Poor Girl!

Sophia has had a rough time since her birthday. It started when she got a "boo-boo" right smack dab in the middle of her forehead. I have no idea how she got it, but she LOVED to pick at it. When we would get her out of her crib in the morning, we'd find blood smeared all over her head again, and again, and again, and she would proudly state "Sophie pick boo-boo!".
We didn't use a bandaid because she has had a reaction to them in the past, but I decided to go ahead and use a latex-free little circle bandaid to keep her from picking at her boo-boo. The next morning, I took off the bandaid to find a perfect circle of red itchy bumps on her forehead, so I guess she's allergic to all bandaids. The poor kid will have to miss out on the fun and comfort of getting her favorite cartoon character bandaids stuck to her boo-boos! Sophia also came down with a nasty cold this month. She's normally a real trooper when she's sick, but this time she would whimper "runny nose, runny nose" and start crying every 3-4 minutes. She even fell asleep on the couch, which she hasn't done since she was an infant. I took a peak at her ears, and it turns out she had her first ear infection. Fortunately she LOVED the antibiotics and would exclaim "I like this! I like this!" everytime we gave it to her. Unfortunately, she passed her cooties on to me, and 3 weeks later, we're both still running for the kleenex box throughout the day. Daddy was awesome at taking care of of his sick pregnant wife and even sicker toddler, so we thanked him by making him a card and bringing him some of his favorite dessert: key lime pie.

Sophie still has some fluid behind her ears, and she had fluid behind her ears at her 2 year check up as well, so it's been at good 6 weeks. We're giving her Claritan everyday and hoping it clears soon. We pray that she doesn't take after her Daddy in the ear department.

It's A ..........

......Girl!!!!
Sophia has a little sister on the way!

Lil junior is looking healthy as can be and I can constantly feel her movin' and groovin'. Since she's such a big girl, my due date has been moved up to July 23rd. She may end up arriving a little sooner because there's a good chance I'll have to plan a c-section. They discovered that the placenta is right next to the cervix (marginal placenta previa) and since the placenta is attached to the back of the uterus, there's about a 50/50 chance that it will move out of the way by the time I'm full term. So I'll get another ultrasound at around 30 weeks and if it has moved more than 2 cm, I can have a normal delivery, otherwise we'll get to pick out a birthday for this little girl.

And here are the latest belly pics. I'm definitely starting to look more pregnant than fat, and part of my belly button is already starting to poke out!

Tiny Tumblers

For the last 6 months or so, Sophia and I have been attending a gymnastics class for toddlers called Tiny Tumblers. It's been a great class that has helped Sophia learn to run, jump, roll, hang from bars, and follow instructions. Last week we started attending swim lessons twice a week, so we decided to stop going to Tiny Tumblers, but before we left, we got a great "team" picture. I don't where they found this photographer, but I find it truly miraculous that he was able to get 9 toddlers to all look at the camera!

Thank Goodness for Cousins

If it weren't for cousin Katherine showing Sophia this face at Christmas and doing it in about half of her mom's blog entries, who knows how long it would have taken Sophia to figure it out!!

Teacher:

Student:

If only we could apply this technique to potty training we'd be set!!

(And yes, that is Daddy's work tie she's wearing with her PJ's!)

2nd Birthday Party

For Sophia's 2nd birthday, we decided to just have a small casual party at our house since I'm still so tired. We had a turn out of about 8 kids and 10 adults, so I'm glad we didn't have more elaborate plans. We opened presents with Nana and Pops in the morning, and Sophia loved her new baby doll, cradle and changing table. Her new train set was also a favorite, but we don't have any pictures yet. (Nana did most of the picture taking during the party so more pictures may follow soon)



By the look on her face, I'm not sure Sophia liked the hat Nana made her!

I fell in love with this cupcake stand, so we decided to have a Tinkerbell themed party.

Here's the kids table with fruit, goldfish crackers and juice boxes.

We spent all week preparing Sophia for the birthday song and blowing out her candles. Unfortunatley, the little stinker who lives across the street blew out her candles first, but Sophia didn't seem to mind and did great blowing them out a second time.

Sophia had so much fun that she kept reliving the magic moment again and again the rest of the night!

Elmo's Potty Time

With Sophia's 2nd birthday quickly approaching and a new baby on the way, we've been encouraging Sophia to use the "big girl potty" more and more. As part of this effort, I bought her a DVD called Elmo's Potty Time.
The video was an instant hit and the next day she asked to watch it first thing in the morning. After it was over, she wanted to use the potty, and although it wasn't a successful trip to the potty, we were encouraged by her interest. An hour or so later, Sophia became really quiet which is a red flag for all parents. After a short search of the house, this is what we found:

Sophia had put her Elmo doll on the potty and was reading to him just like we do with her! While I'm glad she's showing so much interest in the potty, I was hoping she would apply the lessons from the video a little differently! At least she used the Elmo doll that is washable!

A Special Project

Last week, my dad was hospitalized for 2 days to have an internal radiation procedure done for prostate cancer. Because of the radiation, I didn't think it'd be a good idea for me to visit him in the hospital, so Sophia and I decided to make a special art project for him to take to the hospital. Sophia and I had a great time working together and the finished product turned out really cute.


The procedure went great without any complications or side effects, but he still has to go through 6 weeks of external radation and 6 months of hormone therapy. We're praying that Grandpa has a complete remission of his cancer.