Sophi's boo boo

Several of you have asked about my reference to Sophi's boo boo in my previous post. Last Wednesday, while I was busy making cookies, Sophi decided to stick her hand in the space between the oven and the oven drawer. I did not realize this area of the oven got hot which is why I was letting her play near there. All of the sudden she got very upset as though her fingers were stuck, which at first is all I thought had happened. However, as the blisters started to appear I realized her fingers had been burned! So sad.
We made a trip to the doctor that afternoon and were told she had second degree burns on two of her fingers. We were shown how to take care of the burns by putting ointment on them, dressing them and sent home with instructions to change the dressing once a day for a week. Needless to say the first night we had to "dress" it ourselves I think all three of us were in tears and felt as though we might kill each other! We have gotten the hang of it since then and I am impressed we have kept it on this long.

I thought for sure that Sophi would hate it and try to do everything she could to get the bandage off but she has been such a trooper. She doesn't complain about it or mess with it and does everything (or at least tries to) as though her bandage wasn't there at all! It is amazing how resilient and adaptable kids are!

We now have a new rule in our house...no playing near the oven when hot!!

Saturday morning at the zoo

Ready to see some animals!

Petting the goats (notice our "booboo")

Checking out the monkeys

Worn out after a fun morning at the zoo!
Hope you are all having a fun and relaxing Saturday!

10 months

Sophi turned 10 months old today! Double digits!!! I can not believe she is almost one! These past 10 months have gone by soooo fast but hold sooo many sweet sweet memories for our family of three...four (sorry Shiloh!).

Check out that top tooth! One of many changes this month, we know have two bottom teeth and one on the top!
Of course, the biggest change over the past month is Sophi's move from crawling to walking!! She is walking from one piece of furniture to the next, taking off on her own and even walking across the room. The balance thing is still not her strong suite but she is learning very quickly. Crawling is still her major form of transportation but I anticipate the move to walking full time in our near future!

Sophi's vocabulary continues to grow! As I mentioned in my last post one of her new favorite words is comb. Every time she sees a comb she immediately says the word and is now beginning to comb her own hair at night before bed! So funny! Along with the comb she loves to carry around my purse and any clothing item which makes me a little nervous to think I may have a girly girl on my hands!!Several other new words for Sophi include goal (yeah for World Cup Soccer!), down, and no (great!). She is on the verge of saying words such as water, turtle and cup. It is crazy how much she learns by watching and repeating.
Sophi continues to grow more and more in love with reading. One book in particular, Five Little Ladybugs, is her favorite which we read over and over and over again. After we read the book we go back and count the lady bugs on each page. As you can see from this video Sophi is becoming more and more independent and sometimes likes to show me how to do things!

Another one of Sophi's favorite things is going to the park. We go almost everyday!

She loves to play in the grass and watch the older kids play. Sophi has no fear of strangers and loves to crawl right up to anyone she sees. Sophi is forcing her introverted mom to learn how to be extroverted because if your baby crawls up to someone you have to talk to them, especially if your baby doesn't want to leave! I know God must have be chuckling to himself even as I write this!Sophi is really enjoying spending time with her new friend Caroline. For the fourth of July weekend we spent some time with Caroline and her parents, eating yummy food, watching fireworks and hanging out at the beach. It is so fun for us parents to see Sophi and Caroline playing with each other. We recently enjoyed spaghetti night with the Flannery's and we let the girls have at it. This was the result!

I have to say that this past month has been one of my favorites! Sophi is so much more interactive and she is constantly learning through out each day, it is just so fun to watch!

I look forward to watching all the ways Sophi will grow over the next month. She is the light of my life and I am so greatful that I get to spend each and every day with her by my side.

Going South

Sophi and I got back last week from our two week trip to the south. We had such a good time being with friends and family. After flying by myself with Sophi it was very nice to have Josh with me on the way there this time. We were able to get the bulkhead seat which was so nice and made the flight so much easier!

We went up to TN to spend the first week of our trip with Josh's parents. It was so much fun but sooooo hot! We forgot about the humidity in the South!! One day we all decided to get in the baby pool just to cool off! Sophi learned a new word while at her Grammy and Poppy's, "comb." Check it out!

She also learned she could push things around with her new found strength in her legs. So funny!

We had a good visit with Josh's family and we look forward to seeing them again soon.

We flew back to Atlanta the end of that first week to celebrate my niece Evie's first birthday! We had so much fun celebrating the life of that special girl. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures at the party, but check out the Graham and Ashley's blog for some great pictures from that day.

Josh left us Sunday to return to Pasadena so he could begin teaching for the summer term. We were sad to see him go so to take our minds off missing him we headed down to the beach in Pops plane. Sophi still loves the sand and the water. She also loves being in the pool. We had fun playing on the beach with Lolly and Pops and being able to relax for a few days. The last couple days of my trip I get to spend some time hanging out with Graham and Ashley and getting our girls together to play. It was so much fun to see them interact and get to know each other better. I look forward to seeing all the fun they will have together as they grow up.

One of the biggest things Sophi accomplished while we were back in the south was taking her first steps!!!!! Unfortunately I don't have it on video yet but she can take four to five steps in a row at this point. It is so cute to watch! As soon as I get a video I will post it so everyone can see!!

Sophi and I flew back to Pasadena last Monday and fortunately it was, minus the slight delay in our departure, an uneventful trip home.

Sophi and i will head back to Atlanta in August for a week while Josh begins his Comprehensive Exams. Although we will miss being with Josh for the week it will be fun to see everyone again! And we can't wait for the end of August when Josh will be done with his exams and ABD (All But Dissertation)! This is such a huge accomplishment and milestone for him and Sophi and I are so excited to celebrate this achievement with him!!!

Where did this month go...9 months old!!

Sophi turned 9 months old yesterday and had her 9 month check up. Here are her stats:

Weight: 18 pounds 1.5 ounces - 50%
Height: 27 & 1/2 inches - 50%
Head circumference: 17 inches - 25%

This month has flown by! Sophi is so much fun these days, but soooo busy!! She is a much faster crawler than she was last month (although still using the gimpy crawl) and can get from one room to the next in the blink of an eye! Surprisingly Sophi has become quite the babbler. She strings "sentences" together constantly in her own little language and I frequently catch her carrying on conversation with Shiloh (who is always unamused!). She can now say Mama, Dada, More, Bye, Bye, Hi and Shiloh (shiloh is more of "dido").

Not only has she become quite the talker but she is also quite the eater. She LOVES to eat, as soon as we place her in her high chair she immediately begins saying "more, more more." Her new favorites include blueberries, kiwis, yogurt, bread and cottage cheese. She loves to feed herself and if left to her own feeding will stuff her mouth full!

Sophi officialy has a tooth! It is on the bottom and makes her adorable smile that much cuter! She is still cruising everywhere and gets quite the workout everyday doing laps around our coffee table. She has the strength to stand up on her own without support but doesn't quite have the confidence. She can walk holding onto to one hand and I am afraid our crawling days will soon be disappearing, I am pretty sure this girl was born to walk!

Sophi graduated to a big girl car seat this past month. Thank you Lolly and Pops! She loves it and although there are days where I miss being able to carry the sleeping girl in without waking her up I am loving it too!Sophi loves to read these days, especially loves to the turn the pages herself and touch EVERYTHING on the page! I think she is going to be a reader like her daddy...not like her mommy!!
Sophi LOVES her daddy and one of her favorite things to do these days is play and laugh with him! I so enjoy watching them together. So sweet!

Sophi has been spending more time with her new friend Caroline which has been so much fun! It is slowly helping us learn how to play with others. She has not quite learned the concept of personal space and loves to literally climb all over her buddies. Poor Caroline! We are really working on being gentle as apposed to tackling. Who knows, maybe football is in her future?! This past month we have really enjoyed taking swimming lessons with Caroline and her mom Ellen as well as spending time at the park and zoo.

The girls love being together and so do us moms!! Ellen and her husband Jeff moved here from Birmingham, AL and I always feel like I'm back home when spending time with them! Yeah for southern friends in California!

Even though this past month has gone by so quickly our precious little girl continues to bring us such joy and makes every day so much brighter. She is one of the best things that has ever happened to us and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

We are about to embark on a 2 week adventure as we travel back to the south to spend time with our families and celebrate my niece Evie's first birthday!

The affects of "No Impact"

So in my previous post I mentioned that Josh and I recently watched the documentary "No Impact Man" in which a man and his family attempt to live for a year without impacting the environment. There were many things about this film that were eye opening and challenging to us both, especially convicting to me being the the constant use of my plastic bags (if you know me at all you know I can't live without my ziplocks!).
Surprisingly one of the things that impacted us most after watching this film actually had less to do with the environment and more to do with family. In an effort to not use electricity and spend more time together the "No Impact" family stopped watching tv for the entire year of their experiment. It was very eye opening and refreshing to see how much the couple and their 2 year old daughter grew closer to each other as a family and more aware of the world outside their living room after a year without tv.

SO...in an effort to remove one of the biggest distractions in our home keeping us from each other and the world outside our own living room we have decided as a family to stop watching tv for a full year. Ok, I know what you are thinking, we are crazy. Honestly, sometimes I think that myself. But hey, what can it hurt, right? At the end of the year we hope that we will be better people with a much richer life for having taken this challenge .
Why I am telling you all this? As a way to hold ourselves accountable! Our contract with Dish Network, although it has been great, will end at the end of August this year and we will not be renewing it. We will be on vacation most of the month of September so come October 1st our year of no tv will officially commence.
I will probably be cramming in my tv time up until that point but once it begins I hope to record our experience through our blog.
If you haven't seen this documentary yet you should check it out. You never know what you might find yourself challenged to change!

May Beach Trip

While Sophi and I were back in the South we headed to Florida to spend time with both sets of grandparents!
First stop was to visit Grammy and Poppy in St. George Island. Sophi loved being with them, taking long walks in the morning and playing in the water and the sand in the afternoon.



Grammy has a unique way of capturing Sophi's great expressions!

Next stop was Panama City Beach with Lolly, Nana (her great-grandma), GiGi (her great Aunt Joyce), Kayleigh (her second cousin), and Jake (GiGi's grandson).

Sophi loved playing in the water with Jake and staying in the shade with Nana. I really enjoyed getting to catch up with Kayleigh and hear all about her first year at Lipscomb! Pops came down to the beach a day or two later and we had fun playing and goofing off with him too!


My best friend from childhood, Kathryn Baird, and her family were down at the beach that week as well so we got to hang out for a bit. I was able to meet her precious new baby boy Miller. He is gorgeous and so tiny. It is hard for me to remember Sophi being that small, they change so quickly! It was so good to see them, I just wish we had more time! That is always my wish when I see Kathryn, we just never have a enough time to spend together!!

We came back to Atlanta Saturday and spent some time with Graham and Ashely, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa and cousin Evie. It was so fun to see them interact. They enjoyed "sharing" everything, even their food!

Even though our week was jam packed we had such a great time and can't wait to go back in a few weeks for Evie's 1st birthday!

On a side note, Josh and I watched "No Impact Man" last night, a documentary about a family who tries to go for a year without impacting the environment. Needless to say it had a big impact on us and we will be making some big changes in the next few months. More details to come.