Giving Thanks

Another great week in the Barrett family household. We have so, so much to be thankful for. Some things make us realize just how blessed we are. Here's how our week went:

On Wednesday the 25th, Sophia had her 1 year checkup. Sophia weighed in at a hefty 17lbs 3 1/2 oz and is 29" long. Hahaha, what a lightweight. ...We're working on it. We're also starting to work on eating more table foods and drinking regular cow's milk. She had her iron levels checked (I guess this is normal for all 12 month appts) and they were great. I was extremely surprised that she didn't cry at all for the finger prick! She didn't even squirm....it was a different story for her 3 shots. She got her MMR, Hep A, and Chicken Pox shots. She cried while getting them, but after they were over she was just fine. And here comes the bad news: Sophia's doctor said her heart murmur is sounding much harsher (We weren't even aware she still had a heart murmur - what the heck? It was never mentioned at ANY of her other appts). We knew she had one when she was born because she had a hole in her heart - as most preemies do. This hole normally closes up on its own. Well, our doctor looked back in Sophia's discharge notes and it states that she also has pulminary stenosis...neither Sam nor I had ever been told this. So, if she still had the murmur at age 1, she needs to go back to CHKD to see a pediatric cardiologist. Pulminary stenosis is when the valve that carries blood from the heart to the lungs is too small. The pediatric cardiologist will most likely do an echocardiogram to look at the blood flow and determine the severity and course of action. Here's a creepy factoid - when I called to make her appt, the first available they had was on January 12, 2010. That's the one year anniversary of Sophia being discharged from CHKD. Freaky. Yikes. It really does give me the willies. So anyway, until then we won't really know anything.
I also made a trip to Carter's to return some things that I felt guilty for buying, and to exchange some gifts for different sizes. I then went to Starbucks and enjoyed the most magnificent pumpkin spice latte - courtesy of my fabulous sister, Chels. MMMMMM. I then stopped in at my old work to visit everyone, mainly the receptionist...since she's never there when I stop in to see her.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. The weather was beautiful and the food was delicious! We had Ben and Sue over for a late lunch/early dinner. We had turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green beans, broccoli cheese casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and I'm probably forgetting something. We had cherry pie, apple pie, and squash-apple bake for dessert. Yumm! While the women did the cooking, Sam and Ben put up our new porch lights. They look awesome! I forgot to put a picture on here so I'll do it next week. After we stuffed our faces, Sam, Sophia, and I walked to some friends' who live one street over. We stopped in to say hello and then were off to Kristin's house...where we actually ate our desserts. We played Wii bowling and had a blast.

Friday was Black Friday and it was my first time actually doing the early morning shopping! We got up at 3:30 and took Sophia to Sue's house. She slept there while Sam and I checked out Walmart and Old Navy (only because we thought Home Depot opened at 5...when really it was 6, so we had time to kill). At Home Depot we bought a shop vac for $20 - originally $100! We bought Christmas lights and poinsettias for .99. Yessss! Such bargain shoppers. Later that day Sam helped fix his parents' fence (it was smashed by a tree during the "Atlantic Assault". After that, we went to the mall to get some goodies at Bath and Body Works and use a giftcard at Gymboree. Sam got a new phone because his phone would no longer charge the battery. A new battery was going to cost the same as a new phone ($50), so he got a new phone. This was the first night in over a week where Sophia actually enjoyed her bath! Thank goodness, I was getting worried.

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the DMV, which opens at 8, or shall I say is SUPPOSED to open at 8. We got there just before 8 only to find that they were "closed in observance of Thanksgiving". Ridiculous. They were closed Thurs, Fri, AND Sat for Thanksgiving. Yuck. Sam went back to work in the afternoon and I started on Sophia's thank you notes from her birthday. I plugged in our first balsam fir wallflower...and the house smells like Christmas. MMmm.

Sunday morning did NOT start out well. Sam had gotten home at like midnight Saturday night after work and had change over (meaning he now switched to the 6am-2:30 pm shift). Sooo, he had to get up at 4:30 to get ready for work. He woke me up at 5:30 to tell me that someone had slashed open his top on his mustang. I thought it was a joke. Unfortunately, it wasn't. At first he was very worried that they had taken his clipboard for work - which contained all his summons and case information. Luckily, it was in his trunk. Nothing was stolen, but it's not a good feeling when something like this happens in your neighborhood - much less in your own driveway! We are definitely keeping our outside lights on from now on. Ridiculous. Another person had her car rummaged through (nothing taken) and another had her garage gone through (again nothing taken) on that same night, on our street. I went back to bed for a few hours before I got ready for church. Sophia and I went to church, then bought diapers at Babies R Us and had to pick up some printer cartridges at Office Max. The weather was beautiful so we all went for a walk after Sam got home from work. I made turkey pot pie with our Thanksgiving leftovers....it was to die for!

So since our Saturday DMV attempt was unsuccessful, I went on Monday morning. I got there to find a lovely line formed outside. Yes that's right, there was a line to get IN to the DMV. It wasn't too bad of a wait and I finally got my married name put on my license lol. I'll have to wait to see my new picture though, because they mail your license to you now. I'm sure it will be awful because I was trying to keep Sophia from crawling away from me while they took the picture. Great. Sam was of course exhausted when he got home from work, so Sophia and I went to the grocery store so he could nap.

Tuesday I finished Sophia's thank you notes, swept all the floors, and we started to put up our Christmas lights outside. We did two trees and the bushes in the front of the house. We still need to get clips so we can put our lights up on our roof. Yay! We will be getting our Christmas tree in the next few days...as soon as we get some gates to put around it! It should be interesting trying to keep Sophia away from the tree. I'm not looking forward to that.

Enjoy the pictures!!!!

Waiting with Daddy at her 1 yr checkup

Squash-apple bake is ready for the oven


check out that yummy turkey!

The table is all set :)

My little turkeys I made

Eating some rolls and turkey

Drinking milk all by herself

Sam is about to puke because he ate way too much

Hanging out at Kristin's on Thanksgiving

Trying to fit between two chairs to get Allie

Turning the pages in one of her books from her birthday

Sam's Mustang top :(

That's Sam's shoe...Sophia is still such a peanut

Sophia has also started to pick her nose. It cracks me up, but Sam is so embarassed by it. I obviously won't encourage it, but she has no idea what she's actually doing. It's just another hole she can stick her finger into...like her ear or mouth.

She loves playing with all her new toys!

Smiling at Dylan in the swing

Geez guys, lighten up! Outside putting up lights

Putting lights on the bushes

The bushes are all lit up!

Muah!

Turning my tree lights on!

She loves to pull herself up to stand using anything...but she hasn't figured out how to stand up all the way without holding onto something.