Luna Moms Group Storytime & Coffee

I am part of a moms group through the StrollerStrides program. We had a playgroup at one of the member's home. We each brought a book to read with the kids as well as donating a book to the women's shelter. I actually didn't get any pictures at the group but here is Sophie just afterward. The book we took was A Fish Out of Water so she wore her goldfish outfit. We also took an extra copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, so she took her stuffed mouse too.

We had a good time. It was funny because most of the time she loves to crawl around finding things to pull up on, but she sat for about 15 minutes next to this little boy chewing on a toy.

Where Does the Time Go?

I haven't had much time to post lately, but I hope to remedy that early this week. Sophie and I have done so much (including joining a play group). I also spent 2 whole nights away from her on a scrapbook retreat (more about that at the other blog). So, as soon as I can get pictures uploaded, I'll let you all know what we've been doing.

Pony Pictures

One of the great things about Sophie coming to work with me is that she gets to participate in all the activities. For Texas week, we had Diamond Photography come out to do pony rides and pictures. Sophie seemed a little confused by it all, but still had fun.

He has little vests, chaps, and hats for the kids to wear for the pictures. I must say Sophie is the cutest little cowgirl ever!



The owner of Diamond Photography was great. He was able to photoshop me out of the picture. As you can see above I was standing next to her. In the pictures we bought, I'm not there. She's just sitting on the pony all by herself!

Wagon Ride

The weather finally cooperated and we were able to go for a wagon ride. Amazingly, it has been way too cold here in Texas.



Off we go!







It doesn't look like it, but she is buckled in. She really enjoyed looking at all the sights.

The Mommy Connection

I found the moms group on Meetup.com. I requested to join and we went to the first event to meet the organizers. (You have to come to something first before you can actually join.) I didn't know what we were going to just that it was a rec center. Turned out to be Toddler Time. We were the first ones there and Sophie thought it was great to just crawl around the gym. I let her go down the slide into the ball pit, but had to really watch her in there since everything goes straight to her mouth.

After a little while several families showed up. Sophie was the youngest, and most were preschool age. She did enjoy this riding toy. If I had known what we were doing, I wouldn't have dressed her quite so cute...she got so dirty crawling around.

After a while, she started crawling after the ball pit balls. She almost get it and I would nudge it to keep her going. I was a little worried because there were a lot of older kids running around, but everyone seemed so nice.

This wouldn't be my first choice for an activity for us, because there was a whole lot for Sophie and for me it was almost like being at work on a rainy day with the kids playing in the Fellowship Hall. The group has 2-3 activities a week, plus Mom only outings, so there should be plenty for us to do.

Football Playoffs

Go Cowboys!





We went to our friends to watch the Cowboys in the playoff game. Sophie didn't have a cowboys outfit (just the Dolphins), so Ella Kay let us borrow one of hers.

Ella is about 3 months older than Sophie. Her mommy is Anea who is actually a little older than me. It was really a surprise for the 2 of us to be pregnant at the same time.

Busy Week

This has been an extremely busy week, but I will say that 3 out of the last 4 nights Sophie has gone to bed by 8pm. Last night she was in bed by 8pm but woke herself up and then didn't go back to sleep until after 11. She stayed home with Maw Susan (my mom) while I went to work and then I had meetings in the evening so I didn't get home until about 8pm. Paul got home about 9pm and I had put her in her crib to cry it out. Once he got home, he brought her to our room where she hung out for a while, then went back to her crib and fell asleep all on her own. I haven't quite figured out what the secret o sleep is yet for her, but I am determined to find it.

Just a short recap of the week (followed by some cute pics of Sophie from Tuesday).

• Monday and Wednesday she stayed with Maw Susan while I worked.
• Tuesday and Thursday we went to the mall for StrollerStrides.
• Wednesday afternoon Maw Susan took her to Baby Bookworms (the baby story time at the local library).
• Tuesday we went to church for the weekly staff meeting, then went to the mall to exchange a gift.
• Thursday we did lots of laundry and watched a Baby Signs DVD.

Tomorrow we are taking Grandpa to the doctor, then stopping by the office before we head to Gymboree to get in a little retail therapy. On Saturday, I plan to attend the StrollerStrides class at the park before completely my errands for the week. On Sunday, Sophie and I are going to Ella Kay's to watch the Cowboys. Paul can go too, if he's not working. We are all ready for this project to be over.

Santa Presents

When we finally made home from being snowed in at Paul's parents, we came in to see that Santa had not passed us by just because we were gone. Sophie had asked for a wagon, a cup with a straw, and clothes from Santa. he didn't get her clothes (he likes to leave that to the mommies), but he scored with the wagon. And there was a cup with a straw in her stocking.





Enjoying a ride around the house.




Loves to stand up.





She got several teething toys in her stocking.

The elephant is a "Fur Real" one and it blows kisses when you pet it's back. There was a panda bear one for MIC, too.

Sophie likes blocks, but I don't think these were such a hit. She usually just puts them in her mouth and these aren't the soft kind. But there are still really cute, they open up to reveal farm animals inside.



Giving her baby doll kisses. Santa always brings the girls a doll and the boys a car/truck (or some other type of vehicle).

Sophie enjoyed Christmas morning even if it was closer to 3pm.

Advent Calendars Three

Yes, we have 3 different advent calendars (and I found them all at Target). I got this one after Thanksgiving this year.

I put a small ornament in each spot. Every night Paul would help Sophie add that day's ornament to the mini tree in her room. Some of the ornaments I already, some I found this year, although finding ones small enough to fit inside was hard.

My sister has a stocking for her son that has a pocket on it that she was going to hang in his room. I liked that idea and then I found this advent countdown stocking.

So every night I would put a treat in the stocking for Sophie.

The first treat was this book called "I Can't Wait Until Christmas" where Big Bird does a different activity each week waiting for his Granny to come for Christmas.

And finally, I had a small banner calendar that I got last year. Sorry no picture, but it's made of felt with tiny numbered pockets, just big enough for a slip of paper. So for this one, I wrote down different activities for us to do each day. Sometimes the treat in the advent stocking would coordinate with the activity for the day. Below is a list of the activities (in no particular order) with some pictures.

• Drive through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights.





• Use your nose to sniff out the holiday scents.





• Put decorations on every door in the house.





• Dress festively from head to toe.





• Read a Christmas story with a grandparent.





• Make gifts for the teachers.





• Watch Charlie Brown Christmas movie.





• Choose an angel from the Angle tree.





• Decorate a gingerbread house.
  

• Play with snow.

• Send a holiday greeting to someone in the armed forces.



• Create homemade cards to give to the grandparents.
  

• Take donations to Prairie Paws Animal Shelter.




• Visit a tree lot to see a real tree.
  

• rite letter to Santa.





• Hang your ornament on the tree. (The ornament was her treat for the day.)





• Create a snow scape with whipped cream.
  
  

• Visit Santa.





• Sing "Happy Birthday" to the Baby Jesus. (This was on the day we had the birthday party for Jesus at preschool.)





• Put out reindeer food.
  

• Take the Labor & Delivery nurses at the hospital a special treat. (We did this on her 7 month birthday.)




• Attend a tree lighting.

• Make an ornament to give to someone special. We actually made a door hanger for Pastor Mike who was in the hospital.
  

• Read a favorite Christmas book.
  

Letting Her Cry

My sweet little baby girl is in her crib crying as I write this post. Because she hasn't been feeling great, her schedule is completely off, she hasn't napped like she should or slept at night like usual. I am determined that she is not staying up until 10pm tonight, especially since she only got about an hour nap today. I know it is killing Paul to listen to her on the monitor but I want to give her a little time to try to go to sleep on her own. Never mind, I just heard Paul in there with her...didn't even last 15 minutes, the push-over.

Sophie stayed home with my mom yesterday so I could attend a funeral for one of my students grandfather. We were planning to go to church this morning but I decided to let her sleep and keep her in as much as we could. We did go to Paul's parents for lunch, and she enjoyed visiting with her Grandad and Grandma. I'm letting her stay home tomorrow with Maw Susan and hopefully we are seeing the last of this cold.

Arctic Blast

There's a saying in Texas "If you don't like the weather, just wait _________ (fill in the blank with whatever time frame you want, I usually say an hour)." Well, we are having record breaking low temperatures right now. I don't think it got above freezing today and with the wind chill it was in the single digits at least part of the day. Sophie and I had to go to work this morning so I bundled her up in her cap and mittens. This bothered her a lot. she usually gets the cap off but with the mittens she couldn't and got really frustrated.

I lived in Chicago for 18 months and I got all the cold I could ever possibly want back then. I hate the cold, I hate wearing a coat and hat and scarf and all that. i hate going from the cold outside to burning up inside. it's just a big ol' pain in the neck. But as they say, "If you don't like the weather..."!

Sick Baby

I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday because by the time Sophie went to bed I was just too worn out. She been very congested the last couple of days, but hasn't had a fever. Tuesday she seemed to feel a little worse, so we stayed home. The doctor wants to make sure that she gets enough formula each day, so I fed her often. She was fussier than normal but not overly cranky. Today, I had to take her to work for a few hours because my mom had a doctor's appointment. At 11:30, she took a bottle and fell asleep. I put her in the car seat and came home. She didn't wake up until 3pm. If I'd known she was going to sleep that long I could have stayed at work. Of course, she probably wouldn't have slept like that with all the noise.

She got this cool walker-thingy from her Uncle Bill and Aunt Cheri for Christmas. She really likes it but is a little unsteady actually walking with it. the wheels lock in place so that is how we keep it most of the time.

She doesn't look sick, does she? Fortunately, she's a pretty happy baby even with a cold!

Documenting Our Little One's Life

As a scrapbooker, I had this idea that my child's life would be the most and best documented of anyone, with dates and journaling and pictures to commemorate every event and milestone.

Then my daughter was born and as they say "life happened"! We take lots of pictures (although not everyday like I intended) and I have a lot of "first" and milestones written on a calendar but generally speaking I just spend time with her and the thought of documenting that time never crosses my mind.

And guess what? I don't feel bad about that at all. I have learned that being a mother brings with it more worries and concerns than you could imagine, so there's no reason to add to that by second guessing yourself. My daughter is loved, safe, healthy and happy! As long as I can say that, I can push any self-doubts out of my mind.

I may not know the exact date she smiled but I do know that she smiles all the time. It's not on a calendar, but I remember when I discovered I could make her laugh by ticking under her chin. this blog is meant to document our daughter's life for ourselves, and our family and friends. I'll continue to do that but will try to jot down some of the memories of my time with her, even if I don't remember to charge the camera battery beforehand!

Busy Sunday

We went to the traditional service this morning so we decided to get Sophie dressed up in a fancy dress. (We usually go to the contemporary service where we dress casually.) Paul had to work again so it was just me, Mom and Sophie. After church we ate at one of my favorite places, La Madeleine. Because Sophie has been congested, she hasn't wanted much food, but still takes her formula well.

After lunch we went to visit with my sister and her kids before they went back to East Texas. Kalyn seemed to smile more today (although I didn't get any pictures of the visiting).

I've been trying to stick to a good schedule at night for Sophie. We feed her dinner about 6:30pm (which is hopefully when Daddy should be home most nights). Then start baths, books, and bottle at 7pm. I'd like to have her in bed by about 8pm but so far that hasn't quite worked out (but we are close). She's been very congested and has a cough so bedtime is a little harder. This is how she usually looks, at least until you actually lay her in the crib. then she seems to be wide awake and ready to play!

Visiting with the Cousins

Day 2 of the new year and I forgot to take pictures of Sophie. Luckily my mom got some. My stepsisters and their families came over this afternoon to visit before their dad goes back to work in Tennessee. Levi is the oldest (9 years old) but he likes playing with the little ones too. Maya is almost 5 and has a little sister who is about 3 months younger than Sophie. Sophie loved all the attention and getting to show off her new skills. She loves to push the upside down laundry basket all over the living room. She tried to show Olesya had to do but she's still too young (although not much smaller than Sophie).