little nice comments and dancing elves

It's funny how it's the little things that can really make your day. It could have been the fact that Sophia made it through a whirlwind mall trip, and managed to stay cheerful with some help from her best friends, the Cheerios. (Who knew that it would be so crowded on a Monday morning?) Or even that I was able to find everything I needed to, including many things on sale. I even found a few things that were going to wait til another trip! But no - it was the kind comments from two older ladies in line in front of me...

Nice ladies: "What a darling little girl! How old is she? Nine, ten months?"
Me: "Yes! Yes she is!" (trying not to be sound too excited)
Nice ladies: "Why, she's just the right size!"

Now, many strangers look at Sophia's petiteness and say silly things like "Oh wow, she's teeny! My daughter/niece/neighbor's daughter's little girl is that size and she's only 6 months old!" Defensive Erin immediately wants either promise them that I do feed her or just straight up kick them in the shins. (I know they don't mean anything by it, but sheesh people, consider how a first time mom will take what you say!) I was thrilled beyond words for someone to not only guess her correct age, but tell me that she was just right. :D (Of course, I know she's just right, but you know what I mean.)


In other news, our family took a little trip to the North Pole, put on some costumes, and created this dance number just for you all! Enjoy!!

books & bathtime

Sophia's favorite pasttime is reading! Well, checking herself out in the mirrors in books is probably more like it, but she loves to turn pages too.


And who can resist a great bath? :)

bits and pieces from the fall

... a lovely shot of the leaves in our backyard. They finally turned!

... and the beautiful maple tree at the Orthodox church across the street...

...and our little pumpkin. :)

apple picking!

...and Sophia's first hayride, which I was not expecting. (Who knew the actual orchards we were picking from were so far away and not the ones right by the parking lot?) She did so well though - she just loves being outside, whatever we're doing. I don't think she had a clue what a cute oh-so-traditionally-fall thing we were doing, but whatever. :)




Now that we have yummy Fuji apples coming out of our ears, does anyone have any favorite apple recipes? I already made Sophia some fresh applesauce, but that just made a little dent in the pile.

milestones and other thoughts...

i'm not sure why the blogging has been sparse lately; sophia's in bed by 6:30 (whoo hoo! check out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child if you want the how-to), so i really have no excuses. maybe time on facebook has become a substitute? ;)

anywho, here are some updates since I last wrote something. we have been teething, sleeping through the night, and today - babbling! (sophia, not me - ha! although i guess i've been sleeping through the night now too. yesssssssss.) So, i know it's not super crucial the exact time babbling happens, but as a former student and teacher of all things language development, i was pretty stoked. of course the digital camera was with josh, but i got some low quality vids on my phone, and even managed to get her to do it while i was on the phone with josh so he could hear it.

hope everyone is enjoying their fall!

Things I've Learned About Myself from Guitar Hero

1. This game is tough on us perfectionists....especially ones who already play guitar.
2. Guitar Hero is nothing like playing guitar, but my brain thinks it is. It keeps trying to make up rhythms that don't exist.
3. My contacts dry out when I play, because apparently I forget to blink.
4. Despite #'s 1-3, the game is still wickedly addicting. ;)
Thanks to Jonathan and Joel for getting me hooked at the beach!

Here's a cutie picture of Sophia in her beach hat. Don't be fooled by the big grin - she was scared to death of the water and the wet sand! Poor thing. She did seem to have a good time as long as she was held high above those mean old tidal pools. :)

pictures pictures!!!

Have some free time? Here are links to LOADS of pics from David and Julie's beautiful wedding!! Their photographer was very creative and got some amazing shots...so get comfy and enjoy!


http://picasaweb.google.com/jdkmusic/DavidJulieDayBeforeTheWedding
http://picasaweb.google.com/jdkmusic/DavidJulieWeddingDay
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3045683

on the road again...

two funny things recently seen on our travels....

1. a license plate that said "BILN SUE" - I thought it was a lawyer's car at first, but then realized it was probably just a couple named Bill and Sue. Ha!

2. a breast cancer awareness pink ribbon sticker that said "Save the Ta-tas!"

"ummm...we've found an elephant walking down the street."

This is great! I love the tone of the kid's voice...

(sorry you have to cut and paste the link, for some reason)


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/07/12/stevens.loose.elephants.gnn

angry and laughing, all in two minutes...

First, the thing that made me angry....

Now those of you that know me well know how agitated I get when I see people flinging apostrophes everywhere they don't belong...usually in plurals instead of possessives.

But what I saw on a news teaser just made me downright ticked. Don't they proofread these things? The preview for the eleven o'clock news said, "Who wear's the pants?"

WHAT????!!! That's not even a plural! That's a frickin' verb! Sheesh. (Josh just rolled his eyes.)

And now, the thing that made me laugh...

I saw a clip of a Robin Williams movie...it looked dumb, and we were just flipping channels. Nonetheless, he told a joke that really cracked me up, especially because it took both of us a few seconds.

"A Buddhist walked up to a hot dog stand and said 'Make me one with everything.'"

See how long it takes you...I'm just curious. :)

One final bit of random news....I found a japanese beetle crawling on the top of my head yesterday. And it was missing a leg. Yuck.

the first get-together of life-long friends...

....though Lily was a bit of a blur since she's a girl on the move now! (Oh, Julia, I am praying for you girl!) And can you believe that this is the only picture I took of my entire afternoon with Julia and her kiddos? Sheesh! Ah well, hopefully there will more visits in the not-too-distant-future.

In other Sophia news, we've been hearing our first little laughs the past few days! Not belly laughs, or even giggles really, but a little "eh-He!" when she gets tickled or gets a piece of clothing swooshed in front of her. *happy sigh*

lil' shopper

So.....Sophia loves to shop! We ended up splitting up the costco/macy's trip into two days, since apparently costco is closed on memorial day. Who knew? Each time, she contentedly looked around at all the things around her and grinned her biggest grins at the salespeople. :) Thankfully, nobody tried to touch her hands or face this time. (Why do people do that? Seriously! It's not ok for grown-up strangers to do that to each other - same goes for baby strangers!)

Off again to Maryland tomorrow for a bridal shower for Julie-soon-to-be-Keltonic...

3 months!!

man, time goes fast. it's so hard to believe that Sophia's already 3 months old! we're celebrating that (and Josh's well deserved day off) with a trip to Macy's and Costco. ha! yeah, i'll let you know how that goes. :P

Check out the new pictures and videos....we've expanded our picture pages!

a random train of thought....

As I reread my last post, I wondered if "Sophia sweetly sleeping" was a tongue twister - it seemed to be, but then I realized it was just sleep deprivation. :)

But....it reminded me of a good new tongue twister I heard on America's Funniest Videos, of all places. It's even better than "toy boat!" Ready? Say "Irish wristwatch" ten times fast. I have trouble getting it out even twice. :P

oh my gosh oh my gosh

Have you ever wondered if this could really happen? I have, especially recently. I've noticed a few ants wandering around the house now that it's warm...and then I look at Sophia sweetly sleeping and wonder - what if one were to crawl in her ear or nose? Would she wake up? What would happen? I'm seriously thinking about sleeping with some of Josh's earplugs for protection...and maybe hiring a bug guy. Yuck. I sure wouldn't be grinning like the kid in the picture!

In other news...Sophia is a growin' girl! She's now 9 lb. 12 oz., 22 in. long, and protected from all sorts of awful diseases! (poor thing, she definitely didn't see those needles coming.) She's moving right along those little growth chart curves, but we could have told you that. :)

The worst game ever

"College sumo wrestlers hold toddlers Rion Yuine, left, and Seira Aoki during a contest known as Crying Sumo on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Babies face each other and are coaxed to cry. The first to bawl is declared the winner. The ritual is a wish for the good health of the children, as crying reputedly is beneficial for babies."
-CNN Online

As a new mom, where the name of the game is 'responding to and stopping the crying,' this seems like the most bizarre thing ever. Encouragement to our friends with colicky children though - your babies are in the best of health! :)

Me Church

This video clip has been bringing chuckles to the staff at church this week. :)

In other news, Sophia went to the pediatrician for her one month check-up. Current weight and height? 8 lb. 2 oz and 20 3/4 in. long! (She was 6lb. 3 oz. at 2 weeks, and this was at 5 weeks. Holy smokes!) Her head circumference is only in the 5th percentile - the doctor smiled and said that was really a hereditary thing. We smiled and looked at Josh's little noggin. Yay for little noggins!

Look how she's growing!

It's hard to believe how much this little sweetpea is changing everyday. These two pictures were taken just a few weeks apart - you can see the difference! We find that our nicknames for her keep changing too- she was 'peanut' and 'little nut' for the first few weeks, but 'sweetpea' and 'little love' seem to be the new ones.

So the blogging has been a little sparse, but what can I say - it's a good day when I'm actually showered and out of my p.j's by the time Josh gets home. :D Keep checking the photo site though - Josh puts new pictures on all the time!

neat article

Here's a link to an article about one of my kids I taught at Magnolia. Matthew was in my class the 3 1/2 yrs. I was there, and he made such good progress! (Interestingly enough, there's also a picture of Matthew and me on the RTS website that was in a batch of pictures Josh sent in for a photo contest!)

After such a long wait....

...she's here!!

Sophia Frances Knott joined us at 3:36 am February 28, weighing in at a teeny 5 lb. 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches long! She definitely gave us a few scares along the way, with her heart rate dropping on and off during labor, but we're so thankful the Lord provided some skillful doctors with some great tricks up their sleeves that kept her safe and sound. We'll keep the pictures coming, but for now, we're just counting our blessings upon blessings.

...and trying to get some sleep in there occasionally. ;)

daily monster

I totally ripped this off someone else's blog, but I was so mesmerized, I had to share. You'll just have to watch this guy work to see what I'm talking about. He's got a website too, at dailymonster.com, but I haven't looked at it in depth, so browse at your own risk. :)


and...the snow is coming! the snow is coming! I'm promise, I'm not that excited. ;)

"Wow, I'd be fat AND fast!"

Yep, that's right folks. Caffeinated doughnuts. Josh was totally psyched, despite the odd physical results he imagined. ;)



In other news, I assembled the crib myself today. Not because Josh didn't offer - no, no...for some strange reason I really wanted to do it myself. I am now queen of the Allen wrench!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

woot woot for the coming snow! only 1-4 inches.....just enough to make everything pretty, but not so much that Josh has to do major shoveling. :D

got some free time? visit Postsecret.com - a very deep window into people's hearts. (be forewarned, people send in some very..uh..unedited stuff) It makes me want to sit down and have lunch with so many of them, although I guess that would defeat the purpose.

john elijah mckenzie

Congratulations John and Michelle! You and little Elijah are in our thoughts and prayers. :)

"Well, the wombat does already have underwear on!"

Seriously. This was just heard in our house.

Apparently, when we go to our labor/delivery/childcare class this Saturday, we're supposed to bring a doll or stuffed animal of some sort. I'm not sure what for, but I'm seriously hoping it's for the 'childcare' part.

Anywho, I really didn't think we had either a doll or stuffed animal here, but Josh helpfully reminded me that he has both a plush wombat and Eeyore in his closet. And he would have none of it when I didn't think that a four legged creature in a standing position would work for diaper practice or whatever-the-heck they're having us bring them in for. (And yes, the wombat is wearing Power Rangers underwear.)

I bet good money we'd be the first soon-to-be-parents to bring a wombat to class though.

Fountain Show

What better way to celebrate than with a beautifully choreographed show of Diet Coke and Mentos. Happy New Year to All! (Thanks Dad for telling me about this.)