I mentioned in my post last week about forgetting how little Sarah was when she was born so I looked back at her baby pictures. Here are some that give you a perspective on just how little she was. These were taken a few days after we came home from the hospital.
Nap time with Daddy.
Rooting on Daddy's nose.
Here's Pinky (her favorite bear) when he was brand new. He is only about 8 inches tall.
Sarah decided to give up naps about six weeks ago. I fought tooth and nail with her over taking them but finally had to accept that she was going to give them up no matter what. This was a hard thing for me to accept because I am nearing the end of my pregnancy and desperately need the rest in the afternoons. The first week of giving up naps was hard for Sarah as well. She kept falling asleep at the dinner table. The first time she did this it freaked me out a little because she had never done it before and it was like watching a drunk try to eat. I watched as her eyes got really heavy and glossy. She kept trying to eat dinner but couldn't quite get the food to her mouth. Then she tried to take a drink and completely missed the mark. Finally she just passed out...at 5:30pm. I walked her upstairs, put her pajamas on and tucked her in bed. She stayed asleep through the whole process.
Sarah is such a sweetheart and we are so blessed to have her for a daughter. Although it's fun to see her learning new things it's still hard to see her grow up. I wish I could keep her a little girl forever.
This actually happened about four weeks ago but I wanted to write about it because it's funny...sort of. Anyways, one morning I was eating trail mix (it was the only thing that sounded good to me at the time) and Sarah came up and asked me if she could have a peanut. She has had them before and loves them so I handed her some and she ran off to the other room. About five minutes later I hear this sneezing, coughing noise and she came running up to me with teary eyes, pointed to her nose and said, "peanut, peanut." I asked her if she stuck the peanut up her nose and she said yes. I tipped her head back and looked up her nose, sure enough it was stuck up her right nostril and I could see it sitting right there. I went and got a kleenex and tried to have her blow it out but she couldn't blow hard enough. So then I decided to go get the tweasers. The previous week she had folded up one of those stickers they put on oranges and stuck it up her nose. I pulled it out no problem with tweasers so I figured I could do the same with the peanut...wrong! I laid her on the couch and she was wimpering because she didn't want me to touch her nose. I explained to her what I was going to do and she was ok with it. I held her head with one hand and tried to pull it out with the other. She started squirming and I ended up shoving it further up her nose to where I could no longer see it and it made her nose bloody. Luckily I wasn't freaked out, it's not like kids die from peanuts being stuck up their nose but I knew something needed to be done. I called her pediatrician and spoke with a nurse and she told me to go ahead and bring her in.
By this point there was blood dripping out of Sarah's nose onto her upper lip, not a lot but I wanted to clean it up before we went to the doctors. She wouldn't even let me touch her so I put her in the car and on the way to the appointment I explained that we were going to see her doctor so he could pull the peanut out of her nose. All the way there she kept saying, "peanut, nose, doctor." We got into the exam room and the doctor explained to me they pull things out of kids noses all the time. He said it was better for me to bring her in than hope it would come out on its own because if it's left up there for too long it can cause an infection. He took his little light tool and explained to Sarah that he was going to look up her nose. He let her touch it before he looked and she seemed to be ok with it. I held her on my lap as he looked and Sarah did not like this. She started crying again but luckily the doctor could see the peanut. He left the room to get a couple of nurses and some instruments. When they came back in he explained to me that the nurses were going to hold Sarah down on the table while he pulled the peanut out and I was to stay right next to her to talk her through it. He made it clear that he didn't want me to hold her down at all because it was not my job to be the enforcer which made me happy because I didn't want her to see me as one of the "bad guys". So I went to lay her down on the table and she would not let go of me. They had to pry her arms and legs from around me so I could set her down. Then one nurse sort of laid across the lower part of her body and one held her arms and torso. I stood right over her so she could see me and the doctor sat next to her head on the other side. He held her head, stuck the instrument (which was a long, thin metal hook) up her nose, hooked it around the peanut and pulled it out. Sarah screamed the whole time and I tried to tell her they were helping her and I was right there. The whole thing took about 30 seconds and Sarah stopped crying as soon as the peanut was out. When the doctor looked at it he was floored that she managed to get it up her nose in the first place because it was so big, and it was only half a peanut! Sarah was happy as a clam and I thanked the doctors and nurses and we left. All the rest of the day she kept pointing to her nose saying, "nose, peanut, doctor, help."
I had hoped this experience would deter her from sticking things up her nose in the future but as soon as we got home I made a quesadilla for lunch and she tried to stick part of it up her nose. She did the same with dinner and breakfast the next morning. She tried sticking various objects up her nose over the next week and then one day she just stopped trying and hasn't done it since. Every once in a while she will just come up to me and say, "peanut, nose, doctor." I guess it did leave an impression after all.
On Tuesday night we were driving home from Montana and Sarah came down with a fever about an hour before we got home. I got in the back seat with her and gave her some Motrin. After she took it she looked at me and said "blessing, blessing". I asked her if she wanted Daddy to give her a blessing and she said "yeah". Kevin and I looked at each other in amazement. He has given her plenty of blessings and she has seen him give me blessings but we didn't think she understood what they were for. Of course when we got home Kevin gave her one.
The next morning she had a temp. of 103.1 so I took her to the doctor. It turns out she has an ear infection which we had no idea was there. I got her prescription filled and gave her the medicine right away along with more Motrin for the fever. We went home and Sarah took a nap. After she had been asleep for an hour I felt prompted to take her temperature (we have one of those ear thermometers which makes it easy). Her temp. was 104.6! I double checked to make sure it read correctly and it came back with the same temp. Of course her little body was just on fire so I called the doctor to see if I needed to take her to the ER. The nurse told me to put her in a cool bath for 15 minutes. She also said that Sarah would get the shakes from it because it would be such a shock to her system. So I filled the tub with luke-warm water and got her out of bed. Sarah moaned a little but was as limp as a rag doll. Once I got her into the tub she became more alert and started wimpering and crying telling me she was cold and begging me to take her out. I had to leave her in for 15 minutes to cool her off so it was a very difficult bath to give her. I wanted to cry the whole time.
After I took her out and got her dressed she was still shivering so I hugged her close and put a blanket around her. As I was holding her she cried "blessing, blessing, blessing". That sent me into tears because Kevin was at work and I was amazed again at her understanding of what blessings are for. I explained to her that Daddy was at work so he couldn't giver her one but I asked her if she wanted Mommy to say a prayer and she said yes. So I sat down with her and prayed. She sat perfectly still the whole time and I could tell she felt better after we said the prayer.
The bath brought her temp. down to 100.7. I called the nurse again to update her on Sarah's status and she had me alternate giving her Tylenol and Motrin for 24 hrs. to keep the fever under control. She then told me if her fever spiked again to give her another bath. She said the ER would not be able to do much more than that. So I was grateful that she saved us time and money in avoiding a trip to the ER and today Sarah is much better. The antibiotics are finally kicking in and her fever is almost gone.
This has been an amazing experience for me. Of course it was scary when her temp was so high but Heavenly Father protected her and helped me through the situation. And Kevin and I were given the opportunity to see that Sarah is learning by our example even though she is not even two years old yet. That realization is both exciting and scary to me (what kind of bad habits is she learning from me?) But more importantly I am seeing that our efforts in teaching her the gospel are paying off just by living it. Actions speak louder than words.
The other day I was giving Sarah a bath and all of a sudden she lunged forward to grab one of her toys and ended up on her belly. She had never turned onto her belly before in the tub so she sat there for a minute making sure she was ok then she looked up at me, gave me a big grin and started kicking her legs. I kept telling her she was "swimming". Now whenever I give her a bath I tell her, "go swimming" and she flips over onto her belly and starts kicking and splashing. I think we are going to have a blast this summer in the pool together! Enjoy the pictures :)
Sarah's hair is finally starting to get longer. It hangs down in her eyes all the time. I have cute headbands and barrettes that I put in her hair but she always pulls them out. The other day I decided to try pig-tails. I was so happy to find that it worked! She looks like she has two little antennas on top of her head but I thought is was cute. She didn't bother with them until she took a nap. When I went in to get her after she woke up she had taken both of them out and I had to find where she stashed the hair-ties. At least now I can do something different with her hair and just in time for summer too!
This is Sarah's bear, Pinky. She has slept with him (I'm not sure why we have decided that he is a boy but he is) every night since she was six months old. Recently she discovered that she can shred things with her front teeth. Unfortunately Pinky is getting the brunt of it. Every time I get her out of the crib I see little Pinky particles on the floor next to it. The worst part as evident by the picture is his nose. There used to be a little triangle of black felt among all that thread but she shredded that as well. This is all that's left of his nose.
We love Pinky. He is Sarah's comfort and when she wants him she says, "inky, inky". I'm afraid that he will not last much longer. Hopefully we will be able to find a suitable replacement when the time comes. In the mean time we are hoping that is still far into the future.
Every night Kevin reads a story to Sarah before she goes to bed. The other night Kevin was wearing a fleece vest and as I got ready to put Sarah on his lap he unzipped the vest so he could snuggle closer with her. This was the end result:
Sarah started walking last week! For a month now she has been walking while holding on to one of our fingers. She just wasn't brave enough to let go. Then last week I was walking around the house with her and she saw some toys so she let go of my hand and off she went. Now she walks almost all the time. She still uses the furniture and walls to stand up but once she's standing off she goes. Sarah is so proud of herself and has the biggest grin on her face whenever she walks. It's so amazing to see the joy all of us get from her accomplishments. I am so excited for this spring and summer when we will be able to do so much more with her new mobility.
Lately Sarah has been entertaining herself with our clothes. One thing she loves to do is go into our closet and pull down all of Kevin's ties. Once she has them all down she throws them all over the floor. It's cute to see her buried in his ties.
Another past time of hers is opening my sock drawer and climbing in and out of it over and over. She thinks it's so fun to just sit in it then climb back out and do it over again. I must say she is a cutie sitting there.
It's so fun to see her get so much entertainment out of simple things.
Well, Sarah has the croup for the first time. She had a runny nose on Monday and I thought it was teething stuff going on. By the time Wednesday rolled around she had a fever and dry cough. I took her to the doctor (my doctor had the day off so I saw another doctor in the same practice) and they suspected the flu so they took a culture. I had to hold her down while they stuck a big long swab up her nose, it broke my heart. The test came back negative and was told it was a virus they could do nothing about. Yesterday she was the same for most of the day until she woke up from her afternoon nap. She went downhill quickly in the afternoon. She was constantly out of breath and her cough sounded like a barking seal. It was so much tighter that it had been earlier in the day. She winced everytime she coughed and I could tell it really hurt. She also had a high fever again. I called the doctor and they had me come back in. Luckily this time I was able to see our regular doctor. She had a temperature of 103.2 and had lost 1/2 a pound from the day before because she won't eat and she is hardly drinking anything. They hooked her up to a monitor that measures the oxygen level in her blood. Her numbers were good so she was getting enough oxygen. Then they listened to her lungs and they are clear, thank goodness. The doctor was able to hear her breathing and coughing and finally he said that she had the croup. She has it pretty bad. He gave me some steroids to help reduce the swelling in her throat and make breathing easier. Then he told me all about the croup and gave me a handout describing what it is and how to treat it. Unfortunately it is a virus so there's nothing we can do to make it go away faster but there are things we can do to help her breathing.
So far we have been managing pretty well. Her cough lessens and worsens many times throughout the day. A couple times today I got the bathroom all steamy and we sat in there for 5-10 mintues to help her breathing. It did help. She also cried off and on throughout the day because her throat hurts so bad. I kept up with Motrin to help ease the discomfort and keep her fever down. It will take 3-4 days for the fever to go away and about a week for the cough to disappear. So we are staying home until she is better. It is so hard to see her so sick. It breaks my heart but she is strong and is handling it pretty well all things considered.
On January 31, Sarah turned one year old! I can't believe how time has flown by. She no longer looks like a baby and is all toddler. First we held a small family party for her on her birthday. I made cupcakes and we gave her a rocking horse for her present. It's so cute, it sings a song and talks and winnies. When it sings or talks its mouth moves along with the sound. When we first gave it to Sarah she gigled and laughed at it for 20 minutes. She would wiggle her hips and dance any time it made noise and she kept kissing and hugging it. She hasn't got the actual rocking motion down yet but that will come in time. She still loves it anyway. Her bedtime is usually 6pm (that's always been her choice) and we kept her up until 8pm that night. By the time we got to the cupcakes she had no interest in them and just wanted to go to bed. The next day I tried again and she loved the cupcake that time.
Last Saturday, February 2, we had a big party with all her friends. Kevin made balloon animals for all the kids (he and his mom taught themselves how while Kevin was in high school) and I made a pretty professional looking cake. I bought a star cake pan and a bunch of Wilton's frosting tips and bags. Two weeks before the big party I made a trial cake and practiced decorating it. By the time I made the cake for the party I had some idea of what I was doing. Sarah loved having all her friends there and we had such a good time visiting with everyone.
Ok, so here I am again. Sorry about all the time that has passed since I last posted. We got caught up in the holidays and lately I have been consumed with sorting and organizing our home. One of my New Year resolutions is to go through all our stuff that's in storage and hasen't been open in forever and get rid of everything we don't need. It's taking a lot longer than I think. Sometimes I come across boxes full of junk that I have no idea why we hung onto for so long and other times I come across stuff from my childhood and I get wrapped up in going through the memories. I've got a lot done but I still have a long way to go. It feels so good to finally purge our home of unwanted and unnecessary items.
Our Christmas was great. We spent two weeks at Kevin's parent's home in Wichita, Kansas. It was so fun to watch Sarah look at all the presents. When it came time for her to open the presents she was more interested in the wrapping and boxes of course. Her big present that we got her was a walker from Fisher Price that is shaped like a car. Sarah loves it and it has really helped her in learning to walk. Speaking of which she is very close to walking on her own. For a few weeks now she walks everywhere with us as long as she is holding on to one of our fingers. Last week she got brave and has started to let go and take 10-15 steps on her own before she sits down.
Kevin got me an 8gig Zune mp3 player. I LOVE having it. I can watch movies on it if I want to but I mainly use it for my music and audio books. It is so nice to listen to while I am cleaning the house or running errands (yes I am one of those annoying people who listens to it while I drive). But I do keep the volume down so I can pay attention to traffic.
I tried to get Kevin a meaningful gift this year and I think I accomplished that. For his 18th birthday he was given a beautiful print of the space shuttle preparing to launch. It was not framed and has been rolled up in a tube for 13 years. I took it to Michael's and had it framed really nice for him. He loved it so much that he got emotional when he saw it. Mission accomplished.
Anyways, I will try to do better at posting regularly. I know how much I enjoy reading all your blogs and I'm sure some of you have been frustrated with my lack of posting.
Sarah discovered the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom the other day. She had the best time unraveling it. I let it go on for a bit until she started eating it. When I took it out of her mouth she started to cry. Here is the story in pictures:
Begging for more
Hey Sarah, she likes it
I think banana boats are going to become a staple food for future camping trips.
Everyone always says that Sarah looks more like Kevin than me. At first I could see that, but now that she is getting bigger I can see more of myself in her. My friend Katie tried this look-a-like meter with her kids. It scans your pictures and determines which parent your child looks more like. So I decided to try this with Sarah and see what the outcome would be. See for yourself:
Sarah will be eight months old next week. She has changed so much in the past month. On Labor Day she went from doing the army crawl (which she had done for six weeks) to crawling on hands and knees. She also started pulling herself up to a standing position that same weekend. When she is holding on to the couch she will walk the length of it. I don't think it will be too long before she starts walking. Just last week she started baby talking. She is always saying da-da-da, ma-ma-ma or any silly consonant combination she can come up with. She loves to talk to anything she has in her hand or is looking at. It's fascinating to me to watch her explore all that her little body can do.
Kevin and I feel so blessed to have Sarah in our home. Heavenly Father has given us a very special little girl that more than made up for all that we went through to get her here. I can't imagine our life without her and it feels as though she has been with us forever.
Check out this cute video I took of her this morning!
