Consolidating

I have been consolidating a lot lately. Cutting down the bulk. Doing anything to make our busy, overly-detailed, hectic life a little more simple.

So.

I decided I am going to consolidate my blogs too. I am (obviously) no longer able to keep up with posting on three seperate blogs. And rather than not blogging at all, I am going to only post on Dialogue of a Wallflower from now on. So check here for updates on the family, the babies, my thoughts, exciting news, trials we face, and any other tidbits I find time to write about.

Hobo

Little Helper

Sophia "helped" me make a batch of cookies...

And after all that hard work, she got to lick the spoon. She nearly ate the spoon.

My little helper

Sophia can WALK!!!!

Cry Baby

Now every time Jazlyn starts crying, Sophie makes this face and says, "Bebe."

Daily Devotions

Sophia reading her baby bible aloud

"Quiet time"

Booooo!

Roll Film!

I'm ready for the movie, Mama.

Mmm.

Reeeeally into the movie. That Elmo sure can grab her attention!

Trick-or-Treat!

Three-eyed monster

Trick-or-treating at Papa Nourse's
Walking with Daddy



Trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa'


Grandma and her little monster

Stopping to see the cousins

Making the rounds

Trick-or-treat!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor after a hard day's work

Grins and Giggles

Hungry? Help Yourself, Dear

Big Sister, Big Helper

Soothing baby's chapped lips with some chapstick.

(= rubbing the closed tube all over baby's face)

Helping her sister with her nuk.

(= jamming the pacifier down Jaz's throat)

So Confused

My daughter confuses me sometimes. Lately, she has been having trouble with nap time. After several hours of being awake, playing, eating, crawling around and getting into ev-ery-thing in the house, she enters the comatose mode. She sits and stares. She rubs her eyes. She gets cranky if we don't take action right away to get her to bed. It is quite obvious when she is ready for a nap.

We give her a bottle of warm milk, lay her in the crib and all is quite... for about 10 minutes.

Then she starts talking. And giggling. And playing. For an hour. Or more. Then sometimes she falls asleep. Sometimes she doesn't.

What is happening here? Has this happened to any of you other moms? Am I doing something wrong?

Sophie of the Hood

Duddy

Sophia calls her Duddy (duh-dee) by name now. It is the one of the sweetest things I have ever seen to watch how Jared's face lights up every time she calls for her Duddy.

Whenever Jared walks into the room and she sees him, a huge smile spreads across her face, she throws her arm out towards him and says excitedly, "Duddy!!!"

When it is nap time, and I'm giving her a bottle, she constantly breaks from drinking, looks towards the door to the other room where she knows Jared is, and asks, "Duddy?" It's all he can do to keep from running in to his little girl.

Even in the morning, right when she wakes up, we hear her sweet little voice over the monitor saying, "Duddy? Duddy! Dada! Da! Duddy!?"

Jared's joy culminated yesterday when we were on a walk, and I said, "Sophia, say Ma-ma. Maaa-maaa." She looked up at me, smiled, and boldly said, "Daaah-deeee."

Bundle Me!

It was COLD outside yesterday, so I brought out the big guns.

Ahhhh, the joys of a hat that straps on.

She looks pretty darn cute too. Thanks Hannah!

Birthday Cone

Yesterday was Sophia's first birthday. To celebrate, we strapped her into her new big girl car seat, and headed to our favorite ice cream shop in Stillwater-- Nelson's. We ordered the child size Butter Brickle on a sugar cone, which was WAY more than all three of us could eat (4 scoops higher than the cone)! We had to put three scoops in a cup so the cone was more manageable.


Let me tell you- SOPHIA. LOVED. EVERY. LICK. She dove at the cone with her mouth, and sucked the scoop til it was nothing but a puddle.

First licks

Starting to get into it

Dada, this is COLD!

Gimme some more!
She did not take her eyes off the cone once.

I stole a lick, and Sophia's look said "Mama! How could you!?"

Then she kissed me as if to say sorry.

But she did take matters into her own hands after that.

And nooked on that cone till it was gone.

Still My Baby

I was on my computer today and heard Sophie giggling behind me. I turned and looked, and this is what I saw:

She found all the baby things I put out yesterday in preparation for Baby 2's arrival, and she was having a BALL!!! Laughing and giggling, batting at the kick-toys, bouncing up and down, putting her feet up... I think she remembers that they were hers not more than a few months ago.

Go, Sophie! Go!

This is one of the gifts she got for her birthday. Daddy put it together last night so Soph could try it out right away. She surprised us both!

Last Night

Today (she's still got it!)

1st Birthday Party!

We celebrated Sophia's 1st birthday this weekend! I can hardly believe she is already ONE. The year went by so fast. She is getting so big, and so smart. She surprises us every day with her new discoveries. She brings so much joy into our lives, and we feel so blessed that this beautiful girl is our daughter.

Happy 1st Birthday Sophia!!!

Sophie and Auntie Shinae

All the girls: Sophia, Natalie, Emma, Eva, Shirley
Princess cake

Playing with her pink balloon from Papa Nourse

Getting excited to go outside and eat her cake!

Yum!
She got Mama covered too

The fam on Sophia's 1st birthday

A very cute hat from Grandma Edie

Very intrigued by the baby making noises

Cute little lamb!