Little Bit

Sophie is truly my "Little Bit". Today, I found Emma-Caroline and Sophie playing with one of the toy bins, using it for a push car. The bin is about the length of a shoe box and the height of two. I am always amazed at what Sophie can fit into like Emma-Caroline's American Girl Doll trundle bed as well as the baby doll cradle. She just now fits into 9 month old clothing at 19 months. She's a sweet little thing and we love her petitness.

Miss Smarty Pants

Emma-Caroline is hooking up her camera to the TV.

She got it to display on the screen after this picture was made.

I had always heard that one day you will realize that your child is smarter than you, but I never knew it would be so soon. Today, Emma-Caroline brought me a pair of cables that go with her camera. She wanted me to download her pictures to the computer, but I told her the cables she had were for her to connect her camera to the TV. The next thing I knew, she had flipped open the panel I didn't even know existed on the front of the TV and had connected her camera to it. When I asked her what she was doing she simply said, "Oh just hooking my camera up to the TV. See those colors, Mommy, you have to match them up." Now how did she know that? I called Howie and he said that he hasn't shown her how to do it, so she figured it out all by herself. Pretty smart little 3 year old! She then got it all working as if it were just that easy! She definitely is her G-Daddy's granddaughter. She has no fear of technology and can tinker with something until she figures out how it works. I'm so glad I have a member of the "Geek Squad" right in my own house!

Sophie's First Haircut

Waiting to have her beautiful auburn hair cut.

Miss Chantal giving Sophie her first haircut.

Sophie had her first professional haircut today. You would have thought she had been having her hair cut and styled her whole life. She sat so patiently and was not bothered in the least by what our hair stylist Chantal at Belleza was doing. That's my girl! She already knows the joys of going to the hair salon. Oh, and today it was made official, as Chantal stated, "Wow, Sophie has beautiful auburn hair." That's right, it's auburn, not brown. We love both shades of hair color around our house. But I had to mention that for the record, since sometimes Sophie's auburn red locks are mistaken for brown. Hee hee! A mother's pride!

Having a Ball!

Sophie was invited to her little friend Cate's 1st birthday party. They had the pack-n-play filled with balls and Sophie had the best time playing in them. She also enjoyed the special birthday cupcakes and of course playing with her friend Cate. We all had a ball!

Living in the Moment

It seems the days are ever busy with things to do. Make the beds, dress the children, cook breakfast, clean up after breakfast, clean the house, do the laundry etc. etc. etc. We all partake in these daily chores and sometimes I feel, as I am sure others do too, that I am on a hamster wheel spinning and spinning but never getting anywhere and never getting off. And then I hear a small little voice say, "Mommy will you play with me?" At first I think to myself, "I don't have time to play, there's so much I still have to do;" but then the voice asks again, "Mommy, will you play with me?" I stop, reluctant at first, but then realizing, the hamster wheel will always be there. For the the rest of my life I will clean, do laundry, and so forth. But I will not have the rest of my life to play with my three year old daughter. So I stop, and I change my attitude, "Yes, sweetie, I will play with you. What do you want to play?" Today it happens to be Dora. I am happy to have this moment to jump off my hamster wheel and live life in the moment. For now, the hamster wheel has stopped spinning.

Splish Splash I was Taking A Bath!

I got a new flash and zoom lens for Christmas and was playing around with it while we gave Sophie and Emma-Caroline a bath. Yes, it is true that I don't actually need a zoom lens to take pictures of the girls in the bath, but I thought these pictures were pretty cute. It's slim pickings when it comes to blogging in the winter time!

Snow Angels

We awoke this morning to more snow and a beautiful winter wonderland. Emma-Caroline wanted to make a snow angel yesterday, but there was not enough on the ground to get a good print. This morning she got her chance to make her first snow angel. It is amazing that we can just lay ourselves down in a clean bed of snow, move our arms and legs from top to bottom and make a beautiful snow angel. Isn't it wonderful that God designed each of us with as an angel just waiting for a new fallen snow.

Playing in the Snow!

Throwing a snowball at Daddy

Having fun!

Tasting the snow!

Tastes pretty good!

So some of the snow did stick to the ground today. You can't miss an opportunity to play in the snow, even if there is only a little of it on the ground. You never know when you'll see snow again, especially in Knoxville. Emma-Caroline had a great time playing in the snow and throwing mini snowballs with her daddy and friends Davis, Jack and Jack L. Sophie appreciated the beauty of the snow falling around her and even took a little taste just for good measure. I just love snow! It sure makes you feel like a kid again!

Watching it Snow!

Today it actually started snowing in Knoxville! Yippee!!! We can all click our heels and jump for joy! Although it's not sticking, it's still fun to watch the fluffy white snow flakes fall to the ground. This is Sophie's first time to actually conceptualize that there is something white falling from the sky. To my delight she said the word "snow" while watching it from our glass door with Emma-Caroline, Lucy and Barkley. What a nice little treat for a cold winter day!

Almost Dancing with Elmo!

Santa brought Sophie "Elmo Live." He's pretty cute and really doesn't get on my nerves as some talking and moving toys do. One of Sophie's favorite things to do with Elmo is dance. She'll shake it on down and boogie the night away. Unfortunately, in this video, Sophie had other plans. Oh well, maybe next time!

Thinking Snow!

Snowman 2006
Emma-Caroline's First Snow, February 2006

Sophie's First Snow, February 2008

Well, as of today, we have not seen snow here in Knoxville since last February. Emma-Caroline and Sophie's experience with snow has been minimal with the small dustings we have had over the past few years. But snow is snow, and the girls did get to feel a little of the white stuff between their fingers. We hope for at least a little snow this winter. For those who live in New York or elsewhere where it has snowed a lot this year, you may think we're crazy for wanting a snowy day. But let's face it, there's nothing better as a kid in the winter then getting out in the snow and playing in it. I'd love for Emma-Caroline and Sophie to experience that little winter snowy pleasure. And I'd love getting to be a kid again too!

Dixie Doodle

Riding the new pony.

Daddy's turn!

Santa brought Sophie a pony, but we soon learned that it was really meant for Emma-Caroline to ride and Sophie to ride when she is older. If we really wanted to, Howie and I could ride this pony, and Howie actually did! It's pretty cool and does make a good riding toy. As every pony deserves a good name, we tried to get Emma-Caroline to name her pony "Macaroni" as the name of the pony in the song, "Yankee Doodle." Emma-Caroline was not convinced. So she decided instead she would name her pony, "Dixie Doodle" because, as she said, "Dixie is the South and that's where we live." I suppose that is good coaching on my part since we talked about the song, "Christmas in Dixie" being about Christmas in the South and that she is a Southern girl because she lives in the South. She doesn't know that Yankee is a reference to the North, but I did think it was pretty smart of her to some how know that it was. Maybe it's because Howie gets all the Yankee's Baseball stuff in the mail, and Emma-Caroline knows the Yankees are in the North in New York where her Grandma Beverly, Aunt Rhonda, Aunt Bess, Aunt Sherri and her cousins live. Who knows? But she did insist on naming her pony "Dixie Doodle", so Dixie Doodle it is.

A new Noun and Verb

Emma-Caroline sharing her Nigh-Nigh with Ellie.

Emma-Caroline's most prized possession is her "Nigh-Nigh" or her blanket. It is so named because as we used to lay her down in her crib at night, Howie and I would cover her with her blanket and say, "Night, Night!" Emma-Caroline associated that phrase with her blanket, hence "Nigh-Nigh" became her name for it. It's not just any old blanket . It has to be the right texture of silkiness on the edges and back or it is tossed to the side until the correct one is presented for her to sleep with. Emma-Caroline even requested that I monogram one of her blankets with the word "Nigh-Nigh" in the corner. She now has four special "Nigh-Nigh's" and some others that just don't pass the silky test. The other night, Emma-Caroline said to Howie, "Daddy, I can't "silky" my "Nigh-Nigh". You have it turned wrong." She meant she couldn't feel the silky edge of her blanket and snuggle with it before she went to sleep. So now we have two new words for the Avery House English Language Dictionary:

Nigh-nigh: Noun: a special blanket
Silky: Verb: to rub the edge of a satin blanket and cuddle with it.

Sophie's 18 Month Check-Up

Sophie had her 18 month check-up this morning. She weighs exactly 19 pounds and is 30 inches long. That means she is still not on the growth chart for weight and that she should not be turned around facing the front in her car seat until she is 20 pounds. She is right below the 25th percentile for height. They did a blood test for anemia and found that she is anemic. This is a hereditary thing as both my mom and I have been anemic all of our lives. This only means that we will have to monitor her iron levels and make sure she is getting more of it in her diet. I just bought a food processor so that I can sneak some green leafy vegetables and other iron rich foods into food Sophie will eat. Unfortunately, she also inherited my aversion for certain types and textures of foods. Maybe I should be sneaking some vegetables into my own foods! All-in-all she is still growing nicely on her own curve, which is a good thing.

Cleaning the Bowl.

One of my favorite things to do as a child (and as an adult too) was to eat up the remaining batter and "clean" the bowl after muffins, cake or brownies had been mixed up. Mmmmmm! There's nothing better in my book. Emma-Caroline and Sophie agree. This morning's delectable delight happened to be chocolate chip muffins. And as Emma-Caroline noted, nothing was left to waste.

A New Tradition

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve with our dear friends Sarah and Nathan Eaton and their children Mary Caroline, Emily and Jake. It was also Nathan's birthday, so we had a lot to celebrate. Emma-Caroline and Sophie enjoyed playing with Mary Caroline and Emily and together they made this special New Year's wish. We wish everyone a very happy and blessed 2009!