Sarah – Page 54 – Sarah's Journal

Zoo!

Sarah Carolyn April 18, 2008

Today Carrie and I went to the zoo. I haven’t been to this zoo since I was quite small – we used to live just a couple of blocks from there, so I guess we used to go a lot. As an adult, I don’t like zoos. (Animal Kingdom at Disney being the one exception to that, because of the huge, expansive habitats that animals are in, instead of tiny little cages.) But I thought I shouldn’t deprive Carrie of the zoo experience just because I don’t like them.

And she did have a good time, although I’m *really* glad we brought the stroller, because the elephants were quite a walk to get to…and then an uphill walk to get back. Her favorites? The penguins and the geckos. Oh, and when I let her pick something out with the remainder of her Easter spending money from various relatives, she decided she wanted a mama and baby monkey set.

Spring Cleaning…or Nesting?

Sarah General April 15, 2008

I don’t know whether I’ve been bitten by a spring cleaning bug or if nesting can possibly start so early (this baby still has 14 weeks to grow before she makes her entrance!) but I’ve been on a cleaning binge for the past two days…

Only my house is still a mess.

Because I can’t bring myself to do things like, say, clear off the kitchen counters and pick up all the toys. No, instead I have to empty all the expired stuff out of the fridge and sweep the garage floor. Um. Well, I suppose it’s warm enough to have a picnic in the garage…?

Conversation at 2 AM

Sarah Carolyn April 13, 2008May 3, 2010Random Bits of Cuteness

Carrie: “Mommy, I can’t sleep, my imagination keeps waking me up.”
Me: “Sweetie, those are just dreams, it’s OK.”
Carrie: (thinks for a bit) “Mommy, you’re silly! Dreams and imagination aren’t the same!”
Me: “Fine, then just tell your imagination to let you go back to sleep please, because it’s 2 AM!”

Horton Hears a Who

Sarah Firsts April 11, 2008

I took Carrie to her first movie today, Horton Hears a Who. Aside from the fact that she’ll tell you she really, really, really didn’t like the bird, I think she liked the movie overall. I’m glad we were the only two people in the theater, because there were a few times I had to keep up a running commentary about how things were just pretend and there was a happy ending to keep her from wanting to leave. I’m pretty impressed at how well she can describe what the movie was about, too.

And I’m probably dating myself, but talk about sticker shock…a matinee ticket was $7. Seriously, I remember when matinee tickets were more like $3.50, and evening shows were $5. And we won’t even talk about popcorn prices… You know what? Netflix is worth every penny!

First Dentist Appointment

Sarah Firsts April 10, 2008

Carrie had her first dentist appointment today. She has 20 perfect teeth, and was so well-behaved and compliant that the hygienist and dentist were both floored. What can I say? I have a brave kid. She even admitted to me on the way there that she was a little scared, but you totally wouldn’t know it based on the way she acted.

And it didn’t hurt that they rewarded her with a Belle toothbrush and a sparkly tiara after. Watch, she’ll be asking to go to the dentist next week too…

Ketchup

Sarah General April 6, 2008

Do you want fries with that?

Between the musical, the cluster of holidays in March, and just general exhaustion (I need to start going to bed earlier!) I haven’t had the time or energy to keep up with my blog. I debated just letting it go, but it’s been such a wonderful record of Carolyn’s life so far that I couldn’t leave it, and I’m assuming I’ll be about as good at filling out a baby book for this next little girl as I was for Carrie (as in, not at all) so I’ll need a place to write down snippets of her life too. So I filled in what I could from my half-written posts and the pictures I’ve taken over the past few weeks.

I’ll try to be better from now on, but we’ve all heard that one before, right?

Oh, and if anyone is looking for my more knitterly pursuits, I’ve decided to stop updating my craft pages in favor of using ravelry. If you’re not a member already, I’ll warn you, it’s kind of addictive. If you’re willing to be tempted by thousands of projects-in-progress, go ahead and sign up! If you already are a member, I could always use another friend! :)

Swimming Lessons

Sarah Firsts April 1, 2008

Carrie had her first swimming lesson today. And she LOVED it! It’s really more of a water safety/comfort kind of class than an actual learn-to-swim class, but I think there’s some value in her learning to have a healthy respect for water from a teacher as well as at home. Now she can’t wait for summer when our pool is open and she can go swimming a lot, and I’m trying to figure out the logistics of achieving that goal while first being extremely pregnant and then having a newborn that shouldn’t be out in the heat for so long… It’s going to be an interesting summer!

Snowman in Spring

Sarah Carolyn March 28, 2008

So I was feeling particularly guilty that I hadn’t managed to take Carrie out to build a snowman this winter. And winter was over, of course.

Until a few inches of the most perfect snowman-making snow fell last night! It was lovely coating the trees in our backyard:

And it really was perfect snowman snow!

3.5 Years Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates March 24, 2008

Dear Carolyn,

Every day you surprise me somehow. Usually it’s how late you can stay awake before you finally crash, but just over this past weekend you really shocked us…

You can read! A little, anyway. I totally blame it on all of the Leapfrog products we have, but you can sound out short vowel sounds words, like “dog”, “cat”, “get”, “pig” and “mug”. When we were dyeing the Easter eggs you looked at the egg carton and read the word “egg”. And then in a story we read later you sounded out “hen”. I’m not sure how to help you from here, but we’ll figure it out. Of course, now I’m starting to realize how many words in the English language don’t follow any rules for pronunciation!

It seems, though, that we’ve traded off reading for sleeping. You regularly stay up until 10:30, or later, because as you say, “my imagination jumps out of my head and goes under my bed!” I’m tempted to put a twin-sized boxspring and mattress on your floor so there is no “under the bed”, but then your imagination might go under your dresser or behind the chair next. So for now we’re all settling for way too little sleep.

The idea of having a baby sister has really grown on you by now, and you love to talk about all the things you’ll do with your baby sister, like teach her how to roll over, sit up and use the potty. I’m sure you’re going to be the best big sister ever, and I can’t wait to see how you grow and change…and at the same time I’m already a little sad about how things will change between you and I. I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go along, but I can’t help but worry that you’ll wonder if there’s enough love to go around for both you and your sister. And of course there is, because I already love you both with all my heart.

Love, Mommy

Cookies, Eggs and Easter Bunnies

Sarah Holidays March 23, 2008

Easter is just too early this year. I like my holidays to have more than a few days between them, and St. Patrick’s Day was less than a week ago. But despite that, we managed to fit in cookie baking:

Cookie decorating:

Cookie eating:

Egg coloring:

And an egg hunt:

The rest of Easter morning involved Calico Critter bunnies and standing-room-only at church. Then it was off to Great-Grandma’s for Easter dinner, cousins and another egg hunt! Now it’s just a matter of rationing the chocolate and black jelly beans. (Yes, Carrie adores black jelly beans. Apparently she gets that from both of her Grandpas.)