Psychosis

Ben and I agreed to listen to our voting public, so today I purchased a brown rug for the nursery. I think it looks great, but you can decide for yourself. Now I need to get some curtains. Don't worry; I won't make you vote on that.

Below is a video of Sophie. I'm more than a little embarrased to post this, but seeing as my brother requested more video I decided to swallow my pride and put it on here. Plus, it is pretty funny if you get past the demented aspect of it. I described this scene a few posts ago, but you can't truly grasp it until you see the video. We just might need to find a toddler therapist.

Please don't fret. Since this filming two days ago, I have adamantly expressed to Ben the importance of discontinuing this game.

It's Not Even My Birthday!

My wonderful hubby brought me flowers at work tonight. I had to tell Blogger World how much this meant to me for a few reasons:

1. It was about 15 degrees out when he came in, and the roads weren't in perfect condition.
2. He got home from working all day to send me away to work, feed Sophie, bundle her up, and run to the store to buy flowers.
3. He drove the monotonous 25-minute drive to my nursing home with a toddler in the back and sang along to her Sesame Street CD the whole time.
4. There was no occasion... just to brighten my night!

Have I mentioned before how amazingly blessed I am? I cannot fathom why God chose me to be this man's wife, but I'm so thankful He did!

Teeny Tiny's Nursery - Voter Help!

We worked really hard this weekend. Seriously, if you could see how closely my feet resemble the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, you'd know that I pretty much haven't rested for two days straight. (Okay, there was that chocolate party I went to...)

Here we are, hard at work. Looks like my stomach favors ol' Marshy as well. Yikes.

Below is the bare bones of the nursery. We don't have any decorations in it yet, and honestly I don't know how we're going to decorate. I'll probably wait for most decorations until after Teeny Tiny arrives and we know the gender. We got the great idea for the dots on the wall from my friend Kenna, who did something very similar in her long-awaited Kate's room.

Here's where we need your help! Ben and I cannot decide what color of rug we want to put in the room. Since the floor is wood, we want to buy a nice area rug to cover a good amount of the floor space. We initially desired a pale green rug to compliment the darker green wall and lighter green bedding. Alas, my pale green is not to be found (unless I want to pay well over $400 online, which I most certainly do NOT want to do).

The two colors we're debating are: off-white/cream or dark brown/chocolate. Please go to the top of the sidebar and vote on which color you think would look best! We're pretty sure it should be one of those two colors, but if you have another suggestion feel free to leave it as a comment and we'll consider it!

Okay, take another look at the picture below, make a good decision, and get to voting! I'm only leaving the poll open for two days!!

Aaaah, the Scent of Fresh Humility in the Morning (or at 2 and 8 p.m.)

Well, I must swallow my pride and admit to you all that yesterday's nap and bedtime did not flow as easily as the two previous days. We did not break down; she still hasn't used her paci. But she was not very happy about it for a little while and she let us know about it. Now that's more like my Sophie. I was beginning to wonder if she was ill or something.

Needless to say, she did go to sleep after a short (medium?) amount of shouting her frustration at us. And she did sleep all night, so we're thankful for that!

On another note, Sophie's speech pathologist recommended that I buy her some simple wooden blocks. Sophie loves them! Below are some pictures - I love the way she concentrates so hard.





This last picture (below) cracks me up. She had just finished stacking the third block, and she turned to me in this little "Ta Da!" position without me telling her to. So funny!

Maybe Her Teeth Will Grow Closer Now

We're officially pacifier-free in our house! Sophie was only using her paci for naps and bedtime, but has now made the transition to sleeping without.

On Tuesday night I thought I'd just let her choose (thanks to Love & Logic classes), so I offered her the paci or a new Elmo doll to sleep with. She chose Elmo. I don't think she really realized until I left the room. A few tears were shed, and after I went in to console her one time she was off to slumberland. For her nap yesterday afternoon, I just gave her Elmo and put her down. After the slightest bit of whining she was asleep.

This little girl who fought me to take a bottle, fought me to go to day care (all three of them), fought me to go to the church nursery, fought me to nap at an early age, etc; this little girl who is the reason I purchased the book The Strong Willed Child by James Dobson; this little girl just made one of the easiest transitions in her young life and shocked the bugeebers out of mom and dad.

We're so thankful.

Our Worker Bee

We've finally been working on Teeny Tiny's nursery the last few days (I know, I know - cutting it close!). Sophie wanted in on the action, so we let her play a little. We aren't finished yet, so I'll post pics when we have a final product. Might I add, Sophie LOVES the new "seat" we bought for her - the paint can! Only the best for our Munchkin!

18 Month and Family Pictures

Now that Sophie's almost 19 months, I'm finally posting her 18-month pics. We had them done while we were in Utah. We also did a couple family and prego pics at the same time (I was around 33 weeks at the time). I will post the larger family pictures in a few days, after some editing is done.

Ben's sister has a friend, Carrie Butler, that is a photographer and she did the pictures. Lets just say the experience of taking these pictures was less than favorable due to a toddler that was NOT happy with being taken away from toys. That's why Sophie is never without some kind of prop in these pictures. However, Carrie was able to work a little photographer magic and we ended up with some decent pictures after all.

It's too bad for us that Carrie lives in Utah - I would love to use her again. If any of you reading live near Salt Lake and need a good photographer, look up Carrie!

Bad News Bears

We have a predicament. You might recall the sweet picture of Sophie asleep with her baby doll. Just like in that picture, she really does adore her baby doll. She pushes the doll around in her stroller, rocks her, tries to get her to drink from Sophie's sippy cup, "dances" her (as in the picture below on the step ladder), etc.

Today, however, I was in the bathroom fixing my hair and I hear my daughter screaming frantically (although I could tell it was fake). I came out of the bathroom to see her standing at the top of the stairs. Her baby was at the bottom of the stairs and she was yelling, "Oh No, baby, Oh no!!"

I wish I could say this was an accident. However, as the scene has been recurring lately, I'd say we better keep a close eye on Teeny Tiny when we finally bring him/her home.

You've Really Blossomed!

You're looking quite a bit bigger!
Oh, that baby's growing!
Just when is your due date again?
How much longer do you have, anyway?

34.5 weeks. Five-and-a-half to go. And honestly, I'm really not annoyed with all the comments... I find them rather amusing!

Picture Pages: Christmas(es) Edition

Wow, what a whirlwind our Christmas break was! Although our family time in Wichita was quite different than normal due to my Granddad's passing, we were so blessed through our varied experiences with both of our families. Be prepared for lots of pictures!

We began our time here in Wichita with my family. Sophie had lots of fun with Delaney and Nolan. She gets very excited to see her cousins!

It's been tradition for years for us to open new pajamas on Chrismtas Eve. Here are the girls in their new matching Curious George pj's, which came complete with the Monkey himself.


Here are the kiddos at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning, waiting to go down and see if Santa Claus came!


Sophie talking on her new Elmo phone from Uncle Jeremy:

Me with my precious nephew, Nolan. Gotta love the fuzz-head!

Me and two of my favorite men - my Daddy and handsome Marine Corps brother, Jeremy:

On the 28th we were whisked away to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sophie was able to show off for lots of Ben's family and hang out with her sweet cousin, Elyssa.

Sophie and Elyssa were a hoot together! They still didn't really play together, but they loved watching each other and following each other around. And of course, Sophie had to teach Lyssa some of her more practiced habits such as singing and whining.

Our two snow bunnies loved spending time outdoors with Dada/Uncle Ben and Grandpa.

Opening presents:

Gobbling up that yummy pizza:

Such cuties!

Notice how both girls are the same height, even though Elyssa is about five months younger!

Playing at cousin Lyssa's house:

The cousins love sharing kisses with each other!

The two girls with their Grandpa and Ben:

Sophie adores her new book called "I'm a Big Sister." Here she is reading with Momma and her soon-to-come sibling on the airplane.

For the Grand Finale, here is Sophie in her Christmas dress. Yes, I realize the hairbow is rather large. That was definitely the point. I really am a biased mom, but I just wanted to eat her up. Scrumptious!!