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This past weekend we turned the back of our breakfast bar into a chalk board for Evan and Sophie to write on. We thought it might be a bit early for them, but it turns out to be a big hit. Evan loves it, and Sophie can’t decide if she wants to draw or eat the chalk, but it entertains them both for a long time. In fact, we were busy drawing when it was time for Calliou to start on TV on this evening, and we said Evan – “Do you want to watch Calliou?” Evan said – “Calliou – no” and went back to drawing!

Painting the house was finally finished last week. I think it was almost 4 weeks in total. We are very happy with the end result, and they made a lot of small repairs to the wood at the same time – so it was definitely worth the time and money.  Five colors in total: “Night Train”, “Gingerbread Man”, “Straw Hat”, “Indian River”, and “Cabernet” for the front door and back door.

First off, it’s an actual post by JP. David writes most of the posts, and I take a lot of the pictures. But I just had to get these two photos up as soon as possible. Our friends Mike and Michael, and their sons Christopher and Matteo came over for a play date this afternoon, and while we waited for them for arrive, we all were playing in the playroom and living room. Sophie decided to finally stand alone, actually not searching for my hand. Just seconds later, she took her first unassisted step, and then another until I caught her from falling. She did this over and over, eventually working her way up to 6 steps. 

Of course, we can’t find our video camera, but we did have the still camera, so this is all you’ll get to see for now.

Evan kept himself busy while we were taking photos, but once he sees the camera, he just wants to help and take a picture. Here he is approaching David to grab the camera.

Saturday was Sophie’s birthday celebration with a small group of family and freinds. We sort of did a spring/Lilly/cupcake theme – everything yellow and white. Unfortunately it was raining so the duck pond game we had rented from the party store didn’t make it out to the yard. I have read in a few places that a child’s first birthday is more about the parents and less about the child, since a big party with lots of kids tends to upset a one year old. We tried to keep it simple, about 20 adults and 6 kids – and the afternoon seemed to go well.  Sophie stayed happy the whole time, and seemed to enjoy the entire day including her cupcakes and opening presents. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the “happy birthday”  song becuase of the sheer number of voices, but she handled it like a champ and went right on to eat about  1/2 a cupcake. For Dad’s, it was a great afternoon socializing, entertaining, and watching the kids with grandparents, cousins, and freinds.

April 30 2009 was Sophie’s 1st birthday (and Daddy’s 42nd). Though we are having a party with family and friends on Saturday, we celebrated a little with Nana and Papi on the real day. Sophie’s favorite thing of the evening was the balloon. She also got a doll, and great little pink princess “car”, and her own chair with her name on it. We got her a cake to “play” with, and got one for Evan too because we knew it wouldn’t go very well if she was the only one with a cake. After cake, Daddies went out to dinner to celebrate Daddy’s birthday, and Nana and Papi put the kids to bed.

First of all, if you have never hear of the musical “Side Show”, its worth looking into. The music and lyrics are heart wrenching and describe a sibling relationship that I think is one of the most beautiful.  It reminds me a lot of what I hope for Sophie and Evan. Pictures I caught this morning make me so happy that they have each other now, and always will.

As Sophie gets older, the 10 months between them has begun to shrink quickly. When Sophie was born the weight difference between them was 20 pounds. (Sophie a small 4 pounds and Evan a big 24 pound 10 month old). Now they are 9 pounds apart (20 to 29) and a stranger asked JP the other day if he had twins! Sophie now has a sippy cup and this morning they were just enjoying being brother and sister.

Sophie looks up to Evan so much. She watches everything he does, and wants to follow him everywhere. That is tough for a 22 month old, who is just discovering himself as an individual, and wants to assert his independence. “mine” and “me” are favorite words, so understanding that Sophie is also part of his life can be challenging. Evan is a gentle soul, and a overall good kid though, so more often then not we get scenes like where they are playing together, experiencing each other as they grow together.

We went up to Fair Play on Friday night. First time we left after dinner – hoping the kids would sleep on the way up. They did! Transfering to beds in FP was easy, it took about 20 minutes to get them settled, but all in all the trip with the  lighter traffic, and quiet ride, was nice! Our friend Kathy and her Baby Margaux went with us  –  Daddy Brad was on his way to India for a week so Margaux got her first trip up to Fair Play under her belt pretty early. It was a vastly different than two years ago when Kathy and Brad would join us for weekends. That was two years and three kids ago between us. We had a great time – got to hang outside, do wine tasting, listen to some live music at Shadow Ranch Winery, and even tried an early dinner at Bocconato. Three adults, and three tiny kids made dinner interesting – but we made it, and enjoyed it even if there was ZERO adult conversation and little time to enjoy some great food.

I posted pictures of our boxes from Diapers.com a few weeks ago. This week Nanny and Pappi found a new use for the boxes. They made “boats” out of them for Evan and Sophie. It didn’t take much – open them up, throw a pillow in for a seat, and write “Evan’s Boat” and “Sophie’s Boat” on them. They were good for a couple of days of entertainment before trash day – and I am sure will be recreated at another time.

We have lived in our  house for almost 9 years now, and have been wanting to get it painted since the day we moved in. One big problem – we could never decide what color (s) to paint it! Two things happened that finally got us to make the commitment and get it done. First our neighbor to the left happens to be a designer that has appeared on “Curb Appeal” and other HGTV shows. Second, over the last 6 months, he has painted both his house and the house on the other side of him. Now – our house was the only one in the row of three houses that wasn’t  newly painted. We enlisted Doyle to help us out – and before we knew it – we were under way!

Things continue to go well in the household. April has been a good month! Both kids have been healthy, and Sophie has slept through the night every night for two weeks straight! Sophie is getting so close to being able to walk by herself. No “first step” yet, but she cruises, and she can stand up without holding on – she just wants to be holding on if she is going to take a step.