Sofia - "It's Fun to be One"

A disproportionate amount of her cards said this phrase, but Hallmark was not lying. Sofia is tons of fun at a year old and she seems to just be getting better and better. Now I am not saying that I am over the moon at this baby/toddler turning point. I am quite sad when I store away her little outfits or she wiggles a bit more in the rocking chair when I am in the mood for a 'moment.' But I also applaud her development: her tiny tooth, putting her hand up to her ear when we say 'hello' as if she is answering the phone, and her special way of hailing a taxi (one finger pointed in the air). She is an amazing little creature and I (we) love her dearly.

Her daddy loves her so dearly that he is going to bust out the rest of this blog (readers, be ready).

I know I am supposed to say, a year already? really! but it really does seem along time ago and to be honest I can't remember what the old Antony was like. I know he had a lot more free time and a lot less grey hair but he seems a stranger to me now. The new me is not necessarily better but more rounded and richer (in a purely non financial sense of course) for going through the pain barrier time and again then being rewarded with a sloppy kiss or a squeal of delight.

I have no idea how we lucked out and brought such a happy and gorgeous little girl into the world or how we have managed to go through a whole year without a visit to the emergency room but here we are, she is one and we are ever so proud. She will be our little girl forever and the worst day with her exceeds all the days that went before. So cheers to the little monkey, may she be happy, smiling and carefree forever and a day.

Love R & A xxx

PS Just went into her room to give her a kiss while she is sleeping, she looks adorable.

Sofia's 1st Birthday Party(s) Photo Album

Sofia's NYC Birthday Party: September 18, 2010

Sofia's Birthday: September 14, 2010

Sofia's UK Birthday Party: Newcastle, August 2010

For those extra keen fans, here are a couple of albums chronicling "Sofia's Best."

Sofia's Best

Sofia's Best (Cont.)

Nearly a year

Nearly a year and I am not happy about it - where did my baby go? I was in Chicago recently with work and when I got back she seemed older! Perhaps it is the peek-a-boo new tooth she has now that wasn't there when I left. I will lament my baby's growth more in the next blog which will highlight her birthday, Sept 14th, and her party, Sept 18th. But for now, let me tell you about our latest trip to the UK.

We were planning a trip to the UK this summer and luckily were able to accommodate two major events: Bernard's 70th birthday party and the V Festival. Clearly, the V Festival wasn't as major as 70 years of life, but this V was going to be baby-free for three nights. So for us, pretty major. Here we are, "reliving our youth" as Anne suggested. We did, of course, have a great time with our dear friends Howard and Vicki who were also enjoying childless freedom (evidenced in the photo below).

Our childless fun didn't stop at V, we also had some great nights out with our Northern pals. Below is a photo with my fab girlfriends from back-in-the-day, Joanne, Alizon, Susan and Nicola. Our men were with us too but we just wanted a picture of ourselves, thank you very much.

It sounds as though we didn't spend any time with the baby. Of course we did, and the photos below act as evidence. Here is a proud and doting Uncle Bobo (he left his fairy princess crown at home this time).

Sofia was a great lover of the Northumberland coast. She didn't even mind the atmospheric August weather.

And Daddy got lots of cuddle time with his baby girl.

And before leaving the UK, we spent a weekend in London visiting our friends Dan & Grania and meeting their newest addition, Alice. What sweeties, Sofia and Alice were fast friends and they spent the majority of the weekend squeaking at each other. Here is some bath time fun. This is the kind of thing we will torture them with when they are 16 and moody.

Thanks everyone, as always, for showing we three such a great time. See you in the Spring!

Ps. Sofia did have an early birthday party in the UK but this will be highlighted in the next blog which will be all about BIRTHDAYS!

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.