Babbling Baby

Within the last week, Sage has learned how to talk! Of course, it's only baby babbles, but he can carry on quite the conversation. The other day, we carried on a 15 minute conversation where he told me all about a lot of things. What's funny is, Sage babbles mostly when he's on the changing table. A friend said that must be because that's where he feels most "free and uninhibited"...literally. As if his babbles weren't cute enough, when Sage finishes "saying" something, he gets this huge grin on his face like, "Didn't I just say the most clever thing?" It's just too cute! Video below!!!

Who turned up the volume???

Over the long weekend, Sage experienced his first Thanksgiving. Really, it wasn't much of an experience for him, just a chance to visit with relatives he'd never met before and get reaquainted with others. Meeting Aunt Keisha seemed to be a highlight of his weekend as he smiled, laughed and cooed everytime he caught a glimpse of her! Everyone else certainly enjoyed spending time with Sage though.

Sage also had his first professional photographs taken. That was quite the ordeal! At the time we were scheduled to start (11:00am), Sage had just been fed and changed and was smiling away. But, the photographer was late and by the time she set everything up, Sage was ready to take a nap. He screamed almost the whole time! Luckily, out of the dozens of shots taken, there were several where Sage wasn't screaming - not smiling, but not screaming. Stay tuned for pictures...

Mom and Dad learned the real lesson over the long weekend though: a break in the routine equals a crabby baby. Because Sage's naps were disrupted by being passed around by his adoring family, he quickly grew quite fussy! In years past, we wondered why Jon and Sarah or Adam and Melissa would leave holiday gatherings early to be home for their babies' bedtimes. We thought it couldn't be that difficult to get the baby to sleep somewhere else or to break routine. Well, we were wrong - it's extrememly difficult to get a baby to sleep somewhere else especially when he's over tired. What's worse than getting him to sleep though are all the after-effects that the break in routine causes. It's like the loss of a nap magically compounded over the weekend to a very unhappy, very tired little guy by Sunday. I wouldn't be surprised if he sleeps all day today since he's in the comfort of his own home and won't be disturbed!

Also over the long weekend, Sage discovered his voice. He has begun to babble, coo, and make interesting sounds. It's almost like he carries on a conversation with his cute little sounds. It's been lots of fun "talking" with him and enjoying his new found voice. Although, there is a downside to Sage discovering his voice - the volume on his cries has been turned WAY up! Gone are the days when Sage would cry and Jared and I would think, "that's not such a bad cry." Also, he can go from smiling to screaming in one second or less. Guess that's life with a baby!

Furbaby and Baby

Many of you have asked how Rosco has adjusted to Sage. The first night we brought Sage home, Rosco cried when he cried and followed him everywhere. Rosco also went through a "hey, look at me!" phase when company would come by to see Sage. She was even jumping on people which she has not done in 3 years. For most of the visits in the first few weeks, Rosco was banished to the backyard. Slowly, she started getting used to people paying more attention to Sage than to her.

While quite protective of Sage (laying in front of his bassinet), her actual interaction and interest in Sage was limited. Truthfully, she rarely even acknowledged his presence the first two months. But, we've had a breakthrough! In the last few days or so, I've noticed Rosco being much more curious about her baby brother. She gets close to him to sniff him and lick him or even running to him when he starts to cry as if she can soothe him. How sweet! Then, last night, this is what I found when I came back upstairs with clean sheets for the bed...

There He Blows!!!

Unfortunately, Sage experienced his first cold this week. It started with the sniffles on Monday, coughs on Tuesday, a combo of the 2 on Wednesday, and vomiting on Thursday and Friday. When I say vomiting, I mean PROJECTILE vomiting.

One of our friends had warned us about projectile vomiting. I think when we heard the warning, we imagined a bit of vomit, mildly violent. Or, at least that's the image I had. Boy, was I wrong. Sage's projectile vomit is more like a volcanic eruption!

Thursday night, I stopped by Uncle Justin and Aunt Cora's house after spending the whole evening conducting parent conferences. So, I was nicely dressed in some pretty good clothes. I sat down to feed Sage, and there he blows - all over me and all over Uncle Justin's new couch! Sorry about that. I'm surprised they still want kids after what they witnessed!

Of course, after puking everything he just ate, he was hungry again. I attempted to feed him again when we got back to our house. He spewed again, all over me in my pajamas, himself, and the changing table! Poor little guy just couldn't seem to keep anything down. We cycled through eating, projectile puking, and changing clothes/sheets/blankets/towels several times that night - neither of us getting much sleep. Daddy was fortunate enough to get Sage to keep a couple ounces down Friday morning. However, that didn't last long as Sage proceeded to puke all over himself, Daddy, the floor, and the bed (guess it's time to change the sheets). Friday afternoon it seemed like he was finally over the puking phase. But, as I sat down to post this message Saturday morning, he just spewed again! Just a little spew this time, but still... the fun continues.

Two Month's and Growing...

On November 13th, Jared took Sage in for his 2 month check-up at the doctor's office. We always look forward to these check-ups to see how much Sage has grown. Well, apparently, he's grown a lot - weighing in at over 12 pounds!!! Unfortunately, Jared can't remember the exact weight (don't send daddy to the doctor if you want specifics!). But, he did remember that he is 23 inches long. So, it's no wonder why we were struggling to stuff him into the 0-3 months clothes. Guess it's time to break out the size 2 diapers too! That's a bummer because we still have over 300 diapers in size 1 - hope the store will let us exchange them...

Anyway, Sage is growing just fine - becoming quite the round little guy. Here's a picture at 2 months.

President Elect Obama

11/4/2008
10:00 PM

Since I'm writing this blog as a record to my son of his early life, I have to record perhaps one of the most memorable moments of my life. If Sage was old enough to understand, he would realize it as a most memorable moment of his life as well.

Words cannot express how proud I am of this country for electing its first African-American president. I never imagined, but always hoped this day would come in my lifetime. I remember in grade school looking at the posters of the presidents and wondering why they all looked the same - older white men (no women, no one of color). It's so amazing that my son will not have to think that. Sage will know that he has the opportunity to become anything he wants to be - even President of the United States. He will be able to look at President Obama and see another example of a thoughtful, well educated, intelligent, ambitious, and eloquent black man.

I know that I will never forget this night and what it means to our family, to our country, and even to the world. It's such a wonderful moment that the world is so accepting of a man whose diverse background and color of skin is less important than the strength of his character. What a momentous, joyous day in American history! I can't stop crying tears of joy.

To Sage: Mom, Dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends will always love you no matter what. We will never judge you because of the color of your skin. We will be here for you when you struggle with others who might. But, tonight, we have more hope than ever that you too will be judged by your character rather than your race.

Mom and Dad's First Night Out

Jared and I had our first night out since Sage was born. I had to drop the little guy off at Bert and Buttons' house yesterday afternoon. It was tough for me to leave him and I almost cried. When I got back to the house after dropping him off, the first thing I did was take a nap (imagine that - needing a nap!).

Later, we dressed in our costumes (Jared was Jesus and I was "the devil in disguise") and went to Justin and Cora's for a Halloween party. We had a great time and slept soundly for several hours.

You would think that I would sleep late since Sage isn't here to wake me up. However, I'm so used to waking up early with Sage. He usually wakes up around 6 or 6:30 to eat. So, here I am wide awake early on a Sunday morning when I could be sleeping. I'm going to try going back to sleep in a few minutes.

But, I knew that Kelly would have posted pictures of Sage meeting his cousins on her blog, so I had to check. There is my little guy with his grandparents and cousins - Mady and Alex. It makes me miss him, but I'm glad to see he's not crying! He does have his serious face on, of course!

I can't imagine Sage not having his serious face on when meeting new people. It's just crazy how intensely Sage studies faces and his surroundings. He almost always has this super serious look on his face like he's thinking about solving all of the world's problems or something. It makes me anxious for him to start talking so I can hear what he's thinking about in that little head of his. Strangely enough, I often wonder what goes through Jared's head as well just because he's so creative and thoughtful about everything. But, at the same time, Jared very rarely looks serious, he's always smiling his gorgeous smile.

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We definitely know that Sage takes after me with his crabbiness in the morning. I've never been cheerful when I first wake up, no matter how well or long I've slept. Jared always tries to get me to talk, but I don't like to talk in the morning. Sage is super crabby in the mornings and almost always wakes up crying! Such a character already.

Baby's First Boo

Sage celebrated his first Halloween yesterday. We spent the evening at Uncle Jon and Aunt Sarah's house. Their street hosts a Halloween block party and chili cook off. So, Sage and I made our way over to the festivities (Daddy was working) just before dusk. Sage wore his glow-in-the-dark skeleton onesie while we hung out with Uncle Jon, Aunt Sarah, cousin Noah, and Grandma Cline waiting for it to get dark.

Once it started to get dark, we dressed Sage in the costume his Aunt Cora got for him - a Tootsie Roll. Sage made the cutest Tootsie Roll ever and didn't complain at all about wearing the costume. Although, he did have on his usual serious face! Noah was wearing a golfer's outfit - super cute!

Just as we started trick-or-treating, PaPa arrived and we headed out. Sage stayed awake for the first few houses while people oohed and ahhed over him. He quickly fell asleep though. So, we enjoyed watching Noah trick-or-treat. At first, Noah wasn't sure what to do. But, after a few houses, he figured it out and started heading straight for the candy bowl every time! Although he didn't say trick-or-treat, Sarah did manage to get him to say, "Thank You" each time. And, of course, everyone let Noah know how adorable he was as well.

After we finished trick-or-treating, we returned to the house to pass out candy to the rest of the trick-or-treaters. We laughed at the jokes and enjoyed seeing all the different costumes. They announced the winners of the chili cook-off and Sarah won 2nd place! Out of 11 different chilis - that's fantastic.

Although Sage was too little to participate, he seemed to perfectly content to be in his costume and being adored upon by his family and the people passing out treats. We had a great time!

Props to Daddy

I just have to say how grateful I am to have such a wonderful husband. Jared has always been a phenomenal husband who never lets me forget how much he loves me. But, in the last two months of Sage's life, I have seen Jared transform into a superb father. His immense love for Sage is obvious in the little things: a sparkle in his eyes, the soft voice he uses when trying to soothe Sage, the careful way he holds him, the songs he makes up and sings to Sage, and even in the way he washes baby bottles or doesn't complain about emptying the super stinky diaper pail.

While Jared and I are both sleep deprived these days, neither of us complains about waking up to care for Sage. In fact, we both look forward to those times because it means it's our alone time with Sage when the other person is asleep and can't steal the little guy away!

This week, I spent some time completing an internship for my elementary administration degree. Jared works evenings right now, so he cares for Sage during the day until I get home from work. I know how time consuming and exhausting it is to take care of Sage during the day because his needs always come first. Plus, Sage doesn't really sleep much at all whether it's day or night. But, when I came home yesterday, I almost cried because the house was clean, the laundry folded, and Sage was smiling. It reminded me once again of how blessed I am to have such a wonderful husband. I know someday soon, Sage will recognize how lucky he is to have an awesome dad!

The Many Faces of Sage

Just a glimpse of the many faces we get to see throughout the day. Press play and enjoy!