The Birthday Invitation

I can not believe she is almost 1 years old.....

I feel like she just got here. I still feel like Sophia just got here.

I am so excited for what is to come but so sad that time is going by too fast.

I love love love my girls and I wish I could just freeze time and keep them little for a bit longer.

Should be a fun party!

11 months and counting!

Not impressed at all to have her picture taken in the crib....

Big girl with her walker

Time NEEDS to slow down now! I am not ready for Elise to be one....

It is hard to believe that she has been here for just over 11 months already! She is changing soooooo quickly these last few months.

At 11 months she is standing all alone, took her first step a few days ago, can go from sitting on the floor to standing all on her own (no pulling up on furniture), plays peek-a-boo, pretends to hold the phone and talk, says "mama", "mum", "dada", "hi", "ba" (bath) and "yeah"! She is signing 'more' and 'all done'.

Elly continues to be a fantastic eater and is pretty much done with all pureed foods and baby cereal. She drinks from a sippy cup all on her own. I am still nursing her but she takes a bottle of milk just fine from her Daddy!

She is still very much a baby and still needs her Mama and needs her baby snuggles and kisses. I love that both of our girls are cuddlers :-) I am back to work casually in a few weeks and although I am REALLY going to miss my girls I am looking forward to getting back in to the swing of things!

At 11 months:

Weight: 17 lbs 10 oz

Height: 27 inhces

Fall Family Photos

Here are a few of our favorite family photos from last month. One of my friends is a very talented photographer and took our photos for us! She has such a good eye and plenty of patience!

Thank you.

Halloween 2011

This was Sophia's first Halloween where she actually went out to more than one house 'trick or treating'! She had a great time and was in disbelief that all of these strangers were giving her handfuls of candy for nothing! Too cute!

Elly as usual went along for the ride dressed as a cute kitty cat.

Lots of fun was had.

10 months old

Our sweet baby girl is 10 months old......

Where is her first year going? It's going too fast, that's for sure!

Her 10th month has been full of more growing and more changes. Elly is very busy crawling all over the house and really likes to pick the smallest things off of the floor and put them in her mouth. I have found pieces of lego, coins, rocks, lint, paper and crumbs just to name a few. It is pretty hard having a toddler who has toys with small pieces and doesn't understand why she can't just drop them on the floor anymore..... Our eyes are constantly on both of these girls!

Elise is a fantastic eater and is pretty much eating all of the same food as us now. It is getting harder and harder to convince her to consume any pureed food or baby cereal. She doesn't seem to be picky at all and often appears to consume way more food than her sister.

Elise has started pulling herself up to standing and is really trying to walk along furniture now. It is amazing how quickly she is developing each day. Today she stood alone for about 5 seconds. Not too bad!

She continues to sleep through the night but still requires a dream feed before I go to bed at night. I have tried to cut it out and each time she is awake by midnight looking for a bite to eat!

Elly's little personality is really starting to show. She is a really happy baby and almost always has a big dimply smile on her face. She still prefers her Mommy and Daddy but is really tolerating her grandparents and Aunts and Uncles much more. She likes to make people laugh and if she catches herself doing something funny or cute that has snagged some attention she will continue for quite awhile. Elly also has a fiesty side to her too! When she wants something she will let you know with a screech! She is starting to get really ticked when her sister takes a toy away from her and will burst in to tears. She often crawls across a room with determination and rips a soother out of Sophia's mouth and then laughs hysterically! These two girls are starting to have a lot of fun together.

Elly is saying "Mama" and "Mum" to me and "Dada" to Adam. That is about it for words right now. She still only signs "all done" and continues to wave hello and goodbye to people.

She is very very very cute and just makes you melt with one look at her. I am stopped all of the time in stores with people ogling over her. She puts on her cutest show for those people and pulls out all of her tricks!

I want time to slow down. I remember having the same feeling with Sophia where I just wanted to stop time or bottle up all of these special moments so I could relive them over and over again. I really really enjoy my babies and wish it would last so much longer!

10 month stats:

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz

Height: 26 1/2 inches

Sophia Marie Goble

She keeps me on my toes this one.....

I love every little thing about Sophia. Yes there are some days I feel like I just can't keep up to her but that is what I love the most about her. She's feisty, strong willed, loves to explore her world around her, never has too much time in her day for a cuddle, adores her sister, loves to collect every berry, blade of grass and leaf on our walks, hates getting her hands dirty, loves to dress up, lives to be a big girl like her cousins, is obsessed with MAKE-UP and wearing clothes, will not put up with being pushed around, hates to be embarrassed and wants nothing more than to make everyone around her smile and laugh.

She is a one of a kind. Everyone used to think she was so placid and would be one of those kids that would just go with the flow. She used to move so slowly and methodically wherever she went and didn't care if someone wronged her or took a toy from her...... Then she hit 2 and her little personality shone through! I love her energy and her drive. I wish I always looked at the cup half full! I could really learn a lot from this little girl!

She is really into crafts these days and would paint and glue for hours on end if I let her. She seems to have a creative side to her. We have had to put locks on my bathroom door to prevent her from putting lovely makeup ALL over her face. We have had to put a lock on her closet so she doesn't go through 4 outfits and 2 pairs of pjs every day! If there is silence in the house for even 30 seconds I know that it isn't good.

She makes us laugh all of the time and has a really good sense of humor. She actually had my mom crying at dinner a few weeks ago from laughing so hard. I am going to start a book of 'Sophiaisms" just to keep record of the funny things she says daily. Some of her cute ones: When asked how she was doing by Nannie and Papa on arrival to their house she walked right passed them and said "it's been a long day", when Sophia wants a lot of something she will say "can I please have too much mommy?", she will negotiate her eating with me.... "Mommy, I will have 2 more bites of dinner for 1 popsicle.", the other night she asked "could you do me a fabor Mommy and turn my noise machine down? It's just too loud!" and yesterday she called her Papa a "dusuf" instead of a dufus! She is a clown!

Her favorite stuffy is Wally bear and recently she added Connor the snake to the picture. She sleeps with them each night with her arms wrapped tightly around them. Lately she is afraid of monsters and mice. We have to show her every night that there isn't a mouse in her bed. She has also started sleep walking and we have found her on the other side of her room crying and trying to hide from something in her dream. Poor thing is just like her Mommy.

As busy as she is we are enjoying every second of it. On those days that I just want to pull my hair out I remind myself that she is healthy and happy and has a killer personality. Couldn't ask for more!

Summer vacation 2011

Summer vacation was a busy one, a long one but so much fun!

We were on vacation for almost 3 weeks. We drove from Edmonton all the way to Vancouver Island over two days. The girls were amazing travelers.

We spent 8 days in Comox/Courtenay with my parents and had a really great time with them! We had excellent weather and managed to go hiking, kayaking, a visit to Mount Washington, swimming to Stotan Falls, a walk to Paradise Meadows, a bbq at a beach, a visit to a petting zoo, played at Miracle Beach, shopping, yummy dinners and lots of fun with Nana and Relic!

Sophia had the time of her life and Elly really overcame her separation anxiety after a few days of visiting. It was nice to be able to go out sans children with Adam for the first time in a LOOOOOOOONG time! Thanks Mom and Dad!

After our visit to the island we spent a night with some family friends in Abbotsford and then headed out to Penticton for a week at a cabin we rented with two other couples and their kids. Again we had unreal weather! The wasps were horrible but we still managed to get lots of time in at the beach, visit some wineries, ate great food and drank great wine!

Sophia and Elise made it really easy to travel with kiddos! We are definitely going to try to make a summer trip to BC an annual family event.

9 months!!!!

I really can't believe how fast Elly's first year is going by! I just want to slow time down so I can enjoy each and every second of her being a baby. She's growing up too fast....

This last month has brought about so many changes in our baby girl. She has both her bottom teeth and it looks like her two top teeth will be sprouting any time! She has stepped up her eating and is a pro at cut up cheese, steamed vegetables, toast, pasta, cereal and fruit. She is an excellent eater and eats just about anything we put in front of her!

Elly has started some hands and knee crawling in the last couple of days but is very very fast and efficient with her comando/inch worm crawl. If she is determined she can get herself across a room in seconds.

We started 'signing' with Elise and she has picked up "all done" already! She can also wave and says "Mama" to me.

She continues to be a sleeping champ and pretty much goes to sleep at 7:30 pm and is not heard from again until around 7 am. It is really really really awesome!

She is a very happy baby like her sister but seems to have a bit of a wild streak to her. I thought that Sophia was a busy toddler...... I think we will have our hands full with this little spitfire!

She is so much fun and her and Sophia are becoming buddies fast. They spent hours on our road trip entertaining each other with lots of giggles!

At 9 months:

Weight: 16 lbs 2 0z (10th %ile)

Height: 26 1/4 inches (10th %ile)

Not a baby anymore....

Hard to believe she is 2 1/2 years old! I swear Sophia was still a baby when Elise was born 8 months ago and now she is a little girl.

Sophia is one funny girl. The stuff that comes out of her mouth amazes me. Yesterday at the grocery store I forgot what I had gone down the baby aisle for and a worker asked if I needed help. I explained my lack of memory and Sophia said to the worker "Oh my goodness it is unbelieveable......she's just crazy!". The woman laughed so hard.

She likes to walk the dog now and wants NO HELP holding the leash. She uses the Whipit really well to throw the ball for him and gets really mad when Finn doesn't obey her and yells "Mom he's not listening to me. Time out Finny!".

Sophia is 98% potty trained now and only uses a pull up at night time and usually wakes up totally dry. We are very proud of her for that!

She is an excellent big sister and has yet to get frustrated with Elise. She kisses her, cuddles her, tries to feed her, helps change diapers and gets very very very protective of her when other kids are around. I love it.

She is a great little girl and there isn't a thing I would change about her. Don't get me wrong, she's busy and some days I feel like a broken record but she's worth it!

She is stubborn like her Mom, explores the world like her Dad, is adventurous, strong willed, a bit clumsy, runs like Pheobe Buffay, has rhythm like Elaine Benes (or her Relic), has a ridiculously contagious ear to ear smile, eyes as pale blue as the sky and is by far the best cuddler I know.

We love her to bits!

At 2 1/2 years old:

Height: 36 inches

Weight: 28.2 lbs

8 months old!!!!

8 months already???? When did that happen?

In the last two months Elise has changed dramatically!

Life is much easier these days and Elly is a much happier girl. No more milk protein allergy means no more upset belly pain. Cheers to that!

Elly has started eating solids very well since 6 1/2 months and has an appetite like her Daddy. So far we haven't found a food she doesn't like.

Her second bottom tooth broke through on her 8 month birthday...... THANK GOODNESS! Sophia hardly showed signs of teething but this baby was a ball of grump!

Elise has been sitting up for a couple of months now and is just about crawling which is much earlier than her sister too! She can go in circles, scoot backwards and has almost started a sitting up bum scoot. Really cute.

She is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! I have to shout that one out to the world because I never thought it would happen! Way to go Elise!

Elly is a very smiley baby and laughs at her sister all of the time. She continues to love her Mommy the most but is starting to turn in to a Daddy's girl too and as of late is tolerating grandparents a little bit more. We are really looking forward to being able to get out for a kid free dinner soon!

She also has a temper like I have never seen before. If something isn't done instantly (food preparation, spoon to mouth timing, nursing, retrieving from bed) she will scream a blood curdling, teeth clenching scream. Ughhhhhh.... I think she is going to be one driven little girl!

At 8 months:

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz (finally just above the 10th %ile)

Height: 25 3/4 inches