Sophie Vignettes

Two little Sophie stories I don't want to forget.

Sophie was in the bath the other night, playing with her letters and empty plastic bottles. Aaron and I were in the office across the hall talking. Aaron says: "Sophie, are you ready to get out now?"

S: "No, Daddy, I'm working on something."

We look at each other for a moment and keep talking about something else.

Then, a few minutes later from the bathroom: "I've done it! I've invented a fart capture machine!"

------------------------

Sophie and Aaron visited me at the office today. One of our vendors sent in mini English muffins in a gift basket and I toasted a couple for Sophie. As she's eating them, she tells me that she's pretending they are money (they are a little bigger than quarters). And she's "making them disappear."

S: "This is called putting my money where my mouth is."

28 Weeks!

Technically 29 weeks - so I'm officially in my third trimester.

I've taken photos of the belly, but our mirror needs cleaning so I haven't been uploading them.

I haven't been writing about this pregnancy much, other than to announce it.

In case it was missed, we're having another girl. This thrills me, personally. I GET girls and am excited to have another one. Sophie's very excited about having a sister. Aaron's overwhelmed a bit by all the girls in his household. With Otto's passing, he is now clearly the minority in the house. I think he was hoping for symmetry.

I've been feeling good. I'm now starting to get hurtier as she gets more active and I'm more tired and just DONE by the end of the day. She has a pretty specific schedule for activity. The biggest burst seems to always be between 2 and 3:30 each day. That doesn't mean that I'm looking forward to the smaller burst of activity at 1 am every day...

My endocrinologist has stayed on top of my thyroid meds for the most part so that has helped. There is a nationwide shortage of natural desiccated thyroid meds right now so, while I wanted to increase my natural thyroid dose, she convinced me to add the synthetic to round out my numbers.

That's going mostly okay. The majority of what I'm taking is natural and, with the addition of the synthetic, my hair starting falling out again and I'm very, very itchy. The itchy might be part of the pregnancy, so I'm not pushing it with her right now.

As soon as things settle after the baby arrives, I'm going to find another doctor who will look at my thyroid in addition to my adrenals. This endo (even though it's her frickin' specialty) won't discuss looking at my adrenals. In addition, my insurance is doubling the cost to see a specialist from $20 to $40 per visit. Time to try and find a family doctor who is sympathetic.

In other news, I've been making lots of gifts for Christmas. I've made two baby quilts with one more quilt for Sophie to go. I also made a very cute cupcake cottage for my niece. All the Christmas cards were finally finished. I made lots and lots of cookies to give out to family and to neighbors and to teachers. I'm trying to get a purse/bag done for another niece (won't happen before Christmas due to its complexity.), so I'm doing a smaller, quick purse for her and Sophie in between working on the complex one. I made two shirts for two nephews by both bleach stenciling and freezer paper stenciling - using a design I saw in Craft Magazine as inspiration (now you have to register to see it). Whew.

Pictures of all these things once I know they've been opened for Christmas.

I had plans for other items but I'm starting to run out of all steam.

Today it is bitterly cold outside. Literally. The thermometer read 1° this morning. Aaron said the other day: "Okay, I'm completely sick of winter now." I reminded him, cruelly, I know, that winter doesn't officially start until next week. He did not want to believe me because that's just soul sucking awful news.

And our automatic garage door broke. One side is completely off the gear windy spring thingy. Not cool, garage door, not cool.

Sophie continues to be amazing. I got her to say "perspicacious" the other day in reference to herself. "Daddy, I'm perspicacious!" He just looked at her in amazement - "Um, I don't know what that means." So she explained that it means that she understands and that she "just gets things". He just shook his head and smiled.

I love that she's a sponge for big words. She's also a sponge for songs. They learn new ones every day at school and she always remembers them, complete with the accompanying dances.

Since I might not write again until after the holidays, here's to a wonderful holiday season filled with happiness and cookies. And chocolate.

Oh, the patience

First snow day of the season yesterday. We all stayed home and baked 5 different types of cookies that will be sent far away. There were toys strewn everywhere and it was, all in all, a very good day.

One of Sophie's favorite toy collections is a large group of My Little Ponies. Gifts from a revered older cousin. Lots of conversations among the Ponies along with hair brushing and organizing and congregating around the mini-trampoline that gets brought out to work off excess energy.

I went upstairs at one point and found a knock-off, scruffy horse/pony in Sophie's room. It isn't pink or purple, for one thing, and its hair is all tangled. It was not included in the treasured group downstairs.

So, I brought it downstairs and said: "Sophie, this little pony was crying in your room. She's upset that all the other ponies are downstairs and she's upstairs all by herself."

Sophie looks at me like she's looking at someone very slow. "Mama. She's a horse, not a pony. She doesn't go with the other ones."

"Oh. But Sophie, she's very upset about all of this."

Sophie gently puts her hand on mine and looks up at me with all the patience she can summon: "Mama. She's not real. She's. A. Toy."