Big Girl Things

We see a lot of this these days. Sarah is on the move and busy exploring everything within scooting distance. She often likes to make sure someone is watching her latest feat.

Sarah loves going shopping big girl style, especially when it is new car seat day!

Sarah on the move! Every day she seems to be going farther, for longer, and with more skill. We won't be calling her Baby Sarah for long!

Family Visit

Last week we had the joy of hosting Dave's mom and sister, Vicky Cook and Jacki Wolfe. Sarah had a great time being loved on, read to, and sewn for. While they were in town we got to explore some new and exciting places.

• Chatham: Explored a gallery, candy shop, maps store, and warm pizza parlor. The evening was topped off with homemade lobster mac and cheese. Mmmmm! Thanks for the new recipe, Jacki!
• Hyannis: Visited a large quilt shop, saw the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory, enjoyed afternoon tea at Common Ground Cafe (coffee shop built like a tree...you will have to visit to understand!), and wandered Main Street, including another candy shop and the local library.
• Sandwich: Saw the glass museum. It included a neat glass blowing demonstration and video on the history of Sandwich. Had tea at Beth's Cafe before heading to the airport.
• Dedham: Went to the local L.L. Bean store and explored the shopping center. It snowed this day!
  
• Beaches: Walked Dowses in Osterville and Sandy Neck in Sandwich.
• Eateries: Not Your Average Joe's in Hyannis and Wimpy's in Osterville.
  

Everyone at Not Your Average Joe's

Just being cute in one of the outfits Grandma Vicky sent north

Trying on her new spring dress

Displaying her new hat- can't help but smile at Daddy

Trying on Auntie J's shades at the beach

Ladies at Sandy Neck- it was a sand beach, but notice the many rocks

Ladies at Dowses beach

Sarah loves it when Auntie J carries her in the front pack!

Spring?

Good thing we didn't pack the snow shovel away! This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland...and it's the end of March. Surprisingly, it is still beautiful to the eyes. There is nothing like a pure coat of snow. We are thankful this should melt soon with some sunny days this week.

front porch

back porch

First Real Bump

Can you see the bump over her right eyebrow? This morning I set Sarah on her pallet after breakfast and stepped away to clean up. Next thing I heard was a thud, followed by a cry. It seems she was working on her transition from sitting to crawling with her classic lunge move, but inadvertently lunged into the wood step that leads from the living room to the kitchen!

It didn't seem to hurt Sarah at all, merely give her a scare. We comforted, cheered, hugged, and photographed and then were good as new. It bruised right away, but as she went to bed it was barely visible.

I can't say I'm looking forward to more, but it is surely the first of many!

Happy 8 months!

Sarah is 2/3 a year old today! It is hard for me to believe that she has never experienced spring, but I think it may be her favorite time of year yet. As she is becoming increasingly mobile these walls aren't going to contain her much longer!

Weight: home estimate says 20 lbs ...ish
Height: still growing
Head: ?
Diaper: Size 3, but I think we will move to size 4 soon
Clothes: She is mostly in 9 month clothes. We are very slowly transitioning into 12 month.
Likes: chewing on shoes/everything, trying to get Gerbers puffs in her mouth, serious scooching, babbling, new lamp hanging in her room, managing her sippy cup

Dislikes: time/schedule change, interrupted naps, being corrected (particularly when it involves something she was chewing on)

Schedule: Exactly the same as last month, though we are still getting back to business after the time change. We also skip the third nap pretty regularly, but not always.

7:30 Nurse and rice cereal and apples/pears

9:00 Nap

11:30 Nurse and sweet potatoes/squash/green beans

1:00 Nap

3:30 Nurse and oatmeal cereal (with florid drops)

4:45-6:00 Nap

7:00 Nurse and in bed by 8:00

Solids: We added apples and pears to the mix this month. They are both a big hit! Recently I thought back to how Sarah ate when we first started her on the cereal- how far we've come!! She usually gobbles the food right off the spoon and takes nice size bites. Feeding (solids) only takes a few minutes, as opposed to at least 20-30 minutes, and is much less messy. Praise the Lord!

Crawling: A few weeks ago we bought a rug for the living room and Sarah has really started to move. Particularly when there is something she wants to gnaw on, she will find a way to get across the floor. Her most popular method is the army crawl, though she is rocking more and more on her knees. Yesterday she spun in a circle trying to get to her shoe.

Teething: They are here! Two weeks ago the first sign of a tooth appeared and now both bottom teeth have popped though and are on there way in. I can already tell that she is chewing more effectively, particularly with the Gerber puffs. Thankfully, she is still nursing well (and pain free for me!).

Time change: This time change has been MUCH easier than the last, but not without its trouble. We are slowly, but surely, getting back into a predictable routine. Monday (Dave's off day), Sarah wasn't awake when we usually get her up at 7:30, so we let her (and us!) sleep until she woke up around 8:00. This was the first time I have slept past 7:30 (without getting up at night) since July! Wow! You wouldn't believe what this 30 minute break did for my body and sanity.

Babbling: Sarah likes to pick a sound of the day and just sing to us. The most popular are na na na na, da da da da, ma ma ma ma, ba ba ba ba. She hasn't said anything intentionally yet, but sometimes she will kind of repeat after us.

Bath time! We also have a video from this bath that we will have to share soon.

Don't worry, Dave didn't bring out the shot gun (yet). They are "just friends." I think Zac was a little scared of Sarah:)

Oh yeah! I will get to you even if it means figuring out how to climb up these steps!

Sarah is really good at helping fold the laundry. This day she was good at wearing it!

Neighbors

We had the good fortune to spend some time with a couple of our neighbors recently. They are a kind couple who are very involved in the neighborhood association and local county. I expect they will be a great asset through the years. Of course, Sarah loves them. They also seem quite fond of her. :)

Dave had the quick thinking to invite them in for tea after we spent some time seeing their property. This lead to more great conversation, though one thing was quite sad. It seems that Saturday evening the police were at the house across from them and around the corner from us. An older man lived there by himself and had not been responding to his regular lawn man. The police found him passed from natural causes.

We are thankful for this good conversation and look forward to getting to know many of our neighbors. Today it was warm enough to take a walk. As the weather warms, we look forward to more walks and more good conversations.

First Tooth!

Last Thursday, March 3, Sarah and I got home from our mom group at church and sat down for her to eat her veggies. After a long, no nap morning, this was not what she wanted. Long, open mouth screams commenced for this tired girl, and that is when I first saw it. It looked like a small blister right on her gums. We have expected teething for months now, so I knew to not get too excited.

But Friday that blister was still there, and seemed bigger. Saturday morning I let Sarah suck on my finger and felt the tooth for the first time. It was real! This week the tooth, which is her front bottom on the left side, has slowly continue to pop through. We look forward to getting a good picture soon!

I have heard awful teething stories. Lots of disrupted naps, refusal to eat, and general pain. Sarah isn't doing any of this right now. There have been a few days over the last couple of months where she wouldn't eat her solids, which we have attributed to sore gums, but we are thankful this part of the process isn't too difficult for her (or us!). And we are thankful for this tooth!

New Fruit!

I want to eat, eat, eat apples and pears!

All new purees for Sarah. Yesterday I chopped, steamed, and processed a few apples and a bag of pears. So far, Sarah is a big fan!

BJ's Win

Dave and I both value buying in bulk. In Louisville, we used Sam's Club. Here we have a BJ's. BJ's still has the delicious samples and great fresh food. Where it goes above and beyond is that they accept coupons.

This was a diaper buying weekend. Among other items, we were getting diaper, wipes, and toilet paper. They are big money items, but more reasonable in bulk. I culled through all the coupons and found several to try. Here is the result.

1. The purchase rings up to $150.83.

2. ALL of my coupons are accepted. That is $39.99 in coupons!

3. New total= $108.53

Now that's a BJ's win!

5 Quirky Sarah Loves

In no particular order:

Changing a really wet diaper (we get our monies worth!)

The way she smiles just because you look at her

Her smile when we put her seat in the car

Her plump cheeks when she sleeps

Watching her work hard on a poop (I hope she will approach the rest of life with this degree of undistracted concentration!)