Poor Little Bit

You'd think that I just told the kid that the Easter Bunny was shot during a drive by and Santa died from heart disease due to eating too many cookies. In reality she wants the hat off and she wants it off NOW! I have to admit that those elastic chin straps aren't the most comfortable things in the world. I remember one particular cousin thoroughly enjoying "snapping" every one's chin straps. Kelly I have not forgotten how mean you were to me! Just kidding, I love ya Kel.

Baby's Got Back

A monogrammed back to be exact! I saw these "undies" on ebay and knew immediately that Sophia HAD to have a pair. It is truly amazing what you can find on ebay. These suckers are just so cute and girlie. Doesn't everyone need a pair of underwear with their initials? These photos were also taken by Anne on last Saturday. We just couldn't get enough of that butt!

Ladies & Gentlemen....

please allow me to introduce, Sir Elton John! Here's Sophie modeling one of Gracie's birthday presents. Gracie turned one today so on Sunday we headed over to her house to help her celebrate. When the girls saw each other both of their mouths hit the ground and you could see the wheels a turning.

Sophie: "Hey don't I know you?!"

Gracie: "Hmmm you sure do look familiar!"

They looked so cute sitting and eating their cake. Like two big girls! But their day didn't end with cake. At 5 we headed to UC to partake in our first swimming lesson but that's a whole other post. Anne came armed with her camera and I'm sure captured some ubber cute moments. I mean you can't get much cuter than a little boy in a surfer outfit and two little girls in bikinis! So stay tuned!

Sneak Peek

Ok so the plan was to keep Sophie's b-day pics top secret until I sent her party invites out. BUT the more and more I look at them I just can't keep them under wraps! So here's just a sneak peek. I'll post more once I get her invites in the mail which should be by Tuesday. Don't you just love her dress?! And how about that cake? Definitely takes after her momma!

One more...

bath picture! I turned this pic into black and white and thought it was just too cute! Little Bit's hair is getting so long. But it's at that stage where it's too short to pull it up but too long to just let it go. Do you know that I read somewhere the other day that some moms of little girls pull a "Britney Spears" on their 6 month old daughters. Meaning that they shave their heads when they are around 6 months old so that their hair grows back even and supposedly thicker. Now that's a little extreme even for me! So we'll just deal with the crazy finger in an electric socket hair.

Rare

Here's something you won't see everyday...a picture with me in it! Obviously not taken by me but by Anne after we finished up taking Sophia's 1st b-day pictures. Anne was nice enough to give me a few pointers with my camera. Talk about a lot to learn. But there's one thing that I have DEFINITELY learned, and that is that it's not "the camera" that takes the picture, it's "the person." As evidenced by the "in focus" photo above.

Sophia was not in a smiling mood this morning for her photo shoot. She wouldn't even smile for mine and GiGi's rendition of the Wiggle's "Hot Potato." The nerve! I'm utterly shocked that I was able to keep her bite, bruise, and scratch free for a week, which is probably why she wasn't in a smiling mood!

Oh and in regards to the photo above, I just wanted to say that contrary to what every other human on the planet thinks, I don't think that Sophia looks like my Mini Me. And on another note, thank GOD that I'm getting a hair cut next week. I haven't had one since last May, how freakin sad!

Shop Till You Drop

I know that I have been MIA for a few days so let me explain, #1 Wednesday and Thursday are very busy TV nights. First there is Lost on Wednesday (which never ceases to piss me off). Thursday is just jammed packed with Survivor, American Idol, and CSI. #2 I just haven't been in the mood to get my camera out. It seems like no matter how hard I try I just can't figure out how to adjust the freakin' shutter speed in AV mode. And #3 Sophia and I have been busy SHOPPING! (As a side note, Sophia makes a great little shopping sidekick. She sits nicely in the cart and says "hi" to every single person we pass. And they had better say "hi" back or she gets very peeved and will continue to say "hi" until they say it back.) We are getting in full birthday mode. I have a list of "things to do" and "things to buy" that is almost 2 pages long! Insane I know. But tomorrow I'll hopefully be able to mark "take 1st b-day pics" off the list! YAY!!! I can't wait to see Little Bit in her b-day get-up. And maybe just maybe I'll post a few of the pictures when I get them from Anne.

A-splishing and a-splashing

This girl is a NUT for bath time. Between 7:15 and 7:30 we can look at her and say "do you want to be a naked baby?" and she starts pulling on her clothes wanting them off (I guess we are gonna have to cut that out,we don't want her to learn how to "strip" too early)! Or she can be anywhere in the house playing but when she hears the water turn on she makes a beeline for the bathroom. Sophia has NEVER been afraid of the water. However, we do have a little problem. She constantly wants to stand up in the tub. I have visions of her slipping and cracking her little head. Then once again CPS would be called and Little Bit would have to go live with Gypsies. Damn Gypsies!

Quality Time

Steven has been unbelievably busy with work. And it's just the beginning since we are only one month into tax season! But just because he's working a million hours a week doesn't mean that he hasn't carved out time to spend with his little girl. Here they are spending some quality time together. Without a doubt, Sophia prefers to have her daddy read to her. I've come to the conclusion that it HAS to be because of the funny voices he adds for effect.

Monti

What's soft, fury, and black and wears a coonskin hat? Why Monti the West Virginia Bear of course! Sophia received Monti for Valentine's Day from GiGi and PaPa and she loves and I mean loves him. She's big on giving any stuffed animal kisses but Monti seems to get an abundant of kisses. I think she's impressed by the sheer size of him. He stands a whooping 3 feet tall, which is massive in Little Bit's world. And on a side note, all Monti proceeds go to benefit the West Virginia University Hospitals. So go get your Monti Bear today! Hurry supplies are limited.

Pool Party

Mommy Handbook Note #983: Four year olds LOVE indoor swimming parties in the middle of winter.

Mommy Handbook Note #984: Four year olds entertain THEMSELVES at indoor swimming parties.

Sophia had a blast at Jaydyn's b-day party, especially the swimming part. She was a little leery at first with all of the noise and splashing but in no time flat she was kicking her legs and blowing bubbles in the water. Our only problem was due to the fact that we picked up the wrong size swim diapers so she had to go in with her regular diaper. The diaper became so heavy that she might as well have had a cinder block tied around her waist! We start swimming lessons next week with Miss Gracie (and hopefully Ethan!). Should be lots of fun! Just check out that rockin bod!

Not Meant to Be

So a higher power and the forces of the universe just DO NOT want Sophia to have her pictures taken this weekend. Period. End of Story. First there was the mauling of her face by another kid, which actually has been healing quite nicely thanks to my "witch doctor" remedies. But apparently, the forces that be decided the left side of her face wasn't "jacked" up enough. How's this one for you: this morning Sophia got to watch her favorite show "Go Baby" in mommy and daddy's bed. Sure enough after it was over she crawled down to the foot board and SLAM, right into the foot board she goes. The result, a busted eye lid. Resulting in a lovely gash and partial black eye. Of all the luck in the world! Anne, I'll be calling you sometime tomorrow. Please please please tell me that you are free next weekend. In the meantime, does anyone have a football helmet in a toddler size that I can borrow for the next week?

Typical

Here is Sophie being typical Sophie. Climbing up the steps which is a favorite past time. I probably shouldn't let her climb as much as I do but I hear the best giggles when she's hightailing it up the stairs. As you can see this photo was taken pre face carnage. I haven't had my camera out since Wednesday because frankly I'd like to forget that the whole "incident" occurred. But tomorrow we are headed to a swimming party where the birthday boy is turning the big 4! Hopefully I'll get some good shots at the pool maybe even some hot bikini momma shots! (Of Sophie not me, sorry to disappoint.)

Lucky Dog

Not to offend any of you dog lovers, but I am so NOT a dog person and I strongly believe that cats are FAR superior to dogs. My dog, Oscar the Boxer, in particular drives me bonkers. He drools, is incapable of listening, leaves dog hair everywhere (along with other unidentifiable stains)-the list goes on and on and on. If he were a person he would probably be described as a moron with an IQ topping out around 20. But alas, my husband loves dogs so I am forced to share an existence with this creature. But you wanna know the one thing I do love about Oscar the Boxer? I love the way he is with Sophia. She loves him and he loves her. I love how he lays there and allows her to beat him with her hands as though she is "petting" him" (again, he wouldn't score high on the IQ charts) and how he looks for her when she isn't home. So for that reason alone, I love him too and I wouldn't give him up for anything. I just pray that Sophia turns out to be a cat lover but by the looks of this picture it appears as though she favors canines. Great.

(And yes that is a toothbrush he is chewing on. A certain little girl found a new toothbrush in a drawer and guess who got a hold of it!

"Love Bites"

This post is only staying up for a limited time because it makes me cringe just looking at it. Oh the joys of parenthood, I guess you have to take the good with the bad. So to make light of the situation and since it is Valentine's Day, when I saw Sophia's bite it reminded me of that Def Leppard song "Love Bites." You remember it: "Love bites, love bleeds, it's bringing me to my knees." Well that song pretty much sums up Little Bit's Valentine's Day. I think the kids must have gotten a little hyped up with all of the party festivities! Accidents happen and Sophia seems fine. But why do kids bite other kids on the face? I've had this discussion with a ton of parents and we just can't figure it out. Oh I know...I bet it's because the biter knows that the victim's mommy scheduled her 1st Birthday pictures for Sunday. Does anyone know any good bruise remedies? Some old lady at the pharmacy told me to try toothpaste!

On a happy note, Sophia says "THANK-YOU" to GiGi, Papa Scott, Grammy and Papap for all of her Valentine goodies. She loved everything!

Happy Valentine's Day

No time for a post tonight. Momma has to make 11 Valentine's for 11 kids in Sophia's class. They are having a big shindig at day care tomorrow. Party time with sugar cookies! So here are a few pics of Sophia in her Valentine's Day outfit. It's "sweet!"

Walk the line...

Of course that would have to be a crooked, zigzagging, drunken line but it's walking nonetheless! Slowly but surely Little Bit is picking up this whole walking thing. Just in the past week the number of steps she'll take at one time has tripled. A few times she's even walked across an entire room. Oh and the cutest thing is to see her stand up from the sitting position without the assistance of a chair, wall or toy. She practically stands on her head. Looks like she's doing yoga, the forward dog to be exact!

Chatty Cathy

Well I just showed you some pics of Little Bit with the remote so here are a few with her #1 favorite "toy" in the world, the phone. Now normally she'll just push the buttons and shove the dirty old phone into her mouth. She has even called a few people up by accidentally pressing redial. But today I got lucky, I was able to catch her with the phone up to her ear! Cute cute cute! I guess she was calling her friend Gracie up to see how she was feeling since she's been sick and missed a few days of school. Hmm...... I wonder who she picked that up from? Couldn't be her momma who LOVES to talk on the phone. Looks like we clearly have a girl on our hands.

The Holy Grail

Will someone please explain to me why babies prefer to play with remote controls and telephones rather than the educational toys that their parents so lovingly pick out for them? And how is it that a baby knows the difference between a "fake" remote or phone and the "real" thing? Gees. I really try to keep these items off limits but when Little Bit locates one of these items it's as though she has discovered the Holy Grail! (The cup, not the controversial "womb" of Mary Magdalene, to all you Da Vinci Code lovers out there.) I mean look at how she holds it over her head in triumph.

And this is what happens when you "steal" the archaeological wonder off of her.You would have thought that I just told her that the Wiggles had went to that big red car in the sky.

The Mad Hatter

A few posts back I mentioned that Sophia NEVER likes to wear her cute pink winter hat. Well same goes for her cute new sun hat which matches perfectly with her new tankini. I was unable to catch a really good picture because as quick as I could place the hat on her head and get back to snap a picture she would rip it off! We are so gonna have to work on the hat wearing. I can't be having a baby with a sun burnt head this summer! I'll try to take some photos of Sophia in the whole ensemble (en francais "ahn-sahn-bluh"). Only when you are a baby are chunky thighs and a big ole belly considered "cute" in a bathing suit! Watch out Baywatch!

Oh and by the way, Please excuse the out of focus baby, I appear to have focused in on aforementioned belly which is hanging over her jeans. I love it!

I've Been Tagged...

by Jami to post 6 weird things about myself. I thought I would play along with some of my Blog friends. So here they are (I'm not sure I want to admit these but here goes):

1. I can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch over and over for months and months and it doesn't bother me. My current addictions are pop-tarts and lean cuisine pizzas.

2. I blow my nose before I do anything else in the morning.

3. This is definitely TMI but when I'm in the bathroom for a long period of time I inevitable pick up something to read be it the back of a shampoo bottle or box of tissues. I especially like reading the French version and try to translate it into English first!


4. I sometimes brush my teeth in the shower when Steven needs the sink (try it sometime, it's a crazy feeling!)

5. I always wear white socks with boots. I figure that no one is gonna see them anyway.

6. I can never fully clean an entire room of my house without jumping to another room. I might dust my bedroom and then hop to the bathroom and clean the toilet and then go back to the bedroom and make the bed.

Now I'm tagging Anne, Janice, and Steph.

Lights Out

Sorry guys no photos tonight. Our electric has been off since yesterday morning at 2:30 a.m. thanks to Old Man Winter! So this evening we are staying at GiGi and Papa's house. Last night was interesting to say the least. It took Sophia and me two hours and ten minutes to get home (usually only takes around 25 minutes!). Then of course the electric went off at 2:30. Steven thought it would be a great idea to put Sophia in our bed in case the house turned into a freezer. Uh BAD idea. Sophia has never slept in our bed. My baby who was sawing logs woke up when her daddy picked her up. Apparently she thought it was PARTY TIME! After 30 minutes of her sitting up in bed and launching her pacifier just so she could say "uh o" I couldn't take it any more. Back to her bed she went and thank goodness she immediately fell asleep. What a night!

Introducing....Baby Ben

Isn't this little fella a cutie!! This is Benjamin Isaac and he's only 8 weeks old! His mommy and daddy are some of the best friends that a person could ever ask for. Ben and his parents spent Super Bowl Sunday with us so I was lucky enough to get to hold an 8 week old baby (which I haven't done since Sophia was 8 weeks old). I can't even get my mind to wrap around the fact that just 9 months ago she was that small! Ben is definitely keeping his parent busy and they are hoping every night that he'll sleep for longer than 3 hours. I can honestly say that I don't miss the sleepless nights AT ALL. We loved visiting with Ben and hope to spend lots more time with him but there definitely wasn't any "baby fever" left behind. We are one happy family of three and plan to keep it that way. Period. End of Sentence.

Here's a few shots of Ben and Sophia together. She was so cute with him. She wanted to "pet" him so bad. She also tried to steal a few kisses...but lucky for Ben..she couldn't reach him!

Tickle Me Sophie

This past Christmas I jumped on the Elmo TMX bandwagon. I searched high and low for this fury red creature despite the fact that my then 9 month old daughter would be more interested in the paper he came wrapped in . Constantly checking websites and store shelves for this elusive toy, I was reminded of the great Cabbage Patch Craze of 1985. I remember my own mom standing in never ending lines just for a chance to buy a Cabbage Patch Doll. Well turns out a wonderful lady that I work with picked me up a TMX right before Xmas, and it turns out that Sophia really does LOVE her Elmo. But it's definitely more fun to tickle Sophia. Will ya get a load of that face!

Seriously!?!

I never ever let Sophia have candy. Or chocolate, or cakes, or cookies or anything else "bad" for that matter. It's healthy food only (not that I myself eat only healthy food but I figure that I'm too far gone at this point). But when I saw a woman on my photography board take some photos of her cutie patootie daughter with the ever classic "conversation hearts" I just had to try it. Unforuntately my photo shot didn't turn out even remotely close to hers (bad bad bad lighting). Despite the bad photos, watching Sophia take a few licks of candy was priceless. Here she is looking at her GiGi after I piled the hearts up in front of her. Doesn't it look as though she's saying "seriously?, I can eat these? Are you sure? Mom NEVER lets me eat this stuff!"

Up Up and Away

Doesn't every 10 month old baby do chin-ups in the door way? Mine does when she's with her Papa! She also enjoys touching the ceiling, flipping upside down, swinging by her feet, and flying like Superman through the house. Good thing that Papa loves playing along because that stuff wears a person out! I've always said that she'd make a good gymnast so I guess swinging from the doorway is just early practice for her routine on the uneven bars.

Real Cute

Unfortunately we have a climber on our hands. I turn my back for one second and this is what I see when I turn back. As cute as Sophie B. might look in this picture it deeply disturbs me. I have visions of her falling off something and breaking an arm or leg. The next thing you know we'll be at the ER and they'll be calling in CPS and I'll have to explain that my 10 month old daughter apparently thinks she comes from a family of circus performers! And they probably won't believe me and they will haul me away and Sophia will have to go live with Gypsies. I should have named her Sophie D for Danger. I am either raising a future Olympic gymnast or stunt junkie! What in the world can I do to stop her from climbing? I walked into daycare today and the crazy girl was trying to climb up a wall!!!!! A wall, just a plain ole ordinary wall!