Virginia!

Do we have a future Cavelier in our house?

Two UVA alums? Maybe?

We'll see! There's another great Virginia school in the running for this little lady's alma mater, The College of William and Mary, her mom's alma mater. Will she be educated at the school Thomas Jefferson founded or the school where he was educated?? or far more likely, a nice Ohio school where mommy and daddy can afford the tuition ;) Wherever she decides to go her mommy and daddy will be proud of her!

(just writing about her going to college is making me tear up....oh dear...)

road trip!!!

Sophia went on her first road trip last weekend! My mom, Sophia, and I went to New Jersey to visit my mom's family including Sophia's Great-Grandma and Grandpa!

Here's our cutie before the 8+ hour trip!

Nana and Sophia in Pennsylvania!

Mommy and Sophia posing in front of a map of Pennsylvania to remember Sophia's first time out of the state of Ohio!

A pit stop for a cool beverage. Thanks Nana, how'd you know I love iced coffee?!

Still smiling after 7 hours and an outfit change because of a diaper situation. This was before the fever hit....

When we got to New Jersey our poor baby girl had a fever!!!! The sweet girl had been so good in the car we didn't even suspect anything might be wrong! Sophia had a fever and a sore throat and wouldn't sleep anywhere but on mom so we headed home early. Hopefully our next road trip will not include illness!

happy half birthday!

What's a half birthday without a little birthday cake :) Sophia was generous enough to request one of her dad's favorites, funfetti. For her first birthday she'll get her very own little cake to eat and smash. For now her dad and I will enjoy cake for her!

Love my sweet baby girl!!!

6 months old!

My sweet baby girl is 6 months old! What a difference 6 months makes..

Look at sweet Sophia at just 1 week old

Hard to believe this is the same baby girl!

Sophia is much more interested in her giraffe these days

Hey mom, what's this giraffe doing in my chair!

On the other hand, this giraffe might be nice to chew on!

At 6 months Sophia is...

• Wearing size 3-6 month clothes


• nursing 4 times a day and 1 time at night


• Eating oatmeal and has tasted but doesn't like bananas, peas, and applesauce


• rolls from front to back and back to front


• scoots really well on her back and is starting to scoot on her tummy


• loves her jumperoo


• sits up with someone close just in case :)


• smiles and laughs a lot!

summer fun at the pool

For Mother's Day Carl got me a pass to our neighborhood pool so Sophia and I can enjoy the sun, swim, and meet some other moms and babies! Lucky for us the pool is an easy walk and has a really nice toddler/baby pool area that is open from 10-12.

Sophia and have been to the pool twice now. I know it's mid-July and that doesn't seem like a lot but it took me awhile to pick pool days that didn't coincide with thunderstorms.

Here's my cutie all ready to head to the pool!


Our first trip was less than succesful, Sophia's diaper leaked EVERYWHERE and Sophia was not a happy camper. This girl rarely fusses unless she skips a nap so I was a little worried she hated the pool. We tried again a few days later with a better diaper. Sophia was hesitant at first but warmed up after mom showed her how much fun it could be! After some splashing and jumping (safely in mom's arms of course) Sophia was all smiles!

We took breaks in the shade of the stroller to protect our beautiful baby skin.



We even made some mom and baby friends! Sophia and I have been running into this sweet mom and her 2 kids at the playground and pool so we finally introduced ourselves and found out we live 5 houses away from each other!

Sophia and I are ready for more days at the pool! Once we can kick the colds that hit our house this weekend :( Next trip we have to take daddy along so he can get cute pictures of Sophia in the pool. I haven't figured out baby in one hand, camera in the other, in the pool......

First Food!

Tuesday was a big day for Sophia. She had solid food for the first time! Since Sophia was born she has only ever had breastmilk so this was a big step for our little girl!

We had planned to wait until she was 6 months but Sophia started waking again at night and has been showing a lot of interest in what mommy and daddy are eating. Since Sophia will be 6 months in less than 2 weeks we decided it would be a good time to introduce her to baby food.

We planned on starting with rice cereal but Sophia decided that her bib was a better option.

Once we got the bib out of the picture Sophia was ready to tackle the food.

To say our little lady was ready for solid food would be an understatement. This sweet girl couldn't get enough!

more mom more! faster faster!

She ate like a champ and actually swallowed about 75% of it! We were quite impressed considering this was her first time eating from a spoon and eating anything other than breast milk. We shouldn't be too surprised, Sophia always seems to be ready for new things before her parents are!

All finished! Cutest mess ever!

Our happy girl went straight to her next favorite activity, bath time!

Happy 4th of July!

Our sweetie had a wonderful first 4th of July, despite refusing to take her afternoon nap!

We enjoyed a picnic at my parents with the family and their friend who was visiting from England (very fitting). After a late afternoon nap Sophia was ready to go again. She hung out on a blanket under the trees while her mom and dad played croquet. Sophia loves being outside!

We decided to skip fireworks this year :) We'll save those for when Sophia is a little older!

All in all it was a very nice summer day!

5 months!

This post is late to say the least.... We started Reading Camp Cleveland on Sophia's 5 month birthday and I have been spending this week recovering, helping Sophia recover...etc etc.

So, without further ado, my sweet baby girl at 5 months old!

5 months has brought improving night sleep (yay!), not so great naps, and lots of smiles! It has been so fun to watch Sophia these days as she takes in the world around her. She is so interested in new places and things. She has really started to explore her playmat, jumperoo, and anything mom is holding!

Sophia is generally a happy baby who is very interested in new places and people. She studies new faces very intently and has been described as "intense" when meeting people, but after a few minutes and a few smiles from the new person Sophia warms right up and gives big smiles back! She also is very curious when we are out and about, looking around at everything in stories and exploring the things mommy picks out. She is a big help in the grocery store, exploring each item with her hands (and her mouth if I let her!) to make sure it's good quality before mommy puts it in the cart.

At 5 months Sophia is:

• Wearing size 3-6 month clothes




• Sleeping from 6:30-6:30/7 at night and napping 3 times a day (8:30, 12:30 and 3:30)




• Eating 4x a day and 1x at night




• Scooting on her back




• Rolling over occassionally--Sophia knows how but doesn't seem interested!




• Trying to scoot on her belly




• Smiling all the time!




• Loves standing and sitting up with help




• Likes to suck and gum on anything mommy is holding

Sophia Alice, your sweet smile lights up our days! We love you sweet girl and enjoy watching you grow and learn new things each day!