Halloween

Earlier this month we carved pumpkins/painted pumpkins.  Sophie loves minions so we were excited to attempt some!  Everyone participated, even my dad!

Kale had apparently little experience with carving pumpkins.  There's always a first time for everything!

Sophie loves doing crafts, so painting the minions was a big hit for her!

My dad was doing awesome!

Sophie was big bird this year.  Halloween is her FAVORITE holiday.  She likes to sing Halloween songs year round and constantly talks about dressing up and trick or treating. 

She had fun at our ward trunk or treat! 

My cousin watched Sophie while I had an appointment and she took these adorable pictures of her.  Thanks Heather!

We were hoping to find out what we were having by Halloween, but it still wasn't confirmed yet.  They had to reschedule my gender US and I was so bummed.  I was a pregnant skeleton and Kale was a vampire.  He didn't want to dress up but Sophie was so excited when he did!

Even my mom appreciates how much Sophie loves Halloween and she dressed up as a witch for trick or treating!  Sophie had so much fun going around the neighborhood.

She also loved handing out candy!  We live at the end of the street so we didn't get many trick or treaters but she was anxiously awaiting with the candy bowl.  She is so sweet!

Remodel

We are remodeling our house!  It was kind of a spontaneous decision and we are looking forward to having some extra space.  They will be adding on part of our house that will give us: a bigger family room, a bigger master bathroom, a closet and some more space for a bedroom (that will be Sophie's), and a little different layout for the rooms upstairs.  They have been working on the outside of the house for a few weeks now.

Luckily they can do A LOT outside before they have to come inside.  Besides the noise all day, it's not been too bad!

 

Las Vegas

Kale's siblings were going to Las Vegas to see some concerts.  He asked me about it a while ago and I thought we could go together and make a mini-vacation out of it.  Sophie had preschool Thursday so we dropped her off then got ready.  I still don't feel 100% so Kale was so nice and vacuumed my car for the trip!  We picked Sophie up and took her to Grandma's house.  She is so excited about staying with her Grandma all the time!  We left Thursday about noon and headed to St. George.  The drive wasn't too bad.  We got to St. George and checked in, then headed out to get some food.  It was nice to relax.  We stayed up watching TV and ate some treats.  

We headed to Vegas Friday after breakfast.  We got there and it wasn't quite time to check in so we waited a bit then went to our room.  We were pooped and it was nice to relax for a bit.  Kale's brothers and their wives came shortly after.  We hung out for a while then headed in to the strip.  The concert was an early one which I was glad for!  We got there right in time... they were setting up for the band we wanted to see (Alkaline Trio).  They played about an hour and it was an awesome show.  

Kale loves this pizza place located in New York New York.  Like... he loves it!  We had eaten some other pizza before the show that wasn't as good and so we headed to his favorite place and got an entire pizza to share!  He loves it.  I was glad to go back to the hotel and get off my feet.

Saturday his sister and Uncle flew in.  We got together and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe thanks to his uncle.  THANKS!  That was so nice!  We still had some time before the next concert so his sister let us rest in her room while they gambled.  I was feeling so tired and my feet were killing me... we had barely done any walking/standing but my pregnant body just hates me.  The show that night (AFI) was another early one.  This one we had seats for which was a nice change and I sat most of the show.  It was a good one and they were the headlining band so they played even longer.  I went back to the hotel and Kale stayed out to play with his fam.  Guess where they had dinner?  The Pizza Place again!  I'm telling you - he loves the pizza there.    

Sunday we lounged and then went to lunch.  I'll give you one guess where we ate...

Yep.  We made a stop at a store then hit the road.  The drive home is never as nice as the drive there.  I drove until Nephi then Kale had a turn.  From Salt Lake on I was feeling so sick.  My nausea is always the very worst in the evening.  I think between being a passenger in the car and feeling sick, I was just doomed.  Right when we pulled in to pick up Sophie I upchucked.  At least it was at the end of the trip.  The only think about morning sickness is that after you throw up, you never feel better...  I still felt sick and now my stomach and throat were on fire.  Not a great way to end such a fun trip, but at least I survived and had fun!

First Field-trip

Sophie's Preschool went to black island farms for a field trip.  Sophie, although until now she didn't know what a field trip was, she was super excited anyway.  We got there at 10 and waited for the rest of her classmates.  First we rode the tractor/wagon out to the pumpkin fields.  We stopped out there and went to pick our pumpkins.  Sophie found two cute round ones!  

We took our pumpkins to the car and Sophie was so sad thinking we were leaving.  So she was extra pleased to go back.  She loves her friends in her class and especially loves her fun teachers!    

Next we went to play and she was so excited about everything!  We checked out the animals.  We saw some llama things with crazy mop-top hair and she made me laugh when she said that the "cow" (aka llama) had hair like dads!  Kale said it must be time for a haircut.   

Sophie especially loves climbing up the hay bales/rope for the slides.  Her boots weren't the best choice and came off a time or two.  It was such a nice day - we were glad for the warm weather.

Sophs loved the slides.  She liked the big slide the best and it had some speed bumps that always made her laugh.

We went to the bounce house but it was crowded and she bumped her head on someone so we didn't stay there long.  We went to the sandbox that had corn kernels instead of sand.  She liked it and made some snow angels.

Her favorite activity of the day was the tractor that pulled the little cows/pigs.  She only got to go on it once though and then the battery died and she was SO SAD.  We waited to see if they could fix it but they couldn't.

She played some instruments and liked to run and play.  It was a really fun field trip day!

Grandpa

Sophie used to be afraid of everyone when she was little.  Now she is quite the social butterfly and loves both sides of the family!  We went to visit my Dad today, and picked up our fun pumpkins we did.  Sophie loves it when Grandpa chases her and tickles her!  She likes to sit with him.  It reminds me a lot of when I was little, sitting with my dad in his lazy boy chair!

Frightmares

We had a big day planned for my Saturday off.  That doesn't happen very often.  We started out with breakfast at Jeremiah's.  Sophie loves this place...  She eats like a grown man!  She gets her own little breakfast then we have started getting her an extra order of sausage because she loves them so much!

We headed down to the park and ride and waited for the shuttle.  It takes us to Lagoon free so saves us $$ on their outrageous parking fees!

Kale is such a great dad!  Sophie just loves him!

Today was the first time Sophie has been tall enough to ride the BAT!  She was excited.  

I don't know why I thought Lagoon would be something I could tolerate.  I didn't feel great and didn't want to throw up there, it was a lot of walking around and waiting, and I got pretty bored after a while. Sophie got to ride lots but it was busier than normal so the lines started getting long.  Kale's family met up with us so Sophie got to see the cousins and ride some stuff with them.  She loved all the Halloween decorations too.  We went through a little spook alley and a corn maze.  She got these googley-eye glasses she just loves.  

I survived the Lagoon adventure, barely.  I was so glad to sit on the couch for a few minutes before our next activity.  It was a party for my Grandma.  She is 90!  Way to go Grandma.  Sophie hasn't seen her since Sophie was a baby so it was fun to hang out again.  Sophie has turned into quite the social butterfly and warmed up fast.  She sat with her for a while and 'great grandma' (as Sophie calls her) let Sophie help blow out her candles.  I got some fun video of Sophie talking with her.

They enjoyed some cake together!  It was a really nice get together.

Happy Birthday to my Grandma!

Grandma Sleepovers

My mom loves Sophie!  She is still her only grandbaby (right now).  Sophie loves going over to Grandma's house and just loves hanging out with her.  It's never a dull moment with my Mom.  She does so many cute things.  My mom mostly works on projects but always makes sure Sophie has fun.  She has a cute little setup with fun movies and toys.  She gets her to eat better than anyone.  Sophie never wants to leave her Grandma's side.  Their favorite activity is going to Lowes or Home Depot through the seasonal section.  Sophie loves the blow-up decorations and they always check them out.

Sometimes when I have to work early, my mom will invite Sophie over for a sleepover.  Sophie gets so excited about it!  She packs her bag (mostly with stuffed animals, toys, and books) and just can't hardly wait.

My mom talked to her about 3pm today and Sophie was SO EXCITED she waited by the door for a few hours waiting for Grandma to get off work!  She is so silly...

Make Up

It's a new week, and hopefully a better week than the last one.  I am 14 weeks today.  We tried to go for a walk.  I didn't get too far before I thought I was going to lay down and pass out on the sidewalk.  It was nice to get out of the house and do something with Sophie.  I had better intentions of being active this pregnancy but it's physically and mentally not even been possible.

I just love Sophie.  She has been such a trooper through this all.  She has had to be pretty independent.  Today I laid down most of the day.  Sophie likes to watch movies and play downstairs and I stay upstairs by the bathroom.  Sophie was oddly quiet so when I called out to her she came in looking like this!  

She had found her pretend makeup, ha!  She is so silly.

IV Fluids

Well I must have jinxed myself last week.  I thought the week went pretty well, and I was feeling OK and thinks seemed to get better.  Well I have paid for it this week.  Sunday I felt pretty awful and was throwing up anything I'd try to eat or drink.  This continued through Monday, Tuesday, and finally on Wednesday I thought I better call my Midwife.  I hadn't peed in 2 days, my lips were cracked and bleeding, and I barely had the strength to get up.

My Midwife was so awesome and I went in for some fluids.  She used to be a nurse so she started my IV and everything!  I got two bags of fluids Wednesday and some IV zofran.

After that, I just came home to rest.  I had to work Thursday so I was really worried I'd be ok.  I was able to go to triage which is nice because I don't have to run so much and don't have to worry about being able to do all those fancy nursing skills (that lately make me shaky).  It's been hard to have the energy I need to do my job.  This was such a rough week.  

That night I still felt pretty awful and did another bag of fluids at home Thursday.  

Here is to hoping this isn't a trend.  I think this week has been the worst because I have been throwing everything up and don't have those small periods of time that I can eat/drink.  Sometimes I just feel so horrible I just don't even know how I'll get through another day.  I always do.  Sometimes I just cope better than others and lately I have felt so icky and emotional about being so sick, having a messy house, and not being able to play with Sophie.

Sophie Weekend

We had a little celebration at my mom's house for Sophie'd birthday.  We had cake and ice cream.  Sophie LOVED blowing out the candles.  

Being pregnant is not very fun.  My nausea is awful, I feel so tired, my legs ache, and I get little headaches.  I can barely drink any liquids and have some of the worst food aversions.  I have had a good few days though... and was able to enjoy some cake :)

Preschool

Sophie loves her preschool.  I had cold feet and thought she might not be ready and we almost skipped it this year, but I am glad we stuck out the first few times and have now gotten into a routine.  She loves her two teachers and all her friends.  She likes doing activities and crafts there.  She is very stubborn and refuses to write/trace the letters she is supposed to.  I don't push it too much at home because I don't want her to hate it.  She has shown a lot more interest in reading too, which is great.  We love reading stories to her.

She is so independent!  She always wants me to just drop her off and let her walk in by herself.  I lurk until I know she's in safe.  She has a little backpack and loves to show me her projects when she gets home.  It's two days a week which is perfect!  We are so glad she loves it.  She made a hippo hand-puppet last week and had to sleep with it she loved it so much!  She cracks me up.  She is such a big girl.  

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Our Sophie turned 4 years old.  I can't believe it.  She has really been looking forward to her birthday.  She has been telling people "My birthday is in October" and couldn't wait for the big day to come.  I half-planned a party... invitations and all, but just couldn't bring myself to send them out because I really haven't been feeling good and I just didn't have it in me this year.  We've had some really fun parties for her birthday in the past so I feel really guilty I couldn't do something fun this year.  Kale took the day off and we tried to make it a fun day anyway.  She got some birthday cards in the mail and thought it was SO COOL.  She carried them around all morning and even wanted to take them to preschool to show everyone.  

She took some tangled cupcakes to preschool.  She was so excited for them!  They had a little ring on top that she was wearing all day.  Her preschool sang her Happy Birthday and did a 'spotlight' for her... all about Sophie!  She really loves preschool.  She definitely has her times there that she doesn't want to participate or gets her feelings hurt, but overall she loves to go and see her teachers.

We picked her up early and went to her well child check.  I schedule them on her birthday so the fun activities of the day can shadow the immunizations.  

She was a little apprehensive at the appointment but liked playing with the toys.  We saw a different provider who was super nice and Sophie responded really well to her.  Sophie is in the 88% for height and 58% for weight.  Then... the "shots" were talked about.  There was about a 10 minute wait before the MA came in to give them though, and that was rough because she was really nervous and saying she didn't want them.  She did good though and cried for a short time.  We got some stickers, a sucker, and a drink on our way out that seemed to make things better.  

Next we went to Toys R Us and let her pick out some birthday gifts with the birthday money she got!  She picked out a Tangled doll and then another doll set with a dog-washing station.  She loves riding the Dumbo elephant here so we made sure to bring in lots of quarters!  She rode it about 5 times.  She was really excited about the presents she picked out!

We had lunch at Red Robin.  She didn't hardly eat though!  They even brought her out an ice cream treat for her birthday and she kept saying it looked "misgusting" and didn't want any.  What a stinker!  This girl knows how to be a drama queen...  

We came home and played outside.  We blew bubbles (until we spilled the rest) and then Kale and Sophie jumped on the tramp for a while!

We came in and opened up her dog washing doll and she was so excited!  

Man, kid's toys are so difficult to open now days!  Kale took her to Kangaroo Zoo (the bounce house) and they had a blast.  She met a little friend there and they played for a while.  On the way home they stopped at the gas station and picked out a treat and got some dinner.  I was home wishing I could have gone with my face in a throw-up bowl.  Sophie was just so excited when she got home!  We opened some presents from Kale and I and one was a Little Mermaid bath toy that floats and squirts.  Sophie... the girl who HATES to bath, asked for another bath (her second of the day) and had a blast playing with the mermaid toy!

She got to talk to her cousins, her grandparents, and her aunt and uncle that night.  She was watching a show on the iPad so she was quite distracted though.  She is really into veggie tales.  They are a little odd, but better than some of the other shows out there.  She fell asleep quickly... hopefully it was still a fun day for her!  

Love you Sophie!  You are such a big girl!  Happy Birthday.