Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy

Sophia @ 19 Months, 1st Tumbling Class & UGA Homecoming

Sophia is one wild 19 month old. She has more energy than we know what to do with these days and it's been so fun playing with her and seeing the world through her curious eyes. She is little miss independent and still loves her mama and dada (though Mama is the word on repeat at bedtime... poor Trey just wants to read her a bedtime story but most nights she won't have it).

She loves playing with Minnie (which gave me the idea for her to be Minnie this Halloween ... more on that costume later). She loves playing with her cousins and tries to say their names more. She is so much more alert to her surroundings and other kids and can be a little feisty pants when she doesn't get her way. We hear a lot of but "peez" and she seems to think that saying Please will get her anything. Its really hard to not laugh when she does it but girl has to learn ;)

Her vocabulary and cognitive skills are really improving. She can do puzzles all on her own and loves her shape sorting game and she's starting repeating the names of the animals on my phone app Peekaboo Barn. Woof Woof is by far her favorite though and we can't seem to get her to understand that dogs say woof woof and they aren't actually called that. Every dog is still woof woof to her.

She also has no idea what's coming this March and a part of me feels guilty that her sweet wonderful world is about to be turned upside down.. but in a good way and I can tell with how much she loves to be a mama's little helper she's going to be a great big sister.

just a typical morning rummaging through mama's bathing suit drawer with woof woof and lambie in hand

Last Friday I took Sophia to her first Tumbling Class at the Smyrna Community Center. I was so busy running around with her I didn't take and videos or pictures until the very end but she did great and was so fearless! She loved it! She tried literally everything from walking on the balance beam (which she made it across each time), flipping backwards on the rolling ball, hanging by her legs on the bar and just going through every obstacle they had.

She even showed such interest in other kids there (and there were tons in that Friday morning class!). She kept running after this other girl who was little older than her and I thought it was so cute. I could tell she was trying to to play with her but the girl didn't seem too interested. Then all of a sudden Sophia went in for a hug. I wish I had caught the moment on video. She was being so sweet!

Anyway, I'm so glad I found out those classes started at 18 months and went ahead and got her started because she loved it and I had so much fun with her. I know she's going to enjoy them for the next few years.

Saturday, Sophia headed to Abuela and Grandfather's for the afternoon and mama and dada headed to Athens for the homecoming game. We met up with Heath and his fiance Lisa before hand and had fun getting to know her better and catching up with Heath. It had been about 1 year and half since we'd seen them last so it's definitely been too long. GA easily won the game and it was so enjoyable to sit there and not bake in the sun. It was definitely sunny but there was such a nice breeze and it was cool so it feel just perfect. We had a great time and the Dawgs pulling off the win and us finding out the gender that morning didn't hurt! Trey was in heaven and it was a good start to his birthday weekend!

Belly Shot almost 16 weeks

Sophia @ 18 Months, Taste of Smyrna Festival, Mimi & Dadaw's Visit & Kevin's 5th Birthday

@ 18 months:

Sophia has become a fearless little girl. She runs everywhere, sleeps great through the night (usually 8:30 pm - 8:30 am... sometimes longer on weekends), loves to run outside and play with her car, climbs on everything and loves going down slides and playing at the playground. She loves to color and play with her baby dolls and stuff animals and loves doing puzzles and watching shows with animals. She is definitely not a homebody and loves any chance she gets to get in the car. Is really tall! She's in the 92nd percentile for height and 47th for weight! She's going to be tall and skinny just like her mama and dada.

As for vocabulary, she's talking up a storm (though we don't always understand what she's saying).

Some of her favorite words:
aya (agua)
no no
mama
dada
peez (please)
zapatos
ball ball
woof woof (she LOVES dogs and runs after them whenever she sees them!)

She's also become better at sharing and playing with others and takes interest when other little kids are around. She loves playing peekaboo and having us chase her and runs all over the house giggling when we chase her with Minnie and the stroller.

She's becoming a little whiny pants though but she's still such a fun loving sweet little girl and it's fun seeing her personality grow.

In the middle of September, Smyrna hosts its annual Taste of Smyrna Festival. We ended up babysitting Kevin and Garrett that day so we took all 3 with us to enjoy the festivities. Whoa is that a flash forward if we have 3 one day. It sure is different than carrying around 1 but we had a great time watching the kids play in the kid zone and enjoy their slushy treats. I love how Smyrna seems to always have fun community activities right down the road and it's been a fun place to start raising our family.

The last weekend of the month we got a treat with Mimi and Dadaw coming to town for a visit. It was great spending time with them at Carrie Beth's house just relaxing, watching the Dawgs play and letting the kids run around and enjoy the beautiful weather. As all visits go, it went by too quick!

Then that Sunday we celebrated Kevin's birthday at Champion Kids in Marietta. Kevin had a great time and it's hard to believe he's already 5! Sophia also had a blast running around on all the obstacles and I was so excited for her first tumbling class around the corner.

Labor Day & UGA v. Troy

September 1 meant Sophia turned 18 months old. Gosh time flies. We spent the weekend at the lake with Carrie Beth, Robby, Jen, Justen and the kids celebrating Labor Day weekend (and our official 5 year anniversary). It was such a fun weekend with great friends and family and the perfect way to officially close out summer. We all had a blast on the boat and Sophia had so much fun playing with the kids.

It was crazy to think of how much she had changed since the last lake trip we took up there for the start of summer over Memorial Day weekend. She had barely started walking then and now just a few short months later she was running all over and keeping up with all the big kids. She was so much more alert on the boat too and loved watching everyone wakeboard and play around in the water. She's definitely a little fish which makes me even more excited to see how she does with swimming next summer.

The next weekend we headed back to the Classic City for our first UGA game. We missed the Clemson season opener because we were at the lake but decided Troy would be a good game to take Sophia too. It was a noon game so it was perfect to drive up that morning, spend a little bit of time downtown in the shops and walk through North Campus to the stadium. Sophia did great and wore her cute little GA cheerleading outfit in style. She was turning heads everywhere with her little pom pom in hand and she did so well at the game. We made it to the 3rd quarter and headed home in time for her to take an afternoon nap. That really is the best time to bring a toddler to a game and I'm glad we have season tickets so we'll be able to take her to more.

Belly Shot - 12-13 weeks

Jamaica Anniversary Trip

Recap continues...

Trey and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary by leaving Sophia with my parents and heading down to Montego Bay, Jamaica for a long weekend stay at the Iberostar Grand adults only all inclusive resort. In short... it was amazing! I was still getting morning sickness/dayness nausea off and on the whole time while we were there but couldn't beat the view and the surroundings and if I was going to feel off it was definitely better feeling it there.

The resort was beautiful and there wasn't a thing the staff there did not do for us. It's a shame I didn't get to try all the drinks Trey indulged in because they sure looked good but we both agreed that all inclusive is the way to go and we will definitely be taking another trip like that one day... maybe for our 10 year!

The resort had all kinds of activities but they also catered to your every desire so if you wanted to relax they made that possible too. We had staff serving us everywhere at every time of the day from our personal butler who gave us great room service to the servers who would walk up to you in your tiki hut on the beach to offer drinks and food. They even had a library service which was great because I came unprepared. I mean, it's been too long since I've been able to sit still at the beach and actually relax so I was able to find a good read and read the entire 500 page book in a day. They even had floats and noodles for you to use in the water and water activities all included. Trey and I went kayaking one day to say we did something.

At night the resort was like a cruise ship on dry land. They had nightly shows and lounges to relax in and a club (my favorite). We got to try out 4 of the restaurants while we were there and the food was great. It really was a fun trip and went by too quickly but of course we missed little Sophia and were so glad to see her when we got home!