Idaho Potater Tot

Another thing we have been privileged to do around here is a quick 4 month shoot.  I just love all these pics and just know that GG back in Michigan is going to love getting a pictures of the cutest potater tot in Idaho.

Say Cheese

Do we like it with a hat?

Or with a bow?



In A Chair?

Or with a tongue out?

I LOVE your blue eyes.  According to the Dr. you are a blue eyed baby from two brown eyed parents

Another fun thing that you have been up to is TEETHING!!!

You have been one fussy baby, but you wouldn't be able to tell because of your cute smiles

You have been biting on anything.  Sometimes when I lay you down to nurse, you just scream.  You are constantly wanting to chew on something hard, your favorite being a finger of mom or dad.  Hopefully a little toother will pop through soon to relieve you of the pressure.

Rice Cereal

Ever since having Sophie, things have slowed down a bit and we aren't on the run as much.  We have spent a lot of time at home just hanging out, which I am not terribly opposed to. I actually have enjoyed my "winter postpartum months" lounging in my sweats and hanging out with my girls.  Lately, it's all caught up to me and I've been itching to get out and enjoy the sun, but we have not been privileged to do that either because of all the rain we have been receiving.  To say the least, I am getting a little cabin fever and running out of things to do "indoors."   I never thought I'd be bored on a Friday night, but we were.  Blake had a soccer game out in the pouring rain and following his game he had a young men's get together.  The girls and I were privileged to do a few things out of my boredom.

First off, we found these in our yard.  The ducks are returning and they came to say there is spring is ahead, yeah!!!  

We got out the bread and enjoyed feeding them in our yard

Following the ducks, about 6 pm now on my Friday night, I decided that we would try Sophie on some rice cereal.  Allie was my photographer through these moments because I didn't want to miss out on the first bites.  I wasn't sure what to expect due to 1) Allie not enjoying rice cereal when she was a baby, and 2) Sophie has a vexation with objects in her mouth (binky, bottle) so I wasn't sure how she would enjoy the spoon.  Well, to my surprise, Sophie LOVES her cereal.

You slurped the whole bowl of cereal down.  Hopefully there will be many more happy days of eating rice cereal :)

4 month STATS

I can't believe that 4 months has gone by already.....you really blink and time flies.  I am so glad that you are getting more interactive and we can see your little personality shine through.  We love you Sophie!!!

Waiting in the lobby of the Dr.'s office ready to go in and check out your stats....my serious baby girl

You weighed in at 12 lb 10 oz

Height-23 1/4

Little do these happy campers know that they are about to both be unhappy with life.  You both ended up getting shots today.  It did not go over so well for you Allie.  I had prepped you telling you that you could give me a big hug and sit on my lap and they would poke you in the arms.  Well the nurse was a  little opposed to that idea and wanted to do what she was comfortable with.  She had you lay on the table and I was up with your hands and face and the nurse gave you shots into your thighs.....not nice to do to a 4 year old.  To say the least, you were screaming and terrified!!!!

One fun thing with Sophie that I never got to do with Allie at this age is to do fun things with your long hair  

Mommy talked to the Dr. about your lack of interest with the bottle.  Dr. Godfrey suggested we try the sippy cup and forget attempting the bottle.  Well, just what the Dr. ordered and slowly but surely we will get the hang of it

Showing me the "holes" from your shots.  What an adventure tackling shots for two kids in one sitting.  Allie earned some popsicles for her special treat after shots.  Here's to one more check-up in 2 more months.

Rollerskating

We accomplished a family goal that we had set out to do together and as a reward we got to go rollerskating.  Allie was just thrilled about the idea and I was thrilled that there was a rink still around.  I don't know what it is about rollerskating rinks that screams "white trash" to me, but it does all down to the classy skates, the DJ, the snack bar, etc.  Maybe I have a little "WT" in me, but the rink brought back many fond childhood memories and I'm glad I could introduce my Allie to create her own memories.  We all had such a great time!

Allie ready to hit the rink in her skates.....the skates never change 

It started out a little rocky for Allie.  She was afraid to let go of the wall or one of us.  Two things that helped us out this day.  1) There was a little ledge around the inside perimeter of the rink and Allie was able to hang on to this while she skated 2) We had Sophie in her stroller and Allie was able to hold onto this and skate while pushing

Everyone got to join in on the skating party.  Sophie enjoyed the ride in the stroller

They played all the classic games on the rink the day we were there....Hokey Pokey on skates is a little tricky so daddy was helping Allie out

Put your right hand in.....put your right hand out

Do-se-do with daddy

Me and Sophie enjoyed our skating together....Soph loved her ride and fell asleep in the stroller.  One more classic game that I enjoyed was a race around the rink.  It first started out with the wee little ones racing around the rink once.  They continued breaking up the age groups for races until they got to the adult group.  Was this for real....I got to race....you bet I was in.  Blake choose to sit back with the kids and cheer me on from the side lines.  I better get to practicing my mad skating skills because I only came in 2nd place....next time I hope to be 1st :)

Soph on her first skating trip.  I'm so proud of everyone for accomplishing our goal.  I'm especially proud of Allie for reminding us every night and being so enthusiastic with her attitude.  Love you guys!

St. Patty's

In preparation for St. Patty's and the leprechaun, we whipped out some cupcakes.  These are the best cupcakes around; they are made with a pudding package in them and are so moist.  Allie and I had a fun day in the kitchen together baking away

Allie mixing like "Matilda" she always likes to tell me.  If you have seen the movie "Matilda" she uses the mixer to make some pancakes when she is four, so Allie loves to be just like Matilda.

  Just when we had some great sunshine the past few days, we get this.  In the midst of our cupcake baking it started heavily snowing huge white snowflakes.

I told Allie to go outside and act surprised that is was snowing.  First I had to coax her out there because she didn't want to get wet from the snow.  Once she finally got out this was the face she gave me.  She is so animated!

Here was the next "surprised" face I got from here.....so Allie

Little Miss got to jump around and wear herself out while we baked away

The finished cupcakes.  My frosting got a little runny so they didn't turn out how I wanted, but I do love my new frosting bottle from Kuhn Rikon that squirts out two frosting colors at once

My two munch-kins setting out there hats for the leprechaun

Allie being a goof-ball.  I told her to smile for this picture and she assured me that she was. 

 Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Sun Is Shininig

Well the sun is shining around here and we are excited!!!     

We had a nice sunny Sunday and decided we'd get out the spring clothes and walk to church.  Here are a few pics of my spring chickens

We have late church this year and so we have lots of time to play around with the hair and add in the bows.  I love to do my girls' hair, so it's been so fun that Sophie already has hair for me to do

My cute spring chicks

Allie was trying to get Sophie to pose just right, but was meeting some resistance now that she's getting bigger

I love the seriousness about this girl.  Happy Spring!

Tummy Time

Sophie has hated her tummy time due to her reflux issues.  She usually starts out by puking, then her face ends up in the puke, which then starts her screaming!  So needless to say we are lucky if she lasts for 5 minutes.  So the other day I was so excited that Allie discovered a new tummy time that Sophie just loves.  

Allie plopped Sophie in between her legs so she was able to see her face and they both just loved this

Loving how Allie was so enthusiastic and was trying to get her to smile

Sophie has the biggest blue eyes....I think she looks a lot like her mama

Hair Pulling

I love this girl!!!  The other day I was downstairs and I thought that Sophie was sleeping.  She proved me wrong!  I came upstairs and this girl was so proud of herself.  She was determined that she first free her arms from being wrapped in the blanket and then she was determined to get her piggies out; for some reason she HATES when her hair is up in piggies.  

Here she was with one piggy out and the other coming our slowly

So proud of herself.  I love your crazy hair Sophie!

Spelling Bee

Along with Allie's love for reading right now, she loves to try and sound out words and write them all out.  She always comes downstairs with papers covered in words.  She also likes to sit down with me and have me tell her words and write them out.  Here are a few of my favorites that she has worked on.  I love this age of watching the world of "words" open up to Allie with spelling and reading.

BOX, SOCK, GLASSES, DOG, GIRL, NUT, HAT, WATER, CAN, HAPPY, ???, ???, TEETH, TV

FAN, CAT, CUP, NUT, CAR, MAN, GARBAGE CAN

Piggies

I could have done this a long time ago with your hair, but today is the first day we actually pulled it into piggies.  Your sister was bald at this point and there was no way she had this much hair ever when she was a baby, so it's been so much fun to do some fun stuff with your hair already.  Your hair is thinning out, but it also is growing which is fun in it's own way.  It looks really silly when I put in a headband because you have such a mop of hair on top of your head that it gets pushed up from the headband. 

 

I can't tell what you think about your hair.  You like to pull on it and twist your fingers in it when it's down, but then you pull it to hard and you make yourself cry.  Today you couldn't figure out where your hair went for a majority of the day and then wait.....you found it and yes, ripped out your piggies.  

You look so big to me with your hair in piggies.  I can't believe how fast you are growing up

You are all smiles lately.  I love this age and I love you