The start of May....

May 3rd: I turned 24 this year. No, I do not feel any older. I feel exactly the same :) I started off my morning by going to church. Let me just tell you right off the bat - I was not in a good mood that day. I was soooo tired because Sophia had been getting up every 2-3 hours for the previous week...thank you incoming teeth. So after church Sam, Sophia, and I went out to Firehouse Subs for lunch with a few church-going friends. I ate a foot long sub and it was muy deliciosa. After that, we went to Walmart to get a few ingredients to make my birthday cake...banana cake. When I got home, I attempted to take a short nap, but Sophia was crabby and fussy. Sam started helping me make the cake, but Sophia was just too cranky, so I made the cake myself, then started on dinner (tilapia, baked potatoes, and creamed green beans). While dinner was baking, Sam helped me pick out some pictures to have printed for all these frames I bought at Michael's....months ago. Lol. We managed to pick out pictures for 4 of the frames. We ate dinner, gave Sophia a bath, and put her to bed. Sam lit my candles, sang happy birthday, and we went to bed after having a piece of cake and milk. For my birthday, Sam got me a Vera Bradley camera case, wristlet, and tote bag. I think I already wrote about this in a previous blog...now that I think about it. Oh well. I'm not erasing it all.

Sophia got a new jumper/bouncer from Sam's mom. She's starting to like it more, but still doesn't stay in it very long. Pretty sure she's got a short attention span, but it's ok, she's a BABY. She also doesn't sit in her bumbo seat that long. Maybe this all has to do with her being more cranky than usual. She just wants to be held a lot - or at least have you sitting right next to her, looking at her, and not doing a darn thing else.

May 10th: My first Mother's Day!!!! The weather was beautiful, but to be perfectly honest (and I really don't want to sound like an ungrateful whiner) it was a rather downer of a day. I got ready for church - curled my hair and took time to make myself presentable, went to church, took a couple pictures with Sam and Sophia after church, then came home. Sam gave me a gift certificate to get a massage - so I'm looking forward to that. Then, off Sam went to work the 2-10 shift. And thus, I was alone with Sophia. Kristin was hanging out with her family because Mark was leaving the next day (today) on deployment again. Sue and Ben were out getting a late lunch together. And that's all the family I have here :( So, I returned some stuff at Michael's, used my gift card to the Limited, used some gift cards at Kohl's (sunglasses and 2 pieces of clothing for Sophia), and then went home. I TRIED going for a walk with Sophia after we got home. I put her in the front carrier and the walk started out really well. She made it about 15 minutes, just happy as could be. Then her sleepiness kicked in and she was ticked. She started screaming and crying and I could not get her to stop. I took her out of the carrier and carried her the last 30+ minutes on our walk....still crying. To make me feel even worse, there were about a million people out for a walk since the weather was so beautiful. Crappy. That's all I gotta say. She was still cranky when we got home so I gave her a bath, fed her, and put her to bed by 9:30. I sat around til Sam got home and then we went to bed. That was my day. Just let me get on my soapbox and don't judge me. I am thankful for all the wonderful texts, and even a phone call from my mom, but I was so sad to only get one card (thank you, Caitlin!!!) for my very first mother's day ever. Please don't think I'm ungrateful. I am so thankful for all the people that love me and are in my life, but wouldn't you be sad if you got ONE card for your first Mother's Day?? Oh well. I enjoyed getting to make cards for the lovely mommies I know (homemade and some photo greeting cards on Snapfish) and I hope they all loved them too. I hope all the moms had a GREAT day yesterday and know how much they are appreciated!

That's pretty much it for news. Tonight I'm going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and a drink with Kendal and Amber, so I'm looking forward to that. I always feel guilty leaving Sophia with someone though while I'm out by myself. I don't know, it just feels selfish to me.

Enjoy the pictures!

At one of the boys' baseball games

On Mommy's birthday...ready for church

Lighting my 5 candles

Ready to sing Happy Birthday

Mmmm banana cake

Sitting in her new bumbo chair

Sucking on her pinky

Playing in her new bouncer/jumper from Sue

Out for a walk...again

Being silly

All clean!

She loves her piggies

Smilin' for the camera

My first Mother's Day! ...before church

Family photo after church

Sophia and Mommy

My handsome husband!

Tummy time!

Look at me Second

Looks just like her daddy

mmmm hannies

Beautiful baby blues

Sam's first time giving her a bath at home 4-2-09

Grandpa's first time holding her EVER! 4-5-09

5 months old 4-22-09

Exactly what her shirt says

Big blue eyes

At Connor's baseball game

Cutie Patootie in her hand-me-down dress!

Love this picture so much

Super cool at baseball again

After church

First trip to the beach....but she's not wearing her swimsuit

Family picture at the beach

She loves her giggle bunny from her Great-Granny

Her VERY first time grabbing her toes!

Out for a walk

Ok, so I forgot to add all the pictures from our trip home to Wisconsin...forgot they were in a different folder. I'll add those the next chance I get - and I have new pictures that are still on my camera too.

Read me first!

So yeah.....a month and a half later and I'm just updating the blog. I suck. It's been a busy month and a half. Sam and I are still house hunting...with no luck. We can't find something we can afford that is in good enough shape to pass the NRHA inspection...plus it has to be in a good neighborhood with enough room in the house for us to grow into. Aside from that, Sam's job on the police department is going really well. He is enjoying it thoroughly and I'm so proud of him. I went back to Wisconsin for almost 2 weeks in April. On April 9th, my sister, her kids, Sophia, and I left Norfolk and drove to Wisconsin. Sophia did soooo well in the car! While home, I got to see lots of friends and family, and Kristin threw a baby shower for me! Awesome! I ended up staying longer than Kristin could, so I flew home with Sophia. We missed our flight home though because of unbelievable traffic. We got put on a later flight that had TWO stops. Thankfully we didn't have to switch planes at all, but it still was a very long day with a baby. We got to Midway at like 9:30 and didn't get to Norfolk until 6pm. Yuck. Sophia didn't cry at all until the very last leg of the flight. She started screaming like crazy as passengers were boarding. I felt horrible. I've been in their shoes where you're wondering, "ok lady, seriously, shut your kid up." Oh well. I tried giving her a bottle, tried nursing her, tried burping her, but had no success. As soon as the plane started moving, she fell right asleep though.

On April 27th our friends Kendal and Mike welcomed their second son into the world....a month early. Little Colin Michael is doing great though and was able to go home right away.

Kristin took me on Thursday to get a pedicure for Mother's Day- and it was fabulous. My toes look great!

Chels and Hori had their baby girl on Saturday, May 2nd!!! Yeah yeah yeah! So excited. Tanner Quinn was born at 5:59 pm and was 20" long and 8lbs 15oz! She is ADORABLE and I can't wait to get home and give her some love. Hopefully I'll make it home this summer for a week and a half to 2 weeks or so.

I recently just had my 24th birthday, woo hoo. It was a low key day. I woke up, got Sophia and myself ready for church. After church we went to Firehouse Subs with a few church goers. We came home and I took like a 45 minute nap, made banana cake with Sam, ordered some photos to put in frames, and made fish for dinner. Sam played the guitar and sang happy birthday to me after we finally got Sophia to bed. I'll post that video on facebook. It's so sweet. Sam also took that day off of work to spend with me :) I got a beautiful necklace from Kristin. Can't wait to wear it! I also got a check from my grandparents for $1000. Kidding, but I won't tell you how much it was for. I got a gift card to Kohl's from my mom....which I spent on the day after my birthday (got 3 tops, a dress, and a dress for Sophia all for under $75!). I also received a family membership to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and a giftcard to the Limited from Sam's parents. Can't wait to hit up the gardens! Yessss! I'm hoping Sam and I can make it next week on one of his days off if the weather permits.

Sophia has been changing SOOOOOOOO much since the last blog. Here are some new skills and behaviors since then: started "talking" tons, blowing bubbles, putting her hands in her mouth, trying to roll over, grabbing her feet, trying to put her feet in her mouth, tries to walk when you stand her up, is pooping more regularly, weighs close to 13lbs probably, laughs a ton, etc. I'm sure there are more that I'm totally missing. Oh DUH, big one - pretty sure she's starting to TEETHE. Great. She drools a ton, always has her fingers in her mouth, and is getting a rough spot on her bottom gums. I know I personally was hoping she'd get teeth late in her first year lol. She's still in size 1 diapers, but quickly outgrowing them. We're also almost out of o-3 month clothes! Wowie. She's getting longer - 24.5" at our last doctor's visit.

Since there are sooo many pictures to put up, I'm just going to put them all in the next blog.

Some pics and new updates!

I told you I'd post pictures that were still on my camera and I also told you I'd probably forget to write about something really important. So here we go:

Sam's sister Kanani got to meet Sophia for the first time on March 9th! Yay!!! She thought Sophia was so little - imagine what she would've thought when Sophia was just born. Hahah.

Before we get our medical bills in the mail, we always get an "explanation of benefits." This basically explains what was covered and how much we are going to owe. Well, ONE of the EOB's we just got said that the total was >$151,000. Yes you are reading that correctly. It was for over $151,000. What portion do we owe of that you ask? Well, we owe approximately $350. And yes, you're also reading that correctly. Thank goodness for Sam's good insurance coverage. PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW. We get the EOB's almost nonstop in the mail. Keep in mind that this was just ONE of the many. I thought it was interesting, so I decided to share that little tidbit with you.

I know I posted a picture of our leaking bathroom ceiling last blog, but I can't remember if I ever told the story that goes with it. On February 22nd, I got up at like 6am to feed Sophia. I went to the bathroom, and sleepily sat down. And bam! What the heck! Water was leaking out of our ceiling all over me. Turns out that our neighbors upstairs had water leaking down the wall by their bathtub. So we called our landlord. Our ceiling didn't get repaired until this past Thursday. Talk about speedy huh. I was thoroughly ticked off. The ceiling looks great now. Too bad they couldn't fix our bedroom and living room ceilings too! Our landlord is too much of a cheap a$$ to do that though.

More new news: Yesterday Sophia held her own bottle to eat for the first time :( She's growing up so fast. Hopefully it was just a fluke and she'll wait a little longer to hold her own bottle. Also, Sophia went like a day and a half without pooping and she was VERY uncomfortable. Poor little girl. So I called the pediatrician's office and they said to put 1/2 oz in her milk when I fed her. About an hour later, the apple juice worked....a little too well. She managed to poop all down her leg and it was the most awful smelling diaper I've ever changed. Sooooo, she got a bath and was one happy camper! :)

Ready to leave for Sam's academy class graduation party

At the partay

Chaney, Trinity, me, and Sam

Sam's first morning on the streets!

It snowed! It snowed for Sam's first day of work :)

Daddy time

So darn cute

There are no pictures of us together unless I take them myself :(

Suh-wheat shades!!!!

Like mother, like daughter

Grandma and Sophia

Auntie Kanani and Grandma with Sophia

What a ham. Check out the chin pimple.

Holding her own bottle!

Some tummy time

Blog Slacker

Well it's been like one month since I've updated my blog. I really stink. Sorry! So much has gone on in the past month that I know I'm going to forget to mention something really important.
Sam graduated from the police academy on February 26th. I was soooo proud of him. Sophia slept through almost the entire ceremony. I was proud of her too lol. She was sleeping in her car seat and everytime people clapped it would scare her. She'd throw her arms up in the air and like shake, then go back to sleep. It was hilarious, I admit I laughed at her....everytime she did it. I should have filmed her. So anyway, Sam started work the following Monday (March 2nd). It snowed that day of course! It didn't snow a lot, but it's exciting when we finally get some because it's been so long since I've been around snow. His first day went well - he was on the 6am - 2pm shift. He didn't get home til about 4:30 though. He really likes his FTI (field training instructor) that he has to ride along with for 12 weeks. Sam's schedule is 5 days on, 2 days off, 5 days on, 3 days off - repeat. He works 6-2 for 2 weeks, then 2-10pm for 2 weeks. Thank goodness he won't have to work the overnight shift during his FTI time. I'm sure he'll have to work it after he's done riding with his FTI. Sam's academy class had a party on February 27th. It was a buffet dinner at a country club in Portsmouth. It was fun to get dressed up and go out with Sam again. I still haven't uploaded the pictures to my computer yet, so I'll post those in the next blog....if I can remember. Otherwise, you'll have to keep an eye out for them on facebook or myspace.

On February 27th, Sophia went to the pediatrician for another weight check up. She was 22" long and 9lbs 1.5oz! Woo hoo. About a week later, the pediatrician's office called to say that they called our insurance to see if they would cover the shot for RSV (a bad respiratory infection that affects premature babies more frequently than term babies). The shot costs between $1600 and $2000! Our insurance covered the synagis shot, so she went in and had that shot on Monday March 9th. She screamed her poor little head off. It was Sam's first time being able to go to the pediatrician with us, so that was exciting. They also weighed her and measured her length. Sophia is 23" and 9lbs 10oz!!!! That's as much as I weighed when I was born! Hahaha. So anyway, she's probably close to 10lbs now. We go back to the pediatrician on April 2nd for her 4 month shots and another weight check up. She's wearing size 1 diapers now. I went and looked at all her old pictures and at how HUGE the PREEMIE diapers were on her. I guess we had gotten so used to how little she was, that we didn't really realize how tiny she was. What a little sweetheart.
Sophia has been changing soooo much! Tonight, she tried to roll over when she was laying on the couch! She made it all the way onto her side. She's been doing much better on her tummy too - holding her head up and being able to look around. She's extremely smiley. She loves to smile back at you and she is starting to scrunch her nose up. It's adorable! She has also started this thing where she makes like a gurgling sound and if you do it back to her, she smiles, does it again, then you do it again, and she thinks it's just hilarious. She smiles and laughs and starts to talk to you. She loves to put her feet on you when she's laying down on the changing table or on the couch next to you - especially when she's barefoot. She tries to watch the tv anytime that it's on and she can see it. I keep telling her that tv is not for little girls! Some more new developments: drooling, blowing spit bubbles, sucking on her bib, putting her hands in her mouth, and putting her hands together. She has been sleeping between 4 and 5 hours for the first stretch of the night, and then she's up eating every 2 hours. She doesn't usually do much napping during the day, but today she napped for about 6 hours total! She must be going through another growth spurt. She will be 4 months old in just under a week!
Sam and I are still househunting, without much luck. We're having a tough time finding a big enough house in the area we want to live. We really want an older house with character - big moldings, hardwood floors, possible a fireplace. We want at least 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths with about 1500 sq feet or more. We want to make sure there's enough room for us to grow because we need to stay in the house long enough for the house market to turn around and also to make the assistance from NRHA pay off.
More big news: I'm coming home!!!!!! Yay! Sophia and I will be riding back to WI with Kristin, Tyler, and Connor. We are leaving April 9th, and should get there on Friday afternoon. We will either be leaving the following Thurs or Friday to drive back to VA. Sam will be flying to WI early Easter Sunday and flying back out Tuesday night. I'm glad his days off fell on Sunday through Tuesday. How lucky for us! We can't wait to see you all!!!

Sam's dad, mom, and Uncle Jim.

Sam with a weapon...yikes!

Sam's very yummy cake!

Our lovely little family after graduation.

Connor's sweet sticker stasch.

You can see the water coming out of our bathroom ceiling.

Tryin' to poop

Must've been a stinky diaper! Hahah!

She loves her mobile!

These explosions are so gross!!!

Enjoying the warm weather...out for a walk...Sophia's sleeping in the sling :)