Beautiful Day

Today is a perfect summer day. Sofia woke up at 10:30 a.m. which was wonderful. Yesterday she slept until 11 am. I have no idea why she's sleeping so much, she's acting healthy so I'm not going to complain. I'm going to thank my lucky stars that I have a daughter who loves to sleep as much as I do. Anyway, today was so pretty when I got up that I decided it would be a good Zoo day. Sofia and I practically ran out the door and when I told her we were going to the Zoo, she got very excited. "Goin' to da Doo?" (For those who don't understand toddler, that means, "We're going to the Zoo?) As soon as she sees the sign, Sofia goes crazy. This time we stuck to the North America and Asia areas of the park. It was so much fun because Sofia gets more and more into the animals everytime we go. She loved the petting zoo with the goats. In fact, she walked around for about ten minutes with a brush, brushing every goat she could find. Sofia also really liked the bird aviaries. At one point I couldn't get over how much fun I do have with her when we get out of the house and go do things. Maybe I should do that more often instead of sitting at home. Hmmm...just a thought.





Here are some pictures from another Zoo trip, just not this one.


Here are some other random pictures I thought I would add. And yes, that is a beer Sofia is holding in the one picture, and no, it is not open. However, it does make for a good picture!


You can tell these are all pre-haircut. Unfortunately, Ryan and I haven't had a chance to take too many new pictures. However, if you want to see some new ones from the other day, check out my friend Mandy's blog. Mandy's so fancy with her blog, she even included a video link of Sofia. Even I can't do that!

So, I did vacuum and clean the bathroom before work. I'm not that gross!

To-Do List

So, last night I was bored in class (I'm going to Library School for my Master's degree, and yes, you need a Master's to be a librarian.) and decided to write up to-do lists for this week. I put down things to clean, go to the gym, go to the grocery store, clean my car etc. Today I had
-go to the gym
-clean the bathroom
-put away clean clothes
-go to the grocery store
-vacuum

What did I do today? I went to the Zoo. So, I get to use a dirty bathroom, sit among piles of laundered clothing, starve, and not lose weight...but hey, at least I got to see a monkey pick his nose and eat it!

Oh, from the mouths of children

I'm at work right now, and I just had to tell you the question an eight-year-old girl just asked me. She saw the picture of Sofia that is on my computer screen. "Who is that?" she asked. "It's my little girl, my daughter," I replied. "Does it hurt having a baby?" she asked. "Whaaa...," I replied.

What the heck do you say to that? I could have been honest and said," Why yes, it did. It felt like my uterus was being squeezed and a giant rubber band was being wrapped around my waist by a sadistic monster." But I didn't (although, what a great form of birth control). Instead, I said, rather meekly, "Yeah, but just a little."

Ahhh...sex ed at the library. Gotta love it!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

That spells vacation. Which, unfortunately, is over. Time went by way too fast but we had a lot of fun. I was so worried about Sofia and the plane ride and the time difference, but everything worked out great. Sofia wa really good on the flights, only having a couple of meltdowns on the way. It's taking her a little longer to adjust back to Ohio time, but we're working on it. As we speak, Sofia is softly whimpering in her room. However, that may have more to do with the fact that I put her to bed after telling her not to scratch the walls with her nails and when I picked her up, she proceeded to rake her fingers down my back repeatedly. OW!

We did a lot over the course of a few days in Phoenix, including going to the Phoenix Zoo, the Arizona Science Center, Tortilla Flat, swimming in the pool. Rather than me write a bunch of stuff, why don't I just show some pictures!

Sofia's first day at the pool. She is totally fearless, jumping off the edge of the pool into our arms and even letting me dunk her under water. We tried to go swimming almost every day, and the water was perfect.

Sofia really liked the Zoo, but I think in the beginning she was really hot. The tram ride around the park was fun, and we got to see a lot of animals. It's so hot in Phoenix that we were at the Zoo by 9 a.m. We rode the carousel twice and saw a really neat giraffe exhibit. Sofia was a bit whiny in the beginning. However, once she saw these fountains, she couldn't have been happier. It took a couple of minutes of standing there watching the other kids before she would venture in. However, once she did . . .

. . . she abolutely loved it!

Checking out the prairie dogs.

Enjoying the Arizona Science Center's Grossology exhibit. Yes, the sign says, "Toot, toot" and yes, it's talking about farts. You pump air into the tubes and then push down on the rubber stopper on top to create beautiful butt music...it was hilarious.

This is right before the wheel barrow tipped over, hitting Sofia in the head. She liked this little play area because it had a little house and tons of stuff to climb on. One of the neatest exhibits was a weather "immersion" theater experience. You stand with a bunch of people on a raised platform in the middle of the room, surrounding by theater screens, speakers, and lights. The screens talk about and display various forms of weather (tornados, thunderstorms, earthquakes) and while that is happening, you are able to experience it thanks to rain machines, wind, and heat lamps. It was pretty cool, and I was really afraid that Sofia would be scared, but she really liked it, especially the wind.

Our last day, right before we left for the airport.

Look at those smiling faces. All in all, we had a great time (thanks Mom and Ken!). Ryan got to take his first airplane ride and we all got to experience new things!

And now, back to the real world...sigh.

Countdown to Phoenix

Well, only 9 days until we all fly to Phoenix. I'm really excited to see my mom and get out of Columbus. Things have been a little rough around here. Ryan lost his job a couple of weeks ago, sowe've been going through that stress. Luckily those government economic stimulus checks came in around the that time, so things could be a lot worse. We've been enjoying our time together because it's been a long time since the three of us have been in the apartment together for an extended period of time. We've gone to the pool, made lots of good food, grilled out, played outside...everything that families should be doing in the summer.

This past weekend we went and saw my cousin play baseball. It was hot, but fun. Sofia really enjoyed herself and even learned a new word: baseball. She totally surprised us when we went to the game on Sunday and as we were walking torwards the field, she just pointed at the game and said, "Baseball!" clear as day. Pretty cool. We also took Sofia swimming yesterday. Well, I went swimming while Ryan sat at the side of the pool. Let me tell you, that little girl is fearless! She puts her face in the water, likes to float on her belly, you name it. Plus, she likes to stand on the side of the pool and jump into my arms. It's so cool! Also, she's addicted to playing outside, no matter how hot the weather. If Ryan steps outside to smoke, she freaks out because she wants to go out there too. We've been going out a couple of times a day plus every evening. Usually our neighbor Dan (Sofia's big crush) and our friend Tony are outside too. Sofia's just happy to be out there, pushing her baby stroller, kicking balls, or throwing baseball. What a fun time!

Potty!

So, this happened on Wednesday, but I think it is worth mentioning. Drumroll please....Sofia actually pooped in the potty! Cue the bells and whistles. We got the potty for her a few months ago because she seemed kind of interested, and I thought what the heck. So, we let her play with it and occassionally she'll want to sit on it. Well, now she's started to tell us when she has already gone to the bathroom. This involves one of two ways of communication. Either pointing at her diaper and saying something nowhere near, "I peed." or "I pooped." The other way is her pulling off her diaper and pants by herself. We prefer the other method. Anyway, on Wednesday Sofia started to making her usual grunting noises and I hurried up and put her on the potty and surprise! Sofia was only mildly freaked out. But we flushed it down the toilet and then she got a cookie. She hasn't done it again, but still. Pretty cool.

Wow. I never thought I would be so excited about, well, poop. I need to hang out with some grown-ups.

Memorial Day Madness

I must say, Sofia was a champ this weekend. We had people over on Sunday for a cookout and she just ran around talking to everyone. The day wasn't without its meltdowns, especially when Sofia had to come inside. Boy, was she pissed. The screaming and crying. She would live outside if she could.

What an Arm!

So, I'm really serious thinking about getting Sofia into the Major Leagues. They'll take an onery 20-month-old, right? If it's not her cup of milk or fork, it's everything else that is flying across the room. And for being so young, she has quite an arm. Plus, she's got some mad soccer skills. She kicks, she dribbles...I smell World Cup!

20 Months!

Wow, can you believe Sofia is 20-months-old?! Where has the time gone? Sofia's getting to be such a toddler, and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. Yesterday, for example, was another one of those "bad parenting days." I think the big culprit was that I had been home with Sofia all day long for three days straight. Anyway, she started the morning off by dumping her eggs on the floor. It made me mad. Mad enough to give her a swat on the bottom (not very hard obviously, I don't need child services after me) and then I told her to go to her room and sit on her butterfly rug. She started crying and walked around the side of the couch and then stopped, so I took her by the hand and led her into her room and sat her little butt down on the rug. I told her not to move. As I was cleaning the yellow goop from the floor I could hear her crying and saying "mommy" over and over. As I was washing the dishes off, I could see her try to scoot off the rug but I told her to get back on it, and surprisingly enough she did as she was told. I only kept her there for about 3 minutes. After which, I told her she can't throw food and she needed to say sorry (or "sowwy as she says it) and then I apologized for yelling. Then we hugged. A true Kodak moment. I wish I could say the day got better, and it did a little. Of course today I'm at work and then class, so I'm sure she'll be perfect for Ryan. Of course.

Caution: Sick Alert

So, I had to work this morning at the library and I didn't get home until about 3 p.m. What greeted me as I walked in the door? The sweet sound of Sofia crying and the revolting smell of puke. Ahhh...spring. But seriously, it was disgusting. Sofia had just thrown up all over her bed and all over herself. I left Ryan the dirty job of cleaning the sheets while I plopped Sofia down in the tub. After the bath I tried to get her to hang out on the couch with me, but she just wanted to play. That is until she threw up, again. All over her clothes. To make a disgusting story short, let's just say that we went through about 4 or 5 outfits, all of the papertowels in the apartment, and some Pedialyte. Ryan was sick with something similar yesterday, but we just thought it was something he ate. Obviously, we were wrong. Luckily Sofia was able to eat a little chicken soup and then went to bed at 7:45 p.m. Oddly enough, between the bouts of sickness, Sofia was happy and playing. Who knows. I just really don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and have to change the sheets.

I promised pictures

I promised pictures, so here are some more. Make sure you check in some of the previous posts because I added some there as well!

Zoo Gone Bad

Okay, so today was a beautiful day and I decided to take Sofia to the Zoo. I knew something was wrong as soon as we got there. Everything seemed normal enough, oh yes. We went on the carousel right away and that was fun. Next we went to the Australia section, which is my favorite. Well, as Sofia and I were walking through the kangaroos, an eight or nine-year-old boy pointed at my arm and said, "what is that? what's wrong with your arm?" For those of you who have never had the pleasure of seeing my arm, I have psoriasis, an annoying immune disease that effects the skin. So, anyway, it's a little annoying when people point it out. So I told him it was nothing and we kept on walking. Next we visisted the larakeets, which are really pretty little birds that look a little like parrots. I bought a little cup of nectar for the birds to feed out of and I had about three on me in no time. Well, I also had one poop on my head (it's alright, you can laugh at that one). And then a little girl came up and asked what was wrong with me arm. Arg. So, we left that area. The final straw was after lunch. I decided to take one last ride on the carousel before we left to go to the other side. Well, stupid me I didn't feel I needed to strap Sofia in her stroller, and as I was whipping it around to park, Sofia fell head first out of it. I felt horrible. I felt like I was going to hurl. Sofia was okay, although she does have a splendid bruise on her face. We went home after that. The End. I hope you all enjoyed this retelling and have learned something from it.

Crazy Weekend

Sofia and I had a blast this weekend. We drove down to Cincy on Friday because my mom was in town. She flew in for my uncle Dwayne's 40th surprise birthday party. We had so much fun this weekend! Saturday morning we were supposed to do a walk for Best Buddies, but it was drizzling and cool and we really didn't want to drag the babies out in the rain. So instead, my mom, sisters and I went out to breakfast. It's a fair trade. Saturday night was the big party and I was a little worried that Sofia wouldn't be able to handle the people or the late night, but she did fantastic.
We ate and visited with the family. Around 8:30 p.m. Sofia started her cranky phase, but I knew she wouldn't go to sleep with all of the people around. And she didn't. Instead she got a second wind around 9 p.m. and was a dancing machine for the next hour and a half. I've never seen such crazy moves. Needless to say she crashed on the drive home. Then Sunday, we went out and got professional pictures done of Sofia and Sydney. However, when we got to the place they were running an hour behind and these were all people with appointments. But it worked out because we were able to get something to eat, and you all know how much I like to eat.
The pictures, in the end, turned out pretty good and both Sofia and Sydney were very good. I was really afraid that Sofia wouldn't sit in front of the camera but she did. It was such a fun weekend, but I was glad to get home and see Ryan. And since I just got home yesterday, I haven't had time to post pictures, so look back in a few days and I'll put some up here

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I'm Still Alive

No, I haven't been living under a rock, hiding out, or joined the Witness Protection Program. I've just been busy! I've got the end-of-semester panick attacks and stress, but I do promise I have new pictures and I will tell you all about our exciting life! We've taken a couple of trips to the Zoo, Ryan and I got to have a date night for our birthdays, and that's about it! Keep checking back, I promise there will be more to come!

Seriously, I thought Sofia and I were never going to get out of the house this morning. The mornings I work are always a little bit hectic, but lately we've really gotten into the swing of things. Well, this week I worked an extra morning, which means Sofia had to get up early two days in a row. Yesterday, she was great. Today, ugh! She was fine through breakfast, but as soon as I was trying to pick her up so I could change her diaper and her clothes (in the words of Mo Willem's fabulous chilren's book Knuffle Bunny) Sofia "went boneless." You would have thought I was going to torture her. And if you're ever tried to pick up a child that has gone boneless, it's not an easy thing to do. When I finally wrestled her onto the changing table she started to cry, and we're talking real tears here folks. But this wasn't a normal "I'm sad" cry, no, this was a fake-sounding annoying cry. If you don't know the difference come over to my house any given night. After I finally changed her diaper (and you would think that any sane person would not want to sit around in a poopy daiper, but not my child) and got her dressed it was time to start loading the car. Usually Sofia will just watch me from the window. Today she watched me and cried. When I was coming back from the car, I could literally hear her out in the parking lot. (So that's what it sounds like to the neighbors.) By the time I loaded her into the car as well, she was fine. I dropped her off at the babysitter's and she was fine. Ahh, the joys of being 18 months. Some days I really wish I could throw a tantrum. Well, at least I have alcohol. Which I will be consuming tonight when Ryan and I go out on a date, together, finally. Thank you Kelsey for offering to babysit.

Some Pictures

These are some pictures of Chelsea and Sofia clowning around when she came to visit.

Here's the wild and crazy Easter egg hunt we did for Sofia. As you can see, we hid the eggs really well.

Sofia's new hangout spot. She cleared her whole row of books just to get up there.

I'm going to sound like a bad mother, but I wish Sofia was sick more often. To goback to the beginning, last night I came home from work around 6:45 pm to find Sofia asleep on Ryan's stomach. Right away I knew something was wrong because she never sleeps in the evening. She didn't even wake up when Ryan and I were talking loudly. I finally got her up because I didn't want her to miss her bedtime by too much. Well, when she got up she was very warm and when I took her temperature it only confirmed my suspicions because it was 102 degrees. For a half an hour, all Sofia did was snuggle against me and watch Scrubs. Finally at 7:30 p.m. I decided to put her to bed and I got no complaint.

This morning we didn't roll out of bed until almost 10 am. It was wonderful. Plus, Sofia was so good today. Not a lot of whining or anything. I could tell she was still a little sick, but it was so great because I didn't have to yell at her once. She was cuddly and quiet. We even went outside on a walk around the complex and fed the ducks and blew bubbles. Ahhh...why can't more days be like this?

Up a Wall

Sofia has been driving me insane. Some days I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. I mean, what do people do all day with an 18 month old? In the winter? When it's nasty and cold and raining? Arggg...plus I feel bad when my temper gets short and I yell at Sofia. I know she's not being a pain on purpose (well, sometimes she's not, other times I can see it in her eyes). I think it's partly the crappy weather and all of the stress from school, but being in the apartment all day long is driving me crazy!!

Alright, enough complaining. There's not enough time for that.

Sofia is being so silly lately. When she's mad about something, Sofia has been smacking herself in the face. Why? I hate to laugh at her when she does it, but it's the kind of laugh you do when you're shocked and have no idea what to do. So I laugh. Crazy baby.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ahhh...Irish music, Guinness, potatoes! What a wonderful day! Tonight I plan on hanging out with some friends at an Irish retaurant and enjoying a pint or two (or three) of Guinness. I guess all of you out there that aren't Irish can celebrate too, I let Ryan and he's almost 100% Italian.
Then...
Now.

Owww!

That's what Sofia says when she hurts herself, "Oww." Like today for instance. Sofia and I went out to lunch and right as we were getting done with our meal, Sofia banged her head on the table. Hard. For no reason. Then she said "owww" and started to cry. That is one thing I don't get about toddlers, why do they bang their heads on things?

Monster Snow!

So, I forgot to say that my sister and her little daughter, Sydney, came and visited last weekend. Sydney is 6 months old and so cute (and chubby!). Sofia wasn't sure what to make of her at first so she poked her, pet her, and tried to stick her finger in the baby's mouth. In the end, Sofia resorted to emptying out the contents of Sydney's diaper bag (sorry Jess). It was really cool seeing them together, we even had a baby dance party. Sofia was really showing her moves, which involves turning in a circle with one fist out. What can I say, she gets her smooth moves from me. That night we got Ryan to stay home with the girls so that Jess and I could go out and meet a couple of girls from my job. Don't worry, Ryan didn't have it too rough, the babies were already aslepp when we left and they didn't get up once. Jess and I had a blast doing karaoke and hanging out together. Thanks for coming up and visiting Jess and Sydney!

Oh my god, I can't get over all of this snow! We have at least 15 inches and more in some places. I know most people are excited when they get a snow day, but what can I say, I'm weird. My one weekend day a week is the one day that I get out of the house and get stuff done. Instead I was stuck in the house for three days straight. The good part was Ryan's work was closed a well so this is the first weekend we have spent together since I had Sofia. We got the house clean, hung out, dug out Ryan's car. Tonight we finally broke out of the house and went to dinner. Sofia's new obsession is dipping her food in sauce, whether it is BBQ or ranch or whatever. The only time she gets to do this is if we go eat chicken wings or go out to dinner. Ryan and I are so lucky that Sofia is such a good eater. She eats healthy most of the time, lots of fruit and cheese and veggies. We do let her splurge sometimes, but mostly she just wants grapes and cheese. I'll take it!No, Sofia is not sitting in the snow and no, we did not cut her in half. This is how deep the snow wa. After being dunked in it, Sofia didn't want to get back in it and I don't blame her.

I like this picture even though I look like I'm twelve or something.

To the Zoo

Sofia and I went to the Zoo today to make the most of this 65 degree day. It was a lot of fun just getting out and enjoying the weather. Of course I didn't bring a camera, but at least this time I thought about bringing one. Oh well. Sofia really liked the fish in the aquarium as well as the six and four-year-old boys next to us. She has a thing for older boys. In this case, she walked right up to the older one and started jibbering at him. He just stared at her. When they were leaving, they stood behind us on the upper level and Sofia turned around and started banging on the glass, yelling at the boy. She's going to be a dangerous one when she's older. I also rode the carousel with her twice. We tried this back in December and she liked it olay, but this time she really got the hang of it. She just had the biggest grin and couldn't get enough. I love watching her be so happy and I love going places with her so that she can experience everything

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Sofia is obsessed with this barrett. She wants it in her hair, but will then pull it out, come up to me, and want me to put it back in.

Enough Snow

Seriously, enough snow already! Don't get me wrong, I like the seasons and I like snow during Christmas but by the time March roles around I'm ready for some sun and warmer weather. I feel trapped in this apartment with Sofia and I'm running out of ideas. There's only so much you can do with a 17 month old. We've been reading a lot of books, which makes me really happy. Her favorite is Bear in a Square and she has astounded me with the amount of things she knows. I'll ask her to point to the bear and she'll do it. She's a little sponge!

The Plague

Uch...the sickness is finally over (I hope). It all started with Sofia puking in her bed and then on the couch on Saturday night. Luckily I was out with the girls and Ryan had ot deal with it. Sorry Ryan. But don't worry, Sofia woke up with puke in her hair Monday morning, so I got my turn too. he wasn't too upset, she got to take a bath at 9:00 a.m. Too bad the smell wouldn't come out of her hair, even after two days of washing it. All seemed to be fine after that. Then Monday night Ryan started to complain of stomach cramps, then blech! I proceeded to go to work on Tuesday and brag to my coworkers that I haven't been sick ever though Ryan and Sofia have. Will I ever learn to keep my big night shut? Tuesday night around midnight, blech! Midnight until 4 a.m. I wanted to die. Ryan went to work on Wednesday, but when he called midmorning, I begged him to come home so that I could sleep. I slept from noon to 6 p.m. I finally started feeling better today, just in time for Ryan to go to Michigan with Dan to see a concert. I've washed all of the sick blankets, dusted, vacuumed, and Ryan cleaned the bathroom. Hopefully the sickness is gone. "Be gone from this house!" I say. Chelsea is coming up this weekend and I really hope she doesn't catch any lingering illnesses.

Okay, onto some less disgusting things. Can I just say Sofia is such a smart little girl! She can now identify head, feet, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears and belly. She knows pants, shirt, socks and shoes (this is all pointing ladies and gents, she is still speaking her own language). She also knows that shoes and socks go on her feet. It's amazing how much she can understand. I can't wait until she can actually start saying everything. What an amazing little girl.

The Chef

Sofia's new thing is pretending to "cook" on her little kitchen. She takes her red plastic saute pan, adds a meatball (fake) or maybe some grapes (real) and then pours in milk (fake). Finally she adds some fresh ground pepper from her pepper mill and then proceeds to "saute" the food. I must say her technique is really good, must be all of the times she watched Ryan cook.

So, is it bad if all my child wants to eat is grapes and cheese? Sofia is obsessed with grapes, and I mean that quite literally. She wants them all the time. She will go to the fridge and keep saying "gape, gape." Then, if I don't give her any, she starts to cry. Today she ate grapes three times. I mean, it could be worse, she could want chicken nuggets or soda or something like that.

You'll have to ignore the shiny, snotty nose in the pictures. Poor Sofia has had a runny nose for over a week now and I'm constantly running after her with a kleenex. I wish she would let me suction out the goop, but after the first few times of trying (and what a battle it was with the crying and squirming) I decided to not ever try anymore.

Parenting Tips I Learned At the Library

I have now learned that you shouldn't drop your two and four-year-old children off in the Children's department and then a) leave the building, b) sit at a computer on the other side of the library, or c) completely ignore my children as the two-year-old takes a whole row of DVD's and proceeds to shove them between the shelves. Yes, I have seen this happen...almost daily.

Bad Parenting Day

That's what I'm calling them, when I have them, "bad parenting days." I know everyone has them and I'm not alone. Monday was one of those days. Sofia was sick and I cound't go to the gym because of that, so right off the bat our schedule was thrown off. Anyway, things just felt so stressful and Sofia was just crying and whining all day long! So of course I got frustrated and I yelled at her a couple of times. By the time I came home from class later that night, I felt horrible. Oh well....it was just a "bad parenting day" I thought. And so the idea was born.

Progress Report

Sofia is growing up. I know, big shocker right? But what I mean is everyday there's something new that she is doing or saying. Today she said "keys" when I was unlocking the front door. Well, first she said "dhiih" and then I said "keys?" But she repeated it right after me. Plus, I've been taking her to the kids area at the Gym and each day she gets more and more comfortable. Today when I came in to pick her up, she didn't even bat an eye, but just kepy on playing. Lastly, she's getting really good at cleaning up her clothes and toys. Ryan told her it was time for a bath and I guess she started to pick up her clothes and put them back in their drawers. What a smart girl!

I will warn you, now that I've started school again, the posts will probably be few and far between. I will try, but no promises this time.

Alright, so I joined the gym this week, and I'm really excited to loe 30 lbs. I got the membership that allows for access to the Kid's Club, so my big plan is to go about 4 or 5 times a week, and 3 or 4 of those days I'm going to take Sofia to the Kid's Club for an hour. I figured it would be a piece of cake, but it was actually a lot harder than ot looked. I went on Wednesday for my first free personal training session. Sofia walked right into the kids area. It's an enclosed room with toys, televisions and video games, a cool slide/play fort thing, basically a lot of fun. Anyway, I went to my training session for a half hour and then decided to check on Sofia. When I peeked through the window, I saw her standing in a portable crib with another boy about her age, and both were crying. It just about broke my heart. So I went in and asked the girl why Sofia was in there and she told me that Sofia had been "really fussy." I don't know if it was the shock of seeing her penned in or the massive PMS, but it really bothered me. I stayed for maybe ten more minutes, but when I peeked through the window again and saw that she was still crying, I knew it was time to go. The rest of the day I was trying to convince myself that I was not a bad mother for taking her there. I had to rationalize that she would have to get used to that kind of situation one day and that it won't hurt her to be in a daycare situation a couple of hours a week. Right? I mean, I need the few hours alone just as much. I did go back the next day, and thing worked out a little better. Sofia walked right in again, which means she wasn't too traumatized. I did peek in after half an hour and the guy working the room was carrying her around (which made me feel better) and when I came to get her a half an hour later, the poor guy was sitting on a bench, still holding her. Oh well, at least she wasn't crying.

Speaking of crying, there has been a lot of that lately because Sofia is cutting more teeth. There's a molar that is already pooping through, and I think the one on the other side is getting ready to come through as well because that gum is awfully sore. Poor baby.

Anyway, as I promised, I now have pictures. Look back in the previous posts if you would like to see them, and I know you do!

No, this is not how Ryan normally styles his hair. The lady at the salon broke out the flat iron and hairspray and Ryan didn't have the heart to tell her that he didn't normally wear it this way.

New Word

Sofia has a new word: cheese. It is the cutest thing I have ever heard. What can I say, she loves cheese. As soon as she sees the package she starts saying, "Cheese! Cheese?" I love it.

New Year

Okay, so yesterday I took fifteen minutes to write a nice blog about New Year's Eve, but it didn't post. So, I don't feel like repeating myself. Let me just say it was a lot of fun, there was some champaigne and staying up late, and we were tired the next day. At least Ryan and I went somewhere this year, albeit we did have to take Sofia. But it was fun and thank you Russ and Vanessa for having us over.

Anyway, I don't know if it's the cold weather, the snow, or after-holiday blues but I feel like a total grouch lately. I think Sofia and I have cabin fever. I mean, how sad is it that I look forward to work (actually, I really like my job) just so I can get out of the house? Lately I've been wishing I was working full-time. I'm one of those weirdos who likes to work. Don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed staying home with Sofia for the past 16 months (well, enjoyed some moments more than others), but I'm really starting to get bored. I don't like that I sit on the couch practically all day, and there are only so many ways to play with a 15-month-old. It's too cold to go to the Zoo or the park and I just can't seem to get motivated to go to the mall...too much of that in December. As much as I like snow, I really hope this winter will be mild so that I can take Sofia outside. (I write this as I look out the window at the 4 inches of snow.) If you don't hear from me, it's because I've decided to hibernate for the winter.