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We just got home from a weeks vacation down south. Our good friends Carl & Amanda moved to Winston Salem, NC last year and we finally got down to visit them. Sophie had a fabulous time with their daughter Gianna, who is older and therefore much more fun than any of us to hang out with.

The very first thing they did when we arrived was to pull out the fancy dress clothes. Perfect for swinging… white gloves and all.

 We went for a “walk in the woods” (not quite a hike with the little ones), and Gianna was sure to show Sophie the way. Of course, she couldn’t do everything that big kids can do – like stream jumping. One day…

Before and after NC we stopped into Charlottesville to break up the ride. My dad hung the swing that was his, mine & Becky’s and now Sophie & Lauren’s in the backyard. Sophie enjoyed it very much. 
This was a week of many firsts for Sophie. Here she is tasting her first honeysuckle. 

Group shot with Grandma. 

After the second swing through of Charlottesville we headed to Shenandoah, Va. where we rented a cabin for a few days with my parents. They had a canoe at the house that Dave and Sophie went out in it a few times…. her first canoe ride. 
Dad, Mom & Lauren

Another first… Sophie’s first fish! And the only fish caught the whole weekend. With a stick, fishing hook and dental floss no less! 

And the last – and probably most enjoyable first – Sophie’s first s’mores experience (which was actually on the deck at Carl & Amanda’s house). Here’s a shot of Pap Pap giving her some instruction at the cabin. 

Me and the girls… 
What a great vacation! Relaxing and adventurous all in one week. 

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This weekend we headed down to Maryland. We spent Friday night at the Sharp’s new house in Rock Hall, and then Dave had a regatta with the ULYC on Saturday in Oxford, and then we headed back to Rock Hall on Sunday for Mother’s Day. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend weather-wise and so nice to just relax with family.

Dave’s boat came in 2nd at the regatta and he also presented the awards that evening at a party and awards ceremony. This year Sophie was also his helper.

Clapping for an award winner

An attentive listener to an acceptance speech 
The fam
And the very best part of the weekend was my Mother’s Day present – a beach cruiser bike with an attachment for Sophie! We’ll keep it down at the house in MD. We rode around for a while this afternoon and it was so much fun. So looking forward to this summer! 

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It’s hard to believe, but Lauren is four months! She had her check-up last week and she’s doing great.

She’s 24.13″ long, which puts her in the 57th percentile; 13 lbs 14 oz, which puts her in the 47th percentile; and head circumference is 16.5″ which puts her in the 75th percentile.

She’s also big enough for the bumbo seat! She can’t quite reach the toys yet, but likes to sit in it and look around. We also started to give her some rice cereal. She’ll take a bite or two from the spoon, but can’t really keep much of it in her mouth at this point. But she has started to sleep a solid 10-11 hours at night. I’m not sure if we can attribute that to the cereal or not, but I’ll take it, whatever the reason!

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About two weeks ago Sophie went back to CHOP to get her lip corrected. As you’ll recall, back in August Sophie was jumping on the bed, fell off, landed on the bedside table, and knocked her two front teeth back up into her gums, and split her lip. They stitched the lip in the emergency room, but didn’t do the best job, so we had it corrected by the plastic surgery department.

She was pretty nervous about the procedure because we had a lot of time to talk and think about it – as opposed to the last time when it was a mad dash to the ER. But she did great! She was put under and the surgery took about 30 minutes. When she woke up she had about a dozen stitches in her upper lip and it was pretty swollen.

She was a pretty sad girl when she first woke up…

But Dave took her for some ice cream right away! 

And now it’s almost back to normal. You can see that one of her front teeth came back all the way, but the other one has only partly emerged. Now that her lip isn’t so fat you can see the teeth better. But we have a few years before they both fall out and are replaced by (hopefully very straight) grown up teeth. 

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Lauren has been getting into a great routine with her new nanny, Michelle, and her new best friend, Julia. Michelle spends one week at our house, and the next at Julias. Julia and her family live about 5 blocks from us, so it’s an easy trip back and forth. As the weather has been getting nicer they’ve been spending a lot more time outside. 

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Last weekend we took the girls up to New York City. We did a lot of the touristy things, which we were able to see from a whole new, toddler perspective.

 Sophie got a kick out of Times Square. So many TVs! 
 We went to Central Park and watched some of the remote control boats on the lake
 And then Sophie and Dave took one of the bigger row boats out themselves. 

 Mr Mom. We actually took this huge stroller on the subway too. It was quite the scene. 
 Top of Rockefeller Center
 Lauren is nonplussed. 
On Sunday we had brunch in Jersey City with an old friend of Dave’s. From the pier you could see the Statue of Liberty (which I’m pointing out here to Sophie). 
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We went down to Virginia for Easter this year. It’s the first time we’ve been down there in a long while.  It was a great weekend visiting with family and friends. Sophie got to hang with the big girls when we visited with Darby, Mary & Kaylee.

Lunch with the girls

Darby & Mary have pet goats and Sophie got to feed them. 
Darby with Lauren

Mary practicing her big sister skills
Sophie and Nana dyed Easter eggs outside in the beautiful weather. Unfortunately Easter day was not so nice, but the day before was excellent and we spent as much time outside as possible. 

 Lauren as the baby Easter bunny
 Sophie enjoyed a solo Easter egg hunt in the yard. It was a pretty nasty day, so it was a quick hunt. 

 Our little Easter babies

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This weekend we had a second birthday celebration for Sophie with all of her friends. We had it at The Little Treehouse in Chestnut Hill. It’s basically a big tumble room where the kids can run around and just go crazy. There were about 15 kids and 25 adults and everyone had a blast.

 Claire “Bear” Marvin
 Vivian
 Liam
 Sara
 Liora
 A second birthday cake!

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Sophie had her first soccer practice this morning. It’s a league for 3-4 year olds and is held at Sister Cities Park, about a 15 minute walk from our house. It took her a bit to warm up, but once she did she had a lot of fun. Her friend Vivian is also taking it, and I think it helped to have a little friend encouragement there.

Getting instruction from the coach

Learning to control the ball

Watching Vivian demonstrate her skills

Channeling Mr. Miyagi
I also took a few videos:
http://bit.ly/12GuQC3
http://bit.ly/WXlmdE

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