The Life of Sofia & Olivia

We just got back from our 3rd Disneyland trip. This trip was by far the best one...I think it''s because Sofia is old enough to really appreciate everything..Olivia had a great time...she had some great melt downs too but overall she was good....Sofia loved every single character and princess she met..she wanted pictures with everyone and made sure they all signed her autograph book..Olivia only wanted to take pictures with the princesses...anything that looked large and fuzzy, she made us hold her and she had to be at least 3 feet away..LOL...
Sofia is quite the dare devil and went on Splash Mountain with Brian and wanted to go on the roller coasters! She had such a blast. There was only 1 bad part of the trip..On the very last day on the very last ride, we came out to find our stroller had been stolen....How sad is that..someone is desperate enough to steal someones stroller from Disneyland ;-( I hope they needed it very badly cause Karma is going to bite them in the butt...

We just celebrated Olivia''s 2nd Birthday with a Minnie Mouse Birthday Party! She had it at Playgrounds Fun Zone and Cafe and it was a blast! All her friends were there to celebrate with her and Mom-Mom even got to come into town to be with her. It turned out to be a great day!

I can''t believe it''s already November! We just had a blast celebrating Halloween with The Hall family down at their house. They have a great neighborhood and a lot of the homes decorated for the holiday. The girls LOVED trick or treating. Sofia was practically running from house to house! LOL...She loved helping Olivia open her bag and tried getting her to say Trick or Treat at every house but that didn''t always happen ;-) They both said Thank You at every house though! We got to meet Preston (Christin and Steve''s son) for the first time ;-) He''s darling...

We recently just came back from a 2 week East Coast vacation. We had a blast. We started off by going to my mom''s house and heading out to Ocean City, N.J. for 6 days. We had perfect sunny weather...We even got to experience an earthquake while on the beach...It felt like the sand was rolling underneath us...The girls had so much fun playing in the ocean every day...we did the board walk quite a few times and we also took family portraits on the beach...I love the way they turned out and can''t wait to get them back...I''ve always wanted family pictures with a beach setting...

The day we were leaving it started to get overcast and you could tell Hurricane Irene was coming. That next night Hurricane Irene did come and that was an eventful night. Not only did we have to deal with flooding in my mom''s basement but we had a few tornado warnings...We actually had the girls sleeping in the hallway...I think I''m appreciating Arizona''s dust storms after that ;-)

Brian and I then left the girls with my mom for 2 days and went to New York. We got to see the US Open on opening day, did a bunch of sight seeing all around town and saw the play Rock of Ages. It was a great play! I''d recommend it.

When we got back to Philly we did Sesame Street place with the girls and the Philly Zoo. We even took the girls on a mini tour of Philly and they got to see the Liberty Bell and South Street.

It was a great vacation and the girls definitely had a blast!

Sofia had a Strawberry Shortcake 3rd Birthday Party at the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park...It was such a good time! All of her friends and classmates came...even Mom-Mom was here. We even had Strawberry Shorcake pay a visit and Sofia was sooo excited! We had a Strawberry Shortcake Bouncy House and lots of Strawberry Shortcake goodies...

Wow, we''ve been busy...and sick...and busy...and sick... I''m so glad this winter season is almost OVER!!!! We''ve had almost every illness come thru this house...pneumonia, croup, ear infections, influenza B, unkown basic kids illnesses and I"m sure there''s others I can''t remember! The doctors office joked that I should have a reserved spot I''m so happy that the weather is changing!

The girls are getting so big...Olivia has moved over to the Toddler area and she''s walking and talking too! Olivia is definitely talking a lot faster than Sofia did and it''s prob cause she hears Sofia talking non stop right now... Olivia''s favorite words:
dada, mama, bottle, Dora, Diva (the girls at her daycare taught her that one ;0) and her newest word Bubble....
She also LOVES everything her sister loves... Strawberry Shortcake especially. I have to start buying two of everything as Sofia is not so eager to hand over her favorite Strawberry dolls....Olivia doesn''t give in either...she holds on for dear life when she wants something. I have to go into another room sometimes to laugh so they don''t see me...

Sofia is POTTY TRAINED! She has been for about a month and I couldn''t be happier!! Just the diaper savings alone has been so nice! She''s moving over to the preschool class in about a month...She already goes there in the mornings and just loves it..there''s so much for her to do and learn...
She also takes music classes with the Phoenix Conservatory of Music and she just loves it...I also have her in Dance and Tumbling...She loves all her extra curricular activities

We''ve been busy with friends in town for visits, going to Spring Training games, Renaissance Festival and just enjoying the weather before it gets HOT!

Sofia''s 3rd birthday party is coming up and I can''t wait! Parties are a lot of work but so much fun! Then after that Brian and I are going to plan a nice 5th wedding anniversary trip! Something tropical I''m thinking ;-)

We had Olivia''s 1st birthday party last weekend. It turned out to be such a great time! So many of our close friends and family showed up to celebrate with us! We made it a "Cute as a Bug...Happy as can Bee" theme...Olivia had such a fun day...until we all sang Happy Birthday...I think that freaked her out ;-( As soon as we stopped and put the cake in front of her, she was happy again ;-)

It''s funny because Sofia''s first words were Dada...Olivia''s first word is......DORA...yep, DORA... I think she hears her sister say it 10,000 times a day so it''s natural that she would say that first. She even points to the TV when she says it...;-) Olivia just LOVES following Sofia around imitating everything she does...She''s a dancer just like her sister...Sofia''s favorite song right now is Teenage Dream by Katy Perry and she makes me play it over and over...Even Olivia rocks out to it now ;-)
Olivia is about to walk...she''s taken a few steps so it will be any day now...I don''t know if I''m ready for that!

I can''t believe Olivia is already 1 year old! The time has flown by! We went out to St. Louis to have Christmas with my brother and his family and it was so fun to see all the girls together; our two and his 3! It also snowed and gave me my much wanted White Christmas! I couldn''t have been happier! We also got to celebrate Olivia''s birthday while we were out there.
Then when we got back, we had a nice New Years here at the house with some friends and their kids came too and we had a sleepover. You really can have a fun New Years at home with kids! ;-) Now it''s time to prepare for Olivia''s 1st birthday party!

We''re so excited it''s almost Halloween! We have two costumes for the girls ;-) We have the CDC Fall festival and we''re going to be the Flintstone''s...Olivia is getting stuck being Bam-Bam..hee hee...The costume is too cute though! Then for Halloween Sofia will be a Bumble Bee and Olivia is her Flower ;-)
We''ve been doing a lot of fun things this month...We went to the pumpkin patch as our CDC had a big event there one Saturday. I let Sofia pick out pumpkins and then we came home and painted them all up. Even Olivia tried to paint one.
Sofia has become a chatting machine! Don''t even try saying ANYTHING you don''t want her to repeat. It''s so cute listening to her talk like a big girl...She can count to 10 and she''s great with the alphabet and can spell out her name! She learned easily because of the wall letters that spell out her name in her bedroom over the changing table.
She just adores Coco...she likes to pick her up yet she doesn''t understand that she can''t just "drop" her when she''s done.
Olivia is 10 months now! She''s cruising all over the house...She isn''t walking yet but holds on to things and cruises around. I don''t want her to walk yet! I want her to be a baby for a few more months. I''ll be ok with her walking at 1 year. I also heard it''s better for them to crawl for a few months before walking.
She has two bottom teeth and the top ones are coming in. She''s been saying ma ma which really excites me ;-)
Right after Halloween, Mom-Mom and my Uncle Louis come for 10 days. We have lots of fun things planned for November!

We just returned from our Disneyland vacation! We had such an incredible time! We were amazed at how great Sofia did and even Olivia seemed to enjoy it all.
For anyone with small kids, I HIGHLY recommend the Disney Grand Californian...It''s basically on the Disneyland property so once we arrived, we never needed a car or monorail or any type of transportation...We just walked out the hotel and into Downtown Disney!
Plus we just loved all the little "extras"...like the Minnie Mouse balloons every night, the autographed pictures of Minnie Mouse, Personalized room keys for the girls and Disney chocolates left on the bed at night were just a few of the things that impressed us! I also loved how they open up the park 1 hour early on certain days for people staying at their hotels! We basically got all of the popular rides done before the park was even open to the general public and it made the rest of the day soo relaxing!
They also have a great pool with some fun slides for the kids!
The first morning we did the Minnie and friends breakfast and I can''t rave enough about it! Sofia and Olivia were in their glory...they were awe struck at all the characters...When Minnie came to meet Sofia, it was like the heavens opened up and god came down...she was speechless...Her first love was Elmo and now it''s Minnie...ha ha...
Olivia who we would have thought wouldn''t have liked the characters, was in love...especially with Eeyore...That morning was so fun we basically stayed there for almost 2 hours!
We were able to see both Fantasmic and World of Color and the big Firework show. The girls tried to stay awake for them but they both slept like champs during it all cause they were so tired from all the activities.
We can''t wait to go again!!!
I even got to see my great friend Kim and her darling family when we left Disney. We haven''t seen her since my wedding so it was a great way to end a great trip ;-)

Olivia FINALLY has two bottom teeth breaking through! YEAH...now maybe she can get some relief!!
I can''t believe how fast she''s growing up...I''m already planning her 1st birthday party!

Olivia ADORES her big sister...She gets really cranky when Sofia leaves her in the room alone and just smiles and perks right up when Sofia is around...
Sofia is such a good big sister...she wants to give her a bath every night...she also wants Olivia to sleep with her in her big girl bed ;-)

Ever since Sofia turned 2 and has been in her big girl bed, she''s done great! She''s the best sleeper...she goes right to bed when you tell her and she falls right asleep. The last few nights though, around 4 am I''ll wake up to feel Sofia climbing into our bed, getting under the covers with us and going back to bed! HA! She cracks me up that she just started that. Our bed is really high but we have a bench at the end and that''s what she uses to climb up into our bed...Have to break that habit...

It''s funny how both girls will prob be total opposites in hair, eye and skin coloring...Sofia has dark hair, big dark eyes and olive skin...Olivia looks like she''ll have light hair, hazel eyes and fair to medium skin...

The next few months are going to be so much fun...Disneyland..many birthday celebrations, Halloween! (can''t wait for this), Thanksgiving and Xmas!!!Stay tuned ;=)

This week has seen many changes ;-) Sofia always called us Mama and Dada and we liked it as it made us feel like Sofia was still a baby ;-) Well she came home from school on Monday and it was like someone flipped on a switch and she now only calls us Mommy and Daddy...For those of you who don''t have kids you''re prob thinking "what the hecks the big deal?"...Well it kinda is cause it shows how fast she''s growing up and it''s so cute to hear her say it. She sounds like she''s British when she says it...it cracks us up..

She also wants to do EVERYTHING herself! "I do it" is her favorite line right now...Dress herself, put her shoes on (even if it takes 15 minutes to figure out), brush her teeth, climb in and out of the car (scares me!) brush her hair... She''s not my little baby any more ;-(
She also says to me "Just 1 time" when I say no to a cookie or doing something I don''t want her to do...I laugh inside at how she picks things up...
Olivia is also growing up so fast...I can''t believe she''s already 8 months! I can already see how she watches Sofia and tries to imitate some of the things she does. Sofia adores her and is always kissing her baby sister...
Olivia is about to crawl...eats all the baby food groups and I''m starting her on a sippy cup...I don''t want the protest that Sofia gave us when she turned 1 and we took the bottle away and strictly gave her the cup...that was rough..
Mom-Mom comes this week! The girls are excited!

We''re sooo excited as we just planned a trip to Disneyland with the girls! Sofia LOVES Minnie Mouse and the entire crew so we thought we''d take a nice vacation and give Disney a try. After many recommendations we decided to go all out and stay at the Disneyland Grand Californian which is right there on the Disneyland property. We also scheduled a "Minnie and Friends" breakfast where we''ll be able to take pictures with all the characters. Wish us luck that she enjoys it!

Olivia is going to be 8 months this week! It''s going so fast. We recently just got her 6 month pictures back...they turned out great! The photographer was amazed at how easy she is to photograph which is the exact opposite of Sofia as she was always a challenge as she never would sit still...She''s eating all the fruits and veggies (baby food) and she''s still such an easy baby....except she still doesn''t like to sleep ;-) She''s definitely going to have different coloring than Sofia. Olivia''s eyes look like they''re going to be hazel like mine and she will prob have lighter brown hair. Sofia is dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Sofia is so funny right now as she talks so much and you have to watch what you say around her ;-) She''ll repeat anything you say...She must also hear me say Brian''s name a lot as she calls him "Da-Da Brian"...ha ha...We ask her "Who''s the other daddy Sofia?"....

Sofia''s also taking some toddler sport classes thru the CDC and she loves them. Soccer starts soon. She''s also doing great in her swimming classes!

We went and had Olivia''s 6 month pictures taken and they turned out so good. I wanted something with a vintage/antique look so we went with someone that only takes pictures in natural light...no studio type pics. Olivia is such a happy baby...she just sat there and smiled the entire time...

She''s sitting up great, and she scoots herself backwards when laying on her stomach...She''ll start crawling anytime..I can''t believe how fast she''s growing up...

Sofia just loves her little sister...she''s always trying to feed her and hold her...

Wow I feel like I haven''t written in forever! June and the first two weeks in July have been the busiest time ever for us! We basically traveled for 3 weeks straight. We went to the East Coast towards the end of June to see my family and to get Olivia baptized. She was baptized in the same church that me, my mom and my grandmother was baptized in. She also wore the same dress that Sofia and her two cousins wore. It has to be the prettiest dress ever...covered in crystals and lace....
While there we also went to Hershey Park and down the shore to Ocean City. Sofia and Olivia had a blast with their cousins Lilly and Sammi...I got the cutest pictures of them on the beach. Two days after we got home from the East Coast we turned the other direction and flew to San Francisco. We stayed with our good friends Kristin and Graham for the first few days and celebrated the 4th of July with them. We then headed on over and stayed with Robin and Chris and their two daughters Alexis and Alyssa. Robin is one of my closest friends from college...it was great finally seeing her again. I even got to meet up with a good friend from high school Kate & her daughter Druvy while in San Fran.
We then drove up to Sac and I got to see so many of our good friends! We were only in Sac for a little over 24 hours so if we didn''t get to see you we''re sorry!
We then drove to Novato and dropped off the girls with my mom who I flew out to stay with her friend and babysit while Brian and I went up to Ukiah so I could be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend Ruby''s wedding! It was the best time and she was such an incredibly beautiful bride!!!
Needless to say we''re EXHAUSTED! The kids did great traveling from city to city!
I do want to thank the creator of the portable DVD player...thanks to that invention, Sofia didn''t make 1 peep on either flight! That thing is coming with us whenever we travel!

We''ve been really busy going to birthday parties, company spring parties and just trying to do fun stuff with the girls. For Mothers Day we went to The Children''s Museum and Sofia ran around and had a great time. She''s really doing great at putting words together and starting to say actual sentences. Her favorite right now is "Why''s Baby crying?" :-)
Speaking of the baby....Sofia wants to be the baby again. Every toy I try and give Olivia, Sofia wants again. I pulled out the Bumbee chair and Sofia pointed to the bouncer chair and said "no baby sit" and then she proceeded to squeeze herself into the Bumbee chair so that her sister couldn''t sit there....Ah the fun begins...
Sofia''s big girl bed has arrived and we will be moving her into that and Olivia into her crib over the weekend. This should be interesting trying to keep Sofia in bed at night.

We took Sofia''s 2 year pictures this weekend and at the same time we got a family picture and some great ones of Olivia!

Well Sofia''s 2nd Birthday ELMO party turned out so great! So many of her friends came to celebrate with her and it was so appreciated! The best part of the party for her was ELMO! She was in heaven! I''ve never seen her so excited before...She hugged and kissed ELMO a million times, made him sit down and read to her, danced with him, made him blow out her birthday candle with her.....and got a little possessive when others wanted to spend time with him ;-) She just loves him so much...It was so darn cute! Thanks to everyone who helped make her day so great! Sofia and Olivia also got to spend a lot of time with Mom-Mom as she came out for the bday party...It was an event full weekend...In addition to the birthday party we had the CDC spring Festival, Zeeks 6th Birthday party and a trip to the McCormick Railroad Park...Lots of fun and lots of good pictures....
Olivia is getting so big! She goes for her 4 month checkup next week...She''s holding her head up and I think she''s almost rolling over...The time goes by so fast....except for the evenings as she still isn''t sleeping thru the night ;-)

Sofia turned 2 on April 2nd...That day at the CDC they had a party for her with her little friends...Then that night we had a little party for her at home...I made her a big Cupcake cake...She loved it..She would have sat there all night eating the icing if we had let her...This coming weekend is her big ELMO birthday party! Mom-Mom arrives tomorrow so that she can be here for the big day...
Then two days after Sofia turned 2, we celebrated Easter! It was so fun setting the easter baskets up...We even found these great Easter Bunny paw prints that you put on the floor leading up to the baskets...we even left carrots out for him ;-)

I went back to work last week...Sofia and Olivia are at the Child Development Center at my work...it''s great to be able to go over at lunch and see them...Olivia still doesn''t sleep at night so Brian and I are walking zombies...I now realize that Sofia was a dream child when it came to how easy she was to get to sleep...
Sofia''s 2nd birthday is in a week! I can''t believe how fast the time goes! I can''t wait for her birthday party!!...Her favorite buddy in the whole world is coming...ELMO...I can''t wait to see how excited she gets again when she sees him..
Sofia continues to be a great big sister to Olivia..she''s sooo protective of her! When we took them both to the doctor this week, he went to take her temperature and look in her ears and Sofia cried and yelled "My baby" so loud that I think the entire office heard her..She doesn''t want anyone hurting her little sister! She''s also obsessed with kissing her..She must kiss Olivia like 20 times a day..It''s very cute..
We will be buying Sofia''s big girl bed this weekend as on Monday night she tried to climb out of the crib and fell out..I''m too worried she''ll try again and hurt herself. So Sofia will get the new full sized bed that matches her furniture and Olivia gets her crib! It worked out perfectly that we only had to buy 1 crib.

Olivia is finally feeling a lot better thank god...I''m just praying she can remain healthy until the cold and flu season is over! I think she''s finally hit 10 pounds but I''ll know for sure on Friday at her big check up...
Sofia turns 2 in a month! I can''t believe how fast the 2 two years have gone by..
Ruby and Rich came last weekend for a relaxing visit..It was so great to see them and to finally meet Rich...They get married in July and I''m so excited to be in the wedding.

Well Olivia has not only had 1 ER visit in her short 8 weeks but now she''s had 4 ER visits and yesterday she was admitted into the hospital for RSV :-( She just wasn''t getting better and with RSV, if they are under 6 months old, it can get really bad so they admitted her to give her oxygen and help clear out all the yucky flu stuff..She''s already doing so much better! They''re hoping she''ll be coming home on Friday but they need to make sure she is 100% better as they don''t want any risk of her coming back in. I''m going to be so glad when she''s back home. Sofia has been looking around the house asking where the baby is..I''m sure this is confusing for her.

Olivia has already had her first trip to the ER :-( We''ve all had really bad colds and Olivia was sounding really bad one night so Brian took her in to make sure she didn''t have RSV. Thank god she didn''t...I hate this cold and flu season and can''t wait until we get past it...I''m NOT looking forward to the AZ heat though ;-)
We recently took Olivia''s newborn photos. They turned out great. I put two of them on here for now as a preview :-) The rest will be added after we get her announcements done.
Sofia still loves having her little sister here..I''m really surprised as I thought after a week or two Sofia would be over the excitment and would want her to leave but that hasn''t been the case at all.
I can''t believe Sofia is going to be 2 in two months! I''m starting to plan her birthday party...I don''t think I''ll go as crazy as I did for her 1st birthday but it will still be fun!

Olivia is already a month old! I can''t believe how fast time flies... She''s doing great...She''s so alert and tries really hard to hold her head up..She loves staring at her sister while she dances around to Barney :-)

Sofia is so fun right now. She just loves holding the "Bay-bee" as she would say...She always wants you to put Olivia in her lap and she likes to try and help feed her. Sofia is talking more and more! It''s so fun trying to teach her new words..
Her new love is her Elmo doll that my mom got her for Xmas. She takes him to bed with her and it''s the first thing she hugs and kisses in the morning..and yes she kisses "MoMo" before she kisses mom, dad or baby sister! She also has to dance with Elmo every morning. I added a video on here of her dancing with Elmo.

We took Olivia''s newborn photos last week. They turned out so good. I''ll add them on here as soon as I get them as I just saw the proofs.

Happy New Years!!! Well we''re all settled in and on a pretty good routine. I have to say Olivia is the easiest baby. I''m amazed at how little she fusses or cries. If she does cry we know she''s really wet or really hungry. She loves looking all around checking out everything going on around her. Sofia just loves holding her...The problem is that once we let her, she doesn''t want to give her back and she tends to hug and kiss her a little too hard...She just loves her little sister :-)
Sofia had a great Xmas! She really made out with some great toys :-) Her three favorites are the Elmo Encore doll....She carries him around everywhere and calls him "MoMo"....Her other favorite is the Radio Flyer wagon...She makes Brian take her in it every morning to walk the dog.... We even have to ride her around the house in it...The 3rd favorite is her new kitchen! It''s so cute...you can pretend to boil water, use the microwave, etc...She stands at the stove and pretends she''s cooking...I have no idea where she''s learned that :-)

Olivia Kristin Zapoticzny has arrived! She was born via c-section on December 22nd at 4:22 p.m. I was surprised at how good the csection went! I only had a few days of discomfort and then I was seriously up and moving around! Even the doctor said he couldn''t believe I just had that surgery. I''m very thankful for that!
It took us a long time to finally choose the name. We had a few that we loved after narrowing down a list of 20! We thought Olivia is a beautiful name to have when you''re young and when you''re older and we chose her middle name after my cousin Krissy who was killed by a drunk driver when she was only 16 years old. We thought it would be a nice tribute to her. Her dad is one of my uncles who walked me down the isle when Brian and I got married...he''s my dad''s brother.
Olivia did great at the hospital but the day we left they said she was a little jaundiced and they would let me leave as long as we came to the hospital the next morning for another test. Well when we got there they had to admit her as the jaundice got pretty bad :-( We had to stay in the hospital for 3 more days...I felt bad watching her have to bake under those lights with those yucky goggles on!
We came home today and I''m soo glad to be here with Sofia and Olivia.
Sofia is funny cause she keeps waving at her saying "hi"...She also wants to share her toys yet she doesn''t understand she can''t throw them at her...
I''ll upload lots of pictures this week...as for now, I''m going to bed!

Yes I''ve been quite lazy in keeping this updated but it''s just because this pregnancy is exhausting me! I''m a zombie once I get home from work.
Baby Zap will be here in 2 1/2 weeks! We have to have a scheduled C-section due to the position of the placenta so she will arrive on 12/22/09...unless she decides to come early...I''ve had to go over to the hospital quite a few times already for contractions...they always stop them so lets just hope she stays put until the scheduled date...It will be great to have our family of 4 on Xmas day :-)

Sofia had a great Thanksgiving with Mom-Mom here...She helped us get all ready for Baby Zap and she kept Sofia entertained while Mom lounged around and relaxed! We had a great Turkey day! Brian deep fried his first turkey and it came out great!

We had another detailed ultrasound and Baby Zap is now 2 1/2 pounds! I have about 13 weeks to go..doesn''t sound that long when you put it in weeks..but when I think that she''s not due until the first part of January; then that sounds far away.
Sofia is becoming very possessive of me and the pediatrician said it''s because she is aware that another "baby" is coming...It''s funny how they know..
Right now she is still in love with Barney and she wants to watch him 24/7...Brian and I can sing every song word for word which is scary!
We took Sofia to the pumpkin farm last weekend and boy did she love that. She tried taking home every pumpkin she saw. She loved petting the little pigs and horses. She even went on this ladybug train ride with Brian and the pictures are hilarious as Brian was obviously too big for the train. I''ll upload those pictures this week! :-)

Sofia is really becoming aware of there being another baby coming...When Brian asks her where her baby sister is, she comes over and pulls up my shirt to kiss my belly..I told Brian to please not ask her where her baby sister is when we''re out in public :-) She also has a few baby dolls that she carries around and we pretend to rock and change her diapers to try and get Sofia used to having another one around..
Sofia is still addicted to baths. She insists on having one every single night and sometimes she tries to get one as soon as we get home from work and then before bed. On weekends she tries to get one 3 times a day! She''ll sit in the tub for an hour, totally pruned and then cries and cries when we take her out. Hope she likes baths this much when she gets older ;-)
Sofia is also big on the Hide and Seek game but the problem is that 1/2 the time Mom and Dad have no idea we''re playing the game and she scares us half to death when we can''t find her. She''s figured out the tiniest of places to squeeze into to hide.
As for Baby Zap, well she''s kicking away...we get another ultrasound in the next 2 weeks so hopefully we''ll have more pictures to post.

For labor day weekend my mom came into town to spend time with us and Sofia. We decided to go to the Grand Canyon for the weekend to get away from the heat! We bought Sofia a DVD player which really helped keep her occupied on the drive. She was not the most cooperative at the Grand Canyon..I guess the long drive in the car had her a little pent up and went we got to the Grand Canyon all she wanted to do was run around! If you''ve ever been there before you know how scary that can be to have a child running around as there really isn''t a great barrier around the canyon..So we put one of those harness/backpacks on her...Well she DID NOT like that at all! I swore I''d never use one of those but at the CG I really felt like it would be more safe...We managed to get a few pictures with Sofia where she wasn''t screaming crying...

We stayed the night in Flagstaff and the next day went to the Prescott Zoo and an outdoor fair they were having... It was a great weekend...

Sofia got to spend lots of time with Mom-Mom and basically didn''t let my mom out of her sight for 5 days. Sofia is obsessed with baths...she would take 3 a day if you let her...So my mom had fun giving her a lot of those and sitting in the big blow up pool with her playing with the tons of her toys...

As for Baby Girl Zap #2, she''s kicking away in there...Sofia enjoys pointing to my stomach when I ask her "Where''s the Baby" :-)

Sofia''s favorite word right now is "mine"...I swear I didn''t teach it to her...She had to have learned it at school! The funniest thing is that "mine" was my first word :-)
We''ve had a busy August...our good friends Stacey and Will came to visit us. We then went to San Diego the week after that. It was Sofia''s first long car ride. Needless to say we will be getting DVD''s for the car for the next road trip!
Mom-Mom comes this week for a visit and we''re going to try and go to The Grand Canyon and Flagstaff to get away from the heat!

Well it''s official..Sofia is getting a little sister! I''m very excited to have another girl as I watch my two nieces together and I think it will be great for Sofia to have a sister to be close to and to do girlie stuff with..Now the hard part comes...deciding on the name. If anyone remembers, it took us two days after Sofia was born to name her...They were telling us we couldn''t leave the hospital until we picked the name...This time we have about 10 on the list and I don''t know how we''re going to pick.

Sofia is doing so many cute and fun things lately. First of all she is OBSESSED with books. It''s the first thing she wants when she wakes up and she holds on to one falling asleep. I know it''s because Brian and I read to her every single night since the day she was born...She can''t get enough of books and right now she has two favorites...
Ernie and Bert''s "Good Night" and "Sleepy Baby"..Funny how both of them are about going to sleep...

Her favorite phrase is "Uh Oh"...She goes around the house dropping things so she can say it. I have to admit it sounds so cute and she laughs at herself after saying it...

Sofia is learning so much over at the CDC..She knows all her body parts. I ask her where her belly button is and she lifts up her dress to show me. I need to teach her that she can point to her belly button without flashing everyone ;-)

I added a video link of our good friend Kristin and her baby Scarlett who did an interview or cbs5.com...Check it out! We have a little star in the making ;-)

Pregnancy with Baby Zap #2 is going good. We have another Dr. appointment this week so maybe we''ll get to confirm the sex of the baby :-) If not, then I''ll have to wait 3 1/2 weeks to my next big ultrasound...

We''re so excited to share the news that Sofia''s going to be a BIG SISTER! Baby Zap #2 is due January 2010. The ultrasound tech said that she thinks it''s a boy but she can''t say for sure until our next ultrasound in a few weeks. We will be very excited if it is as Sofia will have a brother! Of course everything we have right now is pink so we''ll have a lot of shopping to do if they''re right.
We also just got back from a great trip to San Francisco to see our great friends Kristin, Graham and their kids Maia and Scarlett! Scarlett was just born in March so it was the first time meeting her and she is a cutie! Sofia loved staring at her and probably wished Scarlett could walk so she could chase her around the house but that will come soon enough. I''m sure Kristin and Graham aren''t ready for that yet!
It was so nice being back in Ca and the weather was so much nicer than this 110 heat we have here in AZ. I think I tasted the best lemonade I''ve ever had while there. If I could fly it in I would...you know me with those lemon and lime cravings while pregnant!

Well I thought Sofia was going to be dangerous once she could walk but now...she has learned to climb! I turned around the other day and when I turned back 5 seconds later, she was up on the couch terrorizing poor Nordy... The poor dog and cat have no where to hide to escape her now. Jake has resulted to living in the back of the closet until Sofia naps and then he comes out. He''ll warm up to her eventually yet she has to learn not to walk up to him squeeling with an open fist ready to grab a handful of hair.
Sofia is learning things so quickly these days..I know a lot of it has to do with all the sensory activities, games and arts and crafts that they do at the Child Development Center she''s at. On Friday the Wildlife Zoo came to visit and she got to see all types of exotic animals.
In a few days she will be 15 months!

Some cute things about Sofia...
..She LOVES kiwi''s, and strawberries
..She loves Goldfish crackers and loves to feed them to you
..She hates the vacuum and the hairdryer... Screams when I try to vacuum so what a great reason not to :-)
..She knows how to give Nordy his treats when he comes in from outside and if she had it her way she''d give him the entire bag each time
..She loves having us name all the people in the photos that are all over the house. She makes us do it at least 10 times a night (mom and dad are starting to not love this game :-)
..Wants Jake to love her and let her pull his tail...Jake still isn''t buying it..
..She is a water girl...loves being in the pool and the bath and gets so upset when we take her out
..Loves to try to drink out of a cup and a straw just like her dad :-).
...She stands at the door every night around the same time waiting for Da-Da to get home...I don''t know how she knows to go to the door around the same time..It''s probably the look of exhaustion I have on my face ;-)
...Sofia''s favorite hobby is to take every single book off of her book shelf (and she has a LOT) and hand each of them to us and we think she''s saying "Look" or it could be "book"! I''ve given up putting the books away.
...Her face lights up with excitement every morning when she gets to school and sees her 2 favorite girl friends; Isabella and Hayden
..She has figured out that if she holds on to one end of the toilet paper and runs, she can unravel the entire roll. How do you keep them from doing that?
...We had to put toilet seats locks on because she loved throwing EVERYTHING into the toilet and I was scared she would either fall in or she would throw our iphones in :-) Yes I was worried about her first!
...She has the BEST laugh! It''s a full bodied laugh that makes you crack up cause it sounds so cute
..She loves ice cream just like her Dad..He lets her have a few bites every night with him
...She loves shoes just like her mom...she holds her feet up for me to put my shoes on her. Needless to say she has a LOT of shoes already!

We just returned from St. Louis visiting my brother and his family for my niece Samantha''s baptism. Brian and I are her godparents. My mom was there so it was a great Mother''s Day having everyone together. It was so cute to see Sofia having fun with cousins Lilly and Sammi. Sofia was just in love with Lilly and spent the entire time laughing at her and even tried to imitate Lilly doing the hula hoop.
While there, we went and did a tour of the big Anheiser Busch Beer Factory. We saw the beautiful Clydesdale horses and it was really interesting seeing how beer was made.
The most challenging part of the trip was the plane ride home. It was a full flight so she had to sit on Brian''s lap and the pressure must have hurt her ears and she SCREAMED for the first 30 minutes non stop. Brian had to take her into the bathroom for almost 30 minutes just to calm her down. She finally fell asleep on him and neither of us moved a muscle for the rest of the 3 hour trip as we were scared of waking her :-)

I can''t believe it''s almost May! The month of April has gone by so fast..it was such a busy one with Sofia''s 1st birthday party and then all of her other girlfriends birthdays.
Sofia is offically off of the bottle and formula!!! On her first birthday the doctor said no more so we stopped it that day and we never looked back..Whew! Now the challenge is finding healthy foods for her to eat every night.

Sofia is now "running" around the house...She loves walking from room to room exploring everything....I can''t turn my head for one second and she''s across the house..

She''s also talking up a storm! Of course she only says a few words (da da, ma ma, doggie and ball) but she talks and talks and we just play along like we understand her :-)...

Sofia and all her friends at school are now moving out of the infant room into the "transition" room. I''m so excited cause they do a lot of musical and sensory activities. Sofia is obsessed with music so Im excited for her to be moving on to the next level.

Please help support Heather and Mike by supporting their March of Dimes walk in honor of their daughter Maddie Spohr who passed away much too soon on April 7, 2009. I ordered a Maddie Monster to help support Maddie''s MOD team..take a look!
http://twurl.nl/jllgku
http://remembermaddie.com
http://thenewbornidentity.com/

Sofia''s 1st birthday party was yesterday and we had such a great time! We were in awe at what great friends we have...so many people came to celebrate Sofia''s 1st birthday! It was so nice to spend the day with everyone and she just LOVED having all her girlfriends and boyfriends there to celebrate with! Special thanks to my mom and Ruby who slaved over the last few days making Princess Tiara cookies (among 5 other Princess shaped ones), baking cupcakes, shopping, cleaning, putting toys together, blowing up pools and Ruby you were one heck of a photographer! 600 pictures were taken at the party! It''s going to take me a while to go thru them all but I''ll share with everyone on here and I will send pics to you guys of the ones of you and your kids/families.... I''m sitting in a room full of toys thanks to all of you and she just loves all of them! Today I get to be spoiled for my bday...but I''m so tired it''s going to be a mellow one. Thanks again everyone..Love Dana, Brian and Sofia the Birthday Girl!!

I can''t believe it''s only 1 week until Sofia turns 1 year old! A year has flown by...Last night we spent time looking at pics of her when she was just born and the months following and it''s so cute to see how much they change...She ws soo tiny...She''s so much fun and we can''t wait for her Bday party! All her little friends will be here and Mom-Mom and Ruby get here next Wednesday...