Family Update

Sophy Update: Sophy can stand up! She started pulling herself up last friday! I guess it's time to drop her mattress down! She also loves the onny Jump up all of a sudden. She likes to play in it when Jeff and I are in the office so she can see everything going on around her! She's getting so big!
Jeff and Shannon Update: Jeff and I went over budget stuff this week! YUCK!! Who likes to do that? We actually set a nice budget so I think things will get a lot better now. It's been very bad lately. Or should I say " I'VE" been very bad lately! Well that will change!
I finally put a little more effort into my growing Scrap/bow business. I'm very excited about Memory Works! Our new catalog comes out April 3rd! So if anyone wants discounted stuff just give me a call! I have the Memory Works Site Linked to the left so go check out the sale!
Because of the growing business Jeff has agreed to share his office with me so I can have a place to work. So we've been cleaning and organizing for two days trying to rearange things in there. It is a lot of work, but it's nice to feel productive. Not to mention some of this should have been done a long time ago!
Well that's the Family Update!

Messy!

Ok so maybe I should explain these pictures a little. Sophy has been eating solid food for quite a while now so you'd think it wouldn't be this messy! And usually it isn't...so allow me to explain: Sophy isn't feeling too well. She's stopped up with a snotty nose and is fussy, although it's not causeing too much problems around here it did at feeding time. I was trying to feed her Garden Vegitables, not her faviorite by far! As I shove the food in her mouth she likes to pack it into her cheeks instead of actually eating it. It takes longer to feed her, but adventually it all ends up in her tummy...not this time! She kept sneezing and coughing. I think it might have been funnier if I could have taken a picture of me instead of her! I was covered in garden veggies and rice cereal! She seemed to enjoy herself. Everytime she sneezed and sprayed me in veggies she'd laugh and laugh! It didn't help that I found it pretty funny too! So the lessoned I learned: When Sophy is sneezing and coughing, Let Jeff feed her!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy

St. Patrick's

Day!

Ok, So I know she's part Norwegion, but she's also Part Irish....besides, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!
Yesterday Jeff and I took little bit down to the big St. Patrick's Day celebration downtown. We got there just a little too late and missed the parade! Oh well, we still got some fun pictures and got to listen to some good music. I told Sophy all about St. Patrick and how he ran all the snakes out of Ireland and ahe seemed to have a good time.

Oh and for those of you who wanted to know: I have lost 3 pounds! I think I was gaining because I was building muscle! I'm fitting in my clothes better now. I also started Sophy on Formula yesterday. Not all the time, just a little. I'm starting to ween her a little bit! It's so nice to wear normal clothes again!

Doctor Check up!

So I took Sophy in to the doctor for a weight check yesterday. I was very excited thinking that she had finally gained some weight! However, I was apparently only going there to have all my hopes dashed! Sophy weighs 15.8 lbs. For those of you who wonder that is 10th percentile for her age! So it's dropped once again. We are now supposed to feed her 4 solid food feedings and 4 nursing feedings a day and add 1 tab of butter to all her solid food feedings! It's sad when you have to add butter to her food to put a little fat on her.
I on the other hand have the opposite problem! I am going to the Gym (yes, I shannon am exercising...no one pass out from the shock!) and watching calories and still I lose no weight. Well, not no weight, but very little. I'll just keep trying though, because I actually feel alot better lately.
Even though Sophy isn't gaining weight, she is good in all other ways! She is crawling all over the place and I can't seem to keep those little hands out of things! She is super cute and always very happy. We've even gotten to sleep all night a few times lately! It's really much better around here.

Going to the Zoo!

Today I took Sophy to the Zoo for the first time. It was a lovely day and it was great fun! Jen and Lori went too so all together we had: Sophy, Alex, Ty, Carter, and Brady. I thought some pictures would be fun! So here is Alex with Lions, Sophy on an Elephant, and Carter and Ty watching the Sea lions! Don't worry, no Children or animals were harmed in the taking of the pictures! We were very safe and always had a "spotter" for safty! I'm only watching Alex for a few more days so it was kinda bittersweet to go on a feild trip! I've wanted to go for a long time, but this is the first time we were able to go out! I hope he has as much fun at his new sitters house!
Sophy is doing much better for those of you who asked...she is almost well! We are working on gettting her to sleep the night through in her own bed. That has been hard. We're doing the whole "let them cry it out for three nights" thing. It's really hard to let them cry that much! Sophy and i both made it through the night last night though...only two more nights left.
We're going to Arkansas this weekend. I have my first Memory Works party on Saturday! I'm all ready, but a little nervous. Hopefully it will go well!

Memory Works here I come~!

Well alot has been going on. I actually wrote this post twice now. For some reason it keeps deleteing it instead of posting it. So here's to one more try!
I am officially a Memory Works independant consultant. I put the Memory Works Site on my links so everyone could check it out. If anyone wants anything just leave a comment or call me and I'll get the stuff ordered for you. I have my first party in a little over a week! I'm very excited!
Sophy had a bout of sick last week. She's doing much better now. She's finally gaining some weight! We had to take her off the acid reflex medicine , but she's just getting more solid food. Jeff is on a business trip, but he will be home soon. We are looking forward to that. Hope everyone had a happy valentine's day...Me not so much. That's ok, jeff will make it up tp me later!

6 months already?

Sophy is 6 months Old today!
Wow there has been alot going on lately! I took Sophy to the doctor on tuesday for her shots. She had dropped to 20% in weight and 50% in height so he said it was finally time to worry about her constant spitup! So we now have her on medicine and she hasn't spit up in 2 days! It's amazing! She got her shots and has been a little grumpy though!
I had a cute idea from a lady I met at the fabric store for Sophy's valentines/6 month portraits! I made her a Tutu! It turned out great! She does like to try to eat it though! I took some pictures here at home of her in it, but the professional portraits I had taken today were much better! It was a lot of work for that tutu, but totally worth it for the pictures!
I have been scrapbooking a lot lately, trying to catch up! I'm so far behind! Well i hear Sophy calling.....ta!

Playing catch up!

Sorry it's been so long! Life got a little crazy around here this last month! Here's a catch up on everything that's been going on around here:
CHRISTMAS:
Well christmas has come and gone! Sophy left cookies for santa (with mommy's help) and he left her a new exersaucer! She loved it! She got plenty of toys and quickly became a very happy baby. Trish made some amazing peanut brittol! I posted the recipe on the recipe of the week site that Heather and I started. It's super easy to make and tastes so good! Aaron by far was the funny one! He couldn't wait to open presents! He was so excited! All in all we had a great christmas.
NEW YEAR'S:
New Year's is very special to Jeff and I. We got married on New Year's Eve and always look forward to a new Year, a new start, and another year together. We got to go to a wedding on the 30th this year. Brittany murray got married. It was a beautiful wedding and I got to see a lot of old friends, and of course show off the baby!
This year we spent New Year's eve at Aaron and trish's house. we ate food, played games (Scene it...Super fun game!) and watched a movie. By midnight Jeff and I were tired and Sophy was ready to go home. Not the swing party eve we used to have....we're getting old! Ha Ha!
JANUARY 1-7:
Greg is moving out! He's moving in with a friend of his here in Edmond. In a house near Preston and Sarah actually. Once he's out I have to fix up that room! Sophy started rolling. I don't mean rolling over she has been doing that for a while now...I mean rolling....she'll just roll until something stops her. Jeff left on Tuesday morning for North Dakota. He'll be gone until next friday! It's so hard to watch Sophy all alone 24 hours a day. You never know what it's like till all help leaves you!

JANUARY 8- today:
Ok, I've spent most my week Painting and decorateing rooms. Greg's room is now the guest room and the bathroom actually looks decent. Trish helped my paint Greg's room. i really liked having some help. She's also invited me over a few time to keep me from going lonely crazy. I had the girls over on tuesday to keep me company. That was nice. On Thursday i found out that all Jeff's family were coming to visit. 7 in all. He got home around 11pm on friday night. Then everyone came in town on saturday. VERY busy weekend.
On Sunday I found out Jen had her baby. Very sad day. I went to see her on monday and the funeral was on tuesday. That's all I can say about that without crying.
Jeff's family left on monday. We had a good visit and got some very cute pictures of Sophy and Molly. Sophy now likes to sit and say "Ba Ba Ba Ba". it's super cute.

A Sad Trip to Dallas

So Jeff, Sophy, and I went to Dallas yesterday. My great grandmother died on saturday so we went down for the funeral. She lived a long life and it really was more of a celebration of her life than a sad day. It honestly was the most uplifting funeral I've ever been to. The best part was seeing all the family. We haven't all been together since my wedding...and I was a little distracted at that occasion. Also Since Heather and Graham wouldn't be able to come down for christmas it was a nice chance to see them. We of course took the oppertunity for a family picture.
Thanks to everyone who prayed for my great grandmother and my grandmother. Also thank you for the flowers and cards. It meant very much to all of us.

Let it Snow!

It's snowing! I love the snow. There should be no cold weather without snow in my opinion! I bundled Sophy in the cute coat mom picked out and out intot he snow we went for her first pictures in the snow! Super cute! Ihope the snow just keeps piling up! Boy I've got a lot of scrapbooking to do now! I also took some christmas pictures of Sophy. She's just too cute!

What to feed the baby?

Well we've now moved on down the road from rice cereal to mashed carrots...yummm! Sophy gave me the best look of "what did you just put into my mouth?" when we started them yesterday. She did seem to like them after a while though. I made her food myself. I got a handout from the doctor on how to make your own baby food. It was very helpful. I made baby carrots this time, next we try bananas, then peas or green beans, then applesauce. After that I might have to buy a few of her meals. I'm not sure about my ability to puree meat and not be sick...let alone feed it to her! Carrots...I can handle carrots. It's a LOT cheaper to make your own! My goodness for the cost of 2 jars I made 8 jars worth! Of course I'm going to have to buy a few jars of baby food just for the jars! My bottle warmer will warm baby food, but you need the little jar for it to work. I can use the microwave, but it doesn't evenly heat the food, and it tends to be too hot! I'll try to post a picture of Sophy's adventure with carrots soon. I'm having problems with my pictures right now. Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon!

Fun with Food!

Not too much is going on right now. We helped Kris and Nicki move (kinda) today and got to see their new house. It's very nice. Also I thought I'd share a cute picture of Sophy enjoying solid food!

Doctor Visit

We went to the doctor. He was really nice! Sophy didn't like her shots, but who does. At least this time she's the only one that cried. She has run a slight fever ever since, but she was supposed to, so I guess that's normal. She is 75th percentile in height and head, and she dropped to 50th in weight. I though she seemed hungry all the time! Apparently my body just can't keep up with her high motabilism! I wish mine were a little higher! So the doctor had us start feeding her some solids. We started with rice cereal. She seemed to like it, but it sure was messy! The wonderful side effect? She slept all night long! It has been a while since I got a full nights sleep! I liked that part! Other than her weight the doctor said she was beautiful and perfect in every way!

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was very busy, but lots of fun. My arents and grandad came to celebrate with us since my brother lives in town too. The meal turned out great! It looked and tasted great, but did anyone take a picture? Of course not! it was a little disappointing to not have a picture! We played games and ate and watched football.
After Thanksgiving we went shopping and decorated for christmas. Since we got a new house and it has such tall ceilings I decided my 6 foot tree just wouldn't look right anymore! We bought a 9 foot prelit tree. It fills the space perfectly. I put my old tree in the entry way, so it's still being used. We even got new matching stockings this year. It took a while to fully decorate, and I still have a little more to do, but I think it looks nice.

weekend plans....

We had a rather uneventful weekend. We went shopping on friday and were able to pick up Sophy's 3 month pictures. They turned out GREAT! I had to run home and frame them right away.
On friday I took pictures of Sophy and Alex. It went ok until Sophy got sick of it, then it was time to stop: right that moment. When she knows what she wants she wants it then and will settle for no less. She is a little spoiled, but that's because we love her so much.
Trish came over on sunday afternoon to babysit. It was only the second time we have gone out without the baby since she was born. We went to see the 4th Harry Potter movie. It was really good. It was nice to walk through the mall and relax knowing Sophy was well and safe and I got a break. I love her dearly, but it's nice to get a break every now and then.

Play time with Doggies.

I bathed the dogs last night. They smell so good! It's amazing the difference. I also let them run around the house all night since they were clean. I even got on the floor and let them get to know Sophy a little. She tried to pet them. Dauby let her, but Aveada wasn't so sure about those little hands. Aveada has been really good around her though. For the most part she acts like Sophy isn't there, at least until Sophy starts to cry. Then she looks at me like "hello are you going to make her stop?". It is rather funny. Dauby is pouting because it finally got cold and he has to wear his shirts and sweaters again. He hates being cold, but also hates wearing clothes. You'd think he'd make the connection between the two!
Sophy has been having a rough morning. She's normally so happy in the morning, but not today. Luckily Jeff stayed home from work today! I'm getting spoiled! That's two fridays in a row! He's really good about helping out with Sophy so I can watch Alex and the both get attention. We have very few plans for the weekend. Mostly I have to clean the house since next week is Thanksgiving. Yikes time flys!

Pie and Sleep.

Sophy Slept last night! I laid her down at 9:30 and she got up at 7:15! Both Jeff and I had gotten grouchy and snippy, so a good night's sleep was needed! What a blessing! She is now happily watching Good Morning America while I type this.
I got my Kitchen Aid mixer in the mail yesterday! I of course wanted to open it up and make somehting right away. However with two babies in the house I had to wait a while to play. I finally got both babies happy and I made pumpkin pie! Jeff also got me the Ice Cream maker attachment. I hope to play with that today. It's kinda funny- I've been complaining because it was too warm for november, then it finally gets cold and here I am making ice cream! How silly! I think I might make cookies or something tommorrow. I'm going to get so fat!
Alex hasn't shown up yet today and Sophy is so happy that I think I'm going to go play with my adorable daughter!

New Sites and Long nights!

I've been going to Physical Therapy for two weeks now. My P.T. Dr. Simms is nice, but a slave driver! He makes me do so much work! It's not easy turning Jello into abs. It is a lot easier to stand up now though! Who kows I might actually look human again when this is all over!
Sophy decided that she was quite happy to be awake around 9:30 last night and no attempts on our part could convince her she wanted to sleep. Just trying would make her scream! She was happy only if we didn't try to make her sleep. She finally got so mad at us she wouldn't even calm down enough to eat! I tricked her with a dum dum to get her to eat. It worked and she calmed down and ate around 11:00. She slept soundly until 4:30am. Then she was ready to be up. Needless to say I'm VERY tired today.
So I convined Heather to make a blog. It'll be super fun if I can help her figure out her template! Her code is different I think...who would ever think I'd be talking about code or templates? It's true what they say: you learn something new everyday! I've learned alot in the last few days. Anyway you can check out heather's stamping site with the stamp night link.
I started a new blog devoted to recipes. So all you cooks...check it out and send in good recipes. It's going to become my go to for dinner time! Just use the Recipe of the week link. Once we get it working properly Heather will be posting there as well.

Loads of fun!

Today is Laundry day! Oh what fun! Loads and Loads to be exzact...hee hee. Ok so that wasn't so funny.
Sophy has a new habit of screaming all evening long right before bedtime. It's not a fun habit. She'll finally calm down right before she falls asleep. The good part is she's sleeping longer again. All night most nights. We think she's in the early stages of teething. Poor little girl. It's so hard when you know your child hurts and there's nothing you can do for it. Do any of you wise parents out there have any ideas?
It's amazing what you can learn from other parents/generations. For instance: I was trying to give Sophy a bath in the sink at my grandmother's house. Only Sophy kept slipping out of my hands because of the soap. My grandma suggested that I place a towel in the sink. This way she doesn't slide around and it's softer for her. What a great idea! So simple, yet I wouldn't have thought of it. See, that's why Sophy is named after her!
I learned how to make links last night. It's very helpful to have a programer in the family (thanks Greg). You can now find links to our friends sites and to pictures! I'll be adding more pictures As I go! Check back often!

My Birthday!

It's Monday. Two days after my birthday and it's time to go back to the real world. Jeff got a new computer and it was supposed to be delivered today so he stayed home to get it. He was very excited to get it early this morning and started putting it all together. It's odd having Jeff home because it makes it feel like it's Saturday, but at the same time baby Alex is here. He's a little boy I watch during the week. He's 3 days older than Sophia. It's kind of like having twins during the week. It's kind of nice to be able to play with him sometimes. He's so different than Sophia. They both excel in different areas. Alex is very verbal and Sophia is very active. She loves the Jonny jump up (thanks Darla and Jason!) and Alex can sit and babble to you for hours!
Jeff got me a red KitchenAid Mixer for my birthday! I love it. He also got me the Ice Cream Maker attachment. It hasn't come in the mail yet, it was sent by railroad, but I can't wait! I'll be cooking up a storm when it gets here! I also got a lot of scrapbook stuff and a yummy smelling candle from friends and family. I love my birthday. I wish it came around twice a year!