Living La Vida Lopez: Sweet Sophia

I'm thankfully nearing the end of my pregnancy with Camilla (37wks this week), but as I look forward to sweet new memories with another very special little girl I get the privilege to call my daughter, I have a renewed sense of just how special my first-born really is....my dear Sweet Sophia.

Sophia is growing so fast and some days I forget to enjoy it - sometimes it's a tad difficult when a 3.5yr old is testing your patience to the max. But then at bedtime when she's reading YOU the bedtime stories in her new big-girl bed, you realize how amazing this little being really has become! She has grown out of her "terrified to go to school" phase that plagued us the beginning of this year, to now LOVING it. So much so that she loves to play 'school' and be her teacher, "Mrs. Thomas". Complete with hand gestures and copied teacher-phrases, Sophia takes on the teacher role pretty darn well. You best mind her, otherwise she WILL put you in time out!

She is busy learning her letters and numbers and is SO proud of herself when she recognizes them among signs, words, names....and everywhere you can imagine. One of her favorite places to give a shout out while in the car is CVS Pharmacy....solely for the fact it has 3 of her favorite letters:

C= Camilla's letter

V= Violet's letter (bff at school)

S= "My letter!"

She associates all of our families with "their" letters (N=Nana, P=Papa, A=Abuelita & Abuelito, etc.) and is very proud to be able to write many of them on her own. I'm not sure if it's preggie hormones or just motherly-pride, but I have cried over how tremendously smart she really is. She has the same voracious appetite for reading, writing and learning in general that I remember having when I was very little too. In kindergarten I used to read lots of books to my class....and I LOVED writing stories (figures that I'd grow up and love to blog too). Both served me well and I hope she continues to love it.

Sophia continues to crack us up with the little gems that seem to fall out of her mouth - whether she intended to be funny or not. Many times we struggle to hide our laughter as it is not the appropriate time nor place....oops. Rod and I are just big kids, so we're not that great at hiding it.

I have to admit that every now and then I have a good little cry over the fact that my sweet 'baby' Sophia is nearing 4 and is acting so grown up. It makes me realize that when Camilla does arrive, I need to relish and cherish every moment with her as she will grow up quickly. I do get sad thinking about in only 12days Sophia will no longer be the center of our universe, but she will be forever changed by this new baby girl. I wonder if she will be able to handle the change and find love in her heart to share with Camilla. Since I'm the youngest, it's an emotion I never dealt with myself. However, I'm desperately hoping she will grow up knowing just how lucky and blessed she is to have a sister - something I wished, prayed and begged my own parents for.

I'm pretty sure that Sophia will make a fantastic big sister, because she made Camilla a bunny just like her own at Build-A-Bear this past Sunday. Sophia even picked out lavender ribbons for Camilla's bunny (since her room is lavender) and Sophia's bunny has pink ribbons (since her room is pink)....Sophia made mommy SO proud: