Avaca-no

Well we finally found a food she doesn't like. Sophia has pretty much taken right to every food we've given her, with the exception of peas, so I was quite confident that she would love avocados and eat them up! Ha! No such luck. She gagged on the first few spoonfuls and I was mixing the spoons up between avocados, oatmeal, and carrots. Well, she tried to tell me with the gagging, but I just didn't listen because a few more spoonfuls in and everything came right back out, with forceful vengeance. Needless to say, we stopped avocado and put in on the shelf, so to speak, for a couple more weeks yet.

She also tried bananas yesterday and received them with only a luke-warm attitude. This morning however, she was much more receptive to them and ate the entire section that I had smushed up for her. I will be moving on to pumpkin soon and even bought some nice fresh green beans from the farmers market for my first attempt at purees.

On the mobile front, she's still working at it. She hasn't made much progress besides lunging forward and sometimes getting on her knees. If there's something that she really wants (Walter, remote control or telephone) then she will work hard at getting it and will sometimes scoot, but I think crawling is still a couple weeks off.

Her new favorite toys are the Johnny Jumper and a plastic giraffe made for Fisher-Price peek-a-bo blocks. She thinks the blocks are okay, but is seriously in love with the giraffe. As the weather becomes nicer she still enjoys the walks outside and really loved being in the yard with Walter tonight.

Loveland Party Pics

Sophia being a big girl in a big chair!

Sophia, Stacy, and Evan

Getting ready for a walk in lovely mountain air

Evan in his hammock perch

The boys, in true boy fashion I must say, had limited furniture, but we made-do! Shane had taken over the couch to lounge and heal, totally understandable, and the rest of set up camp around him. They had an indoor hammock that Evan grew accustomed to and Stacy and I rotated between floor and chairs. Sophia was perfectly happy going between the floor and Shane.

She was IN LOVE with Shane, the Baby Whisperer, as he was so dubbed. Every time he spoke or moved he had her full attention and he was so sweet with her. The days were filled with lots of wonderful conversation amongst us all and plenty of video games and South Park for the boys. Thank goodness I at least had Sophia! :) I will admit, though, that I was more than pleased with our nightly line-up of 80's TV hits like Hunter and Renegade...who doesn't love Larenzo Lamas in a duster and a mullet???

Although Sophia won't remember this trip, both Stacy and I will remember it with fond memories of rekindling old family relationships that are sure to last. I am so looking forward to future fun with our Colorado Cousins.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Excited about her window seat!

Mid-flight snooze anyone?

Diggin' the train ride

Sophia experienced many firsts all in one day! She had her first plane ride, train ride, and bus ride all within a few hours...busy girl!



Stacy and I decided to jump a plane and head to Denver to see our cousins, Evan and Shane. It's been a great many years since we've been together and Shane recently experienced a bit of a moped disaster, but to every one's pleasure (and amazement) he's recovering nicely and moving about town once again, although so far he's only been driving the car...maybe a wise move! :)



Sophia was a perfect angel on the airplane, as expected. As soon as the plane took off, Favorite Uncle Stacy picked her up and she fell fast asleep. As soon as the plane landed, those little brown eyes opened and she was ready to go. The Denver airport has a train system to transport you between terminals, so we boarded the train and got our luggage. Next, we headed out to our shuttle, which was really a charter bus, to take us to the suburb of Loveland, CO, where we were greeted happily by Evan and Shane and thus, our 3-day adventure began!

Pet Expo

This weekend we were lucky enough to venture out the annual KC Pet Expo. Charlie's friend Greg works for a dog food company, so he got us in for free...woo hoo! I must say, it was kinda fun and interesting, but I'm really glad we got in for free. Greg brought his darling boy, Justin, who is about a year and half. He was on the move so much that it was hard to get good pics of the babies, but we gave it a whirl.


I didn't get any good pictures of the animals but Sophia loved looking at all the dogs and petting most of them too. I think most of the dogs were more scared of her than she was of them, but then again, wouldn't you be with those big drooly gums and grabby hands coming your way?! It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and it was fun to see the different breeds of all the dogs. We skipped the cats, but did catch the horses and llamas on the way out.

Sophia and Justin laughing and playing!

Who's going to get there first? Justin wins!

This was the only picture we got of Sophia and a dog, and it's terrible but I couldn't title something Pet Expo and not put ANY pets! Look closely and you can see her gently petting the little lady...adorable!

Hmm, I didn't get to eat any doggies, so I will eat daddy.

My Noni...

Noni was what we called my grandmother and this was her face. She ALWAYS made this face, with her lip cocked to one side, when she was disapproving, upset, or just thinking. I died when I caught this on film. I guess it's nice to know we all live on.

Shelby's Play

Shelby had a school performance this week where her grade level put on a kid's version of the Broadway hit Stomp. It was very well done and the kids worked extremely hard to learn their parts! I was a bit nervous taking Sophia, as she doesn't like loud noises, but decided to give it a whirl. She lasted a little bit, but loud noises combined with a tired baby don't mix. So, she and Daddy enjoyed the rest of the show from the hallway, where it could be easily heard!

I only got these two pictures before my camera batteries died...Shoot!

Shelby is the second from the right!

Love this picture!! Sophia is looking so seriously at her Favorite Uncle Stacy :)

Play Day

I think she liked the package more than the actual toy!

Walter was very happy to have a play day too--this must be the view Sophia sees!

So thirsty.

Good thing they put straps on these things!!

Sophia and I had a very busy week so it was nice to have one day to hang out at home and play, play, play. I busted out some toys that I had been saving in the closet and she was very eager to use them! Sometimes I feel like we have toys taking over our house and she's still so little! I hate to see what will happen when she and her toys get bigger!

She is getting quite adept at drinking from the sippy-cup and also loves to shake it around. She is doing that more and more with her toys lately. She is happy as a clam in every picture, as you can see by her perma-baby-grin! I think that in the last two weeks she has had a growth spurt because she suddenly looks bigger and her pants are smaller...yikes!