Sophia's Dedication

We dedicated Sophia last Sunday. As Larry read the promises we were asked to make, I had to fight the tears. The hardest part for me was the line "Do you promise to surrender all worldly claims upon her life?" Yes, I do. The commitments we made are huge, but I feel confident in them all. God will take good care of Sophia, no matter what happens.
I would also like to announce that Andy and Shannon are Sophia's godparents! Jared and I are very excited about this, because we know that they will devote themselves in prayer on her behalf. We also know that they will be an excellent example to Sophia on what it means to be a Christ follower. Thank you Andy and Shannon! We love you!
Here are some photos from the day.

Bad Day

Yesterday was hard day for baby and momma. Let me give you the rundown...

MONDAY: FUN!

Papa Nourse treated us to Mongolian BBQ (YUM-O!), which is one of my favorite restaurants. Sophia would beg to differ.

TUESDAY: UH OH, TROUBLE AHEAD

She was having trouble at feeding time. She wouldn't latch on correctly, and when she did, she would pull off. She just wasn't eating well. (Apparently spicy, garlic flavored milk doesn't taste very good?! Who knew?) Tuesday night during dinner, I got a very sharp pain in my stomach that lasted about 15-20 minutes. I thought nothing of it.

Wednesday: WRETCHED

Wednesday was horrible. Sophia was fussy and inconsolable most of the day. I could tell she was exhausted, and would just fall asleep, only to wake up 3 minutes later with a death cry. It was obvious she was in pain. I am guessing she had a tummy ache too. She filled her diaper to the max at least once per hour, and did not take a real nap all day. She finally passed out laying on my chest around 5:30pm, and slept hard for several hours. I didn't dare move. She was finally asleep!

During all this, I was having severe pain in my upper abdomen that started during lunch. It was so gut-wrenching that I began bawling. In addition, I had horrible heartburn that would not go away. I grabbed the phone and called every nurse I know, plus two nurses at the clinic. (Funny side story-- the two clinic nurses gave me lousy explanations for my pain, such as: "my digestive tract is getting back to normal," and "those are strong hunger pains." Duh! I got them AFTER I ate. Abby, who isn't graduating until Dec with her RN, is the only one who suggested an ulcer. Turns out she was right. Abby wins the prize!) The intensity of the pain subsided after about 2 hours, but I still felt a low, dull pain most of the day, and the heartburn never went away either. I researched the symptoms of an ulcer, and it turns out I had almost every single one of them. Yuck.

TODAY: BETTER

This morning, Sophia has been an angel. She is eating full meals, taking her usual naps, and is all around a happy girl. I am still suffering some stomach pain, and tested my ulcer suspicion this morning. I ate a piece of peanut butter bread. My stomach was fine. So I brought on the sugar. I ate two bites of a pumpkin bar, two bites of a chocolate chip cookie, and 3 sips of cranberry juice. My pain shot through the roof before it all even hit my stomach. I called the doctor and have an appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Sophia finally fell asleep around 5:30PM. I laid perfectly still, turned the TV down until it was barely audible, and turned all the lights off. I had to make sure nothing would wake her up!

About 4 hours later. Momma needed a little nap too.

Getting Into the Groove

Sophia has set a fairly consistent schedule now! She usually goes to bed between 10-11PM. She wakes up around 1:30AM for a snack, then sleeps until about 5:30-6AM. After another snack, she falls back to sleep until around 7:30-8. Then she alternates naps, pooping, eating and awake time for the rest of the day. Her longest awake time usually starts around 6PM. She quietly looks around until she goes to sleep for the night around 10.

It is really nice to have a rough structure to the day, so I can know what to expect and plan the day accordingly.

Sophia and her Papar
Getting ready to take a ride in the car!
First photo that Sophia made eye contact with the camera! Hangin' with Daddy ;)
Sleeping soundly in her carseat
First time trying a NUK! She did very well. What a beautiful baby

Dedication

We are having Sophia dedicated this weekend, October 21, at the 8:45 service on Sunday. I am feeling a mix of emotion as this important event draws near. Jared and I are eager to commit Sophia's life into the Lord's hands, because we know that she belongs to Him, and that He will take better care of her than we ever could. At the same time, however, this is an extremely difficult thing to do wholeheartedly. We just received the best gift of our entire life (Sophia), and now we are publicly saying it is okay if God wants to take her back. That is hard. That is really hard. But it is something that is extremely important to us, and we just need to trust God to perform His will over her life, knowing that His will is best for her. We want the best for her. God can give that to her.

Family Days

Andy and Shannon flew in from Providence on Saturday morning, October 6th. Sophia was only 9 days old when she got to meet her East Coast Auntie and Uncle for the first time! We spent the entire weekend with the family. It all started Saturday afternoon, with a trip to the apple orchard! We quickly realized it was way too hot to spend much time at the orchard, so we found a shady park and ate our picnic lunch. After we were chased out of the park by a band of biting bugs, we retreated back to the coolness of my parent's house to spend the remainder of the afternoon resting and chatting. I gave Shannon and Mom haircuts, we played Settlers of Catan, and closed the evening with a run to Nelson's for some delicious ice cream!

The next day, we woke up early and headed to church where Sophia was oodled and canoodled. Then back to my parents' house again for a meal with the great grandmas and Aunt Wendy. That evening, the party moved to our house where the rest of the evening was spent eating treats and watching season one of Heros. Then we had to bid farewell to Andy and Shannon :(

What a great way to spend the weekend!

Andy and Shannon capturing photos of Sophia
Uncle Andy loving his new niece

Auntie Shannon looking very natural with a babe in arms!

Marma and Sophie enjoying the shade at the apple orchard
Fun at the orchard in the HOT HOT SUN!
Great Grandma Betty getting her turn to cuddle the baby!

The beautiful centerpiece that artsy Uncle Andy and his talented wife made for our family gathering. Made entirely of natural substances.
Newlyweds Andy and Shannon
Auntie Shannon sharing a sweet moment with Sophia
Oh, I just love them to death! What a cute pair they make!

Sophia eyeing her uncle

Our little gnome
Auntie Anna getting her turn
Auntie Anna finger-feeding Soph

The First Days...

(click on photos to enlarge)
Resting with Mommy
Little Angel
Not too fond of the flash anymore
Meeting cousin Taylor
First time Papa Nourse got to hold his first granddaughter (he had a cold)
Sophia smiling at Papa Nourse
Sleepy girl
Resting with Daddy
Mary came to visit
Bath time!
Daddy teaches me all his tricks-- "Baby's First Stogie"

Tummy Time

You are so strong Sophia!

Sleeping in the swing (She LOVES her swing!)
It is so hard to wake up!

No more pictures, Mama.

Homecoming

We brought Sophia home on Saturday, September 29th! We were all ready to transition into the quieter, more comfortable atmosphere of our own home... and Jared was ready to get home and kick some butt on his new Halo 3 game! Sophia did really well in her carseat, and was content almost the whole way home, until an evil gas bubble came to afflict her...

















Leaving the hospital. WOOHOO!














Sophia very happy in her carseat

















Evil gas bubble

Jared multi-tasking! Holding Sophia AND kicking butt at Halo 3