Christmas Pictures Coming Soon

I just put our Christmas pictures on my computer this week so hopefully tonight I can post some of our Holiday pictures. In the meantime, last night James came down with croup. We have been trying to fight off something for several weeks now but we were afraid it was whooping cough (which has been going around Hamilton Co. thanks to all those parents who refuse to vaccinate their children). Anyway, thankfully it is not whooping cough but instead is croup. Poor little buster sounds terrible at night and he doesn't look too great during the day but he is hanging in there like a trooper. Around midnight last night Jim called in some steroids as a treatment for croup. After midnight though James slept until almost 7 so that was nice. Hopefully the croup will run its course and he will be better in 4-5 days.

Sophia on the other hand is talking up a storm. She is making 4 word sentences now and is using more and more verbs and pronouns. She still calls herself "Phia" but that's fine, I think it cute. She fell in church on Sunday while playing with the kneelers and has a cut right between her eyes. It looks lovely. We put "medicine" (anitbac ointment) on it everynight to help it heal better. She feels better when the "medicine" is on it.

I feel like there should be more news to tell but I can't think of anything else right now. If I remember (or take the time) I will post the Christmas pictures tonight.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!! I wish that I could say that we did something super exciting last night but we couldn't find a babysitter so Jim and I stayed home with the kids. I was in bed shortly after 10:30 and Jim soon followed. He has to work this week so he has an excuse to go to bed before midnight. My excuse was that I was tired and the kids keep me busy while Jim is at work. Anyway, today I made pork roast with potatoes and sauerkraut in the crock pot along with a black-eyed pea salad...all for good luck into the New Year. The recipes were all new so I was a little worried that they wouldn't turn out but they actually tasted great! Jim really liked the meal so that is all that really matters. The kids and I spent the first day of the New Year playing with all of their new toys (I will post pictures and catch you up on Christmas as soon as I get the pictures downloaded), cooking, doing laundry, and vacuuming. Ah, what fun. On the plus side though, James had two good naps. That always helps out a bunch. Jim had a busy day at work today. I wouldn't think going to the ER would be a fun thing to do on New Years Day but I guess some emergencies can't wait...and of course as always, some are not emergencies at all but they still help us pay the bills.

The kids are doing new things all the time. James started to crawl backwards and army crawl forwards today. He likes his new freedom. He can also get his belly off the floor and he sticks his little butt out when he does this so that is really adorable. He is trying to say the "B" and "M" sounds and I think any day they will come on out. He loves saying "da". James tried avocado today...he did not like it. Maybe tomorrow he will. Sophia as always surprises me everyday with what she knows. Today I went to get her out of bed in the morning and she said "Daddy work. Mommy home." How observant. She continues to count well - sometimes making it all the way to 14, sometimes stopping at 9. She has also mastered finding and naming 8 colors and continues to work hard on her new puzzles (thanks Aunt Carol). She also loves to bake and helped me make a red velvet cake yesterday. The mixer doesn't bother her but the vacuum cleaner scared her - funny girl! I am already starting to think about what to do for her birthday in Feb. - she will be turning 2!!!! Maybe we will just do things as a family and not have a party...or maybe we will have a party. I don't know. I think Jim as to work that week so that may make all the difference. It is hard for me to think of something for her to do as far as parties go because all the children that she plays with and knows are all older. If anyone has any cute ideas for a 2 year old, let me know.

Vacation

We visited Marco Island again this year for our Dec. vacation. The condos there are very nice with a full sized kitchen and down feather beds. They also have complimentary laundry service so that helped out a lot with the children's clothing. We had them wash all of our clothes before we came home so we came home all we had to do it put away the clothes. It helped out a bunch! We had a two bedroom this year because Mom came with us. She watched the kids one night so Jim and I could go out to dinner. We went to a French restaurant that was delicious.

Here is James and Jim together. James loved the pool. As soon as he was in the water he kept kicking and splashing...non stop!! It made it hard to hold him because he was ALWAYS kicking and then splashing you in the face. It was worth it though...SO CUTE!!

Sophia and Jim made a sand castle together. They also made a sand snowman (Sophia loves snowmen this year) but the snowman didn't turn out so well. I thought the sand castle looked pretty good though!

We will definitely go back again next year, except Dad and/or Mary is going to have to come along to (Mom's request). It is such a relaxing and beautiful place to go to. Down the street is a shopping complex with restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and a movie theatre that serves meals. Since it is a small island, there are not that many streets so it is easy to navigate and the people at the hotel are so accommodating and friendly. We had a nice relaxing time. And I think everyone except Mom and maybe Jim got plenty of rest - Thanks Mom!!

POTTY TRAINED!!!

Well, I think it is official. Sophia is potty trained!! She has gone over 10 days without having one accident and with telling us that she needs to go potty. I rarely have to remind her now to go. It is awesome! I took her shopping to pick out her very own underwear and to my surprise she chose Princess underwear. Now we are in a big Princess stage. She wants everything Princess. Today she chose Princess Ariel (The Little Mermaid), and she danced around the house singing "Princess Ariel". So cute! I still put her in a diaper to go to bed and she got very upset today about that.

James 6 Months Pictures

James gives this look a lot, especially when he is meeting someone new or you want to hold him but he is trying to tell you he is fine where he is at.

Sitting up like a champ!

I love this photo. See his two teeth!

This is a new trick he learned to do with his lips. Adorable!!

In other updates, I don't remember if I mentioned this or not but Sophia's EEG results came back normal!! Yeah! She doesn't need to be put on any medications or anything. We thought that was great news. The children right now are napping so I am trying to catch up on things but as usual, I can't think of anything else that the kids are doing. Oh, Sophia is potty trained during the day. She will run to the potty when she has to go. The funny thing though is that she can't pull down her own pants yet. So yesterday, Jim took care of the kids while I went to dinner with Christina (Thank you!!) and when I came home, Jim told me that Sophia pee-peed on the potty. Except, Jim was busy with James so Sophia went to go do it by herself. When she was done, she showed Jim all of the pee in the potty. Jim looked in there and wondered how she did it all by herself. Until he realized that her pantyhose were soaking we in the middle!! Funny - remind you of anything Carol?!

James 6 Months Check-Up

I know I haven't blogged in a long time but it has been really busy. I promise soon I will post new pictures and catch everyone up. In the mean time, James had his 6 month check-up yesterday. He is 29 inches long (which means he is growing out of his infant car seat and I have to buy a new one), 18 pounds 12 ounces, and I can't remember the head circumference except that it was in the 70%ile. His height is in the 100%ile and his weight is in the 70%ile. If you saw him before his bath, you could tell he is going to be just like Jim, long and skinny. Anyway, he is doing awesome and is sitting up on his own. What a big boy!

Breakfast in Bed

This morning I was pleasantly surprised by breakfast in bed. Jim had gotten up with the children, turned off the monitors so I couldn't hear them, and he let me sleep in until 7:45!! When I woke up, I had a tray of scrambled eggs, vegetarian bacon, two homemade pancakes (one with peanut butter, one without), and a glass of chocolate milk. Yum Yum!! What a sweet and wonderful husband!

Sophia update: it could be a couple of weeks until we get the test results back from her 48 hour EEG. I will post pictures as soon as I take the time to download the pictures.

James update: He is sitting on his own and has two teeth. Big Boy!

This and That

It has been a long time since I have blogged but we have been VERY busy. I will give you the short of everything and fill you in later when I have more time. First of all we put our house up on the market. We are hopefully moving to a bigger house with more bedrooms. I will definitely miss our backyard! We have been busy with showing the house (which involves a lot of cleaning and running the kids out of the house for an hour at a time). We have had 8 showings but no takers yet.

I was gone last week on my girl trip. It was relaxing but the weather was terrible. I was gone a week and we only had one day of sun. The rest of the week was strong winds, rain, and thunderstorms ... constantly! The lesson learned was to never go to the Caribbean in October.

Second of all, Sophia goes into the hospital tomorrow for her 48 hour EEG. She had another seizure today while I was at the doctor. I guess it was a bad one. Apparently this time she grew pale and then was very tired afterward. This is the first time she has gotten tired after having one so I am worried that her petit mals might be turning into grand mals but I am sure I am just being a worried mother. Let's pray the results are nothing serious!

I have a million pictures to post and will as soon as Sophia and I are back from the hospital.

New Tooth

Big News - James got his first tooth!! Very exciting. It is his lower left incisor. I didn't even know he had any ready to pop through because he hasn't been fussy or anything. He was chewing on my hand while I was clipping his fingernails and I felt it. The second exciting news was today was his first day to have cereal. He did well for his first time. Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well and then maybe he will start sleeping all the way through the night.

Sophia news is that today she spelled MOM. Well, okay not exactly spelled but I wrote the word on the side of the bathtub and she pointed to the letters and said "M...O...M...Mama!". I know Jim worked with her on her M's today but I don't know where she learned the O from. She is a little sponge for new information. Smart little cookie!

Neuro Visit

We got our neurology appointment moved up to today. Sophia did awesome. We met with the doctor and she educated us on a lot of information regarding seizures. Then Sophia had her EEG. She sat very still while they put the electrodes on and then she sat on my lap while they did the test. The test took 30 minutes. We read books and she did very well. She only cried at the end when they had to take the electrodes off because the electrodes were pasted to her hair on her head. We got the results back already - normal - YEAH!! However, the doctor expected that. Now we have to go into the hospital for a 2 day video EEG. Ugh. We will get a call tomorrow when that is but the neurologist is trying to schedule it for next week. I am going to stay with Sophia during that time. Jim has to work two days next week so if it is scheduled during that time we might need to call in some reinforcements to help with James. Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated on that report. Hopefully the video EEG will be normal as well.