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Showing posts from October, 2010

Happy Halloween!

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Sarah Graves was a ladybug for Halloween!  She wore her costume for a while today, but we didn't wear it to the airport or anything.  I was surprised that she didn't rip the hood off!  She has started pulling hats off the moment that I put them on her.  The tights are my favorite part of the costume!  I think they accent her hammy lammies quite well.

Back In Baton Rouge

We flew home tonight. I still call it home even though we have been gone for 3 years now. I guess it will always be home. This was Sarah Graves' first time flying and she did pretty good. We had only a few minutes at the end of the flight when she was tired and crying. A nice lady sat behind us and entertained her with funny faces and peek a boo. The iPad was good entertainment and my earbuds case is always a thrill to chew on. Lovie has the same one and it is a special treat for her to get to hold it. She caught a second wind when we got to the hotel and Maw Maw and Ryan were here to see us. I got a special treat when Aaron went and picked up Cane's for us. I miss that sauce so much! Now SG is sleeping in her pack'n play.

Four Years Ago Today

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/Four years ago today I married my sweet husband.  He sent me a dozen red roses with a note that said, "Four years, two states, one puppy, one baby girl, and I would do it all again." I think that pretty much sums it up.  Our life seems hectic at times, but I wouldn't change any of it.  I love you, Aaron.

A Big Girl Seat

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A few weeks ago we started thinking that Sarah Graves had probably gained enough weight to be too big for her infant carrier and needed to switch over to the big girl car seat.  I couldn't help but think back to this photo of how small she was when we brought her home in the infant carrier.    Now she's a much bigger baby riding in this kind of seat.  She still faces the rear, so I'm not sure that she thinks anything has actually changed!  As it turns out, she is still within the height and weight recommendations for the infant carrier!  We will use it to take on a plane for a trip this weekend!  These big car seats are much more difficult to install properly and that way we can avoid having to take one out of the car and re-install it when we return. These big girl seats go way big.  In fact, the one that we bought for my car will become a booster seat that she can ride in until 100 pounds!  The car seats for Aaron's and Lovie's cars go up to 70 pounds.  I figure

Baby Shot!

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She was very busy and didn't have a lot of time to pose for a picture, but we did manage to catch this one!

Check-up

Sarah Graves had her 9-month well-baby check-up and she is doing great. She now weighs 20 pounds and 12 ounces and she is 28 1/2 inches tall. She is in the 53 rd percentile in weight and the 58th percentile in height. She seems to be healthy and right on track. In fact, the pediatrician said that she is perfect. We gave the first dose of flu vaccine and so far she is doing fine with it. She had to have her finger pricked for an iron and lead check. The nurse had to keep squeezing her finger to get enough blood and she never even whimpered. She was fascinated by the band-aids the nurse had on her shirt ready to use and didn't seem to notice the finger prick. When it was time for the flu shot, she was so focused on the band-aid that was now on her finger that she didn't ever cry. She was a real trooper. We will keep doing what we are doing and go back for the second flu shot in a month.

Trip to the Gardens

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Yesterday I volunteered at Goblins in the Garden at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The weather was gorgeous and the Junior League of Atlanta had a nice area set up with story time, a snack, and several crafts. To support one of our missions around literacy, each child received a book about Halloween. This is the biggest day in the gardens and there were families galore. While I was volunteering, Aaron and Sarah Graves explored. Judging by these pictures, they both had a great time. Aaron fed her lunch in the garden and she napped in her stroller there, too. I think they had a fun afternoon together. We look forward to when she is old enough to enjoy the activities and even the candy.

Flu Shot

We knew this was coming, flu season, and having to make a choice about the flu shot. I did some reading and there is no definitive recommendation on whether to give it or not.  It's not required for school or anything like that.  I did some reading on Dr. Sears' site and found that about 120 pediatric patients a year die from the flu in the U.S.  That's a pretty small number compared to the number of kids in this country.  There are countless more kids who become really sick and have to be hospitalized with the flu, so that's really scary.  Vaccine manufacturers have done very few studies on the effects of the vaccines on kids, so there is no research to say that it is fine long-term. Aaron and I have considered it and we decided it might be best to get her the flu vaccine.  The thing that closed the deal for us is that we will be flying with her several times in the next two months and that seemed like it would increase her chances of being exposed to the flu.  We kn

Letter Month Nine

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Dear Sarah Graves, You are nine months old now and you are getting to be such a big girl.  You are moving so quick now.  You can crawl very fast, even when you have on a dress.  You can pull up on everything, you can jump while holding on to furniture, you look like you're running as you move back and forth along the sofa, and you can let go and stay standing for a few seconds.  It has been so amazing to watch you perfect these skills.  You love to crawl under things.  I think it makes you feel cozy to get under a chair or table.  I look forward to showing you how to build forts in the living room and making it your playhouse.  You scare me to death by trying to climb on things.  Any surface that is off the ground is fair game for you to climb on, whether it will support your weight or not.  You are just like a little monkey!  Lovie says that you get the climbing from me and that I scared her all the time too.  I have to say that you fall down frequently, but more often than not yo

Old McDonald

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Sarah Graves has had this Old McDonald hand puppet for a while now, but it has recently become a favorite.  She loves to chew on the book part and carries it around with her all over.  She likes it when we sing the song and just loves to chew on the thing.  I love watching her find a favorite toy! Pardon my terrible singing voice.  Sarah Graves hasn't figured out yet that Momma can't carry a tune!

Laundry Fun

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I thought that I posted this a while back, but Blogger says that I didn't, so here's a post from a couple of weeks ago.  SG loves to play with clean laundry!  I think it's because the basket is just the right height, but she will go through the different pieces and has a good time taking them out.  In this picture, Daddy was letting her amuse herself with that while he watched football.  Sarah Graves isn't in to college football, yet. 

Baby Shot!

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Standing up like this wearing big girl shoes makes me feel like she will be heading off to pre-school any minute now.  I know she's still my sweet baby when she snuggles up in my arms to nurse. 

Baby Shot!

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We missed getting our baby shot up last week, so here it is.

Fall Festival

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On Saturday we decided to head over to a local Fall Festival off of Marietta Square.  The weather was just beautiful and we wanted to get out and enjoy it.  Sarah Graves was in a great mood and took her morning nap on the car ride over.  She rode in the stroller and looked at everyone and seemed to really enjoy being out.  She dined al fresco a couple of times.  She has a hard time nursing with other things going on, but she ate every bite of her solids!  Aaron and I enjoyed corndogs, yummy!  Our biggest purchases were some new bows for baby girl.  All the ladies selling bows couldn't believe how much hair she has!  She actually needs a barette or a bow to keep it out of her face.  We even found a prize for Lucy, a Halloween bandana.  We also stumbled upon a really cute shop off the square.  They have all sorts of things, but I was impressed by their big selection of Robeez shoes.  She has shoes for right now, so we will wait to buy anymore, but I saw some really cute ones with cup

Naked Baby

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While we were at the pumpkin patch one lady commented to whoever she was with on the fact that we let our baby go in just a diaper.  When your baby is as cute as this, all you need is a diaper!

More from the Pumpkin Patch

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Here are some more pictures from the pumpkin patch.  It was really pretty scenery and the sky was so clear that it made for a fun time.  Next year SG will really be able to get around and probably we will go for the hayride.  This year we simply took our pictures and picked a pumpkin. 

More Pumpkin Patch

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I think I mentioned that we planned to take SG to the pumpkin patch with Grancy and Grandma and take some cute Halloween pictures.  Here she is all dressed up in her oh so cute Halloween jumper that Ms. Margaret Anne made her.  She is also sporting her Halloween shoes that Lovie bought her and a great bow that Grancy brought her.   Here she is happily riding in the car with Grancy beside her entertaining her.  Not long after this picture was taken the "incident" occured and we were no longer able to wear that outfit.  Instead, we put on our costume for a few minutes, but it was pretty hot for long sleeves and the heavy fabric of this outfit.  She is the cutest ladybug I know!  I should probably explain why we call her Grandma.  Until several years ago, Aaron referred to her as Aunt Lynn.  She got the nickname Grandma when the desk clerk at a hotel made the comment to Ms. Nancy, Arden, and Aunt Lynn how lovely it was that three generations were all traveling together

It's Friday!

This week has felt long, so I am even more excited for the weekend than usual. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we will look for something outside to go and do. Of course it will need to be a 5 minute activity because that's about all the time we have between feedings and naps! My computer is still broken. Aaron has spent a lot of time working on it, but nothing has fixed it. We have pulled all the pictures off, so I am relieved that none of them are lost. I think he is going to do a system restore tonight and rule out a software problem. He ruled out a virus already, so hopefully it is a software issue. If that's not it, I guess it's a hardware problem and we will take it for someone else to diagnose. Sg is great. She does this grungy, throaty noise when she sees something that she wants. It is very primal and reminds me of a cave woman. Come to think of it, she is pretty rough when she plays and at times her crazy hair looks a bit savage; mayb

Childcare

When I first started in my job I asked several of the women having babies if there was any thought that we would have onsite childcare and I was told that it had been explored and the liability was too high so the idea was abandoned. Yesterday an email came out with a survey to assess whether there would be interest in onsite childcare. As if they needed to ask! I love Sarah Graves being with my Mom every day, so i would have to think about changing our setup. It would be nice to be able to drop in and nurse her during the day instead of pumping. It would also be nice for a baby not to have a long car ride every morning and evening. It would probably be a long time before it would even open, but it's a positive idea and I think it would be so wonderful for all the families who don't have a relative available to care for their baby. Talk about something to attract and retain employees!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

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When Sarah Graves woke up from her afternoon nap we got her all dolled up in a Halloween jumper that Ms. Margaret Anne made for her and we headed out to the pumpkin patch. The ideas was for my sister and her friend David to meet us out there for some cute fall pictures of Sarah Graves with the pumpkins. The pumpkin patch that we chose is out in the country and you go on a winding, hilly road. Sarah Graves started whining when we were getting close and Grancy was doing everything she could to entertain her. Finally, SG was "reading" a book...when she threw up. I think the combination of riding backwards (she has to for safety), being on a curvey, hilly road, and looking at a book made her car sick. When we got her out of the car it was obvious that her outfit had to come off. It smelled absolutely horrible! Grancy cleaned up the car seat while I cleaned up SG.  That was one of the few times that I have realized that I am the mother and I have to do the yucky stuff. The only ot