Just a little memory I wanted to note for the future…today was our last Luvcharlie mailer. I am a little sad to let go of the business but more so excited for our new adventure. Luvcharlie will always hold a dear place in my heart. It was my very first venture and business of my own, and it is how your amazing daddy and I met in Las Vegas 7 years ago. It brought us to Chicago and owning our first home, which in turn brought us to you. Thank you Luvcharlie for where you have taken us in life and all the blessings we are so grateful for. These past 7 years are full of so many amazing memories and I wouldnt change any of it. Now on to the next chapter in life and here’s to a future of many more memories!

This is a little late, however I have a good excuse…you were teething! The whole world goes on hold and Sophie time when you are teething. Luckily you seem to be doing much better the past few days, and when we were out for our walk and you opened your mouth huge at a squirrel, mommy got a good look at what has been going on in there…you have three massive molars that have cut through! You now have a total of 4 molars. What a champ! Anyway, on to other things that don’t cause you so much pain.

1. You are now saying UP, MAMA, DADA, DOG (maybe), CAT (another maybe) and plenty other words that sound like things but im still not postive. Whatever you are saying, you are saying  a lot. You love blabbing and we love listening. You love to stare at yourself in the mirror and just blab and blab and smile…which brings me to my next point.

2. You def. admire yourself. Whether it is talking to yourself in the mirror, watching videos of yourself or looking at pictures, you are absolutely enamored with yourself. You smile whenever you see your own face. Duh, look at it…mama can’t blame u.

3. Food is a non issue with you. You love it all. Seriously you love eating. We still havent given you any meat, chicken or fish and i am torn with when and if i want to introduce this. At this point i think i will wait until you decide you want it. I wont force you to be vegetarian by any means but i just cant see why i would give you any of that now when we aren’t eating it. We’ll address this when the time comes but for now you are happy eating whatever mommy and daddy are eating and you love beans so i am not worried about protein or any of that nonsense.

4. You are still bfeeding. Yes maam that is right and one day you will say gross mom, but right now you are not interested in giving it up.

5. You love your dolly stroller, pink car, elmo doll, Saki, and all the bouncy balls.

6.You have ahhhh 12 teeth! 4 top, 4 bottom, and 4 molars!

7. You are down to one nap a day and still not sleeping through the night. I hear these parents talk about “sleep training” but mommy and daddy just aren’t down with that whole cry it out method. Yup, we’re suckers for you so we just learn how to run on less sleep. I guess you could say that you have successfully sleep trained mommy and daddy.

8. You have so many hilarious games that you have made up. Your latest one is when we say “goodnight sophie im going to sleep” and we fake sleep and then you look at us and go “ahhhh” in this adorable high pitched scream. Each day you come up with a new little prankster game. You like hiding in the closet, spinning around in circles, hiding under your mat, sitting with saki in your bassinet, and so many more. You seriously are a little trickster and i love it!!

9. You know where your head, belly button, eyes, mouth, teeth, feet, and hair are and you will show me when i ask you. You will also play a game with me and keep pointing to your head when i say where other things are- you know you are being funny and you keep doing it. LOL.

10. You talk to anyone who will listen. You just walk around saying goombi ga bah la badoing taka dah dah dah. Oh if we only knew what it all meant. Sometimes you laugh during it when you have said something funny, and others you will get demonstrative and i am assuming it is serious. Either way, you may not speak full on words yet, but you sure do know how to communicate everything you want.

11. You love dancing and showing your belly button to everyone that passes.

12. You took your first ride on the El train, fed your first giraffe, and blew your first bubble by yourself!

Sosi you are becoming a little girl now and i really cant take it. You are so incredible. Mommy and daddy just love you so much and are so insanely proud of you that words can’t even describe. Please always know throughout life that we are your number 1 fans ALWAYS! At the ripe age of 1 you have impressed us more than anyone else in the world. Today you went out to lunch with Dada so mommy could shower and when i walked to meet you two you got so excited and came running to me with a biggest grin and wrapped your arms around me! There is no other feeling in the world as good as the one you gave me today. You had so much fun exploring with your daddy and he even got you a big ole cookie. I love you both more than anything. XOXOXOXO. Happy 16 month birthday Iggs!

Steve Jobs just passed away and although I never knew much about him other than his genius inventions, Daddy sent me a quote of his that really struck a chord with me. I figured i would share as I found this really fitting for the change we are about to experience in our lives. We are about to move out of the country next month and try something new. We’ve tossed around this idea for a while and finally decided that if we don’t do it now while you are young, we will never do it and we dont want to be those people looking back at our lives saying “wish we did that when we had the opportunity, etc”. We think you are going to love it, and well if you don’t, then back to the states we come! Anyway, here is the quote…

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”