Christmas

Christmas has been tiring. I feel like I've covered the lower half of Ohio in about two days. Christmas Eve we went to my Dad's house and Sofia got to open tons of presents. My favorite is the play kitchen and play food. Unfortunately time flew by too fast because soon we were driving back up to Columbus. However, our stay there was only about 30 minutes, long enough to unload the car, reload it, and pick up Ryan. We were off to his Mom's house in Eastern Ohio. I was a little worried that Sofia would freak out being in the car so long, but she did surprisingly well. We made a stop at an Arby's which I think refueled us. I was glad we stopped because the manager from the gas station portion (it was one of those travel centers) came in and gave Sofia a stuffed unicorn. And not a small one, but a decent sized one. What a nice thing to do. Once we arrived at Ryan's Mom's house, Sofia was intent on exploring. She loved the sound her feet made on the kitchen floor, but I think her favorite part (after seeing the Grandparents of course!) was the fish screen saver on the computer. All she wanted to do was see those fish, even when we were opening presents the next morning. It was such a nice Christmas and Sofia got a cool table and chair set. I think one of my favorite parts was lunch. Mmmm...lasagna. Sofia wolfed down hers as well. All in all, it was a nice Christmas and I was glad I got to see everyone.

Merry Christmas

Let the Madness Begin

Yea, Christmas is here! I know, I know, I'm a couple of days early, but this year I have a whirlwind Christmas with lot's of travelling, so for me that started today. My Mom is in town from Phoenix, and even though it's the year we go to Ryan's parents, I still had to go visit my family. Because Ryan has to work on Christmas Eve, just Sofia and I are going.

Things started off good. I had the car packed and we were out the door by 8:30 a.m., not a small feat I may add. Anyway, there's little traffic on the road, Sofia is quietly looking at her book in the back seat, and we're just about to hit the Jeffersonville Outlets when I hear it. "Blech, blech, blech." That's right, ladies and gentleman, Sofia proceeds to throw up all over herself. (**Warning** the rest of this paragraph may be quite gross) It was disgusting. This is the first time I've had to deal with her puking up real food as opposed to formula. It was chunky and it smelled. Thank god there was a rest area. I pulled into a parking space and got Sofia out of the car. Of course this is one of the windiest days we've had, and poor Sofia is standing in the parking lot, covered in puke, in her socks. (Doesn't that paint a pretty picture.) I grab her diaper bag and hold the poor girl out at arm's length in an attempt not to get any of the mess on me. Don't worry, I did get some of it on my purse and shirt because no one could be bothered to get the door for us. I cleaned Sofia up as best I could, put her in a fresh outfit and attempted to clean her dirty clothes in the sink. Let me ask, what kind of restroom does not have paper towels?! Seriously, I'm all for the environment, but I really needed those paper towels, not an automatic sink that barely worked or a hand dryer. Anyway, once Sofia was cleaned up, the real fun began. How was I going to clean the babyseat? I wasn't going to pull a Britney Spears and let my child ride on my lap (although that thought did cross my mind), so I tried to clean the seat as best I could. All I had were diaper wipes and a couple of napkins I found in my glovebox. And oh yeah, Sofia's favorite blanket. I got most of it up but still had to put a blanket down for Sofia to sit on and unfortunatly there was still the smell. I'm sure we made quite an arrival, a smelly baby, a smelly carseat and a pissed-off Carissa. Merry F-ing Christmas.

I was a little worried that whole episode would dictate how the rest of the day went, but surprisingly everything went really well. My Mom, Ken and sisters all went to my aunt Tammy and uncle Dwayne's house for a get-together. My uncle David and his family were driving up from Texas and we all hadn't seen them in forever. Sofia did really well with all of the people. She was just happy to snack on things and explore this new place. I was quite relieved that everything went so well and we all had such a good time. Now if only I could get that smell out of the carseat.

This is a picture of my uncle David and family (Deborah, David, me, Sofia, David and Danielle)

Remember when I said that I'll be posting a lot more once school was done because I would have the time? Well, I lied. Maybe I wasn't recognizing it as a lie at the time, but that's what it was. Whoops. School may be over, but I still am not done with my Christmas shopping. Sofia and I went out yesterday and braved the cold at one of those outdoor shopping centers. Poor Sofia's hands were ice cold. That was better than her later that night. Here's the back story. Almost every night, Sofia and Ryan have "couch time." This is when Ryan takes off all the couch cushions and Sofia runs back and forth, jumps up and down etc. Well, last night, fifteen minutes before bed, Sofia wanted "couch time" again. I helped her up and she promptly started pulling on the lamps. I pulled her back three times and then finally put her on the floor. Oh, the crying! And the tears!! And the jibbering of a language I could not understand. So, I put her back up on the couch. Where did she go? That's right, the lamp. So, I put her back down. And the tears and crying started again. Ugh....isn't this all supposed to happen when she's two?

Sofia had her 15-month checkup yesterday. She was so well-behaved. Even when she got her three shots, she only cried briefly. As soon as the doctor put the bandaids on, she was fine. As for her stats, she's 31 1/2 inches tall (which moves her up to the 50th percentile) and she weighs 19 lbs. 5 oz (which is still the 5th percentile). I can't believe she's still not 20 lbs. All in all, the doctor said she looks good.





Today we did a little more Christmas shopping. I'm about halfway done with my list, but I figure I still have over a week. I'll get it done. I took Sofia to see Santa and get pictures. We've already met him once, but she was still a little afraid this time. I set her on Santa's lap, and when I walked away she started to cry. But, as soon as I gave Sofia a sucker, she was just fine. She didn't smile, but she didn't scream and run like the little boy ahead of us.





And now, some belated pictures.
Check out the hair!

This is Sofia's first time playing in the snow.

Slacker!

I am a slacker poster. I promise, as soon as school is done, which is today, I will post more and add pictures. Until then, you all have to make do with what is there!! Let's see, what has been going on these past couple of weeks. Here's a quick run through:

Thursday Decemeber 6, 2007
Sofia and I went to the Zoo today with our new family pass (thanks Mom!). It was cold, but totally awesome because we were the only ones there. Okay, there were about 15 others, but that is not an exaggeration. My reasoning for going was that we could stay and see all of the indoor animals. We saw the gorillas and watched them for twenty minutes without another soul coming in. Sofia was afraid of them, and I don't blame her. They are huge! We also saw the manitees and the coral reef. It was a blast!

Saturday December 8, 2007
We went to my work holiday party at the Zoo. It was cold and rainy, but there were still a ton of people checking out the Wild lights. Luckily the party was inside a gazebo thingy (yes, that's a technical term) and basically we ate some food and talked to some people. There were a lot of people there I didn't know, lots of Friends of the Library and Trustees and their families.

Sunday Decemeber 9, 2007
We braved the mall and went Christmas shopping. It was stressful.

Monday December 10, 2007
Sofia was a crab today. I had a final exam. Yuck.

Now today, Ryan came home at 11 a.m. this morning, two hours after I was supposed to be at work. I have a 30 minute presentation for my class tonight. All in all, it's another crappy day. As you can see, my stress level is rising but after tonight, at 9 p.m. I should be one happy camper. School will be done until the middle of January. Yeah! Don't get me wrong, I like school, but man oh man this semester was hard. Okay, I'm done complaining. If you're still reading this post, thanks for listening. I promise the others will be a lot happier and full of Christmas cheer!