What a day!

I'm writing this as I watch the inauguration of Barack Obama. Look at all those people in D.C.! Amazing.

Luckily, we have one tv hooked up to cable at the school. The internet is jammed!!! No live streaming for us...

This is such an emotional moment for me, for our family, for our country, and even for the world. It's amazing....

(invocation) I wonder what he's thinking in this moment? I wonder what Sasha and Melia are thinking? I wonder what's on the minds of the second graders I'm watching this with? I wonder what Sage will think of this day? That's the purpose of me writing this now, so that Sage has a record of how mom felt on such a momentous occassion in his little life.

(Aretha Franklin singing "My Country Tis of Thee")Look at that bow on Aretha's head! Wow!

(oath of office Vice President) Vice-President Joe Biden is being sworn in...great man. I'm excited to see what he brings to the table!

(musical performance) - beautiful... I think this is the first time I've ever watched an inauguration.

(oath of office) jumped the gun.... he seems a little flustered.... I can't imagine why?! Hooray, he's President! So excited! Look at all the celebration in the crowd. I can only imagine what it must feel like to be there and be a part of all that. Incredible!

(speech) just listening... Wonder what Bush is thinking as he listens to this? "our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness" - so moving..... "the world has changed, we must change with it" ....

Recent Pictures

Sage and Rosco - best friends. Awww!

Happy Baby!

Is it just me, or does Sage have blonde hair???

Practicing his stand up...
(watch out PaPa Kelly, he's practicing his moves already)




Christmas Day fun with Daddy

again, blonde hair??

Giggles!!!

Sage is starting to laugh out loud! Watch the video and I'm sure you'll be laughing too...

Baby's Day Out

This morning, Sage and I attended our first gymboree class. I had been curious about gymboree and found out they offer a free preview session, so I signed us up. I was a little nervous about timing the class right since it started at 9am. It's tough to make sure Sage is awake, fed, and happy. He is generally NOT a morning person (takes after his mom), so he only is "happy" for about an hour at a time in the mornings. Well, including travel time, I didn't think we were going to make it.

But, I'm happy to say our first playtime was a success. Well, that is if you don't include the large quantity of formula that Sage projected down my chest right before class started. =) Wow! The good thing is, it managed to go mostly on my chest and not on my shirt (thank goodness for a v-neck).

So, class starts with a song and then Laura asks us to put our babies on their tummies for tummy-time. "Oh no!" I think because Sage usually hates tummy time and I'm sure he'll start fussing. Well, at gymboree they prop them up just a tad with a rolled up towel - a great idea because Sage didn't mind being on his tummy for ten minutes. He loved looking at the mirror on the floor and the other babies.

The rest of class we did rhymes, more songs, and sensory items. Sage's favorites were the bubbles and the parachute! His least favorite - the clown puppet. Gymbo the clown is the gymboree mascot and Sage did not like him. I put the puppet on my hand and Sage screamed. I took it off, he was fine. So, I just bounced Sage on my knee while we sang. A minute later, I thought I'd try ol' Gymbo again and held him up to give Sage a kiss - "Waaaahhhhhh!" No luck. It appears that Sage is not a fan of clowns. =)

Overall, the class was fun for both of us. Sage enjoyed the play and watching the other babies. I enjoyed talking to other parents with babies about the same age. Too bad the classes are so expensive or I would go regularly!

Just as a sidenote: Last night, Jared and I took Sage to eat at Chili's with Justin and Cora. We called it our "experiment" because we had never taken Sage to a restaurant before while we ate dinner - especially at 8pm at night. It was successful, Sage just slept most of the time. When he was awake, he just looked around at everyone. Yippee!

We're rolling!!!

Today, Jared and I are celebrating our sixth anniversary with a quiet, relaxing day at home watching football. Of course, we're enjoying time with Sage too. This morning, I put Sage on Jared's lap and Sage was really squirmy. He kept trying to squirm right out of Jared's lap. So, I said, "I bet if we put him on the floor, he'd roll over." Jared disagreed.

But, I wanted to try it anyway. So, I put Sage on the floor on his belly. I watched for a couple minutes, but didn't really expect much right away. So, I walked into the kitchen to flip some pancakes. Not even a minute later, I hear Jared jump up and yell, "He did it! He rolled over!" I run back into the living room to see Jared holding Sage in the air kissing his cheeks telling him how proud he was of him. I missed it! I believed Jared, but at the same time needed to see it for myself. A little while later, Sage did it again. He's rolling over!

The Jumperoo

As Jared says, "the person who invented this is a genius!" The jumperoo is fantastic. We knew Sage was ready for it as he's outgrown the swing, is able to hold his head up all by himself, and enjoys bouncing up and down. So, on New Year's Day, he had his first romp in the jumperoo and was super excited. Since then, he has enjoyed every minute of the bouncing activity!

-See picture below for what happens when he jumps after eating...

First Christmas!

Sage's first Christmas was great! He enjoyed several days of celebration with various family members. It started with Christmas Eve at the hospital with Great Granny. Granny had her hair done and seemed to be feeling pretty good. Her words were relatively clear and she is moving her right leg well. She was in good spirits while we were there and seemed sad when we left. =(

Later that night, we went to Kevin & Yvonne's to celebrate with that side of the family. Sage made quite the haul of gifts there. Too bad he was too tired and grumpy to enjoy any of them.

Christmas morning was a nice, relaxing morning at home just the four of us. Sage opened his presents from Santa, but seemed more interested in the paper than the gift. No surprise there!

Later, we went to Darla's house and out to DeSoto. Sage enjoyed "opening" all his great gifts - lots of toys, clothes, books, videos, and more!

Then, on Saturday, we had one more Christmas with the Clines. We had a great brunch, opened presents for over an hour (the kids were spoiled) and played some games. Good times!

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...