A Case of the Gurgles

So here is a slightly cruel video of Sophie's new way of whining. It is a little hard to take her seriously when she does this, but it does tend to escalate eventually. This also shows her newfound interest in the camera (hence the near-hyperventalation). If you happen to be one of her grandparents, please don't worry - we don't torture her often.

More of Charleston

Here are some pictures of Sophie's first trip to the beach. It wasn't too warm and the wind was pretty strong so we just went for a few minutes for her to see everything. She seemed to really love it, although I think she was more impressed by a little boy with colorful swim trunks than she was by the ocean. Her daddy was less than thrilled to hear that she's already distracted by the boys. On another day we went downtown and saw some of the Charleston sights. The bottom two pictures show us at the Pineapple Fountain and Sophie and Laura in front of the new bridge (although you can't really see the bridge).

Face Grabber

In addition to fun time with Cosmo, Sophie had a blast with her Gran and Aunt Laura. It must be such a relief to her to see some new faces and hear voices other than her mom's. She soaked up all the undivided attention and seems more than a little upset with me this week since she's not quite getting the same treatment.




One fun new pastime for Sophie is face-grabbing. There is something so irresistible about facial features and while most of us are satisfied to sit back and admire from a distance, Sophie's hands are drawn with a seemingly magnetic force. This worked well with Gran and Laura as they are patient and understanding, but Cosmo was having none of it. For him an outstretched hand is an invitation to a baby skin tasting. Don't worry, no blood was shed. He's just a friendly licker.



While we were in Charleston my mom and I noticed that Sophie was tugging on her ears a lot. So we took her to a clinic just to check and she does indeed have a double ear infection. Of course my mom had to have a picture of us in the doctor's office, and Sophie looks perfectly fine in this picture, but it was clear she wasn't feeling too great and we're still working on getting over it.

First Swim

Last week Sophie and I were in Charleston visiting my sister-in-law Laura with my mom. Sophie enjoyed her time there so much - between Cosmo (Aaron and Laura's yellow lab), Gran and Aunt Laura she was never bored. These pictures are from her first time in the pool - Cosmo was gracious to share his pool with her, and she thanked him by letting him lick her face. She really loved having a dog to play with. Every morning he would wait outside our bedroom until I would let him in to greet her. Then he would come up to her, lick her feet (and whatever other body parts he could reach) and sit and watch her. More pics of our trip to come...

Sitting Up for Fun

Now that Sophie can sit up on her own she is having lots of fun playing with new toys and enjoying a new perspective on her world.

This is the first stuffed animal she received - it was a gift from her great-grandfather and she really loves it.

Here she's "reading" a book from her aunt, uncle and cousins in Latvia.

Yay for Uncle Kyle!

Yesterday we had the privilege of seeing Erik's brother Kyle walk in his graduation ceremony at Bryan College (our alma mater). Sophie did great during the ceremony, but as you can see she gave in to her exhaustion at the end and wasn't up for giving us too many smiles. We are so proud of Kyle and we're excited to see what the Lord has in store for his future.

Playing w/ Daddy

Sophie lights up and giggles whenever she sees her daddy walk through the door, so usually some of her happiest moments are in the evening when he plays with her. The other day I went back to the bedroom and found them playing dress-up (okay, only Sophie was dressed up) and captured a few good smiles.

Sophie Meets the Bryan Girls

This past weekend we went to Chattanooga for a baby shower for my friend Katie. We got to stay with Erik's grandparents and see his parents and Kyle, Peter & Jenny. I also had the privilege of introducing Sophie to my best girlfriends from college (minus Anna, who was enjoying snow in Minnesota while we were in t-shirts in TN). While Sophie normally craves attention, she was a little tired and overwhelmed by all these new faces at once, but when there were only a few people around she was much happier. She did cry all the way home, though, and kept asking when she might have a "Bryan" friend her own size to play with. Apparently Quincy, the Parks' dog, doesn't quite cut it. Although he does have his own pacifier, but that's a post for another day.