Van Buskirk Baby

Pigtails for Palin!

2008-10-01T14:49:00.001-07:00

Sophia is sporting her new t-shirt that says "pigtails for palin". I am so proud of my Wee-publican! She put it on today for this pic but I am going to have her wear it all day tomorrow.

Sophia is all ready for the VP debate tomorrow night! I think she could even win over a few votes on the campaign trail too!

I can't imagine a cuter Wee-publican anywhere else! Vote for Palin and help Sophia in her first campaign! How could you say no to that sweet face?!

Sophia's First Ride

2008-09-30T15:59:00.001-07:00

This is Sophia's first ride...the Jeep! I think she has great taste in vehicles, I love the colors. The best part about her vehicle is there are no payments (thanks Grammy) and no insurance! She loves to sit in this although I think she is supposed to be walking with it, but no surprise that she investigates everything instead of moving much like the Jumperoo.

This is such a Sophia moment, she always investigates all the details of everything instead of jumping or moving...she is content to play with little things for so long, it amazes me how she entertains herself.

Then of course everything ends up in the mouth! She loves to taste everything and chew on it, I'm sure her first teeth will not be long. She loves to chew on the puppy's ear because it has a crinkly material in it.

She is not a bit shy about anyone watching her chew with her mouth open...

In the end the thumb is always her favorite! Buckle up Sophia :)

Leslie's Wedding

2008-09-30T12:40:00.001-07:00

This is Sophia getting ready for her Aunt Leslie's wedding. She was invited to be the flower girl even though she is only 5 months old! It was a pretty busy weekend...all the ladies began decorating at 7am on Saturday so Sophia stayed home with Jason most of the day and met us for rehearsals at 11:30. She came back to get ready at 2:30pm, so this is a shot as I was getting ready to change her.This is her Grammy Crawford and Aunt Allison helping her with the bows in her hair. She LOVED that dress...it tasted really good to her! She had it in her mouth almost the entire time, and of course the thumb in the mouth too!
This is my sister Leslie, I love this pic of her she is so beautiful!!! I think she has the most amazing complexion, unfortunately I was not blessed with her skin tone. She was SO calm and relaxed very unlike me on my wedding day.The plan had been to push Carter (Sophia's cousin & ring bearer) down the aisle in a double jogging stroller. Everyone was worried about Carter, I knew Sophia would be a breeze because she is so laid back....HA! Two seconds before I'm supposed to walk down the aisle Sophia starts crying in the stroller, Carter just sits there watching her. So I scooped her up and she walked with me! How do babies sense these things?! Carter rode in the stroller by himself and then we handed them off to the babysitters waiting in the wings. I can't blame her it was nap time, she was ready for a nap...
That's exactly what she did next...SLEPT! She was sound asleep like I had never seen her before during most of the pictures. So she looks like a rag doll, but the cutest rag doll ever! This is a shot of the wedding party. The groom's sister Caressa, myself with Sophia, Leslie, Ryan the groom with Carter, my brother Ryan and Jason.

This was a shot of the three of us that day, she was so tired it had been such a busy few days for her and she crashed hard, I think she looks so adorable though. I have to say I married a real HOTTIE! WOW!!!

She was so good during the reception, she was passed around to lot's of family members. We had hired two babysitters to help with them and they were a BIG help. It was nice to have them take the babies to change diapers, make bottles, and hold them during the big events.

This is one of the last shots of Sophia at the BIG day! At 9pm I took Carter and Sophia along with the babysitters back to our house for bedtime. I then hurried back to the reception to finish the party and then help clean up. It was so beautiful! We all had a blast and could never have done it without the help of my friends Megan, Reni, Jerry, and my cousin Jennifer. Megan and Reni both were married this last year and I asked them for lot's of advice and info. Jerry was the incredible DJ, and my cousin Jennifer helped decorate and did hair! I am so blessed to have such great friends in my life as well as a beautiful and loving family! CONGRATULATIONS LESLIE AND RYAN!!!

Fall Fun!

2008-09-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sophia and I went to Hilger's Farm Market on Sunday with her gal pal Hailey and Hailey's mom Cheri. It was such a beautiful day! Sunday they judged the biggest pumpkin contest at Hilger's so there were HUGE pumpkins there. Here is a close up of Sophia next to the winner (1,200 + lbs.). She looks a little bored in this pic...

This is her and I standing in front of one of the piles of pumpkins, this pic shows more of her personality that day which was HAPPY! She loves people, and is so content to watch everything I love how she has that toothless, open-mouth grin...she is such a happy baby. Everything seems to go in her mouth these days...

I sat her down to take a cute pic of her with the pumpkins and she picks up straw and starts to chew it! Sophia you're not a horsey, she thought it was good stuff though. I wonder if she learned this trick from our puppy Bentley (he will eat anything)?

Here is my favorite pic from the day, she finally looked at me and we were safe here with no straw around this area! The pumpkins were safely out of distance from her mouth too! We plan to take more fall pics soon when we visit Campbell's Pumpkin Patch in Wabash. Jason's great aunt and uncle own that and we're excited to see them and visit the patch.

I think this pic is so cute, Sophia is trying to figure out how she can get her mouth on this pumpkin and poor Hailey doesn't like the grass. Hailey is such a sweet baby she was so happy the whole day except when Cheri put her on the grass so we figured she must not like the grass. Hailey is now 9 months and Sophia is 5 months, they are almost exactly 4 months apart.

Homemade Baby Food

2008-09-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is Sophia getting ready to eat some of her sweet potatoes. I have been making all of her baby food. I think it's a lot of fun plus I'm saving money and know exactly what she's eating. She loves her sweet potatoes and has also tried green beans, butternut squash, and bananas...yummy! She is such a good eater, she eats rice/fruit for breakfast, vegetable/fruit for lunch, and oats/vegetable for dinner. I never knew foods would be so much fun!

These are the containers I bought for her baby food, they are called Baby Cubes. They are AWESOME, I love them! They are like ice cube trays and you snap these containers into them and they each hold 2 oz. of baby food or breast milk. It is so nice because I can grab a couple of them and throw them in the diaper bag and we're off!

They stack very nicely in my freezer, I bought 4 sets (although I think a 4 more would be great..Christmas ideas?) Anyway making baby food is way easier than I thought it would be. This morning it took me less than 15 minutes of prep time to make butternut squash and less than 5 minutes to make green beans. I even use just a cheap blender I have, not a fancy food processer! The savings are adding up too, I saved $10.40 this week on making my own baby food than buying generic brand baby food at Wal-Mart, so just another reason to make my own.

And when we're done we just put them in the dishwasher they are dishwasher, freezer, and microwave safe! So if you are thinking off ways to save money you can make your own food, or if you just want to know what your baby is eating! It has been a lot of fun and I think the Baby Cubes are the way to go...easy and portable. I think our next food will be another fruit...most likely PEACHES!!! I'm sure she'll love them. What does everyone else think about homemade baby food? Any good recipes? I better run almost time for Sophia's PM nap. Thanks for looking!

McCain/Palin all the way baby!

2008-09-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Alright here goes, this blog is mostly to brag about Sophia but I had to throw in my 2 cents about the election (something I rarely do). It will come as no surprise to those of you who know Jason and I that we will be voting Republican in November. Normally I shy away from political debates but I feel so strongly on this issue I am compelled to show our support. I've noticed lately that many people are jumping on the OBAMA bandwagon much like supporting a winning sports team. It seems that "change" and "Obama '08" bumper stickers are the newest fad! I am not one for political fads and believe people need to really know what they are voting for that's why I'm urging all of you to check out www.glassbooth.org . It's an awesome website that you can go to and vote on issues that are important to you and at the end it tells you which candidate you are most aligned with and why. Of course I was most aligned with McCain at 73%. I'm curious to see how all of you do at the quiz. If you're comfortable add as comment and let us know.

I truly believe Obama would bring change if elected but not the change people think--this is not not the time for on-the-job training!! So please check out the website and get informed and remember that regardless of where you stand voting is a precious right that we all should exercise. I will get off my soap box now and post new pictures of Sophia in a few days :)

"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction"
--Barack Obama in his book Audacity of Hope

Showin Off Her Stuff...

2008-08-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Soph is getting more mobile by the day...I was laying on the couch yesterday and Sophia was on the ground playing, I looked away for only a minute and she had rolled 20 feet across the room...she's a wild woman! Thankfully we had prepared weeks earlier by putting up a gate to the basement stairs. Here is Soph attempting to stand in place on the couch, but she needed a little help from mr. pillow!!

Let's Swim Everybody!

2008-08-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Sophia thought it would be a good day to swim, so we broke out the little pool she loves so much...

She loves to have fun.....

Time For Big Girl Food!

2008-08-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Sophia had turned 4 months old on August 11th, so it was time to try some cereal!! She did great with it, has us laughing, and seemed to like it..

Here we are telling her that there is more on this earth than milk to eat--yeah!
Slowly but surely..
Hmmmm..... not bad!
Getting ready the next day for another bowl of cereal!! Rice cereal..yummy (whatever) and wearing the required Raider armor.....
Getting anxious...I'm hungry!!!!
Never missed a thing!! Miss Nosy we call her.....

Whoa!!

2008-08-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sophia having her typical wild mama hair day! Just a quick pic to show.. she's a nut!

Party for Soph at G-Ma & G-Pa VB's!

2008-08-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sophia had her first open house at Grandma & Grandpa Van Buskirk's --- a party just for her, which she loves!! She had lots of guests, including all of her great-grandparents on Jason's side and even great-great grandma Brown was there. Dave's golf cart was the excitement of the day, as everyone wanted their own tour of the woods, with the nice trails that run through it---and at the end of the day mommy, daddy, and Soph drove back and showed her the woods daddy grew up playing and hunting in.

with great-grandmother Sara

and great grandma Sue

Here is a really neat pic, it is a 5 generation picture of Jason's family on Dave's side..

Aunt Kristen with Sophia's great grandpa Ron and Jeanie..

and some hangin out time with Aunt Kristen..
and then with grandma..

I think she's ready to wrap it up!!!
BYE BYE!!

Lady Linus

2008-07-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sophia has turned into quite the thumb sucker. She used to take a pacifier, but one day discovered her thumb was much better. In the last two weeks she as decided that she also needs this "taggie" blanket that my Mom bought her as well. So when she takes a nap or sleeps at night she holds the blankie and sucks her thumb. So here she is showing Aunt Kristen how talented she is.

Here she is taking a nap today. Jason's Uncle Chris has an uncanny knack for giving people nick names. So I was telling him one day about Sophia reminding me of Linus from Snoopy. He said "Her new name is Lady Linus!" So Sophia was officially named from Uncle Chris. Jason and I usually sneak into her room and take the blankie out of her crib once she is asleep. She is going to bed at 8:00 waking between 6-7 in the morning and then taking a nap at 8:30 and waking at 11:30 and then another nap between 2-4. We are so blessed to have such an awesome baby girl!

Lazy Summer Day

2008-07-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday Jason's family came over and spent the afternoon and evening with us. Sophia really likes to sit outside so we spent most of our time on the deck hanging out. This is her with Jason so relaxed and happy in Daddy's arms just looking around.

Here she is with her Grandpa VB, they both had their first visit to Asakusa Sunday night. We were introduced to Asakusa last year and loved it. For those of you who don't know what Asakusa is, it is a Japanese steak house (very yummy!) We thought it would be fun to eat there Sunday night, Dave was unsure at first but ended up eating everything on his plate, Sophia was a little noisy but she did really well for the most part. So I think the first time critics gave it a "thumbs up", or a "thumbs in?" (Sophia).

Raider Dino

2008-07-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

This is a Raiders Dinosaur that lights up, plays music, and walks around. Sophia watches it and smiles at it, this is what her and Daddy play with when Mommy leaves. They have a lot of fun together. I'm so lucky to have a husband that wants to be involved with his daugher.

Sophia likes to sit in her Bumbo seat, it is a seat designed to help babies learn to sit up. She thinks she is a big girl in this seat, it is so cute to watch her. Of course notice the blanket in all of the pictures she loves that blankie!

4th of July

2008-07-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

We were able to travel to Des Moines again to visit my family for the 4th of July. We had a lot of fun, Sophia was an awesome traveler again! Here she is with my Mom all dressed up in the outfit that she bought her.

This is me holding Sophia, she actually has been such an awesome sleeper lately that she missed any shot at fireworks. We had a cook out with my whole family in the afternoon and then Jason went with my Dad and brother to the horse track. Mom and I stayed home and relaxed and Sophia went to bed at 7:30.

Sophia is smiling and cooing all of the time, she is so much fun! She is so observant and is watching everything. I just love this little girl so much, her crazy hair is so adorable!!!

Watching The Final Round...

2008-06-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sophia was rooting for Paula Creamer to win on Sunday at the U.S Women's Open, but a 78 didn't do it! She loves watching it, stared at the TV forever!

Anxious to see the Raiders!!

2008-06-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Sophia just so happened to be wearing Raiders shirts, so we thought a photo with the blanky would be cool with it! Sop & Daddy LOVE the Raiders!

We Hired a Professional!

2008-06-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Miss Bailey, our 6th grade neighbor, recently attended a class and was certified in baby care!! Fresh off her recent degree, we thought we would take advantage of her services now before she hit the big time! So, Sophia is giving her a dirty trial run on Friday here......

More Cute Photos From Past 2 Weeks...

2008-06-23T08:54:00.001-07:00

Rainforest Jumperoo

2008-06-22T19:34:00.001-07:00

We received this jumperoo from my former boss Brenda Fishbaugh, we put it together this weekend and she loved it! I think this is going to be a huge hit. Brenda loves animals and it is so appropriate that she bought Sophia the Rainforest Jumperoo. Thanks Brenda!

My Friend Bella

2008-06-22T19:32:00.001-07:00

Ed and Renee came over with Bella last week...can you believe these two are only 5 weeks apart?! Sophia looks a little frightened here, but I'm sure it's the start of a beautiful friendship!

Crazy People!

2008-06-22T19:24:00.001-07:00

I thought this was a super cute photo of Sophia watching her crazy grandparents and chihuahuas!

Father's Day

2008-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Sophia gave Jason a very special gift for Father's Day, it was a book she wanted him to read to her. This was no ordinary book though...

This is the Funny Face book, it has different animals and Jason holds it to his face like a mask and says "Oink, Oink, and Moo Moo" it was the cutest thing ever. Sophia smiled and smiled and then cooed...she loves playing with Jason.

I know Jason had a wonderful 1st Father's Day, as you can see he is a great father and enjoys it so much!

Baby Dedication

2008-06-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, on Father's Day, Sophia was dedicated at Pathway Church. Jason and I have been attending Pathway since January 2008. Here is a picture of our head Pastor Ron praying with Jason, Sophia, and I.

This is the picture of Sophia on the screen that they showed while we prayed. We had a family photo in the church bulletin with a prayer Jason and I wrote...
We thank God for entrusting us with our precious daughter Sophia. We pray she will be Christ follower and love You with all her heart. We also pray that You will guide her and direct her for Your will in her life so that she will impact the world around her for Your Honor and Glory.

Our church believes, as do Jason and I, that God does not hold babies accountable for their salvation at this time since they are not aware of their decision. This dedication is more symbolic for our family that we are making a commitment to raise Sophia in a Christian environment. This was so meaningful to all of us, it just reminded us as parents the awesome responsibility we have to Sophia and our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are so blessed to have immediate and extended family to support Sophia in her walk with Christ. Our very good friends, the Lofland's and Smith's were there too. It is such a blessing to have good friends like them and we thank God for them daily.

Sophia was an angel that day! She was so peaceful and slept through most of the ceremony. We have been blessed with such a sweet baby!

Her great-grandma Fisher made her gown and bonnet. We had practiced with the bonnet and she was not a fan, but that day Grandma Fisher put it on her and she was angelic. I guess she knew how hard Grandma had worked.

I just love this picture...Grandma has always been so special to me and I know Sophia will some day realize how blessed she is to have her in her life as I have.

My First Putting Lesson...

2008-06-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sophia took to practicing inside since it was a little hot outside! Her own putter is coming soon!