Merry Christmas!

What a busy, busy Christmas! Santa came and brought lots of goodies for Sofia. She was up at 7:30 a.m. this morning, after going to bed at 11:30 p.m. last night. I went to bed a little later, so I didn't have a lot of sleep. The first thing Sofia said when she woke up was, "I want to open presents?" She really got into the spirit of things and loved all of her presents. Of course there were tons of Dora items - including a sheet and bed set from Chelsea, toys, and a Cabbage Patch doll from Mommy and Daddy. I know she's a little young, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give her the doll because it's the 25th anniversary. (Wow, has it really been that long?) She didn't get into the doll as much as I would have liked, but I wasn't surprised.

After presents with my Mom, Ken, and sisters, we packed everything up and headed out to my Dad's house. There we opened even more presents (and got lots of cool stuff) and had brunch. Sofia got a drum filled with musical instruments. As my dad said when she opened it, "Revenge." Sofia was playing the tamborine and recorder. She really had a chance to shine when Ryan, Chelsea, Logan and I played Guitar Hero. We were rocking (some more than others, I was on vocals and I feel sorry for everyone who had to listen.) I'll tell you what, that game is just as addicting as the Wii. Maybe there will be a Guitar Hero in my future? After spending a few hours there, we packed up all of the new presents, added them to the other presents and then headed off to our last destination, my aunt and uncle's house (my Mom's brother).

We ate lots of yummy food, watched Sofia be a spaz while playing with Sydney, and then opened more presents! Sofia really wanted to open presents, and I was astounded by how well she handled herself when other people got to open presents. I would have though that a lot of kids Sofia's age would whine or grab at other people's presents, but not Sofia. By 8:30 p.m., Ryan and I were practically falling asleep and we still had a two hour car ride back to Columbus. After packing up the car for the last time, saying our good-byes, we finally headed back out on the road. By the time we made it to Columbus, I was practically falling asleep behind the wheel. I was so tired that I completely missed our exit and had to turn around. All that stood between me and bed was the unloading of the car. I finally got to bed by midnight - only to wake up at 7:30 a.m. on Friday to get ready for work!

Christmas Eve

This will be post-dated because I have been a big slacker blogging lately. Anyway, Christmas was fun. Ryan, Sofia and I drove down to Mt. Orab Christmas Eve. We only had one major hiccup along the way - Sofia decided to puke in the car for the second year in a row. It was gross, it smelled, and it was a bitch to clean up. Luckily we were only 15 minutes from our destination, so we didn't have to be around the nastiness too long. As soon as I got my cousin Stacy's house, we put Sofia's clothes in the washing machine along with the carseat cover. Instead of wearing her cute sparkly pants and top, Sofia wore her jammies. She still looked cute. Luckily the puke was from carsickness as opposed to her being sick. We ate lots of food and checked out all of the new little babies. Sofia had a blast chasing Sydney around the house, talking to people, eating, and playing. The best part of the evening was when Santa came to visit. Everyone piled down into the basement and sat around as Santa passed out presents to all the children. One thing that must be noted is that my dad's side of the family is huge. I've lost count how many cousins and second cousins I have. Anyway, Sofia had a long wait until her name was called. As she waited, she stood right next to Santa and kept saying, "I want a present too. Santa, I want a present please." It was funny, and a little sad, all at the same time. Finally Santa called her name and she went and sat on his lap (much to my surprise) and was happy the rest of the evening. After spending time here, we popped over to another cousin's house to visit with the rest of the family. By this time it was close to 10 p.m., but Sofia was still going strong. She got a big kick out of watching the kids play the Wii. She would yell and jump and generally cheer them on. By the time we left and got to my sister's place to spend the night, it was 11 p.m. and Sofia was STILL up! She sat for another half an hour while my sisters, mom, Ryan, and Ken all played the Wii. Needless to say, it was a long day and night - but totally worth it!

Christmas Lights

Last night, Sofia, Ryan and I got in the car and went driving around looking at Christmas lights. I can't remember the last time I did this, but it was great. Ryan popped some popcorn, we grabbed some water and went on our way. Sofia was so good and really enjoyed seeing all the "pretty lights." She would yell "I see them, I see them!" However, I think she loved the popcorn even more than the lights. That's her new favorite thing - popcorn. We've been letting ehr watch the Christmas specials, Charlie Brown and the Muppets, and giving her popcorn. I hope we can make this a new tradition and keep with it!

Partay!!

Last Saturday we had our work Christmas party. It was a blast! There's nothing like partying and dancing at a library afterhours. Sofia was great. She really was a dancing queen. She was jumping, twirling, shaking her booty, and running around. She tried to become friends with two other little girls close to her age, but they didn't want anything to do with her. It was kind of cute, because the two little girls were dancing, and Sofia was standing by them waving saying, "Hi girls. Hi girls." Over and over.

Another funny part of the night. Some of my coworkers noticed that most of the kids were running to the food table and grabbing cookies. Not my kid. Now, don't get me wrong, Sofia loves her cookies and she had her fair share, but at one point she must have gotten tired of them. She ran to the table but veered away from the cookies and grabbed... a huge hunk of broccoli. I love that girl.

Poopy Hands

I'm talking on the phone to Mandy when Sofia comes up to me holding her hand out and saying, "Eeewwwyyy." I look at her hand, see nothing, decide to smell it - bad idea. She had poop on her hand. She had pooped in her diaper and stuck her hand in it...the joys of motherhood.

Happy "Be-lated" Thanksgiving

I am the slacker of all bloggers, I swear. My fellow mommy-bloggers are much better. We had a great Thanksgiving with Ryan's parents last week (thanks Rose and Mark!). I was dreading the three-and-a-half hour car ride out to eastern Ohio, but Sofia was great. We are still having the problem with her taking her arms out of her carseat. Luckily, with these nifty 5-point harness seats, she's still attached at the legs and middle. Since I knew the car ride could be trouble, I put Sofia's seat in the middle so that Ryan had access to her while I drove. I packed one bag full of books, one of toys, snacks, her blankie, her bunny, mommy-bear (it's what she calls my old Carebear), and Dora. It was a packed car for only an overnight stay. Traffic sucked coming out of Columbus, of course. Once we got past Zanesville, however, the load lightened. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel. Ryan had never been there (shock!) so I had to introduce him. Of course I wound up buying things in the store they have. I'm a sucker for stick candy, I had to buy a Christmas count-down calender (like the one on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), Ryan got a harmonica, and Sofia got M&M's. I just told myself it was a special occassion.

We got to Ryan's parents and settled in. Sofia was so good the whole time. She wasn't timid or nervous, and opened right up to everyone. She didn't eat much during dinner on Thanksgiving day, but Ryan and I made up for that. My pumpkin cheesecake was a success, if I do say so myself! I had never made a cheesecake, but Sofia helped and it was tasty! Then the three of us took a nap in the afternoon before our trek home. It took Sofia a little while to settle down, but soon all of us were out, lying in the same bed.

Check out those muscles!!

The trip home wasn't bad at all. We listened to soothing music and walked in the door around 9:30 p.m. Sofia went straight to sleep. Ryan and I followed soon after!