Big News...Stop the Presses!

Sophia tinkled on the potty today! Hooray! It was really quite amazing actually. She has been infatuated with the potty for a while now, and has chosen to sit on it quite a number of times, which we encourage, but never has anything actually transpired! We were at Mom's when she said she had to go. Mom put her and on and low-and-behold...tinkle! We celebrated quite a bit and she got the widest, most sweetest smile on her face, she was so proud.

I'm not really sure what this means for the future. I'm not pressing the potty issue, although I can't say it wouldn't be nice. But, we have so many changes going on here lately (and soon to come) that if she wants to go we're going to encourage her, but I don't think I'm to the stage of potty pressure just yet! Plus, I've heard of a lot of kids that regress if they're trained before 2, although I know it's a little different with girls, and I've also heard of regression issues coming about when a new baby is born...so, like I said, we're going to go with the flow (haha!) and see what happens from here, but maybe she liked that taste of success! I'll keep you posted!

Sophia's New Desk

So one day I happened upon this old fashioned school desk that someone was prepared to just throw away. It was in pretty bad condition, had lots of scrapes, old stickers, and just looked plain awful. I really wish I had thought to take some before pictures because Charlie did a fantastic job of refinishing it. After some sanding and a few coats of varnish...voila...good as new! Sophia loves it and it gives us a place to stash her growing supply of art supplies. We put it right next to our desk and it's been a big hit all morning!

Yesterday we went to the Midwest Kids Fest with Julie, Massimo and Luca. Sophia was ready to take us there herself. This was really the best picture of the day. It was a bit of a nightmare really. There are mostly vendors that moms are really interested in, but kids? Not so much. They did have some bounce houses and a very small petting zoo, but in the end, I'm not sure it was worth it, but at least it passed the morning away while Charlie had to go into work and of course, we got to hang with our friends!

Time For a Spud Update

Well, it seems I haven't posted much about the soon-to-be-newest Hirner...but there really isn't much to post. I guess that's good, right!? Tomorrow marks the official 30 weeks mark! I just returned home from the doctor, I am now going every two weeks, and all is well. The baby's heart rate sounds great, my blood sugar was 84, which is apparently good, and I'm growing at the right rate...all good news! I am so lucky that Sue's schedule is such that it allows me to drop Sophia off during my appointments (and she's close to the Dr.'s office, another bonus). They have some quality time together and I don't have to worry about her little curious hands finding all the no-no's behind every nook and cranny in the office. Sue was even kind enough to keep Sophia for a little extra time tonight so that Charlie and I can have a dinner out with just each other...I can't wait!



Spud is still constantly on the move. His/her most active time is from about 8pm to ???. When I get in bed and lay on my side it actually feels as if this child is standing on the bed and trying to punch through the other side of my belly. Every time I have Charlie feel it he gets this incredulous look on his face and says something like 'Wow that's crazy'! Yes it is and I'm getting more and more anxious to get it out of there! I think we're both so amazed because Sophia absolutely did not move like this. This was about the time she got herself stuck in the breech position as well, and although I'm glad that hasn't happened, I'm seeing the down side of this option as well! ;)



On a more sour note, however, it seems that the terrible rash known as PUPP (some fancy name for pregnancy induced rash) has returned. Although my doctor isn't 100% sure that's what it is, he said it's most likely. This was about the time when I pregnant with Sophia that the ugly thing reared it's head the first time. I had two separate forms of it then, which had to be diagnosed by a dermatologist because my OB hadn't quite seen in such an aggressive form before. Awesome. My doctor did say however, that if I can't keep it under control this time with OTC cortisone, he'll be happy to prescribe me some steroids, that's good news except for the fact that I'll only have to run to the bathroom more times during the day! Ha!



This week has been dedicated to finishing up some odds and ends and getting to a place where I can focus on the baby's nursery. Sophia's room is almost done, I think all that's left is a bookshelf and wall decor. The baby's room however needs a little more attention. The crib is put together and the rocker is in there, but that's as far as it goes. I need to get all the furniture in and in place, figure out how to set up the awful black hole of a closet, get the pictures hung, clothes unpacked and put away, and the crib dressed. As the time draws nearer I am both more excited and more anxious. It was nice to be with Kathleen last week because we shared some of the same ridiculous psychoses and were able to both worry together and comfort each other. I know it will all be okay when the baby does arrive, but it still feels like so much has to get done before then and time is running out!

National Ice Cream Day

Sophia went with the uncharacteristic choice of vanilla

Delicious anyway!

Ahhh, but here she is poaching from Grandma's chocolate cone

happy camper

full of ice cream and smiles!

We couldn't let National Ice Cream Day pass without a trip to Ben and Jerry's! In fact, July is National Ice Cream Month...I think I must have subconsciously known that!

Zoo Day, Hooray!

Aunt Chris and Julie support Sophia the jumping bean!

Sophia and Daddy gazing at the Kudu
(Sophia kept calling them goats, but who's keeping track!)

taking a closer look at the zebras

three cousins enjoying some shade

The Hirners aboard the hippo

Sophia chose to ride the seal

while Julie picked the zebra

Now that I've got this zoo thing down, we hit the KC Zoo this week too. Sophia was thrilled, although she did keep asking why Lily and Kathleen weren't there! Now, I'll try not to be too negative here, but I just don't know if it's because we just experienced the St. Louis Zoo and all it's glory (including the fact that it's FREE!) or if the Kansas City Zoo really does just suck. I honestly can't remember the last time I was there and Charlie hasn't been since he was a kid, so it was a whole new experience for all of us. It just seemed that the ratio of animals to sidewalk was a little disproportionate...in other words, there was far too much walking and not enough viewing. When there were animals, they were very hard to see and nothing was labeled well at all. We didn't make it past Africa due to it's proximity to everything else and the fact that we ran into nap time. We did manage to hit the carousel on the way out, which was a big hit. But, I haven't given up on it yet! I'd like to return to the zoo and visit some other "continents" which will hopefully be more visitor friendly!

Overland Park Botanical Gardens

investigating turtles and fish with Daddy

taking a breather

Conductor Sophia

heading into the maze

navigating through the tall grasses

she and Daddy met in the middle!

testing out each stump chair

checkers for one?

Charlie surveys the scene

This is our summer vacation week, split up into both vacations and staycations! Since Charlie isn't taking much time off work, due to both being swamped and saving time for the baby, we decided it best to not try and stress ourselves out any more by going someplace out of town. Sophia and I spent the beginning of the week in St. Louis (see slide show!;) and Charlie took off Thursday and Friday. Yesterday was mostly spent moving furniture (more on that to come, as redecoration is still underway) and today was dedicated to family outings.

I'd been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens and it was a beautiful morning to do it. We all had a lovely time enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting some fresh air and exercise. We only saw about half the garden but Sophia really enjoyed both the pond and the children's garden. I'm sure we'll make another visit soon! We rounded out the afternoon with a trip to the dog park where both Walter and Sophia played their tails off!

Charlie and I even got to have some alone time while Sophia chilled at Bama's and we hit a new restaurant I've been dying to try, Blanc Burgers + Bottles, which by the way if you live in KC and haven't tried it...get there soon! Tomorrow's agenda includes hitting the zoo with Chris, Oli and the girls and who knows what else, I'm just loving all this time we get to spend as our little family of 3!

A Duet

Mom stopped by to say hello after our trip out of town and she and Sophia had a moment that could just melt your heart. One of Sophia's favorite books is the sing-a-long piano book and she took it to Mom so they could read it and sang along with every song my mom sang to her...absolutely precious. I must admit, however, that this was my second choice video. The other one was seriously adorable, but it was just too dark and I didn't think it would translate very well, but enjoy the one song they sing here...just too cute! (at the end Sophia says, I want it again, in case you have trouble understanding her.)

Road Trip!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sophia and I braved our first road trip together! Since we had yet to make it to St. Louis in the year that Kathleen and family have been back there we set a goal to get there this summer. Kathleen is also pregnant, due with a baby boy at the end of October, so the window for both of us was rapidly closing! We left at 5am Monday morning and arrived in time to have some fun before nap time! We left St. Louis at 6pm Wednesday evening and let me tell you what, we had an action packed, jam packed 3 days of fun, fun, fun!

The slide show is a brief glimpse of our time together, and did you really expect me to pare it down more than that! I thought that 32 pictures over 3 days really was pretty good! ;) On Monday we hit The Magic House, a local children's museum, where I think we only managed to see about a third of it before it was time to go! Tuesday we went to the zoo and had perfect weather while we visited many animals. It was actually Sophia's first zoo experience and it was a lot of fun. She really loved the bears and sea lions the best. Wednesday, due to rain, we hit the science center where they had an absolutely FABulous children's play room. Sophia was fascinated by the magnets and experimented with them for quite a while. Kathleen and I only managed to get frozen custard once, but it was worth it!

Lily and Kathleen were great hostesses and we had so much fun. Although I didn't see too much of Carl due to his work schedule, it was nice to catch up with him and because our time was limited so was his mocking! ;) We miss them so much already and Sophia has already talked to them many times on her play phone. I hope to be able to spend more time together soon, and with our second babies being born at the same time, I look forward to more fun times in our future!

2 Down, A Lifetime to Go...

Whew...so the first two nights with Sophia in her big-girl bed went smashingly! We had given ourselves a deadline of Friday night to put her in the bed, which was a good idea for me, because as you know, I was dragging my feet! Thursday night I had planned to put her in her crib, but Daddy went on a search for Sophia's babies and she and I decided to snuggle in her big bed while we waited. I asked Sophia if she wanted to sleep there or her big girl bed and she said, "I want to sleep right here." Well, that settled it I guess!



The night went fairly well. I stayed with her for a few minutes and then left. Well, it wasn't long before the crying and moaning began. She started calling from her room "I want Mommy in bed!" Well, what self respecting mother could refuse that! ;) I went back in and immediately she pointed to her bed and said, through her tears, "Mommy, lay down!" We snuggled for quite a bit, but really she was just more interested in starting conversations with me and twirling my hair than sleeping, so I told her I was going to go and she should sleep. I got up, gave her kisses and left...and she went to sleep! Success! She did wake up about 10:30 and I went in again and snuggled for a few minutes, then left. She then slept until 6:00, and much to our chagrin, more sleeping was out of the question!



Last night, I tucked her in her big bed and stayed for under 5 minutes. She went right to sleep and didn't wake up until 6. This time, though, she talked to herself for a few minutes and then went back to sleep until about 6:45...woo hoo! For nap time, I took off her shoes, she climbed in bed, rolled over and went to sleep....uh, seriously?! I'll take it!



Maybe our prep work paid off and she'll transition just as easily to this as she has everything else...let's hope so. I'm knocking on wood that the rest of nights this weekend (and to come) go just as smoothly. She's such a good girl and looks so sweet, not to mention tiny, in that big bed!

Blueberry Bonanaza

I couldn't really let all those blueberries go to waste! Last year I wasn't motivated enough to actually bake anything, I just ended up eating them plain and I don't even think I managed to freeze any. This year I made a vow to bake, bake, bake! We tried 3 new recipes that I think were all successful. We hope you adventurous bakers our there give some a try!

The first recipe I made was for blueberry oatmeal cookies. They were absolutely delish! Of course, I did add both white chocolate and bittersweet chocolate chips, because let's be real, I don't make cookies unless they have chocolate! The batter was a bit thick and sticky so it was hard to mix all those chips in, I probably will stick to one kind of chip next time. We took them to our 4th of July picnic and they were very well received, but of course, Sophia, Charlie and I had already received them quite well! ;) This was probably my favorite recipe of the lot, but I do have a thing for cookies!

Charlie treated us to some delicious blueberry pancakes one morning! His pancakes look so much better than mine! Sophia gobbled this one right up!

Our next stop: Blueberry Crumb Cake. This made a tasty breakfast cake that wasn't too sweet and had a fabulous crumb topping! The topping was seriously over the top and I loved every bit of it!

Finally, we used up the rest of the berries on some Blueberry Coconut Muffins. I omitted the nuts, because we still aren't really feeding Sophia nuts, and added cherries instead. I also added a touch more coconut and some honey and they turned out very moist and very tasty, indeed! I would have liked to try them with nuts, though, I think they'd be fabulous!

choc-full of berry goodness!

Sophia enjoyed these fresh out of the oven and was quite happy about it! By the way, that's her new "cheese" face...it has varying degrees of goofiness, but it may appear in a lot of pictures to come!





I think raspberry season is next, so if I'm not too pregnant and tired by then, I'd like to try my hand at picking and baking those too! Enjoy these tasty recipes and be sure to share others that you may come across! Oh and I sure did find out that I really don't want to be a food photographer...this stuff is hard!!

Another Head Injury?!?

I'd like to say it ain't so...but I just can't do it. I will say, however, that this time it was Charlie, not Sophia, in the ER. I think that between the three of us, we're going to have a heck of year, though! I spared you the really gory pictures but there is a little bit of blood, so if you're squeamish, don't look. Charlie made it out of the ER in just a few short hours newly equipped with a fresh tetanus shot and 9 shiny stitches.

Here's the story...the rugby team had a fundraiser to park cars at the Riverfront 4th Festival so they had to put up a fence. Now that the festival is over, they had to take down the fence. Charlie went down to the field with Jason today to help him out, too bad it cost him a head injury! ;) Anyway, Charlie was trying to pull a metal fence post out of the ground and decided brute force was his best weapon against that stubborn pole. As he was vehemently shaking it back and forth and pulling it out of the ground, it snapped in two and he whacked himself in the forehead with it. Luckily, he was wearing a ball cap, because I honestly think his face would have been split in two if he hadn't been. He said the bill smashed up against his head and he tore a hole through the front of the cap. As soon as he felt the blood running, he knew it was bad. Thankfully Jason got him to the ER and stayed long enough to chat and snap some pics (because let's be real, I wasn't passing up this photo-op!) before he headed out. Thanks to Anne and my mom I was able to be with Charlie during his stitches and then take him out for a bar-b-que dinner. His hair will sort of cover the scar and I'm just happy it wasn't worse. I hated seeing him lying there all bloody! It's hard when it's your child, but it's not any better when it's your husband. I held his hand, even though he didn't really "need" it, but I know I would have wanted it, so I did it anyway! He was a brave little soldier and only looks a little bit scary! I just feel for him, nobody likes the hospital, especially when you leave with stitches. I think he's more worried about dealing with the tetanus aftermath than anything else, although he will no doubt get plenty of questions at work tomorrow because they couldn't bandage it. Oh dear. Sorry I had to put the pics up, Babe, but I can't discriminate against any one's hospital visits...I love you, love you, love you, honey! Be safe!

He looked a little out of it when I arrived, understandable I'd say!

Dr. Jason going in for the inspection!

the stitch up

A little bit Frankenstein, but so much cuter!

America's Birthday!

Festive Fourth Outfit!

ready for water sports

all the kids loved this floaty raft and the older girls took good care of Sophia

(Charlie is floating in the water somewhere near there, don't worry!)

practicing kicks!

the slip-n-slide provided plenty of entertainment as well

We spent our 4th hanging out with our friend Neil at Lake Lottowana, Wendy joined us and all of us had a nice relaxing day. They had a band and a pig roast, although the pig was having some serious trouble cooking! In fact, we didn't even get to eat any because by the time it was done we had to head home for bath time and bed time! Oh well...the company was worth it and Sophia had a fabulous time with Neil's daughter, Mary, and Daddy splashing the day away. I must say that Charlie does get the Daddy Award because he took Sophia into the lake and played so that I didn't even have to think about putting on my suit! I had bought Sophia a life jacket last summer when it went on super-clearance at Target (only $3) and although it was a tiny bit too big yet, she didn't fuss about having it on and wasn't phased one bit by the lake. I thought she might have some anxiety since she couldn't see the bottom, it was so big, etc. but no...she walked right to the edge of the pier and said, "I jump in?" That's our girl.

We ended our night sans fireworks, because quite frankly, I don't see the need to change my not-even-two-year-old's schedule to watch something that she could very well be afraid of...maybe that makes me a scrooge but I don't care! ;) Charlie and I were so exhausted we ordered pizza, showered and climbed in bed early. We heard fireworks going outside the window as we drifted to sleep, not too shabby an evening by our standards...God, that makes us old huh?!

Construction Zone

Sophia was quite the helper!

She rushed to daddy's side each time saying "I help, Daddy!"

taking a break, they need a break!

Ooooh, new sheets feel so good!

I'm a big girl now!



Okay, so Phase 1 (Cleaning and Sorting) is now complete and we are on to Phase 2...Reorganization! We took the first step by moving Sophia's new bed into her room tonight. Charlie put on the headboard, which incidentally, was my headboard as a little girl...so cute! We then put the safety rail on, which let me just add that it doesn't look like it adds any safety at all, but whatever!...then the sheets. The sheets we bought were not originally what I thought we'd go with, but I think they're adorable and, I didn't find this out until after we'd bought them, the name of the pattern is the Torrey Beach...fate or what?! She can use them for many years to come and the colors are perfect! The actual moving of the bed was enough for tonight. We left the bed in there as mere decoration for now and put her in the crib to sleep. I know the time has come to move her, but quite frankly...I'm terrified. I just know she's not going to sleep and my child that once went down without a fight is now going to be a maniac inside her own room with the freedom to bounce and roam to her heart's desire! Yikes! I am really not looking forward to this transition...really...at all...did I mention I'm terrified?!