Guess who went to the circus on Saturday? And as usual, our front row seats did not disappoint. Thank you bunches, Nana & Cookie! We decided to leave Sophie with the grandparents and enjoy an evening of Fully Charged fun with just our biggest little girl. She has been beside herself since Christmas waiting for this day. It is amazing to me that she remembers from year to year what it's like. She knows we park at "mama's work" and that we sit "really close to the clowns". It is so funny to look back and see how much she has changed since our first year at Ringling Brothers. Mom, Ella & SD right before we headed home {see the confetti all over the floor?} We were smart and brought last year's light up toy. Total savings? $20 - Score! Isn't this shirt absolutely adorable? We ...
Lovin’
A very short video, but my absolute favorite thing about Sophie right now. She gives kisses. ...
it’s a jungle out there
If you've been reading since the beginning, then you know that Ella was a bit obsessed with The Jungle Book as a little bitty girl, especially this part. We might not be watching the movie twice a day like we used to, but she certainly still has a thing for elephants. Especially when they're "holding hands". On Tuesday, the elephants from the Barnum & Bailey circus were due to arrive in Birmingham. Ella tagged along with mommy to work and we set out at 9:45 for an early lunch. Luckily, they walked in on a street very near my office. Not so lucky, was the bitter cold and falling rain. We waited for awhile on the street, very excited. First the train cars started rolling by. We imagine they are loaded with barrels and costume, trapezes and clown cars. Then we needed a ...
8 Minutes with Sophie
This video is boring. I probably shouldn't share it, but I was cracking up at how fast she moves from one room to another. This is generally how my time is spent with her. I am constantly following (chasing) her from room to room, saving her from precarious situations and removing unwanted objects from her mouth. She is a silly girl. Things you might have noticed in this video... She is beyond in love with those keys. I think they were in her stocking from Santa. She carries them around and presses that button too many times in one day. I hear Old McDonald and Hickory Dickory Dock in my dreams. The Sophie Squat. She sits like this often... one leg underneath her and the other propped up like she's ready to take off. I expect any minute for her just to stand up and walk ...
Blog Nook
This is where I used to blog. In my "Muted Gold" dining room. I chose this color when we bought our house because I thought it was yellow. By happy accident, it turned out to be a spicy orange that I loved. Six years ago. We haven't changed anything about our living and dining rooms since then with the exception of rearranging some furniture and adding new rugs last year. It was time for a change. While I'm nowhere close to being ready to share the rooms, I thought I'd share a sneak peek and tell you what we did to this one little spot. Before, our computer was on an antique sewing machine base topped with a rectangle of glass. We wall-mounted a shelving unit and stashed all of our techy stuff and called it a day. It was okay, but very cluttered and I hated not having a definitive ...
Love Letters: Nine Months
Seriously, how can you be nine months old already? Sophie, I think you've really grown in the last month. More so than any other month so far. I can remember when I felt like Ella went from being a baby to a big girl and here we are again. When people ask how old you are, I cringe saying nine months. It sounds so big. I'm going to turn around and you'll be blowing out birthday candles, wearing ballet shoes, riding a bike. These are the things I'll remember most about nine months: Gone are the days of quiet Sophie who falls asleep without a whimper. When you have an opinion, you make yourself known. You still don't cry a lot and you aren't overly fussy, you just seem to have found your voice. You squeal with delight, you yell to get our attention, you mimic us when we make funny ...
My Big Girl
I know she's growing, but it kind of hit me hard when she went from laying in my lap drinking a bottle to sitting up in a high-chair feeding herself! We had been talking about how she was having a hard picking up bites for herself just a few days ago. Over the weekend, I put some chicken on her tray to distract her for a moment while I ate a few bites, when all of a sudden she was stuffing her mouth full of food! She's been eating big girl food for over a month, but self-feeding is a little different. So far, we've tried pasta, english peas, carrots, bananas, waffles and chicken fingers. On Monday night I made crockpot tacos and the meat was too spicy for her, so I tore up a tortilla and gave her a pile of chopped up tomatoes, shredded lettuce and cheese. I call it an inside-out taco ...
An Ice Day
In Alabama, any talk of snow is a big deal. A huge deal, really. Schools shut down, business close, roads are impassable and grocery shelves are empty. When talk of a "major winter storm" started getting tossed around mid-week the entire state went into a state of panic. I bought groceries for the second time in six days, stocking up on formula, diapers and Little Debbie brownies. We borrowed a generator and bought way too much gasoline. I cleaned house top to bottom and washed every stitch of winter clothes we owned. If we were going to get an extra day at home together this week, I did not want to be preoccupied with laundry and housework! We watched from the porch and front windows all night on Sunday in anticipation. Ella sang songs about the snow and caught a few flakes on her ...