Happy

Sophie and I went outside and played with sidewalk chalk for awhile. As we were going in, she kept saying, "Happy." She has been repeating it for the past hour. That makes me happy! I'm glad that she had a good time.

Another First

Sophie had another first today...pooping in the tub! She was splashing around happily in the tub for about 10 minutes. She didn't make any grunts or pained faces, she just played with her toys. There were a ton of bubbles in there, so I couldn't see the bottom of the tub. Then Sophie moved around and through the break in the bubbles I saw it. You know what I mean. I quickly got her out of the tub and called up to Joe to come take her so I could clean the tub. He was able to rinse her off in the sink as I pulled four (four!) solid poop balls out of the tub. Gross!

Don't worry, there are no pictures included in this post!

A Year Ago

With all of the tornadoes and bad weather Friday, I completely forgot that it was a special day. Friday marked one year since Sophie had her heart procedure. It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by!

Sophie had a few heart issues after she was born. She had a VSD (ventricular septal defect), PDA (patent ductus arteriosus), and a bicuspid aortic valve. Her VSD closed on its own, but the PDA didn't. Since Sophie was so small and having a hard time gaining weight, her cardiologist decided that it would be best to go ahead and close the murmur. On March 2, 2011 her PDA was closed after inserting an occluder through cardiac catheterization. Sophie still has the bicuspid valve, but everything else is doing great! We are so fortunate to have Children's Hospital so close by. They took wonderful care of Sophie.



Sophie right before her procedure.



Sophie after her procedure. Once the anesthesia wore off she was fine and back to playing with anything and everything.

The day after her procedure.

One year after her procedure.



Basement Fun

There has been some crazy weather today, including tornadoes and strong winds in areas close to us. Luckily the worst that happened at our house was a bad storm that lasted for about 45 minutes. In anticipation for the storm, I left work right after the buses were driving away and went to pick up Sophie from the babysitter's house. As soon as we got home, I packed up some toys, drinks and snacks for Sophie and we headed to the basement.

We never go to the basement to play since it is not finished and is a mess. I do have two pieces of carpet remnants on the ground that I laid out so I could wrap Christmas presents. That became 'play central' for Sophie and I. I warned her not to crawl off of the carpet and she listened. Sophie had a great time playing with me, eating her snacks, and pulling out toys for her box that I brought downstairs.




In the box of things that I brought to the basement was a flashlight. When Sophie pulled that out of the box, she held it out to me and said (in a not completely clear voice, but enough that you could understand) "What this?" I told her it was a flashlight. She turned it over in her hands and somewhat repeated the word (at least you could tell that was what she was trying to say). I showed her how to turn it on and she was delighted! She kept bringing it up to her face and laughing as the light splashed across her face.

Thankfully, the storm passed and it was safe for us to go back upstairs. I'm glad that we were not only safe (and that Joe made it home safe), but that we were having fun, too!

Choo-Choo Train

When I dropped Sophie off at the babysitter's house today, there were trains and a train track out on the floor. After giving her babysitter some love, Sophie crawled over to the trains to play. She picked one up from a box and (with the pacifier still in her mouth) exclaimed, "Choo-choo train!" Her babysitter and I were in shock. We both heard it and agreed that it was a very clear 'choo-choo train.'

Sophie never fails to impress me!

On the Mend

Sophie is feeling much better now. Friday she went back to the babysitter's for the first time all week. She ended up puking again on Thursday night while she was sleeping. I am so glad that I was upstairs and close by because she was on her back and struggling to sit up, so she was choking on her puke a little. Awful and scary. I was afraid that we would have to keep her home again, but she was fine the rest of the night and Friday morning. She did great at the babysitter's and was so happy to see all of her friends again. The babysitter and some of the other kids even greeted her at the door! They were happy to see her, too.

I am so glad that her medicine is helping her. She no longer has goopy eyes or a runny nose. Instead she has passed that torch on to me. Still, if I could take all of her sicknesses on myself so she was always healthy, I would.

18 Months

Showing off those pearly whites.

A year and a half has gone by since I was able to meet my baby girl for the first time. I still remember my first thought after seeing her face - "She kinda looks like an old man." That was quickly followed by a wave of overwhelming love that has never gone away.

Sophie's first picture and my first view of her - my sweet little "old man" (ignore the giant bump on her head from the internal monitoring device. If you look closely though, it looks as if there is a face on it. Creepy!)

These past 18 months have been the best of my life. There have been some very challenging times, but Sophie has made them all worth it. I can't imagine my life without her (this month especially, for many reasons). I remember people saying that they couldn't imagine their life without their kids and that their lives didn't really have a purpose before their children were born. I used to just politely smile and thought, "Surrrreee..." What a fool I was! I completely understand what they mean now. My life now has meaning and purpose. The life I had before was so insignificant compared to what I have now. Having kids isn't for everyone, so I am in no way saying that people who don't want kids won't ever live a meaningful life. For me though, I always knew I wanted kids and that my life was missing something without them. Sophie has brought so much to my life and I am forever grateful to her for that.
Ugh, I always seem to get sappy in these monthly posts. Enough!

Highlights from the month:

• SOPHIE CAN WALK!! Everyday she walks more and more. It is unbelievable. I am in awe every time I watch her walk around the room. She still crawls, but I think she is walking more than crawling now. Even while sick, she was walking a ton. I am so excited and relieved! - no PT in the near future! (I'm sure she will break some bones or something equally bad later in life that would make us take her to PT.)
• I am pretty sure our scale doesn't work properly. Sometimes it does, and other times it doesn't. Joe and I weighed her two weeks ago (before she was sick). It said that she was 15lb 3oz. Strange, because last month it said she was 15lb 9oz. I think we are just going to go by the doctor's scale now. (They did weigh her on Tuesday at her sick visit and she was 14lb 15oz! That makes sense though since she hadn't been eating or drinking. When the nurse was gone, I fed and reweighed her - 15lb 1oz. I like that one much better).
• Sophie is still in 6 month clothes. They fit well in the waist area, but most of the pants are too short and the sleeves on her long sleeved shirts are too long. I already had to put away many of her 6 month pajamas for being too short (and therefore too tight) for her. I know that I should bump her up to 9 month clothes, but I selfishly don't want to sew the waists of all of her pants for them to fit. Plus, I like so many of her 6 month winter outfits. It is probably time to at least add some 6-9 month clothes though.
• Sophie keeps adding words to her vocabulary. I can't even remember them all now. Some of her new favorites are "ball," "nana," and "diaper." She is also working on her color words like "yellow" and "purple." (She still can't point out which color is which though, but knowing the names is good enough for me.)
• Sophie loves brushing her teeth and cries when I take the toothbrush away.
• I can't get over how much Sophie understands now. I can ask her to go get something and she brings it to me. If I ask her to blow her nose, she blows her nose. If I ask if she wants a bath, she will say yes (or, very rarely, no). I will ask if she wants to read a book and she will go get me one to read to her. She even understands things like "take a sip" or "take one bite." It is amazing!
• Sophie had her first haircut. I still am sad that some of the hair is gone, but it looks so much better. You can see her eyes in all of her pictures now!
• Sophie loves music and even dances to it. Of course her dancing is either shaking her hands or bouncing up and down. It is pretty adorable though!
• Sophie keeps working on her fine motor skills. She still loves playing with zippers, and makes me laugh in the mornings when she has her zippered pajamas off and in her hands. She has perfected putting the coins in her piggy bank toy. She will even find the smallest little crumb on the floor and pick it up and give it to us.

• Sophie's two favorite games right now are Peek-a-Boo and Put and Take (you know, putting things in a basket or bag and taking them back out). Peek-a-Boo cracks her up, though she would rather hide from you than you from her. Put and Take will keep her occupied for quite some time. That has proven to be very helpful during those moments when I need to get something done.

• Sophie loves taking her clothes off and trying to put them back on. She has been able to put her legs back into her pajamas and pants, but not pull them up. She even tries to put her socks on.

Here are some photos from this month (just click the link below):