My First Vacation!

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to visit my family. My parents along with both of my siblings live there. It took us about 8 hours to get there. Sophia did awesome on the trip! She slept most of the way and when she was awake she was content to coo and smile in her car seat. People have made fun of us for having such a big SUV and one little baby (Infiniti QX 56) but it was completely stuffed. So traveling with a baby is not bad but packing for the trip is a lot of work! Mom and Dad had to wonder if we were moving in or not?!

On Friday us girls went to the Perry Tea Room. It such a beautiful Victorian restaurant that my Mom and I have always enjoyed. It was fun to take Sophia there with us. The menu has such girlie food, we both enjoyed the quiche and it comes with an other foo-foo items such as heart shaped crackers and such.

Jason and my Dad spent most of the weekend at the horse track. I don't think they had huge success but had fun trying. The track there has lives races so if anything they enjoy watching the horses run.

Sophia finally had the chance to meet her only cousin Carter. Carter is my sister Leslie's son he was born in September. They were so cute together at one time they grabbed each others hands, it was so precious. Carter had a double ear infection and didn't feel well so it was a little bit of a bummer. My sister was so excited to see her, Aunt Leslie held her quite a bit. It was fun to see Leslie's new apartment too.

We did a little bit of shopping as there are so many great malls out there. Sophia loves to move around so as long as we keep the stroller moving she is happy as a clam. A couple of the malls had nursing rooms near the restrooms so that was nice for me to use as we needed them. They were just little rooms with a changing station and a rocker, so that was perfect.

We were sad to leave everyone, but are planning to head that way again for the 4th of July. By that time Carter should feel better and we will have even more fun. Hopefully Jason and Dad will have better luck at the track too. Sorry so long to make these posts but unpacking takes much longer with an infant and I can't seem to get anything done in a timely manner anymore. But she is so much fun and we can't imagine what we did without her. Have a great weekend!

The Flynn Great-Grandparents Visit

Last week before our vacation Jason's Grandma Sue and Grandpa Ron came for a visit. We had a lot of fun and I know they were excited to see Sophia. Grandpa Ron lives in Florida so that's why it took him a little while to see Sophia. We're hoping that in the coming years we'll be able to visit him in Florida. She was really good during the visit and seemed to follow everyone who was speaking with her eyes. Of course she gave lot's of smiles too.

My New Gal Pal

Today we are excited to add to our family of friends...Bella Lofland! She is the daughter of our good friends Ed and Renee Lofland. Bella was born at 12:30 this afternoon at Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne. She weighed 6lbs. 2oz and was 19 1/2".

When we found out we were expecting Sophia, Ed called Jason and asked for some ovulation advice so Jason feels he really helped Bella into this world! We had Ed and Renee over Friday night and she was really feeling ready to have this baby so when she called last night telling me she was so crampy I told her she was probably in early labor. She was scheduled to be induced Monday morning, but early this morning Renee got up to go to the bathroom and she felt like she was peeing her pants but not so, her water had broke! Ed sent me a text at 3:00 this morning and when I got up at 3:30 to feed Sophia I read it and was not able to go back to sleep I was so excited. We visited this afternoon and I took a quick nap this evening.

I can't believe how big Sophia looks next to her! Time really does fly by so quickly. Bella is so beautiful and I am so happy for Ed and Renee they were just beaming at the hospital. Sophia always smiles at home when we talk about Miss Ne Ne and Bell Bell, so today when I told her Bella was here she started smiling again! I know this is the start of a wonderful friendship.

Congratulations Ed, Renee and Bella!!!!

Running Errands....

Today Sophia and I got all packed up and headed for the outside world to run some quick errands. It was such a warm beautiful day and since she stays warm anyway, this outfit seemed to work out great (very springy). When we got back we waited on daddy to get home from work to take a walk around the lake, and we did. Perfect day for a walk! Sophia was doing an excellent job of sitting up for us on the couch in order to catch a few pics before she got too fussy!

Happy Mothers Day Mommy!

We had Melissa's first Mothers Day Sunday and we loved spending the day together. Although the weather was rotten, we went to Cracker Barrel for brunch and came back to the house to give Mommy a much needed nap!! Sophia did awesome in letting her mommy sleep, she went down on my chest for 3 hours and was out like a rock! Here is Melissa & Sophia's first Mothers Day pic...

4 Weeks Old & Push-ups

Tonight I was able to get this shot of Sophia after Jason told me to hurry and grab the camera. She is so strong and held her pose until I was able to get back and snap the pic! Miss Sophia is also 4 weeks old today--it is going by so fast!

A VERY Big Sneak Peek Cont....

Betsy, our friend & photographer, just informed us of more pics from our shoot that are ready to view. She does such a great job of capturing the pictures into words that I am also going to give you a link directly to Betsy & John's site to see.
http://betsyandjohn.net/blog/2008/05/09/an-evening-with-sophia/
Here are a few more however for now..

Sneak Peek of Our Photo Shoot!

We scheduled a night to do Sophia's post labor shoot, so our friend and photographer, Betsy King, came over last night and Sophia did great! Betsy got a ton of great inside/outside pics and we can't wait to sort through them all. She sent us today just a quick shot of a few pics she chose as an early sneak peek, but these are the only ones we have seen thus far!

I Love My Bear!

I captured this adorable picture of Sophia today on the bed. She was so content with her bear and binky. She was so content I had time to do my hair and make-up...any new mom will tell you that time for this becomes very rare!

Gma & Gpa VB Sunday Visit

Sophia had a very busy weekend! When her one set of grandparents left to go back to Iowa, Gma & Gpa VB came up to see her. We just kind of hung-out and ate Subway, Aunt Kristen stopped by too to see Sophia and she loved being held by everybody! Grandma VB was joking with Grandpa in this pic, saying Sophia probably didn't recognize him after a recent mustache trim! She does have a convincing argument after seeing Sophia's reaction here! But she loves him
anyway!
Sophia & Aunt Kristen were doing some major "girl-talk" here!!
Grandma finally got her turn after Gpa & Aunt Kristen were done holding Miss Sophia

Busy, Busy Weekend!

This weekend my parents were in town from Iowa, they had been so excited to come back and see Sophia. Mom and I really had Sophia on the go!

Friday we visited Great Grandma Schlichter in the nursing home, and then took Daddy lunch. After that we introduced Sophia to the world of garage sales. She was such a trooper! She never made a noise at all. We even found some awesome clothes for her that still had tags on them.

Friday night Daddy and Grandpa went to the Komets game and us girls went to Red Robin. We have decided that it is the perfect place to eat dinner with kids. Everyone in there has kids and it is so noisy that when Sophia did cry no one even heard her, and those that might have smiled because they had kids too! That may be one of our new favorite places although Jason is not cracked up about the food.

We did a little run of the mall and told Sophia as she got older she would spend a lot of time there! We even found a couple of cute outfits for her there too! Then we came home and everyone was exhausted. She slept 5 1/2 hour straight...yeah! I was able to run around like this because I had pumped and gave her a bottle, which she took like a pro :)

Today Sophia had to be the youngest shopper at the Vera Bradley outlet sale! There were around 5-6 thousand people (well maybe I'm exaggerating but it felt that way). We bought a few gifts for people and a backpack that matches the diaper bag she received from the hospital. Then we ended up coming home and Grandma Crawford babysat Sophia while Mommy went for a quick pedicure. The lady doing my pedicure asked me if I had children and I said "Yes, her grandma is watching her now." My eyes swelled with tears, I missed her so much! Grandma did a great job and she was asleep in her arms when I came home. Daddy and Grandpa each won pretty big $$$ at the off site gambling place here in Fort Wayne off of simulcast horse racing--Daddy is getting pretty good!

So what a busy weekend!!! Tonight we are going to watch some recorded shows and rest...some of us more than others hopefully :)

Four Generations

This a picture of four generations on my side of the family. This is my grandma Maxine Schlichter, my mom Sue, myself, and Sophia. This is a really special picture for me because my grandma has Alzheimer's disease and is in the advanced stages. She has reached the point where she can't even feed herself or talk anymore. So it meant a lot to Mom and myself that Sophia was able to have her picture with Grandma Schlichter. Grandma actually carries baby dolls around at the nursing home, she actually had seven children of her own and babies seem to be familiar to her. Today when we were there she laid eyes on Sophia and watched her intently the whole time, it was very touching. She actually smiled a bit when we let her "hold" Sophia. When we took Sophia away she actually kept bunching up the blanket on her lap as if she wondered where the baby went. Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease! I am so glad we had the opportunity to take this photo with her though.

Great Grandma Fisher

Great Grandma Fisher came to visit Sophia today! She has been working all winter on a Christening gown for Sophia. As soon as we found out we were having a girl she started to buy the materials for it. It is so beautiful! Grandma has spent so many hours hand embroidering this gown. It is very detailed and looks just like one of the old fashioned gowns babies wore. She has made a bonnet that goes with it that is so sweet. So today we had a fitting and tried it on her to see how it fit. Grandma is going to make some adjustments to it this weekend. Sophia is going to be dedicated at church on June 15th which is Father's Day. This Tuesday we are having our good friend Betsy over for a photo shoot and I thought we might take a couple of photos in her gown. So anyway I am super excited about this gown it will be so special since her Great Grandma made it for her. I thought about taking a photo of her in it today, but I thought I would keep you all in suspense until it is completely finished. So I guess I am giving you all a teaser :) I feel so blessed to have such a caring and involved Grandma in our lives.