Playing in the Leaves

What's in a Name

Sara [sahr-uh] - noun, (1) derived from the word Triceratops (2) the name given to Cera the Triceratops in the movie The Land Before Time (see picture below).

Okay, so we all know this is not the true definition of Sara.  But according to Will it is.

Back when we told the boys I was pregnant, we talked about the baby and asked if they wanted a brother or a sister.  One night at dinner, I asked Will what he wanted to name the baby if it was a girl.  He stopped for a minute and then quickly said Sara.  At that point in time, Will was very into the movie The Land Before Time so I knew exactly where the name had come from.  Cera the Triceratops was his favorite and of course, why would he not want a little sister named after his favorite dinosaur?

Sara was never on our list of names so I didn't seriously entertain the name at first.  I would continue to throw names out to Will to see what he thought and his response was always "No, her name is Sara".  Hmmm....how were we going to get around this one?  He was pretty adament about this name and would even tell people his sister's name was Sara once we found out it was a girl.

As we got closer to my due date, we didn't really have any more prospective girl names that were doing it for us.  So after 9 months of the boys calling her Sara, the name just stuck.   Now that Sara is here, I love the name and am happy that Will was persistent.  :-)

So Sara, I hope you aren't mad at us for naming you after a dinosaur.  Instead, when someone asks you where your name came from, be proud and say "My name is Sara and my brother named me after a Triceratops." Also just think..if you were a boy, your name could have been Spike.  So you got the better of the two.  :-)

1 Month!

Wow a month flew by fast!  Our little Sara has fit right into the mix of the craziness and somehow is even able to sleep through all the noise and the constant touching and kissing.  For only being a month old, Sara has done a lot from apple picking, to soccer games, and a trip to the cape. When Will was born, I didn't leave the house for the first three weeks!  Oh the joy of being the third child.  :-) 

Sara had her one month doctor appointment today and is happy to report she is a healthy growing girl.  She is weighing in at 10.2 ozs (75th percentile), 21.25 inches long (52nd percentile) and her head is 14.86 inches (64th percentile - not off the charts like the boys!).

At one month, Sara is....

1. Sleeping...sleeping...and more sleeping.  I'm still waiting for her to wake up!  Slowing she is starting to be a little more awake each day.  Her favorite time of day to be wide eyed starts at 6pm until bed time.  

2. Eating a lot...she is definitely a healthy and hungry baby.

3. Smiling!  We saw her first smile (not related to gas) this past week

4. Starting to follow us with her eyes.

5. First coos.  She will watch intently as we talk to her and every once in a while will respond with a coo or gurgle.  

Here are some pictures from the month..there are a lot!  And I was worried I wasn't taking enough pictures of her.  :-)

First trip to the doctor and already sporting her New Balance

My little pumpkin!

Soccer Star

We signed Will up to play fall soccer which is his first time playing in the town league.   He is so excited to play and the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up on Sunday morning is get dressed in his soccer uniform despite the fact that the game isn't until 1pm.   Eric is one of the coaches for the team, however, there's not much coaching done at the 4 year old level.  It's more of managing the tears and the half time oranges.  :-)

I will say that watching 4 years olds play soccer is quite entertaining.  There are 10 kids on the field at a time, 5 on each team.  And at any given point during the game, all 10 kids are huddled around the ball running up and down the field.  There's not concept of positions at this level.  It's every man for himself.  

Here are a few pictures from one of Will's game.  

Will and his friend Kieran

I think Will just enjoys running up and down the field more than actually kicking the ball.

Will and Coach Daddy

Go Will!

Everyone huddled around the ball.

Sneak Peek

For those of you not on Facebook, here is a sneak peek at a few of the pictures from our newborn photo shoot.  I am excited they came out so well and I can't wait to see the rest!  Enjoy!