Happiness Is... (according to me)

Happiness is when you are laying in bed at night and you hear your baby snoring from one room away.

Happiness is eating dinner at the same time as everybody else because your baby now feeds herself.

Happiness is trying to have a conversation over the dull roar of your baby saying, "Mmmm!" all the way through dinner.

Happiness is when you pick your baby up from being babysat by her Grandma Kathy to hear that her favorite thing to do while you were gone was point to pictures you are in and say, "Mama" and "Dada".

Happiness is drinking two cups of coffee in the morning because you are done nursing!

Happiness is putting on your favorite pre-pregnancy jeans and not having to shimmy (too much) ;-)

Happiness is getting a hug from Sophia.

Happiness is watching someone the size of a lawn gnome take her first steps.

Happiness is realizing you have not been up at 3am for a very long time.

Happiness is seeing little white nubs poking through your baby's gums after a few long days.

Happiness is buying a soft bouncy horse off of Craig's List that looks practically brand new for half the cost of a new one for your rowdy little girl's first birthday! Shhhh!

Happiness Is.... (according to Sophia)

Happiness is when your Daddy runs you a bath and makes it extra deep with lots of bubbles.

Happiness is eating beans straight out of the can.

Happiness is when your Grandma Kathy comes by just to see you after she gets off of work.

Happiness is sharing your scrambled eggs with your Momma in the morning.

Happiness is hiding a golf ball and then trying to find it again.

Happiness is when you go on a long car ride and your Momma passes you back a graham cracker and juice.

Happiness is waving and squealing from the window when your Daddy gets home from work.

Happiness is being rowdy and playing chase with your Daddy.

Happiness is giving your dolly hugs.

November

This baby has really been going gangbusters in the growing department lately. You won't believe it (mom and sisters) when we come for Christmas! Just make sure you've got some whole milk in the fridge. :-)

Looking rather serious and grown up. I told you!

We hung out with the Lucas girls last week! Sophia is only about a year younger than Annie, but Annie wanted to hold the baby. Too cute!

Here she is with her BFF Eloise. We had Tim and Jessie over for dinner and the girls were quite a circus at the dinner table. So afterwards they splashed around in the tub together and then we put them in their jammies and they both went to sleep. Jessie and I were quite pleased with ourselves and decided to celebrate by going to Wal-Mart baby-less and they promptly woke up.

You can kind of see Sophia's two new top front teeth in this picture.

Family photo right after Thanksgiving Dinner.

Hi! Sorry there hasn't been much to visit my blog for lately. Despite my lack of posts I do have a lot to report. Here goes...

Sophia took her first steps a week ago! It was 3 or 4 steps in pursuit of a toy and I'm not sure she really even realized she did it until we coaxed her into doing it a few more times. Since then she hasn't really attempted it many times, but it is only a matter of time I am sure.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving and hope you did too. We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Ben's Grandma Betty at her retirement home along with Dick, Kathy and Ben's Uncle Dave and Aunt Winnie.


On Saturday we drove to Lincoln City and met up with Tim and Jessie for a fun overnight beach trip complete with some outlet shopping and a dip in the hotub. Jessie and I bought the girls matching Christmas pajamas.

Sophia has started giving hugs! They are absolutely the best because she doesn't do it every day or even when you ask for one. It's only when I guess her little heart is running over and she has to let you know. She nestles in close, wraps her little arms around me as far as they will go and squeezes. HEAVEN!


When I was pregnant with Sophia the first thing I bought her was a little soft dolly. Recently Dolly has become a very important person around our house. Sophia likes to tuck her in between her neck and shoulder and give her loves and Dolly helps her fall asleep. There just aren't words for how cute it is!

Sophia's top front teeth are officially visible and she's working on the ones right next to them now.


My house is decorated for Christmas, ALREADY! Never in the history of my adult life have I been this on top of decking the halls, but we pulled down the Christmas boxes the day after Thanksgiving this year. We have yet to get our tree, but I am hoping we can do that this weekend. I love decorating my house for Christmas. The only part I don't like is how quickly it is all over and I have to take it all down.

My good friend Jessica and her husband Joaquin found out they are having a boy! His name will be Maximo Joaquin. We can't wait until he gets here!



Well, that's November. I can't believe it's already December and My Baby is going to be a year old! I'm sure December will provide lots of good blogging opportunities!

Doesn't She Make Doing Laundry Fun?

Notice her diaper peaking out over the top of her pants. Bye-bye 9-months clothes. This baby will be 11 months next week! Time to move up to the next size.

This is such an action shot isn't it? Almost like there are wheels on the basket.

One of her trademark new expressions. She has been crinkling up her nose and pursing her lips to express her increasing levels of spunk. Where did she get that from?

Minto-Brown Park

Oregon is on fire with the oranges, reds and yellows of Fall, which provided the perfect backdrop for some family photos at Minto-Brown Park on Sunday. After a long week of not feeling good all we had energy for was a short jaunt through the park, but a good time was had by all as shown in the pictures below.

Happy Halloween!

With no further ado here are the photos of Miss Sophia as Ladybug.

Notice she's giving you a little wave in this picture.

My fiery little ladybug.

As if we needed another reason to squeeze her!

Ladybug Fever

Me and my little ladybug have been sticking close to the nest lately. We've both been feeling a little under the weather and Sophia is cutting her top teeth at the same time. She usually likes to keep busy and has little time for cuddling, but yesterday she was either chasing me around the house or up in my arms. Although I enjoyed ever minute of it I was very relieved that she was feeling better today. No fever, but instead lots of smiles.

Here are a few preview halloween pictures for you. No, you can't see her whole costume until Halloween, you cheater you! But here are a few shots of her antennas to hold you over.

Happy girl!

Playing with her new toy from Jessie-Pants and The Pink Cheetah. They brought it by just to make her feel better. Thanks girls!

There's nothing like a good book when you are sick to get you through.

The Next Generation

Recently our friend Tricia Joles and her beautiful baby girl, Savannah, visited from Chicago. Trish and her husband Jess are good longtime friends of Ben's and we just happened to both have baby girls about ten days apart. It was fun to finally meet their sweet little SB (Savannah Bailey) and of course to see Trish. As you can see Savannah, Eloise and Sophia all get along quite well. We're looking forward to another playdate when they visit for Christmas!

Sunshine And Happy Days

Well it was another beautiful Sunday, which means I have new pictures to share. Although it was sunny it was also pretty cool, so we bundled the baby up in several layers and hit the trails. Dick lead the way and showed the family a cross-country ski shelter he is helping build above Lake Detroit a ways. After being cooped up at home all week we jumped at the chance to get out and frolic in the sun a little, even if our noses were still running a little.

Happy Sunday!

Just Checking In!

The past few weeks have been busy so I haven't done much posting lately. Here are some pictures to catch you up. We have had adventure-filled Sundays. Knowing that this beautiful weather can't last forever we have been cramming in hikes and scenic drives to hold us over until next year. The first two pictures below were taken at Silver Creek Falls, which we hiked through with Dick and Kathy a few weekends ago.

This week Sophia has had a cold so we've done a lot of sticking close to the ranch. Both Ben and I also got sick because we just can't keep ourselves from kissing our little miss. Although she hasn't been feeling well, she has been in pretty good spirits and hasn't let her chores slide. ;-)

Doesn't she look like her daddy!?!

The Thompsons

Happy little girl!

Sophia folds laundry.

Sophia cleans her room.

Sophia even organizes cupboards!

Mt. Hood Trip

I haven't seen Smokey around in years!

Above the trees!

The view was amazing!

The Fam.

Ben packed Sophia up the mountain.

Our eager little hiker.

I have lived in Salem for 11 years now and can you believe I had never been up to Mt. Hood until Sunday! I felt like a real phony, but I am a full-fledge Oregonian now. (Although I'll always be a Washintonian at heart) Anyway, Sophia hadn't been before either, so that makes two of us. ;-) The early fall in Oregon is pretty dreamy. As you can see we had bright blue skies and sunshine all day and it was heaven to enjoy the great outdoors all day. We also tried a new breakfast place that morning called Word of Mouth, which had some yummy and unique offerings. What a day!