State Fair

Pretty sure this one is fairly self-explanatory.
Us. At the state fair.
...

Water play

One morning after Sophi finished breakfast, I decided to put some water on her tray and let her splash around. I'm pretty sure I had read this idea somewhere, but I'll go ahead and give myself a pat on the back for it.


She had a great time and just splashed around for 20 or 30 minutes while I did the dishes.


Of course, she managed to get herself in the face a couple of times.

We'll be trying this again. But next time I will put a towel down under the high chair first.

At least that's what I'm telling myself

We declared this weekend (and specifically today) a time to work on the house. Sophia did not get the memo. Last night and today she has been a little lot more clingy that usual. I'm thinking it may be teeth. But who knows, I'm starting to think teething is just a catch-all for any odd behavior. Because at least then I can tell myself that when her teeth come in things will go back to "normal".

Anyway, Josh and I still managed to get quite a bit done. Including scrubbing the kitchen floor from where I busted a can of soda all over it, making a grocery run, sorting some things from the guest room closet, filing the dogs nails (definitely a 2 person job), assembling a new cabinet for our bathroom (yay for Josh!), etc. And actually, the more I type the better I feel about what we accomplished. :) Except my back is making me pay for it. Hopefully nothing a good night's sleep won't cure.

Oh, and I did this for a baby shower tomorrow!
Definitely the most fun project of the day. Combining two things I love - fun patterned paper and babies!

The blocks are going to be name blocks, like the ones I did here. But the name has not yet been determined. They are not even finding out what they're having until the big day. Brave! But the giraffes in their nursery will be adorable either way.

I've also started counting my calories this week using sparkpeople. It's been more challenging than I anticipated and I only started Wednesday. I am going to either do one free day during the weekend or give myself some additional calories during the weekend, because I need some kind of reward to look forward to. :) I'm learning a lot that I never paid attention to before - like how many calories are in fast food and what a serving size really is (bigger than I thought for veggies, smaller for everything else lol).

I haven't yet added in workouts, but I'm hoping to do that as well. Just starting small with like 10 minutes a day or going for walks with my friend (who now lives down the road!). My goal was to try to lose 2 pounds per week until I make it to my goal weight, but I don't have a lot of hope for this week. I've been over my range every day but one so far. :( Today at the grocery store I bought some healthier/low calorie snacks - things like fruit, wheat thins, and 100 calorie packs. Hopefully it will help to have more options when I get hungry.

I do want to lose weight, but really Josh and I are just trying to be healthier and teach Sophi good eating habits. I feel really good about the changes we are making. If you have any tips let me know.

Bedtime

Thanks to everyone who shared (here or on facebook) about sleep habits. We've made a few changes that seem to be working well so I thought I would give a quick update.

We've starting a bedtime routine that seems to help a lot. I don't know if Sophi appreciates it, but I certainly do. We aren't too strict with it because we're not always at home in the evenings, but if we are it goes like this...

Beginning around 7:30pm Sophi -
1. nurses
2. plays quietly with Daddy
3. eats warm oatmeal or cereal mixed with fruit
4. get snuggles with Mommy while we rock and read a story

This book was given to us as a shower gift and we have been reading it at night. It's very sweet and has Bible verses on almost every page. I'm hoping that if I read it enough, I will have them memorized (and you never know she might too!)


After that, she lays in her crib. I have found that if I just stay in the room with her she will play contentedly in her crib (usually until she can't hold her head up any longer). I've just been bringing in my laptop to do work (or blog) or the book I'm reading, or occasionally I'll hijack Josh's iphone. So it's really easy for me to be in the room.

Sometimes she puts herself to sleep and other times I help out by rubbing her back or head, but overall it's been painless.


On a side note, I took these pictures because I thought she was sleeping so sweetly with her hand on the owl. I was messing around with a couple of night settings on my camera so that I wouldn't have to use the flash.

I didn't realize that this setting would give an extra flash! I was so afraid she would wake up from it, but she just kept on snoozing. Whew!

The new 'do

Well here are pictures of the haircut. After losing about 8 inches of length this is definitely the shortest my hair has ever been.

So far I like it. It definitely looks better when I take time to use the straightener though. Which I wasn't doing before. But lets just be honest, I wasn't doing much of anything to my hair before. So now, at least I feel like I have a little style. :)

And one more thing - my sister is bossy.

Achoo

I signed up for an online program called BookSneeze. Basically new books from Thomas Nelson publishers are available for review. I agree to read and post a review of the book on my blog (as well as another website like Amazon), and they ship it to my home for me to keep. Sounds like a good deal to me!

I received my first book in the mail right before we moved. I finally got around to starting it, but it is book #2 in a series. And I found it a bit confusing to follow.

Just this week, I was able to get book #1 from the library. I am very excited to read it.

To be continued ...

He's a Jolly Good Fellow!

My hubby celebrated his 25th birthday this weekend. (Yesterday to be exact.) We've had a great time celebrating - starting with dinner at the mexican restaurant when he got off work Friday. We actually were meeting his team from work for a going away party, but they made sure to include a little feliz cumpleanos.


And this is his long awaited birthday gift. Ever since we picked out the name Sophia for our daughter (which was when I was around 6 weeks pregnant), he has talked about getting her name in Greek tattooed on his leg.


Here is the final product. We think it looks pretty great!

I'm so excited that he was able to get something that he has really wanted. We're also hoping to see Inception sometime to wrap up the birthday fun.

Happy birthday, baby - I love you!

Sweet Sleep

There is something so precious about a sleeping baby.


Something I can't quite describe.


But if I could, I would use words like
calm


innocent,


peaceful
It almost makes me want to snatch her back up and snuggle her in my arms ....

.... almost.

Quick takes

One of the blogs I've been reading does this thing with seven quick takes of anything you want. That sounded easy to me, so I thought I'd give it a try:

Seven shallow things about the way I look

1.

Since moving into the new place, I have (consistently on the scale) lost one pound. Apparently running around like a chicken with it's head cut off burns calories. That means since Sophi turned one month, I have now lost a total of (drumroll please) ......

... one pound.

2.

I dug up some earrings that are just studs yesterday. I love dangly earrings, but my ears do not - because a certain someone likes to touch my face and seeing that pretty thing hanging there is way to tempting not to pull on. (And no, I'm not referring to Josh.) I still wear them probably twice a week, but when I went to put in some earrings for church Sunday, I realized my holes were closing up! Ouch.

3.

I have a new hair cut. I saw some pictures of myself recently that convinced me the haircut wasn't really doing anything for me. Especially since it is so hot out that all I do is wear a pony tail every day. I was thinking of getting a perm, but decided to go short! I can feel air on the back of my neck short. So far I love it, but I haven't yet tried to style it on my own.

4.

I finally bought these boots that I have been drooling over since last winter. Now I'm ready for it to cool down just so I can wear them.

5.

Except that I just spent a couple of weeks hunting down a swimsuit. I finally found one (on clearance) that actually looks pretty good. At least it covers what needs covered and fits properly. :) So maybe it needs to stay warm enough to get some use out of it.

6.

If it stays flip-flop weather though, I definitely am in need of a pedicure. I haven't had my toes painted since May! That's like flip-flop taboo or something.

7.

I broke a nail today. It kind of hurts when I type. (And seven was harder than I thought!)

I like cameras

I love that Sophia lets me take pictures to my heart's content. And can I just say I am so thankful for digital pictures? I delete even more than I take. The little sweetie is on the move! More and more of my photos are looking like this.


Or this...

Even blurry she's quite the cutie!


Sophi's also pretty curious about my camera.


What is that thing you keep putting in my face, mom?

It's so shiny. Can I touch it?


Better yet, let me taste it!

Singing Standing in the rain

I got a pickle

Must. sleep.

Sooo, I'm wondering if any of you mommies have tips for getting a child to sleep and sleep through the night. Is there something you tried that worked for you?

I do NOT want to do the cry-it-out method. If Sophi is just whiny or fussy she might put herself to sleep, but once she starts crying she does not soothe herself to sleep. I'm not willing to go there (and I don't really think that is the best thing for her).

I have been looking into the "No Cry Sleep Solution", but I don't actually have the book so I don't know everything that it entails.

Basically, Sophia is 8 months old now. We rock her to sleep, which I do not mind, but I'll probably start transitioning so that by 1 year she can go down while still awake. What is getting to me is that sometimes rocking isn't cutting it. She fights sleep really well. And from the point of bedtime to her actually staying in the crib in can be 2 + hours. In the night she usually wakes up 2 times before 7:00. She sometimes puts herself back to sleep and sometimes needs a pat on the back and a pacifier. Occasionally, it takes longer, but I don't feed her at night anymore.

Any tips for her sleeping better, getting to sleep easier, or me keeping sane, etc. are welcome. :)

Smarty-pants

Reading already!