My sweet Sajo

My sweet Sajo:

(sung to the melody of "Hello Mother, Hello Father")

Sajo Sajo

You’re my Sajo

You are my baby

You’re my girl Sajo

You are my baby

And I love you

I love you my sweet darling

My girl Sajo

You are so cute

I love to kiss you

And when you’re sleeping

I always miss you

You are my baby

You’re my girl Sajo

I love you my sweet darling

My girl Sajo

I can’t believe a whole year has passed since I pushed you into the world. When the doctor first handed you to me, I don’t know if I necessarily felt love right away, but I was overcome with emotion. Your daddy and I had created life.

In the beginning you gave us a lot of worry. You were very, very sleepy, and the doctors didn’t know why. We spent days five through eight of your life in the hospital, and at one point we thought you might be very sick. Your daddy and I were so scared, because we were already figuring out at that point how much we loved you.

And we do! We love you so much. In the past year you have given us so many delights. First we were excited by your little smiles, and then smiles became little giggles, which were even better, and then giggles became big belly chuckles, which are the best! Little moans and groans gave way to babbles, which gave way to “dada” and “mama” which has now given way to “ba” (for ball), and I’m sure many more words are to come. You’ve also gone from just lying still to rolling to sitting to crawling. It’s just a matter of time before you’re running everywhere!

Through all your little milestones, your dad and I have been so incredibly awed by you. You are so sweet and your little personality is so adorable. You don’t know yet that it’s not polite to stare, so if someone interests you, you will just stare at that person without hardly blinking. You also love to take things apart. You regularly empty your bookcase and toy basket, and I try to interest you in putting things back, but to no avail. You also love to climb the stairs and pull yourself up on whatever you can find. Our little passive baby is giving way to an “into everything” toddler, and while your daddy and I are occasionally a little overwhelmed by the mess you make, we are loving every second of it.

We are loving every second of you. At the end, I guess that’s really all I have to say, and I could say it a hundred times. I love you. Your daddy and I had a wonderful life before we had you, but it’s even better with you in it. We both love your smiles and even your cries. Our hearts have been transformed in ways we didn’t know were possible. Happy first birthday, my sweet Sajo. I thank God for you, and I look forward to many more birthdays!

SHOCK AND AWE (by Larry)

Our lives have been shocked by your arrival in the best way possible. For the past 365 days, we have seen you grow and explore and climb stairs and comprehend. You can say four words awesomely well at this point: Mama, Dada, Ball, and Poop (that last one was my little contribution, of course). We love how you crawl, see something in front of you, throw it behind you, and continue on course. You go from sitting to standing to sitting to standing. I yearn daily to hear you giggle; if I don’t get one out of you each day, I don’t feel I accomplished my role as Dad. Everyone that comes in contact with you immediately falls in love with you. Your pigtails combined with your intoxicating smile are your biggest selling points. You love magazines and paper, and love to remove them from the office bookshelf and throw them everywhere. You love cupboards and love to take stuff out and throw it everywhere. You love balls of all sizes (and I mean that in the most innocent way possible). You love to go into the bathroom and chew on tampons (contenders for Mother and Father of the Year, by the way). You let mommy and I sleep through the night and we love you for it (we wish you would wake up just a tad later though, but we really can’t complain). You like your pointer finger, and like touching pointer fingers with me. You like it when I gnaw on your sides, and you pretty much giggle every time. You like it when mommy and I make funny faces. You like it when you are in your high chair eating and I sneak around on the floor and chew on your feet. You are a trooper when mommy and I take the trailer out and you have to sit in your car seat for hours on end. You like eating sand; its probably like eating Grape Nuts from a digestive stand point. The first couple of weeks of your life made mommy and I paranoid, and I all of a sudden have Super-Hearing like Jamie Sommers (for those of you too young, she was the Bionic Woman, played by Lindsay Wagner, and had Super-Hearing. This was a spin off of The Six Million Dollar Man, who had Super Eyesight. The Six Million Dollar Man was the Six Million Dollar Man because of how much it cost to make him Bionic. His name was Steve Austin and he was played by Lee Majors, and he had a fling with Jamie. Jamie had a bionic dog who was afraid of fire named Max, I think. I’ll have to Google that at work next week. TANGENT!!!). There are parts of my heart that have been accessed due only to you. I like how you clap your hands when I say “YAYYYY!!!” as if you are proud of yourself. You may be. Even though I don’t like it when you try and touch my TV, I like it when you look at me first and smile because you know I don’t like it when you touch my TV; I try and keep a stern face but I never can. I like how you do every item in “Pat the Bunny” as quick as possible; I think you like sticking your finger through Mummy’s ring best. I like how you fall asleep on my shoulder when the White Noise machine is turned on for either of your naps. I like how your idea of a kiss is a wide open mouth, but will give a kiss on command. You have lots of Aunties and Uncles and Tantes and Omas and Opas and Nanas and Grandpas and Great Grandmas and Cousins. Cougar loves you as much as we do.

Thank you for being here; thank God and Mommy and the doctors for bringing you here; thank you for making here the greatest place to be because of you. Continue to grow and explore and climb stairs through the next year. We will be as proud of you then as we are now. Happy Birthday BeeBo.

Daddy's bad influence

Sara is in this really fun stage where we can get her to repeat just about anything we say. She doesn't necessarily know what those things mean, but she'll do her best to mimic us. So Daddy thought it would be fun to add a little potty humor to her speech. (insert eye roll here.)




This video was taken in the car on the way home from Pismo. I have gotten to listen to our daughter say "poop" about five times this morning WITHOUT PROMPTING.

Gee, thanks Larry!

Baby's first word

Okay, Sara says "mama" and "dada" all the time, but she doesn't say them in ways that make us sure she's saying them with meaning. The one thing she says for sure with meaning is presented here:

Our weekend in Pismo Beach

Over the weekend we joined our friends up in Pismo Beach for the annual clam festival. It was so fun! We got to meet Stacey and Jeremy's little one Abby, who is about three months older than Sara. We also got to meet Emily and Geoff's TWINS Gene and Cruz, also just about three months older than Sara. It was so fun to hang out with friends, eat yummy clam chowder, and see all the little ones interacting with each other. It was especially cute when Sara and Gene started loving on each other. I guess they both wanted to practice their kissing technique!

We had a great time and definitely hope to go again!

Fun days

Last Sunday we went over to Grandpa and Nana Paula's house to belatedly celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Happy birthday, Grandpa!



On Monday we went to Tanaka Farms in Irvine with Oma, Tante Tanja, and Cousin Ryan.





Sara wasn't quite sure about the animals.


That afternoon Sara practiced her standing skills on the dishwasher.





Fun times, indeed.

Eleven months old

It's so strange to think that a year ago I was very pregnant, taking Lamaze, and thinking I still had at least another six weeks of pregnancy ahead of me. Now, here I sit with a precious little daughter who has completely changed our lives just like everyone said she would.

Sara had a big month! First of all, she's now a crawling machine. She can easily cross a room much faster than I ever imagined, provided she doesn't get distracted by something along the way. She's also obsessed with standing right now. She loves to pull herself up at every opportunity and then let go with one hand. She doesn't "cruise" much yet; she just likes to stand there. She also loves to empty things: her toybox, her bookcase, the old diskettes in the office bookcase... The world is her oyster right now as she explores!

She is also starting to communicate more and more. She's nowhere near consistent about it yet, but depending on what else is going on she just might point, wave, or sign for "more." She babbles up a storm, but I can't make out any words for certain just yet. She likes to say "mama," "dada," and "baba." She will also repeat sounds. If I tell her to say "mama," she'll say it. Whether she understands that I am "Mama" is still unclear. If someone says "Yaaaaay!" she'll most likely smile and clap her hands, which is just about the cutest thing we've ever seen.

As our baby becomes less and less of a "baby," we try even harder to savor every moment. I thank God for her every day!