Mommin' It Up!

October 29, 2009

When She Takes My Hand

Photo by Jen Ishmael

This is my new favorite picture. My friend Jen took it when we went to Fulton Farms, when Sophie was approaching the big slide in the hay, her arms spread wide ready to take hold of the rails and climb up the steps before whooshing down in glee. Her heart full of excitement at what she knew was coming.

And of course, the picture captures me gazing down at my daughter. My heart, also full of excitement at what I know is coming.

Because Sophie is amazing, and every day with her is amazing. She has bloomed this summer and fall, from a “Terrible Two” into a chatty, sweet, funny almost three-year-old. Her sweetness is such that her Daddy and I feel a little twinge of sadness when we put her to bed at night. Although, she usually does entertain us for awhile after by singing songs over her baby monitor, her favorite being If You’re Happy and You Know it”, which is HIGHLY enjoyable.

Sophie loves to sing, she loves puzzles and colors and letters, she loves playing with trains and her doll house. Every day with her is full of FUN. She is still feisty and stubborn and all the good and bad things that make her Sophie. But mostly she is a joy. And I love being her mama. One of my favorite things that she does these days, is that she takes hold of my hand and tries to pull me along with her somewhere. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” she’ll say. She’ll also hold my hand now contently when we walk down a sidewalk, walk through a store, wherever. This is a new thing for us, and I love it. Because when she takes my hand, when I get to walk with her, it makes me feel proud and privileged, honored to be the one who gets to walk with Sophie.

Before bed, and naptime, we read some of Sophie’s books, and right how her favorite is Mama, Do You Love Me? (which was a gift from Emily I might add), and Sophie likes to “read” it herself, because she has it memorized. It is pretty much the sweetest thing ever when she says in her tiny voice, “Still, I would…LOVE YOU!”

I will love you always and forever, Sophie, because you are my Dear One.

October 27, 2009

Call Me Amy Winehouse

It’s been a few weeks since I have written about my sleeping issues. I know, how can I deprive my dear readers of such scintillating posts? I know you were just dying to know what’s been going on with me in the middle of the night (eew.)

I got my sleep study results on October 5th, and the main reason I haven’t written anything about it since then, is that the results were discouraging. The sleep test was “negative” which means I apparently don’t have any diagnosable sleeping problems. They didn’t see anything abnormal. All those wires they hooked up to me were for naught.

This was not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to be diagnosed with an easily-treatable sleep disorder.

My sleep doctor, for lack of an easy solution to my problems (perhaps he thinks they’re all in my mind?), offered to keep refilling my Ambien CR (which does help.)

“Well, I kind of feel like I can’t live without it, and that makes me uncomfortable,” I said to him. (What I was trying to say, was “I don’t want to be a drug addict.”)

He looked at me and gave me a little shrug. As if to say, “Well, that’s your best option.” or perhaps he meant, “Well, not my problem.” I don’t know WHAT he meant. Maybe he just thinks, there are worse things to be addicted to.

So if you see Emily ambushing me on an episode of A&E’s Intervention, you’ll know why.

But anyhoo, I don’t wanna go to rehab! So about a week ago, I took a friend’s advice, and started taking a Melatonin tablet at night. It’s a naturally-occurring hormone and you can get it at any drugstore. And, it’s much cheaper than Ambien CR. AND, it seems to be helping! I am definitely sleeping much more soundly now. I am still taking the Ambien, but it is my goal within the next couple of weeks to get out the ol’ pill splitter and start weaning myself off of it. We shall see. I think at this point in my life, I gotta do what I gotta do to sleep, but if I can do it without being dependent on a prescription drug, I would sure like to. If not, I’ll just have to accept that at some point.

So, that’s my deal. Although I realize a stint in rehab would make for a much better blog post, I’m going to try and avoid that at all costs!

October 25, 2009

Weekly Winners: the Pumpkin Farm

This past Monday, Sophie and I got the chance to go to a local fruit farm with some of our other mommy & kiddo friends. We looked at animals, pet some Shetland ponies, had a hayride, picked a pumpkin, and went down a giant slide! It was a great time. Joshua had to miss it because he was at school, and he is green with envy looking at the pictures! I hope you enjoy them slightly more. 🙂

They had a wooden play set that was in the shape of a train. Here’s Sophie driving the train!

Cortney’s little guy Evan and his cousin Kaiden gave each other some high-fives on the hayride:

On our hayride out to the pumpkin patch, we saw a rainbow in the sky! How cool is that? God is cool!

I caught this little face on the hayride, too! He was so precious.

Once we got out to the pumpkin patch, all Sophie wanted to do was RUN!

I finally managed to force her to pick a couple of pumpkins, and then we got back on the hay wagon for the ride back. We saw some great farm scenery like this beautiful old silo:

After the hay ride, Sophie and her pals Jack and Koen went straight for the big slide in the hay:

She and the boys slid down it again and again and again!

We had a great time! Can’t wait to do it again next year!

TO see more fab photos, check out Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom.