Simply Sara

"This sippy-cup thing is kinda fun!" 2.26.06 

Time to fly..... 2.18.06 

What is this stuff? What's a carrot?? (my first veggie) 2.26.06 

Lucas always has fun with his Aunt Mel 2.23.06

It's hard to believe you were once that small.... 2.23.06 

2.22.06 Chillin' after a long day at work 

Lucas, meet your cousin Alyssa 2.23.06 

Yesterday, Lucas rolled from his back to his front for the first time. Quite a big accomplishment in baby world. However, I missed it. You see, Lucas and I spent the afternoon playing on the living room floor while I folded laundry. Once my basket was full of folded clothes, I laid Lucas down on a blanket (on his back) and went in to the nursery to put the items away. I came back into the room just a minute later and the little guy was on his tummy! I sqealed in delight while he rolled back onto his back! Way to go, little man!!

I've stumbled across a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. I'm pretty picky about my cookies. I like them soft and a little chewy. In the past, my cookies have been too soft, or too crispy, or even too thin. But this week, I came across a couple baking tips that have turned my so-so cookies into give-me-more treats. First, don't let your butter get too soft. Second, don't place your dough on a warm cookie sheet. I rotate pans and allow one to cool while the other bakes. I tried the recipe earlier this week on my family. Today I'm making a couple more batches for Matt to take to work. I figured it's always good to butter up the bosses with homeade cookies. :) Here's the recipe: Bi-Lo Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup sugar 1 t. vanilla 2 eggs 2 1/4 c. flour 1 t. baking soda 1 t. salt chocolate chips Mix together butter, sugars, vanilla and egg. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sug...

Alyssa Louesa Parker born Feb. 21, 2006 at 2:34 CST proud parents: Brock and Amy wt: 7 lb 1 oz ht: 20.5 in

I'm going to be an Auntie today!!!!

Lucas is sound asleep enjoying his first nap of the day. I love the predictablity of our mornings. His feeding and napping schedule allows me to carefully plan our day. Lucas is still sleeping late into the morning. He has extended his nighttime sleep from 12 hours to 13. His newest trick is finding his paci in the crib and putting it back into his mouth during the night. We have noticed however, that he is waking up a couple times during the night. Either Matt or I will wake up to the sound of his cooing or laughing. A few minutes later, it is silent again. I praise God for a baby that can go back to sleep on his own, but I do wonder if this is "normal" for him to wake up like that during the night. Does that mean he isn't sleeping deeply? I'll have to put that on my list of questions to ask the doctor. Speaking of the doctor, the excema has cleared up! We treated the rash for a couple days with a prescription which was exactly what he needed. We will go ...

Look at me and my Daddy! 2.9.06 

Wheeee! 2.9.06 

What a fun day at the park! 2.9.06 

I can swing all by myself! 2.9.06 

For those of you looking for a yummy, new recipe to try, this one is a must! I prepared it last night for our Valentine's dinner and it was a hit! Pine Island Shrimp 1/2 c. butter 1/4 c. finely minced onion 1 c. sliced mushrooms dash of garlic powder 3 Tbl. flour 1/4 c. white wine or apple juice 1 c. chicken broth 1 c. sour cream 1 Tbl. chopped parsley 2 lbs. medium shrimp cooked, shelled, and deveined Rice Melt butter and saute mushrooms and onions. Add garlic powder and stir in flour. Blend in wine and chicken broth; cook until sauce thickens. Lower heat and add sour cream. Do not boil. Add parsley and shrimp just before serving. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Lucas had his first "sick" visit to the doctor today. Sigh. I was so hoping that my efforts to shield him from germs would keep us out of there; however, today I had no choice but to call in for an appointment. About a week ago, Lucas developed a rash in his um... diaper area. I called the pediatric nurse and together we decided that it must be a reaction to an antibiotic I had just begun. A week of treatement later and the rash is still raging. So I begrudgingly made the call. Please understand, I am all for going to the doctor. In fact, I absolutely love our doctor and always look forward to our well-child checks. And I'm quite comfortable with the idea of taking Lucas in at the slightest sniffle. I just had hoped I wouldn't have a reason to for a very long time. Anyway, a quick look and the doctor determined the rash to be excema. Ugghh... My fingers are crossed that this is an isolated event and not the beginning of a long and tedious journey of sensitive s...

Driving to church this morning, I felt an uncontrollable giddyness welling up inside of me. Thankfully, Matt and I had just discussed our route to church or I might have taken a wrong turn or driven to AC, as if on auto-pilot. Church didn't start until 9:30, but we arrived at 8:45 and I'm sure glad we did. The new facility was swarming with excited faces and happy children. As a mom, I felt such comfort leaving Lucas in a room with well-trained volunteers and all new baby stuff! After checking in, Matt and I excitedly waited with the crowd that was growing around the closed doors of the auditorium. At exactly 9:00, we watched the doors open and heard a cheerful volunteer cry out, "Welcome to NewSpring!". The people ahead of us began to scout out their seats, but I had my eye on the front row. No backseat baptist here! We settled into our seats, then turned to take in the sight around us. The auditorium was outfitted with 2500 theater style seats with nice lum...

They start so young..... 2.8.06 

Even at bedtime, the camera is always around! 2.4.06 

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the suns shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us; knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us to that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly . And the best of the three is love. 1Corinthians 13:12-13 -The Message

Two unique sounds filled our house this morning; the whirl of the bread machine and tiny balls of sleet dancing on our deck. What a great start to the day after a delightful night of sleep. I went to bed with a raging headache last night; the kind that only deep, heavy sleep can heal. Matt, Lucas and I watched parts of the superbowl last night; the commercials were amusing and I think some football was played. I'm not really into big men, running around in tight pants, jumping on top of each other in efforts to catch a ball. Not my thing. But I did enjoy a rather rivoting episode of Grey's Anatomy following the game. Now that was exciting. A bomb inside a body that could explode at any moment. Whoa. As some of you have noticed, Lucas is five months old now. Wow. Just take a moment to let that sink in. It was only a year ago that I was recovering from a laporatomy and trying to process the fact that I might not be able to have children. A little while ago, I was sittin...