Still Waiting

Well, We are still waiting for Stephen to get home. Everyones patients are wearing and  I am trying to remember it is all in God's hands and he has a plan. This however is easier said than done. We are so close to the end but unfortunatly the Army seems  in no hurry to get him home. We are hoping to see him sometime in the next couple week.

Sophia and I are trying to stay busy but time has a way of standing still when you are anxiously awaiting your soldiers arrival. We are ready and will wait as long as it takes :)

Here are a few pictures to show you just how we feel right about now.

Come on .. Bring my daddy home already ..

Hey !!! I WANT MY DADDY!!!

Now she is REALLY MAD!!!

On a positive note.. Gma J sent Soph some very Snazzy Sneakers last week. Very sparkly, very shiny and when she walks they light up and twinkle.

Showing of her new sneaks

And.. testing them out.. fabulous!

Hopefully my next update contains lots of pictures of Hugging, kissing and a family FINALLY back together agian.

Until then.. Much love!

The Thompson fam~

Music

So it occurred to me today as I was listening to Jason Mraz and Elmo Singing the Sesame street version of I'm yours.... just how my musical genera has changed.

I remember back in the day.. I use to love to lay down, put on my ipod and get lost in the music. Just stop and breath, clear my mind and listen. White Stripes, Dylan, Counting crows.. oh how I miss you..

Fast forward to today: To lay down and listen to music DOES NOT HAPPEN. If I am laying down I am  SLEEPING. If I am listening to music it is.. 9 times out of 10... either Sophia's play list on my ipod or our very silly song CD. So desperate for some inkling of my old music.. I went and bought Ziggy Marley's Children's CD.

So I am behind on the times when it comes to music. I have found myself enjoying the "light 100 music " station  (Gasp) .. and even more embarrassing to admit.. on this "light" station is the John Tesh Radio show... Which I have come quite fond of..

I can hear you laughing now..

In my defense the man is full of all sorts of little wisdoms and facts about life... I just can't help but listen. Don't worry I have not started wearing mom jeans or driving a mini van so there is STILL hope for me. Although I would love a mini van :)

Did I just say that out loud!?

I know you all are dying to here the sweet sounds of Jason Mraz and Elmo.. So here ya go .. ENJOY!..

I couldn't have a blog w/o a Sophia picture.. here she is  dancing to some of her silly songs!!

11 months...

11 months. Stephen has been gone for 11 months. In just a few short weeks he will be home with us and I can't even explain the butterflies, excitement, nervousness and Love I feel as I type.

11 months. 11 months of not talking face to face, not holding hands, kissing, hugging. 11 MONTHS yet I love the man more than the day I married him.

This deployment has been LONG, longer for him I am sure than me but we are almost done. He will be sitting right here beside me in only a FEW SHORT weeks. In a few short weeks I can finally take that HUGE breath and EXHALE. I can finally breath again because he is safe and with the ones who love him more than anyting in the world.

11 months. He hasn't held his daughter. She could only crawl when he left. Now she is a little girl. She has her own little ideas and her own little style. I can't wait for him to experience her in the heart of toddler hood. I can't wait to see them together again, my heart skips a beat even thinking of it.

11 months of  what may have looked like just me and Sophia. In all actuality Stephen was more present then ever. His strength, love and sacrifice is what kept me going. I don't know how he did it but his mental toughness is something I admire. We saw him almost every day for an ENTIRE year on the web cam. No matter what he had to do or sacrifice he made time for us. He didn't have to. But he did. And we love him for that.

11 months. He has been away for 11 months. Only a few weeks to go and time has seemed to stopped for us all. It is what I think the 24th  mile of a marathon would be like. You are so close to the finish you can taste victory. You can look behind you and see the miles of pavement you pounded and are so VERY proud. At the same time you have a few short miles ahead . Your mentally and physically exhausted and second guessing if that finish line will ever come. Time just stops.
That is where I think Stephen and I both are. Time has stopped.

11 months. We can DO this. We are so close and I can feel his arms around me. I can invision him coming off  that plane, arms wide open, smiling from ear to ear, waiting to see his girls.

11 months have gone by and in a few short weeks we will be a family again. A stronger family, whose love has been strengthened by distance.. A family who has seen our fair share of challenges but a great amount of joy from a year we feared would be nothing but misery. That is a true testament to life is all in what you make it...

11 months.  He will be here soon.

Lots of Love,
Sara :)

I have a plethora of pictures for you ! Some are of our new pool .. some are pictures that bring a smile to my face... Enjoy..

Dinosaurs say .. RRROOOAARRRR

Our own back yard water park

Polka dot booty

Alabama Summers are HOT.. the pool is the place to be

Dress up phase has begun ... and I LOVE IT!!

Such a DIVA

Just Us girls heading to church..

The newest phase ..hitting.. we are currently working on nice touches .. especially when we want something REALLY bad and mommy can't figure out exactly what it is... Thus resulting in mommy receiving a good whack across the face.... immediately followed by a time out for Miss Sophia .. oh the joys..

Even with a few bumps in the road we are having a fabulous summer but missing Daddy like crazy. Hopefully you will see him in our pictures soon :)

Much love!
The Thompson Fam

And I brag..

So life with a toddler is a roller coaster ride that never ends. I know I post a lot on my struggles as I maneuver through toddler hood but today I will boast.
We had a major supermarket break though last week and I feel I need to share.

Last week I needed to do some MAJOR grocery shopping. I loaded up Sophia we hit the farmers market early then went to the store. In all honesty, the odds were stacked against me. We were at  the Commissary ( the army's grocery store), it was payday weekend (in the army that means EVERYONE Is at the commissary) and we were dangerously close to lunch and nap time. So with all these potential disasters staring me in the face, I took at deep breath and we head into the store.

You know what!? Sophia DID AMAZING. Granted I sang the ABC's not kidding you at least 100 times. ( I am sure everyone at the store appreciated my lovely singing voice)  Either way she didn't have a single meltdown. No real screaming issues (except for that one time. Immediately following her scream a little boy about Sophia's ages screamed back. His Mother gave me the dagger eyes ..ooops.) Amazingly, we made it out alive!!

Honestly, I was so proud of my little munchkin.I know it was just a trip to the store but it was so much more. It was a little glimmer of hope that someday this crazy trip through toddler hood will eventually end. Someday, I won't be that frantic mom flying through the grocery store with a child half hanging out of the cart and groceries flying out just as quickly as I am throwing them in.

Well... that is unless we decided to have baby number 2 ;)



Lots of Love,
The Thompson Fam

The scream

In the last month Sophia has developed and perfected "THE SCREAM." It's Loud, It is very VERY high pitched(some days I swear she is giving Mariah Carey a run for her money) and it annoys the heck out of me. Not to mention the innocent bystander within.. oh.. a TWO MILE radius. It makes the dogs go nuts and scrambles the phone when we are talking to Stephen. Might I add.. this scream set off our glass break detector on our house alarm system.This Scream needs to STOP. I have tried almost everything! This is only a nine second snippet. Imagine living with this child and then imagine your significant other being away for a LONG time so there is no escaping. Ah.. pray for me:/

    

Love ,

The Thompson fam =)

Living on the Edge

It occurred to me today that the meaning of "Living on the Edge" completely changed after I had Sophia.



Case in point... Pre Sophia living on the edge for me was scaling mountains in Australia.

Okay, not scaling so much as hiking down the side of a mountain, with a very clear path in front of me ...but either way I am afraid of heights so this was very edge worthy in my book :)



Post Sophia.. Living on the edge is going to the Grocery store within 2 hrs of nap time, really just going to the grocery store in general. With Sophia I never know which child I will get. The Sweet Sophia who is happy to sit in the cart and stare up at my beautiful face ..ehh.. or the my ornery Sophia who wants nothing to do with the cart, looking at my face or being anywhere near the grocery store.



There are other "living on the edge moments such as..

-Running to the mall without a stroller

-Going to any public place where there are people trying to converse, or concentrate.. this is VERY RISKY..(Sophia usually saves her loudest, high pitched screams for these places)

- Being outdoors. I mean what toddler can resist the endless opportunities to lick, touch ,chew anything and everything. I have to be on super duty when we are outdoors.. I never know what she will find!



-All in all life with a toddler is all about living on the edge. You never know what they are going to do next.. and worst yet.. You don't know what exactly they are capable of doing until it's done. I am constantly surprised by Sophia.. Good and bad.. everyday is something new!



Okay, so with Bo jovi's "living on the edge" lyrics now stuck in my head I will wrap this up.


Here is a picture of Sophia working on using her Spoon. A very risky event for my carpet.. as it never comes out unscathed from the wrath of this toddler and her spoon.

Lots of love ,
The Thompson fam