A Few Things...

I have just a minute so I thought I'd write a few things that have been going on this week....

First, Sara Kate got sent home from school today (for the first time), not for misbehaving (haha!), but for PINK EYE!! When she woke up this morning here eyes were crusty so I wiped them with a warm rag, which made them red. About 15 minutes after I dropped her off, they called Chris and I both and told us they thought she had pink eye because her eyes were red and crusty. Plus apparently it's been going around her school. Lovely. So we had to figure out the pick up for the first time. Since I don't have much leave time built up yet at work and I had a soil sampling appointment I had already rescheduled once, Chris was able to put in for a sub and go get her. I called the doctor to make an appointment but I talked to the nurse who said it sounds like pink eye, and she just called some drops for us to go pick up. Easy, and no sick child visit. Yay! She can go back to school tomorrow as long as she has some medicine. Chris put drops in her eyes middle of the day and he said it was not fun. No, putting drops in an 11 month old's eyes doesn't sound fun. Wish us luck with that for the next week!

Second, Sara Kate's rebellious stage seemed to be going away...until she got sent home today. Monday she drank her breast milk, but not formula, Tuesday she drank the formula but not breast milk, and Wednesday she drank both!! From a bottle!! Then today got all weird. So we'll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe she's over her rebellion.

Third, I seriously can't believe Sara Kate turned 11 months this week. I'm having a hard time with the thought that my baby is almost not a baby anymore. :-( But it's just part of life! I hope to get her 11 month post up this weekend. Time for me to jump into serious party planning mode!

Fourth, we just had some delicious ribs for dinner. Thank you Penguin Ed's for cooking for us tonight. No, this has nothing to do with my child, but they were yummy and I'm still thinking about them. You are welcome if I just got BBQ in your head. :-)

And because I would probably be in trouble if I didn't include any pictures in this post, here ya go!

Oh, one more thing...Sara Kate has a new look. She can now give us the 'stink eye' look! HAHA!

Yes, her bib says "Star of Mommy's blog.' That's what she got at Target a couple weekends ago that I was going to blog about but never got around to it. Isn't it fantastically perfect?!?! :-)

Rebel

According to the pediatrician, Sara Kate is in a 'rebellious stage.' So what's the story with that? Let me back up a couple of weeks...she started getting about 4 oz. of formula for her afternoon bottle at school. :-( I agonized over the fact that I had to start giving her formula, but all along my breast feeding goal was 9 months. And she made it 10 months and a week of exclusive breast feeding. Believe me, I'm thrilled with that and am so proud of her and myself, but it was still hard for me to give into the formula. I am not pumping at work anymore but a couple days a week I am able to pump when I get home so I'm still able to get enough for her to have the morning bottle every day be my milk. So currently, she nurses in the morning, gets a bottle of breast milk mid morning, her afternoon bottle is formula, and she nurses at bedtime. And on the weekends, she nurses morning, noon-ish, and night so we don't use any formula on the weekends right now. Anyway...back to this past week. Tuesday, Chris picked Sara Kate up from school and called me and said that she had no milk during the day. What?!? This concerned me quite a bit so I called her school and talked to them. She didn't want it and kept pushing it away was their response. Wednesday comes and goes, and her report card has a note on it (and Chris talked to her teachers), and she just was completely pushing away her bottle of breast milk and her bottle of formula. She was rejecting drinking water out of her sippy cup, too. They eventually mixed her milk with cereal in the afternoon and spoon fed it to her that way. On Thursday, I sent one of the sippy cups we use at home (they are different than the one she uses at school), and I put a note in her lunchbox that said something about if she rejects the bottle, try give it to her in her sippy cup (she won't take a bottle at home anymore so if we have to give her anything, she gets it out of her sippy cup and it's not a problem). When Chris picked her up Thursday afternoon, she was still rejecting the bottle and sippy cup, and they had to mix her milk with cereal again. I was starting to get concerned (and her teacher mentioned something about maybe she has an ear infection since sucking can hurt when their ears are infected) so I called the pediatrician, explained the situation, and that's when the nurse said she's just being a rebel. Ha! She said that since Sara Kate is still nursing fine at home and drinking water out of a cup fine at home, she doesn't think there is anything wrong with her ears, and that she's just going through a 'rebellious stage.' Lovely. My 10 month old, the rebel. She said that babies eat when they want, and they don't want to when they don't want to. She said have her teachers keep offering her the bottle and eventually she would take it. I put a long note in her lunchbox for Friday explaining everything, and I was anxious to see what Friday brought. They did something different and gave her the breast milk bottle right after breakfast before nap time and she took it! But she wouldn't take the afternoon formula bottle so they mixed it with cereal and fed it to her. Is that not the weirdest thing ever?? I'm definitely wondering what this week will bring...maybe she'll get back on track. Or maybe she'll continue to be rebellious.

Doesn't this look like the face of a rebel?!? :-)

Weekend Wrap Up

Well, another weekend has come and gone, and as usual, it came and went too quickly. I am really enjoying my new job though, so at the moment I'm not necessarily dreading Monday's. Although, when my alarm goes off at 5 in the morning, I'm sure I'll change my tune. Ha! So what have we been up to this weekend? Let's see...

Friday night we had dinner with Chris' mom and then had a little play time at Meme's house!

We got a little musical concert from Sara Kate on the tambourine, and her daddy on the guitar.

She was mesmerized and just sat there and watched him play.

And this could be my new favorite picture. Chris doing one of the things he does best, while Sara Kate looks up at him. So so so so sweet.

Saturday the babe woke up a little earlier than normal, but she and Chris still allowed me to sleep in. We spent the morning at home, but eventually needed to run a few errands, so we hit up Chick-Fil-A for lunch, where Sara Kate tasted chicken for the first time (she got the inside meat part, which I'm sure is still filled with grease, but oh well). I think she was a fan...I mean really, what's not to like?!? Anyway, then we hit up Lowe's so Chris could replace our toilet seat. Yes, there is a story there, and no I won't go into it! :-) Our last stop was Target, where I had to get several baby gifts. It was kind of weird, I had a cart full of baby stuff but none of it was for Sara Kate! Don't worry, her daddy bought her something too cute that will debut on here soon!

We had a delicious dinner prepared by my brother...Sara Kate was super excited about seeing Uncle Phil!

Sunday included church, a wedding shower after church, and a visit from Sara Kate's great grandpa! Chris' grandparents live in Bentonville, and we don't get up there often enough to spend time with them so it was nice of him to stop by the house for a visit.

The rest of the day included playing with Sara Kate, Chris has watched a movie, and I have attempted to catch up on blogging...

I love this picture!!! Those eyes, that grin, and of course a little zebra print! :-) Meme made this dress, just the way I requested it. Love!

And I've done the usual Sunday activities like making a batch or 2 of baby food and laundry.

Oh, and the other thing I have done this weekend is search and search for ideas for Sara Kate's birthday, which will be here before I know it. I have obsessed for a couple weeks over the perfect outfit, which has to match the perfect theme, for her first birthday...I have obsessed like only a mother could over something so small and insignificant. But I am a perfectionist and I have this certain vision in mind (which has changed as of late). But now I think I have everything in mind, now it's just a matter of execution over the next several weeks!

Hope everyone has a good week! Hopefully it doesn't go by too slowly because next weekend will be fun filled, with a visit from Gran and Pop (although Chris has a snow make up day and my mom has to teach a workshop...oh well).
This picture cracks me up...it was super windy outside and Sara Kate's expression is one of non-amusement (yes, I probably just made up a word).
Here's one that's a little better.
Peace out! :-)

Exploring

The last week and a half have pretty much just included following Sara Kate around while she explores her 'new' surroundings.

Seeing that little bear butt on the move takes these jammies to a whole new level of cuteness!
Yes, she opened her drawer and started pulling out the blankets...

Yes, she crawled to the bookcase in our room and pulled the DVD's off the shelf...
(excuse the crappy cell phone picture)
Yes, she was headed straight for the dog toys...and obviously they were like, what is she doing?!?

Yes, she loves to play with the straps and buckles in her car seat...

And yes, she was headed straight to the cat food bowl!When we put her down in the living room to crawl around, she first heads to 2 locations: the cat food bowl or the dogs water bowls. One is on the right side of the computer cabinet and the other is on the left side of the computer cabinet. I redirect her and she turns around and heads straight back to the bowls. Silly girl. At least she hasn't ventured into the spare bathroom and found the cat litter. When that happens, we have a problem. Anybody want a cute little white cat?? :-) As for the cat, Sara Kate likes to 'chase' Kacie around...she just started that, probably because they are on the same level now! It's funny to watch her when Kacie comes into her line of vision.

We like to take Sara Kate into her room and just let her explore in there, too. We'll get different toys out and just let her play around and move to thing to thing on her own.

Sometimes Cora comes in to play!

Sometimes Sara Kate ventures out into the hallway...

And that is very exciting!

And finally, sometimes (like today) she likes to crawl to the front door and look outside.
Wow, PLEASE excuse how dirty our glass door is!
And those are just some of Sara Kate's adventures! Hope ya'll enjoyed the ride!

On the Move!!

Well, it finally happened!! What on earth am I talking about?!? :-)

Oh, you want to see more?? OK!

These are crappy cell phone videos, but they are video none the less. I actually missed seeing her crawl for the first time. I was at a board meeting at the church, and Chris sent me a video text with the first video in it. I didn't look at it until the meeting was over, and he had sent me another text in the meantime that said something like, I'm surprised you haven't responded! When I dropped her off at school Friday, I asked the girls if she crawled Thursday, because I was sure she did it there for the first time. They said yes, that they took her out of the bouncer, put her on the floor, and the next thing she knew, she was over at the shelf and pulling baskets out. She said, Sara Kate, when did you learn how to crawl?? Right then was my response! I guess it just clicked all of a sudden. So now we have serious baby proofing to do...she's already tasted cat food. Lovely. Get ready world, Sara Kate is coming at ya!!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

I have to dedicate this post to our sweet, beautiful niece Hannah. Yesterday was her 3rd birthday.

The day she was born...

And on her 3rd birthday...

She's so stinkin' cute, and she just cracks us up these days with what she says. I called her yesterday morning to wish her a happy birthday and when she finally got on the phone I said, "Happy Birthday, Hannah!" She replied, "Happy Birthday!" I laughed. I said, "How old are you today?" She said, "This many," while holding 3 fingers up to the phone. I said, "How old?" She said, "This many," while holding 3 fingers up to the phone. I laughed. I heard Jenny say, "Say you're 3." And she said, "Three." Then she proceeded to tell me something to do with Sara Kate. And then Jenny interpreted it for me and she had said that she wanted to take a bath with Sara Kate and she would share her Aurora doll in the bath tub. So cute. After work yesterday, we went to Mimi and Poppa's and Hannah opened her presents. She's really into princesses and Barbie right now, so we gave her several sets of Barbie clothes.

Hannah said Sara Kate couldn't help her with her presents. Ha! So then Jenny told her that she couldn't help Sara Kate when it was her birthday. Double Ha!!

Then Uncle Chris (who she calls 'Krissen'...hahahaha!!) played Barbie, and it was hilarious. Chris was speaking in Barbie voice, and Hannah was just cracking up. She laughed and laughed. So cute.

We went to dinner at The Catfish Hole, and Hannah's other grandparents and aunt and uncle came over too. It was nice having everyone there to celebrate her birthday, and it's really nice that both families get along so well. It's like that with mine and Chris' family too...everyone just gets along perfectly. I love that. Hannah's other grandma brought her some balloons to put on the table and a 'Birthday Princess' button for her wear. We ate (way too much) and had a great time. Sara Kate even tried hush puppy (the inside breading part) and fish (the inside fish part, not the fried breading)! She liked both...she doesn't seem to care what she's eating, as long as she gets to eat. Hopefully she won't be picky like her mama! :-) After dinner a few waitresses came and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Hannah and brought her a candle and enough suckers for the entire table. That was nice. She even shared a sucker with a little girl sitting behind her...she's a sweet girl. Then it was cupcake time, and these next pictures speak for themselves! :-)

Aww, Uncle Chris is a good sport! And Hannah had a pink face the rest of the night! After dinner, we went back to Chris' parents and the girls had bath time. Sara Kate fell asleep on the way back to their house...she had a big day! Notice the wand in her hand that Hannah let her play with. And those moccasin shoes were Chris' first pair of shoes!

But she perked up for bath time!

Hannah let Sara Kate play with her water dolls, but Sara Kate wasn't fond of the way the hair got all stringy when it got wet.

Hannah wanted to help wash Sara Kate.

Two clean, tired girls!

Overall, we had a great day. Happy Birthday, Hannah!! We love you!

L-O-V-E

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

The Michaels Family

I'm not sure why Sara Kate's eyes look freaky. And she was very stoic and thoughtful looking all night. Oh well.
Hope everyone had a great day!