Sonya's First 100 Words

I got this idea off a fridge of someone I know. They had a piece of paper attached with a magnet to the fridge of the first 100 words of their child. I decided to do something like that, but here in our blog. I will update this as she adds to her vocabulary. Here they are so far:
1) Dadadada/Dad - About 5 months ago
2) Mamamama/Mom (used most often when she has a dirty diaper) - Just after dadada
3) Babababa (bottle or bink)- About two weeks ago
4) Milk - 2/20/09
5) Gagagaga (cookie or food) - 2/20/09
6) Yeah - 2/21/09
7) What's that? - 2/22/09
8) Bye - 2/27/09
9) Hi - 2/27/09
10) Good night - 2/28/09
11) Book - 3/7/09
12) Ball - 3/9/09

"What's That"

Sonya is getting better and better communicating every day. She has recently started pointing at things and asking, "What's that?" It is her first complete sentence.

Word Number Four

So, Karren called me earlier today to tell me that Sonya said her 4th word (that we have recognized). The first three were: daadaadaadaa (dad), mamamamama (mom), and bababababa (first bottle then bottle/bink). Today, Sonya was saying bababababa, and Karren reached for her bink. She shook her head and said milk. I'd been pointing to the milk and saying the word. It looks like she internalized it. We sometimes think she is saying "yeah", but we aren't certain, so milk become word 4.

Three Years and Counting

As of today, Karren and I have been married three years. I feel that I am extremely blessed and, with the addition of Sonya just over a year ago, our little family has its own pocket of blissful happiness.

Karren is so kind and giving and has taught me a lot about myself and about what it means to be part of a family. Her smile still warms my entire body and I am truly excited to be able to spend each day and night with her. I never realized love would feel like this.

Sonya adds greatly to my joy. Her excitement when I come home from work and her unhappiness when I leave makes me feel like the most important thing in the world to her. Her unconditional forgiveness would be a great attribute to emulate. Her desire to learn and try new things inspires me.

My two girls mean the world to me. I am so glad that I waited for Karren and that she consented to be my bride. She is now my companion and my best friend and I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with her. I hope that together, we will be able to raise our children to be God fearing and model citizens. After all, they have an excellent example in their mother.

What a difference a year makes

Sonya is 13.5 months old now. We have a friend who is a fantastic photographer. She has photographed Sonya since she was just a few days old and has given us permission to post some photos. Other examples of her work are found on her business web site, KM Design Photography.

These first two photos were taken just following her birth:

These last two photos were taken last Wednesday:

Camping in the California Desert

Our first big outdoor adventure of the year was a camping trip two hours outside of San Diego, California in Anza-Borrego State Park with our friends Stephen and Sarah Connell. Karren and Sarah had been planning this for months and we were really happy we went. Unfortunately, we brought the rain with us (which the San Diegoites claim almost never happens).

We started out our adventures last Thursday. After staying up late the night before to finish packing (which Karren is much better at), we got a few hours of sleep before Sarah woke us up with a friendly phone call at 4 AM. We had a 7 AM flight and had to head out to the airport. Lucky for us, we had a good friend (Kyle Morgan) drive us. We arrived in San Diego in the early afternoon, picked up Sarah's father's car, ate some lunch, and headed out to the campground. We set up camp in the desert with a gorgeous backdrop of treeless mountains. Sadly, we only had one tarp and so we set the tents back to back. This was great except for the fact that Sarah didn't count on the fact that Sonya wakes up early, and so does her father to take care of her. While we set up the camp ground, Sonya explored the campground. We were all tired, so we played a quick game of Carcasonne and went to bed.

The next day, we embarked on our main hike up Palm Canyon. Sarah parents, Chris and Jamie, took Karren and Sarah up here often during their childhood. They had fond memories of this hike and remembered lucious waterfalls and gorgeous groves. Unfortunately, a flash flood altered the landscape a couple of years ago, but it was still gorgeous. The hike consisted of climbing up the mountainous canyon towards an oasis of palm trees.

Here, Sonya and I start up the mountain with confidence.

In fact, with company like this, how could you go wrong?

After a rocky climb, we arrived at the first oasis!

At this point, it was way past Sonya's bed time, but we continued on!

Unfortunately, with the bouncy climbing of rock, Sonya got more and more grumpy, so Sonya and I stopped for a nap while the others moved on. She slept on my chest for the next 2.5 hours while the others continues on to see what was left of the 3 or 4 groves further up the canyon. The answer was a palm tree here and another there.

Saturday, we took a trip to the visitor center where we learned the difference between crows (city birds), ravens (country birds) and their cousin the condor. Sonya took her new bunny with her, a gift from Chris and Jamie. The Visitor's center took longer than we expected, and it was 3 PM when we left, again way past Sonya's bedtime. Stephen and I went back to the camp to let Sonya nap while Karren and Sarah went up the hill pictured behind. Karren claims Sarah tried to kill her. In reality, she just got stabbed by a cactus and lost her hat.

Sunday, we packed up and left the campground and spent some good time with Chris and Jamie. They had a concert for Sonya (Chris is a grade school music teacher), We also ate together and walked around Old Town in San Diego. They put us up in a nice hotel in Mission Bay that night. It was great getting off the hard ground.

Finally, this morning (Monday), we had a nice breakfast with my old college buddy, Dan Muir, got on a plane and came home. It was tons of fun and now we need to get back to real life, work, work, work. :(

A tough week for Sonya

The week started tough for poor Sonya. Early Tuesday morning (around 2:30 AM), I heard a distressed cry from her crib. I got up to see what was up and found a baby with a 101 degree fever. Karren and I are soft and so I immediately took her to our bed. She wasn't comfortable at all that night due to mucus and the fever, but in her parents' bed, she slept better.

Wednesday, Sonya wanted to be held all day long and slept the majority of it. Although this was a good thing, it caused a rough night for me. She wasn't as tired as usual when it was time for bed, and we still let her sleep in our bed. This caused her to toss and turn all night and she stayed on my side of the bed (She is a snuggler and I tend to be the warmer body). Needless to say, my sleep was limited also.

Thursday, Sonya was feeling better, which was good because Karren had work to do. She even took a four hour nap while Karren got all sorts of things done (laundry, weekly cookies, cleaning). Karren was able to get out that night to her enrichment group, Doomsday Divas, where she learned lots of good tips from a master gardener.

Friday, Karren got started on her weekend cake and cupcakes. It was our turn in our babysitting group so we watched Talmage and Sidney Barker and Anika Vance. It went well except for the fact that Sonya fell onto the bricks by our wood burning stove and got bruised/cut on the left side of her face between her eye and lip. She wouldn't let Karren or I get near, but we sure tried our best. She is a tough kid.

Saturday was cake day for Karren and I was able to remove more of our dead tree from our backyard. Karren and I went to a dance lesson where I attempted to learn some waltz and swing moves.

Today, Sunday, we woke up to a surprise. Karren was feeding Sonya and she noticed her first tooth pushing out from her gums. It only took 13 months!