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.

****

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

Sometimes when I put Sophia to bed I just st by her crib and watch her sleep. She always looks so peaceful and innocent, it’s so precious. A little while ago Brad and I went to a park with Sophia and we were watching other kids playing and running around. I love seeing the innocence in children, the world hasn’t gotten the best of them yet. They have no perception of worrying about paying the bills, putting food on the table, they just enjoy life. They haven’t experienced hatred, betrayal, disloyalty. They have no inhibitions to walk up to another child and make a friend on the spot. How wonderful would the world be if we all had the forgiveness and the innocence of a child. It’s so sad that we all lose it, you cannot live in this world like a child.

You can see the innocence fading in the older kids that were at the park. You can tell that something is different, that they had experienced pain. I don’t really the turning point, but it’s there and you can see it in their eyes. I wish I could keep Sophia safe from pain, that she would always be happy. I know that is every parents dream, yet none of us are able to fulfill it. I have even heard some people say that having children and bringing them up in this world is a selfish act. I see how some would think that, but I believe you must be fairly broken to really feel that way. To me being a mom is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened. I believe that I didn’t know what truly loving someone meant until I had Sophie. It’s not something that you can describe, it’s something that is just there and you don’t know where it came from.

I have such a hard time hearing stories about child abuse, and murder. I don’t understand how anyone can hurt something so helpless and beautiful. How people can hurt kids that cannot defend themselves, how they can kill their children and claim that they’re better off that way and then be found not guilty. How can someone not live their child?

I always liked being around kids, but I don’t think I ever realized how precious childhood is until I had one of my own. My heart goes out to the kids that don’t have parents, the one’s that have no one to love and care for them. I could imagine how heartbreaking it would be to work in an orphanage. Kids don’t need much, all they want is for someone to love them. I see how much stuff Sophia has, but in the end I know she would be just as much of a happy baby is she had none of those things. She has a family that loves her more than life. I don’t understand why we as adults are so obsessed with stuff, why we think that the more we have the happier we will be. I am one of those. I want a house and a couple of cars, and money, In the end the things that make me happiest are the morning smiles that Sophie gives me, watching her play with her toys, her excitement to see me. Nothing will ever beat that.

I wish that no child would have to go through heart break. I wish that every child would have a childhood will with happiness. If only everyone could experience the joy of being a kid, this world would be a much better place. If i had only 1 wish I would wish that every kid would have unconditional love.

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

Picture for now, blog later. She won’t let me write right now.

My dad took Sophia swimming for the afternoon, so I get about an hour to myself to do whatever I want. Of course I pick to blog since it’s the laziest activity that I can think of. I like sitting on my couch, it makes me happy. I remember when Brad and I got married we had this old gray/black futon in our living room that we used to pull all nighters and watch movies on, and once I got pregnant I realized just how uncomfortable that thing really was. We then went out and bought a couch that I am currently sitting on. I don’t really know where that came from.

Today I have been reminiscing a lot, and thinking about how quickly time is flying by. At this time last year I was in my 3rd trimester wishing that the pregnancy would be over soon, and now my baby is 9 months old. I can’t believe how much she has changed and grown. I now know what people meant when they said that kids grow up fast.

Sophia is cutting another tooth or two. She has had her two bottom ones for 2 months and yesterday I discovered that the other 2 bottom ones  were coming in as well. I expected the top teeth to be next, and maybe they’re coming in as well, but I will not risk and put my fingers in that mouth. You put them in and you lose them. Her teeth are so sharp that sometimes it even scares me to put food in her mouth.

Onto another note, Brad and I bought the third season of House today and I am really excited to watch it. Since last year Brad had a class Tuesday nights we didn’t get to see house, so now that it’s out I bet we will watch it in a weeks time. I have a week spot when it comes to House, I love that show. I guess I should take advantage of the hour that I have while Sophia is gone and watch the first episode. Ok, time to go…..

This summer is going by so fast. i can’t believe that my baby is already 8 months old. I swear I still remember the day that I brought her from the hospital like it was yesterday. I know it wasn’t that long ago, but it doesn’t feel like 8 months ago. Sophia has been doing really well recently. I finally got her to the point where she no longer wakes up at night. I got really sick of her waking up at night and looking for her soother, so I just let her cry it out one night and she has been an angel sleeper ever since. She didn’t even cry that long, but now even if she does wake up in the middle of the night she puts herself back to sleep without a peep. I love feeling rested. Ahhhh, no more night feedings, such a good feeling.

Today we’re going to take Sophie to the lake , and then later on in the afternoon she has her 8 month check up. I’m looking forward to seeing how much she has grown in the last month. It seems like she is getting bigger by the minute. The othey day I was looking at her newborn pictures and I blown away by how much she has changed. Even seeing a newborn baby I swear that Sophie was never that small, but I now that she was even smaller than then average newborn baby. I almost miss that stage, but not really. I like the sleeping through the might stage better.

She still refuses to crawl and wants nothing to do with being on all fours. Every time that I put her in that position she just cries and whines until I pick her up or she rolls over. She is trying to scoot backwards on her bum, but even that is not working out too well. She is all about the walking. She can actually run, I get tired out before she does. Ahhh the energy of a child, I only I could have it. Maybe I should go for some runs and get in shape so that I will be able to keep up with her.

Well I guess I should go get her diaper bag ready so that we can head out when she wakes up. Here are some comparison pictures. Enjoy .

8 month old

1 day old

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 !!!

I was going to blog about this a few days ago (when she actually got her tooth), but I kept forgetting to. Sophie got her first tooth on June 15th. I knew that she had been teething, but the little sharpie took me by surprise. When she was 3 months old I was convinced that she was teething, had all the classic signs. She drooled like a mad dog, chewed on EVERYTHING around her, and had huge red cheeks. Nothing came for months. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the unexplained fevers that she had, well I guess now I have an explanation. It wasn’t a virus like that horribly rude doctor told us, she was cutting a tooth.

I was actually checking her gums and she bit me, those little things are really sharp. I can see her other bottom one is right behind the one that just popped through.

That’s it, I just wanted to share our first tooth excitement. I’ll post a picture later.

TELL ME ABOUT IT

By Carolyn Hax

Wednesday, May 23, 2007; Page C10

Carolyn:

Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What’d you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I’ve done Internet searches, I’ve talked to parents. I don’t get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don’t do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I’m asking is: What is a typical day and why don’t moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I’m feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy — not a bad thing at all — but if so, why won’t my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest (”My life is so much harder than yours”)? What’s the deal? I’ve got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You’re funny.

Or you’re lying about having friends with kids.

Or you’re taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven’t personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it’s validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm’s way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It’s needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It’s constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It’s constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It’s resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone’s long-term expense.

It’s doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything — language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It’s also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn’t judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

I never thought that  would see my 7 month old baby have tantrums. I always thought that the tantrum stage starts around the age of 2, oh boy was I wrong. I don’t know if they will start full blown or if she is just acting out randomly, but I do know that it has began. Yesterday I was offering her some food and she starting swinging her arms back and fourth and making really loud screeching noises. Of course the food went flying up in the air and landed on top of her, and that just made her more angry. I wish I knew why she is throwing fits like that. I’m pretty sure that at this age she is unable to rationalize and try to manipulate us, there is no way that she is doing that. And I know that at this age she won’t understand “NO.” I thought that I would have a lot more time than 7 months..ahahah.

I’m in the process of reading Positive Discipline, as I in no way believe in hitting, pinching, flicking, or smacking a child. Not that I would even consider something like that at this age, but I figures that once the toddler years approach I want to have some sort of a clue what I will be up against. I just know that I am completely against spanking children, to me it’s just plain child abuse I don’t care what peoples reasons are. I think we as parents have a responsibility to teach our children right from wrong and how to deal with their emotions, not smack it into them. It always made me so mad seeing a parent hit their kid and say “don’t you hit your brother,” how hypocritical is that? I guess I just don’t get it how someone can inflict pain on their precious little child. I know that I could never do something like that.

Anyway, I don’t really know why I ranted about that, I just felt I needed to say that. Back to Sophie’s fits. I think that she flips out because she is unable to do the things that she wants to do. What I mean by that, is when she sees a cat walk by  she wants to touch it but she can’t reach the cat. I can see her legs going, but she is just not strong enough to chase the kitty, so instead she just screams in frustration. I have seen her do that on daily account for a couple of weeks now. Yesterdays food throwing was a new one for me. I guess when you have two temperamental parents you’re bound to be the same, the poor kid had no hope

So if you have any suggestion on what I can do to help her at this age I would love to hear them. I guess the biggest thing that I can do is distract her with something else. I just don’t want her always feeling frustrated, and it seems like lately that has been the majority of her days. She is a happy little girl, when she has what she wants.

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)

I have been feeling really frustrated lately. I think life feels like it’s moving very slow right now. I love the fact that I get to be a stay at home mom and take care of my precious little girl, but at the same time I feel so useless. I know that taking care of Sophie is a job in itself, but I wish that I could contribute financially. And I could if I did some sort of work from home thing, but the problem with that is the government won’t let me. It seems really dumb that we as moms only get a partial amount from our wage for maternity leave, and when we want to make more money then it’s taken out of that maternity leave money. I don’t know how single mothers deal with that. A woman who is a stay at home mom is only allowed to make $200 max a month on top of the maternity leave. It just really makes me angry, how are people supposed to survive on that?  And even if a woman chooses to go back to work, daycare itself takes a good chunk out of your wage anyway. No wonder people are having less and less kids now a days. No one can afford to have many children.

Anyway, I feel frustrated because I don’t like not having stability or a plan. I want to be there for my child and raise her, but at the same time I feel so tied down to the house. I have to be here most of the day because she needs to have her naps, and most of my friends don’t have kids so it’s really hard to relate to them anymore. I don’t like the idea of putting my child in day care, I don’t like that idea that someone would be raising my kid just so that I can have money. I would rather have less money then have less time with Sophie,  but I need a plan. I need to join some sort of a playgroup or a club, because sitting at home is starting to really get to me. I wish I had more friends with kids that I could hang out with.

Well, now that I have had my rant I will go. I don’t want to be all pitiful, because in the end I know that I very blessed to be able to stay at home, I just wish it wasn’t so lonely sometimes.

Sophia and Daddy

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.

Last night Brad and I got to go on a date for the second time this week. We went to see Shrek the Third. I wasn’t expecting it to be anything great seeing as how it’s the third one, and it really wasn’t that great. I guess they ran out of ideas. Originally we were going to go to the 7:30 show, but once we got into the theater I realized how many children there were, so we decided to change our tickets to the 9:30 show instead. Now I don’t have anything against kids in movie theaters, but I just didn’t feel like being in a crowd of children. Besides, I don’t think that Shrek is all that appropriate for kids, but I guess that’s the great thing about it…kids don’t get all the innuendos So anyway, we ventured out to Dake Sushi for our pre dinner date. I love that place, I swear they make the best sushi in the world. Mmmmm just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I was a little upset because the waitress forgot to bring me my miso soup, but once I got my mango ice-cream all was ok in the world. Can you tell i’m an ice-cream addict?

Back to Shrek. When we got to the movies I realized how many children there were again. Young children, I’m talking like toddler age. Seriously, what are these parents thinking. You can tell that the kids are out pay past their bed times. One mom was there with a little girl that wasn’t more than 1 year old, ans she threw a fit because she was soooo tired, but instead of her taking her baby out of the theater and home, she just let her cry and ruin the movie for other people. Brad and I both agreed that bringing your young children to the movies that late is out of pure selfishness. I know that i’m being overly critical, but really, put your kids to bed, get a baby sitter, and then go out. Don’t make your kids suffer because you feel like going to the movies. Ugh, that just really frustrated me.

Today we’re going to visit great-grandma. Just waiting for Sophie to wake up and then we’re going to head out. Bye bye.

Grandma Richert & Sophia

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

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…

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???

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

Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraidof disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, except through the unreliable haze of the past.
Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education,all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are,they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me,finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations –what they taught me, was that they couldn’t really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.
When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow.
I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton’s wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet,and active. I was looking f or a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, “Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame.” The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover.
The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, “What did you get wrong?”. (She insisted I include that.)
The time I ordered food at the McDonald’s drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?
But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.

I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the get ting it done a little less. Even today I’m not sure what worked and what didn’t, what was me and what was simply life.

When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I’d done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That’s what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

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 turned my little smiley girl into a cranky cranky kid. I know it will be while before she gets all her teeth, but I’ve heard that some teeth are not as bad as others. I hope she feels better soon, poor baby.

All done for today. Did everyone have a good weekend?

She’s getting so big for her car seat, and her coat made me laugh…look at the short sleeves

I must say that the last couple of nights have NOT been fun. Sophia has all of a sudden decided that sleep was overrated. I am so incredibly tired that my eyes are burning, and on the scale of tiredness that is the top kind. I don’t really know what’s causing this. She goes down fairly easily and sleeps great until 11:30-12:00am, and then all hell breaks loose. I will feed her and she does not want to go back to sleep. Two nights ago she was up all the way til 5:30AM!!! And last night she fell back asleep until 2:40, then was up every 1/2 hours til 7:45 when I went in and got her out of bed. What is up with her??? Ahhh, this is driving me CRAZY!!! I do not function well without sleep, and the worst part is I don’t know what to do about it. When I go in to check on her I know that she is fine, all she wants to do is play. There are huge smiles and giggles when I walk in, and as soon as I leave the water works begin. Seriously, is this just a 4 months stage? I thought sleep is supposed to be getting better, not worse. She used to sleep 10-12 hour stretches, feed, and then sleep another 4 or so. I was seriously in heaven then, until I took a trip to hell the last couple nights. Can you tell I’m going crazy?

A vacation is needed here. I’m going to stop now before I stick my foot in my mouth..

Here’s some Sophie cuteness, so this post doesn’t seem so bad

Edmonton weather is weird. For the last couple of days it has been so nice and warm, and the snow was actually melting. I was very excited to be able to take Sophie out for a walk in her stroller. But, here it is, snowing AGAIN. When we woke up this morning it was cloudless and sunny, and now it’s back to the mean winter look. Oh well, maybe tomorrow it will be nice again.

Our house is right across the street from an elementary school, and I love watching all the kids coming out to play for their lunch break. There’s something really cute about little kids and fascination with snow. Makes me think back to when I was a kid - I LOVED snow. There were times when I would play to the point of being soaked from the snow, and then getting sick, but it was all worth it!!!

It’s amazing how when you’re a child all you want to do is grow up, but now that I look out my window and see the energy and innocence that those kids have, I wonder why I was so eager to grow up. I guess from a kid’s perspective an adult can do anything that they want, but as an adult we recognize and appreciate the beauty of childhood. I’m so excited for Sophie to go out, play, and enjoy being a kid.

Well now that we’ve gone from a rant about bad weather, to reminiscing about childhood. Sophis is being a huge crank pot so I have to finish here… Good day to everyone…

Walking through the schoolyard…

As some of you may know from my previous posts, Sophie was sick for a little while..(ear infection). Well, I took her back to the doctor a week later because she didn’t seem like she was getting any better. She was still very cranky, and I know that teething didn’t help, but it seemed like something else was bothering her. Our family doctor checked her out and said that everything was ok and that it was completely normal for a first time mom to worry, but that I do not need to go overboard and bring her in because she is ok. She now has lost her voice and sounds really sad and pathetic. She sounds like I did when I had laryngitis, but apparently she is FINE. How can a little baby be ok if she barely has a voice???

I haven’t taken her back to the doctor yet, seeing as how it’s the weekend and their office is closed. I am however going to take her back and get her checked out by someone else. I know that I am not being an overprotective mom, I have a very obvious reason to my worrying. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing our family physician, she is a great doctor, but her specialty is not in children/babies.

Brad and I wanted to get a pediatrician for Sophie, but seeing as how were were moving shortly after her birth, we just decided to stick with our family doctor. I just think that it’s much easier to go to a doctor that knows how to deal with babies and first time moms.

Am I just being crazy and worrying too much? I think that I have a valid reason to get a second opinion. Anyway, now that I’ve had my rant of the day I am going to go and have some breakfast. Have a good day everyone

What is with the camera? It’s always in my face…

Yesterday Brad and I took Sophia to the park, which is right across the street from our house. The weather has been a lot better here, and the snow is actually melting! Can you tell I don’t belong in Edmonton? Anyway, we had a lot of fun taking Sophie there and playing with her. She seems to have a a fascination with snow. Every time that I take her outside I get little giggles, so I assume it’s her way of getting excited about snow.

She had been very curios about her surroundings lately, and I’m trying to expose her to as many things as I can. I just don’t want her to be a shy child, and I know that it’s preventable, so I’m trying to eliminate that while she is still young. We didn’t get out of the house much until she was about 3 months old, and when we did I could tell that she was uncomfortable with her surroundings. It’s unbelievable how someone so mall already has personality.

Anyway, now that I have gone off tangent, again, I will get back to our trip to the park. Sophie wansn’t a huge fan of the slide( and no I did not let her slide by herself, I held onto her), but she sure enjoyed the little baby swing that they had there. I’m sooo looking forward to when she is walking and is able to enjoy such trips a little more. Well now I’m going to add some pictures of our little trip.

• Sorry for a boring blog, but I’m a little tired, as her teething is keeping her up. Poor baby…

Last night Sophie was being a typic indecisive woman… Im not kidding, she could not figure out whether she wanted to be swaddled or not. NOTHING was making this kid happy last night. Overall she’s a fairly easy going baby, very predictable, easy to soothe and get to bed…but last night I could not figure out what in the world she wanted. Food was a no no, her soother all of a sudden became her worst enemy, and the swaddling blanked turned into a love/hate relationship.

Her usual bed time is around 6-7pm, but last night I could not get her to sleep until 10:30!!! By that time she was sooo overtires that she screamed like a lunatic on steroids. I know that she wasn’t in pain because I had just given her some motrin for teething before bed, so I have NO clue what was up with her. Sometimes I wish she could talk

and tell me what to do. I would have never thought that having a baby took so much time and commitment. People always made it look so easy. Such a typical girly way of thinking “Oh I can’t wait to have a baby and play with her all the time,” if only I would have know what was ahead of me…I’d still have a baby. I love being a mom, and I never tire of saying

it, I just wish they came with instruction manuals. Wouldn’t life be so much easier then?

Well, we’re off to the doctors again to rule out any other sickness… Update when we get back….

UPDATE: Sophie’s ear infection is gone and she seems to be perfectly healthy, except that she has a very raspy voice right now and I have no idea why. The doctor said that there is nothing wrong with her.

Because of the blog that was posted a few days ago my stats went from 30-40 views a day to 130!!! YAH

I was in the middle of doing some research about teething when Sophie woke up from her nap 45min EARLY.. She’s a bad enough napper as it is, so I thought that I would have one grumpy kid on my hands. So as usual, I went into her room, unswaddled her, and brought her out into our bright living room. I was just waiting for that screeching cry to come out any second, but to my surprise all I got were huge smi