Done Nesting!!!

Here are new Sofia pictures. The other day she really liked carrying around her stuffed monkey in the baby Bjorn. The next picture she is playing with her new baby boy (thank you Heather). Maybe this will distract her from smothering her new brother? The guitar pictures are of Sofia and her little neighbor friend Kayden. For how fiesty she can be with other kids around her age, she is for some reason fascinated with Kayden. The last picture is of Sofia and her babies in our new (used) bike trailer. I think that I am the only person in Corvallis who doesn't own a bike, and so I am dedicated to becoming a bike rider this spring.
If you didn't happen to notice, I also changed my blog background. I guess I gave into the intense pressure I felt when I looked at everyone else's cute backgrounds :).
I also would like to announce that my crazy nesting is over. Chris and I have done more in our house in the last 3 months, than we did the whole 2 years that we have lived here. Some of these changes include: Hardwood floors downstairs, painted kitchen and bathroom cabinets, painted doors and trim, new carpet, new deck, etc... The new carpet was put in on Saturday, and I am so glad I didn't go into labor while that was happening with our house a wreck. I am also grateful because Chris was shooting a wedding in Vancouver and didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, so that would have been so not good if I had been labor. Thankfully Chris' dad came up to help him shoot just in case. Thanks Carlos!! Now that I am feeling more ready for the baby to come, he probably will decide to be late, but my due date is this Saturday.. so we will see. With my intense Mama nesting, I think that I sometimes have overlooked how blessed I am. I have a sweet husband and daughter, and I am about to meet a new sweet addition. If only I didn't have to go through that labor part before I get to meet him. Oh well, it will definitely be worth it.

One More Thing

I am posting a picture of me when I was Sofia's age to prove to the unbelievers that Sofia does indeed look at least a little like me and not just Chris. I knew that cheeserific grin of hers could have only come from my dominant cheese genes. Also, for your entertainment, I am posting a picture of Chris and I around 11 years ago at winter formal together. Who would have thought that all of these years later we would be married with kiddos?

More Randomness From Yours Truly

Hello everyone,
As I get down to the last couple of weeks before my duedate.. I have a lot on my mind, but instead of addressing the important issues in my life, I will instead just talk about random things. I am attaching some pictures I snapped of Sofia today a.k.a Ms. Independent. Sofia wants to do everything like a big girl now by herself. Putting on her shoes, walking down stairs without any help... the list could go on forever. All day long she says "I do." I need to figure out how to channel this child's sometimes crazy energy into something positive, but I am telling you... this kid has definite personality. It is so funny that one minute we can be in the store and she can be throwing a 15 minutes fit (literally) because she wants to stand up in the cart, and I won't let her, and then 10 minutes later she starts singing a new song or does something so cute that it almost makes me forget about her fit (almost). I can't believe that she is going to be a big sister so soon.

How to Avoid This

The other day Chris and I had an experience in the park that made me fear for the future of my sweet innocent toddler. Whenever we go to parks, Sofia is always drawn to older kids.. this time it was a group of 12 year old girls. As she was playing next to them (trying to play with them) this is the conversation that Chris and I heard:
Girl 1 :"Oh my gosh, are you going to the dance this weekend?"
Girl 2 : "Yeah I think so."
Girl 1: "Can I borrow that Roxy bikini top of yours."
Girl 2: "The one with the stripes? Oh yeah.. that one is so cute."
Girl 1: "I'll have to wear something over it to get into the dance, and then I can just wear that."
Girl 2: "What will happen if you get kicked out of the dance? Well.. I guess that we can all just leave with you."
I don't know why this shocked me so much.. but it was so wierd to listen to girls who don't even look old enough to have started their periods to be plotting out something like this (not to mention not old enough to have anything to fill the bikini top in the first place). On the way home,Chris and I started talking about what we need to do to raise confident daughters who don't feel the need to seek attention in ways like this. On the one hand, we don't want to be the authoritarian parents whose kids end up rebelling just to stick it to their parents... but I also want my kids to know that they should focus on being respected for who they are as people and as cheesy as it sounds to "remember who they are." I must admit that I was one of those lucky teenagers who slid by my teenage years without too much trauma thanks to my family and having really good friends. That is my thought for the day. Please check in with me in 11 years to see how I am handling this all.
p.s. I really don't like those Bratz Dolls

Red White and Nude

Here is Sofia hanging outside in the nude today on this lovely and hot day. Around 4:00 everyday, I hit a wall where I can't think of any more creative ways to entertain or interact with my child before Chris comes home, so today I took her clothes off so she could get wet with the hose and help me wash the car. Wouldn't it be great being a kid?
Life is good right now. I love hanging out with Sofia during the day and then we always go on a family walk every night after dinner. The end of my pregnancy is going well. This pregnancy I have had an especially sensitive sense of smell to both good and bad smells. Things that smell good to me right now include: wet cement, murphy's oil, lysol, our dish soap,costco tire center, and the smell of clean clothes when you are transferring them from the washer to the dryer (don't worry.. I am not at home inhaling cleaners.. I promise). I know this all sounds strange, but at this emotional stage in my pregnancy.. nothing is too strange coming from me. Did anybody else have wierd cravings or sensitivity to smell? That is my random report for the day.

It could happen to you too!

We officially own our minivan now... yeah!!!! Right as you read the word "minivan," many of you are making fun of me in your minds already for owning a minivan already... but it could happen to you too. I know that some of you believe that over your dead bodies will you ever own a minivan, but I hope to someday make liars out of all of you. This purchase may have been even a little harder on the ego of my hubby at first, but since he works so close, and we don't want to waste gas, he is the one who ends up driving it a good portion of the time. I have even heard him bragging about its' "awesome" features before. Let's face the facts.. I know that I was never an overly cool person with a cool image to uphold.. but really, are any of us? I actually think that it takes a very cool person to give in to this sort of family purchase I say.

What else has been going on?? Oh, I was thrown a great surprise baby shower by Marianne and the other moms in the Live and Learn group, except it didn't end up being a surprise. Marianne had asked me a long time ago to mark that date for lunch at her house, and I had forgotten that I had set a Dr. appointment for the same time. I emailed Marianne to see if she could watch Sofia during my appointment and then we could do lunch...which was when the shower was supposed to be. Oh well. I guess I am not an easy person to surprise, but I really really did appreciate the shower ladies!

Today I am officially one month away from my due date.. holy cow this is flying by too fast. I have so many little things to do to get ready for the arrival of this little guy. Sofia is still quite the little pistol lately, but she is starting to sleep better in her bed, which is helping with her tantrums a little bit since she isn't overly tired all of the time. I am trying to psychologically prepare myself for birth and two kids, but I have decided that I will never feel completely prepared. Parenthood... what an adventure.