It's Fun Being A Mom

Let me start with a funny story. The other day Sarah disappears into our room and then I hear Michael tell her to come show me something. She comes walking out with my hot pink bra wrapped around her shoulders, like a scarf, and she is petting the soft fabric with a huge grin on her face. It is moments like that that make being a mom so much fun. She is so cute! We just had her 18 month appointment and she weighs 19lbs 6oz (10%) and she is 30.5in. tall (50%). I am amazed at how intelligent she is. She has figured out how to ask us for what she wants and she is getting really good enunciating her words. Her favorite thing to say is "see" whenever she sees something exciting. She wants to make sure we aren't going to miss any of the important things in life. She also says "hi" and "bye" to everyone and everything, including the entire congregation as we left during sacrament meeting. She loves climbing up onto the couch over and over again, but her favorite spot is dad's computer chair, or the "command center," as he calls it. She will stand there and say "up" until someone helps her up and then she sits and types while she reclines in the chair. She loves making animal noises, giving bear hugs and kisses, kites, and being tickled. Her absolute favorite activity is plugging my headphones into my iPod again and again and again. She loves the wave pool at Seven Peaks, but doesn't quite understand that she can't do that all by herself yet. She loves books and her papa (my dad). Whenever we are at my parents and he is not in sight she walks around the house yelling his name and takes off up the stairs to check his office. Whenever she isn't happy with me, especially at bedtime, she cries for papa to come hold her.

Speaking of my parents, they decided to take their house off the market for a few months. The timing just isn't right, and I am not complaining. We are so happy that they will be here a little longer. Plus, an added bonus is that my sister and her family are moving back! I am so excited to have all my family in Utah, at least for a little while. The Southwicks were here these last two weeks and Sarah had fun with the cousins. We went to the Zoo and the new Rocky Shores exhibit is amazing. The Polar Bear was in a performing mood so Sarah had a ball. She would roar at him between the giggling.

Michael's Birthday was last month and we had fun celebrating with him. The week before his birthday he decided to take a mental health day, so we went to Tucanos for his bday lunch and let Sarah get soaked in the splash pad. Then he conned me into opening his present early. (But let's be honest, I can't stand waiting so I didn't put up too big of a fight.) I gave him carnival tickets with 20 fun things to do. I had a blast coming up with them and it was even better than I expected. He loved it and it has been super fun for all of us. His mom and sister successfully surprised him for dinner and an ice cream cake. It was a lot of fun.

We had a lot better luck with pictures, so here they are(and there are a lot)...

    

Wearing Daddy's Spiderman Shirt.

Attacking Dad.

Dancing with her bear.

    

We made koolaid cubes and Sarah decided she needed one for each hand.

Finger Painting with Pudding on a rainy day.

Sarah loves playing in her tube.

 

Playing the piano.

Snuggling with Dad

Ready for our 4th of July picnic.

 

My friend was so thoughtful and gave Sarah her old play Kitchen.
She loved it and keeps telling me she wants to cook, while talking on the phone of course.

Picture from the Zoo...

Grandma and Sarah

Sarah, Papa and Kyson

She did not want her picture taken.

The Bears.

The Polar Bear.

Carousel Ride.

Everyone at the bird show.

Just a little jumping after church with her Uncle Brian.

I finally got Sarah dancing on camera. She usually moves all over the place, but this is pretty cute.

Time Flies

I can't believe how fast time flies with kids. Sarah is growing way to fast. I had my first feeling of losing my baby for the first time the other day. Sarah was in the bathtub, where she has discovered that she can swim on her tummy and her hair was wet so it hung past her shoulders. She didn't look like my baby anymore. I love it though, each stage is so much fun. She has discovered my shoes and she loves putting them on. She can only walk with one at the moment, but she giggles the whole time. She has also decided that our phones and iPods are hers. She loves taking on the phone, unless grandparents are listening, and just jabbers away. She is trying so hard to talk to us, you can see it in her eyes. It is fun to try different pitches and listen to her mimic them. She learned what a bear says, but hers is not a mean bear. It is a sassy girly bear. I wish I had it on camera, but she has decided that if the camera is out she is not performing. She has a tender little heart and I have to be careful not to raise my voice in frustration. I made that mistake and it took me a few hours to calm her down. She does not like it when someone is mad at her, or if anyone is sad in general. She loves bugs, flowers and balloons, of course. She puts the balloons over the vent and dances with them. It is pretty cute.  She gets a kick out of watching Michael work out. Her laugh just takes all our stress away. Sarah is definitely a water baby. We go to Seven Peaks at least twice a week, and as soon as she sees where we are she can't stand how long I take to walk to the pool and put my bag down. I am really glad we got passes, it has been fun. As I said before, the camera stops all performing, so here are the few pictures I was able to get of her.

Dancing with the iPod.

This is what I usually get for the camera.

At Aunt Mary's Wedding. (Taken by Cousin Sarah)

Photo booth at the Reception.

Mother's day was nice. Sarah colored me my first card.She liked playing with it more than she wanted to give it to me, but it was still nice...and yes I saved it. 

I was trying to think of what else I could blog about, and it all pales in comparison to Sarah (she runs our lives now), so I will save you the boring details. 

Picture Time

The terrible twos have begun...and Sarah is a drama queen on top of it. She gets big crocodile tears when she is told "no" with any sort of firmness. For a while there if she realized she wasn't going to get her way, like not being picked up or something, she would throw herself onto the floor or crib all dramatically and bawls like it was the end of the world. I know it sounds terrible of me, but it is quite comical. She doesn't do it anymore so I feel like I'm safe to share. She has picked up signing really well thanks to the Baby Signing Time DVDs, which we watched a thousand times and the songs are on repeat in my head. She has quite a lot of opinions and babbles constantly. She loves being naked and running around the house. She's so darn cute I don't have the heart to stop her. She splashes most of the water out of the tub and LOVES playing peek a boo. She has learned how to cover her eyes with her hands so she will stop everything, throw her toys and "hide" at random times and wait for us to ask where she went. She is tanner than both Michael and I...and I painted her toenails this week. Who would've thought I could enjoy being girly. She has figured out the TV, and can climb down from things now. However, if she is distracted she sometimes just walks right off. The other day she was about to fall and I was scrambling from the other side of the bed to catch her and she just sat there and laughed. She thought it was quite funny. Her stuffed animals are taking over the apartment, and she loves giving then hugs. She just learned how to give kisses, granted they are open mouthed and a little slobbery, but we love them all the same. She has to get both cheeks though. It makes me laugh.

Easter weekend was fun. We played at the park and had an Easter Egg Hunt at church. Sarah loved her basket (literally). She took everything out of it and wanted the basket itself. She loved the duck and was really frustrated that it didn't come off. She got so mad I finally had to hide the basket from her. Luckily both grandparents spoiled her with stuffed animals that she could snuggle. She looked adorable in her Easter dress! Michael was gone most of the day on Sunday so we headed up to my parents for dinner. We had fun outside and Sarah got some longboarding lessons from Uncle Brian, who we can't get enough of.

Michael's Parents were in town for Martha and Andrew's graduation. (Woohoo! Congratulations to them.) We had a lot of fun spending time with them, and Sarah was putting on a dance show and loving on Grandma.

Picture time... 

Easter Morning

Eyeing the duck...

Easter Dress

Mom and Sarah

Longboarding

We went to Got Air up in Kaysville, and Sarah had a blast!

                                     

She got stuck in the foam pit a few times.

The Southwick's brought Sarah a sucker from Disneyland...

Random Playtime

Crazy hairday.

Climbing up the couch.

Helping in the kitchen.

Playing with Dad.