Aquarium

We went to the aquarium today with Sophie's cousins/grandparents/aunt. We have been once before when she was around 12 months old. Today, it was so much fun! Sophie loved it and was so interested in everything. Her favorites were the jelly fish, the shark/turtle tank, and the sting-ray pond. She had so much fun splashing around. My favorite place is the penguins!

She also ate a ton today! I couldn't believe it, she ate like a grown adult. She must be approaching a milestone or a growth spurt. She is such a good girl, we love her so much. We are getting really excited for our upcoming trip to Hawaii. I hope that she'll be able to adjust to the time changes and the change in routine and that we can have fun. I am looking forward to such a great family trip! We have a lot of fun things planned.

Sophie standing

We have really enjoyed going to story time at the library. They have two sessions. We usually go to the first and if she isn't too tired we stay for the second. They sing and ready stories, then blow bubbles (her favorite part), then color and do crafts. Sophie loves the singing parts the most! Sometimes Grandma comes with us. Last time Sophie was really getting into the music sticks! Here is a little video clip of her standing! I can't believe how fast she's growing up.

Headphones

Well first things first, my brother got engaged tonight! He and Averie are the cutest couple. I am so happy for them. They are planning to get married in August in between semesters.

Sophie is such a big girl. She can stand on her own now. She loves to pull up on stuff, let go, and clap! I don't know if wearing shoes has been helping or it's just a coincidence. She is so mobile too with her new-found talent of climbing the stairs. She climbs them so well. She hasn't figured out how to get down - I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.



We took advantage of the small span of time when the weather was 'warmer' and played outside a lot. We hung Sophie's swing back up and she LOVED it. It was quite the ordeal when we had to go inside. We also took lots of walks around the neighborhood. I haven't used my Beco much lately and I was so glad to put it to some use!


We get to take a family vacation soon! It's fast approaching (March). For the plane ride we got some headphones for Sophie. The first pair broke, so we got another pair. She thinks they are so fancy! Tonight I plugged them into my ipod, and she loved jamming to the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack! She kept them on for almost 1/2 an hour! I just tucked the iPod into her pants. She has her own shuffle, I'll have to dig it out now!

Now that she can climb the stairs, she has a whole new area of the house to explore! She loves slipping around on the kitchen floor. She'll lay on her belly and twist around. It's so funny to see her. I love this girl!

Notice the Ipod tucked in her bum!

Cankles

Today, my post is about cankles

Sophie has been on her own schedule for meeting milestones. She was late to roll over and crawl. She's always struggled with food textures and was exclusively breastfed for almost a year because of that. I LOVE Sophie's pediatrician. She has been such a good listener and has that perfect balance of caution and reassurance without being over the type like another certain physician I work with (wink wink to my coworkers haha!).

At Sophie's appointment for her 15 month well-child check this month, the Doctor asked about her milestones. Sophie isn't saying 3-5 words consistently, is not walking, and still has problems with texture and other table foods. That combination and my 'first time mother' concern led to today! We had an evaluation with a program called Early Intervention.

We met with a physical therapist, a speech therapist, and occupational therapist, and an RN. They talked to use and watched Sophie get around and play. They asked A LOT of questions... some about things I didn't think about: like what kind of babble-sounds she is making, and if she rolls her ankles when she walks. The said that she qualifies for the service (which is free or low cost based on a sliding scale for income).

The physical therapist was concerned with the strength in her legs, especially her ankles (as was her physician). They said that her muscle tone and ligaments are very loose in her ankles, which they often see with late crawlers. Her recommendation for us was to wear tennis shoes ALOT to see if that will help with her ankles. She said the next step would be to get some ankle/foot orthotics to help give her extra support and strengthen her ankles. She said that her upper body strength will improve as she continues to pull up on furniture and move around. She said it's great we caught it early because if not the loose ligaments would eventually affect her knees then hips and she would have an onset of severe arthritis by the time she was 30!!

The speech therapist said that her baby-babbles are all very reassuring and she is making repatative sounds and associating certain sounds with objects and people.

The occupational therapist said that she chews appropriately so she thinks that she is just a little 'stubborn' about eating table foods. She wants to give us some tips and help us to get her eating better. She said her fine motor skills are great though.

They take all the questions we answered and what they've seen and put it in a certain program that gives them scrores in each area and an overall developmental age based on the questions. Sophie is about 5 months behind developmentally. I was actually surprised but they said as soon as she walks that bumps her up a couple months. Part of me feels inadequate as a mother because I think what should I/could I have done. The other part of me knows that each child has their own schedule and most kids 'catch up' to each other later on.

The ladies that evaluated Sophie were so nice! I was completely impressed and really appreciate this service that they offer. I have heard about it but always had a picture of these inner-city neglected children and kids with disabilities using this government program. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they help all kinds of kids from infant to 3yr olds. They typically come out montly and give us tips and other exercises to work on with Sophie. She is evaluated every 3-6 months and services are dropped when they feel she is where she needs to be.

So, even though Sophie hates shoes (and socks - she is her mother's girl) we've been wearing them today. (P.S. Nike athletic shoes, DI, $3) It's been funny to watch her - she's been kicking the fireplace and furniture, trying to untie them, and acting like they're SOOOO heavy. Excuse the pjs - we WERE dressed but then she peed through her diaper...

This is that funny smile I keep telling ya about ... the squinty eyes and big teeth smile. I love this girl, she is so dang sweet and spending my days with her are the best!

Sophie and Chief

This morning was awful. A cop pulled me over for turning right without stopping (when the light was green). He was a complete jerk. He was totally condessending and inappropriate. I couldn't believe it. After several attempts at humiliating and intimidating me, he made himself out to be a savior for not towing my car, arresting me, and fining me because my registration stickers weren't in the right order (year first, month second). Give me a break. I hope he poops his pants in public.

Now on to the love of my life... my sweet baby!

We have a dog. He's pretty much useless. He lays around a lot, eats food, and drips water all over the floor. Sophie thinks he is pretty dang cool though! Typically the dog avoids the baby and the baby doesn't show much interest in petting the dog. Not tonight! I had just gotten home, got Sophie in her pjs, cuddled for a bit... then she got down and she started to chase the dog around. She kept patting his head and petting him. It was hilarious... she was chitter-chatting to herself and he just had 'that look' on his face, like save me.


































































She kept trying to convince him of how awesome her blankey is

He moved... she followed...

I love this girl. She was so excited to see me tonight and I love coming home to such a sweet little blessing. I have to work the next two days, so I am going to bed now.

My 'Toddler'

This picture totally describes Sophie. She loves the bath, she loves patty cake, and she is just a bright-eyed happy beautiful girl! She likes a little water to drip during her bath and she plays with it and tries to drink it and catch it. It's super funny to watch and she gets mad if you turn it off. She loves the water... she likes to put her feet in the sink when I do her hair, she loves swimming and bathing, she always is trying to dumb out her sippy and splash around in it.

Sophie has this 'new smile' that she does. She scrunches up her nose and squints her eyes then gets a huge teeth-y smile. It's so funny. It's either that, or her trying to get away from the camera. Lately she has been very anti-picture... even when I try to be sly about it she somehow knows and refuses to look my way.

Girls are so much fun to dress up. I made some babylegs recently and was excited to find a skirt at the DI to pair with them. Sophie thinks the hardwood floor is so cool. She always studies it and loves that she can scoot and crawl around so much easier on it!

She has yet to figure out the stairs and their possibilities. She'll go halfway up, and cry for me to come get her. She is not brave enough to go down on her own quite yet. I'm ok with that, I haven't had to use a babygate yet and she doesn't really have interest in them... yet. I'm waiting for the day...

Ok you might have to zoom in, but you can see those HUGE molars on both sides of her poor mouth (she's got two on the top to match). It was a long few weeks while those were migrating through her sweet little gums. She is so much happier now that they are through. I am glad to have my happy beautiful girl back.

How can babies sleep in such weird positions?

Sophie hates the car. I mean, I can't even walk near it without her screaming and trying to crawl up me. She fights getting in and I have to wrestle to get her strapped. I thought maybe she hated rear-facing, so against better judgement I even turned her seat forward facing for a week but it made no difference (and we are back to my plan of extended rear-facing). I try all I can, giving her treats and fruit snacks, a drink, toys to play with, we listen to music she {normally} likes, and a few desperate attempts have included me giving her my Iphone with a video playing on it or stopping to buy french fries. If she is happy, it is short lived and she returns to screaming. It used to be very distracting but now I have learned to tune it out as much as I can. I hope she grows out of it.

The Sophie Post

I blog as a my modern-day journaling. I like people to read my blog because I know I love reading blogs and find out how friends and family are doing, but I do censor myself because I know that what I write can't be taken back and could probably be slightly boring! I want to be better at blogging because I want to be able to read about Sophie's milestones and what we're doing as a family!

So I'll start...

Sophie is so much fun! She is very tall (33.5 inches - off the charts). Between 12 months and 15 months she didn't gain any weight but grew 2.5inches! I have noticed this especially lately. Her toes are squished in her pjs, her pants are floods, and her gut is always hanging out! We had to size up to 24 month clothes recently. It's really hard to predict how she'll grow! I am always on the lookout for a good sale or bargain so I try to guesstimate what size she'll be in what season but so fair I have failed miserably. I have a ton of things that she doesn't even get to wear!

Sophie loves me. She is such a mama's girl. If I am around I have to be with her and be holding her. If I'm not around she misses me and her Daddy/Grandma can tell! She has gotten even worse stranger anxiety. If we are out and about, if someone tries to say hi to her, gets really close to her, or gives/takes something she gets upset! I work 2-3 days a week and either Kale or my mom watches Sophie. I always think about her when I'm at work and just can't wait to get home to her! I love being with her and doing fun things. When she goes to bed at night I feel so lonely and just wish I could hold and cuddle her. She has been such a blessing and even though being a mother is challenging, I wouldn't want to be doing any other thing!

Sophie has always been a pretty good sleeper. When I stopped breastfeeding/pumping she has woken up more at night though. A good night she will sleep from 7pm to 9am. A lot of times though, she'll wake up between 3am-6am and can't go back to sleep without a bottle. I think she uses the bottle as a pacifier! We just put about 2oz of warm water in the bottle and she'll go right back to sleep. I have tried no-bottle bootcamps but honestly it's not worth the tears from both of us! She is using it for comfort right now and I don't feel like taking that from her. She'll give it up when she's ready. She doesn't use a bottle during the day, just for a nap and at night to get to sleep, and luckily it's just water. She was always such a great self soother - this all started around 11 months. She sleeps in her crib. She has two blankets that she loves, and her baby and a stuffed frog. She loves the corners of her blankets. She holds them and sometimes will chew or bite them. It's funny because I had a special blanket when I was little too. The past month she has figured out that she can stand and bounce in her crib. It's been a bad thing because in the night if she wakes up and stands up or sits and leans against the side, she can't quite figure out how to lay back down so she'll just cry until I come help her.

I love going into her room first thing in the morning. She'll wake up and talk. I'll hear her and go in there and usually say "where is my baby?" and she gets so excited! She starts flapping her hands and smiles and reaches for me! We usually come down to the living room and hang out and have breakfast.

Sophie is a picky eater! She still does mostly baby food purees but we're trying to move away from those since the nutrient content is low. She loves scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast. She likes baby food fruit purees, applesauce, plain yogurt, apples, and corndogs. She is pretty picky. She'll usually eat off our plates but is resistant to trying new things of her own. It's made it challenging to feel like she gets enough. Days when she doesn't eat well I give her a Toddler formula to make sure she's got what her body needs. I am able to get up to about 3-4oz of milk each day without having problems with her digestion. It's a delicate balance! I am glad we've been able to watch her diet an avoid any constipation.

After we eat is her happiest time so that's my window to do things. I usually run an errand or get a few groceries, head to the bank, or we do an activity. We probably go out about twice a week. She loves to go swimming, go outside, and our latest favorite: the library! They have so many books she loves to go look through them. They have a big lego table and a bunch of wooden puzzles. She can play there for almost two hours! Once a week they do story time. Last week was the first time we went but it was so much fun I wish I had been going more! The gal reads stories and sings songs and there are a TON of kids. They group them so Sophie is in the 1-3 year olds. There were probably over twenty. Sophie was in heaven, she just had so much fun with everyone singing and there was so much to keep her attention. After the stories and songs they let everyone color and do bubbles. She loved it and cried when it was time to go! Other days we stay home and play. She really likes being in her element here. I can tell sometimes she just loves being here and dreads having to go out. I try to coordinate my errands with Kale so I can leave her here because it's hard on her.

She hates the car! I have tried everything I can to make it enjoyable but she just hates it!

I can't wait for warmer weather. Last summer we had so much fun at Lagoon, I hope to get season passes again this year. We took Groupon up on their recent offer for a season pass to the Dino park. I have thought about a treehouse pass also. I can't wait to go for hikes, go to the park, and just show Sophie the world! It's so fun to see her grow and learn and experience new things.

Sophie loves to stand and cruise around. She is not walking yet. Her pediatrician said that her ankles are weak and is going to have her work with physical therapy. I am excited about that and hope it helps get her legs get stronger so that she can get walking because I know she'll LOVE it! She crawls all around and loves to 'get into' things. She always wants to pry open our entertainment center, pull out drawers, open cupboards, and open and close doors. I keep her toys in little wicker baskets and she likes to pull them out and dump them all over! I just follow her around and tidy up her little messes. We got a little bookshelf for her a few days ago and it's her latest attraction. The top shelf is books and she loves to pull them down and look at them. I have had such good luck at finding books at the DI lately. We have gotten a lot of board books (less destroyable).

She loves her new kitchen. I noticed she had a fascination with stacking bowls and cups lately and trying to put lids back on things, so I thought it was the perfect time to pull out the play kitchen for her to play with! I found it at the DI almost two years ago. It came with food and dishes and was in awesome shape so for $5 I couldn't pass it up! I've been storing it and was planning on giving it to her for her second birthday but she has just loved it I am so glad!

She loves TV... kind of in a bad way, ha! When we're home I like 'background' noise so something has always been on TV and I didn't even realize how often we were watching her shows until the last month or so. I've tried to be better at not having the TV always on, so we've been getting CDs from the library. She likes the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack, Rockabye baby, and Elmo Orchestra.

Her new smile is so funny. She squints her eyes and get the biggest grin. It makes me laugh, oh man, it is so funny. She loves to point out eyes and nose too. She loves the dog and tries to pet him but he usually gets up and moves somewhere else. There are two stray kitties that come to our window that she loves too. I felt bad for them so I put a little house out there and I feel them every few days. They come up by the window and she'll go over there and shriek at them. She loves the window too, her latest thing is kissing and slobbering on windows or mirrors.

We used to bath at night but we've been taking baths before her nap lately. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the bath tub. She likes to lay on her belly and kick around. She has been getting a bit more brave and even has started to put her face in the water. She bathes for like 40 minutes! Sometimes we bath twice :)

She naps for about two hours, and she's pretty predictable with her nap time (goes down at 12-1230). After her nap we usually have lunch and play. This is usually the time that I am finishing up cleaning or working on a project so it's usually when we watch some of her DVR'd shows. Her daddy gets home later and sometimes she'll eat dinner, other times she won't eat so we just give her some formula before bed. She gets tired quick so we watch for signs, usually rubbing her eyes is our cue. She is in cloth diapers throughout the day but we put one disposable on every night. Since she gets the water right before bed and sometimes throughout the night she is such a heavy wetter and it's too long for her to be in cloth. I love doing cloth diapers though. It has saved me so much money and I love feeling a little bit more environmentally responsible. Not to mention the soft cotton on her bum instead of paper products and chemicals. I never pictured myself doing cloth but it's been so easy. I wish more people would look into it! There are so many myths about it I think and people think of the 'olden days' type diapering.

OK I feel like I've caught up on all of Sophie's latest news. I hope I can keep blogging about what she's doing because time goes by so fast! It makes me sad to think my newborn has turned into a Toddler! I look forward to doing new things and having fun with her, but sometimes I wish I could freeze time and just cuddle and love on her.

2011

My sweet Grandpa is home, after many trials/tribulations! He went from the hospital to a rehab center and my mom was not happy with the care. It makes me sad to think there are so many elderly people in care centers and that no one is there to advocate for them and make sure they are taken care of. He still needs help getting up and down so someone is staying at his house 24/7. We went to visit yesterday. He LOVES Sophie and she surprisingly lets him hold her. She only lets me, Kale, and my mom hold her so that's pretty good. She was having some BBQ chips :)

She's got two HUGE teeth coming in. Not the canines so they must be molars. Man they have been bothering her too. She is so grumpy and needy. For the past three days she has been a monster! I love her and know she doesn't feel good but I've resorted to bribing her with suckers and having the TV on more than normal so I can keep my household running. Thank heavens for the Beco carrier!

My cousin and I went swimming to the Bountiful pool last week. It was pretty fun. I remembered it being a lot warmer when we went a month or so ago though. We stayed for about and hour and a half. Sophie loves it there. Her favorties are the Lazy River and the shallow section - she just crawls all around in the water and laughs pretty much the entire time! I taught her to hold onto the side by herself, it's super cute!

I can't believe it's already 2011! My new year goals:
*Lose weight (specifically 40lbs) by working out 4-5 days a week for at least 45 minutes and eating smaller portions.
*Pay off Kale's student loan by working 2 extra shifts each month
*Read the BOM as a family by reading at least a chapter every other night
*Build my foodstorage by setting aside a budget and getting something every month

Christmas 2010

I was at work on Christmas day when I got a call from my mom. My Grandpa had fallen on Christmas Eve and was down all night. He said he got up, felt dizzy and fell. He tried to get up all night long but couldn't. He had pulled the cushions off the couch, knocked over the table, chairs, and other furniture, crawled into the kitchen and there were drawers pulled out. He did everything he could but was disoriented and it was dark, and he was too weak to get up. We finally found him (my brother) Christmas around noon. My brother, dad, and cousin helped get him ready and brought him into the ER. I was really emotional and felt helpless and sad that I was at work. He luckily didn't break anything but was black and blue all over, had some rug burn on his elbows, and cracked some ribs. He was admitted to the hospital (where he still is). He had a rough first night, the nurses wouldn't help him get up to the bathroom and didn't put his CPAP machine on him. When I came to work I checked on him and he was in a soaking wet brief and sheets and really tired and weak (from not having good oxygen all night). I was mad/sad that he was being treated like that. The day got better, we had family come up and help him shower. No more briefs, he had help getting to the bathroom. He's doing ok. He's had fevers and is developing pnuemonia. He has a lot of secretions and tonight he choked on his dinner and they think he may have aspirated (breathed in his food). They had to call respiratory and the physician, ordered a chest xray, and some respiratory treatments. It's really hard to see him like that, and it makes me really sad. I know he misses my Grandma a lot and I think he's been ready to see her for a while now, but it doesn't make it any easier. I don't know what will happen, but I love him and it hurts to see him so dependent and weak.

Because of that, we didn't get to have Christmas on Christmas. We were able to open a few presents at my parent's house but Sophie didn't last long and was in bed before my little family could do Christmas. I worked the next day and it was really hard being there - I just wanted to be home and I felt stressed. We were able to do Christmas that night. I had today off. I put away Christmas decorations and cleaned the house. I have to work the next two days and am just not feeling up to it.

On a lighter note, I love my baby so much. She got spoiled this Christmas! She got some hair clips, bath toys, some wooden toys and puzzles, and a few outfits. I got her a bubble belly dog and she LOVED LOVED LOVED IT. She was mesmerized by the bubbles and love trying to get them.

This is the fantastic Fisher Price house I found at the thrift store ($3) and was able to get the people for it off ebay. She loved it. She figured out a bunch of the sounds. She kept putting the baby in the crib! It was so cute.

My mom bought some carpet from RCWilley last month. As a promotion she got this car! It's a remote controlled car. I couldn't believe it when she brought it out. She sat Sophie in it and that is where she stayed all night, she loved it! We're still putting it together but Sophie thought it was so awesome. I can't wait until we get it up and running!

She grinned all night! She cried when we finally took her out.

We were so blessed this Christmas. Holidays are always a good excuse to spend time with family and eat lots! My relationship with my mom is slowly improving. (that's a whole other story).

We got some great gifts from my parents: kitchen gadgets, a new pair of scrubs, some 'toys' for Kale, jewelry, a baby doll and some other things for Sophie, and a hoodie. Also, my mom bought us a playstation 3. We're not big gamers but it's got a ton of other capabilities and we love to play band hero/guitar hero. Kale did so great this year, he got me a cute purse, awesome shoes for work, and a voucher for a pedicure and massage. He filled my stocking with delicious treats and yummy lotions. He even found this darling salt and pepper shaker I love! He was so thoughtful and worked so hard. I got him some new shoes, hoodies, a stack of movies/blueray discs, and some pj pants. Any Christmas money we got we deposited into Sophie's savings account. She's got more in her savings than we do in ours! I hope we have enough for her to put a downpayment on her first house or pay for her college. We're working on that.

This is the cat my mom gave her. It's super funny... it's really soft and when you pet it's back it meows. Sophie doesn't really like it. She is so peticular about things!

I work the next few days then I have a few much needed days off. I follow up with my Dr on Thursday to figure out what to do about all my 'health' stuff. I have been pondering my new years goals. I will blog about those later! Hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend.

December Update

Christmas is almost here! How exciting! Here is my blog update on our lives.


Sophie's new trick!
Look Ma, I figured out how Velcro works! She either has to have a onsie on or a snap cloth dipe. Gosh I am SOOOO glad we have done cloth diapering. It has saved me so much money and I am glad that my baby can wear cotton on her sweet bum bum!


Sophie is such a mama's girl. If I am in the room, I am the ONLY one that she wants. Rarely does Kale get to hold her. She is super attached to me. I usually love it. Sometimes though, I need to get things done or want to eat a hot meal (yeah right!). The past couple days though she's been so cuddle with us both, and has let Kale hold her! I love it, it's so tender to see my two loves snuggling up!
Playing with the Christmas Ornaments

Watching TV with Daddy!

Tonight we had Kale's family up for Christmas celebration! I cooked dinner and we did some presents and watched Home Alone. It's always hard to get everyone to look... we got 2 out of 3 in this picture of Sophie with her cousins.

We both work tomorrow :( It's nice to get holiday pay and let some of the other nurses who have older kids be home with their families though.

I had a physical this month. I haven't had health insurance since 2007 but we were able to pick it up for the last two months of this year because we became 'eligable.' I made sure to take advantage of it and get a physical with my FP and a 'lady exam' (ugh). Come to find out I'm falling apart! My vitamin D levels are critically low, my cholesterol is on the higher end of normal, my estrogen is low from breastfeeding, my thyroid levels are super low, and my liver functions are low. What the heck! I'm like an old lady with all my pills I'm taking now. Luckily most are short term. I hope that I can get my Vit D levels back up so I feel better and get my thyroid managed so I can loose weight (no wonder I've remained so chubby--well that and my eating habits, uh oh). I had all these labs done when I was pregnant and nothing was abnormal. Ha so I am blaming being a mother -- it is stressing out my body apparently.

Kale is going to take another semester of school then stop for a while. He's got some basic classes, including snowboarding! He is so excited... he's taken it before and really liked going up. He'll be able to graduate with his associates degree. He's just going to take a break from school so he can spend more time with the family. We miss him! I am so grateful to have such a hardworking husband. I love that guy.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope that it's a great day and you can all be safe and enjoy spending time with your loved ones!

Santa

We saw Santa today. I wont lie, I'm pretty disappointed in the pics. Sophie, of course, was freaking out the minute we put her on Santa's lap, so I was snapping pictures like crazy. Only three turned out, and they're all awful. I don't mean because Sophie's crying... one the flash is crazy, the others are blurry or crooked. Oh well.


My cousin bought Sophie this ADORABLE Christmas dress. I didn't think it would fit her but put it on and was pleasantly surprised that it fit pretty well (room to grow). Thanks so much Heather!


Sophie's newest thing is: refusing to look at the camera despite anything we try...
Santa 2010

Santa 2009

Family Pic

Sophie

Love this girl!

Dear 70-year-old Walmart Shopper,

Thank you for your awarness today. All the other shoppers around me were being rude, mumbling things under their breath, and giving me dirty looks. I promise I tried to pick the best time to go shopping with a Toddler - after a nap, diaper change, and meal... it just didn't go as planned. I appreciate you kidnapping my cart, letting me go in front of you, loading all my groceries, and patting my hysterical baby as I also stood there holding her with tears streaming down my own face. I should have been loading YOUR groceries and wish there was some way I could personally repay you for your wonderful act of kindness today. To you it was small, but to me it was great.

Love,
Me

End of November

I am a terrible blogger. I don't know why, I have no good excuse. I wish I could keep a better record of our life!

Thanksgiving was a stressful week. I was doing a major portion of Thanksgiving dinner and my cousin and her two kids were coming up for dinner. The only bad part is that I worked smack-dab in the middle of the day (11-5) so it made it hard to manage dinner from work. Needless to say, the turkey was burnt, the stuff didn't get seasoned, and the potatoes were... well not creamy. I stressed about it all week and when it was over I felt exhausted. I worked all weekend. I am glad that I have a few days off.

Thanksgiving is always a time to reflect on what things in my life I am thankful for. I am thankful mostly for my work "family." Lately I have felt overwhelmed, overworked, and very underappreciated. I hope I can get out of this rut because I really do love my job and love the unit I work on. My other nurses take such good care of me and are such good listeners. I love the demographic and type of patients I care for. Nursing can be really rewarding.

I am thankful for my sweet husband and beautiful daughter. How great is family and the fact that we'll be together forever!? I don't know how some people go through life wondering about that. I am thankful for the gospel. I am also grateful for the tangible things in my life: car, house, food storage, and a comfy bed!

Sophie is a crawling machine. She acts like it was no big deal she didn't crawl until 13 months. She has some severe stranger danger too. I don't even know what to do with her! I can't leave her with anyone it seems like, especially lately she just clings to me. Poor girl. I don't know how to help her get past that. We've been doing a toddler formula in place of milk since she had so many problems. She's had a month long diaper rash though from it. I want to transition off it. We've been doing just one measly ounce A DAY for almost a week and she's already borderline constipated. I'm just trying to balance her out with lots of fruit and water. We haven't had any major problems, and since her stools are more formed, her diaper rash has gotten so much better. We stopped using cloth diapers when it got really bad thinking it may have something to do with it... it didn't. We were using disposables with tons of diaper cream and it never got better. I'm SO glad to be back to cloth! I don't know why but disposables just seem so... icky. Paper underwear (no thanks)! I tried one off ebay (Sunbaby). They are very cheap (5.50) but I was actually really impressed.

We love our new house. It's so nice having a garage vs. carport! We painted our living room and I love it. I am going to try to paint Sophie's room this week. I have OCD so painting can prove difficult because I am such a perfectionist! The snow lately has been crazy! We have these two random cats that have shown up the last week. They are definitely not someone's pet. I've seen them slinkin around before. I made the mistake of throwing out some leftovers a couple days ago so now they come and sit by my back sliding door... all night and most of the day. They just look at me. They try to get in if I open the door so it's kinda buggin me, but I have a soft spot in my heart for animals so it's hard! I don't know what to do about them. They could never be inside cats, I'll tell ya that much, but I don't want to be mean to them and I also feel bad they looks so skinny. I worry about calling the pound because I know they euthanize a TON of cats... I remember hearing a statistic when I volunteered at the Humane Society about that.

We went to visit my sweet Grandpa this last week. He's really gone downhill since my Grandma past away. I wish I visited with him more. It's super funny that Sophie LOVES him... she's probably been around him less than 10 times but she never is scared of him! In fact she let him hold her and pretty soon I look over and she was laying back on him eating his popcorn watching America's Funniest Home Videoes. I couldn't believe it! My cousin had her baby over. Sophie didn't want ANYTHING to do with him. She kept poking her finger at him. At one point, for a 'picture moment' we had her hold him while my Grandpa held them. She started fussing and pushing him off her, haha! She's such a little stinker, I just love her!

Picture Fail

This week I had to work pretty much every other day (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday). Since it takes half a day to recover from my 13 hour shifts, my week went by too fast unfortunately. Today Kale and I actually had a day off together. We had family pictures planned. I spent the morning cleaning the house, and after I put Sophie down for a nap Kale and I got ready. When she woke up I got her in the bath and got her ready. She was being grumpy, naturally, and it continued through our family pictures! She refused to look at the camera and was fussy almost the entire time! It was slightly frustrating because I have been looking forward to doing some updated family pictures, and it's hard work getting everyone ready! We were going to do them outside but of course the weather sucked. We found somewhere inside but Sophie was so difficult to work with. Our photographer was great : very patient and accomodating! I'm hoping we get a few good ones.

When we came home it was snowing! Sophie was so curious. She kept reaching out to touch the snowflakes. Of course my camera battery died (one of those days) so this is the only picture we got!

Sophie is such a big girl! Her hair is so long. It's starting to get a lot lighter. She loves to bath. Usually when she wakes up we get her in the bath. I worry since she's gone all night without eating so often times I feed her in the tub. Ha Ha weird I know, but she eats really good in there! She's usually in there for an hour! She starts to freak out when she sees the towel to get out. She also has figured out the drain and the faucet. So if I try to drain the water she flips the drain and sits over it so I can't get to it. She also turns the water on. Little stink! She hasn't pooped in the tub for a while, phew, knock on wood!

She's getting to be a better eater. She's not on table foods completely though. She still has baby food purees. I have not been anxious to introduce milk. We've been doing a toddler formula and it's working so well, at this point in my life I hate to mess with something that isn't broken. She loves to self feed. She likes toast, any roast beef or ham, yogurt, chips, tortillas, string cheese, and tonight we found out she loves enchiladas!

She's always been a butt-scooter. About a week and a half ago she was acting like she'd maybe crawl but she'd fall flat on her belly. Well once day she just started crawling! She's still working on it, but it has made life a bit harder because I worry about all our stairs (the gate wont fit because the way the railing is) and stuff around the house. I THOUGHT it was babyproofed but she's definitely pointed out things to watch!

I haven't ever made Thanksgiving dinner but this year I am! I have no clue what to do but plan on calling my Dad and getting the lowdown! Lee's was having an awesome sale on a few canned things I use in most recipes, so I got my turkey then.

I finished up our extended family Christmas shopping this week. It actually seemed pretty easy. I just went to a store that had it all! I've got everything ready to wrap. I refuse to decorate until after Thanksgiving though. We are a real-tree family all the way so I usually try to wait until December to get the tree. LOVE the way a real tree smells and looks!

Yo Gabba Gabba

This is just a random picture I had on the camera from Sunday.


We went to the yo gabba gabba concert this afternoon. I think that YGG is pretty annoying personally, and I end up singing the songs all day. Sophie loves it though. YGG and sesame street are the only ones that keep her interest. I use the TV a lot as background and also to 'babysit' when I need to get things done. Also, Sophie eats the best when she has YGG as a distraction. Call my parenting skills horrible, but I gotta do what I gotta do! When I saw that YGG was coming to Salt Lake I was super excited and bought tickets several months ago.

We got there a bit late. As we were walking in Reel Big Fish were playing, it was awesome! Sophie was immediately entertained! It was so much fun. We were on row 3 and had several seats all to ourselves!


We got to meet Toodee, she came out of the door we were sitting by!

I got a little excited. Sophie was loving it!

She was super fidgetty and only wanted me to hold her.

They released ballons from the ceiling. It was fun, what a party! Sophie thought her balloon was so cool.

Her favorite, Biz. She smiles the entire time he's doing his beat-boxing. It was way cool, he did so good.

I figure since they made me buy a seat for her, we'd sit her in it for a bit. She was following along with the dance moves. This was with the "goodbye" song.

It lasted about an 1.5. It was the perfect amount of time. Sophie did really well and only got a little fidgetty after they had a short intermission. I loved it and would totally go again! Sesame street is coming in December, we'll have to consider it.

Sorry, picture overload.

Isn't it funny that once you have children your life changes in more ways that one. If you would have asked me two years ago if I'd ever be at a 2pm yo gabba gabba concernt, I'd say heck no!