Kindermusik

This week Sophie attended a Kindermusik camp, Zoo Train.

At camp, we did a lot of singing, dancing, moving around and playing. Well, I should say that I did a lot of that. Sophie did a little bit of dancing, lots of moving around the room, and a ton of playing with her hair (it is a security thing for her I have decided. She constantly does this.) Sophie was more interested in doing her own thing than following along in class. It was pretty entertaining to me to see what she would do next. She usually started out class in the middle of the circle (while most of the other kids were standing with their moms), playing with her hair and looking at everyone else. When we sang good morning to everyone, I would pull her back to sit on my lap. As we sang, we would do different actions to the kids, such as waving or rocking. When I would do this, Sophie would stop playing with her hair long enough to grab my hand and say, "Mommy, no!" I think I was embarrassing her! Already a teenager... After that, she would get up for more time in the middle of the circle. She would edge towards some mom/child combo and stare them down or start 'talking' to them. (I was told many times that she was so social and friendly.) Then she would run over to me so that I would hold her. My favorite thing to watch Sophie do was when she would sit down on Ms. Cindy's pillow. Once Ms. Cindy would get up, Sophie would find her way over to the pillow and sit down, a big grin on her face. Today she down on it while Ms. Cindy was still on it, which put a big smile on Ms. Cindy's face.

Sophie really liked playing with the different instruments and materials. She didn't usually do what everyone else in class was doing with them, but that is okay. She had fun doing her own thing. She played with shakers, bells, scarves, hoops, noise makers, drums, and so on. Whenever Ms. Cindy would pull out a tub of materials, Sophie would scurry over to her so that she could get one. She was always one of the first kids to get something, as well as one of the first to put them away.
Sophie's favorite part about Kindermusik had to be the stamps that they got at the end of class. She would follow Ms. Cindy around, sticking out her hand or foot so that it could be stamped. Sophie would stare with confusion, wondering why she was being ignored. When it was finally her turn, Sophie would excitedly hold out her feet to get stamped and then her hands. Kids only get two stamps at a time though, so Sophie had to wait until every had two stamps so that she could get more. So yet again, she would follow Ms. Cindy around the room.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

We were given a craft each day to do at home. This really means that I cut out and put together the craft and Sophie played with them.

Day 1 - Sophie helped tape the arms and legs on the monkey. We hung  it up in her room. Each morning when I get her up, she points to it and says, "ooohhh ohhhh eeeee  eeee" (her monkey noises).

Day 2 - We tried stamping Sophie's fingerprints on the giraffe. It didn't work out that well, but  that is okay.

Day 2

Day 3 - Sophie loves lions, so she roars whenever she plays with this. 

Day 3 - This one was probably her favorite craft. She has played with it each day.

Day 4 - So this is supposed to be a penguin. I was supposed to trace one of my hands and both of hers to create it. It didn't turn out so well. Sophie immediately tore it apart, so I guess she didn't like it either. 

Day 5 - homemade play dough (Sophie requested that I make it purple.)

Day 5 - We were supposed to make animal shapes with the play dough,  so I guess this is a snake. (There, we followed directions.)

Sophie liked playing with this. She did not enjoy eating it though. As soon as I gave it to her, she  bent over and bit off a piece. She looked pretty disgusted. 

All in all I think Sophie enjoyed her time with Kindermusik. I'm not sure if it is something we would do again (I'm not the 'Mommy and Me' type), but I'm glad that she was able to have this experience. Now I just wish I could get the songs out of my head!

 ♩ ♪ Everyone sing hooray, hooray! We're going to the zoo today... ♩ ♪

Sixteen

Tooth number 16, the upper right canine, has finally started to poke through Sophie's gum. This is the third tooth to appear this month. I think her poor gums need a break!

Sophie

After yesterday's scary experience, I need to put something cute on here to brighten the mood. This is how Sophie says her name:

A Seriously Scary Situation

This morning, Sophie and I joined our friends at the Aquarium at the Levee. Sophie loved seeing all of the sea creatures and enjoyed looking at each of the exhibits. She especially loved spending time with her friend, Lucy. It always warms my heart to see the two of them together.

Sophie wanted me to sit next to her...right in some water.

Happier times. Little did we know about the stressful situation we were about to be put through.

This 'bubble' scared Sophie a little. She didn't like that she couldn't reach out and touch the end right away. I tried to put her in there further so she could feel it, but she clung to me instead. 

After we parted ways with our friends, Sophie and I were going to go to Barnes and Nobles. I became distracted by a phone call though, so we just did a quick walk around outside instead. I knew Sophie was getting tired, so I decided we should grab some lunch to go from Tom + Chee. Had I known the trouble that we would get into later, we would have dined in.

When we got to my car in the underground parking garage, I remembered that the car next to me was angled toward my car (and mine a little toward their car), which made it difficult to get Sophie out of her car seat. Not wanting to hit their car with my door, we entered my car from the other door (driver side). When we climbed in, I figured that we should go ahead and eat our lunch in the back seat. I knew Sophie would fall asleep on the way home, so I wanted her to go ahead and eat so she wouldn't have a super late lunch. (Again, we should have just dined in at Tom + Chee. Stupid me.) So, we ate our sandwich and drank our lemonade in the back. Sophie started playing around with my keys (a favorite toy to her) when she finished eating. I threw them in the front seat to keep them out of her reach.

Once lunch was finished, I buckled her into her car seat, made sure she had her blanket and pacifier and then got out of the car. I shut the door so that I could get to the driver's door. I pulled on the handle and realized that it was locked. I sighed, figuring that Sophie must have locked the doors when she was playing with my keys. I tried to get into the back seat door that I just closed. Nope, that was locked, too. So were all of the other doors. My daughter was locked in the car! I circled the car a few more times, trying each door as if they would magically unlock. Then I tried banging one of the windows with the palm of my hand. I forgot that I am not the Incredible Hulk and couldn't bust a window with my hand. That didn't work. I started to panic. Sophie was just watching me from her seat, no panic from her. As I circled the car a few more times, I started to run through a list in my head of what to do:
#1- Is there anyone who can help nearby? There were no Levee workers around to ask for help and I was NOT going to leave my kid to find someone.
#2 - I could call AAA. I didn't have the number (nor did I want to waste time looking it up). Plus, it would probably take them an hour to get there.
#3 - I could call my mom and ask her to bring me a spare key. With all of the construction that is going on in our area, it would  have probably also taken her an hour to get to us.
#4 - Call the Levee and have someone come down to help us. I didn't have a number to call and didn't want to waste time looking it up.
#5 - Call 911. Duh. Of course that is what I should do. I should have called them in the first place. At least I ruled all of those other choices out in less than a minute.

I pulled out my cell phone and called 911. I've never done that before. That scared me even more. When the  dispatcher answered, she told me that she was in Cincinnati and would have to transfer me to Newport (ack!  Why couldn't all that fancy phone technology send me to the correct dispatch center? And why didn't the Cincinnati dispatcher know what county Newport is in and have to ask me? It is just across the river and it is a decent sized city.) It only took about 30 seconds to get transferred to the correct dispatch center, but it was 30 seconds of agony (and enough time to start falling apart)When I finally talked to the dispatcher, he quickly took my information and told me that help would be there quickly. (I asked him to just send down a Levee worker to smash my window and he told me no.) Sure enough, three minutes later (as I was on the phone with Joe, letting him know what happened) I was joined by a police officer and two Levee workers. Not being alone helped to calm me down a little. Three minutes after that another police officer came. He told me that a locksmith was on the way. (Interesting fact - My brother-in-law, Sophie's Godfather, is a dispatcher at the center that I called. I didn't talk to him on the phone, but it was him who called Newport police and the locksmith.) Sophie was still sitting peacefully in her car seat, looking out at all of us who were outside peeping in on her. (This surprised me, as normally she hates being in her car seat.) As we waited, I kept telling myself (and the others because talking aloud helped me not go completely crazy) that she was fine and would be fine. I ran through the list of reasons: she had a decent amount to drink when we had lunch in the car so I knew she was hydrated; the car was underground and not in the sun; even though the car was a little stuffy, it wasn't hot and I had aired it out while we ate lunch; help was on the way and she would be out in no time.

The locksmith arrived about 10 minutes later. It took him a few minutes to work his magic (He had a hard time pushing the button in my car to unlock the doors. He tried it both ways but it wasn't wanting to unlock for him. He had me over by the door so I could tell him which direction to push the button to unlock the door, but in my panicked state I had no idea. Some help I am.), but he finally got my door unlocked. I started crying again (tears of relief) and rushed over to open Sophie's door. She was a little sweaty (partially because of her super warm blanket that she has been attached to lately, and partially from the stuffiness of the car), but otherwise she was fine. She immediately held her arms out and demanded to get out of the car. I held her in my arms, bid farewell to all of our helpers/saviors, and then sobbed. She kept wiping at the tears on my face and saying, "No cry. Okay." I tried covering my face with my free hand so she didn't have to see my cry, but she kept pushing my hand away and repeating, "Okay." God, what a remarkable kid I have. She was locked in a car and instead of her crying hysterically, she comforts me!

When I calmed down a little, I strapped her back into her car seat (I placed the keys on the roof of my car while I was doing this so there was no possible way I could lock them in again), gave her some water (she refused to drink it, so I left it for her) got into the car, sent Joe a text to say that we were okay, and drove home. She fell asleep during the ride.

When we got home, I tried laying her down in her crib to sleep some more. She was awake by then though and didn't want to be alone in bed. I don't blame her. We rocked in her chair for a few minutes, her head on my shoulder, before she slithered off my lap and wanted to play. Sophie was happy as could be, playing, listening to stories, snacking, drinking milk, and eating popsicles. I would ask her if she was okay and she would give me this look (it might be my imagination, but it seemed like an exasperated one) and tell me, "Okay." She really was fine. I on the other hand was still shaking, even two hours later. Still, she wouldn't let me out of her sight (and vice versa). We needed to be right by each other at all times. Finally around 3:30, we both fell asleep on the couch. She slept curled up on my lap, something she only does when she is sick. We ended up sleeping there for two and a half hours.

I keep playing the whole situation over in my head. It is a horrible nightmare come true. Still, there are so many things that I am thankful for. #1 - The whole situation only lasted 20 minutes. #2 - We were in an underground parking garage instead of outside in the heat. #3 - We were parked on level P1, so I was close enough to ground level where I still had a phone signal. I probably wouldn't have been so lucky if we were another level down. (And thank goodness I am with Verizon now. I never had any luck with getting a signal in that garage with T-Mobile.) #4 - We had just finished eating and drinking, so those basic needs of Sophie's were met. #5 - Everyone responded to the situation very quickly.  Again, it only lasted 20 minutes. That is pretty darn quick if you ask me. #6 - My car wasn't hot. #7 - I had my cell phone in my pocket. Some days I have it in the diaper bag (which was also locked in the car). I remember while we were eating in the car that I felt myself sitting on it. I contemplated taking it out and throwing it in the front seat with the keys, but decided against it. # 8 - Sophie wasn't scared and crying and didn't seem to know what was going on. She only realized something was wrong when she saw me crying. #9 - Sophie is okay. I know that God was really looking out for Sophie today. I am so, so thankful.

I am so angry at myself. Still, I am grateful that Sophie is okay and didn't seem to know that anything was really wrong. I love that little girl so much. I don't think I will ever be able to forget this situation.

Happy as can be at home.

Not a care in the world.

We were pretty much attached to the hip when we got home.

More Summer Fun

So far I think our "Summer of Fun" has been going well. We've done a few different things.

Tuesday we went to Story Time at a bookstore. Sophie liked watching the other kids, as well as listening to the story and hearing the songs. After that, we took lunch over to my sister-in-law. Sophie was able to meet her new cousin, Joshua. She was very curious about him and kept watching him. She did not like it when he cried and had a very concerned look on her face. After we finished eating lunch, we found Sophie in Joshua's little vibrating chair. Apparently she missed being a baby. It is a good thing that she is small and didn't break it. After that, we went over to my parent's house. Sophie ended up spending the night, which she loved.

When Sophie goes 'swimming' (aka walking around in her suit and maybe putting her feet in the water), she has to carry around this bucket of sidewalk chalk.

Friday we went to visit my friends at the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Sophie was shy at first and didn't want to leave my side. When their dog came over though, she perked up. She wanted the dog in her sight at all times. It was fun to see Devlin, the boy that I used to baby sit when he was a baby-he is now 9, and Sophie interact. He would bring toys over for her to look at and sang songs and danced to entertain her. It was very sweet. 

Saturday we went to a festival with two friends of ours. Her favorite thing was probably the duck race. She loved watching them speed through the water. When they were put back in the starting gate, she would look around and ask, "Where ducks go?" She also enjoyed playing with our losing pull tabs. She would pile them all on her stroller and reach out for more. She finally started picking them up off of the ground. Gross, but what can you do (other than clean her hands). Sophie had a good time and that is all that matters. 

Today we went to Totter's Otterville. There were so many different activities and stations. Sophie enjoyed trying out everything. She liked it best when the rooms were empty. Then she felt free to move around and try everything out. When there were other kids in there, she seemed more timid. She would study the other kids and watch what they were doing. It would take her a few minutes to warm up and really start playing. There were times when she would try to play with the other kids, but they were either too old and didn't want to play with a baby, they were territorial, or they were young (and giant...seriously, these kids seemed so BIG to me! Giant kids with baby faces.) and didn't know how to play with others (or weren't developmentally there yet). Oh well. Like I said, Sophie was happy to play on her own. Her favorite stations were the soft room, the train tables, and the pretend rooms. It was so nice seeing her explore and try out new things. 

Coloring in a "big girl" chair.

I think she loved  the pretend stations the best. She spent a good 20 minutes playing with the play food, strollers and baby dolls. 

My future dancer. 

I can't wait to take Sophie on more adventures. I think we are going to have an amazing summer. 

Click below for more pictures from Totter's Otterville.

Ignore the poor quality of these photos. I took them quickly with my phone's camera.

Picking flowers

Sophie stopped playing to ask me for milk. I happily obliged. 

There were 8 strollers in one of the rooms. Sophie brought every single one out into the main area. 

This was pretty cool. You would pop a foam block into the hole....

...and when you pushed this button the conveyor belt would move the blocks along. 

5 seconds after I took this picture, she banged on the glass. 

Sophie and her balloon dog.

Fifteen

Tooth #15 is here. This is the lower right canine. Now we are just waiting on that upper right canine to make its appearance.

Vacation Begins!

Today has officially started vacation for Sophie and me! I still have sporadic meetings, but school is over! I have been dreaming about this day for a long time. I am glad that it is finally here!

This summer is going to be very different from last summer. Last summer I was afraid to take Sophie outside for long. It was hot and she still wasn't drinking well during the day. I was so afraid that she was going to dehydrate! So instead of doing fun activities like going to the zoo, the park or walks in the stroller, we mostly stayed inside a house or did quick 20 minute outdoor visits.  (A little crazy and overprotective, I know, but it was a very valid concern for a mother of a child who only drank about 14- 16 oz a day and didn't eat much table food.) I promised myself (and Sophie) that this summer would be much more fun and entertaining.

Today on our first outing, Sophie and I went to the zoo. She enjoyed it just as much as she did the last time. We went to see all of the cats first and it thrilled her to no end. We probably could have stayed there all day and she would have been happy. We saw the monkeys next, which also excited Sophie. Later on we met up with a co-worker of mine and her family. After a few hours of walking around, we decided to go home. Sophie fell asleep right away.

I think that Sophie had a great time today. I know that I did!

Beth shared her Cheetos with Sophie. I'm pretty sure that she ate half of the bag. 

I kept making the poor kid pose for pictures.

So in the background of this picture are my sister and brother-in-law.  I had no idea that they were at the zoo until I was going through all of my pictures! They were entering the zoo as we were leaving. 

The flowers were so pretty. I just couldn't help taking a bunch of pictures of Sophie with them. 

Fourteen

Tooth number 14 has pushed through finally! This one is her upper left canine. Her lower left canine is almost here, too. My poor girl has been in some pain, especially at night. Still, she only wakes up once or twice and then quickly goes back to sleep. Thank goodness for that!
I hope the rest of her canines come in quickly (and as pain-free as possible!)

It Starts...

I've been tired for two weeks straight and last week I was super emotional. I took a pregnancy test a week ago, but it was negative. Still, I was so tired and really I took the test 4 days before my period was due so it could have been wrong. Despite my previous negative test, I was so sure that I was pregnant. Two weeks ago I announced this to Joe and I have believed it ever since. I took another one three days after the first one I took. Negative. I couldn't believe it! I was having symptoms of pregnancy (excessively tired, emotional, a little queasy, constant urge to pee, 'dog nose', and my old 'pregnancy mask' on my cheeks was brightening), so why was my test showing up negative? I realized that I would have to accept that I wasn't pregnant. Sad. Those pregnancy symptoms stuck around though.

Today, I couldn't shake how tired I was. I was so grateful when Sophie laid down for a nap. She and I both ended up sleeping for 2 hours. It was heavenly. After I woke up though, I started to worry that something was really wrong with me. If I wasn't pregnant then why didn't I have any energy? It just didn't make sense. I decided to try one more pregnancy test just to make sure I wasn't pregnant. If it came back negative, I was going to schedule a doctor's appointment. So for the third time in a week, I took a pregnancy test (Yeah, yeah...3 times is excessive). This time though, it announced that I was in fact PREGNANT! I was right all along!

I couldn't wait to tell Joe. I went downstairs and saw that he and Sophie were playing with a small family photo album I made for her. It had pictures of all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Seeing it made me smile, because it gave me the perfect opening to tell them that I am pregnant. I mentioned to him that there was one free page in there for us to put a picture of our newest nephew, who was born yesterday, in there. He agreed. Then I said that we would need to free up another space for Sophie's brother or sister. Joe just smiled at me, not quite understanding. That smile grew even bigger though when I held up the positive pregnancy test. Sophie was excited, too, but only because she thought the stick was a toy to play with. Um, no...gross.

I am so excited about this baby, but nervous as well. Sophie had a two-vessel umbilical cord and ended up being IUGR, which led to a bunch of issues. In January, I became pregnant with baby number two. After bleeding for 2 weeks, I had a miscarriage at the end of January. They say that the third time's a charm though. I hope that is true. I don't think that I could emotionally handle another miscarriage. Still, this pregnancy is already starting out different than my second one. With my second pregnancy, I was spotting right away and I just knew in my gut that I wouldn't get to meet that baby. Right now my gut is telling me that this baby will make it. (It is also saying that I will have another daughter, so we'll have to see about that one.)

Thank you, Lord, for giving me another baby. I promise that I will love him or her with all of my heart and be the best mom that I can. Little baby, I can't wait to meet you!

My predictions: 
Gender - girl
Birthday - January 30, 2013
Weight - 6 lb 8 oz
Length - 19.5 inches
Lots of hair

I Can Still Remember...

Sophie is no longer the baby of the family anymore. Today we welcomed baby Joshua! Joe and I couldn't wait to meet him, so this evening we took Sophie with us to the hospital. We each took turns sitting in the waiting room with Sophie so that the other person could meet Joshua. He is healthy and just perfect! I'm pretty sure I could have snuggled him all day long if given the chance. It only took one look to fall in love. He is simply adorable.

Kathy and Joshua 

It was strange being in that hospital, all three of us, again. This is the hospital where Sophie was born and spent her first eight days of life. Our little family goes to the hospital often for specialist appointments, but we always go to Children's Hospital and not the one where Sophie was born. Sophie and I went back to this hospital a few times when I was still on maternity leave so that she could be weighed, but Joe was never with us. It felt a little surreal walking with Sophie down the halls that Joe and I used to speed through so we could visit her when she was in the Special Care Nursery. Everything is different there now (the floor was under construction when I had Sophie), but it still brought memories flooding back. The strongest memory came to me as we were leaving. Joe was holding Sophie and he was in the same spot where I had him pose with Sophie in her car seat the day we finally got to take her home from the hospital. It was a little overwhelming. Of course, I made them pose for another picture. She isn't in her car seat this time, but it is amazing how much of a difference 21 months makes!

I am so glad that baby Joshua is here and healthy, and that my Sophie is healthy, too. God is really looking over our family.