The Duck Pond

     Last week, as an extension of Valentine's Day, Sara Beth and I met Adam at Rollin' in the Dough for lunch. After a yummy lunch, she and I headed over to play at the Duck Pond. She loved looking at the ducks, but the gigantic geese were the biggest hit of the day. She met a little boy there who instantly attached to her. Apparently he has a little sister at home who is close to SB's age. The weather has been gorgeous lately so it was fun to get outside for a while.

I just had to post this one. It looks like he is checking out her big cloth diaper booty! :) Thankfully, he wasn't. He was the sweetest little boy ever!

Heartbreak Duathlon

     I don't usually post pictures from Adam's races, mainly because they would all look the same- guys and girls in tight shorts captured in mid-run or mid-pedal stroke. . . You get the idea. We got some good shots this past weekend in Tyler, TX at the Heartbreak Duathlon though. It was (I hope I get this right) a 2.5 mile trail run, 10 mile mountain bike ride, 2.5 mile trail run. Adam did a great job and finished 5th overall and 1st in his age group. Go Adam! The weather was beautiful so SB and I came to cheer him on and hang out with our friends, the Reneaus and the Skyles. After the race, we all joined in for an easy hike on the trail. Enjoy the pictures!

And they're off!

Good job, Adam!

All the girls with their babies: Sara Beth and me, Tristen and Diana, Ryder and Katrina

SB walking with Tristen's alligator push toy

Adam with 2 little cuties-- Sara Beth seems to be a little jealous. What do you think?

Peek-a-Boo! I see you!

Sweet, sweet kids- Tristen,  Sean, and Brianna

Adam's cheering section!!!!!

Post-race hike- All the guys with their babies: Rodney and Ryder, Adam and SB, Justin and Tristen

Happy Valentine's Day!

     I made a multi-course dinner for Valentine's Day last night. I seriously LOVE cooking! I'm sorry about the lack of pictures, but I decided it was better to enjoy the moment instead of snapping photos. Thanks to Adam's mom for hanging out with SB for several hours yesterday so I could cook! Thanks to my parents for letting her sleep over last night! Adam and I had an amazing Valentine's Day evening together. And the yumminess continued this morning too. Adam made me breakfast in bed: heart-shaped french toast and candied bacon. Mmm, mmm! Here's what was on the menu last night:

Brandi & Adam's Valentine's Day Dinner 2011

Appetizer

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

First Course

Carrot and Cumin Soup

Main Course

New York Strip Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Linguini with Saffron Butter Sauce

Roasted Asparagus

Dessert

Mystery Mocha Cake

Vanilla Ice Cream

Fresh Strawberries

Here's a picture of SB on her first Valentine's Day. I just couldn't post without a single picture. :)

A Brand New Name

     Sara Beth is very talkative and has lots of words in her vocabulary already. She can say (in her own little way) ball, book, dog, cat, Zilla, Daddy, Uh-oh, bite (for another bite of food), water, etc. All those words and no word for her mama. :-(  Today, in the car, she and I were talking back and forth like we always do. I said "mama" and she would say "baba". Repeat that about 20 times and I finally figured out that "Baba" is my name. Hooray! I have a name and it is "Baba" to SB. Then, the reading teacher came out in me and I realized that when looking at your mouth, "mama" and "baba" look very similar. Your lips come together with the /m/ and /b/ sounds. So, that's where she got "Baba" from. Just thought I'd share. . .

Applique T-shirt

     When my mom stopped by to visit SB today, I got started on this T-shirt for her. Surprisingly, I was able to finish it with her underneath me, trying to pull the presser foot cord out of the sewing machine. It's done. It's cute. Not perfect, but still cute nonetheless! It's fun to use little scraps to make new things!

A Louisiana Blizzard

     OK. So it wasn't exactly a blizzard, but it was a lot of snow for this area. Adam didn't have to go in to work because of the weather, so we had a nice day at home. We bundled Sara Beth up in the BOB stroller and trudged over to our friends', Jeff and Nicole Spikes, house. We got to hold baby Isaac and see Eli too. Here are the pictures!

On A Beautiful Day. . .

Happy 9 Months, Sara Beth!

     Every month I say I can't believe this many months have gone by already. Well, I'm saying it again today! Sara Beth is 9 months old now. Really, already? That means she's been out of the womb for the same amount of time that she was inside the womb. She'll be having her first birthday before we know it! I guess I better start planning her party now! Here's what she's been up to in the month of January:

• Goodbye, army crawling! Hello, knees! She is crawling as fast as she can these days.
• She is pulling up constantly and just started cruising last week. We are realizing how many little things we actually have. No worries! SB will find them and put them in her mouth.
• She's a talker (like her mama)! She can say "ball", "book", "bah-wah" (water), Dada, Daddy, Gah, something that has 2 syllables and resembles "Zilla", the /k/ sound for "cat", and lots of "oooo" and "ooohhh".
• She likes to drink out of a straw.
• She can clap and wave (a lot).
• She LOVES books! When we pass her bookshelf, she always says "book". She has even started laughing at some of the pictures. Her favorite book right now is her touch and feel book because she can do it herself. She points at the pictures, rubs the soft parts, and says "ooooo".
• Her naps can be short, long , or non-existent. Who knows?
• She has been trying lots of new foods too! This month she ate chicken, yogurt, pears, prunes, barley, and papaya, in addition to all the foods she had already tasted. She's still not a big fan of any grain on its own, but she'll gobble it up if you mix it with a vegetable or meat.
• She's been battling constipation lately. Poor thing! That's why she has tried prunes, which she loves, by the way. After a week of no poo, we gave her prunes. She loved them so much that we ended up giving her the whole jar. Needless to say, the next day she felt better and had to get 2 baths in one day. Dr. Ritch just put her on daily Benefiber to regulate her digestive system a little better. We'll see how that works.
• At her 9 month check up today, she weighed 17 pounds, 11 ounces (25th percentile) and was 28 inches long (75th percentile). Her head is still measuring in the 90th percentile, the "genius range" as Dr. Ritch calls it.
• She was sick for the first time ever this month. An upper respiratory infection turned into much more, when she had an allergic reaction to her antibiotics while we were traveling. Poor little thing had huge hives all over her body! She went from no medicine in 8 1/2 months to what seemed to us like a whole pharmacy's worth. There were 2 kinds of antibiotics, Benadryl, Motrin, and ear drops (which we never ended up using). I'm glad she's feeling better and is medicine free for now!
• A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Texas to visit Adam's Grandma and Grandpa. We had bad luck with car trouble on the way there, but some sweet friends helped us out and we were back on track the next day. Adam had an adventure race in Bastrop, TX that weekend, so SB and I stopped by to cheer him on. We couldn't stay the whole time because it started at 8am and his team finished after midnight. We got to spend some quality time with his family and some of them got to meet little SB for the first time.
• I successfully managed to cloth diaper SB for the entire time we were gone (5 days in all). It wasn't hard since there was a washing machine available.
• Sara Beth experienced her first snow earlier this month. All she could do was stare and say "OOOO". Fun!
• She still has only her 2 bottom teeth, although they are really big now.
• She's been making some funny faces lately. She likes to blow raspberries in the air and also scrunch her nose up when she smiles. It's pretty hilarious!
  

  

  Snow! Ooooo!

  
  




My tummy hurts! These prunes will help!





Terrible hives!





SB taking the wheel on our trip



Face #1



Face #2



Enjoying a warm day at the park and sticking everything in her mouth.