I was on a roll

I was consistent for a little while anyway. :) Now I need new pictures uploaded, but can't seem to find my camera. I'm praying that we didn't leave it at my parents house in Ohio, but need to clean my house to see if it is just buried under everything.

Suddenly, and randomly we find ourselves looking for a house. Hoping to meet the April 30th deadline and getting ready to leave on vacation around that same time. Yes, I feel insane. But even without the tax credit we may still look for a house. Our rent is going up, so why not find something that we can invest in? Who knows we may stay where we are for another three years. So much to take in!

Off to get some things done before the baby wakes up from her (please be longer than 30 min!) nap. And maybe tracking down AT& T to see what is wrong with my crazy phone.

Two Boxes

Box #1 - Josh and I have enjoyed some free Redbox codes. If you haven't yet, try using DVDONME or BREAKROOM to get a free rental. It can be used (at least) once for each credit or debit card you have.

Box #2 - One of the movies we got was "The Box". It was by far the weirdest movie I have seen in a long time. Josh and I both thought from the previews that it was an suspense/action film. It definitely was suspenseful, but it didn't feel like the suspense led anywhere. Instead there was a lot of disbelief at the direction the movie was going and not much action. Too sci-fi for my tastes. Basically a waste of time, but at least it was free. I'm trying to say that if you haven't seen this movie don't bother (without giving away what happens in case you don't want to take my word for it).

Anyone have a good movie to recommend?

Wordless Wednesday

Hotbook

So I have a great find that I thought I should share with you. Hotprints.com is a website that is offering one free photo book every month. They also ship it to your home for free.


This is the first one I made.


They are paperback, about the size of a sheet of paper, and the binding is stapled. The centerfold contains a couple of pages of advertisements that can easily be removed.

I used the layout where each full page is it's own picture, but there are other layouts to choose from where multiple pictures per page can be used. I think you get 14 or 15 pages worth of pictures.


You do have to sign up with an email address at their website, but I have not received any emails other than one or two a month reminding me that I have not taken advantage of my free book yet. I have had a lot of fun making my books. And did I mention it's free?!? Of course, you can also purchase additional books, but I have been perfectly content with my one a month. :)

"Solid" food

Well, Sophi tried her first solid food. It was quite entertaining. At this point, I'm not really trying to get her to eat a lot of the cereal, just get her used to a spoon and realizing that the stuff on it can be swallowed.

She definitely wasn't too sure at first. I think next time I will warm it up longer.


Probably not pediatrician approved, but we put a little bit on her paci, just to get her to realize that you are supposed to swallow it. :)


Then back to the spoon. I think she did finally begin to realize that food was involved because she started to smile and get excited. That or she was just enjoying the attention.

Overall, she mostly spit it out on her bib, but did manage to swallow a little bit. We'll probably try again sometime next week. No hurry. I am feeding it to her in the evenings though because if she does get extra food in I want it to be before bed. :)

First Easter

We went to church here. Sophi got dressed up and tried to eat her bow. She almost got loud during the message, but then fell asleep and proceeded to snooze through the loud music. (If we could just flip flop that ...)


We went to Josh's parent's for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day outside, so we spent some time just enjoying the weather out in the gazebo. A nice relaxing part of our day. Of course, they spoiled her with Easter presents and us with candy.


From there we went to his grandmother's for dinner (which was of course delicious). Sophi got to meet her new baby cousin Jack who is just now one month old. And I got to hold him and be amazed at how much difference three months makes. :) I love the look she gives him when he starts crying.

It was a great day. I am already anticipating next Easter (and may have gone ahead and purchased a few things at 50% off). ;)

Note: While I am trying to get better about adding posts, you can just go ahead and count on any event being about a week behind. Somehow pictures getting onto my computer still tends to take a while. :)

Upgrading to the mom-mobile

We have a mini-van! Technically, we are not yet the owners, but since we are buying it from Josh's parents they let us go ahead and take it home. When I very first started back to work, my car was getting some work done so we borrowed the same van from his parents because I needed a vehicle and they don't use it frequently.

I got completely spoiled with keyless entry, and a button that opens the side door. Plus the extra height made it easier on my back getting the car seat in and out and there was much more room for drive-by feedings (aka the times I have to park and feed her in the car.) Basically, it made taking Sophi to work with me a bit easier.

We were to the point where we would have started looking for a newer vehicle pretty soon. And I really believe God totally worked it out. His parents are at a point in their lives where they don't need/use the van very often. And being the generous people that they are, they gave us a good deal on it as well.

It makes me feel like on "official" mom now that I have a van. Even though we only have one child. lol We'll be cleaning up the Red Baron and saying good-bye. So, if you know anyone that wants a '97 Grand Prix ...

Afternoon at the park

We took Sophi for her first trip to the local park. It's finally getting warm enough to venture out and enjoy the sunshine.

Of course, we had to play some disc golf. Josh has been playing a couple times a week. And considering he was already about 3x better than me, I only played a couple of rounds. I contented myself to just enjoy the fresh air, snuggle with my daughter, and of course take a few photos.


In case you couldn't tell I'm a little crazy about taking pictures. And there's something about taking pictures outside that makes me happy. They turn out so much better. Crisp, bright, and clear. And I was not disappointed. :)

Every now and then I make Josh take one with me in it, just to prove I was there too.

We had such a great time. I'm excited to go back again.

Crazy kid

Our daughter has taken to arching her back and throwing her head back the moment I lay her down in her crib. I have no idea why, but apparently it is comfortable to her. I think it looks awkward and will move it back if I catch her, but it doesn't do much good. Meaning, she immediately moves it back, so we have a short lived battle of will in which she wins and mommy goes to bed.

She squirms a lot in her sleep, mostly when she is starting to wake up. Note the sleep positioner. She was centered in it when I laid her down, but somehow made it to there.
She doesn't do this when she is awake. She will kick her legs and move her arms, but doesn't really move anywhere. When she's asleep on the other hand....


I heard her cry the other night and knew immediately that she was distressed about something. I went in to find her in a similar position except her head was thrown back and her face was pressed up against the side of the crib. This makes me nervous. The bumper had to go because I've heard it can cause suffocation in similar circumstances. But not having it there makes me nervous too because I'm afraid she'll stick an arm or leg through. She has already pressed her head against it and had a red line. (Overall, much better than suffocation, so it's still going to go away until she's a little bigger.)

Apparently she gets her sleeping habits from Aunt Lindsey. :)

Just a few

So, I printed a few pictures. Like all the ones since Sophi was born. Picassa has a great feature when you can highlight pics or choose a folder and it will upload them automatically to a site of your choice so you can order prints. And since I was ordering around 300 it was a huge time saver to just put them all in a file and tell it to upload then walk away while it worked on it. I would highly recommend it.

Here's a little sneak peek.

4 months

Hi! My name is Sophia, but my friends call me Sophi. I am four months old today!


Mommy and Daddy say I have changed sooo much since I came home with them.


I guess they're right but I don't remember because I slept a lot then. I don't like to sleep now. I try to only nap for 20 minutes or so, but Mommy says that drives her crazy because it's not long enough. Sometimes I cut her a break, because I am kind of tired, but there is so much to see!

There are these things called toys that have lots of bright colors. And every now and then I manage to hold on to one. They taste okay, but not as good as my paci.


Daddy showed me this thing called a mirror the other day. It was really neat. There was a kid in there making faces at me!

But my favorite thing to play with is my hands. They're so great! Sometimes I just stare at them, and sometimes I chew on them, and sometimes Mommy and me play patty cake which makes me smile.


I smile a lot these days. And I get lots of hugs and kisses. It's pretty fun being me!

The shopping trip in which everything that can go wrong does (almost)

aka why our next grocery trip will take place when Daddy is home and can stay with baby

Josh and I don't have a lot of free evenings together. We have a lot going on during the week, and I am often working on weeknights. Well, last week I had a day off and needed to go grocery shopping. I have been going to the grocery on Saturdays recently so Sophi can stay with Josh, but it needed done and I was hoping to be at home that night so Josh and I could relax and hang out as family.

No problem. Sophi is really a great baby. She goes lots of places with me. She goes to work with me all the time so she's used to getting in and out of the car and such. I got a list together that morning, ate some lunch, fed the baby, and we were off. As soon as I step outside, it is drizzling. But whatever. So we're off.

I had a quick drop off for a friend. Since it was raining I left the baby in the car and just went to the door. (Don't freak out, the car was running and I could see her the whole two minutes that it took.) I got back in the car and smelled something kind of bad. I didn't think much of it because I had changed a dirty diaper in the car yesterday. So we head out ... to Walmart

I should have known better right there. I do not usually have good experiences at the Walmart here. They are always busy so there are long lines and far off parking spaces. But there were some non-food things I wanted to get, so Walmart it was. By the time we got there, I realized that the ripe smell was not leftover, but fresh. Thankfully, she did not overflow her diaper (so technically the title is wrong.) I changed her and put the baby in her front carrier (which I love!) and we headed inside. I'm ready to shop. No list. I pulled the list off the pad and left it on the table as I walked out the door.

No problem. It wasn't a long list anyway. I can get most of what I need from memory. Sophi was looking around at everything and taking it all in. She started to get a little fussy, but finally fell asleep. I was there for a while. Printed pictures, spent some gift money on baby things, bought the groceries, and headed to the check-out. It wasn't too bad. There were two or three people in front of me. But Sophi had woken up and was ready to leave. She started crying. I was a little harried trying to calm her down and get all the items up on the scanner. And by this time getting quite warm. But we were leaving. It was fine.

It finally our turn to check-out. I reached in my purse and it struck me - no wallet. I consolidate and put my necessities in her diaper bag a lot. But since I had just changed the baby, I threw an extra diaper in my purse and left her bag in the car. Thankfully, it was only in the car, but I felt awful. I already had a full cart load up on the counter (baby still crying). I apologized and sprinted out to the car to get my debit card. As soon as we got outside Sophi calmed down. The rain had stopped for the moment too.

As soon as I walked back through the doors, Sophi started crying again. Poor kid thought we were leaving. Unfortunately I needed two receipts that day, so when I got back in we still had to wait for the second batch to be scanned. By this time Sophi is getting hungry again. I felt bad for her, but there wasn't much I could do. It is a very good thing that there was a mom in line behind me. Because I think she understood.

I loaded groceries as fast as possible. We made it home with a happy ending ... but nothing for dinner!

How could that not brighten a day?

Gotta love a little irony

Yesterday was the first day of April. That in itself is insane to me. Facebook was full of hoaxes yesterday for April fools. I don't mind a good prank, but I'm not quite creative enough to pull them off. Plus, usually in involves planning ahead (which we know I'm so good at). So I don't usually participate.

But yesterday, I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered last year. Ever since Josh and I have been married, I have this friend (you know who you are) who would ask about once a week without fail if I had any news/was pregnant yet. So April 1, 2009 I decided to call her up. I told her I was pregnant. April fools! I don't even remember how the conversation went. I don't remember if she believed it for even a minute. It's all a little fuzzy.

I do clearly remember, however, the conversation we had around a month later. I told her I was pregnant. And this time I wasn't joking. The things that gets me is I was telling the truth both times! I was pregnant last April but didn't know it yet. :) So be careful when you pull a prank, because the joke may be on you.

Every time I saw something on Facebook about someone expecting I had to smile to myself.
And I may be a little biased, but she's the best prank ever.