has been a long week here in our household. Sam developed a cold last weekend, which turned into a major runny nose and cough. It is so hard to see your little one feeling so miserable, but she was a real trooper.

With a very limited appetite, she DID seem to enjoy having a nice popsicle every once in a while. And the best part was that the popsicles were made with pedialyte, so I felt assured that she was still getting some extra electroytes into her system.

I knew that it would be inevitable that Sophia would get sick, too. And sure enough, that has happened. Samantha is on the up-swing of things (almost back to the girl we know), while Sophia is fighting the worst of it right now.

The hardest part of all of this is knowing that I could give some medications to Sam to help her feel better -- Sophia is too little for any of them though, so we just have to 'let nature take its course.' We wipe her nose all the time for her and just cuddle her close when she starts a coughing attack.

Somehow through all of it though, she still smiles. Not as often, but always during bathtime!

Hopefully, by the start of next week, everyone will be healthy and happy here. That time can't seem to come soon enough though because, frankly, this "infirmary" is majorly understaffed!!!

A New Year -- 2012

It has been a busy week here, as we are trying to settle back into some sort of routine after the holidays. The Christmas decorations are all packed away (thanks again for all of your help, Mom!), and I am working on organizing our desk area so that I have some sort of order for all of my schoolwork.

I start back to work teaching on Tuesday night next week, and I am still putting the finishing touches on my calendars for the semester. I will only be teaching two nights a week this semester, but one of the courses is partially taught online. This is something new for me, but I am certified to do this and am hoping that the semester will go smoothly.

Sophia is inching along on her belly now and can easily move from one place to another with her little "army crawl." I am thankful that she waited until the Christmas trees were packed away before she started any of this!

Sophia cut her third tooth (finally) yesterday. She cut both bottom teeth on the same day in August, and we have been waiting for the top ones to poke through. The right one did yesterday and the left one is not far behind. This is good because it will make chewing a little bit easier for her!

Sophia has mastered the use of her "portion-control" snack cup. She has figured out how to jam her fingers in there and pull out a few Cheerios at a time; however, they still end up all over the floor.


Look at those chubby cheeks:

I don't really mind the mess because she manages to find most all of them and devour them:

In other news, Sam got a lot of new games for Christmas this year and we have been teaching her how to play them. We usually reserve time together after Sophia goes down for bed to do this and it makes Sam feel really special.

She catches on pretty quickly and it's a lot of fun to watch her learn. So far, she has mastered BINGO, Memory ... and we are working on Candy Land. She struggles with the concept of "staying on the path" in Candy Land, but Steve is very patient with her.


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2011 was such a wonderful year for us, as we welcomed Sophia into our family. We'll be celebrating her birthday in less than two months, and before we know it, Spring will be here. We can't wait to see what 2012 holds for us ...