Family

It has been a while since I posted any blogs - for good reason. We have been spending a lot of time visiting family this summer. More to follow soon. But in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from our most recent trips. The first is a 4 generations photo taken in July and the second is a Pereira family self-portrait taken in August.

Note: Sofia has about a million outfits and it is just a coincidence that she is wearing the same rainbow dress in each of these pictures. She also smiles, almost all of the time. It is also just a coincidence that she looks like she would rather be anywhere else!

All Joy, No Fun

'All Joy, No Fun' was the sub headline of this article in the New York magazine a few weeks back. Despite agreeing whole-hearted with the article's general premise, we thought we would try to break out of our humdrum routine and go on our first, short, family vacation. We choose the Catskills, a mountain range 3 hrs north of NYC.

We had a great time, staying in a ski lodge in the summer. One day we hiked to a waterfall and Sofia cooled off by wadding in. In this picture she doesn't look too keen but she got into shortly afterward.

We also went to a petting zoo - good though we didn't agree with their choice of keeping some bigger animals that most certainly did not belong (tiger, bear and bison). But we did feel a bit better when we saw that all of the animals appeared to be healthy. Here we are looking like we love our child and our lives.

Some of the better animals included giant tortoises, roaming around freely, and baby bunnies. We were able to take them out of their hutch and hold them. Sofia was trying to be gentle but still managed to poke everyone of them in the eye.

Here is Sofia literally trying to climb into the deer's enclosure. If you can see, she is holding on unaided. We suggested that we throw her in with the monkeys. She would be just fine.

So all in all, quite a lot of fun really. We were still asleep by 10pm and awake by 7am. But I think that is now life as we know it. Babies just don't sleep in on vacation. But we love her anyway.

Girls on Tour

Sofia and I recently made a trip to California. I am careful to describe this as a trip - NOT a vacation. I'm feeling that I am not going to have one of those in a very, very long time. Sofia really was a well behaved little traveler but she didn't carry anything, make any meals, pay for anything, or even change her own diaper. Therefore, she was more of a fashion accessory than a contributing member of our travelling team. I'll forgive her - this time. We did, however, have a wonderful time seeing our friends in Northern California. This photo was taken at a Flash Back Play Date, featuring Vicky/Emmy and Jodi/Rio. Both great friends from high school and with babies near Sofia's age.

We also stayed with one of my nearest and dearest friends from back home, Trisha, and her family. She also was kind enough to have a baby around Sofia's age so she had a live-in playmate. Here are Cooper and Sofia playing in his crib. She, of course, is thinking about how she is going to get her hands on him. And he is thinking about how he is going to get away from her.

And as expected, Trisha and family exposed Sofia to all sorts to delights, including BBQ ribs. She worked on this thing for (seemingly) hours. She really enjoyed it, to the point of being sick. But good things don't come cheap, right?

Our friend, Rob (aka Uncle Bobo), tagged along with us from part of the trip. It was great having him aboard the 'Girls on Tour' tour bus. But really, can you trust a man that sleeps in a princess bed with a pink magician's hat?

The last of the trip was rounded out by flying to San Diego and visiting Auntie Megan and Uncle Chris. They did what they know best: treat us to an awesome time, encourage drinking and hanging out at the beach. Here we are taking Sofia to the beach for the first time. She LOVED the sand, by the way, and promptly tried to display her affection by putting her mouth on it (seaweed included). Gritty diapers are not pretty (not that Megan would know).

We arrived back home more tired than I thought humanly possible. But I felt like Super Mom. Rob agrees - I AM Super Mom. But I am not going to try out my powers again for a very long time.

Sofia on the Move

Here is Sofia doing two of her new tricks: crawling and saying "dada." Other unfilmed tricks include waving, clapping and refusing fruit outright.

More please!

This is what my sister just texted me. The blog isn't cutting it, she said. Well, nothing helps me pull my finger out like an insult to my blog. So this is more. So do you wonder how a near 9 month old spends her day? Other than sleeping, eating and pooping (while making some excellent faces and grunts) she is generally trying to get up and go. Just recently she figured out how to roll over. That one has been a tough one for her. She is, however, an fantastic butt scooter. She is constantly rocking back and forth moving herself around millimeter by millimeter. This new found movement has caused some distress, for all of us, as MANY times in the night we are awoken to her screeches. When we rush in to see what has devastated our little princess, we see that she has rolled over and is on all fours - and can't figure out how to lay back down. We will all be thrilled when she finally aces that test.

She is also working on some other baby tricks, namely saying 'mama' and ignoring 'dada' completely. She is also starting to wave bye-bye and give kisses (though the kisses seem to be solely reserved for her daddy and her baby lover-lover Max).

And lastly,we are all gearing up for the World Cup. Uncle Bobo has even sent over an England strip so that she can be supporting the winning side (or in any case, the side who cares the most).

Here is the 'more' that Megan was after. Please excuse Antony's hairy chest and boxer shorts in the video. I wanted to include it as THAT is exactly how she spends her days.

Our Resident Camera Hog

She is the focal point of any picture. She has her own personal paparazzi. She smiles the majority of the day so most every shot is a winner. But can you blame us? We are transfixed by her gummy grin (still no teeth), cornflower blue eyes and peek-a-boo ears.

The last few weeks have been busy with work commitments and settling into our new apartment. With the grandparents extraordinaire here until early this week, we had a live-in nanny and a handyman. We used their talents well and literally worked them until the final hours before their departure! They now are enjoying a well deserved break from their two month vacation.

So now it's just the three of us - but only for a few weeks and then Gigi the Great comes for a couple of weeks to look after the baby while Rachelle does two weeks of FULL TIME WORK. Ouch, this is going to hurt.

In other news, Sofia now likes to eat lamb tagine, chicken stir fry and cauliflower with granddad's beef bourguignon sauce. But try to give her a banana, mango or strawberry and she will curl her lips into a pout and refuse to open up. Go figure.

Home Sweet Home

It has been a while since I have made any postings - I apologise to the two of you that regularly tune in! Things have been crazy here - with friendly and familiar visits and, of course, the big move. Luckily, we have had Ann & Bernard, grandparents extraordinaire, here to help us and take care of baby. You might be thinking that our move must not have been that big of a deal, besides out 600 sq ft apartment was about the size of a modest suburban bathroom. But our stuff, and Sofia's giant collection of clothes and toys, needed to be lugged down 4 flights of stairs. Even with burly Ukrainians heaving it up and down the stairs, it was a big job. But now the dust has settled in our new place and now we have places to sit and sleep. What's left is just a million jobs necessary to make this apartment our home.

You may be wondering what we think of our new place. Well, we are enjoying this moment where we don't have much furniture and there seems to be vast open spaces - giving us the impression that we live in a 1,000 ft Taj Mahal. This is a picture of Sofia kicking back, enjoying the space. I must admit that we do sort of miss the clouds of pot smoke lingering in the hallway, but we are dealing with it.

Babysitting and moving related chores can start to become overwhelming, so we decided to take a well deserved break at the Cloisters. For those of you New Yorkers (and tourists) who have never been, it is a must see on a nice Spring weekday.