How big is Sofia?

Big enough to sit up on her own. According to her latest stats, she's grown 7 inches and gained 8 pounds since she was born. What a bruiser!

Six months old and a south-pawed self-feeder

For probably the last two months, Sofia has been fascinated with watching us eat. And, surprise, surprise, she seems particularly taken with chocolate. I guess the chocolate gene is a powerful one. But I digress. She's so into this eating thing that yesterday she grabbed the spoon from me and I let her have at it. And she fed herself. Now, I do have to admit that anything that makes it into her hand automatically goes into her mouth, but I'm still going to say she fed herself. The proof? Is in the pictures:

Daddy has also finally gotten into the feeding game, which is, needless to say, very nice for me!

40 is the new...senior citizen?

A whole slew of my girlfriends are having birthdays this week, their ages ranging from 29 to 51. They're all handling their advancement in age gracefully, which I admire. And then, whilst waiting for my coffee at Kaladi Bros., I was treated to the view from the other side of the age spectrum. Behold this conversation between two young hipsters about the hiring situation at the coffee shop:

High school age customer: So you guys aren't hiring anymore? Did a lot of people apply for the job?

High school age barista: Yeah, a bunch of high school kids applied, and a 40-year-old lady.

High school age customer: Whoa. If she worked here and I walked in, I'd be like, whoa. That's weird. That's just weird.

High school age barista: Yeah. I mean, are there like no other jobs for her age?

High school age customer: And how was she...uh, physically? I mean, did she like know you're on your feet all day?

High school age barista: Yeah, I dunno. She seemed, like, a little shaky.

Really? I mean, really? I guess when I was in high school, 40 DID seem old, but I don't think I ever thought of 40 year olds as semi-senile seniors tottering shakily around. Then again, who knows how accurately I'm remembering anything in the dotage of my late 20s.

Oh well, I'd take 40 over 16 any day. Orthopedic shoes and all.

The freakish contortions of young people

This picture slays me. This is Cody and Bradyn at their mom's wedding...they got special permission to go up and look at the church's organ. This was the result of the excitement of such a special occasion. Sugar may have been involved, too.

We be pirates, yar!

Sofia and I are pirates for Halloween this year...like everyone else and their brother. But hey, it be fun being pirates, matey! John's costume (not a pirate) is still in the works.

Here's a closeup of Sofia's skirt and awesome skull and crossbone leggings:

These pics were from the big bellydancer Halloween party, which John managed to get out of. I don't blame him :)

Time to start saving for braces

'Cause she got her first tooth!

I'm actually a bit late with this post, I made the discovery on Thursday afternoon when she was chewing my finger. She's been in an awfully good mood for someone who's cutting teeth. We're counting our blessings on that one!

She thinks she's a seagull

Sofia's latest noise sounds exactly like a squawking seagull. Hilarious.

*Calling myself out: Yes, I just had to look up "squawk" in the dictionary to remember how to spell it. Guess my brain still hasn't returned to its normal size...

Return to Chickaloon

This weekend resulted in two new goals for me: learn how to make cranberry ketchup, and build a sauna in our backyard. Chickaloon will have that effect on a gal!

Sofia, Lori and I headed out to visit our friends out in Chickaloon on Saturday, arriving in time to don our big dance skirts and join the party in progress. The boys were in their groove, putting out amazing music with drums, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, sitar and sarangi. We immediately joined in the dancing with the girls, with Sofia very happily observing the whole thing from her bumbo chair on the couch.

This girl is destined to be a musician and/or a dancer. Usually she crashes hard at 8 p.m. without fail, but this night she stayed up in happy party mode until midnight, just listening to the music and watching the dancers.

After crashing in the cabin known affectionately as the "Love Shack," we woke up the next morning to a fresh blanket of snow, and it was still coming down. There's just nothing like the insulated quiet of new snow in the woods. We bundled up and hiked over to the main cabin, where Melea was fixing pancakes, coffee and potatoes, served with her homemade cranberry ketchup!! Yum. I'm obsessed with this ketchup and must make some for myself.

Breakfast was followed by a stint in the sauna, complete with an essential-oil-infused sugar scrub. Perfect way to detox for the drive home!

Again, no Chickaloon pictures, which is a shame. I had a prime photo opp of Sofia swinging in the indoor hammock. But these weekends just don't lend themselves well to hauling a camera around. Next time.

The grand Plume-Bah

Another look at the flower hats:

Botanicals, belugas and other miscellany

We made our grand return to Funky Town last weekend, this time for the Seward Music & Arts Festival. The sun ended up shining the entire weekend, a miracle of enormous proportions. With the snowcapped mountains and orange and yellow trees, the scenery was spectacular!

The festival itself was a fine, fine time. Hubs took care of Sofia while I performed, and got some time to mingle with the other Bellydancer Baby Daddies. Or, as he's otherwise known, Eric. How cute are the dads with their little girls? They spent the entire time in the beer garden, so I think they had fun.



I did a fun gypsy-esque number:

And another sassy little ditty:

After the festival, the bellydancers + entourage took over Ray's. I also happened to bump into my high school physics teacher, Mr. Ennis. He's still my favorite teacher -- how could he not be? He got me to like PHYSICS, for crying out loud.

The next day John was kind enough to go solo with Sofia for a while so I could soak in Lori's hot tub with her and Shawna. Mmmm. It was just what the doctor ordered!

Sadly, the weekend had to come to an end. The drive home was another classic Alaska road trip. We stopped on the arm to watch a para-surfer (I have no idea what that activity is officially called), and while we were stopped we saw nine beached beluga whales. Lest you worry about the whales, the tide was coming in quickly, so they were safe:



And, just before pulling into town, we drove past Potter's Marsh, where a number of swans were sunning themselves. Beautiful!

So that brings me to this weekend. It was just another usual Friday night for me, wearing a five-foot-tall flower hat. You know, nothing new.

This was actually quite a hoot. Shawna and I modeled these crazy creations at the big Sono fasion show at the new convention center. I think we were a hit, of sorts.

And finally, my sister Jess tied the knot this weekend! It was a quick, private ceremony with just family in attendance. So now Sofia has a new Uncle Pete! Yay!

The little details

So, I recently learned that pregnancy physically reduces the size of a mother's brain. With that in mind, I'm going to record a bunch of little details that I know I'll forget otherwise. Bear with me, just because I get a kick out of this stuff doesn't make it riveting blog material...

I love...
- The way she pushes herself up using the back of her wrists instead of the palms of her hands.
- The way she carefully holds her hands in front of her face and inspects them.
- How my annoyance at the 5 a.m. wake up call can so quickly fade as she coos softly in her singsong voice.
- Her fascination with her feet, and how she now enjoys sucking her toes.
- How she lunged for the food dish with mouth open as soon as she saw the spoon go into the bowl.
- How she has fallen for Lucy. Last night she busted a gut for a good five minutes watching Lucy and John play tug-o-war.
- The way she screeches for the sheer joy of screeching.
- Racing her on the changing table to see if I can get her hands through the sleeves before she tries to suck them. I always lose.
- The way she fusses, then stops to shoot us a sidelong glance to see if we're coming for her. She's smart...
- How the sight of Daddy when he comes home never fails to get a grin and a giggle.
- How she is so good at rolling from her back to her belly, but still hasn't gotten it the other way, which is easier. Will this be a pattern in her life? Always doing things the hard way?
- How well she fills the role of centerpiece in her bumbo chair on the dinner table.
- Her extreme snugliness in the mornings.

I think I'll leave it at that for now.