*Happy Birthday to my little Sunshine*

*over it* too many parties in one day.


*not interested*


*maybe a little*

Dear Sophia,

Wow! It is so hard to believe that it was just a year ago today that I first held you in my arms for the first time. Such a familar feeling, yet so very different....and finding out that you were a girl at that very moment in time, when I was 99.999% certain that you were a boy. Nothing compares to that crazy feeling of meeting you at that very moment. So many people have always questioned why we would not find out if you and your brother were girls/boys beforehand, saying it is still a surprise either way. Nope. It is impossible to know what that feeling is like until you actually experience it for yourself. There are few surprises in life...and meeting you and your brother for the first time (truly the first time) was beyond words.

You are such an independent little wise owl. You like stuff the way YOU like it. There is no trying to persuade you otherwise. You like to eat with a spoon/spork. ONLY. Finger food is no longer acceptable, with the exception of peas, which is always your fave. You started walking about two weeks ago on your own. You took a few sweet steps with us, and then sadly, I think your first real long strides were at daycare. I will always have a soft spot for your daycare teacher, because she *gets it* and would never tell me that you were walking, and straight out denied it when I asked. The asst director told me that you were walking "like crazy" and I started crying like a baby, feeling liike I had missed something so important in your growth. Mommy has a love/hate relationship with being a working mommy, and most days, I would so much rather stay at home with you and your brother. I also really feel fortunate enough to love what I do, and my hope is that one day I will be a better mommy to you and your brother because of it, and maybe learn a wee bit along the way from my own work counseling mommies.

You don't like to sleep, at all, why sugar coat it?! I'm cool with it because as of late, you actually call out "Mama" in the night, and it makes my heart melt, and getting up 14 times seems to be worth it. You adore, beyond words, your big brother. You laugh and wrestle with him and give him "big hugs" (you give just about every cuddly thing big hugs, it's your thing), and your eyes are always following what he is doing 24/7. He adores you too. He was actually very mad this morning that you had no "growed" overnight for your birthday...he is ready for you to run, he said. I encouraged him to be a wee bit patient as you just nailed taking steps about 7 days ago. We shall see....

I love you sweet girl.
You are such a blessing and my amazing little sunshine! We love you to the moon and back, and then some...

love,
your mommy

I'm soooo catching up to you brother...checkin out the growth chart.

Seriously mom? Enough with these damn monthly stickers!

ok, fine. one pose.

                                                      kaden wanted to strike a pose too :)

Sophie and her favorite person on the planet.

Sophie's first Easter.

Kaden chillin with the *big boys*

I think they are at the age where getting a pic of the two of them together is next to impossible!

showing daddy her bunny cup.

Spaghetti rocks!

                                                                   St Patty's day fun.....

                                                     Using old yogurt containers for bongos.

                                he was dancing with her! I didn't grab my camera fast enough.

Happy 11 months Sophia!

Dear sweet Sophia,

11 MONTHS!!!!! I'm not sure why 10 and 11 months feel so drastically far apart from one another, but it feel like there is a ginormous difference between these months, and HELLO, how is it only one month until you are a full year and not zero any longer?????

This past month you have learned to motor, and you are all.over.the.place. You started crawling about two weeks ago, and it is this interesting little one leg bent while the other leg stretches across the room crawl. You have no time for that though, your first choice is to walk. While holding mommy or daddy's hands of course, or with the help of your beloved Vtech walker. You absolutely squeal with the delight at the mere sight of it sitting across the room. And once you start pushing it around, there is no stopping you. You love to stand, at all times, and can balance by yourself for about 5 seconds. At school, they have this sweet little bar that all the little ones practice pulling themselves up to a standing position and back down again while looking in a mirror that is placed above it (how cute is THAT visual). You demonstrated this for me this morning and I got misty watching the joy on your face!

You also love your little daycare, and for that, I feel extremely blessed. Your teacher, Miss jennifer, adores you and you adore her. After going through so many daycares and trying out so many things with your big brother, I am so grateful that we found such an incredible place for you to be taken care of by people that truly love you while we have to be away.

You eat everything. Really, there is nothing you don't eat at this point. The sweet potato pancakes that I made from Nurture Baby are definitely your favorite so far. You also love cheese, pita and hummus and avocado.

You loooooove to chat! Dadadadada was your first word, and now you love to say Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh when you really want something. I've been working on Mama, but I think we have a ways to go with that one!

You love my jewelry box. You take everything thing out of it and ooooh and aaaaah like you are looking at the Queen's jewels! You love to swing, play with playdoh, and you are OBSESSED with Elmo. What IS it about Elmo? You don't watch tv, so you have not seen him on Sesame Street, but when we hold up one of Kaden's three old Elmo dolls, you completely lose it. More than anything, you love your brother. No matter what he may do, he can do no wrong in your eyes.
And here he is in his I dressed myself jammies giving you all that he's got!

You are such a bright light to all of us Sophia!

I love you to the moon and back,

your mommy

she squeals with delight when she walks with her little walker.

falling asleep eating her pancakes.

giving her monkey *big hugz*

It's no secret that my cousin Jena is an insanely talented photographer. She lives in NYC and at one point, when Kaden was itty bitty, we lived in California together. She was there to document all those incredible first moments, and those photos are priceless gems to me. I miss her for 3,029,426 reasons, and not having her here has sent me running into the arms of Picture People! They are definitely no Jena Gabina, but the girls are so sweet, and they remember as the mama of the baby that pooped three times in one naked baby shoot on all of their cute props! My Mother always did the quintessential portraits at Sears, so I figure it would be rude for me not to follow suit! And hello, this package cost me EIGHTEEN friggin dollars, and a cd of all the images! I heart me some picture people. 

Here are some of my faves...

In other news....

For the past two years, I have been wanting to make Kaden a play kitchen of his own, as inspired by so many amazing DIY play kitchens on Pinterest. I did a little reality check and realized that was not going to actually happen, so instead we found this sweet treasure on Craigslist! Kaden loves it, and we have been playing restaurant 24/7. In the second pic, you can see him peeking out of the drive thru to take my order....

     Kaden is also newly obsessed with taking pictures...

 and wearing headbands. pretty sure he enjoys them more than Sophia.

                                                                      

                                               

   climbing into the tupperware cupboard...

                                                               

  and feeding his sister!

It's totally ok to take pics of Xmas outfits a few months too late, right? This one is for you Mamaw!