Friday, November 9, 2012

11 Months Old

Ok, so I'm having a HARD TIME with Sophie's 11 month post. I find I'm digging my heels in and trying to slow time down, as the countdown is on to her first birthday. Jack was not a happy baby and each milestone was so exciting for him, that although I had a bit of nostalgia as each stage passed, I didn't mind him getting older. But my little Sophie has been such a delightful baby and I've loved (almost) every minute of her babyhood, that it's hard to see her getting older and more independent!


Big girl. She has gained a little weight in the last month and now weighs 14.10 lbs. She wears mostly 9 month clothes still. She has quite a bit of blond hair at the back, but not much in the front still. Eight teeth are in (four on top and four on bottom) and she is pulling up on furniture and trying to cruise. She is a pretty fast crawler too!



Her two favorite spots in the house are by the windows (she will look out for ages) and standing by the bath (one of her favorite times of day is bath time, just like her brother). She is not so interested in her toys and much prefers stealing Jack's or playing with things she's not supposed to. She is proving quite mischievous and definitely has a keen sense of fun, we've noticed.



She says "da da" when she sees Andre and says "Ja" for Jack. She has just started saying "da" for when I tell her to say "Ta" which is what we teach for please and thank you. She can wave, splash and "wipe" her tray with a wipe on command. So cute! She still loves her table food and will eat anything I give her, thankfully! Formula, not so much; still working on that.


She is on oxygen 24/7 now and handles it very well. She does seem to love it when I take off the tube to bath her, but doesn't pull on it very much. She has had an ear infection and a mild stomach bug over the last 10 days but seems to be on the mend now, and we are thankful that she was able to have her RSV shot (first in a series of 5 during the winter months) on Monday, approved by insurance. We continue to pray that she stays healthy as much as possible this season.

Happy 11 months Sophie Joy!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Little Pumpkins

One little Pumpkin at our house has been DYING to choose a pumpkin for himself. We've been promising to go for ages and haven't got around to it. So last weekend we took a family day and browsed a nearby farmer's market, to no avail. No pumpkins.

 Then we popped on over to our local Fresh Market, purveyors of all things wonderful and hard to find. Alas, they too, apparently believe that pumpkins expire after Halloween.

Poor Jack. We finally found two little gourds and a tiny but perfect pumpkin tucked into a clearance box at Publix. The day was saved!


Hooray for pumpkins

So happy!

Our little pumpkin's first Fall!

One happy boy

The girls

Daddy was laughing because Little Miss stole the last piece of shortbread right out of the pan!

A Quick Visit

Last week my Mum and Dad were flying through our airport on their way home from a conference they attended. They had a three hour layover so we all took the kiddos down to spend a bit of time with them. We had a great time  and the kids loved it, as they hadn't seen them since August. Can't wait until we see them again at Christmas!

These two had the best time together playing in the stroller

Nana and Grampa with all the grandbabies...impossible to get everyone looking!

These two are crazy together!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Park Day

When checking the old blog this morning, I suddenly realized it's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything. We've been keeping busy with the usual day to day and dealing with pink eye, ear infections, and trying to get our condo de-cluttered. More on that later. Yuck.

In between all that, we've had a few adventures outside of home. Yes, we do venture out occasionally! Ha!

Several weeks ago now, we met the cousins at a WONDERFUL park nearby (fake grass so no bugs or dirt...bliss!) and had a picnic lunch. One of the last beautiful, warm days of Fall...

Alexis and Michaela

Our little 7 month olds swinging, Wyn and Emma

And the two year olds, Axie and Jack, being pushed by a very enthusiastic and kind Michaela!

And our little midget, Miss Sophie, who, despite appearances, loves to swing!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Family Photos

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Andre's cousin is a professional photographer and she very kindly took pictures of all of us when we visited with her and Andre's sister, Olga, last week. I was not prepared AT ALL to have photos taken, so excuse my appearance, but I love all these photos of Andre's sister and her family! Olga is Andre's younger sister, by four years and she and her husband have 7 children: Anna, Danielle, Phillip, Neena, Andre, Peter (who is in heaven now) and Marianna.

Vladimir and Olga

Anna and Danielle

Phillip and Andre

Neena

Marianna 


Love this one of them! 


Me and my girl

Sophia, 10 months

Jack, 2.5 years

Two peas in a pod

Daddy and his girl

Yea, ok, none of us look great, but this is the only family photo of us recently!

Thank you Ella, for taking all these!!!

Family Visit

This is a week late, but I wanted to share some photos of our day with Andre's family last Monday. His sister and her family were driving through on their way back from vacation and stayed a couple of nights with Andre's cousin, Ella,  who lives about an hour from us. So we went out there to spend the day and visit with everyone. We haven't seen Olga and her family in almost two years!!! For one reason or another, we haven't been able to make the trip up north, and with their 6 kids and a huge remodeling project on their new house, it's difficult for them to get down here.

We had such a great day together and Jack loved playing with his cousins (who he only ever sees on Skype!!). Everyone loved meeting Sophia too and she lapped up all the attention! I really enjoyed spending time with Olga and seeing how much her kids have grown up recently.


Jack and Marianna, Olga's youngest (they are a year apart)

Olga meeting Sophie for the first time

We had a delicious Russian lunch complete with salo (bacon fat) which Sophie LOVED! Her great-grandpa, Deada, was very proud when he heard she ate it!

Lunchtime

Sophie was entranced with all the toys at Ella's house

Andre, Jack and some of the boys wrestling
Thank you for hosting us all Ella! We had such a special time together and hope it won't be so long before we do it again!

P.S. Ella and her husband are professional photographers and she did an impromptu photo shoot of all of us...will post a few of those soon. 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

100 Miles

Yes, that is how much I drove today. With the two kids. Whew.

But it was all for fun. Or craziness. Ah well. We drove out to visit our new friends, the Knoblochs, this morning to join them for their Fall Festival. It was fun to see them again and Jack LOVED all the activities for the kids...

Getting to climb on a real life fire truck

Miss S was a little awestruck by the crowds

So many fun kid-sized games

And experiencing a bounce house FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Then I drove back into town and dropped the kiddos off at my dear friend Robin's house for the afternoon. She was so kind to have them and they enjoyed themselves immensely.

Loving Aunty Robin time



And off I went, sans the small ones, to enjoy my friend Lyndon's baby shower. Ness and little Emma were there too and it was good to see old friends.


Little Miss Em

Love this pic of Lyndon surrounded by all these precious pink happys, preparing for her long-awaited baby girl!

So special to share life with my sis and now her little ladies too. I really missed my Sophie being there too!


After picking the kids up we headed over to meet Daddy for an impromptu dinner out. And now, everyone, including me is in bed. Aaah!