What Happened to Our Photogenicness? Photogeneticism? Photogenetics? Photogeneticocity?

"Hey Justin, let's take picture of ourselves like we used to, when it was just us."

"Okay."

"Uh, next time don't lean forward. We look like an eclipse."

"Oh. Okay."

"Stop messing it up. Smile."

"So demanding."

"Now we're just getting squinty. Let's go to church."

The Swing and 6 Months Old

Sarah tried out a big swing by herself last week. If this is what her infant swing was like, maybe she would have stayed in it for longer than 2 seconds.

And she is now 6 months old. She slept through most of her check-up yesterday. The shots were a rude awakening. She is just 13 lbs 2 oz. That puts her in the 3rd percentile. I hope she doesn't try to pick any fights because the odds are not in her favor.

Sweet Little Lady

Here's Sarah with her very own Easter basket. Well the basket is hers; Justin and I ate the candy. Okay, it was mostly me.

I'm working on getting Sarah to sit up. See the progress we're making?

And some cute jumping shots. Note the drool on the chin.

And note the too cute grin and silly hat.

My Two Little Goof Balls

Sarah discussing linear algebra with her dad. Please judge me, not her, on her outfit.

This picture is a little blurry but I love their smiles.

And Sarah with puppy dog eyes in case you've ever wondered what that looks like.

Officially a Gerber Baby

After weeks of begging me with her eyes and reaching for my spoon or fork, Sarah finally got to eat real food. Confession: I used to eat rice cereal or "baby rice" all growing up and probably will again now that I own a box. Put enough sugar in it and it's delicious. The runny, sugarless kind I made for Sarah doesn't look appetizing. Anyway... here are some pictures and footage of the event.

Buzzing Sarah - The Movie

Here's my first attempt at video editing since graduation. I knew that degree in broadcasting would come in handy someday.

Attack of the Hat

I put Sarah's beloved pink hat on her yesterday and had a little photoshoot. Who knew oversized sunwear would make her look so sophisticated.

I looked down for just a second to scroll through the many photos I had just taken, and when I looked up, I saw this.

5 Months Old

Sarah is 5 months old today. She was pretty excited when I told her.

But she was confused and sad that there would be no cake and candles. (I don't get it either.)

And didn't believe me that she couldn't eat any even if there were.

Highchairs, Hair Flowers, Swings and Fingers

Since Sarah doesn't like to be excluded from the action, we decided to bring her up to our level and bust out her highchair. She's still a little small for it. Do they make booster seats for highchairs? But she loves being up high and playing with her toys.

This video cracks me up. She was trying so hard to be mad but couldn't stop sucking on her turtle's head.

And for various reasons, Justin and I haven't joined the trend of big flowers on baby heads. Thus, this may be the only time you'll see one on her. I have to say she looks adorable and she got a big kick out of looking at herself in the mirror with this on.

And here we are on the swings. Boy am I grateful for spring.

And Sarah will still suck on anything but a binky. Oh well.

The Many Adventures of Sarah the Pooh

One of the best things about being a parent is that you get to relive the best parts of your childhood. Example Staying up until 11 pm watching Winnie the Pooh by yourself: lame. Staying up with your not-so-tired 4-month-old watching Winnie the Pooh: Good parenting and good fun.

And of course, Tigger is her favorite. She jumps on my lap right along with him.

Attached Parenting

While waiting at the doc's office earlier this week, I read an article about Attached Parenting (parenting style where you hold your baby all that you can and see to their needs before they cry, etc). After reading this, I realized, I am one; not because I decided to be but because I have a baby that apparently read an article on Attached Babying in the premortal realm. Sarah is, to put it simply, a high maintenance baby. So much so, there are times that I look at her crying, fussy face and say, "get used to being an only child." She's not a difficult baby, just not "chill" like I had naively dreamt of. She's not complicated either- "Hold me and I'm happy. And if you're not holding me, be where I can see you or hear you, although your minutes are numbered."

Early on I learned to split up my daily activities in 3 categories, Things I can do while holding Sarah (who needs 2 hands to make dinner/brush teeth/put on socks?), Things I can do while feeding (such as write on blog) and Things I can do while Sarah is sleeping (the shortest list because she's also a short napper).

But things are better now. I had been told by my sister and mother that something magical happens around 4 months old--babies just mellow out. Although some evenings around 3 months I didn't believe them, they were right--Sarah is pretty chill these days.

But have I helped her mellow out or has she trained me to be "attached"? On any given day I can be seen doing at least one of the following. (Compared to a month ago where I could be seeing doing one of these things ALL DAY LONG.)

1) Making dinner while singing "Old McDonald" so many times we've left the farm searching for animals. What does a kangaroo say?

2) Singing "Pokey Bear" while fastening her carseat buckles, getting her dressed or any other activity that eats into her play time. For some reason life is less scary if you're hearing a song about a bear that likes to be slow.

3) Watching TV in closed caption while Leona Lewis is blasting through our surround sound. For some reason, loud music is calming to her. So better than the CC on because I can't hear over Sarah's screams.

Think that sounds crazy? The craziest thing is that even on the worst days, I don't want her to change. She's just this wiggly ball of energy and curiosity that I don't want to hold back. Sarah is Sarah and I love her for it. Am I praying that my next baby will be a little more chill? Yes.

I Wear My Life On My Sleeve

I told Justin yesterday that instead of asking how my day was, he can just look at my shirt and get a pretty good idea.

My new attitude about snot/slobber/spit-up on my clothes: If I'm not getting my picture taken or going on an interview, I don't care.

4 Months Old

Sarah turned 4 months last Friday and today was her check-up. She is now 11 lbs, 14 oz and 24 inches long. She's just a little squirt which is a blessing since she still likes to be carried around most of the day. The doc says she's perfect. I concur.

Living La Vida Sarah

Yes, Sarah does more than play in her jumper. She also scream sings and bats at a bag of corn nuts. It's so funny how excited she gets when I take her over to her jumper. Excitement or frantic worry - one or the other. She plays best when I sit and watch her or better yet, when I hold her next to the jumper so she can reach the vegetables.

And if you notice, she is sporting a bib most days now. She has a never-ending supply of saliva. I'll get a picture of her bubble beard and post it one of these days.

I was excited to show this picture to Justin. His reaction was, "She has a big head." I said, "No, she looks just like you." Potato Pototto.

Sarah Loves to Jump

Di thought this video was too long to put on the blog, so I did it myself. She maybe right, but oh well, I think it just captures Sarah's excitement better than the other one. -- Justin

Why I love Valentine's Day

I can finally finish off this bag of Mini Eggs I've been rationing since last Easter. Good-bye conversation hearts, hello jelly beans

If you've ever met Sarah, you know she hates (atleast) two things: holding still and being bored. Bring in the jumperoo! Our Valentine's date consisted of tacos and Babies R Us. We were laughing so hard because she is so tiny! We had to put towels in the seat so she could get her arms out (forget about reaching the toys) and blankets on the floor so she could jump. I figure she'll be walking before she hits the 25 lb weight limit.

And I love this face. She doesn't need rescuing as her eyes may suggest.

My Little Bear

The first ten minutes of Sarah's day consist of stretching and grunting like a bear coming out of hibernation. Now she has the appropriate outfit.

The Cutest Face In The Whole World

I may be biased. But only a little. (Editor's note: This post started with just one picture but I couldn't resist adding more. I've got 6 others of her smiling but I'll refrain. These are the best ones.)

And Sarah has just started to laugh. Talk about the best sound in the whole world! As soon as we can capture that on film, I'll post that too.

I chopped and dyed.

Now Sarah can't rip out my hair. She's okay with that since now it doesn't get in her face all the time either. The darkness was an impulse decision made in the chair but I don't have hair remorse or anything.

Try as we might

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it's best to keep your child from watching TV until they are two years old. It's best for their cognitive development and verbal skills or something. So we are trying really hard to keep from entertaining Sarah with the TV (which is unfortunate because nothing could be more efficient than the tube). She catches glimpses of it while I'm bouncing her around and she is often unintentionally held facing the TV. But as tempting as it is, we haven't sat her in front of the TV so we can eat dinner with both hands, sitting, and without her screaming just yet. That doesn't mean she hasn't tried to stare at the musical colorful box in our living room. Yesterday I laid her down at the base of our TV stand to take her picture. The TV was on and this is her sneaking a peek. It's like a drug. The more we keep it from her, the more curious she is about it.

We are also trying to dress Sarah in something besides pajamas for church. Since we moved to 1 o'clock church, I don't anticipate her sleeping through Sacrament meeting so I can't use the "she doesn't get out of her carseat" excuse anymore. I don't think she likes dresses. She's dang cute in it though. And she better get used to it. She's got a few others she needs to wear before she grows too big for them.

I was trying to get a smile on camera. I got it!

And I just thought she looked funny with her hood on in her carseat. She wasn't amused.