23 Months

One more month until my girl turns 2! I can't wait!

Sophie is at such a fun age right now. She has such a big personality and never fails to make us laugh. Her vocabulary keeps growing and I can't get over how smart she is. I get so impressed at the words/directions that she understands and the things that she remembers. She is like a little sponge, absorbing everything. I also love how helpful she is. She puts toys away (for the most part) when she is asked, will throw trash away, go get items for me, take my hand and direct me to what she wants, etc. Nice! This girl just amazes me. I love her so much.

When I took Sophie to the doctor's for her finger last week (click here for the story), she weighed 16 lb 4 oz. She hasn't even gained 3 pounds this year. Geez! Still, Joe and I have decided not to worry about her weight anymore (we've said this before, but really mean it this time). No more tests being run, no more GI visits, no more agonizing over each ounce. As long as Sophie is healthy, active and eating and drinking, we are satisfied and will let her do her own thing. However, if any of those things change, we will go right back to the doctors for help. I discussed this with Sophie's nurse case manager from Humana (the awesome Tonya, who helped me a lot when we had tests to be approved for and feeding tube supplies to deal with) and she agreed with our decision. I have to say, it is very freeing to let go of the worry over her weight. She is going to be small and that is just fine with us.

We went on vacation earlier this month to Coldwater Lake, Michigan. We used to always go when I was little, so I love being able to share the lake with Sophie. Last year when we went, Sophie had her first ear infection. Her fevers were so high and she was miserable. Luckily we didn't have that problem this year. Sophie was in good health (minus a little heat rash) and she had so much fun! She loved the water and was not afraid to walk right in and sit down and play in it. (The lake water was actually pretty darn warm and it is really shallow. We would go 1/3 of the way across the lake and it would still only be up to our waist). Sophie especially loved playing with her cousin all week long.  The girls had so much fun together. Sophie even started to like 'Aunt Beba' again (she was bribed by an unlimited amount of popsicles).

Sophie still isn't that interested in potty training. She has peed on the potty a few more times, but it very random. She can tell us when she poops but doesn't want to do it on the potty. A few weeks ago I saw that she was starting to poop (leaned up again the couch with her head down). I asked her if she wanted to poop on the potty and she looked up at me and yelled, "NO!" before putting her head back down. That is okay. There is no big rush to get her trained. Besides, I still can't find any underwear small enough for her.

Sophie has started to drink out of  a cup this month. She doesn't use one all of the time, but she is getting good practice. We've had a few spills on the floor and dribbles down her shirt, but she has done surprisingly well. Sophie is pretty specific about what she will drink out of certain containers. She will only drink milk out of a bottle. She will only drink water out of sippy cups. She will only drink juice out of juice pouches. For cups though, she will drink water or lemonade. As soon as she sees me get lemonade out of the fridge, she will say, "Want some!" We'll sit and drink our lemonade together, giving obnoxious lip smacks and 'ahhhh's after each drink. Oh, how I love Sophie.

Ahhhhh

Enjoy some pictures from this month after the jump:

I was going to try breaking her pacifier habit after we came back from vacation. Then the finger incident happened and I just couldn't bring myself to take away her comfort object when she is in pain. 

Walking with the cousins

Popcorn party!

Going for a morning walk at the lake. 

Swim diapers and bathing suits are fine and all, but a plain old diaper works just as well.

Kaci's shadow

This little fisherman statue was one the shore at our cottage. Sophie  loved him, cobwebs and  all.

After playing in a dirt pile.

Touching the fish Kaci caught. (Kaci was a fishing master!)

Watching Mickey Mouse. Interesting seating choice, Sophie.

Stuck!

Last week, Sophie got her finger stuck in our shower drain. So scary. Sophie really likes taking showers (a treat she doesn't get often and probably won't get for a long time now) with me. Since we both needed clean hair and Joe was going to the Reds game, I figured we might as well kill two birds with one stone. She was so excited and was trying to get her clothes off as she walked to our bathroom. So we got in the shower and she made me sit on the floor with her. We shampooed our hair and I stood up to get the hand held shower head down so we could rise. As soon as I stood up I heard a frantic, "STUCK! STUCK!" I look down and she had moved to the middle of the shower, right above the drain. Now, Sophie often thinks things are stuck on her, like her shoes, so I wasn't thinking it was anything serious at first. I grabbed her little hand and gave a small tug and sure enough, she was stuck. I felt sick to my stomach and panicked. I turned off the water and tried to think of what to do. Go get a screwdriver to unscrew the drain? Seriously, that was my first thought. I didn't think about the bottle of shampoo right next to her that could lube up her finger. (And what if I did get that screwdriver? Her finger would have still been stuck. Geez.) I just couldn't think straight. I went to try pulling out her finger again and I had no luck. Obviously I wasn't pulling hard enough, because my little She-Ra pulled her finger out on her own. I was so relieved that her finger was out until her cries of, "Stuck!" turned into a howl of agony. I looked at her newly released finger and saw it covered with blood. I grabbed her and took her over to the bathroom sink to wash off the blood so I could see the wound more clearly. It just kept bleeding and I couldn't gauge how bad things were. At this point Sophie is screaming so loud and shaking so hard that I started to panic even more. I looked around the bathroom to find something to wrap her finger up with. I had nothing but big bath towels, but I finally found a bandanna under the sink (a clean one for my hair). I wrapped her finger up, squeezed my hand around it and tried calling Joe. I knew that he would know what I should do (and he would have been able to calm me down), but there was no answer. I tried three more times, but apparently his phone didn't have reception or something. Then I try our pediatrician's office to talk to the on call doctor. I left a message for them explaining the situation and tried Joe again. Nothing. At this point I am a wreck and just don't know what to do. I wasn't sure if Sophie needed stitches or what. I kept thinking that I needed to take her to the ER; I really didn't know how bad things were and I wanted to play it safe. All I knew was there was a lot of blood and she was screaming and shaking with pain. I wasn't sure about how to actually get her to the hospital. I doubted she would let me strap her into her car seat. Even if she did, I wasn't sure how I was going to drive while still holding her finger to put pressure on it. Again, I am not thinking clearly. I completely didn't think about any of the medical supplies we have, including tape to wrap up her finger. *sigh* I didn't know what else to do, so for the second time in my life, and the second time this summer, I called 911 (the first was when Sophie was locked in the car.) The dispatcher said that they would an ambulance out to our house so the EMTs could assess the situation. (I felt very stupid about this, by the way-having an ambulance come out for a finger injury seemed so dumb. Still, I had no other ideas as to what to do and I was worried for Sophie. It is extremely obvious that you don't want me by your side in an emergency.) While waiting for the ambulance (about 7-10 minutes), I had enough time to quickly rinse the shampoo out of our hair (yup, it was still in there), get us dressed, talk to the on call nurse from the pediatrician's office (she was no help so I'm glad the EMTs were on their way), give Sophie some medicine, and go outside to wait. The EMTs were great. They looked at the finger and said that she just pulled off a layer of skin from her finger (apparently finger just bleed a lot). There was no need for stitches or to go to the hospital. They wrapped it up in gauze, taped it up, and gave Sophie a high five. Seriously, why couldn't I have done this? Oh well, at least she was going to be okay.

I took Sophie to see her doctor the next day. He confirmed what the EMTs had said. He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic cream and told me to change her bandages twice a day for about two weeks. Sophie did not like that plan though. See, my child is small but mighty. Even with me holding her body and trying to keep her arm still, it is very difficult for Joe to change her bandage. I tried to do it once on my own and she wouldn't even let me take off the bandage. So we only change it once a day. We also have only been dressing her in dresses that button on the shoulders because she doesn't want to put her arm through sleeves (she just steps into these dresses and doesn't have to have anything happen to her arms). She is getting better with this now though. For a few days she even refused to let us put her arm with the hurt finger through the strap on her car seat. Poor kid!

Sophie is feeling a lot better, but her finger still hurts. She definitely doesn't want anyone to touch her finger or mention it. If you do mention it, she will automatically lay her head on your shoulder and hug onto you. Poor thing. It is nice to have her so snugly, but I hate why. I just feel so awful about the whole thing. I couldn't sleep those first two nights because I kept replaying the whole thing in my head. It is hard to hear or see your child in pain and it isn't something you forget easily. Plus I couldn't stop kicking myself over how badly I handled the situation. Poor Sophie had to have this happen with me, the person with no medical expertise at all and who obviously doesn't do well in a crisis. Her dad is a physician assistant who would have been great in this situation. Not only would he have know what to do, but he would have done it calmly and efficiently. (Ending my pity party now.) Rotten luck for Sophie all around.

The drain. I guess those little holes looked like fun. 

After the EMTs wrapped the finger.

I've included a picture of her finger without a bandage after the jump. Kinda gross, but it is blurry enough that you shouldn't want to hurl.

Her finger tonight after we unwrapped it (I was impressed that she actually held still so I could take a picture). The pinkish part is the wound, which is looking a lot better (it didn't even bleed today). The dark brown part is the skin that she pulled off when she pulled her finger out of the drain. Hopefully it will just fall off one day, because I seriously doubt she will let us cut it off. 

11 Weeks

I had my first doctor's appointment today. I have been very excited and nervous about this. After my miscarriage in January, I couldn't help but fear that I will lose this baby, too. All I wanted from this visit was to hear a heartbeat. A heartbeat would let me know that there really is a living, growing baby there. I was a bit terrified though that we wouldn't hear one.

Joe and Sophie went with me to my appointment. The doctor came in and went over the results of the blood work I had done last month (everything is normal). Then he discussed the plan for my pregnancy: ultrasound around 20 weeks, growth scan(s) and a fetal echo in 3rd trimester (due to Sophie being IUGR and her heart issues), possible NSTs toward the end of my pregnancy, and a c-section at 39 weeks. Pretty much what I was expecting. Next he did a pelvic exam. That was fine, but Sophie was NOT happy about what he was doing to me. She cried and called for me. She was equally displeased when when he used the Doppler to find the baby's heartbeat. I could barely hear because she was crying so hard. I asked Joe to stand up with her, which helped calm her down enough so we could listen to the sweet little gallop that was coming from the machine. There was a nice, strong heartbeat (in the 160s)! My baby is doing just fine!

I am so happy! This baby is going to be okay. I just know it. I am so glad that Joe and Sophie were there with me, too. It was definitely an important experience for our whole family.


I saw someone do this on another blog, so I thought I would do the same each week:

How far along? 11 Weeks
Maternity clothes? No
Stretch marks? No new ones
Sleep: I am still pretty tired, but for the past week or so I haven't needed to take a nap everyday like before.
Best moment this week: Hearing the baby's heartbeat!
Have you told family and friends: I've only told two people, my sister and my friend, Naomi. The only reason I told them was because they asked. I won't deny my baby to those who ask, even though I'm not ready to tell just yet.
Miss Anything? Wine
Movement: I could have sworn I felt something while I was soaking in the tub today, but I know it is too early for that.
Food cravings: None
Anything making you queasy or sick: Taco Bell
Any pregnancy complications?: No
Have you started to show yet: I look like I am gaining weight, but in a chubby way, not a baby way
Gender prediction: Girl
Looking forward to: My ultrasound next week and finally telling people that I am pregnant

First Reds Game

In honor of Sophie turning 22 months old, we took her to her first Reds game. The Reds are pretty important to me and Joe. Our first date was at a Reds game and he proposed to me after a game. Going to a game was something we really wanted Sophie to experience. We didn't want to take her when she was too young (sometimes I feel bad for the little newborns out in the heat), so we figured this day was as good as any other. Of course, watching a game with a 22 month old is a little difficult. It was really hot and she became bored pretty quickly. We only stayed for a few innings (a few in our seats, and a few watching in the shade) before heading home. Still, it was great to be able to share our love for the Reds with Sophie.

Sophie was covered in sweat. It was HOT outside! 

Popcorn cheered Sophie right up. The bag was just as big as her!

Cooling down with some ice cubes.

You get a certificate for the first game you attend. I think that is pretty darn cool. 

22 Months

It is getting closer and closer to Sophie's 2nd birthday. There are only 2 months to go!

I have been doing my best to keep Sophie busy and entertained this summer. If you are an avid reader of this blog, you are probably caught up on the major things that have happened this month: zoo trips, Kindermusik, getting locked in a car, trips to Maw-maw's pool, story time at Joseph Beth, three new teeth, etc. If you aren't an avid reader (aka everyone besides my mom), feel free to look at some of the older posts.

Talking to Maw-maw on the phone.

Here are some other highlights from the month:

• We have been working really hard on good manners. I try to get Sophie to say 'please' when she is asking for something and to say 'thank you' when she receives something. She is doing really well with it. I don't have to remind her as much as I used to, though she still needs prompting. There are times when she picks something up or puts something away and she reminds ME to say thank you! So funny! I love hearing her use good manners. The funniest though is when she wants Joe or me to get up. She will push our backs and say, "Go! Go!" If we don't get up, she changes her command a little by saying, "Go, please!" We do as she says since she asked nicely. Bossy little thing. 
• Speaking of Sophie being bossy, she is all about telling people where to sit this month. Once she gets comfortable sitting somewhere, she will point to the spot next to her and command you to 'sit!' She is very persistent.
• Everyday Sophie is adding more words to her vocabulary. It is surprising what she remembers. I really have to watch what I say now. 
• Sophie is recognizing/memorizing the pattern of numbers now and can count to three. We have to start it out by saying, "One..." and the she will continue with, "two, three." When we walk up the stairs together (me holding one or both of her hands) I always count the stairs (there are 13). This week she has started counting with me. Besides 1, 2, and 3, she also will count 5, 7, and 9. Not sure why she skips the even numbers, but it is still something. 

•  Sophie has become incredibly attached to her blanket and pacifier. She has always liked them, but she could go without them if needed. Now she demands them to be around basically at all times. She can't have one without the other either. If she has her blanket, she wants her 'papi' and if she has her pacifier she wants her 'blankie.' I hope this is just because she has been teething. I really want to get rid of the pacifier this summer and now I'm not sure how that is going to go. 
• Whenever Sophie gets a 'boo-boo,' we can instantly fix it by giving it a kiss. Sophie also has us kiss old scratches and bruises. She will even kiss my 'boo-boos' and Joe's. It is so cute and sweet. 
• The most exciting thing for me this month is that Sophie is becoming a better passenger in the car. She has always been rotten in the car - crying, screaming, throwing things (including pacifiers that she will cry for a minute later). There have been times when I would be going somewhere with her and turn right back around and go home because I couldn't take the screaming. I just can't tune it out. This month though has been so much better. She still has some meltdowns, but they have been very infrequent. I'm not sure if this is because we have done so much driving that she is getting used to it or if it is because she has her pacifier and blanket with her at all times. Whatever the cause, I am loving it. 

Click below for more pictures from this month.

Mmmmm...donuts

Someone needs her bangs cut again.

Cheeeeese

Sophie has discovered Cheetos this month. She loves them, especially when she gets to hold the bag.

This is the best onesie in the world! (the best band, too!)

My little teenager

Kissing Cosmo

So dramatic

Sad face