4-5 Inches

 

Surprise!

Sarah got a new haircut.

(G'mas... please don't kill me) 

Yup, it is short... but oh so fun and cute.

Her hair used to be down to her lower back, almost to her lil' bum.

Not any more. 

Want to know what Sarah's favorite part is?

Shaking her head to make her hair fly out. 

I'm constantly seeing her toss her hair and hold her head differently. 

She really enjoys it. 

Here is a picture (not the best) from a couple of weeks ago to show you how long it was.

It has been a real challenge brushing Sarah's hair out. She is so active, that by the end of the day, all of the bouncing, flipping and rolling around she has done turns her hair into quite the rats nest. 

So, Saturday, after brushing out a terrible mess, we decided it would be a lot easier if we took off 4-5 inches of Sarah's hair.

Here's a lock of evidence.

I'm sort of having a hard time with it.

I love it and think it is so cute,

but... I don't think I should have done such a drastic change while still surging with post-baby hormones.

There have been tears... lots of tears (hidden in my room so Sarah won't see, of course)

She is so darling though, it'll just take a little adjusting for mom.

We are both very excited about having less tangles.

Sarah really loves it.

Today at church she ran up to everyone and asked them how they liked her new hair.

She was so excited to show her friends.

Oh, I love this sweet, sweet girl.

Short hair 'n all.

One Month

Guess who is one month today?

I can hardly believe it, can you?

Every day Zak is becoming more and more alert. 

I'm just dying for when he starts to smile back at me. Anyday now, any day.

He is starting to fill out his {big} little body more.

A little roll on his thigh.

His forearm has one too.

He still keeps his arms in the fetal position, most of the time.

Especially when he has his plug.

Oh, but he is still so tiny.

Love his little feet.

Happy One Month lil' Zakster!

Oh, and don't you just love this lil' quilt?

I think it is gorgeous.

My dear, sweet friend Cathy made it for me. 

She is pretty much amazing. 

Both of our families were stationed in Ft. Benning, Georgia at the same time.

I haven't seen Cathy in, mmm... 20ish years.

We've gotten back in touch through facebook and blogs.

It is so fun to see her sweet little family and be back in touch with her.

When she found out I was having a little boy, she watched what I was pinning on Pinterest, and made me a quilt in the colors I LOVE and a quilt pattern I had pinned.

She also threw in some adorable drawstring bags I had pinned as well.

What a wonderful friend!
(I'm so undeserving!)

So, everyone can ooo and aaah over this beautiful gift.

She is quite the quilter. I'm totally jealous of her mad skills.

She even pieced together some of the back too.

I love it. 

You're the BEST Cathy!

Can't wait for our next visit to Utah so I can thank you in person.

Poor Abby

So many of you already know about this... but I haven't told the blog... so here we go.

The last weekend in January we made a temple trip, blogged about HERE. 

On the long drive home Abby wasn't her usual perky self. I was assuming it was because she was tired from traveling. The girls were up late, and I was exhausted, so on the drive home we decided it would be best for me to stay home (although, secretly in my head, my plan was to bounce out of bed early Sunday morning, get the girls and I dressed and ready for church...um, yeah. That didn't happen.).

It ended up being a good thing because Abby became very fevered all Sunday long. I was bracing myself with throw up buckets never more than an arms length away. But she never got sick to her stomach. Well, she did throw up once, with perfect timing I might add. I had answered my door and was trapped talking to a solicitor. Abby walked up, fussing and insisted I hold her. Just as I picked her up, she gagged and then... yup. All over me and the door. I'll never forget how big the eyes of that solicitor got. Makes me laugh to think about it. It was the perfect way out of talking to her. hehe.

Anyway. Abby's fever persisted several days.

Finally on Thursday morning (the 2nd) we took her in to urgent care. 

No, Ryan took her in as I went to drop Sarah off at preschool.

Poor, poor Abby. 

They had to put a catheter in to get a urine sample (so wish she was potty trained, *sigh*).

I'm so glad it was Ryan and not me. I get weepy just thinking about how terrifying that must have been for her. 

We had to wait several days to hear back if the culture was positive for a UTI, but started her on antibiotics immediately. 

Test results came in and it was positive.

No. Fun.

Although, there is a plus side to everything. Yes, Abby is a little more cranky than usual, and has had a lot of rough moments. But, for the most part she has been just tired. Will put herself down for naps and then go to bed with ease as well. 

See exhibit A:

Abby will find a pillow and curl up and crash. It has made this transition from 2 to 3 quite nice when she is sleeping most of the day. Kind of feel guilty for enjoying her recovery time so much. 

Sorry you've been feeling so yucky... hopefully soon you'll be back to your bouncy, twirly, giggly self.

On a completely different note.

I found this really cool thing on Pinterest.

You empty the contents of a glowstick into a jar with glitter dust and it looks like fairies in a jar.

My eyes sparkled at the sight of it and I fell in love... it was so magical.

Must recreate.

See...

well that was the picture some one photoshopped posted on line.

Liars.

*hmph*

We tried it ourselves today. 

These are the results we got.

A glowing slime jar. 

Doesn't look magical at all.

*sad face*

AND

I'm a bit concerned that Sarah and I are going to turn into Ninja Turtles or something.

Sarah would love that... She's really into Ninjas.

Oh well. We got pretty excited about it. 

Sarah is still too little to know how much of a let down this really was. 

Dirty Rotten Pinterest Liars. 

*Hmfph*

Sunday Best

Today was the Zakster's first day at church.

Didn't he look like such a stud?

I think I'm going to enjoy dressing this lil' fella.

Sharing

I turned around to find Sarah had shared her favorite toy {of the day}.

What a sweet big sister she is turning out to be.

Hotel Photoshoot

Had some time to kill while Ryan was at the temple.

So what better time to take advantage of good lighting and a happy, alert baby.

Hmm... will they be blue?

Abby has taken more of an interest in Zak lately.

Maybe it is because she sees how Sarah is constantly smothering him and wants to be like big sister.

Regardless... I threw her in for some shots.

These next two make me laugh because she kept sticking her fingers in his eyes and nose.

Love this.

Hehe... cross-eyed babies. So cute.

Looking at these pictures now, I can see how she was starting to not feel so well in her little eyes.

Poor lil' Abby.

Being so strong.

This isn't my favorite picture, but I love how you can see he chubby cheeks!

Gotta remember this hair.

Such a sweet, sweet lil' guy.

Good Weather --> Off to DC

Well, apparently being a little stir crazy results in a last minute trip to DC at our house. 

I know, some people think I'm crazy for going less than three weeks post baby, but really, our girls do awesome in the car, plus they get to go swimming and have some activities to look forward to. So going on a road trip is much easier than dealing with whiny kiddos at home all weekend.

So... here is our trip.

Pittsburgh can be terrible in the winters. Cold, icy and gloomy. Very, VERY gloomy.

So when Ryan saw that the weather was amazing last weekend we jumped on the chance to make a overnight temple trip.

We've given up on the idea of driving down and back in one day, it is too long and hard.

So to encourage ourselves to make it to the temple we budget in four hotel stays a year so we have little trips to look forward to. It has worked. The girls LOVE it!

We got off late (mommy and Zak had a rough night and couldn't get out of bed), so I didn't think I was going to make it to a session Friday evening. So we just checked into the hotel to let the girls swim.

Here they are all excited and ready to go.

I told Abby to stand by Sarah and Daddy for a picture, and she was so excited about swimming that she laid one on Ryan. 

All set and ready to go.

Except for one tiny problem.

Some other kid had a little accident in the pool.

Yuck!

So, the hotel had it closed for the rest of the night to get it cleaned up.
The girls were bummed, but it ended up being great because I was able to hurry and change and make it to the last session at the temple that night. It was so nice to get away and have a little time to myself.

The next morning Ryan got up and went to a session in the morning and then afterwards we all went swimming. Or rather, the girls wen swimming with Daddy and I stayed at the side of the pool with the Zakster.

My little fishies.

The girls had so much fun with Ryan.

They are water babies, just like their parents.

Since the sun was out and it was so nice, we had a really hard time just leaving for home, so we crazily decided to hit up the Natural History museum before we left. 

Abby has missed out on the carousel the previous trips, so we had to let her have a turn to ride.

I love this picture of Ryan.

Even if it is blurry.

Abby had a ball. She loved it!

Yay for the {over-priced} carousel ride!

We begged the girls for some pictures in front of the national monument.

Here is what we got.

Did a lot better once we asked for some silly pictures.

Abby must think that she is making the silliest face ever.
Just stood there giggling with her eyes tightly shut.
I think it is funny how Sarah looks like the monument is coming out of her head.

I wish I had video of this last one. 

Abby was twirling circles and Sarah kept bringing her finger to her nose to make herself go crosse-eyed. It was really cute watching them perform for the camera.

It was a nice little get away. I was exhausted on Sunday, but it was so worth it. 

Oh, and I scored an awesome deal while we were down there. 

I had to run into Target to get some Desitin for Zak.

Right next to the baby cremes they had an entire aisle of baby items on clearance.

Including a Sit 'n Stand stroller.

On sale for $70 bucks!
I've been wanting to get one forever.

I had a gift card so I ended up getting the stroller for $35!!! 

What. A. Steal!

I haven't seen one that cheap on Craigslist, and this was brand new!

Wahoo!

I'd say that was our instant blessing for going to the temple. 

I'll take it!

Thanks Ry for arranging our little temple trip. 

I sure needed it.

Love you!