Me n Hatchell

Handing out props
Peek a boo

Bubbles

Miss Melissa her teacher and Bubbles

This morning we went over to castleton mall to meet up with my friend Val and her little Sophie. We wanted to raid The Children's Place store because they were having an awesome super clearance sale. I found Soph a cute little sweater and a shirt and some little pants, all for a mere $9. Ha! We ae lunch in the food court. I had Chick Filet, We taled about Oprah and her PETA videos. I have decided I can not eat animals again, especially ones that can scream. Thanks Oprah. We decided that we could have lived out out lives without having seen that. Ignorance IS bliss. So Hello Trader Joe's tomorrow. On our way out we needed to stop by the pretzel place. I got some delightful cinnamon pretzel stick thing. Sophie LOVED them. They are very bad for you. On the way back home she fell asleep in the car clutching the remains of her little soggy pretzel stick. Poor girl! I needed to stop for gas and had a car wash. She does not like car washes. They are scary. We got home and she took a little nap, and when I say little, what I mean by that is about 5 minutes of head on pillow. Poop. So we ate and watched some Itsy Bitsy, then went off to play gym. She had a great time. She is getting good at following their directions there with the different activities! We ended our evening with a quick visit to Charla and little Hatchell. Sophie likes his toys!

This morning we went over to Carmel Clay Library to go to the drop in play date. There were alot of people there. I had to pick up a book that I requested too. Soph enjoyed herself, as she usually does. Then we headed over to pick up grandma so she could go to lunch with us. We ate at LePeep. Soph had a grilledcheese and some fruit, I had apple oatmeal and toast as usual. I received my birthday present from mom. It was the House M.D. Season 4. Awesome. I will be delighted to have cable back when we move. I am tired of watching PBS all day. Now I will watch these DVD's all day, or rather have them on in the background.
When we got home, someone small was supposed to have a nap. Instead, she decided to have a talk with her babies and Violet. I thought I heard Violet dog singing over the intercom. I peeked in and sure enough, everyone was up! Just as I was about to sneak away, she must have sensed me spying on her, I heard Mommie?? about halfway down the hall. Dang!
I fed her dinner a little early since we were going to play gym tonight. She had morningstar nuggets (thanks Oprah) and peas, I had flounder (thanks George Foreman grill) and peas also. Sophie is a pea eater. She tried so hard to get those peas on her fork. It was interesting to watch. I just told her to pick them up, but that was not an acceptable option for her. She kept messing around with them, and I thought she was done. When I went to pull her chair out, she started at the peas again. There are peas for days now. They were everywhere. It is hard to pick a smashed pea from the carpet.
We went to Gymboree open gym. It was pretty busy. Aunt Missy and JB were there. It was nice to be able to chat with them for a bit. Jonah calls me Kiki and Sophie Tootie. It is very pronounced, which makes it funny. I felt a little tap on my shoulder and there was JB. So cute.
We got home and Soph went right to the bedroom, still in coat and shoes. I put her jammies on, and she just stood there. I got her bed ready and her music on and she put her little arms up so I could pick her up to go in the crib. She very sleepily with her head on my shoulder said Yogi? Which means Yogurt. So I laughed and she lifted her head up and just grinned. So we went back out for some Yogi. I thought I would be cool and get some banana and sweet potato healthy yogurt for her instead of her usual Gogurt. She was not havin' any of that. She ate two bites and looked at me like I was crazy. Great. So I squeezed out a tube of Scooby Doo blue into a bowl and she was happy. Then she went right to bed. Awesome. I spent my evening watching Nanny Diaries and reading a book I got today at the library, exercised and took a bath. Wow, alot happened today!

Tootie at Five Guys

Today was ridiculous. People are ridiculous. The way people rationalize their thoughts and actions are ridiculous. Ok. So that is how my day started. Around 4 or so, I had decided that I could no longer be in my living room. We took some books back to nasty Pike library, to which we will never return. I was tired of eating lean cuisines for dinner, so we went over o Five Guys for a very tasty burger. Sophie and her dad usually go there on the weekends, without me, because I am usually having me time, which usually involves nothing remotely relaxing for me.

She delights in their fries and sweet tea. She also likes the music they play there. They had on some DMB, and she was swaying back and forth in her chair giggling. I just happened to have my camera and got a couple good shots.

We came back home and Soph demanded to watch YBCR, because the Itsy Bitsy Spider song is on there. She now knows how to open the DVD player, take out the disc, without touching the playing side, she sticks one finger in the center and one on the edge. She holds the disc up to me and I stick in the right one and she closes the door to the DVD player and pushes play. She must have been paying close attention to all the times I have done this. I think it is funny every time. David just realized last week that she has this skill. He was laughing hysterically when he saw her do it. He started to play a DVD and here came Toot, I told him to let her do it, and he just sat there watching. I was proud. I took all the credit for teaching her that. She knows how to put start n the dishwasher and likes to close the little door where the soap goes. She really enjoys "helping".

Close to bedtime, I let her have her little snack with her last cuppie of milk for the day. I guess she was ready for bed, because after I got her jammies on, she just walked on back to her room. She does this every so often. It really makes me laugh as I am following her. She has quite the bedtime routine. At least she doesn't fight it. She rarely wakes up in the night. When she does it is just until she or I locate her paci. She goes to the bookshelf and waits for me to turn on her sleep music and light. Then I put her in her crib, get a hug and she hands me which blankie she wants covered with. It amazes me that she established such a little routine. So that was it for today. I exercised after she went to bed, watched some Biggest Looser for motivation and now I am going to read.

Choo choos

At Carmel Library

This is her little scarf I just made for her

Hailey's birthday

This weekend was awful. The only good thing that happened was that David made a small effort and bought 20 totes. I asked for boxes. But now I have an abundance of Rubbermaid totes. Great.

Oh. Also, On Saturday me and Sophie went to Hallie's 2nd birthday bash. It was cute. They had a pinata that had strings to pull instead of having to hit it. So the little kids each took a turn to pull a string until it opened up. She had a minnie mouse cake. Sophie had fun as usual being her little social butterfly self mingling with all the other kids. Most of them were around her age. I also met a couple of other moms there who I friended. One lives on the Southside where I will be moving shortly.

Today, we had all kinds of plans, but naturally they got cancelled. I was literally just standing by my front door trying to think of a way to get out of this house. I decided that we needed to go to Target, which we did. Soph is addicted to the V8 splashers juice. Which is good, I guess, since it has fruit and veggies in it??? She goes through a bottle every 2 days. She loves it! She knows when I try to water it down. She says, Mommie. yuggy (yuckie) jute jute (juice), and hands the cuppie to me. So by the time both of us were ready, I looked outside and it freakin started snowing, and was super windy. I was holding all of our stuff is disbelief. Jeeze. Luckilly, about 15 minutes later is was ok. We got in and out of Target without any ordeals. Then we wanted to go to open gym at Gymboree, but it was 4 something and it ended at 5. So we went over to the Carmel library. There were alot of people there surprisingly. Soph went all over the place. Which was good. She was very good. She picked out some books and a couple of movies, She liked looking at Pip and Squeek their hampsters there. They were actually awake this time. We brought our dinner over there. I stopped by Arby's on the way and picked up some food. We ate in the little cafe area there.

When we got home Soph had a bath. Then we played feed the baby dolls for a bit while I watched House M.D.

f

Sophtastical Sophariffic Day

This morning, Toot woke up at her usual time 9. I got up way early to prepare for our afternoon at the Children's Museum with Val and her daughter Sophie. It takes forever for me to get ready when Soph is awake, you can imagine why. Today I got up extra early and was just one coat of mascara away from being completely ready when I heard Mommie?? over the monitor. Awesome. While Soph was eating her waffle, I made our lunches to take with us, and packed up the tote bag. It was an easy transition out the door! We met up with our friends at the museum and headed up to the toddler zone. Both Sophies headed to the giant sandbox first.

It wasn't too busy when we first got there, but an hour later people started pouring in. Tootie spent most of her time in the sandbox. Then a bunch of kids showed up and she moved on to the coloring area. Both the girls colored for a minute or two. They spent the rest of the time kind of wandering around. We decided that at about 11:30 it was time to eat. We were both hungry after chasing the little mimi me's around!

We had a picnic lunch down in the cafeteria. Val and I had a chance to alk for a minute. Toot was getting antsy because when she is done eating, she puts her hands up and says down! Which means now. So we wrapped it up and left. It was alot of fun. I liked watching Soph figure out the sandbox toys. Scooping, shoveling, and she was watching the other kids to see how they did stuff and she would try it too. She couldn't quite get a scoop of sand up into the sand toys, because she would tip it and it would spill first. She would look at me like, hey, what happened?

On the way home she fell asleep in the car. I just put her right in her crib for a little nap.

My sister with Soph and Jonah

My sister and her daughter Maren and Soph talking into the cone

Soph on the go

Most of the day we spent at home. Sophie got a Melissa & Doug clock for Christmas. She is getting pretty good at putting the shape blocks in the correct place! She likes to do it herself. I try to help, and she removes my hand and looks at me like, hey what do you think you are doing, then smiles and goes back to it. She is also mastering the buckles that are on her baby stroller and sled. Coincidentally, also on her car seat, hmmm. She gets excited when it snaps all the way. We watched some Sesame Street. She really likes Abby Cadaby and the flying fairy school. She also does a dance when Elmo's World comes on at the end. She stands right by the TV, puts her cuppie on the tv stand and whatever cracker or snack she has and stays glued. She turns around every so often to make sure that I too am watching!
We left for Gymboree open gym a little early so Soph could get her usual at McDonalds. She also had nuggets tonight since it was about dinner time. She knows as soon as we get off 465 on Michigan that that is where we are going. Sometimes if I am going to Target I have to stop because she happens to be paying attention and sees it. She calls it middy (mickey D's)

Gymboree was fun. She was running around. Most of the usual people were there. Alot of kids were getting hurt for some reason. My sister was there this time and brought little Maren who was sitting up, checking out the place. he is good at removing her socks. I put it back on, but she was like, umm no, let's just get that back off. My sister brought me a bunch of hangers for the so I can organize my clothes for the move. We have shelves in our closet now, so just a few things were hung, the rest folded. I am glad my new closets will have a better system. We came home, caught some of Mercy, and Soph had some yogurt and went off to bed.

This afternoon at 12:30 we did a make up class at Gymboree. It was good. Soph was the only girl there. She loves her teacher Miss Eileen. She enjoys it when Soph waves at her and steals a hug. Later on we went out because I had to get air in my tires so I went to Indy Tire or whatever it is off 465 and 86th street. They are so nice in there. Then we went over to Kohls to look for a birthday present for one of Soph's buddies Hallie who is turning 2 this weekend. She picked out a little shirt with a cupcake on it, and some crayola magic marker pak thing. After that we came home for dinner, I had the always deliciopus lean cuisine mushroom pizza, Soph had a hot dog, some peas and a cheese slice and some fruit. We played in the living room with her dollhouse and little people for awhile, then it was time for The Biggest Looser. So therefor it was time for someone small to hit the hay! I already know who I would have voted off! It did not go my way. Then I did my pilaes DVD, and my hand weight routine from my exercise book. I have a journal now that I take with me to the gym so I can log what I do there and at home. I am exercising 5-6 days a week now. I like alternating between home and gym. Now I am posting this, and going to start on the second book in the Wicked series that I am reading called Son of a Witch. Wicked was great,this one is good too, but I m only about halfway through. I love Gregory Maguire, I am going to read the rest of his books for sure!

The Park

It quickly turned to laughter
Little Melanie
Mel & Soph inthe fear cage


Mel & Soph in the fear cage
This morning started early. We had some blueberry waffels for breakfast. Then we headed off to meet Angie and her little girl Melanie at Traders Point Church to a play area they have insde there called the park. It was pretty cool, but Soph probably won't be able to really get going in there till next year. They had this gigantic play area, but you had to climb up to get to it. Soph just wan't tall enough. There was a little area with a tree house and things you could crawl through, but the other kids there were little creeps. When Soph and Mel would get a ball, these two little jerks would take them. It was pretty rough in there since older kids and younger kids all played at the same time. I eventually had enough of these boys and when a ball came near me, I picked it up and launched it across the room, or just stood up with it, which did the trick too, since they were short. Sophie got knocked down twice, which was not cool. Then we had a little snack and decided it was time for lunch. We went home and had some nuggies, cheese, corn and juice. (Pictures to follow stay tuned)

This weekend

On Friday, me and Soph made some cuppy cakes. She started "helping" me do the dishes. She likes to get up on the step stool and grab a sponge and play. More water gets on the floor than in the sink, butI really don't care. It's just water and she has so much fun! On Saturday, we went to the Children's Museum. It was super fun. Soph played in the Toddler Zone for a long time. She likes the sand box now. She spent most of her time there, until some kid decided to fling sand. I grabbed Soph, gave her mom the stink eye, the kid had to be ten, and we went to play with duckies in the water area. After that, we went down to the cafeteris there. We brough our own lunches from home. It is pretty dumb to pay $6 for a couple of hot dogs on stale buns. We went to see Barbie again. It was about 1 or so when we left. Soph's nap time. While she was napping, Ii went to the gym to burn off some stress. I was there awhile. I stopped by Target on the way home to get our groceries for the week. I sure hope I can make it through with a small pack of diapers. Thanks Dave. Let me just say, litter, diapers, animal food costs enough, let alone when you have to buy actual food too! But I do have a whole ten dollars left for this week. I don't have anything else nice to say. oh, we buries our recent cat fatality, Heidi. Had a graveside vigil. On Sunday, we did nothing. I was going to work out in the afternoon, but I was too disheartened to go, so I just came home. Me and Soph took a nap. I had a really bad migraine, and I had pulled my back bad when I got home this morning from runnin an errand. I am not sure how, it was probably from cleaning up cat accidents from the week before. Oh yeah. I also soent the remainder of the day post nap washing and re washing bedding. I really want a Bissel Pro Heat for my birthday, please. Isn't that bad. No nothing fun for me please, just something to suck cat piss and puke up. Awesome. So while me and Soph were napping, I guess Davew left to go bck south. We had some grilled cheeses with tomato soup for dinner. Yummy! And the last two cuppy cakes. Soph is asleep, I am watching some Golden Globes. Hopefully where we are having out playdate tomorrow is not closed :( Sophie also recieved her first official little friend invite to a birthday party. Her little friend Hallie is turning 2 this coming weekend! CAKE!!!! She is the one who calles Sophie Fosie, it is funny to hear her! Thursday we are meeting Val and her other little pal, also a Sophie at the CM. They don't have a pass, so this will be good for everyone! Thanks +2 memberhip!

This week

Toot at Cheesecake factory with Grandpa

Can you find Sophie?

A new way to eat breakfast. She did this herself.

Sophie & Sophie



Tuesday morning we headed over to Traders Point Christian Church. I met a new friend on IndyMoms.com and we have been hanging out. She goes to the same gym as me. She invited me to go the the MOPs meetings there. Mothers of preschoolers. It is pretty cool. They serve brunch and talk about kids stuff, have guest speakers. They have an awesome play zone there that is open to the public. Sophie and her little girl who is just a few months older than Soph went to the daycare area while we were upstairs. She did pretty good. They have snack time,. and go on a buggy ride in a little 6 seater wagon type thing around the church. It is pretty cute. Then we met them over at the Red Robin to eat lunch. Hallie calls Sophie Fosie. I can see how she may have got that! Darcy said she had Hallie work on saying Sophs name. It is pretty cute. On Wed. We met up with Val and her little girl who is also named Sophie, she is a few months younger than Soph. My Sophie looks like a giant next to her. I think she is 15 months old. She is super cute. Her mom, one of my new friends is so funny. She is alot like me with the dry sarcasm. I love it so much! We went to Zionsville Library. They have different rooms in the childrens area to play in. We went in a room that had a Thomas the train track, and a mini Lego Land, and a big desk to color at, which is what they are doing in the picture. They sat side by side on little stools coloring with a box of broken crayons between them. They colored for a while, which shocked me, Soph likes to go all over the place, especially someplace new and fun! Then we walked out into their giant book area, there was a little hut with a gigantic bear inside. The Sophies took turns giving Mayfield Bear hugs! We took the girls over to the toddler board books and read for a bit. We decided to get some lunch since everything was going good. We went down the street to Patricks. It was pretty good. The service always sucks there, but I told the waiter, the one who is dense and always sweats, that if they didnt want a scene, they would be quick with the toddler food. He did pretty good with that. The girls colored and shared goldfish crackers while we talked. It was a great lunch. Just what I needed. Then it was off for naptime.
Soph went to Gymboree open gym. The usual suspects were there. Of course Soph had to go around and wave at everyone. She saw her little friends Aiden and Melanie. There is this other little girl who is a little older that always comes w her dad, I can't remember her name, but he always says, there's Sophie making her rounds waving at everyone! She makes an impression. I enjoyed seeing little JB, and that he was feeling better (I think) He was wearing the awesome marsh mello people shirt I got him. I didn't get to hang out with him too much,but we had a few moments here and there! I have a couple new mommie friends there that I also hang out with from time to time. Soph was being pretty busy there, so between her running around, I got to talk to the grown ups. Sophie gave Miss Melissa a special request. She went up to her, waved, and made the itsy bitsy fingers, so Miss Melissa obliged and sang it for her. She had Soph climb up the ladder (the spout) and down the slide (to wash the spider out) it was cool that she did that. Soph loved it. She sat right in front of her while they did a second round, she was just looking at her with delight. I wish I would have gotten a pic, but I was in awe of her mezmeration(is that a word) with her. Thursday we were supposed to have breakfast with Grandpa Dykes, but it was newring time to get ready and she still wasn't awake. She has been sleeping till 9 or 9:30 lately. She hasn't been waking up in the night or anything, so I guess she is just cozy in there or something? So I had to call to see if he would be able to come later. He did, he came about 11 or so. We ran over to Keystone mall. I wanted to check out Gymboree clothes, because I had some gymbucks to use. I was sooo disapointed, stuff was so picked over. I did get a couple outfits. I will check another location a little before my other coupon expires in a couple weeks. I was getting hungry, I figured we would grab something in the food court since dad recently ate. But he wanted to go to a restraunt, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory YUM! I ate every bit of my miso salmon, Soph had mini corndogs and fries, in between bites of grandpas banana creme cheesecake. I love their mango iced tea, so did Soph. She kept saying in delight YUMMIE!! We got home and Soph took a little nap. I had to go pick up my mom from work so she could watch Soph for about an hour or so so that I could go to the gym and not stress out about her in the kids area. I usually take her, and she mostly does good. But grandma wanted to visit. She had a very busy day and week so far.It has been a very good week for me too. I am excited about my new friends, and all of these new activities that we are finding that are free or just about, which is good for me! Luckily the other moms under stand that we don't have alot of cash, but we are having so much fun anyways. We have made plans with everyone for a couple playdates next week, not sure where yet. Val and Darcy both live close, we were trying to get some sledding going with the kids if we can find a good spot.