Sophia and James

Sophia and James

James - 9 Months Old

Sophia - 2 years old

Sophia - 2 Years Old

Sophia - 2 years old

We went to Celebrity Kids and had their pictures taken. Sophia is now 2 years old and is 37 inches long. She weighs 33 pounds. James is 30 1/2 inches long and weighs 21 lbs 7 oz. Both are tall for their ages.

Baby Christian

I wanted to thank everyone for all of the prayers that we have received this past week. The prayers and sympathy cards have helped with the healing process and it has meant a lot to know that there are so many people out there who care for us and our family. It has been a very hard 10 days, especially with the extra hospital stay. In fact, the past 10 days have felt like 10 months!

We are trying to get back to our normal routine. Jim has gone back to work and Mom left on Wed. so during the day it has been me and the kids. I am starting to get more energy, especially in the morning but by nap time in the afternoon I am completely exhausted. Everyday I expect to have more and more energy. There were parts of today that felt normal again so I am taking that as a good sign. We did go to the funeral home and pick up Christian's remains. I was surprised that I didn't completely break down again, although I know that is anyone would have asked me how I felt while we were there I would have lost it again. It helped that Sophia and James were there and Sophia wanted to check out the whole place. Sophia and I kept pretty occupied with the coffee/hot chocolate machine while Jim took care of the business with the funeral home director (death certificates and so forth). That helped me a lot having Jim handle that part of it. We brought Christian home and if you ask Sophia where Baby Christian is, she will say "Up in Heaven". She is so sweet. I did call the church today to reschedule his memorial service. It will be next Sat. in the morning.

If you do want to hear a funny (kind of) story, I have one for you. When we got home, Sophia wanted to see Baby Christian's urn, which I had taken out of its velvet bag and had set down on the counter. Well, the funeral home had just sealed the top if it and the glue apparently takes several hours to dry. While I was showing Sophia the urn and explaining that this was Baby Christian's body, etc. she went to grab the urn...except she picked it up by the lid. The lid came flying off, along with strings of glue and the urn came down on the counter top. Luckily the urn came down up right and did not spill. I simply had to place the lid back on it but what a close call!!

The hospital did take some pictures of Christian for us to keep along with some keepsakes (the clothing they dressed him in, his blankets, a little teddy bear, etc). They also made us a hand print in plaster that turned out really well. I am posting a picture of his little hand because I think it is so little and sweet. If you do not want to see it, do not scroll down any more.

No Way No Way No Way

Well, Sophia is officially 2 now and with it has come the "No Way"s. For instance,

"Sophia, do you need to use the potty"..."No Way!"
"Sophia, it's time to go"..."No Way Mommy"
"Sophia, let's take a bath"..."No Way, No Way"

While at the beginning it sounded cute, it is now the answer we get for pretty much anything...except if it has to do with McDonalds or Dora.

Tomorrow is Sophia's Birthday

I just wanted to blog that tomorrow is Sophia's birthday. I will let you know all about what activities she has chosen after tomorrow. I am sure it will involve some type of shopping for toys.

Snow Pics

I finally got our snow pictures downloaded. Here are a few with the kids. James loved sledding, the faster the better. Sophia liked walking around in the snow while pulling her sled. Everyone enjoyed the snow icecream and maple snow afterwards. I would type more but Jamesie wants his afternoon snack - gotta run!

Time-Out

Well, it has finally happened. Sophia got her first time-out. The past few days she thinks it has been funny to push James down...hard. He falls back and hits his head on the ground. Well, this morning I had had enough. I warned her and then she did it again and then she laughed and laughed and laughed. I picked her up, put her in the time-out area and told her not to move until the timer went off. I was surprised but she didn't move a muscle. I'm not even sure if she blinked. After the 2 minutes (she will be 2 in 2 weeks), I talked to her and let her get up. So far there has been no more pushing but I have a feeling after naptime that will all change.

On a more positive note, this morning James started to pull himself up to standing...Big Boy!

Doughnuts

I haven't cooked with yeast since I was a little girl. I never cooking with yeast as a child because I couldn't stand the texture of the yeast when you had to knead the dough. As a result, I got good at baking quick breads, cakes, and other dessert items. Anyway, I have decided it is time to give yeast another try. The first thing I decided to try to make was doughnuts (YUM YUM). Last weekend I we made the special treat. Sophia helped every step of the way. She loves to cook and I have realized now that I need to find a little apron for her. I didn't realize how easy it is to make doughnuts!! We made whole wheat ones and they turned out great. Here are some pictures of our fun:

James didn't actuallly eat any doughnuts but he sure wanted too!!

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum. It was James and Sophia's first time to go there. Sophia was VERY excited when we got there. She check squealing and go 'OOOHHH'. She is also big right now into saying "Follow Me" so several times while we were there she would say to either Jim or I, "Follow Me, Follow Me" and then she would take off running. There were a couple of school children there in groups and Sophia kept joining the groups too. It was funny. She seemed to like the glass exhibit and the dinosaurs the best (or maybe it was Mom and Dad who liked the dinosaurs best and that is why we spent more time there). James loved seeing all of the people and there was a section in the Toddler room for kids under 2 (most of the kids there were crawlers) which he absolutely loved. It was a very fun time. We spent a good 4 hours there and when we got home, Dad, Sophia and James all took good naps.

After supper, Jim played with James and tried to get him to walk. James walked about 8 feet using his push-walker. I was surprised!

Fun Weekend

Saturday I spent the afternoon at Beck's scrapbooking. I am a year behind and I haven't even scrapbooked a thing on James yet but that's okay. I'll catch up eventually. Saturday evening we had the Bielski's over for dinner and for a post-Christmas Christmas celebration. I got a new bracelet from Suz and Jim got a new hi-tech sweatshirt from Len. The kids got paint and crayons for the bathtub. We used them tonight and they LOVED it. Sophia stayed in the tub until the water was all cold and she was a wrinkled little prune. It is 8:40 PM and I still hear her talking in her bed. Funny girl - go to sleep! James is feeling better now that the antibiotics are working through him. He was attached to Daddy today and laughed all afternoon. He is definitely feeling much better. Jim is watching football and I am going to take a shower. Good night!!

Christmas Pics and Kids Update

Here is the annual picture with the snowman. Sophia was about James' size this time last year. My how they grow!!!

Santa brought a full kitchen for the kids. We have had hours of fun already.

Uncle John and James - we love the new hat!!

Becky came over to watch James and Sophia while Jim and I went to the Beeson Christmas at Bob's house. Sophia got to play with Matthew and Adam and as you can tell by her face, she had a wonderful time!

Sophia got a princess outfit from Aunt Beck. She LOVES it and almost everyday she asks to be a princess. She calls herself "Princess Phia".

Well, that is just a few of our holiday pictures. It was a wonderful holiday and thankfully Jim was off of work for the whole week of Christmas so that was very nice. Unfortunately that means that the next Christmas he will probably have to work but I guess that just comes with the territory.

Sophia update: Today Sophia started to sing the ABC's all by herself. She has been singing the song with us but now she just sings it on her own. She sings all the time. She doesn't always like it though if you join in with her. Apparently she wants that stage to herself :) Sophia also spelled HOT today. I don't know if she will remember it tomorrow but today that was the big buzz word. She also started to use plurals in her speech - she was looking through a book with me and she said "Mommy, two eggs." Very smart! She got to play in the snow today with Jim and she REALLY liked that. She helped shovel the driveway.

James update: James still has croup although he is sounding better at night. The steroids turns him into a little devil every once in a while but he will be off of the medicine in about 2 days. Today he started taking steps with his little walker. This was great I thought. He is also "crawling" (belly crawl) all around the house now too. When he sees something he wants, he is going to go and get it. There is part on the refrigerator that comes apart at the bottom of it and for some reason he really likes to crawl towards it and take if apart. He is starting to give Hi-5's and pointed to my nose today (although he is not real consistent yet). He still refuses to take the sippy cup or the cup with the straw and only wants his bottle. Oh well - we have plenty of time for him to learn. OH! - and James has given up the pacifier -all on his own! I love it!