Merry Christmas!  A few things you might want to know:

1.  We are having fun in our snowless Utah with most of Rob's family....all except Sarah and Jeff who are enjoying their honeymoon in sunny Hawaii and Matt who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in New York.

Sophie is obsessed with her cousins and thinks they are hilarious.  Since they have arrived, she has not stopped laughing.  Except for when they want to carry her around like a doll.......

2.  Sophie has slept in her toddler bed three nights in a row with no problems.  Naps haven't given us any issues either.  It's kind of crazy how grown up she is.  I was sooooo nervous to try out a big bed with an 18 month old, but she keeps proving to me that she is much more ready to grow up than I'm ready to admit.  Her current favorite thing to do is wake up and bring books from her book shelf into her bed to read until I come and get her in the morning.  Life does not get much sweeter than that.

3.  Still no baby.  While most people are quite literally half way through labor when they have progressed as far as I have, I am still sitting here, in front of the computer, not even in labor.  This little girl is just not ready to arrive.  Which is fine.  She'll come when she is ready.  No one has ever stayed pregnant forever and I don't think I'll be the first.  I'm a little sick of the endless heartburn and body aches, but I can deal with it for a few more days at least....I've already made it this far.  Christmas Baby?  Yes, PLEASE!

4.  We just got an Xbox Kinect and I think it is the greatest invention ever.  Not only because it will allow us to video chat with Matt (B]brother serving a mission) on Christmas, but it is the most fun we have had playing any game in a long time.  I was sort of hoping all of the dancing would send me into labor, but no luck there.  Nerds?  Probably...but I don't really mind.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!  It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Home SWEET Home

Our new apartment is sweet.  I'm not kidding.  Compared to all of the other places we've lived, this place is a mansion.

Proof:

1.  I have places for all of my pots, pans, dishes, and appliances, and none of them live on top of the refrigerator or makeshift kitchen shelving from Walmart.

2.  My sewing stuff no longer takes up 90% of Sophie's room.  She is currently keeping the space all to herself and is quite happy about it.  Her obsession with keeping things clean has been less crazy lately and I'm convinced it's because my sewing crap stuff is not taking over/creeping into her space.

3.  Sophie has discovered how to play by herself....I'm sure she knew how before, but when there is nowhere to "go" to play, it quite literally feels like they are walking on your toes all day long.  Not that I minded that too much.  I love my Sophie, but it is nice to be able to walk around the kitchen without feeling like I'm trampling a little busy body.

4.  We were able to take our kitchen table out of storage (aka my sister's basement) and all 4 chairs fit around it....and there is still PLENTY of room left in the kitchen for walking about.  Like 10+ feet of extra room kind of space.  I LOVE IT.

5.  All of our oversized furniture actually makes the apartment feel bigger instead of smaller.  Especially in our bedroom where I can now walk around our bed comfortably and without stubbing my toes or ramming my hip into furniture.

6.  We have more closet space than we know what to do with....

7.  Both babes will be able to sleep soundly in their own bedrooms...I was seriously considering putting the new baby in the bathroom to sleep at nights in our other place.....problem solved.

8.  We can actually have more than 2 guests over at a time and feel comfortable.

9.  Our piano is no longer doubling as a fabric shelf.

10.  We no longer have a room that functions as an office, crafting/sewing space, music room, and baby room all at the same time.  Each of these things now has a separate location....I can't even explain to you how good this feels.

It is definitely safe to say that the moving went well and that we love our new place.  We seem to have nice neighbors and loved meeting new friends at church today.

Speaking of, it was Sophie's first day in nursery.  Went great.  Unless you include the 3 minutes prior to making into nursery where she was pushed down in the hallway (not once, but twice) by the same kid. She's a good sport though and got right back up both times and shrugged it off.  Then she totally didn't care about me as soon as we walked in the door.  I anticipated staying the whole time....She started ignoring me after about 10 seconds.  So I left and it was a wonderful, peaceful Sunday.  I could actually tell you what my lessons were about.  The ladies in the nursery were super sweet and said that Sophie did great.  Minus a 10 minute scare where she realized she knew abosolutely nobody in the room and Dad was retrieved to make it better.  She ignored him after about 10 seconds too.

18 Months...

I can't even explain to you how quickly the time has gone by.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how Sophie was as a baby (to refresh my memory for the next one) and I can't help but feel a little sad that she has grown up so quickly.  I just can't get enough of my little Sophie.  She is practically perfect in every way and I wouldn't change a thing about her.  Some things you may have missed if you haven't been around:

-She still has a compulsive need to keep things clean.  If she spills it has to be cleaned before she can do ANYTHING else.  

-She is practically trying to potty train herself.  She hates wearing diapers and runs to the potty (yes...I'm calling it a potty) most of the time she pees.  We had a half day practice with potty training before I decided to wait until after the move and baby.  She loved sitting on the potty and her big girl underwear, but I was too preoccupied with packing to give it the time and attention it needs....which is a lot.  But she did pretty well and I'm sure it will be just as great in January.

-Her favorite thing to say is "Uh-Oh," but we get a lot of other words in there too including "dedus" for Jesus, "ivpool" for Liverpool, and "data" for Santa. 

-She has an extremely high level of understanding and it amazes me how much I can reason with an 18 month old.

-She helps me with everything.  And is actually helpful.  Especially cleaning and cooking.  She insists on "holding" the mixer while it mixes.

-Time-out is a real and effective tool in our house....even the threat of time-out can usually stop any unwanted behavior before it happens.  Got to love that.

-She loves our new apartment and is always running around in all the open space which is quite a drastic change from our old apartment where she was quite literally attached to my leg all day long.  

-She loves wearing anything as a scarf.  Especially the pom pom yarn scarf my mom made her over Thanksgiving.  She is constantly wearing it or anything soft she can find around her neck.

-She loves to play with my scrap fabric and at any given moment during the day she probably has a small square in her hand.  This is her glueing the scrap fabric with the cold glue gun.  Not very effective, but definitely hilarious to see her try and do what I do.

-She loves playing the piano, listening to music, and dancing.  Especially if she can use the headphones.

-She tries to do headstands everyday.  Even on the counter.

-She loves 'sewing'.  Her version includes flattening out the fabric and pushing it under the needle, realizing it has a crease in it, re-flattening it out, and then pushing it back under the needle.  This is repeated for 30+ minutes at a time.  No sewing ever takes place.  In fact, she prefers it that way, but it is pretty cute to watch her push the buttons and pretend to do things that she has seen me do.  I kind of love it.

-She loves her oatmeal....still with a banana mashed in it every morning.

-She's done with bottles and pacifiers (it's actually been about 3 months).  Although she still uses a pacifier at night, which I'm totally fine with.

-She loves eating and drinking out of big cups and plates and is actually quite good at it.  Can't leave extra milk in the bowl....duh.

-She loves reading books and spends hours a day doing it.

-She loves singing, especially at church during the hymns.  It's hilarious.  She also does it at home but usually only when no one is watching.

-She likes to play hide and seek and says "boo" almost every time she comes into a room throughout the day.  Always followed by her cute giggle because she thinks it's hilarious.

There is so so so much more, but I could go on forever and I don't think anyone is still reading.  I love this girl more than you could ever know.  Can't wait to add another little one to our gang.

Come find me here!

Halloween!

I love Halloween but have a super hard time coming up with costume ideas.  Can't wait till she can chose her own.  You can never go wrong with a classic (at least to me), so we went with a basic witch.....the good kind of course.

Here's Sophie's costume:

And the back:

The hat and cape were made out of an old dress of mine and the skirt is made out of tulle....I love how simple it was to make.  The whole thing came together in less than 2 hours and it turned out great.  I wish I had dressed her in less black though because it's kind of hard to see all the details in the dark.  Oh well.  She had fun.

Here's her buddy Blake.  He was a cute puppy.  Sophie kept barking at him.

She's gonna catch him...

Running away...

Here's all of us....lacking costumes, I know.

Trick-or-treating!  Sophie and Blake made it to about 3 houses.  Sophie insisted on holding her candy in her hands (all 3 pieces).  At each house she tried to put her candy back in the bowl.  Just trying to keep things neat and tidy as usual.

Yup...we've made it past 32 weeks....it's probably the last picture you'll get of me, so soak it up.

For Your Tuesday...

Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we took pictures of the Sophster in her cute Halloween costume. As soon as I get them....I'll do a Halloween post.  Until then, some links and other things.

A picture to hold you over....

All sweaty after our hike at the beginning of the summer.  Oh how I miss summer.  

(Yes...steff....I still do that tongue thing.)

In order to justify my Pinterest account, I try to do/use the things I pin.  If you don't have an account, you are seriously missing out.

In the last week I have:

Made this tomato soup.  So delicious.  I've actually made it twice.  The first time I followed the recipe, but skipped the sugar and added two whole carrots instead.  My little brother and Rob both loved it.  The second time I skipped the sugar and only used half the cream.  Still delicious.  I like it with carrots the most (just make sure you blend them up really well first).

Made this chili.  With lots of changes.  Basically I only used the spice profile.  I used 1 lb. of ground beef and replaced all of the pork with beans.  I also skipped the beer and added about 2 teaspoons of chicken bullion instead along with about 2 cans of crushed tomato's which I pureed first.  Next time I would use tomato sauce as well to make it a bit thicker.  I loved it.

I made these bats and this wreath for our Halloween decor.  I even used this money saving tip for the candy corn wreath, but I think this tip would work better for lighter weight wreaths.   Mine turned into an oval after about 2 days due to the weight of the candy.  

I used this tutorial to make part of Sophie's costume.  It's my favorite part.  I didn't have enough felt, so I used material from an old black skirt of mine and some heavy interfacing to help it stand up on it's own.  Slightly more complicated, but still came together in less than 30 minutes (minus all the little roses....those took a bit longer).

Read this article.  It was first referenced in a General Conference address given by Neil A. Anderson.  I did a little searching and found the entire blog post, which is totally worth reading.  The writer also posts on motherhood in the same series here and here.  All worth your time.  

Pinterest is totally worth it.  You can follow me here:

 

Happy pinning!

Visitors

Since Jury Duty, we have had a steady flow of visitors.  It has been so great.  Unfortunately, while Rob's mom and sister were hear, they spent their days watching Sophie while I spent my days in the courtroom. It was great to have them here, but I wish I had been able to hang out with them a little more while they were here.  My mom was in a car accident and couldn't make it up till after I had finished jury duty.  Which was great for me, because we got to hang out a lot!  Who doesn't love mom time?

We started the week off with a trip to the Hogle Zoo.  You could catch Sophie doing this (see below) 90% of the time.

At the zoo Sophie picked up all kinds of new skills.  Like learning to growl like a tiger.....it has ruined sacrament meeting for our entire ward.

We didn't get a picture of the whole gang, but Steff, Byron, Wes, Brooke, Lolo, and my mom were with us on too.

Sophie discovered how much fun it is to push the stroller.  Getting her to sit in it now is nearly impossible unless she is bribed.

And we couldn't leave the zoo without some classic pictures in the dino eggs....love these two besties.

And another because it cracks me up...

Finished the day at Steff's to ride bikes and jump on the tramp.  Sophie had the best day of her life.  Especially because Wes pushed her around on this trike for about 20 minutes.  

We celebrated Wes' birthday on Sunday, with yummy food, cake, and a pinata (sorry no pictures) but Sophie is now determined to hit everything in sight with a broom when she gets her hands on it (thank you Steffanie).

We spent Monday afternoon at a pumpkin patch in Springville called Jaker's Jack-O-Lanterns.  I recommend it for anyone with little kiddos.  I love pumpkin patches, and this one was not only free, but great for really little kids.  It had a hay ride, animal farm, corn box and, of course, a pumpkin patch.  Sophie love it.

Not so much in love with the hay though.

Corn box with matching Halloween outfits!

(Grandma some how only made it into about 3 pictures...proof that she really was there)

Non-cooperative for a family picture...

pulling mom's hair...

 the usual...

Telling us which pumpkins we need to get.

Finding the best with dad...

Attempting to pick it up...

We told her she couldn't take it home unless she could carry it so she chose a smaller one.... :)

Dad with our spoils.

Fat belly.

Hay maze.

So fun.  We'll be back next year!

We spent the next day walking around BYU.  Zach treated us to lunch and then we walked around the new and beautiful south end of campus.  

Made our way to the duck pond...

 And to get ice cream at the creamery....obviously.

We love visitors.  Wish we lived closer to all of our family so we could have more fun weeks like this one!

Dear Lawyers

Jury Duty is over.  I tried to explain the case to Rob the night the trial ended (at midnight) and it was hard.  I've was so invested in it for a month that I had trouble condensing the story.  It was interesting participating in a civil case because we are conditioned to think "beyond reasonable doubt" when we hear about trials and cases.  In a civil trial all you only need a preponderance of the evidence.  Basically, the Plaintiff has to tip the evidence scale in their favor by only the slightest margin (we're talking 51% is sufficient here).  It seems like this would make deciding easier on a jury but it actually makes it much, much harder.  It's much less cut and dry.  This particular case was a lot of 'she said' vs 'she said' which also made it hard.  It took our little jury of 8 about 18 hours to decide the verdict.  In the end, although I'm not convinced beyond reasonable doubt, I feel like we made the right decision.

It was a really interesting experience.  You sit in a courtroom all day and hear conflicting evidence from both sides and then have to sort through it to find the facts that are relevant to the case.  I am thoroughly convinced that most lawyers need jury consultants to teach them how to behave in front of a jury.  Sometimes they were ridiculous.  In honor of my experience, I am writing a letter to all lawyers that may chose to read this blog (although I'm pretty sure there will be none).

Dear Lawyers,

Much like you, we are trying to do our job.  We have emotions and functioning minds just like you do.  We care about the case and care about making the right decision.  We have to sit in the courtroom all day and listen to long drawn out explanations from expert witnesses, objection after objection, and question after question (many repeated multiple times even though we got it after the first) just like you.  The only difference?  We get paid far, far less than you.

While we understand that you will want to get an idea of how we react to certain issues and get a feel for how we will decide the case, turning your chair completely toward the jury box and staring blatantly at us while taking copious amounts of notes makes us uncomfortable and is ridiculous.

Also, turning your shoulders away from the judge so he can't see you making faces when your opponents  cross-examine a witness is unprofessional and rude.  You should probably cut that out.

Coming unprepared to court is equally unacceptable.  We don't want to wait  for 20+ minutes while you shuffle and organize papers.  You've had 7 years on this case....get it together.

Your witnesses are like students.  While they are on the stand and you are questioning them, the courtroom is your classroom.  Please, PLEASE explain to them the rules and procedures of the courtroom.  Any good teacher knows they will have good control over their classroom if they manage it correctly.  The same is true for you.  Explain to them they need to answer the questions asked and only the questions.  They will listen.  Explain to them they need to wait for the judge to make rulings when questions are objected to.  They will listen.  Explain to them that talking over the top of the judge or another lawyer is rude.  They will listen.  If they don't....fix it.  Even if you have to say something in front of the jurors.  Fix it.

If you have assistants, or other lawyers on your team, they should be respectful even if they are not currently participating in the process.  We, the jurors, have a great view.  We can see the faces and snide remarks being made, texting being done under the table, and can obviously hear cell phones vibrating and going off during the trial.  You should stop that as well.

Last, but not least: don't waste our time.  We have families, jobs, and plenty to do.  We are here as a service to the justice system.  We take our time seriously.  You should take our time seriously too.  We don't need to listen to hours of background on witnesses.  Explain their field, establish their credentials quickly and move on.  We can look at their qualifications during deliberation if we don't believe you.  We want to get to the dirt.  We want to hear about the case.  We do not need to know every school and every job the person has ever held.  This is similar to filling out job applications.  If you are applying for a job as a secretary, those hiring don't care that you spent the summer as a lifeguard when you 14.  Neither do we.  We know what is relevant and what is not.  Don't try to make someone seem cooler than they are by spending 2 hours building them up as an expert.  We are adults.  While everyone on the jury may not have equal education to you, we are not children.  We are capable of understanding what is presented to us.  Treat us as if you believe that.

Sincerely,

Juror #4

Fun for your Friday

1.  Wishing I had more of these delicious peanut butter cups I made for a certain brother-in-law's birthday.  They turned out pretty good.  Although the peanut butter to chocolate ratio might need some tweaking.

2.  Feeling like this CD/DVD combo needs to be listened to by more mothers.  Some great ideas about how to protect our families against the evils of pornography.

3.  Thinking it would be nice to have some cooler weather so I can make delicious soup like this for dinner without melting our house down.

4.  Staying hopeful that the trial will not extend past this Wednesday so I can have time to recuperate before going here for a favorite sister's wedding.

5.  Feeling like I would do anything to get this stroller before baby #2 is born.  After 4 weeks of Jury Duty I might have the funds....  

6.  Happy it is General Conference weekend so I can hear inspired words all weekend long.

Happy Weekend

Time

My week has literally flown by.  I got a jury summons for the second time in two months.  Unlike last time, the case did not settle before I had to appear.  So I appeared, sat through 8 hours of jury selection and was chosen.  I still can't believe I was chosen, but I was.  Here I am one week into trial and it is one of the most interesting things I have ever done.

To be honest, I didn't try too hard to get out of it (I'm not too sure how much good it would have done if I had tried).  The judge basically told us that unless we had some life threatening issue, not to bother him with lame excuses.  So, even though they knew I had an MBA student for a husband, a 15 month old child,  that I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant, and had a plane ticket to Arizona the following Friday, I was still chosen.  They must have really liked me.  

I HATE leaving Sophie everyday and she hates it too (although I'm pretty sure she has had the time of her life...she's been having 8 hour play dates everyday with her cousin and some other friends).  I feel like I am experiencing what it would be like to be a full time working mom.  It is HARD.  I come home completely exhausted, only to spend the next several hours working again to take care of my family.  (Exhausted....I can see some of you rolling your eyes because all I do is sit and listen.  I know!  It must be because my brain is working harder than it has in, I don't know, over a year).   I knew I was extremely lucky being able to stay home with my baby everyday, but now I really KNOW I am lucky.  I don't know if I could do this everyday and be a happy functioning momma.  Three + weeks of this won't kill me though and it's not even full time because it's actually only 3 days a week so I really shouldn't complain at all.  And I get to see her for an hour at lunch.   Just enough time to get her fed and off to another babysitter.

I couldn't make it through this week without my amazing sister (who spent 8 hours on Monday with 3 children in my tiny apartment) and my other sister (who babysat between a full load of classes as a grad student) and some amazing friends that have played with Sophie for hours upon hours this week.  I am so grateful to have amazing people in my life.  Hurray for next week when Rob's mom gets to watch her!  I'm so so so glad she offered to come and help.

When it's over in two weeks I'll tell you all about it.  Until then, you'll have to let your curiosity run wild with thoughts on what kind of case could possibly be taking this long.

A few Friday links for you....

I am making these finger paints this weekend with Sophie.

I want boots like this, but I'm skeptical that buying cheap ones will only end in sadness on my part.  I'd much rather buy these ones....but I know that will NEVER happen in the near future.  Anyone had success with buying online boots or seen similar boots that will not die on me after 2 days of wearing them?

I am dying to learn to crochet so I can make something like this for me and this for Sophie.  

I'm making these pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.  Want to come?  Yeah....I thought so.  

Happy Weekend.  I will be enjoying my 'time off'.

A few good things for your weekend.

I finally got around to making some things from my pinterest boards this week.

1.  Make these chocolate peanut butter cookies because they are amazing.  I had to force us to give some away so we wouldn't eat all 32 in 32 minutes.

2.  I also made these terrible cookie bar things.  Not good.  Maybe it was the tasteless cookie at the bottom or the marshmallow...who knows.  Don't make them.

3. I made this bag with a few tweaks.  Added an oil cloth lining so that it's waterproof for the pool and a few extra pockets.  I've been using it for everything.  I even made Sophie a mini version because she seems to love carrying around a purse.  LOVE IT because now we match.  

4.  Currently making my favorite party streamers for a friends birthday party....I am in love with these and think they are the cutest and easiest decoration anyone could ever use/make.

5.  I am speaking in church on Sunday on this talk about using kind words and then give a lesson an hour later about this talk on the eternal blessings of marriage.  If you love me, you'll read them and send me some ideas because I am having trouble staying focused.

6.  There is a local shop here in Provo that makes the most adorable kids moccasins in the entire world.  I've wanted to buy them forever, but our student budget just can't fork over the dough quite yet....but they are on my list for when we are no longer jobless students.

Today they are doing a giveaway...for 9 pairs.  One pair for every stage of your child's life.  Pretty sweet.  Go check them out and enter it because it's awesome.  Click HERE to read about it.

Happy Friday!

This is my new motto:

The last 3 days I've felt like whining a lot...and because I don't want to torment Rob with it, I've been doing it mostly internally but I think that it still counts.  Today, I'm officially done whining.  

I've accepted these facts today:

1.  I'm not a perfect person, but my life is pretty dang good.

2.  I have an accident prone/fragile child, but she is pretty easy and awesome.

3.  My husband is going to be gone a LOT the next 2 years, but he works hard and makes a huge effort to be there when I need him to be.

  

Pregnancy 2.0

The first time around, there are so many things no one warns you about until it happens.  Then you tell someone more experienced what is happening to you and they say something like, "oh yeah...I dealt with that the whole nine months!"  blah blah blah.  I thought I was pretty prepared for pregnancy and child birth and I think I had realistic expectations the first time around, but really nothing can prepare you until you experience it for yourself.  Everyone's experience is so different and even talking to people doesn't always help.

That being said, I figured this time around things would feel more 'normal' and I would pretty much know what to expect.  Well, of course I was wrong.

Pregnancy 2.0 according to me:

1.  You will be sicker, sooner
2.  You will get heartburn, sooner
3.  You will start having contractions, sooner (starting at 16 weeks and while doing simple tasks such as picking your 1st child up out of her crib or walking to the bathroom)
4.  You will think you have no energy to do anything, ever, but you will fake it for the sake of your 1st child who needs your attention and whom you don't want to deprive.
5.  You will get much fatter, much sooner.  Even if you are in better shape than you were the first time.

All of this being said, I am about 10 times more excited than I was last time around.  If that is possible.  For some reason, really knowing the payoff and how incredible it is makes all of this seem so trivial.  Last time around I could only guess at how great it would be.

I can't wait to have another baby around (I know some of you are thinking that I still do have a baby, but I feel like Sophie is so 'grown up' now.   I'm talking baby, baby....of the newborn kind).

I can't wait for sisters.

I can't wait for playmates.

I can't wait for little kid kisses and hugs.

I can't wait for newborn cuddles and noises.

I can't wait for newborn smells and itty bitty clothes.

Mostly I can't wait to have this little girl be a part of our family.  More than last time, I feel like I already know her.  Maybe because she has felt alive for so much longer or maybe because it's easier to imagine what she'll be like after already having one.

I am not one of those women who loves the 40 weeks of pregnancy leading up to the child birth.  I much prefer the 40 weeks following childbirth.  Right now I'm trying to move on with life and stay busy so that time moves as quickly as possible until the end reward.  Which is MORE than worth it.

Confessions...of a 14 month old.

I haven't done confessions in a while, but I decided to do them Sophie style...so here goes.

Confessions for a 14 month old Sophie.

1.  She'll eat anything better if I give it to her in a bowl with a spoon and then walk away.

2.  She will NOT go to bed without her "bebe" or pacifier.

3.  She likes to help keep our house clean by taking out all of the wipes from her diaper bag and wiping things down...and by throwing away trash in the trash can (she really does this and so far, to my knowledge, has never thrown away 'non' trash).

4.  Her version of coming down the stairs involves sliding all the way down on her tummy at super sonic speeds.  Without stopping once.

5.  When she gets in 'trouble' she attempts to divert attention away from what she did by playing "peek-a-boo" and it usually works.

6.  She pees in the tub or next to the tub before she gets in almost every single day (you'd think I'd learn).
7.  She prefers bananas mashed in her oatmeal for breakfast over anything else.

8.  She gags on purpose when she doesn't want to eat what I'm feeding her.

9.  She will chew on food for hours (literally) before swallowing it.  Once, I looked down and noticed she was stretching something between her hands (imagine stretching a rubber band out and letting it back in several times really quickly).  I got nervous and wondered where she had found a rubber band.  I immediately took it away only to find that it was a piece of bacon fat from a tiny piece of bacon she had gotten when she took a bite of Rob's pizza almost an hour earlier.  Delicious.

10.  Her favorite snack is popcorn (the real kind that you pop in a popper without butter or salt).  We let her  sit with  us on the couch, eating popcorn and watching parts of movies (usually Tangled, or Ice Age) occasionally before she goes to bed.  And I don't feel bad about it because she loves it and so do we.

11.  She is spoiled.  Not the lots-of-toys kind of spoiled, but the attention craving, mom leaves and she cry's kind of spoiled.  She is going to have a rude awakening in December.  Hopefully I'll be able to find a good balance.

12.  One of her favorite things to do is brush her teeth.  She runs into our bathroom before I can get her diaper on after every bath to get her tooth brush.

13.  She will sit in her chair (her soft pink one or her mini high chair) for 30 minutes at a time doing absolutely nothing but playing with the straps and talking to herself.  I'm convinced she thinks she's the queen of something.

14.  She carry's everything around like  purse.  Over her shoulder.  She's even mastered the shoulder shrug to get it back on when it starts to slip off.

15.  She loves everything GIRL.  She will hold her hands still and let me paint them with polish and proceed to blow on them until they are dry.  She'll brings me different outfits and shoes throughout the day that she wants to wear.  We go through 4-5 outfits a day because she wants a different dress on, not because they are dirty.  Sometimes when I take a dress or skirt off of her, she will cry.

16. She can climb onto or into almost anything in our house and if she can't quite do it, she'll try until someone stops her.  She is one dedicated little monkey.

17.  She has mini melt downs which include her throwing herself to the floor and flailing around.  Or, she'll start throwing anything within reach.  We usually ignore her when she does this unless/until she hurts herself.

18.  She is still extremely obedient will do anything you ask her to.  I love this about her.

19.  She hates diaper changes.  Still.

20.  She likes to put lotion...actually coconut oil... on her belly in the morning because she see's me doing it when I get out of the shower (got to prevent those stretch marks).

21.  She is still the happiest baby I know....as long as strangers or animals don't get too close.

Best Summer

This has been my favorite summer in Provo...by far!  Proabably because I have finally had time to actually enjoy myself.  Last summer was all about taking care of a new baby (good summer, but we stayed inside a lot) and every summer before that it's been work and school.  This summer is still all about Sophie but in an out doors, pool going, park playing kind of way.

We had some fun at our family cabin with most of my family a few weeks ago.

Sophie got a new chair from Rob's mom.  She loves it.  Our apartment is tiny so I put it away when she's not using it.  As soon as it's gone, she notices and wants it back again.  She does everything on the chair.  Snacks, plays, sings, everything.  Here she just finished pulling out all the bibs from the drawer and pilling them on the chair next to her...you know....because they can be fun toys too.

She's become a very good dancer.  At least with her arms.  And a good singer as well.  Especially at church during the hymns.  Here she is singing and dancing to the African Soweto Gospel Choir. 

We have season passes to a water park down the road and go several times a week.  Sophie is obsessed with the water.  She falls down constantly, but it doesn't seem to bother her.  She learned pretty early on not to breath under there.  It's a special treat when dad comes because then we get a chance to go on some of the water slides (which she is also obsessed with).  He got to come with us recently, and I was able to snap some pictures which is an impossible task when I'm alone.

We've also been spending some quality time at the park when it's not too hot.  She is in love with the slides and goes down them voluntarily without help.  Usually on her stomach with feet first, but occasionally head first when she's feeling extra brave.  Recently, she learned this skill....which was not aided in any way by Rob or myself.  I swear.

Enjoy.

If you listen carefully and ignore the goofy parents, you can hear Sophie.  The best is the way she laughs when she gets to the top, as if to say, "ha ha ha....I did it!"