Sully's First Birthday

     A couple of weeks ago, we took a road trip down south to attend Sullivan Tabb's first birthday party. Sully's mom and dad are friends of ours from college. We don't get to visit them enough! After Adam got home from work on Friday, we piled in with Jeff, Nicole, and Eli Spikes and got on the road. Sara Beth did really well on the trip down to New Orleans, even though we didn't arrive until after midnight. She liked to watch all the interesting things that Eli was doing in the back seat.
     Sully's party was on Saturday and it was pirate themed. His mom, Kristin, did a great job planning the party! All the dads and their kids enjoyed swimming in the pool. Hmm. I just realized that none of the moms swam that day. Interesting. . . The food was amazing! Tabb's dad can COOK! His jambalaya was delicious! I loved watching Sully eat his smash cake. At first, he wasn't that interested. In fact, he didn't seem to like the icing getting on his hands. After a while, though, all the grown-ups started clapping for him and then he really got into it. There was icing everywhere!
     Sunday morning, Adam and Jeff cooked a big breakfast for everyone at Tabb and Kristin's house. Then we hit the road again for the long drive home. We really enjoyed out weekend with good friends! Here are some pictures. . .

Sully and Sara Beth getting to know each other.

SB liked sticking her feet in the waterfall!

You couldn't get Eli out of the pool. He's like a little fish!

Sweet Sara Beth showing off her tummy skills (and wearing the dress I made for her too).

Sully and his mom and dad

Look at that cake!

OK. This was the biggest chair I've ever seen!

Happy girl!

Reversible Dress 101

Rule #1: Never sew the bottom of the dress together before you try to flip it.
Rule #2: Never work on a new sewing project when you are already exhausted.

     I mentioned in a previous post about wanting to make a reversible version of this dress. I thought, "No problem! This will be easy!" Well, I was WRONG! What I thought would be done in an hour took me all evening long. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was dead tired from working up at school all day or that I had no idea what I was doing. Either way, it's done. It's full of imperfections (that I will not list here because then you'll notice them too), but I think it still ended up being pretty darn cute! Next time, it will be a snap since I know how to do it now. At least I hope so!

Growing Up Together

     If you've been following my blog or keeping up with me on facebook, I'm sure you remember Tristen. He and Sara Beth are just 2 weeks apart (born in the same hospital room too) and we've had lots of opportunities to get them together in the past 5 months. On Monday, I had the privilege of keeping him for a few hours for his mom and dad. Now, I think I've done the babysitting thing all of about one time in my entire life. But since I'm a mother now, I figured I could handle this. After all, Tristen's parents trusted me with him. I'm happy to report that all went well in the land of babysitting! It did make me think I was crazy for wanting twins though. What was I thinking? Sara Beth and Tristen had fun playing together. It sure did help that Tristen is sitting up on his own now. Here are a few pictures from our day together. Enjoy two of the most precious babies you'll ever meet!

Daddy's Girl

     Adam is the best at making Sara Beth laugh these days. Here are a couple of videos of their fun together. I bet you can't keep a straight face! Enjoy!!

Yummy Toes!

It's official! Sara Beth has "found" her feet and occasionally gets her toes in her mouth. I've caught her sucking her big toe a couple of times too! Mmmm, toes! I guess when all you've ever tasted is breast milk, toes might be new and exciting to you.

Oops! She missed and got her eye instead.



There it is!














Scrimping

     Before I get to the sewing post, I have to tell a quick story about the word "scrimp". Last summer, a colleague and I attended some training sessions in Baton Rouge. One of the words that kept appearing in our manual was the word "scrimp". I insisted that they must have had a typo because scrimp isn't even a word (unless you count the mispronunciation of "shrimp"). We giggled a lot that day! Come to find out, it IS a word. . . that lots of people use. We looked it up in the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster: "Synonyms: pinch, save, economize, skimp, spare".
     So. . . . here's how I scrimped last week for my sewing project. I used leftover fabric (from SB's curtains) and leftover ribbon (from a birthday gift I made for a friend). I already had the onesie since we got a bunch of plain white ones before we knew that Sara Beth was a girl. I used this website for the step-by-step instructions and ended up with an adorable little onesie dress. Thanks to my mom-in-law for the extra guidance! It wasn't very hard, so I'll probably end up making one for every occasion. This sewing hobby is getting to be really fun!

Oh. . . and this is what Sara Beth and Opa were up to while I was sewing.

Sew Sweet

     I completed my second sewing project today, with the help of my mom-in-law, Mrs. Jonell. I made a sweet little pink dress for Sara Beth. I think it came out beautifully! Even though sewing is always more work than I expect it to be, the finished product is worth it! Next, I plan to tackle this same pattern but try to make it reversible. I also want to add a little skirt to a onesie. I will have to save those projects for next week though. I'm "sew" exhausted from today's excitement. Enjoy the pictures!

4 Months Old and Practically Perfect in Every Way

    
     Sara Beth is 4 months old! Can you believe it? I can't! Time has been speeding by and I'd like it to slow down. I really can't remember what life was like without her! She is such a good baby! She's hardly ever fussy and most of the time will give out smiles freely. She went to Dr. Ritch for her 4 month check-up and shots today. Again, she did okay with the shots. She's sleeping it off right now. Her official measurements are 13 pounds 8 ounces and 25 inches long. She's right in the middle (50th percentile) with those numbers. The only thing measuring big is her noggin. It's in the 80th percentile at 16.5 inches. Dr. Ritch said that means she's smart. Which would explain why her developmental milestones are coming quicker than he would expect. He was particularly impressed that she can transfer objects from left hand to right hand. What can I say? We've got a smart girl on our hands! :)
     This month, Sara Beth also spent her first nights away from home. My parents, Nana and Papaw, kept her for our anniversary. Adam's parents, Nonni and Opa, kept her while we went to Dallas for a concert. She did great both times. It's such a blessing to have wonderful family so close by!
     Sara Beth had her first long road trip this month as well. We drove to Tyler for an adventure race training that Adam was participating in. While it was only 2 hours away, it was the farthest our little girl had ever been away from home. We're looking forward to a few more road trips coming up soon. Hopefully she'll do as well on those as she did this time.

At 4 months old, Sara Beth is. . .
- Rolling over in both directions (front to back and back to front)
- Sleeping through the night consistently
- Sleeping in her crib instead of the bassinet
- Able to grab what she wants instead of grabbing whatever she happens to land on
- Smiling when she hears Mommy or Daddy singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
- Loving her exersaucer a lot
- "Talking" up a storm
- Smiling at herself in the mirror
- Standing up (supported of course) all the time
- Trying to sit herself up anytime she is propped up on her back

Strong legs

Smiling at Mommy

Her first "tattoo"

Mid roll

     Just a side note: Cloth diapering is still going well! She's about to outgrow the infant size and move up to the standard size. I love my cloth wipes too! I also love never having to go to the store for diapers or wipes. Tuesdays are "diaper fairy" day. They just magically appear on my front porch. It's great!

L.O.C.O. Fest

      Our local mountain biking club had their annual race, Locofest, this past weekend. Adam has been training hard for this race so of course we were there to support him. Sara Beth was decked out in all her biking clothes, complete with a temporary tattoo. She looked so cute! She and I sat with Nicole Spikes and Eli and waited for a glimpse of the racers as they emerged from the woods. Eli had fun playing in the dirt and with his toy trucks on the rocks. Sara Beth took a nap. Adam ended up getting sick and not finishing as well as he would have liked. It didn't matter to Sara Beth though. . . she knows her daddy is the BEST, no matter what!

Adam is the one with orange bike.

 Eli and his dad, Jeff Spikes. Too bad the only picture I got of him was of him crying.