Yabadabadoo!

Today, after I got off the phone with Nanny Ilse and Opa Rudolph, I decided that I needed to record Sofia since it's been a while since they have seen her on camera so here it is, guys! This was my best attempt at capturing Sofia, it's hard to keep her focused but I'll keep videoing so you can see her progression.

Syd and I both agree that this 'talking spurt' is just as exciting as when she took her first steps. She is on the verge of being a full fledged talker, she just needs a couple more days and a perhaps a translator. Clearly I've got to work on my Dutch but my little one will be fluent in Dutch, Spanish and English.

My mom and I made this video after dinner. She was on a roll, repeating EVERYTHING she heard. A family friend stopped by while golfing and Uncle Alex said, "Hey Michael" and suddenly, Sofia said the same thing! I don't even think she's heard that name before but she said it loudly and almost clearly. You can hear her version of "Michael" at the beginning of the video. She's also starting to form sentences which I tried to get on video but then again, she isn't known to perform so I couldn't get it all. I did, however, manage to get her sticking her finger up her nose. Lovely.

We had a great weekend celebrating Cheo's birthday both Friday and Saturday. He's the sweetest brother and I am delighted that he enjoyed himself at his parties, he deserves it. Love you brother, happy birthday!

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

beautiful baby
Mama Alv and the birthday boy"riding a bike, riding a bike, 2 plants are riding a bike" singer and songwriter, Isabella. Sofia sang back up. they are adorable.

temptation...

they have too much fun together

happy birthday!

potty time

Sosa sitting in Isa's big girl seat

The past week, Sofia has been saying 'pee pee' and then heading towards the bathroom. When we get to the restroom, she proceeds to take off her pants (or at least try to) and then she wants me to sit her on the toilet. She has never actually peed but she then will 'wipe'. She begins first by wiping her face, then she wipes downtown, and throws the toilet paper in the potty. After that, she shuts the lid, flushes the toilet and heads to the sink to wash her hands. At my parents, she cleverly moved the stool from the piano into the bathroom so she could reach the sink. Is she a baby Einstein or what?

Thursday is wedding soup at Italian Maid, Sofia loves her 'sooop'

Sofia loves to hang out in the restroom while other people are doing their business. I'm sure that is how she figured out what the toilet was for. At her 18 month well check, the doctor told me we could introduce a potty whenever we thought she was ready but some part of me thought she was still too young. After this week's consistent potty 'performances' I am quite sure she can handle a training seat. I'm just not sure that I can.

my little lovies

take 2

On another note, one thing I did learn that I can handle today is 3 kiddos. Today, I had the pleasure of babysitting Isabella and Aevary. We had fun playing, eating at the restaurant and most of all, we had fun napping. Luckily, Isa fell asleep on the way home from lunch and Sofia went to sleep shortly thereafter. Little Aeva is fighting it but either way, I'm proud to say that I survived a day in Lanie Alvarez's shoes. My poor mom had all 4 of us under the age of 6 at one time- I can't even fathom what her life was like in the mid 80s, early 90s.

priceless

Well folks, we've got a busy weekend ahead of us. Cheo is celebrating his 26th birthday and Syd and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary.

Love you all! Have a blessed weekend and we hope to hear from you all soon!

Psalm 139:14

This week we've had one activity after another so pardon me for not updating sooner and for missing Sofia's 19 month birthday. Little Miss Chatterbox is doing great. She's having a fabulous summer hanging out by the pool, going to storytime, playing with sweet new friends and enjoying the Texas sun. She is so active these days, naps have become a regular part of her daily routine.

look at all those teeth my 19 month girl has!

Sofia's speech is becoming clearer. She says I love you, "I want..", juice, water, nope, yeah, um I don't know, lotion, wettie (translation: diaper), pee pee, poo poo and so much more, the rest just isn't understandable. She's also jumping, twirling, running, and climbing all over the furniture. I believe that Sofia is destined to become an engineer because she is great at problem solving. What she loves to do most is move the furniture. Whether we're at home or out, Sofia will take it upon herself to move chairs, purses, even tables (kid sized ones of course). She could entertain herself all day long doing it!

mama and me taking a break at the Children's Museum

Sofia is also very helpful these days. She loves to clean, here's an example: our rug sheds tons. I am always picking up carpet fuzz and so is she. She even gets down on her hands and knees and scrapes the lint off the top of the carpet- wonder where she learned that? She also has taken a great interest in the sponge. If she gets her hands on that, everything turns up wet and soapy. Sofia also loves to help take care of other babies and her baby dolls. When we are with Aevary, she is constantly taking out her pacifyer and then giving it back to her. I know it defeats the purpose when she removes it, but she lovingly gives it back. She has also started to put her baby dolls to sleep by rocking them. Once they are sleeping, she says 'shhh'. She's too cute! One of these days, I'll make a video of it because it's too precious for words.

sof and carson sharing toys. we've learned that sharing means caring.

Sofia has fallen in love with the pool. Saturday, at Lifetime, she walked in the shallow end by herself, played in the fountain, danced in the water and even jumped to me in the deep end. We swam with Ava, Carson, Isabella, and Aevary for 2 1/2 hours. We had too much fun!

aren't thesee 3 just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

My sweet girl is getting sweeter by the day. My mom actually asked me, "Has she gotten cuter since yesterday?" Sosa is growing and changing so much, I cherish these days and am thankful for such wonderful family and friends, sharing the experience with us. Love you all!

indoor picnic with laura and joaquin

hill country hooligans

this weekend, we packed up and headed to San Antonio for a relaxing weekend at the hyatt hill country. we had quite the adventure!

friday when we arrived, we took Sofia swimming and explored the golf course. our goal for the evening was to wear her down so she would fall asleep without a struggle. last time we took a trip, things got ugly so we wanted to avoid bedtime troubles. Sofia entertained herself all night evening long going up and down the hills on the golf course. she would giggle all the way down as she ran. it was precious. she was exhausted after all the fun.

right around 9:00, i decided to ask the receptionist if we could borrow one of the rocking chairs from the lobby so that Syd could rock Sofia to sleep in our room. to my delight, they had a chair to our room within 10 minutes. we decided to make a palette on the floor for her since she tends to roll and Syd got her to bed immediately. things went smoothly...a little too smoothly.

so at 4:00am Syd and I awake to a little person standing at the side of the bed. Sofia was calling us, "Papa", "Mama". surprise! she was awake and she showed no signs of wanting to go back to sleep. let me digress for a moment- I've read that toddlers often awake in the night but at home, Sofia puts herself back to sleep by turning on her lullabies so we have never encountered this situation before. back to the story: i picked Sofia up, went straight to the rocker, and began her nighttime routine once again. i rocked her for 20 minutes. nothing. she was fighting me. i woke Syd up and told him i didn't know what to do so he took her to the other bed and laid with her. she fought him too. big mistake. what Sofia doesn't realize is that although she's strong willed, her papa is the strongest willed person i've ever met. so here we are at 4:30am, surrounded by sleeping hotel guests and Sofia starts wailing. literally, you could hear her down the hall. of course it's every child's typical reaction to not getting what they want but it's not normally at 4:30am that they do so. she cried and cried and cried some more. she did NOT want to sleep and Syd just held her, comforted her and told her that it was time for bed. she cried for a good 20 minutes, then silence. she wasn't actually sleeping but she had realized that her tactics had failed and she had no other choice but to go to sleep, so she did.

saturday, we all woke up refreshed after finally getting to bed. Sofia was happy to play outside, float down the lazy river and swim. the resort was beautiful and very kid friendly. they even had a mini spa for the little girls, Sofia was just a tad too young for it all. saturday afternoon, Syd got Sofia down for a nap, no problem. after Sofia's nap, we went on a walk, ate dinner and then played taboo! soon, it was bedtime and both Syd and I were nervous. thankfully, Sofia went to sleep quickly and quietly. Syd slept with her in a separate bed and she slept all night long. throughout the night, i would hear her breathing loudly and think "oh no, this is it, she's awake." i was so glad to wake up at 9:00 and see her sound asleep in the bed next to me. i'm sure our neighbors were relieved too.
sunday, we celebrated Father's Day in San Antonio. Syd loved his gifts and the card Sofia made him. we ate Sunday brunch together, walked around and relaxed. i think Sofia knew it was a special day for papa because she seemed to pay extra special attention to him. she also gave Abuelo extra love. when we got home, she talked to Opa Rudolph and told him how much she loved and missed him. what a darling little girl we have and what amazing men we have in our life. we loved celebrating Father's Day and glad to be back home, in our own beds!

side note: for those of you wondering, yes, Sofia recovered from her Friday night sleep deprivation today. she took at 2 hours nap. what an angel.

little swimmer

I am proud to say that Sofia is now a pool lover. Tuesday, after story time at the library, we went swimming at the Firethorne pool and she loved it. Missy and I both agreed she just needed to warm up to the pool so when we got there, we put our feet in the baby pool. Then, we headed to the shallow end of the big pool. At the end of the day, Sofia didn't want to leave.

my little swimmer

Missy, Isabella, Sofia and I had a great time playing at the pool with one exception. When we got out of the pool, I heard Sofia saying "uh oh" so I looked back at her and saw that she was going to the bathroom. Turns out the "swim diaper" she was wearing wasn't a diaper at all, it didn't do anything! Before we headed to the pool, I put a reusable swim diaper on Sofia. I should have known it wouldn't do any good when I saw it, it looked more like panties than a diaper. Needless to say, from now on we will be sticking to Little Swimmers.

i love the look on her face!

Wednesday, we took the girls to the Lifetime pool and Sofia loved it. She sat in the water for a little while with Aevary, just taking it all in. Then, once Sofia got up the courage, she headed out into the deeper water- and by deeper I mean 2 feet. She walked all around the shallow end by herself and then Missy took her further out. I love how Missy and I take turns with one another's children, it's great. Sofia actually preferred Missy that day. Sof had so much fun and even jumped in the pool with Isabella! I'm happy we can spend our summer in the pool because this heat is out of control. Not to mention, swimming = nap, guaranteed.

Isi Pisi posing

Mama Missy and Sofia

Thursday we headed to playgroup with the lovely Hall ladies. We met Missy, Isa and Aeva there and the girls played together on the jungle gym. There was also a neat spray park nearby, but the girls chose to watch rather than get in the water. Sofia was fascinated by the fountains that sprayed water and then disappeared. We will definitely be returning to the barn park throughout the summer, everyone enjoyed it. Next time we will bring out bathing suits!

We also got to spend more time with the precious Tichenors. Sofia absolutely loves Carson. She loves all babies but he's got the coolest toys and the sweetest disposition which makes him among her top ranked babies. The two munchkins played while I had a meeting with Mama and Daddy and afterwards we took Mer and Carson to one of the best restaurants in Houston, wink wink. Sofia and Carson did so well in their high chairs, thankfully we didn't have repeat of Monday's performance so we were all able to eat in peace.

This weekend we will be heading to San Antonio for some r&r and celebrating the wonderful men in our lives we call "papa, dad, abuelo, opa, viejo, papi, dada".



I hope each of you have a blessed weekend and Happy Father's Day!

hello, sunshine

This weekend, we were on the go as usual. Friday night, Syd and I had a date night with my parents, inadvertently. We had a great time with them and although the original plan was to go to a birthday party at Ra Sushi, we realized once we got there, we were "too old" for that scene. Funny thing was, the birthday boy was turning the big 4-0. My parents were at the birthday party too and we all lasted about 5 minutes before we hit the road for a low-key dinner. Sofia stayed with Missy and Waldo. She had a blast with them at Carrabba's. Sofia, Isa and Aeva entertained the whole table. Missy and Waldo had a great time with our little girl, we are lucky to have wonderful family members like them!

Little Miss Sunshine

Saturday, we took Sofia to the pool again and found out that she really does NOT like swimming. We had to coax her to get into the water and she was fine for a few minutes until she saw my mom walking by and immediately screamed for her to "save" her. She got out, ate with my parents, and then my dad tried bringing her back in the pool and she started crying again. I'm not sure if it was overwhelming for her because of all the people, if the water was too cold or if she just doesn't like to swim. Tomorrow I am going to take her to a smaller pool with less people and hopefully she will get the hang of it, otherwise we will have to find another way to cool her off in the sweltering heat.

She likes fountains...just not pools

I have to say that I am so proud of Syd. This weekend, he cut and edged the lawn on his own. He has a new found respect for lawn care technicians. Evidently, edging isn't as easy as it seems but being a home owner now, he has to go through this rite of passage. He battled the heat Saturday afternoon to get our lawn whipped into shape and I must say, he did an excellent job. Way to go, love! I'm glad we no longer have a rainforest growing in our front yard.

Although he was exhausted from cutting the grass, Papa took his girls out Saturday night

Today, Sofia and I met up with the Hall girls and welcomed Meredith and Carson home. I'm so happy to have other mommies around- I love those girls! Ava, Sofia and Carson were precious together...except Miss Sofia was in desperate need of a nap so she was behaving uncharacteristically. We had lunch together at Japaneiros and the food was excellent, our waiter was not. Clearly, mommies with babies need a little extra love from their waiters but this guy didn't understand that. We were trying to keep our sweet angels entertained with everything you can think of until their food got there but times got tough. Sofia didn't want to sit in her chair, she admired Carson and Ava, wandered around the restaurant, and even tried to walk out the front door. Sweet Stacy and Meredith were such a big help, they distracted Sofia so she would sit still and she managed to make it through lunch without a major melt down.

That's my angel baby. After lunch, we headed back home and Sofia immediately crashed in the car and slept for an hour and a half!

I'm thrilled Sofia has so many little friends to keep her company this summer. And the great women they call mommy are amazing! I just wish Mandy, Jaheym and Maiysha were here to play too!! Come visit please?

*The pictures are from our Saturday evening adventure to La Centerra. I wish I had taken some today but things were too hectic.

Have a joyful joyful week everyone!

down for the count.

what a glorious day we had today.Sofia set a new record at naptime. she slept for 2 hours! yup, she went from taking 0 naps to taking several 1 naps throughout the week, to now taking a 2 hour nap. i couldn't be any happier because i know my growing girl needs her rest!

Sofia and Abuelo riding the pig.

after the last nap fiasco i wrote about, i changed my technique. every day , i rock her around the same time with her lullabies playing and some days, she would fall asleep, others she didn't. either way, we had some down time in between play sessions and eventually, she realized napping was fun.

active girl

this morning, we had a play date with Stacy and Ava. we had so much fun playing, the Hall girls are absolute dolls. we met Missy, Aevary and Isabella at the park for a playgroup and immediately, the girls were off playing. they played at the playground for an hour, then fed the ducks. Isa, Ava and Sofia were precious together. Sofia had a blast but was very tired after a long morning so after everyone left our house, I rocked her. she slept from 1:15-3:15pm. i dozed off for a little bit while rocking her too. our new glider is so comfy.

darling daughters take #1

take #2

Mama and baby

random side note: the new glider is so comfy, my mom was sitting in it while watching sofia play and she fell asleep. when she woke up, sofia had emptied all the drawers of her dresser and turned her room into a giant mountain of clothes. lovely.

i know we will be playing alot this summer so hopefully, a 2 hour nap will become a regular at the harris house. she's going to need all the sleep she can get!

Happy Birthday Uncle Alex

kusjes, besos, kisses to you all. have a splendid weekend!

school's out for summer

This weekend was perfect. Syd and Sofia enjoyed spending time together, playing, dancing, shopping. Syd kept Sofia so busy with activities, she didn't even know that I was gone. Syd should be receiving his nomination for Father of the Year very shortly.

By the way, anyone have any good ideas for Father's Day gifts?

While I was gone, Syd's homework was to take 10 pictures. This is one of them.

California was amazing. The weather was gorgeous: it was exactly like Texas only 30 degrees cooler. We spent our whole trip outdoors. I had a wonderful time with my mom, Dani and Georgean, aka Jorge, but I called Syd every few hours to check in and make sure they were doing ok. In my mind, I was thinking that the world would end when I left but it turns out, they did just fine on their own, I was the one missing them like crazy!

Saturday, in Santa Monica, we woke up early to shop! We went to the 3rd street Promenade for some shopping, food and fun. Afterwards, we headed to Venice Beach for some people watching. We ate at the Sidewalk Cafe and had front row seats to the "freak show". There were so many shameless people parading the streets, we ate in silence taking it all in. The highlight of the meal was a man in a speedo walking by, strutting his stuff. He looked ridiculous yet no one seemed to care but us.

Danielle took this picture. She loves dogs.the ladiesSaturday night, we went to the Artists for the Arts Benefit concert- the reason for our trip. My mom is absolutely obsessed with the headliner, Jackson Brown. She and Georgean had a blast at the concert, while Danielle and I entertained ourselves cracking jokes about the performers. We didn't particularly care for any of the artists; our reason for taking the trip wasn't for the concert, it was for some qt with our moms. Our mission was accomplished. I had quite the adventure with the lovely ladies, in fact, we are planning another trip for August- this time for the whole family.

oh how i love this girl.

Monday morning I finally got to see my baby. We were both overjoyed to see one another. Sofia was even happier once she saw what mama brought her from California- a pair of crocs!
Sofia wanted to ride Aevary like a horse. She like it.

This week is the start of our "summer vaca". With Missy out of school for the summer, Isabella, Aeva and Sofia can play all day every day. We are also looking forward to playing with Carson, Ava, Melinda and Lilly. Sofia has a busy summer ahead of her, and she doesn't even know it!

My hula girl

Anyone up for some summertime fun? Call me, we will be out and about, ready to par-t-a-y.