First Crawl!

Well she did it!! After many weeks of rolling around and rocking back and forth on her knees...Sarah crawled today for the first time!!!

Rubber Ducky

Sarah has been in "big girl" tub for awhile now, but I haven't been able to get a pic of her until now. She loves her rubber ducky (I like it too...it lets me know if the water is too hot- I love a hot bath...apparently kids- not so much). She is constantly reaching for it in the tub and laughing at it bouncing in the water. She loves to try and catch the suds that are in the water and is learning to splash - probably won't be cute later...but cute now.

Oh and look..finally a pic where you can see her two bottom teeth!! She's had these since August, I just could never get a pic of them...they DO exist!!

LSU 20 WVU 14

Lots of fun this tailgate!! We had lots of visitors and lots stop by to visit.

Michelle, Meiser, Chrisie and Faron came in for the weekend. Meiser was born and raised in West Virginia. It has been 6 years since Chrisie and Faron had been in for a game!! Man, time flies!Baby Boy #2 for the Young's...his first LSU game!! :)College Theta buddies...Jennifer and Kelly along with their husbands were in town from Dallas.Jamie stopped by after a round of golf...yes, I said golf. And Wendy came over from her tailgate to visit as well. Brooklyn wanted to be in the girls picture...so cute!

Hanging out at our "Booth" as Faron likes to call it.Got a pic with the hubby this week...well kind of. Thanks Meiser!Three amigos!Michael and Shannon were able to make this game too! Got a pic of Lucas...the boy refuses to smile! (He later said he was smiling on the inside...guess that counts)Yea!! Chrisie time!!!

Love these two!!!I HEART Football Season!!!

A tale of taking pictures...

The story of a first experience taking professional pictures:

The Plan: I pick Sarah up from daycare, rush home to give her a wipe down bath of sorts and get her in her first outfit for pictures and then head to Baton Rouge for a 4:oo appointment. All is going smoothly Sarah is in a great mood! I get her dressed- she is looking extra cute sitting on her changing table...I reach to get her brush and BUUURRRP! Oh no, please, please not on this dress...

Yep! Right there under the horse on the left...Awww man!!! (Side note: found this dress at a consignment store for 15 bucks!) Ok, plan B: new outfit and grab an outfit out of the closet we haven't worn yet. Little did I know this was just the begining!!!!

We made it to the appointment on time...Sarah is all smiles...Grandma shows up for the last bit of the session...everyone is happy...I am sitting on the floor, Sarah is in between my legs bouncing up and down talking up a storm .....and FLOP Sarah dives head first into the hardwood floor of Portriat Innovations!!!! A howling scream fills the entire studio! I grab Sarah and now I am crying- OMG!!! I have just let my baby smash her face into the ground!!! Grandma is saying "don't let her fall asleep" the photographer is asking me if I need to call an ambulance, my stomach is knotted up...I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!!!

Ok, get it together....give the baby to Grandma, I call the pediatrician's nurses station...the call me back- imagine Marge off of Monster's Inc.- And we go through the check list....

Blood? - No Bump?- No Soft spot bluging out? WHAT? ummm No Fluids coming out of nose or ear? OMG!!! Ummm No. With each question I am becoming more and more sick to my stomach....really!?! Could I have done all of this to my child!!! She then tells me: Give her only clear liquids at first to see if she throws up...then wake her every four hours at night for the next three nights. Annnd what if she doesn't wake up?!?! (Great! We just got back to sleeping through the night and now I am going to wake her up every four hours)

Luckily she woke up - looking at me like I was crazy- was responsive and went back to sleep. God is good! I called my pediatrican in the morning and more questions: Did she throw up? Is she losing her balance? Is she crying or screaming out for no reason? All of which I was able to respond happily with a NO. The nurse then tells me...She's fine.

In conclusion....Portriat Innovations gave me all of my pics for free! I thought that was really sweet of them- I now realize they just didn't want me to sue them...but whatever. I know, I know...your kid fell off the changing table, and your kid fell of the couch oh and my mom dropped one of my brothers on the concrete- but this was this mommy's first time with any of this and I don't think I will ever forget how scared I was at that moment.

I am greatful Sarah's got her daddy's head!

6 months

At 6 months Sarah:

Weight: 18 pounds 11 ounces (90-95 percentile)

Height: 27 1/4 inches tall (90-95 percentile)

Head: 17 3/4 (100 percentile- at least we are on the charts now;)

She is sitting up very well. Getting better at eating her baby foods. Loves to "taste" everything within reach and is very amused by her dog Fritz...which she also tries to taste! We are loving her smiles and laughter! She is on her hands and knees rocking back and forth, but can't quite get the crawl down just yet...but I am sure it will be any day now.

And as you can see....Sarah has just had her first professional pictures taken (post on this experience to follow).

LSU 29 MSU 7

Hip, hip hooooray!!! It's football season!! Yes, I know it officially started 2 weeks ago, but this was the first time in a really long time that LSU had 2 away games for their first two games...so this week we were back in Death Valley...or as I like to call it The 2nd Happiest Place on Earth- Disney World of course being THE happiest place on Earth.

One word for the first tailgate of the season HOT!!!!

It was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105- Football weather in the south! But not to worry, we still managed to have a great time!

Woohoo! The gang is all back and baby free for the first game of the season!!

There are some new additions to this years tailgate...a generator (thanks Big Mike), a sound system of sorts- Andy has been working with is itunes to get us some music, new tents, as well as kids: Cooper, Ashlyn and Brooklyn and the return of Jeff. I think we are up to a core group of 25!!

The kids were such troopers!! Ashlyn and Cooper were tailgating from the early morning -they were all extremely hot and there were no meltdowns by any of the kids!!

That's Hot!

Dance party in the parking lot!! Finally something on Uncle Andy's ipod made Ashlyn and Brooklyn dance! There were not impressed with Andy's selection of songs...they told Andy "your ipod sucks Uncle Andy...You don't have any Hannah Montana or Justin Bieber" HA!

Nice Shirt! As you can tell, it was the "Gold" game...well there's only so many gold shirts out there to pick from...and we all went with the same one!

The only man I know that can fall asleep sitting up in 105 degree temps!!

Long time family friends...Jennifer and Alan stopped by for a little while.

Sadly, I did not get a pic of me and my hubby...but I did get this great pic of me and Michelle! ;0)

Here's to another great tailgating season!! GEAUX TIGERS!!

I know, I know..."where's Sarah?" "when are you bringing Sarah?" If I heard this question once, I heard it at least fifty times...SERIOUSLY people?!?! FIRST of all, It has been discussed in our house that Sarah will attend when she can wipe her own hiney (at the earliest!). Fortunately for us, my wonderful cousin and her two awesome kids took Sarah for the night and have offered to keep her for a number of the games! We are so blessed to have Suzette and her family love our little Sarah and I know she is in good care while I am away. I digress....SECONDLY- Momma's got to get a little mommy time- ya know!!!!

Nuk

While we were at Michelle's last weekend for the LSUv.UNC game, she noticed that Sarah was still using her "green" pacifier...I have no idea it's real name, it's just the one that she has used since we came home from the hospital - and no, not the exact same one- I bought more like it.

Michelle aka Sarah's future orthodontist said "I will give you until she is 6 months, then you really need to put her on the nuk" Uhhh that's like in two weeks!! Here I thought it was just a look issue, but apparently, the package is true....it helps form their little palates and what not. I had tried before, but could not get Sarah to take to the new pacifier, but I guess now, she was ready. That week, I switched her over to the nuk and its been smooth sailing ever since.

All smiles!

Mad Scientist

In my continuing efforts to figure out how to care for an infant, I have found that I am a scientist of sorts running all kinds of "experiments" to see what works for different situations. My only problem seems to be that I forgot that in order for a true conclusion to be made, one must only change one variable at a time......I however am not patient enough for the one variable at a time approach and have resorted to throwing everything but the kitchen sink at my little experiment (not literally of course!)

Sarah had been sleeping so well through the night before teeth and before the invasion of massive snot. As noted before, we have since gained 2 bottom teeth and been put on antibiotics which are now done with...so the kid should be sleeping right??? WRONG!

She has been waking up on a good night twice a night and on a not so good night about every hour. I would go to her room pat her little hiney and put the pacifier back in her mouth and she'd go back to sleep...but only to wake up an hour or so later. (Side note: if you know me....Sleep is one thing I really don't function well without!! I've already given up my daily naps that were routine pre-mommy life- and interrupted sleep is not something that suits me well)

So this week it was on to something new...here lies the problem with my experiment I have changed all of the following things in a desperate need to get a full nights sleep again:

1. Add 2 ounces to her night bottle

2. Raised her mattress so her nose isn't draining into her throat and making her cough. ( I may have went a little overboard on this one...Andy said it looked like she was in a hospital bed!)

3. Started giving a bath every night...this was done partly because she has "cradle cap" or as I like to call it "cradle crap" - it just slips- So I am having to bathe her each night with Burt's Bees shampoo and body wash. The new soap seems to be working, so I am bathing her every night now.

4. Humidifier is now in her room-which I think is helping with the breathing because her nose is now clear when she wakes in the morning. Really in south Louisiana the kid needs more humidity?!?!

5. And I am now giving Sarah her second dose of Nexium (which is prescribed, but I didn't give it to her in the afternoon, because I really didn't mind if she spit up all over me). This seems to be helping with her coughing - which I am assuming was caused by the reflux and snot combo.

As you can see, I have no idea what is working or why its working....but SOOOOO glad its working! I dare not change a thing right now...I am enjoying my sleep!

I have really dreaded writing this post....only because as soon as the good news is made public - it will all change- or at least that is my fear. You know like when you get your tax refund check and have great plans for it, but then the washing machine breaks! But since this blog is also serving as a baby book of sorts, I felt compelled to take my chances.

Football is here!!

With Labor Day weekend, comes football! And boy were we ready!! Michelle and Ben had us over to watch the LSU game against UNC. It was a close one, but LSU came away with the win and I came away with lots of great pics! Please excuse me while I document Sarah's first LSU football party...I tend to get a little carried away when it comes to the purple and gold....and then to add my beautiful baby girl to the mix- well you get the idea.

Seriously, this is my kid...I promise, although the blue eyes and light hair don't really lead one to believe that I am her mother.

Andy's mom and Aunt Judy were in town for Labor Day and joined in on the festivities...even went shopping Saturday with us to get LSU shirts!!

I know, the bow is a little bit of a stretch, but I am trying to find something to do with her hair. I think we know who Sarah's dad is!! Geeze! Can I get any gene recognition?!?!

Jeff was in town from school (he now attends Nichols St. University in Thibodeaux, LA)

Cooper/ LSU Spiderman

Sarah and Kyleigh...just chillin'

Sarah with Grandma and Grammy.

Ahhhh. at last.

Labor Day 2010

We had a great Labor Day weekend! Andy's mom (Grammy) and Aunt Judy were in for the weekend before they headed down to New Orleans for the week and Sarah got her some Grammy lovin'!!

Grammy has made Sarah some adorable onesies with designs on them (she made the fleur de lis one and the "S" one as well that is on her birth announcement). I had to get a picture of Sarah wearing one with her Grammy!

Lots of one on one with Grammy. She tried to read books to her, but as with everything right now, Sarah was more interested in "tasting" the book than the actual story.

And Fritz found a new pal in Aunt Judy. Come to find out, Aunt Judy has a dog, Lucy, that is Fritz's soul mate, so she wasn't upset by his lack of obedience.

Sunday, we took everyone site seeing...well to LSU and then gorgeous Highland Road. And finished the day off at TJ Ribs. It was Sarah's first trip to LSU! Mike wasn't as excited to see us as we were to see him.
Great visit!!