sara? teeth? what?!

i realize that i put pictures up of scott and me going to the zoo every few months or so but its always so much fun and this time was sara's first time!  i really do love going to the zoo in the winter.  less people, less heat, and of course i get to see scott in his funny little hat.

scott was mesmerized by the gorillas and as you can tell sara was really into them too.

i can't get enough of this kid.

somehow we have been to the Cleveland zoo a handful of times in the past year and have never been to the Australian Adventure section.  it was so fun to discover this new spot, especially the enormous tree house!

scott was just a little excited.

posing in front of the lions. 

and this is scott and me in the movie theater (sara was sleeping somewhere below us).  i took the kids to go see the new Easter movie HOP. since both of them are free and it was a matinee it wasn't too expensive and it was fun to do something a little different.

the past couple weeks have been difficult for our little sara girl.  we weren't sure what was wrong with her so we took her to the doctor where she received a clean bill of health.  later that night, however, we realized that sara has TEETH poking through!  what???  she's not even 2 months old yet!  but apparently it IS possible.  she has her two "vampire" teeth on top poking through (yikes).  but james has been such a good dad to help sooth and comfort her during her rough time.  and i'd be lying to say that i'm not just a tiny bit jealous of how much sara loves her daddy.

a few days ago we went with our friends sarah and nick jones (and fam) to the Jump Yard.  we knew that scott would love running around and jumping on all the bouncy houses but we had no idea how much mommy (me) would love it too. 

here's scott and me inside one of the bounce mazes.  i had such a blast with this little scott man.  i felt like a kid again and let me tell you... it feels AMAZING to be able to actually move like this again!

mitchell and scott.  so hard to get them to sit still and look at the camera.

the other day when i was giving sara a bath scott pulled his chair up and started to help.  i keep waiting for him to get tired of her or stop being so cute with her but it hasn't happened yet.  (i'm keeing my fingers crossed.)

and here is the latest photo shoot (these were taken today which makes sara a day short of 8 weeks old.)

i was so excited because i FINALLY dressed her in an outfit that wasn't primarily pink! and i love even more how the blue in her shirt matches the blue in her eyes.

sara is smiling more and more every day but my favorite part about this picture is that sara is smiling at scott who was jumping on my back like a monkey while i was taking this picture.

at the end of the photo shoot i gave scott a wipe for a buger he found in his nose.  after wiping his hands off he took the wipe (and many more) and proceeded to clean off all of his toys, his table, the floor, the wall and anything else he could find.  when he was all done he threw the wipes in the trash and announced, "all done cleaning!"  (i'm glad someone will clean our house!)

scott & sara

this is a collage of our most recent photo shoots in no particular order.
this was last week sometime so sara is 5 and something weeks old.

this one was taken today so again... she's 5 and something weeks old.

this is scott with his buddy thomas waiting for the mall train to arrive.

scott in front of the very awesome (and not at all cheap) mall train.

scott unloading the utensil tray (never too young to learn how too work!)

i absolutely love this footage of scott and sara.  he is seriously such a good big brother.  he's so protective of her and always trying to help her be happy.   

sara was having some "tummy time" when i looked down and saw that scott had decided to share his toy plane with her.

yes, this was staged but he does it all the time. he loves giving his sara kisses especially eskimo kisses.

i love this shot. i was taking pictures of sara when scott snuck in with this determined glare.  i'm not sure if he was being protective of her or if he was mad that i wasn't taking pictures of him.

this was not staged. i looked over and saw scott carressing sara's face. luckily i had my camera in hand and ready to shoot.

this picture didn't turn out so well but i love that scott is holding sara's hand.

i was trying so hard to get scott to look at the camera but he was much too pre occupied with sara's hair.

again, not a great photo but i love that sara is watching scott with so much amusement.  she loves watching him and honestly gets cranky when scott leaves the room.

at least they're both looking at the camera...













p.s.  i am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that sara wears a LOT of pink.

feels great to be 29!

my birthday was last week and as a great big birthday gift my friend anne jones came up to hang out and help me gain some sanity!  it was so great to have her around.  of course scott LOVED playing with his bff brody and sara was extremely excited to meet her new bff macie.  i swear she's even smiling a little bit in this picture.

                                       

here's the fearsome foursome.  (though sara is mid-diaper change and a bit naked).  part of me can't wait until they're all old enough to run around with each other but most of me wants them to stay small forever.

anne got this precious shot of the girl.  seriously anne... thanks so much for coming!

that night james and i took the kiddos to cheesecake factory for my birthday.  sara slept the whole time, scott was a great kid and my dinner was delicious!  so i would say it was definitely a successful birthday event.

i wasn't going to include this picture since i obviously forgot to put make-up on (for my birthday dinner?? hello!) but i thought it would be a good reminder of how exhausted and happy i was on my 29th birthday.  i wouldn't change a thing!

on sunday james let me go to church while he watched the kids at home (scott had a runny nose so he stayed home too.)  when i got home this is what i saw.

                  .... too cute.

then another birthday surprise came my way this past tuesday when my friend hallie tusberg brought me donut holes and a card signed by all our cub scouts.  i told hallie once that i have a secret obsession with donut holes so she brought enough for everyone to eat.  it was perfect!

and my mom has been asking all week for current pictures of sara... so here you go mom!
i took this one yesterday...

and this one about twenty minutes ago.  (it doesn't get much more current than that.)

thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes, gifts and surprises!  so far it feels great to be 29!

3 weeks and a kick in the head

before my mom left for the airport two and half weeks ago she told me that i had to send her a picture of sara every day so that she could see her grow.  well... every day is a bit much, but i thought i could do every week  (at least for a while).   so this blog post is for you mom! 

these three pictures were actually taken a few days ago.  i thought she looked adorable in this little purple outfit. 

i love her eyes.  when she is wide awake they are so big and dark and beautiful.  and there is something so peaceful and calm about her when she is just sitting there looking around.  she is such a good little girl.

these pictures were taken a couple hours ago.  today is sara's 3 week birthday and i had her two week check-up yesterday (this slacker mom forgot to call the doctor to make the appointment.)  anyway, sara had already grown two more inches (she is now 21 1/2 inches long) and she weighs 9 lbs. 6 oz.  that is almost a pound heavier than her birthweight but still an ounce smaller than scott was when he was BORN. ouch!

                                   

scott loves playing with sara on her little play mat.  he is such a good big brother to show her how it all works. 

sadly this picture was taken about ten seconds before scott crawled off the play mat and accidentally kicked sara in the head.  i wasn't sure if i should feel more sorry for my screaming sara or for my quivering lipped, distraught little scott.  he felt so bad but sara was fine in the end and i figure its probably good that she start toughening up now.

                                     

happy 3 week birthday sara!

two weeks old!

i can't believe our little sara girl is already two weeks old.  and i'm happy to announce that she was only up for ONE middle-of-the-night feeding last night!  (can't tell you how nice it was to see the sun coming through the window when she woke up the second time!!)

here's our big little girl having a bath with grandma palmer.

grandma palmer came out last wednesday to help us for a few days.  it was so nice to have her around!

bryan, annie, julia and audrey even made it up to meet their new cousin.  the hotel they were staying in had an indoor pool that was as warm as a bathtub (or so i was told...) so we all headed over there and had a pool party.

since almost all of us have a birthday sometime in the next month or two we had a joint birthday party.  james and i have been looking for an excuse to purchase this gigantic chocolate cake from costco and this was the perfect event!  (for whatever reason the cake looks really tiny in this picture... trust me, it is AnYtHiNg but tiny.)

fun family in town, pool party, birthday cake... what more could a kid ask for?

the next day we all went to the movie theater to see Gnomeo and Juliet.  Unfortunately it was sold out so we went to Rango instead.  It was kind of a weird show but the kids seemed to enjoy it... and so far scott hasn't seemed to have any of the nightmares that i was concerned he would have (or that i would have) from the movie, so thats good.

scott is really such a good big brother.  he LOVES helping wherever he can with sister sara.  he helps me give her a bottle, he helps change her diaper, and he INSISTS on going with me to check on her during her naps.

before taking grandma palmer to the airport we stopped in at Five Guys Burger and Fries since she had never been there before.  it was truly a delicious experience. 

thanks grandma palmer for coming out to visit and help so much! 

we loved having you out here!

and here's the little stinker on the night before her two week birthday (the name "little stinker" isn't completely accurate however, because she is a BIG stinker.  how can such a tiny little girl have so many messy diapers?!)

and naturally i had to get another shot of brother and sister together. 

scott's expression pretty much says it all.

and then i get a photo like this and remember why its all worth it
and why we'll do it again and again...

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