All About Our Sarah

Monday, June 15, 2015

I am sitting alone with Sarah this morning waiting for Maddie to wake up and I just had to start writing about how much I adore this little girl! She’s a stinker and I know she will find some way to interrupt my typing, but nonetheless, I wanted to get a few thoughts down on paper.  

8 month old Sarah

We were sitting in my bed and I was playing with her (tickling her feet and pretending to gobble up her big belly) and she was giggling and squealing.  Then she reached for my face with both hands, leaned her head forward and pressed her forehead against my face.  This has to be one of my favorite gestures that Sarah does.  It’s as if she is saying, “Oh, I love you,” as she rests her skin against mine and then proceeds to lift her head and lower it back against me repeatedly.  Its almost a hug, and the sighs she makes tells me that she loves our little snuggle just as much as I do.  

She does this when I hold her against my chest, too, and she will rest her head against my body and lay it there for a few seconds before raising it and thumping it back down.  And her head is in the perfect position for me to kiss kiss kiss.  She loves kisses so much! She moans, grunts and shrieks while being kissed and sometimes even does a little hopping move with her body as though to say, “yes! This is great!” She is such an affectionate little girl and one of the happiest babies I’ve ever seen.  

Sarah exploring new toys at the children's museum

She is just so content.  She truly only cries when she needs something (if she’s hungry, frustrated that she can’t reach something, sleepy or has a gargantuan poopy). She is interested in EVERYTHING and thinks that the way to discover what something is, how it works or what is it supposed to do, is to put it in her mouth. She has found that grass tickles her throat, but yet she goes back for more.  

She loves to eat! Salmon, veggies, and all kinds of fruit with kiwi and banana (it’s growing on her, though) being the exception.  She never was very fond of pureed foods, but put some finger foods in front of her and she will go to town! 

Relaxation in it's purest form

She’s become very vocal, too.  She makes all the same noises that her big sister did at this age, which makes me think she’ll be an early talker, too, but it’s interesting that her voice is different.  One thing that reminds me of Maddie at this age is when I walk into the nursery to get Sarah after she has awakened for the day.  As soon as she sees that I’ve entered the room she screams! She shrieks with joy and can’t contain her excitement of being picked up.  It’s so sweet.  Maddie used to do the same thing, kicking her feet, too, and I just love the flash back and being in the present moment watching my second little girl grow up. 

It seems that the three of us liked the girls' first baseball game more than Sarah did. 

Sarah is also getting to be really good at pushing up on her hands while in tummy time.  She rolls easily from front to back and vice versa and can raise her whole tummy off the ground. She hasn’t figured out how to get onto her knees, yet, but, truthfully, I am in no hurry for her to become mobile.  She is so curious and she will find every crumb and put it into her mouth once she’s crawling around on the floor.  I’m in for some trouble!

Tummy Time!

Her hair is coming in thick and blonde(?!?!). Seriously, this kid’s hair is so light in color. It’s hilarious and beautiful.  When she’s not plastered in baby food from head to toe, you can see her cute little birthmark on her knee.  So precious. 

   

Sleep girl chowing down

She is really trying to mimic things that we do, now.  She is an expert waver and is getting pretty close to clapping.  She says “da-da” on cue and will copy many other sounds that we make.  She loves playing “who can scream louder” with her sister and they both shriek with laughter after the other one screams. 

These two just melt my heart. 

Sarah has claws! If you hold her in a cradle position, she will reach up, grab the skin on your face, neck, arms or chest, pinch and then dig her nails into your skin.  The she rips her hand away as though trying to tear off your flesh.  It’s good times.  

"What did you say to me?"

And one of my favorite things about this baby is her silly expressions. She is content to play on her own or just sit back and watch what we are up to, but don’t take your eyes off of Sarah in these quiet moments or you will miss her “not impressed” expressions.  She seems to always be thinking, “Yeah. I’ve seen better” or, “Alright. Are we done here?” (Our friends, Cara and Ivan, always have the perfect captions to her pictures!) And if she’s not doing her “not impressed” look, you’ll catch her poochy lip sticking out as though saying, “I’m a grump!” But, inside her, there is joy. It shines through everything she does and overflows onto everyone around her.  She is so special. 

"Yeah. So it's warm outside.  It was 98.6 degrees inside my mama.  Talk to me when it's that hot out" 

"Really? You call this fish?"