PSF: Stamps

Hosted by Cecily and Emily

Sophie asked me if she could play with her new stamps the other day.

Why did I assume postage stamps?

And why did I think it would have been OK to waste postage stamps--since obviously I didn't ask or even think to go check?

OH WELL--the money saved in potentially ruining a book of stamps was much better spent on soap and water and the three showers it took before the stamps finally cleaned up off her skin.

PSF: H.A.N.D.S.

Hosted by Cecily and Carissa

H.A.N.D.S.

They way I see them: Honoring And Nurturing my Darling Sam!

They way Sophie sees them: Helping A New Dear Sibling

They way Sam sees them: Hooray! Another Nummy DinDin! Scrumptious!

This is what I call "Hands On" parenting.

PSF: The New Big Sister

Hosted by Cecily and Linds

I have been missing from the blog action for quite some time now. Before this little blog of mine changes in a big way, I thought I would jump back into PSF's with a little tribute to the one who started all of my blogging.

Therefore, in honor of my first favorite person in the world, before I officially introduce my other favorite person in the world, I thought I would tell a photo story with photos.

I have just a couple of comments of course--to help the story along.

Sophie about 10 days before her new job begins.

This was Sophie last night making sure we all still new who's the boss.

While waiting to meet Sam when he was still in the hospital, Sophie practiced with one of his new teddy bears. She LOVES her new title as big sister.

Instant best friends for life!

I have been absolutely blessed and amazed at the amount of love pouring out of this little girl. I admit I was nervous about her reaction to our new peanut, but Sophie has proven -once again- that she truly is the best little girl in the world--by being the best big sister in the world! So even though everything is turning to baby blue--Sophie is our shining star who will forever remind us that PINK is her signature color!

PSF: Spell Check--Mastercard style

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets from CostCo: $9.99

ABC Tator Tots: $4.29

Princess Crown Plate: $2.00

"MOMMY! You spelled ME!!!!!"

Making Sophie's night while her daddy was out of town: PRICELESS

WordFUL Wednesday:: Food Network Challenge

Dessert for the gestationally diabetic

Last night after complaining to Sophie about my sugar-free jello dessert instead of the big giant bucket of sherbet I wanted.......

Sophie: Here's dessert Mommy --tadpole tails, snake, frogs, and shrimp. Taste the shrimp Mommy, it has blueberries in it.

I like blueberries.

Sophie: Oh, and here Mommy, have some Mickey Mouse Milk with cinnamon.

Mouse milk? Now that's just plain weird!

Personally I think she was just being nice so she could take over the laptop--she'd been trying all night and is digging the webcam!

Click below for more WordFUL Wednesdays brought to you by Angie!

PSF: Happiness is......

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Happiness is .....

Red-Eyed Tree Frogs! Especially when you can eat them and they have names like Cha-Cha!

We had taken Sophie to the Rainforest Cafe down in the big city (Chicago) a few weeks ago, and she was so excited to see the real-life version of these frogs wandering the restaurant while we lunched. His name is Cha-Cha and Sophie talked about him for days! THEN we saw this yummy Jello-O creation in the June issue of Your Big Backyard so of course she wouldn't stop bugging me until we made them.

**AHHHHH** So this is what normal feels like--it's been so long for me, I was starting to forget!

Sophie enjoyed it too! It was one happy day.

PSF: Right Now

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I'm not the happiest of people immediately after opening my eyes in the morning. BUT,

When Sophie wakes up--you'd think she was rushing to see if Santa came --every morning. I usually give a cheerful 'good morning' or a quick little 'hey sleepy head!' That's about all I can muster up until I'm fully awake.

However,

I've noticed that if I give her an enthusiastic "HEDDOE Butter Bee--How are ya?" As if I haven't seen her in two years--she always -always- breaks into gigantic smiles and giggles and comes running to give spontaneous hugs and kisses. ALWAYS--just like it's Christmas morning.


It doesn't matter that the house isn't clean, or her playroom doesn't exist yet, or her stubborn cold just won't go away, or that it's cloudy and cold AGAIN outside, or she won't get to go to the zoo yet, or that she didn't get to play her favorite game last night, or that I said NO to the millionth cookie that she wanted instead of dinner last night.


None of that matters because she lives in the moment. She is concerned with being happy right NOW.
Not tomorrow because it's not here yet and not yesterday because she knows it's gone and doesn't give it a second thought.

My new goal: make that' Christmas Morning' face appear on my little mouse as often as possible and start learning everything I can from my offspring who is most noticeably smarter than me.

So in the words of the great Van Halen--Right Now is Everything!

Life is good!

WordFul Wednesday and a Wordful from a sponsor....

OK, not really a sponsor, but I do have some interesting info. to talk about before I get to my WW picture.

I love all things educational-especially when it comes to my two favorite things, computer skills and reading. Well, while I am patiently waiting for Sophie's reading light to click on, I have noticed that she is incredibly good on the computer. So, when I was contacted about a new educational website-I of course checked it out---JumpStart.

I love JumpStart for many reasons. The coolest part is that not only is Sophie learning hand/eye coordination alternating between the mouse and the arrow keys, but ALL of the games she's played so far have required her to practice skills that will enable her to READ and do MATH. Sophie has already spent hours playing on this site. I LOVE IT! You can play on the website for free, or you can become a member and get access to a million other things available on this site. There are also CD-ROMs for sale. The CD-ROMS open a huge resource for learning, plus it offers ways not only for parents to communicate with other parents (awesome,) but you can also leave messages for your kids AND track their progress if they play without you present. Sophie is still closely monitored by me so that she doesn't wander off into a 'older' zone and get frustrated. I want her to keep loving this as much as I do.

This would be a great website for any pre-schooler, home-schooler, or even after school programs. The entire place is really neat--caters to a bunch of ages--and is a 3-D virtual world that can compete with any of those silly video games out there!

Here's a screen shot from something Sophie discovered last week in Adventure Land for ages 4-8. (I personally prefer Story land for the 3-5 year olds, but I let her choose where she goes first, so she will go to where I want her to after about 15-20 minutes or so.)



At this point in the game, she was looking for the treasure chest with clothing so that she can continue, and in the meantime she found this slide that she can crawl up and slide down. She's having so much fun--time flies when she is on this website.

If anyone is interested I can give out one 3-month trial membership. Just leave me a comment and I will get in touch with you. (Be sure to leave me your email so that I can.)

OK--on with my WordFUL Wednesday.......................

Lately getting pictures from Sophie has been a struggle.

This is usually what I get.

Nice!

Not really.

But I don't want to leave this post with a picture of Sophie's backside--So I put this picture up.

Washing her hands may not seem like a big deal--and certainly not a milestone--except that on this day when I snapped this photo it was because it was the first time I didn't have to ASK Sophie to wash her hands!

Hand-washing is just as much of an issue as getting a picture, so I certainly needed to document her fabulous cooperative spirit. I even asked, "Whatcha doin' Soph?"

She responded, "Well when I came in my hands were really dirty so I came in to wash them so you would let me have a popsicle!"

Work it baby---work it! (what movie?) I can honestly say she OWNS it! Great job mouses--you rock!

And YES, she got her popsicle. Couple of 'em!

Wordful Wednesday: The sunny side of things.

Last month Sophie and I were reading from her new magazine, Your Big Backyard, (recently upgrading from Wild Animal Baby) and we saw this idea in the back. Sophie got so excited she wanted it for dinner. So, breakfast for dinner was what we did.
Simply spray a small bowl with cooking spray and crack in an egg. Poke the yoke so it doesn't explode and cook for about a minute.
Cut a couple pieces of toast and viola! The greatest sunrise (or in our case sunset) you'll ever eat!
The coolest part is that every time we dress up food to look fun--Sophie eats WAY better. Now, how do I make chicken fun?
Oh, and I stuck in the links for the magazines so that if you have never seen them go check them out. Sophie LOVES both of them and they make it easy to send the subscriptions as gifts. The National Wildlife Federation website is also a great resource if you are looking for 'at home' projects to do with your little ones.

All Aboard Diner

When I was in college they taught us that in order to fully 'wrap-up' any lesson or theme used in teaching we had to create a closing culmination activity or field trip. What better way to wrap up our A's than to a field trip lunch at the All Aboard Diner?

They should rename the place the the Great Train Robbery. Or how about Choo Choo Cha-Chings. Good in theory and in gimmick, but the place was anything but what we expected. I don't have to tell you how Sophie felt about it--look at that face in this picture! She might have mirroring my face after spending almost $40 on a lunch for 3! At a diner. Not a steakhouse, or even just a Chili's for heavens sake. Ridiculous!!!!! The food wasn't even that good, much less that big. Come on.

Anyway, the next time I pick a field trip, I will have to do better homework before venturing out.
You can tell my hubby got a big kick out of the train that delivered the food. I think he had more fun than the two of us combined!

But, in all fairness to the afternoon, it did feel good to get out for a bit especially when February 2009 seems to have been the longest month in recorded history. Plus, I LOOOOOVVVEEE spending time with my two favorite people in the world, so no matter how much money or time we spend--it's always worth it.

*Oh, we finished the A's about two weeks ago, but I totally forgot to blog about them-so this post is just a touch late!

PSF: Relax Mommy, I'm ready.....

You're ready. Really? Am I ready?


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Once again, Sophie has proven to me that all of her developmental milestones happen naturally. Sure, I need to provide certain tools and encouragement but eventually she always chooses to move forward and try out her sea legs when it's time to grow.
Of course, for months before she makes the decision I am always sweating, worrying, sometimes even defending why I haven't done something about it sooner-to the people I think follow the real status quo, or what's "normal."

Here are my big examples:

1. At about 2 1/2 Sophie still drank one last bottle before bed. Did I push? Nope. One night she just said, I don't want to drink a bottle. OK. That was that. No more bottles. sniff.

2. When it was time to be diaper-free, she again made the decision. OK, Mommy, I'm ready to just wear the undies. OK. That was that. No more diapers. sniff.

3. Out of the blue, before I even thought about it, she decided all on her own that she wanted to take showers instead of baths. What? OK, That was that. No more bathtub. sniff (she did recently re-discover the joys of the tub, and will choose a bath 'just for fun' sometimes. phew!)

4. The doctor's office has always been tough but for her 4 year old appointment, she boldly announced to me that, "I will be brave Mommy, and I'm not scared." Normally, I have to surprise her by just taking her, and bribes of sprinkle donuts and skittles are always involved. Not this time. Not only was she brave as she flew through the check-up with flying colors, but she also even dared to take a peek in a pediatric dentist office on the second floor of the building. OK. That was that. No more bribery for health. sniff.

5. Last night at bedtime I offered the option for the millionth time to try sleeping in her own big-girl bed, and she quickly said, OK Mommy, I'm ready. OK. That was that. No more co-sleeping. No more family bed. big giant sniffs!

After it was lights out- see you in the morning- you're the best big girl in the world- sleep tight-I love you, she totally fell asleep. (Oh, and she announced that she will be the best big sister if new baby is a girl, and the best big brother if new baby is a boy!)

What? Hold it--you're not supposed to be ready yet, I'm not ready yet. But I didn't say that.
My entire reason for not pushing on these matters was that I wanted Sophie to be emotionally ready for the changes, not just physically. I've always gone slow and at Sophie's pace--so that she can appreciate and welcome change--not be afraid of it.
Well, that's all fine and dandy, and these examples are giving me glimpses that I am accomplishing my goals--but I forgot one little thing--ME!

I'm was a complete mess. Seriously. I wasn't ready for her to be on her own last night. I offered it, but I didn't really think she would do it. Holy Crap.
I was downstairs happily watching my favorite Grey's Anatomy, completely uninterrupted, when all of a sudden I had big boo-hoo tears running down my cheeks. Where's Sophie? Oh yeah, sound asleep in her own room like every normal 4 year old. I dreaded going to bed. I wasn't ready.
I dragged myself up anyway. I brought up our at bedtime Popsicle and popped in my comforting Gilmore Girls. I couldn't relax, couldn't sleep, and I missed Sophie ridiculously.
So around 10:30 I went back downstairs to sit with my husband who was shocked that I was still awake.
I realized then that I was experiencing the exact kind of anxiety change can bring when you don't know it's coming. I wasn't so sure I could handle it and I knew I didn't want to go back to bed anytime soon. So, I put on some eating T.V.--Triple D from the food network, and ate my way into exhaustion: pepperoni, bread & butter pickles, and jelly beans. Yep-I'm preggers all right. All of the emotions I was having were what I had been trying to spare Sophie from--at least until she's old enough to handle it.

It was then I finally got it that I am the one who is old enough to handle it. So off to bed I went.
It was so weird. The hallway bathroom light on-the bedroom doors propped open just a smidgen, and every in their own room happily dreaming away. SO WEIRD! The dog was excited though. He came up on the bed and sat right in the middle where Sophie's pillow used to be--and put his head on my pillow.

Alright, I guess I can be grown-up about all of this. I am the mom after all. OK. That IS that. No more baby. sniff.

PSF: A River in an Ocean and a Potion~ Moving On.......

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Sophie: Mommy, I want to sing that song that makes you smile.

Mommy: Awww! Let's hear it!

Sophie: (in the CUTEST little singing voice ever):

Like a River in the Ocean,
My Potion
Move On,
Like a river in the minute, move on.

Move On, is what we did today! The flu is over (THANK GOD) the SUN is shining and the breeze--although very brisk--was WARM! It was a beautiful day and we wasted no time getting outside. We played at the park, took a bike ride, and then played hopscotch on our home-made sidewalk hopscotch board. PERFECT DAY!
Life is good!


Sophie was so happy today she even posed for a quick picture. This kid rocks!

Yep, that brought down the house!!!!!!
Any guesses to the band? Anyone?
Well, how about this--I'm combining today's PSF with a giveaway--a PAY it FORWARD giveaway.
A couple of months ago a dear blogger buddy, Kelly at Close to Home, read the book, Chicken Soup for the Mother of a Preschoolers Soul, and loved it so much she wanted to share the wealth. I jumped on it because I love all things Chicken Soup and this book did not disappoint.
Plus, Kelly, being the awesome blogger that she is, sent me some goodies that Sophie and I adored--take a look:



Now it's my turn to share. I want to send someone this copy of the book and keep it going. If you would like to read it, just say so in a comment. I'll pick someone Monday. Oh, and please leave me an email so I can contact you!

Have a great weekend!
and Thanks Kelly! The booked rocked and I am finally paying it forward!!!!!

WordFUL Wednesday: Just one picture please?

It occurred to me that during my recent cave-dwelling I have neglected to take my usual million daily pictures of Sophie. So, in order to rectify this, last week I tried to catch her in a natural pose doing something normal--coloring.
Even though I never once uttered the phase, "smile" or "say cheese," she knew exactly what I was after. This was the cutest silly pictures she gave me. The rest had an amazing amount of toddler tongue showing. (I know she's no longer a toddler, but it sounds better than preschooler tongue. for some reason. )
So, yeah. My beautiful girl--acting in all ways like the little entertainer she just may be destined to be.

Feel free to jump in on the WordFUL Wednesday fun and jump on over to Angie's.

ABC's are here again!

Thanks to the help of an awesome website called Starfall Sophie and I are resuming our preschool activities until the it's time for her to actually go to school.

We started with the letter A because Sophie said she wanted to go in order. OK, so our ABC days are back.

First, we did about 30 minutes of computer time, and later after lunch we did these pages together--which are similar to some of the activities online. She got a lot of practice following directions (coloring the capital A's red and the lowercase A's yellow,) tracing her letters, counting the number of apples and finishing the sequence by drawing in the four picture, cutting and gluing pictures of things that start with A, and we even got lucky because we did this on Presidents Day and actually found a pic of good ole' President Lincoln himself--A is for Abraham.

Anywho, Sophie even helped me turn all of her cutout pictures into a silly sentence using all of the cutout words she found in the magazine: Awesome Abraham jumped Above an Ape in the A.M.

Stay tuned for more of our preschool adventures and a brand new website I'll be reviewing shortly called, Jumpstart. We've already had tons of fun there.

As for today, the poor little mouse woke up with a nasty case of the stomach flu. As of now, about 4:30--she can't even keep an water down. Poor thing--she's so thirsty!

I wonder what is the mystical force that makes me instinctively hold out my hand to catch her vomit? I really don't think I care that much about my floors--why in the world do I do that?

eeeewwwww!

PSF: Sunny skies and Skittles are here to stay!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Life is good.

What? WTH does that mean anyway? That is the question of the year.

I've seen this little slogan everywhere for as long as I can remember, but until about 3:30A.M. today I had completely forgotten it's existence. and Truth.

Life is good. Period. That's it. Nothing to it.

For what seems like 2 years really only to be 2 months I've been living in a cave. A dark, scary, smelly, depressing cave of gloom and doom. I couldn't see something good if it came up and bit me on the nose.

Today I realized -- Life is good. It's totally true. All you have to do is look for it-and sometimes you don't even have to do that-it just shows up.

I forgot that when all else fails, I can always come back to my land of rainbows and butterflies because after all, the GOOD is the glue that keeps my family tight as can be, and what's not good about rainbows and butterflies? They are pretty, cute, gentle, colorful, bright, hopeful, and sweet.

In the past whenever we have experienced bumps in the road I have simply focused on all of the fun that is my SOPHIE and everything we do together. The more I focused on the good stuff, the less important the problems seemed.

I can't believe I forgot about this little trick!

Unfortunately, it works the other way too as I have learned the hard way. The more I focused on problems the less important the good stuff seemed. EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!

It got so bad I even stopped blogging, and I LOVE BLOGGING!!!!
That's it!--no more nonsense. no more ickiness. I refuse to dwell on the bad stuff. It only proves to help crumble what my husband and I are painstaking trying to build--so from now on--I'm focusing on the glue that keeps us together--the good stuff.

Life is good.

Here's an example: February 7--not a cloud in the sky, not a speck of snow remaining, it's 65 degrees out and Sophie gets HOURS of outside time.

Life is FABULOUS!

I even got a little color on my cave-dwelling cheeks! (and you all know how much I adore being in the SUN!)
Fun!
This picture was taken on the 10th when the same kind of day happened again! BAM! Spring, right in the middle of winter, how cool is that??

I have also decided that in addition to focusing on the good stuff with Sophie I am going to journal on my other blog that I have renamed, It's All About the Baby, about all of my trials of being pregnant. I think it will benefit me because even when I am focusing on the positive, sometimes pregnancy can be downright scary. It is certainly GLAMOROUS if you know what I mean.

But I do want to keep it separate from the world of jelly beans and High School Musicals that is my journey with Sophie.
Oh yeah, we did have our HSM3 party complete with Mickey's D's and Shamrock Shakes on our famous magic table--totally fun! Plus, we recently discovered a yummy new cereal in honor of the terrific trilogy. Whoohoo for that!
Life is good!

PSF: Animal Magic

When I was a kid February 2 was always a very fun day because Groundhog Day was just cool-well, as cool as in "let's celebrate a rodent day" can be. Now, as a kid I wanted lots of winter-playing in the snow was awesome-loved it and never minded being cold.

This year the stupid rodent chickened out and ran screaming back into his den. Damn--6 more weeks of winter.

I think somehow Sophie used psychic powers to zap poor Phil back home.

I guess kids are still the ones who love the snow.

BUT From what the weathermen are predicting though maybe Phil just ended up in a tree house somewhere because it really does look like spring is a-comin' oh yeah! 50 degrees this weekend I.can't.wait!

Fingers crossed everyone!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

PSF: It's official:)

Sophie's smarter than me,
AND she's not even 4 yet! Here's the evidence:

(at dinner last Sunday, pizza night) Sophie: Can I have a root beer too?

Me: Sure kiddo, just leave it at the table, please don't take it in the family room.

Sophie: Why not?

Me: Because it might spill.

Sophie: You take yours in the family room, annnd I've seen it spill!

Want to know how my outstanding, patient, spectacular, self answered?
Because I said so~! Then I went on to calmly yet matter-of-factly say, "When you pay the bills, feel free to do whatever you want. Until then I say." (like I'm some sort of big shot)

When did I turn into my parents?
big heavy sigh.

The picture doesn't match the story, but I was just too plain flabbergasted during that particular moment to snap a pic of her brillance, so I choose a more happily-go-lucky one this week. THis one cracks me up with those ears!






Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

WWordfulW: Teletubbie Tidbits

Last week when told Sophie we were expecting a little sister or brother for her she immediately went into the nursery-turned-toy-room-about-to-be-turned-back-into-a-nursery, and grabbed the teletubbies. She brought them downstairs with her right away and when I asked her why she responded,




"The baby needs them so we can watch the Teletubbies together." Sophie hasn't watched the Teletubbies since she was a baby, and she just knows the new baby will love them like she did.

Just another reason why I can't.stop.crying!

Now, back in the day when Sophie did love the tubbies, I ran around like crazy searching for the missing Dipsy. These tubbies are about a foot tall and they sing and dance when you clap your hands really loud. Poor Dipsy. It's just not the same without him. I did see some on EBAY, but I only buy 'New in box or NIB for short' ---used stuffed animals GAG me!

To play more WordFul Wednesday go to Seven Clown Circus or click on the button on my sidebar!

Make Believe Monday: Roll Call

We are starting the slow process of preparing for the new baby. In order not to get too overwhelmed I decided to prioritize one task at a time. Breaking things down in small work-able chunks that can engage Sophie seemed like the best way to go to avoid insanity. Not that I'm complaining by any means, I LOVE TOYS, and everything babies, but I am also out of room. Completely.

Task #1: Organize Sophie's Dolls.

Our Make Believe Monday turned into "Let's pretend your dollies are from different families and build them different homes" which took up almost 2 hours of our time!

This turned out to be extra fun since Sophie took it upon herself to scour the house and bring every baby she owns upstairs. I unfortunately do not remember all of the names, so we ended up repeating a bunch. We did manage to count a whopping total of 77 + the missing and (chewed up) Princess Kayla--she's the pink version of the purple and tan ones that we do have in the pics below.

In this picture we have the Big Momma in blue in the middle of her kingdom surrounded by her cabbage patch kids, Angie Julieka, Rosie Muriel, and our latest addition Frannie Elizabeth, along with brand new Ivy waiting for her pig tails to get down, and lastly all of the stuffed Mickey and company. In the top left there is an overview shot of her whole room, and in the top right there is her collection of the Disney dolls, babies Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, 2 Snow Whites, 3 Belles, and one Little Mermaid. (This collection continues in her barbie suitcase where she 2 of each + the High School Musical gang.)

In this pic I have the two Kayla's in the top left; Melanie and Effie in the top right; and Ducky, Melody 1 and Melody 2 in the bottom middle. In the background picture are from left to right, Ava, Jillian, Sammy, Josie, Sally, Angie, and Amy.

This is a picture of the bassinet which is now referred to as the Twin Tower Condo, and the delightful group in the white crib of dollies that started them all.

In the top right we have the Bitty Twins, Little Aunt Julie and Little Sophie, followed by the original Bitty Baby, cleverly named Bitty and Fancy Nancy. In this portion of the tower we also have several orphans who may or may not have names.

In the bottom left we have the original brat pack; Pepper, Lucy, Annabelle, Duffy, Bonnie, Katie, Annie, and Purple Annie. In the center of the photo we have Cloe & Hailey, Noelle & Joy, Boy & Girl, Debbie & Henry, the triplets: Julianne, Pixie, and Castle (don't ask), and finally our fave twins, Jenny & Jodie.

Here we have Lizzie, Carrie, Izzy, Molly, Emily, a basket of unnamed dolls, and under the night stand are Mandy & Kimberly (mine from childhood,) and Daisy who was my mom's when she was a kid.

Lastly we have another little Aunt Julie, another Sophie, Isabel, and Kiki.

Not pictured are Maddy and Jean who are currently vacationing in the nature bouncy in the nursery. (I forgot to take their picture.)

I decided I wanted to document all of this so I took lots of pictures. I really hope Sophie turns these dollies into a real collection. How fun will it be for her to give these to her own children someday. If not, then she certainly has a record of all of the dollies she once loved.

Task Accomplished.