The Lee Family

Olivia at 4 Months....

2011-12-27T21:09:00.009-06:00

Our little one is officially 4 months old and I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! She's 14 lbs 13 ounces (down from last month's weight check) and 25 inches. For some reason, we've come up with the nickname "Boo Bear" for Olivia and it's pretty much all I address her by. Olivia adores her big sister and loves to sit in her Bumbo seat and watch Sofia play with her trains and make up stories. She literally lights up every time she catches Sofia's eye and Sofia is very good to her too. Olivia has really started talking a lot and is a happy little girl, especially if she's being held and carried around the house or wherever else we might be. Not that she doesn't like to sit in her Bumbo seat or in her reclining chair, but she definitely prefers to be carried around a part of whatever is going on. She's pretty easy to smile, even at people she doesn't know and I wonder if she'll be as outgoing as her big sister.

Olivia does have an unusual schedule that seems to be sticking around. First, she's still a fabulous sleeper who goes down like clockwork at 6:30pm or 7pm at the latest and wakes up at either 7:30am or 8am the next morning without a peep in the night usually! Once she's up for the day, she's happy and smily for about an hour after she eats, then she gets fussy and is clearly tired. She'll sleep for 20 to 45 minutes and then is up until she goes through the whole thing again after eating. So, I don't get the long breaks that I enjoyed with Sofia, but frankly we'd rather have the great nights if we had to choose.

We took her to her 4 month pediatrician appointment where she got three shots and handled it well. Dr. Hopkins kept telling us that she looks great and is obviously healthy and thriving.

Our "Boo Bear" at 4 months

Such a cutie!

Her close-up

Happy on her tummy

Tummy Time

Standing up with a little help from Papa

Sitting up on her own....

....although not for long!

Getting weighed and measured by the nurse

Waiting for Dr. Hopkins to look her over

Dr. Hopkins checking out our healthy little girl

Santa Claus Was in Town!

2011-12-25T05:58:00.016-06:00

The first one awake on Christmas morning was Olivia around 7:30, so CK and I were in her room getting her a new diaper and feeding her when Sofia came into her room a short time later. She apparently never even noticed whether Santa made it into our house or not! So, when CK asked if Santa had visited she raced out of Olivia's room and into the living room and we could here her exclamation that Santa had, in fact, been to our house! Immediately, Sofia noticed that Santa had gotten her the two things she wanted most - a volcano and James the train! She was overjoyed! Santa had also gotten her a yellow seaplane that came with a 4-wheeler, outdoorsman and his camping goodies. Otherwise, Santa brought a lot of little goodies. She had a great time setting up the seaplane and having the outdoorsman drive around on his 4-wheeler....to the train track where he would get on the train and ride off. Sofia was so very happy with her new goodies from Santa.

CK helped Olivia open up her stocking which included a new outfit, a new swimsuit for our trip to Maui and a few little toys.

Papa and Sofia checking out the volcano

A very happy girl with her volcano!

One of my great gifts from CK - a chalkboard chicken! I LOVE it!!

Merry Christmas...bock, bock!

Sofia and her new seaplane

Playing with her seaplane

Olivia opens up her stocking of goodies

A new swimsuit for our trip to Maui.

All of us ready for Meeting

CK and Olivia

Olivia and me

Such a pretty girl

Trying to capture a smile on film....

Opening Christmas Presents

2011-12-25T05:58:00.014-06:00

We decided to open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, leaving a few for when we opened gifts with Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve. We made up an appetizer platter, built a big fire, sat in the living room and took turns opening our presents. Sofia and Olivia easily have the most gifts, so we had Sofia start off. She picked a gift from CK and I, which ended up being the game "CandyLand." Of course, Olivia's gifts all had to be "explained" and played with by Sofia so she could demonstrate how the worked for her baby sister. It was a fun evening full of a lot of great gifts and fun toys. The best part of the evening was spending time together and watching Sofia's excitement and pleasure at each new gift.

Sofia still loves to open each gift and play with it rather than go from gift to gift. I remember last year thinking that she wouldn't enjoy each gift for very long, but am glad that she still does. So, it took quite some time to get through the gift opening process and we ended up leaving a lot for her to open when Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve arrive. She really loved all of her new gifts, but the one thing that she kept going back to was the Thomas Train book that her Grandma and Grandpa sent. She would open a new gift and play with it for a few minutes and then pick up the Thomas Train book and pretend to read it while CK and I were opening gifts of helping Olivia with one of hers. She's still a huge train fan so it was the perfect gift!

We put Olivia to bed and then set out the milk and cookies for Santa. I'd made several different kinds of cookies the previous days to give out as gifts to neighbors and friends and we made up a little mixed cookie plate for Santa to enjoy. After setting the cookies and milk by the fireplace, Sofia was off to bed.

Papa and his gals

Me and my gals

Olivia and the appetizers

Sofia opening the first gift of the evening - the CandyLand game

"Teaching" Olivia how her new toy works

Olivia opens her own present!

Checking out her new Mickey and Minny Mouse toys from Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay

Sofia still opening presents...

Olivia and all of her great gifts!!

Sofia looking through one of her books

Setting out the cookies and milk for Santa

A snowball, chocolate crinkle, Aunt Shirl's cranberry pecan cookie, and gingerbread cookie all set for Santa's arrival.

Playing with her Christmas Train

2011-12-24T21:41:00.004-06:00

CK and Sofia set up her Christmas train a few days ago (her BIG present from Grandma and Grandpa last year and her very favorite toy ever) in the living room and Sofia has been completely consumed with it since. She spends literally hours talking out loud with a made up a story while stopping and running the train. She uses her Thomas trains as well as her toy animals as props for her stories and can't get enough of her train time. She's also gotten quite good at putting the engine and cars on the track so they line up properly and can run without derailing. Olivia enjoys watching her big sister play and the train go around the track.

The train comes into the station

Sofia opens the boxcar door

Off it goes again

Olivia watching the activity

Putting the cars back onto the track

Making sure they are all on properly

Off it goes!

Visiting Santa at Bass Pro

2011-12-23T21:41:00.007-06:00

On Friday we decided to visit Santa (nothing like two days before Christmas). We went the prior Sunday after Meeting, but the wait time was several hours and we didn't feel like either waiting or returning after getting all settled at home. So, Friday morning we dressed the girls up and went to pancakes before heading to Bass Pro to see Santa...along with half of Texas. It was still crowded and the wait was still a few hours, so we ran errands and returned just before our scheduled visit time. CK and Olivia waited in line while Sofia and I rode the carousel, visited the craft area and played with the train to pass the time. Bass Pro has an outstanding set up for kids to write letters to Santa, draw, do crafts and it's beautifully decorated. The wait wasn't too bad and Sofia was so excited to see Santa and let him know what she wants for Christmas.

Papa and Sofia at the pancake house

Olivia and I

Riding the reindeer carousel

Olivia snoozing

Sofia "the reindeer" mets a "real" reindeer - she insisted on wearing her reindeer antlers to see Santa and has been wearing them around the house for days.

Playing with the train. I love this picture - Sofia at the controls while all the boys watch and want to take control.

Writing a letter to Santa. She asked me to write "Dear Santa, I would like a train and volcano. Thank you" and signed her name

Olivia is awake!

Sofia drawing a train

Almost there - In line to see Santa with just a few kids in front of us.

Santa and the girls. Sofia was so excited to sit on Santa's lap and Olivia didn't cry, although she kept looking up at him like "Now, who are you?"

Sofia about 5 minutes after we got back into the car......a very tiring day!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

2011-12-19T21:32:00.005-06:00

CK's birthday this year fell on Monday and he asked for a nice steak, mashed potato and asparagus dinner followed by his favorite, red velvet cake. So, that morning Sofia and I set off to make his cake. It turned out well except that I ran out of red food coloring so the cake itself looked rather pink (but it still tasted fine). While I frosted the cake, I set Sofia down with the card she picked out for him and told her where to sign her name and suggested that she draw him a picture. Before I knew it she'd sealed it and written "PAPA" on the envelope.

After CK got home, we took a few photos before putting Olivia to bed and then enjoyed our dinner together. Before she'd even put her fork down, Sofia was ready to start in on the cake! So, we lit candles that read "43" and sang to Papa and then we enjoyed his red velvet cake and vanilla ice cream. After, we sat in the living room while he opened his gifts: a very generous gift certificate to his favorite store, Orvis and a flying book from his parents and two Orvis shirts from his girls and one from me. He's not easy to shop for, except I know he pretty much loves anything from Orvis so that helps. The card from Sofia was absolutely adorable and she explained the drawing to be her and Papa holding hands and me and baby sister holding hands. Very sweet! Happy Birthday, Papa!!

Sofia with the red velvet cake

Papa and Olivia just after he got home from work

Papa and his two girls

Papa, Olivia and me

Make a wish!!

Sofia liked playing with the candles as much as eating the cake (really just the frosting for her)

Opening presents

The card from Sofia

Papa and Sofia holding hands (on the top) and Baby Sister and me holding hands (on the bottom)

Helping Papa open his gifts....

This is how I find my thumb...

2011-12-19T21:25:00.005-06:00

In the past few days Olivia has started sucking her right hand thumb on occasion, usually just as she goes to bed. However, at times she also decides to suck on it during the day. We're not sure if it's really a soothing device for her or just something really interesting that she's figured out how to find. It is cute how she finds it though and I actually was able to catch it on video! So, here is goes!

Our Gingerbread House

2011-12-18T21:54:00.004-06:00

I decided last year that building a gingerbread house would be a Christmas tradition and we had such a fun time together building our first last year. The tradition goes back many years with me, sort of. I can't remember a year when my Mom and I weren't making elaborate plans to build the best gingerbread house ever (from scratch), but somehow we never actually did one. One year when I was in high school and my Mom was recovering from back surgery, my Grandma and I made one and that was the only year that we did it. So, I decided I really want it to be a part of our holiday celebrations. This year it's been so crazy that we finally found some time on Sunday afternoon, even though I think all three of us were so tired and just wanted to relax. However, I was determined so I set everything out on the coffee table and we started to decorate. We did have a problem with the gingerbread kit's icing - it was too thick and was very difficult to spread, so it took a lot of effort to spread it out and use it to decorate. Sofia soon lost interest and after I took a few pictures, I ended up going off and doing something else while CK did a great job decorating the house. Next year we'll be a little more focus (and have better royal icing!

The gingerbread house and all it's decorations

Sofia and Papa are all set to decorate

Getting started

Sofia liked making a "waterfall" with the frosting

Papa, the master decorator, hard at work

The finished house

It's beautiful!

Olivia's First Baron Flight

2011-12-11T22:12:00.006-06:00

Yesterday CK took Olivia on her very first Baron flight! CK had plans to meet his flying buddies at Lancaster airport for lunch so they could drool over the new paint job, and we all decided to go so that Olivia could enjoy her first flight (or if she didn't enjoy it, we'd know now instead of the first long trip we took). Plus, I wanted to get some good photos of the Baron with it's new paint job. As usual, Sofia was very excited and "helped" CK pre-flight the airplane. Once we were ready, we loaded up and the girls and I got comfortable in the back seat. CK cranked up the plane and Olivia was oblivious. The flight took under 15 minutes and Olivia was very content to sit in my arms and look around. I know if the flight was longer Olivia would have been asleep (and Sofia for that matter). We had a nice lunch with CK's flying buddies and after talking about planes and looking at every painted surface of the Baron, we headed back to Arlington. After we arrived in Arlington, we took some "glam" shots of the Baron, although the background could have been a lot more interesting....It was a fun excursion and now we are ready for our first real trip somewhere with two girls.

Sofia "helping" CK get the plane ready

The girls and me...

Olivia and her pilot Papa

Looking down on the Texas scenery

A very content little girl

Sofia clowning around under the wing

Infront of the Baron at Lancaster Airport

CK and his pilot friends

All of us next to the Baron

Me and my girls in the backseat

CK and his "new" Baron - the glam shots

I love this picture!!

Decorating Christmas Gifts

2011-12-09T22:13:00.006-06:00

Given that I have a big family, I always try to either make gifts (usually dozens of cookies that I package up and send out which is completely exhausting) or try to come up with something that is nice and doesn't break the bank after I've bought enough for five siblings and three sets of Aunts and Uncles.... This year, I must confess I sort of stole the idea from my brother and his wife, Pancho and Julie. Last year they sent us a box of chocolates and a wood frame that was obviously decorated by their kids along with a photo of their three kids. I love it and love gifts like that since our kid's youth is so fleeting and the may not enjoy doing crafts like that for too many years. Plus, I know from all of my "Joy" ornaments, several of which I made when I was little, that it's fun to be reminded of prior Christmas memories and reflect on the year that has just passed.

So, with that in mind, we headed to Michael's and stocked up on frames, paint brushes, red and green paint and decorations to add to the frame. Then, one day I set up our dining room table so Sofia could paint her frames. She was so excited and loves to paint or draw, however, she generally likes to layer every color on top of each other so that she basically ends up with a black or darn brown drab creation. So, I told her for this craft she had to paint the whole frame either red or green but couldn't mix them. She was fine with that rule and got busy. While she painted she made up some sort of story and talked her way through her creations.

Hard at work creating

Our little Picasso

She really loves to paint or draw and I should set out such crafts for her to do more often

Moving on to green

Sofia and Her Stories....

2011-12-09T07:15:00.002-06:00

Here is Sofia creating some sort of story while she paints Christmas gifts. I really love just listening to her stories, which are usually about trains. I had to cut this one short since you'll notice I had another little girl who needed my attention....

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2011-12-06T21:48:00.007-06:00

We decided to use one of the professional photos of all of us from when Olivia was first born for our Christmas card this year, but when I found the card I liked had room for two more photos I decided to make my own photo shoot of the girls to include recent photos of them on our card as well. We had about a week of very cold weather after Thanksgiving and I knew I had to await for a decent day before sending them outside in their Christmas dresses to take photos. Finally, we had a clear morning and it wasn't too cold so I got them both dressed and we headed down to our little pond for our photo shoot. It went better than I anticipated and Sofia did a great job of holding Olivia AND smiling AND looking at the camera! Olivia, for her part didn't fuss at all and I actually captured a few photos of her looking my way.

After, we returned to the house where I took a few photos of them with their heads together. I think I captured a few good shots - either way they will be heading out on our Christmas card this year!

Olivia is wearing a red silk dress that was Sofia's and is one of my favorites. However, since it's silk it's really slick so Sofia had a hard time holding her without pulling her dress up too high. Needless to say, we didn't use this one on our card.

Such cute girls

The girls with the fountain

One of the two used for our card

Sofia by herself - such a big girl now!

Our girls! I really love this one, but Sofia's hands are in a weird place

The other photo we used for our card

There was a similar photo at the hospital of the older and younger feet but I couldn't really capture it....

Decorating Gingerbread Men

2011-12-02T21:32:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we met our friends at the Gaylord Texan where we walked around the atrium and enjoyed the amazing lights and Christmas decorations. Of course, Sofia was glued to the trains that are set up in the atrium and probably didn't even notice the rest of the decorations. It's absolutely magical this time of year and since it was a Thursday, there was practically no one there which was great since the weekends can feel like the middle of Time Square. After enjoying the atrium and taking photos of each other, we headed over to the gingerbread decorating house. We were the only ones there and had a great table. The kids were really excited but I think Sofia was even more excited to meet Gingy, the gingerbread man.

After meeting Gingy, the kids got busy decorating their two cookies. Sofia basically dumped all the decorations on her first gingerbread man and then wanted to eat him. I must confess we hadn't really had a true lunch yet so I know she was hungry. The second one she decorated became "Princess Anna" which she brought with her everywhere, until a few days later she got stepped on in the car and had to be thrown out. Again, Sofia wanted to eat her once she was broken into pieces but she had literally been everywhere with us for two or three days by that point so there so was no way. Since Princess Anna's demise, Sofia has asked when we are going to decorate our own gingerbread princesses.

Sofia watching the trains

Me and my girls

Olivia and I

Sofia and her friends Milani, Gigi, and Thomas

Gingy! Sofia nearly knocked him down with a hug when she first saw him

The decorating begins!

Adding frosting....notice the bite out of her gingerbread man's head!

All decorated! Now can we eat him!?!

Moms and cookie decorators

Princess Anna

Sofia and her finished creation

Princess Anna and her decorations

Princess Anna the next morning with Sofia and Olivia

Sofia at 4 (and 4 months)!

2011-11-28T13:07:00.005-06:00

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...

2011-11-28T13:06:00.007-06:00

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...

2011-11-27T13:09:00.007-06:00

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

2011-11-27T10:50:00.005-06:00

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

2011-11-26T13:08:00.007-06:00

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

2011-11-26T10:52:00.008-06:00

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!

Olivia's First 5K

2011-11-24T22:19:00.005-06:00

On Thanksgiving morning, Olivia and I did our first 5K together. Some of my girlfriends and I talked about doing a 5K and decided to do a "homemade" one and stay local rather than traveling to Arlington on Ft. Worth for a very busy 5K. We met at a park about 15 minutes from our house at the reasonable hour of 9am and did the 5K. It was a beautiful and crisp morning, which was perfect for the race. My friend Michelle and I ended up walking it while the others ran, all of us pushing kiddos in jogging strollers. Olivia fell asleep just after we started out and woke up just as we finished, so she had a very relaxed race! It was a fun and hilly course and a great start to Thanksgiving day! Meanwhile, Sofia and CK headed to check on the Baron before picking up Sofia's Grandparents at the airport.

Getting ready to head out

All bundled up for a crisp morning

Michelle, Milani, Olivia (under her blanket) and me ready for our "race"

With Katie, who really organized the whole thing

Michelle and Milani out on the course

Olivia and me

A sleepy little girl

Southlake Tree Lighting

2011-11-20T13:06:00.004-06:00

Last night was the Southlake tree lighting ceremony and we met up with Thelma, Harvey, Isabella and Nicole to watch the festivities. We arrived at the Southlake Town Center, along with half of Texas, around 6pm and tried to get into the holiday season even though it was very warm out. Isabella and Sofia enjoyed running around while we waited for it to get dark. Once dark, Santa came out onto the City Hall balcony and lit the Christmas tree in the Square. After, we went to our favorite pizza place and the girls continued to have fun running around on the lawn, since we were able to sit outside and eat our dinner.

Isabella and Sofia

Olivia missed the whole event!

Sofia and her Papa

All four of us

With Harvey, Thelma, Isabella and Nicole

"She Looks Just Like Sofia...."

2011-11-13T21:18:00.012-06:00

We hear that from just about everyone, so decided to do a little photo comparison of our girls....Looking at the photos, I do see the very strong resemblance, but somehow I don't see it as much on a daily basis when I'm interacting with Olivia. So, here are our two gals..

Sofia at 8 weeks....

and Olivia at 8 weeks....

Sofia at 8 weeks...

Olivia at 8 weeks...

Sofia at 7 weeks with her Grandma.

Olivia at 8 weeks with her Grandma.

Olivia at 10 weeks with her Mommy.

Sofia at 6 weeks with her Papa in the Baron.

Olivia at 10 weeks with her Papa in the Baron.

Our Crafty Girl

2011-11-13T20:54:00.004-06:00

We recently bought a paint-your-own cupcake magnet set and Sofia has loved painting the six magnets! She painted the first few with a mixture of colors and they turned out pretty cute. However, the next time I put them out for her to paint them, she decided to paint each one a solid color (black), letting it dry and then painting it the next color in the paint pack (brown). She did this with every color until the magnet was completely covered in thick icky paint! But, it was something for her to work on and the first few turned out very cute.

Picking out her color

Washing out her paintbrush (which she didn't do the first time)

Our pretty painter

Picking out yet another color

Hard at work!

The New and Improved Baron

2011-11-13T20:53:00.004-06:00

On Saturday, CK flew the much anticipated "new" Baron back from it's paint job in Arizona. The Baron went off for it's new paint job the day before I had Olivia and since then CK has been pregnant with anticipation! The painter has sent photos of his work to show CK the progress and he's been so excited to watch it come together. Finally, it was finished and he flew out to get it on Friday. He flew back Saturday afternoon and couldn't be more happy to have the "new" plane back. It really looks fantastic and he swears it flies better too!

The new paint job

With his girls - Sofia, Olivia and "Cutie" - Sofia's name for the Baron.

Olivia checks out the Baron for the first time

The gals in the Baron with their Papa

Sofia tests out the new step

Olivia with CK's friend Arren, who came out to check out the new paint job.

Our Little "Talker"

2011-11-04T07:47:00.001-05:00

Olivia has really started "talking" and smiling and is at her best just after her morning feeding. I took this little video yesterday morning on the changing table....Enjoy!

Olivia at 2 Months

2011-11-02T06:41:00.007-05:00

Today was supposed to be Olivia's 2 month appointment with her pediatrician, however, we had a little snafu with our insurance (we forgot to add her to our policy). So while that's being worked out I decided to go ahead and measure her to see how she's growing.

Here are her stats:

Head circumference: 15 3/4 inches
Length: 23 inches
Weight: 13.8 lbs

Every day Olivia seems to be "coming alive" and is in a great mood after her feedings, especially once she's awake around 730-830am. She stretches on the changing table, smiles and coos and is so happy and willing to "talk." Every day she "talks" more and more.

In the past three nights she's become an amazing sleeper! She was sleeping from 10pm until 330 or 4am, but starting on Sunday night she's now ready for bed around 8:30pm, after a bath and feeding, goes to sleep (in the swing still) and sleeps until 530/6am! Plus, I lay her down in the swing with her eyes open, although she's obviously very tired. I sometimes have to go back in and give her her pacifier for a minute, but otherwise she goes to sleep without a hitch. The real test will be moving her to her crib. After her early morning feeding, she wakes up 3 hours later for her next feeding. CK calls her "Little Olivia Alarm Clock" because she's so consistent. It's so great to have a full nights sleep and thinking back 5 or 6 weeks ago, I never imagined we'd have such a successful sleeper so early!

She's now into size 2 diapers and also tends to drool a lot. She usually eats, stays awake and is happy and "talkative" for about an hour or more and then is ready to sleep.

She's growing up so fast!

Olivia in the Bumbo - She loves to watch while Sofia plays with her trains or be in the middle of whatever we are doing

Wearing a sweater my Mom knit for Sofia. It was in the 30s one morning and this sweater kept her warm and cozy (plus she looks so cute in it).

Our little snow angel

Look at that belly! Olivia loves her evening bath and kicks her legs in the water.

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T07:41:00.018-05:00

On Halloween night we dressed our little ladybugs up and headed over to Sofia's friend Isabella's house to trick-or-treat, since our neighborhood is so small. One of my friends hosted a chili/trick-or-treat party and it would have been great fun to go with a big group of Sofia's friends, but she lives about 20 minutes away and we were worried that we might need to get home to put Olivia to bed, etc. Hopefully next year we can make it.

We started trick-or-treating around 6pm and Sofia and Isabella had a fantastic time! Sofia just couldn't get enough - she was having so much fun running from house to house and saying "Trick-or-Treat" and would finish with "Thank you. Happy Halloween" after she received her candy. She wanted to eat the candy immediately at the first few houses we visited, but after that she was in the swing of candy collection. The neighborhood was a good one too, and several houses were decorated for Halloween, with a few really well done. While the girls trick-or-treated and we walked behind them, Olivia was perfectly happy to be pushed in her stroller and soon fell asleep. It was a really fun night and Sofia had the best time!

Our little ladybug girl.....the apple on her forehead is from a window decorating set her Grandma gave her and made her a "super ladybug" or something....

Grandma and her ladybugs

Mommy and her ladybugs

The four of us

Telling Isabella a secret

A ladybug and princess

The littlest ladybug all cozy in her stroller

The girls with Nicole

The very first house!! How exciting!

Papa and Olivia

One of the really well done houses!

Trick-or-Treat!

Snoozing ladybug

Finishing up for the night

Grandma's Visit

2011-11-01T07:41:00.014-05:00

Sofia and Olivia's Grandma visited us for a week, from October 25th through November 1st. She came out to go with us to Convention, which was Thursday through Sunday, and was so helpful hanging out with the girls and pushing Sofia on the swings. She's such a huge help when she visits that it's such a luxury to have her visit. Sofia loves that Grandma gives her a bath, reads stories and puts her to bed every night that she's here, and Olivia really started "talking" with her Grandma. It was fun having her visit over Halloween too, so she could watch Sofia dress up and trick-or-treat. We really had a great visit and the girls loved having her here as much as CK and I did. We can't wait to see her (and Grandpa) again at Thanksgiving!

Grandma and Olivia

Grandma and her ladybugs on Halloween

Halloween hugs

Precious picture together

With Olivia while out trick-or-treating

With Olivia at Gloria's for an early birthday dinner.

Blowing out her birthday candle....with some help from Sofia and Oliver

Enjoying early birthday cake with Oliver and Sofia

A goodbye hug.

Little Ladybug

2011-10-26T22:20:00.005-05:00

Today Sofia has her school Halloween festival so she gets to wear her costume to school. In the afternoon, all the kiddos will do crafts, decorate sugar cookies (and eat them), play games, and trick-or-treat at each of the classrooms. Sofia loves wearing her ladybug costume and has enjoyed it many times around the house since we bought it several weeks ago. Our neighbors gave Olivia a little "Trick or Treat" onsie, so I dressed her in it to take pictures of the girls together. Our little ladybug is so cute and the girls are adorable together!

Sofia and Olivia

A close up of our girls

Giving little sister a kiss

Ladybug girl!

Ready for fun!

Sofia's Fall Festival at School

2011-10-26T22:19:00.007-05:00

Today Sofia had her Fall Festival at school, which means she got to wear her Halloween costume. She makes such a cute ladybug. Sofia and Olivia's Grandma is visiting, so she watched Olivia at home while I went to Sofia's Festival. It was great fun! When I arrived, her class was in the middle of doing games in the main room of school. They tossed bean bags through a pumpkin face, played pass the pumpkin (which was not as fast moving as it should have been....), and then returned to their class. Once in class, they colored a witch mask, decorated sugar cookies, and took a class picture. Finally, the class lined up and joined the rest of the school in trick or treating at each classroom. All the kids chanted "Dulces, Dulces, Dulces" (Sweets, sweets, sweets) while going around the room.

Before school started, we ran into Sofia's good friends - Lilly, Maggie, and Matheus

The pumpkins decorated by the different classes

Sofia's class decorated the following two pumpkins...

Sofia tossing the bean bag through the pumpkin

Playing pass the pumpkin

Coloring the witch mask

Sofia's class

Sofia and Maggie

Getting ready to trick or treat

Sofia getting some candy

Sofia, her friends, and my friends (their moms)....

One very tired ladybug....she fell asleep less than five minutes after we left school

Olivia at 8 weeks

2011-10-24T22:03:00.005-05:00

Our little Olivia is 8 weeks old and growing so quickly! We weighed her on Saturday and she is an even 13 lbs already! Her two month pediatrician appointment isn't until November 3rd, so we won't know her percentiles until then, and I can't wait to see how much she's grown! She's becoming so alert and is awake during the day a lot more than we remember from Sofia. She loves to watch whatever Sofia is doing, even when Sofia is an inch from her face and talking to her about trains. During the day as long as she's fed, she's awake and happy but once she's getting tired she tends to cry and fight sleep until all at once she's out! She went through a fussy time at night the past two weeks but seems to be out of it now, with the past three nights being calm. Hopefully she's done.

On Sunday night we moved her swing into her room, set up the video monitor, and she slept for the first time in her room. We gave her a bath, I fed her, and laid her down in the swing sleepy but still awake and walked out of her room at 9:30pm. Amazingly she slept until almost 4am! We couldn't believe it and I kept waking up and checking the monitor to be sure she was ok. It was such a treat to get that much sleep in one stretch and after I fed her she went right back to sleep until 7:30am, when we all have to get going to get Sofia to school on time. Hopefully she continues having such great nights of sleep!

Such a pretty 8 week old

She's getting so big next to her stuffed animals

Sweet girl

This is one of my absolute favorite outfits that Sofia wore, but I think Sofia wore it when she was 3 months old and already at 8 weeks, it is barely fitting Olivia in the length! She's really growing long fast!

She's getting bigger in her chair

Fun with Friends

2011-10-17T22:21:00.006-05:00

Yesterday we met up with Sofia's good friends Isabella and Milani at the Bob Jones Fall Festival. Bob Jones Nature Center is this great little hidden treasure in Southlake, near the edge of Lake Grapevine. It's a nature preserve that offers nature classes that include crafts, hikes, and lessons on various animals. Sofia has been taking Friday morning classes at Bob Jones since mid-September and has learned about Opossums, Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Raccoons, Owls, etc. She absolutely loves the classes and asks nearly everyday when she gets to go back to Bob Jones. It reminds me a lot of my experiences of science classes and hikes taken when I was growing up in central California. I love that she's getting to learn about nature in such a setting and wish I'd discovered it sooner.

At the Fall Festival they had a petting zoo, story time, a sand lot to dig around in, different crafts, and of course, face painting! Sofia can't pass up the chance to get her face painted and these were no ordinary face painters! They really did beautiful art on these kiddo's faces. So, we stood in line for maybe 30 minutes waiting to get a butterfly on Sofia's face. Finally, she made to one of the face painters and it was amazing to watch the lady work. By the end Sofia had a beautiful butterfly on her face and all three girls ended up getting butterflies!

Sofia and her butterfly

Isabella, Milani and Sofia and their butterflies

Such pretty girls!

Our beautiful butterfly girl!

Clowning around

Olivia at 7 Weeks

2011-10-16T07:12:00.007-05:00

Our girl is 7 weeks old and the weeks seem to be flying by! She certainly seems to be growing up so much faster than Sofia did....maybe because we know what to expect now. She's in the middle of being fussy at night, with a lot of crying that lasts maybe an hour or so and nothing seems to calm her down despite our rocking, swaying, bouncing. Sofia went through the same thing so we're hoping it ends soon. She's only been doing it for a few days, so we hope it doesn't last long. Otherwise, she's a pleasant little girl who is content to just hang out on her chair and watch whatever Sofia does.

Look at those cheeks!

Getting bigger

You can see her "stork bite" on her forehead. That little red area really turns red when she's upset and makes a "V" shape until she's calmed down.

With Mommy

Tummy time - she loves to lay on her tummy and really tries to move around. Unlike Sofia, she stays awake on her tummy.

Her First Smile!

2011-10-09T21:58:00.003-05:00

Today Olivia gave her Papa her very first smile! I did see it, but wasn't able to get a picture of the huge grin she gave him, but it was great! We're hoping to see many more in the coming days and weeks. Here is a picture of a little smile she gave just after her big one!

Olivia's First Bath

2011-10-09T19:55:00.004-05:00

We FINALLY gave Olivia her first full bath after days of little sponge baths. I wanted to be sure that we all were able to wash Olivia, so I didn't want to do it during the week while CK was at work. So, we finally found a Saturday morning and washed our little girl. We were both expecting a repeat of Sofia's first bath experience which included a lot of crying and unhappiness, however, Olivia LOVED it! I think she could have stayed in her bath all day (or until the water cooled down). It was fun to watch her enjoy it so much while we cleaned her up.

Our little girl in the tub

Scrubbing her clean

A close-up of our happy girl

Washing her body

Cleaning her back....

Washing her hair

Drying off with Papa

A very happy, and clean, baby!

Carving Pumpkins

2011-10-08T19:09:00.005-05:00

We returned home with our new pumpkins and decided to carve them. Although we generally buy pumpkins prior to Halloween, we've never actually carved them with Sofia. We took the pumpkins outside, set them on newspaper, and started cleaning them out. Meanwhile, Sofia took her markers and started drawing all over the pumpkins to decorate them. I showed her how to separate out the seeds, which we later roasted.

Finally it was time to carve! We have a carving kit that includes different templates to use for carving, so I asked Sofia which eyes, nose, and mouth we should have on our pumpkin. Once she decided, we drew on the pumpkin's face and started to carve. Meanwhile, CK carved his own pumpkin that turned out really cute! It was such a fun day! I roasted the pumpkin seeds, which neither CK nor Sofia had tried before. They turned out to be a good snack.

Sofia decorating the pumpkin with her markers

Hard at work decorating!

Cleaning out our pumpkins

The finished pumpkins

Sofia and my creation (that big space on the side is supposed to be the outline of a cat).

Papa's pumpkin!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-08T13:24:00.011-05:00

This year we visited the pumpkin patch earlier in October than we normally do. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so after a breakfast of pancakes, we headed over to play at the pumpkin patch and pick out a few pumpkins to carve. The pumpkin patch is only a few miles from our house and is one of the last working farms in the city. They put on a great pumpkin patch too, complete with a corn maze, hay rides to feed the cows (only in the evenings, so we'll have to return to do it), little tractors for the kids to ride around a track, an old truck and tractor to take pictures on, a little hay bale house, a play structure for the kids, popcorn and snacks for sale, and of course, lots of pumpkins!

Sofia loves it and I'm convinced she would spend the entire day there if we let her. We made the rounds, as we normally do, so she could ride the tractors and play in the hay bale house and play structure. Finally we picked out two pumpkins to take home and carve. Sofia also picked out three little pumpkins.

Sofia and Olivia at the pumpkin patch.....Olivia wasn't as enamored as Sofia.

Our girls

A close up...as Olivia tells us she's done!

Sofia in the old truck! I love this photo!

Such a ham!

Mommy and Olivia

My girls and I!

Papa and his girls!

I love this photo!

A close-up of my three favorite people!

Sofia pulling the pumpkins we selected.

Olivia and our pumpkins....she slept through the entire experience.

Such a happy sleeper.

Olivia at 6 Weeks

2011-10-08T13:23:00.007-05:00

Our little girl is 6 weeks old and growing up so quickly! She weighs 12.2 lbs already and most of her "Newborn" clothes don't fit her any more because she's so long now, while most of her "0-3 month" clothes will likely not fit her much longer. She seems to be growing longer faster than I remember with Sofia. She's really starting to become much more aware of her surroundings and loves to look around and stare off into the distance. She particularly loves looking out the window or at lights, although she also loves looking at patterns (she loves my robe). She's happy to enjoy looking around after she's eaten and seems to really be taking it all in. We're convinced her first smile is just around the corner and she's particularly responsive to CK. She's a good little girl and changing so quickly!

Not such a little girl anymore

Such a cutie!

Sort of a smile....

Stretching!

It's just so hard being a little girl!

Olivia at 5 Weeks

2011-10-02T07:20:00.006-05:00

She's 5 weeks old and has entered into the "fussy" stage that it seems all infants get into.... The interesting thing about Olivia is that she's very alert and is often awake for hours without a nap (unlike Sofia, who slept constantly other than when she was eating at this age). Plus, she tends to fight sleep for a bit during the day, needing either to be in the sling and walked around or cuddled with the pacifier. Once she's asleep though, she'll sleep a good chunk. However, if we're running around, in and out of the car, she tends to stay awake for long stretches and then by the afternoon she's so exhausted that she can't go to sleep! So, she cries...sometimes for a long time. So, my goal is to ensure that she gets good long naps during the day and she's usually fine at night without any crying.

As far as her nighttime sleep, she's a champ! She usually nurses around 9 or 10pm, depending on when she last ate, and then will often go 4, or sometimes 5, hours before her next feeding, After that, she's very consistently eating every 3 hours. So, a typical night will include a feeding at 10pm, 2 or 3am, then 5 or 6am...so, it isn't too bad thankfully! Plus, she eats and goes directly back to sleep, so we are all getting a decent night of sleep.

Olivia is already a Papa's gal. He can hold her and calm her down much more quickly than I can and doesn't fuss as much when he's getting her dressed or changing a diaper, unlike with me. She's also started to coo with CK, something I haven't yet seen. With me, Olivia thinks I'm her meal delivery, so she generally tries to suck on my shoulder, arm, shirt, etc whenever I hold her, even if she's recently eaten. So, it works out well that CK hangs out with her after work and gives me a break. If she's fussy when he gets home he's usually able to calm her down, something I still can't do very quickly. So, I'm very thankful for our different abilities.

Olivia at 5 weeks

Olivia's close-up

Little girl in a big chair

Olivia and her big sister

Sofia loves holding Olivia

Our girls!

Papa and his littlest gal

Olivia at 4 Weeks

2011-09-25T07:19:00.004-05:00

Our little girl is growing and gaining weight! I decided to weigh Olivia on her one month birthday to see how she's progressing and was shocked to find that she's now 10 pounds 4 ounces!! That was fast! She also moved out of Newborn size diapers and into Size 1. Looking back even to the previous week's photos is shocking at the difference of how much she seems to have grown. She's doing really well and we're enjoying having an infant in the house much more than we did with Sofia, simply because we know what to expect and are much more relaxed about the whole process. Plus, there's always Sofia to entertain us (and baby sister).

Last week, on the advice of our pediatrician, we had an ultrasound of Olivia's hips done at the hospital because there is some chance that girls who are born in the breach position can develop hip dysplasia which causes more problems down the road. After, I took her to a pediatric orthopedic who looked over the ultrasound and recommended that we put little Olivia into a Pavlik Harness (google it - it looks like an early torture device) for up to 8 weeks! Needles to say, it was a very upsetting diagnosis and difficult to believe that she would wear the harness without notice, as the doctors kept saying. We decided on a second opinion and thanks to CK's boss, we were able to go to Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas which is on the cutting edge of childhood bone and muscular issues. Thankfully, the pediatric orthopedic there, Dr. Rathjen, looked over the ultrasound images and suggested that we reevaluate the decision in a month. He felt that the mild problem he saw on the ultrasound would correct itself naturally in a matter of weeks, however, if it doesn't or gets worse, she'll have to wear the harness. He didn't feel that she'll need to wear it though, thankfully! So, at only a few weeks old, we've already been through our first stressful parenting event with Olivia. Otherwise, Olivia is doing great and we're enjoying our infant before she's a big girl like her sister!

She doesn't suck her thumb, but when she's hungry (like in the photo), she tries to chew on her hand....

"Mom, I'm hungry!"

Such a little girl in a big chair!

Look at those big eyes - they are blue, although they don't look it in this photo.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

2011-09-21T22:16:00.005-05:00

For my birthday, we asked our wonderful babysitter Megan to come watch the girls while we went out to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant with our friends Harvey and Thelma. Megan brought her Mom with her to help out (and to meet Olivia). We ended up being out for just over 2 hours and it was a nice, but somewhat strange, break. It was a fantastic meal with great friends, but also felt strange to be away from the gals. Olivia did great and slept the entire time we were gone, while Sofia was busy playing with trains (we told Megan she didn't have to worry about putting Sofia to bed). It was a very nice birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday with gifts....holding the two best gifts in the world!

My sweet girls!

CK and me just before we head out...

Olivia at 3 Weeks

2011-09-18T17:07:00.005-05:00

Here is Olivia at three weeks, although she doesn't quite look so "round" but I couldn't get her positioned any better, so she's a bit squished up. She's a good eater and tends to go three hours between feedings and has gone up to four hours at night, which is great! We did move her and the bassinet out into the living room because her cute little baby groans and squeaks keep both of us up all night. So far, it's going well.

Our little big girl

All squished up

Growing up!

Olivia at 2 Weeks

2011-09-13T20:25:00.004-05:00

We couldn't believe the difference in Olivia between one and two weeks! She seems to have grown up so much and her face looks completely different! Olivia went in for her two week pediatrician appointment and she already weighs 8 lbs 10 ozs (55 percentile) and measures 201/2 inches (53 percentile). She seems to change on a daily basis and we are always commenting on how much more relaxed we are with Olivia than we were with Sofia, which we think she can pick up on, since she's a much more relaxed baby (so far).

Olivia at 2 weeks

with big sister Sofia.

She just couldn't keep her eyes open!

Sofia in the photo once again

Snoozing on the couch - her favorite thing to do!

Such a cutie!

Olivia and Family

2011-09-12T17:07:00.005-05:00

We planned on having Olivia's Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian meet her in the hospital over the first weekend (Labor Day Weekend) she arrived, however, since she had other plans and came early, they all met her after we were out of the hospital and relaxing at home. It was tight quarters with everyone under one roof, but we had a pleasant weekend together. I ended up spending a lot of my time in bed, so I didn't get very many photos unfortunately. Neither CK nor I got any photos of Cynthia and Jay with Olivia, which I just can't believe! We talked of getting a photo with all of us, but that never happened either. Anyway, here are the few photos I have of that weekend.

Happy Grandparents

Sofia and Chandler playing together - they had a great time together.

A load of grandkids!

Little Olivia and her Grandpa and Grandma...

Big Sister Love

2011-09-12T07:32:00.007-05:00

Now that Olivia is here, Sofia is even more enamored by her sister than we expected. She MUST give her a hug and kiss every night and every morning (something she has to be reminded to do with either of us) and she loves to help "shush" her when she starts to fuss (sometimes being a little loud and close in her "shushing"). She also loves to cuddle with her and take naps right next to her little sister. So far, Sofia has been really great with Olivia and has been a help with entertaining her, whether Olivia needs it or not. Here are a few pictures of the sisters:

Nap time on the couch

Olivia holding Sofia's hand

Entertaining baby sister

Sofia loves to be on Olivia's vibrating chair (thankfully it's made for 45 lbs).

Cuddling together.....

Another favorite....carrying Olivia, and she doesn't want ANY help!

The Many Faces of Olivia....

2011-09-04T08:00:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, when Olivia turned one week old, our neighbor Jackie came by to visit and ended up taking some great photos of Olivia! I just look all the facial expressions she captured. She came over for a visit and to take a photo of Olivia and I for the Colleyville Garden Club's monthly newsletter. She wanted to add the "newest member". She ended up taking some great candid photos of Olivia after she took the picture of the two of us. Here they are....

Colleyville Garden Club's newest member

Olivia at 1 Week

2011-09-03T20:25:00.004-05:00

Just as we did with Sofia, we decided to take weekly, and then monthly, photos of Olivia to be able to watch how she grows. We are using the same chair as with Sofia, which my Mom hand painted the year I graduated from college. It's a great piece of art, but most of it is covered over due to the fact that little Olivia has to be wedged between stuffed animals in order to keep her upright. I can't believe it's already been one whole week!

Our LITTLE Olivia

Just one week old

Olivia and Peter the Cow

A close-up of our girl

Olivia's First Doctors Appointment

2011-09-02T20:11:00.005-05:00

On September 1st, we took Olivia to Dr. Hopkins for her very first pediatrician appointment. While in the hospital, Olivia lost 3 ounces but already gained one ounce back before we were discharged, so we knew she was thriving and gaining weight. Dr. Hopkins checked her out and weighed her and our little girl weighed 7.4 lbs already, at just 5 days old! Unfortunately, Dr. Hopkins had a cold (thus the face mask) and so our pictures of him look a little different, as he normally doesn't wear a mask. After weighing her, he checked Olivia out and listened to her heart beat. He made sure Sofia got to listen to Olivia's heart beat and we all took turns listening to our little girl's heart. Dr. Hopkins was very impressed with her progress and kept telling us that she was doing great.

Dr. Hopkins listens to Olivia's heart

Sofia takes a listen to "little sister's" heart

Papa takes a turn

A masked Dr. Hopkins and Olivia

Sofia loves holding Olivia and is very careful to support her neck and head and is always so proud when she's holding her.

Olivia and Dr. New, who delivered her. Since we don't have a photo of Dr. New and Olivia right after she arrived, I figured this would be the next best thing....

Olivia's Bedroom

2011-08-31T21:11:00.009-05:00

I meant to post pictures of Olivia's "new" room before she arrived but obviously she had other plans! Thankfully we were done setting up and decorating her room before she arrived and although she won't likely use her room for some weeks, it's nice to have it all ready for our littlest girl. We used a few of Sofia's toys and stuffed animals to decorate but also were lucky enough to get new things from friends to help decorate Olivia's room.

The entrance to her room

Baby photos of Mimi (my Mom) and a picture of Great Grandma (my Grandma) with baby Mimi (my Mom)

Olivia's room!

Three dresses that were made by my Grandmother for my Mom when she was a baby....

The little shelf by her dresser that includes blue booties handmade by our neighbor's Mom for their son's recent Christening, Mommy and baby diaper giraffes handmade by Jill Russell (they are so cute!), a very old Bambi book given to Sofia by Chris and Tom in DC, a silver bank (also a gift to Sofia) and a crystal bear bank that was mine when I was a kid.

Her crib all set to go!

The other side of Olivia's room.

All the infant toys and books are all set up for her, even though it will be awhile. Sofia's doll house and puzzles are there so she has something to play with when we are in Olivia's room.

The shelves include a photo album, two handmade cloth blocks, and toys that were Sofia's. The bottom shelf includes the teddy bear my Mom made for me for my college graduation, "The Little Engine That Could" book, a pink piggy bank for Olivia, a "Sophie the Giraffe" toy and new frame for Olivia. So, some new things along with some of Sofia's goodies.

The changing table with photos that we took in Tanzania on our honeymoon.

Leaving the Hospital

2011-08-30T08:41:00.007-05:00

Olivia and I were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday morning and CK and Sofia headed to the hospital to pick us up and take us home. On the way, Sofia asked "Will my next baby sister be born at this hospital?" To which CK responded that Olivia is the last little sister Sofia will be getting. Sofia then said "But I'll be getting one when I turn 5, right?" Throughout the pregnancy I've told Sofia that her baby sister would arrive after her birthday, to give her some reference of time, but apparently she thinks that Olivia IS her birthday present!

After we left the hospital we headed to Johnny B's for a cheeseburger, since we left the hospital at lunchtime and were all hungry. The hospital food was pretty good, but the cheeseburger was divine! After lunch we headed home and it felt great to get into my own bed after the hospital bed.

Dressing Olivia into her "going home outfit" which was an outfit given to Sofia that she never wore (she outgrew it before I realized we had it, so figured it would be perfect for Olivia to wear home).

All dressed. The outfit is a 3 month size, so was a bit large on her. Sofia LOVES giving Olivia kisses....

All dressed and ready to go!

One last picture in our hospital room

Leaving the hospital

CK straps Olivia into her car seat

Olivia and Sofia, all set to go

Our first stop - Johnny B's! We left just at lunch and were all very hungry. The cheeseburger was delicious!

One of us wasn't hungry....

Finally at home! Olivia in the Lee Family bassinet and me resting....

First Hiccups!

2011-08-29T22:21:00.003-05:00

Here is a video of Olivia's first hiccups, after her arrival! She got the hiccups regularly the last six or so weeks I was pregnant with her and they were generally very strong. In fact, the first time she got them I thought they might be contractions! She didn't get them after every meal I ate, like Sofia, but did get them daily. She's obviously very frustrated by them! Enjoy!

Olivia's First Few Days....

2011-08-29T18:31:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures we took of Olivia during our time in the hospital....I think between our cameras and Iphones we must have taken hundreds of pictures of our new little girl. I tried to pick out our favorites of Olivia. Here they are:

On Sunday morning, CK and Sofia came to the hospital around 9am to say "Good Morning" to Olivia and I before Sofia went off with CK's cousin Scott and Brenda to Meeting and then spent the day with Al and Jill. This is Sofia's first glimpse of "baby sister" on Sunday morning. Probably one of my favorite photos.

Sleeping..

With her Papa

Cuddling in my arms - I could take a million photos like this one. My favorite place for her to be!

Snoozing on Mommy

Awake. Several nurses commented on how alert she is and how well she just looked around after waking up instead of crying. Each time they would bring her into me for nursing, Olivia would always be awake and looking around.

Yawning with Papa

Our little bundle

A close up

All swaddled up and resting

Awake and alert

Her first official milk coma! After my milk came in she was SO content and sleepy. Unlike Sofia she would fill her belly first without falling asleep which made it nice that we don't have to pester her awake all the time.

Look at that belly! That's one fully tummy!

Spelling Olivia's name for the first time. Sofia asked how to spell "Olivia" so we told her each letter as she wrote it down then she added her name So cute!

Olivia's First Dreams...

2011-08-29T18:00:00.004-05:00

Here is a video of Olivia having her first dream while we were still in the hospital....

Olivia's First Visitors....

2011-08-29T09:36:00.003-05:00

Obviously we'd planned to have our first visitors be family and planned for CK's Mom, Dad, sister, brother-in-law, and their two young kids to be in town during her arrival, however, since Olivia decided to come early her first visitors were friends and we are very lucky to have so many wonderful friends who stopped by for a visit! We took photos of everyone who came by with the exception of one of our first visitors, my friend Katie. Katie stopped by after church on Sunday for a few minutes and met Olivia. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to snap a picture of Olivia and Katie.

Welcome Olivia cookie from our neighbors Marco and Stacy, who also brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers

Flowers from Sofia

Olivia and Thelma

Olivia and Stacy

Me, Olivia and Whitney

Maria meets Olivia

Al and Jill meet Olivia for the first time

Scott, Brenda and Oliver with Olivia

Andrea holding Olivia

Hannah and Andrea with Olivia

Michelle meets Olivia

Olivia's First Bath

2011-08-28T08:50:00.010-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, after Sofia met Olivia for the first time and we were all just relaxing and savoring our new addition, a nurse arrived to check over Olivia and give her her very first bath. She wasn't a fan of the blood pressure cuff around her calf nor did she love her first bath, but she wasn't upset for long. After she was dried off, the nurse put her on my chest so my body could warm her's up. She was soon fast asleep.

Olivia's perfect little foot

The nurse checks her heart rate

and takes her blood pressure

Olivia prepares for her very first bath - obviously she's very bothered by it.

The nurse scrubs our baby down

Getting her belly and body clean

Washing her hair - obviously Olivia isn't a big fan!

Rinsing out her hair - Sofia was very interested in the whole process.

Our clean baby girl.

My girls and I

Baby Olivia Arrives!!

2011-08-27T08:42:00.015-05:00

Our baby girl decided to arrive a little early. We had a scheduled C-section for September 2nd but instead she decided Saturday August 27th was a better day for her. The day before CK flew the Baron to Arizona to be repainted and I had lunch with two of my favorite girlfriends, Michelle and Thelma, with both of them remarking that I wasn't "acting" like I was going to have a baby in a week....I felt great and had a lot of errands and odds and ends planned for that final week. Instead, I picked CK up at the airport that evening and we ended up spending the night in our guest bed since our A/C compressor decided to die around 6pm that evening and only pumped hot air.

I woke up, as usual, around 4am to go to the bathroom and then lay awake trying to will myself back to sleep. Just before 5am I felt a strange dampness and jumped out of bed to realize that my water broke and was thankfully it wasn't coming out at once! At first I honestly had no idea what was happening and felt fine. I called the OB on call and he told me to pack a bag and get to the hospital within an hour or so. Then the contractions started, which were light at first. CK and I both took showers and while I was frantically packing and trying to remember everything I could possibly need, CK reminded me that we still didn't have a name! That was something we were going to decide over the weekend and coming days....we had it narrowed down to about seven names, but hadn't gotten any further. I requested that her middle name be Sulie after my Mom, but after some reflexion we decided it didn't work with our last name.....and Sue or Ann (my Mom's middle name) didn't have any meaning to me. So, we finally decided to go with two of our first name favorites....Olivia Grace. Plus, although it isn't part of my Mom's name I think Grace very much brings my Mom to mind and I hope she gets a portion of my Mom's grace. Sofia rejected the name since she wanted "Ava" but by the time we made it to the hospital she was a fan of her baby sister's name.

Once we were ready and the contractions were getting a bit worse, CK woke Sofia up and we headed out. First we stopped at Krispy Kreme so they could get a donut, then we continued. Ironically, we were scheduled to take the hospital maternity tour that morning, so we had NO idea where to go! We made it to the maternity ward, checked in and they got me into a temporary bed and hooked to monitors for me and the baby. Luckily there was a white board on the wall, so Sofia got busy drawing family portraits that included her "baby sister." Around 8:30am our neighbors picked Sofia up to spend the morning with them while baby sister arrived into the world.

Finally at 9am they hooked me to an IV (the most painless I've ever experienced) and wheeled me back to the surgery room. The anesthesiologist did the spinal, which also went smoothly and they were ready to begin. CK came into the room and sat by me throughout and my OB, Dr. New came in to perform the C-Section even though he wasn't on call, which I really appreciated! I didn't have any pain, but could feel tugging as they worked which was very odd.

At 10:01am little Olivia Grace was born behind first since she was breach inside me. They showed her to me before she was taken over to the table, cleaned off and weighed and then swaddled and given to CK, who brought her back to me. She was 7.3 lbs and measured 19 3/4 inches and is perfect!

After about an hour in the recovery room, I was wheeled to my regular room where I'd spend the next three nights. It was just after lunchtime, so CK left to pick up Sofia, have lunch with her and bring her to the hospital so she could meet Olivia for the first time.

Checking in at the maternity ward...

Getting hooked up to all the monitors

Sofia drawing pictures of her and her baby sister

A "family portrait" by Sofia. I love the look of excitement on her face!

Sofia was very concerned while I grimaced through each painful contraction. I tried to pretend that it was fine, but it was hard at times.....

Giving me a hug of support

CK's text to our neighbors

Sofia with our neighbor, Ms. Stacy. Just before she left, Sofia gave CK a hug and said "Take care of Mommy" which was so sweet.

Olivia right after birth. That's how she was positioned inside me too.

Getting swaddled for the first time.

Holding my sweet baby girl for the very first time!

So precious!

The three of us in recovery

Proud Papa!

Meeting baby sister for the very first time - Sofia is so enamored with Olivia

Holding Olivia for the first time.

Sisters!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game.....

2011-08-24T15:52:00.002-05:00

On Monday night we went to our very first Rangers' game!! They played the Boston Red Sox and won (although we left after the 7th inning). CK's firm invited a bunch of CK's coworkers to enjoy the game at the box of a friend of one of CK's partners. It was great to have an air conditioned area to relax in along with fajitas and snacks! The balcony outside offered a great view and Sofia and I spent most of the time sitting out there watching the game (and people watching). It was "only" 100 degrees while we were there plus we were in the shade so it wasn't bad. It was our first visit to the stadium and it's a beautiful building and grounds!

CK and Sofia just outside the gates

Sofia tries on a Rangers hat....we had to buy Rangers' hats so we could fit in! No, we didn't end up buying that one for Sofia....

The inside of the box! It was very comfortable and the great food didn't hurt either!

CK and Sofia on the balcony

Sofia and me on the balcony

As the game was played, we explained what was happening to Sofia and she watched it pretty well, but after a while she ended up playing "baby bird" and used my water bottle and our plates as "nests" etc...

CK and Sofia at batting practice - she was pretty good at it!

Sofia's First Day of School

2011-08-16T05:38:00.005-05:00

I can't believe how quickly summer flew by (or how EARLY in the year school starts)! Spanish Schoolhouse starts a week before the rest of the area's school district for some reason, and so Sofia headed back into the classroom on Monday August 15th. She and I visited the school on Friday for the "meet the teacher" and met her new teachers Ms. Lorena and Ms. Sandra. I originally thought she'd be with her class from last year, but was surprised to see a lot of new faces! There are ten kids in her Monday and Wednesday class and she'll still be in class with Mya, Avery, Maggie, and Colin, but all the others are new. Her other friends from last year's class are across the hall because they will also be going to class on Friday. Sofia was a little apprehensive at the "meet the teacher" and kept asking if I was going to leave her there. We ended up staying for maybe 45 minutes.

On Monday, Sofia wanted french toast for breakfast (her new breakfast favorite) and then I took a few photos of her. After, we headed to her first day of school. She immediately fell into her routine - picking out her name tag, adding it to the board and finding a seat to start on the morning craft. I literally had to request a hug and kiss from her! Guess the apprehension was gone! After school, I asked what the best part of her day was and she said "School." so I guess she's having fun!

Yum, French Toast!

Our school gal - she really wanted to wear the pink flower in her hair and it stayed in all day surprisingly!

With her backpack

Such a beautiful school girl!

Walking down that familiar hall....

and in her classroom ready to play!

Baby Shower

2011-08-14T05:37:00.005-05:00

On Saturday August 13th, the ladies from Meeting hosted a fantastic baby shower for me! It was hosted by Jill and Marie and was absolutely spectacular - it felt like it should featured in a magazine, it was so perfect!!! First, the food was all just beautifully displayed, and delicious, and the party flowed so well. We started out with a few games, and had to "baby sit" our individual egg for the entire party. The first game we had to match candy names to what they could apply to in "baby terms" and then we each took turns trying to pin a cloth diaper to a balloon (I was terrible at this!). Also, we did the measurement of my belly with toilet paper (everyone was over my true size, so I must look bigger than I am!).

After the games, we finally got to enjoy the delicious food, including finger sandwiches, fruit salad, lemonade cupcakes, cake balls, and punch! It was wonderful! After, I opened gifts and am certain this little girl will not lack a thing! I received a lot of adorable, one of a kind clothes, decorations for her room (much needed), a handmade scrapbook that is a piece of art, and matching pillowcase dresses for the girls to wear next year. I can't believe how soon this little one will arrive and be enjoying all of these beautiful things! It was such a fun day and it was special to spend the day with such lovely ladies.

Presents

The amazing diaper giraffes made by Jill! They are now in the baby's room on display and are SO cute! I don't know how in the world she made them!

The party!

The delicious food (and amazing presentation)!!

Marie, Jill and I

A close up

Our "baby eggs" we had to baby sit throughout the party - they came home with me and are now a favorite of Sofia's.

Opening presents - one of the many adorable outfits!

The matching pillowcase dresses from Jill! Beautiful!!

Sofia's 4 year old pictures

2011-08-06T14:04:00.007-05:00

On Friday August 5th, Sofia and I headed to Sears for her annual photo session. We've done this every year for her birthday and it's been great having photos of her that mark such a big change. The session went well, although she was done smiling after about an hour so the photographer didn't get as many photos of her as usual, but they did turn out well. We should get the prints and the framed photos of her in a few weeks and can't wait to send them out.

Writing Thank You Notes

2011-08-03T14:04:00.004-05:00

I really want Sofia to understand the value of saying "Thank You" but also know that she can't exactly write out thank you notes just yet, so figured I'd strike a good compromise. I had her finger paint note cards and then wrote the thank you notes inside them. I also had her sign her name at the end of the notes, but then gave up after so many cards! I keep trying to explain to her how thankful she should be for the many new gifts she has and hope that this makes an impression as she grows up. It was a fun project for her to work on and she was really spoiled with gifts this year, so I'm looking forward to the time when she can sit down and write out her own thank you cards!

Getting started....she eventually ditched the paint brush and went for the fingers

Finishing up her first card

She kept telling me that every section of the card had to be covered by paint...

Having fun!

Grandpa Joe Visits

2011-07-30T23:42:00.002-05:00

Sofia's Grandpa Joe visited us over Sofia's birthday party weekend and we had such a fun time with him here. Of course, he pretty much had a little shadow named Sofia following him everywhere he went and she probably talked his ear off too. it was fantastic that he was able to make it for Sofia's birthday party, but It was really terrific to spend the weekend together and just catch up and talk. He and Sofia had fun together and we hope to be able to visit him in California once we get used to having a baby around the house again. As much fun as we had together, I'm pretty sure he was ready to escape the Texas heat by the time Monday arrived! Next time we'll have to host Sofia's birthday in May when the weather is perfect here! Either way, we're hoping for regular visits both here and in California.

Sofia and Grandpa Joe

So cute together!!

Sofia's Birthday Party

2011-07-30T22:30:00.006-05:00

On Saturday July 30th we celebrated Sofia's birthday with her friends at Sunbelt Gymnastics. We'd considered hosting another pool party this year, but figured it would be horribly hot (it was) and being pregnant and setting and cleaning up a party sounded pretty exhausting to me. Sunbelt ended up being such a great decision because the ladies who ran the event literally took care of everything for us! Of course, I'd decided to make a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting from scratch and so that was the hardest part of the entire day. Thankfully, CK helped by making the frosting and frosting the cakes - we made two since we were afraid we wouldn't have enough for the 17 kids and parents expected. It was fun to bake and assemble the cakes and then decorate them for her big day. Sofia loves ladybugs and so I found a red VW bug and painted it with black nail polish so it looked like a lady bug. Then I added chocolate rocks and licorice sticks as a road for the ladybug car. I also had a "Happy 4th Birthday, Sofia" sign held by a ladybug on the other cake. It turned out cute and also tasted pretty good.

Grandpa Joe and CK headed out to get Sofia's birthday balloons while Sofia and I went to Sunbelt to set up. Sofia's friends arrived and the kids were taken onto the gymnastics floor while the parents were sent upstairs to the observation room that was set up as the party. It was great! The parents were able to socialize upstairs and watch while the kids were led by four instructors (in two groups) through the gymnastics. Several of my friends have new infants and they were so happy not to have to chase after their older kids at the party. It really was a fun event for the parents too.

The gymnastics lasted over an hour, at which point the instructors led the kids upstairs to the birthday tables. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Sofia, she blew out her candles - by herself! - and then everyone was handed a piece of cake and a drink. After Sofia was done with her cake, the instructors pulled her into the center of the room and she started opening gifts. We'd debated whether she should open presents at the party or at home, since she really enjoys opening and playing with each present, but we're glad we did it at the party since she had so many gifts and it was great to get them opened! It would literally have taken days at home. The best part was that CK and I only had to take pictures and enjoy the party! After the presents were open, we thanked all of our guests and headed home. It was a great birthday party!

Frosting the cake - Sofia's a huge help cleaning the beater, of course!

Yum!

Opening her present from Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Jay, Chandler and Jillian!

Setting up and playing with her new kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa! She loves the phone attached to the side!

Looking at her cake - she hadn't seen the decorations yet.

The fun begins!

Weee! Sofia LOVED this!

The Ladybug car

The "Happy 4th Birthday, Sofia" cake

Making a wish!

The party in full swing

The Happy Birthday gal!

Opening presents

and even more presents....

The group photo

Eating BBQ that night with Grandpa Joe and Papa at the Hart 8 BBQ - delicious!

Our little Fish!

2011-07-28T22:57:00.003-05:00

This summer Sofia has become quite the fish! We swim nearly every evening and she's become very comfortable in the water and can swim from one end of the pool to the other without taking a breath. Her latest is that she likes to dive down and swim right along the bottom of the pool and then come up to the surface right at the last second before the stairs or swim shelf. She also enjoys throwing the dive rings and collecting them from the bottom. She's become pretty good at doing a forward roll under the water too and she and CK have countless hours of fun in the water together. I enjoy swimming with her too, but CK and she have their own little tricks and fun together. Here is a video of Sofia with her new fins on swimming at the bottom of the pool. She swims particularly fast with her fins on!

Sofia at 4!

2011-07-27T20:43:00.004-05:00

Our little girl sure is growing up, and it seems that she changes every few days into a more "grown up" little girl. She's so much fun to be around and CK and I always remark at how happy she is and how much she enjoys whatever it is that she does. I was concerned that of all of her activities she's participated in, she hasn't really picked a favorite or even voiced how much she enjoys doing any specific thing, but she literally just enjoys it all.

Although she's growing up so quickly, she's certainly still a creative toddler who absolutely loves making up stories or living within her own world, but also knows that her stuffed animals aren't real. She still spends hours pushing her Thomas trains around the wooden track while making up some elaborate story about what they are doing, where they are going, etc. She also will crawl around on all fours (even up and down the stairs) when she's a "frog," "puppy," "horse," or any other animal that she so often is. Of course, I'm then "Mommy animal" to whatever she's acting out at the time. Her other favorite animal is "baby duck" which she'll often play that she's in an egg (she'll use a blanket as the shell), and I have to "hatch" her out of it and then she's a baby duck who follows me (mommy duck) around.

Since watching the Royal Wedding a few months back, she also remains very interested in the "prince" and "princess" and often wonders when we hear bells tolling if that means another prince and princess are getting married. She will always point out the photos of the prince and princess on the magazine covers at the grocery store and loves looking through them.

For months she's been in love with "Beetle Bugs" (Volkswagon Bugs) and will point them out as we drive or even when one is parked in a parking lot She's got incredible vision for her Beetle Bugs! On the rare occasion that we see an original bug, she'll point it out but then say "That's an old one." She also will point out every Jeep Cherokee that resembles ours and call it "our car" or any car that looks like CK's and say "Papa's car." She's very observant of these three types which is pretty interesting.

She went through a phase recently where she had a favorite dress and would want to wear it over and over for days. Luckily the favorite dress changed each week so we could actually launder it, but now that she has a whole rack of dresses that she can pick from she doesn't seem to have a favorite that she wants to wear over and over. For months now she'll only wear dresses, which makes sense since it's so hot here and dresses are comfortable. I wonder how long that will last once it gets cooler outside.

She's still very excited about "baby sister" and gives my belly lots of hugs and kisses each day. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday a few weeks before, she said she only wanted her baby sister to come out so she could play with her! She also has asked if she can crawl down my throat and play with baby sister. Other times, she asks what baby sister is doing - whether she's sleeping or moving around or eating...it's very cute and I love how interested she is.

Our big girl at 4!

With all of her animals

Sofia's Fourth Birthday!

2011-07-27T06:56:00.014-05:00

Sofia's big 4th birthday was a day all about what she wanted to do. Lately she's become a fan of either pancakes or french toast for breakfast (who can blame her, right?!). So, her morning started off with french toast and milk followed by a few hours of playing with trains and toys. Then we headed to my weekly prenatal yoga class (I guess the day wasn't completely about her), where she plays in a little play room while I'm in class. After, we headed home to meet Ms. Megan, Sofia's long-term sitter, who wanted to give Sofia her gift. Ms. Megan gave Sofia her very first birthday present - a Thomas Train Rescue from Misty Island set! She LOVED it - big surprise! So, we ended up setting it up and Sofia played with her Misty Island set for over an hour before I finally convinced her that it would be a perfect time to go to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. By the time we arrived, the wait for Rainforest Cafe was nearly an hour! So, we put our name in and then took the train ride around the mall. Sofia loved waving to everyone as we went along and especially liked each time the train tooted it's horn.

We enjoyed the whole Rainforest Cafe experience and even sat next to where it "rains" and we had to visit the elephants before we left. We headed home and Sofia's Papa got home shortly after we did and brought her a very cool gift - her very first snorkel set. Since our vacation to St. John, Sofia has been fascinated by the stories and pictures of the fish we saw and how we went scuba diving and snorkeling and CK has told her that next time she'll go with us. So, she was very excited and they raced to get their suits on for a swim and to test out her new snorkel! She got the concept immediately and especially loved using the fins which allowed her to rocket across the pool! We enjoyed the pool together (and a little bit of cooling off) before we got out for dinner.

I'd asked Sofia what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said "grilled cheese and broccoli," so that's what I made her. After we'd had dinner, CK and I sang Sofia "Happy Birthday" while presenting her with her birthday cupcake! The cupcake was chocolate with a frog made of green icing on top - she loved it! I think she had a very fun and special day for her big 4th birthday!

Birthday Breakfast - French Toast and milk -yum!

Opening her very first present - the Thomas Train Rescue from Misty Island from Ms. Megan

Having fun on Misty Island

Riding the train while waiting for our table at Rainforest Cafe

Rainforest Cafe with her new friends - elephant, lizard and frog...

Posing with the Rainforest Frog

Proof that a four year old STILL sucks her thumb! She has been saying for weeks that she'd stop sucking her thumb once she turned four.....

Sofia's brand new snorkel set!!

Sofia and her mask and snorkel

Swimming with her new snorkel set

Our little fish! She could (and does) spend HOURS in the pool!

The three of us

Opening presents after dinner

Playing with her new horse stamp set from Sue, James and Maya

The BIG 4!

Her new outfit from Aunt Shirl and Uncle Steve

Happy Birthday Cupcake!

Made with VERY green frosting!

Sofia's First Snorkel

2011-07-27T05:50:00.003-05:00

Here's Sofia trying out her new mask, snorkel and fins!

Happy Birthday!

2011-07-27T04:47:00.001-05:00

Singing "Happy Birthday" to our little girl!

Sofia's "new" room

2011-07-24T22:30:00.003-05:00

On Sunday July 24th, CK moved Sofia's bed up to her "new" room for her first night sleep upstairs. When we first started discussing which rooms Sofia and the new baby should sleep in, I originally suggested that the baby's room be upstairs, but CK wisely convinced me that having the baby in Sofia's room downstairs was easier and safer. So, we decided to move Sofia up to the larger of the two guest rooms and she wasn't that impressed with the decision to begin with. However, the more we talked about it she got more and more excited. Finally, she was ready to move upstairs once we repainted her new room. She originally asked that her room upstairs be pink, and we agreed that one pink room per house was enough, so I picked out a few sample colors that were a more gender-neutral blue-green-silver color that we thought would work in the baby's room. I painted a few sample squares on the wall and Sofia completely fell in love with one of the samples and kept saying she wanted it for her new room! Problem solved! So, we had her new room repainted in the blue-green-silver color she picked out and repainted the baby's room so the bead board bottom half of the room is now white and the top half of the walls are a a little brighter pink than before.

Along with the bed, we moved Sofia's books and most of her toys upstairs, but are waiting to pick out a book case to store all of her books (we need the baskets that are holding her books for the baby's room to hold diapers). So, Sunday night CK took Sofia upstairs after hugs and kisses and read her stories in her "new" room. She slept great that night and has since! She also goes upstairs every day to read and play and also whenever she needs to go potty. She's completely taken with her new room which is exciting and a lot easier than we expected!

PICTURES TO COME (once it's better organized).

The Balloon Festival

2011-07-24T06:56:00.001-05:00

On Saturday July 23rd we drove about an hour to Midlothian to watch the afternoon launch of hot air balloons in the DFW Summer Balloon Classic AirFest. We really wanted to watch the morning launch, but after we figured out we'd need to leave our house at 5:30am, we decided to go for the afternoon festivities instead. When we arrived we caught the last half of the air show taking place, which was interesting to watch. After it ended, we went into town for a quick Mexican dinner and returned just in time to watch several of the hot air balloons launch! Sofia loved it! She was so excited that we'd be watching hot air balloons and couldn't stop talking about it before and after we saw them launch. We stayed and watched the "balloon glow" at dusk before heading home. Although a very hot afternoon, it was worth the drive and fun to watch.

Sofia and her Papa near the runway

Watching the air show

Playing in the shade. Sofia found some shade under the wing of an airplane on display and played with her toys while we watched the air show.

The balloons filling up and getting ready to launch!

There they go!

Sofia really wants to go up in one....(so do I)!

Two more balloons in the air.

Getting ready for the "Balloon Glow"

With Mommy

The "Balloon Glow" which was really beautiful to watch. They fired up the balloons several times before it got dark.

Our 6th Anniversary!

2011-07-10T21:36:00.003-05:00

July 9th marked six happy years of marriage and we actually got a decent photograph of us as a couple thanks to our babysitter, Megan. Our anniversary fell on a Saturday, so we spent the day looking at furniture since we decided to buy a nice gift for the house versus gifts for each other. We've been wanting a new desk and book case in the office, so we were lucky to find two beautiful pieces at El Paso Imports. The desk is an old door from India which has been converted to a desk and the book case is also from India and is beautifully carved. Sofia loved "helping us" and was busy measuring everything in the store with her tape measure. That evening, we left Sofia with Megan and went to a new restaurant called Butterfly, which offered tapas and eclectic food. It had live piano music and the food and atmosphere was fantastic. It was a great way to celebrate six years together!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T21:30:00.013-05:00

We had another full day on the 4th of July! We started out our morning by walking up to the annual "Pancakes on the Plaza" event which is sponsored by the Santa Fe Lions Club and for the price of a ticket you get a plate of pancakes, ham, and juice and then enjoy it while sitting in the Plaza listening to live music and watching all the festivities. We brought Aunt and Uncle's folding chairs so we were really sitting in comfort and had a great location to watch everyone as they arrived and walked around the crowded Plaza. On the far side of the Plaza was an old car show so we took turns walking down and looking at all the vintage cars that have been restored. They were incredible and Sofia fell in love with an "old" (as she calls it) Bettle Bug. We spent most of the morning just taking in the sights and sounds of the Plaza's activities.

That afternoon we headed over to Aunt and Uncle's friends Chris and Mike's for a BBQ with a group of their friends. Sofia loved playing in Mike and Chris' yard and collecting "nuts and carrots" (rocks and sticks) from their yard. After a delicious burger, we headed out so that we didn't miss the fireworks at the Santa Fe High School. From past visits, Aunt and Uncle had the perfect location to view the fireworks that kept us out of the chaos of the high school parking lot and stadium and it couldn't have been more perfect! We set up their folding chairs on the ridge outside of the high school and watched a spectacular fireworks show! Sofia sat on Aunt Shirl's lap and enjoyed the entire event! It was a great fireworks show and we headed home after a long, fun day for a great sleep!

The pancake makers just getting started before a very busy morning!

Our great set up on the Plaza, with our plates of pancakes.

Sofia and Aunt Shirl visit the dragon...

Sofia and Papa with Miss Santa Fe at the drawing table (despite our best efforts we never found the face painting table, much to Sofia's disappointment).

Sofia and the "old" Bettle Bug

Our patriotic girl!

Uncle Steve and I hanging out

Playing at Chris and Mike's house

Mike, the expert hamburger maker!

A rare photo of both CK and I together!

Getting set up to watch the fireworks!

And they begin!!!

Completely entranced!

Santa Fe with Aunt and Uncle

2011-07-05T21:29:00.005-05:00

On Saturday morning, July 2nd we flew out to Santa Fe to spend the long weekend of 4th of July with Aunt and Uncle. We went back and forth in our decision to go since there was a big fire in Los Alamos that created a lot of smoke and soot, but we finally decided to head out. We were really happy we went since we had a great long weekend with Aunt and Uncle and did a lot in that short time! After we arrived and had lunch, we headed out to Los Golondrinas Hacienda for a festival that included wine tasting (wines from New Mexico, who knew?!), a great live band, stands of crafts to buy, taco and smoothie stands, and the Hacienda was fun to explore too. We spent a few hours checking out all of the stands, listening and/or dancing to the music, walking around the Hacienda and really enjoyed the festival.

After, we returned to the casita to relax and nap before Uncle Steve fired up the BBQ and we enjoyed a delicious meal of corn, salad and grilled salmon. We then headed out to Sofia's first movie in a theater to see "Buck" which was a Sundance film that follows the horse trainer Buck Brannaman and his incredible ability to train and communicate with horses. He was a big inspiration of the movie "The Horse Whisperer" and is a real life "whisperer." It was a fascinating film and Sofia was great until the "question and answer" portion with the executive producer (who lives in Santa Fe) at the end of the movie. She sat through the movie, ate her popcorn, and aside from a few questions didn't move around much. After the movie, she was ready to sit on Uncle Steve's lap and kept moving around from lap to lap, but stayed quiet and everyone around us told us at the end how fantastic she was during the movie! She was the only child there, so we were pleased that she enjoyed it and was so patient. After, we headed home and went to bed after a very full and fun day!

Uncle Steve and Sofia dancing away

Papa joins in the dance (with Aunt Shirl off to the side watching)

All set for the BBQ

All of us ready to eat!

Sofia and her little corn

Sofia and Uncle Steve

Her very first movie in a theater!

The best part of a movie - popcorn!

Father's Day 2011 (a week late...)

2011-06-26T22:08:00.007-05:00

Since CK celebrated Father's Day with his Dad in Florida while Sian and the girls were visiting, we decided to push off our Father's Day celebration by a week. In the lead up to Sunday June 26th, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best place to take CK to celebrate since he always does such a great job of taking me to fun, delicious, interesting restaurants for Mother's Day. I considered a top rated fish house downtown, but then decided that he'd be more up for something other than fish, and going to a steak house for Sunday afternoon seemed too heavy. So, after a bit of searching I decided on The Grape Restaurant which is noted by Texas Monthly as having the very best burger! It seemed like it was a bit of a gastropub which reminded me a lot of our time in London too, so I figured we'd give it a shot.

After Meeting, we headed into Dallas and we were both very pleasantly surprised by the restaurant. It was a great atmosphere (thankfully I made reservations because they were turning people away), and we soon found that the food was fantastic. A great way to start of celebrating CK's (belated) Father's Day! After stuffing ourselves, we headed home where he and Sofia took naps and relaxed. Then, before they got into the pool for some afternoon swimming, CK opened his presents. Sofia and I framed a drawing she'd done that included a tracing of her hand holding a flower. She signed her name after I wrote "Happy Father's Day 2011. I love you, Papa!" She also got him a new tie with ducks on it that she picked out and a new cologne that we discovered the last time we were in Ft. Worth. We had a great celebration and enjoyed honoring such a great Papa!

Sofia and Papa at The Grape

Reading his homemade card from Sofia (ok, I helped a little bit...)

Happy Papa and Sofia

Opening his cologne and tie from Sofia

Opening his new art work!

I got him a smoker for the BBQ (we'll see how well it works) and a pizza peel

Auntie Shirl Visits

2011-06-25T22:09:00.003-05:00

We picked up "Auntie Shirl" as Sofia calls her, on Friday afternoon so she could attend the baby shower. Although she was only able to stay for the weekend, it was great to have her visit and Sofia followed her absolutely everywhere! On Friday night we all swam in the pool and had a bbq chicken dinner outside, which was great other than Aunt Shirl's affinity to lure every single mosquito to her in a 100 mile radius! We finally had to go inside because she had many bite marks. It was great to have her with me at the shower and I'm glad she was able to meet my friends. After the shower, we returned to the house and just read and relaxed (CK and Sofia were at a birthday party for one of her school friends). She and I then headed to Central Market and picked up all sorts of yummy food for dinner, including a lovely piece of salmon which she grilled on our bbq. It was a delicious meal! The next morning, we had to say goodbye to Auntie Shirl, but look forward to seeing her and Uncle Steve in a week in Santa Fe!

Grilling Salmon - delicious!

Sofia and Auntie Shirl.

Baby Shower

2011-06-25T22:08:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, June 25th, my girlfriends threw me a baby shower to welcome Baby Lee #2. It was hosted by Michelle, Katie, Carey, Thelma and Yessica. Three of those ladies have babies less than three months old, so I felt very honored that they took it upon themselves to host a shower. It was held at Brio, a great Italian restaurant in Southlake, where we had our own private room. Michelle had a few games that we did to begin the festivities (I was terrible at them all) and then we had a wonderful brunch together. Although a lot of the gals didn't really know each other before the shower, it seemed like everyone really hit it off and had a fun time together. After brunch, I opened gifts. I had registered for a few things, but honestly didn't really expect anything and only needed a handful of essentials. So, I was really surprised by all the great gifts (even those I'd registered for, since I'd forgotten about them!). It was such a fun afternoon and was so special to have all my friends together in one room. I'd love to get them all together again sometime (although no more baby showers in my future!).

A picture of the group!