Laughter

A little movie of our little girl.

Enjoy

Not feelin' so good... times three

Mommy thought it would be cute to see if she could get my hair out of my eyes.  Not a single curl to be had.  Just need a bone and I'd look like Pebbles Flintstone.  (oh, wait, I'm not supposed to know who Pebbles is yet... thanks for the reference, mom!)  This is the day before my problems began.  

The next morning, I woke up in a great mood.  Happy, laughing, feeling like I could conquer the world, well at least feeling like I could conquer the task of carrying mommy's shoes from her bedroom into the bathroom.  Then, BAM!  Somehow my face hit the stone threshold and my good mood was all over from there.  I bruised my forehead and scraped my nose and upper lip.  My nose even bled a little.  This picture is mild compared to what it ended up looking like a few days later.  It looked like I had boxed in a baby-weight fight and lost.  (but you should have seen the other baby...)

A few days earlier, red spots began appearing on my legs, arms and torso.  Mommy decided to take me to the doctor to see what was going on.  He diagnosed two different types of eczema.  One was rough and patchy and happens all over the place and the other is red and moist and occurs where my skin folds at my joints.  He said I should outgrow the rough and patchy type, but the one at my joints might follow me to adult-hood.  Oh, Great!   He prescribed some ointment that should help clear it up.  

Well, while at the doctor's office, he noticed my scraped up face and wanted to make sure there wasn't any blood pooling around the cartilage.  He said it could cause problems down the road.  Luckily there wasn't any, but I was not thrilled with him poking that thing up my nose so I got upset and started crying.   He asked if I had been having cold symptoms lately because my nose had started to run.  Mommy told him I seemed okay, but he wanted to look in my ears just to make sure they were clear.  To our surprise, he said that both of my ears were infected.  Great!  another double ear infection.  I just had one in May!  He started me on another round of antibiotics...  Oh well, at least I like taking medicine.  Maybe that explains why I was off balance and smashed my face on the floor...  Bruised face, eczema and double ear infection.  Boy, what a state I am in...

More trail pictures

This is a mini-trail near a park we like to go to sometimes.  There's no elevation change or drop offs any where so I get to walk this one safely on my own.  The worse thing I might run into here is a blackberry bramble or a banana slug.  

Pushing the stroller like I enjoy doing so often.  

Holding the stick I found.

Getting a little adventuresome and pulling on ahead.  

Tasty stick.

Meadowdale Beach Park

Daddy found this short little hike just north of where we live called Meadowdale Beach Park.  It's a 1-1/4 mile long nature hike along a stream and through an old forest with very tall trees.  It ends at this cute little beach on the Sound.  We've been there a few times.  We usually pack a picnic and spend some time on the peaceful beach before we make the up-hill trek back to our car.  

Me, checking out the passers-by.

Can't see them, but they had a cute doggie!

Oh, how I would love one of my own!

Me & Mommy sitting on the driftwood at the beach.

Me, Daddy and the whoopty tree.  

Look at the crazy branches... 

or are they roots posing as branches?

Here I am after the hike stretching MY legs 

and testing out my climbing abilities at the park.  

I'm pretty good if I do say so myself.

Bubbles

It's the little things that bring shear joy to our lives.  Like seeing new things through Sophia's eyes.  It's chasing a cat through the house or running and screaming through the spray of the garden hose.  It's the delirium of being sleepy but doing anything you possibly can to stay awake.  It's not walking any more, but running any place our little legs take us.  It's a sunny day and all we want to do is go outside and play.  And then there are the bubbles.  Those little spherical rainbows of fun.  They appear in multitudes, float on the breeze, and disappear just as soon as we catch them, but while they are here, they make us squeal with laughter.  That's shear joy.  

Mommy's Journal: Counting Our Blessings

It was a little over a year ago (13 months, 4 days and 5 hours to be exact) that our little miracle named Sophia arrived in this world.  Her birth was a long time coming and words alone are not enough to express how happy we are to have this spunky little bundle of energy in our lives. Every day we count our blessings.  During the 42 weeks she was in my tummy... yes, she was two weeks late... I imagined what she would look like, how soft her skin would be, how loud her little cry would sound, what she would smell like, what kind of personality she would develop and what kinds of things would she like to do.

I will continue to count my blessings, especially after seeing this video on youtube called 99 Balloons.  (PUDDLE ALERT: Only watch this if you are somewhere you don't mind shedding more than a few tears)  It is a video of a dad reading letters to his son.  The family is from Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Their son was born with Trisomy 18.  It is a chromosomal defect with a high infant mortality rate.  I had never heard of this condition until our doctors suggested that we get tested for it during our second trimester.  We were very thankful when our test came back negative. 

This video touched my heart so much that I wanted to share it with everyone who reads our blog.  I am thankful that our little girl was born healthy and has continued to develop into a healthy, independent, high energy little girl.  (I am happy to say that a little over a year after this video was make, this couple had a healthy little girl named Hazel.)  I LOVE YOU SOPHIA.  THANK YOU FOR COMING INTO OUR LIVES.