baby everett is here.

since we have friends having babies every month until october, so far, we have another birth to announce! :)

our sweet friends, lisa & james burgess welcomed their firstborn, a son, into their arms and into their hearts on sunday morning.

(doesn't lisa look a.m.a.z.i.n.g. for just giving birth?!?!)


everett andrew burgess
3.01.09 - 10:52 am
8 lbs. 14 oz. - 20 inches

our "story" with the burgesses is a fun one - james was the store manager at barneys new york when i worked there in 2003 - 2004. for christmas 2003, before jason and i were engaged, both of our families were out of town for the holidays... we really didn't have anyone to spend them with, so james & lisa asked us to come spend christmas day with them. we were so overwhelmed by their offer, since up-until-then, we'd just had a work-relationship! we really enjoyed our day with them, and were excited at the prospect of gaining new friends, especially since they were married, and we were nearing that stage of our life together. james, however, had this "thing" about not being "friends" with people that worked for him (he's quite the professional!)... hehe... so when we got word that our store was closing in summer of 2004, and james took each one of his employees into his office to explain that he had found a new job, i wasn't exactly crying like everyone else - each girl before me came out of his office in tears, and i think my first words were, "so... can we be friends, now?" :)

after james' permission ;), we spent SO much time with the burgesses. james was a groomsman in our wedding, lisa helped out with a lot, and i think we saw them at least 3 times a week during our first year of marriage.

we are so grateful for their friendship, and so excited to rejoice in the birth of their son with them. it will be exciting to walk through the journey of parenthood with them!

we were blessed to get to visit them in the hospital on their first day together, sunday, and love on everett for a little while before visiting hours were over. he his definitely one handsome little guy. i'm already craving some more little-man-cuddles! we can't wait for emma kate to meet him!

and who knows... 2 years isn't THAT big of a difference... maybe emma will have an eye for everett sometime in the future. or maybe we'll have another little girl that can capture his heart! :) we'd be ok with being in-laws with them. :)

so congratulations, burgess family! we are praying for you as you introduce your new little one to your home and into our world.

we love you!

john 16:21
when a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her baby is born, she forgets the suffering because of her joy that her child has been born into the world.

psalm 127:3
sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward from Him.

the final rose. part 2.

so... i kind of ranted and raved a little bit ago. and i still think all those things. i still think the whole show is silly, and maybe a bit staged, now. i'm still sad that jason treated melissa the way he did. (and i'm bummed she didn't want to come on the show to talk about everything - but i TOTALLY understand why she wasn't ready to come back!)

BUT...

i have to say....

jason and molly are pretty stinkin' cute.


i mean, really, they are. don't you think? they totally looked really happy and in love, too. so, i guess i recant my statement about wanting molly to dump jason. who knows... maybe finding love actually is possible on a 2-month-long reality show. :) i actually do wish the best for them.

even if it's only to validate this show and make me feel better for watching it! :)

the final rose.

so, just like a lot of america, i was stunned by last night's final episode of "the bachelor." first of all, let me say that i know being obsessed with this show is the silliest thing ever, and i'm actually a little embarrassed to admit that i watch it, but i just can't get enough of it!

that said, i absolutely loved jason mesnick all the way through the season, and i called melissa & molly being the final 2 by the 3rd episode. melissa was always my favorite, though. she's so sweet, cute, loves hard, is nurturing... she seemed to be everything that jason needed and wanted.

so, needless to say, i was thrilled when he turned molly down at the final rose ceremony, and i couldn't wait to watch him propose to melissa. i was SO happy for her... she was so excited and relieved - her dreams had come true.

at about 8:50pm, this is what america was watching:

(by the way, didn't melissa look gorgeous in her chic yellow gown?!)

he proposed. she said yes. they looked incredibly happy, incredibly in love...

so imagine my confusion when, fast forward 10 minutes to 9:00pm, and a very somber jason is sitting on a couch in an empty "after the final rose" studio, telling chris harrison that he's dumping his fiance for molly - the girl he just wasn't in love with 10 minutes ago (well, on tv).

it. was. excruciating.

i felt so awful for melissa. how utterly humiliating to be dumped on national tv, forced to give your engagement ring back to the man who promised you forever... and then he's making out with molly on the couch minutes later. i mean, really... who does that?

he completely gave up on melissa. he just gave up. how can you say you love someone and want to spend the rest of your life with them and then just throw it away - not even attempt to fight for her?

anyway, i was so proud of the way melissa handled herself - she let him have it. she tried not to cry, to not let him see how much he'd hurt her. i'm surprised she didn't chunk that ring right at his lying face!

she'll finally get to talk about it tonight on part 2 of "after the final rose" and i'm looking forward to seeing what she has to say. honestly, i'm also kinda hoping that molly has decided she doesn't want to work things out with jason over these last 6 weeks since the taping of his "dramatic decision."

...and i'm kinda mad at "the bachelor" for stringing us along like this and putting tv drama ahead of a sweet girls' heart. she shouldn't have had to go through that. especially not on national tv.

needless to say... i'm not a fan of jason mesnick anymore.

if the "shooper" fits...

so, remember that little post from a couple days ago, where i totally raved about the etsy.com boutique "mom's blankies" and their cute little custom-made "shoopers?"

well... i got an email today from allyson from the blog, "a heart for home," telling me i had won the random drawing for their giveaway! :)

so as soon as the package arrives, emma kate will be toasting her little toes in these adorable little shoopers:


how fun is that??? :) i'm hoping our little princess loves her new slippers.

pink.

so, usually, i love pink. it's my favorite color... but not when it comes to my eyes!

i was lucky enough to get pink eye this week. and not in just one eye - but both!

fortunately, i don't think jason or emma are going to develop the infection. i was so glad jason had some eye drops left over from when he had it several months ago. they were still good, so i started using them right away, tuesday night, when i figured out i probably had pink eye. i think i would have been m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e. had i waited until wednesday to go to the doctor and get some medicine.

i will say that i'm a bit of a whiny baby when i'm sick, so jason was really sweet to give me some much-needed sympathy. ;) but who enjoys enduring eyes that are swollen, achey, gooey, runny, burning, feel like there's sand under the eye-lids, scratchy, and a whole plethora of other gross, descriptive words??

i'm still wearing my glasses (which i hate), and had to throw away a brand new pair of contacts and a brand new tube of mascara, but i'm glad my eyes are "on the mend." hopefully they'll be back to normal, soon.

because you get a lot of stares when both your eyes look like this:

obviously, this is not a picture of my eye, but it is very close to what my eyes looked like this week. mine were, sadly, a little more puffy and goopy than these baby-blues. (p.s. i'm glad this isn't my eye, because i'd be suffering from more than just pink eye, if they were - i'd have some serious eyebrow issues!)

super cute giveaway.

so, i was taking a quick homework break, and stumbled upon this cutesy blog called "a heart for home."

and, i was super excited that "a heart for home" is doing a giveaway from an etsy shop called "mom's blankies." (if you don't know what etsy is, prepare to spend a good part of the next hour browsing all the chic wares being sold by these creative, small-business owners!) i am loving etsy.com right now - very inspiring, and makes me want to figure out what i can sell!

"mom's blankies" is a super cute, online baby boutique with oodles of fun, cutey, chic, handmade blankies, lovies, headbands, burp cloths, hairbows, and (my favorite) "shoopers!" shoopers are these precious little handmade shoes/slippers. get it? shoes + slippers = shoopers!

so, i was really excited to find that "a heart for home" is giving away a free pair of shoopers. i definitely entered... and if you have a cute little one who might enjoy something fabulous to keep his/her little piggies warm, you should too!

click here to find the giveaway.

i personally am hoping for a pair of these pink, brown & green paisley shoopers. i think emma would love dancing around the house in these. :)

heart wrenching.

i can't watch the news anymore. it's too heart-wrenching.

i feel like every other story is of some poor child (always almost exactly emma's age) who's been lost, stolen, abused, or worse... and i can't separate myself from their stories. i always personalize it, and my heart wanders to a place where it imagines life without emma.

tonight i saw the story of a sweet little girl, also exactly emma's age, who was playing in her backyard (in a house her family just moved into) and fell into the 10-inch opening of a septic tank whose cover was missing. her brother and daddy were playing football in the backyard, right there, while she was playing, and then she just disappeared... they reported her missing around 6:30 last night, and authorities found her, lifeless, in the tank early this morning. i don't know why it affected me so much, but i couldn't stop crying.

that poor family is spending tonight without their sweet girl. i can't imagine. i don't think i could breathe.

and although what happened to this precious girl last night was a horrible, tragic accident and not the act of an evil person, i can't help but think: what is it about all our sad news lately? has the world gotten that much worse, that it's now filled with evil people who do horrific things to sweet babies? is our media just buzz-crazy, completely callous to the way that details of these awful stories can affect people? or, because i'm a mother, have i just become much more aware and sensitive to anything that makes me fear the fact that i can't 100% protect my daughter forever, and that life is not promised to us?

i just feel sad now. sorry for such a depressing post...

my heart and prayers go out to the family of alisandra galvan.

sara needs.

my sister-in-law, lindsey, posted this on her facebook, and i thought it was interesting, so i gave it a gander:

the directions:
type in your name and the word "needs" in quotes ("tim needs”) into your favorite search engine (i guess this is the p.c. way of saying "google"?) and see what comes up. list the first 10 and then tag 10 or more of your friends.

1. sara needs...a loving, playful home.
2. sara needs...a lawyer.
3. sara needs...your opinion on parents sleeping in your bed. (seriously - what???)
4. sara needs...twice as nice.
5. sara needs...Rabbis for human rights. (haha!)
6. sara needs...to discover experts in the area. (um, what area?)
7. sara needs...you. (you bet i do!)
8. sara needs...access to files and email stored on local machine under Jamies account. (why?)
9. sara needs...sara time. (haha! how did they know???)
10. sara needs...to drop a few lbs. (haha! again - how did they know?)

and, just for good measure:
11. sara needs...a MeMe. (cute, but jason's meme will do!)

hehe... pretty funny. :)

so, friends, what do YOU need?

correction.

oops!

i totally posted the reyes' baby boy's name wrong...

it's not jacob andrew, as i previously posted - that's the name that our friends, the olsons, chose for their future-baby-boy (due in april).

naomi and matthew's little one is:

jacob david reyes

sorry guys! :)

baby beanbag is here.

we are rejoicing with some of our best friends, the reyes family, today, as they welcomed their little boy, jacob andrew into the world this afternoon!

big sister abby (3) so desperately wanted to name him "baby beanbag," but for some reason matthew & naomi weren't in love with the name. ;)

i don't have pictures of the littel guy, yet, but here are some pics of the reyes family when they were "three." (or at least before #4 was outside of the womb, yet!)

our sweet friends - matthew, naomi & abby at abby's 3rd birthday party. if you look closely, you can see naomi's "baby beanbag" belly! :)

here's a more obvious picture of "baby beanbag" in all his glory before he entered our world. abby, of course, is holding her "baby patti."

we are so excited for matthew, naomi and abby, and can't wait to meet baby jacob! hopefully we'll have pictures soon. :)


jacob, you're one lucky little guy - you have one of the greatest families ever! you're going to have SO MUCH FUN growing up with them! we love you already!

- sara, jason & emma kate

happy valentine's day.

emma is having her first valentine's day party at "school" this year, so she needed valentines to give to all of her little friends tomorrow.

and, of course, i went way overboard.

but this is one of the 10 cute little cards i came up with tonight. jason said i'm trying to make up for something i must have missed out on in my childhood. haha. i say i just like making cute things!

all 10 of them are different. i put magnets on the back of the cards for her teachers, so they can go on their refrigerator. :) too fun.

anyway, just wanted to share.

happy valentine's day!

goodnight, batman.

another emma story for you, but before i tell it, there's a bit of a back story:

thanks to her daddy and nonna, emma is obsessed with batman. that's right, my 2-year-old, sweet little girl who loves big "kate bows" in her hair and the color pink is currently in love with all disney princesses... and batman. she talks about the cars blowing up and the helicopter crashing. she talks in this really funny low, deep voice, and says to her daddy things, like, "i'm batman. you're joker," and "you have to trust me." (on a side note, she also told jason, today while he was tickling her, "no, daddy, don't kill me!" there will be no more watching of "batman.") so, we've established that she's obsessed with batman.

now, onto the story:

in our home, at bedtime, we have this sweet little routine where we brush teeth, get emma's jammies on, sometimes read a story in the rocker, turn on her music, and then cuddle in the rocker until it's "sleepy time."

we also have this bedtime rhetoric (or anytime, really) that goes like this:

mommy (or daddy): i love you, emma.
emma: i yuv you.
mommy (or daddy): you're my best girl.
emma: you my best grill.

it's so precious, and so sweet, and usually i say it over and over again just to hear her say she loves me! :)

so, this is how it went a few nights ago, as we were rocking, before i laid her in her bed:

emma: seet deems, mommy.
mommy: sweet dreams, emma.
:::kiss:::
mommy: i love you, emma.
emma: i yuv you, mommy.
mommy: you're my best girl, emma.
emma: you my best batman.
:::smile:::
emma: goodnight, batman.

what an honor... i'm her BEST BATMAN! does that mean i'm better than batman? or does that mean she loves batman more than mommy?

i don't know... but either way... it made me chuckle a little as i tucked her in bed and kissed my little batman-lovin' princess goodnight.

kiss it.

so, here's your laugh for today:

i was talking to emma today, asking what she did at 'school' (mother's day out). she told me she got a spanking on her "butt" (which i'm SURE didn't actually happen... she's just recently learned how to "tell stories").

when i asked if she really got a spanking, she said, "yes, mommy - it hurt!"

then she so sweetly bent over so her little tush was in my face and said:

"mommy, will you kiss my butt?"

...and... of course, i did.

because, who could resist that cute little tush?

back at it.

school started back up for me last week at TWU. i'm in 15 hours this semester - 4 classes that i attend on tuesdays & thursdays and 2 online classes. i am already becoming very overwhelmed by the workload i have ahead of me... especially in my online classes. this art education class that i'm taking online is a bit ridiculous: a 46-page syllabus, in-depth assignments due all the time, a professor and 2 graduate assistance who all answer the same questions differently & can't seem to get on the same page... it's really stressing me out.

i'm afraid this semester is going to be so much harder than last semester. i feel like last semester was such a blessing, and so "easy" so that i would be able to be encouraged and gather the strength and motivation to finish out the next couple years.

this semester will be a tough one, that's for sure. i know i can do it, it's just frustrating when it seems that some professors are giving work that has nothing to do with our learning to be a teacher, but everything to do with simply taking up my time.

i hope i don't drive jason crazy by the end of may! only 4 more months to go, right? :) then i'll just have summer classes, and one more fall semester of classes, my student teaching next spring, and then i'll graduate may 2010!

so, yes, i see the light at the end of the tunnel, and i'm excited for that... but i feel like it's going to be a long road ahead...

ready. set. go.

anyone who knows me, knows that i am struggling a lot with self-image. especially at the weight i'm at now, since emma's birth. i've cried about it, agonized about it, beat myself up over it, been disgusted, angry, frustrated, depressed - you name it! i've tried to eat better, started and stopped going to the gym too many times to count... and still i'm the same weight i was when i gave birth to emma 2 years and 3 months ago.

well, my wonderful in-laws got me a few training sessions with an IN-HOME personal trainer for christmas! it's pretty much the BEST gift EVER! i had my first session with christina today, and it was amazing. she gave me some AWESOME exercises to do at home, 3 times a week, that should take more than 30 minutes. SO easy, right? and we talked about food, nutrition, drinking enough water, etc... i really feel equipped to tackle this head-on.

i was so encouraged after my time with christina. i feel like for the next two weeks, until i see her again, i can TOTALLY stay on top of my fitness & food plan. i am so excited to conquer this little battle with myself.

here are the tools that will help me win:

1. drinking LOTS of water, 2. dairy (yogurt & milk)


3. snacks like nuts, fruits & veggies
4. eating every 2 - 3 hours


5. weight/resistance training 3-days a week,
6. cardio (usually with my stroller!) 5-days a week

i feel so ready to actually DO this.

and i think i can. no. i KNOW i can.

i am so ready to feel good about myself again, and i'm excited to get started!

so, feel free to ask me how it's going. i'll update here every week or two... just for some accountability and the such. but hopefully, this time next year... there'll be a whole new sara behind this cute little blog! :)

girlies.

this picture makes me so happy. i just wanted to share it with all of you. :)

it's me and my girl, emma kate, with my sweet, dear friend melody and her girl, kate annemarie. melody & joel called us spur-of-the-moment one day at the end of summer and asked us to go to the dallas zoo with them and their two kiddos, grant & kate. we went, and were so glad we did. it was a great time, a perfect day, a sweet time with friends. i love fun memories like this. and its so fun to see our kids have so much fun together. joel & melody started hanging out with/kinda mentoring me and jason when we just started dating... almost 7 years ago! and they are still such an important part of our lives, even now. i love it!

this picture just captured the fun and joy of that time at the zoo. i really love it.

and i REALLY love the delucas.

baby boom.

bear with me while i wallow for just a minute in my own self-pity/wanting what i can't have...

can i just say that EVERYONE is having babies.

to prove my point:
my cousin bess: baby ruthie, born january 7th
missy's sister ellie: baby "jake", born january 10th
naomi: baby boy (baby beanbag, according to abby), due in february
lisa: baby everett, due in march
jerica: baby boy, due in april
kristina: baby (we don't know!), due in may
candice: baby (don't know yet, but she says it's a girl!), due in june

so, every month for the next 5 months, we'll be rejoicing with sweet friends as they welcome a new little life into their family!

sigh. i'm not complaining. i'm just yearning. :)

maybe by this time next year, we'll be expecting our own new little life...

save the date.

my brother cory & his fiancee katie are getting married in 23 weeks!

they came over last night to talk about save the dates and invitations. i'm working on their save the date right now. it's a super fun postcard, and i'm loving it!

click here to see the work in progress.

i'm so excited for my brother. he has found someone who loves him as much as he loves her. they are great together, and we can't wait for their wedding!

ruthie christine cave.

a new baby has blessed the cave family.

my cousin aaron and his sweet wife bess met their daughter today! at 3:22 pm, ruth "ruthie" christine made her grand entrance into our world, weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz.

we are praising God with aaron & bess for the blessing of their girl. we can't wait to meet her, snuggle her and give her lots of hugs & kisses.

until then, here are some sweet pictures, so the world can see her perfection:

mommy, daddy & ruthie at christmas

bess carrying baby ruthie

aaron & bess being their silly selves
(they're going to be such fun parents!)

sweet girl

my aunt debra:::grandma

my uncle doug:::grandpa

fancy toes!

welcome to our world, ruthie christine.

i know ruthie & emma kate will have SO much fun playing for years to come. we are so excited about our growing family.

congratulations, aaron & bess! your girl is beautiful perfection!

all photographs by aaron cave
www.aaroncave.com

they love each other.

they love each other.

one of my best friends, missy, has two of the greatest kids ever - brynn is 7 & aaron is 3. emma and aaron love each other. i mean, they really love each other! we are always joking that we've got to save sweet pictures and memories for their rehearsal dinner slideshow. but i'm serious... they love each other!

aaron is so sweet with emma. he's so gentle and patient with her, and he usually shares his toys. except for when he doesn't... but then, at least he's thoughtful enough to let everyone know that he is not going to let emma play with his toys! :)


missy called me tonight. aaron wanted to talk to me, and the first thing he said was, "sara, i miss emma." he told me he wanted to talk to her, so i went into her room where jason was rocking her for bedtime, and i told her aaron was on the phone. she immediately grabbed my cell phone (which was on speaker phone) and said, "oh, HIIIII, aaron!"

this is the precious conversation that followed:

emma: hi aaron!
aaron: hi emma!
emma: aaron, hi!
aaron: emma, what are you doing?
emma: hi aaron.
aaron: what are you doing emma?
emma: aaron, hi! i'm rockin'.
aaron: hey emma, you want to come to my house?
emma: yeah.
aaron: emma, let's go to target, and we can buy baby toys and big boy toys, and we can go to starbucks, and i will pay my money for you, emma.
emma: ok. i want starbucky's. (emma's pet name for starbucks.)
aaron: STARBUCKS! (as he starts singing at the top of his lungs and running around in circles.)
emma: starbucky's!
aaron: STARBUCKS! (still running and singing.)
emma: ok, i yuv you aaron, bye!

so there you go... let it be chronicled that my 2-year-old daughter, emma kate rains, just might be the youngest girl ever to be asked out on a bonafide date. and by a pretty studly 3-year-old, i might add! if they were in highschool, she'd be a sophomore, and he'd be a senior... that's pretty good! : )

not really sure this counts as a date? well, let's look at all the specifics:

guy asks the girl... check!
plans ahead... check!
target to buy toys... check! (girls LOVE shopping - how thoughtful!)
offers to buy her something... check! (baby toys for emma, big boy toys for aaron.)
out for coffee... check! (starbucky's, of course.)
offers to "pay his money for her"... check!

sounds like all the makings of a date, to me!

so, missy and i are going to start planning now, and come spring of 2028 (when emma's 22), emma & aaron will have the best darn wedding two toddler-sweethearts have ever had!

i'm sure they will be doing this many years from now.

emma berardinelli. i like it. :)