New Layout

I've freshened up the blog. Let Mommy and Daddy know what you think of the new colors and layout.

Fall Time pics

Just a few pictures to share with everyone. It's officially fall around here now I guess. The rain has moved in every other day or so, temps are in the mid 50's and the leaves are falling from the trees. It's actually been a pretty good fall so far and Sophia really likes the leaves in the front yard. What she doesn't like is having another ear infection. Double ear infection at that and croup on top of it. The croup was a little scary but she's over that now with the help of some steroids and a humidifier in her room. The ear infection(s) getting better too but she still has about 5 days of medicine for that. Luckily she likes the taste of it and enjoys taking it :)

We were playing at the mall playground the other day (indoors) and she was having a pretty rough time of it with her balance issues (ear infection). She loves to climb things and is pretty good at getting up on almost everything she's able to. The playground is good in that it's a cushioned floor and all the things there are to climb on are dense foam material. She fell a couple of times that day (little tumbles, don't worry) and Daddy even caught her one time as she was falling from a little higher up. She still had fun though even with the falls.

This picture isn't staged. Sophia was being quiet and as everyone knows when things get quiet you have to see what's going on. Well, there you go. She found her hat and magazine and decided she needed some quiet time. Yep, that's her potty. One of those rare times I was able to sneak up on her with a camera.

Catch up pictures, Part 2

The blog before this one didn't let us post all the pictures we wanted everyone to enjoy.  Here's some more . . . .

A great day at the beach with Mom and Dad

I told you she could run fast(er) now.  Look at her go!

A swing and bubbles at the same time.  Toddler heaven.

My Ba (or Banana) and my Ahhh (or water).  It's all a girl really needs.  The hat was an accessory added by the little girl herself right before the picture.

Yep.  I got the gate lock down.  Easy.  Climb on gate, lift latch, slide latch, push latch down.  What's so hard about that.  Lucky for me Mommy and Daddy had the foresight to put a different kind of latch on the other side of the gate.  Can't quite get to that one yet.

October Already?!

Wow, we just now noticed it's been almost a month since the last posting was put out there.  There's a lot of catching up to do because when a little girl is between 15 1/2 and 16 1/2 months a lot of things change very quickly.  Hmmm, what are some of the things that might have changed since we last left Sophia?

-She runs much quicker 

- She can identify almost every one of the objects on her alphabet flash cards (2 sided thank you)

- She's still not talking (can be very frustrating to her parents at some moments) but she's saying a couple of choice words

- She likes to climb ladders by herself and has made it up to the 7th rung at one point (we're always behind her, don't worry)

- She is less than 18 months old but is wearing 2T

- She loves slides, swings, and swinging bridges

- She loves to sit in the drivers seat of a car and pretend likes she's driving (she knows where the horn is too)

- She likes to push her toy car around more than riding in it and pushes her friend Juliana around the cul de sac

- She is learning new words and letters on the chalkboard in our living room (yesterday was "P" for Pineapple, Pear, and Pumpkin that were all masterfully drawn by Mommy and Daddy :)

- She knows what the remote controls are and lets us know when it's time to watch a video

- She is a sweet little girl who knows how to share really well with other children

- She has a Mom and Dad who love her very much

Like we said a few new things that we mentioned, but she is learning more and growing more every day.  We'll try to keep up with the posts from now on.  September was a good month with Mom landing a job.  That means that Dad is now "Mr. Mom" until he gets the call.

Enough talk, here are some pictures.

Talk again soon

The shoes don't quite fit yet, but look pretty cute on me

My new chalkboard
Taking a ride in Puget Sound on Mr Ted's boat

Asleep in the car with my best buddy, Pouncer

On the merry go round in Memphis

Emergency Room Visit

Last night was our first and I hope last emergency room experience with Sophia.  One of our friends gave us a toddler bed for Sophia to use once she gets old enough to try crawling out of her crib.  I was showing it to her to see if she liked it.  She was sitting on a cushion that I put on the frame.  I went to slide the cushion down and she lost her balance and fell off the bed backwards and landed on her back with her left arm behind her.  She landed on carpet and only fell about a foot, which she has done many times before, but this time when she got up she couldn't lift her arm and every time she tried she cried in pain.  As long as she held her arm still and down to her side she was okay, but as active as she is, it's hard for her to do that for very long.  Well, needless to say it happened right before she was supposed to go to bed and we spent the next six hours a the Children's Hospital Emergency room.  We sat in the lobby for three hours where we were triaged and Sophia was given an ID bracelet.  
When we were finally called back to a room, the doctor examined her and suspected something they call nursemaid's elbow or radial head subluxation.  It means a dislocation of the elbow.  He tried to maneuver her arm to pop it back in, but that didn't work so they took x-rays to rule out a fracture.  The x-ray process was painful for all of us because Chris and I had to hold her still in painful positions while they took the pictures.  She cried like I have never heard her cry before.  By the time we got back to our room and the doctor came in to tell us that they might have seen a slight bit of swelling in her elbow but no break, her arm was almost fully functional.  The weird positions that the x-ray tech put her in to get the pictures must have popped her elbow back in place.  THANK GOODNESS!  The doctor told us that very often this type of injury is resolved during the x-ray process because of the weird positions they have to place the arm in to get shots of each bone.  By the time she was discharged she was fully using her arm again, grabbing for things, reaching for daddy or mommy and pushing herself up to sitting.  For six straight hours she was crying in pain and just like that, she was better.  
It was three o'clock in the morning before we got back home and baby fell asleep in her CRIB.  It is now noon and she is still asleep from her crazy night.  I can hear her shifting in there and I will go check on her in a few minutes, but for now, she needs her rest.  Hopefully when she wakes up, today will be another day like any other:  running, chasing, eating, napping, playing, loving.  

Ear infection #3

We are on our third ear infection in almost as many months.  Poor baby.  This one has come on full force with high fever, shakes, no appetite and vomiting.  The last two were double infections.  This one is only in her right ear and it's a doozy!  After two days on antibiotics we took her back to the doctor because she doesn't seem to be getting better.  They changed her to a new medication so hopefully this one will help.  Please, no more ear infections!