Our Year

Wow, what a crazy year it has been. Lets take a look back and review our 2009:

*Sophia turned 3 in February

*We found out we were expecting

*We took a trip to Disney World

*We found out we were having a baby girl

*I was put on bedrest for preterm labor

*Josh got a new job as Freshman girls basketball coach and Assistant JV girls basketball coach

*Suri Jean was born and Sophia became a big sister

*Sophia played on her first soccer team

*I returned to work after 6 months off

*We spent Thanksgiving up in Michigan with the Sabol family

*We spent Christmas in Madison with my family

*We are getting ready to ring in the New Year at home, just the four of us, with plans of a slumber party, movie, and popcorn.

Although 2009 will not necessarily be remembered as one of my favorite years due to the 4 months of bedrest, I do feel very fortunate to come out of this year with a healthy family of four. May your 2010 be wonderful. Happy New Year!

Until next time.....

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 wrap-up:

Woke up on Christmas day and found presents all around the tree. Santa Claus and his reindeer had eaten the cookies and carrots Sophia laid out the night before. Santa clause came to visit, but Josh missed the whole thing because he was "in the potty" .

Drove to Madison on Christmas day and visited with my side of the family. Once again Sophia, our whirling dervish, trashed Uncle Mark and Aunt Kami's house and mama Pam and papa Dale's house. Instead of wearing her pretty red Christmas outfit she rocked out in a Superwoman costume most of the day. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a blue tootie and red cape.

Drove back up to our house where Papi, Boo, Kyle, and Zack were and had yet another Christmas celebration.

All in all, a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed spending time with all of our family.

Baby Tiger

Suri Jean gives us a run for our money every night right around 8:30pm. I am talking full extension, scratching, kicking, screaming, etc... She definitely turns into what Josh calls his "baby tiger". A perfect name for her during this "melt-down" time.. Once she has this baby tiger time, she snuggles in and falls asleep. I am afraid she has her mommy's temper too..

Until next time...

Sophia's House

As mentioned in a previous post Sophia has developed this ideal house of hers named "Sophia's House". In this special house she has many features that to us "grown-up" sound bizarre and a little useless, but to Sophia they are AMAZING! I will list the features in a random order as I have been trying to add to this list as Sophia tells me day-to-day additions to "Sophia's House".

-The freezer will be full of nothing but popsicles
-My neighbor will be a girl that comes over to play all of the time
-In Sophia's house there will be a pink potty and when you go to pee pee in it your pee pee will be PINK (in reality this would indicate a bit of a medical issue, but at Sophia's House it is GLORIOUS !
-My bedroom would be downstairs in the living room and I could just fall asleep and not be lonely
-Our chimney would be bigger so Santa Claus could come down without getting hurt
-Everyone will wear "tooties" as jammies and they will wear leggings too.
-When Santa visits Sophia's house all the reindeer will be rudolphs except with all different color noses.
-AT Sophia's house all the girls will have Ariel necklaces that sing Ah ah ah....ah ah ah....
-My bathtub will be a bubble bath and it will have that button that you push that makes the water swish around.
-The only boys allowed in are daddy, Prince Eric, Prince Charming, and Prince Naveene.
-I would have a super huge swing set that the thunder-boomers didn't blow down that was (you guessed it) PINK.

Thats my Sophs.

Until next time....

Couldn't wait....

Sophia woke up this morning so stoked about the falling snow. It didn't bother her that it was freezing outside or that there was barely a dusting of snow. She had in her mind that she was going to go out and make snow angels and snow balls. Sounded like a job for superdaddy. So, I woke Josh up from his ever so peaceful slumber to fulfill the dreams of his sweet 3 year old.

Sophs has been talking to me about her "Sophia House" lately. On various car rides or during bath time and even when she is helping me cook she will periodically tell me the features of "Sophia's House". In due time I will unveil the imagination of our creative daughter. Here is just a sample: "In Sophia's house my freezer is FULL of Popsicles"....

Until next time....

Christmas with the family

On Saturday me, Sophs, and Suri met up with my mom's family for our Christmas celebration. It was so fun getting all of the kiddos together. Food was eaten, presents were opened. Josh wasn't able to go due to a ball game, but no worries Sophia opened his presents for him. HEHE! That's what happens when you aren't there daddy!

Until next time......

Jingle Bells

A little more Christmas cheer!

Christmas Program

Christmas program 2009

Christmas ........already?

Christmas has snuck up on me quickly and honestly I am not ready, mentally or physically. We haven't wrapped a gift, our house is a dump, I have 4 laundry baskets full of clean clothes that need to be folded and put away. Oh the story of my life and the lives of most working moms. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done, and throw a holiday in and things get really messed up. I think we will just have to wrap gifts "as needed".

Sophia's Christmas program is today and she was super excited. She wanted to get up early so that I could curl her hair and help her get ready. I was all for it until Suri decided to stay up all night with a stuffy nose. Thank goodness for diet coke. We got up early anyway and I am so glad I did. Sophia looked gorgeous when she left for school and was just beaming ear to ear with excitement for the day.

Until next time....

Daddy's Car

I was not present for this conversation but I could definitely hear it in my head when Josh told me. He and Sophia were unbuckling themselves from their seats and Josh told her "Sophia, you need to clean your stuff out of my car. It is a mess." Sophia promptly responded "Daddy, a lot of this stuff is yours. You probably need to clean your stuff up too."


Suri has spent the last week sleeping in her car seat. I know, probably not the best idea, but she is so congested that she sounds like a little piggy just snorting and snorting if she is laying flat on her back. Oh and by the way, the car seat sleeping system is not helping with the old man bald spot on the back of her head.

Until next time....

The Princess and the Frog

Sophia has been eagerly awaiting opening night of "The Princess and the Frog". We weren't able to make it to the 7:30 show so we made it a late night and went to the 10:00 show. Sophia wore her new Princess Tianna t-shirt, her tutu, her princess socks, and her princess sweat outfit. Oh and don't forget the hair glitter. She looked fantastic. Very cute movie with great music.

Until next time...

Gingerbread House

I have a coworker who is super crafty and always comes up with the neatest projects for our patients to do. This past week she brought in gingerbread house kits to be decorated. Perfect for those female patients of ours who need to work on fine motor, cognitive, and gross motor skills. Also perfect for three year old little girls who always need something to keep them busy. So, after work the other day Suri and I ran into Target and bought one of these kits to surprise Sophia with. She had a great time, and every time I went back into the kitchen she had added a little something to the house. I did a lot of the icing work and she did most of the candy. Suri wasn't all to excited about the gingerbread house decorating. Until next time.......

Simply Sophia

First snow

December 7th 2009. Suri Jean's first snow. Sure, I know, I should have taken a picture of her in the snow but that would have required me to wake her up at 5am before I left for work. Now lets be honest, that would have been crazy! You never wake a sleeping baby, especially at 5 am. Speaking of first snow, the city of Indianapolis definitely was not ready. It took me nearly three hours to get to work today and 2 hours 15 minutes was spent within the city limits. I was sure I was going to have my lunch eaten by the time I actually arrived at work. Surprisingly, I kept my cool. Not one curse word was said. Yeah me, once again!

Okay, back to Suri. We have broken the "wait until 4 months before feeding a baby cereal" rule and started "Surs" (that is what Sophs calls her) on rice cereal. She is doing great and already opening her mouth like a little bird. I love it. I always enjoyed feeding Sophia when she was little and it looks like Suri will be the same way. It looks like breastfeeding is officially over. I think the stress of work and being away from Suri most of the day pretty much just shut the tap off. We gave it a good run though. Way to go Suri!

Until next time...

What a weekend!

I apologize for the lack of posting but in my defense I could not find 30 minutes to sit down and and get on the computer. Crazy life!! Our weekend was no different. On Friday I picked Sophia up from school and we met Josh and his team at Rascall's Fun Zone to go go-carting, play mini-bowling, and play arcade games. Sophs had a ball and Suri of course loved watching all of the lights and seeing all of the girls.

Friday night Kami and Mark came up with their crew. Whew, I tell you having 5 kids in one house can get loud. I do believe that my child might have been the loudest....and bounciest...

Saturday morning we accomplished the unthinkable...Yes, I said unthinkable. We took all 5 kids to Portrait Innovations to have their pictures taken. Crazy idea, I know, but......they did great and I still have all of my hair. I am not saying that I couldn't have used a glass of wine afterward, but I did not have to make a scene as I had expected. Yeah for me!

Following pictures, Kami and I shipped the kiddos off with our husbands and headed out for some Christmas shopping and "me time". It was great. We did contemplate going to the airport and purchasing some tickets to the Bahamas, but she talked me out of it. Hey, a few hours away was good anyhow.

Saturday evening we went to the zoo. Suri slept most of the time, but Sophs loved it. We were the first in line to see Santa, but Sophia bailed. Santa freaked her out and all she would do was wave at him. Oh well, fine by me, we got to go get cookies sooner. Is it bad that my cookie had the most icing on it out of all of the kids?

That brings us to Sunday. We lounged around the house until the afternoon when we met Pamela and Dale for lunch. Whew, what a weekend.

Until next time.....

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving went by in a flash and now we are already heading into December. Crazy. We traveled to Michigan this year for Thanksgiving and spent some time with Josh's family. We had a great visit, although I was under the weather and could not fully appreciate the feast. The girls did great in the car and once again Miss Sophia talked the entire way. I am talkin' 5 hours people. If you have ever seen the Family Guy (hate that show BTW) preview where the little boy keeps saying "mom....mom......mom....mom" that is exactly how I felt. Girl can talk!

We got our tree up and decorated, our inflatable Frosty and Santa in the front yard and our staircase lit up.. All ready to go except that I haven't bought one gift yet. I just can't seem to get myself motivated. It just seems hard right now to do anything else besides work, be mommy, and keep house up and running. Sophia has been diligently practicing her Christmas songs for her program at school. I cannot wait to see the funny antics that day. I will be sure to take the video camera.

Suri Jean is still growing and growing. Definitely turning into a little butterball. We pulled the Jumperoo down from the attic and she is not too sure about it yet. I am sure it is just a matter of time before I am tired of hearing those springs bouncing.

We are really looking forward to Christmas this year with our family of four. Sophia is the most excited and counting down the days. Santa better get busy!

Until next time......

Good Morning Sophia

This morning I was in the kitchen attempting to make a bottle, make some breakfast, clean the kitchen, and make some coffee when here come Miss Sophia with something to say (big surprise). She saw me making coffee and here is how our conversation went:

Sophs: "We don't drink coffee, it doesn't make you grow."

Me: "Well Sophs I am allowed to drink coffee because I am a grown-up"

Sophs: "When can I drink coffee?"

Me: "when you go to college"

Sophs: "I will be broke in college".

....yes you will Sophs, yes you will........
....And so will we............

Until next time.....

Suri Jean

I have forgotten to post much on Suri lately and I am feeling a bit guilty. So, I want to catch everyone up on what is going on with my baby girl. Suri continues to grow and grow and is developing many many thigh rolls. Love baby thighs! She is sleeping through the night, which is just crazy since Sophia woke up every two hours for the first 8 months. She is cooing and smiling all of the time and loves to make eye contact with people and carry on her own little baby conversation. She has however developed a bald spot on the back of her head since we are strictly following the "back to bed" rule and making sure she is sleeping on her back. She is an eating machine and downing nearly 6 ounces at a time. She is still breast feeding though it was necessary to supplement quite a bit, especially since I went back to work. She attended her first Center Grove girls basketball game and loved it. She was awake most of the time just looking out on the court. Suri enjoys car rides which is a good thing since we will be driving up to Michigan next week. She is now facing forward when she is in he front carrier. She absolutely loves that thing and there have been times where I have had to get my hair and makeup done when she is in the carrier. Multi-tasking! So, that is my Suri Jean.....Until next time..

Phonics with sophs

The other day Sophia and I were working on her phonics when this conversation took place:

Me: "A, ah ah apple, ah ah Abby"

Sophs: "A, ah ah arrow"

Me: "B, ba ba baby, ba ba Brock"

Sophs: "B, ba ba BOOTY"

Laughter ensued..........

"Dats how Ariel do it"

So, I recently had a post about Sophia setting herself up for a "movie kiss". I have started to get a little concerned about this. Yesterday she came to me after watching The Little Mermaid and wanted to kiss me like Prince Eric kisses Ariel at the end of the movie. You know, with the slight head tilt and eyes closed. She is coaching me on how to kiss, and I thought to myself "wait, this could carry over to school and that could be all sorts of bad", so I stopped. I asked her where she learned that and of course she said "Dats how Ariel do it". I wasn't real sure how I was going to handle this, but I knew Josh wasn't going to. His words to Sophia were "that's weird", I know, real helpful...Anywho, I talked to Sophs and said "you know sophs, you shouldn't be trying to kiss your friends at school. Ariel kissed prince Eric because they just got married (i know, i know, it is unlikely Sophia will wait until marriage for her first kiss). You only kiss mommy and daddy, right? And Sophia, we don't have to tilt our heads and close our eyes. That is what people do when they get married, okay?". Sophia responded "but, she didn't have a baby"... Again, a previous conversation we had with her regarding when a woman has a baby....Not real sure our point was made. Lets just hope I don't get a pink slip because Sophs was kissing on classmates....Never would have thought I would have to have this conversation with a 3 year old. Thank you Disney! Until next time

Whatever works, eh?

Don't judge people. She was fussy and her bouncy seat was all the way across the room. She seemed pretty satisfied with the laundry basket bed. Hey, whatever works eh? Until next time....

You know you have a girl when........

I recently read a post at "Our Family Fun" talking about "you know you have a boy when...." So I thought I would do one on "you know you have a girl when....." So, here goes.....

You know you have a girl when.......

-you find hair clips and pony tail holders in your pockets.

-all of your cherry chapstick is bitten off.

-you find yourself folding 50 pair of princess panties every other day.

-the majority of clothes in your house are PINK.

-you find glitter in your hair on a regular basis.

-you have gone to work only to be told that you have a Cinderella sticker on your bum.

-your car looks likes the inside of a Libby Lou store (Hate that store).

-your hairbrush is referred to as a "dinglehopper"

I may be adding to this post as my girls grow up...Until next time.......

OMG cutest picture ever!

I don't even have any words to put with this picture because they would all be mommy biased.......O heck, I'll say it anyway..This is the cutest baby ever...Love her!