Welcome to the World Kent Xavier

Just wanted to send big love and congratulations to my friends Joan and Tony Peco on the birth of their firstborn, baby boy Kent Xavier. Joanie and Tony, I know you will make great parents.

I love you guys and I wish you all the happiness in the world. Enjoy the new love of your life.

XOXO

~Syl

Sophie Lovvvvvvvves Yogurt!

Sophia is finally slowly coming out of her non-eating phase. When she first started eating solid foods, it was great; we could not get her to stop eating. She was constantly shoveling food into her mouth and we were confident that she was getting all the basic nutrients needed to grow up healthy and strong. Then, what Tom and I refer to as "the depression" began when Sophie just stopped eating. She became picky about EVERYTHING and we began to worry about her and her non-existent eating habits. We voiced our concerns to her doctors, to our mothers, to our friends and to anyone who would listen and there was a consensus that babies Sophia's age go through these phases. We were repeatedly told that Sophie would eat when she was ready. Well, that was easier said than it was to live through. We did everything we could to creatively come up with ways to get this kid to eat and....nothing. She would pick and pick and pick and once in a while our hopes would be lifted when she would have two bites instead of one...only to be let down when the second bite was followed by her plate and everything on it hitting the floor or the dogs (who would conveniently camp out under Sophie's chair).

Recently Sophie has started to eat again; showing some interest in something other than her bottle or juice cup or anything equivalent to infant junk food. We've been able to re-introduce fruits and vegetables and even meat back into her diet and boy what-a-relief! Sophie's most favorite food is yogurt...she loves the stuff! She eats it until it should be running out of her ears. Her favorite is Stoneyfield yogurt with real bits of fruit mixed in (especially blueberries). Our initial experiments with Sophie and yogurt proved to be productive yet quite messy...many a shirt was destroyed by her uncoordinated eating. We finally figured out that there was only one way for Sophie to eat yogurt.....shirtless!!!

Great Summer!

I haven't posted in a while because I've been pretty busy with family and work lately. Tom, Sophie and I have been trying to squeeze as much out of the remaining days of summer that we possibly can. Our trip to Denver was great; we had a wonderful time sightseeing and spending time with family. Sophie has had plenty of play dates and birthday parties to attend; this little girl is some socialite. Pretty sad to say but Tom and I would probably have no social life if it wasn't for Sophie's social calendar.

Sophia will be turning 2 years old in January and I can't believe how fast time goes. She is growing up to be such an amazing little girl. She is speaking really clearly; saying full words and half sentences, almost sleeping through the nights but there is the occasional bad dream or upset tummy. Her level of responsiveness is awesome; she is so empathetic. I love to hear her talk and in the midst of a "Sophie" sentence she giggles like what she just said (which in most cases, only she can understand) was the most hilarious thing ever.

Although Soph is around kids everyday, I still see hints of her experiencing that "only child" syndrome. She normally plays well with others but she has no problem with just playing by herself from time-to-time. Occasionally, I've noticed, when playing with others, that she will become possessive of the things she is playing with and will not want to share (even if the things she's playing with don't belong to her). We try to immediately help her to understand that she needs to share with others; that is something that we try to instill in her daily even at this age.

We have noticed something in her development lately; we believe Sophie will be a "lefty." She has been eating pretty consistently (and pretty messily) using her left hand. Every once-in-a-while she will switch hands but for the most part, she almost always uses her left. I'm told that left handed individuals use the right side of the brain more and tend to have a higher IQ and be more artistic.....we'llllll seeeee.

Colorado Crazy

We recently returned from our trip to Colorado with mixed emotions; mixed because, while there is no place like home, Colorado was awesome and a beautiful place to visit and we really didn't want to leave. This was an important milestone for our little Sophia too because not only was this her first official vacation but it was also her first official road trip. We originally planned to fly to Colorado but decided against it after the horrific thoughts of Sophia having a "Sophia" tantrum and disturbing a plan full of folks who want nothing more but a safe and QUIET plan ride to their destination.

We, of course, thought the perfect solution would be to drive because that way if Sophia decided to take one of her special tantrum trips, no one would have to experience it but us. What a wonderful surprise to find that our daughter is the ultimate road dawggg; she embraced the 16 hour ride there (with an overnighter in party town, North Platte, Nebraska...that's me being really sarcastic). Of course with a little help from a few of her favorite toys and a mobile DVD player that was constantly playing some of her cartoon favorites, Sophia was a joy throughout the duration of the trip. The drive was somewhat tortuous but doable. We drove I-80 all the way into Colorado, passing through Iowa and Nebraska. Not the most scenic of states but Iowa was somewhat fascinating with its abundance of wind farms. Giant wind turbines engulfed us as we drove through Iowa...ominous but fascinating. We did not encounter many in Illinois and none in Nebraska but Iowa was crawling with these massive structures; it was like something right off of the Sci-Fi network...very surreal.

We stayed overnight in North Platte, Nebraska (yawnnnnn), I wish we'd stayed in Omaha; driving through Omaha was like driving through Chicago, very lively. We stayed in a Quality Inn right off of the interstate and shared a room with a bunch of these huge beetles that just happened to infest North Platte during the time of our visit.

Once we got into Colorado, the view slowly changed and we desperately anticipated a glimpse of the glorious mountains that we'd heard so much about. Suddenly, far away in the distance, they slowly came into view and the closer we got to Denver, the larger they became...the view was breathtaking. As we drove into the Denver area, we instantly noticed the differences in this city compared to that of Chicago. The first thing we noticed was, of course, the elevation but something else that hit us pretty quickly was the cleanliness of the city...everything was soooo clean. Tom and I found ourselves looking for imperfections just so we could say "see...they have nasty folks living here too." Our hotel was located just outside of Denver in the suburb of Littleton and what a beautiful suburb it was...beautiful land, beautiful homes, booming businesses and lots of new construction...commercial and residential. Denver may have a smaller real estate market than Chicago but it is definitely is working to change that fast.

We had a wonderful time spending time with family (considering we were there primarily for my family reunion) and a great time sightseeing, driving into the awww-inspiring mountains and visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. We took Sophia to visit Denver's Zoo which was beautiful. We stayed at a wonderful hotel ***** (Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows) that offered excellent service and fulfilled all of our needs.

So, Colorado was definitely a great vacation spot and one which I hope to return to again one day. We did not see half of the state and look forward to visiting those areas we missed. This state has such a rich history and you need more than a week to visit all of its historic landmarks and embrace its natural beauty. We can't wait to go back.

The Little Monster