We are on vacation!

It is soooo nice to be on vacation! This is our first family vacation with Sophie. We both have never been to Bend, Oregon before, and Jeremy found this great resort online, so we just decided to go for it, and it is sooo nice!

We left a bit later than we planned on, but we had a lot of stops to make on the way. Sophie was due for a nap at 4:15, but instead of acting tired, she was acting “hyper” and very silly. I gave her her soother and pink blankie in the car, which she always has when she goes to sleep. But instead of it making her in “sleep mode”, she started playing peek-a-boo with the blankie and shrieking loudly. We arrived at the resort at 5:45, and Sophie’s eyes shut pretty much as we drove into the driveway. So we ended up driving around for a bit, went back into town to get some KFC for dinner as Sophie slept on in the car.


We had a late dinner as we were late getting in, and Sophie was up until 8:45, but she was a happy little camper. She loves exploring our hotel suite, walking around everyone and acting as if she owns the place It is so fun to go on a family vacation with our little girl. No, we can’t just go off and do whatever we want anymore, (nap times to consider) or even stay out late, but you know what? I so don’t care about that stuff…I love being able to make new memories with Sophie.

Sophie, the "Snaucet"

Poor Sophie...she has been through the ringer this past week with being sick. It started on Monday with meltdowns galore, drooling like crazy, and saying "up up" to me constantly with her hands raised to me. Then onto Tuesday and Wednesday---high fevers, up to 103.8 degrees. My poor little girl was just whimpering like crazy. Onto Thursday, we got the "stomach bug" and then this morning Sophie woke up with a snaucet (AKA: Snot-faucet). Her nose is pouring, all day. I didn't even know it was possible to have so much "in there". She is just walking around with stuff pouring out of her nose and coughing up a storm. She looks so miserable!

But even with being so sick, Sophie still is making us laugh so much. Tonight at dinner time, I had to turn her high chair around to face the wall b/c she was getting so distracted by everyone (my family is in town) and wouldn't eat. Well, she had the time of her life looking at the wall and babbling away...oh for about 20-25 minutes, and she ate her food. We were all just dying with laughter.

But oh, I feel like I'm back in the newborn stage...after 10 months of Sophie sleeping through the night, we are back to 2,3,4 wake ups a night. Sleep, Sophie, sleep!

Can I just vent a little please?

Grr, I hate to vent and complain, but I just need to GET THIS OUT...I am TIRED of being told that I "don't understand" by various people in my life. I have people who pour their woes out to me, and the moment I offer a suggestion or a word of encouragement I get, "You can't possibly understand what I'm going through, you've never been through it", or "I shouldn't even bother telling people this if they clearly will not understand."

You know, I don't feel that I should need to apologize for the way my life is...from the way they make it sound, my life is perfect and I've got it all. Yes, I have been so blessed...a wonderful husband, a beautiful little girl, a nice house...but all those things haven't just been handed to me. I've gone through relationship heartache...okay, maybe not as visible as others, but I've had my heart broken. I've been lonely (I still feel that sometimes), I've suffered through depression, I've lost a mom, I've had a miscarriage....I could go on and on, but I don't want to. I just wish that before people judge and say "you can't understand", that they'd realize that everyone has pain. Or at least I do.

I don't know what to tell these people who constantly tell me that "you won't understand, you've got the perfect life". Just delve a little deeper, I have issues and hurts like everyone else. I just don't wear them on my sleeve on a daily basis, so people may not know.

Yes, I have been blessed immensely by God and I thank Him everyday for so many of the blessings in my life. I know life is so fragile and I never want to live with regrets, because I know, too well, that in an instant, someone can be gone. I just wish that instead of just accusing me of not understanding, that they'd ask me for once, "Lori, how are YOU doing?"

Time to put on my runners (that's tennis shoes, for all you Americans!)

Sophie is walking!! Thanks to Katt and her great tip, Sophie started taking her first steps yesterday and by last night was walking all over the place. There's no stopping her now!

However, my blood pressure began to rise, just thinking about how busy and how much energy Sophie has, she is ALWAYS on the go, no slowing her down. Now I just see her walking and I think, it won't be long until she is running, and knowing how she gets into everything, oh boy...a new door of "opportunity" for Sophie! Time to tie up my running shoes and get going chasing after Sophie. There's no stopping her now!

Sophie is walking

I'm doing it!

So, you know that I've been struggling with losing my pregnancy weight. I try certain things for a few weeks, then I give up when I don't see results. Well, I'm happy to say for the past 2 weeks now (hmm...interesting, while I didn't have any computer access!) I started exercising. I've never been much of a runner but I've been doing a lot of walking/jogging. It is feeling SO good to get out there and be active. I'm feeling better, I'm eating better, and lo and behold, my clothes are fitting better....just in time for summer:)

Did ya miss me??

So, I pretty much fell off the face of...computer world for the past 3 weeks. Our old finicky computer finally "kicked the can". Of course this comes at a time when we are trying so hard to tighten our spending, but we HAVE to have a computer. We ended up getting this really nice laptop, came in last night, oh how wonderful it feels to be "connected again". I went through major computer withdrawl and didn't realize how addicted I am to it:)

For a Sophie update:

Sophie is not walking yet, but she is putting all her energy into talking. She says around 15 words now, her newest ones being "amen", "hat", and nuh-nuh (for Banana). She is SUCH a chatterbox. She will to whomever is around, and if no one is, she'll talk to herself for hours on end.

Sophie has been standing on her own for awhile, but is tentative to take her own steps. As long as someone is there holding onto one hand she will walk everywhere.

She looks like such a big girl to me now. So more baby, definitely toddler..so along with that label comes the tantrums and meltdowns...we are seeing the extent of Sophie's strong-will that's for sure! Oh boy, how come no one warned me about the terrible one's???:)