Birthday at the Beach

This last week we spent 5 days at the coast to celebrate Savannah's birthday. We had SUCH a fabulous time. It was really nice to get away and spend some time as a family. We planned absolutely nothing except some family pictures at the beach on Savannah's actual birthday. The rest of the time we just played at the beach, hung out and watched movies at the beachhouse, and made smores by the campfire.

Here are the girls waiting for their smores. (I promise Sydney is wearing shorts under her jacket there).



Savannah's first bite of a smore...


...success! She loved it!



Savannah hanging out in the little tent we had on the beach. Both girls had so much fun playing in the sand, and Sydney and Chris played lots in the water.



We went to the cheese factory for some yummy local ice cream and Sydney had to "drive" in this little car.



"Excuse me, mom, I have to take this call."



COW! I am mortified that Savannah isn't wearing her hairbow in this picture. She had it on all day and I didn't even notice until now that for some reason it wasn't on for the cow pictures.



On Savannah's actual birthday my cousin Katie came and took our family pictures on the beach, which was super fun! We went out to dinner that night to celebrate our baby's birthday and she got to wear the "birthday girl" bow. Some people have special plates they bring out for everyone's birthdays, but we have bows!



"It's My Birthday!!"



All bundled up at the campfire.



Sydney loved her smores! It's always like pulling teeth to get that child to eat, but she downed those smores like no tomorrow!

Happy First Birthday, Savannah!

My dear, sweet Savannah Faith is one year old today! I can hardly believe that this last year has gone by so fast. She has been such a joyous addition to our family, and we have loved every minute with her!



Savannah Faith, 8lbs, 19inches, 1:14am







Happy Birthday, sweet baby! Mommy, Daddy, and Sydney love you so much!

Party Sneak Peek

We had the first of Savannah's birthday parties a few weeks ago and the next one is a few weeks from now. Now that I've (finally) found the camera, I got to take a look at the pictures from the first party. I'm not going to post many pictures until both parties are done, but here is a sneak peek at our baby's first, first birthday party.

Here is the beautiful cake before...



...and here it is after!

Swim Class

Last week we wrapped up a swim class with Savannah. We did a parent/baby swim class with Sydney, too, and had just as much fun this time with Savannah. On the last day of class the parents get to strap the babies into life jackets and go down the big water slide. Savannah was so...sober, I guess? For lack of a better word? Here's our girl all smooshed inside her life jacket!

Growing Pot

(if that title doesn't suck you in I don't know what will)

I had a big scare a few weeks ago. I should start this out by saying that I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening. I can not grow anything, it's like flowers purposefully put themselves out of their misery when they see me coming and just up and die. So when Sydney's preschool had a plant sale for a fundraiser I was skeptical, but I had to buy some anyway to support the school. I should point out that her school is a very conservative, Christian preschool. That's important for this story. So I get my plants, drag out a bag of potting soil, and go to town. I planted. And fertilized. And watered. And two weeks later threw out the hanging plant because it was the first to go. But I still had my potted plant by the front door and it was not only surviving, but flourishing! It was beautiful and colorful and vibrant and oddly...familiar. In the middle of all the flowers there was one plant that wasn't blooming but had these pointy leafy things instead. It kind of looked like pot. And more than just a little, it REALLY looked like pot. So Chris and I are out on our porch one night staring at this plant trying to figure out if it's pot or not. I mean, I am a white girl from the 'burbs, right? I have no idea what pot looks like! I know what it smells like from having patients who use it, but I have never actually seen it! So we laugh and figure it can't possibly be pot because it came from the conservative, Christian preschool and it just probably hasn't bloomed yet. Fast forward a week and my book club is at my house. I'm busy making the dinner and answering the door when I notice that one of my friends is on my porch, bent over the pot of flowers, and staring at the green, leafy plant. I open the door and she's like, "Is that POT?!" She's a high school teacher so I figure of all my white, suburban, Christian friends, she's the most likely to know what it is. I still don't really know. My sister took a look at it and said it definetely wasn't pot, but I'm not sure. What the heck do I do with it now? I don't want to uproot it and throw it away because I'm pretty sure it's illegal to dispose of it, plus I don't want to thrash up the first living flowers I have ever managed just to weed out (ha ha) something that may or may not be pot. It's gotten really tall, and everytime they show pot plants on the news they aren't that tall, so it's probably not, but oh my gosh, what if it is?!

Crazy Summer Happenings

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've actually misplaced the camera, so I have no pictures to post. I do, however, have some funny stories to share with you all.
1. My best friend, Melissa, got a dog this last weekend. Sydney, who dislikes all animals and is absolutely terrified of dogs, immediately burst into tears when I told her. She cried, "How could they do this to me?!" She's convinced she can never go over there and play with Madison again! I've been trying to tell her she can still play, we'll see how it goes!
2. Sydney gets her dislike of animals from me. I really, really don't like animals. That being said, I think animal cruelty is one of the worst crimes ever and the thought of an animal being tortured just makes me sick. A few weeks ago Sydney and I were playing and we heard a commotion in the backyard. I could hear a bird chirping, a few loud thumps, and a cat. I tried to distract Syd, thinking it was a bird being eaten by one of the neighborhood cats. A few minutes later, I hear it again and I was sad, thinking the bird was being hunted and tortured by the cat. I look outside and I can see the bird, absolutely still, wedged between the house and one of Syd's toys, with the cat batting at it. I thought it was dead and was really sad. Then, I hear the commotion again and I look out and that bird is trying to get away from the cat, it was faking it before! I throw on a pair of Chris' shoes which were by the back door, grab a wooden spoon, and take off to scare off the cat! I got the cat away and took a look at the bird. I didn't know what it was. It was about the size of a chicken, but it couldn't fly. It was absolutely beautiful. It was walking around the back and seemed to be ok, except it couldn't fly. We gave it some water and I stood guard because the cat kept coming back. I was calling all over the place but it was late so the Audobon society wouldn't take it, and I didn't know what to do. Finally Chris came home and went to the neighbors to get a kennel. We were going to protect it and take it to the Audobon society the next day. Turns out it was the neighbor's bird and it was a pheasant. They had clipped the wings so it couldn't fly and it had slipped out of the indoor cage that day. I was so relieved to see it safe. It was such a brave, plucky little bird and so beautiful. I'm glad I saved it. Sydney and I named him Lucky.
3. Savannah has been saying, "Uh-Oh" lately and it is the cutest thing ever! She has learned to throw her pacifier out of her crib and then say, "Uh-oh, uh-oh mama." Oh my gosh, her sweet little voice over the baby monitor is the cutest thing! She also thinks it's SO FUNNY to throw her food off her highchair. And she laughs even harder when I tell her no. Little stinker.

Rainbow Brite

Yep, I know, that's not how you spell "bright." Remember the Rainbow Brite dolls? I had one when I was a kid. This little ensemble reminds me of that doll.

I couldn't get her to put down those keys, she kept them in her mouth the whole time I was taking these pictures!

Messy Art Class

This morning Savannah and I took a messy art class through the parks and rec department. I use the word "class" loosely because it wasn't really a class, but a chance for babies to play around in paint, make a big mess, and leave the mess behind. Melissa's sister-in-law, Katie, brought her daughter, Emma, to the class, too. The girls were "chatting" and painting together, it was very cute.

Here is Savannah before...


And here she is after...



She had such a great time, and ate quite a bit of the paint, too!

Miscellany Monday

1. The new, and final, Harry Potter movie comes out this week and I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED. And don't lecture me on right and wrong and witches and crap, those books inspired an entire generation of kids (and adults) to pick up a book and read, so there. While at work yesterday there was a patient of mine watching a Harry marathon on his television and when I heard the theme song and remembered that the new movie was this week, I almost wet myself and had a stroke. I can't WAIT!!

2. My kids aren't super mobile babies. Sydney didn't crawl until 13 months or walk until 19 months, and Savannah is following in her footsteps. So even though Savannah is 11 months old, rolling is still sort of new for her. So now when I lay her down for a nap, she rolls up against the side and gets stuck and has to cry so we come and un-stick her. I mean, who wants to take a nap when there's all this fun rolling to do, right? WRONG.

3. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I haven't gotten any strawberries yet this year or made any jam. I'm sort of behind this year, but I'll get to it. Yum...doesn't fresh strawberry jam on a homemade biscuit sound good? You know what sounds even better? That same jam on that same biscuit with some stew. I can't have stew these days because it's too bloody hot outside for things like lasagna and stew and casseroles. I can't wait for fall. *sigh*

4. Last week at Sydney's swim lesson she screamed at the instructor and called her a "monster." Although with the way Sydney talks it was more like "mon-stah." "Mon-stah" yelled very loudly at the top of her lungs while flailing about, splashing water everywhere. I should point out that the instructor is my sister, so Sydney feels more comfortable to mouth off to her than she would to a different instructor. The previous lesson she had done great, and the next lesson was wonderful, but that particular day she was quite moody and decided to take it out on her poor aunty. The cute thing is is that she is very remorseful about it and still apologizes to my sister for calling her that!

5. Sydney starts her summer ballet term this week and she is so excited. With no school or ballet, she hasn't seen Madison nearly as much as usual and she misses her bestie. It will be nice to have her back in ballet, and it will be nice to be able to gab and chat with my bestie while our girls are at their lesson.

11 Months

Last Tuesday Savannah turned 11 months old. 11 months! That is horrifying. I can't believe my baby is almost a year old already. I tell you, I thought it went fast with Sydney but it's going even faster this time around. Next weekend is the first of Savannah's birthday parties (she's having two parties). Here is her 11 month picture.

I love that she is 11 months old and still toothless. It makes nursing easy and oh my gosh, who couldn't love that gummy little grin?!

Wordless Wednesday-Abbie at the Beach

Beach Babies

Last Saturday we went to the beach for the day and it was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. It was perfect and both the girls had so much fun. It was actually Savannah's first trip to the beach, which means...

...the first dip of the toes in the sand! "What the heck is this stuff?"



We got this fabulous pop-up tent a while back and it's perfect for the beach. It gave Savannah a place to play in the shade and allowed some privacy for me while I fed her. I love this picture:



"Hey, mom, what are you doing back there?"



Sydney loves the beach! She's old enough now to remember past trips to the beach so she was really excited to go.



She loves going in the water.


Too cold! I just happened to snap this picture right as she hiked her legs up out of that cold water! She got over it quickly and went out farther with Chris.



When she got too cold from playing in the water, she just came by the tent and lounged in the sand. She was such a mess, she had sand everywhere!


Savannah loved the beach, too. Even though she didn't get a nap, she wasn't cranky or anything. She just played and snacked and enjoyed watching the waves.



We go to the beach again next month and I am so excited. Something about the beach, it's just like Heaven right here on earth, you know? I love everything about it: the sound of the waves, eating at Mo's, smores, that nitty-gritty feeling on your skin after spending all day in the salt water, the slower pace of life on the coast, and the memories we get to make as a family. The perfect day!

The 4th of July

We have had a great 4th of July! It's Savannah's first 4th of July, and it's her last, first holiday. Does that make sense? Of all her first holidays (first Christmas, first Thanksgiving, etc), this is her last first holiday since she'll be one year old in a month. We have lots of traditions on the 4th of July. We always go to the local parade and a local group does a pancake breakfast that we always go to.

Here is Savannah in my sister's stunna shades, waiting for pancakes!



I know she's not really looking at the camera, but this is the only full length shot of Sydney I got and I wanted to show how cute and stylish she was in her dress and leggings!



Both girls were so cute in their patriotic outfits and matching bows! Savannah chilled under a hat for the parade, too, since it was so sunny and warm.




They love each other so much, it's so sweet to watch them gives loves!



Every year my favorite entry in the parade is a local retirement home that does a pageant and has a court! They have a queen and princesses and they get to ride in the parade in their crowns! I LOVE IT!! I tell Chris every year we have to live there when we're old because I want to be on that court.



Me and my girls.




Now for some 4th of July comparisons. First up is Savannah today, at (almost) 11 months old. She's really too big for this chair, but I had to get it for the comparison.


And here is Sydney 4 years ago at almost 7 months at her first 4th of July!



I hope you all had a blessed, happy, and safe 4th of July. We are truly thankful to God for letting us live in this amazing country. "One nation, Under God..."

I Heart My Babies

I just love it when this happens...

Ah, she is so precious! I love that first nursing of the morning when she's all warm and snuggly and still kind of tired. That sweet baby smell, her sweet little smile...it gets me every time. Every day I thank God for my babies!