her essence.

I've struggled with taking her picture lately. I know it's been a combination of things. One being first trimester blahs. But it's also been that feeling that I can't capture her in a portrait like I could when she was 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. You know, back when she was STILL and COMPLIANT.

But this weekend I feel like my camera found HER. Just as she is right now. Maybe not portrait quality, but so her.

kissy...

cuddly...(disclaimer...this is technically not my photo and I'm sure to be called on it if the point goes unmentioned)



inquisitive...



precious...



naughty...



and nice...



so her.

bunch o' randomness

No good way to start this blog out so here it goes...

1) The Big Move: 11 days away

2) Birthday: tomorrow! (See Roz, you weren't late at all!)

3) Spent most of Wednesday on the all-important maternity clothes swap.





Note all the strings - you gotta love shirts with strings. Nothing screams "I'M PREGNANT!" like clothing with strings. Also note that this photo would have been part of my POTD had I been doing POTD as faithfully as I should. I'm vowing to start up again once we move and get unpacked. Promise.

4) Walked to the coffee shop with Amy this morning (and Sarah and Hayden) and boo-hooed all the way there about losing all of our friends.

5) Brent sold the truck last night. If you know anything about Brent and lil' Tan then you know this was not easy. We took pictures. We watched from the window as it drove away. One of us even cried. I'll just let you wonder who.

6) Inspired by Colleen (who just had THE BEST LOOKING 9 POUNDER EVER!) I've decided to become better at commenting in the comments section. I don't know why I never do it...I guess I just figure no one goes back to check after they ask a question or something. But I'm starting TODAY. So ask me something and I promise not to ignore you anymore!

7) Yes, I got Sarah's shirt from Cafe Press. Check it out here. So many people asked me where I got it that now I'm wondering who ELSE has a secret. Dare you to post it here. We promise not to tell :-)

8) We're actually having family photos of US taken on Monday. Thanks to Jennifer McGuire I made friends with Traci Turchin and she offered up a photo swap. No more tripod for us!

9) Our rental house in H'ville has a dressing room. This is soley because the largest bedroom still doesn't have room for a bed and a dresser. So rather than bemoan how small the rooms are I'm choosing to tell myself how lucky I'll be to have my very own dressing room. You want to be me, don't you?

10) I guess that's all I can think of. So check us out...at our "Butterfly Brunch", honoring the playgroup mommies, hosted by a dear playgroup grandmamma. Why didn't anyone tell me to shut my mouth??



11) Oh yeah. That made me think of one more thing. My hair currently looks like a big fat mushroom sitting on top of my head. I'm never getting a pixie cut again - growing it out is a BEAST. I'm getting a trim today. Either that or a weave.

can't get anything past you guys

Did you think I'd make you wait all weekend? I'm not that evil! =)

Due date is November 26th and we are THRILLED. Just ask Sarah. She's insisting it's a "gul" and a "titter" although sometimes it's a "boy" and a "titter". Huh. Anyway, yesterday we got to hear our little one's heartbeat and even see a picture! He/she wouldn't move at all though so all day yesterday Brent kept doing baby impressions that consisted of him lying on the bed in fetal position like a dead beatle. Nice.

Isn't that unbelievable? The fact that they're such perfectly formed human beings already at this stage just blows me away. We love you little one!

And for other things today that make me happy:

- spent an hour and a half this afternoon talking to my very best friend from high school who I haven't talked to in eight years. Miss you, friend.

- got one of the nicest blog comments ever the other day from "the Sarah bear" and it's seriously kept me going all week. And, as bonus, I clicked on her blogger name and discovered these awesome shirts that she sells. For anyone who's interested, I DO have a birthday coming up. =)

- going out tonight to an awesome little fondue restaurant tonight with 5 of my favorite people in the whole. wide. world. To celebrate ME. How cool is that? There's nothing like starting your birthday celebration a good week in advance.

- my honey downstairs playing puzzles with the Pigbear.

- baby Lily's blog post about Sarah. Both of them.

- my sister is making me a maternity gown for a friend's wedding this summer. My sister rocks. And so do her sewing skills. And so does the fact that for this wedding we're spending the weekend in Atlanta and leaving Sarah with her grandparents...FOR THE FIRST TIME. WOOHOO!

- you guys.

shhhhh...

She can stop now...

growing, that is. PigBear's Daddy here. She's reading prayers to her bear. She loves helping Daddy clean the kitchen. She even gets mad if I take the swiffer away from her--how great is that? No, you may not borrow her. I'm going to enjoy this while I can.

say say, oh dolly

Does anyone know that song? I've just rediscovered it on double-disc CD set of songs I bought for Sarah. My thinking was that this might keep her entertained for a bit on our drive across country in June. I didn't realize that once I popped one of those bad boys in the car player they could never come out. In fact, she can barely make it through the 2 second lull between songs - "Mo! MO! MO!" come the desperate pleas from the backseat.

Anyway. That wasn't the point of this post. But seeing as how those CD's have become the soundtrack for my life, I can't look at these photos without absent-mindedly humming "say say oh dolly, come out and play with me..."

We've been watching baby Hayden three mornings a week and Sarah thinks she's in baby heaven on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. He's her own personal doll. She wants to feed him, change his diaper, give him his pacifier, hug him, show him all of his toys. She's obsessed. I guess she needed a stand-in during his nap this morning because she found this little dolly and just went to town.

For those that asked, we do read prayers with Sarah from a book. We have two but I could only find a link for one of them...but it's the one she was "reading" in the post the other day. And I really, really think that the photo on the front of ours is different but it's in there with her and she's asleep so I can't confirm. Here you go!

preach it, sister

Here she is, in all her prayerful glory. It seriously has become her new favorite pastime, this praying thing. Brent and I certainly don't complain. Sometimes she wants to pray with us; sometimes she needs her privacy. This morning she let us listen and Brent even got a video (I'm sure he'll share later).

I know this is totally something she mimics from our nightly routine but it still makes my heart swell just a bit to see my baby praying. I'm sure God hears her much more clearly than he does me. These little ones have a direct line, don't you think?

(I can't decide which of these I like better so you get both versions...)

maymay.

ALERT THE MEDIA!

Yep, I'm blogging. And I actually took photos. It's a tad refreshing.

I've been watching Amy's little guy, Hayden, three mornings a week so we've been kind of tied to our house. This morning I turned off the TV and music and just played with Sarah. Then I brought out the camera and stalked her like old times.

She turned 18 months old last Saturday and these photos totally capture who she is right now.

nose blower:



daddy's girl (waiting patiently for him to come home, even at 10 in the morning):



book lover:



tower builder:



babyGAP girl:



sand digger:



color lover:



happy clapper:



cookie monger:



camera bag snooper:



She's just so darn lovable right now (even when she's not).

She loves to give kiss mommy and daddy and Brent is even training her to scratch his back.

She talks up a storm and names everything in the room.

She recently started snuggling in the corner with her prayer books and her big ol' GAP teddy bear and then "reading" her prayers, followed by "MAY-MAY" (her verseion of "amen").

She knows all of her body parts and even, as of this morning, her bottom. It's lovely.

If someone in the house accidentally let's out a toot (BRENT!!!) Sarah will call you out on it with cries of "POOP!!!"

She's really into singing songs and filling in the blanks if you leave out a word for her. Her favorite lately is "BINGO", which she can actually spell if given the chance.

Anyway, she's a joy. A blessing, in fact. And I thank God for her everyday.