Sophie Gray: 10 month update.

We’ve hit the double digits. 10 months old. Wow. I know parents say this all the time but it really does go too fast. And I swear it goes faster the second time around. Here is the 10 month update for our sweet Sophie girl.

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Weight/height: Like I said last month, Sophie doesn’t see her pediatrician again until she is 12 months old so (again) I’ll have to go with her 6 month weight/height because we don’t own a scale at home. At 6 months (her appointment was back in July), she was 17 lbs, 1.7 oz, which puts her in the 62nd percentile. Her height was 2’3″ which puts her in the 81st percentile. Honestly doing these updates has made me really curious about her weight and height right now. I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait until December to find out. Maybe her pediatrician will let me swing by to do a quick weight/height check, the curiousty is killing me!

Hair: Sophie still has crazy hair. It’s a lot lighter than Lyla’s, but very fine and thin, just like Lyla’s. Actually, I saw a picture of Sophie the other day and her bangs reminded me of how Lyla’s used to be when she was little.

Diapers: Still in size 3 Huggies Little Movers. It’s funny to me just how much I love Huggies now. Back when Lyla was a baby, I would buy nothing but Pampers. We tried other brands back then, we actually tried Huggies but I just didn’t like them four years ago, now? Now, they are awesome.

Clothing: Sophie wears size 6-12 months or if they don’t have that size, I’ve been buying 12 months. In some leggings and jeggings, I’ve been going bigger, like 12-18 months because some of those are just so tight! I’m still looking to purchase more fall/winter clothing for her and shoes, shoes! I don’t know why but lately I’m having a hard time getting both girls shoes. Lyla has just become super picky with her shoes and Sophie, well nothing seems to fit her except for her new Freshly Picked moccasins. I must say, I absolutely love these. They are so soft and look so cute with everything. I got her the platinum color but I’m thinking I may be buying another pair, they are that cute.

Favorite things: I felt we’ve been in a toy slump with Sophie lately so we ordered her a couple of new things that will be arriving soon. She still loves to play with her toy fruits and she really loves Lyla’s American Girl dolls. Lyla has two and Sophie loves to play with them. Another favorite thing is our EOS lip gloss. They fit perfectly in her hand and she loves the different colors.

Likes: She likes to say Dada all the time. She says it different ways, with different sounds, she whispers it, she yells it, she basically says it all the time. Its really cute though and I know my hubby loves it. She like to chew on my keys (ehhhh), my wallet, her pacifiers, anything she finds, she will put in her mouth so we are extra careful with what we leave out. She likes to pull open her cabinets in the kitchen and play with whatever is in there. I moved all the breakable stuff out to other drawers/cabinets and left her things in the drawers she was able to open/reach and she really enjoys that. She loves to play, “where’s Lyla,” – its a game where we try to find her older sister and she just loves it. She yells, “Lyla, Lyla,” and we go from room to room looking for her.

Dislikes: She still hates getting her clothes or diaper changed. Its so hard to get her dressed. She hates it no matter when I do it so I’ve learned to try and distract her in any way I can. I give her something to play with or chew on and it helps a bit but man, I truly dislike changing her diaper or clothes these days!

Favorite foods: I bought some YoBaby yogurt squeeze packs for her on a whim and whoa, she really, I mean really likes them. Like so much so that she started screaming when one pouch was gone and I had to give her another one just to calm her down. That is by far her favorite food right now. We are also starting to incorporate more of what we eat, ground turkey, pasta, etc. because it just seems like she wants something different than the purees she has been getting. I was so hesitant to give her a lot of foods because she didn’t have any teeth yet but as of this week, she finally broke a tooth! Just one, you can feel it coming through her gum.

Milestones: Sophie can clap now and its the cutest thing ever. She has also learned to wave and is adding more words to her vocabulary. She likes to say “uh oh” when she drops something from her stroller. She is standing all the time and many times on her own. I know she will be starting to take steps soon. And big news, like I said above, she finally has a tooth! The other night she woke up at 12 and 3 and was just upset. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong but the next morning, I felt a little tooth on her bottom gum.

Reflections: I always say this age is the best but then it just keeps getting better. Every age is the best right now. It’s just so amazing to watch her discovering everything around her, seeing her learn something new every day is a gift that I do not take for granted. I feel so grateful that I get to be home with her every day. It is something I wished for when Lyla was younger and I feel so happy that my wish came true but also so guilty that I wasn’t able to be with Lyla like this. That is motherhood for ya, a tidal wave of every emotion in the book but I would ride this wave forever if I could, I just love it.

 

 

The pumpkin patch.

We love us a good pumpkin patch but I can’t remember going before I had kids. Did I go to a pumpkin patch growing up in Florida? I mean I’m sure I did but I have no idea! I’ll have to ask my mom. Anyways, since Lyla was born, we’ve visited a pumpkin patch every October and it’s a trip I look forward to every year. I love the colors, sights and sounds of a pumpkin patch and it seems that Northern California has some pretty amazing patches or farms rather. We have plans on Saturday to visit Dell’ Osso Farms to check out their pumpkin patch. In honor of that, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at our pumpkin patch visits.

Our first official pumpkin patch visit was in October of 2010. In 2009, we went to the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin festival when Lyla was only three months old. I think that counted for our pumpkin patch visit that year. We decided to head back to Half Moon Bay for our first real visit because on our drive up the year prior, we saw several farms along the way and knew we had to come back to check them out. We went to Pastorino and Lemos Farms and they were awesome. I love the weather up in Half Moon Bay. October is usually one of the hottest months in the Bay Area so its nice to get away from that and it just makes it feel more like “Fall” – plus you can wear cute sweaters and boots, you know the important stuff.

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In October 2011, we headed back to Half Moon Bay and went to the same two farms, Lemos and Pastorino. We had such a great experience the year before and again this time around. Our baby was getting a little bigger making it a lot harder to get her to stand still for pictures, check out our family pic, what a great memory!

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In October 2012, we thought it might be fun to check out a new farm. Plus, the idea of driving to Half Moon Bay with a toddler didn’t sound all that appealing (it can be a long drive). We decided on Uesugi Farms pumpkin patch and it was amazing. The weather was a tad warm for my ideal (meaning the idea in my head) pumpkin patch outing but it was beautiful none the less. Now we were dealing with the terrible three’s this go round and boy can you can tell from the pictures. Lyla threw a little temper tantrum for the first half of the visit and wouldn’t smile for any pictures. I actually love her little pouty face in these pics, that’s a typical three year old for ya! She came around after being there for about an hour and we had a blast. This place was awesome!

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In October 2013, I was very pregnant and Lyla was in preschool. When I saw that she had a field trip to Uesugi Farms in October I was so excited. I immediately volunteered to chaperone and that counted for our trip last year. I didn’t take many pictures – I actually can’t even find the two I did take as I write this post – but we had so much fun. It was her first offical field trip. We rode the bus together, had lunch together, it was a great day.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. This will count as Sophie’s first official pumpkin patch trip and I can’t wait to see her reaction to all of it. Of course, I have two cute outfits already picked out and ready to go for my girls, remember, the important stuff 🙂 Happy Friday!

Quick salmon cakes.

We have salmon once a week, every week. It’s one of my favorite types of fish. We had quite a bit leftover the other night and I saved it so I could have a salmon salad the next day. Well the next day came and I wasn’t quite in the mood for a salmon salad. I love crab cakes so I thought, why not try the same method with my leftover salmon?

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These cakes were super easy to make and clean-up was a breeze because I prepared them in just one bowl. All I did was flake up the salmon with a fork, add one egg, sprinkle in a bit of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese until the mixture wasn’t too wet or too dry, add some seasonings (minced garlic, sea salt and pepper), shape into patties, cook in a skillet, and that was it, done.

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I couldn’t decide if I wanted a salmon cake sandwich or salad so I made both – I was taste testing my recipe 🙂 In the end, I preferred the sandwich. I made a simple aioli using mayo and seasonings and added lettuce and tomato. Typically, I do not eat big lunches or things that take long to prepare so this was a nice break from my standard lunch fare.

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My Italian pot roast.

I am extremely proud of this recipe because I sort of created all by myself. That is a big deal for me. A little background on meal time in our house – I haven’t always been the one doing the cooking. When we were both working, and for years prior, my husband cooked dinner every single night. The deal was, he would cook and I would clean up because a) he is an amazing cook, seriously, I’m not just saying that. His mother is Italian and he can cook, period. He doesn’t really ever use recipes, and everything he makes comes out so good. He kills it on the grill and can cook for large groups of people (like 30) and have everything done at the same time and serve it hot, to me that’s an art, sorry I digress… and b) I can clean and I love to do it. It just worked for us.

But now that I am home full-time, I do all of the cooking. Mainly during the week because on the weekends my hubby still loves to cook. He really enjoys making good food and seeing people enjoy it. I, on the other hand, have learned to love it. I never really cooked at all and if I did, I HAD to follow a recipe. Now I find that I’m really starting to love it. I love to plan out our weekly menu, I love to grocery shop and I really love to cook. I had a bit of a learning curve in the beginning but now I’m really starting to get into a groove in the kitchen and this recipe is proof of that. This roast came out so good and I made it using items I had on hand in my pantry or fridge. Before, I never would have been able to think of a meal based on what we had lying around and just wing it! I don’t have exact portions or measurements, I kind of just used what I thought would work. I got lucky this time because it came out amazing.

Italian Pot Roast

Ingredients:

1 (2-to-3 lb) boneless chuck roast

4 large garlic cloves

1 white onion (I used less than half)

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Pinch or two basil

2 Roma tomatoes

1 can beef broth

1 can tomato sauce

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and pepper

Directions:

Finely chop garlic, onion and fresh rosemary, and transfer to small bowl. Add olive oil (maybe a couple tablespoons) and basil. Set aside.

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Chop tomatoes and set aside as well.

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Next, season the roast generously with sea salt and black pepper. Place into a lightly oiled, hot skillet and brown on both sides. This takes about five minutes on each side.

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My little assistant was hanging out right near me while I was prepping the roast. She even brought me some groceries, how sweet!

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Back to the recipe…

Place the browned roast in the crock pot and pour/rub the garlic, onion, rosemary and basil oil all over it. FYI – this was my first time using a slow cooker liner and, let me tell you, clean-up was a breeze. I got this tip from an awesome blogger whose blog I read daily, and I’ve learned that as a full-time stay-at-home mom, I need everything to be done quick and fast, including clean-up. So thank you, Mix Match Mama for the great tip.

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Then add the beef broth, tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes and you are ready to cover and cook on low for 8 hours. The smell throughout the house is amazing – enjoy!

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Fall decorations.

Tomorrow is October 1st. Lyla is so excited about this. I love that she gets so happy about the seasons and holidays and all of that. I love to make a big deal out of holidays and I think being in Kindergarten intensifies it for her since they make a big deal of it too – so much fun!

This weekend we’ll be hauling out our Halloween decorations so I thought it would be fun to take a look at what I put up for Fall. I put these decorations out in September, and this year we did it on September 22nd, the first day of Fall. Some of this will stay up during October for Halloween and some it will be put away and then put back out again in November. To me, the Fall season spans three months: September (Harvest), October (Halloween) and November (Thanksgiving), and I like to decorate for all of it! Some pieces can go all three months while some are more specific. I truly hope you enjoy this little home tour of my Fall decorations. This may not seem like much to some but to me its beautiful. Now it may have come out a little differently if I was rolling in the dough but I do what I can on a budget and I love how everything looks. Nothing makes me happier than walking through my home and loving what I see – Happy Fall Y’all!

Welcome to my home.

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This is our entryway table. I love that I can change out each piece here – the flowers, sign, picture, candy bowl – to match the other seasons.

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I would like to make a burlap runner to go on our dining table, its needs a little something more.

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This pumpkin sits on the side table in our sitting area.

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This ceramic pumpkin is one of my favorite decorations. We have a built-in office area and I was hesitant to put it there because its kind of out of sight but this is its home for now. I love this pumpkin.

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I love how the mantle turned out. I only had the pumpkins out and it felt like something was missing. Then I found the golden wheat. It’s hard to tell how beautiful it is in the picture but it is so pretty. And it glistens when the light shines through the window behind the mantle, so pretty.

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I absolutely love this little area behind the sink. It’s the best place for decorations and I’ll be able to easily customize the area for each holiday, the possibilities are endless! The best part is that the Hello Fall print was free! I found it online by googling free fall printables, so easy and hello, free!

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Here are more of decorations from around the kitchen including the best pumpkin spice candle there ever was.

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This cute scarecrow welcomes you into Lyla’s room. She has two small Fall decorations in her room.

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And of course pumpkin soap in her bathroom.

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I only added one thing to our bathroom and that is a tiny sweet cinnamon pumpkin candle from Bath & Body Works. OMG that smell. I could take a bath in it and I do… I have the body wash too. I love this candle so much because it’s the favor we gave out at Sophie’s baby shower. It always makes me think of my sweet girl.

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And there you have it, my Fall decorations. I honestly enjoy decorating my house for each season so much. It makes me so happy to make my house into a home and the best part is that my family truly loves and appreciates all the effort that I put in to doing this. That is what makes it all worthwhile, making my family happy, and the older Lyla gets, the more she gets into it and its so fun so go shopping with her. I can’t wait until Sophie can partake too. Now on to Halloween!

A look back: Labor Day weekend.

Like I said, I love holidays. All of them. I especially love them when we get out of town on a holiday weekend. My hubby needed some time off so we decided to see if we could go to the cabin for the long weekend. The “cabin” is his uncle’s vacation home (that he graciously lets us use) in Camp Connell. It’s a 3 bedroom – plus a loft – 2.5 bath home and is close to Bear Valley, Murphys and Arnold, three towns that I have fallen in love with. This is the fourth time I’ve been to the cabin. My hubby’s been going there since he was younger than Lyla. His uncle bought the land and the family built the home – isn’t that cool? It’s such a special place to him and is now very special to me, our family and my parents. They came with us on this trip and on my first trip. I think I’ll have to do an entire post on just the cabin because I could go on and on about it, and this is supposed to be about Labor Day. But, I love the cabin. I feel so blessed and grateful that his Uncle lets us use it. It’s good for the soul. Back to the weekend…

My hubby took the day off of work on Friday so we could leave as soon as Lyla got out of school. Another great thing about living in Tracy is that it’s much closer to the cabin. It usually took us about three, three and a half hours to get there from San Jose and our trip is now cut in half, awesome. John walked Lyla to school that morning and picked her up at her request. Its special for her Dad to take her since I do it every day and I love that they get to share that quality time. While Lyla was at school, John ran a couple of errands and I packed for all of us except for Lyla. She wanted to pick out what she wanted to take herself. This caused me slight anxiety because letting Lyla pack herself could take hours but with my supervision, it actually wasn’t all that bad. She tends to want to bring everything (I’m not sure where she gets that from…) and this time did great! Lyla gets out of school at 11:34 and we were crammed in the car and ready to go by 12:30.

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We didn’t hit any traffic and only stopped once at the Darby Red Apple Ranch fruit and bakery stand. It was a tradition in my hubby’s family to stop here for cider, pie and apples and we’ve continued that tradition. We stop at least once or twice every time we go to the cabin. We usually take a picture there and I’m bummed because I forgot this time 😦 Here is a pic from our trip to the cabin in January. I can’t believe how little Lyla looks here and Sophie was only five weeks old (and sleeping in the car).

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So if you ever go to Murphys, Arnold, Camp Connell or Bear Valley, you MUST stop here. I’m not kidding. Everything is amazing. We always get their cider (it’s unbelievable) and we always try their goodies. We’ve tried the apple donuts (out of this world), apple strudel (phenomenal) and the pies are to.die.for. Seriously, the apple pies are fresh and delicious and the best I’ve ever had. There is always so much to choose from and it all looks amazing, its hard not to want to try it all. They sell fresh fruit (apples of course), dried fruits and nuts, jams, flavored syrups and so much more including honey. I love their honey. It comes in a big jar and lasts forever. They had pumpkin butter that I wanted and I thought we’d be back but we forgot to stop on the way out. I’m so bummed because I love pumpkin and I really wanted to get some to try out in fall recipes. I really can’t say enough about this place and I’m not the only one who thinks its great, check out the Yelp reviews. It’s cute and quaint and just perfect. We wolfed down our donuts and popped open the cider in the car, I told you we loved it.

We got to the cabin, unpacked, checked out what we needed from the store for dinner/breakfast/snacks and headed back out again to the market in Arnold. Boy, you could tell it was a holiday weekend. I’d never seen that market so crowded. The hubs really wanted steak so we decided on filet mignon, prawns, roasted potatoes and I honestly cannot remember the vegetable, oops! The girls were just hanging out playing while the hubs prepared dinner. He made a killer filet, he is the king of the grill.

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My parents arrived the next morning at 11, and we had plans to head to the rec center to swim and relax by the pool for the day. Lyla is a fish and can swim forever. Born and raised in Florida, I could lay out by the pool all day long and not complain. Knowing that the pool would be crowded, we tried to get there right at noon when they opened. We probably got there by 12:15 and it was already packed. We had such a lovely day. Check out how gorgeous the pool is. The sky was a brilliant blue and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. We soaked up the sun, swam and relaxed surrounded by the redwoods.

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We decided to have dinner in Arnold at the Snowshoe Brewing Company. This is another one of our “cabin” traditions, I’m a sucker for a tradition. We stopped here on my first trip up and the relaxed atmosphere, yummy food and good beer keeps us coming back. They also have a little arcade area which helps to keep Lyla entertained. We knew it would be crowded so we got there early (right after 5) and we were seated right away. We had a great dinner and Sophie used a highchair in a restaurant for the first time! Big milestone 🙂

On Sunday John cooked up a big, hearty breakfast. Eggs, blueberry pancakes (don’t know why, but I’m been craving these big time lately) and bacon. It was delish. Lyla really wanted to go to Mercer Cavern (we took her there when we were at the cabin in the summertime and I was pregnant with Sophie) so we all got ready and headed to Murphys. Obviously we couldn’t take Sophie down into the cavern (you go sixteen stories into the earth!) so my parents took Lyla while John, Sophie and I headed to downtown Murphys.  I’ve been dying to check out the cute shops and restaurants in the downtown area. I’ve been there before, we ate at a pizza place once and we’ve driven through it many times but never really strolled along the main street. All of the shops and wine tasting rooms have caught my attention every time and today was the perfect day to check them out. Now my hubby isn’t really much of a “window shopper” but he played along at my request 🙂 The area was super busy and really hard to navigate with a stroller so we strapped Sophie in the Bjorn and got to walking. We strolled through several stores and eventually met up with my mom and decided to get some wine while we waited for my stepdad (he had to run back to the cavern – lost his phone!). We stopped at Zucca winery and it was so cute. There was a beautiful outdoor area with tables and fire pits and we set up camp there. It was terribly hot that day but we enjoyed ourselves like we usually do. We stopped for ice cream before heading back up to the cabin and ate it by the historic downtown Murphys Hotel. It is so cute and I am begging my hubby for an overnight trip there, I love this little town.

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After a quick breakfast and packing up, we decided to stop by the city of Columbia on the way out. It’s a state park that is a living gold rush town. John really wanted to take Lyla here and I love historic towns so this was a lot of fun. We stopped in all the little shops, Lyla made a candle and we sampled the homemade candy. This place was so cool. It was really hot that day so we didn’t last long and we had to get on the road but we definitely want to come back. There is so much to explore, there are even places to eat and drink wine, cha-ching, so  I know we’ll be back here on another one of our trips to the cabin.

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This was a great trip. But then again, every trip to the cabin is great. Both John & I agree that we feel so relaxed and rejuvenated after every trip. There is no cell service or Internet there so we truly “unplug” and its so nice to really get away from it all. Plus, Lyla just adores it. She gets so excited whenever we start to talk about a trip to the cabin, I love seeing her so happy, it’s truly is our happy place 🙂

Sophie Gray: Nine month update.

I can’t believe my sweet Sophie is already nine months. These months have flown by. I know its partly because we went through so many big life changes immediately after her birth but still, sigh, my baby is growing up way too fast for my liking. I absolutely love this age. Sophie makes me smile all day long and I literally count down the seconds until I hear her wake up in the morning. She has started to sleep through the night, most nights (hallelujah!) and is such a sweet-natured little baby. She is full-on crawling now and moves so fast. It’s so cute to watch her crawl, I could watch her all day long and I do, lol. She has really started to say our names, mama, dada and Lyla and I swear, hearing those words, its the most beautiful thing. I love seeing the interaction between her and Lyla, Lyla will dance all crazy just to make her smile and tells me, “mom I just love to see Sophie smile,” so sweet! We love our Sophie Gray so much!!

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Weight/height: Sophie doesn’t see her pediatrician again until she is 12 months old so I’ll have to go with her 6 month weight/height, and because we don’t own a scale at home, I don’t know how much she weighs now! At 6 months (her appointment was back in July), she was 17 lbs, 1.7 oz, which puts her in the 62nd percentile. Her height was 2’3″ which puts her in the 81st percentile, girlfriend is growing! She was always smaller than Lyla when we compared percentiles but she is catching up.

Hair: Sophie has the craziest hair! I love it so, so much. It’s very fine, super light brown and sticks straight up. She has her Daddy’s hair. It’s really funny because when John gets out of the shower and doesn’t do his hair, it looks exactly like Sophie’s, it’s just too funny and super cute.

Diapers: Size 3 Huggies Little Movers and she needs em’ cause girlfriend is moving all over the place.

Clothing: Little Miss Sophie needs to go shopping. Her wardrobe is in desperate need of an update. I so badly want to buy her Fall clothes but its still pretty hot and I’m trying to hold off until the season starts to change a little bit more. She can still fit into her size 6 month dresses but is pretty much wearing 6-12 months in everything.

Favorite things: Right now, Sophie is really into the pretend fruit Lyla has in her little kitchen. She will crawl super fast from the kitchen all the way to the playroom just to get to the fruit. She takes it all out of the basket, puts each piece in her mouth, then puts its back in the basket and repeats this little sequence all over again. She also likes this small little baby doll we got her on a whim, she calls it mama.

Likes: Sophie loves to smile, hug and give kisses. They are big, wet and slobbery kisses but they are the best. Her, Lyla and I spent a solid five minutes giving each other kisses the other night, it was so fun. She loves peek-a-boo and playing with her sister.

Dislikes: Sophie no longer likes getting her diaper or clothes changed. It is really hard, no joke. She will not stay still at all. I used to be able to distract her and get it done but nothing works anymore. She wiggles and turns and tries to sit up, the girl needs to go. She hates being hot, especially when she is in her car seat. Sophie is really an easy-going girl, there is not much she dislikes.

Favorite foods: Frozen mango, applesauce, prunes (shocker!), blueberries, oatmeal, greek yogurt, smoothies, yes smoothies. I make a smoothie for Lyla and I everyday and Sophie just started grabbing for the straw one day and I let her try and she figured out how to drink it. She also loves chicken, carrots and sweet potatoes. She also loves Baby Mums Mums, the banana kind are her favorite and we just started to give her Gerber yogurt bites, which she loves as well.

Milestones: This girl is moving! Sophie crawls everywhere and pulls herself up on everything, which is amazing to see but also makes me hold my breath because, more often than not, she falls down. She can say mama, dada, Lyla, hi, hey very clearly and she uses the words correctly. Before she would just babble them but now she looks directly at you and says your name, its really sweet. She is on a great nap schedule and sticks to it most days. And as my child who doesn’t like to sleep at night, the fact that Sophie is now sleeping through the night, most nights, is a major cause for celebration, woo-hoo!

Reflections: I don’t know why but just seeing the word “reflections” makes me kind of emotional, okay I lied, really emotional. Sophie just makes me so happy. She has brought our entire family so much joy and watching her with Lyla, its hard to put into words how that makes me feel, but I am so happy to be their mother. Just like with Lyla, she makes me want to be a better person and everyday, I strive for that, to be the best version of myself I can be. I have good days and I have bad days but I have to say, the good far outweigh the bad. Even when I’m exhausted, I can still say, I am 100 percent happy with my life and where I am right now.

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Welcome Fall treats.

Today is the first day of Fall. That gets us really excited over here. Lyla has been jumping up and down talking about it for days. She knows this because she had to do a special Fall project to celebrate the turning of the season and because her mother likes to put pumpkins all over the house. All joking aside, we adore this season. The sights, the smells, the colors, we love Fall.

This idea was born after I made these amazing apple oatmeal bars last week. They came out so good and were so easy to make and I knew immediately that I wanted to share these with friends. I also knew immediately that I wanted to try and make them with pumpkin – they came out just as good. I thought these would be the perfect treat to hand out to my neighbors and Lyla’s teacher. Last night, while burning a pumpkin spice candle, I assembled my welcome Fall treats. I think they came out so cute and I just love doing projects like this. Easy, simple and, hopefully, well received.

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The Internet is overflowing with adorable, free printables. Sometimes, most of the time, I have a hard time deciding which ones to use because they are all so darn cute. I am so thankful to the talented people who share these with the world. I knew I wanted use twine to tie a tag onto a bakery type box with the bars inside. I found these beautiful tags here. The colors and design fit my vision perfectly and they just screamed Fall, plus they said, “Welcome Fall,” … they couldn’t be more perfect.

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I thought I would have to go to Michael’s for twine but I ended up finding some at Target in the dollar bins. How cool is that? I’ve never seen really crafty stuff in the bins but I found the twine along with several other cute, packaging type items like bags, labels and stickers. I bought some bags and other tags that I know I use in the future, maybe for Halloween treats?

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Here are the pumpkin oatmeal bars. I cut them up into small squares and put two or three (depending on the size) into these white gift boxes. I’d been searching for bakery boxes in Tracy and hadn’t been able to find exactly what I was looking for. Sadly, there is no Container Store anywhere near me and that used to be my go to place for packaging. Luckily, I have the best mom in the world and she picked up and delivered these boxes to me, thanks mom!

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I love how these turned out and I cannot wait to give them to our neighbors today.

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Happy Friday.

What a week. I spent most of it, well rather all of it, feeling awful. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I loathe being sick. I thrive and order, routine and a busy schedule and I hate that being sick changes all of that – I’m working on being more flexible. I also workout four to five (sometimes six) times a week and not being able to do that, puts me in a funk. I tried to listen to my husband’s advice and actually rest but today I am done with resting! I woke up for the first time this week feeling like myself again, just in time for the weekend, hallelujah!

Every Friday at Lyla’s school is school spirit day. We finally got her t-shirt from the school and she was really excited to wear it – she is proud to be an Art Freiler star! We had a little issue getting ready this morning. We picked out her star denim skirt last night to wear with her shirt today because her school logo is a star, well she decided this morning that she did not like the skirt and wanted to wear her other star skirt. I like the denim one better and tried to convince her to wear that but in the end, I let her wear what she wanted. I’m getting better at that too 🙂 Which one do you think looks better? Its hard to tell but the skirt in the second picture has small, silver stars on it. I also love that the Lyla has a pair of converse to match her new school t-shirt. They modeled the shirt after the converse logo.

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I haven’t run all week so I was itching to go today since I finally felt better. I recently started using the jogging stroller with Sophie and she loves it just like Lyla did. I love that, most of the time, running in the stroller puts the girls to sleep 🙂

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I love that my girls get to enjoy my love of exercise with me. I really hope this gives them the foundation to love exercise like I do. Both of my parents passed that love down to me and I wish to do the same with them. Here they both are loving the jogging stroller. Lyla was just about the same age as Sophie in this collage, my sweet girls!

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Egg white scramble.

Back when I was training for a triathlon, this was my go to breakfast. Every Saturday, I would swim (really early) and bike, and would come home ravenous. I wanted something warm, satisfying and healthy, good fuel for my body. I am a creature of habit and would use spinach, tomato and cheese in my scramble every Saturday but you could add turkey sausage or bacon, broccoli and different types of cheeses to switch it up. I usually use whatever cheese is in my fridge and two to three egg whites. Lately, I’ve been reading about how great egg yolks are so I’ll leave in one or two yolks (like in the pictures below) along with the egg whites. I pair this with a slice of whole wheat toast or whole wheat tortilla (again whatever I have on hand) and breakfast or lunch, is served!

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