Sick Girl

Sara Kate has been sick this week...like her first REAL sickness. I know I posted something about her being under the weather from her shots a couple weeks ago, but this week she's had congestion, a cough, and a seriously runny nose. Poor kid wakes up with her eyes crusted over, too. Her sleeping has been off this week (Tuesday night she woke up 8 times! Granted, I gave her a pacifier and she went back to sleep..still, 8 times! Wednesday night was better, maybe she woke up 4 times. Last night she made it all night but she was awake at 5:30 this morning. We borrowed a humidifier and used that the last 2 nights, and we think that's helped!). Her eating has been off, too (she hasn't been eating her normal amounts in her bottles at school and I almost have to trick her into nursing sometimes). She started getting a little congested Sunday and by Monday it was full blown. Chris felt bad taking her to school, but we didn't really have a choice. She didn't have a fever or diarrhea (their policy for a kid to go home) so she's been going all week. We said if she was still like this on Thursday or Friday we'd take her to the doctor. After I sucked a ton of green snot out of her nose yesterday morning (Thursday), I called and made her a doctor's appointment. The doctor checked her out, and said her lungs sounded really clear and good, but he could hear that she was congested. He checked her ears and said that she did have fluid in both ears but it wasn't awful right now. He said that was from all the drainage, along with not eating as much and her green poops. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics but said not to fill it yet...he said wait another day or 2 and see if she gets worse and if she does, then fill it. He said that hopefully Tuesday night was the worst of it and she'll improve from there. She's still coughing and is still congested, but she seems to feel a little better today. When I got home she was playing on her play mat and was just a kickin' those little legs! Right now she's in her activity center and she's into some rings and an attached rattle. I can't wait to snuggle with her later! :-)

Wednesday - you an see her poor little red eyes

Thursday - you can look at her and tell she feels bad...but she sure looked cute!

Friday - how adorable was she today?!?! I took this with my phone this morning and I've been looking at this picture all day. I think it's just so darn cute! And I got a smile...she just looks like she feels a little better!

So that's what we've been up to this week! I better get off here. Sara Kate has decided she's about ready to get out of her activity center, plus Chris about has our dinner ready...pancakes...yum! Happy Friday!

Lay-Z Day-Z

Let me start this post by making a little disclaimer...I am NOT pregnant!! :-) Seems my last post made some folks say, what?!?! My father-in-law said the picture loaded before the text and definitely gave him a little shock. Ha! Chris and I have no plans to have another baby any time soon, although, I guess the Big Man Upstairs has the ultimate say so!

We have spent a lovely weekend doing absolutely NOTHING! And it was glorious!! Just what we needed before the hustle and bustle of football season starts (although we are super pumped about that!). Saturday, we probably would have stayed in our jammie's all day had Sara Kate not had a major diaper blow out that morning! Needless to say, she got a bath early. The rest of up finally showered later in the day.

We played....

And played...

And played...

We even gave the 'Jenny Jump-Up' a try!

Sara Kate really likes to 'stand' and look around so I was sure she would love to bounce. And she likes the bouncer at her school, too. But we learned she's still a little small for the Jump Up, and she's just not quite sure what she's supposed to do. She's also unsure about her feet on the floor which I thought was interesting.

Poor kid was so tired, she crashed out on her daddy last night and took a little cat nap before her last feeding.

Today we went to church, where Sara Kate was GREAT!! She sat quietly in her car seat, took a little nap, sat quietly some more, and even went to the nursery so we could go to Sunday School. Apparently she got a little fussy there, but I expected that because her next feeding was to be around 11 (our church is at 9 and Sunday School is at 10). But I was still proud of her.

We ran a couple errands this afternoon, like grocery shopping and made a Target run, but we've spent the rest of today doing a whole lot of nothing!

Except a little spit up on daddy. :-)

And a little more playing!
*Yes, my child was sitting in her Bumbo chair on top of the table, but I sitting was right in front of her and believe me, she was going NO where! :-)

We've got another busy week ahead of us. I have to make a trip to Little Rock tomorrow for a 9:30 meeting...that'll be interesting, getting up extra early, pumping Sara Kate's breakfast, getting myself ready to go by 6:15, and getting the babe ready so Chris can leave by 6:15, too. Wish us luck! :-) Plus it's the first full week of school for Chris! I better get off here...time for Sara Kate's dinner! Hope ya'll have a good week!

1 Year Ago

We prayed for this child and the Lord has granted us what we asked of Him.

– I Samuel 1:27

One year ago, on August 20, 2009, we were shocked and thrilled to see those 2 little pink lines that would forever change our lives.

What a difference a year makes!
Sara Kate, you are more of a blessing than you'll ever know, and words can't describe how much we love you.

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for." -Anonymous

Peace out weird sickness!

Well, I am feeling much better. I decided to stay home Thursday, too, and I ended up being sick from Tuesday night (a week ago) until Saturday night. I was feeling better on Friday and I went up to my office. I was there for about an hour, grabbed my computer and made a quick Wal-Mart stop, then headed home to work for the rest of the day. Friday afternoon went down hill fast...blahh! I'm not sure what I had, if it was a bug or a little food poisoning, or what. I felt fine except for my stomach; I wasn't really able to eat or drink much either. Because I got so dehydrated, my milk supply tanked! That has been stressing me out, but I've been loading up on fluids and I think we're on the uphill march. Thank goodness for a good freezer stash! One good thing that came from my little sickness is I lost about 5 pounds! Ha! But seriously, I'm glad to be feeling better!

And what has Miss Sara Kate been up to? Well, she's been hanging out in....

Her new Bumbo Chair!!!!

And she LOVES it!!!!!! I almost bought one of these when I bought her activity center but went with the activity center instead. Well, she gets to sit in a Bumbo chair at school and a few times when Chris has picked her up, she's been in it. He said she was always so happy in it. So we decided we needed one. Target had pulled theirs off the shelves for a stupid recall (seriously, people were leaving their babies unattended while sitting on a table...really? way to ruin it for everybody!), but Wal-Mart in Bentonville still had them. So, yay! She just sits in it and looks around and smiles and makes noises...so cute. And she's on the dogs' level now, which has them more interested. The other day Cora was sniffing her and she reached up to grab Cora. Can't wait til she's chasing them around! :-)

What else has she been up to? Well, school, being cute, more school, playing with toys, being cute, some naps, drinking her milk, making all kinds of noises, being cute some more...and that's about it!
She was really intrigued by the drums at church last week so Uncle Phil let her check things out!
Meme made Sara Kate an AWESOME dress (I'll post a picture another time)! These are the bloomers. We decided to put them on her head to see what she would do. She was so unsure and it was cracking us up! This expression is hilarious! She kept furrowing her brow, like that would get that thing off her head. Ha!

And these next 2 crack me up. She can turn it on in 2 seconds flat! Ha!

And now Sara Kate says, night-night everyone!

Under the Weather & My First Award

Well, you read that right. Under the Weather. Except it's not Sara Kate this time, it's me! Boo! Yesterday I was feeling crappy...taking soil samples in 100 degree heat and a horrible smell coming from the office next door (they are remodeling) didn't help. I attempted to eat a taco for dinner, probably not the best idea (I was hungry and that's what we were having for dinner). Then I ended up being up all night with an upset stomach. Needless to say, I took today off. I hate taking sick leave for myself. I know that doesn't make sense, I mean, that's why you get it, right? I just like it to accrue. Never know when it might come in handy!! Anyway. Chris took Sara Kate to school this morning (by the way, she slept in until 7 this morning, yay Sara Kate!) before he went to school and I slept most of the morning. I imagine I'll take another nap later. One thing I know is that my milk supply has taken a hit today because I haven't had much to drink since yesterday. Fortunately we have lots of milk in the freezer here and they have plenty at Sara Kate's school. I need to try and rehydrate this afternoon so I'll have enough for later...we should be good, though. So that's about all that's been going on here. Now onto Part 2...

I got a Blog Award!! Thanks to Janice over at The Northens for this wonderful honor. :-) (Janice teaches with Chris.)
I don't know how much of a 'Versatile Blogger' I am...I pretty much just write about Sara Kate and our family, but it was still nice for Janice to think of me! So here are the rules:

1. Thank the person that gave you the award.

2. Tell your readers 7 things about yourself (*readers...that's interesting...I really have no idea who all reads my blog!).

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers you have recently discovered & love reading about! (*Don't think I can get 15 so I'll just nominate my favorites to read!)

4. Contact the bloggers & let them know you gave them an award!

So here are my 7:
1. My dream job is to work at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.
2. My real job has me working with dirt and chicken shit...sorry to be so blunt, but that's what it is! Definitely not glamorous!
3. I get addicted to reality TV way too easy...The Bachelorette (thanks, mom!), Top Chef, Project Runway...love them!
4. Chris and I started dating, were engaged, and got married all within a year and a half. When ya know, ya know!
5. This is kinda sad, but Chris and I really don't have alot of friends here in town. But we do have friends scattered ALL over the United States. Literally, coast to coast! Makes for some good vacation spots! :-)
6. Speaking of vacations, we LOVE to travel! This is the first summer in our 6.5 years together we haven't taken a trip, but we knew that going into getting pregnant. Future vacation spots we'd love to hit include Napa Valley (again), a cruise to a lovely Caribbean destination, Chicago, at some point we would love to go back to Hawaii...the list could go on and on!
7. Being Sara Kate's mom is the BEST thing I've ever done and I am so grateful to God for giving her to us.

Now, I'll pass along the award to the following ladies.

1. Elizabeth at Nathaniel, Elizabeth, and Grace
2. Laura at nate.laura.parker.kota
3. Julie at The Green House
4. Becca at The Patterson Family
5. Jennifer at Joshua Brody Francis
6. Ashley at Ashley's Avenue
7. Melissa at Stafford Stories
8. Julee at Matt & Julee Turner
9. Haley at Nicodemus' Life
10. Jessica at The Southern Belle Baby
11. Life with the Sweetpeas
12. Mitzi at Good-son Family Journey

4 Months Old!

Sara Kate, you are 4 months old today! What have you been up to?
(finally some smiley monthly shots...yay!)

- You are a big girl now and have started going to school! You go from about 7:30 to 3:30 or 4. While at school, you've been taking 3 naps (shocking!) according to your report cards, and you get 2 bottles, around 10:30 and 2.
I took your picture for the first 3 days. Here's your 1st day of school.
2nd day of school.
3rd day of school.
- Speaking of eating, you are still exclusively breast fed, and we don't have plans to add anything else to your diet yet. You nurse first thing in the morning, you are eating between 8-9 oz. per bottle at school, you nurse sometime between 5:30 and 7, and then you usually get a little 'top off' before bed. You are eating about every 4 hours.
- You are still sleeping through the night. You sleep from about 9:30 at night to 6 in the morning.
- You are a really happy baby, unless you are hungry! You love to smile and giggle, and you're making tons of new noises. You can be pretty vocal sometimes, and it cracks us up (see video from last night for an example)! In fact, today during church you decided to start making one of your new noises. Daddy quickly tried to stuff the pacifier in your mouth to quiet you down. :-)
- Your hands are still super delicious. So are some of your toys.
- You found your feet! They haven't made it to your mouth yet, but you love to grab them, especially when your feet are bare. You especially love to grab your feet while you are getting your diaper changed!
- You haven't rolled over yet. No biggie though, says the pediatrician.
- You are still wearing 3 month clothes. Carter's brand fits you best, and that's what we have the most of. You are still wearing 0-3 month Gerber and Carter's footy pajama's but they seem to be getting a little too short. We may have to go up a size in those soon.
- You are in in size 2 diapers. We use mostly use Luv's. Pampers fit you good, too, but they tend to give you diaper rash.
- You are loving toys, including your activity center. You even sit in a jumper at school and you seem to like that, too.
- You seem to have discovered the dogs. You love to watch them closely when they walk by, especially 'the brown one' (aka Cody). They still don't pay too much attention to you, but that will all change when you can start throwing food on the ground! :-)
- I say this every month, but it's so much fun to see what you new thing you will learn next. You are the light of our lives, and we love you more and more every day!