could be a new favorite

First, an update. Exactly 24 hours after Sarah's cast came off she took her first steps. So much for my fears of arrested development!

I snapped this while Sarah was standing in front of the tree this evening admiring all the pretty ornaments. It's certainly no coincidence that her two newest signs are "pretty" and "tree".

Thanks to all of you who are voting for the Pigbear! All of the calls, emails, messages, forwards, bulletins, and threads made yesterday one of the most fun days of my life. It's been so fun connecting with new friends and re-connecting with old friends during all of this. You guys rock!

can you say no to this face?

I sure can't!

Today's the first big voting day and we've already been overwhelmed by emails, messages, and phone calls that you're getting the vote out. Thank you, friends! I think this is going to be a long (but fun) month. We're so thrilled to be taking all of you along on this journey with us...

In other Pigbear news - the cast came off yesterday! I had prepared myself for the worst and fully expected to come home with another month's worth of cast ahead of us. Nope! They sawed that bad boy off while Sarah squealed and we finally got to see that little leg after three long weeks. It was a little ashier than I remember but in good working condition. And there was a pitiful little blister on the back of her heel where she'd worn a raw spot from walking on her peg leg. But that Pigbear, she's tough.

After the cast removal Sarah looked across the room at the PA who cared for us, wagged her little finger, and said to him in her best high-pitched baby voice, "no no no." That's right Pigbear. No more cast.

NOW CLICK ON THAT LINK AND GET OUT THE VOTE!! :)

Thanksgiving Shopping

Daddy blogging here. Mommy decided to venture out into the mall madness this morning, so I gladly offered to stay home with the PigBear. Sarah wanted everyone to know that she is primed for the shopping season as well--purple cast and all. Hopefully, the cast will come off Monday! Hope you enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving holiday.

Thankful.

Enough said.

in place of Christmas photos

I really, really, really want to show you all our Christmas card photos but I must restrain myself. SO I'm making a replacement post. Yesterday we met Steve, Samantha, and Caroline for their photos and after the stress of that was over I snapped some of the girls just being our precious, crazy, wild, relentless girlies.

Sarah, where's your tongue?

Good girl.

did you notice?

Different sidebar. Go look. Now you see it. I'll give you a minute...

Did you click on it? Pretty cool, huh? We're getting geared up for the big vote starting November 28th so I thought I'd make it easy for you all to vote everyday. And my understanding is that you can vote once a day from November 28th until December 31. So get to it! Don't make me get all P'Diddy "Vote or Die" on you. (what does that guy call himself these days anyway? I'm SO not cool enough to know). Just when you thought all the ugly commercials and harassing phonecalls from the midterm elections were gone...ha ha!

Now, for all you bloggers out there I found the coolest site amidst my endless googling trying to figure out how to post a clickable photo in the sidebar. (I love that "googling" is a word.) (I love parentheses too.) Here's the link: Blogger Tips and Tricks.

And I can't ever have a post without a few pics so here are some from several days ago. Sarah took some time for a little light reading in her room. That and a peaceful game of dump-all-the-hair-clips-bows-and-brushes-onto-the-floor-and-see-which-ones-I-can-swallow. I'll spare you the details of how I know she actually won this little game with herself.

Take care, friends. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of you. All 17,555 of you as of this very moment (okay, I realize that's really just the same 2 people coming back again and again. And there I go with the parentheses again!).

having no idea...

She's oblivious to all of the hoopla. Isn't that WONDERFUL?! She has not a clue what the excitement is all about, what lies ahead, why we're voting. Oh, to be 12 months old. Now, I better move on from this subject lest a certain someone (ahem, Samantha) continue to hurl not-so-nice stagemom titles onto me! okay, I'll admit...5% of me believes I deserve the titles.

I thought you'd like to see Sarah enjoying her two favorite activities of late: feeding dolly and playing in the box. So what could be better than feeding dolly IN the box? Not much.

(usually she doesn't try to feed dolly directly into her tummy...but isn't that the cutest thing?? She especially likes when dolly signs "more" and "eat"...so fun)

gratuitous blogging

First off, this post will be shameless promotion of the Pigbear. You've been warned.

At the urging of Aunt Parmy and some other friends I entered Sarah in the 2007 Baby Gap Casting Call. I got an email today saying that out of 350,000 children, SARAH IS A SEMI-FINALIST! After I take care of some legal mumbo jumbo her photo along with 9 other girls and 10 other boys will be posted on the contest website. The public will be invited to vote for the entire month of December and then the grand prize winner (boy and girl) will be named. Here is the link but, trust me, I'll be posting it many, many more times. In fact, by the end of December you'll be avoiding my blog so you won't have to read "did you vote today?" for the umpteenth time!

Thank you for celebrating with us!

Here are versions of the pics that were entered...

eta: Parmy, you are one amazing mathematician! Thanks for boosting my confidence by computing the odds! Also, I got a call this morning and found out which picture they chose...it's #2 just in case you were wondering. Thanks for being excited everyone!

stinkerbug

That's been her nickname lately. She's earned it. It's usually said in exasperated mommmy voice: "stin-ker-BUG".

Of course, she's still sweet as can be. It's just that she's into everything. Everytime I turn around there's another mess, another near-miss, another grinning mischievious Pigbear. Ahem, stinkerbug.

Anybody need a lunchbox?

sometimes I wonder

Did he ever think he'd attend an Air Force game hauling a broken-legged baby girl around in a baby sling, chasing down The Bird for a photo op, and leaving before the game even started because it interfered with her naptime?

How quickly our lives change.

eta: Liz, since you just had to throw the score out there...I'm forced to publish this picture. You know I love you girl but you've left me with no other choice...

clunk, clunk, clunk

That's becoming a familiar sound around our house. It's the sound of Sarah's big ol' cast knocking against the wall, the refrigerator, the furniture, her head (yes, you read that right). She's already worn a hole in the toe of her cast from dragging it around everywhere. She doesn't even seem to notice it's there. I guess she figures it's a permanent part of her now...better just deal with it. The doctor tells us that many babies actually get upset when their casts are removed because all of a sudden they feel pain again when they run into things. I can definitely see us having that problem. She's a fearless casted Pigbear. Or PEGbear as her daddy fondly calls her.

Just to prove that she really is on the move again...check out her busy-ness today...





On her way up the stairs in that last shot. It's a pretty funny thing to watch her hoist the purple monster up one step, then another. Haven't the faintest idea where she got determination like that.

Ever seen a princess with a broken leg?

Now you have.

Princess Pigbear has two broken bones in her left leg. Poor little thing. She and Grama had a spill on the stairs on Sunday and yesterday the doctor confirmed that Sarah wasn't putting any weight on her leg for a reason. So now she's got a pretty purple cast for the next 3 weeks. Which just means she'll have to wear her pretty purple princess garb a little more often!



And Sarah wanted me to remind everyone that she still has one good leg...which she's been getting around on pretty well, might I add!



Take care everyone. And watch your step.

finally a shoot for Sarah!

I know I have a bajillion pictures of Sarah but very rarely do I take her out and do a shoot the way I do for my friends. So last week I took advantage of Grama's help and hauled her down to the Broadmoor for some one year photos. We were losing light fast and it was too cold for outfit changes like I'd hoped so I didn't get exactly what I was hoping for. I might have to venture out again soon. Here are some of my favorites anyway. I can't even tell you how thrilled I was to get the one of her standing!













One more quick thing...

I've officially started building my portfoliowith people other than close friends and family. If your and your family or someone you know are interested in portraits, get in touch! I've also started a new photography blog specifically for the purpose of sharing my non-Sarah stuff. So from now on, this site is all Pigbear, all the time. If you want to see some of my other photography stuff check it out here.

Have a great week!

remember...

"The days are slow, but the years are fast."

That's what the kind woman who leads toddler time at our local library said to Samantha and I this morning. I'm scared to think how true that is. So, instead I'll look at these pictures and enjoy our babies just the way they are right now.

cuddly
snuggly
giggly
silly
love-nothing-better-than-playing-on-the-couch
babies





(would love to know what they were thinking in this one...)







love you girls.

all treats, no tricks

As it should be, right?

We had SO MUCH FUN parading Sarah around the neighborhood, using her as our candy pawn. We had a mini-playgroup over at Samantha's with the babies decked out in their costumes and the mamas and daddies chowing on soup and sweets. Then we hit the streets. We only made it to a few houses in the twenty-something degree temps but, man, it was worth it. Already looking forward to next year!

Here's our little doggie sifting through her bowl for a yummy treat. She did actually end up eating it. After letting her suck on the wrapper as we walked around the neighborhood we realized that she'd long since passed the wrapper and was halfway down the tootsie roll. Oh well. As a neighbor down the street said, "Erin will have her back on tofu tomorrow". So true, so true. Come to think of it, she had some for lunch. Yum.