San Diego Weekend!

We had a great, but exhausting, 3-day weekend in San Diego. The drive to and from was a little long for Sofia being in the car. (didn't help that we hit some traffic) We've really only ever been on one overnight trip with her before, and it was only one night, we forgot how much stuff we need for this girl! And the hotel had a crib so even though we didn't have to bring the pack n play, we still had about 5 bags of stuff for her. We arrived mid-day Saturday and had a nice lunch at the hotel. Then Sofi and Daddy napped while Mommy went down to Comic-con for work. (Lots of walking!) When I got back we visited with some co-workers (who loved Sofia!) and met a friend for dinner. It was a pretty fancy place, no kids' menu, and it took them about 10 minutes to find a high chair. But she enjoyed grown-up mac & cheese and broccoli.

Sunday was Sea World - more walking! She was pretty good, despite a very short nap. We called it an early night, left around 6:30pm, we were all exhausted!

Looking at the dolphins

Sofia's new friend Penny the Penguin

Playing with Daddy

Mr. Polar Bear

There was a huge beluga whale in here!

Watching the Blue Horizons dolphin show

Hugs for Elmo!

Play area for the little ones in "Sesame Street Bay of Play" (we spent most of the day here)

Gotta taste everything!

Cautiously checking out the sting rays

In line for Sesame Street "4-D" video show
The fourth dimension was that they squirted water and air on us during certain parts.

Look who's got her 3D glasses!

Back to Bay of Play - to meet Elmo and play in the water areas!

Bathing suit beauty

Elmo freaked her out a little. He wasn't the little guy on TV she imagined, I guess!

We met Big Bird too. She wasn't scared of him - guess he's supposed to be big!

Playing in the fountain

Elmo & Friends perform Live!

And she loves it! It's like Beatlemania, New Kids fever. Elmo is baby crack!

I have a great video of her dancing to Elmo during this performance. I'll upload soon!

Last stop of the night - Shamu show!

Monday we headed down to Seaport Village to walk around and have lunch before driving home. Yes more walking. My legs are so sore. Somehow I only packed flip flops. Ouchie arches.

Checking out the Ocean

Carousel at Seaport Village. At first she was into it, then it started going really fast and she was over it!

My only real gripe about the weekend (besides the noise at night outside the hotel - downtown is loud even on Sundays!) was that everywhere we went the kids' meal selections were awful. Well mostly at Sea World but even Seaport Village too. They are mostly all unhealthy options that include a soda, a lot of places didn't have milk as a substitute. Luckily I brought some fruits & veggies to supplement her meals because the only fruit or veggie she would have had otherwise are French fries. I thought I would enjoy the freedom of not having to pack food everywhere we went, but due to necessity I wasn't able to pack and keep cold 3 days of food, and we were forced to spend way to much money on really unhealthy food. I don't think she minded though :)

Sofia's First Masterpiece

This is Sofia's first self-made Crayola drawing. We gave her some of the big, fat crayons and some paper and she went to town. The kid is an artiste!

Kidspace Museum

Today we went to Kidspace Musuem in Pasadena with two of the families from my mom's group - the Parks and the Richards'. They actually have quite a lot for little kids to do. First we went to the Early Childhood Learning Center. Sofia liked playing in there, and especially liked all of the fake plastic food. Yum!

Sharing fake cupcakes with Griffin

The girl who worked there played with Sofia with a fish puppet

Then it was time to change into bathing suit for water fun outside. And since it was over 100 degrees I'm sure it felt good! First playing in a small fountain with Cole & Griffin:

Then a cool water table!

Then Daddy took her into this cool river on the mountain side

And they played in some water coming down off a spout

Then she thought it would be fun to try to climb the rock wall like the big kids!

Fun day but man were we all exhausted after!

Sleepin' with Elmo!

Sofia at 15 months

It's been a while since I've posted just an update on Sofia, not just pics! So here goes:
* She is starting to talk a lot - yes a lot of baby babble but some real words as well. She says "mama" "dada" "hi" "up" "nana" (banana) "more" "milk" "cracker" "diaper" "Elmo" and will repeat words/noises.
* She still does her signs and the newest is please. You rub one hand in a circle on your chest. Except she does it with two hands and circles both on her belly.
* She gives high fives, fist bumps, blows kisses, waves and gives kisses on the mouth and big hugs. She shrieks with excitement when either Nelson or I get home from work.
* She loves animals, especially dogs, and likes to repeat animal noises.
* She is very musical, every time we put on music she dances or claps or bops her head. Tonight Nelson had on Motley Crue and she was banging her head. Adorbs!
* She is now 26 lbs, gains about a lb a month. Her next dr appointment won't be until October (at 18 months).
* Still loves food! Her favorite snacks are bananas and graham crackers.
* She is very independent! She knows what she wants and is vocal when she doesn't get it.
* She now walks, runs, climbs up stairs but not so great at going down stairs, she likes to climb up on chairs (mostly her baby sized ones). She can spend hours splashing on the deck with her water table, and likes to go in the "cold" hot tub with mommy & daddy. She still enjoys her swim lessons on Sundays but hasn't quite mastered blowing bubbles and not swallowing the water.
* She is very social and loves people, especially other kids. We're very sad because her two best friends at daycare, Samantha and Danielle, are going to kindergarten in September. But every day when Nelson picks her up, Lena and Peter have funny stories about things she has done, from talking all day, to putting away her toys, to being a daredevil.
* The only TV we watch at home is Sesame Street and she is obsessed with Elmo. She lights up every time he comes on screen. She has an Elmo doll that she hugs and kisses.
* Our evening activities typically include a walk - we push her in her buggy or pull her in her wagon. She also pulls out books for us to read to her every night. She likes to turn the pages before we're done.
* She is still a good sleeper, unless she's not feeling good. We had a couple of rough nights this week with her waking up, probably because she has been fighting a little cold, but in general she goes to sleep at 8:30pm and wakes up around 7:30am. She will sleep in or play in her crib on the weekends so we can usually drag it out to 8:30-9am.
* She wears a size 12-18 month clothes, a size 4 shoes (small feet for her age, but we're moving her into 5's this week) and size 4 diapers.
* She has been off of the bottle for about 2 months, sippy cup only. The next battle will be losing the pacifier (hopefully by 18 months) then potty training (around 2).
* She currently has 5 teeth, 3 on the bottom and the top two are her eye teeth - still no front 4 teeth! Our little vampire baby.
* She is the most amazing little girl, who lights up our every day. We can't imagine life without her or remember life before her.

Visiting Silverlake

This morning we went to Silverlake to see Tia Isabel, and Tia Ani, and Abuelita, who we haven't seen a while. Sofia was shy at first then warmed up, and she ended up cruising all over the place checking out each corner!

Happy 4th of July!

Today we had a fun 4th. First we went swimming at our house - in the now cool "hot tub". Then it was off to the Grays for our annual bbq and fireworks. Sofia had fun playing with their piano, and petting their cat Lars. She wasn't a fan of their horse, er dog, Riley, he was a little too big for her liking! And a tail like a whip! We walked up to the corner to watch fireworks (Sofia rode in her buggy). The fireworks were a hit, she kept pointing at the sky yelling in baby gibberish, she also made some new friends including the neighbors who sit out there with us. One had a radio to listen to the accompanying music (this is the mall's fireworks) and she danced and clapped along. She was a tired camper after, 2 late nights in a row!

Happy 3rd of July!

Today was the start of a busy 4th of July weekend but silly us we forgot to take many pictures!
We had a great lunch at our favorite Mexican place, then after Sofia's nap we headed up to Palmdale for a stop at the Boyers to visit with Chris, Jenn and Herb and Mer. Sofia had so much fun playing with their water and sand table, then swimming with Daddy in their pool. Then it was off to Grandma's for BBQ ribs, watching the Nascar race with Uncle Greggy and catching a glimpse of the fireworks show from their yard. She was definitely interested but not sure what to make of it.

Cheering for Dale Jr who won on Friday night and came in 4th today!