Category Archive

I know that I said that I was going to set up the privacy block on this blog on the 6th, but I am actually going to do it by the end of this week. I have already sent some of you invitations for the blog, but as you can tell you have to subscribe to wordpress to be able to read it.

On Saturday Night Brad and I got to go out to a Football game in Vancouver. It was really fun because I had never been to a game and football didn’t make sense to me either. I finally get it, I guess all I needed was to see the game to understand it, and for Brad to explain it to me. It was my parent’s gift to Brad and I for our anniversary. I must say that the BC Lions cheerleaders are TERRIBLE. I have never seen such unenthusiastic group of cheerleaders in my life. Maybe it’s because I had never been to a real game and have only seen them in then movies, but that was really pathetic. Even I, who is very uncoordinated could be a BC Lions cheerleader. I wouldn’t want to be one, but I could be.

On Tuesday Brad and I celebrated our actual anniversary. I can’t believe how quickly 2 years had gone by. Didn’t I just say my vows, has it really been 2 years already??? I remember the day that we were getting married I went shopping with my mom for some lingerie and the girls at the store were shocked at how calm I was about the whole thing. I guess most brides on their wedding are sitting in hair salons for hours trying to get each strand to look just right, and there I was shopping just a few hours before the ceremony. Ahhh, the joys of not having a big wedding. I still don’t regret one bit of not doing things the traditional way. I am so happy to have such a beautiful memory in my head, the day that we got married was perfect. It was so smooth and quiet, everyone was calm and right after we got married it began snowing. It was the first snow fall of the year. That really was the best decision that I have ever made. Marrying Brad was the most wonderful and beautiful time of my life (before having Sophia). I have the best most handsome husband, wouldn’t trade my life for the world.

Today I took Sophia to a big group play date in Yarrow. Sara picked me up and on the way there Sophia just lost it. I had not hear that girl scream so loud in a long time. Of course as soon as we go tout of the car she was fine, but she did not make the ride very pleasant. The funny this is, is that Arianna didn’t even wake up from all that screaming. Sophie had a good time at the play date, she was very fascinated by all the little kids. It was a really fun thing to do. I think that we may do it again sometime. On the way back the freaked out and screamed even louder, to the point that she screamed herself to sleep. It was 1 hour past her nap time and she didn’t waste a second letting me know how unhappy she was about it. She cried so hard that she began hyperventilating. It was really sad to listen to, but once she fell asleep she was gone. I was able to take her out of the car seat, take her clothes off, and put her in the her crib without even a twitch. She is currently napping away. Poor little kiddo.

I am hungry so I will finish here. Like I said before, if you want to continue reading my blog you need to email me for an invite.

Sophia waiting to go for a walk

I find it funny when people who don’t have children seem to think that being a parent is easy, and that being a stay at home mom is simply an excuse not to go out and get a real job. I know before I became a parent I thought that having a baby was easy. They are small, what on earth could be so difficult about taking care of a child? It’s also interesting to hear people say that their wedding day is the most life changing day of their lives, yet not all that much changes. People tend to focus so much on their wedding day that they forget that the most important day is the day after and the rest of the days to follow. I don’t mean to bring the value of a marriage down by saying that not much changes, I simply meant that you become husband and wife and after the honeymoon life goes back to being normal. You both have to go to work, you no longer run around like a crazy woman making sure all the details are taken care of. Being married is great, but I do not see it as being a life changing thing. When Brad and I got married it was exciting and thrilling, but neither of us felt that anything had changed. We still loved each other the same, still ate our meals together, only now we lived together instead of being in separate houses. It wasn’t until Sophia entered our lives that everything changed. I think that is why we didn’t want to have a wedding. Neither of us believed that the wedding day is the most important day of our lives, we believed that the days to follow that were the most important. Being with each other mattered more than having a “perfect wedding.”

Anyway, I just thought it is funny to hear people put such high value on their wedding days instead of putting it into their marriage. Once you have a child is when the realization of that most important huge day sinks in. It is when you bring a life into the world you realize what matters most and what is considered a HUGE thing.

I know for me what I dislike the most is when people feel “sorry” for us because we became parents so quickly. Yes she was a surprise, but I would NEVER EVER change that. It’s almost like they devalue our child’s life by asking whether she was a wanted baby. I guess I don’t understand people whom say that they do not wish to have children and even refuse to hold a baby. I have had someone say to me that its selfish to have children, I think it’s selfish to make such a statement. It is not until you become a parent that you know what real love really means. It’s not until then that you become selfless and realize that it is no longer about you. It is not until then that you really grow up.

So in conclusion, if you don’t have kids don’t speak about things you know so little about.

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We took some pictures of Sophie in her monkey suit that I will put up a bit later

Oh my I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I last wrote anything. Some days just fly by and I can barely remember what I did.

Sophia is currently napping in he crib and I must say I am a bit jealous of her. She looks so comfy there. I know I have said this before, but I really want to climb into her crib and snuggle. She has also started her second set of swimming lessons, and I must say that I do not like our swim instructor. You can obviously tell that she has no clue what she is doing. I know that right now swimming lessons are meant for babies to get used to being in the water, but she still needs to take some charge and actually teach us moms how to do certain things. I have taken this class before so I know what do to and how to properly put Sophia under water, but the rest of the moms have not done that before and the swim instructor  just said to put them under water. No instruction, nothing, poor babies must have been pretty shocked from that. Ugh, I don’t like paying for something and having it a waste of time. It’s a good thing that 2 of my friends and their kids are in the class, otherwise I would have switched to a different class.

I am really excited that it’s thanksgiving this weekend. I have been craving turkey for a long time now and can’t wait to sink my teeth into that bird. Sounds tasty doesn’t it??? We have a big dinner planned at Brad’s grandparents house on Sunday, and then a lunch at his Aunt Helen’s on Monday, and my parents are having one also Monday night. We may be all turkey’d out this weekend.

Ok I don’t know what else to say and I think Sophia is waking up. Bye bye

Today I went to see my doctor about my chronic fatigue to figure out what was wrong with me. I wish doctors could just tell what is wrong with me without poking and prodding. I do not like being poked by needles. You’d think that after having a baby I would be used to it, but no I still do not like it. He said that they should get the results back in within couple of days. I kinda hope that they find something. I don’t like being sick, but if I am feeling like I am I would like some explanation for it. The lab did a whole blood could test and also tested me for a thyroid. I will keep you updated.

Sophia has successfully switched from 2 naps a day to only 1 nap. It’s really nice to not have to worry if she got both her naps in, but  at the same time it’s a pain to be stuck at home now. I am super paranoid about her being well rested, and if she doesn’t nap in her crib then she only sleeps for 45 min max. In her bed she can sleep up to 3 hours, and i would rather her sleep longer. Today she woke up after 40 min and started crying. I went into her room and we cuddled in the rocking chair and both fell asleep for another hour and a half. We haven’t napped together since she was about 3 months old. It was so sweet to wake up to my little sweetie next to me.

Right now she is playing with he princess wand that my mom bought for her. It’s funny that a baby so small already has imagination and can pretend play, I love little people. I think I am going to take Sophie swimming, the pool is finally open again. Better go and ger her ready. Enjoy the rain.

Yesterday my mom and dad went to Toys “R” Us to find some good toys for Sophia. We have a lot of stuffed animals and newborn rattle kind of stuff, but she is getting older and more interested in toys so we figured now is a good time to go and get some fun things for her. When we got to the mall Sophie had fallen asleep in my sling which I love when she does because then she is not cranky and tired all afternoon. We passed a couple of dads with their kids and one of the guys made a comment that my way is the best time to go shopping- when the kids are asleep. I thought that was a little funny, I guess that way the kids don’t bother you.

Anyway, back to Sophia’s toy shopping. We got her some educational toys and this and that, but I thought that it would be nice to get her a baby doll. Every little girl has to have her first baby doll. I found this cute little baby girl doll for her and we went ahead and bought it. Once I took it out of the box she immediately grabbed it and went straight for the soother that the doll had in her mouth. It was really funny to see her try and put that soother in her mouth. All it is is a little nub in the end, and yet she spent a lot of time trying to get that thing in her mouth. My little paci-a-holic. Once she figured out that she cannot suck on that paci she gave up and moved onto sucking on her foot or hand, whatever was closer to her mouth. I think she is about to cut another tooth. I find that a bit seeing as how she doesn’t have any top teeth yet, aren’t those supposed to come after the first bottom one’s?

She proudly carried her baby doll for the rest of our mall trip and if I tried taking it away she would squeeze it as tightly as she could. My baby has a little dolly, how cute is that.

Now I am going t vent about my two dumb and annoying cats. Since we had Sophie obviously they don’t get half as much attention as they normally do, so they try and get it another way. During the day they are nice and quiet, but once we go to bed all the noise comes out. There’s chasing, meowing, knocking things over, walking all over us, scratching on Sophia’s door. Seriously, sometimes I just want to knock their heads together so that they would be quiet and I could get some sleep. Obviously I wouldn’t do that, but it has sure made me seriously consider getting rid of them. I love my kitty’s, but I want sanity more. Last night Twiggles managed to climb into my drawer and make it fall apart- at 3 AM!!!!!! Anyone want free cats?

Sophia’s Toy Box Car

Ahhh the old days when Sophie would lay around on the floor cooing at the ceiling fan, she was nice and content to just kick her feet in the air, now it’s a whole new ball game. The little kid is into everything. She has learned how to crawl and is picking up her speed every day. It’s really fun to watch her because she doesn’t crawl like a normal baby would crawl. She has one of her knees bent and the other leg sticks straight out. It almost looks like she is half walking and half crawling. I guess it’s better then her commando wounded soldier crawl. Brad and I had to re-arrange our living room in a way that would block off a portion of the room so that she can’t get out. The little walking space that we have is blocked with a basket of toys which she has managed to move and maneuver through the tiniest of space. I was actually quite impressed at how skilled she is going through obstacles. She she is crawling under the coffee table she knows exactly when to lift and lower her head, I think that’s pretty impressive for a 9 month old.

Right now she is sleeping soundly in her little crib. Ohhh how I love nap times. I have a feeling that her second nap is going to go out the window soon, as now it’s only 1/2 hour long and it takes me forever to get her to sleep. I’m not a fan of the dropping a nap transition time. It’s like 2 naps are too many and 1 is not enough. The same thing happened when she went from 3 to 2 naps, it took her a while to adjust, but she slept soooo much better after that.

As for the sleep department, can’t complain there. She sleeps like an angel. She goes down at 7 pm and I don’t hear from her until 8:30 am the next morning. I love her sleep schedule and I an so glad that I took the time to sleep train her. As hard and frustrating that it was, it had definitely paid off.

I am going to go and have some breakfast now. Enjoy your day

Sophia climbing on her friend Arianna’s stroller

I know my blog has been really boring lately, I meant to write things in the last couple of days, but I guess I never got around to it.

Sophia is doing well. Her sleep has been incredible, except that now she is practicing sitting up by herself and that wakes her up at night a lot. She has been doing that for a while, but for some reason decided that it would be really fun to do it in the middle of the night. Oh well, it’s kind of cute to watch her in the monitor while she practices in her crib.

I had a dentist appointment last week and again it was not fun. Now both sides of my teeth hurt and I can’t eat properly. I’m hoping that the pain will go away soon, I like food too much not to eat it. Brad has an appointment in the next couple of days and I do not envy him at all. His is just a cleaning though, I hope that he doesn’t have any cavities, those are expensive to fix.

Tonight we’re going over to a friends house for dinner. Brad has never met them, but I know the girl from high school. She is the one that Sophia had her first play date with, well not her her daughter. They were so cute together, too bad I didn’t get any pictures of the girls. Next time I will.

So, everyone is doing well and I will try to keep this thing updated more often. Have a good day.

Having fun with grandpa

I love watching all the different stages that Sophia has been going through. I have been doing a lot of reading about what to expect during the toddler years, and some of the books give examples of how a baby may react to something that we. In one of the books I was reading (I forget that name of the book) it said that around the 7 month mark kids tend to get upset when you take an object away from them. I think that’s when they begin to recognize that just because they don’t see it it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. When Sophie was 7 months old she generally did not care if I took things away from her, she would just move on to the next interesting thing around her. Well let me tell you, it’s a whole new ball game now. Dare I take anything away from her that she wants and the screaming and water works come straight out. Like the other day I was sitting on the floor next to her eating some blueberries, she was playing with blocks and the remote control. All of a sudden she spotted the bowl of blueberries and she just had to have it. She scooted on her little bottom to the bowl and started playing with the berries. It was very cute how she investigated a berry, then she threw it our of the bowl, then she put it back in. After she got bored of picking single berries out she threw a bunch of them out onto the carpet and began mushing the rest of them in the bowl. That’s when I took it away because otherwise she would put a bunch of stains on her clothes and on the carpet. Oh man, was she ever angry she it berries were taken away from her. I don’t think she stopped whining until she went down for a nap an hour later. Next time I will know to take them away before she gets her little grabby hands on them.

Here are some pictures of her blueberry party.

Still fairly clean, being nice...

cleaning up……

getting messier….

smushing the berries….

baaaaaa, Mine, give them back!!!!! 

I always complain about how I have nothing to do, well not anymore. Last night Brad and I went out to Fort Langley for a CD release of the Left. I had a lot of fun, specially because we got to go out by ourselves and didn’t have to worry about being back in time for Sophie’s bed time. My mom is very nice to babysit for us, we’re very thankful to have the extra help.

Tonight we’re going out again, we’re going to see Ratatouille ( I have no idea how to spell that correctly). I am sooooo excited for it. I will write all about our weekend at the end of the weekend. Come back on Sunday for updates

Sophia at the doctors office 

Today Sophie had her very first play date. A little while ago I blogged about how I felt that I no longer had anything in common with my friends whom don’t have children, and how being a stay at home mom can get very lonely. Well, since the wonderful world of facebook I have reconnected with some people that I had not seen in some time. The last time that I saw Kim was on our graduation day back in 2001. So yah, 6 years, but it was very comfortable and I had a lot of time catching up. She also has a little girl, Haylee, she’s about 6 weeks older then Sophia, but it’s not too big of a gap so it was nice.

We were supposed to get together with one other girl that we went to high school with, but we couldn’t get a hold of her and hoping that everything is ok. Maybe another time all of will get to go out. I was being a bit of an air head when I headed out this morning and forgot to take my camera with me, so I guess I won’t have any pictures from Sophie’s first play date. oh well, she will have many more to come. I’m looking forward to hanging out with her and our kids playing together. That’s it, that’s what we did today. Yay for a fun day !!!

We had quite the adventure yesterday. After our swimming class Sophie decided to take a nice 3 hour nap, and mommy was very happy with it. Well, once she woke up I thought that it’d be best if we took her outside for a bit. Seeing as how it wasn’t the nicest day out we decided to go out and get some coffee. On our way to the coffee shop I remembered that there was a bad that I wanted to get at the mall and we took a little detour there. I was sitting in the back seat with Sophia and all of a sudden she started grunting a lot. I didn’t really think much of it as she makes really odd noises in the car all the time. Well after all that grunting we had a big poopy. I was being somewhat of an airhead and forgot to grab the diaper bag, so of course we didn’t have anything to change hew with. I thought that it was no biggie seeing as how there is a London Drugs in the mall and we can get her diapers there, we needed some anyway. So I grabbed her out of her car seat and proudly carried her into the mall. I was wondering why some people gave me weird looks, until I realized that my hand felt a little wet. I turned Sophie around to discover that the poop went out of her diaper onto her back. Yummy. We got some wipes and diapers and when I started changing I discovered that not only did it go up her back, it went up and over the shoulders. So now we had to get her a new shirt. After I changed her into a new diaper I couldn’t put on her old shirt so I had to carry my poor little baby half naked through the mall. I’m sure people thought that there was something wrong with me, or that I didn’t know how to dress my baby. We got her a $5.00 shirt at Zellers.

It’s not over yet. When we walked into Zellers she decided that it was a good time to have a nice and big spit up party. I feel kinda bad for not cleaning it up, but by that time I just wanted to get out of the mall. So once we bought that shirt we just had one more stop to make and then we could go and get our coffee. I got my bag and she spat up all over the bag too. Way to go Sophie!!!

So that was our adventurous day. Ahhh the joys of motherhood and cleaning up messy babies. Oh well, it’s kinda funny.

This is Sophie attempting to crawl…

Yesterday my mom, dad, Sophia, Brad and I ventured out to Metro-town. I really wanted to go shopping and we thought that it would be a lot of fun if we went out to a big mall. I find that these little town malls are not that great, and half the time I can’t fin what I need in them anyway. I’m a terrible shopper as it is, so only being able to shop in small places makes my end goal that much harder to reach. I like getting stuff, it’s the looking for it part that sucks. So anyway, we got into our little car and went out to Burnaby. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well she handled the shopping trip. She had a great big nap before we left and a little one while we were in the mall, other then that she was all smiles and giggles.

When my mom and I were looking for stuff at Jacob, Brad and my dad took Sophia to the Disney store. They showed her a bunch of little toys, but she didn’t seem interested in them, until the saw a little Dalmatian’s puppy called Snoopy. She was all over that little dog, giggling and slobbering all over him. Of course my dad bought the little puppy for her, and she was playing with it for the remainder of the time there. By the time that we got out of the mall and into the car the little dog was sopping wet with her oh so plentiful drool. I actually sat on the dog and my bum was all wet.

Another fun that happened was that Sophie made a friend. There was this little girl walking around the store with her dad while her mom tried on some clothes. Sophie just loved that little girl. She was squealing and laughing like crazy. They were entertaining each other back and fourth. The little girl just lived the attention that she was getting from Sophie, and Sophie thought it was the greatest thing that the little girl was doing little dances for her. It was so precious to watch.

So overall we had a good and successful trip and got lots of stuff. I needed summer clothes really bad, and got some nice things. I still need to get a few more things (my shirts are too tight ), but other than that I got what I needed.

I’ll post some pictures from our trip when I upload them.

I got some of these from my parenting forum, and I thought it would be funny to share. Feel free to add and I will post it here.

• YOU KNOW YOU’RE A MOM AND SLEEP DEPRIVED WHEN…
• sleep is the only think that you can think, obsess and dream about.
• you think you’re going crazy when you hear screaming even when it’s dead silent in the house.
• 7 am is considered sleeping in
• you get excited when you see a poopy diaper
• you become a complete airhead- there are days you’re surprised you are able to dress yourself (and haven’t gotten into a car accident!).
  
• that even months after you’ve had the baby you’re still shedding like a lab
• you drive to work and don’t remember the drive
• you are talking to someone and forget what you are saying right in the middle of your conversation
• you’ve heard crying too and jumped up and ran in the nursery only to find your kid sound asleep
• you are pumping for milk for the next day and you fall asleep for an hour sitting up in the chair
• you put the car keys on the side of the car seat while you strap your kid in and then spend 10 minutes trying to find your keys.
• you’re not quite sure if it’s avocado smeared on your pants from toddler hands or if it’s poo from the newborn…
  
• going to the bathroom alone is a luxury.
• you start prepping dinner when you get up in the morning and work on it here and there throughout the day.
• you have no idea what is going on in the world but can name 20 different kinds of dinosaurs and/or digging equipment.
• when you start losing your big people vocabulary
• when you find rocks in your gym bag and know exactly when they were put there and that you’ll be in BIIIIIG trouble if you get rid of them.
• you think nothing of eating the soggy remains of an ice cream cone left by your son, when 5 years ago the very idea would gross you out.
• you find yourself saying things like, “Jackson, no eating your shoes!!!” or “Mommy’s going pee-pee. Do you want to come with?”
• when you are getting out of the car and check to make sure you have your keys 3 times because you don’t remember checking the 1st time.
  
• when you are talking to your child from the bathroom so they won’t start crying.
• you do silly dances while cooking to entertain your 4 month old.
  
• when it’s no longer about you anymore
• when you give in and let your son get a dog and you ARE NOT an animal lover. (I’ve totally lost my mind)

Today Sophie was a little angel.  She was a bit cranky in the morning, but was such a good girl for the rest of the day. I didn’t know what to do with myself - usually she just whines and whines, but today she was all smiles and happy.

She took a wonderful 2 hour nap this morning, causing us to miss our swim class:;I didn’t care, I wanted to nap too. After her morning nap she was up for 3 hours, happily playing in her exersaucer for a good chunk of the time.

We also went to see our friends Brent and Leah’s (pluckymama) newborn baby in the hospital today. He is sooo cute and tiny. Way to go Leah, I’m proud of you :). I couldn’t believe how much Sophie has grown in past 6.5 months - she was huge compared to him. Awwww, it makes me want to have another baby.

Well, my mom is making dinner so I suppose I should go and get ready. Here’s a pic of Sophie wanting to play with Twiggles.

CONGRATULATIONS LEAH & WELCOME ISAAC!!!!

Yesterday I was giving Sophia her daily bath as part of her bed time routine. Since she has learned to sit up unsupported, I decided to take out her bath seat and let her sit on her own. I brought some toys for her to play with to make bath time a little more exciting. Mistake. She did not like the rubber ducky. Apparently the ducky is evil, and had to be out of the tub ASAP. I may have caused the problem of fearing the ducky, but I’m not entirely sure.

When I first put the ducky in she was fine with it - she even played and chewed on it, but the duck was soon full of water and wouldn’t float. I picked up the duck and squeezed the water out of it, causing a loud gushing noise as the water emptied through the little hole that had consumed the water in the first place. Then came the huge teary waterworks followed by very loud screaming. The rubber duck ruined the day. I don’t even know why the noise scared her, it was just running water and she’s fine with that. Beats me, I felt so bad for the kid.

It was very cute watching her play with her little toys, but now she wants nothing to do with the duck. I even tried introducing it to her later and she just screamed every time that she saw the yellow duck.

Today we had another swimming class where we had to throw a toy in the water and then guide the kids to go get them. Alas, they had rubber duckies as toys, so she freaked out until they put the toys away. I felt bad because they actually had to take out a rubber whale instead so she wouldn’t flip out. The whale was ok’d by her and very much welcomed. I didn’t know that kids develop fears so young, or that they even have the memory to recall something that scared them the day before. Hmmmmm, I guess now I know.

I have pictures from her bath, but not uploaded, maybe later today.

P.S. She went down for a nap at 12:40pm and is still asleep . I can’t believe it’s been 2.5 hours already, I should have napped myself.

I think I definitely have sleep anxiety. This morning I woke up at 5am for no apparent reason. Sophie was sleeping and I was awake for the next 2 hours. I ended up having a huge headache, and as soon as I fell asleep she woke up. Lovely. I also think that she ma be teething again as she gets cranky at the 8 hour mark when Motrin stops working, that or she is having a bad reaction to her vaccinations.

I’m excited for today though. My decided that since Sophie is 6 months old we are having crab and lobster for dinner. Yum, that is my FAVORITE food in the world. I’m so excited.

I think I might take Sophia swimming again today, we have our first mommy and me class on Monday and I want her to be familiar with the water. We’ll see, depends on how she’s acting today. She just took a lovely  1/2 hour nap this morning. Ugh, I wish I knew what to do.

Have a lovely day everyone

Taking a walk with Daddy

Today my mom and I took Sophia to the Chilliwack Leisure Center for swimming. I have been wanting to take mommy & me swimming classes, so I thought Id give it a try to see if she would enjoy it at all. She did fine for the first 10 min, and then became very hesitant to the water. I think she was confused. She didn’t have a meltdown or anything, but she did whine a lot. The only way I could get her to keep quite was to stick a soother in her mouth. Eventually she stopped whining and we went for a little swim. I was actually surprised that she was kicking her feet in a swimming motion, it was soooo cute. I just held her chin up so she wouldn’t swallow water, but other then that she knows how to float.

She really enjoyed the kids hot tub, but wasn’t too happy to go back into the pool after that. I guess the little monkey doesn’t like cold water. I put her on her tummy on one of those floating mats and she was was happily observing everyone for a while.

I think it was fairly successful for our first try, and once we take some swim classes then maybe she won’t be afraid to go into the lake this summer.

Sorry, no picture today, don’t have any new one’s uploaded.

I think that I am officially going to start Sophia on solids. She has gotten some here and there, but not on regular basis. Lately she has been getting very upset if I eat in front of her and don’t give her any. I figures that is a sign of readiness. It’s actually quite cute how she wants to stick ALL food in her mouth.

So in-light of me starting her on solids I have decided to make my own homemade baby food. I bought “Super Baby Food” book and bought a bunch of fruit/vegetables to make. It was very fun pureeing all that food. I have 30 cubes stored in my freezer. She has carrots, pears, mango, banana, avocado, yams, squash, and prunes. Prunes keep her regular ;).

Onto another note, Brad and I went out to Langley today to get our cell phone #’s changed, but apparently you can no, longer get numbers from different provinces changed in their stores. How useless is that? We have to call from a land line to do that. I thought it was very silly, so I guess we’ll have to do that.

Unpacking is going slow, but I don’t care, I’m having fun.

Sophia and Brad’s cousin Allison

P.S. Sophia is back to her normal sleeping habits. I guess she was just having an off night.

Not last night, but the night before, Brad and I had the worst night ever. For those of you whom read my blog know that Sophia has started being a very good sleeper. We were down to one feeding a night and about 13-15 hours of total sleep. Well let met tell you, that was NOT the case the other night. As usual I put her down and 6pm and she went to sleep. Then at midnight she woke up crying, I thought it was kind of odd, but went in and gave her a soother. I usually don’t like doing that, but I was really tired and wanted to go to sleep. She then proceeded to wake up again 1/2 hour later, I fed her “just in case” but she didn’t really want to eat. She then slept for 1 hour and began waking up every 45 min from there on. By about    3:30 am i thought that I was going to go insane. Even Brad ended up getting up a few times, we just couldn’t figure oot what her deal was. Ahhhhh, it was like having a newborn again, except worse. I think it reminded me of how glad I am not to be pregnant right now, yes I changed my mind again. Anyway,  by 5 am she went to sleep for 2hours and woke up like nothing ever happened at 7 am. That’s 2 hours before her usual wake up. Of course she was as grumpy as a bear all day yesterday. Guess who else was not a happy person….yah mommy. I just could not function at all. My mom then offered to babysit and Brad and I went out for the afternoon. It felt really nice to get away, Thank you mom.

Soooo, my mom also took Sophie for the night so that we coud get some rest. And of course she went back to her usual and very nice sleep habits. Odd child, I swear she likes playing mind games with me.

Well today we all woke up happy and rested hoping that we don’t have to deal with another night like that. It was not fun at all. She’s having a hard time falling asleep for her nap so I have to go and help her.

Sophia and Grandma Richert

Here are some great-grandma moments…

Richert side

Chved side

Yesterday Sophia and flew from Edmonton to Abbotsford. I call my title a proud mommy moment because she was such an angel during the flight. Last time All 3 of us flew to BC, in Feb, she threw a bit of a fit, so this time I was afraid that the same thing was going to happen again. But as soon as we got into the plane she just nuzzled herself into my armpit and fell asleep. I was in a bit of a shock, but accepted it. She slept for the first hour, and then for the last 1/2 hour she just stared and smiled at people. I was proud of my little girl, she was sooo good.

Anyway, I am trying to get her settle in, but I think that she is having a bit of trouble adjusting. She never had issues with coming here, but for the last couple days I have been having trouble getting her to sleep. Yesterday she didn’t go down until 8 pm, and today it was 9pm. Her usual bed time is 6pm, so I hope that she doesn’t get overtired from missing all that sleep. Once Brad and I are back here on the 24th, I will try to put her on more of a schedule. I wouldn’t mind if she went to bed later, but every time that  that has happened she gets VERY overtired and cranky, and those kind of babies are NO fun to deal with. She still sleeps well for me, on average I get 13-15 hours a night, so I can’t complain there.

I’m watching her on our baby video monitor right now, and she is sooooo cute. Watching a baby sleep is so precious.

Oh I remember what I was going to say. I ran into one of my very good friends at the airport. It was such a fluke that it happened, but it was very exciting. I hadn’t see that girl in a very long time. We chatted a bit and then she whispered into my ear that she just found out that she is pregnant. I am very excited for her. They hadn’t told their families at that point, so I felt privileged to be the first one to know. She is one of my most favorite people, and I wish I could see her more, but that’s what happens when you live in different provinces.

So anway, CONGRADULATIONS Val, I love you and miss you lots. Oh and her due date is Dec 3, 2007

Today Sophia had her 5 month appointment. She developing nicely and all is well. She is now 14lbs 5 oz and I forget how many inches long. I think shes 25 inches??? I have to look at the chart, but I’m too lazy.

I have most of her stuff packed and ready to go, but the rest of the house looks like a tornado went through it. It’s driving me crazy, but I just have to keep reminding myself that it will all be cleaned up soon. Can you tell I’m a clean freak? Never used to be, but these darn cats and all their cat hair. It’s really gross. Well I gotta get back to patching holes in the walls and packing some more.

That’s her new carseat. She likes it much more then her infant one.

I don’tknow what to do with myself these last couple of days. I feel like I should clean up our house to make it look more livable, but I don’t think that it’s possible with all these boxes around. I hate moving. I guess not many people enjoy it, it’s so inconvenient. Right now I can’t find anything, and don’t know what I may need, so packing is a hassle. I’ve already had to open up one box because my husband decided that he wanted steeped tea instead of using a regular tea bag. We have not used that hot press in who knows how long, and as soon as I packed it he went looking all over the kitchen for it. I thought it was kind of funny, but not at the same time. In two weeks we will be out of here, I can’t believe it. Most of you know how much I’ve been wanting to get out of Alberta, but now that it’s time to go I feel a little sad. Such a typical woman I am. I don’t want to get out of here because I hate it here, but because it doesn’t seem like home to me. But in a way it IS home. I got married here, had a baby here, all the best things that have happened to me happened to me in Edmonton.

There are things that I am going to miss. Things like: it doesn’t rain for 1/2 a year straight, places that are sentimental to us, my doctor. I had the best prenatal care here, and I am really going to miss that the next time I am pregnant.

But I am also really looking forward to going to the lake. Sophie is going to love going swimming this summer. And I am looking forward to Brad and I going out together a little bit. It will be nice to have some family around to babysit so that we can have alone time. We haven’t had that in 5 months.

OOOOHHHH, my cookies are done. Yes I baked today, mmm I can’t wait to have some. I’ve been craving chocolate like a mad woman recently , so I hope this will make the craving go away. Ok cookie time

So I thought that the weather here was warming up, but every time that I think that we get another snowfall Oh well, soon it will be summer, can you tell I’m looking forward to that? Nothing new has been happening here, still packing things. I leave in 2 weeks, and Brad wants me to have most stuff packed by then, so I guess it’s going to be very busy two weeks.

We’re just about to head out to the mall. Brad wants to get a haircut and I would like to find Sophia some sunglasses that have Velcro on the back, that way she can keep them on. We have a really cute pair, but she rips them off as soon as I put them on. I’m going to get my hair done tomorrow. I wasn’t really planning on it, but it’s been bugging me, so I need to fix it.

Ooo, Sophie is up from her cat nap. If she sleeps great at night it’s cat naps, and if it’s good naps then BAD sleep at night. I just can’t win with her. I’m not happy with her sleeping, cause I’m either exhausted from bad sleep or from a cranky baby during the day. One day this will end, I look forward to that day

Sophie has found her new favorite song. She gets the biggest smile on her face when she hears “Old MacDonald”, but her all time favorite part is the “Ee i ee i oh” part, that’s when the big grins come out.

When she was a newborn I didn’t really know any kids songs, so I sang her the Beatles song-So Happy Together. I don’t really know why, but that was the first one that came to my head. She loved it when I sang to her, and let me tell you…I CANNOT sing. I’ve always wanted to be able to, but I just don’t have the voice. It’s a good thing that babies don’t care how their mommies sound. Anyway, the Beatles song is the song that she gets before bedtime, like a cue that it’s time to go to sleep. We have a bedtime ritual that is the same every night, that way she knows what’s coming next and doesn’t protest going to sleep. We have play time, bath, swaddle, feed with song, and then lights out. It took a little while to get into routine, but since we started that when she was a newborn, now she is very easy to put to bed.

Well since her bedtime song is just for bedtime, I thought that it would be fun to sing some kid songs to her during the day. She doesn’t seem to care for any but the Old Macdonald one. I don’t know what it is about that song, but obviously something that she really enjoys. And seeing as how she’s not a cuddly baby, that is the only way that I can get cuddles. She loves it, and giggles when we cuddle and sing.

Yesterday she was having some tummy time on the floor, and I decided to sing her that song and managed to get the huge smile on camera. Hope you all enjoy the big smiles. As Brad said the other day “babies are the living proof that smiling is easier then frowning.”

Have a great day everyone

Note the drool on the chin…

Not much to say here, pretty busy with paking and all. I thought that a video would be fun. These are some of her first steps. She is testing out her walking skills, hope you enjoy

Today Sophie napped for 3 WHOLE hours. I don’t know what came over her, but she would not wake up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I just don’t understand what triggers those nice long naps. I know that babies change their schedule all the time, but I mean they have to settle at one point? As soon as I think that I have her figured ot she goes and changes on me again.

We were working on her going down for bed byherself and sleeping well at night, and that turned out well. At first She would wake up after 40 min and scream, but eventually stopped doing that. During that time she would sleep very long stretches of sleep (8-12hours), then eat and go back to sleep for another few hours. Now that she falls asleep right away she wakes up 2-4 times during the night. I just don’t get it. She doesn’t wake from hunger, she just wants to play. Can you tell I’m tired? I thought that by this age they get into a better sleep routine. I blame Brad for the bad sleeping habits, I was a good sleeper. If the naps are good, night time sleep is bad, and if the night time sleep is good, naps are bad. I guess i can’t have it all.

Sorry for the huge rant, I just feel like I don’t get my own kid most of the time. Ireally do think that they should come with instruction manuals. There would be way less messed up people. Parenting is hard…

Yesterday I was waiting for Sophie to wake up from her nap to write a new post, but she kept sleeing and sleeping, and as soon as I opened up my computer she woke up. You’d think that after a 2 1/2 hour nap she would be happy, but no, there were crankies up the ying yang. So after all that I decided that instead of a blog I would take a nap. I like naps, they make me happy.

In one of my previous posts I talked about Sophie being obsessed with standing, so this is a follow up of that. I couldn’t hold her up all the time, so Brad and I decided that maybe we should get her an exersaucer. I wasn’t sure if she would like it, since she pays no attention to her boucer. Most babies get excited and jump in those, not mine, she just sits and stares at me. I went to Toys “R” Us and picked one up for her hoping that I didn’t waste a bunch of money for nothing. At first she looked at me with that blank stare, “what is this thing you put me in?” But after a little while she figured the whole thing out. When the exersaucer is rocked it plays music, didn’t take her long to figure that one out, and oh my does she get excited about that. Today she learned that the chair twists and she dosn’t just ahve to stare at one toy.

I am sooooo glad that I got it for her, now My hands are free and I can actually get some things done around the house.

Onto another note, Brad found out that we are able to move next month so I am not in the process of going through our stuff and trying to organize and pack. i’m so excited to come back home. Ahhhh no more Lakeless Edmonton summers…More on that later, monkey has to go take a nap.

I have a picture of her in the exersaucer, but I can’t find the USB cord to download them. Check back later, I’ll have it up sometime today.

I Love Looking At Myself !!!

What IS This???

Today I had my appointment with the Lactation Consultant. It went pretty well, she gave me some very good pointers. I also got a bunch of stuff to help me with breasteeding, nipple sheilds, pump stuff, and some suringe things. All the free things that she gave me added up to good $80.00, and I didn’t have to spend a cent. I really appreacited all the help that provided.

The LC checked sophie out, she weighs 13lbs 12oz, still little but doing well. She also got me to try to breastfeed her, and of course Sophie threw a fit. Basically what I have to do from now on is refuse to give Sophie any bottles and make her breastfeed. The LC told me that it might take a day or two of alot of protest crying, but a hungry baby won’t starve herself and will eventually eat from the breast. I have to wait until I have full supply, otherwise it will all be pointless. She upped me from 10mg of Domperidone to 20mg, and said that withing a month or so I can stop taking it and should be able to nurse without supplementing. I’m really hoping that this will all work out, but if she ABSOLUTLEY refuses to take the breast I can alays continue pumping. I’d rather do that then give her formula.

So, I’m the boss and I have to make my baby listen to me. If only it were as easy as it sounds. I’ll let you know how it all worked out. Bye Bye….

Here’s my little fatty

I have a weird family. I just asked Brad to charge the battery to our digital camera, and on his way to the outlet he managed to fall and hurt himself. The distance is about 2-3 feet, see, weird family. And now that he is sitting on the floor Twiggles (the obsessive cat) is already on top of him.

Anyway, that’s not what I was going to write about, I am going to tell you about my little addict. Sophie has this really weird fascintion with computer/TV screens. She could be happily playing with one of us, but as soon as she spots one of our computers or that the TV is on, her head turns that way and there’s no way of distracting her from it. It funny because when she is really cranky, all we have to do it open up a computer screen and all is well again. I keep thinking that she’s going to turn out to be a computer geek, just like her daddy.

Her new thing that has discovered is standing. The little stinker wants nothing to do with sitting, she MUST stand at ALL times. Her poor little legs can’t handle her weight for that long, and when she crashes she just gets mad and wants to go up again. I’m really shocked how well she can do it though. I don’t even have to hold her, just give her my fingers for balance, is that normal for a 4 month old? I thought they re supposed to learn to sit unassisted first? Nope, wants nothing to do with sitting, standing is the “in” thing now…

Anyway, back to the computer screen thing. I know that kids watching TV is a controversial topic, and I’m not for them spending countless hours infront of the screen, but is 10-15 a day that bad? Sometimes I like to watch certain shows, and she is up at that time, is it bad for her to watch it with me? This parenting thing looked easier then it is. I have a really cute picture of her and the computer, but I can’t upload it right now because the battery is charging. Check back in couple of hours, it will be up.

My little computer geek

News update on the breastfeeding mom II:

I went to see my doctor yesterday and she prescribed me Domperidone, which is technically for stomach issues but works really well for people with low milk supply. I’ve been taking it for only one day and can already see a huge difference. Yay to the tiny white pills!!!

Yesterday Brad was playing with Sophie, tossing her in the air, doing airplane, and then all of a sudden a HUGE white Spit-up drool toppled right on top of him. I was watching it happen in slow motion, and luckily Brad’s reflexes were fast enough to move her away from his mouth, that would’ve been hilarious!!!!

I only laugh because it had happened to me before. Sophie doesn’t spit much, in fact I can count on my fingers how many times she’s spit up, but when she does it big. It was all over his shirt, pants, and even got some on the couch. Hahaha, I’m still laughing.

Oh, Brad is finding out soon if he will be graduating this semester, I’m really looking forward to coming home. I just want to go to the movies really bad, and we have no family to babysit here….

Stinker is up from her oh so long nap…jk..bye

She is 13 1/2 pounds now… My baby is growing up

P.S. Here are my weird search engine terms for today (the internet is full of very odd people):

• old lady sex
• watching mom pees
• swaddler made to look like moms hand

A couple of posts ago I had written how sad I was about Sophie refusing to breastfeed. After a couple of days of moping around and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take things into my own hands. I had done some research and realized that it was quite normal for babies to go on nursing strikes around 4 months, I am not alone. The only problem that I had though is insufficient milk supply. Seeing as how I’ve never done this before, I have no idea how to get it back and start nursing again. So, I did some more research and found myself a breastfeeding clinic. I have an appointment on Monday with a lactation consultant, meanwhile I pump every 3 hours. It had been working, I’m slowly seeing an increase in m supply, now I just have to figure out how to get the little kid to latch and not freak out. I guess that’s where the LC comes in. I’m really hoping that this is going to work, I just CANNOT give it up. Babies are meant to be breastfed!!!! (I’m not chastising mothers whom don’t, because I KNOW hard it is).

On another note, Sophie is sleping a bit better. I think the soother had something to do with it, once I took it away she learned to sleep without a sleeping aid. Still working on it, but atleast I found the problem. But, I always think I’ve found the proble, only to figure out that it was not it. Babies and their daily changes…..

Daddy and Sophia doing “SOPHWEEEEE”

Maybe I’m crazy for wanting another baby seeing as how this one likes giving me a hard time, but I can’t help it. When I first had Sophie I swore that I wouldn’t have another kid for years, but now that the newborn craziness has passed and my body has healed I could really see myself being pregnant again.

Brad said that we have to wait until he graduates next month, and then we can try to have another one. So I’m pretty excited about this. I think I’d like to wait until June so that my next baby is not born middle of winter. That was one of the downfalls of having a baby in the winter, I could never go out anywhere, even now we don’t get out all that much. I’m a firm believer that kids should get outside for a while each day.

Update on Sophie:

I think that she has begun teething again. Her cheeks are getting all red again and she’s chewing on her hands like crazy. I just want those teeth to pop through. They seem to be really bothering her, and have t