Pull-ups and "hi, mommy"

Wow, it really seems like 2 weeks ago some flip switched inside Sophie. The same weekend that her wubby broke, she suddenly decided she was done with dipes. My mom handed her one the other day and Sophie looked at her like "WTF is that thing." She will ONLY wear pull ups. This means that she's also regressed a bit, in that she's refusing underwear but that's OK. I consider this a MAJOR victory in the potty training arena.

She spent 3 days with my parents this past weekend, the longest she's been gone from home. She peed on the potty every.two.hours. This is also because my mother had the time to encourage this behavior. She's now peeing on the potty at daycare 2-3 times a day. She LOVES to show me her stickers when I pick her up each day:) But then, of course, it all goes down hill when we get home. Clearly, I don't have the time to make sure she pees every two hours, NOR would she be too hip on this idea.  But she's making HUGE progress.  Here's hoping we're done with pull ups by her birthday in December:)
Also, today was the first day she actually talked into the phone. Usually, she loves to play with it, press buttons, etc, but adamantly refuses to talk. Today, Dan called me and she got on the phone and said "hi mommy." Am I a complete fake because it made me cry? She's a big girl now. It's showing in so many ways. While thrilled for her, and her independence, it makes me sad.

I was holding Connor last night, cradling him in my arms, and I realized that I won't always be able to do this. I just want to soak it all in. Something I realized awhile ago, that I'm reminded of every now and again, is that I rarely held the babies while they ate. I breastfed each one twice, while they were in the NICU, but once we came home, whether it was formula or pumped milk, they usually were just propped in a boppy to take their bottles. It makes me sad, but it's the reality of twins I think.  

The day the Wubby broke.

Sophie was sitting on my lap last Saturday when she said "look what happened mommy." Her beloved kitty cat Wubbanub was broken. The plastic on the nipple part was torn. I'm confident she did this herself, as she likes to play with the damn thing, in addition to keeping it jammed in her mouth.

"I have idea!" What's your idea, Soph? "We fix it." Sorry baby, we can't fix it. And that was that.

She still carries it from room to room with her. And, if she really needs soothing will TRY to suck on it, but I know it's useless, lol. I have no interest in taking it away from her; I'll let her decide when she's ready. We do have several other Wubby's around the house. Although Avery will simply throw the thing across the room if we try to give it to her, Connor will sometimes use it in the evening. My fear has been that she'll "attach" to another one, but so far so good. Just last night I saw her find one and take it to Connor "Here Connor. I found your Wubby."

This really could be too good to be true!  Next stop...peeing on the potty!

Fall Fun:)

I love fall! I love the weather, the changing seasons, the crunchy leaves. I have no idea why, but there are certain days each fall that take me back to high school football games, and that was a LONG time ago.

I'm always looking for ways to build traditions into our lives. My parents weren't really "tradition" type people. Of course, Christmas each year was always fun, lots of presents, cookie making, etc. And, the Easter Bunny came every Easter, but they never went out of their way to do things not neccessarily associated with a holiday.

I know so many people get into apple picking, but I've just never been drawn to that. I remember my grandparents taking me a few times when I was little, but it never evolved into a tradition. And honestly, I like apples (love to bake with them!), but I don't see the need to travel 45 minutes to an orchard to bring home 10 pounds of apples. Maybe next year, we'll give it a try, if Sophie seems eager to do it.

However, we are 2 for 2 with the Pumpkin Patch!  As a kid, I never went. Didn't even know it was a possibility. I took Sophie for the first time last year, wearing Connor, since he was all of 6 weeks old. This past weekend, we all went. It was an adventure, but we all survived. Thank goodness for our wagon that can strap in two babies.  Sophie was jealous that the babies got to ride, until she say the play area. Slides, stacks of hay, a zipline, she was in heaven! She had so much fun that I took her back the next day.

My absolute new fave of my little red-headed boy:)

 

My big girl Sophie. I have a very similar picture from last year. I need to do a side by side:)

 



And, last but not least...my favorite new walker. I love that Connor is chilling with his sippy:)

Oh, and speaking of fall, I made these FABULOUS brownies, bars, whatever you want to call them. Next time, I'll most likely use 2 boxes of cream cheese:)
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/11/cream-cheese-pumpkin-roll-bars.html



first friends:)

My sweet little Sophie has FRIENDS! Not the "you're my friend because our moms are friends" type of friend, but little people that can't wait for her to show up at daycare each morning.

She developed a friendship with a little girl, A, when she was with her old sitter. They were the two youngest, both girls, and Stacey used to report that they would talk it up like little old ladies:) I met A's mom at a kid birthday party a few weeks before Stacey closed her "shop" and we traded info we'd found about new daycares/sitters in the area. Once I found our current FABULOUS center, I e-mailed J about it. She went to check it out, was floored how hard it was to drag A away, and immediately signed her up. Unfortunately, A only goes 1 day a week, but luckily it's a day that Sophie attends. She talks all week about getting to see A again. I love that she looks forward to playing with her.

This Monday though, when we arrived and walked up the front steps (it's a house), several kids were looking at us through the window. We walked in and they all started yelling some version of "Sophie's here! Good morning Sophie! YAY, it's Sophie." A ran up and hugged her. Sophie, in typical form, just stood there with her hand in her mouth, lol. I think she was quite overwhelmed at the reception.

As a mother, it warms my heart that these little people look forward to seeing her, want to spend time with her. I, of course, know that she's super fabulous, but so often in public places she will clam up and not say anything. I worry about this type of behavior, it's not shyness, something different. I see it in myself too. It's one reason we may keep her out of her first year of pre-school, and just work on social skills at home/daycare. Unless it's myself, Dan or the babies, and occasionally my parents, she rarely says "hi" or "bye." She knows what they mean, but just clams up/shuts down and refuses to say them. We'll see...hoping this is just a stage for her. I try not to compare her to other kids, but it seems odd to me that all her little friends will yell "bye, Sophie" and she just looks at them. And of course, the second she gets outside, she starts chattering away about anything and everthing.

I DON'T think she's going to be the social butterfly. That's not her personality. She's a follower, for sure. She will NEVER be the first one to jump in to anything. I think we're going to have to always encourage her to try things.

Speaking of, she recently had a trial gymnastics class. The first few days after the class, she claims that she didn't like it. I'd ask if she wanted to go back and she very adamantly said no.  A week or so later, she changed her tune and wants to go back. I'm torn, simply because of the money. It's $82 a month, for four sessions. I'd be all for signing her up, if I knew that she'd actually ENJOY it. Sophie is the type that it would take at least a month to get into it. The instructor did say that it was a good sign that she actually participated (although didn't really follow the rules) in the class. She said many times kids come their first time and hang along the wall because they are so overwhelmed. I may give it a few months and try again. Once she can be in the 3 yr old/4 yr old class, more options are available for class times, which would help out greatly. For the 18 mos to 3 yr group, the only class she could attend is Saturday morning at 9.

But isn't she stinking cute in her leotard? I was rushing around the few days before the class trying to find one. I swear, this was the ONLY leotard in all of STL that fit her. And, I hate that it only came in that icky pastel pink.

She loved the beam, and actually did really well.

A classic Sophie expression when she's not too sure about something.

And so it begins...

The twins are crawling, they're moving and shaking. Although typically content to play with toys, usually Sophie's (because why on earth would they want to play with BABY toys), they've starting trying to invent fun.

Evidence #1: This is Sophie's room, while she was at daycare. It was clean-ish when we left yesterday morning.  They upturned every freaking thing in her room, and obviously found her stash of dipes. Poor Sophie looked a little stricken when she walked into her room last night. I just threw my hands in the air and said "it happens," which has been my go to phrase for Sophie lately. Because really, why get upset? It's an easy clean-up.

It reminded me of this little sweet potato, who ironically was 11 months old at the time. Is this some sort of development stage that I wasn't aware?

Evidence #2: Not long after, I found Avery tearing into one of the bins in her room. Nothing like needing to do a load of clean laundry:) And pardon the skin showing, those are 6-9 month jammies, and STILL fall off of her.

Evidence #3: And finally, Connor found the laundry chute while Avery discovered the toilet paper.

I wonder what this weekend will bring!?

some updates...

1) Connor had his follow-up ENT appt last week, which was his first one since Dan had been over-medicating him. I really went back and forth about whether to tell the dr about that, but in the end, I did. I'm not sure what I thought she was going to do...yell at me maybe, lol...but she chuckled at first, considering the original issue we had with Walgreens. She was extremely inerested to hear that he shows such improvement as the dose goes up, although she wasn't comfortable increasing him, based on weight. She said that's the first time she's seen such a direct response to increased dosing.

I finally got up the courage to ask about next steps/what will happen in the future. Ideally, this hemangioma will go away on it's on, and all we're currently doing is helping it to NOT get bigger where it might interfere with ears or throat. I asked if a minor surgery might be in the cards, and her response was that it would NOT be a minor surgery, based on the location of the hemangioma. The plan is to continue with the meds, hoping it goes away. If not, we could continue with the meds for YEARS, until he grows enough that the space she would be operating on is large enough to successfully complete the surgery.

2) Sophie seems to love her new daycare. I found the perfect place, which is a Center, but it runs out of a home, so it has the feel of a home daycare. Less institutional feeling. She's currently only going on Mon and Thurs, until a 3rd day opens. It's almost all girls, and they love doing all girly things. Dolls are everywhere:) Sophie was introduced to a sandbox for the first time this week, and cannot stop talking about it:) Looks like we'll be taking a trip to the beach next summer!

3) Her old sitter's husband had a mostly successful surgery. They don't believe it's cancer, but of course it's being tested. They weren't able to get it all, so are considering radiation to treat what was left. Apparently his vision improved significantly immediately after the surgery. VERY good news, so far.

Chaos

Our house is always full of chaos. To say it's never dull is an understatement. The anxiety I've been feeling over finding a daycare came to a head this am. My alarm clock (aka Connor) did NOT go off. I can normally count on him to wake up by 6:30. Today, it was 7:50 and Dan was actually the first one up. I freaked, knowing I have to get both myself and Sophie up and dressed asap. My goal is to get Sophie to daycare by 8:30 so she can eat breakfast. Knowing that wouldn't happen today, I had to add "fix breakfast" to my list,  before heading out the door.

I get in/out of the shower and go to check-on babies. Dan has them in their bouncy seats, eating their morning bottles. Connor's eye is red. "Why is Connor's eye red?" "Oh, he had so much green snot coming out of his nose last night that it got on his eye and sealed it shut." Oh, that's all. Great. Add "call the dr" to my list, before heading out the door.

I call the dr and am put on hold. I do my make-up while holding. I can multi-task. I talk to the nurse, just running it by her. "Oh, he's having copious amounts of green snot at his age...he needs to come in. Dr. R has an opening at 10:30 and 11:30." I take the 10:30 knowing full well that I have an 11 am meeting. Add "cancel meeting" to my list, before heading out the door.

Now it's really full speed ahead, as it's nearing 8:30 and Sophie is still in bed. I give her time to get out of her jammies. She refuses. I start to unzip her. "Me, me, ME!" OK, well then do it yourself, which actually means that she REzips her jammies, only to un-zip them again. She doesn't like the shirt I pick out. I offer her a second shirt. After a tantrum that she cannot wear the long-sleeved shirt she sees peeking out of her drawer, she decides on the original shirt.

We are potty training. I ask if she wants to wear a diaper or underpants to Stacey's, hoping against hope that she picks the diaper because that is easier for me. Nope. She wants her Dora (aka Dowa) panties. I only see one pair...at least they are clean. This means I need to find at least 2 more pairs to take to the sitter. There are none to be found, except possibly in that huge pile of clean laundry that is covering our entire couch. Do you know how hard it is to find 2 pairs of little girl size 4 underpants in that pile? Almost impossible, especially when I'm in such a hurry.

I can't find my hair brush. This is bad for both me and Sophie. There are just piles of crap EVERYWHERE. A pile of paperwork here, a pile of clothes there, random shoes all over, toys acting as landmines up and down the hall. I CAN'T TAKE IT! We are in the process of painting the twins room (finally, it's only been almost a year). Their room is a disaster in and of itself. The counters are full of crap, the dining room table is full of crap. I lose my shit. At least I didn't cuss. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew Sophie was watching and listening, so I kept it together as best I could. I thought Dan was going to yell at me for bitching, but thankfully (for him), he knew better.

Finally, we're off. I drop Sophie at Stacey's. Luckily, I'm so late there is no traffic. It's almost 9:30 by now and I'm debating what to do. Going to work for 40 minutes will be pretty fruitless, I know. So, I take on the task that I really don't want to do, but I do because I'm a good wife. I go to the Cremation office to get a death certificate for my mother-in-law, that Dan needs in order to title her car in his name.

I had no idea he had ordered one, until he told me last night that it was ready to pick up. I immediately offered to pick it up for him. He argued, pretty adamant in getting it himself. I kept pushing it though. It's bad enough that he will forever have the picture of his mom's body in his head, I certainly didn't want him smelling the smell of that building that I hoped I would never smell again. I am certain it would have sent him over the edge.  So, I pick it up. Luckily, I was only in the building up to a certain point, so although I did smell the smell, it wasn't nearly as strong as I remembered, the day that I saw her for the last time. But it was enough.

I got back to the car and cried. Why? I have no idea. The chaos of the morning, the anxiety about daycare, missing my mother in law, stress about buying a new car, re-fi'ing our mortgage, plus some.

Then, I took Connor to the pedi, where she confirmed an ear infection. That should explain (with the exception of last night) his inability to sleep lately.

I finally make it to my office, only to have my Outlook calendar remind me at 12:45, of a 1 pm meeting that I am running, for which I have no agenda.

All this, before I even have lunch. Or breakfast, actually.

daycare anxiety

I have it. The chore of finding another daycare for Sophie is just that...a chore. It has my mind racing. I'm scouring the internet, Craigslist, asking friends...I can't find anything that I LOVE, that is good enough for Sophie. I know no place is perfect, but I want it to be, lol:)  I also know that like all things that I research, I'll KNOW when I find what I'm looking for. But, I can't say that I KNEW that Sophie's current sitter was the best fit for us. She seemed "good," we needed someone, she had an opening, so I took a leap of faith. I knew my friends were giving me the side-eye for finding a sitter on Craigslist, but where the hell else are you supposed to find them these days?  For the first few weeks that Sophie went there I looked her up and down with a fine tooth comb to make sure there was no evidence of odd scratches or bruising. Now I laugh about that, because Stacey is just THAT fabulous, and such a good fit for Sophie's personality.

I visited a center last week that I really liked. At the advice of many friends, I went unannounced, to see how the place "really" ran. I was pleasantly surprised. It was clean, fun, the kids were playing. The only odd thing to me, not necessarily a red flag, was that the owner/director's mom was one of the "teachers" that day. Apparently mom fills in when one of the staff call in sick.  Again, odd but not a deal breaker for me. One thing I don't like is that the Director will be out on maternity leave for 6 weeks, mid-Nov through the end of December, but "her husband will be stopping by." Not so sure about that. She didn't bat an eye that I didn't have an appt, and showed me the entire space. She's owned the place for about 7 months, and currently only has 7-8 kids, so I can't really get a feel for what it would be like at full capacity. But, I liked it enough to take Sophie back this morning to visit. It's in the running. The potential deal-breaker for me is that they only have 1 hour of outside play time a day, 30 minutes in the AM and 30 in the PM. She's used to being outside 3-4 hours a day, weather permitting. She loves it.

Our current sitter recommended a friend of hers, who Sophie and I went to visit last night. I liked this woman alot, liked her home, liked her idea that kids need lots of outdoor play, and then she took me to the basement, where the kids play. I'm not opposed to basements, but I'm opposed to dreary ones with no windows/no natural light. Despite all the fun toys, and the fact that this woman has a waiting list of parents trying to get their kids in her care, I don't want Sophie down there all day!!!

After all my internet scouring today, when I should have been working, I found a place that I really like (at least on paper).  It's a center, just a minute or two further drive from our current sitter. They have a website (I like that), and had several great reviews on an independent site (I love that). I talked with the Director and will be stopping by tomorrow. She doesn't accept appointments and wants the parent to feel like they can stop by anytime, "chaos and all." In my mind, I've found a winner...just hope it feels the same in person.

My sweet, sweet Sophia is 2.5 years old today. I still look at her in awe and amazement; I suppose I always will. Her features continue to change. She’s no longer a baby and has started taking on that little girl look. It makes me sad, but also so curious about the things to come. She has a love hate relationship with her siblings. One second she will be actively playing with them, and the next she is screaming at Avery because she took one of her toys.


She hugs and kisses her brother and sister. She will tell me and Dan that she loves us, completely unprompted. Hearing “lub you mommy” melts my heart every time.

1) Size 5 diaper

2) 32 pounds; 34 inches

3) Wearing 2T and 3T clothes. 2T on bottom, 3T on top because she likes to make sure her belly is covered:)

4) her hair continues to lighten. She got it cut a few weeks ago and the hairdresser mentioned that her "new" hair is very very blonde.

5) Grey-blue eyes.

6) Definately has phases of food likes and dislikes. Likes are "usually" cheese, chicken nuggets, goldfish, bananas, grapes.

7) STILL sleeping in our bed. I have GOT to work on this.

8) Is saying many 5 word phrases, and has started repeating things she hears. Most recently, and I LOVE this, she has started to say “xxxx (Insert toy, piece of clothing, food), that’s my favorite.” She clearly doesn’t know what favorite means, because everything is her “favorite.” When you say something she doesn’t like she says “no say that.” A common response from her is “me is.” For example, who’s going shopping? Me is!

9) She goes through phases of self potty training. We’re currently in the phase when she prefers diapers.

10) She had her first dentist appt a few weeks ago, and has a complete set of teeth---2 year molars are in. Dentist warned us to start saving for braces, as she has a mouth full of teeth.

11) She is SO shy in front of the camera. I can rarely get a smile.

12) She has officially been put in "time out", when she actually understood what was going on. She's not a fan. She likes to hit, and then laugh

I love this picture of her, and the chairs. I was going to get just one for her, and then realized if I'm getting one, I better get three:) They'll be well used next summer, I'm sure!

the "spot" doctor, take 2

Sophie had her 2nd allergist (aka spot doctor) appointment yesterday. Also a pulmonologist, he is treating her asthma as well.

Good news re: asthma. Since they schooled me last time on how to properly administer the mask/chamber with her Flovent, her Albuteral use has gone down significantly. I SWEAR, we were taught incorrectly when she was in the hospital. Even Dan remembers being taught something different. The CORRECT way to administer any inhaled med is to make sure the mask is in place, and THEN press down to release the med. Prior to the first allergist appt, we were releasing the med and THEN placing on her face, so she wasn't getting the full dose. Dr B was really pleased with the change this made.

Re: the hives, we are still looking for answers. After having a discussion about my unofficial findings (i.e., things that I believe increase the chance of hives), he only wanted to test her for berries. THe only actual test they had was for strawberries, for which it's been confirmed she does NOT have an allergy.

It gets trickier now, as the dr is taking my theory of a red dye allergy and putting a plan in place. He wants her to be completely free of all foods with red dye for a month, and see what happens. This includes medicines, toothpaste, etc. I freaked a bit at first, thinking this would be REALLY hard, because red dye is in SO many things. After going home and reading some labels, she actually doesn't eat that much that contains red dye. I found this great list of foods here. It gives me hope that she can still have little kid snacks:) http://reddyefree.blogspot.com/p/products-without-artificial-colors_10.html

In addition to cutting out the red dye, I will start logging EVERYTHING she eats.

He wants us to see a dermatologist as well, to rule out any of the "hives" being from excema. I don't think they are, but am happy to do this if it means we come closer to an answer for her.

Additionally, she's to start taking Singul.air and Zan.tac. I honestly didn't understand his reasoning behind using the Zan.tac, but was too tired to really ask for a decent, lay person, explanation.

Finally, he ordered a TON of blood tests. He is extremely doubtful there is any auto-immune issue going on, but like with derm, wants to rule it out. All test results should be back by Tuesday, but some were back this morning. Those initial results came back with no thyroid issues, CBC was good, ESR was normal. There was a metabolic level that came back slightly elevated, so the dr now wants a complete metabolic panel completed. Hopefully this increased level was caused by dehydration, so I'm under strict orders to fill her with fluids prior to her blood draw next week. The nurse said the dr wasn't necessarily suspicious of anything beyond dehydration, but because it did come back slightly elevated, he wants to take a closer look.

Here are two pics from this AM. I took them with phone, which explains the crappiness of the quality.

Yes, Sophie still sleeps with us. Connor has proven to be our early riser. Luckily, this AM I was able to get him out of his crib (without waking Avery), and back to sleep in our bed. Thank goodness for a king size bed.

Not more than 60 seconds later though, he popped over and gave me his good morning smile:)

Really bummed:(

Sophie's sitter told me yesterday that her husband has a brain tumor that has to be removed. If it's not, he will definately go blind. They aren't sure yet if it's cancer, but regardless, it has to come out. She can't be any older than 30, and her husband can't be much more than 35. How is this my 2nd run-in with a brain tumor on a young-ish male?

Apparently, they've known about the tumor for a while, but only recently has the doctor been very firm that it needs to be removed. His surgery is July 16, which means that Sophie's last day at her in-home daycare will be July 13.

Stacey (the sitter) said that she received the call about the surgery yesterday, while she was holding Sophie. Besides the obvious feelings brought on by the call, she said her next feeling was sadness that she wouldn't be able to care for Sophie anymore. The actual recovery will take a few weeks, but then once he comes home they absolutely cannot risk germs in the house, so she's shutting down her business.

I just feel so sad for Sophie. First her Nana, and now Stacey, who she ADORES. I just wish I knew how easily (or not) she can process something like this. She's a cautious little girl, very much an observer before she dives into something. It took her awhile to get comfortable at Stacey's, and become friends with the other kids. At least we can plan the "good-bye" and it's not like we have to be strangers. I fully intend on helping out Stacey's family with some meals, or house-cleaning, or something.

Mother's Day 2012

After we endured 4 hours from a screaming Connor, the day got progressively better Poor guy. I thought he was teething, but in hindsight I think it was tummy trouble. These two little babies have more issues than I would ever think possible with their stomachs/gas/poop/etc. I’m not sure what more we can deal with in this area then we already have, but you won’t catch me saying that outloud!


I was able to “sleep in” until 7:45, which is quite an accomplishment since Connor’s screaming started at 6:30. Dan gave me a card, which was more than enough, especially considering my semi recent splurges on an IPad and new DSLR camera. I was a bit sad that Sophie’s sitter hadn’t sent anything home for me that Sophie had made

My parents and grandmother came to visit for a bit, and then it was back to business as usual. I did get the almost impossible gift of having each of my 3 babies nap on me. First Connor, who was completely exhausted from his scream-fest, slept on me for an hour. As he was waking, Avery was starting to melt-down so then SHE fell asleep on me. Last but not least, at 3:55, Sophie finally gave in and fell asleep in my arms. I can’t think of much better presents than those.

As Avery fell asleep last night (the first time), I held her for almost an hour, as thoughts of my mother in law floated around in my head. It was Sunday, it was Mother’s Day, and it was gorgeous outside. Under other circumstances, she would most definitely have been at our house, waiting for Dan to finish grilling. I could tell he was thinking about her too. I know he thinks about her often, but there are times when he’ll go to the grocery, or a restaurant, and bring something home that she would have bought. Last night it was asparagus. She loved grilled asparagus, so that’s what we had

I keep thinking about an argument that he and I had a few weeks before she died. I was standing in the kitchen, and he was in the dining room. The twins were about 4 weeks old. We weren’t yelling, but our voices were raised. It was the same disagreement that came up frequently in those days. “You need to quit asking your mom for so much help with the babies.” Don’t get me wrong, she was a tremendous help to us, but I was also of the opinion that we needed to figure out how to do this thing/how to manage, on our own. I will never forget him saying something very close to “she could have a stroke and die tomorrow.” My response was “oh whatever, your mom is not going to DIE.” And then she did.

One of the last things out of Sophie’s mouth last night was “Nana. Gone.” She says it with finality.

And for a few pics of the McBabies…

Pardon Mr. Man’s snot droplet. There is no time in my world right now for Photo Shop!

Avery, Mother’s Day Eve…the twins were almost completely unswaddled, but then the UTI hit (as well as the re-emergence of tummy issues), so I swaddle her as needed. She’s still small enough to fit in there

Santa brought this to Sophie, but it never made it under the tree.

Finally, (hoping this works here), a 25 second video of Sophie and Avery, about 10 pm last night. I have NEVER heard Avery giggle like this. Sophie LOVED the attention she was getting from her. She would dance a bit and Avery would just give these belly laughs. It went on for a few minutes:)

29 months!

May 5 marked Sophie’s 29th “month day”


A few unofficial stats…

1) Size 5 diaper

2) Wearing 2T and 3T clothes. 2T on bottom, 3T on top because she likes to make sure her belly is covered:)

3) her hair continues to lighten. She got it cut a few weeks ago and the hairdresser mentioned that her "new" hair is very very blonde. Her curl will be gone with the next hair cut:(

4) Grey-blue eyes.

5) Definitely has phases of food likes and dislikes. Likes are "usually" cheese, chicken nuggets, goldfish, bananas, grapes, yogurt.

6) STILL sleeping in our bed. I have GOT to work on this.

7) Said her first 5 word phrase a few weeks ago. Otherwise, communicates very well with her 3 word phrases. She’s suddenly been very quick to repeat things Dan and I say. This is both a fun and no-so-fun thing:-/

She’s started saying “big” words like elephant.

8) She has phases of self-potty training. This week alone she’s gone twice on her potty, without mentioning anything to us. We are letting her take the lead on this---just don’t have much time in our schedule to work on it. I’m sure it helps that she’s the only one at daycare who is NOT potty trained.

9) 2 year molars have been coming in. She's been drooling as much, if not more, than the babies.

10) She is SO shy in front of the camera. I can rarely get a smile.

11) She has officially been put in "time out", when she actually understood what was going on. She's not a fan. She likes to hit, and then laugh.

12) She says “a, b, c, d, and then the rest of the alphabet is just one super long syllable The Easter Bunny brought her a $1 set of cards that has a different letter on each one. She calls these her “ABC Cards” and LOVES them

13) She is starting to count, as well as hold up the right number of fingers when counting.

14) I don’t even know what term to use, but she’s started matching colors. If she’s playing with a red block and has on a red shirt, she’ll say “same.”

15) Her favorite color is purple.

16) She adores sidewalk chalk.

17) She’s recently taken a strong interest in playing mommy to her dolls. She’ll wrap them in a blanket and rock them.

18) If the babies cry and she’s not in the mood to hear it she’ll say “NO, A-B” or “NO, Ton-r.”

19) She likes to “pick the nuckies” from her toes. This makes me cringe, not because I think it’s gross (it’s really funny!), but because I hope I’m not witnessing the onset of OCD! It has gotten better over the past few weeks, I just don’t mention anything when I see her doing it.

20) This is her "I know I'm in trouble look." Head down, chin pulled into her chest;)

Sophie trying to put her toes in her mouth, because her brother and sister like to do the same:)

A classic Sophie face (and legs complete with blue highlighter). This was taken about a month ago. While we're at it, classic Connor with his belly hanging out and hand in his mouth:)

Ignore me, but this is another classic Sophie face that I am NEVER able to capture. She loved our self-portrait session:)

hospitalized (Sophie, not me)...

We have an official diagnosis of asthma, for Sophie:(

Friday late morning she developed a cough and a runny nose. Runny is actually an understatement. I could not keep it wiped, and when she sneezed, well it was everywhere. I assumed she was getting sick. Makes sense, right?

It got worse as the day progressed, and Fri night was torture trying to get her to sleep. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about the night before her first hospital admission, and how I'd stayed up with her all night. It did occur to me this could be another episode of "whatever that was" but because there was SO much congestion in her nose, I ruled it out. She was coughing, but not much.

Saturday morning we woke up around 8 (Sophie in bed with us), and discovered that she has started the belly breathing and had some retrations in her neck area. Dan made the call to give her Albuteral, but we couldn't find her Asthma Action Plan they had given us when we were discharged the first time. I assumed it was in a box that we had yet unpacked, just a single piece of paper. Dan dug and dug and found it, thankfully.

At that point, she was somewhere in the middle of the yellow and red zones. According to that plan, we were able to give her 4 puffs of Albuteral in an hour. So we gave her a 2nd dose, and then waited 30 minutes. No improvement (but no worse), so we gave her a 3rd and 4th dose. We both decided on the ER at pretty much the same time, but neither of us really felt it was all that urgent. She was lethargic yes, but her breathing wasn't horrible. Honestly, I don't know what the hell we were waiting on...she needed to go.

I got in the shower, knowing that an ER trip would most likely last all day. I'm uncomfortable enough as it is, so at least wanted to be clean, lol. As soon as I turned the water off, Dan is yelling "we need to go to the ER NOW." I walked into our bedroom, where she is lying on the bed, breathing very clearly worse than when I got in the shower.

Long story short...They did a 5 minute Albuteral treatment (via nebulizer) as soon as we got there. It helped, but her respirations were still high and it was clear she was having trouble breathing. They did a chest X ray to rule out pneumonia (negative) and did the nasal swab to test for viruses (normal). She got a dose of prednisone also. Finally, the did a 20 minute Albuteral treatment, and decided to admit her. The treatment improved things, but she was still having trouble. And, the ER docs were definately playing it safe after her quick downward spiral last time, that landed her in the PICU.

She got started on Albuteral treatments every 2 hours, then weaned to every 3, and then every 4. Their protocol is that she has to respond well to two every 4 hour treatments to be a candidate for discharge. Luckily, she got there quite quickly, and we were sent home Sunday afternoon.

Our pedi's partner came to visit on Sunday morning. I asked if it was asthma, and she said yes. She said it's almost impossible to dx asthma after one occurance, but now that we've had two, and she presented very similarly both times (and responded to the same treatment both times), then yes it was asthma. She asked if there'd been any triggers lately and neither of us could think of any. That's the scary part.

We were sent home with 3 days of prednisone (let me tell you how fun THAT is!), albuteral via inhaler every 4 hours for 7 days, and she's back on the Flovent that she had previously been weaned from, 2 puffs in the AM and PM.

Luckily, despite all the stress...I was able to stay with her, and got almost complete bedrest while we were there.

Fun in the Mud:)

To celebrate that ONE nice day in the last 10 days or so, we went out for a walk. On non-rainy days we've been doing this nightly, and Sophie LOVES it.

My two new fave pics.




And now the MUD:):) Dan told me not to let her walk in the puddle. I just laughed and let her walk right in! I swear, I will not be one of those moms that doesn't let her kids do things because she doesn't want to clean up the mess. (Someone might have to remind me of this the first time I see finger paint on the wall!)



She was so hesitant to stick her hand in. She looked up at me, not for approval, but as if to say "do I really want to do this?"


And then of course she had to show me the fun:)

RLP, a bump and teething

Round Ligament Pain (RLP) has arrived. It completely caught me by surprise yesterday, when I was attacked by these sudden, SHARP pains in my pelvic/uterine area. THey continued this morning, although only when walking or going up stairs. This is definately new for me, I don't remember having these with Sophie. Also, rolling over in bed at night has caused me some pain as well (another RLP symptom). I haven't called my dr., but I'm sure that's what it is. RLP peaks in 2nd tri, and well, here I am.

Oh, and I'm getting a bump. I think I look more pregnant now than I did with Sophie at 20 weeks. Even Dan noticed. Technically, I'm 15w2d. I had to get rid of my last pair of non-maternity jeans:( I love the bump, it gives me reassurance, but if I'm showing now what will I look like in 20 weeks???!!!

Since Sophie's hospitalization, her night sleeping has gone to hell. She sleeps, but typically only if I'm with her. The first few nights after the hospital, I let her sleep in bed with us, I just wanted her to feel safe. After that, I let her fall asleep in bed with me (which was our pre-hospital pattern), and then put her in her crib. She now wants NO part of that. I think she did it once last week, but woke up after only 3 hours screaming. So now, because Dan is SO afraid that I am creating a horrible bad habit (I admit it's not good), I have started sleeping with her in the floor in her room. On hardwood...that's fun on a pregnant body. My new goal is to get up in the middle of the night (shouldn't be hard with my peeing pattern lately) and get in our bed, letting her stay in her room.

Anyhoo..the past several nights she has woken crying, several times a night. This is definately new for her and it just occured to me that she might be teething. I just looked it up online and canine teeth typically start popping up between 16-22 months. It would also explain the clinginess that she's had to both me and Dan, which I had attributed to post-hospital regression. So now, I can't wait to get home and hopefully see what's going on in that cute little mouth of hers:)

Open house

In my attempt to keep my mind off of the (hopefully) growing embryo(s) hanging out in my uterus, I thought I could make an update on condo-selling status.

We had our first open house yesterday, and it had alot of interest! Our realtor was surprised,as the last condo open houses she's had have not gone over well. The condo market is not exactly sky high right now. There were several young professionals and young couples that came in, a few that had their realtor with them. Everyone that came through were either renters looking to buy, or students (Med School) moving to the area. That bodes well for us, in that it would eliminate one layer of the waitiing time to get a closing done, since we wouldn't be waiting on them to sell their property. And, most of the renters have leases that are up in the next few months. Our realtor is going to try to get another Open House booked in February!

We were both so excited to hear that our condo had some interest!!!! Deinately motivated us.

In Sophie news, she is walking about 75% now, and crawling the rest of the time. She tried jello and cottage cheese over the weekend-first time for both (and loved them both).

And, in uterus news b/c why WOULDN'T I go there, things seem to be progressing. My sensitivity to smells is simply obnoxious. I can smell Sophie's diaper from across the room, the detergent smell when I drink out of a glass, the frozen meat when I open the freezer.

Ultrasound in 21 hours.

14 months

It seems like I've been overlooking Sophie updates since the FET. Saturday, she was 14 months old! Here are the unofficial stats.

1) 8 teeth (front 4 top and bottom), with 3 molars on the way
2) She knows that keys, coats and shoes mean "bye-bye."
3) Typical breakfast: whole grain toast, turkey sausage and fruit
4) still mostly babbling, but I *think* she knows that I am mama.
5) She's been rocking the whale spout, since I'm trying to grow her bangs out. She refuses to keep a barrette in her hair.
6) 12-18 month clothes
7) Intrigued by everything she finds in my bathroom.
8) Water and milk only, we haven't ventured into juice land yet. Dan swears she isn't getting soda until she's 10:)
9) Recognizes babies and little kids.
10) Gives kisses, open mouthed and puckered:)
11) Still loves wooden puzzles, especially holding the pieces up to her ear like a phone, and smacking two pieces together.
12) She has the best giggle I have EVER heard. It makes my tear up from hapiness.
13) She's walking more and more, and can walk down the length of our hallway easily without falling.
14) She knows that shoes and socks go on feet, but she hasn't exactly figured out how to put them on.
15) When I ask where her nose is, she sticks her finger in her nostril! Is starting to identify eyes and ears, also.

When we say "scrinkle" this is what she does:)




My big girl:)

beta moved up a day:)

Thanks to the lovely weather that we are expecting, it was quite easy to get my beta moved from Wed, to tomorrow!!!

I can't get in to see my PCP until Friday, but I did talk to Dr. K's nurse about the rash. She said it's fine to keep up with the Benedryl and hydrocortizone until I see the doctor. It seems to be a bit better, itch-wise. Hoping that it will be gone soon though. I know my ankles are swollen b/c my shoes feel tight on my feet.

In Sophie news...she is officially walking! She still prefers to crawl, and does an adorable knee walk, but she is most definately walking. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen...I see where the term toddler comes from:)

13 months

How is it possible that Sophia is 13 months old? The phrase that "time flies" really has never been more true.
I posted a few days ago about some of the fun stuff she is doing, but I left some out...because, well...she is SO fun and everything she does is entertaining.

1)She loves her wooden puzzles. She likes to pick up the pieces and clap them together. But, before that she will hold each one up to her ear like it's a phone.

2) She loves light switches, and when she flips them on and off, immediately turns in the direction of the light to see what she has done, lol.

3) She hugs and pats her baby dolls.

4) She has started to pat Sierra. too cute.

5) She is a water CHUGGER. SHe LOVES to drink, especially with her straw cup.

6) She loves for me to chase after her (me on all fours). She finds it hysterical.

7) She points all the time. I greet her in the morning and she immediately turns to her closet and starts pointing.

8) She signed "more."

9) I think she's trying to sign "milk" but doesn't have it quite right yet.

10) Her favorite sport is hockey. If the TV is on (which it is ALWAYS on) and she is playing, and Dan puts it on hockey her head spins around so fast you think her neck will break.

11) The girl seriously needs another hair cut already. Mark of a true redhead that her hair grows so fast?

12) She knows that her coat means "bye-bye."

13) She continues to be infatuated with pulling everything out of drawers, and is not humored when I put everything back in.

14) Since weaning, our nighttime routine has been for her to get in bed with me while I watch TV. She snuggles her little head into the crook of my neck and drinks her milk. Once she gets tired of the milk, she will alternate the milk with her Wubbanub, and then try to put both in her mouth at the same time. Ultimately, she falls asleep nestled tightly against me. It's my favorite time of the day.

15) For the life of me, I can't get her to pose for a picture. All I seem to get lately are action shots. THe girl is on the move.