Transfer week between Seattle and Vancouver, BC

We made it to beautiful (and rainless so far!) Vancouver, and premier was this past Thursday. Life is pretty good here on the road, but we long for our own home, pets, close-by family and friends. This need was illuminated moreso by traveling home to Michigan during the break. Sophie was a trooper but had some problems on the plane. I think it was because her whole routine was missing, and she had to sleep while one of us held her (instead of her nice, dark, comforting crib and toys). She cried quite a bit on both trips, and kicked a whole glass of my Diet Coke into the lap of the nice, extremely patient man next to us. It's really a good thing he sprung for the expensive, stain-resistant slacks. And the fact that he's also a parent helped our cute little Sophie stay that way!

We left Monday and got in late that night. Lutzes drove all the way down and generously offered to pick us up at the airport. Not the most convenient thing, but I think since there was a Sophie involved, there was no hesitation. I don't really blame them! She remembered them, talked to them a bit and finally fell asleep on the drive. Lutzes just got back from their epic Europe trip to Germany and Switzerland, and we loved listening to the stories, looking at pictures, and drinking the dee-lish apricot brandy they brought back. All the families came over to visit and we had a fantastic time. The kids were super great with Sophie! Allison, Ben and Hannah played with her and even went outside on the deck to blow bubbles.




























Kristin and Rhonda laughed at her when she put the lego bucket on her head. Nut!




























Grandma and Grandpa sang to her and read her books.














They got her a doggie from Switzerland and two books in German, that Sophie ALWAYS wants me to read. I think I'm getting better every time, but usually I just try to point out the pictures and sort of make it up as we go along. Of all the 20 books we have here, lately she has been picking the German ones 99% of the time. It's cute and I'm pretty sure she's on to the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing or saying!

Thursday we left good ol' Mt. P and headed down to Lowell. The last time Sophie has seen the dogs was around Christmas, when she cried when Clay tried to kiss her. Now, it was an entirely different story! She was just as interested in them as they were of her. It was pretty cute!


We visited Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park on Friday in the 2018 degree heat. Click here to check out the website! It was so amazing! It's been open this long and I can't believe we've never visited! Here are a few pictures of Jim and Sophie. The flowers were beautiful and the sculptures were thought-provoking and interesting, however, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't had the pleasure of visiting.




































Afterwards, we picked up Grandma from work and went to our favorite pizza place (Salvatore's!) in all of Grand Rapids. This is also where Sophie decided to show Grandma and Grandpa her "evil eye" face.














More random photos:
Sophie enthralled with the hummingbird on the feeder.














Sophie found the toy drawer! The princess is wearing her rightful crown! (These three were taken by Grandpa Mallory.)






















































Sophie "jumping" in the backyard.

Breaking News: The Cuteness sighted!

THIS JUST IN! We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this important bulletin. The elusive creature that is The Cuteness has been sighted again. Reports are coming in that this time she has been seen in and around Seattle, WA. Authorities confirm that witnesses have, in fact, seen The Cuteness, and strongly insist she is not dangerous, nor should caution be exercised if confronted. In fact, physical contact is suggested and encouraged. She has responded well in the past with hugs and kisses. There is video evidence of one sighting, shot by an Adrienne Lutz aka Mama from Bellevue, WA. The video footage of the incident you are about to see is unedited and raw.



Now back to your regularly scheduled program. Stay tuned as we keep up with this important story, more at 11.

19 months!

Happy birthday, sweetheart!














STATS:
33 1/2 inches tall
25 pounds

Walking and Talking!

I thought it would be nice to give you an update about The Soph. She is blossoming into an absolutely beautiful child, walking and talking! If I do say so myself. And I do. She is quick, too! Besides running around, she also enjoys playing with us (hide-and-seek, blocks, drawing on her MagnaDoodle, coloring), reading books (over and over and over!), ANYTHING Mommy and Daddy are doing, pretty much getting into EVERYTHING, and dancing to music! Anytime she hears anything musical, she moves her little butt! She likes it so much that we even have random dance parties during the day. She's pretty good at staying in time with the music. I don't know where she gets that!

As you saw a few videos down, Sophie likes to talk. A lot. About everything. In fact, I thought it would be a nice time to chronicle what she says and how she says them at 18 months. This will be interesting looking back, I think, in a few years. Or at high school graduation. Same diff.

There are a few words that she says quite clearly and there are times that Jim and I both look at each other and say "HUH?!?"). She babbles constantly, incoherently but confidently! She says things and acts like we should have understood everything she said. It's quite cute. The words she says are really mundane things to most adults, but to us it's pretty impressive. We are proud that she knows so much.

WHAT HOW
flower.................flowah
wow....................wwwwowww
ball
baby
this/that.............diss/daT (she enunciates the T)
mama/mommy
dada/daddy
grandpa..............gampah
thank you...........taintyu
water..................watah
milk....................milhhh
banana...............nana
juice
blueberries........bubeebees
strawberries......stahbeebees
apple..................ahhhpoh
tickletickle.........tittletittle
duck...................duh
doggie................dawdie
yuck...................yuhhh
wooo, stinky.....wooo teentee
bye-bye
hi/hello
night-night......nahnah (this gets confused with banana. A lot.)
purple..............puhpoh
blue.................behhhh
airplane...........beebee
yay (clapping)..eeeeee
tree
turtle
fish
bunny.............nunnah
elbow
knee...............Neeeeeeee
Henry ............Ennnnnnreeee (Our friend's little boy. She calls all baby boys this.)
Up Up Up
shoes
bath

When she sees the Cirque tent, she points and says "Dada" so she knows that's where he works.

She likes to sing. When I sing a scale, she imitates me. Also she sings to herself when playing or in her crib.

Can identify body parts when asked. Where's your eye? Where's Daddy's eye? etc. This is one of her favorite activities also. I was reading an alphabet book, the letter I was up. She pointed at her eye. She is very bright!

Can make animal noises. When she sees birds, she tweets. When she sees monkeys, she oooh ooh aah aahs. (Once at Trader Joe's grocery store, she saw a monkey by the bananas and made the noises. Even passers-by commented on how bright she is!) When we ask what a walrus says, she can even bellow. :]

She understands simple directions. Push the button, pick something up, put something in a specific place, let's go brush your teeth, etc.

She can identify many different household objects also, like clothing and furniture. The other day we were putting on her shoes to go out and she had her sippy cup in her hand. We have two tables in our apartment, a coffee table and a dining table. Sitting by the coffee table, Jim asked her to put the cup on the table. She got up and put it on the dining table. :]

As you can see, I'm a proud mama! Here are a few recent pictures that I snapped here in Seattle of Sophie being cute/doing her favorite things.




























Playing with Dada




























Laying on the floor, reading














MagnaDoodle


















She also insists on putting her socks on HERSELF. She's very persistent. (Make sure the volume is down, there's a mommy voice in there.)