Sofia at 4 (and 4 months)!

Sofia is growing up so fast and it seems even faster now that we have Olivia. She's 42.8 lbs and is 44 inches tall. I'm always struck by how 'big' Sofia is after holding and being with Olivia and Sofia's feet seem huge to me, even though they aren't big for her size. She's certainly a character who is constantly living in her own story. Lately she's "Ava" who is 8 years old or "Nurse Caroline" who is here to check on the baby. She loves to pretend and goes in and out of such characters. She's also just started becoming interested in sounding out words and figuring out how to spell things. Out of nowhere, she'll ask "What does 'horse' start with?" and usually get's it right after sounding it out. She also loves to write words while asking me how to spell whatever it is she's writing. She also just learned how to count to 100 and loves to practice over and over and she's gotten quite good!

Sofia is great with Olivia and really loves her a lot and tries to be helpful. The best part of my day is in the morning when Olivia has eaten and we are "talking" while sitting on the rocking chair and Sofia comes into the room. Olivia's entire face lights up and she smiles at everything Sofia does and says. It's so cute! Sofia is also very helpful while we are driving around and when I ask her if Olivia is asleep, she'll say "She's awake and having a ball." It's so funny and i have no idea where she heard that.

Luckily she's a fairly adventurous eater and we've convinced her that she has to at least try something before proclaiming she doesn't like it. She still loves grilled cheese sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches but also is becoming more open to meat (mainly chicken) and still loves hard boiled eggs, shrimp and salmon and broccoli. Strangely she loves raw onion and will come over asking for slices when I'm cutting them in the kitchen. She also loves olives, capers and carrots yet won't eat apples or pears with their skins on or grapes.

Our beautiful little girl

Olivia at 3 Months...

Our girl is 3 months old and growing so quickly!! She weighs 15.6 lbs., 24 inches and loves looking at everything. She now follows me with her eyes while I walk around the room and usually responds to me calling her name. She has a great smile and really shows them off to Sofia. Whenever Sofia enters the room, Olivia lights up! It's really very cute and Sofia continues to be very sweet with Olivia (although she also is pretty loud). Olivia has started grabbing at toys and holding onto them and really loves to hang onto my or Sofia's hair, which can be painful! She loves sitting up in the Bumbo, and I like putting her in it while I make dinner so I can tell her what I'm doing and distract her from the evening fussiness. She's still an outstanding sleeper at night, going to be at 7:30pm and waking up at 7:15am, although she's still sleeping in a swing. She wakes up in a great mood, even though she's in a soggy diaper and is very hungry. She's such a sweet girl and it seems to be going so much faster than with Sofia...

Look whose 3 months old


Such a cute girl


Not convinced she isn't going to be a thumb sucker


Not so little in her chair anymore...


What a cute gal


Olivia holding her Whubba Nub. She just started holding onto toys this week


Sleeping in her favorite place


Sofia and Olivia


She's just started chewing on her hand this week and at times gets to suck her thumb for a few seconds. She still likes her pacifier when she's ready to drift off to sleep.


A happy girl at 7:15am

Afternoon Tea...

On Saturday, all the gals (and Chandler) went to tea while CK and his dad visited the Baron and went for a short flight. Not really wanting to take four young kids to a super swanky tea venue in downtown Dallas, I found a place in North Dallas called Lavendou which is a French restaurant that offers a late morning tea. We arrived and found it to be completely charming with fantastic tea (made only for the restaurant) and delicious tea sandwiches, homemade scones and great chocolate eclairs. It was a great spread and such a fun way to spend time with the girls (and Chandler).

All of us at our table


With me in the photo this time


Olivia and I


Sofia and her Grandma (I love this picture)!


Yum! Everything was so delicious!


My little tea drinker


Olivia and her Grandma - the best person to stop the fussies!


Chandler


Dessert - the eclairs were divine!

...and Trains

After our outstanding tea, we decided to go to Northpark Mall to see the train exhibit since Sofia and Chandler love anything to do with trains. Of course the Saturday after Thanksgiving isn't really the best time to be hitting the mall and we barely found a parking spot! Once inside we lucked out by being near the train exhibit, which was surprisingly not overrun with people. The kids loved it and I think they could have spent all day watching the trains go. Sofia loved to stand in one spot and make up stories, but would say them very quietly to herself, so I never got to hear exactly where her imagination took her, but I'm so happy she still loves trains and loves to create her own world with them. Olivia fell asleep in my arms and I carried throughout the exhibit since I forgot to include the stroller in the back of the car, but she isn't too heavy (yet!).

Going into the train exhibit


Cynthia and I with Chandler and Sofia totally focused on the trains behind us


Busy watching trains


Sofia, Olivia and me


Sofia with Washington DC in the background


Washington DC


Standing in front of Fountain Place, where her Papa works downtown


Grand Central Station


One very happy train-loving girl


Chandler and Sofia couldn't be happier


The train-loving cousins

Thanksgiving 2011

Sofia and Olivia's Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian arrived on Thanksgiving day, so we decided to take it easy that day and enjoy our Thanksgiving celebration on Friday. We also decided to order our meal from Central Market and make a few favorite sides and desserts so we could enjoy our time together and not spend the entire time in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes. Cynthia made a sweet potato casserole, CK and his Mom made a delicious chocolate chip pecan pie, and I made brussel sprouts and two different kinds of pumpkin pie. CK also made our favorite apple crisp, which he made our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple in our D.C. house. Brenda, CK's cousin's wife brought her flan and two casseroles. So, needless to say, we had plenty of food! My Uncle always printed off a menu for our Thanksgivings together and I decided to do the same, although several of the dishes didn't make it since we had so much food!

We ate around 1:30pm and everything was delicious! After our meal we sat around the table talking before digging into our desserts, which were equally delicious. All said, it was a great day and such fun to be together!

The table setting


CK and Connie's dreamy chocolate chip pecan pie


Olivia and I next to the dining table


Olivia helps CK stir the brussel sprouts


Olivia and me


CK and his mom carving the turkey


Table one full of food


Table two of food!


The kid's table - Chandler, Sofia, Oliver and Brandon G.


The Lee crew


The whole Thanksgiving crew - Andrea and Sara joined us.


Mid-meal.

Cousins

The cousins had a fantastic time together with Sofia and Chandler playing trains non-stop! If Sofia was in another room, Chandler would walk around saying "Sofie, Sofie. Where's Sofie?" which was so cute. They really did great together, especially since they speak the same language (trains)! Jillian was drawn to Olivia and loved pointing at her and saying "Baby". Olivia was happy to be part of all the activity and was usually carried around by Grandma or someone. She didn't miss out on much. We tried to get a picture of all the cousins together on the couch, but weren't really successful at getting all of them looking in the same direction.....

Jillian and Olivia


A fun activity Grandma brought with her for the kiddos - cutting cranberry sauce with cookie cutters


Sofia and Chandler clowning around


Building train track together with Uncle Jay


Chandler and Sofia playing trains....something they spent hours doing together.


A common sight.....toys everywhere! Chandler and Sofia would dump out all the trains, track and toys every morning.


The best photo I captured of the cousins together


The four of us


Cynthia, Jay, Chandler and Jillian


Happy Grandparents and crazy grandkids!