Sophie Update

Well, time heals some wounds :) lol Sophie is finally starting to feel a little like herself again. For the past almost week, she's been whining constantly. I understand that she's recovering from surgery, but man, that constant whining gets to me. I don't know how else to explain this. I'm sure that most people are thinking "oh, it's not constant - she's just exaggerating." But, seriously, I'm not. I told my parents the same thing, but I don't think they really truly believed me until I took her over there yesterday evening and they actually got to see what was happening.

I'm so grateful for Aaron being home and him being able to work from home this past week. There have been moments where he has to stop working and come out b/c I just had to have a break. He's so good - taking her and throwing her up in the air, playing ring-around-the-rosie, anything to keep her from crying for me for 2 minutes.

Anyway, today was the first day that she let me get two feet away from her w/o her freaking out, so we're making progress. :) She actually did pretty good off and on (it also helps that the weather is nice and we can go outside) today. One of my new friends (She just moved into the ward) and her kids came over today, and that's always nice as it provides a good distraction for Sophie. She's still not eating well (she's on a soft-food only diet) but seems to be breathing better most of the time. (Her throat has been very swollen from the surgery and it's been hard for her to breathe.)

It's so nice to see her smile again. Isn't this the sweetest picture of her reading a book to her dollies? Ahhh, I hope tomorrow is even better than today, or at least as good. PLEASE don't let us go backward again! My emotional sanity can't take it!

3rd day

They say that the 3rd day after any surgery is the hardest... I have to agree.

Our Brave Little Girl

Sophie went into surgery yesterday to put tubes in her ears and an adnoidectomy. She did really well. They gave her something to make her a little tired and loopy before taking her back to surgery since I couldn't go with her (and what a fight that would have been!). The surgery went really quickly. My brother says that ENT doctors make SO much money off these surgeries b/c they just line them up and they're so quick and expensive! (ugh, talk about expensive!!!)

Anyway, I digress.... She got out of surgery and as she was waking up from the anethesia, the first thing she asked for was her turtle (she sleeps with 'Yertle the Turtle') and then about 2 seconds after the turtle, realized that I wasn't there and was very, very upset asking for mommy. They came and got Aaron and I and we went back. She still had an IV and a pulse-ox thing attached to her and she was not happy about that, nor the other people in the room. It took quite a bit to calm her down, but she did really great.

She ended up puking up all the juice all over the floor and mommy, but other than that, has done really well. We ended up being in the hospital for quite awhile for them to monitor her since her IV kinked and she threw up her fluids, but she's fine. Yesterday she ate a little of everything - popsicles, applesauce, yogurt, jello, pudding, cottage cheese, soft bread, as well as drinking juice and milk. In fact, we've only given her the Lortab pain medication once (nighttime), other than that, she seems to be doing well on just Tylenol.

The dr said that she had really thick, heavy weight motor oil type fluid in her right ear, so I'm glad to know that that's gone. I'm hoping that she won't get sick as often and definitely not as many ear infections.

Before she went back for surgery.
Yesterday evening. She's already looking so much better!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

(Aaron helping Sophie fly a kite last weekend)

Today is Aaron's birthday! Happy birthday Sweetie - I love you!

In honor of Aaron's 29th birthday, we made a "29 Things We Love About Daddy" List. I hope that you know how special and wonderful he is, but if not, after reading this list, you will!

1. He is so dedicated to our family.

2. He isn't afraid to tell people how it is.

3. He is so smart and knows so much stuff that I don't.

4. He sticks up for his family and his values. (Probably sometimes very hard while traveling and experiencing different cultures.)

5. When we have a problem and we talk about it, he doesn't try to place blame, but always wants to know how we can fix it and what he can do.

6. He supports me in whatever I am doing and encourages me to do my dreams.

7. He is so quick to forgive me.

8. He loves to do new things.

9. He plays with Sophie so much and so well and she is just in love with her daddy!

10. He is so cute and handsome :)

11. He is such a proud daddy.

12. We can have conversations, not fights.

13. I know he'd never hurt me or mean to hurt my feelings.

14. He doesn't mind, in fact really loves, being the only daddy chasing their kid around the playground.

15. He has kept all the letters that I've ever written to him - even before he knew I was "the one."

16. He's so good at his job.

17. He will tell me what he really thinks about a new dish I make.

18. He doesn't mind being silly.

19. He doesn't expect the house to always be clean or dinner to always be made, even though I'm always at home.

20. He'll do stuff with me just b/c I like it, even though he doesn't.

21. He likes to help other people, including his family.

22. He knows so much about the gospel.

23. He gets my jokes, even when they're not funny.

24. He's protective of me and Sophie, as well as his little sisters.

25. He's so good with kids, but doesn't mind being the disciplinarian.

26. He's so wiling to sacrifice for us.

27. He always takes the time to explain to Sophie why she's in time out and then tells her that he loves her.

28. He controls his temper so well and hardly ever, ever raises his voice.

29. He loves us so much too!!

We could have gone on and on, but I figured that since it was his 29th birthday, 29 was fitting.

He's such a wonderful man!

Ahh, Springtime

So, it hasn't felt much like springtime to me (except for yesterday and Monday), but it definitely is to the animal world :)

We took Sophie to see the baby chicks and she thought that was great!

On a side note, there was this little girl whose family just left her there while they went around looking for something else - left her w/o any supervision around brand new, delicate baby chicks. The girl seriously kept trying to grab them, hold them, chase them, etc. Me and another mom there kept telling her that she couldn't touch them, etc. Why do I need to babysit your kid? Arrr.

Random Things I think While Rocking Sophie...

Those of you with kids, have you ever noticed that your mind seriously wanders while rocking, reading, etc. to you kids? Sometimes when Sophie is sick I have to hold her in order for her to be able to breathe and sleep. So, I'm sitting there rocking her and have practically nothing stimulating to do... I am left alone with my thoughts and after awhile, well, you start thinking odd things (or I do). Frequently I sit there, staring at the pacifier (or other random object), wondering if I can make it light on fire with my mind... hmmm, I have not been able to do it yet, but some day.

Today however, I was sitting there reading, yet again, "The Big Brag" by Dr. Seuss. Anyone read this? Well, I love Dr. Seuss. Anyway, it's about this rabbit and bear that are arguing about who is better. Then this worm enters and totally just owns the other two basically. I do different voices and try to make the stories interesting and I got thinking "Man, I really wish I was one of the people on SNL that could do a million impersonations! Hmm, which famous voice would be which character?" Well, I still haven't figured out the rabbit, but I'm pretty sure that Donald Trump would be the bear and Oprah would be the worm. And for some reason, it's really bugging me that I don't know about the rabbit.... am I so odd.

What a long day...

Yup, it's been a long day.
We had an apt with an ENT today to talk about putting tubes in Sophie's ear. I know that millions of kids have tubes in their ears - heck, the ENT doctor has probably put in thousands himself (he actually took out my tonsils when I was little, so he's quite experienced), but I'm a mom and it still worries me. We were in the office, getting her ears tested, talking to the doctor, filling out surgery paperwork, etc. for about two hours. When we got out, I put her in the car and drove to my parents' house. So, I get out and go to get Sophie out of the car... and this is what I see...


Yeah, my brand new car (well, new to me anyway). A huge dent and scrape from my tail light to the back of the door. UGH UGH UGH And to make it worse, no one left a note. So, about now I'm fuming. I decide to call the doctor's office and see if anyone saw anything. Thankfully and luckily, the person who hit it didn't leave a note, but they did tell the person at the office and left their name and number. So, at least now I know who hit it and, after a pretty akward conversation, have their insurance information. Now, to get it through their insurance and fixed. Man I hope they'll pay for a rental car since that's our only car. What a pain in my butt.

My Wonderful Hubby

So Aaron's been gone for 3 wks now and will be gone another wk before he comes home... it's been hard, that's for sure. I don't know how military families do it. My hat is off to them. Anyway, when I got home today from running around and lunch and whatnot, there was a box on my doorstep... probably something I ordered online I was thinking. But, as I looked closer, it was an FTD box - as in flowers! :) Aaron sent me this beautiful bouquet of lillies - my favorite. They're just gorgeous and smell great!

Thank you honey - you made my week!! I love you!

My Growing Little Girl

I thought I'd post some new, cute pics of Sophie. She's growing so fast and loves to do new things to 'help' mommy. Here she is after throwing all the laundry into the washer (she loves doing that!).

So, for Easter she got a 'Little People' Airport - this is part of it.
Hummm... is it a hoola-hoop?

Sophie loves to do all the things that mommy does. She's had, yet another, ear infection lately and on antibiotics. So, she asked for one of the old, clean medicine droppers and is giving her baby medicine.