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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Sarah Two Months

For those of you who are currently expecting a second child, or who are maybe planning on having a second child one day, let me warn you:  time goes by even faster with baby #2.  These past two months have FLOWN by.  Sarah is growing so fast.  I swear that when she wakes up each morning, she is bigger than when I put her to sleep the night before. 

Here are her two month pictures.

From Sarah 2 months



From Sarah 2 months


Michael and Sarah scoping each other out.

From Sarah 2 months


He approves!

From Sarah 2 months


Her two month markers:
*Still eating like a champ.  Pushing 12 pounds.  She may be there already.
*Has enough head control to sit forward facing in a Bjorn (briefly) and in a Bumbo (again, briefly).  
*Has slept from roughly 10:30 pm to 8:00 am for the past 4 nights.  Wowzers.  Blows my mind.
*Is awake more and more during the day.  Loves looking around at her mama, daddy, and brother.  And the ceiling fan.  And the wall. 
*Is SMILING real smiles, which melt your little heart.  Has even been known to laugh a time or two.  I love it!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Catching Up

Turns out it's hard to find time to blog when you have a toddler and a newborn.  I'll try to recap the last few weeks.

Sarah is doing awesome.  She's seven weeks old now.  She's starting to smile and coo, which is adorable.  And she's sleeping surprisingly well for her age.  We're talking 7-8 hours for the past three nights in a row.  She's also growing like a weed.  She was 11 lbs 2 oz at her 6 week check-up!  Michael is usually pretty good with her.  He either ignores her or he tries to include her in whatever he's doing.  "Sarah play choo-choo trains."  "Sarah eat oatmeal."  He is also quite adept at finding her pacifier and sticking it in her mouth.  Guess he doesn't like to hear her crying!

Here is Sarah at one month.

From Sarah one month

And a few more good photos.

From Sarah one month


From Sarah one month


From Sarah one month

Here are some from age 7 weeks.  She's really starting to be awake more and more, which is fun. 

From November 2011


From November 2011

A little angry...

From November 2011

Happy again!

From November 2011

Don't cry, Sarah!

From November 2011

Where is her pacifier??

From November 2011

That's better!

From November 2011

We also took a family trip to Callaway Gardens a couple weeks ago.  Michael hit the ground running (literally) and basically did not stop for about 3 hours.  This is what most of the day looked like:  Michael running and me right behind him.

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

Stopping to smell the flowers.

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

Mom, I really don't have time for this!

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

Wave at Daddy and Sarah!

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

Michael's favorite part was playing with this sign.  For like an hour.

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011


From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

He also got to feed some fish.

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011


From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

And look at some butterflies.  (I really just posted this picture b/c I'm kind of impressed with my iphone.)

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

And go to a bird show.  These birds literally flew right by our heads.  Chris actually got clipped by a hawk wing.

From Callaway Gardens Oct 2011

And, finally, one more random picture of Michael and Sarah, because they are way cuter than an owl.
From November 2011

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Meet Sarah Elizabeth!

But first....see the last family picture taken as a family of three.


From September 2011

Sarah was born Friday, September 30th, 2011 at 1:40 pm.  She weighed 8 lbs 6.6 oz.  Labor was complicated by a kiwi-assisted delivery, a shoulder dystocia, a retained placenta, and post-partum hemorrhage, BUT mom and baby are both doing great, and we came home the next day.  I think you will agree, she is our beautiful little princess!  Michael is largely indifferent to her at this point, although he does like to bring her toys to play with (like fire trucks and choo choo trains) and he likes to brush her hair.  (After he brushes his hair, my hair, and the toy trash truck's hair).  It's really hard to get him to sit still, but hopefully we'll get both of them in the same picture soon!  For now, here are some pics of Sarah at day 5 of life.


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011

And finally, it's a little late, but here are Michael's official 2 year old pictures.  At 2, he is becoming more and more independent, which means disciplining him is getting to be more and more of a challenge.  He climbs on EVERYTHING.  He can climb up to the top of his changing table by himself when he has a stinky (but he hasn't gotten the hang of pulling his pants down yet, thus making potty-training a bit slow going).  We even found him on his cousin's top bunk bed the other day.  He still loves all sorts of trucks, trains, and tractors.  His other recent faves are play-doh and sidewalk chalk (and anything else he can find in the arts & crafts cabinet).  He is learning his ABCs and 123s and likes to sing all the time.  If he can't remember the words, he'll usually just substitute "fire truck" into whatever melody he's on. 


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


From October 2011


Being a family of four is AWESOME.

Friday, August 26, 2011

First Haircut

I've cut Michael's hair a few times, and done a semi-decent job I'd say, but cutting a toddler's hair is a lot different than cutting a baby's hair, so this time we decided to let the pros do it.

Hogansville doesn't really have any of those fancy kid salons, but it does have a GREAT place called Salon M and a wonderful lady named Michi.  I came armed with an iPad full of Thomas the Train videos to occupy him, but that lasted about 3.5 minutes.  The rest of the time was all singing and dancing and distracting Michael with colorful hair clips, fancy bird toys, and car keys.  All-in-all, he behaved himself quite well.  Mama was proud. 

Getting ready.

From August 2011

Michael showing us where his hair is.

From August 2011

Michi working her magic.

From August 2011

Ta-Da!  Now that is one handsome fellow!

From August 2011




Weekend Getaway

Since graduating residency, Chris has spent basically every day either at work or working on the house. I really don't think he's taken a full day off (maybe an afternoon here and there). It just so happens we both had three days off this week, so the three of us snuck off to NC for a little R&R. Yes, even with Michael it was a very relaxing trip.

Here is Michael doing a little light reading on the drive up. 

From August 2011

We stayed at Mountain Laurel Rest, which is an amazing Bed and Breakfast in Scaly Mountain, NC (near Highlands).  I highly recommend it.  It is such a beautiful, soothing place to visit.  Even with Michael, we were really able to enjoy the peacefulness of the surrounding woods.  (We also learned that, going forward, they are a child-free and pet-free facility.  We did not realize that, but, fortunately, were the only guests at that time, so the hosts were very gracious about it.)  And the weather was perfect.  North Carolina definitely has GA beat in that department.

Here are a couple good family pictures.

From August 2011


From August 2011


There are a lot of hiking trails and waterfalls to visit nearby, but being 35 weeks pregnant, we weren't too adventurous.  We just walked around the property that first afternoon.  Michael thought it was totally awesome to jump off of every rock he could find.  One, Two, Three, JUMP!  At least he's learning to count!  Not the best iPhone pic, but you get the idea...

From August 2011

He also enjoyed just sitting on some rocks.  He's quite good at saying "Mama Sit!" and "Dada Sit!" until we are positioned just-so around him.

From August 2011

That night we ate at a local pizzeria (smoked salmon, capers, and marscapone...on a pizza!), which was delicious, but in no way compared to breakfast the next morning.  Homemade quiche, bacon, sliced tomato, banana bread, roasted potatoes, with a side of fruit and cream.  Mmmmm!  Then we headed to Asheville for the day.  First stop - the WNC nature center.  It was a great place for kids to visit.  Michael got to run around, climb big rocks, cross bridges.  He was even vaguely aware there were animals see.  

He got a big kick out of the goats at the petting zoo.  (This particular goat got a big kick out of trying to eat my shirt.)

From August 2011


Daddy supervises.

From August 2011


From August 2011

Since Michael is obsessed with all sorts of motor vehicles, especially tractors, choo-choo trains, and fire trucks, he loved this next display.

From August 2011



From August 2011


Mommy's favorite exhibit was definitely the otters.  They are just so playful!  Who doesn't want to splash around on a big water-slide all day?


From August 2011

Michael and Daddy checking them out.

From August 2011

Guess Michael really liked them too!

From August 2011

Michael doesn't really understand this next concept yet....

From August 2011

For lunch, we ate at 12 Bones Smokehouse.  I promptly emailed Guy Fieri and told him to visit this place on his next shooting of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  The ribs are by far and away the best thing on the menu, but the chopped brisket is a pretty-dern-close second.  And Michael loves brisket.  Who knew?  And, hey, if you can't decide, you can always get ribs with a side of brisket.  That's totally an option.

Then we headed to the Biltmore House.

From August 2011

We thought it would be nice to let him run around some more and hopefully get a few nice photo-ops.  Turns out when you wander around a zoo all morning and a garden all afternoon, you get pretty hot and sweaty and tired.  Here are a few pics we did manage to catch.


From August 2011


From August 2011

Michael examining a bee on a flower.

From August 2011

Michael trying to pick up the bee on the flower.

From August 2011

You can't tell by the look on his face, but he LOVED the chocolate truffle we bought him at the candy store.

From August 2011

Then we went to the Biltmore winery for a tasting.  Tasting is complimentary and you can try as many as you want.  That would've been a fantastic deal were I not with child, but, as it stands, I just wet my lips and Chris drank most of mine.  Don't worry - we bought a case.  So in another month I can see what I was missing.  They even had a cup of grape juice for Michael.  And, well, after Michael's had a little of the juice, he's not the best photographer, so no more pictures from Biltmore.

Well...one more.  A close-up while waiting for Dada to pull the car around.  Enjoy that shaggy hair because in the next post it's getting cut!

From August 2011