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!

sophia-isms

Last night I told Sophia she could sleep in our room. She loves it and to be honest it is the only time I get to snuggle with her. Well, we were snuggling and she put her hand on my chin and said "I love that little chinney chin chin".....then she paused a second or two and said "I mean big chinney chin chin".....Where does this child get this? She is so funny!

Hot.....

Today was jammie day at Sophs school and she was very excited to sport her new zip up jammies that mama Pam got her. She tried them on many times before today and was able to manipulate the zipper without a problem. She told me this morning after I put them on her "mommy, if I get hot I can just do this", at which time she swiftly unzipped her jammies all the way down to her feet. I thought "lord have mercy, we are sure to get a pink slip from school today", and then we sent her to school anyway...Until next time.....

Any Guesses?

Any guesses as to what Suri is doing in this picture..???She is gonna kill me when she turns about 13 for posting this. Love you sweet Suri! Until next time....

Exercise.......post pregnancy.....

So, I decided that enough was enough and headed back to the gym a few weeks ago. I eased into by just doing the elliptical for 20 minutes and lifting some light weights. I have found, however, that I tend to slack off if I don't have somebody telling me what to do, so I have started going to some classes. I am not catholic, but consider this my workout confession. Here goes:

1. I am not proud that the group of 50 year old women show me up every class.

2. I am constantly worrying that the old bladder is gonna give.

3. I really did think the instructor was kidding when she said "we are doing 32 push-ups". I did 10, and they were the girlie style. I am so ashamed.

4. I drop my weights every time the instructor isn't looking.

5. I check the clock every 5 minutes, hoping and hoping for the time to pass quicker.

6. Besides wishing for time to go faster, I also think about what I am going to eat when I get home.

7. I am so sore that it actually hurts to push the gas pedal of my car.

8. I sanitize every piece of equipment before I touch it. And when it comes to the handle of the door you best believe I am using my arm sleeve to open it. Gross! I need therapy for this germaphobia I have.

9. When the instructor asks "How is everyone doing?" I am the only one to yell out "BAD".

10. I don't know how long I am going to be able to use the whole "I just had a baby" excuse.

Until next time, unless I die in exercise class........

2 month well check

Suri had her two month well baby appointment today. Here are her statistics:

weight: 11.5 pounds

height: 23.5 inches

Head: BIG!

She also had to get three shots today. No fun.

Until next time......

Princess

Sophia has always been a very loving child and frequently without prompting tells us "I love you". Recently, and I blame it on the new Princess and the Frog previews, she has been saying "I love you mom" followed by her closing her eyes and setting herself up for a "movie" kiss. It cracks me up. I mean she literally closes her eyes and puckers up. Oh Sophs. Daddy is gonna luuuuuuuv that..

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 came and went and Sophia got to wear her costume 3 different times. That is definitely a record for us. I had good intentions of getting Suri back in her flower costume last evening while I was handing candy out but it just seemed hard. I just left her in her pumpkin onesie. There was a close resemblance between her onesie and her face.

We had a great but busy weekend. On Friday night Josh and I actually got a babysitter and went out for dinner with some friends (This never ever happens so it was very nice). Josh could have his pick of sitters since he is a teacher and coaches girls basketball. On Saturday morning we went to the Center Grove girls volleyball regional. They won! They are awesome and so much fun to watch. On Saturday night of course we did the whole trick-or-treat thing and had our neighbors and their kids over afterwards. That brings us to right now. I've got a silent house. All three of my kids are sleeping. I mean my two girls and my husband are still sleeping. Hello November!

Until next time....

Really?

As I have said over and over, Sophia is hilarious and does and says the funniest things ever. Here is her most recent: Sophia was so super excited about going to school in her costume. She was chatting (big suprise, eh?) and I was sort of listening, sort of not (I know, bad mother!), until I saw her put her little arm out to the side and bend and straighten her elbow. I know what I thought she was doing, but I thought "no, she doesn't know that move". Oh but yes, she does. I asked her what are you doing and she did it again and said "I am doing the robot". I cracked up for a good two minutes. She said "Miss M. taught me that". I definetely had to tell Ms. M this story when Sophs got to school. Until next time......

My sweet flowers

They are the sweetest little girls.....My little flowers!

Until next time....

Funny Friend

So, I was driving home from work yesterday and remembered one of the funnier moments of my pregnancy and thought I would share. I was just about 100 weeks pregnant with Suri and a friend of mine came to visit to spring me of my bedrest. We had a great day. First we headed to my OB appointment, then out to lunch, followed by a relaxing massage at the spa, and finally a trip to the drug store to pick up a pregnancy test for her. Let me set up the picture. I was standing to the left of my friend (who is known for saying and doing hilarious things), there was a 40ish year old man to the right of her (behind her in line), and the cashier was directly in front of her. Well "friend" proceeds to place the pregnancy test up on the counter and looked over at me then the cashier and then the poor man and say straight faced "we just wanted to make sure she was really pregnant". The cashier really chuckled but the poor man behind her in line turned red faced real quick. I was unprepared and at that time had very little bladder control and just nearly peed my pants completely. Oh I miss our days together....Many many laughs..

Until next time........

Weekend Fun

This past weekend we headed up to Michigan to visit Josh's family. It was fast and furious as we drove up Thursday evening and came home on Sunday. A lot of driving for such a short visit. On Saturday Karen (Boo) made chili and had the whole family over. Loved it, lots of baby holders. On Saturday evening me, Josh, Sophs, Kyle, Boo, and Papi (Matt) went to a little village to let Sophs trick-or-treat. Suri stayed with Aunt Celeste. Here were the highlights of the weekend:

1. Karen's chili was AWESOME! Who ever thought of putting sour cream in chili was a genius.

2. Baby holders, lots and lots of baby holders

3. My 2 hour nap Saturday afternoon

4. Seeing Josh's and some of my family that we haven't seen since last Christmas (we had a rough 2009)

5. Shopping at a fabulous mall on Friday

6. Eating Sophia's trick-or-treat candy. Seriously though, she got like 8 truffles that were just too yummy for kids to eat. She wouldn't have appreciated them the way I did.

7. Suri slept the whole way there and the whole way home. Sure, Sophia talked enough for the both of them, but I have to give the baby credit. She did her part.

8. Sophia's return home with a black eye (well more so cheek but close enough, SEE PICTURE)

9. The first time in a long time I had a night of uninterrupted sleep.

10. Listening to Sophia repeat "All the single ladies" over and over...

We had a great time. Stay tuned for more costume pics,

Until next time..........

Competitive Spirit

So this is the picture that welcomed me back to work a few weeks ago. Hilarious!

I realize that I have been out of the world of college basketball for awhile. I have found out however that my competitive spirit is still holding strong. No, it's not me thinking "I'm going to run a mile in six minutes", or "I'm gonna kick butt in spin class tonight"... It is "if I can pump 5 ounces of milk at one time I WIN!" How ridiculous is that? This seriously goes through my head daily. I won twice today. Woot woot!

Until next time........

Twinkle twinkle

I love them soooo much!

Oh Girl!

Okay, so Sophia regularly says shocking and funny things. This takes the cake. So, Sophia pulls one arm out of her jammie top and looks at me and says "mommy, take a picture" so I take a picture. Then she says "Oh, daddy is gonna luuuuuuuuuv this". A three year old using sarcasm. I don't know where she gets it.. ;)

Until next time....

Boo and Papi

This week Boo (Karen) and Papi (Matt) came down to watch Suri while I headed back to work. They did so much more than watch Suri though. They cleaned my house, cooked us meals, and stocked us up on some much needed supplies. I begged them to stay, but they said something about "being afraid of what Kyle may do to their house". Kyle is Josh's youngest brother.

Next week Suri will head to the babysitter. I am sure she will do just fine. Sophia went to Miss D. when she was a baby as well, so we are already very familiar with her family.

Sophia had her parent-teacher conference yesterday. Ms. M. said Sophs is doing just fine and even though she is the youngest in her class she is still keeping up without a problem. I taught her how to officially "skip" this week. For a while we were just letting her think that her "gallop" was a "skip", but now she has it down for real.

Until next time...

Dress Up!

Is it bad that I find great joy in dressing Sophia up. Seriously, I consider myself her "stylist" (except on the weekends, when she gets to pick out her own clothes). It is like my little piece of LA or NY right here in Indiana. Who would have thought that my dream of becoming a fashion designer would have turned into me picking out and dressing up my own child. But seriously....How cute is this shirt and hair? Look out Rachel Zoe. Now sure, this is Wal-Mart not Prada, but who is looking at tags......Got Candy?

Until next time.....

Middle Age Moment

Last weekend Josh, myself, and the girls drove down to Edinburgh to meet Kami and her family for a little shopping. While sitting in the car I looked down at my Mr. Rogers sweater, looked up in the mirror to see some old lady glasses, and then I turned around and saw two kids sitting in the back seat. When did I get old? When did I become middle-aged? This lead me to think of a few other things that have changed in the last ten years. Here goes:

-I used to say "I will never have a mini-van". Now, I think a mini-van would be super convenient and awesome.

-I don't wear make-up to look glamorous anymore, I wear it so that I don't look dead.

-It is not okay to wear my mid-drift top that says "Angel" across the chest anymore and those super tight low cut jeans are a no-no as well.

-A great Saturday night no longer consists of heading out to the club/bar but instead putting the kids to bed by 8pm and catching up on all of my recorded TV.

-If you have to tell yourself that you are still "cool" you are not "cool" at all.

-There is nothing wrong with some full coverage undies.

-My dance moves are a little outdated. Don't get me wrong, I can still bust a move, but the move I'm bustin' is a little bit bigger.

-There are times that I would actually pay money to have 15 minutes of peace to take a bath. Seriously, I will write a check.

Life happens so quickly. I swear it was only last week I was running around The University of Findlay with my roommate Lydia, without a care in the world. Now, I'm married, have two kids, a mortgage, a career......real life issues.

Until next time......

I Made it!

I made it! I made it through my first day back at work after a long 6 month hiatus. and..it went great! Suri is spending the week enjoying the company of Papi and Boo at home. I am sure they are spoiling her to pieces. She will start at her babysitters next Monday. Sophia is so excited to have Papi and Boo here. She has been a chatty Cathy catching them up on everything that has been going on in her little life.

Until next time...