Baby Sophia & Big Sister Anika's Blog

Wow!!! Its been nearly a year since posting about my girlies... how can you tell I've gone back to work???!! LOL

Here's a little update from the past year.

Anika is now in Grade 2. She's loving school even more this year. She's come a long ways, learning to read and improving daily. Tonight brought such a smile to my face when she said "mom... can you read this book to me at bed. Its too hard for me." I said "Absolutely!! But... I want you to try. I'll read a line then you read a line." She said "Ok.. but I want to start because the first line is easy!" I'm proud to say that Anika read 5 pages of her Fancy Nancy book tonight with little or no help at all. This is a super huge deal in our house!! YAY Anika!!

Anika is also doing gymnastics again this year. She has moved up from JP1 last year to JP2, which means a larger time commitment from 4 hours per week to 10 hours per week. I love sitting and watching her... especially when she gets a new move on her own... a proud moment for both of us. She was quite surprised that I was still able to do a cartwheel and handstand without breaking a hip!

Where to start with Sophia.... well, she's still quite the little spit fire. Everyday proves to be more exciting than the day before. She's talking a mile a minute and definitely knows how to get what she wants. She is nothing like her older sister who feared her parents (lol), didn't have to lead the way, and was a little cautious. Anytime she can mock one of us, stick her tongue out in protest of doing something or run the opposite direction she will. She fears nothing, and loves to be the centre of attention. She is a happy little girl (most of the time), and a very girlie girl (much different from a year ago - remember stomping on her dolls...). We still struggle nightly with her sleeping, and can honestly say that she is still not sleeping through the night... and people wonder why I'm a little testy at times - 25 months of being woken up at least once or should say one billion times per night might do that to a person.

Sophia recently had a birthday party with all her friends and family. I believe 27 people - including (2) 7 year olds, (1) 6 year old, (2) 4 year olds, (5) 2 and under. Needless to say, the house was busy but they all played really well together! She was spoiled beyond belief, but soaked up every moment of being in the spotlight.

Now time for a Mamma to brag on her little girl... at 24 1/2 months, I can say that my little girl is successfully potty trained. I took November 12 & 13th off of work to give us an extra long weekend to get this task completed.... hard to believe that on the November 13th, 2009 (our first day of potty training) my little girlie sat on the potty and diapers were history. She had one accident first thing in the morning - not really know what was going on, and the rest of the day marched to the potty every time she had to go.... EVEN WITH POOP!! In 5 days, she's had 2 accidents. I think those are pretty good stats if I do say so myself!! Today was the first day that she wore pants all day (we did the bare bum approach), and had no accidents!! I tell ya, I don't miss the struggle of changing diapers. And she has the cutest bum in her little leggings with just panties underneath... I think I'm going to fill her stocking with super cute panties from gymboree at Christmas!!

What's new with us? Hmmmmm about 6 months ago I made the decision to leave the printing industry and take a job with 100.7 HANK FM and 810AM CKJS as an advertising sales rep. Its been a hard transition, but definitely a rewarding one. My work family is incredible to say the least. Do I ever miss doing what I was doing... absolutely, but I think the change was what I needed. Adrian is still working at MTS. Life over there is busy, which is great.

Over the past year and a bit, we had been talking about putting a pool in, either in ground or above ground. This was the summer that this was going to give us our dream oasis however with the crappy weather we had, and Sophia being the fearless little devil we decided to put that dream on hold, but opened another door and bought a travel trailer.... its a 27 foot Keystone Passport, with bunkbeds in the back for the girls, a queen size bed in the front for us, full kitchen, bathroom with bathtub and shower and lots of storage. We had the pleasure of taking a camping trip to Falcon Lake with friends and am so thankful that we decided to move forward with this. The dogs loved being outside all the time, the girls had a blast being at the beach and by the fire, and the best part... it has AIR CONDITIONING!!! :)

Well that's about all for now. I will update again with pictures on the weekend.

xoxo
kathryn.adrian.anika.sophia.

Goodness... where has time gone?? My last post was shortly after my surgery (which was VERY successful...yay me!!), so I guess I'm due to post an update on what's going on around the Heidinger household!

Things have gotten INCREDIBLY busy over the past 5 1/2 weeks. I've gone back to work, and am treading water feverishly trying to keep things a float. Adrian has been great at picking up the pieces, getting Anika on and off the bus, getting dinner started or made, and doing laundry when we desperately need some clean undies ;) Sophia and I leave the house in the morning around 7:10 and don't get home most days until 5:40. Tuesday and Thursdays, we get home around 7pm (when Anika is done gymnastics). She has FINALLY gotten used to being at Angie's (one of my bestest girlfriends) and have been getting reports of Sophia and Jackson (Angie's son who is 6 months older) actually playing, giggling and even hugging and kissing each other! 'Fia and Jack are going to grow old together.... :D

Sophia had a great time on Halloween. She loved going up to the door with the big kids. It was a beautiful night to go out in her stoller with her Daddy.

Anika is on the verge of losing her 3rd tooth - her first top one. Its hanging on by a thread, and the one next to it is very wiggly too... she just might be singing "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!!).... LOL School is going pretty good. She's having a bit of a hard time with some of her letters and numbers but with a little work she's coming along just fine. Gymnastics is going real well. She can do a pullover by herself (if she concentrates), and is working on a back bend from standing. Her cartwheels are beautiful, and I think she is all the way down in her side splitz. She has a mini-competition on December 18th. They will be evaluating her skills and I've heard that they have moved some of the girls from Junior Panthers I to Junior Panthers II depending on how well they are doing. I'm very proud of her and love watching her at the gym and at home practicing her skills.

Sophia is a busy little girl. She loves to chase after her sister, and has become quite the girlie girl with her babies she got for her birthday. She loves to hug them, kiss them, and dance with them if there is music on. She also likes to comb their hair (if she can find a dolly with hair that is) LOL. She also loves her Little People and loves to put the animals in their proper place in the zoo. She puts the little people in their cars and makes car sounds as she drives the car around the livingroom carpet. She now says "DADDY" and "MOMMY" all the time. She does the "MWAH" sound when she gives a kiss, and chatters a mile a minute. She has spent a few moments in the "naughty corner".... and one day I will try to get her on video because its the funniest thing. She gets soooo full of shame, hangs her head low. When SHE decides she's spent enough time there she will come over muttering something, and give a big hug. I often wonder if that is her apologizing for being naughty. She loves to feed the dogs... either from her highchair or while on the floor from her snack container... its like being at the zoo feeding the lions....

Here are a few pictures from mid-October through to this week (oldest to most recent). Click on them to enlarge.... Enjoy!

Just thought I'd do a quick update on my surgery.

On Friday morning, Adrian and I headed for the hospital around 6:30am. They quickly got me up to the ward I'd be hanging out on before and after my surgery. At 9am they came and gave me an IV, and then took me down to the lovely waiting area in the OR. Its a beautiful area with nice lounge chairs, warm cozy blankets, and really nice staff. It wasn't long before they came and got me and took me to the OR that my surgery was happening in. Everyone was great and I quickly fell asleep, walking up about 3 1/2 hours later in recovery with very little pain - thank you to who ever loaded me up with pain meds - your the best!! Friday night, Danielle came up to see me, and keep me company. While she was there, we had a little problem with some excessive bleeding. At one point I had a wee bit of blood coming out of my nose and in my mouth. Eventually the nurse called the on-call ENT and he came in and tried to stop the bleeding with pressure. Needless to say after he rewrapped my head, I didn't get a great night sleep. I got home Saturday morning. It was so nice to crawl into my nice warm cozy bed. The house was quiet - the girls were at my mom's. I had a great sleep and woke up at dinner, to the smiling faces of my girls. Sophia was sooo relieved to see me. She smiled and came over and needed a cuddle. She let out a wonderful sigh, just looking up at me smiling. Anika gave me a huge hug and said she missed me. Adrian had taken care of everything. He did the grocery shopping, laundry, chauffeuring, EVERYTHING. He really stepped up to the plate. My mom sent dinner home on Saturday when she brought the girls home.

I had been feeling pretty good Saturday night and even Sunday morning, only taking tylenol extra strength, then things took a turn and the pain became a little more unbareable. Seems like tylenol 3's only last about 3 hours.. by 4 hours its hard to get the pain back under control. Today has been the worst by far. Adrian went back to work today and since I am home alone with Sophia I can't drug myself like I would if Adrian was here. So while he is home, I've been keeping up with the T3's, and hopefully tonight will go ok.

I see my surgeon on Wednesday morning. At that appointment he'll take the packing out and hopefully the pain will have subsided. I really hate feeling this way - especially when I have to return to work on Monday. Not exactly the way I was hoping to spend my week with Sophia.

Will update a little more after Wednesday's appointment.
Thanks for all the well wishes and phone calls... it means a lot to know you all care!

After...

9 Months Old10 Months Old11 Months Old12 Months Old

~ Sophia's buddy Jackson ~

~ The 'big' kid table.... Anika, Caden, Connor, Micah, Livia ~

~ Hailey ~~ Sacha ~

Happy Birthday Sophia!!!Mmmmmmm.... Sugar

~~~ I DON'T LIKE IT!! TAKE IT AWAY!!! ~~~

~ Hmmmmm - What are these??? ~~ I'm tired but I think these are for me??!! ~

~ Birthdays are tiring!! ~~ The day after... and I'm much happier!! ~