She did it!

Update---

Sophie had a wonderful first night in her crib with no railing on. She was so excited to get into her bed that I was worried she'd have a party all night. But she slept GREAT! I heard her this morning, singing and talking like she normally does in the morning before I go get her, and sure enough, there she was, sitting in her bed rocking her "sleep bear". When she saw me, she said, "Can I get out now?" Oh, I hope that lasts.

Here is a picture of her from when I went to go get her this morning.

What a big girl...

Tonight is Sophie's first night in a "big girl bed". I can't believe how grown up my little girl is! We decided to take the railing off her bed tonight and see how she does. With all our travels, Sophie has done so awesome, no matter where she sleeps. On the floor, on an air mattress, on a bed. She goes to sleep fine, wakes up fine and stays in her bed...oh great, that probably just jinxed it! LOL. We thought we'd try it and see how she does. We are in no rush to get her out of it, so not pushing it.

I still remember our first night home from the hospital, when I put Sophie in her crib, all swaddled up and she took up a tiny portion of her crib. Now, I go look at her sleeping and she takes up the majority of it. How time flies.

Sophie was so incredibly excited to sleep in her "big girl bed". She talked and sang for awhile when she went down, but all is quiet now. We'll see how she does!

Back from Paradise

Well, we are home from Hawaii! And like the title says, it was wonderful! We had beautiful weather everyday, spent our mornings at the beach, afternoons at the pool, and just enjoyed having "rest". We also did a bunch of walking and shopping, we took Sophie to the zoo, which she LOVED, and Jeremy, Kelly, Pamela and I hiked Diamond Head. It was pretty hard to say good-bye to it!

Sophie was just the most wonderful little traveler. She did great on the airplane, LOVED the sand and water and was also sad to leave. Since we have been home, she has said at numerous times "I miss Hawaii", or "I miss Palm trees". Ahhhh, a girl after my own heart.

It was so neat to take Sophie to a place that holds so many wonderful memories for me. I went to Hawaii for the 1st time in utero, and celebrated my first 3 birthdays in Hawaii. I loved getting to see Sophie love it and experience Hawaii for the first time. She officially has Hawaii blood in her now.

Potty training

oh the joys of potty training! It is in full swing at the Koepke house! After a busy school year, and a crazy week of travel last week, I figured this would be as good of a week as any to start full-fledged potty training. Sophie has been going on the potty for a few months now, here and there, but I wasn't really focussed on it. Now I am!

So we only have her in panties...she chose some pretty Cinderella ones, and some Hello Kitty ones. I went and bought a bunch of generic kind because of how many we are going through :)

She is not telling us when she needs to go yet, so I just have a timer and everytime it "dings" she gets to sit on the potty. She is doing pretty well and I am so proud of her. I have had to clean a few icky poops but besides that, she is getting the hang of it. I am so proud of her!

Grandma

It's been awhile since I've posted on here. I thought with me being done teaching, I would have PLENTY of time to come on here and play, give updates everyday or something like that, but that hasn't materialized yet.

On Father's day, at 5am, I got a call from my sister, telling me that my Grandma was in the hospital, she had had a stroke and was bleeding in her brain. Totally shocked me. By the evening, she had died. My grandma, who just the day before, had been making a big pot of soup, and talking about getting the carpet torn out, was gone. I hadn't seen her face to face since Christmas, so to me, it felt really surreal.

We headed up to Canada on Thursday, went to the viewing that night, then the burial on Friday, than the memorial service on Saturday. The whole time thinking, has this really happened? At my grandma's house, I just expected to see her sitting on the couch, like she always did during our many visits together when I was up from Portland.

The service on Saturday was such an amazing celebration of an even more amazing woman. My grandma, Olga Rubuliak, was such a fervent lover of God and an amazing prayer warrior. She prayed every single day for every single child, grand children and great grand children that she had, individually. So, that is 6 children, 10 grand children and 17 great grandchildren.

This world has lost a precious jewel in my grandma, but without a shadow of a doubt, I know that I will see her again. I love you grandma and miss you so much.

Grandma and Sophie, August 2007



Grandma and Sophie, Christmas

I survived! (well, so far)

All year, since I knew my teaching partner was pregnant and would take the last few weeks off of school to rest before her baby was born, I have known that I would go full-time. To tell you the truth, that thought has FREAKED me out! This year has been a really tough one for us in the classroom, dealing with so many behavior/mental health issues, and often, my 2 or 3 days a week feels like it'll put me over the edge sometime. So, I was all ready to hit these last 2 weeks...put on my army boots, roll up my sleeves, and hit it hard.

In all honesty, it actually wasn't that bad! In some ways it was "easier" (in the classroom at least). I had a whole week to connect with the kids, I planned my own days, I didn't have to leave my classroom spic and span for my teaching partner to get back to, on Monday. It was actually a lot of fun!! I have also realized that teaching at the end of the week is way harder than the beginning of the week. There is one girl who always seems to act up more behavior wise for me, than my teaching partner, and it frustrated me b/c I really don't feel that I do anything any differently with her, than my teaching partner does. Well, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, this girl did really well in the classroom. On Thursday, she was so off. I do have to say, it made me feel better to know that it's not "me" but perhaps just how she is at the end of the week.

So I did it, I enjoyed it, let's see if I can keep up my energy for this next week, the last week of school. (Just don't look at my house....I don't know how all you full time working momma's do it all...my house is definitely showing my absence...)

Viva Las Vegas!

Well, my Las Vegas trip was last weekend and I had SUCH an awesome time! It was so much fun to have a "girls" weekend, and get to meet some of my "imaginary friends". I love them! We had such a good time and honestly, it was hard to come home, even though I missed Jeremy and Sophie a lot.

From hanging out by the pool and going in the subzero temperature water (poor Cecile froze Baby Star), to walking all over the strip, eating a ton, people watching, buying outrageously expensive water (I think I was the only one in Vegas buying water and not alcohol, LOL), Margaritaville, the Wax Museum, The Bank at the Bellagio...so much fun!! It is amazing what a few days with friends AND in the sun does for my mood!

Thank you RMs for such a great weekend!