Back to normal

The fires that were closest to our home are now extinguished. It got pretty scary for a while, as many neighboring communities were evacuated. Fortunately, our neighborhood was not asked to leave. In fact, we were told to stay at home, off the roads and not to talk on the cell phone or run electrical appliances between 11 am and 6 pm and to keep all of our windows shut. It's like house arrest.

Most of that is now over. Both The Husband and I are back to work. We are opening the windows every now and then, but the air quality is still pretty bad (but it doesn't smell anymore), so we're still not taking Sophia out for walks or to the park yet for any extended amounts of time. Hopefully that will change by the end of this week.

The weather here (both pre and post fire) has been a real mixed bag. Early mornings and evenings are pretty cool- in the 50's and 60's. But daytime highs have been in the 80's and even in the low 90's in parts of the county. That is crazy for October! Bcause it's late October, I want to dress Sophia like it's FALL-



But this weekend was warm and sunny, so Sophia was sporting a cuuute dress-




The Husband and I think that Sophia will be getting some more teeth soon. I don't see anything in her mouth yet, but she's gnawing and drooling like crazy lately, and she's been pretty cranky lately. Normally, Sophia's pretty easy going and generally in a good mood. These past few days, well, The Husband and I call it "woman on the edge." One minute she's fine, the next she's crying. Hopefully, this tooth will come SOON and we can have our baby back.

So, with all this crankiness, Sophia refused to take a nap yesterday afternoon. So, since it was sunny and clear out, we decided to get her dressed up in her halloween costume and take some pictures outside. All I have to say is - ADORABLE!!!

Update on the Fires

In case anyone checks the blog to find out what's going on with us, the house, and the fires:

We're ok. The fires are pretty close (about 6-10 miles away) but we haven't been evacuated yet. Basically, we're on lockdown- the mayor requests all people who have not been evacuated stay in their homes, off the roads and off cell phones. It's going to be 90 degrees today- and we dont' have air conditioning! UGH.

We promise to keep everyone informed w/ whats going on.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Costumes

I purchased Sophia a halloween costume. But when it arrived, it turned out to be Waaaaaay too big. So I'm going to save it for next year. It should fit then. But even though she was swimming in it, it's still adorable.

So the Husband went to Disneyland on Friday with everyone from work as a team building exercise. (Yeah, MY company wants to build the team, the bosses treat us to lunch. HIS company takes everyone to Disneyland). While there, he visited the Princess Store and picked up a Tinkerbell costume for Sophia. Seriously, it is too cute for words. (and, you can tell from the look on her face that she just thinks its the best costume ever!!)

Let's discuss: You know you're from Chicago when....You put your baby's halloween costumes on over long sleeve tee shirts, because, as we all know, you have to wear clothes under your costume or else you may freeze to death and/or catch a cold. I am still not accustom to the fact I can wear tank tops and flip flops in late October. It's just not right.

I also asked the Husband to pick up some Mickey Mouse ears for Sophia. Now, I meant the beanie thing with the ears on it and her name embroidered on it. Granted, I did not say "Get some Mickey Mouse ears, the beanie kind with her name embroidered on it." I know, I know, I should be specific. But I thought he would know what I was talking about. I was wrong. The Husband came home with these:

That is not a beanie with her name on it.



Yesterday, we met Mike and his family at a pumpkin patch. This allowed us to take some pretty cute pictures. I'm not sure how much Sophia liked it, as she was pretty tired, and was refusing to nap. I wanted to take a picture of her sitting in a vat o pumpkins. But she wasn't having it.

A photo tribute to 7 months

Look at Me! I have a brush!

I think there is a limit as to how many pictures you can put in one post. I've been trying for days to get all my pics in the last post, but to no avail. Here are 2 more pictures from September that I just love.

come on, this is adorable




oh she loves her Cinko.

My Baby Is Seven Months Old

The last few weeks have been fairly quiet. Sophia still only has 2 teeth, but they have come in more. She caught her first cold from one of the kids with whom she goes to day care. The sick kid, her parents insisted that she wasn't sick at all. She was just "teething." Teething that causes your nose to run and to cough. Well, Sophia caught "the teething." Then the Husband and I both caught "the teething." This teething disease we have going around here is a real pain. Sophia has had "the teething" for two weeks now.

Sophia is still very vocal- lots of sounds "ma ma" "da da" and other things. She still isnt' crawling yet, but she's realy thinking about it. She scoots around the kitchen on her belly, and every now and then gets up on all fours. She's not there yet, but she's close.

So Sophia's new big girl thing is that she takes baths in the real tub now as she has outgrown the baby tub. She's doing really well, as she can sit up really well now. As you can imagine, its made for some really cute pictures. So here's some pics from the last two weeks of September. I'll post October pictures later.



Now, here's why I love this picture. Everyone says how much Sophia looks like me. I think it's the coloring- she has my hair, skin and eyes (more or less). But in this picture- this is the Husband's face. My eyebrows can't move like this, and this is totally a look the Husband would shoot me.

It's like she's saying- what ARE you talking about, lady??





She is sooo happy!!!