Dancing with the Stars!!

My birthday is on Dec. 27th, and my little sister's is on the 29th, so my mom got us tickets to the dancing with the stars tour for our birthdays! We went last night, and it was so awesome! Almost all of the professional dancers from the show were there, and they had Toni Braxton, Marlee Matlin, Maurice Greene, and Lance Bass. The music and dancing were incredible - Michelle and I had such a fun time! It was my first time leaving Rachel for longer than an hour. My mom also came up and babysat the girls until Jason got home from work, which was so nice!

Happy Birthday to ME

I'm officially 29 now... the last year of youth... I had a really fun birthday. Jason took me out for sushi for lunch, and it was really excellent. My favorite is the caterpillar roll, which has eel, cucumber, and shrimp rolled in rice, wrapped in seaweed, rolled in more rice, and wrapped in thin slices of avocado with sweet sesame oil drizzled over the top. We also had a tuna roll, which was just tuna, rice, and seaweed; and also a spider roll which was softshell tempura crab rolled in rice and rolled in soy paper. If you've never tried sushi, you really should. It's so delicious! My family came up to our house for dinner, and we had linguine and shrimp with lemon oil and chocolate orange mascarpone cake. (Both recipes for those are on my recipe blog - http://sarahsfavrecipies.blogspot.com) Then I opened my presents. I got some great new books, the movie Mama Mia, some new clothes, a completely awesome 90's mix CD - boy it takes me back - and the best of all - tickets to the Dancing with the Stars Live Tour at the e center on the 30th!! My sisters and I had a lot of fun dancing to my 90's CD. We taught Lizzy the macarena. It was SO cute! Lizzy sang happy birthday to me, too - it was the sweetest thing ever! I hope you all get to have a birthday as fun as I did someday!!

Merry Christmas!

We had a really wonderful Christmas! On Christmas Eve, we had most of Jason's family over for dinner and presents. There were 37 people here at the house, and LOTS of food. I bought a honeybaked ham, and made parmesan and black pepper mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. Jason's brothers and sisters and parents brought sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, jello salad, rolls, pies, and drinks. On Christmas morning, I made Jason's favorite German puffed pancakes with sausage and an orange sauce. We opened presents with the girls, and then headed over to my mom's house. We opened presents with my mom and sisters, and then my mom and I cooked a terrific Christmas dinner. We made a maple brined pork tenderloin roast, steamed artichokes with hollandaise sauce, oven roasted fingerling potatoes, cantelope wrapped in prosciutto, and spring salad with raspberry vinaigrette, bleu cheese crumbles, and candied walnuts. After that, we went to my dad's house and opened MORE presents. Then we headed home in the early evening to keep ahead of the terrible storm that was forecasted to hit. The snow hit just as we were pulling in to our neighborhood. It was a really fun holiday!

Happy Anniversary!

Jason and I celebrated our 8th anniversary yesterday (the 20th). Jason had a beautiful bouquet of sugar plum lilies sent to me, and we went to the melting pot for dinner. (Thanks mom for babysitting!) We had a cheese fondue that was a blend of butterkase, fontina, and bleu cheeese, served with apples, vegetables, and bread cubes. Then we had salads, and for dessert we had chocolate turtle fondue - a chocolate, caramel, and pecan fondue with marshmallows, bananas, strawberries, rice crispy treats, pound cake, and cheesecake for dipping. It was all so delicious! I can't believe we've been married 8 years! I always thought that couples who were married for this long were old, but I still feel like we're just starting our lives - probably because our kids are so young. Imagine - we could have a 7 year old if we hadn't waited for Jason to finish school! Yikes! I don't feel old enough to have a 7 year old, though! My birthday is in 6 days, and I'll be 29... sigh... the last year of youth! :) Poor Jason is already 30 - over the hill!! Personally, I still feel 20 - it's weird to think of myself as a grown up woman. Do we ever get to the point where we feel completely mature and confident? Or do we always feel like kids inside? I guess this is why we always have a need for our Heavenly Father! Especially at this time of year, I feel so grateful for my Father in Heaven, and for Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for us. I hope this Christmas will be a wonderful one for all of you, my family and friends. Love, Sarah.

First Time Sledding!

Since we had a nice snowfall today, and we had recently bought a snowsuit and snowboots for Lizzy, I decided to take the girls across the street to the empty lot and try out sledding! The lot is like a shallow bowl, and bunches of kids were over there sledding down. It's perfect because you slide down into the middle of the lot, and not onto a street or something. And it's very shallow and small, so it's not scary for little first timers. Even so, I was worried that Lizzy would think it was scary. We watched the other kids go down for a little bit, and then Lizzy said she wanted to try, so we borrowed another kids' sled and Lizzy went down. She loved it! She went down a bunch of times, and then I decided we should go in, because even though I bundled Rachel up in about 50 layers, I still worried about her getting cold. Lizzy did NOT want to come inside! I had to drag her back across the street and into the house. She's still mad at me, and wants to go back out! We've got to get her a sled - I have a feeling we'll be over there sledding a lot this winter!

Santa!

I took Lizzy to the mall to meet Santa today. She was not scared at all. She sat on his lap and told him she wanted a coloring book for Christmas. She even said "Merry Christmas" to him! It was so cute!

Check-Ups

Lizzy and Rachel had their 2 year and 4 month check-ups today. I was a brave mom and did both at once, even though Lizzy (as always) threw a HUGE out of control screaming tantrum the whole time. Both girls are healthy, though. Lizzy is 36 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds, which is 99th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. Rachel is 13.2 pounds and 24.5 inches tall - which is almost identical to Lizzy at 4 months (13.7 pounds, 25 inches tall). Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

She's Not Spoiled....

Lizzy's Birthday Cake

As you may or may not know, Lizzy's favorite movie is Finding Nemo, and her favorite character is Dory, so I did my best to make her a Dory birthday cake... here it is. I made the Dory on a piece of parchment paper out of melted white chocolate that I dyed "Dory" colors. I laid the parchment on top of a printout of Dory so I could just trace over it. Then I stuck it in the fridge to harden up, and then peeled it off and put it on the cake. I then outlined Dory with black cake decorating gel. I think it came out pretty good...

Lizzy is 2!!!

Wow, my baby is 2 today! It's amazing how fast they grow up. Now she's really a toddler and not a baby anymore... sniff sniff. Here are pictures of the birthday girl today, on her first birthday, and when she was a newborn.

Happy Halloween!

Lizzy really loved halloween. I let her wear her costume all day. We watched some halloween cartoons, colored some halloween pictures, carved a pumpkin and roasted the seeds, and went trick or treating. Lizzy didn't care about the candy - she didn't eat any of it, but she loved knocking on peoples' doors and saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". She also liked counting her candy. All the neighbors thought she was so cute!

Happy Halloween!

Is it love or is it torture?

I often wonder this when Lizzy shows "love" toward Rachel. Look at Rachel - sitting up in the baby seat at only 3 months!

Portraits of Lizzy

Here are Lizzy's 2 year old portraits, taken at Kiddie Kandids today. (Her birthday is November 13)

Stress

This week both my girls have a cold. Lizzy got it last Wednesday, and Rachel picked it up on Friday. Luckily, it's not too severe. While dealing with the cold, I got an email that one of the teachers I used to work with died (see the post below) and the email said that his funeral was that day - I had an hour and half to get myself and the girls all dressed and ready and drive down to Murray. After the funeral, the girls and I went to my mom's house, which was fun, but then when we went to leave, my van wouldn't start. My sister tried to help me jump it, but it wouldn't jump. So, I had to call for a tow truck, and then wait at my mom's until Jason got off work and could pick us up to go home. We got home and I realized I had left my cell phone at my mom's! We don't have a home phone, so now I would be cut off with no phone and no car! Jason went to work the next day and picked up the phone, and I got my van back the day after that. It was just a problem with the battery - the battery was so old and so dead that it wouldn't even accept a jump anymore. So, at least that was an easy fix. Let's hope this week has less stress! I craved pizza and chocolate cake all week long! (My stress foods). Luckily, I was able to restrain myself and I stuck to my diet and lost 2 more pounds this week.

In Memory

One of the math teachers I used to teach with died of stomach cancer that he had been battling for a year. We went to the funeral on Saturday, and it was a wonderful tribute to him. We will miss you, Mick Webb! See the obituary: Mick Webb

Trip to Florida

We are in Florida this week. We arrived on Thursday the 2nd and are staying until Thursday the 9th. My aunt and grandparents live out here, so we are visiting with them. We got one of our Marriott Vacation Club condos in Orlando, and my aunt and grandparents are staying here with us, for a nice resort vacation! We have a beautiful condo with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen and dining room, laundry room, and a screened in balcony that overlooks a lake. The swimming pool area is really great, with 3 large pools, a couple of kiddie pools, a bunch of hot tubs scattered around and a man made beach at the lake side. You can take a little boat across the lake to the resort's fitness, spa, and activity center. We've been having lots of fun hanging out here at the resort, and today we went to Sea World. Lizzy had a fabulous time at Sea World. We saw the Shamu show, the dolphin show, the sea lion and otter show, and an animal show, and we also went to the penguin and shark encounter exhibits. One of Lizzy's favorite things was meeting Elmo - the Sesame Street characters were walking around the park, and Lizzy got to meet Elmo. She was really excited to see him, but then kind of scared once Jason took her up to hug him!

My Famous Father

My step-dad was in the news the other day! He goes hiking with a group of friends, a hiking club, and one of his friends snapped a picture of him on a hike and sent it in as a cool photo to the newspaper. Well, they printed it, and so now my dad is famous. Here's the picture. Click on it to see it bigger and read the caption.

2 Month Check Up

Rachel had her 2 month check up on Thursday! She is very healthy - 12 pounds, 75th percentile! Lizzy is always at 5th percentile, so it's fun to have a "Michelin baby" as the doctor called her! Here is a new picture.

Too tired to eat

The picture speaks for itself.

Silly Lizzy

So yesterday, Lizzy wandered back toward the bedrooms and I could hear her playing with toys in her room, but then after a while I noticed it was awfully quiet. I went back there to see what she was up to. She was in my bedroom looking in my floor length mirror with a scarf wrapped around her neck. She startled in surprise with a guilty look on her face when I came in. I said, "What are you doing, babe?" She looked at me for a couple of seconds and then said "Make a mess!" I just laughed and laughed! She's so funny! I told her to clean it up, and she did. (She had pulled all the clothes out of one of our dresser drawers.) Here are the latest pictures of Lizzy and Rachel.

Congratulations Celia!!

My friend Celia had her baby!! She finally got her little boy, after having 4 girls in a row! They named him Joseph and he is so handsome! You can see pictures of Rachel's future husband on her blog: Celia's Blog

Also, I had my 6 week check up today, and I have recovered well. When Rachel was born (3 weeks early) my midwife was on vacation, so she missed out on the delivery. I brought Rachel to my appointment so she'd get to meet her.

One Month Old

I can't even believe that Rachel is a month old already. The 2nd kid sure does grow up faster than the 1st kid! She is very healthy and is a really good baby, but then she's also still in the stage where she sleeps pretty much all the time. She may get fussier when she's awake more. Lizzy has a cold that started on Tuesday, so I've been losing more sleep because of her than because of Rachel. So far, none of the rest of us have gotten sick... cross your fingers!

Hiking

We went hiking to donut falls today with the girls. It was lots of fun and really beautiful weather!

Rachel's 2 Week Check Up

Rachel had her two week check up today. She is exceedingly healthy! She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. At her two day check up, she had lost a little weight, so she was at 5 lbs 15 oz and 19.5 inches long. So, she grew a whole inch and almost 2 lbs in just 2 weeks! Crazy, huh! In comparison, Lizzy was 6 lbs 10 oz at birth, 6 lbs 0 oz at 2 days, and 7 lbs 5 oz at two weeks. Lizzy was 20 inches at birth, and 20.5 inches at two weeks. So, they're pretty close to the same size! When the doctor came in and saw that Rachel had gained almost 2 pounds in 2 weeks, he said I must be producing pure cream to feed her!

Introducing Rachel

Our new daughter, Rachel Emily Gale was born July 25, 2008 at 12:24 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She and mommy are both really healthy, and we are back home now! My sister, Katrina, took a ton of pictures during everything and she made a little video out of them, which you can see on her blog: Katrina's Blog

Funny Lizzy

We got a little bassinet for Rachel so she can sleep by our bedside while she is nursing like crazy in the night. I set it up the other day, and Lizzy was all excited about "Rachel's Bed." It has a little storage basket on the bottom and Lizzy is constantly taking toys into our room and putting them in the basket. Anyway, today Lizzy disappeared down the hall, and I went to go see what she was up to. She had climbed into the basket and was playing with the toys she'd put in there! What a funny kid!

Ultrasound Picture

I had a late ultrasound today to make sure everything is good to go with Rachel. I'm at 2 cm and 80% effaced now. Her head is dropped down and in position - everything looks good. The ultrasound estimates that she is 6 lbs right now. And look - she can smile already!

Ready to Go

I just got back from my 36 week appointment, and I am dilated to 1 cm and 70% effaced. Which means, I am ready to go into labor any time! I was in the same position at Lizzy's 36 week checkup and I had her 3 days later... so we'll see! It's getting very exciting now. At least this time, I have my hospital bag all packed and ready! I watched my childbirth / Lamaze DVD a couple of days ago, and I've had plenty of braxton-hicks contractions to practice my breathing on, so I'm feeling pretty good! I'm definitely sick of being pregnant in this heat, so I am so excited to not be pregnant anymore! Next time, I want to try to have a baby in March - that way the 3rd trimester is in the winter, but the baby is born at the beginning of spring, just in time for cold and flu season to be over!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I made some ribbon bows to go in Lizzy's hair. Our camera batteries were out of juice in the morning, so I had to wait for them to recharge, therefore in the picture, her hair is kind of messy since it was after her nap. Oh well...

Croup

Lizzy woke up at 4:00 am on Wednesday with a terrible fever, so Jason and I gave her some infant tylenol, and after awhile the fever went down, but it came back by the time she got up in the morning. The fever stayed all day long, and we had a hard time getting it to go down with medicine, so we took her to the pediatrician. He mentioned Croup as one of the things she might have, and told us to watch out for a "barking" cough and signs of difficulty breathing. Jason had his big annual backpacking trip in Zion, so he left that night after dinner. Lizzy had another bad night of fever, and in the morning she started wheezing and coughing. I looked up Croup on the internet, and many websites said to try a humidifier, so she laid on the floor under the humidifier and watched Barney all day long. (So fun for me!) So then last night, her breathing was so bad - I was really scared, and she would no longer swallow anything - not her spit, not medicine, not liquids! So I took her back in to the pediatrician today and she got a steroid shot to open up her throat and stop the swelling. Now she's actually eating and drinking, and running around playing with toys! She still sounds a little hoarse, but you can no longer hear her breathing, and I hope that tonight will be much better!

Flooded!

I was awakened this morning by the sound of the shop vac being run in the kitchen. I came out to see what was going on, and our whole kitchen, hallway, guest bathroom, and laundry room were completely flooded! What happened was, our water softener has been acting up, and every so often our water gets really salty - like ocean water. The softener people have come out to "fix" it multiple times, but it keeps happening anyway. Jason went to get a drink this morning and it was salty, so he turned on the laundry room sink to get all the salt water out of the system while he went downstairs to work out. He'd been down there for about 15 minutes when he noticed that water was coming through the ceiling! He came upstairs to find everything flooded with salt water - the laundry room sink had been plugged! So we spent a fun morning cleaning up all the salt water. At least we had the shop vac to help! Jason just bought that a couple of days ago... quite serendipitous!

Awesome Grandma, Trains, and the Dentist

We've had a very exciting week! My mom, who is awesome, called us up on Monday and offered to come over and babysit Lizzy so Jason and I could have a date night! Lizzy was very excited when I told her Grandma was coming, and the two of them had a great time while Jason and I enjoyed a nice dinner out by ourselves! Then, last night we went to our friends' house for dinner, and their little boys had a Thomas the Train set. Lizzy LOVES that show, and she was so excited about getting to play with a Thomas train. So, today we went to Wal-Mart and I got her her own Thomas train and track. She has been playing with it all day long, saying "Choo choo! Choo choo!" I also took Lizzy for her first dentist appointment this afternoon. We went to a pediatric dentist, and he was very nice. Lizzy cried during the exam, but that was helpful, because then her mouth was wide open! She stopped crying and was happy when the dentist gave her a new toothbrush at the end of the visit. She even shook his hand and said "Thank you!"

Lizzy's Music Class

Lizzy just had her last day of babies music class! In the fall, she will start the toddler class. That will be fun because her friend Leah will be in the class with her. The class ended with a family night where grandparents and other relatives could come and see what she's been doing all year. It was a lot of fun! I know Lizzy will miss the class during the summer.

Sprained Ankle

We had a bit of a misadventure last night, and now I have a sprained ankle! Fortunately it is just a mild sprain, so I can get around with just a little limping, but it's still painful and annoying! Jason and I were watching a movie last night, and I, being quite pregnant, had to pee. So we paused the movie, and I was just finishing up when a loud whooping alarm went off - our house has an alarm system, and if you open the front door or the garage door, it starts beeping for 30 seconds to allow you to disarm it before it totally goes off, however, if a window is opened, it goes straight to the loud whooping! So I thought "Someone is breaking into our house! I've got to get to Lizzy!" and I came running out of the bathroom, and ended up stepping wrong on my foot & twisting my ankle. It turns out that Jason had forgotten that he had turned the alarm on for the night, and he had opened the sliding glass door because he heard the cats fighting in the backyard and was going to yell at them to knock it off! I had so much adrenaline pumping that I didn't even realize I'd hurt my ankle until I sat down and it started hurting quite badly. I've got it all wrapped up and elevated now with ice, and hopefully it will heal quickly.

Congratulations Carrie!

Jason's sister Carrie had her baby girl, Nadia, on Wednesday! She is SO cute, with lots and lots of dark hair! She weighed 6 lbs and 2 oz. Carrie was amazing and endured 26 hours of labor, stuck at a "4" before getting an epidural - at which point the labor only lasted 2 hours more, and then Nadia was born! Congratulations to Carrie and Raymond - we love you!

Husband's Contribution

I read the blog.

Lizzy's Letter Puzzle

I haven't put a video of Lizzy on here yet, so here is one I took today of Lizzy doing her letter puzzle. Even though she is only 18 months old, she knows all her letters by sight - both capitals and lower case, and she also knows the symbols for the numbers 1-20, and can count out objects up to 13. She also knows the colors black, brown, white, yellow, green, orange, red, purple, and blue, as well as the shapes square, circle, triangle, heart, star, and moon (crescent). Because of her favorite video, Baby Galileo, she can also recognize the planets by sight - Saturn is her favorite planet, followed closely by Mars!

18 Month Checkup

Lizzy had her 18 month checkup today. She is very healthy! As she has been since birth, she continues to be tall and skinny - around 5th percentile in weight, and 90th percentile in height! A healthy BMI for her age is between 14 and 20, and Lizzy is at 14. She sure doesn't get that from me! It's those wonderful tall and skinny Gale genes she got from her dad! We'll see if Rachel follows suit, or if she decides to look like Mommy! Lizzy only had to get 1 shot, so it only took 2 suckers to calm her down! Ha ha ha! She remembered the doctor's office and started screaming and clinging to me as soon as we walked in! I have no idea how the doctor was able to hear her heart beat and breathing through his stethoscope with all the screaming she was doing!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Celia!

Here are the rules:

* Each person has to list 6 facts about them

*List at the end of your posting who you have tagged

1. I LOVE to cook... especially Italian food and baked goods. I really enjoy trying to recreate good dishes I've had in restaurants. I've even thought of going to cooking school, or being a caterer after my kids are older and it's boring to be home. However, this is lost on Jason, who is an extremely picky eater, and doesn't like just about everything I ever try to make. He wants plain grilled meat. With salad.

2. I also love to read - I read 2 to 3 books a week, sometimes more. It helps to be a very fast reader! I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to read. Lizzy seems to have inherited this trait - her books are her favorite "toys" - often her toybox goes untouched while she brings me book after book after book, saying "read it please!"

3. I'm really scared to have 2 kids - especially when Lizzy has a hard night. I think, "How am I going to handle being up every 2-3 hours with a newborn if Lizzy is also having a bad night?" It scares me.

4. I am a trekkie - I own every episode of every series of Star Trek, and all the movies. That's all 7 seasons each of Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, plus all 3 seasons of Original Series, and all 4 seasons of Enterprise. There are 10 movies, too, and I am SO excited to see the new one out next summer. I also have a little combadge I can wear while I watch... Jason took me to Star Trek the Experience in Las Vegas when we were on our honeymoon - it was GREAT!
I really want to make little Star Trek outfits for Lizzy and Rachel to wear on Halloween this year... so cute!!

5. I love camping. Most girls don't like it - but I really do. Tent camping with a camp fire, hiking, and being dirty. It is great. We haven't gone since Lizzy's been born, and I miss it. Jason is too chicken to try camping with babies. He says we'll wait to go again when our youngest is 4 or 5. Until then, it's hotel vacations for us.

6. I hate cleaning the house - especially vacuuming. Cleaning and vacuuming feels frustrating to me, because you get it all done, and it looks nice... for about 5 minutes. I do the cleaning because I know it makes Jason feel happy when he gets home to see a clean house, but sometimes it frustrates me because if I clean earlier in the day, it just gets messed up again, and then Jason can't even tell that it was clean by the time he gets home!

I now tag Chandie.

Fun in Palm Springs

Here we are in Palm Springs, California! We are here for a week. We have a gorgeous condo so we can cook our dinners and breakfasts in the kitchen and eat out for lunches, when Lizzy is happy - she does NOT do well eating out at dinner time! Lizzy loves the pool, and the waterslide. Palm Springs is actually not on the beach - it's in the desert, a 2 hour drive from the coast, and so it's REALLY hot here, with highs in the low 100's during the spring and fall, 80's and 90's in the "winter" and 120-130 in the summer! Luckily, there is air conditioning and the pool area has covered cabanas with misters and fans, and of course the pools, which are always nice and cool. So, we never actually notice the heat.

Zoo Day

Lizzy went to the zoo today with just mommy and daddy. It was perfect weather - nice and cool and slightly overcast, and the zoo was not at all crowded! Lizzy's favorite animal is definitely monkey - she was SO excited to see them and went "oo-oo-aa-aa" all around the whole zoo. We got this picture of her trying to be as big as the orangutan.

Smart Lizzy

I always think Lizzy is smart, but she just amazes me sometimes - I made a pork roast for dinner the other night, and I gave Lizzy a bunch of cut up pieces on her tray. She picked up a piece and put it to the side, saying "one", then grabbed another "two", and another "three" - she counted out 10 pieces of meat! I couldn't believe it - my 17 month-old knows how to count. She did it again the next day with her goldfish crackers. Then, we were out at the pie for pizza, and Lizzy was sitting in a booster seat in between Jason and I. Jason set down a plate in front of each of us, and Lizzy pointed to the plates one at a time, saying "mommy's, Lizzy's, daddy's." Jason turned to me and said, "She said daddy'S - she knows how to use possesive! Holy crap!" At which, Lizzy started saying "crap, crap, crap..." Anyway, I think she's amazing!

Lizzy's New Room

We made a toddler room for Lizzy, since the new baby is coming to inhabit the nursery! We wanted Lizzy to have a few months to get used to the new room so that it wasn't so many changes all at once when the baby is born. We didn't need to worry about it though - Lizzy is thrilled with her new room, and has slept in the new bed without any problems the last 2 nights.

Downward Dog

Lizzy loves to work out with me - she always imitates the moves - here is the one I think is cutest and she loves to do it - downward dog!!