I admit that I have whined a little here and there about Sophia’s princess obsession. She’s supposed to be above Disney’s attempts to teach her how a prince galloping onto the scene will ensure her “happily ever after” ending, right? OK, OK, if she wants to go all princesses and Disney, that’s fine. But I didn’t expect her to suddenly pull a 180 recently and start choosing dark lords and jedis over wicked step-sisters and fairy godmothers (I admit, I exaggerate - there has been no ditching of the fairy tales on Sophia’s part. She’s simply added galaxies far, far away to the mix.)

Sophia got her hands on a light saber recently at a friends house (it even had sound effects) and was beyond excited. It was as if a whole new world had been opened to her. Sure, her dad has been trying to teach her the intricacies of jedi, sith and droids whenever he had the chance. But the thrill of this other world didn’t sink in for her until the first swing of that light saber. Then her fate was sealed.

This morning, as we were getting dressed for the day, she started grabbing random books out of the basket by her bed. She was really excited about one in particular. One that had not previously been in her regular book rotation. A new book mama had not seen?

“Look at the robot book, mommy!”

Aaah, I see now that daddy had his hand in picking out last night’s story. She was happily waving around a Star Wars book. She pointed at each character and I racked my brain for their names.

Sophia: “Who’s dat?”

Amy: “Um, that’s C-3PO.”

S: “Tree-pee-o? Ah, OK! What’s that guy?”

A: “That’s his little pal R2-D2.”

S: “Are-tee-vee-o? Ah, OK! What’s that guy?”

A: “Oh shoot. What’s that guy’s name again? Oh yeah - that’s Obi-Wan Kenobi!”

S: “Wee-wan menobi?”

This went on for awhile, as I tried to explain Storm Troopers to a 2-and-a-half-year-old’s question of “What they do?” and as she tried to make sense of it all. (As a side note: you want a really good sci-fi story? Have a toddler write it. That stuff’s all kinds of crazy! Take note, Mr. Lucas!)

But then we got to the sticking point, and I realized this Star Wars thing might just have some lasting power after all for my queen of fairy tales. You should have seen her eyes light up when I mentioned that there was a princess in this story. You better believe she could point out Princess Leah on every page by the end of the book!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go read up on my Star Wars trivia so I can correctly name the rest of the characters in her book. Looks like daddy wins the happily ever after in this story.

I can’t believe we’ve reached this milestone so quickly. The time with you has flown by. I think that’s mostly because your big sister is keeping me so busy making sure she doesn’t suffocate you with her love. It’s a round-the-clock job, this anti-smother duty she has me on.

Don’t get me wrong, there has still been plenty of time for me to sit and stare at you. But of course I could never just stare. Because those chubby cheeks are starting to fill out and they just beg to be kissed. The rolls of thighs love being squeezed and those tiny, perfect toes need constant munching.

I knew from your delivery, which was mellow and extremely quick, to your first days in the hospital that you would be special. There is something so sweet about your little five sneeze extravaganza that you do a few times each day. And the way you stare into my eyes — even going so far as to cry when I looked away for a moment today — melts my heart.

You are a mellow little guy, choosing to sleep almost non-stop for the past month. Just in the last week, however, you decided to wake up to the world, and it was a little crazy. And by crazy I mean that you sleep a lot, but when you wake up, you wake up hard and HUNGRY. We were in the car the other day when you finally woke up, and it was loud. The only time you calmed down at all was when we were moving, but, of course, we were working our way through the city and were hitting every light red. At one particularly long red light while you screamed about the injustice of it all and as I tried unsuccessfully to shove in your pacifier, all of us — your dad, me and Sophia, all on the verge of major frustration — just started laughing uncontrollably. You were just so cute and so mad and there was not one thing we could do. If we wouldn’t have laughed, we probably would have cried along with you, all of us trapped in the car together like that. But that’s the great part about this family — we laugh a lot. We go through a lot of hard stuff together, but we get by because we laugh and love.

So Ian, I just wanted to tell you that it’s so cool to have you in our home and a part of our family. You fit. You make us that much better. And you give us more reasons to laugh.

Looking forward to many more car rides together!

Ian is such a little smush right now, preferring to sleep 23 out of the 24 hours of the day. I know this behavior surely won’t last forever, so I am making the most of it and using this quiet time to just sit and stare at him. He’s really quite a looker, I must say. But also, we’re spending A LOT of time snuggling and feeding, too. This big guy likes to eat. And I don’t mind helping add on some of that luscious baby fat around the arms and thighs.

Sophia has been so adorable and wonderful with her new “baby brudder,” kissing him every chance she gets. “Where’s my baby?” she asks first thing in the morning or after her nap. No “Hi, mom!” Just “Where’s my baby?” Yeah, cute.

I will post more about my birth experience later, but for now I’m going to go cuddle my one-week old and marvel at those little toes awhile longer. For those who are following my year in pictures over at Flickr, thanks so much for all your well wishes there! More photos of baby (and big sister!) can be found there in the Ian set.

Working on the nursery today. Cleaning house. Doing some laundry. But there is ALWAYS time for a break to make some homemade cookies. Sophia was very up for the idea and jumped right in with her awesome “helping” skills. I mean, who else is going to help me clean up the extra chocolate chips and help me eat all those warm cookies?

Yesterday was officially my first day of maternity leave, and I am so thankful. Now that I’m home, I can’t imagine working a full day and doing that commute, only to come home to the boundless energy of a certain 3-foot tall whirlwind living in our house. How did I do that all this time, especially during the last haul of the third trimester? Oh yeah, I have an amazing husband. Thankfully, amidst all the nesting I’ve been doing over the past two days, I’ve been able to squeeze in a little bit of reading and some pampering, too.

Also, Sophia’s really starting to pick up on all the changes. She still wants to kiss and hug my belly (um, CUTE), but she also wants to be “mommy’s baby”, asking to be held all the time and pretending to cry like an infant and suck on her dollies’ bottles.

On a side note, she just recently started saying “Mommy, hold me” instead of “Mommy, hold you”, one of my absolute favorite phrases of hers from toddlerhood that I have always adored. It almost made me cry the first time she said it correctly. Proof that my girl is no longer, in fact, the little baby that she is pretending to be . . .

Chris and I were away all last weekend at a wedding (that he officiated!), and by the time we got back, Sophia’s minor sniffles and low fever had turned into serious yuck. So much so that she had to miss all the Easter festivities at church that she had been talking about for days. Thank goodness for doctors who have holiday hours and for a daddy who knows how to hold his daughter calmly as she wore a foreign-looking mask over her face for a treatment to help her breathe better.

She’s been getting the rest she needed and is starting to bounce back. But of course, a toddler illness story wouldn’t be complete without a mama-getting-sick-too ending. So that’s where we’re at right now. I’m a little under the weather and Sophia’s getting her energy back — typical fun timing. I think I’ll just hang out for awhile under this comfy afghan eating leftover Easter candy!

I’m all for encouraging her budding independence, large personality and extreme individuality, so when she came back with these hand-me-down, ruby red, fancy pants sparkly shoes, how could I say no? She had done exactly what she intended (with flare, I might add) — she got her own shoes from her room so she could go play. Never mind that they are too small and, well, don’t necessarily go with jeans or running on sidewalks.

Girl’s got style in whatever she does.

We were going to be surprised this time around. We found out the sex with Sophia, but this time we thought it might be fun to wait till the baby arrived. Well, that’s all fine. But big sister thought she was getting a little sister. And no amount of explaining “But maybe this baby is a boy, sweetie” or “Say good morning to baby brother/sister” was going to make this process make sense to a 2-year-old.

So to the ultrasound clinic we went again, this time ready to study in greater detail that little gray being squirming around in there. And soon we knew that mama would be packing away the flowers and pink this time around.

But Sophia was not phased. I simply asked her if she’d like a little brother instead. “OK!” she said. Easy as that. Whew.

The photo above is from my attempt last night to capture this big ol’ belly in it’s final stages. I’ve always been a fan of those baby blocks pregnant belly pictures. And even though they are totally cliché, I thought it would be fun to have one when I was big and round (which, if you haven’t noticed, I am quite a bit of both right now).

So, here we go — the countdown begins!

You can tell lately that Sophia is trying to stock pile hugs and kisses and quiet reading moments and loud playful moments with Chris and me (and the dog!) — storing them up for a time when mom and dad are a little more busy with a new baby. It’s almost like she’s onto the fact that life is about to completely change as she knows it. Either way, she’s laying on the cute pretty thick these days. But she’s also laying on the two-and-a-half-ness of her little self, too. We’re in full-blown pink eye/stuffy nose/cough mode over here right now and all that, coupled with being 2, makes for quite an interesting ride.

We’ll see you on the other end, I hope!