Sad News

Well, today we have some sad news. Our wonderful cat, Juliet, passed away this morning. We had no idea that she was sick or anything and it was really very shocking to find her this morning. I won't gross you out with the details. We are going to miss her very much. Ryan and I got her almost six years ago, a year after we first started dating and right after we moved into our first apartment together. She was our baby before we had Sofia. Juliet was the best cat ever, just ask anyone who knew her. She was sweet, even-tempered, fun, playful, and just really awesome. We'll always have a special place in our hearts for her.

Water Fun

Sofia and I had a lot of fun on Thursday when we went to a really cool park in Hilliard with some friends. Emily introduced this park to us and along with her daughter (who is pretty close to Sofia's age), Jenn and her two kids, we all had a great time. This park is pretty amazing. They have about three different playgrounds, a huge fort/water gun play area, and a place for 5 and under kids to play in the water without being demolished and run over by the older kids. Sofia had a blast in the water. It was funny because Abby, Jordan, and Jeremiah would play near each other, and sometimes with each other, but for the most part Sofia was on her own. We stayed at the park for over three hours, so needless to say by the time we got home, we were all exhausted. Oh, and did I bring a camera, of course not. Will I ever learn?

So, I haven't seen much of Sofia the past couple of days, but she is really starting to crack me up all the time! She still does her ornery things, but wow-she's got one heck of a sense of humor. Oh, and her dancing is incredible. Monday night we had a little dance party in the living room, getting down to some Paramour and Snow Patrol. Sofia couldn't get enough. "Up! Up!" that's all I heard. I was swinging her around like a deranged monkey, it was fun. She's such a goofball!

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.