Welcome to Sara's updates page
The girl's name Sara \s(a)-ra\ is a variant of Sarah (Hebrew), and the
meaning of Sara is "princess". See also Mersera and Sarina. From Think Baby Names.
Sara is also a Czech name, and her name day is October 9th. Read more
about name days here.
December 1, 2008 - Quick update, Sara has grown a LOT in the last month.
She is now 7kg (15.43lb), and just one month ago she was 13lb. No wonder
she's been eating so much! She got some immunizations today, and Hana was
with us. Hana said "oh no, she'll get holes in her legs!" but I told her
it would only hurt for a minute. Thankfully Sara didn't cry that long!
The doctor also gave us the go ahead to start her on solid foods, so
she'll be eating with us at the table by Christmas. I wonder if she'll be
eating turkey yet. ;) Sara is 5 months, two weeks and 5 days old. She
hasn't rolled over on her own since November 19th, but she tries. Right
now she's too busy watching Hana walk around to want to roll over!
November 19, 2008, Sara is 5 months and one week old
Sara rolled over!
It's very exciting to announce that Sara rolled over today around 4:00pm. I was checking my email and heard a funny noise coming from her, so I went and checked and she looked like this.
Poor girl, she didn't know how to get her arm under her. She's rolled
over about three times since then, but only managed to get her arm out
once. I also took a video and posted it here to YouTube!
November 18, 2008, Sara is 5 months and 6 days old
What has Sara done since Halloween? Well, quite a bit in terms of motor development! She has recently discovered her toes, and will grab them occasionally.
She will now grab things with both hands, bringing them together to attempt to shove whatever she's grabbed into her mouth, even successfully getting her soother into her mouth once in a while. Of course, she forgets to let go, so she ends up pulling it out again.
She has not rolled over yet, but is getting closer and closer each day. She has turned about 30 degrees when left on the floor, and will often end up on her side, but just doesn't quite get that arm out from under herself yet. Here she is with her sister, Auntie Erin and cousin Hana.
She's still quite a serious baby, and doesn't have fits and fits of giggles, but will giggle a few times before ending up in hiccups.
She's drinking mostly from a bottle these days, since Mommy went away to Newark, NJ for another IEEE meeting. We're hoping to get back to full time nursing, but it's a struggle. Hopefully we can make it work. I know that we're all looking forward to beginning solid foods in about 3 weeks. I just can't believe she'll be 6 months old so soon! Time is really flying by.
Sara loves being read to, playing with her toys on the floor and especially watching her older sister. She has to have pretty good reflexes, as Hana rarely stays still for long, and Sara has to move constantly to keep her in sight. It's amazing how she watches Hana!
Another milestone was when we brought up the old high chair, dusted it off and Sara sat in it for the first time. She now sits in it routinely when we're having dinner or lunch together, as a way of getting ready for solid food.
Hana shows Sara how it's done.
Daddy also wanted to see if she could figure out a spoon...
Another milestone! Yes, she is in the exersaucer.
We brought that one up, dusted it off and let Kaitlyn play in it, then Sara tried it out too. She's not so into the "red flower" as Hana was, but loves to chew on the Bee and spin the toy.
She likes to look in the mirror when she can catch a glimpse of herself in it.
I think Daddy might like it more than Sara though, as somewhere for her to go so he can relax.
She loves to be read to, and I'll often put her in the bed with Hana when I'm reading good night stories to Hana.
For the most part she's a talker - she loves to babble at anyone and everyone. She makes a "huuuuuuuu huuuuuhhhhh" sound a lot, and then a loud inhale. I'm not sure who she's imitating, but it must be someone.
Last night she especially enjoyed imitating Hana and Mommy. We'd raise our arms up, and she'd do the same back at us. Hana was so excited whenever Sara would copy her! I can only imagine that eventually Hana will come to me complaining of how Sara is copying her, but that's a little ways away.
Since I wrote last we've had lots of snow and cold weather, but Sara remains warm and snuggly inside her carseat cover, hat and Winnie the Pooh fleecy. I hope she'll stay in her carseat for the rest of the winter and not out grow it, as I don't want to have to dress two kids in snow suits!
We've also made the switch back to cloth diapers. I don't miss the smell of those disposibles before they're taken out, that's for sure! I think it's also going to help my upper arm strength as I schlepp that full diaper pail down the stairs to wash it. It makes me long for a washing machine that had an auto-spin before wash cycle instead of having to run back downstairs when I remember I put them on to spin, but that's what I've got! At least I don't live in an apartment and have to run back out down the hall to do laundry!
Of course, sometimes Daddy doesn't want to be bothered with a diaper at all, and recruits Hana to help him show Sara what to do.
We held a shower for Auntie Erin and cousin Kaitlyn on November 2, so here are a few pictures of Sara and Kaitlyn at the shower. They were both excellent little girls and enjoyed being held by their families!
Being held by Grandma Mary
Visiting with second cousin Lindsay Reimer!
Playing with Granny Janet
Sitting with cousin Natasha.
Sitting with cousin Kaitlyn, post party.
And just some pictures to share:
In the hallway at home
Standing on Daddy's tummy
October 31, 2008
See Sara giggling
here! You can also watch her beside Hana during my Halloween
interview. Plus see her in her cute costume.
Happy Halloween from a little Gingerbread Woman!
October 24, 2008:
For the most part, Sara is happy and is always looking around...
But when I take too long getting her fed, she can look like this!
Since it's getting colder outside, we brought out Hana's old snow suit to
see if it'd fit. It's a little small, so I'm not sure it'll make it
through the winter!
Sara has successfully attended two new mom circuit training classes and
slept through them both in her car seat. It's great for me, since we
bring strollers to class with us and use them in the exercises. Yesterday
we attended out first Pilates for two class. I knew from having Hana that
it was important to prepare for it, so I've been playing with Sara on the
floor just leaving her surrounded by toys. So when it came to the Pilates
class yesterday, she had no problem lying on the floor looking at all the
other moms and babies! She didn't enjoy some of the exercises where I put
her up in the air or on my tummy, but she did like being kissed while I
did push-ups over her (knee push-ups, of course!).
Sara's schedule has changed these last few days. She's been tired and
going to bed before 9pm, and then I wake her up at 10:30pm to feed her,
then she sleeps to between 6 and 7am, then back for a nap an hour later,
then she's up for three hours or so, and has a long afternoon nap, then is
up most of the night until between 8 and 9pm! I'm not sure what to do if
she goes down at 8pm, but I'm waking her up to feed her again, because I
really don't want to get up at 3am!
Today I went through her clothes again and put a lot of under 3 month
clothes away, and brought out the 3-6month and even 6 month clothes. I
have to go in the basement and get the 6 month clothes out and start
washing them and putting them away. It's funny, some clothes I put away
without her wearing them, because they're the wrong season, and I can't
put her in a short sleeved top in the fall when it's been so cold outside!
Fortunately Hana received a lot of beautiful sweaters, so we can use them
for Sara.
No teeth yet, but we do have an awful lot of drool. Sara doesn't spit up
much, not even once a day on average, but her sleepers are always soaked
with drool.
She giggles once in a very rare while, and I have yet to catch it on
video. I have lots of video of her talking, so I'll be sure to post that
soon. She loves to be pulled to a standing position using her arms, and
likes to stand on my lap and look over my shoulder at the fish tank and
bookshelves behind the couch. She really loves to watch Hana run around
and around. Hana also likes to help, she puts diaper cream on and will
very gently (and with supervision!) give Sara her soother. Sara has
really started grabbing and chewing on toys now, and enjoys the Lamaze
butterfly that Hana used to like so much.
Today she also was chewing on a
wrist wrattle that's a little elephant that her Grandma Mary gave her.
She was so intent on it that she turned on her side and was so close to
rolling over! She hasn't yet, but she's been super close, and if her arm
just moves up or down out of the way I'm sure she'll be over. She's
behind her cousin here, because Kaitlyn is an accomplished roller already.
That's OK with me, it means Sara stays where I put her!
Here's a picture with Kaitlyn on her tummy and Hana and Sara!
The biggest news is that Sara and Hana stayed with their Granny Janet,
Grandpa Brian, Grandma Mary, Auntie Erin, cousin Kaitlyn, and Auntie Gwen
and Adam for five days while Julian and Dawn went to Minneapolis for an
IEEE conference from October 9 to 13th. It turns out that they were both
good as gold. Hana was
super good and listened to her family, and Sara took a bottle and napped
with only a few peeps. Erin said it was exhausing because it was like
having twins, but she enjoyed it. Mary and Erin were on their own while
Granny Janet had some big catering jobs, and I think they were both a
little nervous about having three kids between them, but they made it
though! I think they even had all the kids napping at the same time in
the afternoons! Julian and I want to thank them very much, because it was
wonderful to get away. They were even brave enough to go and visit Great
Grandma Honey and all the family on the farm! I don't have any pictures
yet from the stay, but I'm sure someone will give me some.
It's hard to believe Sara is 4 months, 1 week and 5 days old already. She
is just the happiest, contentest little baby I know, and it looks like we
have been lucky twice with happy babies that sleep through the night.
It's a rare rare night that I have to get up before 6am after going to bed
at 11pm. I hope it continues this way, as we're having lots of fun. If
you have some patience, go to and scroll down to
April's entries to see what life was like with Hana when she was Sara's
age!
Sara and mommy.
Sara.
Oct 2, 2008: Just a quick update with a picture! Happy Fall!
And here's a picture of her with her big sister:
August 7, 2008
Sara and I are home alone! Julian has returned to work and Hana is back
at daycare with Grandma Viola. So our routine has set at a last feeding
around 10:30pm, then off to bed. Sara then sleeps to 5 or 6, wakes up to
feed and goes back to sleep until between 10am and noon. I'm getting more
sleep than when I was working full time!
Sara started really smiling a while ago and hasn't stopped. Now I'm just
waiting for her first laugh, but she is making a lot of noises, cooing and
gurgling. She especially loves to "talk" when I'm talking on the phone to
her Auntie Erin. What's funny is that Sara's cousin, Kaitlyn also loves
to talk when Auntie Erin is on the phone, so Auntie Erin and I think Sara
and Kaitlyn are talking to each other!
Sara is a really good baby and so far I'm doing well on my own at home,
which is great. I've managed to even do some baking and making dinner
each night for Hana and Julian. We'll see how long this lasts, but I'm
enjoying it so far.
I can't believe that Sara is 8 weeks old! She's growing a lot,
and I'm going to try and get out and get her weighed to see how much she
weighs now. I'm also very glad that she only spits up maybe once a day.
Of course, yesterday it was all over Julian's shirt as he was about to
leave for work, but I noticed and was able to get him to change before he
left. I'm sure it's nothing new at a work where dad's have kids, but I
didn't want him to smell all day!
Here's a quick mini-update on August 11th, Sara weighs 10lb 14.5oz!
Auntie Erin holds Sara and Kaitlyn. They're just 9 days apart!
Hana holds Sara. This is when we travelled to pick Hana up from Granny Janet's house after Kaitlyn was born.
Sara takes a nap on Daddy's tummy.
We're teaching Sara to use the computer early. Here she's talking via webcam to her Grandma Jarmila.
Sara.
Sara.
Sara yawning.
Our cheap bassinet, with Sara sleeping in it.
A big yawn!
Sara's wide-eyed look!
Sara looking at Mommy.
Sara's smile, just starting to show!
Here's Sara enjoying lying outside on a blanket at Ballet in the Park.
A BIG smile for Granny Janet!
I'm sure this won't be the last time we dress Sara and Kaitlyn the same.
Auntie Gwen holding Kaitlyn and Sara.
Sara was happy here, so we left her to sleep.
Great Grandma Honey holds Sara for the first time.
Sara "talks" to Mommy.
Great Grandma Honey holds Sara and Kaitlyn.
Sara on a walk.
Looks to me like Sara wants to interview someone.
Kaitlyn and Sara after a bath. They just love lying on Grandpa Brian's bed and looking at the ceiling fan!
Daddy's waiting for Mommy to take Sara.
Sara enjoys the swing!
The first time we've all gone out for dinner together as a family!
The first time we've all gone out for dinner together as a family!
Sara smiles at Daddy.
A BIG smile for Daddy!
Do we look alike?
Sara on her bouncy chair.
Sara on her bouncy chair.
Sara on her bouncy chair.
Sara.
What?
Sara and Kaitlyn.
Updated July 27, 2008
Sara is sleeping at least 5 or 6 hours each night, so we're finally
feeling a little bit more human again. Hana is doing very well
as a big sister and is enjoying being home with Daddy and Mommy.
We've been hanging out the last 2 weeks and have one more to go before
Daddy goes back to work. We've been lucky and had
a few visitors and are always looking for more.
But I know all of you want to see some new pictures, so I'll be sure to
post some shortly!
Sara really started smiling yesterday, so here's a picture of her smiling
at her Granny Janet!
Posted on June 16, 2008
Sara Grace was born at 8:22am on June 12th. She weighed in at 8lb, 7oz
(3846gr) and 20 3/4 inches (52cm) long.
Sara has blue eyes and a fuzz of brown hair. She has a little swirl in
her hair at the front, that I'm sure will cause her no end of problems
when she's a teenager!
We all came home from the hospital on Sunday at noon and the first day and
night at home have gone well.
Hana is a great big sister so far, and is very helpful in getting things
for Sara and helping us out. Hana has gone for a visit to Granny and
Grandpa's house for the week so Julian and Dawn can recover.
So far it seems that Sara has a temperment just like her big sister, and
is a very contented baby. Dawn and Julian hope that this keeps up!
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