Kicking off summer with Niki and Peter

This past weekend (yay for Memorial Day and all three-day weekends!), Niki and Peter flew all the way from Tennessee to help Sonia and me celebrate the beginning of summer. Andrew missed all the baby-related fun because he flew to Texas to visit his parents and sister-- we wish he had been here to witness the mayhem! Sonia and Peter became fast friends.... Sonia laid her little head down on Peter several times this weekend, showing him that she loves him. I can't wait to see Sonia, Charlotte, and Peter all together this summer when we celebrate my dad's milestone birthday in July!

The weather was perfect for swimming, so we walked over to Maritza & Sara's local pool to beat the heat with them. Sosini was a little unsure of the pool water at first-- it was freezing!


But when we put her in her floaty thingy, she went NUTTY!!! This child absolutely loved floating around, splashing, kicking, and screeching like a maniac. Oh, my. She's going to LOVE swimming lessons.... Here's a short little video of some of the craziness:



Peter got in on some of the action, too, in Sara's floaty. He was chillin' like a villain!


Later, after a very splashy co-ed cousin bathtime, Sonia and Peter played in Sonia's old ducky bath. Sonia climbed in and out of the duck about 50 times! She's cuckoo.


The next day, we were supposed to celebrate Kieran's 2nd birthday with the Murrays, but the birthday boy was sick! Poor kid.... I hope my handsome little godson is feeling better. To distract us from our Murray-missing sorrow, we busted out one of Sonia's birthday presents: an inflatable pool! Sonia tested it out on dry land first:


I failed to fill the pool up far enough ahead of time so that the hose water could warm up (it was positively arctic in that little puffer fish pool!), but Sonia climbed right in and started splashing. I think this kid is part salmon.... Peter stayed outside the pool and helped Sonia splash a bit.



After about 10 minutes, even Sonia decided the water was too cold, so climbed out and played on the beach chairs instead. I love that little cherry swimsuit!



Later, it was time for fun in the tunnel. I didn't get a picture of it, but Peter sat (with a bit of assistance from me) for a long time at one of the tunnel openings and watched Margie Cat play inside. It was so funny! Here's a picture of Peter keeping an eye on crazy Sonia through the mesh:


It was so wonderful to see Stephanie, Erik, and Noah earlier today (before I drove Niki & Peter to Midway in a torrential downpour for their miraculously un-delayed flight) for lunch. This was the first time I got to see S&E since they tied the knot earlier this month! I didn't get any pictures of the newlyweds, unfortunately, but we had a nice lunch and Stephanie got some good baby snuggles.

Speaking of baby snuggles, check out me and my handsome nephew! I am the luckiest auntie in the world to have such fabulous nephews (Peter and Nicholas) and a fantastic niece (Charbunkle).


I love you, Petey-pie! I can't wait to give you more hugs and smooches in July!

How Sosini and I spent Zach's birthday

I had a rough few days leading up to Zach's birthday this year-- a bit of sleep deprivation (teething baby), masterful heart string tugging by Lost (when Vincent the dog laid down next to Jack-- AUGH!!!), and of course, the memories of our Zach combined to make me uncharacteristically weepy. So, Sonia and I decided we would have as much fun as possible on Zach's actual birthday (yesterday).

First, we met a bunch of play group friends at the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton. Sosini loved watching the ducks!


She recently mastered drinking out of straws, and she loved that she didn't even have to take this straw sippy cup out of its holder to wet her whistle. Look Ma, no hands!


Sosi got a bit friendly with Evan. Hee hee!


After the zoo, we hung around with Maritza and Sara on the grassy knoll while Killer, the fantastic Maltese, ran around and did his business. Sonia loves to push strollers everywhere!


Lastly, Andrew was able to get home from work in time to take Sonia and me to Zach's tree for a quick visit. We had planned to stay longer than 15 minutes, but the mosquitoes were out of control! I think I lost a pint of blood while we were sitting there.

Got your nose, Daddy!


Zach's tree is in bloom! Just in time for his birthday.


Smooches for Zach's baby sister.


Is that my brother's name? Cool!


I think Sonia and I succeeded in having a very nice day, which we consider to be a fitting tribute.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to our beloved Zachary Evan. You will never be forgotten.

Sonia versus the spoon, round 3

Ohhhhhhhh, Sonia. She wants to participate in spoon feeding, but her coordination is a bit, shall we say, lacking. Carrot facial!




I think part of the problem on the day we took these pictures was that Sosini was very tired.... We're pretty sure that her sleeping problems lately have been due to molar teething pain. My poor baby has been in obvious discomfort, and I wish I could hug the pain away! Come on molars-- make your appearance. Please. Help a baby (and a mommy and a daddy) out.

Peas and a baby

Ohhhhhhhhh, Sonia. She has been showing signs of wanting to wield utensils all by herself (her first attempt was with her birthday cake), so today I let her attempt to feed herself (with lots of help from me!) during breakfast and dinner. While she was eating her peas at dinner, she got a bit frustrated and crabby (probably because she only napped for 1/2 hour today!) and tossed her spoon full of peas to the floor.... right into the air vent. ARGH!!!!!


You might think we're idiots for putting her high chair right next to an air vent, but I swear that's the best place in the kitchen for it.


Aaaaand, now you see why we keep that vent closed!

Anyway, on to the "baby" part of the post. Earlier this week, Sonia and I were able to trek up north to visit my friend, Jennifer, and her brand-new baby son, Kyle. Kyle and his older sister, Caitlin (aka Kiki), have their own blog, too: All things Kiki and Kyle!

Kyle snoozed all through our lunch at Panera, but he woke up when we got back home. He was looking so stylin' in his Ralph Lauren polo shirt!


Kyle looks just like his daddy, John!


I enjoyed snuggling with li'l Kyle, but I am still not ready to think about getting pregnant for a third time!


Sonia kept trying to get up the stairs.... She is a stair-addict! What a cuckoo bird.


Congratulations, Jennifer, John, and Caitlin on the new addition to your family! Kyle is an adorable little sweetie-pie.

A visit from Sosi's aunt, uncle, and cousin

We just had the most fabulous weekend with Andrew's sister, Ali, her husband, Daniel, and their 8 1/2 month old son, Nicholas. Sonia had a great time with her aunt, uncle, and cousin!


Sonia and Nicholas did the classic "parallel play" that babies do-- they didn't so much play with each other as play near each other-- and there was quite a bit of toy stealing (of course Sonia was always the stealer!). It was a teeny bit stressful keeping Sosi from mauling Nicholas.... The 3 1/2 month age difference is still pretty significant at this point! We did get a glimpse of the future, though. When Sonia wants to show that she likes someone or something, she crawls up to him/her/it and lays her head down on top of him/her/it. Pillows, cats, Mommy, Daddy, and her sleep sack all get this treatment. I saw Sonia attempt to do this to Nicholas several times! Soon, they'll be bestest buddies. In this picture, Sonia was trying to steal an Easter egg from her cousin. Rude!!!


Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! In this picture, we think Nicholas was channeling Jerry Lee Lewis kinda like Sonia did with the piano on her play table.


Right?!?


Holy cow, my nephew is cute-- and talented! Nicholas crawls like a champ and was busy perfecting his pulling up skills while he was here with us in Illinois. We had to be on high alert to try to prevent as much noggin-conking as possible!


Li'l buddy took an instant interest in the tunnel-- no hesitation at all!


The weather on Sunday was nice enough for us to take the babies to Kingston Park to swing. It was Nicholas's first time in a baby swing, and he seemed to enjoy it. Sonia thought it was really fun to swing next to her friend.


We busted out the baby sunglasses, and Sosini & Nicholas humored us just long enough to take a couple of pictures. If they had any idea how adorable they look in shades, they'd leave them on all day long!



Thanks for visiting, Ali, Daniel, and Nicholas-- we had a wonderful time and can't wait to see you again!

Birthday celebration with the Murrays

The day after Sonia's birthday, Carol, Sophie, and Kieran took Sosini and me out to lunch at Granny's (our favorite greasy-spoon diner) to celebrate. Sonia watched Sophie and Kieran the entire time and kicked her little legs happily! She thinks her Murray buddies are the coolest. Afterward, we went to play at the park.

Sophie is a wiz at the monkey bars!


We tried to coordinate with Kieran and go down the side-by-side slides at the same time, but Sonia and I were too slow....


That little Kieran is one handsome dude!


The newly-minted one-year-old thinks slides are cool!

One year old: a state of the baby address (and a birthday play date!)

Sonia went to the pediatrician today for a checkup and immunizations, and she got a glowing report from Dr. Murphy. At 31 inches and 24 pounds 14 ounces, Sonia is still in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. Dr. Murphy says that's not bad-- Sosini is just a big girl! We have the go-ahead to feed Sosi nut products (yay, peanut butter!) and honey. Woo hoo!

Check out the picture Grandma Jojo sent to Sonia for her birthday today.... Love it!!!


Sosini has been perfecting her cruising techniques and enjoying pushing toys/furniture/walkers around like a little armadillo. I think she'll be walking within a month or two. Also, she is soooooooooo close to talking. When her Grandpa Dick and Grandma Jenni were here this past weekend, we were pretty sure that she was saying "mama" and "dada" meaning me & Andrew, but we're still trying to gather more evidence. Another development of note is that Sonia is attempting to break the record for loudest baby on the planet. She can yell "YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA" loud enough to shake the walls. Oh, my....

Now on to another of Sosini's birthday celebrations! Some of her little buddies from our play group came over to our house on Tuesday to play and eat cupcakes. As usual, chaos and fun ensued.


The tunnel was a huge hit with the kids!


Thanks for helping us celebrate, everyone!

Happy Birthday to The Great Sosini!

Happy first birthday to our beautiful baby.... You make your parents sublimely happy! We love you more than words could possibly express.


(Sorry in advance for taking you to the doctor today to get immunizations.....)

Love love love love love love love to you!

The Luckiest Little Girl

We kicked off Sonia's month-long birthday celebration with a visit from her Grandma Jenni and Grandpa Dick (Andrew's parents). Sonia opened presents from them, my parents, and Andrew's sister & her family. Sosinini loves all of the gifts-- thank you, everyone! She is one lucky little girl.

Future pianist (that is, if her Daddy will let her play):


First baby doll! We named her Ruby. Note also the beautiful and hilariously poofy tutu!


Sonia is hopelessly addicted to this awesome tunnel (which smooshes down to almost nothing-- fabulous!!). We have caught Margie Cat sleeping in it several times already.... Cuckoo cat!


Alphabet Pal! Sonia loooooves pushing the buttons....


Pop-up birthday bug book!


Sonia can't wait to go to the zoo in her new wagon.... She and a friend can chill in the seats (that even have little seat belts) with their sippy cups in the cupholders. Super-swank!


After we got her head spinning with all of her gifts, we stuffed her full of cake. Predictably, she thinks cake is AWESOME!


Sonia took a little break from celebrating her birthday to color me a really sweet Mother's Day card.... Andrew framed it for me, and I hope Sonia will make me a new one every year. I love it!


In less than 24 hours, Sonia will have been out in this great big world for exactly a year. We love our apple-cheeked beauty!