Celebrating Babies!

I hosted a twins shower for Jill this weekend and it went smashingly! My theme was children's literature, so teachery, I know, and I think it was a hit! I am a girl who appreciates a theme, so all our games and prizes coincided too! It was so much fun and all her family and friends are thrilled and anxious about the arrival of her two bundles of joy! Jill is looking and feeling great and hoping to make it a few more months until August!

Charlie and Sophia went about town and visited friends while Walter went to Doggy Day Care, leaving us to have fun, munch on food, and open presents! Luckily the kids were gone because honestly, they both would have been quite a helper getting right in there with tissue paper and tape!

Sophia gladly helped decorate by arranging the balloons

The diaper cake that mom and I made for the Mom-to-Be, complete with 70 newborn diapers, which may get used in the first day alone...ha ha!

Sophia did get some cuddle time with auntie Jill after returning home, but was much more interested in playing with her baubles! Who can blame a girl who loves jewelry!?

Sophia and I finished up our day by playing and having fun while Daddy and Walt took a much needed rest after a busy day!

Konichiwa

Ready for nap time after playing all morning in the kimono...

(For the record, I did not stand up here by myself...Mom posed me solely for picture purposes!)

Weeeeeeeeee, I LOVE the swing!

Their love cannot be squelched by a patio door!

Is this not the most adorable outfit ever?! My teacher friend, Rayma, brought this back for Sophia last summer after visiting her son in Japan. This was of course before Sophia was born therefore before we knew if she was a boy or girl, so she searched for the most gender neutral kimono available. It is made of a very lightweight material with little dragonflies all over it. It even ties on both the inside and outside just like a real kimono, adorable! (I suppose it is a REAL kimono, it's just that it's that much more adorable in baby size!)

She said that all the babies in Japan wear them and my only regret is that she only brought one back! So, anyone out there who has connections to Japan, hook me up with some more baby kimonos!

The Power of the Puff

Okay, so are you parents out there familiar with the Gerber Graduates fruit puff things??? I don't know if they go over in your house like they do here, but it seems to me that there is a strong possibility that they're laced with baby crack!

Charlie and I have dedicated this week to really focusing on Sophia perfecting some of her finger-food eating and sippy cup drinking. She's been pretty good with the cup and only mediocre with the Cheerios, but gets better every day. So, I decided to branch out a bit and I've heard about "The Puffs". On our Target run yesterday I picked some up and opened them at the checkout (after paying of course) and fed them to Sophia. I didn't really think much of it, but it was close to her snack time and I figured she'd be getting hungry. We started with the Apple Cinnamon variety for no particular reason. Ate them would be an understatement...more like inhaled with much grunting and smiling. She got more on the way to the car and more in the car. Then when we arrived home I reached to pick her up from her car seat and she spotted the container of Puffs in the bag next to her, she grunted, reached in and emerged victoriously with the entire canister in her chubby little hand.

She has really enjoyed this learning endeavor and really has gotten better at picking them up and putting them in her mouth. The only drawback is that the puffs are a little stickier than Cheerios so when she licks them and then they fall from her hand or mouth, they stick to things and are a lot grosser to clean up, but that's easy to deal with!

Overall we are plugging along with the new foods. She had yogurt for the first time yesterday and we have succeeded in going through almost the entire large container. She really likes it. I still have yet to retrieve my camera, so I can't post pictures yet, which is really too bad b/c last night she was adorable when she was sitting on daddy's shoulders and playing bongo on his head! Hilarious!

She keeps all of us on our toes, including Walter!

Success!

Well, both Sophia and I successfully made it through our night apart...hooray! Mom was a fabulous caretaker/grandma, as I knew she would be, and Sophia was a trooper. I think I stayed at least 30 minutes during my "drop off" on Friday afternoon, but thanks to terrible cell phone reception in the middle of the Kansas forests, I only called to check on them twice.

Charlie and I had a great time at our campout and were very happy we made the decision to go. More good news is that it didn't even rain on us. I think this is the first year that it hasn't, so that's a plus.

Even Walt had a fabulous time at day care and splashed around all weekend in the doggie pool. I absolutely adore his day care and they periodically send me cute and funny pictures of our little guy, which I love! I must try and get his summer hair cut appointment scheduled for next week because he is dying is this heat!

In fact the only picture I have from the weekend away is of Walter because I left my camera at Charlie's sister's house...so typical. But, I hear that my brother has a cute one of Sophia when they visited her yesterday so I'll have to see if I can find a way to get my hands on that!

Deep Breath

Well, today marks a new milestone...for Mommy. Charlie and I are going on a one night camping trip tonight and leaving Sophia with Bama. I'm a little bit beside myself. Truthfully, I wasn't worried about it all until about 5pm last night and then I started thinking, and that's always bad.

I'm not sure what exactly I'm worried or nervous about, but I just am. It could have something to do with the fact that I'm a control freak, but whatever! ;) She manages just fine every night in her own bed. She's slept in the crib at mom's house many a times, it just hasn't been all night. I know they'll have a great time and mom is super excited, so it will all work out!

The really terrible part though, is that it's been raining all night and there are supposed to be thunderstorms all night again tonight. Super. The one night we choose to get away could end in disaster, or at least a very wet and leaky tent!

Busy Baby

This is a collection of Sophia pictures when she's on the go and busy, busy, busy!

Getting the camera away from Mommy was more fun than watching Walter play.

Shake, Shake, Shake...listening to Cheerios is better than eating them!

This play-gym is no match for my brute strength!

Daddy is helping me ride the horsey...so much fun!

Hello, Cheerio

This is a sad little video about a girl and her lost Cheerio.

Yet another milestone within the past few weeks is the introduction of the finger food. I broke out the Cheerios and there have really been some really priceless moments! I will admit, that the thing that truly fascinated me was the fact that the with the first Cheerio I gave her, she knew that she was supposed to chew. It seriously impressed me, which I know is stupid, but c'mon...who taught her how to do that!

The first day all she really wanted to do was push them around and play with them. The second day she knew she was supposed to eat them but that was a struggle in and of itself. Recently I gave her a Goldfish and that really threw her for a loop! It was more than she could handle and I ended up fishing it out of her mouth instead!