It's 2010!

Well, I realize it's been a while since I've written on here so I thought I'd throw out a quick update of everything that's happened since June this last year.

Sophie- She turned 2 in September, we had a nice party outside in our front yard with family. Sophie has become "miss "I do it myself." This equals out to, some of her clothes getting put on inside out and backwards, but usually she gets it right. Most of the time she has to open doors herself, close doors and open the fridge. She is just so independant. She is mommy's little helper. She is always right next to me when I do laundry, she helps put clothes in the wash, helps stuff clothes in the dryer, close the door and helps carry laundry out for me to fold it. She even puts her clothes away. Now, .. not all clothes make it back to where they are suppose to go, but it still helps out a lot. She loves when I clip her nails (weird how she used to hate it when she was an infant), she loves when I put her hair up. I'll ask her to go get a clip and hair tie and she goes to her room, gets them and comes to sit on my lap. She likes to have her hair put up, it's very cute. She loves to wear her tutu around the house, well both of them actually. She calls them her tutoots. Recently she has discovered how to take her clothes off. Oh boy.... One night Clinton and I were sitting on the couch talking about how we wish we could be given all of our children at the age of 2 (forget the baby stage). We both agreed we could handle four kids if they came to us that way :) Just as that moment Sophie turned the corner butt naked dancing in circles. Clinton looked at me and said, "let's make that 3...." She is so much fun; I just love this age :) All morning she's been saying to me "you stinker" when we've been playing. It's funny hearing her say it to me.. her mommy.

Clinton- As for Clinton.... he tore his PCL, which is his posterior cruciate ligament on the backside of his knee. He did this playing softball,.. sliding into 3rd apparently. This happened in June I believe. Anyways, he hadsurgery in Mid- October. The surgery went better than the doctor expected. His rehab time ended up being cut in half from 3 months to 6 weeks because he achieve all his physical therapy goals early. He still has some knee pain but it comes and goes. Clinton also went ahead and bought himself a brand new snowmobile. I have no idea what kind it is so don't ask. I just know that I have leverage on him for the next five years. Meaning... any purchase I make he can't argue with :)

As for me- We are pregnant again due June 24th. This would put me at 16 weeks now. Everything seems to be going ok. The baby is measuring about a week ahead (head to rump measurement) as of 4 weeks ago. I'm just starting to feel the baby move now. I felt it at 14.5 weeks with Sophie but my placenta was posterior with her. In this pregnancy the placenta has moved from fundal (top) to anterior (front). They said it will take longer to feel movement because of that. I have a gut feel it's a boy but I don't really have much to back myself up on. I feel generally the same as I did with Sophie (in regards to pregnancy symptoms). I'm not showing anyfaster with this one as with the last. The only difference is that my belly seems lower and pointier (if that makes sense) maybe my ligaments are so loosened up already they just gave out and they let the baby sag more... jk. I wouldn't say I have any cravings either yet. I do however get hungry for real meals vs. sweets. That doesn't stop me from eating sweets but I just don't care for them quite as much as I did with Sophie or even probably less that I do not pregnant. My morning sickness has tapered off now. I thought it was gone a couple weeks back but the holidays and family visiting really threw off my sleep schedule which makes me sick. So I went one week without puking and then I puked 3 more times in one weeks just from not going to bed on time.
- As for school, I finished the LPN program and started up the RN program pretty much instantaneously. Three weeks into the program I passed my LPN boards on the first try. I was very happy, and relieved. I passed the first of two semesters of the RN program and I just waiting to start my last semester next week. I made it through three semesters (and a summer semester) with a 4.0 gpa. I'm very happy about that. Hopefully I can keep it up for one more semester. It may help me get into another program if I choose to go back and get a 4 year degree. Right now I'm leaning towards going to Winona State. That is if I ever go back. If I do... I'm bound and determined that I will have my employer pay for me to go back :) Let's hope they offer that to me where ever I get a job. My career interests still lie in obstetrics mostly particularly nursing care related to conception/fertility. I would maybe even be interested in becoming a lactation consultant. I may look more into that this summer when I'm at home with baby. I'm also interested in Endocrinology such as diabetes. My instructor at school says she thinks I would make an excellent Diabetes Educator. That would be an interesting job. Nursing is such a great field to go into considering there are so many different avenues you can take....Well, that is going to be it for an update. I have been slacking on taking pictures so I won't be leaving you with any. Sorry. You know what we look like anyways right?! :)

Wow, haven't posted in a while!

Nothing too new here. Sophie will be 2 in 2months. Seems crazy but we love watching her grow up. She's a great joy! Puzzles, strawberry shortcake movies, being outside, eating and playing w/ animals occupies the majority of her time. She's starting to talk more, we're are still only putting 2-3 words together but she's improving everyday. She loves playing w/ all of her cousins and seems to enjoy daycare as well. Sophie has yet to meet two of her baby cousins Brielle and Ethan who live in Arizona w/ my sister Kim and her husband Steve. They are such pretty babies and I can't wait to meet them.

Clinton has been busy as usual. He was playing softball 2 nights a week until 3 weeks back when he injured his knee sliding into 3 rd base. Well, after seeing 3 doctors- he has a torn PCL which runs on the backside of the knee. After seeing a specialist they fit him w/ an awesome knee brace that has made a world of a difference. He will start to see a physical therapist 2-3 times a week starting soon; we have yet to set it up. They gave him a 5% chance it will heal on it's own w/ some grueling rehab- otherwise it's surgery. They expect to give rehab 1 full month before deciding if surgery is necessary. So all in all Clinton is down to watching softball 1 night a week. Though he is home more now,... he seems to be much less useful :/ he's been enjoying the babying though.

As for me, School is almost over for the LPN program and I will start the RN program in August. Just around that time I will be set to take boards for my LPN, so hopefully all goes well by then. Assuming all goes well and as planned I will have my associated degree in Nursing (RN) in May. As for the LPN program, I have 2 more clinicals at the hospital and one "specialty" day in Pediatrics. My last 2 weeks of the program will be in internship. I requested OB clinic at the hospital for it and got it. I'm very happy w/ that. Maybe they'll hire me after I'm done... doubt it but I can hope...

And We Are Walking!!!

5 mins ago Sophie took her first Steps... 3 to the mirror and to see if she'd walk back to me.. and sure enough she did!! Yay, I'll have good news to tell the doctor at her 1 year appt. today!! We officially have a toddler, and I'm so excited. On to the next step!

The Past Few Months

Family pic
I havent' updated for a while, so sorry guys. Well we've just been enjoying the summer so far. I've been trying to get everything prepared to start LPN school August 26th, I have a first aid class next week and after that I should be set to go besides buying books, and other necessities required to be in Clinicals. Sophie has childcare lined up to start, so hopefully she adapts well. It's crazy to think that in just a few short weeks Sophie will be 1, I'll discontinue nursing her, I'll be in school and she'll be off to daycare part-time. This coming fall will definately be an adjustment for our little family.

As for Sophie, She's just been becoming a little person who jabbers and has lot's of personality. She however has made no progress in learning to walk. She's over cautious and is very comfortable just crawling everywhere. So, like me, I think she will also be a late walker. She must not have her dad's sense of fearlessness :) She can stand there without holding on as long as she has something in front of her to grab onto as needed. Sophie says mama often and pretty well and has been now for over a month. She will sporatically use some other "words" too. I've heard her say hi a few times, cat, and she'll say "git" for when she wants me to "git" her out of the tub. That was kinda cute. Sophie can also Dada but she doesn't always use it for Daddy, sometimes she just likes to say it. She's become and avid stair climber whether or not we appreciate it at this time. She giggles and plays hide and seek with mom, and is still by far a MOMMAS GIRL.. hands down. But she loves her daddy too. In the next couple weeks I'm going to make an appt. to get her dark ends cut off before her first birthday party. I've been planning it for a while. It's pink/gold elephant themed. This will also be her golden birthday so.. hence the gold. I 'm working on elephant invites and an elephant pinjata (sp?) I also have a rocking animal. It's a cuddly soft stuffed elephant that's like a rocking horse and plays music. I'm so excited for her to play with it. It will match her room I'm thinking.

Well as for Clinton, he's been enjoying driving truck for the dairy and playing softball for two seperate teams. He plays in Cannon and in Hastings. Clinton had an undefeated team until the last game last night when they lost by one :) bummer. I think the hastings team was maybe undefeated too, but I'm not sure. Clinton's friend from H.S was married in June and we all drove out to Pierre SD for that. It was a great time and Sophie really enjoyed the pool.. Nate and Alice are also Sophies God parents so hopefully the pictures we took will be nice for her to look at when she is older.. I'll post some pics of that too.

Daddy and Sophie in the pool at the Ramkota Inn in SD.

Mommy and Sophie.This is the river that ran along side the campsite where Nate and Alice Grilled out for their rehearsal dinner.



Sophie at my sister Kim's surprise birthday party while she and her husband Steve flew in from AZ.
My sister Kim and Sophie.
Sophie LOVING her blueberries.

That's all for now,.. hopefully I'll get to updating after Sophies birthday... if we're lucky she may be walking but I'm not counting on it yet : )

ZOO

Clinton took and afternoon off from the farm and the three of us went to the zoo then to Buff. wild wings afterwards. Sophie seems to enjoy lookihjng at all the animals. She kept pulling herself forward as far as she could go to see the animals. I didn't want to upload a lot of pictures but you get the point. The last exhibit Sophie fell asleep. The fun day really wore her out.

May

Well This past month Sophie is pretty much just growing into a little girl. No new skills really, just improving her already accomplished ones. She can stand up and get down faster everyday. She likes to play peekaboo atleast once a day especially on days I do laundry. She uses clothing to hide under. She loves looking through her books and now I think she's starting to pretend she's reading them. She'll flare her arms around and make noise as she looks and turns the pages. She gets kinda noisy sometimes. She's learning more and more everyday to walk around furniture. Standing is her favorite. Whenever I'm cooking in the kitchen at some point Sophie will crawl over and use my leg to stand and clutch me, arms wrapped around tight and she'll cry out for me to pick her up. Just this morning I helped her get up and balanced to her walker and off she went. She was great. The more we encouraged her the more she seemed to enjoy it. I'm excited for her 9 month checkup on thursday. Here are a few pictures that I took this past week.

Past Week

It's funny how all I really have to say is about Sophie. But I suppose that is how every new parent is.

Clinton and I have been going to "Parenting Class" at our church every 2nd and 4th monday nights every month. I believe they have had two so far and Clinton and I went to both. We have enjoyed going because we get to spent time with other parents and it's interesting how alike some parents think. With so many things to worry about when trying to raise a child "right," it's nice to know other parents share the same concerns as we do. I know Sophie is only 7.5 months old but we're talking future things to be worried about I guess. Clinton and I have been trying to go to church atleast every other weekend. It's nice to get Sophie out and exposed to church and other people. I'm already excited for sunday school for her. It's nice knowing the kids who will be in her class and being able to watch them grow up.

Now as for just Sophie, she has been changing so much lately. I'm really starting to notice how much of a little girl she has become. She interacts with me all the time. It seems we have our own lingo. She has started to be able to feed herself. A month ago I tried giving her some crunchy stars and she did not like it one bit. Now I just tried again and she took to it just great. She'll have her tray cleaned in no time. Next week I might try some other soft cut up veggies... we'll see though. I've really been enjoying making baby food too. There are so many foods out there that I want to expose her too that they don't have in the store, not to mention saving some money. That's always a bonus. Sophie has taken to most of her foods. Also, Sophie is getting better at crawling. She's kinda lazy about it though. She's been army crawling for almost 2 months I suppose. About 2 weeks ago she took some of her first crawling steps. Yesterday she did a great job at crawling and trying to get up on things when her cousin was over. She must have been competing for attention. Then an hour or so later she pulled herself up, not straight up but up atleast. She's changing so fast and I'm just so excited for her. This summer will definately be a blast with her. I can't wait to take her to the beach... I'll just have to watch so she's not eating the sand :) Oh Sophie also cut her first top tooth the first of the month so now she has three teeth and the other top one is close behing the other.

Despite being very demanding for her mommy, she seems to be a very sweet mild mannered little girl. She does like her daddy too though. If he comes in during the work day she always gets all smiley and just stares at him until he leaves again. Well, here are a few pictures....

So much for organization. Sophie loves pulling out all the DVD's