Author: Sarah

Home Again, Finally!

Sarah General

We just couldn’t make it home yesterday, we were all so tired. Fortunately my grandparents live in Ithaca, so we crashed there for the night. They were thrilled to see Carrie, so it worked out all around.

While we were visiting after Carrie when to bed, my grandpa taught me how to play poker (I’ve never really been into cards enough to learn) and I cleaned everyone out. Probably just beginner’s luck, but at least now I know how to play.

I am just very glad to finally be home again. The puppies are glad we’re home too!

We’re Not Dead Yet!

Sarah General

spamalot.jpg(Although, based on how much sleep I actually got last night, I feel like maybe I should be…)

Spamalot! was fantastic! I think I can honestly say it’s the funniest musical I’ve ever seen, and possibly ever will see. We had front row balcony seats, which were wonderful, and we got to see the entire cast. (I was a little worried that since it was just a Tuesday show some of the bigger stars might not actually perform.)

My absolute favorite songs/scenes were “The Song That Goes Like This” and the part that spoofed Fiddler on the Roof. Oh, but the whole show was gloriously funny and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Monty Python humor.

We went out to dinner after and generally had a great adult evening out. It was nice to walk around Times Square again – it’s been a couple of years since we’ve actually made it into Manhattan while visiting Denis’ family.

Apparently, Carrie didn’t enjoy the evening quite so much. Bedtime without Mommy or Daddy was a little stressful, and by the time we got home a little after 11 she was one very unhappy baby. She didn’t settle down until about 1:30, and then was up at 6:15 for the day. So I got 4 hours of sleep because I didn’t manage to get into bed until a little after 2. Ugh. And we get to drive 7 hours today. Can anyone say “naptime”?

Seven Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

Time is just flying by – you’re already seven months old! You’ve changed so much in the past month I hardly know where to start…


You crawl now, everywhere and on every surface. You’ve learned to sit on your own. It’s the cutest thing ever – you get up on your hands and feet and then push off with your hands so your butt plops down on the floor. And you pull up on everything taller than you, and even some things that aren’t. Unlike when I was a baby, you figured out on your own how to get down from a standing position pretty gracefully. Nothing is safe anymore, though, because there’s very little that’s now out of your reach!

We’re still breastfeeding several times a day, but you’re also eating two meals of solids a day. You really love peas – hopefully you’ll still like them when you’re older – and you really haven’t disliked anything you’ve tried so far: rice, pears, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, carrots and peas. You’re happiest when I give you a spoon of your own and let you feed yourself a bit. (I still have to actually put the food on the spoon for you, though!)

Just recently we bought you the LeapFrog learning table, which has become one of your favorite things to play with. Not only does it make lots of music, but you can practice standing up while playing with it! You’re also really into balls and blocks, but mostly to chew on. No teeth yet, but I’m sure they’ll come soon enough.

You’re back into saying “ah-boo” a lot. I’m still trying to get you to say “mama”, but you’re not interested at all. You do play the “so big” game, though – I ask “how big is Carrie?” and you put your arms up when I say “so big!” It’s pretty darn cute!

It’s still a lot of fun being your mama, but it’s a lot more work now that you’re so busy exploring everything! I hardly get to sit down except when you’re sleeping. It’s so worth it, though, when I pick you up and you put your arms around my neck and snuggle up to me. Of course, three seconds later you want to get back down and keep playing, but I’ll take what I can get!

Love, Mommy

Happy Anniversary!

Sarah General

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. We’re didn’t really do much to celebrate, since we’re going to see Spamalot! on Tuesday. But we did spend the day with Carrie and two of our nieces:


That’s enough to make anyone smile.

Are We There Yet?

Sarah General

I used to get terribly carsick on rides with my family, but I thought I’d grown out of it. Nope. Apparently, the backseat is a really bad place for me to be in a car, and especially behind the driver. Carrie’s new carseat is behind the passenger seat, and since we had to drive for several hours I sat in the back with her. The first few hours were smooth sailing, but when we hit traffic and it was stop and go for two straight hours I really thought I was going to lose my lunch.

(And Denis wants to drive to Florida next summer when we go on our big family vacation. I think I may have to stock up on Dramamine or something…)

T Minus Eight Hours…

Sarah General

I’m pretty sure I just spent more time packing for our trip than we’ll actually be gone for…it seems like it’s taken all week! I guess it’s just because I can only do things in bits and pieces while Carrie is sleeping. I can no longer step out of the living room for just a minute while she’s playing, because she’s pulling up on everything and generally immediately heads for the closest dangerous object in the room. And this is the most baby-proofed room we have. But I’m finding that even the end tables are dangerous – she crawls under them and then bumps her head when she tries to sit. Short of removing all furniture and window treatments from the room, I don’t think there’s much I can do besides follow her everywhere.

Anyway, I have to go check if the laundry is done, and then I’m going to bed!

Yarn Holder

Sarah Crafts

20050516_yarn_holder.jpgLooks like Carrie has caught the knitting bug early! It’s so very helpful of her to hold my yarn for me and drool all over it… Although, she was pretty cute with it. At first she just held the strand of yarn I was working with, but then she realized there was a whole ball of yarn instead of just one string. And then she discovered the fantastic ball band that could be chewed off. And when she wasn’t slobbering on the yarn she was gleefully blowing raspberries. I think she likes yarn.

I can’t wait until she discovers that the strand of yarn Mommy’s working with can be pulled and it just gets longer and more tangled. Oh, what fun that will be! (Note to self: never, not even for three-eighths of a second, can I leave my knitting within sight of the munchkin, or Destructo-Boy will have major competition…)

So, what is it we’re working on? Why, it’s Carrie’s poncho:
poncho_long.jpg

What? You mean it doesn’t look like a poncho? Is this better?
poncho_unseamed.jpg
Just a little seaming, a few ends to hide, and a bunch of fringe left to do!

Peas Porridge Hot…er…Room Temperature?

Sarah Carolyn

I bought some jarred baby food this afternoon so that I wouldn’t have to figure out how to keep the homemade stuff frozen during our upcoming trip to NYC. I also bought extra jars of peas because I wasn’t happy with how the ones I made came out and I wanted to start Carrie on them next. I do feel a little like I’m giving up, but I suppose it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing, right? Besides, I bought the organic brand our grocery store carries – Earth’s Best – so I feel a little better about giving it to her. I guess the only thing I’m really worried about is that these are much smoother than the foods I was making, and I’m afraid Carrie won’t eat the lumpier homemade stuff when we get back home!

Anyway, I gave her some peas tonight for dinner, and she loves them! She liked them alone and also mixed with her rice cereal. So far there hasn’t been anything I’ve given her – well, to be fair, she’s only had 7 foods so far – that she hasn’t liked. There’s only one thing she hasn’t eaten with great enthusiasm: we’ve been putting a few pieces of puffed rice cereal on her tray after each meal to see if she’s ready for finger foods yet. Not only can’t she pick it up yet, but if I try to put a piece in her mouth she makes the funniest face and moves away before it can even touch her lips. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m trying to poison her. She does like pushing the pieces around the tray though.

Drat! Double Drat!

Sarah Crafts

I am so close to finishing Carrie’s poncho. As in three rows away, plus the neckband. The problem? Those last few rows require a smaller set of needles than the body. And those needles are…buried in my craft room somewhere.

And they’re not the sort of needles you can just go buy at Michael’s or anything, so I’m stuck until I can get to a real yarn shop or find them. Maybe in the morning I’ll perform an archeological dig in the craft room, although I found things that I had worked on in the same general time frame already and they weren’t near those.

Drat!

Looong Week

Sarah General

I don’t really know where the week went, but it feels like it took forever to get to the weekend! Carrie had her first fever yesterday (no other symptoms and gone today – maybe teething related?) so pretty much all of yesterday was spent cuddling my poor little girl, and today I cleaned house.

There’s so much to do over the weekend, but not nearly enough time to do it all. I’m sure our neighbors would appreciate us cleaning up our flower beds and putting flowers in them. The pool needs to be opened eventually. And we still haven’t baby-proofed.

And I only have eight rows left on Carrie’s poncho, so all I really want to do is finish that. Instead, I’m going to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. There’s no predicting what time my early-bird will decide to rise tomorrow and I’m sleepy!