Welcome to the world, Sadie Belle

First- lets address the elephant in the room. Our daughter HAS a name! It is Sadie Belle Miles. Sadie is Hebrew for Princess so technically Sophie did name her baby sister since she has wanted to name her sister Princess Belle from the beginning.

Now for the details. This would be a good place to stop reading if you are squeamish or don't care to know the intimate details of my birth story. I am writing it so I don't forget it.

On Saturday, Dec 17th, is the date I am due with Sadie Girl. This post is written Wednesday- 4 days prior to that. As I have already mentioned, I have (or had now) gestational diabetes with this pregnancy. Because of this, my midwife wanted to induce me at 39 weeks. At my request and because Sadie and myself looked good, she let me go a little past that. On my Friday appt, the day before the start of my 39th week she did warning me that I would have to induce if she didn't come soon on her own.

On Tuesday, Dec 13th, I went in for my appointment. I knew since I hadn't given birth yet Nancy would be stripping my membranes to get things started and probably make me schedule an induction date. My guess is it would have been Thursday. While she was stripping my membranes (a rather uncomfortable and dare I say painful process) my water broke. Looks like I was having a baby on Tuesday. Since I was at my appt by my self, Nancy helped me wrap up, get dressed and load up. I then drove myself to the women's center to get checked in. I called Jeff and my parents on the way.

Of COURSE, Jeff was out on a run and his cell went to voicemail. I ended up calling station 1 and getting another firefighter. When I told him who I was and who I needed to speak to he said "Are you having a baby?" and I said YEP! Luckily, Jeff was just coming back from a run so the firefighter ran out to get Jeff. He told him "Hey your wifes on the phone, your having a baby." Jeff replied "Shut up man, thats not funny". It wasn't til he looked at his phone and saw my missed call that he figured out the guy wasn't just pulling his leg.

He meets me at the hospital and we get started. Hooked up to a bunch of monitors, lots of vital checks, etc. Eventually, they unhook me and let me walk the halls. I am sure I was a sight. After a few laps, my parents got there and we met them back in the room. The nurse re-strapped me to check baby's vitals and mine and let me know Nancy was coming to check on me. When my water broke, there was some meconium  (baby poop) in my water. Means the baby was in stress at some point and they didn't want me up walking around so the baby didn't experience any more stress and didn't poop in the water again.

TV time out: for those who might not know- baby pooping in the water is bad because they can potentially then inhale said poopy water when they take their first breathes, it can go into their lungs and infection can set up.

Back to the story. Being hooked up to these machines and being strapped to the bed wasn't part of my plan. I planned on laboring naturally, walking around and most importantly no pitocion, most because I didn't want an epidural either. Not because I wanted to feel it all natural or anything like that but because I didn't like my experience with Sophie and the epidural. Long story short- I got too much and couldn't feel how hard I was pushing. This resulted in me pushing for 3.5 hours and Sophie still needed to be vacuumed out. I didn't not want a repeat of this.

Luckily I have an excellent midwife, who not only listened to all my concerns, did not make me feel stupid for any of them but because she put the control in my hands. Since my water broke but I wasn't having contractions, the next step would have been to start pit right away. She gave the instructions that it was up to me if I wanted and if I wanted to labor on my own- drug free- I could.

Of course, this change in plan couldn't have been predicted and even the best laid plans need to be changed. Again can I sing the praises of my midwife. She was excellent in explaining to me my options and let ME make the decision. She assured me if I went the pit route with no epi and the pain got too bad she would stop it and see if I continued on my own or stop it until I got my epi. She promised me if I did get an epi she would make sure it was too high and that I would be able to feel what was going on and that I could even turn the epi off once I got the pushing stage if I wanted.

In the end, I decided to got with a light epidural first then the start of pit. I do not have ANY regrets. Overall I labored for about 8 hours. My water broke at around 2pm and I had Sadie Belle at 9:42pm. As promised, the epi only took the edge off. I could feel all the big contraction and my legs (woot woot). At around 9:20, I would guess, I mentioned to Jeff that a lot of my contractions left me with the sensation like I was about to poop. I then got scolded by him because apparently Nancy had left me with directions that if I should get contractions that made me feel like I needed to poop I should tell her. I didn't hear that part. So Jeff calls the nurses station to tell them and Nancy comes in to check me. She quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) ushers everyone out of the room and starts to suit up. I guess its time to push.

I told her I wasn't ready. That if I wasn't having a contraction I didn't feel any need to push. She said that during the next contraction she was going to have me do a practice push and she would see if it was really time. During that practice push, I moved baby Sadie down enough that Nancy could see her head. Crazy. So I guess it really was time. I was still really nervous about pushing prematurely and having to push for a long long time again.

This time, I also requested a mirror to see what was going on. I didn't do this with Sophie and now wish I would have. It was by far the coolest thing I have ever seen and it gave me added motivation to push. To be able to see the entire birth is something I hope to never forget.

I started pushing and no joke, 3 contractions in about 15 minutes total and Sadie was born. I really couldn't believe how, dare I say it, easy it was! It was over. I didn't tear. I didn't need any stitches and what few hemorrhoids that did pop out have already gone away. It still amazes me.

Sadie came into this world at 9:42pm on Dec 13th 2011 weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and measuring 21 inches. A full pound more than her big sister and 3/4 of a inch longer! She is absolutely perfect. I was also perfect. I felt so good, even immediately after birth. I was able to sit all the way up, stand up on my own, go to the bathroom on my own. I swear, if it weren't for the swelling down there I wouldn't even know I had a baby last night.

This morning Sophie got to meet her baby sister and it brought tears to my eyes how amazing she is with her. She already loves her so much. All she wanted to do as be next to who ever has her, she wants to hold her, kiss her, hug her. It is the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

So in the end, my "birth plan" didn't go as planned but I wouldn't change a thing. My family feel so right, right now. I love it.

I am sure I will add more to this post as I remember it but for now I sign off.

Being An Invalid/ Things I haven't done yet

 I started the post below earlier today. Then I went to the doctors. Now the post seems mute. I am cautioning you all now- if you are squeamish and/or don't want TMI about my personal areas vacate the page NOW!



Ok if you are still reading you have been warned.

I have hemorrhoids. I've had them since I had Sophie. After her birth, they healed and really hadn't given me problems until I got pregnant again. I have dealt with them on and off this whole pregnancy but they haven't been horrible.

Until this weekend. Not sure what exactly happened but ever since Sunday I have been in so so so much pain. Pain walking, pain sitting, pain laying. I couldn't sleep and felt like I could vomit because of the pain. I finally call the OB's office to tell them. They call me in some foam stuff- burns like a mother and doesn't help in the least. I call again the next morning and they call me in lidociane jelly. Guess what? Still doesn't help.

I see my midwife Tuesday afternoon and fill her in on the specific problems. Luckily Jeff was there too and could help fill in some of the more unsavory details (oh the things husbands have to do!). She refers me to a colon doctor. Apparently, these suckers can burst during delivery- I am sure you all wanted that visual- just as I did.

Off to yet another dr's visit I go. (Can I just say, going to the dr so much isn't fun in the least- I have another appt friday). I am thinking I will visit with him, he will give me some pointers and basically tell me there was nothing he could do until after delivery. Boy was I wrong. That butt doc took one look at me and said "Yep, you have clots and I am going to remove them" Right then and there. Wowzers. 2 shots to numb me (words can't describe how that felt) and then he literally cut the clots right out. I was feeling great (mostly bc of the number).

So in addition to him taking care of my little problem, he also wrote me a script for percocets for the pain AND took me off work until I deliver. Which should be nice. I can still work from home but I get to do it in pj's and from my couch.

Only draw back? I feel good for the first time in days and I am stuck on the couch.

Can I take Bailey's to the hospital?

Seriously, can I?

The 3 Wise Men

Really? That's what you want to call them? I am pretty sure the term "wise men" is an oxymoron all by itself but to say there are 3 of them- I call bullshit.

Now lets examine the story of baby Jesus's birth and these so called "wise men". The wise men part of the story has always bothered me but none so much as after I had Sophie.

So Mary gives birth, in a manager because there is no room at the inn (really, inn keeper- you see a hugely pregnant woman who rode into town on a DONKEY and you turned her away? You couldn't even make her a make shift bed in the lobby?). Baby Jesus is born and all is wonderful.

Now, these 3 wise men decide to come visit baby Jesus. They get together and actually have the thought of "We should bring something for the baby"- I'll give them SOME props for even thinking of a gift in the first place. But what do they pick? Practical things like blankets? Diapers? Nah- lets get him gold, frankincense and myrh. Gold- eh ok I will give that guy a pass because its gold and therefore like money. But what the heck is frankincense and myrh even? And what is an infant going to do with it? Nothing- that's what.

Even in the classic Christmas song "Do you hear what I hear" it spells it out:

Do you know what I know
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold

Sorry- those are not the gifts of "wise men". The baby is fucking cold- BRING HIM A BLANKET!!




In conclusion, I can only assume these so called "wise men" were not married. Because if they were, their wives would not have let them out of the house with such stupid gifts for a baby. I can only imagine Mary's reaction to her visitors and their gifts. I am envisioning lots of eye rolling and sighing.

Evolution? I think not!

I know I haven't updated in a while. Truth be told, I am just tired and cranky and can't find anything fun to write about. Sophie and Jeff are still their same old entertaining selves- I just can't seem to remember any of the funny stuff they do or say at the moment! Lame of me, I know!

You might have seen on Facebook, the end of my pregnancy is proving to be eventful. First it was the pre-e scare, which thankfully came back as nothing. Of course, it means I collect 24 hours worth of my on pee in a jug I kept in my fridge for nothing, but who's counting?

Next came the extremely high blood sugar levels. Apparently, even though I passed my 28 weeks Gestational Diabete's test, some where between 28 weeks and 36 weeks I did develop it. The scary part about this is we haven't been monitoring me or the baby as closely or in the same manner we would have if it had been caught earlier. So from here til the end I am on the GD diet (I think the initials are a really good name for this diet during the holidays) and have to go to the dr twice weekly for non stress tests. Basically, I sit in a big comfy recliner and play on my phone for 20-30 minutes while a machine reads the baby's heart rate and I press a button whenever she moves.

In case you were wondering, yes- going to the dr twice a week sucks. I feel totally guilty about being out of work so much. My time is ticking to an end anyway so I hate constantly saying "Sorry I have to go to the dr" or "Sorry I won't be at that meetings bc I have a dr's appt". I also, in general, hate going to the dr that much. It is always the exact same. Pee in a cup? Check. Get on the scale and hid eyes? Check.Blood Pressure? Check. Baby moving ok? Check. Wait in a waiting room for the doc to come in and measure my belly and ask if I have any questions. Nope? OK see you in a few days..

 During a conversation with Jeff about all this stuff going on we started talking about evolution and the miracle of the human body. If you think about it, how freaking awesome is it that 2 little tiny cells can meet and make an entire human? And that another human can be the host/incubator for this new human? And how cool is it that my body knows exactly what to do? From my belly expanding to my organs shifting to the baby turning when she needs to and labor- its crazy cool how it all sort of just happens.

This leads me to my 1 gripe. If all the rest of my organs can move and shift and make room for my growing baby why can't my freaking bladder get on board and move too? Why does the bladder have to be the stubborn organ that refuses to get out of the way? Years and years of evolution and the damn bladder sticks to his guns, refuses to move and in turn gets used as my baby's pillow which she likes to grind her head again causing momma great pains.

Thanks a lot bladder.

Man I love that kid

even if she is an asshole sometimes.

She is stingy. Very stingy with her kisses and hugs. She didn't get it from me so Jeff must have taught her it.

This morning this is what went down:

Jeff is laying in bed. Sophie is laying on the couch watching Phineas and Ferb.











I am the only one actually up and I am getting ready for work.

Jeff (yelling from the bed): Sophie, come in here!

Sophie: What want?

Jeff: A kiss

Sophie: I laying on the couch

(Yes, this happened)

A little later

Sophie: Daddy, I want kisses

Jeff laughs and to me says: can you believe that?

Me to Sophie: Well come get one if you want one

Sophie: I no want your kisses, Mommy. I want Daddy kisses.



Like I said, my kids an asshole but I still love her.

No, you can not have some lemonade

Went to the Dr yesterday. I am so used to the typical pee on your hand in a cup, get your weight, take blood pressure, wait for midwife to say "Everything looks good. See you in 2 weeks" so yesterdays appt threw me for a loop.

During scale and cuff show, I mentioned to the nurse I was having some swelling and I had a crazy obsessive craving for ice. This lead to an additional iron test. 2 weeks ago my iron was ok at 11.7 (they like it to be between 12-14). Yesterday it was down to 8.8. So now I am on iron pills. No biggie.

I get in to see my midwife (side note: I don't know if I have ever mentioned just how much I love my midwife. I actually see 2 of them and they are so wonderful it isn't even funny) and she asks to see my swelling. It's the kind of swelling where if you push down on it the indention stays down. She then tells me I have also had a rapid weight gain of 6 pounds in 2 weeks and that my urine had protein in it. For those of you who don't know- this is 3 out of the 4 symptoms of preeclampsia. The 4th is high blood pressure, which I don't have yet but was one of the last things to develop when I was pregnant with Sophie.

So down to the lab I was sent to get blood work done and.....wait for it.......a pee jug. Looks like this Sunday I get to privileged of peeing in an orange container for 24 straight hours. This means I won't really be leaving my house bc 1- I am not carting my pee with me and 2- my pee has to be refrigerated.

So if you come over on Sunday, don't ask for any lemonade. Cause it's not lemonade.

Dinosaurs stole my kisses!

This is what Sophie told Jeff and I last night when we would ask for a kiss. She went on to elaborate the dinosaur was on the ceiling and it was coming to get Daddy. Daddy then had to do the "dinosaur dance" where he run around the kitchen and her bedroom trying to simultaneously catch the dinosaur and get the dinosaur to stop eating his leg. Unfortunately for Jeff, he never could catch that old dinosaur. Sophie could though- on the first try. She put him in a plastic walmart bag, shashed him up real good and tossed him in the trash.

Then I said "Sophie, now that the dinosaur is gone do you have any kisses I could have?"

And she did.

Manner's are important

At least that's what my 2 year old tells me.

We are big on manners. We always use please and thank you (and this isn't limited to Sophie, Jeff and I do it was well)

Last night while in the tub Sophie was serving me "coffee" via these toy shapes we have in there from some long forgotten and probably tossed tub boat. I "drank" all mine (not really cause you know Sophie totally peed in the water.

When she asked if I wanted more I said "Yes, please".

Sophie: Thank you for saying please, Mommy

Me: Thank you (after she gave me more coffee- which was very hot and I had to blow on it)

Sophie: Thank you for saying.....thank you!

Sophie (after a moments thought): Manners are very important.


Yes they are my dear!

Ugh.......Uggs

Welp, I am finally to the point in my pregnancy where I am willing to admit that heels are no longer my friend. I mean, I am still going to wear them because I love them (in fact I have some on right now) but I will concede that maybe that quack of a chiro wasn't so far off base when he said heels will make my back hurt more. Damn, I hate that he is right.

I don't really have any other winter shoes I like that I would consider work shoes. I have tons of flat boots but as far as shoes to wear with dress pants? None. Usually, I just stick with black or brown pumps.

Since I only have roughly 7 weeks left, I refuse to buy new shoes that probably won't get worn so I am going super classy and wearing Uggs to work under my dress pants. I look frumpy and not at all stylish but at least my tootsies are comfy.

Following our current theme

Mary Poppins still reigns supreme in our house. If I wasn't such a lazy pregnant woman I would have tried to get together the pieces to make Sophie the Mary Poppins for Halloween. But laziness won out and she is being Princess Belle because we already have that costume.

Yesterday, Sophie and I made sugar cookie cut outs for Halloween. They turned out really cute and she had a blast while making them. She also ate pure sugar out of the bag by the spoonful. No, I didn't stop her.

She had it ALL over her face. I told her to go show her daddy her sugar face. When he asked her why she had sugar on her face she told him "a spoonful of sugars helps medicine go down"



I love this kid!

This is getting expensive

This morning I stopped at Sonic for breakfast. Not because I was craving some greasy fast food. In fact, I wasn't even really hungry. But I wanted their ice. Lately, I have become obsessed with ice. I don't know why. My iron is fine. I am not at risk for anything else crazy pregnancy related. I just like ice. Crushed ice to be specific. So much so that I actually will fill a baggy with ice from the freezer, take it on to the deck and beat it with a rolling pin until it is crushed. Don't judge me.

Sonic has the best ice. Rabbit terd ice as Jeff and I like to refer to it.

But because I was too embarrassed to order just a larger ice water, extra ice, I ended up with french toast sticks too. Oh well it was worth it!

Once more....with FEELING!

I think I have mentioned before my daughters insane love for Mary Poppins and all things related to the movie. She cries when it go off, gets super excited when she see Mary Poppins flying in and tries to sing all of the songs.

When a Mary Poppins songs comes on her Disney Pandora station, she immediately perks up and says "Mary Poppins!!!!" like her day has just been made.

This morning, Jeff and I were waiting for Sophie to wake up when we heard a strange sound coming over the monitor. We turned it up to hear better. It was Sophie. Singing. That right, folks. My kid woke up singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite". She sang for at least 3 minutes before we went in to get it.

It was by far the best start to any morning I have had this week.

Really? Who cares about bad breath?

Bullet #2: Gum or mints for bad breath.

I am really wondering who wrote this because I can tell you with complete certainty when I was in labor with Sophie I have no idea if my breath was good,bad or other wise. And I certainly wasn't worried about it. And if it is after labor- why wouldn't you just go brush your teeth? I also have an issue with the snacks part of #2. Most places will not let you eat when in labor. So bringing snacks to "keep your energy up" is pointless.

I also like the light reading material. Cause yeah- you'll have time for that.

And they didn't even put on the list things like a car seat (pretty important!). How about shampoo and conditioner? I mean, you just spent the last 3 hours pushing out a kid that was covered in goo when it came out. But hey, you don't need a shower as long as you have your gum and snacks!

And really- they didn't even include a Samaria sword. What if the zombie apocalypse happened while you were there? You are going to look like a really crappy mother if you have nothing with you to defend your helpless newborn. Just sayin'

This is a whine free zone

Tonight Jeff and I were sitting in the newly minter playroom while Sophie was playing with her kitchen (year later- still a great toy). She kept telling us dinner was cooking. Jeff told her it needed to hurry up and cook because it was almost bed time.

I started to tell her the things she tells me when she is ready for dinner which includes "my belly hurts!). She then replies with what I usually tell her. I was told by my 2 yr old to "be patient" and "no whining".

Guess she does listen to me.

Photo Editing: Clone Tool

Using the Clone Tool:

The Clone Tool is the best tool for fixing imperfections in a picture. It basically lets you edit out things in your photos that you don’t want there or are distracting.

This is a picture I took this morning of the clouds as the sun was coming up. The problem is, for my picture, I wanted that bright sunlight shown in the pictures. To get that means I had to get part of the house tops and the power lines in my picture. But I can use the Clone Tool to edit these out.

Find the tool that looks like a stamp. You actually have 2 that look like stamps but one will have what looks like a box under it. This is not the one you want. You want the one that is just the stamp. (FYI: there is a Tool that looks like 2 band aids crossing over each other. This is the Heal Tool. It works just like the Clone Tool and is better suited for fixing blemishes on skin and what not because it is a less hash tool)

Once you have the tool selected, go to the setting (bottom half of the Toolbox) and click on the square next to “Brushes”. Select the largest, fuzzy brush available (it looks like a circle where the outer rim is fuzzy).

Right underneath this is the “Scale”. Use the slider to adjust the size of the brush until you have your desired size. Now go to your picture.

Find a spot on your picture that you want to copy (this part of the picture should be as close to the spot you want to edit out as possible only with out the infringement in it). Hit CTRL and you should see a little cross appear on your image where you mouse is. This is how you will select that spot.

Let go of the CTRL button and your mouse will return to your circle. Then simply click and drag over the imperfection spot and they will be replaced with the spot in your image you previously selected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKQrqFx2UM

http://gimps.de/en/tutorials/gimp/picture-photo-image/editing-retouching/index.htm

Thing's Sophie say about her baby sister

Who still has no name.


Sophie thinks her baby sister switches from my belly to hers, so depending on when you ask her, her baby sister could be in her belly.
 
She tells Jeff she will "share" her baby sister with him.

She will tell you baby sister is coming at Christmas time and when you ask her what she is going to ask santa for she will tell you "my baby sister"

She won't let DH tickle me when we are all playing and tells him to "be careful. My baby sister!"

She always lifts my shirt up to kiss and hug my belly and she will put her ear on my belly and tell me baby sister is talking to her. I ask what she is saying and Sophie tells me "She's hungry"



I think she is going to be very possesive of the baby.

Pineapples!

I bought Sophie me some play-doh and paints last weekend since we will be spending more time in doors as the weather turns cold. She loved them! Of course she did. It's art stuff! The night I gave them to her, she sat at the kitchen table from the time we got homes from school (5:45-6ish) until bed time (8). The play-doh is a HUGE hit.

And apparently it smells good

Good enough she asked to eat it.

After I told Jeff about her sniffing it repeatedly (and getting snot in it, yay!) he asked her what it smelled like.

She thought for a moment and them said "Um, pineapple!" Man, I love her!

Eaten Alive

I am fairly certain there is a zombie in my uterus. Like the flesh eating kind. And it rolls and turns and kicks the shit out of me all. day. long.

I don't remember this with Sophie- being beaten from the inside out but it is happening this time. My poor internal organs are probably bruised and trying desperately to move as far up as they can get in order to avoid Zombie Baby. I don't blame them.

Many pregnant women make birth plans. They lay out on a nice neat word document exactly how they want their births to go. What they want done or not done and when. I am not going to need this. This baby is going to round house kick its way our of my stomach Chuck Norris style.

Hell maybe Chuck Norris is the father. Now that would be kick ass.

Until I have the baby and get Chuck to submit to a paternity test, enjoy this video that cracks me up every time I watch it. Because it's true.

I gave him The Finger

Football season is among us and I am sure there are a great deal of women out there getting super irritated at their husbands for their half listening skills and glazed eyes. Women who are probably close to demanding something other than football be put on the TV, despite being only 2 weeks in to pro-football.

I am not one of those women. Football can be on all day for all I really care. I understand it and like enough to half pay attention and it makes great back ground noise for when I am cooking. I will probably regret everything I just said, though, if my husband sees this blog post.


One thing that makes football so great, for me anyway, if FANTASY FOOTBALL! Yes, I belong to a league. It is a keeper league through work and it is my second year. Last year, I did well enough to make the play offs and finished somewhere in the middle of the pack. I WILL do better this year.

I am borderline obsessive when it comes to my fantasy team. Named "Over Dwayne Bowe"- yes I stole the name- I am the proud owner of Aaron Rogers, Rashard Mendenhall, Hakeem Nicks and yes, my namesake, Dwayne Bowe. I check my line up constantly. Hell, today is Tuesday and I have already checked my guys and who they play and how well that teams defense it. I will make tweaks and second guess my self until the last possible second.

Then during the games, I will check and re-check and re-re-check my score, how many guys do I have left to play, how many does my opponent. It is tiring and thrilling all at the same time. And stressful, don't forget stressful!


Last night was Monday night football. A match up between the Giants and the Rams. Neither team I care about one way or another- except for Hakeem Nicks. Questionable all week with a bone bruise from last weeks game, I gambled and left him in. All the news I heard suggested he would play. The "Questionable" status is a killer for FF, especially a Monday night game. ESPECIALLY since I was down by 7, with ONLY Nicks left to play and my opponent with NO ONE to play. Man, I am getting stressed just thinking about it again.


I was intently watching a very subpar game, hoping and praying to the fantasy gods that all passes were thrown to and received by Nicks. Jeff was next to me on the couch. All of a sudden a play starts in motion and it looks like it's going #88 and Jeff picks that exact time to tell me about somebody singing the national anthem or something like that.

I did want ANY good wife would do- I held up my finger, indicating I want him to be silent and I leaned into the TV.


For the record, I tied my game. Nicks got exactly 7 points which brought us even in score.

What's For Dinner?

That's the question I asked Sophie last night.




Sophie: Peanut butter!


Me: A peanut butter sandwich?


Sophie: No samwich, finger!

Me: You can't eat peanut butter on your finger


Sophie: (thinking about this) peanut butter on my TONGUE!





Kid cracks me up!

Gimp Tutorials- Part 1

If you don't want to learn how to edit pictures then you can skip this one!

For you, Heather!

My favorite Gimp’s:

Ok so you have noticed there is a TON to do in Gimp and Photoshop. I love Gimp ‘cause its free and have most everything I need.  If you have anything you want to specifically do I am sure I can type up directions for you but for now I will stick with the ones I use the most.

Here is an example of a picture taken straight out of the camera. And not my good camera either. This was taken with my Nikon Coolpix (thanks dad!)

The picture is cute but it cool look better. Let’s play with it shall we?

Red Eye:

Sophie has a massive case of red eye in this picture so I am going to remove that.

1-     Select your lasso tool

2-     Next to “MODE” you will see the picture of 1 box is selected. Go ahead and click the box next to it with the 2 red squares. This will let us lasso both eyes at once.

3-     Click the box to put a check mark next to “Feather Edges” and change to 5. This will soften the edges of your selected region so you don’t get harsh lines.

4-     Click various spots around the eye pupil. You will see a line appear around the eye were you click. Once you make the whole pupil, reclick the first dot to close off the circle. You should see a dotted line around the pupil now. Do this for both eyes.

5-     Go to Color>Desaturate>(box will pop up with LIGHTNESS selected) OK. This will turn the pupil gray.

6-     Go to Color>Contrast and you will get a pop up. Move the contrast bar up (positive numbers in the box to the right) until you get the blackness you think looks right.

7-     Go to Select>None.

Now, your eyes are no longer red! I prefer this method bc it leaves the light spot in the pupil from the reflective on the flash.

Eye Color Pop:

I like to pop the color of the eyes in some of my pictures. Here is an easy way to do this.

1-     Use the same steps as above to select the eyes (if you have trouble selecting, remember you can zoom in close to the eye!)

2-     Go to Color> Hue Satuartion> and toggle the saturation bar up. With eyes, a little goes a long way. I usually only move mine up +10

3-     Go to Color>Contrast> Move the contract bar up. Again a little goes a long way.

4-     Go to Filter> Enhance> Unsharpen Mask- you will see a pop up box with a preview. Adjust all 3 toggles until you have the eyes the way you like them and hit ok. Again- a little goes a long way.

5-     Select>None

Dingy Picture fix:

This is a quick way to make the picture brighter. The original wasn’t bad but it was a little yellow. This brightens it up

1-     Select the eye dropped tool. Find a place on the picture that should be white (I like eyes or teeth but teeth can be iffy if the subject doesn’t have white teeth to begin with)

2-     Once you have the color picked from your white spot (you can see it on the Tool Box window), create a new layer.

a.       In the Layers, Channels and Paths window you will see your picture. It is layer. If you go to the bottom of the white box your picture layer is in you will see what looks like a white piece of paper. Click on this and a box will pop up. Make sure “Transparency” is marked and hit ok and it will create a transparent layer over your picture layer.

3-     From your tool box window, select the tool that looks like a paint bucket pouring paint. Then click on your picture window. This will fill that transparent window with the color from the color picker (you will only be able to see the color you filled)

4-     In the Layers window, right under the word “Layers” at the top you will see “MODE” and it will say Normal and to the right on Normal will be a drop down menu. Might sure your filled layer is selected (not your picture layer), then use the drop down menu to select Divide.

5-     You should now see your picture and it should be brighter!

6-  If it looks unnatural (some times does), make sure your fill layer is selected then place with the opacity slider on the top of the Layer windows. This will make the top layer more and more translucent the far down you slide it!

Lastly, here is a link to a Gimp Tutorial page where you can find more info!

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

Time Flies

When I was pregnant with Sophie, I knew down to the day how far along I was, what that translated to in months, how long I had to go and when each trimester began.

This time, ehh- I'm somewhere in the middle. I do know I am due at the end of Dec, which is what I tell people when they ask how far along I am. Actually, I don't even know my exact due date. It is either the 20th or the 17th- I think. I am fairly certain my midwives changed it based on an ultrasound a few months back but I never asked. I figured what difference did it make? This kid will come out whenever she is ready.

Today, I did get curious about the trimesters. I looked up a breakdown and realized I am in my last week of my second trimester. When the hell did that happen? Do you realize how much I still have to do? My list is crazy long. Hell, I had planned on having Sophie in her twin bed by next week so she had plenty of time to adjust! I am not even close to that yet. We haven't done anything in the office. I have no clothes cleaned or baby gear brought up and cleaned.

Now I am slightly freaking out.

Apparently I should wake him up for that

I heard gun shots last night. Laying in my nice warm bed, I woke up at 1:38 am to gun shots. At first, I thought it was my redneck neighbors shooting off fireworks again but it was only the one shot so I am convinced it was indeed a gun shot.

Even Jake heard it. He sleeps by our door and as soon as the shot was fired and woke me up, I head him get up from our door and walk to the kitchen door. The shot came from behind my house (my house backs up to a pond as do many other houses in our subdivision).

I laid awake for a few more minutes listening for A-more gun shots or B-sirens. I didn't hear either so like most other people, I went back to bed.

I called Jeff this morning when I got to work and asked him if he heard the shots (he didn't) and he says to me "You didn't think you should wake me up for that?" Really, cause what would you do? Go stand on the deck and wait to get shot at too? I don't think so, buddy. You don't get out of this marriage that easy!

Apparently, going back to sleep last night was the wrong course of action. Of course, I have no proof that what I head was a gun shot but I feel fairly confident in my ear drum's ability to distinguish this sort of thing.

Where are my house shoes?

Jeff text me this morning to ask me where his house shoes were. Because, you know, I AM the keeper of HIS house shoes. Really, it is common knowledge I wear his over sized, worn down house shoes all the time- NOT.

I called him to ask him specifically why he thought I would know this sort of information. Did I wear them last? Apparently, the answer is I "move his shit all the time". By move, I am going to guess he means put away. In it's proper spot. Heathen, I am.

So I asked him where he looked for them. Duh, in the shoe basket and the closet. Wait- you already looked in the ONLY 2 places I "move" things too? Again I ask, why would you think I had any idea where there were if the 2 places you already checked are the 2 places I would have put them?

So I tell him the only other place I could think they might be in under the bed. I suggest this place because knowing my husband as well as I do, I know he probably took them off next to the bed and since he hasn't had a need for them in a while they probably got shoved up underneath it.

Ta-da! They are there! Instead of a thank you though, I got "You probably put them there on purpose". What gratitude!

The funny part is he even admitted that the sensible place for his house shoes to be is next to the bed wear he could take them off at night and put them back on when he wakes up. Still, it was I who purposely shoved his shoes under the bed just to fuck with him.



In completely un-house shoe related news, Sophie got to watch "Mary Poppins" for the first time this weekend. Honestly, I didn't hold out much hope of her watching the whole things since it isn't a brightly animated cartoon with an onslaught of funny characters. Much to my surprised, she watched the entire movie! It's like a 2.5 hour movie too! The best was at the end though- as Mary Poppins in flying away with her umbrella Sophie asks me "where she going?". I told her Mary Poppins was flying away.



Oh the tears. Never have I seen the likes! She bawled and howled "Marry Popppppiiiinnnnssss!!!!" She was so upset. I tried to calm her down, explain to her it was just a movie and then finally, I put the movie back on to show her Mary Poppins could come back. She sat and watched the whole movie a second time.

The girl in the purple dress

Sophie the Princess. Princess Sophie. All things girl, all the time.

How did I end up with such a girly girl? Sophie's princess phase doesn't seem to have an end in sight. Luckily, Tinkerbell seems to be fading out but only to be replaced by Princess Belle.

A co-worker recently brought in a bag of clothes her granddaughter had out grown. In this bag there are a full length, purple princess dress- completely with tiara and wand. Yes, I snagged it for Sophie even though I knew this dress would be the bane of my existence. I could already imagine the number of fights Sophie and I would engage in over this dress. In short, once Sophie saw the dress I knew she would never willingly take it off.

I was right.




By the way, last night I sat on the crown and broke a piece of it off. I hope she doesn't notice!

365 days in photo's

Yeah I am putting this here too. Like the trifecta, if you are my friend on facebook and/or follow me on twitter you have already seen this but I want to put it here too as this is my journal and this is about to be a part of my life.

About a year ago, I got my dream camera. A Canon Rebel! I was stoked. I took pictures of everything! Edited like crazy and posted them to facebook all the time.

Recently though, I have been slacking off. Just not taking pictures like I should. So I joined a 365 challenge with some friends on Facebook.

The goal for the 365 Photo Challenge is simple.Take 1 new picture every day for a year. With my group, we are doing a different theme each week to keep things fresh but you don't have to have themes. You can take pictures of whatever strikes you that day. It is something I would encourage any one to try. It is easy, fun and lets you explore photography. You don't even need a fancy camera to do it. Any camera or even a phone camera will work. The point is to take pictures of your life!

I will probably keep it to a weekly thing here. Posting a weeks worth of photo's once I have completed the week's theme.

For now, here are the 2 I have started on this week. The theme is "About Me"

Fantasy Football

My love of iced coffee

Me at 24 weeks

MAC Eye Make up

Insecurities- The Dream Sequence

Pregnancy has the innate ability to bring out the worst insecurities in even the most secure person. Usually these insecurities are unfounded but for the pregnant woman the are still very really.

Mine are currently manifesting themselves in a series of bad dreams.

You may or may not know, pregnant women tend to have very vivid dreams. The lucky ones get awesomely realistic dreams involving celebrity crushes. I am not one of the lucky ones. Very early on I started having dreams. Mostly they have just been bizarre and random but a few have been disturbing.

In the very beginning, I had 2 dreams about Sophie dying. I will not be detailing these out because they took quite a while for me to shake.

These (luckily) past fast and we were on to the weird and bizzare. I kept waiting for the sex dreams but those were a no go.

This week the disturbing dreams have started again. This time they are about my marriage ending.

The first: Jeff cheated on me. He apparently (as he told me in the dream) was drunk and it was an accident. Oddly, I wasn't upset about this but we had ended up moving this pregnant woman into our house, I guess to take care of her. The disturbing part of the dream was how frantic and scared I was that Jeff was going to choose her over me. That having her in the house would make him want her over me and he would leave me.

The second was last night: Jeff and I were having problems (I am assuming because I wasn't around for this part of the dream). I had asked him to move out. He was getting an apartment and I was moving in with my parents. The very first day we were apart I realized what a big mistake I had made. I didn't want to be separated and was over come with fear Jeff would move on and find someone new before we could patch things up. That being away from me would let him forget about me and start over with someone else and I would be left alone.

In both of these dreams I felt helpless to change the situation. I was hopeless, desperate and devastated. I woke up from both unable to fall back asleep.

I am definitely anxious for these dreams to stop but at least they reaffirm how much I love my husband. Thank god he puts up with me.

The Great Name Debate

Jeff and I are never going to decide on a name. Never. This baby is going to be born and we will be trying to leave the hospital and the nursing staff will be flagging us down.

"Wait Mrs. Miles! You didn't fill out a name on the birth certificate!"

I haven't really liked any name Jeff has suggested and he isn't to fond of names I liked. We have different tastes in names, I guess.

With Sophie, I had a short list I liked. Jeff wasn't wild but didn't hate any on that list. I picked Sophia and when he said "I don't know if I like it" I asked him what he did like. He said he didn't know. So I told him her name was Sophia until he came up with something better.

He never did.

The start of a new school year

I just can't believe it is that time of year again. August is half way over and school is starting. It's bittersweet because it means summer is also coming to an end.

Of course the start of the school year means backpacks, pencils, notebooks, lockers and the works to many parents- to me it means something slightly different. It means it is School Bus Season!
 

Sophie has some weird obsession with school buses. We don't know why or where it came from but every time she sees school bus, she shrieks with excitement.

"Mommy! SCHOOL BUS!!!!!"

"Mommy!! Another SCHOOL BUS!!!!"

Wonder how long I can keep up the excitement?

The Stages of Pregnancy

This post was inspired by my good friend, Amy Jones!

Much like grief, pregnancy has stages you will go through. They are pretty damn close to the stages of grief but with the pregnant woman twist on them. Here is my take on the Stages of Pregnancy:

1. Shock/Denial: When you first find out you are pregnant, or even when you first suspect you might be pregnant you will be in shock which likely may be accompanied by denial. It will probably go something like this “There is NO way I can be pregnant. None. Yes I know I am 2 weeks late and my boobs look like extra full water balloon and hurt to touch and I have cried over the laundry detergent commercial twice but there is NO way I am pregnant. I am SURE it is just stress”


2. Pain/Guilt: This is numerous for the pregnant woman. You will look back over the last X weeks before you knew you were pregnant and analyze every single thing you have done. Everything you have eaten, everything you have drank, every activity that is on the Do Not list for pregnant woman. You will think about that plane ride to visit family and wonder if the changing altitude could have harmed your baby. Hell you will even stress about the night you possibly conceived: “Shit I was wasted that night. Will my baby have fetal alcohol poisoning? Did I doom my baby from the moment he was conceived?”


3. Anger/Bargaining: This one is an interesting one. You wouldn’t think pregnancy and anger go together but they do. Oh they do. Your rage as a pregnant person will be like no rage you have ever experienced before. And it will come with out warning, over things your normal, sane self wouldn’t have cared about. Your husband ate the last pickle? Beat him with a spatula. Cars aren’t driving to your liking, lay on the horn and flip them the bird! The anger stage, unfortunately for those around you, can last through out your entire pregnancy. Along with Anger is Bargaining. As in “Hey 2 yr old daughter, I will trade you this yummy piece of broccoli for your chocolate” or “Dear Lord, I will do ANYTHING for you to speed up this pregnancy” Good luck with the bargaining.


4. Depression & Loneliness: You will go through a time where you feel alone and it will be depressing and it sucks. All your friends going out drinking? Well you can come and be the DD! Ummm, no thanks. You are fat, none of your cute clothes fit, you sweat more, you face look like an pepperoni pizza, you waddle when you walk, your emotions are running ramped, you are constipated, you get exhausted easy and no one else is going through what you are going through. No one EVER, ANYWHERE knows what you are going through at this very instant. You are the only one who has ever felt THIS bad and no one understands. Fuck em all……and cue Stage 3!

5. Insecurity: This is a stage I previously forgot and had to come back to amend. Insecurity is a funny thing. I consider myself a very secure and rational person.... most of the time. Pregnancy has the ability to rob you of that and turn you into a crying, hormonal, insecure mess. Things you used to be fine with will cause you panic and set up doubt in your mind. The worst part, there is no actual reason for you to be feeling this way- it is really all in your head. Sometimes it is dreams that shake you to your core. It could be her husband going for drinks with the guys and having this irrational fear he will cheat on her in the bar. It could be seeing a good looking woman and suddenly becoming very self conscious about your big old pregnant body. Anyway it manifests, it isn't fun. For you or your partner.


6. Upward Turn: All of a sudden, one day you will see the light at the end of the tunnell. It may be at the ultrasound to determine the sex of your baby, it might be at the beginning of the third trimester. Hell, it might even be when you decided to pack that hospital bag (BTW, what should I put in my hospital bag??) or when you doc says “Ok time to head to Labor and Delivery” but you will get there. You will feel optimistic. Yeah, fuck yeah, I can do this. Come one pregnancy- I GOT THIS!!!

7. Panic Stage: Once you have hit that upward turn, you will slightly veer off course and back on to the "What have I gotten myself into" course. This is the stage where you start panicking about whats to come. How will you handle the sleepless night? How will you tell you boss? How will you afford all the stuff that comes with a baby? I don't know if you realize this but babies are expensive! Diapers, formula, clothes, cribs, changing tables, toys, strollers, contraptions you can't even being to figure out how to work..... and they all cost money. Lot's of it. The Panic Stage can also rear it's ugly head when you go to register. There is so freaking much the stores will tell you you need for a baby. And since you can't figure out what most of it does or is for, you err on the side of caution and register for it all. Bring on the Financial Panic again! Showers and gifts from family and friends (if you are lucky enough to have any) will only go so far. How will you afford the rest of this stuff. And how will you know how to use it?? Don't forget about the baby crying inconsolably and you have NO clue why and you can't make it stop crying no matter what you try. During this stage, your mind will race with the how's and why's and where's of rearing a child and you. Will. PANIC!!!!


8. Reconstruction & Working Through: Basically, you will have an “Oh Shit” moment where you realize you are going to need help. Help during labor, help during delivery and help afterwards. So you frantically try to mend the bridges with all the people you pissed off during your pregnancy during your Anger Stage.


9. Acceptance & Hope: Somewhere at the end of your pregnancy, after you have tried all the “proven” at home labor inducers in your panicked attempt to “GET THIS KID OUT OF ME”, you will come to acceptance. You will finally make peace that your bundle of satanic joy will be residing in your uterus until it damn well feels like coming out. And nothing you can do will bring it out. Not until it is ready. You grit your teeth and grin and bare it and constantly repeat “I am feeling good” and “Nope no baby yet” when you get asked every single day for the rest of your pregnancy how you are feeling and my personal favorite “You haven’t had that baby yet?” Your hope will come with you start feeling those contractions. Light or strong, it is the beginning of the end and you hope will soar as you rush to Labor and Delivery to finally, after all this time, GET THIS BABY OUT!!!!

Twice!

The is the number of times I threatened to run into car on Nicholasville Rd on purpose. I am going to completely over look the fact I am hormonal and have a short fuse and bitch about why people can't be more courteous when they drive.

The first occurrence happened while I was driving to my chiropractor's appointment. Side note: I think he is a quack and is uber annoying. He thinks I actually care about all the workings in my back and spine. I would quit going completely but it feel so damn good to have your back cracked  Back to my story. I was stopped at a red light headed north and talking to Jeff on the phone. The turn light changed to green and the cars coming south bound who were turning started to go. Well guess what? There was a back up but the cars turning didn't seem to care. They just kept on coming. They blocked the whole intersection. My light then turns green and I can't go because these fuckers decided to run the red light. Well it pissed me off. So I did what any red blood person would do. I gunned it. Headed straight towards the car in front of me. Playing chicken with this lady if you will. It was move or get hit.

I won. She moved. After, Jeff and I were discussing who would have been at fault if I would have actually hit her. We decided it was probably going to be me, even though she DID run the light.

The second time was when I was leaving work. I was in my car with the car in reverse. There was a car stopped right behind my car in the drive path with 2 women standing there chatting and picking through a book of close. I give them a minute and then back our slowly, just a little bit- thinking maybe they didn't see my reverse lights. They both turned, looked at my car and then went back to picking through their clothes! Seriously? So again, I gunned it. In reverse. To let them know "Hey bitches, I am ready to leave!!!!"

I won. They moved.


Because of these incidents, I am going to end today's blog post with a clip of one of my all time favorite movies. If you have boobs, you probably already know whats coming!



http://youtu.be/57aoVRwRIjQ

I love Kathy Bates!

BakingFAIL

Do you ever just want something so bad, you willing to take the time to make it no matter what time it is and no matter how long it takes?

I get like that a lot when it comes to baked goods. I genuinely love baking. It relaxes me. I love creating the perfect cupcake and taking the time to frosting it with the right tip. I love creating caramel on the stove, evening out my cakes, layering them, icing them so no crumbs show through. I love when the things I bake not only turn out delicious but also are visually pleasing.

Baking is much, much different than cooking. I love cooking too. I love using fresh ingredients and making a meal from scratch my family will enjoy- but baking is something else entirely.

Last night (well really the last few days) I have had a craving for Tres Leches Cake. It is a Spanish 3 milk cake and is amazing. Dense cake which is soaked over night in a 3 milk sauce- I am getting hungry just thinking about it. The recipe I linked is my favorite because of the added recipe for Dulce de Leche (or sweet milk sauce). It is like the Spanish version of a caramel sauce.

Now, you can buy Dulce de Leche in the store and I am told by my Soul Sister it is decent but the recipe for it is so simple, I thought "why not just make it". After all, I had all the ingredients. It didn't even require anything more than a sauce pan, a wooden spoon and a blender.

I have tried to make this before, unsuccessfully. It would have been successful but I was impatient and didn't let it cook long enough so it remained very milky. Which was fine because I only had 2 of the 3 milks handy and I used the Dulce de Leche as the third milk.

This time I was determined to get it right. I measured out my ingrediants, put them in the pan and let it cook. Then I got distracted. Next thing I know I am running to the stove where my milk is boiling OVER the pan and Sophie is asking me "Whats wrong mommy?" as a let out muttered curses.

I cleaned up the mess and put the pot back on the burner to continue the cooking, stirring occasionally this time. After 50 minutes, it is still milk like. By this time it is time to get Sophie into bed. Given the state of Dulce de Leche I thought I had plenty of cook time ahead of me. I get Sophies PJ's on, we throw the bones for the dogs and before I read to her, I check on it once more. Still fine.

I finish bedtime and as I am walking out of Sophies door the smell hits me. I rush to the stove and there is my Dulce de Leche- completely burnt. I got to tell you, it hurt. All that time I spent cooking it and it was burnt bad- stinking up my whole house.

This is what it should have looked like. It didn't.

I sigh, scrap it into the garabe and resign myself to the fact I have to make and eat my Tres Leches Cake sans the warm caramel sauce. I go to get my ingrediants out and what do I find? I only have 1 eggs left. The recipe calls for 6.

Damn the cursed luck!

"I get my treat!!"

Conversations with my 2 year old are the best. The stuff that comes out of her mouth just has me rolling some times. I just laugh, shake my head and wonder where does she come up with these things.

Two happened this weekend I wanted to share.

First one:

Sophie: When my baby get here?

Me: She will be here for Christmas

Sophie: I sing Happy Birthday to her.

Me: I think she would love that.

Sophie: Then I eat cake.

This made me laugh because Sophie has no idea that will actually be the baby's birthday when she gets here. She just knows she likes to sing Happy Birthday and she usually gets cake afterwards.


The second:

Me: Sophie, do you know what Halloween is?

Sophie: What's that?

Me: It's were you get to dress up in a cool costume and you go knocking on peoples doors. You say "Trick-or-Treat" when they answer and they give you candy!

Sophie: I knock and say "I get my treat!!!!!"

She repeated this several times and even told Jeff, unprompted, that she knocks and says "I get my treat!" which I can only assume is her version of Trick-or-Treat.

For the record, I am trying to hype up Halloween in advance so I can hopefully get my way and pick out her costume myself. Thus saving myself from starting the "Princess Years" any earlier than I have to!

How does that thing go on?

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, Sophie announced SHE was going to put on her own diaper. Interested to see how exactly she was going to accomplish this I told her to go ahead.

Funniest thing I had seen in a long time. I wish I had my camera! It was this greatly awkward waddle dance she was doing in a circle while holding the diaper between her legs (sideways, might I add) and looking down at it like "What's next". I let her do it for a few minutes before she handed it back to me and said "You do it, Mommy"



Speaking of dancing: the dress battle is continuing. Sophie now can not, like physically impossible, for her to do the Hot Dog Dance with out a dress on. The minute the music starts, if she is still in her PJ's, she will run at me all frantic and say "Dress! Mommy!".

Recipe Review: Pina Colada Cupcakes

I found this great new blog. Ok, actually my co-worker found it and told me about it and I am hooked. It is a recipe blog called "Gina's Skinny Recipes" and I love it. All the recipes are simple and healthy and most important: delicious!


I have several meal ideas I want to try from her blog and will over the next few weeks but I did a cupcake recipe last night which turned out amazing. They were called "Pina Colada Cupcakes" and amazingly they were only 150 calories per cupcake!

They were also very, very easy to make. The cupcake part was so moist and wonderful I could have eat the entire batch straight out of the oven. The icing compliments the cupcakes wonderfully as well. My co-workers thoroughly enjoyed them and they were gone well before lunch time.

I am not going to post the recipe here because I don't want to step on Gina's toes but I did like the blog and the specific recipe above. I highly recommend you check them out!

I am also adding it to the favorite links over to the left hand side of my blog!

Oh, the Phases You'll Go

Two blog posts in one week? Damn, you all are lucky!! Just kidding, I just have more to say. Surprising- I know.

I really just want to vent about the 2 stages Sophie seems to be going through right now. I will start with the more serious of the 2.

Sleeping: you know when you are expecting that you will be forced to battle several sleep issues, many-a sleepless nights and all that jazz. What you may not realize, you will be battling sleep wars for YEARS. Yes, I said years! Once you think you have it down, your little bugger will change it up on you.

Now for the most part Sophie has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 months old. Jeff and I buckled down and did sleep training with her, it worked and 90% of the nights since then have been nice, uninterrupted, full nights rest.

Right now is one of those exception times. Sophie seems to be going through an "Afraid" phase. Jeff and I aren't sure of the cause but she almost gets panicked when she realizes it is time for bed. A lot of times, as soon as I get her from daycare she will start with the "I no go bed, right?" questions. It breaks my heart because I have NO idea how to calm these fears. She can't even verbalize completely what it is that scares her.

At first, she said it was "doggy's getting her" so we thought she had a bad dream about dogs. So before bed every night now we get on our knees and we stand at her door and throw bones down the hallway for the dogs to chase and tell them "get out of Sophie's room. She's trying to sleep!". And it worked too- for like 3 days. (I know you all want to see me throwing these bones too!)

Then one night she told Jeff she was scared of the dark. He got her a nightlight but she still didn't want him to leave her.

I hate that she can't get a full nights rest (last night she was up at around 3:30 again after a battle to get her to stay in bed without panicking at 8) but mostly I hate that I feel helpless to help her. I don't remember having those moments when she was an infant and it sucks now.




Her second phase is more of an annoyance than anything else. It's dresses. All the freaking time. Dresses. As soon as she gets up in the morning, she asks to put on a dress. This morning, while trying to get her ready for daycare, she didn't want to put on her bathing suit until I explained she could put her dress on over it. She immediately told me she didn't want to do water play at school. "I no get in water". Why doesn't my water bug want to play in the water- she doesn't want to take off her dress. Seriously. PJ's? Nope- she wants to sleep in her dress. All she ever wants is a dress on.

And it is DRIVING. ME. CRAZY! She has so many cute clothes. Little skirts, shorts, tops, and capris that I fear will never even touch her body because it isn't a dress. I am half tempted to hide ALL the dresses so she has to choose something else, but my luck she will just have a mental breakdown and then I will have a hysterical kid on my hands.

All over dresses.

Next summer- I'm not buying ANY dresses. Take that Sophie!

Mother's Intutition?

I thought for sure this baby was a boy. Like, 100% for sure this was a boy baby. No chance it was a girl. I even said to Jeff in the waiting room "I would be really surprised if I hear the word girl."

I attribute most of it to the drastic difference in my pregnancies. With Sophie, I was always hungry, had terrible hair, acne all over my chin and the weight gain was EVERYWHERE! This time my skin is clear, I have energy, my hair looks good and I have only gained 6 pounds thus far. Hell, as I am typing this I am wearing a regular pair of pre-pregnancy pants- regular button fly and all.

I even had Jeff convinced (although he didn't admit it until after the ultrasound) it was a boy. I just KNEW!

Well, turns out my Mother's Intuition sucks because was indeed not a boy. It was very clearly a little girl on the screen! I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. Crazy- 2 little girls. I can see it though. I totally feel like I am the mom of girls. I already like saying "My girls....". I think a part of me was hoping for another pink bundle. Mostly because Sophie has some damn cute clothes I packed away.

I remember, every time I would pack up the clothes she no longer fit in or were out of season, I got sad knowing I might never get to see those clothes again. Now, I am thrilled to pull out that 0-3 month bin and go through all the cute onesies and sleepers Sophie wore!

I think Sophie is happy too. We showed her the picture and she told the picture "I love you" and kissed it. She also didn't want to give it up so I am going to get a cheap frame so she can keep them in her room for now.

So after the excitement of the day started to wind down, reality set in. We are having a girl.

Now we actually have to name her. Shit!

Pregnancy Cravings or Indulgence

I think I have mentioned before that I am part of an online community for mothers.Now that I am pregnant again I am on a board with other expecting mothers. I frequently see posts about cravings and "must be pregnant because I am eating XYZ"

I always have the same question: is it really a "craving" or is it an indulgence? I, being pregnant, do understand cravings. They come on strong and you just think it sounds so good! I had one not to long ago which Jeff won't let me live down: Pickles and spray cheese. Yes, together.

NOTE: I did not indulge this craving. It was too weird, even for pregnancy.

I also see a lot of woman say things like "I won't deny a craving" and it leads me to the same place.

What is a craving and what is an indulgence? Cake for breakfast: indulgence. Pickles and Ice Cream: Craving.

Maybe it is just me or maybe it is just me THIS time around but I couldn't imagine giving into to every little thing I want to eat. Been there, done that (remember the "Milkshake Month"? with Sophie? I do).

There really is no point to this post. It just amuses me that pregnant women seem to have this mentality of "It's a craving and therefore ok to eat" instead of calling a spade a spade and saying "I love BBQ potato chips so I am going to use my pregnancy as an excuse to eat the whole bag in one sitting".



And no- I didn't eat the whole bag in one sitting, I spanned it out to about a week.

A Compilation of Conversations

There are many things they don't tell you when you become a parent. One is that you will never go to the bathroom alone again.

Sophie: Mommy, what doing?

Me: Mommy's using the potty.

Sophie: Me see! (as she tries to lift my butt off the toilet)

Sophie: Good job, Mommy! Big girl! (She also tells Jeff he is a "Big Girl" when he goes)

Sophie: You need toilet paper? (and I either get the whole roll or one piece)
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Sophie: I watch MICKEY!!!!

Sophie: MOMMY- HOTDOG! (as in the hotdog dance from Mickey)

Sophie: Haw Hu hu hu hu! (Laughing like Goofy)
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In reference to food:

"Me no want this"

"Mmm, mmm good!"

"My belly HAPPY!"

"Me want ice cream!"

"Me want beefy jerky!"

"My have gummy?"

"Tweet? Tweet? TWEET??"
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Me to Sophie: GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!!! (in reference to chalk, sand, crayons, cat food, dog food and whatever else you can think of.

Repeated constantly through out the day.
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And one with Jeff for fun:

Jeff: How did you fix the lights in the bathroom? (looking very amazed, might I add)

Erin: (looking confused) What do you mean? I changed the bulbs.

Jeff: Oh

Vacation!

You look forward to it for week. Create count downs, make lists of things you need, create more count downs, tell everyone you know exactly when you are leaving, inform you co-workers you will be unavailable, you buy and buy and buy stuff you will "need" and then just like that it is gone.

Poof!

Vacations are always too too short. As soon as you get there, you have to leave and it is back to the daily grind.

This year we went to Indian Rocks Beach with my parents and my sister, Kelsey. It was heaven. I just wish my other sister, Tara, and her husband could have joined us. We did a whole lot of nothing while there. Well that isn't entirely true but we did do a lot of laying in the sand and staring into the ocean.

I was a little worried about how little miss independent would do but she was great. Every day. We had less tantrums in Florida in an entire week than we usually do in one weekend. I am sure a huge part of this was the sun, sand and surf wiped her energy out every day. She was a total beach bum. She dug her toes right in and said on several occasions she wanted to live at the beach.

Unfortunately, she didn't sleep in much. Up at 7:30 almost every morning but surprisingly it wasn't hard for me to get up with her. Normally, I am groggy and just want another hour of sleep but I found myself wide eyes most mornings too. That was nice. 

Another plus was she slept well while there. The last time we went to Indian Rocks Beach, Sophie was 4 months and did not sleep. Like at all. It was rough. So I think Jeff and I were both  holding our breath to see how this time would go. Well we ended up in the room with the 2 full beds so Sophie got her own bed (except when I would fall asleep with her) and she slept like a dream.

She also was ready for the beach the first thing every morning. She would wait for Papa to come back from his walk and when he started getting ready for the beach, she would ask to go to the beach too. So she went down early with him every morning and we met them down there a little later.

She was also great at dinner each night. Another "hold your breath" moment for Jeff and I. Our last vacation didn't go like that so it was nice to have a toddler who sat in her seat (for the most part) throughout dinner, ate well and generally behaved.

Ok enough bragging on my kid. Let me fill you in on the other stuff we did.

We got down on Saturday morning after driving all night. Jeff was exhausted and after we unloaded the car and got breakfast he took a nap. I went to the beach with Sophie and the rest of the family and promptly passed out on the beach as well. Now if you ask my mom she will tell you I passed out without any regard for my child. She exaggerates, in case you didn't know. She took Sophie to the pool so I knew I was good.

Well in my rush to get Sophie to the beach (she was whiney after sleeping in the car all night long) I only half-assed my SPF. Here is a word of advice for all your pasty people like me- don't use the spray SPF at the beach and DON'T apply it while outside. I also had no concept of time and how long I was asleep and didn't re-apply. I burned. Bad. I looked like a stripped Zebra.

Sunday, Jeff took my dad and Sophie to meet his brother, Joe, who gave them a tour of the Bucs stadium. They loved it, as most football people would. Then Joe came over to the beach and hung out with us for the rest of the day. GREAT to see him.

Monday was a beach day. It was also the day my soul sister, Natalie, and her family were coming to visit. They were driving in and we expected them in the afternoon. I kept waiting and waiting. Where the heck where you, Natalie? My mom and Jeff started teasing me about my imaginary friend but she did make it and we had a great time with her, Hal and Ella. Sophie and Ella are the same age (born only a few days apart) and totally hit it off! They stayed the next day too and we went to dinner with them Monday and Tuesday night.

Wednesday- beach day! We didn't nothing. We even ate in. I don't think any of us even showered. Lazy us!

Thursday, Mom kept Sophie and Dad, Kels, Jeff and I went deep sea fishing. Last year I LOVED this. Mainly because I whipped everyone but Tara's husband, Robbie in fish caught. This year I didn't have as much lucky but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the ride out too. Boats are so relaxing. Here is a shoot of Jeff on our Deep Sea Fishing trip.

He was sleepy

The next few days were just lounge days. We played in the sand, in the water, read, drank (well they did, I didn't) and had a great time.

Thursday, we went to dinner with my dad and mom's friend from 25 years ago. They re-connected on Facebook and we all had dinner together. I got to meet their daughter which was cool. Got to love Facebook!

Friday night, we got to meet up with a friend on mine from High School, Patti. Her and her husband came up and we went to dinner together. It was great to see them and I wish we could see them more (read- I wish we could move to Florida!)

We had to leave on Saturday and made the decision not to drive over night. We decided to chance driving during the day while Sophie was awake. Let me tell you- my kid is amazing. She was perfect for 99% of the trip. The last hour was the only hairy hour but we were all just cranky from being in the car and being tired. The portable DVD was a LIFE SAVER!!! She watched movies all day. She snacked and just just better than we could have even asked.

Over all it was a fantastic trip! We got to see so many friends and family, had wonderful weather, ate a ton of amazing food. I wish I could go back!

Hey People! Stop Stealing My Money!

I have posted before about my kids stellar imagination. Talking to imaginary people, Tinkerbell who sits on her shoulder, pretending to make coffee drinks for Jeff and I- all things she does on her own and I love this about her.

This weekend she had me cracking up at what she came up with. Monday, Sophie and I were lounging poolside. Ok so we were really lounging baby pool side on our back deck, but who cares! It was hot. Really hot. So hot I even got all the way in the baby pool (A sight I am sure you wanted to imagine- your welcome). Because of this, I let Sophie eat 2 Popsicle. Now, if you know me and Jeff you know we watch how much sugar/treats we let Sophie have. Jeff and I aren't big on keeping sweets in the house so we see no need to let Sophie have them a lot. So getting to eat not 1 but 2 popcicles in a row was a BIG deal.

So maybe she was tripping out on sugar, maybe she really sees these people she talks to- who knows- but without warning, she stop playing with her sand (pink sand, which she rubbed ALL over her belly and legs) turned to the back door and yelled

"Hey People! That's MY money. Leave MY money alone"

She continued to talk about HER money the rest of the night and even went so far as to find her change purse and carry it around with it. At one point, she gave me some of her money- but then she took it back.

Big Girl Beds

Some of you may have seen on Facebook that Jeff and I have recently moved Sophie to her big girl bed. We made sure to make the proper big deal out of this to make sure she knew this was HUGE! And she loves it. It has been about 2 weeks since we made the move and she has yet to get out of her big girl bed in the middle of the night.

On top of that, our bedtime routine is so much faster. She lays down, we read a story, then it is kisses and hugs, a quick tuck in and out the door. The first few days, she would lay in there and call out to us. She wouldn't get up and she wouldn't cry. She would just yell "Momma! Daddy!"

But now- oh now! Now, she is completely quiet. She knows when we leave it is sleepy time and she just drifts off.

Oh and she has only fallen out of bed the fist night.

An added bonus I was not counting on- she won't get out of bed in the mornings until we go in and tell her she can get up. LOVE! Jeff tried to explain to her that she could get up in the mornings and play with her toys, thinking we might get a little extra sleep that way. But to me the 15 minutes we would get (maybe get) wouldn't be worth the risk that she would get up at 5 and think she could get up for the day. I quickly pointed out the err in his ways. So we are letting it go as she needs us to tell her she can get out of bed. Score!

Oh course, one issue this did bring up is where she would sleep when we visit my parents. I highly doubted she would go back to the crib all night so we tried putting the crib mattress on the floor in the guest room. Well the ended up with her sleeping in the big bed with me. Not fun. I am pretty sure it was the worst night of sleep I have had in a LONG time. I am also convinced that Sprout is going to come out with indention's in his head and bruises on his body from how much Sophie kicked him during our night together. She also liked to bury her head in my armpit to sleep. Fun!

One bonus of the night before I go- she woke up at 7am (her normal time) and told me she had to pee. It was still dark thanks to the thunderstorm so I told her we could go pee and then we had to come back to bed because it was still night time. The little bugger feel back asleep until close to 9!