Three months!

I took Sarah's 3 month pictures two days early since we were leaving town before Thanksgiving and Jeff's sister Kristin's wedding. Sarah smiles in real life but I just don't have very many pictures of it yet. You can see her becoming more interested in her little tiger towards the end of the pictures shown here:

"The tiger is smiling so I guess that means I don't have to, Mom!"

nom nom nom!

Rah rah rah rah rah!  (Gotta start 'em young!)

This little one has her ABR (automated brainstem response) test this week to test her hearing again. She passed the newborn screen in the hospital but our kids' audiologist wanted to test her sooner given our family history to make sure there are no changes.  Ordinarily that would happen in March since she passed but Lori wanted the test to be sooner so Wednesday is the day we'll likely know more about how her hearing is compared with the rest of us. Some mornings when I am putting in my hearing aids, then Jacob's, and then Rebecca's I feel like I should be putting Sarah's in too, probably not because I think she needs them but because all the cool kids are wearing them (ha!) and I don't want her to feel left out.  :)

Chris Mann's new album: Roads

Thanks to One2One Network I received a copy of Chris Mann's new album Roads to preview. I wasn't familiar with his music before. Apparently he made a big impression on some show I'd not heard of called The Voice (and maybe that tells you how much of a box I live in, ha!). Despite not having heard of him before, it's been fun this week to listen to some songs of other artists that he's covered on this album.

Trained as a classical artist, he's kind of bridging the divide between classical and popular music like so many others who have gone before him. Tracks like "I Need You Now" and "Always on My Mind" have a decidedly more orchestral feel to them than the originals. I think my favorites are the title track "Roads" and his cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida."

Here is the chorus from "Roads:"

Some are long and some are weathered

Some will lead you through a storm

When you've gone astray you will find your way

As you walk along these roads

If you have an iTunes or Amazon gift card lying around collecting dust, give Chris Mann a listen if you're a fan of classical crossover-type artists!

Blessing Day

Right before Sarah turned 1 month we had 10 people come stay with us for a couple days. It was actually really fun and Jeff engineered everything very well so everyone could stay in our home. Looking back I pretty much did nothing to get ready for everyone to come -- but that's how those hazy newborn days go, and lucky for everyone Jeff picked up my slack and things went very well.  Everyone was here for Sarah's blessing on Sept. 16th and we had some nice pictures taken. That weekend we also met Justin, my sister's then-boyfriend-now-turned-fiancé.  :) Sarah was a little small for her dress then so we took some pictures of her a few weeks later (you can see how much she filled out in that time!).  Here are a few pictures of the weekend:

Cousin Jenna (3 mo) and Sarah (1 mo)

So sad before we even took pictures!  When the baby's got to eat, the baby's got to eat!

She grew quite a bit between this day and 3 weeks later when Jeff snapped these pictures...

Thanks again to everyone who drove here or flew here - it was so fun to have everyone here and it meant a lot to us that you came!

Two months and counting!

Here is Sarah a couple weeks ago on October 17th with her tiger. I like the last picture because there is a hint of a smile, but the first two show her kickboxing skills. Bam! At her two-month checkup she was 9 lb 15 oz and very healthy!