California - Family Vacation

We took a trip to California to visit friends and family.  We had a wonderful trip.

First we went to San Fran and Sacramento to visit high school friends of Allie's.  Teri and Brandon have a new baby Emmie that we got to meet.

Sara first view of the ocean

 Sara's first crab at Fisherman's Warf

  Allie and Baby Emmie

 Allie, Sara and Emmie

 Flying Sara with Ellis and Brent

Then we headed down to southern California to visit Allie's Family and then Ellis Family for his cousins wedding. 

Pictures from Ojai with the Schryvers

Sara riding with Cora

  Sara was never clean on this trip

 Sara at the beach.  We tried to bury her in the sand to slow her from going back into the water so she could warm up. 

 watching the waves

 Sara wouldn't keep out of the water and didn't feel she needed adult supervision.

 Sara and Ellis at the Schryver's.  She wouldn't hold still long enough for the picture

  Love at first sight.  Sara loved the horses and was so gentle with them

 Sara feed the chickens each morning.  She loved them

 Sara with Carol 

Then we headed to Santa Barbara to meet Ellis family and for his cousin Matt's wedding.

Sara enjoyed the hot tub

 The wedding was on halloween and Sara attended as a peacock

 Allie and Ellis at the wedding

 Sara dancing with Anut Madeline.  She loved the wedding and dancing

Summer Photos

Since I haven't updated this blog in months I'm not even sure anyone is still reading but just in case here are some photos from our summer..

The First 1st Birthday Party

We had Sara's 1st birthday party a week early in Boise because we will be in Colorado on her actual birthday.  We invited a few friends and their kiddos over for some cake.  We had a nice afternoon with beautiful weather.

Sara and her boyfriend Johnny.  Johnny borrowed her sun hat. Something about this photo makes me think of old married couple out for the day. 

Rocky with 3 of the 5 kids at the party

Sara and Johnny again

Sara got a drum with lots of other little "instruments".  The kids had a great time forming their own band.  We expect a record deal anytime

 And of course we let Sara have her only little cake to enjoy all to herself.  She was very into the frosting.  The dogs were very patient and got leftovers.

 and some bath time clean up

Ear Infections

Sara got her first ear infection in early March and just couldn't get rid of it. After several rounds of antibiotics and several weeks of infections our pediatrician sent us to a ear nose throat specialist.  The pediatric ENT confirmed she had fluid build up and infections in both ears, he also found that she had enlarged and infected adenoids.   We scheduled a surgery for the next week to get ear tubes to help drain the fluid from her ears and her adenoids removed.
We were hoping for a very early morning surgery because they can't eat or drink before surgery.  Unfortunately surgery was scheduled for noon.  So we had to keep Sara occupied all morning with no food or drink or nap.  Then of course the OR got behind and we got pushed back to 1 pm.  The surgery took just 20 minutes and then we got to go back to see her.
Holy Cow was she mad.  I mean really mad.  Madder then I've ever seen her times two.  We we got to post up they had 3 nurses trying to calm her down.  She was not having it.  The nurses tried their whole bag of tricks including a giant 4 foot tall bubble light machine to try to distract her.  It worked for 5 seconds.  She screamed for an hour then fell asleep for 20 minutes and then woke up screaming again.  We couldn't get her to eat or drink and her breathing started to get worse requiring her to be on higher levels of oxygen.  The doctors tried more pain medication hoping to calm her down and inhalers but nothing helped.  Around 5pm they started to discuss admitting her for the night.  They laid out everything to put the IV back in so they could admit her.  Finally the nurse decided to try sucking out her lungs.  She cleared out a ton of junk, breathing improved, she calmed down and in 10 minutes she was eating and drinking and even gave a smile.
The doctors think her recovery was much harder than most because she was an early arrival and a NICU baby.  Even though her lungs seem fine normally early babies lungs still are not as mature and struggle with anesthesia.
We owe a big thanks to Grandpa John who stayed the whole week and watched her so she could rest at home instead of daycare.  We teased him that we weren't sure if he was brave or stupid staying home with a sick 11 month old for 5 days.  Either way we are grateful for his help.  They had a great time walking dogs and playing.
Sara is feeling a lot better and is quickly returning to her happy self. It was a rough surgery but much needed as she had two very infected ears filled with fluid, two infected adenoids so enlarged they were blocking 3/4 of her ear tube and a ton of infected junk up there.

Dad holding Sara before surgery

A week after and all her energy had returned

 Feeling a lot better

 

Spring

Boise is warming up and we are having some nice spring weather.  This of course means we are spending a lot more time outside.
A few photos from one of our trips to the park

Busy Baby. 

Moxie having fun in the background

Sara's new talents

Some video clips of Sara from months 8-10 featuring her new talents

Winter

Yikes! I am bad about this blog post thing.  I'll try to be better but I make no promises.

So what have we been up to this winter?

Sara has been growing fast and learning new things everyday.  Ellis and I have loved watching her change and learn.

Ellis and Sara took a quick trip home in February.  They spent some time with both grandparents and went to a surprise 30th birthday which the birthday boy turned into an elaborate surprise proposal. Congrats Maggie and Carlo! Ellis was still able to surprise Carlo by flying in.

 Party Time!

Sara loves food.  She prefers to feed herself so its been a challenge to think of foods she can eat with her hands without making a huge mess.  I have mostly given up and just let her make a giant mess.  I did let it go too far when she ate cream of wheat with hands... I mean poured cream of wheat into her lap.  Needless to say, our dogs Moxie and Bogie love meal time.

 Sara also loves bath time.  She has outgrown the sink and is now in the big tub.  We have been meaning to get her signed up for swim lessons but haven't got organized yet.

Sara is about the easiest baby ever to put to bed.  You put Pjs on her and into the crib she goes.  Nap time on the other hand is a bit of a battle.  Below is a picture of a typical "nap"

Thanks to Ellis cousin, Brooke, we now have a backpack we can use for walks.  Most of the time she likes it but sometimes she less than thrilled.  For those of you who know the Cunningham family will know that when they are mad they get thin lips and a big chin.  As you can see, it must be genetic. 

Sara went from army crawling to crawling on all fours and keeping us busy chasing after her.  She has also learned to pull her self up and shuffle along furniture. She likes to look outside.

 We are lucky enough to live 2 blocks from a big park with a play ground.  Sara loves the swings.  She also loves watching other kids, especially older kids.  Sometimes at day care she gets to visit the pre-school side of the building and she loves hanging out with all the big kids.  She actually loves daycare and being around other kids.

watching the big kids at the park

Our good friends Becky and Rocky had their second, Johnny, a few months after Sara was born.  They are very fun to watch together, especially now that they are both getting bigger.

Mostly Sara is a very sweet and funny kid.  She is very curious about things and loves to interact with people. 

She just makes us laugh

She was curious about the kitchen stools and then got stuck inside the legs of the stool.  What a goof 

We did manage to do a few things that weren't completely about Sara but only a few.  :) 

Ellis turned 30 a few weeks ago.  We enjoyed a nice evening out in Boise.  It was a great evening and a nice break from our usual night at home.  We also had a BBQ at a friends house and enjoyed lots of food and some warm weather.  

Ellis enjoyed the end of hunting season and is already counting the days until next season.  

I got a promotion at work and am so glad to have found my job at the hospital when we moved to Boise.  I love working in healthcare. 

I took some nordic and skate skiing lessons this winter and enjoyed a few days skiing in the mountains.