Merry Christmas!  A few things you might want to know:

1.  We are having fun in our snowless Utah with most of Rob's family....all except Sarah and Jeff who are enjoying their honeymoon in sunny Hawaii and Matt who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in New York.

Sophie is obsessed with her cousins and thinks they are hilarious.  Since they have arrived, she has not stopped laughing.  Except for when they want to carry her around like a doll.......

2.  Sophie has slept in her toddler bed three nights in a row with no problems.  Naps haven't given us any issues either.  It's kind of crazy how grown up she is.  I was sooooo nervous to try out a big bed with an 18 month old, but she keeps proving to me that she is much more ready to grow up than I'm ready to admit.  Her current favorite thing to do is wake up and bring books from her book shelf into her bed to read until I come and get her in the morning.  Life does not get much sweeter than that.

3.  Still no baby.  While most people are quite literally half way through labor when they have progressed as far as I have, I am still sitting here, in front of the computer, not even in labor.  This little girl is just not ready to arrive.  Which is fine.  She'll come when she is ready.  No one has ever stayed pregnant forever and I don't think I'll be the first.  I'm a little sick of the endless heartburn and body aches, but I can deal with it for a few more days at least....I've already made it this far.  Christmas Baby?  Yes, PLEASE!

4.  We just got an Xbox Kinect and I think it is the greatest invention ever.  Not only because it will allow us to video chat with Matt (B]brother serving a mission) on Christmas, but it is the most fun we have had playing any game in a long time.  I was sort of hoping all of the dancing would send me into labor, but no luck there.  Nerds?  Probably...but I don't really mind.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!  It's the most wonderful time of the year....

Home SWEET Home

Our new apartment is sweet.  I'm not kidding.  Compared to all of the other places we've lived, this place is a mansion.

Proof:

1.  I have places for all of my pots, pans, dishes, and appliances, and none of them live on top of the refrigerator or makeshift kitchen shelving from Walmart.

2.  My sewing stuff no longer takes up 90% of Sophie's room.  She is currently keeping the space all to herself and is quite happy about it.  Her obsession with keeping things clean has been less crazy lately and I'm convinced it's because my sewing crap stuff is not taking over/creeping into her space.

3.  Sophie has discovered how to play by herself....I'm sure she knew how before, but when there is nowhere to "go" to play, it quite literally feels like they are walking on your toes all day long.  Not that I minded that too much.  I love my Sophie, but it is nice to be able to walk around the kitchen without feeling like I'm trampling a little busy body.

4.  We were able to take our kitchen table out of storage (aka my sister's basement) and all 4 chairs fit around it....and there is still PLENTY of room left in the kitchen for walking about.  Like 10+ feet of extra room kind of space.  I LOVE IT.

5.  All of our oversized furniture actually makes the apartment feel bigger instead of smaller.  Especially in our bedroom where I can now walk around our bed comfortably and without stubbing my toes or ramming my hip into furniture.

6.  We have more closet space than we know what to do with....

7.  Both babes will be able to sleep soundly in their own bedrooms...I was seriously considering putting the new baby in the bathroom to sleep at nights in our other place.....problem solved.

8.  We can actually have more than 2 guests over at a time and feel comfortable.

9.  Our piano is no longer doubling as a fabric shelf.

10.  We no longer have a room that functions as an office, crafting/sewing space, music room, and baby room all at the same time.  Each of these things now has a separate location....I can't even explain to you how good this feels.

It is definitely safe to say that the moving went well and that we love our new place.  We seem to have nice neighbors and loved meeting new friends at church today.

Speaking of, it was Sophie's first day in nursery.  Went great.  Unless you include the 3 minutes prior to making into nursery where she was pushed down in the hallway (not once, but twice) by the same kid. She's a good sport though and got right back up both times and shrugged it off.  Then she totally didn't care about me as soon as we walked in the door.  I anticipated staying the whole time....She started ignoring me after about 10 seconds.  So I left and it was a wonderful, peaceful Sunday.  I could actually tell you what my lessons were about.  The ladies in the nursery were super sweet and said that Sophie did great.  Minus a 10 minute scare where she realized she knew abosolutely nobody in the room and Dad was retrieved to make it better.  She ignored him after about 10 seconds too.

18 Months...

I can't even explain to you how quickly the time has gone by.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how Sophie was as a baby (to refresh my memory for the next one) and I can't help but feel a little sad that she has grown up so quickly.  I just can't get enough of my little Sophie.  She is practically perfect in every way and I wouldn't change a thing about her.  Some things you may have missed if you haven't been around:

-She still has a compulsive need to keep things clean.  If she spills it has to be cleaned before she can do ANYTHING else.  

-She is practically trying to potty train herself.  She hates wearing diapers and runs to the potty (yes...I'm calling it a potty) most of the time she pees.  We had a half day practice with potty training before I decided to wait until after the move and baby.  She loved sitting on the potty and her big girl underwear, but I was too preoccupied with packing to give it the time and attention it needs....which is a lot.  But she did pretty well and I'm sure it will be just as great in January.

-Her favorite thing to say is "Uh-Oh," but we get a lot of other words in there too including "dedus" for Jesus, "ivpool" for Liverpool, and "data" for Santa. 

-She has an extremely high level of understanding and it amazes me how much I can reason with an 18 month old.

-She helps me with everything.  And is actually helpful.  Especially cleaning and cooking.  She insists on "holding" the mixer while it mixes.

-Time-out is a real and effective tool in our house....even the threat of time-out can usually stop any unwanted behavior before it happens.  Got to love that.

-She loves our new apartment and is always running around in all the open space which is quite a drastic change from our old apartment where she was quite literally attached to my leg all day long.  

-She loves wearing anything as a scarf.  Especially the pom pom yarn scarf my mom made her over Thanksgiving.  She is constantly wearing it or anything soft she can find around her neck.

-She loves to play with my scrap fabric and at any given moment during the day she probably has a small square in her hand.  This is her glueing the scrap fabric with the cold glue gun.  Not very effective, but definitely hilarious to see her try and do what I do.

-She loves playing the piano, listening to music, and dancing.  Especially if she can use the headphones.

-She tries to do headstands everyday.  Even on the counter.

-She loves 'sewing'.  Her version includes flattening out the fabric and pushing it under the needle, realizing it has a crease in it, re-flattening it out, and then pushing it back under the needle.  This is repeated for 30+ minutes at a time.  No sewing ever takes place.  In fact, she prefers it that way, but it is pretty cute to watch her push the buttons and pretend to do things that she has seen me do.  I kind of love it.

-She loves her oatmeal....still with a banana mashed in it every morning.

-She's done with bottles and pacifiers (it's actually been about 3 months).  Although she still uses a pacifier at night, which I'm totally fine with.

-She loves eating and drinking out of big cups and plates and is actually quite good at it.  Can't leave extra milk in the bowl....duh.

-She loves reading books and spends hours a day doing it.

-She loves singing, especially at church during the hymns.  It's hilarious.  She also does it at home but usually only when no one is watching.

-She likes to play hide and seek and says "boo" almost every time she comes into a room throughout the day.  Always followed by her cute giggle because she thinks it's hilarious.

There is so so so much more, but I could go on forever and I don't think anyone is still reading.  I love this girl more than you could ever know.  Can't wait to add another little one to our gang.

Come find me here!