Tooth

We have a tooth!

(As of yesterday afternoon.)

8

Sage is now 8 months old. 8 MONTHS! I know this is cliche', but I cannot believe how fast time flies. She is as sweet as ever and I can't imagine our life without her. Here are a few Sage-isms.

-This girl loves to eat. She gives me a disgruntled grunt if I have to stop feeding her to help Mason with something. She will eat anything and everything. Thats my girl. Oh- and she is the messiest eater alive.

-She still spits up. A lot. And I swear she has drooled like she's teething since she was born, but still no teeth (but one should be popping through anytime now). Pretty much this all just means that both she and I are wet and barfed on for the majority of the day.

-When she gets excited she breaths in really quick and squeals. She also rotates her wrists and ankles and lets her toes and fingers splay out when she is excited. Sounds weird but its really cute.

-She has a pterodactyl scream like her brother. (To clarify, this scream is rarely used when they are upset. Its usually used at random times. Like she will sit in the tub and just let out random, high pitches shrills. Again, I love it.)

-She is very good at letting you know what she want and/or is thinking. She "talks" with the influx of her voice. She really only says a few "sounds" but "eh" is one of them. There is the "EH!" meaning she wants something now (most likely food), "eh?" meaning she's curious about something, and "eh eh eh eh" meaning she's whiny or wants to be held. Then of course there is "mama" which melts my heart every time.

-She goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 pm, wakes up anywhere between 2-4 am and then wakes up around 6 or 7 am, but goes back to sleep until 8 or 9 am. Yeah. Mason didn't sleep "through the night" until he was 1 so I don't have high expectations. Although I really don't think its that bad.

-She doesn't like to be rocked or bounced or anything. If she is upset and needs help being calmed down (or if I am trying to put her to sleep in church), she likes me to just hold her and sit very still.

-She goes to bed and down for naps like a dream, and she ALWAYS wakes up happy. I love walking in her room and she does her "breath in quick, squeal" when she sees me.

-If Mason is running around like a lunatic she often just watches him with a big grin on her face. She really loves her brother.

-She really loves every member of the family and gives us all a very excited greeting when she sees us (even Nell). To be completely honest, though, she is a mama's girl. Big time. And I don't mind one bit.

-She never really rolled over. I mean, she can roll over, but she doesn't very often. She was sitting unsupported before we ever saw her roll over.

-Crawling is in the future. She scoots on her belly backward and can cover quite a bit of ground that way. Once she figures out how to propel that motion forward she'll be on her way.

-Speaking of crawling, I'm going to have to baby proof my house floor to ceiling once she starts moving. She isn't even very mobile yet and she is already into everything. I can't hold anything in my hand without her hands being in it. She is fascinated with touching and grabbing things. (Its funny how different kids are. I could go through this whole list and how Mason was close to opposite in everything).

-Finally, she has this crazy raspy, deep voice. When people hear her they inevitably ask me if she is sick. When I tell them that's just her voice they usually comment on how she'll have a sexy voice someday. Nic doesn't like that too much.

We love this girl of ours. I have always felt such a strong, sweet spirit from her and one of my most fervent prayers has been that I can raise her to be a confident, happy, loving girl. But for now I'm just going to enjoy her in all her eight month glory.

This good lookin' guy had a birthday on Sunday. We got a sitter on Saturday night and went to a movie. Then his actual birthday was filled with his favorite food and lots of family time. As this guy gets older I find more and more things I love about him. Happy Birthday my love.

Let it be heard...

Sage's first word is...mama. She has been saying it all day and its so freaking cute I just might explode. I love this darling girl of mine.

Shay Berry

Happy Birthday to this lovely lady. You are so near and dear to me and I hope you have a year full of happiness and slobbery kisses. Love you.

All Is Merry and Bright...

As always, December was a busy, fun filled month for us. This year I did an advent calendar with the kids, which was a lot of fun. Here are some highlights:

Festival of Trees- We met Santa.

Decorating for Christmas.

Setting up the tree.

Swimming with our best buds Jackson and Camille.

Making and decorating sugar cookies to deliver to our neighbors. As per tradition we always carol while delivering our treats. I even learned a few songs on the guitar to bring along. Last minute, though, I decided both kids and the treats were enough to haul around. Its a good thing because only 3 families were home for us to carol to. Better luck next next year. For those who were home that is.

Nic runs logistics, I run the frosting.

We played in the snow.

Then the week of Christmas we went to Idaho for all the family parties and a couple weddings.

Mason and pretty Chloe.

Hall party

(Love the gansta Sage in the picture below. I'm pretty sure that face inspired my brother to write an entire rap on facebook. Something about puking up peas?)

This picture is classic Mason and Sage.

Kelley party.

I love my dad and Mason in this picture.

Love this.

Dinner at the Snakebite.

Holland party.

So funny.

Christmas PJs at my mom's.

Pierson party.

Finally, we came home on Christmas eve to have Christmas in our own home. It. was. lovely.

A few low points of the holiday: Christmas eve we came home to a flooded basement. Then later in the week Nic got caught in a cold blizzard and, due to ice, ended up in a fender bender.

Despite these few annoyances, we had a wonderful Christmas. We are so, so blessed.