Tummy Bugs...YUCK!

Sunday began like any other day. Cheesy omelet and a fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast, a little Sesame Street, and a short drive to check out a few houses for sale. We were en route to a birthday party while seeing some houses beforehand when Sophia projectile vomited in the car. I won't go into details except to say that I had to wash John's coat (he was driving). We thought maybe she had gotten car sick...but, that was only the beginning. She proceeded to get sick numerous times throughout the day and into the early morning. She couldn't hold down water and was running a low fever. We were all pretty miserable, well more her than us. It was very hard not letting her guzzle the water that she desperately wanted since (we learned the hard way) that it would just come back up and she would get more upset having vomited. Monday was okay. She ate a little pear, crackers, and Pedialyte. She is getting better today except for a mild case of the 'poops'. Anyway, probably TMI for most of you. Way more discussion on bodily fluids than you hoped for.

This is Sophia and I chillin' on the futon before the tummy bugs attacked.

Mid-afternoon...tummy bugs attacking in full force. Not a happy baby...

Trying to relax with DaDa. I think we watched Madagascar 3 times that day.

Mt Spokane

Here is a distant photo of Mt. Spokane. This shot was taken while we were on a little drive the other day. You can drive about 10 miles north of the 'valley' (where we live) and find yourself in the rolling countryside. Just to the east of the mountain is Idaho. John and I are really excited to get hiking this spring. I'll be able to share many more photos of the local scenery. We were actually driving around to get a feel for the areas outside of town. My mom will be buying a house soon and has asked us to start looking. We are getting bogged down in choosing a 'future' school district for Sophia. Gamma wants to live close to us so we are having to keep school district boundaries in mind. Ugh! How to pick a school district? We have done quite a bit of research online so we'll figure it out soon enough. Anyway, just thought I would share the picture.

Messy Dinner

Sophia is still learning to feed herself with a utensil and bowl. "Isn't this late (in her development)?" you ask. Well...yes, maybe I have a little trouble letting go of the control to keep sort of clean. I am slowly learning to look away when things get real messy. Actually, John has to tell me to "leave her alone, stop micro-managing the dinner table, and let the child eat!" She has to get the hang of this some day. Here are a few photos after a round with spaghetti. I was smart enough to take off her shirt before putting on a bib.




The pants were pretty messy so we stripped them off after scrubbing her face. As you can tell she is perfectly happy running around half-naked (she is wearing purple socks). She loves to dance and wrap her 'blankie' like a cape around her shoulders. She can see a reflection of herself on the front of the dishwasher. She will play with her soft blankies for an hour as she rolls on them and drapes them over herself (in only her diaper of course). She often grabs a corner of her blankie, rubs it on my cheek, and says "bankie...sof". Too cute. I think once she really figures out how to disrobe and ditch the diaper on her own...we'll be in TROUBLE.

Afternoon by the River

We spent a little time explorying Riverfront Park the other morning. The sun was out and only slightly chilly. The World's Fair Expo '74 was hosted here so, they have some neat features along the river. A huge carousel, ice skating rink, Imax theater, beautiful boardwalks, and fun parks for the kids.

John and Sophia crossing one of many foot-bridges to check out all the ducks on the steps leading up the the Convention Center. You are looking due west into the downtown area.

Sophia enjoying a little playtime for herself. She is still learning to 'share' the toys with others.

Here is Spokane River. This is downstream looking to the west just below the hydro-electric diversion dam.

Same spot looking upstream to the east. Pretty much entirely basalt. The river bed is completely scoured. This photo shows another foot bridge.

This One's for You Papa

Yes, this is her 'favorite' onesie to wear. No, this photo is not staged...:)

Bet you can't guess who sent this to Sophia??? In case you can't read the fine print: "if you think I'm cute, you should see my Grandpa".

Playing in the Yard

We had a really nice day and Sophia enjoyed playing in her yard. The sun was out and it might have been in the mid-50's. She loves picking up the rocks and toting them in her bucket. There is a great fenced-in back yard where we can close the gate to the driveway. The neighbors have a gentle dog who sprints around his yard and makes Sophia laugh.


Her hands got a little muddy so I washed them in the sink, which later turned into a 30-minute water activity. Who knew that spoons, glasses, and water could be so much fun.

"Maaammmmaaaa, why didn't you show me how much fun this was before now...?"

Pacific Science Center

This last weekend we drove over to Western WA to visit family and friends. It normally takes about 5 hours to drive but, Snoqualmie Pass (Cascade Mtn Range) was experiencing blizzard and avalanche conditions so it took us 7 hours to get to Gamma's house. It was worth the trip. John and I hung out in Seattle all day and evening by ourselves and then later with friends while Gamma entertained Sophia. We had the best sushi in a long time, and met with college friends for dinner (Mike, Bridget, and Shane). Later in the weekend, we visted with some high school friends of mine (Heidi and Brady) to enjoy dinner and tell horror stories to prepare them for parenthood. I wish we could have visited more people but, there is only so much time. We had to cut our visit a day short due to a potential job interview for me on Tuesday. We were able to make a quick stop to visit John's sister in Seattle before heading back over to Spokane. Katie was is town from Chicago helping a good friend move to the PNW. Welcome to the great state of WA Julia! Anyway, we did make it to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. This is a huge science/interactive/fair/entertainment park. We met Mike and Bridget there for the morning. I think we all had a really great time exploring the exhibits and watching Sophia enjoying herself. I have included some photos of our activities below...


Bridget shows Sophia the proper way to get a good hand grip on the rock wall. Maybe in a few years. There is an excellent rock wall at the Spokane Valley YMCA.

Mike learned here that no sooner did he complete his masterpiece building before Sophia-the-Destroyer would run over with arms flailing and giggles squealing to knock it down. They did this several times.
Everyone really liked the live butterfly exhibit. The atrium was 85-degrees and humid (air thick). There were tropical plants, goldfish, and beautiful butterflies everywhere. Yes, those on the tree trunk are really real. Note the child's head for scale. They were huge! I'd hate to see the size of their catapillars...eeeuuuwww!

Sophia loved this food-bowl covered with butterflies. She knew that they were eating things that she recognized like banana and orange. She was fasinated and we were able to look at them only inches away. Yes, she very muched liked trying to touch them. She knew we had to be 'gentle'. They flew right by her many times and she would just smile ear to ear and say "wow".

Just a few more beauties to include...

A Little Catching Up...again

Sophia loves to talk on our cell phone. She walks around talking and 'fake laughing'. She might actually talk to a real person for a second before she hangs up on them. Her hair is real frizzy because she was just rolling around in her blankets.


This picture shows just how curly and tangled her hair is getting. Time for some detangler treatment.

Well, I need to play a little catch-up with the last few weeks, as we have been really busy. Two weekends ago we spent the night in Ephrata, WA visiting Ross and Molly and their two boys Kyle and Travis. We had a great time letting the kids play and make messes. John and I enjoyed catching up with Ross and Molly. We stayed up way too late and watched some ridiculous shows on MTV2, and laughed way too much.
John and I are pleased to report that my sister watched Sophia on my birthday and we actually got to go out (in public, alone) to watch a movie. It was a somewhat lame movie but who can complain?