The Friederichs: very random assortment

Today is a very unique day. I am home and Sophie is at school, and I am not sick. This is the first and last time this will happen, so I am soaking it in! All the important prep for bringing Penelope home is done, but there are a million little details that probably don't matter, but I am loving getting them taken care of anyway. This is one of them- my last post before we bring home our sweet girl. Like today, I'm going to be all over the place, so buckle up. These are in no particular order:

Sophia had her first day of school last week! I feel like I'm just now getting the hang of being a mama, because this is the first time I've taken "first day of school photos" even though this is her third first day of school. :) She doesn't usually cooperate with cameras, so it was a rough start...

She warmed up after we started saying "Happy Halloween!" Works a lot better than "cheese."

But this one gets the gold- does this not sum her up right now?! Love it!

I went to a conference for work that proved fairly valuable as a mama who wants to do fun little things at home with my girls. I got this idea there. It is super cheap and easy: you hot glue two paper plates together with a paint stick in the middle. It makes a fun paddle to hit balloons around with. I know what you're thinking, and I thought the same things too. But this has proven to provide hours of entertainment and never seems to get old...with any of us. Ok, so Berk is quite done with it, because he gets put outside when we play this and the pain of missing out is too much for that sweet doggie to handle.

At the JBF sale, I was bound and determined to find Sophia a Halloween costume. I figure this is my last year to get to pick what she's going to be. By next year, she'll have an opinion! I wanted to find an Aurora costume, because that is one of her current obsessions, but all the princess outfits were scratchy looking. Knowing Sophie, they would not have stayed on longer than 30 seconds. This girl does not tolerate anything that gets in the way of her being comfortable. Hence, no hair accessories. I'm not bitter, I swear....

I ended up with this giraffe costume, which is adorable! Now, I know she's been a giraffe for Halloween before, but she doesn't remember, right? Besides, Penelope will be a giraffe, and the thought of them both being the same thing was too much for me! Sophie loves getting into costume, but you see some of the problems...

Right...it doesn't fit and the zipper won't stay up. Besides, she only will wear it for a total of 5 minutes. We do this several times a day. What a cutie! Back to the drawing board...

Speaking of bows: I finished the tutu bow holder! I'm very pleased with how it turned out! Look at how many bows we have! Not that any of them get used....yet. ;) I have big hopes for Penelope liking them. When she does, I am hoping Sophie will decide she wants to wear them too.

I debated about adding the criss crossing ribbon on the bodice, but I liked how you could use it to clip on smaller clips. I just loved the fabric so much, I didn't want to cover it all up. I'm glad I ended up adding this little detail. If you're interested in making one, I got the free instructions here.

I am now 39 1/2 weeks pregnant. No recent pics, but these are from 35 weeks:

Now just imagine me a little bigger, a little lower, and without a smile on my face. ;) I'm actually hoping to make it until Monday when my doctor is back in town. He delivered Sophia and I didn't realize how much I had my heart set on him delivering Penelope until it was very possibly not an option...being in Hawaii and all.

Here is an assortment of great pictures I've recently gotten from others of special times we've had over the last several months...again, in no particular order.