Sarah's Second Birthday

"Sarah, how old are you?"

"Onnnnnneee!"

"No, you're two!"

Twoooooooo!"

And two she is. She walks and stomps around, looks cuter every day, and suddenly turned two before our eyes. How does a little girl turn two? Like this:

First, the evening before we took a trip to the beach. Sarah loves playing in the water, and we knew we wouldn't be able to on her birthday. So Emily held Josiah while I took her down to play. 

She was actually laying on her belly here, not swimming as it appears.

We woke her up together, by walking into her room and softly singing "Happy Birthday" to her. This, of course, made her cry until the song finished and we pulled her out of bed. We got her all dressed, went over with her a few times how old she was, filmed her saying how old she was a half-dozen times until she got it right so we could send it to her grandparents, and served her breakfast.

It was her birthday, so we didn't make her sit in her chair to eat

We took her to Toys R' Us to buy her the present we had long planned, a new Magna Doodle. She loved her old hand-me-down one, which doesn't entirely work. But now she had a shiny new one.

After that, we went for a walk in Mashpee Commons, during which we blew bubbles and played near the fountain.

Then I took Emily to Cupcake Charlie's to celebrate with her the feat she accomplished two years ago.

Then, finally, we came home and served our two-year-old her birthday cake. This little girl loves rocks and dirt, so we staged a cake to look just like the concoctions she makes in her favorite bucket.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to her made her cry this time also, so we eventually just let her enjoy her cake. It was a great birthday, and really can't believe our little girl keeps growing. What amazing things God does. 

Olympic sport?

We love the Olympics around here. How would I get to London? You might think swimming would be my dream sport.

Alas, after the week we have had I would want to create a new sport.

If fruit fly demolishing was an Olympic sport, I would be in London right now- winning gold!

Happy 2 years, Sarah!

It has happened! One week ago Sarah turned two years old. (Though, if you ask her, she will still proudly hold up her pointer fingers and say, "ONE!") Two years have passed since we welcomed this little girl into our family and held her in our arms. The has been a season of seemingly rapid change in her life. She started walking, met her little brother, and has an exploding vocabulary. We can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Weight: 29 lbs 6.5 oz (80%)
Height: 35.25 ins (85%)
Diaper: size 5/cloth (4 still fit, but 5 fits better)
Clothes: 2T, and sometimes bigger in bottoms; shoe, size 5

Likes: rocks, bubbles, piles (of pillows, rocks, etc), swimming, pigtails, pretend, giving commentary on what Josiah is doing ("Baby eating", "Baby burping", "Baby sitting", and my recent favorite "Baby throwing fit" when I asked why she thought Josiah was crying), buckling/unbuckling, Daddy singing and playing guitar, other babies, helping (making the bed, folding clothes, unloading the dishwasher, stuffing diapers, cooking), beads

Dislikes: nursery (short lived- again!), not getting what she asks for (like going outside), long rides in the car, having her hair rinsed, fire truck sirens

Schedule: Sarah still wakes up around 7:30am, but it fluctuates between 7am and 8am. She naps around 1pm and we put her to bed at 7pm. The nice thing about this phase, and hopefully from here on out, is how flexible we can be. We feel much more free and have been able to have loads of summer fun!

Sleeping: She continues to sleep well. Even better, she still stays in her bed! Thus far, she hasn't ventured out. I think she might like the boundaries and simplicity of her bed. She had a cold a couple of weeks ago and had trouble settling down for her nap during that time. I have also noticed that if she eats right before bed she has a difficult time settling down and will just roll around in bed. It also helps if she has a little time to play at home, as opposed to just being whisked upstairs as soon as we get home from church or the grocery store.

Eating time: Again, I just feel like we have really been able to relax and enjoy everything a little more. Sarah almost always has milk, a banana, and cheerios for breakfast. After that, we totally play it by ear. Lately she has been hungry around 10:30 and often ends up eating a pretty full meal. Sometimes she eats again around noon, but more and more often she is busy playing and doesn't worry about it. Later in the day she often eats while I am fixing dinner (the power of suggestion!) around 4 or 5pm. It is so fun that she can eat pretty much everything. Her recent favorites are watermelon, turkey loaf, cheese, and yogurt with strawberries. She has learned to call cookies, cake, and gold fish by name...and even though she rarely has them, knows she loves them. The fun thing is she would just as well have a ritz cracker or loaf of bread!

Talking: Oh, my. Talking to Sarah is my favorite. She is so funny. And honest and eager and kind. Her longest sentence so far is "Daddy read Bible right now, Baby." She loves giving commentary on life. All day she says " Daddy working hard", " Daddy sing tar", " Daddy play softball", or " Daddy read Bible." He apparently has the dream job in her mind :) Recently she started saying "no ma'am"- it makes me so happy! We are starting to have a lot of fun with decision making, especially deciding what shoes to wear. She has started to sing a little, instead of just listening to us sing and dancing or doing motions. Her favorites are Old MacDonald and the Andrew Peterson "Tractor, Tractor" song. She sings "tractor, tractor, shoot, moon" or "tractor, tractor, wheat, wheat, wheat!"

Walking: Check- praise the Lord! She has been confident from the start and now loves "going fast." She is still cautious with thresholds, but that seems to work well and keep her thinking.

Big Sister: As I've insinuated, she is an awesome big sister. I can't think of a time she has been jealous or lashed out at Josiah. She has accidentally sat on him and also hit him in the head with a remote- lots of tears, but pretty funny! Her newest thing has been wanting to hold him before she goes to bed. While he is eating she likes to rub his fuzzy head. While he is burping she likes to hug him and kiss him- on the lips! She keeps track of his pacifier and likes to have it nearby when he is crying. She still likes to rock his car seat when he is upset. No matter what she is doing, she LOVES "baby wake up time" when it is time for Josiah to eat. She drops what she is doing, runs to his room, and reaches into the crib to unvelcro his swaddle. SOOO cute. She then often says, "oh hi, Siah, oh hi" like he just woke up on his own.

Random, but fun:
* She has an amazing memory, especially when it comes to names, activities, and where an item goes. Our little sponge.
* Girl loves her some shoes, especially when they are shiny, pink or formerly Lexi's.
* She recognizes family in pictures and through Facetime and talks about them randomly during the day.
* What innocently started as "help Mommy cook" she has learned sometimes means she gets to eat! She has eaten lots of carrots, celery, and shallots, as well as cookie dough, through this method.
* She loves washing her hands at the sink.
* One day she was with me while I was weeding the garden. After a while she sat right down by the blueberries and just started raking her fingers through the dirt. She got so dirty...and loved it!
* In the last few weeks she has gotten a few new teeth in. I think she is still lacking 2 or 3, along with her two year molars.
* Her legs are getting long and slimming up.

Next appointment: Monday, January 28, 2013 at 10:45am

Fourth of July watermelon

Ready to drive at a friends graduation party

Loves the waves

Enjoying her first snuggle with Josiah

We love pigtails and dresses

Tummy time kisses

Dolly apparently needed a nap too

She snuck a finger into the bread loaf

Reading to Josiah

She likes shoes!

"What, Mom? I haven't been into anything."

Father's Day

A moment with a favorite book

Helping Mommy cook

We thought letting her play with my old play doctor bag might help with her fear of the doctor's office.

She is super cute, but still cried a whole lot this morning!

Garden Update

The garden is coming right along! We are especially excited about the flowers, tomatoes, basil, parsley, and our one green bell pepper. Does anyone have any suggestion for what to do with a ton of parsley and basil?

This pepper was on the plant when it went in the ground. It is grocery store size now!

Sarah likes to pile her rocks around the flower bed...and sometimes play in the dirt between this bed and the blueberries.

Lots of cherry tomatoes!

It is pretty!

This bed isn't doing as well, but has an abundant supply of basil and parsley.

Our first big tomato!

Happy 2 months, Josiah!

Two months down...this is really happening! Josiah is changing so quickly. Even in just the past week his personality has changed so much- we love the new coos and smiles! As I read back through the "one month" post it is amazing how the major deals have changed. We are thankful for answered prayers and a healthy growing boy!

Weight: 15 lbs 14 oz (99%)
Length: 25.75 in (99%)
Head: 16.25 in (77%)
Heart rate: 144 bpm
Diaper: size 2, plus a few cloth diapers made by GiGi
Clothing: 3 month still fit for now- he is always growing out of things :(
Likes: smiling!, being tickled, intensely staring, stretching, baths, holding his head up
Dislikes: falling asleep, being put down in his crib

Schedule: We have settled into a pretty predictable routine, which means more sanity for everyone. All of these times are "ish." Most things in our lives have a little give and take these days :)

7am: Nurse
8am: Nap
10am: Wake and nurse
11am: Nap
1pm: Wake and nurse
2pm: Nap
4pm: Wake and nurse
5pm: Nap
7pm: Nurse and soon after down for bed
10pm: Dream feed and right back to bed (not even a diaper change)

Nursing: Josiah still eats well. Not much to report here, but we are thankful for that as it means we aren't having any problems. Sarah learned in the past few weeks that she can be a little more defiant when Josiah is eating and I can't as easily follow through with discipline. That meant a few interrupted meals for Josiah while I reminded Sarah that she still has to be obedient when Josiah is eating!

Sleep: He sleeps with his head on either side now, so that isn't an issue anymore. It is convenient that he still sleeps pretty well in his car seat, and as such is fairly transportable. That is really nice and I know it won't last forever! He still often has trouble settling down for his nap, but doesn't seem to have too many tummy troubles and is slowly improving, so we have hope. It is true that he just doesn't seem to like being away from the action when we put him down in his crib. The biggest news in this area is that he has been sleeping through the night! Yippee!!! It is amazing, so let me walk you through how it happened step by step.

Tuesday, June 26  10:05pm, 12:53am, 3:40am, 7:15am  *waking every 3 hrs, like always
Wednesday, June 27  10:41pm, 1:15am, 3:55am, 7:15am
Thursday, June 28  10:20pm, 1:15am, 5:16am, 7:06am
Friday, June 29  9:45pm, 3am, 7:12am  *things begin to change
Saturday, June 30  10:25pm, 3:16am, 7am
Sunday, July 1  10pm, 6:30am ** WHAT?! things really changed
Monday, July 2  10:17pm, 5:14am, 8:58am  *still great
Tuesday, July 3  10:04pm, 6:48am  *could this be for real?!!!
Wednesday, July 4  10:20pm, 6:42am
Thursday, July 5  10:25pm, 6:40am
Friday, July 6  10:11pm, 3:41am, 7:11am
Saturday, July 7  10:23pm, 7:05am
Sunday, July 8  10:43pm, 7:22am

And just like that he started sleeping at night! Sarah slowly stretched an hour at a time, but he made the leap all at once. We think it had to do with him finding his thumb the night of July 1st.

Physically: Little Boy has chunked up nicely. As Dave recently noted, his double chin goes all the way around his neck. His eyes are still blue. The pediatrician said that since they were still blue at this point they may stay blue. His hair continues to be light and fuzzy, but seems to be getting a little darker. He has started cooing and smiling- so fun, so cute, so hard to catch on camera! For comforting, he loves to be upright and jiggled, and gets a thumb in his mouth when possible. We started swaddling him with one arm out so that he would have the freedom to suck his thumb- and so the swaddle would stay closed better on our big boy!

Check out these pictures of Sarah at 4 months. Do you think they resemble?!

Next appointment: Monday, September 10, 10:50am

Hey, buddy!

First bottle

Everybody doing tummy time

Keeping cool at the beach

Love a sleeping baby

Really... I love to watch a peaceful sleeping baby

Showing off those chins!

Sarah is sharing her love of books with "Baby Siah"

Sweet kisses

Sometimes I get angry...

Happy 4th!

Here in New England, everyone says "Happy 4th!" on Independence Day. I suppose it's more fun than "Happy Collective Birthday," the proper, "Happy Independence Day," or even "Happy Anniversary," so we have taken to saying it as well. This year, to celebrate our nation's founding, we went to a local parade (the kind that anyone who signs up is allowed to be in,) took some family portraits back home, and grilled out at a friend's house. We took almost a hundred pictures throughout the day, so here are a few.

Sarah loves to cook with Mommy now

The Parade Begins

People who live on the route walk around giving away things like watermelon

Backyard Portrait Time!