Sitting

Miss Suri Jean surprised us this morning by reaching a milestone. She is sitting on her own. Yeah for Surs! You can tell she is working hard to keep her balance but she did it none the less. You go girl!

Until next time....

Boys will be boys

Thursday evening Josh's brothers drove down for a visit. It was so nice to see Zack and Kyle however there were a few things I noticed. Here goes:

1. I regularly trip over Josh's huge shoes right at our front door. During their visit I tripled the times I tripped with all of the super huge man shoes just strewn about on our family room floor.

2. With three Sabol boys in our small house the downstairs bathroom always stunk! Yeah, that is right boys, I'm totally calling you out.

3. Just because zack and Kyle are grown men doesn't mean that you can leave your children alone with them. Well, Zack you are good, but Kyle......well I will not bring up the unfortunate incident at the park, but lets just say 1 more strike and you lose uncle privileges all together.

4. If Josh says "that's what she said" one more time I'm sending him back to Michigan. It was not helpful having Josh's brothers down to set him up for the statement.

5. Boys talk about sports, and watch sports, and read about sports. What else you got? I'm bored.



So, there you have it. Boys will be boys.

Sophia loved having her uncles down and Suri must have as well because all she did was smile.

Until next time.....

Fresh Air

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. We headed out to the park to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. Sophs had a ball and Suri enjoyed snuggling up with me.

Until next time.....

Baby rolls

All I have to say is I LOVE BABY ROLLS!

Until next time...

Cousins

This weekend the girls and I headed down to Madison, IN to visit with my family. The girls got to spend some time with all of their cousins and even got to go to Kennedy's birthday party, and I will say that my cousin Whitney made THE CUTEST cake ever.

Sophia, once again, managed to tear Kami and Mark's toy room apart. The first thing she did when she got there was ran to the toy room and put a superwoman costume. Suri and Izzy Boo rolled around on the floor together and did a little baby wrestling. Surs usually wrestles in a higher weight class than Izzy but we didn't follow rules.

Mama Pam made the mistake of buying a large box of Fun Dip for the kiddos, not thinking of course that she would be the one cleaning all of the sugary mess off of the floors. Lesson learned Pamela?

Guess what Sophia and I watched on Pamela and Dale's movie screen? MULAN!

I have tonight off as Josh will be getting up with Surs and tending to all of Sophia's 4 year old needs. I plan on camping out on my bed with the heating pad on my back (thank you 18 pound child and punkin' seat) watching a bunch of terrible DVR'd reality TV (and Mercy of course).

Until next time....

Check up

I thought it would be a great idea to schedule both girls' check ups at the same time on Friday. Come to find out this is not such a great idea. Yes, it saves you a trip to the pediatrician, but the chaos of keeping Sophia out of the doctor's equipment and making sure Suri didn't roll off of of the exam table wore me out. On a good note, both girls had great exams.

Sophia: 75th percentile in height (41.5 inches without shoes), weight 75th percentile (I've forgotten exact weight)

Suri: 97th percentile in height (28 inches), 70th percentile in weight (18 lbs)

Madison, Indiana

This weekend the girls and I are heading to my hometown of Madison, IN. We plan on visiting grandmas, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. It is so nice to visit Madison.

As Sophia would say "it is so stinkin' cute". It really is. Downtown Madison has the cutest little shops and restaurants. More than anything is is just so pleasant to just walk downtown and enjoy the scenery. My favorite downtown stops are The Attic (for their yummy pie), the Downtowner (for their fabu food), and Rock a Bye Lady (for their cutesy kids stuff).

Until next time....

Favorite Things

Suri Jean has developed some favorites. Here they are:

Parent: Me, of course (just kidding Josh)

Food: Sweet Potatoes and applesauce

Toy: Baby Einstein ball (see picture); She absolutely loves this toy and will bop herself in the head with it over and over and it doesn't seem to bother her.

Blanket: White handmade blankie from Grandma Geegee

Baby Gear: Jumperoo, big fan

Exercise: Sit-ups. Seriously, I will hold her little chub legs and she can sit herself straight up.

Games: Peek-a-boo

Nicknames: She prefers and responds more to Boo-boo or Surs

She continues to be a happy baby. Night time is not going great. She still wakes up twice hungry. She still just takes about 5 ounces at a time and then falls asleep, so I don't think she is getting completely full. She loves her bath time and I would let her bathe longer if it didn't break my back leaning over the tub. She still loves her baby massages although Sophia has started moving in on her time asking for her baby massage as well. Suri has become more mobile s of this past weekend. She is not crawling but she is darn close. I try to get her down on the floor at least once an evening for about a half an hour. She is tolerating tummy time much better. She is rolling all over the place and has now officially become unsafe to lay on the bed unattended. So, there you have it. My Surs is growing up.

Until next time....

Left Unattended..well, sort of...

I have made it a goal everyday to get a few things together for Disney. This usually takes about 15 minutes. Today, I left the girls unattended....well sort of. They might as well have been unattended because Josh was watching the Michigan v. Michigan State game

Tangent-(stick with me here). So speaking of Michigan, Josh actually tried to get Sophia to say that Michigan was "her" team. Now, that is all sorts of wrong, and almost sinful. I nipped that in the bud quickly. (Yep, I said nip again...pervs!)

Okay, back to the 15 minutes of packing with the girls left unattended. So, I come back downstairs and I find Sophia with dark eye shadow on her eyebrows and Suri, poor thing, with a Happy 1st Birthday hat on her head. Only wondering how many times Sophia probably snapped her with the elastic band before finally getting it to stay on.

Until next time......

Alice in Wonderland

Yesterday evening Sophia and I had a date. We went to see Alice in Wonderland. I was a bit hesitant to take Sophs to this because it just looked.........for lack of a better word, WEIRD! As a child I watched Alice in Wonderland (the made for TV version) over and over on my grandma's VCR. Not scary at all. Sophia insisted that she wanted to go and Josh thought she would do just fine as well. To my surprise, the movie was VERY good. I enjoyed it as much as any kid I think. Sophia was only scared when the dragon, or jaberwacki (not sure how to spell it) showed up. Even then all she did was snuggle in a bit.

The only "scene" we made on this night out was when the red queen showed up and said "Off with her head". Sophia then yelled out "Mommy, Off with her head". There were a few laughs in the theatre after that.

Until next time...

Praying Mantis

Suri Jean has, I hope, gotten over her brief illness. Her fever was elevated for just a day and a half. She seems as though she is back to her smiling self. I wanted to capture her in one of her favorite "poses". For some reason Surs always clasps her little hands together making it look like she is praying. At times she holds her little hands so tight that they start turning blue. That can't be good.

We are also starting to pack for Disney World. Woo Hoo! I don't want to say the exact dates we are going for fear of someone breaking into our house and cleaning it. Heck, I should just leave the door unlocked so people could just come in and take stuff. Decluttering at its finest. Back to the Disney trip. I am a little concerned with how much stuff we are having to tote through the airport. One baby in a front carrier, a 4 year old in a stroller, 3 suit cases, 2 car seats, and 3 carry-ons. Not real sure how we are going to get from the long term parking area to the terminal. I guess I should just worry about that later and focus on making sure me and the girls have everything we need for the trip. Josh is on his own. I only have enough brains for 3.

Until next time....

A Sick Suri

Poor Suri ended the evening last night feeling pretty lousy. I spent a good portion of the morning at the pediatricians office and came home with antibiotics. Poor thing. She seems to have bouts of energy, quickly followed by hours of fussiness. Lets hope this is a short illness. As you can tell by the picture, this was an energetic moment.

Until next time....

Findlay Oilers

This weekend we traveled to Findlay, OH to visit my college roommate and her family. We got to watch The University of Findlay women's basketball team play and Sophia got to listen to all of my stories about when I played. Yesterday evening the grown-ups went out for dinner and I have not laughed that hard in a long time. Thank you Drew and Lydia for a great time.

On our way home I made a request to stop at a rest stop to well, uhmmmm, you know. While I was in the rest stop this is the conversation that took place between Sophia and Josh:

Sophia: "Daddy, you need to do that trick where mommy walks up to the car and you drive away". (insert sinister laugh here)

Josh: "Uhmmmmmm.....okay"

So, I jog out of the rest stop and get ready to reach for the door and Josh pulls forward. This drives me absolutely nuts and more frustrating is that it happens almost once a week. Once I did get into the car all I hear is Sophia giggling. Little stinker!

I need some new pranks to pull on Josh. Help me out.

Until next time....

Sophia-isms

Many days we go round and round with Sophia to clean her room. It is a daunting task and quite frankly it is pointless. However, I do feel it is important for Sophia to take on some responsibility in the house and a good start is tidying up her room. (She did change the laundry over for me yesterday which was awesome).

A couple of days ago Josh took on the challenge of getting Sophia to clean her room. She, of course, started whining and saying "I need some help", "I don't want to clean it", and the famous "maybe after Mulan II". So in the midst of her whining Josh said "Sophia, what do you need to do right now?" (Thinking of course that she would say "clean my room"), Sophia in her little 4 year old cry/whine says "I need to stay pa....pa......positive". She is a coach's daughter. She needs to stay positive. And clean her room.

Until next time....


Ps. This is great-grandma Gee Gee.

Rollin'

All of this birthday planning and celebrating has made me forget to mention a pretty significant milestone for Miss Suri Jean. Miss Thing is rolling. Once placed on her back she almost immediately rolls over to her belly. Once on her belly she just gets really pissed off. I find a bit of humor in my little Suri's angry face so I let her have some angry "tummy time". Suri is such a happy baby, that is except when she is on her belly. She doesn't make me work hard at all to get a smile. She loves her baby massages and playing "Where is the Baby" with Sophia. Her current nicknames are Surs, Boo boo, Surfie, and lovey lovey. Not sure where any of them came from, but that is what we call her. Until next time....

Lil' Accents

My friend made Sophia and Suri the cutest hair accessories. Thank you Kim! Check her out at www.lilaccents.com.

Until next time....

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY SOPHIA

4 years ago today my life changed forever. Our sweet Sophia came into the world. Now, she is a little girl. We celebrated her 4th with a party at Fundamentals. She had so many classmates and cousins there. Her aunt Whitney even made her a Mulan cake.

My Big Girl

Sophia Kay is turning into a kid. She can write her whole name by herself, she can wipe her own bottom (this is monumental, trust me), she knows what type of food will make her grow, and why it is okay for mommy to drink diet coke ("because it is yummy"), she sticks up for herself but has learned how to control her grumpy hands. She has mastered a mean booty shake (preferably to the song "It's peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly, etc..."). She has nothing on me though. I will just put that right on out there. Sophs continues her obsession with Mulan and shadow fights all the time, anywhere and everywhere (She put on a display at Target the other day). She is just about 42 inches which puts her above the height necessary to ride "Terror Tower", that is how Sophs says it. Her feet are ginormous (that is a word right?). She wears a size 10 in kids. But again, Josh and I are not small people, so we should have expected larger than normal children. Sophia still love, loves, loves school. Her favorite things about school are her teachers, the sensory table, and sloppy joes...

Until next time.....

Party Planning

I can hardly believe my baby girl is turning 4 in just one week. Where has the time gone? We are planning her special day at "snacks snacks" with her classmates, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas. It should be a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I am going to need a nap when it is all said and done. Good news is that there will be lots and lots of baby holders.

Until next time....

Suri

Don't get me wrong, I think Suri is super yummy and I could just eat up those chubby little cheeks. But....Dude, look at the size of that noggin'! Holy cow. I thought Miss Sophia had a big head. Until next time.

Snowstorm

Guess what? More snow..... Sophia loved it. We made a "Go Colts" snowman and snow angels. Unfortunately for me, this beautiful snow makes for a heck of a commute to work.

Until next time....

Superfly Jimmy Snuku

Sophia.........off the top ropes!

Progress

So, it snowed again. Boo! I wanted to report to the family that I have been making progress with my husband in training. After just a little nagging I managed to get Josh outside to shovel the driveway. Karen, you would have been so proud of your boy! Now, I don't typically stereotype chores and responsibilities around the house. I have no problem changing light bulbs, fixing various things, doing laundry, or doing dishes. What I mean is that I equally dislike all of them regardless of which gender they are typically performed by. However, today I put on my diva heals and dug in. This woman was NOT going to shovel that driveway today. I turned on my "queeny" ways (that's right Pamela, I get it from you) right after my socks got wet when I walked out to the car to go to the gym. That wouldn't have happened had the driveway been shoveled. So, here is proof of Josh's progress. He is so going to kill me.

Until next time....

Senior Night

Last night I took the girls to watch the Center Grove girls basketball team play. It also happened to be senior night. The girls behaved surprisingly well throughout the game. Sophia had to be stationary for over an hour so she was ready to explode after the last buzzer. I let her go sit with Josh during the Seniors speeches and thought he had control and would keep her occupied on the bench for the 10 minutes it would take to get through these speeches. Sophia was so close. They were down to the last speech, which happened to be one of the funnier players on the team, when I looked down on the floor and a little blondie was running across the court. The senior player just said "well, hi there". Sophia waved and kept running. I thought that was the end until she reached the padded goal post and gave it a big chest bump. Oh Sophia!

Until next time.....

ps: I have never seen snow flakes this big in my life.

Grumpy Hands

So, the dust has settled a bit from our "Grumpy Hands" situation. Apparently Sophia hadn't been tolerating classmates taking toys away from her or not playing the way she wanted to play and has been handling it on her own. By "handling" I mean pushing, hitting, nudging...you know, whatever she needed to do to get her point across. All of this sounds like pretty ordinary 3-4 year old behavior, however I wanted to nip it in the bud (that's right I said nip).....Anyhow, this "grumpy hands" phase has coincided with Sophia's obsessive Mulan phase. Now, Mulan is a pretty aggressive movie. Mulan is a tough chick, kicking "honeybuns" all over the place. I am not advocating violence by any means, but if Sophia were to be a princess, I would want her to be Mulan, a tough chick princess who doesn't take any crap.

When "grumpy hands" began I asked Sophia in a serious voice "Sophia, why are you hitting your friends?", she said "....Because my hands are just so grumpy". It was all I could do not to bust out laughing. This child is something else. Thanks to Sophia's teachers and her "happy hands" chart we are hopefully done with our "grumpy hands" phase. But look out people, she has a wicked right hook.

Until next time....