Mama's Bed

As I waited for Sophie to come home from China, I read so much information on how important it is to establish "attachment" with your adopted child.  There are books and websites filled with ideas on how to accomplish this.  At the top of the experts list is co-sleeping with your newly adopted baby.  People have very strong opinions on whether or not parents should sleep with their kids.  I personally don't care what others think.  Madison slept with us when he was a baby and I would have been perfectly happy for Sophie to have done the same in fact I was looking forward to it.  The only problem... she was a "thrasher".  I would put her in bed with us and as she began to fall asleep and throughout the night she would flail herself all around the bed and I mean flail.  She would end up upside down, kicking us as she went.  She tossed, she turned, she flung herself all night.  She just couldn't handle the closeness of sleeping with another person.  She was used to being by herself in her crib and that is the only way she could sleep soundly.

Fast forward two plus years........

We are now going through our sleeping in mamas bed phase.  Every night she begs and pleads to sleep with us, "can I sleep in mamas bed..please...please?"  She can lay a pretty good guilt trip on us too saying things like, " but I want someone to sleep with too, I get lonely all by myself.   What if I get cold, have a bad dream or hear a noise?  You don't want me to be scared do you?" 

 The good thing is she has gone from thrasher baby to the cuddliest little toddler ever!  She sleeps perfectly still except when she reaches over, pats my arm and tells me she loves me.  She is a great co-sleeper now but unfortunatly she's bigger.  There isn't enough room for all three of us. On a special occasion (or if it storms, she hates storms) she gets to sleep in mamas bed.  The other day when I was off work she and I snuggled up and took a nice nap together.  I couldn't help but grab my iphone and snap a few photos of that sweet face.  There is just something about the face of a sleeping child.  So beautiful.  So peaceful.  I want to remember this time forever!

Hanging At The Hampton & Black White Day

Since Madison was little we have always talked about him going to UK when he was ready for college.  It has always been his dream and one that we have always encouraged.  After all his Dad is an Alumni and our entire family are huge fans.  Recently he has been talking about going to NKU......what!!???  Where did this come from?  Well it came from the fact that his girlfriend lives in Cincinnati and NKU would put him within 45 minutes of her as opposed to the 2 hours he has to put up with now.  Since we want to be supportive and since we feel like he needed to see other colleges we decided to make a trip to NKU's Black & Gold day to see what it was all about.   We went up the night before and stayed at a Hampton close to the college.  Sophie was thrilled!  It was worth the trip just to watch her.  She had all her family in one room, a couch, and a huge comfy bed that she could jump and play on. 

 

Sophie looked out the window and loved watching the cars zoom by.

Early the next morning we headed over to NKU.  We were greeted by a Norseman and some nice students ready to take us around and show us all the reasons we should consider their school.

The presentation was interesting and well done.

Sophie enjoyed checking out the new tech building and all it's interactive sights.

Madison and Kaitlin listened intently to the tour guide.

Is NKU going to be their choice?  We are still deciding on that.  But I am so glad we visited the school and got to have this experience together.

A Frightfully Fun Night!

I love Halloween!  The 2-3 years between Madison growing out of trick or treating and Sophie coming home was really sad for me,  but we are making up for it now.  I got Sophie all dressed up in her Snow White costume, added some Mary Kay rouge to her cheeks and away we went off to my friend Jill's for some delicious chili, time with good friends and as much candy gathering as we could before our Princess had to rush home to be put to bed.

Halloween at Jill & Lawrences is so much fun! 

Even the adults get in on the action.  There was Buddy the Elf and a not so Angry Bird, look at that smile.

Sarah & Sophie looked great showing off their costumes.

Last year I learned that if you are going to trick or treat Jill's neighborhood with the big kids, a wagon is as necessary as a big candy bag.

Here I am offering the little princess a beautiful red apple.  Watch out Snow White!

Sophie made a beautiful princess and a perfect Snow White. We had an awesome Halloween.  I'm so glad Sophie and I get to share these fun times together.