There's always something new going on in the York household! This is a place for us to share that with you, our family and friends. Enjoy!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Sophie is ONE!

Sophie is 1 year old!  I can't believe how time has flown by!  This has been a year of joy and love in meeting our baby girl on March 28th, 2012 at 9:19 pm and getting to know her and love her more and more each and every day since.  Learning new things about her, seeing her learn new things about her world and the people around her.  It's been a year of sleeplessness, worry, and doubt in our ability to be the best parents we can be, doing the best thing for our girl.  From learning to sit, stand, and cruise, to smiling, laughing, and babbling, there has been so much change in this little girls life, it's hard to imagine it's only been a year.

Love this face!

Such an inquisitive look

Supervised play with the Advil bottle :)

As we celebrated her first birthday back home with family and friends, along with her baptism, it was a day full of emotion and excitement!  I played the moment out in my mind, when we would sing "Happy Birthday" to her, over and over again.  I could just see tears streaming down my face as I was struggling to get the words out.  Either that or an enthusiastic high five to Dan as we congratulated ourselves on surviving one year with a baby.  (Hats off to Mrs. Dugger, famous mom to "19 Kids and Counting"... how does she do it?)  When the moment came, however, I felt calm yet excited (and maybe a little bit nervous that Sophie would burst into tears when we plopped a cake in front of her to eat).  I did get a little choked up during the first few lines of the song, but managed to swallow it down when Sophie started clapping for herself as everyone sang to her.

Her day started with being baptised at her daddy's church in Indiana.  Family and friends gathered as Father Michael lead the ceremony.  Sophie was a good girl, pointing at all of her on-lookers and babbling at them a little towards the end.  She was so calm as I laid her back for him to pour the water over her head, I heard her Grandma Elaine state, "Well, she really does enjoy her bath time!"  My friend Melissa and Dan's cousin Jeff were appointed as Sophie's godparents.  Lot's of pictures followed the baptism, then we were off to the birthday party!

Our little girl, ready for her big day!

Sophie's Godparents Melissa and Jeff

Grandma and Grandma!

Cousin Ella and Cousin Cate
So lucky to celebrate with FOUR generations!
Great Grandma Ardis, Sophie, Mommy, Grandpa Bob!

Grandma Cindy made this beautiful dress!

Sophie: "How do I look??"
Sophie chillin' with her Aunties! (and Grandma)
Thank goodness I had so much help from everyone in planning and getting her party together!  I'm not sure this could have happened if I were to do it on my own.  Our little girl must have known something exciting was coming her way since she basically skipped her morning nap.  Everyone was so thrilled to see her at her party, it was a rare occurence when she was crawling around on her own!  She enjoyed smashing up her cupcake, while trying a few bites of it, and was angry when I took her away from it to open up presents.  Wow!  There were a lot of presents, this little girl is so loved by her friends and family!  Grandma Cindy was in charge of packing up all the presents to ship down to Florida.  We are awaiting 3 big boxes of toys and clothes!  It will be like having a birthday all over again!



Cute "tu tu" butt

Birthday banner I made for the party

Actually tried some yummy cake!

Cupcakes from Uncle John and Aunt Donna

Sophie's cupcake!


Great Grandma Ardis

Aunt Donna, Cousin Cate, and Uncle John

Fun with Grandpa and peeps!!

Time for presents!
Great Grandma Doris was not able to make it to the party, so we brought the party to her!  We visited Grandma at her "home" in Francesville, IN.  When we walked in her eyes lit up at the sight of Sophie!  She held her on her lap for quite awhile, and laughed many times at Sophie's simple yet entertaining antics.  They even looked at a magazine about birds together, with Sophie showing Great Grandma the sign for "bird".  It was extra special that Grandma took us to see the aviary in the common room.  There were many little birds tweeting and flying around for us all to enjoy.  Of course we managed to snap a "generations" photo!

Hanging out with Great Grandma!
Unfortunately, we all came home with a cold.  Sophie is a resilient little girl and it didn't seem to bother her very much.  Mommy and Daddy on the other hand may need someone to come and take care of them.  Attempting to interact with a one year old while under the weather is pretty interesting.  Thank goodness Sophie thinks that a Mommy or Daddy laying on the floor in her room is enjoyable and laughable.  Climbing on us, poking at our face, and pulling on our hair are all fascinating activities for a one year old with sick parents.  We all seem to be on the mend however, just in time for some beautiful spring Florida weather.

We're looking forward to another year full of fun, excitement, and surprises with our little Sophie!  Can't wait to continue sharing all of the great things our life has to bring!

With Love,
Dan, Jess, our ONE year old Sophie (!!), and Lucy

Monday, March 4, 2013

11 Wonderful Months!

On February 28th Sophie turned 11 months!  Only one more to go until the big #1!  We will be heading back home at the end of the month for a birthday celebration with family and friends, along with her baptism.  We are thrilled to get back home to see everyone and celebrate!  More on that next month...
(**please excuse the gigantic pictures that are duplicates in here, computer glitch, or user error. Either way, darn!**)
Such sweet smiles on our walks!
The easiest way to play a piano


Our photo shoot.  I was trying to get a photo for her birthday invite, she was was only interested in picking up grass and leaves...

...unless she was eating "puffs"

A smile!  With her eyes closed...


Sophie now has four teeth!  She uses them to the best of her ability by pushing food to the front of her mouth and biting down on it.  Occasionally she will bite off a piece of food and seems quite impressed that she's done so.  She especially loves eating Cheerios with her four front teeth!

Yes, there is a piece of food on her nose.  But, I couldn't help it, she smiled so nice!

And giggled so hard

Then giggled some more...

Lucy's preferred spot while Sophie dines
She is getting better at standing without holding on to anything.  She loves standing at her activity table that lights up and makes noises when you touch it.  Once she gets the noises going, she lets go and starts clapping until the music stops.  She giggles and enjoys every minute of this!

I'm trying to teach her some sign language with a DVD series called "Baby Signing Time".  It's a fun video with music and other babies, very engaging for Sophie.  The only sign she does, refers to one of her favorite things, DOG!  She loves our Lucy and points to her and gets excited when she comes in the room.  So obviously it is the sign that we practice all day long.  Naturally, she's become an expert at it.  It involves using an open hand to pat your thigh, like your calling a dog over to you.  It came to her pretty easily, and I think she does it even when she's not referring to a dog.  But, when she notices a dog, points to it, then pats her thigh, it's simply amazing!  I reinforce when she points to a dog by doing the sign, saying "doggie" or "Lucy", and making an "arf arf" sound.  Sometimes, it seems like she is trying to say "arf arf" by making a high pitched barking sound.  It's amazing what a little sponge she is!  Up next is "bird", "food", "more", "drink", "Mommy", and "Daddy".

Sophie had a wonderful first Valentine's day!  Grandpa Bob sent her (and me of course!) a beautiful bouquet with a fun balloon attached.  She pointed to the flowers whenever we walked by them and had to touch them.  The balloon provided many hours of fun for Sophie and torture for the dog (sorry Lucy)!

Thanks Grandpa!

Looking at the balloon. Sophie: "Ooh, looks like fun!"  Lucy: "What the h#$% is that?!"
Just the other weekend a friend and I traveled to Tampa for a Bon Jovi concert and an overnight stay.  It was my birthday present from Dan.  It was such a fun night and a relaxing day away.  I missed my family, but it was nice to have a night off from being a mommy and to be able to sleep in the in morning (it's funny how sleeping til 8 am is now considered "sleeping in" to me).

Dan is enjoying his job at Universal.  He is now on the construction site full time, working in the trailer again.  The buildings are going up and he is busy!  He and his co-workers got a team together and joined Universal's softball league.  As of right now, Dan is the starting pitcher!

Work is going well for me at the hospital.  I recently moved up our "clinical ladder" and became a Clinical Nurse 5!  Due to years of service, my degree, and my involvement in the unit in areas of research and collaborative groups, I took the final step up.  Very happy to have made it to this point. 

So much fun on the swing!


Very interested to see what the other kids are doing
See you all back here in a month when our baby turns a year old!

Love,
The Yorks

Monday, January 28, 2013

10 Months Baby!

Sophie is 10 months old today!  I can't believe we have survived 10 whole months raising a precious little human!  Time seems to fly, I'm already planning for her first birthday.  It seems I need to take a minute to sit back and take it all in...

What a difference!

Happy girl!

Our little girl brought something special home to us from day care at the beginning of this month, a stomach bug!!  One evening, we were having an especially difficult time getting Sophie to go to bed.  We had her asleep 3 or 4 different times, and as soon as we would lay her down, BING! Eyes wide open crying again.  As soon as I decided to let Dan have a go at putting her to bed, I walked into the living room, Sophie let out a little whimper, and then proceeded to vomit all down the front of my shirt.  (Please excuse the graphic content that follows)  I saw her entire days worth of undigested food come up all over me, then when I ran to the bathroom and held her over the sink, more followed.  I'm not sure I'll ever look at black beans the same way ever again!

Not knowing what we were dealing with at the time, I felt awful that her stomach was emptied and decided to give her a bottle of formula.  She got sleepy and as soon as I got up to put her in her crib, eyes wide open, whimper, barf...  Silly mommy, nothing is going to stay down at this point.  Needless to say, Sophie got better in about 24 hours, I got it on day 3, Dan got it on day 4.  Thank goodness it conquered us one at a time, I'm not sure how Dan and I would have survived if we were sick at the same time and Sophie was running all over the place.
Sick and tired, napping on Daddy

Snuggles with Minnie, she napped a lot while sick!
On top of having an upset tummy, our little girl had another tooth pop through just after being sick.  Poor thing was teething at the same time.  Rough life!

Look closely, 2 bottom teeth!
Here are some other things Sophie has been up to this month:

Pointing!  No matter where she is, but especially in your arms, she is pointing at something.  It's really sweet.  When she gets up from sleep or naps, she immediately points to her stuffed animals that are sitting on top of her dresser.  We walk over there and she carefully chooses two animals to pick up and cuddle.  These are a necessity when performing the next task which is a diaper changing.  Oh, how this little wiggle worm hates laying on the changing table anymore.  We've become masters at the 60 second diaper change.  That's about all she will give you.

"Dancing"  When she hears some music being played she has started swaying back and forth.  She is her Daddy's girl, loves that music!  It's so cute to watch.

She loves her "Good Morning, Good Night" book.  It's a book with furry animals to touch on every page.  She always knows exactly where to touch as soon as you turn the page.  She especially loves it when you make the animal noises to go along with each one.

The dog gate.  It has been put up at the kitchen, because as things go with any child, she makes a beeline for the dog food every chance she gets.  One time, she managed to dunk her hand in the water dish before I could get to her.  What fun!  So, now that the dog gate is up, she loves to pull up on it and babble at me if I'm in the kitchen.  Lucy is terrified of the dog gate.  I think at one point, it had fallen over when she was least expecting it, and it has scared her ever since.  Seeing that Lucy can scale our chain link fence in the back yard, she could clearly jump over the baby gate.  But she stays at least one room away from it whenever it is up.  So, when Sophie is pulling up on it, Lucy is at first a little worried about her.  She will hang around for a few minutes, but when Sophie starts banging on it, all bets are off!  Lucy seems to say, "Alright kid, I can't take it anymore, you're on your own."  And she goes to the other room.  The same can be said for the vacuum cleaner.  Sophie was crawling right behind me when I was vacuuming the other day.  Lucy stuck around for a bit, seeming to be concerned that the vacuum was going to suck Sophie up, but quickly retreated to our room after trying to tough it out for a few minutes.  Silly Lucy!

Dare devil at the dog gate

"Helping" put away Christmas
Micky Mouse Club House.  I swear this show must have infant subliminal messages in it.  Most people I know who have kids Sophie's age say they all go nuts for it!  As soon as the music comes on, Sophie will stop what she is doing and stare at the TV and start babbling or screaming in excitement.  Any other show can be on TV, but when this one starts, she just can't help herself.  I've become wise to this, and when at the dreaded changing table, I have begun to sing songs from the show and she is mesmerized 85% of the time.

Food!  Sophie loves, loves, loves certain foods.  Cottage cheese and yogurt are two of her favorites.  No matter how much she has had to eat for the meal, she gets excited for these two items.  She also loves Ritz crackers, veggie puffs (they look like Cheetos, but for babies), and peaches.  She is also still enjoying her pasta.  I just tried giving her a baby dill pickle to chew on, expecting her to crinkle her nose from the sourness.  She loved it!  Just like her mommy.


A black bean?  On my eye?

Monster Pillow!  Sophie LOVES the monster pillow Santa brought her for Christmas.  She enjoys wrestling with it, diving into it with her mouth wide open.  I often imitate her doing this and she thinks it's hysterical.


First Swing!  We took Sophie to the park and put her in the baby swing for the first time.  She had a blast and giggled almost the entire time.




I recently sent a letter with Sophie to her daycare babysitter, Lana.  Sometimes it is necessary for a Mommy to pass along some information that a Daddy may forget to mention amidst the chaos of dropping off/picking up a child.  Just to be sure we were on the same page and things were going well there, I wrote Lana a letter.  To my surprise, I received a letter back from her.  It was so sweet, I wanted to share some of the things she shared with me.
"Thank you for writing notes to me often, they are always helpful and appreciated. We love Sophie!  I am blessed to have her as I am to have this job.  The kids give me back so much more than what I do for them.  Sophie's bright eyes and beautiful smile are my very favorite!  Her smart ways keep me charmed and entertained every time....Sophie is enjoying her new foods.  Finger foods are great for her small motor skills.  She is also crawling everywhere and spends a whole lot of time exploring and playing.  I am very pleased to see how well she is doing physically and emotionally."
Every mothers dream, right!?  We're so lucky to have found Lana.  Despite coming home with messy clothes, someone else's clothes, someone else's diaper, or another kids bottles, we couldn't ask for her to be in better hands.

Oh, you just folded these clothes?

Good morning!

First balloon from Publix
New bathtub!

Riding the Lion
With Love
The Yorks