Tuesday, May 27, 2008

She cracks me up!

Sophie is just a hoot. We are constantly laughing (or trying not to) whenever she is around. The stuff she comes up with is hilarious. Here are some of things that have come from her mouth lately.

1. "Baby no!! Time out"....a second later "I sorry, I forgive you"

2. EWWW! Baby poo poo stinky!

3. Mommy, where are oo? (where are you)....she says this as she walks around the house looking for me.

4. Mommy, cheese sandich peas? (cheese sandwich please?---she loves those things)

5. Silly Fophie!!

6. "Mr. Sun, pease shine down on me" (she calls the sun "Mr. Golden Sun whenever she sees it)

7. Peas can I have something? (Please )

8. I hear something!


She is such a little chatterbox. She walks around the house talking on her "phone"...laughing, pausing, saying "okay, bye bye". So fun :)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Before and After...

Well, I am finally going to post pictures of "before" and "after".

After I had Sophie, I lost most of the baby weight pretty quickly. I was 6 pounds away from my pre baby weight at the 6 week check up....then I blame it on Post partum depression, and birth control, but I gained back 15 more pounds.

It's been a long road, but today, I am 30 pounds down from where I was when Sophie was 6 months old. Here are a couple of pictures.

Here is me at Christmas 2006, with 7 month old Sophie.
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And here is me this past weekend, at a dinner banquet with Jeremy...30 pounds less.
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Just sit still and smile....simple, right???

So today Sophie and I ventured out to get her 2 year pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. I have taken her there 2 times before (at 9 months and 1 year) and have had WONDERFUL experiences there and have gotten beautiful pictures. So the whole way in the car, I kept saying to Sophie "show me your smile" and of course she'd do her super cheesy smile. She was all silly and giggly and went running into the store, so excited.

Then we get to the actual "stage" where she is supposed to sit. The photographer, who was GREAT, was getting the background ready and Sophie freaked out. She watched the background roll down and kept saying "what's that? what's that?" with a worried look on her face. The photographer tried to move Sophie over a bit and Sophie yells "No!!". She kept jerking her arm away from the photographer and frowning and glaring at her when she'd try to get her to smile. She tickled Sophie's feet with the tickle thing (the big fluffy thing you use for dusting), and Sophie yells "Don't!". The photographer gives her a cute little umbrella/parasol to hold which makes Sophie smile, until the photographer tries to angle it a bit, and then Sophie jerks it around, mad, and almost hits the photographer with it....so much for compliant.

Nothing is working....all I want is 1 nice pose, 1 little smile, nothing is working. My happy little girl is a grump and getting worse by the minute. But in comes a little baby with it's mom. Sophie's eyes lit up and she was just so interested in this baby. The mom and the baby came right up to the camera with the photographer (when they saw how interested Sophie was in her) and the photographer started tickling the baby or getting the baby involved to make Sophie smile. And you know what happened? This...

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Sophie's 2nd birthday party

We had Sophie's 2nd birthday party tonight. We had mostly family over, and a couple friends. Sophie has been sooooooo excited for her birthday party. She has been talking about it constantly. When people started arriving for it tonight, she was soooooo excited.

We had a fun time. I'm bummed that the weather wasn't nicer, but luckily the kids were able to get outside and have bubbles for awhile before the rain started.

I think back to 1 year ago, at Sophie's 1st birthday party, where she was just crawling around. She really didn't "get" the concept of presents and wasn't too interested in them actually. This year, she was running around everywhere, eating at her princess table, not the highchair this time. She knew just what to do with the candles on her cake and ate her cake with a fork. She was so excited to open presents. I just look at her an am amazed at how much she has grown up, my precious little girl.

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Thursday, May 8, 2008

It's my birthday

So today is my birthday!! I used to be the BIGGEST fan of birthdays. I love to do fun things for others on their birthdays, and love to be treated special on mine. I always have. On years where things have been "low key", I have been bummed. I am not the kind of person who likes being the center of attention usually, but 1 day a year, yah, I'll take that.

I had to go to work this morning...the last few years I've taken my birthday off of work. So it felt like a normal day. Jeremy was a sweetie though and decorated the kitchen area with streamers and had breakfast ready for me. My kids were very excited that it was my birthday and I got lots of cards and a beautiful rose.

I don't know, but for some reason, this is the first year that I feel "old". 28 doesn't sound very "young" anymore (to me, that is. I'm sure in 10-20 years I'll be like, "man, oh to be 28 again". I guess it's because it's not the "mid twenties" anymore, but "late twenties". I still view myself as a child. I see kids in college, freshmen even, and think of myself as their age.

I think I inherited this "don't want to grow up" gene from my dad. He is 61 and looks about 15 years younger, works out still and is in good shape. I hope I"m like that!

Overall, it was a good day. Not like birthdays of old, but nothing bad :) Just getting old

6 things

I was tagged by Amber!


6 Things


The main topic is to share six unimportant things about myself and then to tag six other people to do the same thing.

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry

So...Here is 6 things you probably did not need to know about me.

1) I have lost nearly 25 pounds in the past 6 months.

2) I spend WAY too much time on the computer with my imaginary friends :)

3) I never thought I would want to be a full-time stay at home mom, but I wish I could do that SOOOO badly.

4) I never thought I would enjoy working out 4-5x a week like I have been lately...but I love it and when I don't work out, I feel bad!

5) I went through pretty bad Post partum depression after Sophie was born. I still deal with major anxiety issues, never had them before being a teacher.

6) Some of my very best friends in the world, are those that I have met on the internet... some would say sad, I say AMAZING!

Here are my six people...

Katt, Deanna, Alexa, Jennifer, Michelle, Jocelyn

Tagged by Katt

4 Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Receptionist at my church
2. office assistant in the Registrar's office at Concordia University
3. payroll clerk for Dairy Queen
4. 1st/3rd grade teacher

4 Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once:
1. You've Got Mail
2. 13 Going on 30
3. Sweet Home Alabama
4. How to Lose a Guy in 10 days

4 Places I’ve Lived:
1. Richmond, BC, Canada
2. Vancouver, Washington
3. Dorms at portland Bible College
4. Aunt Donna's house in Portland, Oregon

4 TV Shows I Watch/Watched:
1. LOST
2. Survivor
3. Biggest Loser
4. Prison Break

4 Places I have Been:
1. Hawaii
2. Scotland
3. Holland
4. Romania

4 People who email me regularly:
1. Claire
2. Kelly
3. Katt
4. Aimee

4 of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza
2. ice cream
3. brownies
4. cookies

4 Places I Would Like to Visit:
1. More of Europe! (Germany, Switzerland, France)
2. My friends in Minnesota!!!
3. North and South Carolina
4. Hawaii again

4 Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year:
1. Sophie's 2nd birthday
2. My Vegas girls weekend!
3. Hawaii in July
4. Hitting my goal

4 Friends who I’m Tagging:
1. Melissa
2. Janelle
3. Jennifer
4. Jocelyn

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Countdown to Vegas...

Let me tell you that I am SOOOOOO excited about an upcoming trip of mine to Vegas...sans Jeremy and sans Sophie. I am meeting up with some of my "imaginary" friends for a girls weekend at the end of May and I am so excited!!

It really has been SO long since I've hung out on my own with friends. I used to love girls weekends before Sophie was here, and I think I've been missing them! The thought of sun, warm weather, relaxation, sleeping in, pool, etc., ahhhh....it can't come soon enough.

Cecile, Stephanie, Valerie, Mir, KB (and Bella)---can't wait to meet you!~

Friday, May 2, 2008

Field Trip

Oh field trips...kids love them, teachers dread them. It seems at this time of the year, there are a slew of field trips coming up.

Today, we went on our 3rd field trip in 3 weeks. We went to see the Oregon Symphony perform at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. What a beautiful place! You could tell that these kids had never been to anything even remotely like this before. I enjoyed listening to the music, but felt like my head was going to explode the whole time. It is hard to be sick as a teacher. The thought of taking a sick day crossed my mind, but didn't want to send a poor sub on a field trip!

The most interesting part of the day was the conversations I had with some of the kids in the bus on the way home from the play. The one girl that I sat next to is an interesting character. She has had a tough life for one so young and exhibits this horrible attitude all the time. However, sitting with her and talking to her on the bus, I got to see behind that hard outer shell and see the little girl she still is. She talked about how her dad was going to jail today and how sad she was and how much she'd miss him. However, she told me she is used to it b/c he's had to go to jail before.

Another little boy was talking to me about getting his ear pierced. How his dad iced his ear and then used a fork to pierce a hole in his ear lobe. (At this point, I wasn't feeling very well).

It's just so eye opening to me, still, even after 6 1/2 years of teaching at my school, what my kids go through. I can not even fathom some of the things that go on at home.

It has been a tough year for me, both work related and emotionally. I wonder often what the heck I'm doing.

But after a day like today, when I see kids experience things they never have, or open up for just a moment and I see a glimpse of that little child, sometimes, it feels worth it.