Awkward Family Photo

We got our family pictures taken awhile back and wanted a "couple photo." When I first saw this photo I burst out laughing. And it still makes me smile every time I see it. Is it me or is this photo just awkward? :)

What are you grateful for?

This is our Thanksgiving Tree:

In order to fill space on a very empty wall, and make our house more Fall-ish, we have begun a new family tradition. The Thanksgiving Tree! We would draw what we were grateful for on little construction paper leaves then hang them on our tree. Having this tree has helped out Sophie's prayers a lot because now she just visualizes the tree and expresses her gratitude for whatever pictures we drew. Her prayers usually go something like this: "We thank thee for Daddy, Sabrina, Mommy, Daddy, the sun, the clouds, Daddy..." (Yes he is mostly always thanked for twice).

Speaking of gratitude....
Click here and you will see my most favorite televised Thanksgiving moment from Chuck.  Maybe it's funnier when you watch the whole episode but I still love it.

Here are a couple authentic Thanksgiving moments:

Sabrina (3 mo) and her cousin Annette (7 mo).

Sophie being occupied by Uncle Abram.

Now we are just getting excited for Christmas!
Here is Sophie shootin' em up over at Bass Pro (AKA "The Christmas Store" according to Sophie).

Seriously. The best Christmas hangout place ever.

Tongue Tied

I loved nursing Sophie when she was a little baby. It was good, quiet bonding time. I got to read lots of books and Dave would take care of my every need as I couldn't get up and move very easily. I was looking forward to breastfeeding again with Sabrina, but that didn't quite turn out like I had hoped.That's because Sabrina is tongue tied. Or was. I got her tongue clipped a few weeks ago.

If you want to know where Sabrina gets all her problems from here it is:

 Dave. That's the farthest he can stick his tongue out. 

For those of you wondering how the procedure was done here's what happened : The otolaryngologist put a clamp on her tongue and with scissors clipped the skin that tied her tongue down to her mouth (after numbing that area of couse). I actually didn't watch because I had Sophie with me and didn't want her to be freaked out. We stepped out of the room. Sophie doesn't need any more reasons to fear the doctor. Sabrina was of course upset, but only for a few minutes. It took a week or two till nursing became pain free.

Goodbye to sore nipples and bracing the latch on! Goodbye to dwindling milk supply and thus constant pumping! Goodbye to those feelings of dread every time Sabrina wanted to eat! 

Now we are all happy and eating well.

Halloween

 I have been saving this photo especially for my Halloween post!

This is when Sophie hit her head on our end table during Conference Weekend. As you can see there was a lot of blood. And a lot of screaming. The End.

Halloween has a very special place in my heart. I love dressing up. I love candy. 'Nuff said. I have won at least two costume contests in my life (very proud of the fact). But I also look forward to Halloween because it is the turning point in my mind where the weather really starts to cool off. Finally.

And so here are this year's Halloween photos....

These ones were taken a few days before Halloween.

My Pretty Princess:

And what Halloween is all about. Eating Delicious Yummy Things.

 

 Dave and Sabrina-Beena:

 

 Actual Trick-or-Treating

Dave managing the bowling booth at the Trunk or Treat

 

 

 CANDY!!!! 

The next morning Sophie categorized all her candies and counted the matched ones.

We now use the candy as rewards for "good deeds."

I was lame this year and didn't dress up but the day after I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "If only I had thought to wear the kind of clothes I walk around the house in!"

Blessing Day

This dress is the same dress that Grandma Joslin was blessed in. Sophie and Aunt Becky were also blessed in this dress. Sabrina looks pretty cute in it, I think.

Family Photo:

Daddy Daughter "Quality Time"

Here he is

trying to geekify my daughter.

:)

Life en la casa

Know what she's watching? Yep. Kid History.

I'm so proud that she adopts all of my favorites as her own. 

Por ejemplo:

Kid History, Star Wars, Adele (I just realized that I don't know her last name!), taking pictures, the internet, IKEA, and chocolate chip cookies to name a few. 

Now I gotta work on Barbra Streisand, Gershwin, and BBC mini series (when she's older).

Most importantly Barbra Streisand.

But I at least got her to like this. It's a start.

And now, some quotes...

"It's okay, Daddy. Everything's going to be all bubbily."

"I'm going to go play the organizer." (referring to our keyboard)

Me: Are you going to get married?
Soph: No.
Me: What are you going to do?
Soph: I'll just do bubbles.

"Mommy, I can fit my arms around you." (after pregnancy)

SABRINA PHOTOS

This one says "I'm cute."

I'm cute.

I'm cute.

I have been trying to get into more of our family photos lately. The thing about being the mom is that you're usually the one behind the camera. Sophie doesn't mind taking a few shots of me, but sometimes I feel like I have to twist Dave's arm to get him behind the camera.

Thus, with the help of my tripod, I was able to get the following photos.

I was often floating out of the frame though.

I kinda like it.

Experts on Parenting

These past several weeks I've had a few parenting thoughts keep running through my head. I thought I'd share them with you.


There were a couple of weeks where I became The Woman that Cosby describes here. Sorry about the video quality.

Thank you, Bill, for allowing me to see myself as I really am sometimes. No joke.


Then there's this little insightful piece. Let us put ourselves in our kids' place. Then maybe we'll understand them.



The part that was inspirational to me starts at about 1:40  and goes to 2:50.

Knock that smile off your face. Act like an adult! LOVE this one. I think about this all the time.

Why are some things so funny? Because there is truth to them.

Lastly, here's a little parent rap I posted to my joke blog if you haven't seen it yet.

That's all.

(hand on tummy) The baby is coming!

Monday.

August 13 at 8:32pm.

8lb 9oz, 21½ inches long

Sabrina is born.

With Sophie, I was induced. So with Sabrina I anxiously awaited that moment when I knew that it's time. The baby is coming. Well, I got to experience that feeling.

My doctor (who is really awesome, by the way) had kept giving high hopes that Sabrina would be born BEFORE her due date but when that date came and went (Aug 10) I was still pregnant. I had an appointment with my doctor and he stripped my membranes in hopes to get labor going. He stripped them at roughly 2:30 and by 3 I was beginning to feel contractions. I called Dave and told him that it might be a good idea to come home. I'm so glad I did because had I waited to call him home later he would have been stuck in traffic right at the time I needed to be at the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at 5pm and I had dilated to 7cm. Things were moving pretty quickly and I was getting terrified that I wasn't going to have time to get an epidural (side note: with Sophie it took an hour or so for the anesthesiologist to arrive in my room and hook me up with some), but there was time for it. However, my epidural didn't want to kick in fully for me so I was experiencing a lot of pain. All through this the nurse kept saying that I had perfect pain control. My doctor for Sophie had said something similar so apparently I have a high tolerance for pain.

Speaking of pain, here's my "secret" for controlling it. Don't let your husband touch or talk to you. All those things we learned in our birthing class ended up not being useful for us. I don't like people talking to me when I'm in pain. Leave me alone, and I'm fine.

When it came time to push, I only had to push for maybe 5-10 minutes. It went very quickly and I'm so grateful for that! After she was born and the nurses were cleaning her up I just kept thinking, "I'm not pregnant anymore!" Such a happy thought.

Sabrina is an easy baby who LOVES being swaddled and/or cuddled.She is very strong too. At her 1 month appointment her doctor said she was moving her head around like a 4 month old.

Sophie had to warm up to our newest member of the family. She now has accepted her and is anxious to help out--usually by sticking the pacifier into Sabrina's mouth.You can see how Sophie first felt about Sabrina here:

Sophie has been dealing with her life getting turned upside down fairly well. Though I think she is adjusting well, there was A LOT of fake crying right at first. Now she just has occasional melt downs when I say "No" to something-- even if I say it in the nicest way possible! So I'm trying to balance out giving her enough attention without encouraging her negative behavior. That's tough.

This picture makes me happy. Dave and the girls.

Here's one that Soph took:

Caption This... 

10 points for the best caption. :)

Itty Bitty

Hello. My name is Sabrina.

This is what I usually look like. Sleeping. I was born to sleep. My parents are really excited about that. To give you an idea of what I mean: Today I am four weeks old and I slept for 7-8 hours last night!

I would like to tell you more about my life, but there's not much more to tell. I'm very good at sleeping. The End.

My Mom will be back later to give you more details about my birth and stuff.

If you want an instant update

So, since this is officially LOCKED DOWN, it will no longer show up on your blogger feed.

If you want to get an email every time I update the blog, let me know and I'll put you on the list.

While I'm waiting....

...for this baby to come (hopefully tonight!), I thought I'd actually update the blog! So here it is....

History of Summer Events:

1. Girlfriend Reunion

Once again, the yearly reunion of us 5 girls was an amazing experience.

This was taken at Brityn's (girl in green) Dad's new Shave Ice Shop. DELICIOUS x infinity. 
I'm so proud of all these girls. They were awesome friends throughout school and they continue to be a huge influence on my life even though we all live in 4 different states. I look forward to our time together each year. A big thanks to my parents for watching Sophie and to Dave for allowing me some much needed girl time. I strongly believe that every woman needs some girl time. So take it!

2. California Trip
We had a blast at the Hancock Family Reunion at Knotts Berry Farm! 
Supposedly this was to be our last family reunion for a while since mis padres are planning on a mission next year.

Sophie at first was very wary of riding the rides, but after a while she warmed up to it. Dave accompanied her on all the kiddy rides while I got to take pictures. Being pregnant, I had the opportunity of riding a total of TWO rides!! Kiddie Land at Knotts Berry Farm was great, though, because there were virtually NO LINES! Compared to Disneyland where pretty much every line takes a half hour minimum to get through-- it was great!

 

Sophie was very excited to see some of those beach crabs.
Sophie's favorite part by far was the beach. Mine too.

3. Projects:
Project No 1: Find and Paint a console table
So, for a while I kept looking at one wall in my house and saying to Dave, "I wish I had a console table I could put right there." I kept scanning Craigslist for one I'd like at a price I would pay, but didn't see anything. Then one day while we were driving down the street to church, I saw the following little table in someone's carport. "Are they getting rid of that?" I wondered aloud. You know how people are always throwing freebies in their yard when they get sick of them. Well, long story short, the owner was giving it away so we took it. Now this is not the console table of my dreams, but Hey! It was free!!
 BEFORE
 
AFTER:

I read in some design magazine that to paint a piece of furniture black was like giving it a little black dress.
It disguises it at least.


Project No 2: Make a copy-cat of this CB2 Perspective Mirror.
CB2's:

Yes. I know it's cool. However, this costs something like $900. :(
I told Dave I wanted one and he came up with a wallet friendly solution.

OURS:

  Our less expensive solution was to take Ikea mirrors and have them cut by the Stained Glass place down the street. Then we just arranged them how we wanted. It did take us something like 2 months to actually complete it. 

We're not the fastest workers. 

Project No 3: Hot Air Balloon Mobile

 

I actually just did this today real quick. I got inspired by this beautiful mobile, and decided on a free and easy alternative. Sophie really enjoys it so I hope our new baby girl will too.

RANDOM STORY:

I am amazed with my little girl all the time. She will randomly start talking about something that I had completely forgotten about that had occurred last year!

Well, the other day Sophie and I were leaving the our community's splash pad and were passing the sand volleyball courts there. Sophie sees it and starts talking about hitting the ball back and forth. "Yep," I respond. Then she said, "Do you remember when Daddy missed?" I started laughing. Back in February Daddy attended a work volleyball tournament and Sophie and I went to cheer him on. Well, Sophie really remembers going to that and she especially remembers when Daddy missed the ball.

That's all.

Now we're just waiting....