Outside play!

I'm a little late in posting these pictures, as they are from LAST weekend. It was GORGEOUS here- I mean FABULOUS! It was around 80 degrees, sunny, no humidity and slightly breezy. FABULOUS! By Sunday afternoon, it was well warm enough to get out the water table...which marked Sarah's first water table experience.

She loved being free to play in the water (and not get her hand swatted like when she plays in the dog's water bowl!).

She preferred to swing, though!

Beth played with the water table and her buckets for an hour or more! LOVE THAT!

I can't wait for summer!

1 year stats

Sarah weighed just barely 18 lbs and was 28 inches long! Still tiny!! She also has a "viral" ear infection AND is cutting a bottom tooth. Lotsa fun! This all means that she will be on Tylenol or Motrin constantly for a few days...not to mention the THREE shots she got today! Poor thing. The doctor observed her running around the room and babbling and playing with her toys and commented that she was VERY smart! Yeah! he thinks her reluctance to eat "table foods"at the table is a control thing, since she'll eat them ANYWHERE ELSE except her highchair. Oh joy...another battle to come!!

My BABY is ONE!

Has it really been an entire year since Sarah was born? Has it really been an entire year since I walked into that operating room and sat myself on that really really cold stainless steel table and listening to the doctors talk about NBA Basketball and NFL Football while in the middle of my csection? Has it really been an entire year since I heard my OB say "Wow, look at that blonde hair!" Has it really been an entire year since I first heard Sarah cry? Has it really been a whole entire long year since this picture was taken?

She was born at 3:03 p.m. and was 6 lbs and 15 oz and 19 inches long - a full pound smaller than Beth and shorter, too. (and still is!) Just like Beth's birth, I remember every little detail and I hope I always do. Sarah was born in a different hospital and a different town from Beth. The whole experience was so drastically different, but not worse by any means. I remember being more aware this time...aware of what pains and aches were to come, aware of the need to get up and get moving faster, aware of the need to send Sarah to the nursery so I could sleep and very aware of the NEED to hold and snuggle with Sarah as much as possible. I knew that she wouldn't be that little for long and she wouldn't want to snuggle with me forever...which turned out to be just a few weeks later. She just isn't a snuggle bunny!

Beth adored her new sister and I allowed her to help give her the first bottle:


And Beth happily crawled up in bed with me and snuggled right up to her little sister...which just happened to be the last time she came to the hospital, due to the awful stomach bug she came down with that night and kept her and my parents away for 4 very long days!


We finally had Sarah's "newborn" portrait taken at 3 weeks old!


Those first 4 or so weeks were ROUGH. Sarah's little tummy wasn't handling any of the formula very well and that is when we finally discovered she was "lactose intollerant." Lotsa fun! But, once we got the problem solved, she was a different child. She hates to sleep...and literally, just LAST WEEK started sleeping through the night. She hasn't been a good napper EVER. She is just too busy!!

But, despite the lack of sleep and the many tummy issues, she managed to grow...and grow....and grow!
6 weeks



8 weeks


10 weeks


12 weeks (almost 3 months old)


16 weeks (almost 4 months old)



Around 4 months old, Sarah was really starting to roll...and roll...and roll! She was a champ on her tummy time mat (seen above) and loved it. This is probably because she starting sleeping on her tummy at 3 weeks old. Yes, I know, bad mommy! But we had to sleep and it was the ONLY way she was doing it! Our summer was a little rough, as she broke out in a heat rash whenever we took her outside, so we didn't go on too many outings. We did manage to escape to the Church picnic in August, though! (seen below)


4 months old is also when she started "solid food" and tasted cereal for the first time and was NOT impressed. It took over a month of trying to get her to eat it!



At 5 months old, she was STARTING to sit up (with help)

...and with that new milestone, she was officially transferred to the infamous duckie tub!



6 months old brought Sarah's first trip to Destin and also Halloween!






She started crawling at 6 1/2 months old (EEK!), ironically the exact same DATE as Beth did - November 18th! WEIRD! Oh- she also go her first tooth when we got home from Destin, which is exaclty when Beth got her first tooth - the day we got home from HER first trip to Destin.

... and 8 months old brought the Holidays and beautiful December weather!



8 1/2 months old - January


9 months old brought Valentine's Day and a VERY unsuccessful attempt to get a cute VDay picture of both girls!


9 months old is also when she starting REALLY eating babyfood VERY well and taking her sippy cup, too!


10 months old wasn't a pleasant month. Although this is the month she officially started WALKING, she was sick 3/4 of the month with a stomach funk! Probably Rotavirus, but we'll never know. I managed to only get a few cute photos that month.


So, that puts us at 11 months old....this last month. Boy, has she "grown" this last month. She is REALLY babbling and trying to say so many things. She is a PRO at walking and is starting to eat "table food" so much better. She celebrated her first Easter and she was so cute eating her treats (Cheerios!) out of her eggs and discovering the toys in her Easter basket!


11 Months old also marked her first official picture in Daddy's boat!

So that puts us here...today....April 20, 2007....1 year later!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SARAH! WE LOVE YOU!

What can I say? Why her?

I had all the intention to come here today and scream and rant and rave about how awful Cancer is. It took a very dear friend of our family yesterday. A VERY dear friend. I guess I'm going through the stages of grief and anger was upon me last night, but this morning, I decided I would NOT channel all my energy into being mad about Cancer and how mean it is, but instead I would think about how wonderful Lynnie was. (okay...I'm crying again.....)

I won't (and can't) write much now, as I'm still very emotional, but I'll give a little background. In the late 1960's my mom and Lynne were sorority sisters and roommates. The remained good friends after college and in 1975/1976 respectively, each had a baby girl, each named Katherine (and Kathryn) Elizabeth, aka KATIE." (that would be ME and my long time best friend). We basically grew up together, as our mothers, and our fathers, were fantastic friends. We traveled togethered, played together and we even ended up at the same college our freshman year. And now, Katie and I have our own daughters.... (picture from 2005, so its a little OLD, sorry!)

Meanwhile, Lynnie and mom remained VERY close friends and talked ALL THE TIME. They saw each other often, mostly in Lexington when mom & dad went up for UK games or to visit my little brother, Bryan. Lynnie was to be our "second mom" should anything have happened to mom and dad when Bryan and I were little. I could go on and on and on, but there is FAR too much history of our families to even begin the whole story. There are FAR too many fun times to remember and FAR too many really funny stories.

This is the only picture I have on my computer of our Lynnie. It was taken last summer when Beth went to Destin with my parents and they met up with the gang!

Lynne - we will miss you. Dearly. We will keep your memory alive and well and remember the good times. We will make sure that Mary Hughes grows up knowing what a wonderful Grammy you were! There are so many "funnies" that we will always remember. We will make sure to pass those memories on...and on...and on......

Easter Smiles

Whew! What a day! Both girls were fun to watch this morning, especially when Bob read them (well, Beth) the note that the Easter Bunny left for them telling them he hid the eggs in the den because it was too cold outside (24 degrees!). It was colder for Easter this year than it was for Christmas - nuts!! Anyway - here are our Easter pics: