22 Months

Sara Kate, you are 22 months old!! What have you been up to?

Where's Sara Kate's head?
Where are Sara Kate's eyes?
Where is Sara Kate's mouth?
- You are learning so much in school right now! You can say the name of your teacher and you can even say the names of some of your friends. You are learning letters, numbers, shapes, how to trace things (like letters), you practice writing your name, you practice coloring in the line, you play with Play-Doh and puzzles, you sing songs and know the motions to lots of songs (your teachers say you love song time), you are learning your manners, you have different activity centers during the day...I could go on and on! It is very evident to us that you are thriving at school, and that makes us so happy. The only negative about your school day is that we are still dealing with terrible separation anxiety when I drop you off. You are so excited to get to school, and you want to walk in by yourself but when its time to walk into your class you cling to me and want me to hold you. Then you cry when I leave. I know the crying doesn't last long as your teachers are good about redirection, but it still makes me sad to hear you crying as I leave. But I know you LOVE going to school and have a wonderful time because sometimes you don't want to leave at the end of the day!
- When we get home from school, you immediately want a snack. You take your coat off and say 'mama' and run to the pantry. Your favorite snacks right now are veggie straws, graham crackers, goldfish, and Ritz crackers. For a special treat you get a Hershey Kiss.
- Dinner time is definitely messy!!! You are very independent when it comes to eating. You want your plate and your spoon/fork on your tray (or sometimes my plate and fork!)! You are doing well with a spoon but your favorite thing to do is start eating with a utensil, then hold the utensil and eat with your hand. You aren't very adventurous when it comes to trying new things. Some days you can be very picky and some days you eat everything we give you. Everyday is a new day when it comes to eating!!
- Your sleeping is back on track, although a few nights lately you have thought bedtime equals play time! But once you go to bed, you sleep great at night. Bedtime is around 8, and during the week I wake you up between 6:45-7 and on the weekends you can sleep in until 8:00-9:00.
- You are working on new teeth right now! Currently, you have your top 4 teeth, your bottom 4 teeth, both of your top 2 year molars, and both of your bottom 2 year molars. You are working on your I-teeth. At first I thought it was just the bottom ones, but I see little holes where the top ones will be soon. You have been in a great mood lately, but you have been drooling like nothing I've ever seen before! After your nap the other day, your whole shirt was completely soaked as was the sheet in your bed. The gums are sore and red in those spots so hopefully they come in soon. It seems that you've had so many teeth come in lately!
- Your vocabulary has really picked up over the last month! You are saying so many new words and you will repeat things when we ask you to. I tried to start a list of words you say so I wouldn't forget and here's what I can remember: mama, dada, dog, cat, duck, Poppa, bubble, paper, my, me, bib, bow, ball, my bow, my bib, my ball, my book, more, bath, bird, apple juice, water, eye, mouth, ear, teeth, that, what's that, where did it go, where's my mom, out, one, I love you, all done, go, no, yes/yeah, car, hi, bye-bye, Elmo, snack, drink, and stop. I'm sure I am forgetting some, but you seem to say new words every day!
- Some of your favorite things include books (you LOVE books!), blocks, any ball (you like to say my ball!), being outside, you love to see the dogs in the morning and when you get home from school, you love to eat, you still love watching your Baby Einstein videos, you love your best friend Grayson, you love going to Meme's house, you love putting a bow in your hair (and you say my bow!), you love to jump, you love to be silly, and you absolutely LOVE music.
- We think it might be time to start potty training soon. You know when you have a dirty diaper, and you will point to your bottom and get a diaper and go to the changing table or lay on the floor. Recently, you have been very interested in the potty and will point to the potty and then your bottom and you say 'pee-pee,' or something like that. We just got you a new potty and you know you sit on it and close the lid. That's as far as it's gotten right now!
- Your hair is getting so long and it can be so crazy in the mornings!! It cracks me up to see what your hair looks like when you wake up. It's very fine but it curls up when it's wet or it's humid.
- You have learned how to climb on all the furniture. Or I should say, all of a sudden you are tall enough to be able to climb onto the furniture! Unfortunately you like to stand and jump on things once you climb up so we are working on teaching you NOT to do that!
- You are starting to get a little temper and attitude when things don't go your way. When something isn't going right you will hit or pull my hair. We work on 'be nice, nice hair' and no hitting by giving your hand a little pat but that doesn't always work, although getting your hand patted gets your attention and it hurts your feelings. On occasion you will try to bite or have come up behind me and bitten my leg, and that is a big no-no! I haven't heard of you getting in trouble for any of that at school so I assume (and hope!) it's just your attitude at home.
- You are wearing size 18 month clothes, although 18 month shirts are too short. I think you might have a long torso like me. Your 18 month pants still fit fine or are too big. Your dresses are 18 month, too. You also wear size 18 month pajamas.
- You wear size 4 shoes, although your size 4 boots have gotten too small. We recently found you a pair of size 5 boots on clearance to get through the rest of the winter.
- You wear size 4 diapers.
- You are the apple of our eye, and we are so blessed to call you ours, sweet Sara Kate! We love you!!

Snow Day

We woke up today to much less snow than was forcasted so unfortunately we got up and got ready for work. There were some local schools that closed but Chris thinks it was just anticipating what the day would bring since we were supposed to have winter weather all day. I dressed Sara Kate in her adorable snowman dress I got last year at the NWA Boutique Show (yep, size 12 months and it still fits) anticipating getting home and taking her pictures in the snow.

Of course the snow picked up on the drive in and it caused lots of travel problems. There were accidents all over the place, including before I even got to Sara Kate's school which caused me to lose alot of time even though I left a little early. I decided to take a lesser driven back highway instead of the interstate, which apparently was a parking lot because of accidents. After being in the car for almost an hour and a half (total, including the daycare drop off) and being about 10 minutes from Bentonville, I got a call saying my office was closing and to turn around and head home. What?!? This was near where I turned around...don't worry, there was no traffic and I was almost stopped to take the picture. This road was snow covered and there were slick spots but it wasn't awful...that didn't mean I wasn't a nervous wreck driving in winter weather conditions.
I debated on whether or not to pick up Sara Kate and bring her home but by the time I would have gotten there their 'learning time' would have been in full swing and they don't like interruptions during 9:00-2:00. I decided to run by Wal-Mart to get things for a little project and I would pick her up early to come home and play. When I left Wal-Mart the roads were slushy and when I got home, our house looked like this. I'd say we had gotten maybe an inch of snow at this point, with more supposedly coming, along with sleet and freezing rain.
My little project was to make Valentine treats for Sara Kate's classmates for tomorrow. They are having a little party and everything. Somehow I missed the class take home list of names 'in case you want to bring Valentines' so I did it this generic way. I made these little heart cookies...
Found these little printables at this website...
I put 2 cookies in little bags, tied them with ribbon, cut out the printables, wrote 'Love, Sara Kate' on the back, and tied it all up. Here's the finished product!
I kept looking out the front window and around noon some sleet and frozen rain started falling and it melted our snow. I'm pretty bummed and kicking myself about not getting Sara Kate this morning because now she won't get to play in the snow. So I guess I'll hope for another snow day sometime before spring comes. But I did get this project done, which would have been challenging with her running around (it was my first time to make anything like this so I was probably slower than normal), plus I got a jump on dinner plus I baked another treat. So it is what it is...the snow day that wasn't meant to be. At least I got a day off, right?? :-)

We went outside for a few minutes when Chris got home with Sara Kate and here are a couple pictures I took while she was running around in the muck. She just looked so stinkin' cute! Looks like it didn't even snow, so sad!

Weekend Visit from Gran & Pop(pa)

This weekend my parents came up for a visit. Last time they saw Sara Kate was Christmas and the last time they were in Fayetteville was Thanksgiving. They got in after Sara Kate had gone to bed Friday night but they surprised her Saturday morning when she woke up!! She had big fun having them chase her around the living room and into the kitchen...the cabinets by the stove must have been 'home' because she would run around, go to the kitchen, make them stand on either side of her, then take off!

Breakfast was blueberry muffins and Sara Kate ate the middle out of her muffin but then decided to take her plate and sit on the floor. She cracks me up sometimes!
There was lots more play time, a little nap time (by little, I mean 30 minutes...guess that's better than nothing!), and then we headed to town to do a little shopping! We walked through the mall, went to Target to get Sara Kate her new potty(!!!), and went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to spend a few gift cards from Christmas. Something I want to remember and I WISH I had it on video was when we were in the mall, Sara Kate started singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.' She was literally singing the song, and she was singing it perfectly as loud as she could! It was adorable. :-) After all our running around and eating dinner, there was more play time even though she was exhausted! One of her favorite games right now is peek-a-boo with her little pink blanket. This morning she was putting the blanket on me and she said "Where's my mom?" before she put her head under the blanket. Then she just giggles.
Bath time was loads of fun...yep, I did her hair like that. Look how long it is?!? :-)
We started our day today with church (of course). She was so sweet cuddling this little frog lovey before we left. And her Chris' mom made her dress...so cute!!
Sara Kate stayed in big church for the whole service today. That's the first time she has done that in a long time! She did pretty good, and hopefully she didn't disrupt my mom and mother-in-law down at the other end of the pew. She got busy transferring offering cards from the pew to a Bible and that kept her occupied all during the sermon. And she likes to 'read' the Bible and Hymnal, also. I was proud of her. I did snap this picture of her during church. Love that little smile and crazy hair!
After church, we went to the grocery store, ate lunch, and had more play time. My parents had decided before Sara Kate was born to be called Gran and Pop. Chris' parents are Meme and Poppa. She can say Poppa and that's the only grandparent that has a name. This weekend she started calling my dad Poppa too. So I guess she is going to have 2 Poppa's, Poppa G (my dad) and Poppa M (Chris' dad)!
My parents brought up this little table and chair set. I remember my brother and I using it when we were little and I didn't know it, but my cousin Sara used it, my step cousin Lauren used it, my aunt Kellye used it, my aunt Michele used it, and my mom used it. And now Sara Kate gets to use it. When they picked it up from Alabama, they wrote everyone who had used it underneath and their birthdays. How special!
Mom and dad gave Sara Kate her Valentine's gift, some new books! One of them is an Elmo ABC's book and it sings at the back. She loves that part and went around humming the ABC song.
It was time for Gran and Pop(pa) to leave so we had to say goodbye, but not before a little picture time!
And this is what she REALLY thought about picture time with her Mama! Seriously, this child cracks me up!
Chris took this picture as Sara Kate was looking out the front door...I love it! Such a sweet face!
And the final outdoor pictures before they left...the first one melts my heart.
We had a lovely weekend visit and were so glad Sara Kate was able to spend some time with her grandparents. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

One other little tidbit, we are supposed to get our first winter storm of the season (can you believe it's mid-February and we haven't had any snow yet?!?). I am dying to have a snow day with Sara Kate to see what she thinks of the snow this year. Come on snow!!! But not just come on snow, but praying I don't have to go to work if we get the storm! I'll keep ya posted! :-)

Our Thursday Night

Thought I would share our Thursday evening with you. Nothing fancy, just a normal night at home. I picked Sara Kate up from school and we were home by about 5:45. She was in such a good mood and immediately wanted to play. "Bubbles, bubbles!" she said. So I got the bubbles out, but she wanted to do it herself because at Meme's house there is a bubble container that she can do herself without spilling. Well, we don't have that here, which caused a slight melt down. But we worked out a way to play bubbles with her doing it and me blowing the bubbles and she just laughed and laughed!

Then it was "My ball, where's my ball?" Yep, she said that! I got her purple ball, and we played ball. She loves playing with any kind of ball. We bounce it around and toss it back and forth and she rolls around on it. At one point she grabbed her pink blanket and started playing peek-a-boo with her ball. It was so cute. And I just have to say, look how long her hair is getting! :-)
She read some books, and she sat on my legs while we read 'Green Eggs and Ham.'
Dinner time was extra messy tonight since it was chili and of course she had to do it herself! And she didn't want to use just one hand, it was a two hand night! But she wanted a napkin to wipe her hands with.

After dinner was a little more play time along with bath time, which she was ready to do early!
She's doing this funny thing where she will stand up and wipe her bottom. Cracked me up when she first did it last night!

After bath, she was ready to snuggle with mommy and go to sleep. A good night with my sweet girl!

Surprise Weekend!

I know I'm a few days late posting about my super fun weekend, but I'm going to go ahead and post about it anyways! My college friends are awesome but they are scattered all over the place. My bestie lives in Savannah, my college roomie lives in Memphis, and my good friends Becca and Tara live in Greenwood, MS, and Atlanta, respectively. Greenwood, MS, was the site of our summer get together, and we don't have another get together planned until sometime this summer. BUT Becca had the wonderful idea to go to Memphis and surprise Vanessa for her birthday, which was January 31. I couldn't do it the weekend before but we could all make it the weekend after, which was this past weekend...amazing!! So many many secret emails later, we had a plan...show up one at a time Friday night and surprise the crap out of her (we already knew she would be home and not out doing anything). But then Becca's daughter Bailey came down with the stomach bug so she was iffy. By Friday at 2:00, Tara and I were en route!! Tara got delayed an hour in Birmingham and I got delayed for 30 minutes east of Little Rock (stupid construction!!)...we actually managed to make it to Memphis at the same time!!! Awesome! We had a little reunion on the street, then went to the door and *ring*ring*ring*ring! We ducked down, Vanessa saw us, and it was amazing the look on her face! She was speechless! It was awesome! We stayed up late talking, except Tara who is pregnant (yay!) and was ready for bed...it's cool, she can play the pregnant card. :-)

Saturday morning, Bailey was better so Becca headed up. By lunchtime our group was together. So fun!
We went and ate at the biggest hole in the wall BBQ restaurant, but it was AMAZING!!! If you are ever in Memphis, go to the Cozy Corner. It's super shady looking, but it's right off the interstate and just down from the Pyramid and St. Jude. And did I mention that the food was amazing?!?!?! And apparently celebrities eat there. And a regular customer told us their cornish hen beat out the cornish hen at some famously fancy restaurant in New York City in a blind taste test. But we had ribs and wings...umm, remember when I said amazing?? :-)
The damage...plus preg Tara still eating, ha!!
We went to the Peabody and saw the ducks. The male duck was being really mean and holding the female underwater. Mating? Don't know but Vanessa felt it was her duty to tell someone that the Mr. was being mean and so they shoo'ed him off of her. It was pretty bizarre.
We made some stops at a few other shops, along with Wal-Greens, which seems to be a trend.
We stayed up late talking and playing games, minus Tara who played the tired pregnancy card (once again, a-ok!!). Over all, we had a wonderful weekend and it was so great to have an impromptu reunion. It was great to see my girls, but I definitely missed my hubby and my favorite girl back here in Fayetteville!