A very merry Christmas

Christmas Eve was celebrated at our home this year. It was a lovely evening filled with plenty of good food, good company, family, and love.



Our little walker entertained us all by toddling around most of the evening. Ryan similarly entertained with his cries of, "Open it! Open it!" It was a very merry Christmas for all.

What will tomorrow bring?

As of yesterday, the most Sara had walked independently was about four steps.

Then came tonight. We went to Ryan's Christmas program at his preschool, and Sara started walking down the aisle! We counted as many as 10-12 steps on numerous occasions. Of course, I insisted on capturing the moment before we left the church, which is why you see her walking down a random church corridor in this video.

It's still not her preferred mode of travel, but I'm seriously wondering what tomorrow will bring. Will I wake to a crawler or a (gasp!) walker? Whatever the case, it's clear her days on all fours are numbered!

A visit with Santa

Tanja and I took Ryan and Sara to see Santa Claus at the Cerritos Mall today. I thought Baby Girl would scream her head off, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Ryan wants a monster truck for Christmas. Sara just stared at Santa quizzically. :)

Frohes Fest!

On Saturday night we and the Rosas went to a dinner party hosted by our friends the Masterjohns. The Masterjohns have a love of many things German: BMWs, German food, and of course yours truly. ;)

We had a really fun evening watching the kids, catching up, and eating delicious food! This was followed by decorating our graham cracker houses. Later on we headed over to a neighborhood in Brea that does an exceptional job with the Christmas lights. It was a great time overall, and we hope to do it again next year!

Play date

Today a couple of my friends from Mommy & Me came over with their kids. They're too young to really play together, but they basically crawled over each other as they tried to get to their mommies. Plus, we adult ladies had lots of fun! ;)

Road trip

This past weekend we went out to Lake Havasu with Tanja, Eric, and Ryan. The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed the Christmas boat parade.

I only took a few pictures on the drive up, so here they are. :)

Baking cookies with Karen

Last year, my friend Karen came over a couple of weeks before Christmas to bake cookies. My little newborn Sara Jo basically slept the whole day, and Karen and I baked our little hearts out and had a wonderful time.

This year, we decided to get together again, and our little baking tradition has been born! This year, we made three varieties: gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and walnut cookies. Sara was a good sport but definitely wanted to be in on the action.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

Recipe review: Chicken burritos with mojo

Since Thanksgiving was last week, I sought out recipes I would be able to use with leftover turkey. I really enjoyed this one and will happily make it again with chicken or turkey. The rice to me was the weakest component of the dish. It was okay, but nothing special. The beans were good in the burrito, and Sara LOVED them! They took longer than the 1.5 hours to cook fully for me, though.

Easy Chicken Burritos with Mojo

Ingredients

Mojo Sauce:

• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 serrano chilies, seeds removed
• 1 large handful fresh cilantro leaves
• Juice 2 limes
• Juice 1 orange
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 large flour tortillas
• 1 (3 to 4 pound) whole roasted chicken, shredded (I used leftover turkey)
  
• Yellow Rice, recipe follows
• Spicy Black Beans, recipe follows
• 2 avocados chopped
• 1 cup grated queso blanco or Monterey jack cheese
• Sour cream, for garnish
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish
• Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions

Make the Mojo Sauce: Put the garlic, chilies, cilantro, lime juice, orange juice, and olive oil into a blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

To make the burritos: Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds in a dry skillet or on the grill until pliable. Place some chicken down the center of a tortilla and top with rice and beans, avocado, grated cheese, and Mojo Sauce. Roll up the burrito and serve topped with a generous drizzle of sour cream; garnish with cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.

Yellow Rice:

2 cups long-grain rice

4 cups water

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 bay leaf

Put all the ingredients into a heavy bottomed pot, stir well, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until the rice has absorbed the water, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the garlic and bay leaf, fluff with a fork, and serve.

Yield: 8 servings

Spicy Black Beans:

2 cups (about 1 pound) dried black beans, picked over and rinsed

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Quick soak the beans: Put beans in a pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let soak for 1 hour. Drain the beans.

In the same pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic, and bay leaf and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the beans and cover with water by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are tender. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Taste the beans and season them with salt and pepper.

Yield: 8 servings

Thirteen months old

People have told me that the older your child gets, the faster the time passes. If month #13 is any indication, I'm in serious trouble!

Sara changed so much this month. From a physical standpoint, her top two teeth are now through and just about all the way in--with an adorable big ol' gap between them. :) Cognitively, though, she has changed even more. Up until a few weeks ago I wasn't convinced she understood anything I said. I was probably wrong, but that was how I felt. Now, I feel like she understands almost everything I say--whether she chooses to listen is a different question entirely. :)

She now has three consistent words in her expressive vocabulary: ball ("ba"), bye-bye, and more ("ma"). She will also stick out her tongue on command, and if she's in the mood, she'll also point to her nose (and say "na!") and her ear (and say "ah!"). Sometimes she'll say book ("boo") and shoe.

As far as the big "walking" question goes, she's getting very, very close. Today I saw her initiate taking a step on her own for the first time. She took about a step and a half before plopping down. She can walk with her push toy now. She's also cruising everywhere and getting into whatever mischief she can find. Although we have installed gates at the top and bottom of our stairs, she has now learned how to descend the stairs, which she enjoys practicing whenever we give her the opportunity. (Just please don't ask how we figured out she can do it. All I'll say is it's more evidence for my "Mother of the Year" award.)

What an exciting, fun month it has been! I can't wait to see what she figures out next!

Gratitude

When I was teaching, I used to have my students make a list of five things for which they were grateful on the day before Thanksgiving break. After they had made their lists, they would choose three from their list to share with the rest of the class. It was always a nice little exercise in remembering just how blessed we all are.

I decided to go ahead and make a list this year for the blog and to have Larry make one, too. Here they are:

Larry is grateful for...

1. Wife and Kid

2. Still having a job

3. Health (even people my age are suffering from joint issues, back problems, knee problems. I’m glad I don’t have any of that.)

4. Friends and Family

5. Caffeine

I am grateful for...

1. My happy marriage to a wonderful husband and father

2. My friends and family

3. God

4. Food, shelter, and the relative abundance with which we live compared to much of the rest of the world--and the ability to stay home with our daughter.

5. Of course, our sweet Sara Jo

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I don't think I'm ready for this...

Is major melancholy a normal reaction to seeing this?



She's definitely not ready to walk on her own or anything, but it's just another reminder that babyhood is quickly falling away. Intellectually and spiritually I completely understand that the whole point is for her to grow up, but that doesn't mean I can't be a little sad about it--and immensely proud.

Sick baby

Sara has a cold. :( Her ears and lungs are clear, thank goodness, but the poor girl is a snotty, coughing mess. I'm not feeling great, either, but she has it worse than I do. It breaks my heart when she coughs and then cries. :(

Tagged!

I was tagged by my friend Jenny. I'm supposed to post the fourth picture from the fourth folder in my photos and tell about it. I actually have photos in a couple of different spots, but I'm going to pick one of the spots and go by fours (fourth folder, fourth subfolder, fourth photo).

Ha! Well, I might try a different location, 'cause this one is pretty lame.


This is a cheapie digital camera that I sold on ebay a few years ago. As you can see from the picture, it offers a whopping 1.3 megapixels. I also seem to recall that it had no LCD screen. Awesome.

And a different location:



Aww... This was a couple of days after Christmas last year at my parents' house. Sara was just a few days shy of two months old, and Ryan was just shy of two years old. I like how he still looks like a baby here. Tanja was in heaven with her arms full of babies. :)

I'm supposed to tag four people, so I'm tagging Elizabeth, Anna, Dawn, and Lisa.

America's Next Top Model?

On Tuesday Larry and I took Sara to get some one year portraits taken. Baby Girl was NOT having it at all, to the point where I aborted the mission and made an appointment to come back the next day.

On Wednesday Sara was much more cooperative, and we got these shots:


The photographer was so impressed with her that she invited Sara to come back and do a photo shoot to come up with a sample portrait she needed. Yep, she's our little model. ;)

First birthday party

On Saturday we had Sara's first birthday party at Neff Park in La Mirada. Our theme was "our little pumpkin." In the interest of keeping the party size manageable, we limited our guest list to family and friends with small children. Despite those limits, though, we still ended up with over 30 adults and over 20 kids.

The weather gods did not initially cooperate, and it POURED rain about fifteen minutes before her party was scheduled to start. Thankfully, the rain cleared up and the weather more or less held for the duration of the party. Special thanks to Grandpa (Larry Sr.) for helping me clean up after the rain, to Brian for taking most of these great pictures, and to Anna and Kim for talking me down from my agitated post-rainstorm state. :)

Well baby visit, books, and a recipe

Sara had her one year well-baby visit today, and the doctor said she looks good! Her head circumference is now "only" in the 90th percentile, her length (29.5 inches) is in about the 60th or 65th percentile, and her weight (22 pounds, 10 oz) is in the 75th percentile. Dr. G asked me a few times about her belly and whether I feed her healthy foods. I promise I do!

In other news, I haven't written about my readings in quite some time. Right now I'm reading my way through the Little House series, which I'm really enjoying. After that, I'll be moving on to a couple of parenting books I've purchased of late to prepare me for the toddler years. After that, maybe I'll finally get around to Atonement but I can feel more Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum titles calling my name...

I haven't posted any recipes in ages, which doesn't mean I haven't made anything new. My most recent new favorite has been pumpkin risotto with prosciutto. Yum!

One year old

Sara's twelfth month

Wow. I'm feeling more and more lately that someone has hit the fast-forward button on Sara's development. Obviously she's crawling like a champ these days, but she's also starting to cruise on the furniture, climb the stairs, and empty cabinets at any opportunity.

Meanwhile, her language really seems to be exploding as well. Just a month or two ago I wasn't sure she understood anything we said to her, and while her expressive language is still pretty limited, her receptive language skills seem to be going crazy. On the expressive front, though, she's definitely saying "ball" and has become much more consistent about "bye bye," too.

As her first year draws to a close, we are also phasing out our nursing relationship. As of this writing, I have begun to drop Sara's bedtime nursing session and have introduced whole milk. If all continues to go well, Sara will be fully weaned sometime next week. I must admit that I have been loving the additional freedom, but I am so very grateful to have been able to breastfeed for this long for both of our sakes.

What an amazing journey the past year has been! Happy birthday, baby girl!

Baby's first Halloween

On Thursday (at Mommy & Me) and Friday we celebrated Sara's first Halloween. She was a trooper about wearing her ladybug costume, and I managed not to cry all over myself as I thought about how last year's Halloween had been my last day as a pregnant person. We spent this Halloween over at Tanja and Eric's just as we did last year, but this year our little baby girl was squirming around outside the womb. ;)

My sweet Sajo

My sweet Sajo:

(sung to the melody of "Hello Mother, Hello Father")

Sajo Sajo

You’re my Sajo

You are my baby

You’re my girl Sajo

You are my baby

And I love you

I love you my sweet darling

My girl Sajo

You are so cute

I love to kiss you

And when you’re sleeping

I always miss you

You are my baby

You’re my girl Sajo

I love you my sweet darling

My girl Sajo

I can’t believe a whole year has passed since I pushed you into the world. When the doctor first handed you to me, I don’t know if I necessarily felt love right away, but I was overcome with emotion. Your daddy and I had created life.

In the beginning you gave us a lot of worry. You were very, very sleepy, and the doctors didn’t know why. We spent days five through eight of your life in the hospital, and at one point we thought you might be very sick. Your daddy and I were so scared, because we were already figuring out at that point how much we loved you.

And we do! We love you so much. In the past year you have given us so many delights. First we were excited by your little smiles, and then smiles became little giggles, which were even better, and then giggles became big belly chuckles, which are the best! Little moans and groans gave way to babbles, which gave way to “dada” and “mama” which has now given way to “ba” (for ball), and I’m sure many more words are to come. You’ve also gone from just lying still to rolling to sitting to crawling. It’s just a matter of time before you’re running everywhere!

Through all your little milestones, your dad and I have been so incredibly awed by you. You are so sweet and your little personality is so adorable. You don’t know yet that it’s not polite to stare, so if someone interests you, you will just stare at that person without hardly blinking. You also love to take things apart. You regularly empty your bookcase and toy basket, and I try to interest you in putting things back, but to no avail. You also love to climb the stairs and pull yourself up on whatever you can find. Our little passive baby is giving way to an “into everything” toddler, and while your daddy and I are occasionally a little overwhelmed by the mess you make, we are loving every second of it.

We are loving every second of you. At the end, I guess that’s really all I have to say, and I could say it a hundred times. I love you. Your daddy and I had a wonderful life before we had you, but it’s even better with you in it. We both love your smiles and even your cries. Our hearts have been transformed in ways we didn’t know were possible. Happy first birthday, my sweet Sajo. I thank God for you, and I look forward to many more birthdays!

SHOCK AND AWE (by Larry)

Our lives have been shocked by your arrival in the best way possible. For the past 365 days, we have seen you grow and explore and climb stairs and comprehend. You can say four words awesomely well at this point: Mama, Dada, Ball, and Poop (that last one was my little contribution, of course). We love how you crawl, see something in front of you, throw it behind you, and continue on course. You go from sitting to standing to sitting to standing. I yearn daily to hear you giggle; if I don’t get one out of you each day, I don’t feel I accomplished my role as Dad. Everyone that comes in contact with you immediately falls in love with you. Your pigtails combined with your intoxicating smile are your biggest selling points. You love magazines and paper, and love to remove them from the office bookshelf and throw them everywhere. You love cupboards and love to take stuff out and throw it everywhere. You love balls of all sizes (and I mean that in the most innocent way possible). You love to go into the bathroom and chew on tampons (contenders for Mother and Father of the Year, by the way). You let mommy and I sleep through the night and we love you for it (we wish you would wake up just a tad later though, but we really can’t complain). You like your pointer finger, and like touching pointer fingers with me. You like it when I gnaw on your sides, and you pretty much giggle every time. You like it when mommy and I make funny faces. You like it when you are in your high chair eating and I sneak around on the floor and chew on your feet. You are a trooper when mommy and I take the trailer out and you have to sit in your car seat for hours on end. You like eating sand; its probably like eating Grape Nuts from a digestive stand point. The first couple of weeks of your life made mommy and I paranoid, and I all of a sudden have Super-Hearing like Jamie Sommers (for those of you too young, she was the Bionic Woman, played by Lindsay Wagner, and had Super-Hearing. This was a spin off of The Six Million Dollar Man, who had Super Eyesight. The Six Million Dollar Man was the Six Million Dollar Man because of how much it cost to make him Bionic. His name was Steve Austin and he was played by Lee Majors, and he had a fling with Jamie. Jamie had a bionic dog who was afraid of fire named Max, I think. I’ll have to Google that at work next week. TANGENT!!!). There are parts of my heart that have been accessed due only to you. I like how you clap your hands when I say “YAYYYY!!!” as if you are proud of yourself. You may be. Even though I don’t like it when you try and touch my TV, I like it when you look at me first and smile because you know I don’t like it when you touch my TV; I try and keep a stern face but I never can. I like how you do every item in “Pat the Bunny” as quick as possible; I think you like sticking your finger through Mummy’s ring best. I like how you fall asleep on my shoulder when the White Noise machine is turned on for either of your naps. I like how your idea of a kiss is a wide open mouth, but will give a kiss on command. You have lots of Aunties and Uncles and Tantes and Omas and Opas and Nanas and Grandpas and Great Grandmas and Cousins. Cougar loves you as much as we do.

Thank you for being here; thank God and Mommy and the doctors for bringing you here; thank you for making here the greatest place to be because of you. Continue to grow and explore and climb stairs through the next year. We will be as proud of you then as we are now. Happy Birthday BeeBo.

Daddy's bad influence

Sara is in this really fun stage where we can get her to repeat just about anything we say. She doesn't necessarily know what those things mean, but she'll do her best to mimic us. So Daddy thought it would be fun to add a little potty humor to her speech. (insert eye roll here.)




This video was taken in the car on the way home from Pismo. I have gotten to listen to our daughter say "poop" about five times this morning WITHOUT PROMPTING.

Gee, thanks Larry!

Baby's first word

Okay, Sara says "mama" and "dada" all the time, but she doesn't say them in ways that make us sure she's saying them with meaning. The one thing she says for sure with meaning is presented here:

Our weekend in Pismo Beach

Over the weekend we joined our friends up in Pismo Beach for the annual clam festival. It was so fun! We got to meet Stacey and Jeremy's little one Abby, who is about three months older than Sara. We also got to meet Emily and Geoff's TWINS Gene and Cruz, also just about three months older than Sara. It was so fun to hang out with friends, eat yummy clam chowder, and see all the little ones interacting with each other. It was especially cute when Sara and Gene started loving on each other. I guess they both wanted to practice their kissing technique!

We had a great time and definitely hope to go again!

Fun days

Last Sunday we went over to Grandpa and Nana Paula's house to belatedly celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Happy birthday, Grandpa!



On Monday we went to Tanaka Farms in Irvine with Oma, Tante Tanja, and Cousin Ryan.





Sara wasn't quite sure about the animals.


That afternoon Sara practiced her standing skills on the dishwasher.





Fun times, indeed.

Eleven months old

It's so strange to think that a year ago I was very pregnant, taking Lamaze, and thinking I still had at least another six weeks of pregnancy ahead of me. Now, here I sit with a precious little daughter who has completely changed our lives just like everyone said she would.

Sara had a big month! First of all, she's now a crawling machine. She can easily cross a room much faster than I ever imagined, provided she doesn't get distracted by something along the way. She's also obsessed with standing right now. She loves to pull herself up at every opportunity and then let go with one hand. She doesn't "cruise" much yet; she just likes to stand there. She also loves to empty things: her toybox, her bookcase, the old diskettes in the office bookcase... The world is her oyster right now as she explores!

She is also starting to communicate more and more. She's nowhere near consistent about it yet, but depending on what else is going on she just might point, wave, or sign for "more." She babbles up a storm, but I can't make out any words for certain just yet. She likes to say "mama," "dada," and "baba." She will also repeat sounds. If I tell her to say "mama," she'll say it. Whether she understands that I am "Mama" is still unclear. If someone says "Yaaaaay!" she'll most likely smile and clap her hands, which is just about the cutest thing we've ever seen.

As our baby becomes less and less of a "baby," we try even harder to savor every moment. I thank God for her every day!

Really? You don't see it?

Most people think Sara looks like me. Most people, that is, EXCEPT MY PARENTS. What the heck? So here, just for my good ol' mama and papa, is some proof. How can you look at these pictures of ME and not see Sara Jo?





Postscript: After looking at this blog entry, my mom tells me that she can see a little resemblance in the last picture, but that's it. Sigh...

Oma, Opa, and grandbaby #5

Yesterday I caught this sweet moment between Sara and her oma and opa.

Turn the volume way up.



Is this girl loved or what?

Our weekend in Santa Cruz

Last weekend Larry, Sara, and I headed up to Santa Cruz for Matt and Alysia Bell's wedding. This also gave us the opportunity to visit friends who live up in the Bay Area!

First, we visited with our friends April and Joe and their new daughter Nia. Some of you might recall that April is my pen pal. We started writing over twenty years ago! (Our letters these days are few and far between, but between emails and blogs, we stay in contact.)




On Saturday we went for a walk near the lighthouse and watched the surfers at Steamers, a crazy surf spot!


Then April and Joe watched Sara for us so we could enjoy Matt and Alysia's wedding. Also in attendance were some of our friends from USC and Larry's work.

The happy couple:


Geoff and Edith:


Larry and Anthony:


My sweetie and I:


On Sunday we stopped in for breakfast with the Gouldens. It was wonderful to see Jason, Shauna, and the kids for the first time in about two years!

Jason and Tanner:


Tanner and Sara in their neighboring high chairs:


Look at those chompers!


Charlie, Jason's mini-me:


We gave Anthony a ride back to LA, and he spent the first half of the trip in the backseat. Both he and Sara did some of this:


You can't really see, but they're both sleeping here:


Sara did a pretty good job with all the driving--except for the last couple of hours on Sunday. There was a lot of whining as she got sick and tired of spending HOURS immobile.

All in all, it was a good trip!

A bittersweet day

After a wonderful loooooong visit, Susi and the kids headed back to Germany on Sunday. :( What a great time we all had! They were here for weeks, and the trip really hearkened back to the summers we spent in Germany growing up. In fact, much like us (or me, at least) before her, Isabella started the trip more or less monolingual and ended it bilingual!

On their last morning, we went to breakfast at Mike's and then to regional park. Here are a few pics.

Sara and Bella on the swings:



Oma and Opa with grandbaby #5:




Part of our big family:



We all miss the Wiants already and are hoping they will come back next summer! We love you!

Baby's first tailgate (outside the womb)

Last year Sara accompanied us to a few USC games while still in my belly, but on Saturday she went to her first tailgate (no game) since entering the world. Wow! The highly-anticipated game against Ohio State combined with it being the first home game of the year really brought out the crowds. The campus was a zoo! Baby Girl was a trooper, though! We're already teaching her how to fight on! ;)

Busy days!

Today the three sisters (Tanja, Susi and I) took the five kids to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids went absolutely wild, except for Sara. She bumped her head on a ride (my fault) in the first few minutes and had NO INTEREST after that.

Yesterday I went to visit one of my former students, Sophia, and her new daughter Payten. She's so small, and I just can't believe Sara was ever that tiny. :(




In the afternoon I took the Wiant kids to SweetLife, the yummy company where Carla works. We got to take the factory tour and everyone had some sweet treats. Good times!





Susi and the kids go home Sunday. :( We have had a wonderful extended visit. The kids are crazy about their cousins and it has been such a treat to spend lots of time with them!