Sophie's Dedication and Mother's Day

Mother's Day Sunday was extra special this year...in many ways. Most importantly, it was the day we chose to dedicate Sophie at church. It was a privilege for us to be able to stand in front of our church, family, and friends and declare our desire for Sophie to be raised in a Christian home where we vow to pray for her and raise her to love and serve the Lord. Couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day present.

And our parents were here to celebrate with us as well, which made for a pretty great weekend.

Now, the only downside... poor Sophie was battling a fever all weekend long. Come to find out Monday afternoon...she had an awful ear infection in both ears. She was quite the trooper throughout the whole weekend.... never complained one bit. You will notice in the pics that she doesn't quite look herself. As of now, (5/16) she's been on meds a week and is back to looking like herself. Here are just "a few" pics from the weekend. Sorry, I haven't blogged in awhile so the result: lots of pictures.

The Dedication Service

Can you find us in the crowd...

Happy Mother's Day!

...Our Cheerio Monster!

Mom made this super-cute dress for Sophie...

This one's for you Dad...

...and they're as good as they look... (Eric picked them up at Costco yesterday...and they're already all gone thanks to Lucas and me.)

Parade!

The TOTs classes had a little parade today. The Pre-schoolers were on bikes, then Lucas' class, then Sophie's class brought up the rear in the buggy.
It happened to be on my prep, so I went over and got a few pics and videos. Enjoy

Here's Sophie's class in their buggy.

Happy Wedding, Paul and Jacque!

We had the wonderful privilege of being a part of Paul and Jacque's wedding this past weekend.

Caroline and Lucas (flower girl and ring bearer) at the rehearsal...

The big day...

killin' time after pictures...

Playing around in the nursery before the wedding...Lucas did a great job... he did get a little shy and ended up needing a little encouragement walking down the aisle (me.) We were so proud of him, though. He sat with us in the front row for the remainder of the service... until... the end. The wedding party all sported aviators (except Lucas and Caroline who wore their own sunglasses) for the procession out of the sanctuary.

Lucas was pretty thrilled when we told him he could get back into his normal clothes... it took him about 15 minutes to get the tux on...and 1 minute to get back into his "basketball clothes".

Congratulations, Paul and Jacque. We love you guys!

I touched a shark today!!

The four of us spent Monday at the zoo. We had a BLAST!!! Here's our day... in pictures.

Touched a few sharks...
Watched the dolphin show...
Carousel Ride #1... (rode the elephant)Fed some giraffes... (up close and personal)Checked out some pretty cool animals (elephants)And tigers...Carousel Ride #2... (rode the tiger) Watching the carousel...go around...and around...and around... I know this last pic is extremely blurry... but I couldn't resist. Still think it's pretty cute.

Till next year's flex day... see ya later, Indy Zoo!!!

3/4 of a year old!

Sophie is 9 months old. It seems as if lately she has been growing by BIG leaps and bounds. I mean... everyone knows babies grow super fast in their first year... but it just seems like to me that in the last month she has changed SO much. I suppose it's not fair (or right) for me to wish it all to slow down, but so badly I wish it would...! There aren't enough hours in the day it seems to soak up all the moments... memories...experiences...etc. I suppose that's why I have this blog. Well, that...and to keep the grandma's and grandpa's updated... :)

In the last month Sophie has:

• learned and perfected the art of crawling. Seriously. She went from barely crawling (more like pivoting on her bottom) to making mad dashes from the kitchen to the bathroom in 15 seconds tops. The rate at which she crawls completely depends on whether or not Lucas is around. She LOVES being close by him. When he's playing, she's always curious about what he's doing and tries to join in. If he's not around she crawls around looking for ways to bang things together and make noise... her expertise. (Hey, I always know where she's at!)
• gone from soley baby food to enjoying a wide variety of table foods. Here's the progression so far... Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, avacado, black beans, pears, cooked carrots, and peas. She's enjoyed all of them... preferably at room temp. She's not very lady-like either...she takes large handfuls of Cheerios at one time and tries her hardest to stuff them all in her mouth.


• nodding, "Yes!" Oh, this is cute. At first when she started doing this, I was worried that maybe she was losing head control. Nope. She does it on demand. She'll nod her head up and down and giggle like crazy, probably because I do every time she does it.


• pushing out some top teeth.... lots of them according to Dr. Harper. While you can't see them very well, you can feel them coming through. I'm so proud of her... she's still doing great at night, sleeping about 11 hours straight, despite the little toothies.


• moved up to the teddy bears room at church (since she's crawling). She did great in there her first Sunday. I think she likes being with the "older" kiddos... just like it is at school. (She's the youngest in her room at TOTS.)


• wore her 1st bow in her hair (Easter Sunday). I kind of feel bad that it's taken me this long to get a bow in her hair. I'm not sure why I waited so long!!! She's got hair...I guess I just spaced it. Sorry Sophie. Please forgive me for neglecting all the cute accessories that belong in little girl's hair. I'll try to be better at it from now on...
  

Also, she's still in size 3 diapers...wearing 9 or 12 month clothes... and has yet to put on shoes. Is that bad???? I have no IDEA what shoe size she is. She's getting dedicated at church this Sunday (on Mother's Day!!) and I think her first shoes will make their debut then! Haha...

9 month check up: weight: 16 lbs. 10 oz. height: 26 1/2 in.