Holiday Beginnings

On Sunday the three of us headed over to the nearest big store with a photo studio to have a holiday portrait taken. I've never actually taken Sophia anywhere for pictures, so I didn't know what to expect. I just figured that I'd like a picture of the three of us without someone getting their head cut out of the frame, or my bra-strap showing, or other issue. We talked it up with Sophia all day but she still completely clammed up when we got there. There were lots of tears and she kept hiding her face in my shoulder. Though we eventually got a few shots, it required a photographer change (from male to female) and a great deal of patience AND a trip to the toy department afterwards (to browse). We get the pictures December 4th and I hope they turn out OK. When you see our Christmas card, you can decide for yourselves.

Yesterday we decided to put up the Christmas tree. We bought it two years ago at an after-Christmas sale and never even opened it. Last year Sophia was newly walking and we were getting ready to move, so we didn't even bother with our decorations. Since Franco left today (yep, he's gone for Turkey Day) we thought we'd get a jump on things. He brought it in, assembled it... it looked great. Well, it looked great until we went to plug it in. Something is very wrong with the pre-wired lights and the darn thing doesn't light up. Franco checked conductivity of cords with some sort of man-device, checked all of the fuses, pulled bulbs, wiggled wires... NOTHING. Our warranty is still good, so I filed a claim today. We will see how quickly the company responds. The lady on the phone made it sound like it will be resolved very soon, but it has been my experience that people that answer phones on consumer help lines rarely know what is actually going on. So, the tree is back in the box and my decorating is on hold for now. At least I don't have to spend the week chasing Bella with a squirt bottle to keep her away from the tree.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am thankful for the wonderful Turkey dinner that I had at my mother-in-law's house last weekend. I'm also thankful that I don't have to travel anywhere with all the holiday hub-bub, that Franco reached his destination safely with all the hub-bub, and that my mom is visiting us on Friday after most of the hub-bub. Sophia and I will make Turkey noodle soup for our grand feast and Skype with Franco. I hope everyone has a good holiday and stays safe.

To Grandma's House We Go

Yesterday we took a drive down to Grandma & Nonno's house. It was our first official trip with the car seat turned in the forward facing position. California law says she could have turned at age one as long as she was twenty pounds. I read that it is safest to keep our kids turned around as long as possible. Since Sophia is such a big girl, we decided that turning two was the age for her (I'd wait longer if she were more petite). At her well-child visit on Wednesday, she was found to be 28.5 pounds (with her clothes on) and 35 inches tall. That is about the 70Th and 80Th percentiles, respectively.

You may remember that she threw up in her car seat on our Disneyland trip and I attempted to wash the straps in the sink at the hotel. This did not fix the smell permanently, so I was going to wash them again when we got home. Unfortunately, the Britex instruction manual recommends not submerging the straps in water. When I called to ask them why, they said that they cannot guarantee how the straps would perform in a crash because water might make them stretch or weaken. Luckily, we could order new straps and all is good with the world again. We plan on Sophia using this car seat for a while, so we don't want to worry about it's ability to keep her safe in a crash.

We're pretty sure she likes the forward facing position...



While visiting the grandfolks, Sophia got to have a play date with her favorite cousin, Nadia. Nadia also brought along her little friend, Julia, who happens to be just a couple months younger than Sophia. Julia is visiting California with her mommy, Cynthia.




After a faux-Thanksgiving meal, we took all the little hoodlums out to feed the chickens.



We tried to get the girls to sit in a row by the vegetable garden, but Julia was the only one to cooperate.



We could only get two at a time to sit on the bench, but they rarely looked toward the camera.



Franco should have worn a Santa suit because they all wanted to sit with him for a picture (kind of...).



Cynthia and Julia brought Sophia a birthday present, which included a handmade tutu and some little red envelopes with lucky money. You'll see the tutu in pictures soon. The envelopes were so cute, I thought I'd take a picture. I put them under Sophia's mattress in the Chinese tradition. Hopefully they will bring her some good luck. :)

Sunday Evening Update

A new week is beginning and I feel terribly behind on my blog. Not that a lot is happening around here.

The rest of our Disneyland trip was uneventful. I will post a funny little video of Sophia riding the carousel soon. We all (grandparents included) had a really good time and did a lot of walking. Carrying Sophia while we walked basically crippled me on the day we drove home. Each time I got out of the car it felt like that first time I went snowboarding (lots of falling).

I think I've finally found a play group that I want to join. A woman I met through some mutual friends invited us to join a fitness group. They meet at a couple parks near my house twice a week. The moms work out and the kids play (or ride in the strollers). Everyone was very nice when I went on Wednesday. I think I'll meet them again tomorrow. Sophia loves the park.

Yesterday I unleashed my inner math-geek. While reconciling my credit card statements, I decided to add up all the coupons I've used each month. We started getting the Sunday paper earlier this year and I started clipping coupons as a type of hobby. I had three months of statements and receipts, so here are my totals.

End of July: $16.49 (the statement started on 7/22)
August: $24.52
September: $26.30
October: $83.92
Total: $151.73

October was a heck of a month because I had some irregular coupons. CVS sent out two $10 off of $20 coupons as a "come check out our new store" incentive. The guy let me use both coupons at once on my bill, not realizing how smartly I had shopped. I walked out with eight bags of Snickers (BOGO free), Crayola sidewalk chalk (marked $7) and Crayola paint (BOGO 1/2 off) for $2.14. I also used a $10 Kohl's coupon (worked like a gift card) and a couple Gap coupons. This month is off to a good start. Yesterday I bought six boxes of Chex cereal for $7.

That's all for now. Goodnight.

Report from Disneyland

OK, I'm reporting from our hotel near Disneyland. Sophia is passed out cold and I'm trying to entertain myself with something other than a nap. Today is Day 3 of our vacation adventure.

Let's begin our story with Day 1, Thursday. It was a bright sunny morning and our house was busy with packing - but not frantic. We left before 10AM... totally on schedule. Though I packed a variety of toys for her, Sophia most enjoyed playing with toys she picked: her pumpkin candy bucket from Halloween and a stuffed Chick-Fil-A cow that she insisted was a panda. We drove a couple hours and stopped for lunch. None of us ate much because the meal was only satisfactory, but at least we ate. Sophia caught a nap for a couple of hours and woke right as we got to the Grapevine. We made a pit stop, gave Sophia a quick snack and then let her run around. Back in the car. A couple hours later we got stuck in rush hour traffic near L.A., which was our own fault for not leaving earlier (to account for stops). Oh well, we tried to make the best of it. Then Sophia got sad. Then Sophia threw up. I then did some fancy acrobatics getting to the back seat in under 10 seconds. The pumpkin bucket became a trashcan for yuck-filled napkins. Franco quickly maneuvered the car off to the nearest exit and miraculously found a McDonald's parking lot (in a sketchy neighborhood in "little Mexico"). Sophia got a bath with handy wipes, a new outfit and felt better. Franco took the car seat out and cleaned out the bigger chunks that I missed. Back in the car. Somehow managed to get back to the freeway. An hour or so later we were washing car seat straps in the bathroom of our hotel room. Unfortunately Franco's throat was getting scratchy and his sinuses were getting plugged. He caught Sophia's head cold. Good thing I insisted on bringing the humidifier. Everyone slept as comfortably as you can in a hotel room.

Day 2 was a little slow to get going, but we were all in pretty good spirits. Franco had some Tylenol and was feeling decent. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and headed off to Mickey's house as soon as we got all situated. We decided that we wanted to go to the It's a Small World ride first because we knew that Sophia would love it. It was closed! They're getting all ready for the holidays in Disneyland, so it takes like two weeks for them to change all the doll's clothes. OK. We instead went to Toon Town to meet Minnie and Mickey. Sophia enjoyed this and we got pictures (I'll post them when we get home). Then we rode a few rides and came back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. My folks arrived around this time and we all headed back for some more fun in the evening. Sophia isn't used to being out at night and was very clingy. However, she enjoyed the Dumbo ride, the carousel (twice - no waiting), the submarine and she LOVED the parade. On the walk back to the hotel we stopped at Denny's to have a bite to eat. Sophia ate more than half of her grilled cheese sandwich, a hand full of grapes, and various bites of our breakfast dishes. She slept like a rock and didn't wake up until 6:45, even with me getting up at 6 to shower.

This morning we added Franco's parent's to the mix. Franco said he was already feeling better. We all went to breakfast and then took the bus over to the park. Franco and Sophia went on the rocket ships in Tomorrowland (I took pictures) and the grandparents went on Star Tours. Then we shopped for a few minutes, met up with Franco's brother, and went on Pirates of the Caribbean. Sophia didn't freak out, but she did NOT like it. She hid her face and covered her ears. It was pretty loud. She did like the jungle cruise, the little Winnie the Pooh ride, and the big riverboat show we saw as we ate lunch. After lunch I headed back with Sophia and Franco's dad for some quiet time at the hotel. As we walked to the gates, Sophia dropped a little tiny Minnie Mouse (on a key chain)that my mom had bought her a couple hours before. Dominic stayed with Sophia in the stroller as I quickly double-backed to the last time I saw Minnie - of course she was gone. (I don't know why I bothered.) Fast forward to my panic attack as I could not find Sophia and Dominic. When I left they were by the Arcade on Main Street, but they were NOT when I came back. They were only about 4 stores down, but that was a long minute and a half as I realized that he did not have a cell phone on him and I had no way of knowing how far he had gone. Though not a truly dangerous situation, Sophia was badly in need of a nap and I did not want to miss the next bus back to the hotel. We barely made it. Sophia fell asleep about 3 minutes after getting in bed. She was even more tired than I had thought!

Despite a few kinks, we're having a great time. I look forward to heading back this evening for more Disney fun.

Pre-Disneyland Sickness Fun

Yesterday we ran some errands and got back a little late for nap. Sophia was crabby and resistant. Then she started yelling and crying for me when I put her down in the crib - she dropped her toy cupcake out of the crib. Ten minutes later she started crying again and I figured she was just over-tired. I spent five minutes rubbing her back and she went to sleep. Less than twenty minutes later she woke up crying. I knew she owed me a diaper, so this was probably why. On my way to her room she gagged and threw up a little, and the diaper did not need to be changed. Uh-oh. Franco cleaned up the crib while I rocked Sophia in the chair. She fell back to sleep, went back in crib, and we repeated the scenario all over again in another twenty minutes. Needless to say, baby wasn't feeling well and nap was over.

Sophia spent the rest of the afternoon having her poor runny nose wiped a lot. She was sneezing (messy) and cuddly. We gave her an early bath and bed time. With the humidifier running and the mattress slightly elevated on one end, Sophia lasted about an hour without intervention. Then she woke up twice in one hour. I took her to the guest bedroom to sleep (so she would have enough room for her big body to move around). We got about 5 hours of restless sleep. Around 4am she was awake but not so restless. She was super hot, though! I stripped off her fleece footie pajamas and she was a lot better in minutes. Then I gave her a dose of Motrin (in case it was a fever), changed her diaper and put her to bed. She slept a solid three hours and woke a bit after 7.

I went back to our bed and got back to sleep pretty easily... until the burglar alarm siren went off. Yep, another false alarm! Franco turned it off pretty quickly because it gave the same message as last time. Sophia didn't budge. I went back to sleep within minutes. Poor Franco was up. Stupid alarm.

Sophia woke feeling great. She hit a slump around lunch and took an awesome 3 hour nap. I took a 2 hour nap. Franco even got an hour nap. Everyone is feeling better. Sophia still has lots of goo in her nose, but hopefully it won't spoil her fun in Disneyland.