Sophia is 2 1/2 Years Old

We don't usually celebrate "half birthdays" in our household.  However, I really believe that there is something special about turning 2 1/2 ...  Kids seem to finally understand the concept of birthdays at that age and with so many milestones happening (and their vocabulary growing so rapidly), well, I like to acknowledge the event.

Today, Sophia officially turned 2 1/2 years old.  We had talked about this for over a week; how she wasn't going to just be two anymore.  I think that the significance of it was further heightened by the fact that Samantha has been "4 1/2" for a while now.  That "half" tacked onto the end just makes all the difference. 

I asked Sophia what kind of cake she wanted and she told me "a pink one."  Completely compliant, last night I made her a pink strawberry cake and decorated it with pink and purple frosting.  As usual, I let the girls lick the frosting off the spatula when I was done, and I overheard Sophia telling Sam the following, "No, Sammy.  It MY birthday ..."  (Meaning that she wanted ALL of the frosting to herself!). 

As soon as Sophia came down the stairs this morning, she declared, "Happy birthday to me!"  Yes, little girl.  We do birthdays BIG in this house.

After repeatedly informing Sophia that we could not have her cake for breakfast, she settled into her spot at the counter for breakfast.  My momma heart exploded when I turned around and heard Samantha say, "Sophia, let me give you a birthday hug."  Sigh ...

I surprised the girls by telling them that we could go for a special birthday lunch after they got dressed.  They looked so adorable that I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

The birthday girl:

Posing with her cake before we left:

Yes, this is how the cake looked BEFORE I left Sophia unattended with it.  I came back in the room a few minutes after taking this picture only to discover that a certain 2 1/2 year old that sampled some of the frosting off the top!

The girls chose to go to Culvers for lunch,.  They love their grilled cheese sandwiches (and even better, they get ice cream with their kids' meals). 

Posing outside Culvers:

After Culvers, we went across the street to the pet store.  The girls enjoy doing that every chance that they get and it is free entertainment!

The rat was so fascinating to Sophia:

Ah, the kitties.  Those are their absolute favorite animals at the store.

Luckily, they never ask me if they can take any of them home!

There are so many aquariums of fish, but the girls are always drawn to the one FILLED to the max with goldfish.

After the pet store, we surprised Aunt Minnie by going to the school where she teaches.  I knew that she was over there setting up her classroom and was pretty sure that she wouldn't mind some company.

The girls helped with the decorating:

We then headed back home for some much-needed naps, with the promise that we could have cake after dinner.  The girls ate such a great dinner, that I brought the cake out and we celebrated immediately afterwards (before I even did the dishes).  Sadly, Daddy couldn't be with us tonight, but we made the best of it!

(You will notice that the frosting has been smudged due to the aforementioned sampling, and that we actually used 2.5 candles)!


Preparing to blow out her candles while we sang "happy birthday" to her:

Samantha asked if she could help blow out the candles and Sophia replied with, "Oh, yes!"

I had an unused card left-over in my card box that was for a 2 year old and I altered it so that it read for a "2 1/2 year old."  You can't tell from the picture, but it turned out pretty cute.  Sophia was so excited that it was a Hello Kitty card!

Finally, we ended our memorable day with each girl opening a gift from me.  I couldn't very likely just get a present for Sophia (while not getting something for Samantha), so I gave each girl a special book -- Sophia's was the Little People Zoo book with flaps inside that she enjoys opening and closing, and Samantha received a story pack of five books about Splat the Cat (one of her favorite series).

Happy "half" birthday, Sophia Marie!

Jack's Baptism

On Saturday, August 17th, we baptized Jack at our Catholic church in town.  I probably could have chosen any date (on a Saturday or Sunday) to do this, but I chose the 17th because it has some significance -- August 17th was my grandpa's birthday and Jack turned exactly three months old that day.  I also wanted to celebrate the event on a Saturday so that we could have our families over to celebrate with us after the 5:00 pm Mass.

Before we headed to the church, we seized the moment to take a couple of family pictures.  This is our first picture as a family of five!

My little man and me:

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Jack started the ceremony resting quite comfortably.  (This was a bib that I just threw on him for the trip to the church because the excessive "drooling phase" is in full-effect.  I had every intention of taking it off before entering the church, as it is not the most appropriate for that setting, but couldn't bear to wake him up.  And so, the bib remained on until the start of Mass).

 

 

We asked my sister, Mignon, and my brother, Jacob, to be the godparents.  They were present with us up on the altar while Jack was baptized with holy water and anointed with oil.  Jack LOVED having the water poured over his head; I think that he thought that he was getting a bath, which he thoroughly loves anyway.

 



 

 

We all said a prayer over him while Father read a scripture reading.

 



 

 

I couldn't have been more pleased with how well-behaved the kids were during Mass.  Sophia did get a little antsy (she isn't used to sitting through Mass with me on Sundays like Samantha and Jack are accustomed to doing), but over all, they did a wonderful job.

 



 

 

As we were leaving the church, Papa (my dad) squatted down with the girls to admire the flowers.  I couldn't resist capturing that moment.

 



Sophia picked a flower and immediately put it to her nose to smell it.

And then Samantha followed suit ...

So precious.

 

 

Anyone that wasn't able to make it to the church, came over to our house afterwards to celebrate with us.  I had prepared tacos (beef and chicken) and had the meat going in crockpots.  The fixings were all done ahead of time so that I could just pull everything out of the fridge as soon as we got home (around 6:30 pm).  We had a starving bunch and everyone devoured the meal.  We then finished out the evening watching the Detroit Tigers win a very exciting game!  It was perfect ...



Jack is 3 Months Old

 

 

Jack is 3 months old today and I can easily say that we have officially settled into a pretty comfortable pattern around here.  Jack is so laid-back and mellow and rarely cries (in my opinion, that is).  I have come to the conclusion that he really only fusses/cries for three main reasons: he's hungry, he needs his diaper changed or he is tired.  Other than that, his noises are simply his way of communicating and expressing himself.  My days are filled with a lot of cooing lately!

 

In his two month post, I mentioned that I was pumping a bottle of milk to give to him before bed and then "topping him off" by nursing him until he fell asleep.  In actuality, that lasted for only about a week.  I found that we had settled into such a nice groove that the bottle of milk wasn't even necessary.  Just after he turned two months old, he started sleeping from about 8:30 pm to 3:30 am.  He would nurse for a quick feeding and then sleep for another couple of hours.  Pretty good for a two month old.

 

About a week ago, he officially starting sleeping through the night!  He gets his bath around 7:30 pm or so, gets his pajamas on and then nurses until he is full.  Most of the time, I put him to sleep drowsy (but not sound asleep) in his crib and he will sleep from about 8:30 pm to 6:30 am.  Ten hours! 

 

 

 

Jack takes a GOOD morning nap for me (2-3 hours) and I try to time things so that that is when I run errands or do projects with the girls.  For now, while the girls nap in the afternoon, Jack is usually wide awake and we have our play time together.  We do a lot of exercises and playing with his toys.  Ideally, I would like to work it out so that he naps along with the girls in the afternoons, but I am enjoying my one-on-one time right now.  And I know that that is not likely to happen until after he decides to shorten his morning nap.

 

 



We discovered that Jack likes to be propped up a little on a pillow when playing on his play map.  Not only is it more comfortable for his head, but he can reach his hanging toys a little better.  It's a win-win situation for him!

One of Jack's favorite things to do right now seems to be sitting outside.  After dinner, when Jack is the most antsy, we simply put him in his bouncy seat, carry him outside, set him in the driveway with us ... and he loves it.  I get so many smiles from him!  He kicks and coos and it just makes for a happy time for all of us!

And, if the bouncy seat becomes a little too confining for him, Jack will lay on a blanket in the yard.  He is so relaxed outside, that he will often just drift off to sleep while the world around him just continues ... (And by "world around him," I mean two loud, big sisters making lots of noise).

About six weeks ago, I started taking Jack to church with me on Sunday mornings.  Sometimes I take Samantha with us (she is old enough to understand a little bit of what is going on now and she can sit through the mass with me pretty easily -- especially if she knows that there is a donut for her afterwards!  Sophia stays home with Steve because she is just too little to sit through a whole hour with me right now).  I really enjoy this time alone with my little man.

I start back to work, teaching two nights a week, in about 10 days.  A little part of me is nervous about leaving my little man behind and having Steve handle all three kids by himself.  He is great with the girls, but an infant (especially one that is breastfeeding) makes it more challenging.  And even more difficult is the fact that I will be gone during dinner and bath/bedtime routines.  I am hoping to work together as a team this week so that he feels more comfortable with everything (and so do I), thus making for a smooth transition back to work.  As Jack gets older, I know that it will get even easier.

Time just seems to be passing by in the blink of an eye lately.  The summer is almost over, which just seems unbelievable.  I really loved having an infant during these warmer months because it was so easy to just throw Jack in his car seat and go places (for a walk, to the store, etc) without having to bundle him up and warm up the van first.  After all, that is what I was used to doing with my other two babies.  It also made it pretty easy on me because Jack loves going for rides.  He immediately settles down as soon as the vehicle is in gear and backing out of the driveway.

The next few months will be filled with even more exciting changes in this little guy.  I can't wait!

St. Johns Mint Festival

Every year, St. Johns (a town about 30 minutes north of here) celebrates its Mint Festival during the second weekend in August.  As kind of a spur of the moment decision, we decided to make the drive up there with the kids and check out the festivities.  We arrived just in time to see the parade -- and what a parade it was!  In addition to the usual floats, there were a ton of tractors and some horses.  It's farming country up there, so some of the people were even passing out vegetables (heads of cauliflower, green peppers, ears of corn, summer squash, etc).  We even received some frozen ice pops!

Posing for the obligatory photo for Momma before settling in for the parade:

 

The girls found a front-row seat for all of the action and managed to score some candy from some of the floats.  They thought that is was the best thing ever!

 

 

I had anticipated that Jack would simply take a nap in the stroller for most of the morning, but some of the floats/music/horns kept him from being able to rest comfortably.  As a result, he got to enjoy the scenery with Momma too.

 

 

After watching most of the parade, we decided to beat the crowd and head farther down the street in search of more activities.  It was a long walk for Sophia, so she suckered her daddy into carrying her most of the distance:

 



The girls noticed the park right away, so we spent the majority of our time there.  It worked out well because Jack was hungry by then and I was able to feed him on one of the benches while the girls burned off a lot of energy.

There was a princess castle:

Lots of swings:

 

 

Many stairs/slides/tunnels:

 

 

A tire swing:

 

 And a purple dinosaur.  Yes, the girls couldn't seem to resist this creature!

After the girls had exhausted themselves, we headed into the Kids' Activities Barn so that the girls could play a few games.  I stayed there with all of the kids while Steve made the trip back to get the van.  By the time that the girls were done (having used up all of their tickets), we were able to meet back up with Steve. 

Choosing a sucker to see if they were a winner:

 

Picking a duck out of the pool to see how many prize tickets they won:

 



 

 

Rolling balls for prize tickets:

 

Once all of their playing tickets were used up, they were able to turn in their prize tickets.  I let them choose their own prizes ... Sophia picked a small magna-doodle board and Samantha chose a Dr. Seuss bag with multiple prizes inside.  Personally, I think that she made out like a bandit because the bag contained stickers, markers, coloring books, etc.

Posing with their prizes (and blue lips from their suckers):

The kids had such a great time!  In fact, Sam has already started asking when we can go back again ...

The First Harvest

Every year since we moved into this house (three years ago), we have planted tomato plants and let the kid(s) harvest the crop.  Up until this year, we have planted them in a couple of pots on the back deck -- out of reach from the many deer that populate our back yard on a regular basis.  This year, however, Steve wanted to plant the tomato plants in the front of our house.  I'm not really too keen on the idea because it is really making my flower arrangements seem a little "off," but a couple of the plants seemed to REALLY enjoy their location; they have tons of little grape tomatoes just waiting to ripen and be picked.

Samantha was so excited to harvest her first picking of them just the other day:

It has now become a daily task for the girls to survey the plants and determine which tomatoes are red and ready to be picked.  We typically have about 4 tomatoes each day (2 for each girl), but I have a feeling that we are going to have a lot more than that in just a few days.  We might even fill a small bowl ... before the girls try to devour them.  Honestly, my girls eat them like they are candy!

My Loves

This could very well be one of my favorite pictures to date. 

I know that there will be many more of my little ones posing together for a me.  After all, I can't seem to stop taking pictures of them!  But for some reason, I just adore this photo.

Sophia and the Blue Bead

I get my kids dressed everyday. 

I'm not one of those mothers that just lets her kids hang out in their pajamas for the entire day, even if we are staying inside.  It's just not the way that I roll.  We eat breakfast, we brush our teeth and we get dressed.  And when Samantha questions it, I simply reply, "this is what we do everyday."

On Monday, the girls surprised me by sleeping in for an extra hour.  This is completely unheard of in my household and I almost thought about checking on them just be sure that they were ok.  As a result, we were a little later eating breakfast and my girls were still in their pajamas when the cabinet delivery guy showed up at our house.  (We are finishing the basement and the cabinets were set to be delivered between 9 am - 2 pm).  Lucky for me, and the rest of this story, they were delivered early.

After the delivery guy left, Sophia found a blue bead on the floor and showed it to me.  It was one of the beads that their cousin gave to them to use to string into necklaces and bracelets.  Frankly, I was so tired of seeing the beads all over my floor, table and couch that I actually packed all of them away (or so I thought) the night before.  I told Sophia to put the bead up on the counter.

She never made it there.

Instead, out of curiosity, she stuck the bead up her nose.  And then panicked. 

Without seeing her actually do it, I knew immediately what she had done.  It's amazing how strong my mother's intuition is these days.

I tried getting her to blow her nose (with me plugging the empty nostril).  It didn't work. 

I tried massaging the nose to move the bead down.  It didn't work.

I tried using tweezers, but the hole in the bead was turned toward the nasal cavity and not accessible.  By now she was hysterical.  I couldn't hold her arms down and her head straight, all while navigating the tweezers.  Finally, I asked if she would let Mr. Jerry (our neighbor) hold her.  She agreed.

So, Jack, Sophia and myself trotted across the yard to the neighbor's house -- with Sophia in her pajamas and barefoot ... at 10:30 in the morning.  Sam stayed home and waited for me to return.

It became apparent that the tweezers were not going to work.  Luckily, the neighbors agreed to watch Sam for me while I headed to the hospital with Jack and Sophia.  Steve left work and met me there. 

Playing on the computer with Daddy while in the pediatric emergency waiting room (I threw a pair of clothes on Sophia before leaving our house; Sam, on the other hand, stayed at the neighbors' house in her nightgown.  Nice.):

Calmly watching TV, while waiting for the doctor to arrive:

Assessing the situation:

The first two attempts to get the bead out were unsuccessful.  It took Steve, me, a male nurse and a female nurse to hold Sophia down.  And it absolutely broke my heart. 

Then, we waited around for almost an hour and a half for some special tools to arrive (I'm still not sure WHERE they were coming from).  We pondered the idea of sedating her, but there are serious risks involved.

Finally, at about 1:30 pm, they were able to numb her nostril and use the tools to get a hold of the bead and remove it.  Unfortunately, I was not there when it happened.

Yes, as luck would have it, I had a scheduled OB/GYN appointment across the street at 2 pm.  I had to leave Sophia (and take Jack with me) to my appointment.  Needless to say, I was not feeling really great about my appearance at this point -- I was in sweatpants and a tee shirt.  The tee shirt was covered in sweaty tears and blood from Sophia on the front, and as an extra bonus, Jack had puked down the back of the shirt after I fed him in the waiting room.  Swell.

Jack fussed all during my appointment (simply from the lack of a nap all morning), and one of the nurses ended up taking him from me so that I could finish up my appointment. 

After my appointment, Steve and Sophia met back up with Jack and me and we headed out to the parking lot together.  Sophia was so happy to have that bead out (and to have a cheeseburger in her belly) and I am pretty sure that she will never like the color blue again ...

And when Sam saw her sister?  She asked her where the bead was because she wanted to put it back in her collection!  (We actually DO have the bead and I am considering putting it in her baby book to remember this momentous day by) ...