some recent pics...

sophia models her new bike trailer!

sophia made a mess eating berries and melon...check out the chubby chubster!

Playdate with Haven; a fellow vegetarian! Haven will be 2 this month, and Sophia is very interested in everything she does!

Travis: Daddy and Husband Extraordinaire!

I've been thinking lately about writing a post about what a great dad Travis is, because there are a couple of examples that have been sticking in my head. Then, this morning, Travis reminded me of what a great husband he is, too. I know this is a "baby blog" but Travis' parenting and "husbanding" skills are at least as amazing as Sophia's sunhat cuteness!

Examples of Travis' Amazing Dad Skills:

1. I cannot describe how sweet Sophia and Travis are when they're sleeping together, in our bed under piles of blankets. Sophia prefers to sleep on her side, facing Travis, with her little hands on his arm. He usually has one arm draped over her. He tucks his head down towards her and she sleeps with her head thrown back and her mouth open. I love watching them sleep this way...they look so peaceful, and their little "nest" gets so warm!
2. The other night Travis gave Sophia a bath, which made me nervous because usually I do it and she cries at certain points, like when the water runs down her face and when she's being dried off. I was washing dishes, but thought I heard Sophia crying, so I turned off the water and listened. I shouldn't have worried! Travis was making silly noises and probably tickling her and she was laughing hysterically--not crying.
3. Travis carries her everywhere--in the "princess hold" (using his arm as a seat so she can look out at the world).
4. Travis alternates between calling Sophia "princess" and "angel"
5. Travis and Sophia can sit on the couch for loooooong stretches of time reading every baby book we own. Travis has patience for our daughter that I will never have for anything!
Those are just a few examples!
I also must share what happened last night: I had a bit of a break down. Our house is a disaster post-evacuation...it's filthy because there are too many piles of stuff to clean around! This really stresses me out. Plus I only get 4-6 hours of sleep a night. Plus I'm coming down with a cold. Plus it was Monday and I was missing Travis. Plus Sophia is sick and extra needy. Anyway, I was thinking about all of this at once and just felt sick and dizzy and like all I wanted to do was cry in a dark room for a month! I left Travis a note about what a hard time I was having and how much I missed him. This morning the house was full of flowers! Travis also wrote me two cards...one was a ridiculous singing hamster card that made me laugh out loud. The other one was a super sweet card with a poem he wrote, which I have to share! (He said I could)

A POEM BY TRAVIS
Rocks or flowers
sunshine or night
your power to
move me to right
dark days ahead
darker days behind
there will be light again
just hold on
driving over ruts
is hard on anybody
riding them out
onto smooth dreams
is worth the dips
time will move on
we will ride together
with a smooth pace
and yellow days
you have my heart
you have my dreams
you have it all

I love him!!! And you know what? Today is a great day! :)

We Get all the Girl Cousins for a Play Day!

We took the girls to the big, annual Pow Wow!

And then we went to Chuck E Cheese's! Here Magdalene shows us how to ride a kangaroo! :)

Gabby took Sophia for a spin! (Sophia loved playing with the steering wheel)

And Jaylin also took Sophia for a ride!

Gabby and Jayling hanging out with Chuck...

The girls!

This is a pic from yesterday...I love Sophia's robe!

Sophia has been exploring outside a lot, and we're getting to use a lot of cute sunhats!

A few more Easter pics...

Yay! All the cousins! (and Sophia's not bawling in this picture...much better!) :)

Jaylin is going to be the world's best babysitter...

Easter baby! (Very serious!)

The Bathroom Destroying Bandit Caught on Tape!

Yay! It's finally warming up!

Today was in the mid-60's and so Sophia and I (and the dogs) celebrated by going for a 5.5 mile walk! It was Sophia's first time riding in a stroller like a big baby. :)
The bathroom destroying bandit strikes again!

Sophia can really make a mess. Of course she also tries to eat the toilet paper. Sidenote: Sophia put a LIVE ladybug in her mouth today! (I got it out and it survived). Some vegetarian she's turning out to be! :)

In fact, Sophia puts pretty much everything in her mouth! Poor Pooh-bear never had a chance. :) She definitely has 7 teeth in the works, maybe 8!

Happy Easter!

Sophia's Easter outfit!

Sophia doesn't have a lot of picture patience! She did like hanging out with her cousins, though. And she loved chewing on all those colorful plastic eggs! Happy Easter!

Lotsa fun in the sun!

Hanging out at the frolf course

You can now see the basketball hoops, the top of the bath house, and one frolf basket!

The contingency dike

Some people on the wrong side of the dike made lemonade with their lemons!

It was so nice and warm on Friday that we took a family walk down to the grocery store to pick up the ingredient I was missing for the carrot cake!

The ball cap team :)

Sophia can fall asleep in any position!

Life After the Flood

Sophia's first orange! She loved it! She's also had bananas, cantaloupe, and avocado.
This is on a hill at the top of the Frolf (frisbee-golf) course. The course is completely under the river!

Lots of roads aroung here look like this

The entrance to Gooseberry Park

Gooseberry

Longjohns! check out those thunder-thighs!

One of mt favorite hats!

Sophia can open all kinds of things! She loves pots and pans

Her spring time "bunny suit!"

Sophia is a pro crawler!

HOME AGAIN!

The shirt says it all...

Bath time fun!

Sophia was SO tired when we first got to Grand Forks!

We are all happy to be safe at home...it's been a wild week! We evacuated to Grand Forks last Friday. Then Travis drove down to Fargo on Monday to go to work and got trapped there due to a blizzard! We were seperated until Thursday (about 2am) when Travis made it back to GF, and then we returned to Moorhead on Thursday afternoon. We are so happy to be home!!!