Another First

Today was a big day. Sophia said good bye to her first locks with an official trip to the salon. While we loved her baby hair and the mullet that she has sported for so long, we decided (with the encouragement of Aunt Rinnie) that it was time to let the look go. She enjoyed the experience and loved the idea that she could look into the mirror while someone played with her hair.



I'm hoping to get a cute after picture up here soon. Hopefully before 2 months passes.

In other Sophia updates, her vocabulary has skyrocketed in the past 2 weeks- she knows over 15 animal sounds, loves saying Purple, Blue, Yellow, Green, Bubble, Baby, More and many other fun words. She recently learned how to tickle so it's become one of her favorite things to do, especially in the morning as a way of waking up Dada. We also have frequented the many SprayGrounds and public pools around town- trying to beat this summer heat wave has been a bit challenging.

For those of you who haven't heard by now, you probably have guessed by my photos that we're expecting another Lipinski this coming August. We're trying to prepare Soph for the new arrival, but we're not quite sure how much she is understanding. I'm sure she'll be a great big sis!

Sophia Does Key West!

Why does it always happen that when you go on vacation, vacation-mode doesn't set in until 2 days before you're scheduled to head home??? Sophia wonders the same thing! She and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Key West. We met up with Mia and PopPop and stayed at a cute bungalow in Old Town, within walking distance to Duval Street, Southernmost point, and all the other hot spots. We visited the Butterfly Conservatory, the Aquarium, and other popular destinations. The photos below represent just some of the good times we had. As you will see, lots of water was involved. While Sophia wasn't too fond of the sand and surf, she did enjoy the pool scene. Sophia officially says "Mama" now which is very exciting. She also says "Baby" and "Uh oh!" (within context of course). She is also very fond of giving raspberries and blowing kisses. Thankfully for us she also figured out that going in her stroller was actually a good idea as we did a lot of walking. Some of you may be wondering why Mike didn't come along... Unfortunately he had a presentation to do for Fellows Research Day and then he went out to San Fran for a meeting. (Don't feel too bad for him though as he is getting in his own vacation as well- The 4 Lipinski boys + Nate hit the bar scene, he and his lab had some of the best sushi they have ever had and I just heard from him that Lipinski et al were renting tour bikes to bike across the Golden Gate to have lunch in Sausalito!)

Enjoy!

Trip To Baltimore

Thank you to Rob, Katie and Jordan for a fantastic weekend in Baltimore! We had a great time at the zoo! Sophia got to feed Angel, the giraffe, and loved the rhinos and chimpanzees! We even met Samson, the 2 year old African elephant who already weighs 1900 pounds!

Chaos

Sophia is now taking on Shawn's childhood nickname of "one speed". She now runs everywhere and insists on doing everything herself. She is described at school as "strong-willed" and loves playing outside in the schoolyard. We visited a friend the other day who has a 10 week-old son and while interested in the kid, I can foresee some jealousy issues for attention in the future. The great thing is that Sophia exhausts herself during the day and is now sleeping 12 hours which is great.

The Big Apple!

I learned something this weekend about my daughter that I never thought could be possible. Sophia could very well be a city girl! A big city girl at that! Whether it was the yellow cabs, the stroller rides through the streets, the tall shiny buildings, the jaunts around the parks, or the stops in the neighborhood shops, Sophia was in awe.

We just got tucked in from a fabulous weekend up in New York visiting Aunt Rinnie, Uncle Edward and Mia. The weekend couldn't have been any better thanks to Rinnie's planning and Poppop's help. We visited Mia at her SmileTrain office in Manhattan and had a lunch at the ever popular ShakeShack in Madison Avenue Park. Sophia yummed up her burger and fries like a champ.


Helicopter and Boat TV kept Soph occupied at Mia's apartment while we had a tasty lunch. Check out the view- unfortunately I didn't catch it but just to the left of my shot is the Statue of Liberty.

On our way to the Brooklyn Bridge Park to get the best ice cream in New York.

Sophia checking out her shadow.

Mmmm, coffee ice cream!

Happy Birthday Sophia!!





We have had a lot of snow over the past few weeks here in Charlottesville. This past weekend we were snowed in with 9 inches! We had good friends in town which made it a blast. My best friend Karen from graduate school was down visiting from Toronto and our good friend Christa hunkered down with us for the weekend. We made smores by the fire and played board games all night. We just got another 2 inches last night and predictions have been as high as 32 inches for this weekend. We'll see!

Christmas 2009

Hopefully I haven't lost Sophia's blog audience with this delay of postings. I keep thinking I am going to have more time to get things done but things just keep getting in the way- like a toddling toddler... Enjoy these few pictures of our time in California for Christmas. Future posts will include more of these pictures as well as some fantastic ones from her Birthday Party.

Four Generations of Lipinski Women!


At the Tahoe cabin