Easter eggs

Sarah has a new favorite toy. The Easter egg. We made a little Easter basket this year with M&Ms for me, sour starburst for Dave, and Gerber puffs for Sarah. Sarah LOVES her eggs. She has only actually opened the egg once, but it is great to chew on and is always rolling just out of reach.

She literally played with it for more than an hour.

She didn't want to give it up, even for her beloved sippy cup!

Creative solution.

Easter

This is our family Easter box. It features a hat and sunglasses for Sarah when we go to the beach, two chocolate bunnies from a sweet woman at church, and eggs filled with M&Ms, sour starbursts, and Gerber puffs. Our day began with a full morning of 3 services, brunch with a family from church, a loooong walk with friends, and finally, we enjoyed our Easter box.

Checking out the gear.

Looking good, but losing my drawers.

Happy 9 months!

As of approximately two weeks ago, Sarah has been out of my belly as long as she was in my belly. In some ways it makes pregnancy seem super long, while in other ways time has definitely flown by. Life is certainly much different than it was 18 months ago (back when getting in and out of the car was a simple task), but I would rather have her to hold in my arms any day.

Weight: 21lbs 1oz (85%)
Height: 28.75 ins (90%)
Head: 18.25 ins (97%)
Diaper: Size 3, but I think we will move to size 4 when our current package runs out
Clothes: 9, but mostly 12 month
Likes: shoe strings, sitting in a parents' lap, crawling quickly, playing in her crib/pack-n-play, stroller rides, watching someone clap, chewing tags (still)

Dislikes: "no, no, Sarah, little girls don't...", she's not sure she likes the grass, getting stuck halfway up the step

Schedule: With the end of our weekly meetings, I hope we won't miss so many naps! While most of what she is eating has stayed the same, we are giving her bigger portions.

7:30 Nurse and rice cereal and apples/pears

9:00 Nap

11:30 Nurse and sweet potatoes/squash/green beans/peas/carrots (usually pick 2)

1:00 Nap

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

7:00 Nurse and straight to bed

Solids: We added a few new foods (split peas and carrots) to the line up. These are both a little more textured and have taken some adjusting to for Sarah. We have also starting to delve into the realm of finger foods. This is really intimidating to me, as it is much messier and seemingly a choking hazard. Of course, Sarah has loved it and does really well with what we give her. She has been gobbling up apple cinnamon Gerber puffs for a while now, but is just figuring out what to do with the green beans and sweet potato fries. Who wouldn't prefer sweet puffs to chewy green beans?!

Crawling: Sarah is on the move. It is fun to put her in a spot other than her designated play area and watch her explore. I am always amazed and usually surprised by what she finds most fascinating. For a while she was doing a few feet of real crawl, but then she figured out how to really move by alternating with the army crawl and much prefers that method. It certainly gets her where she needs to go, though she can't get herself in a sitting position and doesn't pull to standing yet. She does pull to her knees and gets just tickled about it.

Teething: Nothing new here. She has been doing some funny things with her tongue lately, so something might be happening soon.

First word?: I don't think we have heard this yet. She cries "ma-ma" when she is sad and "da-da" when she is happy, but I think they are still just sounds without true meaning for now. Sarah is a huge fan of a bouncing song and likes it best if you sing the same one over and over.

Bed time routine: Bath (every 2 or 3 days), pajamas, book, prayer, song, and down. We're like clockwork around here.

Sickness: A couple of weeks ago Sarah got a stuffy nose, which turned into a yuckier nose, which turned into a bad cough. We called the doctor about coming in and they said not yet, but gave us lots of things to watch for. One was waking herself in the night. At that point they said we should bring her in. After giving her a once over (particularly in her ears) they said that she probably had a sinus infection that she wasn't able to kick. They started us on amoxicillin (1 teaspoon, 2xs daily) and she slowly started to improve. She was instantly more relaxed and one week later she is as good as new. For a girl who doesn't like to have her nose wiped, she is glad to be well!

At the appointment: Sarah had her finger pricked and blood drawn to test iron and lead levels. Iron was fine and they will call us if there are unusual amounts of lead. She was also given a TB test, which we are thankful has not flared up. It was nice to have a break from vaccinations this visit. We go back for the one year visit on July 18!

Sarah loves propping up on our step...until she remembers that she can't get down. (She is starting to figure it out!!)

On the move!

We can always make time for reading the book Grandma Vicky made us.

First bump. It was over her right eye and was gone by the next morning.

Sarah loves grocery shopping! At least until we get too far into nap time and she gets super sleepy.

Sometimes a little girls just doesn't want to wear pants. End of story.

Frustrated Sarah

This video was taken a couple of weeks ago. The grass is always greener...up the steps!

Another month!

Today is a special day! Sarah is 9 months old, but we are going to wait until her check up to post our "official" post. It will have some fun stats!

Would you like to guess her stats? Leave a comment if you want to guess her weight, length, and head circumference.

(We tried really hard to load a funny(ish) video of a very frustrated Sarah, but we lose. Maybe next time!)

End of a Season

Ok, end of an era might be a little extreme. This week Sarah and I finished up our regular weekly commitments. They were as follows:

1. Tuesday afternoons we participated in a Musikgarten class taught by a talented musician from the church. She used the opportunity to get to know and build relationships with other moms from her kids' school. It was a great chance for me to get to know people outside the church. Sarah was a little young for the curriculum, but we enjoying singing, repeating, rhyming, and rhythming together.

2. Wednesday mornings were dedicated to the women's Bible study at church. Since September, we have been slowly working our way through John using inductive Bible study techniques. A different woman from the church taught each week, then we met with our small group to discuss what the Spirit enlightened for us in that week's passage. Next year Sarah gets to go to child care!

3. Thursday mornings were devoted to Mom 2 Mom. This is a mom support curriculum developed by Lifeway. We met at the church to watch the teaching video, then divided into smaller groups to talk through the week's lesson. As one of the newest moms in the bunch, I greatly benefited from the wisdom of more experienced moms!

While we will miss our regular weekly activities, we hope to continue to get to know families in the church with our extra time. I am so thankful for the relationships we have developed through these programs!

Sunrises

Twice this week I've gotten up early to photograph the sunrise. It's a great time to, as the sun isn't rising too early yet and it's also not too cold. Here are a few of the things I've seen:

From West Bay Rd, on my Birthday

An HDR from Dowses beach on my Birthday

Another Birthday HDR from Dowses Beach

The Church Building on April 4

From West Bay Rd on April 4

An HDR from Dowses on April 4

Dowses on April 4

New car seat

It is a bitter sweet day.

A few weeks ago we began the conversation about getting a convertible car seat for Sarah. Her infant seat is safe until 22lbs or 27 ins and she is pushing both. (Fun fact: she was weighed at the pediatrician's last week and was 20.9lbs.) After asking around, a facebook poll, and testing seats at Babies R Us, we felt ready to make the move.

Next, we waited on our 20% off coupon to begin. With a big purchase like this, we needed all the nickles and dimes we could collect! The coupon started Friday, March 25. Monday, we made the big purchase.

This seat is really different than the infant seat and has a really different fit in the car. We made an appointment with the local fire department to have the car seat checked. Yesterday morning fireman Rick taught us all about our new seat and made sure that it was installed as safely as possible. (Research says that 3 of 4 seats aren't properly installed or used. When we are putting lots of money into a seat, we want it to work! In as much as possible, no user errors or laziness here!!)

So, a bitter sweet day it is. No more bringing a napping baby inside or strapping Sarah in before we leave. It is one of many steps toward independence (and college)!


We chose the Safety 1st Complete Air. It should last us until Sarah hits 65lbs, so hopefully a while! Since the new guidelines (and soon MA law) suggests that children remain rear facing until age two, we better get used to the new set up. Love it!

Happy birthday, Dave!

HBD is the word of the day around here! We have seriously been celebrating some birthday. Birthday celebration actually began last night with a seafood dinner at Wimpy's. This morning Dave got an early start so that he could take some sunrise beach pictures. I had the chance to send him on his way with a nice hot breakfast, featuring his homemade honey butter. His sweet co-workers took him out for a birthday lunch, then Dave came home for his requested birthday dinner of homemade deep dish pizza. We opened a few gifts and I sent Dave on his way with some goodies for worship team practice. When he gets home we will have birthday cake, blow out candles, and sing, then birthday will come to a close.

Over dinner last night I asked Dave to come up with the three most memorable moments of his 28th year. In no particular order, he said:

• seeing Sarah for the very first time
• joining Sarah and me in MA after driving from KY
• enjoying pizza with the church after they helped us move/unpack in our new house

We know that not ever year will be so memorable, but are so thankful for all the ways the Lord has worked over the last year and the previous 29 years in Dave's life.

We Got a Crawler!

Sarah took her first real crawl today, picking up the alternating motion fairly quickly. All it took was her loving dad stealing her pants from her! 

In all seriousness, she actually got it just as soon as she tried it with her bare knees touching the floor. She still hasn't mastered it, but while she's down for a nap we thought we would upload this video of her "training." Right now she alternates between the army crawl, the scoot, and the true crawl. Have a look!