Sarah is 6 Months Old

Six months already?  It seems like just last week we were announcing our pregnancy and now I have a six month old!  At Sarah's six month check-up, she weighed in at 16.9 pounds and was 26.5 inches long.  No wonder her infant carrier is feeling heavy these days.  As predicted, she is rolling all over the place now.  One day she even rolled over to a container of wipes, managed to get it open, and pulled several wipes out before I caught her.  She's doing a much better job eating although we've still only experimented with a couple of veggies.  Now that she's willing to eat solids, I'm ready to amp up her veggie selection then move on to fruits.  She absolutely adores her brother and just smiles and watches him for extended periods of time (and he likes having her attention). 

Sarah - Month 6

 

She loves her toes now and tries to pull of her socks anytime we put them on her. 



She also loves being in the Moby wrap almost as much as Joseph did.  This is how I do my grocery shopping. 

I have decided that collegiate clothes are the way to go because all I have to do is add a bow to Joseph's old outfits to make it girly. 

I'm going to split the difference and have pictures taken of the kids next month (one month late for Sarah's six months and one month early for Joseph's two years), so you'll have to settle for a couple of pictures I snapped of Sarah at the playground the other day for now. 

From now on, I will make sure that Joseph is dressed for the day before I attempt Sarah's monthly pictures since, for the second time, he decided to join her.  After I placed the fabric on the floor, he laid down on it.  This is him pointing at Sarah and telling me, "Sissy lay."

He was so happy when I put her next to him and took a picture.  I hope they always have a strong bond.

I will gladly settle for being the only person in our family of four to not have dimples. 

And, since we'll be moving on to Sarah's middle name starting next month, here's a collage of her first six pictures. 

Bryar is TWO!

I can't believe that my favorite nephew is two already!  Eek, that means that Joseph will be two in two short months!  Where has the time gone?

I still remember the day I found out that my little sister was having a baby.  I knew it was coming.  She had recently changed jobs to one that didn't require her to be on the road weekly and we had recently discussed kids (She had once told me that they weren't going to try for kids until we were finished with fertility treatments.  We thought we were finished, but later decided to participate in a research study while simultaneously pursuing adoption.  I told her not to let us be the deciding factor in when they had kids.  She changed the subject.).  One afternoon, she called (as she does almost every day on her way home from work), but this day was different.  It was later in the day than usual.  I didn't think much about it until she gave me the news.  As anyone who has experienced infertility knows, finding out someone is pregnant (especially someone close to you) causes many overwhelming emotions.  As I sat there talking to her with tears pouring down my cheeks and a smile plastered on my face so I would sound happy since I truly was, Sam walked in the door.  He looked at me and immediately gave me a thumbs up and said, "it's a good thing."  I responded, "I know."  Turns out, Mindy had called him on his way home from work to ask him how to break the news to me.  Sam told her to do it over the phone so I could have a chance to process everything before I saw her in person again (thank you, Sam). 

A few months after finding out that my sister was pregnant, we were chosen to be the parents to a darling little boy.  This definitely helped ease some of the pain as Mindy's pregnancy continued.

I also remember the day Bryar was born.  Due to him being breech, my sister had a scheduled C-Section and requested that nobody come to the hospital until they had time to bond with him.  I am forever thankful to her for making this decision.  Bryar was born at the beginning of spring break for me and since Sam was having some back problems, he was home from work that day too.  We were sitting next to each other when I received the text from my brother-in-law letting us know Bryar was here.  As I sat there looking at that sweet little boy, I felt so many emotions the greatest of which were gratefulness and relief that he was here and healthy (remember, this was after Aubrey) followed by hopefulness that our adoption would go through and I would soon be a mom too.

As you know, it all worked out and my sister and I have sons who are only two months apart in age.  We seriously couldn't have planned it better had we tried.

Bry Bry, Aunt Courtney loves you more than you will ever know!  You are a sweet little boy who brings a smile to my face.  Let's facetime soon I can see you and you can see Jopheph and Baby Sarah. 

Sarah is 5 Months Old

It's so hard for me to believe that our little Sarah is five months old.  Five months old!  Somebody slow time down already!  It's crazy going through all of her firsts wondering if this will be the last time we experience that specific first or not.  I always imagined us with a big family, but now I'm pretty content with the two kiddos we have.  We'll see.  God knows what he's doing. 

Sarah had a busy month this time.  She can now roll front to back and back to front.  I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she is rolling all over.  She also found her feet, but really only plays with them when she's in a sitting position and never for very long. 

Sarah - Month 5

Right after she turned four months old, Sarah started going to the nursery during church (our rule is when they become a distraction for other people (by doing things like talking to everyone), they need to start staying in the nursery). 

Sarah tired solids this month.  She didn't care about eating the cereal at all!  I tried giving it to her a few different times before I finally caved and just gave her pureed peas which she ate much better.

She sure likes sitting at the table like a big girl, though.

In addition to "chatting" up a storm, Sarah now blows raspberries a lot.  She and brother get pretty funny blowing raspberries at each other.

Overall, she's still a happy little girl content to be close to what's going on so she can watch.  Her favorite thing to watch is Joseph and he likes how she looks up to him.  Let's stay this happy forever, sweet girl.

A Day in Our Life

*I feel like I should warn you that this post gets a little long and boring.  Proceed with caution*

Yesterday morning, Sam asked me to take pictures with both the real camera and my phone (so I could text them to him) if Joseph and I decided to play outside in the snow.  As we were eating breakfast, I thought about it a little bit and decided to document pretty much our entire day since I am sometimes asked what I do at home all day with two little ones.

The morning started like most weekday mornings.  I woke up with Sam and helped pack his gym bag and lunch before he left for work.  He has to be in Perry (30 minutes from our house) by 7:00am daily, but this morning he left extra early due to the weather and a problem with a machine at work.  Since he left so early, I laid back down until the Sarah alarm went off.  This normally happens around 7.  I got up with Sarah and fed her.  Soon after she finished eating, the Joseph alarm went off.  Sarah jumped in her jumparoo while I retrieved him from his room and gave him a cup of milk and breakfast.  After breakfast, we decided to FaceTime with cousin Bryar and Aunt Moo since they were home on a snow day.  To begin with, the boys just studied each other (please ignore the food that I had yet to wipe from my son's mouth).

Bryar loves his Baby Sarah and I think the feeling is mutual.

Once we finished breakfast, we decided to venture out and play in the snow.  My general rule is if it is above freezing and not raining, we go outside (or if there is 3+ inches of awesome fresh snow to romp in).  Sarah waited by the door in her bouncer while we played outside.

Joseph loved helping me wipe the snow off of the cars.

He really did start with two gloves, he just decided to take one off once it got snow in it.

We came inside and Joseph warmed up with a nice long bath complete with new toys and colored water.

Sarah took a nap while Joseph took a bath (the heated lights in our shower room knock that girl out if she is even the slightest bit tired).

After his bath, Joseph found a new favorite spot while I was changing Sarah's clothes.  Sam just finished Sarah's toy box this weekend and Joseph discovered it was the perfect height for looking out the window.

Sarah had tummy time.

During which Joseph decided to drop an entire bucket of toys on her back.

Tummy time was over around 11:45 when Sarah decided she was ready to eat lunch.

As a special treat (and because I wanted one too), Joseph got to eat a cookie while watching Elmo while I fed Sarah.  He sat and watched TV for exactly as long as it took him to eat his cookie.  After I declined his request for another cookie, he decided it was time to build with his legos (I forgot to take a picture of this).

Joseph even shared his blanket with Sarah while she ate and he played.

Joseph played in his room while I prepared Sarah for nap.  He's really into turning the power switch to toys on and off right now.

After lunch, we ventured back to Joseph's room where we attempted a selfie (Bella photo bombed it).

And Joseph played with his dozer.

After way too many books (is there such thing?), Joseph finally went down for nap.

I try to enforce a common nap time every day since that is when I am able to clean, prep dinner, blog, craft, and all that other fun stuff moms do.

On this day, I shoveled our sidewalk and a path along the driveway (with a grain shovel... snow shovels are overrated).

Luckily, both kids woke up from nap in good moods this day.

After a snack for each of them, we ventured back to Sarah's room while I finished folding laundry.  I love when Joseph gives toys to Sarah.

Rufus has decided that he really likes Sarah.

After some more play time with blocks and puzzles and trains (I was busy playing and didn't take any pictures.  Sarah normally sits on my lap  or next to us while we play with these things).

Daddy got home and we ate dinner.  For the first time, Sarah actually ate her cereal and wanted more which must have worn her out because she fell asleep at the table.

Sam was tired from a long day at work and wanted to lay down and watch a show he had recorded.  Joseph had other plans.  Sam quickly gave in and wrestled with Joseph for a little bit.

I tried to take a picture of Sam and Sarah hanging out, but it was also photo bombed... this time by both Bella and Joseph.

After rocking his tractor for a little bit

and reading some books,

it was time for bath and bed time.  Sarah fell asleep again, but this time I woke her up so she could take a bath too.

The boys read books and brushed Joseph's teeth while I finished getting Sarah ready for bed, then the Joseph went to sleep.  Sarah ate again and went to sleep too.  And there you have it, a day at the Parks' house.  Congratulations for making it to the end of this super long, super boring post.  I guess I should add that on Tuesdays Joseph plays with his friends in the nursery while I go to MomBuilders and on Thursdays we go to story time at the library.  I have to say, although I crave adult interaction/conversations sometimes, I love my simple, crazy life.