Sara's 1st Month in Pictures

I've always loved scrapbooking, but I really don't have the time for it anymore. I've been hearing more and more about digital scrapbooking, so I decided to check it out. I found an easy site called Smilebox. I decided to give it a try and here is my first attempt. What I love most about the site is that I can order pages of the scrapbooks and pick up at CVS or Walmart. All I have to do is slide it into a scrapbook and I'm done! It's quick and easy. So much so, that I'm hoping to complete a book for each month of Sara's first year. Wish me luck!

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Letters to Sara: 1 month

Dear Sara Grace,

Oh my.....how is it possible that 1 month has already passed since you entered our lives?!?! This month has been an incredible month. I feel like you have been with us forever and it's sometimes hard for me to remember what it was like having you in my belly. What everyone says is true, the first 2 weeks are all about survival. But, it wasn't nearly as bad as we were expecting! Your laid back, sleepy personality made it easy on your daddy and I. Your daddy and I were so over the moon excited that you entered our lives that most of the hours in those 2 weeks were filled with happy tears and simply staring in utter amazement at you!

We have started figuring you out and falling even more in love with you (is that possible??!!). I love your sweet baby smell, and giving you kissing on top of your oh so soft head. When I'm feeding you and you wrap your finger around mine and gaze up at me, I fall in love all over again. That is usually when I start crying my happy tears again, for I marvel at what a perfect miracle you are.

We try to tell you each day how much we love you and how nothing you could do would ever change that. In the many months that we waited for you to come to us, your daddy and I would often talk about what we wanted you to know. One day, your mommy heard a song driving home from work by a band called Sidewalk Prophets. The last chorus goes:

Be strong in the LORD and never give up hope.
You're gonna do great things,
I already know.
God's got his hand on you so don't live life in fear,
forgive and forget but don't forget why you're here.
Take some time to
pray, and thank God for each day.
These are the words I would say.

More than anything else, THAT is my wish for you baby girl. Know that you are loved--we love you more than anything!

Here's a sampling of what you are doing at the ripe ole age of 1 month:

• You love to be on the move. Your hands and feet have always been moving from day one. You stretch and wiggle around!
• You have started to coo. You make the sweetest sounds! It's different from the to grunts and groans you like to do a lot in your sleep. You also make lots of squeaking noises....hence your nickname Sara Squeakerson!
• You are beginning to hold your head up. Daddy calls you a "bobble head" because it takes all your energy to hold that big noggin up....but you try with all your might.
• You love your bath time. You stare and wiggle around as happy as can be! However, you usually fuss when it's time to take you out and put lotion on.
• You love being outside. You are very content watching the leaves on the trees blow in the breeze. You love laying on Grammy and Gramp's lawn for hours.
• You hate getting your diaper changed. You fuss with all your might while your diaper is off and you calm right down when a clean diaper is one.
• You are a rockstar burper! Sometimes we don't even have to pat you to get you to burp. You'll burp just by sitting you up slightly. Your mama is proud!
• You are working hard at figuring out the world around you. You love to stare at the black and white photos we have around the house. You will concentrate so hard sometimes, we just wonder what you are thinking!
• Your daddy and I have pretty silly nicknames for you. Some include: Sara Smiles, Sara Sleepersons, Sara Squeakerson, Little Mama, Little Muffin, Sara Smile, and Sara-bow-bara.
• You have started discovering your tongue. You like to wiggle it all around and sometimes stick it out of your mouth!
• You are still wearing your newborn clothes, but it won't be much longer. We just used up your last newborn diaper and started using Size 1....man, they look big on you!
  

Love you forever,

Your mommy

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

I found the recipe on the Annie's Eats blog a while back. I've been reading in a lot of the cooking blogs I follow about how good and easy they are. Even my friend, Heather, had heard about them. So, I had to try them. When we were at the farmer's market last week, a stand had cucumbers for 50 cent a pound. I took it as a sign.....I had to give this recipe a try.

Boy....am I glad that I did! They are great and super easy to make! I will be making them again! I made spears and chips with my fancy wavy cutter! I've read they will last for about three weeks in the refrigerator, but as quickly as we're going through them, I doubt I'll be able to test that theory.


Refrigerator Dill Pickles
3 cups water
6 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons kosher salt
Cucumbers
Minced garlic
Fresh dill sprigs
Dried red pepper flakes (optional, but I going to try next time)

Combine water, vinegar and salt; stir until salt is completely dissolved.

Cut cucumbers as desired. I cut some into spears, but also cut some into slices for sandwiches and burgers.

Place dill sprigs in the bottom of a canning jar (I used 2-3 depending on their size). Fill jar half full of cucumber pieces. Add garlic, another dill sprig and fill the rest of the way with cucumber pieces. Pour brine into the jar, making sure all cucumber pieces are covered. Cap and refrigerate for two days before eating.

That's it! Just repeat with as many cucumbers as you have, making more brine as needed. For variety, adjust the amount of garlic and dill to your taste, try different kinds of vinegars or add red pepper flakes to some of the jars for spicy pickles.

Enjoy!

3rd Generation 49er Fan in the Making

Sara comes from a long line of 49er fans. My dad (Gramps) snuck into Kezar Stadium as a youngin' in San Francisco. I grew up watching the 49ers during their glory years in the 1980s. Now, Sara is watching them! She watched her first game this afternoon. I think she was rather impressed with their victory when all was said and done!

Tomato Harvest!

Brian and I finally were able to harvest some tomatoes from our 2 plants (early girl and orange grape tomatoes) last night. It has been a very cool summer, so everything seems to be later than normal. We have already gotten a couple of zucchinis, but these are the first of the tomatoes. There are lots more green ones on the vines, so I'm sure well be getting more soon!

Blueberry Crisp

Yummy! Brian loves blueberries. When we were in the hospital with Sara, Brian's favorite food from the hospital cafeteria was a delicious blueberry crisp. So, when we went to the Farmer's Market this weekend and saw fresh blueberries, we had to get some and make a crisp.

I googled Blueberry Crisp and a number of recipes came up. I decided on this one from the Food Network. It was easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. The only changes I made was to 1/2 the recipe. I served warm from the oven with French Vanilla ice cream. Yumm!

Ingredients
•6 cups blueberries, rinsed and lightly dried
•1 tablespoon cornstarch
•1/4 cup sugar
•Pinch salt

Topping Mixture:
•1/2 cup all-purpose flour
•1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
•1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
•1/4 cup sugar
•1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•3/4 cup chopped pecans
•1/2 stick room temperature unsalted butter, cubed

•Whipped cream, for topping
•Ice cream, for topping

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Toss blueberries, cornstarch, sugar and a pinch of salt together in a bowl.
Combine flour, oats, brown and white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pecans in a bowl. Add butter and pinch into chunks. Mix until it looks crumbly.
Add the blueberries into a 2-quart baking dish. Top evenly with the crumb mixture. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream and whipped cream.


Source: adapted from Food Network

Sara goes to the Farmer's Market

I realized that we haven't taken any pictures of Sara this week.....bad parents we are! Brian went back to work on Monday and so we are settling into a new routine. Sara is a really good baby, making it easy for mommy and daddy to take her places.

Sara had a busy week starting with a trip to the doctor for her 2 week check on Monday. She passed with flying colors and weighs in at 7lbs 9oz now. We ran a bunch of errands on Wednesday and visited with Marlo and her mom. Cooper and Carter love little Sara! Friday included a drive to Tracy to introduce Sara to my co-workers and then a visit to Grammie and Grandpas. Sara loved laying on her quilt on the lawn watching the trees. Then, on Saturday, we attended Cooper's soccer game and went out to breakfast.

Today, Brian was home, so we had a lazy day. It was super nice outside, so we decided to take Sara to the Farmer's Market. We needed fruit and veggies for the week, so we picked up peaches, blueberries, nectarines, corn, cucumbers and some delicious chocolate chip cookies. I'm going to make a blueberry crisp for dessert tonight with the blueberries....I'll share the recipe, if it turns out good!

Here's Sara and Brian at the market:

Sneak Peak...Sara's Newborn Pictures

Can you handle the cuteness???

Jenny just sent out a couple of sneaks....should have the rest by Monday. I can't wait to see them! I love what I see so far.....

This one just melts my heart....my 2 greatest loves!

Pasta With Sausage and Spinach

Do you have a recipe that you seem to make over and over again? I don't have many, because there's just too many good recipes out there to get stuck in a rut. But, I found this gem in the March 2007 issue of Real Simple magazine. I love it because it's so versatile. The recipe originally called for gnochhi, but I like it even better with other pasta shapes.

Other variations I have tried are:

• Adding fat-free 1/2 and 1/2 instead of the pasta water for a creamy version
  
• adding whatever veggies I have on-hand (zucchini, bell peppers, etc)
  
• putting in a can of drained diced tomatoes or fresh grape tomatoes
  

I urge you to try this....it's tasty and simple!

Pasta With Sausage and Spinach
Ingredients
Pasta shape of your choice; penne works well
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed (I like the Hot Italian Sausage)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 5-ounce bag baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated Parmesan, plus more for garnishing

Directions
1.Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
2.Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, crumbling it with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
3.Add the garlic, spinach, salt, and pepper and cook, tossing frequently, until the spinach wilts, about 3 minutes.
4.Add the drained gnocchi, the reserved cooking liquid, and the Parmesan and toss. Divide among individual bowls and sprinkle with additional Parmesan.

Splish, Splash...Sara taking a bath!

Sara loved her 1st real bath. We weren't sure what to expect, but Sara loved being in the water. She didn't fuss at all until it was time to take her out!

Loving her thumb....even in the bath!

Still loving her thumb....all wrapped up in her towel

First US IVF baby has her own...

I thought this was very interesting....

First IVF baby has her own

I must admit, at first I took offense to the "normal way" comment. To me "normal" can be construed as really insensitive but then I remembered what Brian and I went thru to have Sara, and many others who pursue IVF, wasn't NORMAL in any frame or fashion.

I don't think anyone going thru infertility treatments leaves from being wanded at baseline ultrasounds thinking, "Wow, that was a really normal experience".

Or while shooting up with crazy amounts of hormones, after excusing ourselves momentarily from a business meeting, look at our reflection in the not-so-sanitary work bathroom and think, "This is incredibly normal to be doing this!".

The one thing I begged God to "do" to me through every step of IF is make me "normal". That word is very common in our journey and not because we feel innately connected with it!

I think the one thing everyone can agree on is that this process makes us feel as UN-normal as humanly possible with the pokes, prods, invasions of our bodies, procedures, surgeries, drugs, UN-normal hormonal swings, bawling fits, hopes dashed, manic crazy thoughts, and then just more worries after our version of conception worked.

I think she just chose a commonplace word that most people would connect with.

Sara at Home

Sara's been home for 1 week already! Time sure does fly with a newborn in the house. Sara is thriving and doing great. She surpassed her birth weight on Tuesday; she's a whopping 7 pounds 1 oz now! Brian and I are crazy about her and are joyously overwhelmed.

Here's what we've been up to the last week, in between changing diapers, doing laundry, burping, and staring that this miracle:

Wrapping daddy around her little finger: (It's hard to tell but there's a pink VW bug on her t-shirt. It was a gift from family friends Robert and Gloria Law...so perfect!)

Hanging out on the sofa (aka: baby central) with Belle:

Sleeping like an angel thru her 1st photo shoot:

Sucking on her thumb just like mama used to do:

Walks with Belle:

Lots of Visitors:
Of course, they were many more, but I forgot to take pictures....opppsss!

Heather

My dad

Brian, Ally, and Dawson

My mom

Welcome to the World, Sara Grace

Create a free picture collage It's hard for me to believe that little Sara is 11 days old already! This time last week, we learned that we were going into the hospital Friday night to start inducing labor. I was a bundle of nerves and excitement. Friday seemed to drag on. I met with the doctor in the morning to review the process and what to expect. My parents came by to pick up Belle, and then Brian and I headed out to the hospital for our 9pm induction. In the parking garage at the hospital, reality hit me. We were finally going to meet our precious little miracle that we have been waiting for. I started to cry as we got out of the car, for I knew the next time I was in the car, I was going to be someone's mommy and Brian was going to be a daddy! Our nurse was waiting for us when we arrived. She showed us to Labor and Deliver Room 7. I thought it was a good, lucky room. We got settled, reviewed paperwork, and got an IV started.

Pitocin was started at 10pm and so did the waiting game. I started having mild contractions around midnight and started getting somewhat uncomfortable around 3am. I was still waiting for the "big ones". Brian and I got very little sleep that night, since my monitor didn't like to stay on, my nurse came in frequently to up my dose of pitocin, and the trauma helicoptor kept landing. We also experienced a fire drill that night. So, definately not a "quiet night". The nurse said the L&D unit was busy as well and we joked about the full moon that was occuring.

As the sun came up, the nurse checked me again. I was making slow progress, but still making progress. My pitocin was upped again and my water broke around 8:30. Dr. Wells came to see how I was doing. He joked that I was making his job easy since my water broke on it's own. He hoped this was going to speed things up. He placed another monitor that could measure the strenght of my contractions to make sure that I was in a good, strong contraction pattern. Then we waited some more!

By 4pm, I still hadn't made much progress. Dr. Wells and I decided that it was time to do a c-section after 18 hours on pitocin and only progressing to 4cm. Everything became a whirlwind at this point. I was in the OR by 4:30pm and our precious little one was born at 4:57pm. Dr. Wells lifted the baby up so Brian could make his big announcement. We had a little girl! Then, I heard the most beautiful sound in the world, her sweet cries!

Brian went with the nurses as the cleaned up our little girl and he got to cut the cord. Since Dr. Wells had been predicting a big baby and was joking about it before starting the c-section, the nurse had to weigh her twice because no one could believe what a little bundle she was. This time is really hazy for me. I had developed the shakes really bad and the anethelogist had given me some medication to help that made me really sleepy. I remember hearing her, but don't really remember seeing her.

After being in recovery for an hour or so, I was finally wheeled up to my room and Brian and our daughter came in shortly after with the nurse. The nurse handed me this perfect 6 pound 14 ounce package of pure joy. In that moment, how I look at the world was forever changed. I am a mother, Brian is a father, and we are a family of three. We have all that we have waited for, and I couldn't ask for more!

Meeting my daughter for the first time: