Sarah At Twelve Months

Stats
Weight: 23lbs 0.5oz
Height: 29 7/8"
Head circumference: 17 5/8"

Sleeping
Sleeping has been so much better after last month seemed rough.  Sarah has gone back to napping an hour each morning from around 9:30-10:30 and one or two hours in the afternoon from 2:00-4:00.  She keeps geeting better at falling asleep on her own.  A few times this month she played, rolled around, and babbled happily for over an hour before she finally collapsed.  Fine by me!  It was pretty cute to watch on the video monitor.  Sarah still falls asleep in the carseat, but it's gotten easily to transition her to the crib so we don't have to sit in the car until she wakes up.  She's started sleeping with one of my old blankets and Lamb Chop.

She managed to get her left arm out of her pajamas!

Eating
She's been naturally consuming less from bottles and more from table food.  I'm excited to start whole milk and ditch the hefty price tag of formula!  When I think of Sarah's favorite foods this month I think of peanut butter, bread and tortillas, spaghetti, garlic parmesan butternut squash, watermelon, yogurt, strawberries, cheddar and colby cheese, and water from her sippy cup.  She loses it and gets so focused when you bring out the jar of peanut butter - a girl after my own heart.  Just wait until you try PBJ, Sarah!  She drinks at least 10 ounces of water a day now, too.  She's probably thirsty from all that peanut butter!

Personality
Sarah has a new scrunchy face that she makes whenever somebody looks at her or talks to her.  It's become a crowd pleaser which has made her start doing it even more.  She's also started raising her right shoulder and tucking her head into it when smiling - also a crowd pleaser.

Sarah got moved to the toddler room at church on July 30.  I thanked the baby teacher for her time with Sarah, and she said that Sarah had been the leader of the classroom, tried to involve the other children in whatever she was doing, and enjoys sharing her toys with others.  It was really sweet and made me so proud of the person that Sarah is becoming.

Speaking of sharing, Sarah really learned how to share this month.  Sure, she might want the item back after two seconds, but it seems like a big milestone that she's noticed that we share with her so she wants to share with us.

Health and Physical Ability
Nothing tops Sarah's first solo steps this month!  She took two steps by herself on Friday, July 22 in Kansas City when we were in town to celebrate her Nana's birthday.  It was so exciting!  Unfortunatley, Robert missed it and has somehow missed every time since then.  She's taking steps every day now, and her personally record is seven steps in a row.  She also likes pushing her walker and anything else (boxes, chairs, etc.).  She still enjoys crawling, but I think walking will be her preferred mode of transportation very soon.

Sarah had her appointment with the urologist this month.  We've decided to postpone surgery in hopes that her ureters will straighten and strengthen as she grows.  She will have the renal ultrasound and VCUG performed again next year to see if they are getting better.  If they aren't getting better then we will do open surgery.  If they seem to be progressing and getting healthier then we will decide to do a robotic surgery or to continue to wait.  While waiting she is on a daily antibiotic to prevent infections while she still has VUR.

Sarah's new words this month were Hat and Woof Woof, and she's really been enjoying blowing raspberries again and clicking her tongue.  She's also good and mimicking vocalizations that we make.

Superficial
Sarah's curls pretty much go around the entire back and sides of her hair now.  She's gotten tanner than me.  She still has the cutest nose, eyes, and eyelashes.  Her skin is so soft, and it's sad to think about her feet getting calluses as she starts to walk and wear shoes.  She's become ticklish under her neck this month and can't help but giggle uncontrollably when you tickle her.  She also thinks it's hilarious when other people get hurt - again, just like her mom.

Highlights of the month
July 9-16 - Robert was in Omaha for a mission trip.  This was a really long week, and I don't think I could have made it without the help of family.  Again, so thankful to live close to them.

July 22-23 - Trip to Kansas City to celebrate Nana's birthday

July 24 - First trip to Silver Dollar City.  Sarah road the frogs, butterflies, carousel, hot air balloons, and puppies.

July 25-26 - Memaw came for an overnight visit.  She and Sarah are great playmates!

July 29-30 - Kansas City for Aunt Bethany's baby shower.  Sarah is excited to meet her first cousin!

August 1 - First birthday photos!

August 2-7 - Aunt Cathy and cousin Christine in from Pennsylvania to celebrate Sarah's birthday (their first time to see Sarah since October).

Dear Sarah,
You're a whole year old!  This has been a season of growing, learning, and changing for you.  In your life you will go through many seasons: childhood and adulthood, sickness and health, easy times and times in a figurative desert, just to name a few.  I hope you always remember that God is with you in every season, whether it feels like an easy time or Satan tempts you to believe that God has left your side.  That is a lie, and you can always trust that God has you in His hand.  He's been with you this year when you slept, ate, played, crawled, walked, and everything in between.  God has great plans for you future.  I hope and pray that the most important thing that will happen in His plan is that you will become a born again believer who seeks to please and honor God in all that you do.  Sarah, I look back on this year and can't believe how much you and I have changed.  Thank you for the privilege of being your mother.  I hope I can set a good example for you.  You are a precious gift from God.  Now let's party!

Sarah At Eleven Months

Stats 
Guessing...
Weight: 22lbs
Height: 30"
Head circumference: 17.75"

Sleeping
Sarah had a really rough week of sleep while Robert was away at summer camp.  I could blame it on several things: teething two molars which caused a stuffy/runny nose and a cough, unusual routine while Robert was gone, missing her Daddy.  It was tough, and any time something like this happens I am definitely reminded to be thankful that this isn't the norm.  She started each day between 5:00-6:00am and took very short 30 minute naps.  However, since that week she's been back on track.  Unfortunately, long naps aren't her thing right now, and she takes two naps a day that are about 45 minutes long.  I had a friend suggest going down to one nap a day, but she really is genuinly tired when she goes down for that first nap.  It just doesn't last very long.  Thankfully, she still sleeps about 12 hours straight at night, so she gets about 13.5 hours of sleep a day.

We're working on her putting herself to sleep a bit more still.  I usually try to sing three songs while rocking her and then put her in the crib.  One night this month she played quietly and happily for an hour before conking out.  It was the cutest thing!  It's become a lot easier to transfer her from the car seat to the crib when we get home if she's fallen asleep in the car which is awesome.

Eating
Sarah still eats an 8 ounce bottle every four hours four times a day.  Some of her favorite foods this month were raspberries, scrambled eggs, broccoli, yogurt, peas, cheese, peanut butter, watermelon, strawberries, and dark meat chicken.  Pretty much the only two things we spoon feed her are yogurt and apple sauce.  She feeds herself everything else.  She's way better at this than I had ever imagined she would be at this age.  Obviously, we're many years away from her being a 100% independent eater, but she's doing great!

When she doesn't like something she's eating she spits it out and blows a raspberry.  It's cute for now.  Let's just hope she isn't doing it in three years!

Personality
Sarah's never lacked a personality.  She loves dancing, bobs up and down, and waves her arms around when she likes a song.  Her favorite word is uh-oh.  She uses it when she drops something, but she also repeats it over and over again until you get her what she wants.  When there's a big uh-oh she adds extra uh's like uh-uh-uh-oh.  Sarah loves being chased while crawling.  She crawls do her bedroom doorway, turns back to look at me, I declare, "I'm gonna get you!" and she takes off into the hallway.  Sarah is independent and doesn't want you to move her if she isn't finishing what she was working on.  She hates sitting still for diaper and outfit changes.  She loves playing peekaboo!

On June 11 Sarah was yelling Mama so I'd get her out of the car seat.  Robert came around and said, "Dada," and she said, "No!"  We didn't know she could say no until then.  She's also mastered the art of the head shake and does it furiously.

Sarah has really started enjoying playing with her dolls and stuffed animals.  She meticulously arranged her stuffed animals until they're just how she wants them, and she plays with Raggedy Ann and Andy in her window frame for about 30 minutes at a time.  She definitely has a story line that she is acting out.  She "talks" a lot and moves the dolls around a lot.  It's so stinking cute, and I am crossing my fingers that she becomes a Barbie fanatic like I was.

Health and Physical Ability
Since Sarah got another UTI in May she had to get a VCUG on June 9.  We went to the hospital so a radiologist could insert contrast dye through a catheter to monitor the reflux through an x-ray.  Sarah handled it like such a champ.  It went much better and faster than I had imagined.  On a scale of 0-5 her right ureter is a 2, and her left ureter is a 4.  Sarah's UTI's aren't caused by things like wiping wrong, using bubble bath, or dirty diapers.  Urine should stay in her bladder, but hers refluxes up into the ureters and into the kidneys.  She has an appointment with a pediatric urologist on July 19.  She's taking a prophylactic antibiotic every day until then to prevent another UTI.  Prayers are appreciated regarding this situation!

Sarah's new words this month are no, boom, red (pointed to red SUV and said red), bottle, and you.  Robert likes to get her to say boom when she falls down.  She says it, but it's in the most dainty voice ever.

Sarah walked with a push walker for the first time on June 11 and cruised next to the couch for the first time on the 12th.  She's really enjoying cruising now and does it along the couch, crib, tables, chairs, and anything else she can find.  She only ever walks while holding on to Uncle Jim's hands.  Every time Robert and I have tried it with her she just cries.  Guess he's going to have to be the one to teach her how to walk!

This was another big month for teeth.
June 9 - 8th tooth (lower lateral incisor)
June 11 - 9th tooth (first molar, lower right)
June 17 - 10th tooth (first molar, lower left)
Molars are no joke.  Sarah woke up multiple times writhing in pain.  It was so pitiful!  We made it almost 11 months before breaking down and using Orajel.  It works wonders!  Her poor gums her blistered and bloody looking from the molar.  Thankfully, the fact that she has so many teeth makes me more comfortable with feeding her table food, so that's good.

Superficial
Sarah is quite possibly the cutest sleeper in the history of mankind.  Whether she's sleeping on her side with he knees bent, sleeping on her stomach with her arms and legs tucked under her, or clinging onto you while you hold her this girl never looks anything but angelic while sleeping.

She has little curls going around the whole perimeter of her head.  The top of her head still has straight her, but I'm sure it'll get curly as it gets longer.

Highlights of the month
June 6 - Zoo with Tarah, James, and Asa - This was Asa's first time at the zoo.  We enjoyed watching a little talk about the elephant and watching her get fed.

June 11 - Day trip to KC - Robert had a training meeting for summer camp, and we got to have lunch with Bethany and Jason.

June 12-16 - Vacation Bible School - This wasn't the best week ever for Sarah as she was teething and VBS went way past her bedtime, but it went okay, and she got the smallest VBS shirt ever that is absolutely adorable.

June 14 - My first night away from Sarah - Robert and I went to St. Louis for the night to go to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting.  Sarah stayed with my parents, and I had no anxiety about leaving her in such capable hands.  I know she had a great time with them.  Robert and I enjoyed going out to eat without little hands reaching out for everything, and I enjoyed sleeping in until 8:30.  I woke up seriously disoriented which is always a sign of a good night's sleep.

June 16 - Zoo with Emily and Waverly - They came over for lunch and play time after the zoo.  Fun!

June 19 - Robert's first Father's Day

June 20-25 - Robert at summer camp - Robert and the students couldn't have had a better time at summer camp.  Unfortunately, as I said earlier, Sarah suffered through teething and trouble sleeping this week, so I was pretty exhausted.  Thankfully, my mom spent a lot of time with us this week.  I don't know what I would have done without her!

June 25 - Day trip to Clinton - We met up with Serina and Mark for a trip to the park, lunch, and a belated birthday celebration for Robert.

July 4 - Sarah's first Independence Day

Dear Sarah,
Thank you for teaching me how to be a more forgiving person.  When I've let you down and can't read your mind, don't feed you fast enough, you have a leaky diaper, or I can't get you to sleep it doesn't take you long before you are smiling again, loving on me, and wanting to follow me around.  As you become older it might become easier to hold a grudge and more difficult to accept an apology or to humble yourself and apologize to someone else, but God wants you to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19).  I hope you always feel comfortable asking for my forgiveness, but even more than that, I pray that you know that God has already forgiven every sin that you will ever commit, and when you run to him and ask for forgiveness he will take you in with loving arms.

Sarah At Ten Months

Stats
I'm guessing on these again this month.  I know that she's mostly in 12-18 month clothing now and wears size four disposable diapers.
Weight: 21lbs 8oz
Height: 28.5" 
Head circumference: 17.5" 

Sleeping
We broke the pacifier this month.  This felt like the remaining sleep habit other than breaking the bottle once she turns one.  We'd ditched the swaddle and then the sleep sack in previous months.  At Sarah's 9 month appointment I asked Dr. Toth when she thought we should stop using the pacifier.  She said, "Well, she isn't needing one right now during this appointment, so I'd say she's ready to stop.  It'll take a week of perseverance, but I think she'll stop easily."  She was totally right.  Sarah has never been obsessed with her pacifier like some babies (*ahem*her mother), but she has enjoyed sucking on it to fall asleep.  So we started with ditching it at night, and it took about a week, and now we've ditched it for naps as well.  That's been the biggest noteworthy occurrence in the sleep department this month.  Otherwise, she still sleeps from about 7:30pm-7:30am and takes a morning nap and afternoon nap for about an hour apiece.  

Eating 
We're still doing four 8 ounce bottles a day, but the biggest leap in the food department this month was really getting into finger foods.  At the start of this month Sarah decided she wasn't a baby and didn't want to be spoon fed or eat baby food.  We went with it and have introduced lots of finger foods like tofu (yes, seriously), avocado, banana chunks, diced watermelon and strawberries, scrambled eggs, eating yogurt by hand, shredded cheese, sweet potato cubes, brown rice puffs (we think they taste like styrofoam), black beans, and peas.  She has gotten pretty good at feeding herself by hand.  We're working on learning how to use the sippy cup, and she's made a bit of improvement in that area this month.

Personality
Sarah loves teasing people!  If someone says hi to her she will turn her back to them, wait a second, and then turn back around and smile and giggle.  She is asserting her independence and knows exactly where she wants to go now that she can crawl and stand.  Because of that, she really doesn't like it when you move her when she wasn't finished yet.  She hates diaper changes and can twist right out of her arms while you're trying to pin her down.  When she doesn't like something she crinkles up her nose and pooches out her lips.  She will even whack her hands together to try to get you to go away.  She lights up a room and adores being the center of attention with the students at church.  

Health and Physical Ability
Sarah was the unfortunate recipient of an upper respiratory infection and another urinary tract infection this month.  Dr.  Toth had told us to come in any time Sarah has a fever of 101 or more so she could test for a UTI.  We did that a couple of weeks ago and found out it was just an upper respiratory infection and we needed to wait out the virus for 7-14 days.  However, 10 days later her fever came back with a vengeance at 103.6, so we went back to the doctor and saw one of Dr. Toth's coworker.  Sarah had to get yet another catheter, and this time it turned out to be a UTI, so she's on an antibiotic again.  Sarah has an appointment to follow up with Dr. Toth, and then she will schedule additional testing to decide why this is a recurring issue.

Sarah has gotten much more stable while standing, and I really think she would stand without holding onto something, but she gets nervous and grabs on tight.  However, on June 2 second let go of me and stood on her own for about three seconds, so I think she's well on her way.  She can crawl at lightening speed and get wherever she wants to go.  She has also learned how to sit down intentionally without falling down.

New words this month: cat, uh-oh, bye-bye, ball, bubble, yum, hey, quack quack (for a duck), clap, and Hi, Dada (while waving).  She says cat when she sees Mittens.  It's too cute!  She also enjoys clicking her tongue and blowing her lips a lot.  She really likes this pinwheel that she has.  She tries to blow on it while I blow on it.  Too adorable!

Sarah learned how to wave and clap this month - both major crowd pleasers.

She got her seventh tooth this month (a lower lateral incisor), which was super fun on top of the UTI and upper respiratory infection.  She's a trooper!

Superficial
Sarah's curls are becoming more pronounced and multiplying.  They're a big hit!  She has started to get a bit of a tan this summer which has been a little surprising, but I guess it shouldn't be since Robert can get quite tan.  I just figured my light skin would win out.  She hasn't gotten a burn, and we put on sunscreen and keep her in the shade when we're out, but she's still definitely darkened up a bit since the cold winter months.  

Highlights of the month
May 6 - Trip to the zoo with Robert and my dad

May 7 - Took 4 assisted steps with Uncle Jim while celebrating Mother's Day 

May 14 - Mark and Serina came for a day trip

May 15 - First professional baseball game (Springfield Cardinals)

May 20-21 - Trip to Windermere

May 21 - Ray, Terri, Jason, and Bethany came for a quick trip

May 30 - Memorial Day

May 31 - Play date with Asa

Dear Sarah,
Right now you love trying new things like new foods, learning how to crawl and sit, traveling to new towns, meeting new people, and playing new games.  One day you might want to learn how to play the piano, do a cartwheel, play soccer, draw a picture, or read a book.  It will be difficult and take persistence, but I know that you are a very determined girl, and you want to work hard at something when you are interested in it.  It's okay to like something even if you aren't the best at it.  You can enjoying playing the trumpet even if you don't get first chair in band class.  You can like drawing even if you only know how to draw stick figures.   I hope you always have the courage to try new things even if you don't know if it'll be easy or whether or not you'll be great at it.