Hair cut!

Sophie thought Jeremy was in need of a trim so while he took a nap on the rug she cut his hair!

She was being SO cute...she has definately been watching Aunt Ellie...she would comb through his hair and then lift it up in her fingers and cut...very professional! Before you go thinking A) we are bad parents (letting our 2 1/2 year old play with scissors) and B) Jeremy's sporting a "cool" new haircut (a bald spot in the back) Sophie was using the TOY scissors from Hannah's doctor kit!

We did, however, sit down with her and let her know that she was NEVER to cut hair with real scissors...let's hope she listens!

I took the girls (Sophie and Esther) to the doctor today (for their well visits--I know, I'm a little late!) Sophie has been so unpredictable lately (a real powder-keg: fine one minute and lashing out the next) so I wasn't looking forward to the whole doctor experience. When I had scheduled the appointments (almost 3 weeks ago) I planned on sending Jeremy with the girls so he could deal with it but he went and got sick (he has strep) so that left me to handle any outburst from Sophie (and I just knew there would be at least one!) Sophie must have known that I was worried about how she would act because she was on her best behavior for the whole appointment! She was really a little angel...she talked to the doctor and let him examine her...without complaint (which is the important part!) and she handled the shots like a champ! I was REALLY surprised. She just sat there and let the nurse give her the shots...she didn't cry, didn't flinch, I think she may have even smiled at the nurse! She had been wanting a band-aide (they checked Esther's iron at the beginning of the appointment so Esther had a band-aide on her toe and finger and Sophie kept asking for one. I told her "You'll get a band-aide...your not going to like it BUT you'll get a band-aide soon") I don't know if that is why she sat there or if we were just having a really good Sophie moment but it was nothing like I had imagined! Now Esther on the other hand...she passed out when they gave her her shots! She's done it a couple of times before. When she's in a lot of pain she will hold her breath and then she will just go all limp...it's kinda scary! She started holding her breath as soon as the nurse gave her the first shot (she had to have 4...poor baby!) The nurse kept saying "Come on baby breath" but Esther waited until the nurse was all done with the shots then she took a deep breath and her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out! I immediately shook her and said "Esther!" then she opened her eyes and started crying again! The nurse was really concerned she kept asking if Esther was ok and telling me that she has never had anyone do that before. Since I have experienced it with Esther before I wasn't as concerned...I still hate it when she does it...I hope she grow out of it soon!

{side note: I think Esther is going to overtake Sophie soon with her weight. At this appointment Sophie weighed 28 lbs and Esther weighed 24 lbs!}

Superstar!

I was not excited about potty training but Sophie is doing so well. She has had a couple of accidents but overall she is using the toilet...she even got me up at 1:45 am last night to use the bathroom! I'm not very excited about the interruption to my sleep (especially since Esther just started sleeping through the night) BUT at least I know Sophie is understanding the concept! I guess when they're ready they're ready!

Ready or NOT!

I'm not sure I'm ready for this (actually to be honest I'm definitely NOT ready for this) but apparently my 2 year old is so we are entering the world of Potty Training!...I hate this world! I know I am going to LOVE it when I don't have to spend half the grocery budget on diapers and having two in diapers is a challenge BUT I HATE potty training!
My experience with Potty Training hasn't been too good. With Hannah I bought a book "Potty training in a day"...can it get better than that! Anyway I followed the instructions (although it broke my heart...it is definitely a "tough love" book...I was more of a drill sargent than a mom...I even made my little 2 1/2 year old cry...more than once...it was awful!) By the end of the day (like the book said) Hannah was telling me when she needed to use the toilet and was "accident free"! The book stresses that you DO NOT put your child back in diapers, even for bed and I hadn't thought anything of it until it was time for bed and all I had was diapers! So I left the kids with Jeremy and ran to the store for some pull-ups. When I got back Hannah had had 2 accidents! I was devastated...I had been such a mean mom all day and for nothing! I went to bed defeated thinking I had just wasted my whole day! In the morning when Hannah got up she told me when she needed to go to the bathroom and has been potty trained ever since...it really worked! When it was time to potty train Wynnie I wasn't up for the whole "drill sargent" method...it was an emotional roller coaster and I just wasn't up for it. I tried to incorporate a lot of the techniques but I wasn't as strict as I was with Hannah. Well, for those of you that know Wynnie she is a tad bit (VERY) stubborn. Part of the process was to get your kid to drink a ton of liquid (water, milk, juice, whatever they wanted and LOTS of it!) This gives you more chances to "train" them because they will have to use the bathroom more. Anyway, I gave Wynnie a TON to drink but she was SO stubborn that she refused to go potty. I kept asking, we kept "practicing" but she didn't go...she didn't have any accidents either. I wasn't sure what to do (part of the process was "shaming" your child when they did have a accident so they learned not to...the book didn't say what to do if your child refused to go to the bathroom!) I just went about the "training" as best I could until finally at about 5:00 PM she fell asleep on the kitchen floor! She proceeded to wet herself..and I couldn't get mad (although it was a TON of pee!) because she was asleep and had no idea what she was doing! We went through the rest of the night about as productive as the first part was. The next morning Wynnie came up to me and put her arms around my neck gave me a BIG squeeze and asked me if she could PLEASE have her diapers back...so I let her! To my defense I was 6 months pregnant with Sophie and I had heard that older siblings can have issues reverting back to diapers once babys come along so I didn't want to have to "train" her twice! I just asked her when she would be ready to be a "BIG" girl and go potty in the toilet..she told me when she was 3 and she kept her word! Once she turned 3 she started using the toilet and has been good ever since! I really liked that method…letting her tell me when she was old enough…until today! When Sophie told me that she wanted to start using the toilet I thought REAL hard about just ignoring her...I don't think I AM READY (it’s all about me…right…not her…who cares if she is in diapers until she is 20!) She's not quite as old as the other 2 were when I tried with them but I guess we will she how it goes...cross your fingers and wish me luck!

Potty training update: I just put Sophie to bed and it was a tie she had 3 accidents and she went potty in the toilet 3 times! I’m not really liking these odds…if she asks for her diapers back in the morning I just might give them to her :)

Update on Sophie...

Sophie seems to be doing ok this morning. Although, when she first got up she looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes and said "Mommy, mouth, OUCH!" (my heart did break!) She has had breakfast and handled eating well. Her tongue now looks like she just has a big scratch across the top of it...it's not the gaping wound it was last night. So, hopefully she won't get an infection in it and it will be all better in a few days!

Poor Sophie....AGAIN!

Tonight as we were getting the girls ready for bed Sophie went up to their room. She usually gets a wild burst of energy right before bed time and has been known to run around, jump on beds, climb up to Hannah's top bunk, etc... basically get a little crazy! Tonight was no exception (I'm sure) but as she was by herself we are not exactly sure what happened all we do know is Hannah was on the stairs and she heard Sophie cry so she told us Sophie was hurt. When I went upstairs Sophie was coming out of their room and blood was gushing out of her mouth. I grabbed her and took her to the bathroom and after the bleeding slowed down a bit this is what we found:







I had Jeremy come in and look at it and in true Jeremy fashion when I asked him to tell me how big and deep it was he told me "I can't look at it again...it makes me what to throw-up!" He gets a little (A LOT) queasy...he's not one for blood and guts! I called the doctor to see if there was anything they could do. They told me they don't stitch up mouths that I should just give her some ice water to drink not let her eat anything tonight and by morning it should be ok (or at least a little better!) They said tongues heal quickly and she should form a nice canker sore over the cut (I'm sure she going to love that!)


Here I am trying to get Sophie to stick out her tongue for the picture:






When I was on the phone with the doctor Hannah headed straight for her pad of paper and pen and drew this nice picture of Sophie's "tung" (tongue) and what it would look like with stitches:

She is a true artist...she would be totally lost without her paper and pen!

Sophie seems to be doing ok. She has tried to rub at her tongue a couple of times and you could tell it was bugging her a little bit, but she is asleep right now and we will wait and see what tomorrow holds...stay tuned!

Sophie turns TWO!!!

Happy Birthday Sophie!

We had a small (just her cousins) party for her today. It was a Pooh Bear theme...we colored pictures, played pin the tail on Eeyore, then had cupcakes (I think this was the favorite part as cupcakes kept disappearing through out the party!)



Gary and Nancy are in town (Ali is checking out collages so they are going to go up to USU...is she really that old...it seems like yesterday she was just an 8 year old at our wedding!) so they were able to stop by for a little while. It was nice that they were able to come (Nancy helped the girls decorate and get ready for the party) even if Sophie was having a melt down when they left and we had a house full of crazy kids hopped up on sugar running around (this is where all those "missing" cupcakes comes in to play...I'm learning...keep the cupcakes locked up until THE END of the party!) Despite all the craziness it was a fun party!

You can definately tell Sophie is 2! She is so hot or cold...she is being the sweetest little thing or she is throwing a fit...it seems there is no middle ground with her any more! As she was opening her presents she kept saying "Mine...Mine!" I have no idea where she learned this...I think it just comes with turning 2! She also didn't want to open all of her presents (I know this is weird--even for a 2 year old--what kid doesn't like to open presents?) I would try and get her interested in opening one and she would just scream at me! Hopefully she will grow out of it soon!

Here is a picture of her Pooh Bear cake:

Here is a picture of Sophie eating her cake:

And here is a cute video of Sophie singing Happy Birthday...she still knows how to make me smile!

Poor Sophie!!

Between the mysterous rash she had covering her body and the broken arm this really hasn't been a good summer for Sophie...and I hate to say it's not getting any better. We woke up to this:

I think she got a bug bite and now her eye is swollen shut! Can you say Quasimodo?

Free at last!

FINALLY the day has come for Sophie to get rid of her stinky, smelly cast (did I mention it had an odor?) We headed for the doctor and I thought for sure I was in for a treat...with the way she acted when they put the cast on I wasn't really sure they would let us come back to get it taken off...I think the doctor and nurse were still recovering from the wrath of Sophie. Basically I wasn't looking forward to it! I thought for sure Sophie would freak out once they started cutting but she surprised me and sat very still the whole time (she didn't even flinch...and there was no hitting or kicking!) Once the cast came off I handed it back to her and she promptly threw it on the ground...she is definitely done with it! After the nurse was done removing the cast the doctor came in to check Sophie out. He started moving her arm around and said "Well, she doesn't quite have all of her range of motion back..." then I had to remind him that the cast was on her other arm (not sure if Sophie has some issue with her elbow...maybe I should be worried...maybe it's just her "chubby little hand" -- that is the phrase the doctor used when Sophie got her cast..."chubby little hands"...I just think they are cute!) So then the conversation went like this:

Doctor: So, she's had the cast on for 6 weeks

Me (a little panicked): 6 weeks?!?! You said 3 weeks...It's only been 3 weeks...do we need to put it back on?

Doctor (checking the chart): Yes, 3 weeks. No, that's right. It's fine. It was only for 3 weeks.

My confidence was a little shaky at this point, but the rest of the exam went fine and he said she should be as good as new. I asked him if this meant she wouldn't break her arm anymore and he told me he couldn't guarantee it but that her arm was as strong as it was before the break...let's just hope it holds up and we don't have any more broken arms (finger crossed!)

OUCH!!!

Yesterday when I went to change Sophie's bum she ran away from me (this is a common game she likes to play) and when I reached for her arm she crumpled to the floor and started crying (this is not a normal part of the game.) So as we went about the morning I noticed that she was favoring her right arm. She wouldn't reach for anything with it and she just looked weird trying to do stuff with her left arm--something wasn't right. My dad was over so we examined her and with all our medical background put together we determined she probably needed to see a "real" doctor. The doctor sent us to the hospital to have an xray and sure enough she had a break in her radius! Poor baby! & just in time for summer(stinky cast, no swimming, STINKY cast.)



As you can tell by the picture Sophie DID NOT like the cast on!!! As the doctor was putting it on she kept kicking him (and the nurse) and swinging at them (she may just be a boxer when she grows up!) When they were done she grabbed the cast and started pulling on it as hard as she could. When that didn't work she started gnawing at it with her teeth (I don't know, she thinks she's a beaver or something!) Still no luck so she started hitting me with it (Yes, a cast to the face does hurt--quite a lot!!) The doctor told me "It may take her a while but she will get used to having it on." Trusting him I dragged her out of the office (kicking and screaming and swinging her cast at me) and sure enough when she got up this morning she doesn't even seem to notice her cast at all. We always figured it would be Wynnie getting the casts--I guess Sophie's going to give us a run for our money too!!

Some cute shots of Sophie

Yesterday when I was feeding Sophie I looked over and she had her foot up on the tray of the highchair. She has done this a couple of times before, but this time I had my camera handy so I got a cute picture. I guess the reason I think this is so funny is because my mom tells me that is how she knew when I was done eating because I would put my foot up on the table--must be genetic! (I know I have a picture of me doing it--I'll have to try and find it!)

Last night Sophie was up ALL night! Seriously she got up at about 1 and then I finally put her back in her crib at 5! Of course she was crying so Jeremy went up and got her and brought her down with us so I think we were able to go to sleep at close to 6 (which is what time Jeremy was supposed to be getting up for his meetings-oops!) Anyway, I thought for sure she would crash during church, but nope she stayed awake the entire time (not sure how...I know I was having trouble staying awake myself!) When we got home I got her lunch and she finally passed out in the highchair--it seems kids can sleep anywhere!

(don't mind the dried up snot on her face--I think she is getting sick and that is why she was up all night!)

Sophie and the Binkie!

Sophie has discovered the pacifier! It's funny to me none of my kids (except Esther) have wanted anything to do with a pacifier when they are babies but once they hit about 2 they decide to give it a try (it has always been short lived--mostly to get a reaction out of me I think!) Anyway, we were watching Bruce and Preston on Friday night and Sophie found one of Preston's binkies and she started sucking on it then when I would come into the room she would just laugh and suck even harder and she definitely wasn't going to give it to me! Then yesterday she found one of Esther's binkies and she started sucking on it only it is the kind that had a rubber handle and she had the rubber handle side in her mouth--very funny looking...Sophie running around the house with the blue nipple of the pacifier sticking out of her mouth! She definitely keeps us laughing!!

(Ok, so I'm an idiot...I took the video sideways and apparently we don't have the software to flip it the right way...oops! So just tip your head to the left and enjoy!)