New Family Member

Meet Miss Ali-Bama Mountjoy - Ali for short. She is an Australian Shepard/Lab mix mutt that we adopted. She is super sweet and Sarah and her are getting along great. Ali loves to lick Sarah and Sarah just giggles. Toby is not sure what to think at this point. I think he thinks that she is just visiting and is being tolerant. The hope is that the new puppy will keep him young. So far they do not pay too much attention to each other. Enjoy the pictures, especially the one of Toby - this is his current attitude about the situation.

10 Months Old

Wow the time is indeed flying by. Sarah turned 10 months old Sunday. She is so active and interactive. She claps and waves and we are working on giving high fives. She has two teeth on the bottom and four coming in up top. She is crawling everywhere and pulling up as well. She says Mama and Dada but I don't think it is really on purpose. However, she does say Izzy (the name of Michael's dog) and it does seems to be on purpose so I guess that might be her first word? Sometimes when I drop Sarah off at daycare, I linger a bit and watch her interact with the other kids. They are so cute playing together. Her teacher tells me that she can do whatever the boys do...I wonder where she gets that from?! Here are a few pictures. She is so mobile now it is hard to get good shots. I have many more but they are all blurry from her moving so fast.

9 Months Old and Easter

Friday, April 2nd Sarah turned 9 months old. We visited the pediatrician that day and Dr Shelley said that she is looking good. She is still tiny on weight - 16lbs but is long! She is officially crawling and busy. She has pulled up a few times but does not do it on a regular basis. Sarah claps her hands, waves bye and sticks her tongue in and out on command. She eats table food and pretty much likes everything we give her except green beans. She is a very good eater! She babbles a lot and sometimes it sounds like she is trying to repeat things back to us. Easter Sunday was beautiful day here, so I set up Sarah's baby pool (since the real pool is still too cold) and she had a blast splashing around. This summer is going to be fun! She has almost 6 teeth - 2 on the bottom and four up top. As everyone has warned - she is growing up fast.

St Patrick's Day

Today, Sarah, Gary and I experienced our first St. Patrick's Day together as a family of three. We started early this morning and went downtown for the parade. We had great seats thanks to a friend sho was there at 5am to claim them. The weather was decent - about 56 degrees and overcast. We had a few raindrops but the down pour held off until after the parade. Sarah was great the whole day and really enjoyed all of the action. She even managed to get a 3o minute power nap in with several marching bands coming by. After the parade, we enjoyed our traditional delicious late lunch at Sr. Pat's house (which is right on the parade route). It was a wonderful day! (on a side note, we watched a guy on a Harley in the parade loose control and put the bike on it's side- luckily he was ok but that Harley is going to need a little money spent on it for repairs - unlucky!)

8 Months Old!

Another month has flown by! Sarah is continuing to grow and change everyday. She cannot crawl yet (not complaining) but she has no problems getting around on her belly and arms. She can push herself up into a sitting position from laying down. We have been out and about and traveling this month. We went down to Florida for a night and visited with Grandma and Grandpa Mountjoy, Aunt Cortney and Uncle Austin and we went to Charleston for a weekend for Aunt Catharine's 30th birthday party. Sarah also attended Addison Grayson's 2nd birthday party. We have discovered that Sarah loves birthday cake! Sarah pretty much likes every food we have offered her. She started with some finger foods this month and is doing very well. She enjoys graham crackers and baby crunchies. Her top teeth are starting to come in and it is making her a little cranky but for the most part, she is a very happy baby with lots of smiles (see below)!

7 Months Old!

Sarah Kate is 7 months old today. We have been so busy experiencing her and her ever changing abilities and personality that I have not taken a lot of pictures. So I got the camera out last night and snapped a few! She is sitting up very well and enjoys being in that position and playing with her toys. She is not crawling quite yet but is close. She gets on all fours but is not quite sure what to do from there. She can get around, however, by belly scooting and maneuvering on her forearms. She is eating solids and so far likes everything she has tried - carrots, sweet potato's, green beans, squash, apple sauce, pears and bananas. I try to make most of what she eats which is carrots and sweet potato's but sometimes it is just easier to grab the baby food. At her 6 month check-up she weighed 14lbs 7oz (25th %) and was 27" long (90th %). We just finished up swimming lessons last Saturday so now we are ready for some warm weather! Sarah loves to "talk" and make noise. She is very busy and I am sure she will be in to everything once she is mobile. I need to Sarah proof the house ASAP!

Swimming Lessons

Sarah and I started swimming lessons last Saturday. Since she loves bath time, I figured I would expose her to the pool ASAP. As I hoped, she loves it. However, you wouldn't know it from her facial expressions. This usually full of smiles girl is all business in the pool. In addition to being very distracted/nosey about what is going on around her, she is straight faced while practicing her skills. She is learning to kick her feet, hold her breath under water and float on her back. Obviously she cannot do any of this on her own but we are working on it together and doing great!