Party time!

We had Sophia's birthday party on her actual birthday this year. I love that we were able to do that! Since she's just one and doesn't really have many "friends" we decided to keep it simple & just have family & close friends over for dinner & cake. The in-laws were gracious enough to let us use their house since 1)our house is not big (or nice!) enough, at.all. and 2)they have a pool that we could use for entertainment.

This was the first party I was actually 100% in charge of & that put a lot of weight on my shoulders. I like things to be 'perfect' and I have a vision in my head & I'm not happy until things look exactly like they do in my head...which can be a scary thing. At first the theme was Mick.ey Mouse but I decided that I wanted to do something a little more girly...and she will have plenty of years to fight me on a theme. It just so happened that a few months ago I was looking for new books for my classroom library & I was searching for "birthday books" and a certain book popped up. I saw it & knew I had to have it for Sophia's theme! It was Little Miss Birthday...remember Little Miss Sunshine?! It's by the same author. I used the theme loosely & mainly used the colors of the balloons. I decided to do the crafts myself since I had time due to summer break. I perused through Et.sy to get some ideas & I made my own version. I'm sure there were easier ways to do these things, but I got them done! I actually really enjoyed making everything myself & I saved a ton of moo-lah! I'm pretty proud of how everything turned out...nice & girly with a touch of fun!

<~The invitation picture...I made the onsie = )

<~The entry table w/smash cake photos, Little Miss Birthday book for guests to sign, & party favors

<~A variety of "Little Miss" characters

<~~Baby food jar favors filled w/skittles

<~cupcake toppers I made


<~My sweet family


<~The present area...I made the banners & tissue poms

<~ Timeline of Sophia's life...I used all the monthly pictures I've taken. It's amazing to see how she has changed over the year!

<~Waiting on cake! (With her ducks ; ) I made the highchair banner...it says "Little Miss Sophia is ONE!" like her invitations.


<~Ready to open presents! (With her ducks...lol)

Sophia had a great time & everything turned out perfectly! Thanks to our friends & family who shared this special day with us! We are so blessed to know that our child is loved so much!

12 months!

Sophia Faith is ONE! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by! Everyone said it would & boy were they right! Here's what Sophia is up to these days:

*Not sure on the weight...I'm guessing right around 20 pounds. I'll find out during her appt. Tuesday. **She weighs 18 lb 1 oz & is 29 1/4 in....that would be around 45th% for weight & 65th% for height. Her head was around the 70th%. She's petite with a big head! ha! No wonder her shirts are so hard to put on!

*She wears a 6-9 mo on the bottom & 9-12/12 mo on the top. My favorite thing on her on rompers...so cute for the summer!

*She still wears a size 3 diaper & size 2 shoe.

*She has recently transitioned from 4 bottles of formula a day to 2 sippy cups of whole milk & 1 bottle before bed. I was expecting this process to take awhile, but she made the switch effortlessly!

*She eats more solids than purees now. Her favorites are green beans (she INHALES them!), blueberry pancakes, cheese, peaches, turkey, cheerios, nutra-grain bars, & my pop tart crusts :)

*Still only 2 teeth!

*She is a walker roughly 87% of the time. She will crawl to an object, pull up, then walk to where she needs to go. Just recently she has been able to go from a squatting-to-standing position. She tries to stand up straight from the floor but has a hard time & gives up & goes to something to pull up on.

*She can tell you what the cat says (mmmyow), doggie says (ruf!), duck says (gaaaak), and what the sheep says (baaaa). She can say Mama, Dada, Byyyeee, mamen (amen), mmon (one), kihhy (kitty), tank to (thank you), and baby.

*Bedtime has moved to around 7:30 pm -7:00 am.

*She still LOVES her music, books, & she now has an obsession with ducks & cell phones. This girl loves talking on her phone.

*Her duck obsession is quite humorous. She wakes up saying "gaaaak", asks for a "guk" as soon as you pick her up from her crib, and carries around small rubber "guks" everywhere she goes. I'm serious, they go everywhere.


<~Playing in the creek with daddy


<~ 'lil diva at Aunt Debra's birthday party

<~ put me in, coach!


<~swimming with her "guks"

<~ she likes to clear off her toy shelf & sit inside to read

<~Ravioli, yum!

<~ such a big girl at story time at the library

<~Heelllloooo?

<~smash cake practice

<~Birthday party invite picture

<~12 months! Our last monthly picture! (I think)

11 Months

My sweet baby girl will be ONE next month! I'm in disbelief about how fast this time has gone. Here's what the Little Miss has been up to this past month:

*You weigh about 18 pounds

*You wear a size 3 diaper, 9 month onsies & dresses, 3-6 or 6-9 month shorts/skirts/etc, and a size 2 shoe. You are super petite.

*You still take 4 six ounce bottles a day. You eat baby food between bottles & love to snack. You are beginning to eat more table food. You love: blueberry pancakes, green beans, graham crackers, quesadillas, cheese, and some other stuff.

*You still have only 2 teeth. You have been working on 2 or 3 on top, but they are coming in very slowly. You have been a champ with teething, sweet girl!

*You had a double ear infection, but Aunt Sarah got you into the dr. on his day off & got you fixed right up! You love taking medicine, so that was no biggie ; )

*You aren't doing your grass-leg-thing much anymore. It was way cute while it lasted, though!

*You are cruising around all over the place. You get around by cruising from one piece of furniture to another. You will walk if you are holding on to someone's fingers, your walker toy, or anything object you can push around the room (toy totes, large toys, etc.) You are beginning to stand up for long periods of time if someone lets go of your hands. I think walking is right around the corner!

*You say: momma, dadda, kitty, amen, tank-to (thank you), baby, bye (with a drastic southern drawl ; ) and you talk non-stop in your own Sophia language. You often point at whatever you are talking about and we just pretend we know what you are saying = )

*Bedtime is still around 7:00 and you wake up around 6:00. You aren't going back to sleep after your morning bottle lately....I'm going to try to change that when school is out. I don't want to get up for the day at 6, okay?! Summer is for sleeping in!!

*The only entertainment you really need are books and music. You LOVE looking through your books & "reading" them to yourself. You point at the pictures, jabber nonstop, and give the animals on the pages kisses. You will also stop and dance anytime you hear music...on a commercial, a cell phone ringing, dance recital, anything!


<~~ Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought

<~~Not so sure about hard boiled eggs

<~~You have discovered your bows & don't like keeping them in your hair!

<~~ Too tired to finish eating!

<~~My first Mother's Day. I love my family!

<~~Being a big girl at Kacie/Karsyn's baby shower.

<~~Walking with Kayley

<~~Such a big girl in your new chair! (It's a birthday present, but I couldn't wait to let you use it!)

<~~You are the best thing that has ever happened to us! Your daddy and I love you SO MUCH!!!

10 months

Sophia, you are now to the double digits! 12 months is coming way too fast! Here's what you are up to at 10 months:

*You weigh a little over 17 pounds.

*You wear a size 3 diaper and mostly 6-9 month clothes. The main three pairs of shorts you wear are a size 3 month! You are a petite girl!

*You still have 2 teeth. I don't see any more on their way just yet.

*You do this odd thing whenever you are playing in the grass: you sit with one of your legs in the air. I thought it was just a fluke, but you do it every single time! It's usually your left leg, but you've done the right leg, too. It's so cute!

*You are a super fast crawler. You have been pulling up on all the furniture and cruising down it. You are beginning to hold onto someone's hand/fingers and walk around. I found you standing in your crib, not holding onto anything, a few days after you turned 10 months.

*You LOVE to jabber. I think you just like to hear yourself "talk" and you can get pretty loud doing it!

*You are beginning to give "fives" in addition to all the other things you like to do: clap, wave, kiss, head-butt, blow kisses, dance, etc.

*You drink six 4 ounce bottles a day and eat baby food 3x a day. You also like to eat solids: blueberry pancakes, beans, rice, fruit, and whatever else we share from our plates.

*You still go to bed around 7:00/7:30, wake up at 6:00 to eat, and go back down until I wake you up at 7:00 to get dressed & leave for Ms. Cain's.

*You absolutely light up our lives! I cherish every moment I have with you and your daddy definitely adores you!

**Your friend Isabel was born April 21. She's a cutie! Congratulations Ashley & JT! I can't wait to snuggle her!

Now some pictures of my baby:
<~This is your "stinky face"

<~ I love going in your room and seeing you all snuggled up sleeping & watching you wake up

<~Those eyelashes and cheeks just about do me in!

<~The leg thing you do....

...again

<~Checking our your Easter gift from Memaw & Poppy. You loved the Peeps! (mean mommy only let you have half of one ;) This time your right leg is up...

...and now your left!


<~Finally using your highchair...we used the Bum.bo forever since you are so tiny. You love your highchair, though!

You got to dye Easter eggs

and you thought it was pretty neat!


<~ We had such a busy & fun day (the day before Easter seeing family, running errands, dying eggs, etc) that we forgot to take your monthly picture until bedtime! Oops!

Spring Break

Well, Spring Break was a few weeks ago, but I'm finally getting around to posting about it. We had a great week! Sophia and I spent the first few days just hanging around the house and spending some quality time together. Jeff took Friday off and we headed up to Tulsa after he got off work Thursday afternoon. (First we did some fast-and-furious work in the den....more on that later.) We spent Thursday evening chilling in the hotel room and swimming in the indoor pool. Sophia LOVED swimming. We stayed up way past her bed time because we just couldn't make her get out of the pool to go to bed!

Staying in a hotel room with an infant was an adventure for us. We set the pack & play up next to my side of the bed and Sophia wasn't very happy about having to be in it while mommy & daddy were all still awake. We wound up having to turn the TV off & go to bed at 9:00 ourselves just so she would go to sleep. I didn't want to let her cry herself to sleep because I didn't want to bother the neighbors. We also had to decide if the toilet really needed to be flushed in the middle of the night. It was either wake the baby up or, well, ya know. Moving on...

We got up Friday morning, ate breakfast at the hotel (Sophia ate 2 powdered donuts & a waffle...hey, it's vacation!), got dressed, and headed to the zoo. It was supposed to be a chilly day but it wound up being gorgeous! Sophia loved all the animals. I think she enjoyed the people watching as much as she enjoyed the animals. She's definitely my girl! She was so good and just took it all in. I just love watching her little mind at work. After the zoo we headed to the hotel for a nap before dinner. We went to the Cheese.cake Fact.ory for dinner. YUM! I'm glad we don't have one around here....we'd be broke! Sophia ate quite a bit of Jeff's Jamaican Black Pepper Shrimp...she preferred it over her baby food. Smart girl ; ) After we got back to the hotel, we spent some more time at the pool. I think we will be spending a lot of time this summer swimming at her Gigi & Papa's house!

We slept in Saturday morning & got our stuff together & headed to the mall. It was freezing and windy. We wandered through the mall & headed home to work on the den. It was a nice little getaway and we enjoyed our first "vacation" as a family of 3!

Now, the good part....pictures!!

Not too sure about the goats...

she finally warmed up to them and tried to climb all over them!

that was one fat bunny!

ready to go to the pool!

our little fish!

I LOVE how their faces are the same in this pic!



she also loved to scream/yell and hear herself echo/amplified in the pool room. Thankfully we were the only ones in the pool

I just love this girl!


Family picture before dinner. I'm married to a lumberjack apparently. I don't miss that beard/big hair...at all

her face cracks me up! Already tired of the camera


My happy girl!

She knows the cheesecake is good! (No, she didn't get any...it had peanut butter ; )