Aunt Lu.

My Aunt Lori is one of my favorite people. Here are some of my fondest memories of her:

• having my finger nails painted for the first time by her when she had kidnapped my sister and me from my mom for the day.
• being SOOOO excited when her little green bug pulled into the driveway at my grandma's house. She was way cool.
• Getting a present from her on my 6th birthday with candy taped ALL over the package. This was a big deal. If you know my mom, you know why.
• Being a flower girl in her wedding when I was 6 years old and thinking I was seriously hot stuff. I later wore the dress, complete with lace tights, to school on the day that the gym teacher decided to teach tumbling. Not a good decision. Especially since my mom always told me that if I wore tights, underwear was not a neccessity. Lace tights. Tumbling. It wasn't pretty.

I'm so glad that Aunt Lori is now a part of Sarah's life. She's doing some major work towards favorite Aunt status although she's got stiff competition from Aunt MayMay and Aunt Parmy. Yesterday she taught Sarah some new tricks (see below) including STANDING IN HER CRIB. Is this a good thing? She also seems to think it's her job to ensure that Sarah has every toy from the Target baby section and mini-Aunt Lu outfits (think neon orange and white).

Gotta love her.

I do.

Oh yeah, and she also engineered this...

lucky girl

How often does a baby girl get to have her great grandma on the floor, playing with her? Sarah's middle name comes from my great grandma (Lorraine) whom I have fond memories of, but from the time I was a baby she was confined to a wheel chair. She entertained us to no end by letting us push her around in her chair or ride in her lap. But Sarah is even more fortunate...she had her great grandma belly-down on the floor, playing! I think this says a lot about how much Grandma Dixie loves Sarah, but also about how spry and youthful she is...

and let's not forget her spry and youthful Great Grandpa too...





We also spent sometime together yesterday with my cousins - Sherri, Noah and Aaron. They LOVE the pigbear and were carrying her around yesterday discovering all sorts of things to make her smile and coo...



Sarah Cobb...you are one lucky girl.

baby Charlotte

It's hard to believe that next time I'm here visiting Meghan, she'll be a momma. Baby Charlotte is scheduled to arrive on July 5th but I'm betting on mid-July. She's growing like a weed and it's so strange to see my itsy-bitsy sister with a not so itsy-bitsy belly! Here are some pictures of my sister with Sarah's cousin in tow...

opening day

Yesterday we traveled to San Juan to watch little league opening day. A sure sign of spring! My cousin Aaron was playing and the rest of us gathered to cheer him on. We were loving the steak sandwiches and the tour of downtown San Juan we took during the 5th inning. It was a perfect day for baseball.



















some good things about yesterday...

steak sandwiches




















ring pops


spring flowers!


and, of course, the pigbear...


(she really enjoyed the game)

California Bloggin'

Here we are in Cali! Sarah had a crazy day yesterday after getting up at 4:30 and taking about a zillion naps before we finally let her go to sleep last night. We flew into San Jose and Brent was so thrilled to drive through Gilroy and stop at the In-n-Out Burger. Definitely the highlight of his trip so far. Sarah, on the other hand, has had nonstop highlights since she got here. Since one of her new favorite things is drinking out of a cup, she was so excited when Daddy got water on the airplane. She was sitting in his lap and the cup could not travel to his lips without stopping at hers first! If he tried to sneak it past her, the whining began.



Upon arriving in Watsonville, Sarah was so excited to meet her great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends and see her Aunt MayMay and Uncle Dave again (and baby Charlotte!). It seemed every five minutes someone new would walk in and the scene would start all over again.



When Sarah finally laid down for a nap after our arrival we snuck off to Target with Aunt Lori on a mission to buy toys for Sarah (Aunt Lori's mission not mine!). After walking up and down the aisles saying "she's got that...she's got that...she's got that..." we found several toys that she didn't have but needed (again, according to Aunt Lori). And Sarah was giddy about it when she woke up...

daddy's new favorite

In case you were wondering why Sarah and Caroline seem to be naked in one of yesterday's pictures. Let me explain. When we were hanging out the other day Samantha mentioned wanting to take some pictures of Caroline in her baptism gown. The afternoon light pouring through the window was perfect so we set up a little home studio and started shooting. When I saw how nice Caroline's pictures were turning out, I ran home (a 2 minute drive - how did we get so lucky?!) and grabbed Sarah's baptism gown as well. Within five minutes when I was back at Samantha's house, the girls were stripped down to their diapers having a GRAND time. It seems nakedness is a favorite baby state. If only they could always love their bodies this much and never go through the awkward middle school years.

At any rate, that should explain the naked baby pictures yesterday. And here are a couple of shots of the girls in all of their baptismal glory...

This first one is daddy's new favorite...he says he's going to replace his computer background at work with this one. Apparently the picture of Sarah in her leopard print beret is a bit too distracting for the cadets.

a glimpse

I have to revisit some pictures of Caroline and Sarah yesterday because there is one that is slightly haunting for a new parent. In a sweet, subtle way. I talked with Samantha yesterday after Sarah and I got back home and Sam had a chance to look at the pictures. She kept talking about "that one". I agreed. I knew which one she was talking about. There's a picture of the girls -not the best quality picture - that seems to capture their personalities. But not their "now" personalities. It seems to capture the essence of where they're going, who they'll be, how they'll act. It's like them as children. I showed it to Brent last night and he agreed.

So here it is...our girls in three, five, ten years...

And here's how I imagine the conversation going:

Sarah: Hey, Caroline, you know that hay that you see on the side of the road? The round kind?

Caroline: yeah.

Sarah: Well, did you know it's not good for horses?

Caroline: Why not?

Sarah: Cause they don't get a square meal!! That's my mommy's favorite joke

Caroline: That's lame (giggle, giggle). Sarah - you're so silly! Let me tell one now...Knock, Knock...

Sarah: Who's there...

Back to reality. Those are just the musings of two mommies watching their little girls grow up too fast. Did I mention, did you notice, that they're both SITTING?

blessings

Last night I fell asleep in awe of the blessings of God. Of course, I usually do this when I think about sweet Sarah but last night I was thanking God for the wonderful friends in my book club. What a wonderful group of women - Liz, Samantha, Jodi, Jennifer, Brandy, Gina, Amy, Susie - when we're together I feel honored to be among you. Our discussions last night veered from the typical path (we all know what that usually is...and it's NOT the book!) and instead we delved into some deep spiritual issues. You certainly know you're comfortable and loved when you can be so open and honest with each other about such personal things. Liz, I really feel that God guided your hand as you put this group together and I am so thankful to you (and HIM!) for that! Now, enough gushing.

Brandy, I thought about posting your belly shot on the blog but didn't want you to be too embarassed.

Here's the recipe you ladies were calling for last night...

Potluck Potato Casserole

The crunchy topping on this side-dish casserole gives way to a cheesy interior, resulting in a comfort food winner. A bonus with this dish is that you can make the casserole ahead--assemble and refrigerate it until time to bake. Sprinkle the cornflakes over the casserole just before baking.
1 1/2 cups fat-free sour cream
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons minced fresh onion
5 teaspoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper1 (30-ounce) package frozen hash browns, thawed (such as Ore-Ida)1 (10.75-ounce) can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup (such as Campbell's Healthy Request)
Cooking spray
1 cup coarsely crushed cornflakes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl; spread evenly into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle cornflakes over potato mixture.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until bubbly. Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Yield: 10 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 194(30% from fat); FAT 6.4g (sat 3.7g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 7.9g; CHOLESTEROL 21mg; CALCIUM 166mg; SODIUM 283mg; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 27.1g

And some recommended reading that we discussed last night...
If God is Love by Phillip Gulley
If Grace is True by Phillip Gulley
A Serious Way of Wondering by Reynolds Price

And, of course, no post would be complete without a picture of the Pigbear and her sidekick...

exersaucing

The exersaucer is Sarah's latest favorite toy. This evening, after dinner, I was holding her in my lap as she looked at it longingly, whining. When I gave in and put her in it, she was all smiles.

And the runner-up for current favorite toy goes to...

stacking rings!

While she's not exactly sure what to do with them, she knows they're fun.

Like Mommy, Like Daughter

So Brent, Sarah, and I were lazing around yesterday and Sarah was having great fun sucking on Daddy's fingers (notice the firm grip that says "this is MY daddy and I'm NOT sharing")











But then Daddy went and did something mean. He decided to do some work for church and look up sign companies in the phone book. Sarah did not think this was a good idea. Nothing should come between her and her daddy. So she tried to get between him and the phone book...










And when that didn't work...

The all-out crying began. Did she learn that from me?

Well, as long as she only uses it on Daddy, we'll be fine.

Happy St. Patty's

After waking Daddy up with cuddles...

We had a family snuggle...

And got ready to celebrate the luck o' the Irish...

Thanks, Grandad, for the shirt!

signs she's getting better

1. Wearing real clothes today...yippee! The last several days have consisted of sleepers or nothing at all.
2. Making raspberries. For weeks I've been waiting for the "wet razzing sound" that the What to Expect the First Year promises babies this age learn to make. Finally today Sarah discovered her inner-raspberries. Perhaps she was inspired by a similar, although not nearly as endearing, noise she's been making over the last several days during her illness.
3. Back to cloth diapers. We took a break from cloth when we were changing 20+ diapers a day. Now we're back to our soft cotton...so much better!
4. Mommy's sleeping at night without fear that Sarah's quickly dehydrating in the next room.

Here's a picture of the Pigbear on the road to recovery...

We're sad that we're going to miss playgroup tomorrow but we don't want to put our other baby friends at risk. So a few more days quarantined at home and then we're out to face the world again. Hallelujah! (wait, can you say that during Lent?)