Sisters in the Backyard

My favorite photo of the bunch. I love the way Sophia is looking at Scarlett. You can see the love in her expression.

-All photos taken January 2011-

Sophia & Avery

Sophia is so blessed to have a friend like Avery. She is a few years older than Sophia, but still loves to play with her. Sophia looks up to her and loves everything about her. She wants to do everything Avery does including homework (if she only new how terribly boring real homework is). Avery makes Sophia feel special and every time she greets her it's like she's saying hello to some long, lost friend. She runs to her with a big smile on her face and open arms for a hug. She is patient with Sophia and kind. I know where Avery has learned all this. Her mother of course, because she is the same and I'm blessed to have her as my friend.

(All these photos are from January. Yes, we swim and lay out in the middle of winter. The perks of Texas!

Her first "real" cut

Sophia has only had her hair cut a couple of times since birth and it's always been, me, my Mom or a friend cutting it. Back in January Sophia and her Daddy went to the Salon together and both got their hair cut.

The proof:

Sophia the Sick

To say the last 3 days have been challenging for me would be an understatement. It was like a bad dream I couldn't wake up from. Early Sunday morning Sophia came down with a vicious viral stomach bug. The vomiting didn't stop till yesterday. It got to the point I just assumed she would keep throwing up forever. So when she kept dinner down last night and breakfast this morning it was such a delight for me.

Anyone that knows me well, knows I'm a worry wort. Not the best trait to have. Of course care and concern are what every mother should have for her children, but obsessively worrying -not good. I think I might have added 10 new lines and wrinkles to my face in the last week. It's a good thing we now have an MD in the house and the second best thing to having a doctor in the house is having one next door. I have that also. So when Rob wasn't home, I called over my friend's hubby Jared to look at Sophia and do an exam. It was so nice to not have to pack Sophia into the car with a throw up bucket and take her to the Dr.'s office to be evaluated for dehydration.

So you would think that with Sophia getting daily exams that my worrying would abate. Wrong! Thoughts of surgery and cancer were going through my mind. Maybe because one day when I was a little girl my stomach aches went from a Dr.'s office visit to the operating table within 24hrs. (That part of my life deserves it's own volume of blog posts at a later date.)

Anyway seeing Sophia so hungry and weak was so painful. It made me so sad to her this way. She was like another child. Her energy, sparkle, and spirit that she infuses into our everyday lives was absent. I missed her so! I think Scarlett missed it too. Mom is not quite as much fun to watch or play with as is a running, dancing, singing, giggling 3 year old sister.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this doesn't hit anyone else in our home, especially Scar.

Here are some photos of Sophia during a happier time with 2 of her favorite people: her sister and her best friend Avery.

4 people- February

Aside from all the germs and illness this last month ended up being pretty good. Scarlett ended January sick and then passed it on to the rest of us. One by one we all got sick and somehow poor Sophia got sick 2 different times. Ahhhh. I felt like nurse for the first part of the month.

The weather started out extremely cold for South Texas. We were having highs in the 20s and by the end of the first week we had SNOW! Yes, it snowed for the first time here in I don't know how many years. I really didn't think we would see snow in the 4 years here. I was wrong. Sophia got all bundled up that morning and played in the 1/2 to 1 inch we got and by noon it had all melted. The entire city shut down for the morning and school was canceled. We got freezing rain right before the snow so the road conditions were not safe. All the highways were shut down so Rob had no way of getting to work. He got a snow day and spent the day at home with us. We warmed back up to the 70's and 80's for the rest of the month and have been enjoying our afternoons in the backyard. I keep reminding myself this is the good time of year to be outside, so take advantage and enjoy.

Rob had most of his weekends off for this last rotation! It was amazing. We attended the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo (minus the cowboy hats and boots). It was fun to see all the livestock up close and get a glimpse into a very different way of life.

Scarlett turned 9 months old and is finally eating more solids. Still not a lot, but more than before. She's scooting around on her bottom and getting pretty good at getting around like that. I have to watch what Sophia leaves on the floor now. She still puts anything and everything in her mouth. Scar will scoot backwards on her tummy also, but still no crawling. She loves to be around Sophia and her friends and the outdoors. Bath time is a fun time and she has decided that she doesn't want to be rocked to sleep anymore. She also just started shaking her head no. It's too cute.

Sophia asks everyday if I'm going to take her to preschool. I don't even sign her up till Monday and then she won't start till September. It's going to be a long 6 months of waiting for her. She likes to pretend to have homework and pack a bag for school.

We gave her a paperback Book of Mormon to take to church on Sundays and she just loves it. She carries it around all week long and pretends to read it.

We're looking forward to Bluebonnets. They will try to take the place of our Cherry Blossom springs we are use to.

Fabulous Fredericksburg

This is my last post from 2010. I know it only took me till March to finish up 2010. Now I've got to hurry up and blog Jan and Feb 2011. I'm determined to catch up. I've decided it's more fun to blog something that just happened with in the week, rather than several months ago.

Anyway, as I said in my last post we had a fabulous day shopping in Fredericksburg when my parents were here. The weather was sunny and in the 70s and the shops were so much fun.

I promised Sophia a toy so when we got to the 5 and dime store I let her pick something out. She's in love with Barbie and the 3 Musketeer so when she saw this sword she had to have it. It was $1.89. Done. "All for one and one for all." We heard this phrase the rest of the day.

They had some really awesome antique stores and this one had some antiques out on a patio. My dad put Scarlett in this vintage merry-go round thing for ride.

I can't wait till we get some more visitors in town so I can have an excuse to go back.