The Last of Sophia's First Swimming Lessons

This was the 4th and last lesson in Sophia's first swimming lessons.  Michael and I had already been talking that we wanted to sign her up for more lessons for sure.  We don't have a little swimmer on our hands yet.  And so far, it's hard to tell if she's having a good time with the lessons. 
Well this week she seemed to have a great time!  Oddly, the water was at it's coldest, so it was the shortest lesson of all, at about 15 minutes.  The smallest baby in the class barely made it ten minutes.  Not only did Sophia seem to have the most fun during this lesson, she seemed to do the best with the skills.  She kicked and almost blew bubbles (still not sure why she'll do this in the tub and not in the pool!) and floated and jumped and jumped and jumped from the side.  She smiled a few times and even waved to me a couple times as I sat on the side and took pictures.  Not sure what prompted the change but as we left we signed her up for more lessons so we won't have any breaks and will continue with a class every Saturday....she is excited to keep swimming and we are excited to see her enjoyment each week.  Here are the pictures!

This was the whole class.  Michael wasn't the only guy...the lady whose back is to us (she was the French one!), her husband is somewhere in the pool...her daughter Leah is with the instructor across from her in this pic.  And next to Michael and Soph is Lily, the tiniest girl in the class.  Her mom is verrrryy close to having a new baby...a boy...so we won't be seeing them in the next swim class!  And the little boy, Caden, was the only boy in the class.  He was almost swimming by himself...but he did have a little swim float thing on his back to help him out, haha.  Sophia loved all the other 'babies' in the class.  :-) 

 Hi, Mommy!  I'm gonna jump to Daddy now!  I'm doing so good today, right??!!

 Climb-y on the wall.  Since class she has been climb-y on our furniture too.  Yay. 

She only had to sit and jump in.  But Caden next to her had to jump from a standing position.  Not to be outdone, she decided to stand up and jump in too. 

Michael let her face get wet, her mouth and nose go under when she jumped in a lot of the time.  She didn't really seem to care and kept wanting to do it again!

Swimming with her instructor.  And a big smile on her face!! 

Floating on her back with her teacher, just relaxing in the cold water.  We won't get this instructor for our next set of swimming lessons (she's not teaching them) but hopefully Sophia will have as much fun and learn as much from her next teacher...to relax in the water and smile and pick up a few skills too.  Michael and I were talking about her skill level and he said that right now he is still at the point if he saw her fall in the pool he would jump in to get her even if his cell phone was in his pocket.  He said once he feels like she is a good enough swimmer, he will still jump in to get her if she fell in, but would feel comfortable enough to take the time to take his cell phone out of his pocket first before jumping in!  We are a long way from his cell phone being safe I am afraid.  I suggested that he just keep his cell phone away from all bodies of water until she knows how to swim and we agreed that would be the best thing to do.  :-) But after this last class we are at least optimistic that Sophia is excited to learn how to swim and looking forward to all the swimming lessons to come!

I'm Done With You, Express!

I really haven't shopped at Express much in the last couple of years.  For one, they don't sell maternity clothes so I definitely wasn't shopping there then.  And since Michael and I got married I can probably count on one hand how many times I have shopped there, maybe to find something cute and flashy to wear for New Years or something like that.  That being said, back in college, I loved the place.  In fact, they were the first store to (stupidly) give me a credit card.  Sure, I had to drive all the way from GA Southern to Savannah to use it (probably saved my credit score, haha) but I definitely loved the ability to get cute clothes when I needed them.  But that was college. 

Wednesday after Sophia and my Mom and I got our haircut we did a little shopping and my Mom wanted me to take a look in Express just to see if they had anything worth looking at that might fit me better than some of the current stuff I've been wearing (as in, pants that I don't have to hike up after every few steps....definitely does get annoying, but better than too tight, am I right?).  I went right back to the sale section, pretty much like I do in every store.  We quickly found two dresses that were on a 30% off rack, but not marked on sale.  They were definitely cute, but no worth the regular price.  I flagged down a sales girl and asked about the dresses.  Oh yeah, she said.  Those dresses are ringing up at like $27 and are so cute on!  Wow, was my response.  I mentioned the 30% off and asked if the $27 was before or after that discount....she wasn't sure.  But I figured that if they fit me then either way that would be a good price.  So the girl started a fitting room for me.  I found a few other sale shirts and got to trying on.  Well both dresses were SO cute!  And for around thirty bucks, can't lose!  My Mom said she would buy them for me, can't argue with that!  Sophia was starting to get antsy, so I dealt with her while Mom checked out and we moved on. 

Cut to later, while I am showing off the new dresses to Michael.  I rummaged in the bag to show him how great the deal was on them (he also thought they were super cute and looked nice on me) and very nearly had a heart attack.  The receipt said ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!!!  Um, what?????!!!!  Despite Sophia already being in bed for the night, I freaked out and was yelling and possibly cursing Express and the associates there, haha.  I immediately called my Mom to see if she knew that they had totally screwed us over.  She admitted that she had seen the (major) price difference after she signed the credit card pad but didn't want me to make a scene in the store, hahaha.  I explained (much calmer to her, it wasn't like she was the one who had done the screwing anyway) that Express wasn't worth full priced dresses to me, no matter how nice they looked, and that the point was they totally lied and told us the dresses were on sale and apparently they weren't!!  I was taking the dresses, both of them, back and getting her money back. 

So the next morning, totally unshowered, I got in the car with Sophia and went over to Express.  The stupid air conditioning was out in the store and their stupid system was down.  Not a good start to fixing my problem or keeping me as a customer.  I explained my issue and they said, oh, no, those dresses weren't on sale.  Hmm.  Well, they were on a sale rack.  And apparently one of your employees thinks so.  She thinks they are $27!!  They asked me to describe her and when I did they just looked at each other and laughed and said oh, that's so and so and laughed some more.  The one lady, who I will just assume was the manager or something said she would talk to her and I guess that girl gets talked to a lot....she seems to be the store screw up according to the looks they gave each other and all the laughter.  Doesn't really solve my problem though does it??  Oh and besides the system being down, they actually can't return the dresses without my Mom being there in the flesh with her credit card.  What kind of ancient system are they running on??  Target never needs my card to make a return.  Neither does Macy's or Banana Republic (which is like two stores down from Express) or half a dozen other stores I shop at and return things to regularly.  So now I have to wait until my Mom can be there for me to return the dresses.  But you can bet that they WILL be returned.  And that Express has seen the last of my business. Guess I'll find my cute New Years flashy tops somewhere else!! 

Phobias

This was not what I was going to post about at all.  I was going to (and am still going to at some point) post about Sophia's final swim lesson because she did so good and I got a lot of good pictures.  Anyway, that is a much happier topic.  But I was just watching Grey's Anatomy repeats (I put that on the TV every afternoon so I can get some things done and sort of half watch it...since I've really already seen all the episodes...sometimes I get sucked back in, but often I can get things done while Sophia naps) and they are showing the episodes where Izzy Stephens has brain cancer.  And they keep showing her getting MRI's.  And it really seriously freaks me out. 
Michael and I actually very recently had a conversation about my 'phobias' lately.  Such as how they've increased in number and intensity lately.  And after I thought about it for a while, he was totally right. 
I've been scared to fly since far before he ever met me.  Although I don't think my whole life and I still recognize that there are places you just have to fly to get to (like Hawaii...Jamaica, where we went for our honeymoon...I wouldn't NOT go to these places just because I am scared to fly).  As I get older though, I feel like I get a bit more scared of it.  And I guess other factors over time have gone into making me more scared.  9/11.  I am a parent now.  Things like that I guess. 
I am not scared of heights, so much, but a somewhat new 'phobia' I have is staying at a hotel with a high balcony and getting too close to the edge and either the balcony breaking away or just going over the edge to my death.  Even worse, my nephew or daughter falling over the side or through the rails or pushing against the rails and it breaking away and falling.  I literally almost can't breathe when I see someone walk close to a railing when they are holding a child.  It doesn't have to be my child, but it is SO much worse when it IS my child, or one that I care about.  When I was pregnant with Sophia, I had a dream that my nephew Cooper went over a rail and I just missed catching him....I can still picture it in my head and it is terrifying.  If you are ever holding my daughter near a rail and I irrationally freak out at you and you don't know why....well that is why. 
And my newest....claustrophobia.  An actual phobia that I really have never thought I have had in my life.  Little things in the last couple of years pointed in a vague way to it....on a roller coaster, after it stops and you are kind of just sitting there...I would start to feel very trapped and panicky.  And the more restrained, the more 'get me out of here' I would feel.  And on the few times I would ride on an airplane, I would notice how cramped the seating area was and how very little room there was to move my legs around.  Not that I expected a lot, but that it was super uncomfortable for me to not be able to move my legs around.  Almost in a freak out way, but not quite.  Before all that, if shoes were too constricting, if I couldn't move my toes, I would literally have to take my shoes off or I would feel like I could freak out.  So weird.  And then, when I had to have my c-section, and they upped my epidural and I literally couldn't even feel anything from my chest to my ankles and it felt like a ton of bricks on my body, the first thing I thought didn't really have anything to do with being crushed, it had more to do with being trapped in a small space.  Even though I was in a wide open room.  SO weird.  But the final thing to really make me think I'm totally certifiably claustrophobic was when I had my MRI's.  No getting around it.  No amount of 'relaxation' medication could slow down my racing heart and calm me down.  And, half an hour ago, watching Izzy Stephens, a completely fake person on a made up show, lay down on a moving backboard thing and get a cage put over her head (I didn't watch any further, I knew what was next), my whole body got the chills and my heart started to speed up just knowing that she had to get a fake MRI.  Yup, I'm a crazy, whack-job, claustrophobic weirdo.  :-(
Is this a getting older thing?  If you are scared of something, shouldn't you get less scared of it as you get older, not more scared of it??  Michael said, when we were discussing, that an actual phobia you really don't have that much control over.  So I would assume that I don't really have a 'phobia' of flying, I just hate it and am scared of it.  I can get on a plane, I don't totally freak out and cause a total scene or whatever.  Actually, I'm not scared of the plane so much...I'm scared of it crashing, blowing up, plummeting out of the sky.  Whatever.  Ok, so not a phobia.  And the balcony issue.  Hmm.  I really almost can't physically watch if someone is standing super close to a balcony with a small child.  I may not run over and grab the child (with my own, I very well might) but my heart does rise up into my throat.  I do totally envision the very worst.  Borderline phobia.  I can always try to book a room on a lower floor and make sure those I travel with know how scared I am and keep my kids (and their own) far from the edge. But the claustrophobia thing.  Even watching other people go through tight encounters, fake MRI's, the thought of being caught in a tight space (here are some examples....getting in an accident and caught in my car...being upside down would be even worse.  Being trapped under any kind of wreckage during a tornado or other storm in our safe space....being buried alive...ok, this one is super highly unlikely but it happened once on that show Las Vegas) is enough to make me feel panicky and nervous.  Just the thought. So I guess it might be an actual phobia. 
The thing is, I don't want to pass on any of these fears/phobias, whatever they are to Sophia.  And to me, the only one that I can see that I can control not passing on is the fear of flying, because I think that I can take her on a plane and present it to her as something fun (and then just internally hope and pray that we don't crash).  I don't know how I can stop myself from snatching her from walking out on a balcony and putting her hands on the bars and pressing her face between the two slats and looking through (I am sweating just typing this).  Or if I got stuck in some small closed in space, I wouldn't want to freak out in front of Sophia, but I honestly don't know if I could even control it.  And, given that I hate to not have control of something (haha), that makes me wonder how do people get control of their phobias?  Guess I will have to do some research.  Hopefully, the answer is not putting myself into small spaces on purpose, because then I will never be cured!

Disney Store Stickermania

On Saturday Sophia had her last swimming lesson (post to come....I didn't think I was going to do one about it since I've already done two others about her swimming lessons....but she did SO good so I just have to!) but a few weeks ago I went to pick up our pre-ordered blu-ray of Lady and the Tramp at the Disney Store and inside our bag was a flyer that had all these fun things going on at the store for the month of March...which just happens to be the 25the anniversary of the Disney Store!!  For March 24th they were having a Stickermania and Storytime, something we thought that Sophia would really love so we decided that we would take her. 
I am totally a sucker for anything Disney and it is pretty much a fact that we probably spend waaayyy too much money at the Disney Store and on Disney stuff in general (Sophia has stuffed Mickey and Minnie's in several sizes and colors....pretty much most of the plush that they offer....shirts/clothing...books...we are building her dvd/blu-ray collection....that might be partially for us, whatever).....I mean, we just really love Disney at our house. I am actually trying to decide if we should go back on Wednesday morning, the actual 25th anniversary day....the guy at the store told us that the first 250 customers get free Mickey ears....and that they go fast, like get there at 9:30 and they don't even open till 10 fast.  I mean, sure, Sophia usually isn't up quite that early.  And sure, she sort of already has her own Minnie ears (personalized, that's how she rolls).  But it just seems like it would be a cool thing to do, right?! 
Anyway, back to our fun day at the Disney Store.  I was a little worried it was going to be packed or they'd be out of stickers or something since it was closer to 10:45 when we got there (and it started at 10) but it was totally empty.  I guess the flyer in the bag thing wasn't the best way to advertise...but they got me in and that's all that matters!  Next I was worried Sophia was too little to participate but nope, the guy was super nice to her, handed her the sticker sheet and gave the pencil (for writing in the story....kind of like a Disney mad lib) to Michael.  We sat right down on the floor and Michael helped Sophia with the stickers and I took some pictures.  Once she figured out that the stickers went on the poster and not her hand (which is her favorite place to put stickers these days), she had a great time.  And we had a great time seeing how much fun she was having.  And afterwards we all had fun doing a little shopping (cause there are still a few things Sophia doesn't have from the Disney store!).  Pretty much all there is left to do is show the pictures of our fun day...so here ya go! 

The last picture is some Minnie ear hair clips that we got for Sophia....we think she likes them, but we aren't sure!!! :-)  

Exhausting Week

In my last post, I might've mentioned that I was expecting to have a great ol' relaxing week just chilling with Sophia and my brother at my parents house while they were away. 
HA!!
Relaxing was pretty much the farthest thing from how the week went.  The fact that it has been over a week and I am just now getting to blog may indicate just how busy the week actually was....quite the opposite from relaxing.  I had such a different picture in my head of how the week would play out...and while I won't go as far to say that it sucked...I will say that it surely sucked the life out of me.  I could easily sleep for a week in the wake of my....well, let's just say "fun" week at my parents house. 

I actually started it out the way I intended it to...Sophia and I woke up and ate our breakfast last Friday morning (after I had already been up much earlier to make sure Dillon got off for school...he seemed to barely make it) and then went for a walk around the neighborhood...which is quite hilly....the temperature was nice, but I was almost dying.  I am out of shape.  And somewhere along the way we lost a little red plastic Elmo out of her stroller....not my fault, I was trying to breathe, no way I could make sure her toys stayed in the stroller.  Belle did make it back with us though.  Also, the pollen count seemed like it was in the low millions, so I wasn't sure how many days in a row my sinuses would be able to handle such walks (let alone my burning quads).  Aaaand that was the only day we went on a walk around the neighborhood.  By the time I got Soph into a nap and got myself into a shower, Dillon was home from school.  Michael came over after he was done with work, we met my aunt and uncle at the church fish fry, Dillon went to stay with some friends and by then it was pretty much bed time.  Day one down and to tell the truth I was tired already. 

The whole weekend was a busy blur.  We had the surprise of getting to see my sister and bro-in-law and nephew as they were passing through to meet my parents in DC for a short time (just met them at Chick-fil-a) Saturday morning and that was fun....Sophia loves any chance she gets to see Cooper-Dooper.  Then we had to get back to my parents house, get our stuff, get back to our house, get her in a very quick nap, then get her up to get her to her third swimming lesson.  It wasn't her best, I will say that.  I was excited to learn that one of the baby's in the class is French!!  And since I am reading a book about French parenting and all....yeah, I didn't say anything about it to her parents, haha.  But I listened to them give her some commands in French and was soooo tempted to ask them stuff that I have been learning from my book.  But I never will, I am just not outgoing like that.  It's still cool to actually sort of know a French family though.  More like barely know them, but whatever.  Dinner after that and we were all pretty much so tired and I am not sure any of us stayed awake past nine that night, even Dillon was beat.  I barely even remember Sunday, but it consisted of trying to repack Sophia and I for the week and getting her to nap and getting Dillon over to church on time and getting back to the house.  And the weekend was literally over. 

Staying at the house was, for me, what was so tiring.  We have a small house.  My parents have a large house.  We have done a good deal of baby proofing (makes sense, we have the baby).  My parents have some outlet covers on most of the plugs (but they don't have a baby there 24/7 so baby proofing everything really wouldn't make sense).  Every moment that Sophia was awake, she was getting into something that that she really wasn't supposed to.  I pretty much had her closed between the living room and kitchen (it was the best I could do with no gates). Basically there were a million things for her to get into and make a mess out of and hurt herself on and touch and grab.  Sure, I had two bags of her own toys to play with right in the middle of the room.  But what fun is that??  Let's find a basket of caramels that I had no idea were even there and unwrap them (which I had no idea she had the skill to unwrap them) and then lick them and throw them on the floor when Mommy catches you!  And it was like this all.  week.  long.  Another fun thing was grabbing the phone off the dock and pushing as many numbers as she could before I could grab it out of her hand....and as soon as I would advance on her she would throw it.  Pretty much anything that she knew she wasn't supposed to have, as soon as she realized I was going to take it, she would toss it.  Fun.  Running away from Mommy was better for her there too because she had so much more room to run.  I would mention a diaper change and she would take off.  In our house I can catch her in a few steps, but at my parents house I pretty much need my running shoes to chase her and it's cute at first, but super annoying after an entire week of it. 

We did squeeze in a few outings during the week, only adding to my exhaustion.  Monday morning, I figured since I was skipping the walk around neighborhood, walking while shopping would do instead.  After breakfast we got dressed and did a quick walk around the Avenues at Webb Gin for some shopping.  The pollen was SO gross.  It was all over the bottom of the stroller and all over my flip flops.  After that I decided that chasing her around the house was probably exercise enough and we wouldn't be doing anymore outdoor walking.  That afternoon though, Dillon and Sophia and I did make a trip to Target....but we very quickly walked in from the car.
Wednesday we actually had a very fun play date with my friend Jennifer and her niece Alexa.  We met at Alexander park, which is very close to my parents house.  Sophia was so excited to go to the park with her friend....we have had the girls get together before and they are so cute together.  They are only a couple months apart and get along really well.  The weather was nice....of course the pollen count was like 85 million but it seems like its going to be like that for a while...the babies seemed fine with it.  I took a few pictures...it was impossible to 1) get them both in the same frame at the same time and 2) get them to look at the camera....so I sort of took what I could and then gave up so they could just have fun, haha.  They totally did.  I am looking forward to another play date for these girls!!

After the park we were sooo tired.  Soph took a good nap.  Dillon got home pretty shortly after we got home.  I think I pretty much just read for a while.  I probably had to straighten up the kitchen.  I had to do that a lot during the week.  Somehow the kitchen and the living room got super messy like 5 seconds after I would clean them up every single time I turned around.  Thursday was when my parents were getting home...but it was later in the day.  I tried my hardest to put the house back in order...but by the time they got back it was pretty messy I think.  I was just too tired to clean it all up for the 5 millionth time.  I think by that point it was just the toys that stay at their house, but still.  We went to a nice dinner and then, finally, were back in our own, much smaller home.  Which Sophia promptly messed up with her toys as soon as we woke up yesterday morning.  Oh well. 

I guess that even though my week didn't quite go the way I thought, and even though it wasn't quite the relaxing, fun-filled week that I was expecting, it was still nice to have a week away from the norm.  I know Sophia enjoyed herself, even if she did hear 'no, no' a hundred times a day (more than usual, haha).  I always enjoy getting to spend time with my brother, I know that once he goes to college I won't get to see him as often as I do now, and I'm glad that Sophia gets to spend time with her uncle.  I still need to sleep for like a week to recover....but I'm sure this week won't be so tiring....but maybe a little extra activity is good for me!!

         

It's Friday!

Obviously.  Anyone with a calendar knows that.  Sure, I don't always know exactly what day I am on without consulting a calendar, but whatever.  Since my husband made fun of me the last (and only) time I did a Friday Five post, I decided not to call it that.  But that is essentially exactly what this is. 
(Oh and if you are wondering why he made fun of me, join the club.  He says it's because soooo many blogs do that.  But he really doesn't read sooo many blogs, so I'm not sure how he knows that in the first place.  He wants me to be original, I guess.  Sure, fine.  So I changed the name.  But I really like the concept of just putting x amount of random things and it is my blog so I can do what I want, right?  When he decides to be a guest blogger on here he can make it as catchy and original as he wants!!)

1.  Sophia and I are spending almost a week with my brother while my parents are in Washington DC.  Poor Michael has to work still so he is staying at our house.  Soph and I plan to takes walks in the morning and go to the park that is close by...we are going to live it up at my parents' house.  We won't have to listen to dogs barking at all hours and people walking overhead at even crazier hours.  It will probably be awesome.  We can even just play in their giant yard and run and blow bubbles...I am going to tire her out so much every day, it really is going to be awesome! 

2.  Sophia is apparently, according to the doctor, getting her eye teeth in.  This sucks.  She is crabbier than usual, droolier than usual, and eating weirder than usual.  Also, it is taking them forever to come in.  One seems to be breaking the surface, but the other is taking its sweet time.  :-(

3.  I need new summer clothes.  The stuff from last summer is too big.  The stuff from the summer before is maternity.  The stuff from the summer before that should be about the right size, but fits weird,  and doesn't look or feel good.  Ugh.  Oh yeah and we didn't win the lottery so I can't go on a shopping spree.  AND it's already hot.....I definitely have a dilemma. 

4. I am reading a very interesting book right now called "Bringing Up Bebe"....it's about an American mother living in Paris and learning about French parenting.  I am sure that once I finish it I will probably do an entire post about it, it really is very interesting the differences the author is finding between American and French parents.  These days I don't always get to read as much as I'd like, but reading is something I have always enjoyed and will continue to do as much of as I possibly can. 

5. Sophia went ALL day Wednesday without a nap.  And was a GREAT girl.  I couldn't believe it.  She woke up around 9am and we got ready, had breakfast and then headed over to my parents' house.  She ran all over the place while I was trying to help my Mom pack for her trip, totally got into everything, but didn't fuss at all and besides making the house look like a tornado went through, really didn't have a single tantrum.  Then we went out to dinner and she ate pretty well, sat in her seat through the meal, until my Dad got her out to walk her around while my Mom paid the bill.  Total angel.  We went to DSW after that and she ran around while my Dad chased after her and she had a blast while my Mom and I tried on shoes in relative peace.  Then back at the house she was still good, no tantrums.  I don't think we left until 9....and she fell asleep in the car before we even got out of the neighborhood.  Not once has there been a day that she hasn't had even a small catnap, but this was a first and she could not have been a better girl. I'm so proud of my big girl!  Not that we will repeat that any time soon, but I am glad that she can be so flexible and still behave well, even in public!    

The Streak is Over

I realize that once I type this out it is probably going to sound a lot more ridiculous than it is...but oh well.  It mostly just points out that I probably have the best husband ever who will do anything for me...and who also likes to keep ridiculous streaks going just like his wife does, haha.   
Yesterday Sophia and I spent most of the day at my parents' house.  My Dad got home early and him and my Mom and Soph and I went to eat dinner, did a little shopping and then stopped to get my brother something to eat on our way back (since he didn't come with us).  While my Dad was getting Dillon's sandwich he said that I should pull over to the gas station that was right there and fill my car up, on him.  So I did (can't turn down free gas!).  Thus ending the year and a half plus streak of my not pumping gas!!  Yup, just as I suspected, pretty ridiculous in writing.  But it's actually a pretty impressive streak.  We have had our MDX a little over a year and a half (we got it a few weeks before Sophia was born) and I have never once put gas in it.  I wasn't even totally sure which side the gas tank was on.  (I guessed correctly)  And the tank wasn't even totally empty but I nearly died when I saw how much it cost to fill it.  Thankfully I don't drive that much so we (and I guess when I say we, I mean Michael, haha) probably only have to fill it like twice a month.  Once, when just Sophia and I went to visit my sister and brother in law in Alabama, I sent my brother in law with my gas card to fill up for me so I wouldn't break the streak! 
I actually think the 'streak' started innocently enough when I was pregnant...I was pumping gas after work and the pump handle thing leaked all over my hand....I told the cashier about it and he was like, oh, yeah, that one is broken.  But there was no sign on it or anything and he didn't even put one on there after I told him!  I was visibly pregnant and that jerk just shrugged when I asked him how I was supposed to get the gas off my hands.  Michael and I had to google a ton of different ways to get the smell off my hands (ironically, I think vodka was the one that worked the best), I was so worried that the fumes from the gas were going to hurt my unborn baby, not to mention the headache I was getting was major. After that incident, Michael offered to go and fill my tank a lot more so I wouldn't have to, presumably to avoid similar situations.  What a sweet guy, right?!  Once Sophia came along, he decided that maybe I shouldn't bring a tiny newborn to a gas station, especially if it was dark out or something, so he would just go fill it up for me.  So protective, just looking out for his family!  And then, when the reasons ran out, it just seemed like it became his job, like taking out the trash or something, haha.  And we both sort of just thought the 'streak' was funny.  Sure, a nice winning streak at the poker tables in Vegas would be much more fun and profitable for us....but since that isn't going to happen, we will just take what we can get!! 
Well, now since it's broken, I guess I can just fill my own tank any time it's needed.  I mean, unless my husband happens to be heading to the gas station and wants to do it for me..... ;-) 

Swimming Lessons Take 2

For our second swimming lesson, the teacher moved the lesson to later in the day.  Fine with us, we don't have much going on anyway.  When we got to the Y, almost no one was there.  And even less people were in the pool.  And it looked like we were going to get a private lesson.  Thankfully the teacher showed up.  Finally one other kid showed up too and we got the thing going.  Michael was Sophia's swimming buddy for the day and I did the picture taking.  As the photographer, the conditions in the pool area weren't great for pictures I must say.  I ended up going with "underwater scenery" on our camera because nothing else seemed to work better. 

As far as the lessons went this time, I think Sophia did better in some ways and ok in some others.  The teacher was way more involved personally with her, which I think worked out great.  She took Sophia right from Michael a lot, which I think helped out in that Sophia wasn't so clingy the whole lesson.  Well, she was with Michael, but not with the teacher!

Since there was only one other baby in the class, the one on one attention was great.  It really was more like a private lesson and the teacher spent the time with Sophia showing her each 'skill' and making sure that she got it, then going to the other baby, and then moving on to the next thing.  Last week, we kind of just breezed through some things and I was pretty sure Soph didn't have the grasp but the group had moved on so Soph and I moved on too. 

Sophia seemed more interested in some of the things this week, like the toy retrieval task, and she did a lot better, especially when she was being held by the teacher.  Actually, she did exactly what the teacher wanted her to do when being held by her, and then Michael would hold her and try to get her to do the same and she would cling to his shoulder...it was kind of funny.  :-)  But I think she did a lot better this week.  Although not really with the floating, guess she loves to float with her mommy!!

She even did a little better this time on the wall, they still had to pull her in to the water, she wasn't voluntarily jumping in, but she did pretty much climb out on her own this time. 

Such a cute little tushie!!  We still didn't make it through the whole class, poor girl was freezing so with about ten minutes to go, she had to get out.  The other little girl didn't even make it as long as Sophia!!  Hello, Y, your pool is too cold!! 

With only two lessons left we will definitely have to sign up for more, but the next set have two a week for four weeks so hopefully she will learn more...and maybe even break a smile!!!  :-) 

18 Months Already?!

I really cannot believe that Sophia Rose is a year and a half today.  It is amazing how fast time goes by, how quickly she is learning new things (pretty much daily at this point), and how she is changing from a baby to a little girl right in front of my eyes.  It kinda makes me sad!  But it is also pretty awesome to see her little personality developing, and boy does she have a sweet, loving, and feisty personality!!  I sure do love this girl! 

I feel like we were just in the hospital, celebrating her arrival.  And now, eighteen months later, we have daily conversations about what she wants to eat, her various relatives (she talks about her cousin Cooper the most, sorry to the rest of you...Uncle Dill, you come in second for sure), and her favorite characters (Minnie and Belle and Elmo are the faves...some days I think she says Belle more than she says Mama).  She talks SO much.  And actually says a lot of words.  I wish I could keep track, could somehow write down how many words that she is saying now, but there are too many, I have already lost count for sure.  Oh, and she is already copying things that we say.  Something that I thought we had a little more time before she would start doing.  Which means we have to be a little more careful in the things that we say.  There have been a few things that may or may not be appropriate for a one and half year old to say slip out of her mouth (and I will not give up who she might have copied when she said them!!).  She is learning her ABC's.  But she really only likes the number 2.  She can sing almost the entire I Love You song from Barney (you know the one...) complete with a hug and kiss where appropriate.  And my favorite, when we tell her that we love her, she says 'I love you more!'  A couple times she has said 'I love you, mama' without any prompting at all....that really just melts my heart.  I guess it's ok that my baby is growing up!!  We don't always understand what she is saying.  There will be words that she will say and we are like, um, what?  And she will say it over and over and look right at us and keep saying it.  And times when she just blabbers on a whole conversation of gibberish....clearly she knows exactly what she is talking about but we are totally clueless.  For the most part she has been ok and doesn't freak out (so far) when we don't know what she says....I am sure that won't last!

Sophia definitely does have her little temper moments.  The terrible two's might be closer than we think.  (Also please note that her father is Italian and disregard that I have any Italian in me, I am sure that has nothing to do with it at all!)  Each day we have 'disagreements' over diapers changes (as in, they need to be done and she turns into a WWF wrestler for the event), 'disagreements' over playing in the trash (as in, it is a big no no, so I am constantly dragging her out of the kitchen all day long...unfortunately another of her fave characters, Oscar, lives in the trash....the fact that we try to explain he is a bad boy and needs a spanking for playing in the trash means nothing to her), and the occasional 'disagreement' that I have no idea what it's about, but it leads to her throwing the closest object to her (examples: her water cup, the remote when I am trying to take it away, our cell phones when we are trying to take them away, various toys, and earlier this week her english muffin....don't even ask me why on that one). Sometimes (although a lot less lately), I will find her temper tantrum to just be funny.  She gets so bent out of shape about something so ridiculous and lays down on the floor on her stomach and pushes herself backward until she runs into the wall, while scowling and whining.  It is sort of a funny thing to see.  But in other circumstances, like I am trying to get her dressed and she is kicking me like a mule right in my chest, I am not so amused at all.  She understands, and responds appropriately, to the time-out punishment, and we have used it when needed.  She always screams the entire time, but afterwards hugs us and says she is sorry and that she will be a good girl and then really is a good girl.  We really haven't had to use the time-out much....but I can see that it could be an increasing thing as she gets older and that our punishment methods will have to change/get more strict as she is a pretty stubborn girl (not sure where she got that from!) and I can see she is going to test us!!

General info about our girl....not sure about her height and weight, our appointment isn't till Monday (but she was 24 lbs and 30.5 inches at her 15 month check-up).  She is in size 4 diapers and is mostly wearing 18-24 month clothing...although I am not buying any more 18 month clothes, only 24 month stuff from here on out.  Soph had 12 teeth the last time I checked...she seems to be definitely cutting more...hands in the mouth all the time, drooling a lot, crabby...but she won't let me check and I am not putting my fingers in there, she's like a little piranha!  I'll let the doc handle that on Monday.  Sophia goes to bed around 9-ishSoph when he gets home from work) and gets up between 9 and 9:30 each day...but sometimes she sleeps as late as 10!  Those days are very nice for me.  She has definitely dropped her second nap...but since she sleeps in most days, this isn't too bad.  And she'll nap anywhere from two to three hours so she is getting plenty of sleep.  Thankfully she sleeps well in the car and in places other than her crib and really isn't a total bear if she doesn't get a long nap...makes it great for mommy if we have day plans.  As for food...she is a pretty good eater.  Breakfast type foods seem to be her favorite.  She loves most fruits and veggies.  And, like her mommy, she could probably live on dairy and pasta.  We are working on meats, she is fine with chicken, but not too fond of many other meats.  Daddy isn't super happy about that!!  Despite hating getting her diaper changed, she has started to tell us when she has a poop in her diaper (as if we can't smell or something...I'm pretty sure even the neighbors know, yuck!!)...I guess this means that sooner or later we will need to potty train her.  Something mommy really isn't looking forward to.  I still think she is kind of young though, so while we do let her sit on her little potty sometimes for practice (nothing has actually happened there so far), we will probably start the hard core stuff closer to when she turns two.  Yay.

As for me after eighteen months.  I think I am finally getting the hang of the mommy thing, haha!!  Just kidding, I probably had it down by at least twelve months.  It is definitely the most tiring job I've ever had.  And most days I have no idea what I am doing.  But, in these 18 months, I must've figured out something right....my little girl eats when she is hungry, sleeps when she is tired, she talks a lot, cuddles with us, throws a tantrum here and there (which I could do without, but I guess we all throw a tantrum now and then....we'll work on that).....she seems like a pretty normal one and a half year old with pretty normal parents.  Ok, well, I don't know if her parents are that normal, but you get the idea! I love my daughter SO much and I am so lucky that each day I get to wake up and chit-chat about Belle and Minnie and Elmo and decide between eggs or cheerios or an eggo waffle or an english muffin or a yo baby yogurt or applesauce (ok, I don't really give her all of that stuff, those are just some choices) and then watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (she dances so fast to the hot dog dance, swinging her butt back and forth, I am sure she is going to fall over one of these days!) with my sweet little Sophia Rose!  Happy year and a half, I can't believe how big you are and how much your Daddy and I love you more and more each and every day!!

Sophia's First Swimming Lesson

First of all, I very strongly apologize that all these pictures show me in a bathing suit.  That pretty much makes me want to barf, so it probably will make you want to barf too...I just hope you won't stop reading my blog if I made you barf!! 
Last week we were able to sign Sophia up at the last minute for a tot swim lesson at the YMCA near our house.  My parents have a pool at their house and we will be spending a lot of time over there this summer so it's very important that we take enough lessons so Sophia can, at the very least, get her head out of the water and float on her back, should she ever fall in.  Which I am very scared might happen.  She is not a very cautious baby.  For example, Cooper, my nephew, never really got close enough that any of us ever though he might fall in the pool.  He is just a more cautious kid by nature.  Sophia, not so much.  I can already picture her walking right up to the side and not even stopping.  So we shall take as many lessons as we need until I feel comfortable that she at least won't drown if she happens to fall in. And after her first lesson, we might be taking quite a few. 
Our first lesson was Saturday morning at 10.  Soph usually sleeps until 9:30, so we had to wake her up, but she seemed pretty excited about swim lessons.  Although, she sort of was excited because she thought she was going to see her cousin there.  (It wasn't going to happen...his swimming lessons were happening in Alabama....she didn't quite understand)  We got her there on time and changed her into her bathing suit.  The pool was supposed to be heated.  I guess it was, but I thought it was a little chilly...and so did Sophia.  She started shivering as soon as I got her in!  It was loud, I guess there were other swim classes going on.  So she was pretty distracted and it made it hard to hear the teacher.  She did like seeing the other babies in class.  I would say there was about 8 total kids, she was probably third youngest. 

This sort of sums up the whole class....she was pretty clingy, not very smiley, not sure what was going on!!  And we hadn't even started class yet!

Trying to practice with the kickboard.  She really didn't like the kickboards.  She would hold on for like two seconds and then let go.  No kicking happened.  She was keeping an eye on the other kids though. 

You can sort of see a little red object on the far right of the picture...it's a block.  I was supposed to throw it ahead and she was supposed to kind of 'swim' out to get it.  Um, no.  She couldn't have cared less about getting the block.  Mostly I would walk over and kind of force her to grab it cause she had me in some sort of death grip. 

There's the block again....she's not even looking at it, I don't think.  I'd swim her over and swim her right into it and she still wouldn't grab it. 

And now, finally, we are doing a skill that she is good at.  Floating on her back.  She has practiced this one a few times with Daddy in the bathtub, so now after some failed kickboarding and block retrieving she can really show off. 

Yup, just kicking back and relaxing.  She barely even needs me.  Michael should've gotten a wide shot of all the other babies struggling and not wanting to lay back and float, just for comparison. 

Mmm, hmm, we can do this all day.  Too bad this isn't the whole class.  Then we'd be pro swimmers.  Unfortunately, even though I did just show three floating on her back pictures, this was only about 5 minutes or so of the class, haha.  Hey, I wanted to spotlight what she was good at!! 

Back to things we didn't want to do.  Next, there was this pancake roll thing.  Basically, we had to flip the baby from the front to the back.  Yeah.  From her facial expression, you can guess that Sophia did not want to do that.  From her death grip, I knew that she definitely did not want to be flipped.  Also her whining was a clue.  The baby next to me was straight up crying about it. 

Sophia watching the baby next to us doing the flip thing.  She is still holding on to me like I am going to drown her or something (not that she even knows what that is).  But she is semi-interested in the praise that the teacher is giving the other baby.  Hey, whatever works. 

And we get her to flip over.  While I've got the momentum I flip her a few more times for good measure and she whines about it and tries to cling (but we're both wet and she's lost her death grip on the first flip) but it turns out I am stronger than her.  Next we move over to the side for more fun. 

Ah, Sophia.  Anyone wondering why my girl is all alone on the side all by herself?  Cause everyone else already flopped right back in the pool.  I guess she got comfy sitting on the side or something.  I might've dragged her in. 

So then we tried the stand up version.  And she is still all alone on the side.  Again, everyone else jumped right in to their parent.  She just seemed skeptical.  And also she was shivering like crazy, it was hard to do JUMP! when it was just so cold.  The teacher came over then and said she was too cold and had to stop the lesson.  Her lips were getting kinda purple-ish and her hands and feet were losing color too....she said those were signs of the body losing heat and that it was time to stop and get her out and warm her up.  We were the third of the group to get bounced, two little girls actually got tossed from the lesson before us for the same reason.  There was still about 7 minutes or so of the lesson so we missed the part where you dunk your baby under the water but that's about it.  I'm sure Soph saw that part coming and planned her exit strategy in advance!! 

Hopefully next lesson she feels more comfortable and wants to participate a little bit more.  I think next week Daddy is going to swim with her and I am going to take the pictures.  I hope that I won't be a distraction on the sidelines for her.  At least we know she will do ok with the floating on her back part!  I had a fun time with my sweet little miss for her very first ever swim lesson...although I do know we have a lot to work on, swim wise!!

My Little Ham

Lately Sophia doesn't always mind getting her picture taken.  The night of my and Michael's actual anniversary we planned to go to Maggiano's for dinner after he got home for work.  So when Sophia got up from her nap we had some time to wait until he got home.  I was putting the camera in the diaper bag and she saw what I was doing and pointed and said 'cheeese' so I thought we could take some pictures.  What a ham!!  Except for every shot I snap, she runs over to me and has to see it!  Sometimes I don't even get a chance to take the picture first and she is running over, haha. (This reminds me of her Aunt Sara and cousin Cooper...they do the same exact thing, have to see the shot as soon as it's taken!!)  And her saying cheese for a shot doesn't always equal a smile.  A lot of times I will make her say Elmo or Belle or tell her to make a funny face...then I never know what I am going to get!!!! :-)