Sadie's Mom's Blog

This Blog Has Moved!

2011-01-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

I should have done this a while ago! Sadie has a new little sister and I have a new blog (for anyone who doesn't already know!). It's A Woman's Place Depends on Her Vocation! So if you haven't already and you'd like to, come over and visit!

Self Time Outs...

2010-06-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sadie was playing at her sand table a few days ago when she decided that the sand looked much better on Nani’s porch than it did on the table top. The conversation that followed went like this:

Me: “Sadie, you know the rules. Keep the sand on the table.”
Sadie: Looks up and makes sure I’m watching before dumping another cup of sand on the deck.
Me: “Do you want a time out.”
Sadie: Turns back to the sand table and then stands still for a second before saying in a very clear voice- “Yeah!”
Me: “You want a time out?”
Sadie: “Yeah!” She then turns and looks at me.
Me: “You like timeouts?”
Sadie: “Yeah.” She then goes and walks over to the front door. When Paul opens it she goes inside and stands in the corner with her hands up to her face against the wall. I follow her inside.
Me: “What are you doing?”
Sadie: Stands silently against the wall, waiting for a timeout.
Me: “Okay… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.”
Sadie: Continues to stand against the wall. Most of her timeouts are twenty seconds.
Me: “Sadie?”
Sadie: Turns around and giggles and runs back into the living room the play.

So… timeouts are fun… I think I’m going to have my hands full before two long!

Trucks and Butterflies

2010-06-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

Sadie was horrified today when we got to her favorite Aquarium/Museum. Last night they had hosted a private graduation party and someone at the party had smashed the windshield out of the classic, full sized truck that Sadie loves to play in.

She’s also having to get used to the idea of sharing the Museum with other kids. Now that it’s summer there are a lot more people there and Sadie isn’t able to race around the place, which is almost empty most winter mornings.

Yet the most stressful part of Sadie’s day was rather unexpected. The park has a butterfly enclosure during the summer months. We’ve noticed lately that whenever Sadie is worried about anything she’ll start to get hives on her arm or leg. As soon as whatever she’s worried about goes away, so do the hives. Today I had dressed Sadie in bright pink shirt and a brown skirt that was covered with a brightly colored tropical flower print. The print was very popular with the butterflies. While they avoided most people they swarmed Sadie and kept landing on her skirt trying to drink from the flowers. Sadie, who chases butterflies and birds at home who fly away, wasn’t sure what to think of these bold butterflies and immediately started itching. And she wasn’t buying my (or Nani’s) reassurances that the butterflies were nice.

But I guess that’s better than having to protect the butterflies from her grabby little hands. A few parents definitely had there hands full with that!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2010-06-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy month! We've been moving into our first family apartment and moving while 34 weeks pregnant, while chasing around a toddler, is not an easy task. Things are going more slowly than I'd like, because I can't do as much as I want to, but are coming along. I'm stepping back a bit more than I would if I weren't pregnant, and letting people help (Paul hung the pictures this time, which is really making the apartment look like "home").

Sadie wasn't quite sure what to think about the new apartment. As her toys migrate over from Nani and Grumpa's (and there seem to be enough toys to fill both houses) she has been warming to it. She wasn't sure what was so special about the place the first time she came over with Nani and saw Mommy scrubbing the bathroom floor. Now that half of the Wonder Pets are in the living room, it's a little more welcoming.

Sadie is such a sweet mix of girlie and rough and tumble. She loves Grumpa's tractors and ohhh's and ahhh's over every truck we pass. She's thrilled each time a big rig drives by on the freeway and points and squeals. But she also loves dressing up. Two days ago we went through two and a half boxes of baby clothes and Sadie was excited to find a box of her fancy church dresses. She "ohhhed" and "awwwed" each time she picked up a dress and then carefully handed it to me and stood and listened as I'd tell her about how cute she looked in it and, for some of the special dresses, explained where she'd worn it. If I asked if she thought a dress was pretty she'd say "ya."

In fact, while I've always heard of toddlers saying "no" to everything Sadie's response to most questions is "ya." Occassionally, if she's really excited she says, "oh yaaaaaaa!" Although I was surprised once when I asked her something and she said "no way."

I better run... nap time is coming to an end!

The Ocean Bunny

2010-05-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sadie loves to dance (if you click here that's a clip and if you click here there's another one). But we've found one thing that she loves more than dancing: playing in the ocean... the very, very, very cold Pacific Ocean:

Mustard.

2010-05-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sadie bunny has always had interesting tastes. She likes onions (cooked and uncooked). She loves pickles. And spicy barbeque sauce is on her list of favorite foods. Yesterday, however, she discovered the joy of mustard.

I’m not sure which she loves more, the fact that mustard is yellow and comes in a spectacularly yellow bottle (that she loves stealing from the fridge) or the taste. And what was served with the mustard?

A hot dog, cut into four pieces (so they were like tiny, unchokable triangles) and then sliced into tiny slivers.

Sadie liked the hotdog. But she loved the mustard. She spent a good deal of time dipping her fork in the mustard and eating it.

The mustard obsession actually began long before yesterday. It began months ago, before Sadie had ever even tasted mustard. She fell in love with the yellow bottle in the fridge and from anywhere in the downstairs section of Nani and Grumpa’s house she could hear the fridge open and make a run for it, stealthy sneaking around whoever opened the fridge to grab the mustard off the bottom shelf of the door and make a run for it out into the living room before anyone noticed. This happens on a daily, if not twice daily basis (and sometimes more than that). People watch for her now, but she still has great timing and seems to slip in just as you let your guard down.

Now that she’s tasted mustard I have a feeling her attacks on the fridge are only going to get worse…

Adventures in Nap Time...

2010-04-27T07:51:00.001-07:00

Sadie is having a bit of a struggle with her sleep patterns. I think she may be going through a growth spurt, or maybe she’s just exhausted because the weather’s been nicer so she’s been doing a lot of running around outside.

Whatever the reason, we have had a tough couple of days.

Sadie usually wakes up at 6:30 on the dot each morning, takes a nap from 1:30-3:00pm each day and then falls asleep at 7:30 at night.

This arrangement had worked well for us for quite a while.

Suddenly though, she’s exhausted by 10:30am. The other day on the way home from morning Mass she even fell asleep and didn’t wake up until halfway through lunch. Unfortunately, even the early nap didn’t seem to be enough, and she was very cranky by bedtime (and I didn’t really want to put her down before her bedtime, because every time I’ve tried that she’s ended up wide awake and ready to play at 4am).

Is she suddenly back to two naps a day again (I’m going to try it out and see if it works)?

She even slept this morning until 7:15, which is very late for the princess bunny.

As we work out her new sleep schedule, things have been pretty cranky around here. And she’s frustrated with Mommy for not figuring out what’s going to work next more quickly…

Tomorrow I think I’ll try out two naps again and hope that it works. Otherwise we might have a few more days with the grumpy little princess storming around the house.

More Time Outs!

2010-04-23T21:06:00.001-07:00

We had yet another funny time out the other day.

Sadie had another incident that involved pushing a cat (Delilah, of course, because she’s the only cat that’s brave enough to spend a significant amount of time with Sadie) off of the ottoman in the middle of the living room. She knows that this is a major no-no.

So she wasn’t surprised when Nani and I both said “no” at the same time, as Delilah fled across the room, and I followed it with, “Sadie, go to the time out corner. You know you don’t push cats. It’s time for a time out.”

Sadie turned, walked across the room and walked over to the hallway corner. I was sitting in a chair in the living room and decided I would give something new a try. The time out corner was just out of site from where I was sitting, but I could hear Sadie walk to it and sit down. When she sat down I started to count. I got to six before I heard Sadie stand up and start to walk back into the room. She proceeded to walk over to me, grab my hand and lead me back over to the time out corner. Then she dropped my hand and sat down, content as I stood behind her and counted to ten. Then she got up and went back out to play.

She giggled through most of the time out though… and seems to think that being sentenced to a time out is pretty hilarious…

I have a feeling she’s going to be able to count to twenty pretty soon… she hears those numbers so frequently…

Time Out!

2010-04-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Sadie was having a little bit of a hard time being gentle with the kitties today. After one particularly rough moment that involved Sadie pushing Delilah off of the ottoman in the middle of the living room, Nani told Sadie that she was going to have a time out. Sadie got up and walked out of the room over to the corner in the hallway where she has her time outs, sat in the corner, folded her hands in her lap and then waited for Nani to follow her in and count to ten.

A while later she was frustrated about something and swung at me (she’s been so frustrated about talking lately that she’s been having her terrible two tantrums early). I told her that if she did it again she was going to have to have a time out. She stopped mid tantrum, got up and walked out of the room again and gave herself a time out. When I followed her I found her sitting in the corner giggling.

She doesn’t seem to mind the time outs, but they do seem to give her a chance to calm down.

Weather Vanes, Buckets and Tractors

2010-04-21T07:21:00.001-07:00

Sadie is currently playing with her red tractor. Her obsession with all things tractor began months ago (around the time she was able to walk around outside and see Grumpa on his tractor) and doesn’t look as if it’s going to end any time soon. This morning Grumpa won extra points by wearing his red tractor t-shirt. Sadie was quick to spot it and had to run over to show Grumpa that she’d noticed the tractor and that she loved it.

Her interest in weather vane continues, but she’s added to it and now is very excited about looking at pictures of buckets. This is also a result of reading barn books (because apparently when I pointed her interest out to Nani she said that it had started with the Big Red Barn book upstairs) and I first noticed it this morning when she kept turning her nursery rhyme book to the Jack and Jill page and then to the front page, which also has a miniature Jack and Jill. She points out the bucket picture again and again, while I repeat, “bucket,” “bucket.”

She can also tell you that the sound that every bird makes is “bwak, bwak, bwak, bwak” (like a chicken). Every non-bird animal says “moooooooo,” which also happens to be the word for “moon.”

And the other very cute phrase that Sadie likes to say?

“Uh-oh!”

Sadie Sleeps!

2010-04-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sadie slept through the night last night in her big girl bed! I put her down a little before eight and she showed up standing next to my bed staring at me and making little puppy whimpering sounds some time around 6. Ten whole hours of toddler sleep!

I'm really hoping it lasts! We switched over to Pull Ups two nights ago, because the normal diapers were no longer working at night and I'm not sure how the switch is contributing to her suddenly sounder sleep, but there does seem to be a connection. She went from waking up five to eight times a night, to waking up three times a night two nights ago, to sleeping through the night last night! That's really quick progress and it makes me love Sadie's new little pink princess Pull Ups (which she's quite thrilled with too because of the whole pink princess aspect of them).

I remember that third trimester sleep usually isn't the best... but I'll take all the sleep that I can get these days! Sleeping from ten to six last night was a dream come true!

The Smurf Shoes (and other things that are just too small!)

2010-04-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

We found a pair of tennis shoes that I wore to kindergarten the other day while sorting through boxes of stuff for the garage sale. Back in the day they were one of my absolute favorite things to wear. They are pink and white saddle shoes with a little blue Smurfette on the side. I was styling.

Yet we knew with one look that they wouldn’t work for Sadie… they’re already too small. While her size 9 shoes are looking a little big on her still, her size 8s are already a little too small. We’ll be searching for a shoe that actually fits later this week!

I also ran across a shirt that I got when we visited Hawaii. I was in first grade when I wore it as a normal sized t-shirt. I put it on Sadie last week and while it was a tiny bit longer than her other shirts, it was still well above her knees (actually it probably came down about half way across her diaper).

And I can completely forget putting her in a shirt that says 2T or 3T or 4T if it’s from one of those boxes. I guess sizes must have changed over the past twenty five years… they are just too tiny for our one year old! In today’s sizes she wears a 3T.

I have a feeling she’s going to be taller than me when she grows up… and I’m not too short at 5’5”.

Weather Vanes!

2010-04-17T06:54:00.001-07:00

Sadie is more than a little obsessed with weather vanes. And it’s all because of her “Big Red Barn” book. One of the pages towards the front of the book says: “and on every barn is a weather vane of course, a golden flying horse.”

We read this book pretty much every night before bedtime when Sadie was tiny and she still looks at it most nights before bath time. She’s taken that particular sentence quite literally. Every barn is supposed to have a weather vane. Every barn.

Sadie has pointed out weather vanes for a long time. There’s a weather vane with an eagle on it at the local grocery store and she points to him every time we go shopping. It’s only recently that she’s starting demanding we notice buildings without weather vanes so we can observe what they don’t have.

Then she started obsessing over her barn puzzle. It has a red barn in the center that is surrounded by animals. And that red barn does not have a weather vane. Last week this caused hysterics. Sadie pointed it out to each of us, with increasing urgency until she was having a full out tantrum every time she saw it. The logical solution was to hide the puzzle, but Sadie would look for it. Finally Nani took a permanent marker and drew on a little stick figure weather vane. Sadie saw it and pointed (and actually seemed a little disappointed that she didn’t have a weather vane-less barn to point to anymore) and the tantrums finally stopped.

Luckily Sadie’s Wonder Pet School House has a big yellow weather vane. The Fischer Price barn she got for her first Christmas, however, doesn’t. This has been the latest drama. Right now there’s a red barn with a pink pig sitting on top of it sitting next to me. Yesterday Sadie has placed “Mater” the tow truck from Cars on the barn for most of the day. These are two of her favorite stand in weather vanes.

A few days ago she started going through her books and pointing out the top of every single building. She’s quite insistent. She’ll keep pointing and squealing until someone says “no weather vane.” And then she’ll get a happy little smile, turn the page and start over, pointing to the next building (or if there’s no building she points to the top of the page) and insisting that someone notice that there’s no weather vane there.

A Cat Scratch

2010-04-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

If you ask Sadie where the kitty scratched her she can show you instantly. She flips her little hand over and shows anyone who will look the tiny line that runs across the back of her wrist. It's less than an inch long, but she enjoys pointing it out, as it is one of her bigger "ouchies."

She's lucky that it isn't bigger.

Delilah is the cat version of a saint. Sadie spends all day climbing on her and following her around. I would feel a little more sympathy for Delilah, however, if when Sadie wasn't following her around the house, she would stop following Sadie. The attachment between them definitely seems to be mutual (which is completely beyond me since Sadie doesn't quite have "gentle" down yet, although we talk about it about three dozen times a day). The other cats are much better at staying out of Sadie's reach (mostly). Delilah doesn't even want to.

I rescue Delilah a few dozen times a day. And because I'm not exactly quick these days, I miss a number of cat rescues. And I have thought, every now and then, that Sadie has deserved a scratch or two. For the most part though, Delilah refuses to defend herself from Sadie's "cuddles."

Two days ago, however, I was too slow getting across the room and it resulted (finally) in Sadie's tiny scratch. Sadie was sitting on the couch next to Delilah. She was being very gentle (which is why I'd let my guard down). She'd given Delilah a few hugs, when suddenly, mid hug, she leaned too far forward and fell of the couch. And of course, she brought Delilah with her. Delilah was unharmed and Sadie didn't make a sound. But then she noticed the tiny scratch on her wrist and for the last two days has been showing everyone her ouchie.

They're inseparable again though. I'm just hoping Sadie really gets the hang of the whole "gentle" idea soon!

Timeouts are Fun?!?!

2010-04-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sadie isn’t phased by timeouts. In fact, she actually seems to think they’re kind of fun. Yesterday, however, was the first day where she did something naughty, moments after I’d told her not to and then turned and gave me her hand and led me over to the corner in the front hall where she has her time outs. She sat down facing out and then scooted around on her bum until she was facing the wall and proceeded to sit still, giggling and playing with her toes.

For some reason sitting still for twenty seconds in the corner just doesn’t seem like it’s a punishment when the little person who is supposed to be learning not to do something spends the entire time giggling. And she can find any reason to giggle during timeout.

Other than the timeout (or maybe including it, since Sadie doesn’t seem to mind them), Sadie had a pretty fun day. She went to Turtle Bay with Nani and Grumpa while I had my one-hour glucose test and then, after she gave Daddy a tour of Turtle Bay and introduced him to the fish and turtles, we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese. Of course, she was so tired from all the playing that she wasn’t the best little shopper in the world afterwards and after only two stores we called it a day.

Maggie’s little legs have gotten quite long and are already fitting up under my ribs. I think she’s going to be tall too, like her daddy!

No Naps! No Naps!

2010-04-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

I felt a little bit like I was missing the punch line of a joke last night. But while I may not have understood what was so funny, Sadie definitely got it.

It was nap time and Sadie was putting up quite a struggle to keep from falling asleep. She was very tired and had the little exhausted line that she gets on her lower eyelids when she’s very, very sleepy, but she just didn’t want to close her eyes and was intent on doing everything that she could to stay awake. Her strategy began with pointing to a book on the dresser that she never wants to read during nap time (we read it before bedtime every night) and demanding that I read it before she would go to sleep. Until last week (when she started having a tantrum if I read it before nap time) we read it before nap and bedtime, so I gave in and she giggled while I read.

When I put the book down Sadie was determined to find a way to get me to play so that she wouldn’t have to go to sleep. She finally created her own little game and became quite the little chatter box as she played. It went something like this:

Sadie would lift her hand up and push my head to the right side so that I was looking away from her. In a loud voice she would say “A-ga!” After about two seconds she would push my head back so that I was looking right at he and would say “Ba!” (which happens to be her new favorite word for pretty much everything). Then she would giggle hysterically like she’d just told a hilarious joke. And then she’d start again, pushing my face away and saying “A-ga!”

It actually ended up taking me 40 minutes to get Sadie to go to sleep, by which time I was wondering if yesterday was going to be one of those rare days where she completely refuses to take a nap and instead storms around the house in a grouchy tired funk until bedtime. Thankfully an hour and a half later she was her usual cheerful self, zooming around the downstairs at Nani’s house trying to help with dinner.

In other news I am feeling giant already! I measured my waist last night and it is already 41 inches. I believe I got up to 42 inches with Sadie and I still have thirteen weeks to go. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that Maggie, who was measuring big at the ultrasound and at the last doctor’s appointment, may be even bigger than Sadie was if we go the entire forty weeks. And that’s just hard to imagine.

I have to say that I never felt nervous holding Sadie because she was such a big baby. When I would see other babies they would look so delicate and tiny, but at 22 inches and 9 lbs 4 oz she was just so big!

I am starting to wonder if this is going to be a ten pounder!

"Stop!"

2010-04-05T22:00:00.001-07:00

Poor Daddy! He’s so embarrassing! The other day we were all finishing up dinner and Sadie was sitting between us in her new little booster seat (she’s graduated from her high chair!). Daddy was playing with her and was loudly humming the Jaws theme song as he leaned in for a kiss.

Sadie, who still thinks that hand signs are a pretty good replacement for language, put her hand up, swatted Daddy’s shoulder and said “Stop!” in a rather annoyed, but perfectly clear voice. Daddy’s singing had embarrassed her!

Paul was wondering if this was the first time he’d embarrassed her, or if this had only been the first time she’d been able to express it. I voted for the later. You see, I remember the time that she sprinted through the living room and tripped over his feet when he was sitting on the couch. Sadie sailed through the air and was on a collision course with the recliner (head first) when Daddy, thinking fast, reached out and caught her. Sadie glanced over at him as she sat up and said, in her most exasperated voice, “Daddy!”

There’s a new sausage commercial where the Dad (who’s the sun) is singing while he’s making breakfast and his two teenage daughters are incredibly embarrassed. Hmmmmm…. That kind of reminds me of Sadie and Daddy eating dinner together!

The Cupcake Incident

2010-03-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have neglected this blog! And I've thought of ten funny Sadie stories to write up this week, and now I'm having blogger's block!

Except I can't forget about the cupcake!

Last week we had a little party for Sadie. It was in honor of being a big girl and being weaned. I made tuna sandwiches (Sadie's new favorite food) for lunch and set up her new Beauty and the Beast plastic tea set and then brought out the cupcakes after we'd finished lunch.

Sadie was very excited. She loves cupcakes. However, even though she didn't eat much (she was already full of tuna) she definitely had a stomach ache afterwards.

So the other cupcakes (they were the giant ones from Costco) were hidden away.

Unfortunately, Daddy must have been asleep when we had the "no cupcakes in front of Sadie talk" and he brought out a cupcake after dinner!

Sadie started to scream the second she saw the cupcake. Paul quickly whisked it out of the room and put it in the laundry room to save until Sadie went up for her bath, but Sadie was on a cupcake hunt and she was pretty sure that Daddy was going to eat that cupcake that night. Twice she left the room and went into the living room and then turned suddenly and sprinted back into the kitchen swinging her head back and forth searching for a cupcake eating Daddy.

She didn't catch him, but the next day when we were going out on a walk she looked into the garbage can in the back porch and stopped in her tracks. She reached into it and pulled out a cupcake wrapper and held it up for everyone to see. She repeated this twice more (each time we went out that way) to make sure we'd gotten the point. Daddy had eaten a cupcake!

Now she's really trying to catch him with a cupcake!

The Fire Truck

2010-03-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sadie is having a lot of fun playing on her own. And if she doesn’t want to play with you, she’ll let you know… by giving you a fire truck.

The first time it happened Grumpa was sitting in a chair next to Sadie’s toy cars and Wonder Pet school house and he moved something in the school house. Sadie turned around and looked at him. Then she moved his hand out of the school house. Next she moved back and grabbed the fire truck. Turning she handed it to Grumpa and then gave his hand a little shove to make sure that it wasn’t going to sneak back over to encroach on Wonder Pet territory.

Now handing the fire truck to any of us has become a way of saying “I’m playing on my own and I don’t need help!”

She hands me the fire truck at least once a day, which is kind of funny because usually she want everyone playing Wonder Pets!

Sadie’s also been having a hard time adjusting to the time change. It was still light outside when bedtime came around tonight and Sadie kept getting out of bed and walking over to me and then giggling because she knew she was being silly. So we’re going to try pushing bedtime back from 7:30 to 8pm for a while. Maybe it will mean sleeping in a tiny bit later! That would be nice!

Adventures in Toddlerhood!

2010-03-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sadie has been enjoying the sunny weather that we’ve been having lately. We’ve been spending a lot of time walking, playing in the garden (although there was a tantrum over who would use what rake the other day… because I wouldn’t let her have the big rake that is rough and full of splinters and kept handing her the little red and blue plastic rake that she usually loves), and playing down on the flood plain near the river.

Now to the unimaginative grown up the flood plain may not seem all that exciting, but to a toddler it’s bursting with possibilities. We’ve built a fort for her “guys” to play in (the Wonder Pets, an assortment of trucks and a new regiment of army guys from the dollar section at Target) and today we took Daddy down to show him all the work that we’d done. There are also several large puddles that Sadie tries to sneak over to stomp in, not quite realizing that they’d probably be past her knees!

The other development is that Sadie has decided that outside would be a pretty nice place to take a nap. So she’s been testing out different spots. We’ll be walking along on the dirt road and she’ll just drop down suddenly and make her hands into a little cushion and pretend that she’s going to sleep. While the ground is nearly dry, we have gotten a lot of rain lately, and so her little face is in need of a good wash most of the time (no matter how often I wash it!).

All this running around means that she’s very tired by nap time! We’re almost an hour and a half into a great nap right now! Finally, she’s become a champion napper!

In the Garden?!?!

2010-02-27T07:50:00.001-08:00

The baby monster is watching Side the Science Kid. She spent the day yesterday trying to convince Grumpa that she had hidden the remote control down in the garden. She almost got him to believe it (he would have if he hadn’t known that she’d been inside all day long and hadn’t had a chance to take it outside).

It all started when the remote disappeared and Grumpa asked Sadie where it was. She ran straight to the side door and pointed out at the garden. When he asked her again five minutes later she did the same thing. Every time she was asked in the living room she’d run to the door with a huge smile and point out.

The remote control was later found underneath her toy lion.

Sadie is remaining silent on how the remote got under her toy lion, but would likely blame one of the cats if she were talking.

Tractor Days...

2010-02-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Sadie has become a champion napper! She went to sleep yesterday for Nani and when we went up for naptime today it only took five minutes before she was out cold!

She had a very exciting morning today. A government agency is doing some environmental restoration to the river that we live on. So BLM has been out here a lot checking things out (they had an archeologist come out and make sure there were no artifacts, although there was some joking around that he wasn’t looking very hard) and today they brought out an excavator and a backhoe and dug some giant 18 ft deep holes. Then they put pipes in and covered the holes back up. For the next two years they’ll be monitoring the holes and the water level to see how low the water table is. These things definitely don’t move very quickly.

We had been waiting for the tractors all week. The BLM guy would come out each night and say that they would be there the next day and then the next night would come back and say that things had gone slowly and that they would probably be there tomorrow. Sadie was getting a little impatient! Two mornings ago she woke up at 6am and was ready to go out and look for tractors.

They finally arrived today! This week has been gorgeous. It was blue sky and short sleeve weather. When we peeked out heads outside to see the tractors it started to pour. But we certainly weren’t going to let something like a little rain stop us , so armed with umbrella’s and Sadie’s super stroller we headed out and spent a good hour watching the excavator and the backhoe work. And of course there were some tears when we headed back in!

And here’s a picture of Sadie’s new tractor ride. Grumpa created it for her and it was a huge hit. She thinks she needs at least one tractor ride a day. When it gets a little warmer it just might happen!

More on the Big Girl Bed

2010-02-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Sadie woke up after only forty minutes of napping. Since she’d gone to sleep at 1:30 (she’s starting pushing her nap back two hours, but it means she sleeps for longer) I knew she would be cranky if she didn’t get back to sleep, and after several unsuccessful tries I brought her up into the big bed and laid down next to her. She was instantly out.

An hour and a half later (our nap turned into a Super Nap) she was wide awake. She sat up, hugged a stuffed animal and looked around the room with a slightly confused look on her face as if she were trying to figure out how she got there. So I decided to ask her a question.

“Sadie, where is your Big Girl Bed.”

She gets a little smile and then points at the bed we’re sitting on.

“But where’s Mommy’s bed.”

The little smile gets bigger and more mischievous and she pauses before pointing to the same spot.

“But where is the Big Girl Bed Sadie sleeps in at night.”

Points again to bed she’s in.

After about five rounds of this I leaned back and pointed to her bed and said, “but what about that bed.”

Sadie’s smile got even bigger, she did this little fake “surprised” look and then started pointed to the “Big Girl Bed.”

I was pretty funny though seeing her try to convince me that she was in “her” bed and that she didn’t know what I was talking about!

My Little Ponies!

2010-02-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Nani gave Sadie a My Little Pony tonight (Sadie got a little spoiled on our trip into the City yesterday) and Sadie spent most of the time during our bedtime routine brushing her pony’s pink hair with the little pink comb. Towards the end of the bedtime routine she handed me the pony and the brush and pointed to the pony.

As I started to brush the pony’s hair I hummed the My Little Pony theme song and Sadie went crazy. She started dancing and bouncing up and down with a huge smile on her face. When the song ended she took the pony, handed it to me again with the brush again and gave me an expectant look. When the humming started the dancing started. She was having a blast.

She also sings every single time she gets into Grumpa’s truck. She likes to stand on the back seat before she gets into her high chair and then she pretends to sing the Little Mermaid Song (the one without words, from the part when the sea witch steals her voice).

And we watched a few minutes of Snow White this morning and a lot of singing along accompanied that experience.

With all this singing and dancing I’m starting to feel like I live in a musical!

Sadie's First Barbie!

2010-02-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

Sadie slept through the night last night and so, today, when we went into town, she got a Big Girl Reward. Her very first Barbie. It’s actually the ballerina Princess Ariel doll. When I handed it to her in the store she gazed lovingly at Ariel and then proceeded to kiss the plastic repeatedly as she was pushed around Target.

Then a near disaster occurred. We got out to the parking lot and Nani tried to open the Ariel doll’s box. Unfortunately the people who designed the packaging had apparently anticipated that the box needed to withstand a full-scale attack and had designed a complex system of anti-doll-removal traps that were nearly impossible to get past. Sadie was nearly having a meltdown by the time I dug through my diaper bag, found a pair of nail clippers and used the nail clippers to completely destroy the box (and finally freed the doll).

Half an hour later Ariel found herself dancing around in the rice on Sadie’s plate at lunch. And on the way home from our big day of shopping I glanced back and found Sadie completely asleep, with Ariel cradled in her arms. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Nap Time and Weaning

2010-02-19T20:04:00.001-08:00

Nap time has become something of a struggle.

We’ve entered into Phase 3 of weaning. Phase 1 was night weaning. Phase 2 involved cutting out Sadie’s morning feeding. And now, Phase 3 means no more nursing before naptime. There was a one-month gap between each of the “Phases” and so far it’s worked out pretty well for us. At least it has from my point of view.

Phase 4 is set to launch towards the end of March and will complete the whole weaning process. It will mean no more night time feeding. I have a feeling that it might be the most disastrous of the phases. We can distract Sadie pretty well during the day… but she still pretty attached to nursing, particularly her bedtime feeding. She gets teary if it’s late…

But for now I’m focusing on Phase 3. Sadie doesn’t really see why she should take a nap if she isn’t going to have a naptime feeding. Nap time yesterday went something like this:

We told Sadie it was nap time and she hoped into her big girl bed. Then she sat up and giggled. We had been riding around in the tractor an hour earlier and she sat up, pointed to the side of the house that the tractor was parked on and said :

“Ga… ga… gump… pa… gump… gum…pa…. gumpa… ga….. gumpa….. gumpa…..”

She went on that way for at least fifteen minutes repeating “Grumpa” over and over again. I finally, hopeful still, started to read Goodnight Moon. She lay back on her pillow until we got to the picture of the three little bears sitting on chairs and then she jumped up enthusiasticially and grabbed her two bears, Chris and Oatmeal. Next I got a lesson on how her bears were like the bears in the pictures. They both had the same ears and noses. Sleep was a little bit further away after that.

I decided to give it the Super Nanny try and sit in the chair and let her figure out sleeping on her own. She grabbed the curtains. I said no. She cried. She laid down. She sat up. She giggled. She leaned off the bed and snagged every toy she could reach and pulled them onto the bed. She played. She threw them off the bed and started to cry. She laid back down.

After nearly an hour of this she got off the bed and ran crying over to me. Since we are still weaning I had offered to rock her in the rocking chair earlier (she had refused and gotten into bed). Now the rocking chair idea didn’t seem quite so bad. She curled up on my lap and I rocked. Two minutes later she was snoring and I gently put her back in the big girl bed.

I hope this gets easier soon!

Update: Today’s nap went much better! I gave Sadie a choice: I told her that she could be rocked to sleep in the rocker and then put in her bed, or she could go straight into her big girl bed and fall asleep. She opted for the rocker, changed her mind, tried out the big girl bed and then finally got up and sprinted back to me (I was still in the rocker knitting). So I rocked her to sleep and she is now soundly asleep. And it’s been 70 minutes, so it’s a good nap! Yay!

A Dancing Bunny!

2010-02-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sadie loves to pretend that she’s a tree. She thinks that the kitchen is the best place in the entire house to dance and goes in there, waving her hands in the air and pretending to be a tree like the ones outside that are “blowing in the wind.” She spins and dances and leans from side to side. It’s pretty cute (in my biased opinion anyway) to watch.

Sadie’s other favorite dance involves making “vrooming” sounds and pretending that she’s driving a tractor. Anything can be a dance these days.

She also pretends she’s a bird, a butterfly and a pony (the pony dance is one of my favorites because Sadie tries to do a little prancing step and gets so into it she almost falls over).

And where is the best possible place to dance?

In the kitchen of course!

We think that it’s because Sadie loves to hear the sound of her feet tapping as she zooms around the floor. Sometimes she even brings her penguin Mike along (a member of the penguin bowling pin set who someone forgot to sew flippers on) and they dance together in the kitchen. What fun!

School Days

2010-02-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Sadie is really enjoying being a “big girl” these days. She likes sitting in a big girl chair and coloring in her Sesame Street coloring book (she gets antsy pretty quickly these days when she’s in her high chair). She likes going on big girl walks (without the monkey leash) and she thinks that holding hands or being pushed in a stroller isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be. And she loves “school.”

We started playing “school” a few months ago after breakfast and now Sadie’s hooked. If you ask her if she’s ready for school, she’ll run over and wait in front of the cupboard where we keep the puzzles, making little whimpering sounds if Mommy doesn’t move quickly enough to get the puzzles out. Her two favorite puzzles are one with shapes and one with (you guessed it) rescue vehicles.

Then we’re on to nursery rhymes. Sadie is obsessed with the three blind mice. She’s also a fan of any nursery rhyme that includes the moon or stars. Or lambs. Or kittens.

After nursery rhymes we’re on to tractors. Sadie has two favorite tractor books and a new Cars sticker book from Costco that she can spend the better part of an hour examining.

There’s a good chance that once she’s done with her books she’ll grab my hand and lead me into the dining room so that I can get out the play dough or the coloring book and sit at the high chair and go to work (we make a lot of play dough pizzas these days).

Then it’s time for our nature walk (Sadie showed Daddy by pointing yesterday the difference between a baby madrone tree, a baby pine tree and a baby fir tree (her favorite is a giant maple tree covered in grape vines).

And that’s Sadie’s “School Day” in a nutshell!

Everything in it's Proper Place (and Time)!

2010-02-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

Sadie is very "into" order these days. In fact some might say she goes a little overboard (from what I've read I think it's a toddler thing). Any detour from our regular routine can cause one of two reactions: a) excited giggling or b) hysterical crying.

Last week Nani and Grumpa bought a new rug for the dining room. We began with reaction a) but then quickly transitioned into reaction b) and spent the rest of the night letting everyone know that she didn't think the change was a good idea. The next morning she had another change of heart and took her tractors and trucks over to play on the "flowers" on the rug (I also found her crawling from flower to flower kissing them).

Then there was the hiccup in our bedtime routine. Daddy usually comes in and says our nighttime prayers with us before bedtime. However when Daddy went down to school Nani came in to tell us goodnight. Since it wasn't quite bedtime yet Nani and Mommy started to talk about Sadie's Day and that was most definitely not part of the bedtime routine.

Sadie had already started her nighttime feeding and we were sitting in the rocker, but as Mommy and Nani talked Sadie held up her little hand like she was signaling for us to "stop." When Nani said, "do you think she's trying to get us to stop talking?" Sadie started to wave bye-bye. And then, as we tried not to laugh she started putting her hand up to the side of her mouth and "blowing kisses" to Nani to say goodnight. We finally decided that it was time to get back on schedule (before Sadie's good natured attempts to communicate ended in tears) and Nani said goodnight.

And now it's time for bed! I almost stayed up until 9:30! That's a new second pregnancy record for me!

This Little Prayer of Mine: A New Family Favorite

2010-02-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

A new book has become an important part of our bedtime routine. Anthony DeStefano’s, “This Little Prayer of Mine” is rapidly becoming a family favorite.

It begins:

I know you're up in heaven, God,

and can hear my voice from there.

I'm just a little child.

Will you answer my short prayer?

When I was pregnant with Sadie I realized how difficult it could be to find good books for small children that can help their faith grow and flourish. Once Sadie was born she turned her nose up at most of the books I’d found, accepting only a select few that quickly became part of the routine. It’s been something of a challenge to find books that she accepts as part of that routine.

When I began reading This Little Prayer of Mine (while Sadie ran laps around the downstairs, after all, it was the middle of the day…) I instantly fell in love with the lyrical verses and the beautiful pictures that seemed to be a perfect fit for any family who is beginning to teach a young (or not so young) child about prayer. The book quickly went from hand to hand as each person in my family (Nani and Daddy and finally Grumpa) admired it.

The test however, would be Sadie. What would the nineteen month old think?

I was a little nervous about the bedtime introduction. Sadie is very focused on her schedule at bedtime, but since bedtime is followed by family prayer time, I thought it would be the perfect time to try out reading it.

The reading was a success. Sadie now sits on Daddy’s lap each night as I read to her, her eyes focused on the pages as the prayer unfolds. It’s a wonderful addition to our nightly prayers and I have a feeling that it’s going to be for years to come.

And that is the highest recommendation I can give a book: It is both Sadie and Mommy approved!

Puddle Stomping Gone Wrong!

2010-02-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Sadie had huge puddle stomping ambitions yesterday. We've had a lot of rain lately and a lot of puddles. On the flood plain down below our house there are puddles that are over ten feet across and at least six inches deep (with thick sticky mud at the bottom). Sadie knows she's not allowed to go in the big puddle, but yesterday she raced past me, slipped and slid on her bum through one of the medium/small puddles (it was deep enough to completely soak her up to her waist!). The long walk back up to the house to change that followed was not quite as pleasant as she expected (she took teeny tiny steps until she was picked up). However she was feeling well enough to stop in the driveway and have a bit of fun with the last puddle. My camera was having a little trouble focusing yesterday (maybe because of the rain? Even with the flash up most of the pictures were blurry) but here's what we came up with:

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp!

Plotting her next move...

Why do you take so many pictures, Mommy?

A little bit damp and muddy! It's time to go inside and use a lot of stain spray!

Maggie Rose!

2010-02-06T12:50:00.001-08:00

It's a....

2010-02-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

Sadie's has an announcement to make...

It's a Girl!

We definitely see a lot of tea parties and princess dolls in Daddy's future! And Mommy's excited that the mountains of pink clothes that we have will get more use!

The little one, Margaret Rosella or Maggie Rose for short, is already measuring at 19 weeks and 4 days in most of the measurement (and I'm not even 18 weeks yet!) so we've started to wonder if this is going to be another Super-Sized baby!

While we were at the ultrasound yesterday Sadie spent the day at the local park/aquarium and after only a handful of trips this spring she already knows her way around and takes off at a sprint to get to her favorite exhibits.

A school group was there yesterday also and the five year old boys were all pretty grossed out by the giant sturgeon in the fish tank. Sadie, however, went around while they were talking about how gross the fish were, and gave the fish kisses through the glass (they would come right up to her and she looks tiny next to them!).

And then we found some matching sister dresses in the right size on sale at Costco! I love Costco!

Teeth!

2010-02-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is what Sadie usually looks like:

But not today.

Today we are all frowns and fusses. Either we have a cold/fever or we are teething.

I personally, think it's the teeth. And I bought teething drops, which I'll be trying out as soon as Sadie wakes up from her nap (which may be sooner rather than later since the phone just rang!). Hopefully they work (and we are now awake and fussing!). And maybe they will help Sadie sleep long enough for me to write a blog post tonight!

The Best Seat in the House

2010-01-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Sadie, in her tractor pajamas, sitting in the refrigerator. She's pretty thrilled with the situation. The tractor pajamas (which are tied with the rocket ship/moon pajamas, and rank only a bit bellow her Wonder Pet PJs that have a beautiful red cape) are some of her favorites. She picked them out (if you let Sadie decide between tractor pajamas and princess ballerina pajamas the tractor pajamas will win EVERY time) and she loves them.

Last night she did spot her Wonder Pet pajamas though, and I think we may have a struggle convincing her that it's time to get dressed. Actually, I'm expecting a full out tantrum. She spent the morning running around the house showing everyone that Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming are on her shirt. Yes, I'm definitely not looking forward to changing her into her day time clothes (during the storm when we stayed inside all day she got to spend two whole days in PJs, one in tractors and one in spaceships and she loved it!). But she has to! We're headed to Redding for Doctor's Appointment #3 today. I can hardly wait!

One Year Old and Chocolate Ice Cream

2010-01-25T08:07:00.004-08:00

If you ask Sadie how old she is this is the response you get!

Of course if you ask her how old she is in public, all bets are off.

We've had a long week! With all the rain we haven't been able to spend very much time outside walking (when there are breaks in the rain we go out, and have found that Sadie will puddle stomp with, or without her boots on) and Sadie is going a little stir crazy.

Last night I realized that there is a drastic difference between giving Sadie a few bites of ice cream and giving Sadie a few bites of ice cream with chocolate in it. When Sadie has ice cream we usually don't see any noticeable difference in how she acts. After sharing Mommy and Daddy's mint cookie ice cream after dinner (and they were tiny bowls she was sharing out of) she went wild. She spent an hour running, non stop, back and forth across the living room and Nani and Grumpa's squealing! When she was put into bed half an hour later than usual (and she usually crashes if she gets put in bed after 7:30) she sat back up and grinned...

And that was when I knew we were in for a long night...

A Good Night!

2010-01-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

Yay! We had a successful night last night! Sadie got into her Big Girl Bed at 7:30 and woke up at 6:15. I did get up and rub her back for about a minute when she started to fuss at 12:05, but that was it. This is definitely the most consistent sleep we've both gotten in a while.

I am currently a little annoyed with Huggies diapers. You see, Huggies Night Time diapers only go up to size five and then they switch over to Pull-Ups. Now there is now way that Sadie is going to fit into a size five ever again. Our greatest challenge at this point is... dryness. And after seeing how useless the swim diapers are (and to my eye they look a lot like pullups) I'm don't think that pullups would be great for a baby that isn't using the potty at all yet!

And while Sadie's a big toddler, it's not as if she's so far above the average that Huggies doesn't need to make a size that fits! I haven't even checked out Pampers, because they just don't work on Sadie. I think Huggies are usually better on tall skinny babies and Pampers are designed for a shorter body (we actually usually use the CVS diapers, but they don't make nighttime ones either! At least not that are carried at our store).

Right now Sadie is preparing for her morning hour of television. She can hear the music for KIXE,the local PBS station, from her highchair in the kitchen and she will scream at the top of her lungs to get down and run into the other room so that she can be there when Curious George comes on. Then she'll grab her two monkey dolls and they'll all watch George's adventures together. After that it's Sid the Science Kid (we love to dance to the songs) and Sadie thinks it's hilarious for Mommy to substitute "Sadie" for "Sid" in the songs and then the TV goes off.

Hopefully today we'll get a break in the storms that have been battering us. We just need a good solid hour to go out, puddle stomp, swing on the gate at the top of Nini and Gigi's property, check the water tanks (Sadie LOVES checking the water tank with Nani to see how full it is) possibly because it's right next to the old green gate, and going on a long walk to get our wiggles out. Long walks are usually even longer when puddle stomping is involved.

Now I need to go find the camera cord so I can upload the new pictures that Paul took of Sadie yesterday!

Grumpa?

2010-01-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

Where is Grumpa? I just can’t find him!

Oh! There he is! Under the giant pile of toys that Sadie is carefully arranging on his chair.

Sadie’s favorite game of the day involved getting her Wonder Pets School House and sitting it on Grumpa’s lap. Now lately her favorite game has been filling the School House with a line of trucks. Today the game changed. I would sing the Wonder Pets theme song…

“Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets we’re on our way, to help a little ____________ and save the day. We’re not too big and we’re not too tough but when we work together we’ve got the right stuff. Go Wonder Pets!”

I would fill in the blank with whatever toy my eyes happened upon. Sadie would race across the room, grab the toy I’d named and run back to place it on Grumpa’s lap. Things were already getting pretty crowded when I added “Robby” Sadie’s bouncy horse to the song and she tried to shove him on Grumpa’s already crowded lap. She finally enlisted Nani’s help (she wasn’t about to give up) and Grumpa disappeared entirely beneath the stuffies. We took a few pictures and I’ll try to remember to upload one tomorrow.

Sadie’s also taken to given a bottle to her “Beast” Doll (from Beauty and the Beast). She doesn’t like him sitting anywhere near her princess dolls, and she refuses to burp him (which is pretty notable because she burps pretty much everything these days) but she will pick him up and shove a bottle in his mouth. It’s kind of funny to watch!

Sadie's Giant Lime Green Monkey

2010-01-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

Sadie is asleep in her big girl bed, but with her molars coming in (and really bothering her) all bets are off as to whether or not she'll stay there very long. Last night she made it all the way to 4:10 am but the night before she only slept until 12:30am. I'm hoping for an all night sleep tonight.

Even more impressive I am awake and it's after 9 pm (although that won't last too much longer, especially after being sick for most of today... I am very unhappy with Tylenol.).

We went into town today and since we had a gift card we each picked something out. Sadie's choice was a large lime green monkey. Daddy defended Sadie's choice and I was not able to convince her to switch it for a very cute bear in a pink dress. The lime green monkey (who is as of yet unnamed) appears to be going everywhere with us (Sadie showers him with kisses on an hourly basis). He's even moved up into the big girl bed, although he's on the far edge so I'm pretty sure he'll fall out fairly soon (Sadie is a pretty rowdy sleeper).

Sadie is also becoming something of a cookie monster. She somehow figured out what the cookie jar in Nani's kitchen is, and started screaming and pointing at it. We've had to make a one cookie a day rule to prevent her from running into the kitchen and begging for a cookie every three minutes. She would live on cookies and cheese and milk if we let her.

Now it's time for bed. Hopefully my new found energy and bedtime will mean that I can post more regularly again.

Big Girl Bed

2010-01-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

Sadie is still in love with her Big Girl Bed and I after my initial elation with this development, I’ve begun to discover that it’s a somewhat mixed blessing. Our sleep progress has been going well… for the most part (actually it’s gone way, way better than I had any right to even imagine that it would go, so my complaining is actually a sign of us getting used to this wonderful change). The problem only sprouts up every few days.

Sadie suggests going to bed several times a day. She thinks it’s the most wonderful place in the house. And she likes to pretend to sleep in the bed. She brings her stuffed animals out and she lines them up and hugs them and she even lays down and pulls the covers up to her chin. Usually around this time the giggling starts. And the squealing. This is all fine and good during play-time in the play room.

However today when we came up for nap-time we found where there can be a problem with the too much fun Big Girl Bed. Sadie nursed and then sat up and pointed to her bed. We walked over and she got in. I was practically holding my breath. Every time she gets in and things go smoothly I think, “can it really be that easy” (and it is 75% of the time). Only this time after about a minute of “sleeping” she giggled. The giggle is never a good nap time/bed time sign. Then she sat up. Then Oatmeal Bear and Chris Bear kissed. Things went down hill from there as the Stuffies began to run amok. Nap-time was postponed indefinitely.

Bed time was not much better. I finally resorted to saying “no” firmly when she started going for a cable outlet that she has never noticed before (the thing doesn’t even work). This resulted in a few dramatic seconds of sad sounds before she collapsed back on the bed (finally laying down! Yay!) and went to sleep.

I am glad that she loves it so much though! The alternative would be much, much worse. I half expected a war over where she would sleep when we bought it, so things couldn’t have gone much better!

Night One: The Big Girl Bed

2010-01-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

The new Big Girl Bed was set up yesterday and Sadie thought that it was the greatest thing that she'd ever seen. It's just a plain white toddler bed that we bought with Sadie's Target gift certificates and she ran right over when she saw it and alternated between playing on it and laying down and pretending that she was going to go to sleep in it.

Before bath time Nani asked Sadie where she was going to sleep and she pointed to her Big Girl Bed. When Nani asked where Mommy was going to sleep she turned around and looked at the big bed. I took that as a good sign.

At 7:40 we into the room and Sadie got into bed. She doesn't like to have any covers on until later in the night, but she did snuggle up to the little pillow that she has. After half an hour of laying with her eyes half closed (clinging to Mommy's arm just in case Mommy got any ideas about getting up and walking away) she sprang into action. She sat up and jumped off the bed. Then she ran across the room and started pointing to the dresser that houses her collection of porcelain dolls. Now Sadie knows that these dolls are not for playing. She likes to touch one of the dolls dresses before she goes to bed each night but that's pretty much it. So when she stood under the dresser pointing up and burst into hysterics I was a little surprised.

When I tried to pick her up she avoided me (the same way she does when she thinks its time for a diaper change). And finally she sat on my lap while I rocked her to sleep (things didn't go exactly according to plan). Then I gently set her back in her bed and said a little prayer that this would be one of the nights that she slept through (it's really 50/50 these days).

Sadie may have been asleep, but Mommy was wide awake. I would wake up, for no reason whatsoever, every 15 minutes, from 8:30 to 1 am. At 1 am I finally had a reason to wake up. There was a small bunny whimpering sound coming from the Big Girl Bed. So I went over and turned on the Oatmeal Bear (which makes "womb" sounds) and pulled the covers up a bit. Then I resisted the urge to move her into the big bed, and went back to bed. The covers were quickly kicked off and the whimpering started again. And then the acrobatics. By the time I went and retrieved Sadie she had wormed her way to the bottom of the bed and was half on the bed and half over the edge. I put her in the big bed and fell asleep (and actually slept for three and a half hours before waking up again!).

When Sadie woke up in the morning I put her back in her big bed where she lay happily for a while and then we went downstairs. I think tonight (if things go well) I'll wake myself up enough to keep covering her up and turning Oatmeal bear on and hopefully she'll make it through the whole night in her own bed. I think she probably would have if I hadn't been so sleep deprived and had tried a bit harder to get her to go back to sleep!

The Bread Shredder

2010-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Since Paul is back on nights we didn't put the toddler bed together yesterday. I'm hoping we get it figured out today (and I'm hoping even more desperately that Sadie loves the idea and can't wait to fall asleep in it). She has been sleeping through the night about half the time lately, so I just need to convince her to fall asleep in it. For some reason I have a feeling that might be easier said than done. We'll see though. I never thought that she would night wean so easily either!

We walked just under two miles yesterday. A mile and a half of that was with Sadie in the stroller on the "deer path" that she now thinks is the only trail worth walking on. I'm hoping that if we walk on it every day it will begin to widen, but for now Sadie thinks that it is hysterical to have tall weeds smacking against the side of the stroller while she tries to grab them and tear them off.

Her newest discovery however took place last night at dinner when she began to shred a piece of garlic bread and place it in a perfect straight little line. The line stretched all the way across the width of her end of the table before she became obsessed with seeing how small a piece she could tear off and then became intent on tearing the barely visible piece in two. For someone so small the fifteen minutes of concentration she spent on this task was rather impressive. The tiniest piece was barely big enough to see.

And I really need to get the camera out and take some pictures! We haven't been snapping many pictures lately!

Busy, Busy, Busy! Again!

2010-01-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

We've had even more busy days. Sadie has been a brave little trooper. We had the dentist appointment yesterday (which revealed a flossing injury... I am apparently a wimp... who knew floss could hurt that much?) and an OB appointment today, which meant we spent a little over 6 hours in the car altogether. Sadie is going to enjoy some well earned play time tomorrow when she wakes up.

She did get to spend a couple of hours checking out the "Poo" exhibit at the museum and aquarium in town. We'd been their once before and Sadie loves to race around and press all the buttons. There's a scale she can stand on that tells her it would take 1.5 hours for an elephant to digest her weight in grass (Mommy took 7 hours and Daddy took 12.5 hours) and there was a rather graphic movie of a hippo pooing (the kids all seem to love that one! The grown ups on the other hand were all pretty grossed out).

Sadie's ability to devour huge amounts of milk continues to expand. She's up to four glasses a day and she actually goes to the refrigerator and begs for milk every few hours. She even almost completely emptied the large children's glass (it was about the size of an adult water glass at most places) at the restaurant in less than two minutes (she's learned to save a little so she can sit and try to blow bubbles in her cup with the straw).

Tomorrow we're going to set up her toddler bed. When she'll actually begin to sleep in it will be another question altogether. Hopefully it'll be before #2 arrives!

Oh and we get to do the sonogram somewhere between weeks 16-18. That's not too far away. I have to say that I was surprised today (at 13 weeks) when a sales lady asked me if we know yet if we're having a boy or a girl. Assuming someone still in the first trimester (if barely) is pregnant (and doesn't just have a bit of a belly... especially when they're lugging around a toddler) is a bit of a risk! I would have probably elbowed Paul if he'd asked someone that!

2010-01-04T07:47:00.001-08:00

Poor little bunny! She could hardly believe how horrible Mommy was being this morning. Sadie wanted toast. Mommy happened to be making toast (it's funny how these two things often happen at the same time!) but then Mommy made Sadie wait until the toast was toasted and the margarine and jam was on it, before Sadie got to have a bite (I should note that she did have the first bite followed by quite a few others). There were tears running down her little cheeks by the time the jam finally touched her tongue (I should also note that Kix was offered while the toast was being made, but they were firmly rejected for... not being toast!).

The other major tragedy in Sadie's life at the moment involves the walks that she goes on with Mommy. When we go on walks there are two main paths outside the house that we can take. One is a big loop that can take us down to the river. The second is a tiny deer path that gets very steep at times, that is about a half mile around that takes us across a flood plain (which is now partially flooded) by a bunch of berry bushes and down one very slick, muddy portion that is at a extreme angle (towards the flood plain). You can guess which path appeals to Sadie.

Sadie cried hysterically when she realized that we were going to take the regular path and not the deer path. The deer path goes past a giant old maple tree covered in grape vines, which Sadie absolutely loves... and not going on the deer path means that she has to observe the tree from afar! She finally calmed down when she got to her favorite little pine tree and stood for a few minutes playing with it's branches! Oh the drama of our nature walks! It's almost as bad as having a mom who is slow making toast in the morning!

Sadie Update!

2010-01-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

We have had a busy couple of days. On New Years Eve we went to Redding and Sadie got to play with lots of friends at Turtle Bay! She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw all of the kids that were meeting us there! Then we had to run over to my OBs office for a quick checkup. Since Paul had worked all night, he had stayed home to get a little bit of sleep before his next shift, but I did get to hear a heartbeat (it was a nerve wracking minute when it took the nurse in the office a while to find it!). When she found it though it was loud and 156 beats a minute!

Sadie is now hugging and kissing my stomach any time we ask her where the new baby is. She also likes to lay down on the ground and rest her head against my stomach if I'm sitting down when the question is asked. And she is totally fascinated with any baby that we see when we're out and about.

She has two books about new babies too and she loves to read them. She can tell you that the little girl is Sadie, although when I point to the Mommy and say "Mommy" she looks a bit confused and carefully examines the Mommy's curly hair. Apparently all Mommy's are supposed to have their hair pulled back in a bun to meet the description.

Now I need to take some new Sadie pictures today. She was wearing a cute puffy dress yesterday, but she was so slippery in the shiny material that I finally gave up altogether on the idea of pictures and changed her as soon as we got home.

And she's still growing! We moved up to six 6 diapers yesterday! I didn't see any diapers bigger than size 6's in the aisle. They must exist?

More Games and Dancing!

2009-12-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

Sadie came up with a new game last night. She wanted Mommy to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor so that she could race around me in circles. Then she would stop behind me, giggle, wait until I said “oh no, where’s the baby,” giggle a little more and run back around so that I could see her. I would catch her as she raced by and tickle her and then let her go so that she could make another round.

We also had a little dance class yesterday. We went upstairs and put on classical music and then danced around in front of the mirror. Sadie liked pretending to be a tree and a bird and skipped around bringing one knee up high when she pretended that she was a horse. After pretending to be an animal she would run over and throw her arms around my neck and hug me and then start dancing again. When I told her we were going to dance like a bear she ran over to the mirror and made a “roaring” face with her hands up like claws!

I can’t believe how fast she’s growing!

Sadie's New Game

2009-12-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

Sadie has a new game. There are no windows in the downstairs bathroom at Nani and Grumpa's house and the only light that comes in as a small strip of light along the bottom of the door. Sadie, however, is totally fearless.

She goes into the bathroom, closes the door, sits down on the floor mat in front of the sink, and giggles.

Last night the game had a twist. She would grab Nani's hand and bring her into the bathroom and shut the door, then she would open the door and run out and look around to see if anyone was watching her. Finally I got the message and decided to play along. I snuck over and sat outside the door and when Sadie opened it I said "booo." I heard hysterical laughter as the door slammed shut. Then a tiny crack opened and I saw a tiny eye peering out giggling. After about fifty rounds of this game (quite literally) Sadie was laughing so hard that she couldn't open the door. She would run out and hug me race around and see Daddy and then run back to the bathroom giggling.

I'm not sure why this game is so fun, but Sadie thinks it's absolutely hilarious! The bathroom is her new favorite room in the house! It was not however, conductive to bedtime. It took her a little while to settle down, but then she passed out for the night!

Sadie's Second Christmas! (pictures!)

2009-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

Here are the Christmas pictures! Sadie had a lovely day!

Checking out the presents under the tree!

A Sesame Street coloring book?!?!?

What is THAT?!?!

Kitties!!! I love kitties!

Are there trucks in here?!?!

Look! I found a bow!

Giving her baby a bottle!

Sadie's new Red Sox hat! It's pink!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

2009-12-23T12:19:00.001-08:00

There are no Christmas presents under the Christmas tree. They are all in hiding. They will appear on Christmas Eve night so we only have to wrangle Sadie for a short time before bedtime (and protect the presents from being promptly opened by cute little baby hands). I think that she's definitely ready this year to open her own packages.

We did put the boxes that arrived, still packed up from the post office, under the tree to see what Sadie would do. She dragged them out, pushed them around the living room and tried to avoid Nani when she said that Sadie could not stand on them to reach things that had been raised up above "baby level."

Last night I asked Sadie to show Daddy where the baby is. She leaned over and rested her head against my stomach and then lay that way for about five minutes with a little smile. She looked like she was listening. I wonder what she'll think in a few months when she can feel little kicks!

Sadie and Daddy also watched the Church get decorated for Christmas today. She would have liked to help, but the jobs were all just a little too big for her little hands. She did get to ring the bell up in the choir loft though. So far I think that was the high point of her day! Now it's nap time!

Daddy!

2009-12-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

There was one part of Sadie's disaster prone day this weekend that I forgot to write about. This one ended up much better though:

After we decorated the Christmas tree Sadie was racing around the house in giggle mode. She ran right past where Daddy was sitting on the couch and stumbled over his feet. His right hand shot out and he managed to catch her back just as she was about to fall into the chair next to the couch. And what did she do? She looked up at him and said, in a very exasperated tone, "Daddy!" as if he'd ruined some fun thing that she'd been trying to do by being over protective. It was a tone that I can imagine little Sadie using as a teenager when Daddy says you have to be "____ (30?) before you can date!"

Sadie and I are both doing great this morning! I was a little sore for the last couple days and Sadie had a bruise on her poor little leg from the fall, but I think we're both recovered (and I'm being much more careful AND wearing flat shoes...). Now to go weigh in at the health department. I wonder if I'll hear "you've gained a lot of weight for this early in pregnancy!" Is that a sign that this is going to be another almost 10 pounder?

A Day of Disasters! (And one fun Christmas Tree)

2009-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

Sadie had a dramatic day yesterday and was surprisingly cheerful after the crying stopped from each mini disaster. We were alright up until nap time ended and we were about to head into town to do a little food shopping. I'd run over to see everyone at Nini and Gigi's house and was coming back down the stairs holding Sadie, thinking to myself, "don't fall, don't fall, don't fall" as I came down the stairs because I had stumbled on them on my way up.

And then it happened. I have no idea how. The next thing I knew we were falling through the air and I was trying to figure out a way, in the split second between take off and impact, to keep Sadie from hitting the ground. My shoulder hit the ground first, which slowed us down a bit, but Sadie did end up in the mud too, terrified, but mostly unhurt (she did bite her tongue, but that seemed to be her only injury... we had EMT Grumpa check her out to be sure though...). After deciding that my arm was not broken (just very swollen) along with my hip and a gash on my hand we headed back over to Nani and Grumpa's (I did manage not to hit my stomach though! Yay!). Sadie was up and running around within ten minutes and we were back on schedule to go to the store. While I blame pregnancy clumsiness which already seems to be setting in, Paul blames the heels on my brown boots, which are now in a closet and have been banned for the duration of the pregnancy.

Later in the day she reached up on the counter for the big beautiful red globe that she saw. It had a picture of a polar bear on it and Sadie had been eyeing it all day. Nani and I were chasing an amazingly huge hairy brown spider around the kitchen and didn't turn to see the disaster until it was too late. Sadie pulled the special holiday coke bottle down on her head and it splattered everywhere (it was plastic... but it was open). She fell to the ground covered in Coke (and hysterical). It was everywhere. And that led to the third disaster of the day.

Bath Time. While Sadie loves her baths she does not love washing her hair (anymore... this is a fairly new fear). But with a head full of Coca-Cola we had no choice... the poor little bunny was definitely having a tough time.

Then we went back down stairs and Sadie saw the beautiful Christmas lights again, on the Christmas tree, and everything was better. She smelled the pine when we came in the house after Nani and Grumpa put up the tree and decided that the lights must make the pine smell, so she went from light to light smelling them. Then she helped Nani carry the ornaments one by one from the kitchen into the living room, where she would hand them to Mommy to put on the tree. While a few bells were yanked down at the start, she seems to understand that the ornaments are supposed to be on the tree (and when she'd pull one of she'd try to rehang it herself). And she "waters" the tree (this must be from watching Nani garden this summer). She gets out her little toy milk carton from her shopping cart and brings it over to the tree and "waters" the branches with milk. Christmas is so much fun with a little bunny running around!

The Present Finder

2009-12-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

Sadie found her Christmas Present. I really hadn't thought much about really hiding them and her main present (the Wonder Pets School House) ended up in Nani and Grumpa's room on it's side. You can hardly see it with the bottom facing out and the bookcase on one side. It really is barely noticeable. Unless you are a tiny Wonder Pet seeking Bunny.

Sadie, who apparently only talks when it's convenient (and she has something VERY important to say) walked over to the box before bath time a couple of days ago and gave it a once over. Then she half turned looked up at Nani, pointed at the box and said "What's that?" Nani was so surprised she wasn't sure she'd heard her correctly at first. I do wonder if she'll open Christmas presents herself this year or if she'll be too distracted by everything that's going on... she does seem to love tearing up bits of paper.

Sleep!

2009-12-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

This whole night weaning thing was way easier than I thought it would be. That's not to say it could have happened earlier. When we tried a few times in the past there were uncontrollable hysterics that went on and on and I've found that after forty five minutes of heart wrenching sobbing I tend to give in. So I think this smooth transition is a good sign that Sadie was ready for it. On the other hand, it's made me realize how out of whack my sleep schedule is! Before I could go to sleep at eight and wake up with Sadie at six, because I was waking up every single hour in between. Now that she's sleeping through (more or less... She still wakes up, but when she does she hits the button on a Winnie the Pooh toy and it lights up and plays what feels like really loud music, which somehow lulls her back to sleep instantly.) I'm getting more sleep! The big problem is that my body still thinks it's time to go to bed at 8 (or 7) and I'm wide awake at 4am every morning (I think the whole pregnancy thing may be making it a little more difficult too to stay awake in the evenings). Oh well, the second trimester is only a few weeks awake and I remember that energetic-I-could-be-pregnant-forever feeling that replaces being tired all the time.

The early bed time is also why I haven't been posting as regularly. I promise myself I'll stay up a little later each night, but by the time Wheel of Fortune rolls around at 7:00 my eyelids are closing. When Sadie starts to get fussy at 7:30, I usually decide it's bedtime for both of us. I am definitely ready for the second trimester energy boost.

Sadie the Cheese Thief

2009-12-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

We've found yet another thing that Sadie thinks is hilarious. The other day she was standing near Grumpa in the living room and Grumpa said "Sadie, can you go get me a piece of cheese." Sadie turned around, ran into the kitchen and hung on the refrigerator door (which she thankfully can't open by herself yet). Nani followed her in and asked her if she wanted to help get Grumpa a piece of cheese. Sadie helped Nani get the cheese out and then watched while Nani cut it into slices. Then she handed Sadie a little piece. Sadie gobbled it up. Next Nani took a slice, handed it to Sadie and said "Sadie, can you please go give this cheese to Grumpa."

Sadie sprinted into the other room cheese in hand. She walked over to Grumpa. Because one of the pillows from her pillow house was in front of his chair she didn't get too close. She put out her hand with the cheese in it for Grumpa to take it, but when he reached for it she snatched it back, put it in her mouth and started to giggle.

The next day Nani did another demonstration for me of "Sadie getting cheese" and the same thing happened. She ran out happily, pretended to hand a piece of cheese to me, and then put it into her own mouth and started to laugh. This reminds me of a certain Binkie incident that happened months ago... I hope she doesn't start stealing Binkies again when she's a big sister! That could cause some major tears.

Awake!

2009-12-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm Back!

I have been in bed by 7:15 these last two nights and asleep before 8. Since my Sadie blogging usually happens after that time I haven't posted! And I have so much to write about! It's been a busy couple of days.

First off, Sadie's 10 nightly wakings finally convinced me that we need to night wean. That means she'll still be nursing during the day. She nurses in the morning, which I always counted as at night, for her nap and then to go to bed, which I also counted previously as at night. Those three feedings can stay. The ten other feedings in the middle of the night are being cut off. And the new rule is no feeding in bed. We sleep in bed. And I'm hoping that there will be a lot more sleeping going on.

I explained it to Sadie after she got out of the bath. I figured that if she can understand step by step instructions and carry them out, she could understand it when I told her that she wouldn't be having milk again until we got up in the morning. She frowned, but didn't cry. And while there was some whimpering (and a great deal of Glow Worm cuddling) and a few tears, the night went pretty well. She seemed to sleep more soundly. I hope that the trend continues. And my main Christmas wish: that she starts sleeping through the night by Christmas!

It's been 17 months since I slept through the night. I'd like to sleep through the night for a few months before I start staying up all night again!

We've also discovered that Sadie is not afraid of the dark. The other day she followed Pumpkin (or seventeen year old, not too sweet tabby cat) into the bathroom and shut the door on the dark, windowless room. Nani finally opened the door after about fifteen seconds because she was afraid Sadie might "accidently" lock herself in but Sadie and Pumpkin seemed content to hang out in the dark. She has no problem wandering off, into a dark part of the house at night either. She's so independent!

And now it's bath time... Hopefully tonight goes at least as well as last night! I'm cautiously optimistic!

Sadie's Winter Walk

2009-12-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Poor Sadie. It's been so cold that we've been cooped up inside all week. Sadie just doesn't understand why we can't go out when the sky is beautiful and blue and the world looks so sparkly and fresh. So what if it happens to be 11 degrees out? She wants to run and play! Especially since she can see the deer eating and playing outside. They've finally started to come back down out of the high country following hunting season and Sadie is pretty sure they could be friends (Mommy is pretty sure that's not going to happen).

But today it started to snow early in the morning. When we came out of the cabin we were surprised to see that the whole world was white (or was at least on its way to it). And since snow means clouds and clouds mean a slight increase in temperature, we got bundled up after breakfast and headed out.

Sadie could hardly believe her luck. It took a few tries to get used to walking in her new boots in the snow, but by the time we were halfway down the hill to the flood plain she was running and squealing. At the bottom of the hill she was shocked to learn that snow can be edible. After that we had to stop every three steps for her to pick up a handful of snow. After taking a bite she would hand it to me to "share."

"Would you like some snow?"

Once we were down on the flood plain she started running around so quickly it was tough to get a picture of her. She would charge at Daddy, who had the camera and throw her hands up to signal "touchdown!" Then when Daddy would try to snap the picture she would put her arms down and sprint off. She was too fast for our camera to catch most of the time.

"Touchdown!"

And then we headed back to the house to get warmed up. Sadie definitely would have stayed outside all day if she'd had the chance, even with her cold pink little nose and icy fingers. I need to find some toddler, waterproof mittens.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

2009-12-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

I'm keeping me fingers crossed. Our cabin and the water pump for my parent's house have the same power source. Today we added a horse water defroster to the mix and apparently it was just a little too much for the circuit (there's also a heat lamp on the pipes to keep them from freezing... it's way better than having Grumpa defrost them with a blow torch). Suddenly we had no water up at Nani's house (the first clue was when the water started having little pieces of dirt in it). Not a good addition to bath time. Now the fear is that the circuit will blow again tonight and we will wake up when the temperature in the cabin approaches freezing. Hopefully we can turn a few things off at bedtime so the heater doesn't put it over the edge. I really don't want to wake up to freezing cold inside the cabin.

Baby Bunny is thrilled that we discovered a cookie monster doll that her godmother Kehli gave her a while back. She wasn't sure about cookie monster at first (she alternated between loving him and being afraid of him) but now they are best buddies. This is all because Paul did the Cookie Monster voice while reading Sadie a Sesame Street Book of Shapes and now she thinks it's the funniest voice in the entire world. I'm not sure who she likes more now: Elmo or Cookie Monster. It may be too close to tell.

Elmo and Cookie, however, still can't hold a candle to the Wonder Pets. Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming are still Sadie's favorites and we've been hauling them everywhere with us. I live in fear that we will someday forget one of the Wonder Pets in a restaurant or store. So far so good. I triple check to make sure that we have everybody!

Big Shopping

2009-12-09T20:21:00.001-08:00

Shopping in a Walmart Super Store is no small task. Our Walmart was only recently transformed from a normal Walmart into a sprawling giant with everything you could possibly think to need. There was a time, that feels oh so long ago, when I would have listened to my (wealthy) college professors and gone somewhere else. These days I find myself excitedly looking at the soup cans in the soup aisle thinking "this is a dollar cheaper than at Food Max and the soup at Food Max is two dollars cheaper than the ones at our local store." That is an insane markup.

Sadie had reached the end of her rope midway through the food shopping portion of the trip. If it wasn't a three hour round trip drive the shopping might have been something that took two days. Instead we combined toy shopping, random things we need shopping (which apparently include Princess Snow Boots for Sadie) and food shopping for one very, very long trip.

Thus I should have expected the meltdown that occurred in Produce, when Sadie, who was more than a little overwhelmed, decided that she just couldn't take it anymore and started shrieking at the top of her lungs. Let's just say checkout was not the high point of the day. But, Sadie was thrilled when we got home and she learned that she could actually wear her beautiful boots (I'm not sure what she thought they for, but I don't think that she recognized them as shoes right away. They are so different from the shoes she has! So much taller and shinier!).

So today's pictures are of Sadie wearing her new boots. It took several tries before she could even stand up in them and then walking was a little wobbly, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of it! And her toes will be toasty warm!

Sadie Loves Kitty

2009-12-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

Sadie was so happy to see Delilah when we arrived home from Mass yesterday!

The climb begins.

It's not all that easy to climb in a dress. Especially not one this fluffy.

Half way there.

Moving in for a kitty kiss.

Hi! I missed you!

This was, yet another time, when we talked about not throwing things at the kitty. Sadie wants to show her toys to Delilah and doesn't understand why Delilah doesn't enjoy having things dropped on her or shoved at her nose. It's definitely a learning process, but thankfully there has been improvement. 90% of the time. I say the words "gentle. Gentle. GENTLE!" a lot.

New Teeth!

2009-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sadie has been up and down today, giggling one minute and bursting into tears the next, but I'm not hopeful that it may not be an ear infection. I hadn't even thought of the other cause of ear pulling (since she's so prone to ear infections): teething. Sadie was having an unusually difficult Mass this morning and just like during the rest of the day she was going back and forth between giggling and crying (she usually sits like an angel, or at least allows Paul to hold her like an angel). Today she wasn't having it at all.

At one point when the giggling started she threw herself back in my arms and smiled up at the lights in the ceiling (we had finally emerged from the room that is usually used for confession, but that I slip into when Sadie goes crazy since our church doesn't have a cry room). It was then that I saw what might be the problem. Sadie's third set of teeth on the top are coming in. The left one is halfway through and I think I've heard somewhere that eye teeth can be pretty painful.

I hope it's not an ear infection and that it's just teething! A few times we have had both going on at the same time, but it would be nice this time if it were one or the other (and since we know teething is happening, I'm hoping the ear infection is not!). If it doesn't get better once the tooth breaks through I'll be calling the clinic just to make sure.

She's feeling well enough now to sleep though and she was feeling well enough for most of the day to play with the cats. I took a bunch of pictures of her with Delilah today that I'll try to remember to download to post tomorrow.

Oh and then there are the dancing pictures. Sadie dances like an elephant stomping around the room throwing in an occasional twirl. I'm not sure the pictures do the dancing justice, but they definitely make me laugh!

Not Again!

2009-12-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

I am afraid that we are, once more, in the midst of a double ear infection. I remember thinking during my pre-baby days that we wouldn’t be dealing with ear infections. After all, breastfed babies, just don’t get ear infections… Right?

I didn’t.

There must be some truth to that. I mean, a lot of people have repeated it to me, looking surprised when I say that she gets them pretty regularly and has since she was born.

A few days ago Sadie started pulling at her ears. Then she started doing this little jerking movement with her shoulders so that they would touch her ears when she shrugged. Not a good sign at all.

Finally this morning she woke me up at 5 am to tell me in no uncertain terms that she was unhappy. And when a seventeen month old is unhappy no one in the house is going to be happy (or more importantly, asleep). A few hours later when we made it into Nani and Grumpa’s living room she had a dose of Tylenol and clung to my legs to let me know I should not leave the room. Curious George finally helped calms her down so that I could slip away and get ready to start the day and when I came back…

She was back to her giggly self (mostly). You can still tell she’s not feeling great because she’s a little fussier than normal, but it was an improvement from her mood when she first opened her little blue eyes.

The doctor says that these ear infections should go away on their own, but if she’s still having a hard time on Monday I think we’ll go in to the clinic. There’s no point in her being sick for this long if she doesn’t have to be.

When I asked the doctor what we could do to prevent the ear infections he said she just has to grow… he explained something about the tubes getting more vertical as they got longer, so that they drained better. I hope that happens soon. An ear infection every two months is not fun!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-12-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy couple of days! I planned on writing a post last night, but Sadie nearly stayed awake longer than I did and in the end I was too tired to even pick up my computer and type a few sentences. So here is the Sadie update:

We had our first doctor's appointment today for the new baby. Sadie went along and LOVED the OBs waiting room. It has one of those typical bead toy trays and she sat playing with it for at least half an hour until we were called back to an exam room. Over the course of this half hour she taught herself how to whistle (which was quite a surprise, when I first heard the sound I thought she couldn't breath, only to look more closely to see what she was choking on to find that her little lips were puckered and the sound was intentional. Since yesterday she's done it quite a few times, so she seems to be remembering how to make the sound!).

When it was time to go back in the room though, things took a bad twist. Sadie looked around, recognized the doctors office for what it was (all it took was the sight of a scale) and made the leap that she was there for shots. Things got very loud before Paul took her outside to play in the leaves.

On the up side there was a backhoe loader outside and she got to look at that before the appointment. And we got most of our cousin Christmas present shopping out of the way!

Sadie also has a new word. It is "Ditty." Ditty is a cross between "kitty" and "Delilah" (her favorite cats name). Ditty gets chased, cuddled, kissed and giggled at quite a bit. And for some reason, which completely baffles me, she continues to follow Sadie around the house adoringly. I would run and hide if I were her!

Caged?!!?!

2009-12-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

I know it looks like Sadie's in a cage in this picture, but she's really outside the cage. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a very long time may remember our struggle to keep Sadie away from the wood stove and the stone hearth that the wood stove stands on. As soon as she learned to crawl it was like an accident waiting to happen. She would crawl over and use the little stones to pull herself up and toddle around on the brink of disaster. We tried time outs (she giggled). We said "no" (she cried). But she still kept toddling over and trying to climb up to touch the wood stove.

So before fire place season started we brought her outdoor playpen inside and set it up around the fire place. Soon it will be expanded so that it can protect our hapless Christmas tree (although with the level of determination Sadie is going to bring to the table I'm not sure that anything will save any tree in our house from total destruction). The cats enjoy the fence too, because, in times of extreme Sadie stress they can take refuge in the cat bed on the hearth and try as she might Sadie will not be able to reach them (although she may resort to throwing toys at them).

Tomorrow is the first OB appointment! I'm only 8 weeks and since I didn't go to the doctor with Sadie until closer to 12, because we didn't find out until later, I don't know whether we'll be able to hear a heartbeat yet. I hope we will! If not it's only a few weeks away!

The Nativity Set Comes Out for December

2009-12-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

The little monster/ bunny is asleep! She was gunning for Pumpkin this evening who, at five pounds and eighteen year old, might not survive an enthusiastic Sadie encounter, even if Sadie's intentions are just a quick cuddle. I ended up stationing myself in front of the cat to keep either of them from losing a limb.

The big excitement of the day came when Nani pulled out Sadie's Fischer Price Nativity Set and the Reindeer and Santa and put the Mayflower and Pilgrim set away. We came home and Nani had cleaned the house and set up the toys in a cute, orderly little area and Sadie spotted it from across the room. It was like Godzilla attacking a city. Reindeer flew through the air (I found one in her little toy oven later on). The angel was ripped off of the top of the barn (repeatedly). And somehow the Wonder Pets became central figures in the Nativity story.

She is such an energetic little bunny!

Stacking Cups and Other Super Fun Games

2009-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've been so exhausted lately that I've been having a tough time staying awake to post on this blog! It's something that I usually do right after Sadie's fallen asleep, right before my bedtime. Lately though, with the first trimester sleepiness, I've found my bedtime slowly creeping earlier and earlier. There is no way I'm going to make it through a television show that starts at 9pm and apparently 8pm is a little too late to start working on my blog without falling asleep on the keyboard. So today I'm starting a little bit earlier.

Sadie discovered the joys of "stacking" yesterday. We don't have any blocks, because every single set of blocks that I found in the stores say that they are for "3 and older" and Sadie thinks that her stacking rings make better bracelets than stackers. Last night though, she pulled out all of the toy measuring cups that came with her kitchen set and started stacking them. She added one of the teacups from her teacup set and thought that it was hilarious.

Grumpa added to the fun by bringing over three plastic milk glasses and the fun multiplied. Sadie was building towers. She would then carefully take each tower apart and try a different combination of cups to see which was the best. She'd frown when the cups fit together too well, because then the towers tended to be shorter and she was thrilled by the yellow cups that don't fit together as well, because they each add a good five inches to a tower.

She also loves to stand her Wonder Pet figurines in the cups and can spend a ridiculous amount of time holding perfectly still moving the Wonder Pets from cup to cup! I don't understand the rules of this particular game, but Sadie seems to think that it's a LOT of fun!

A Looooooooooooooong Day!

2009-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how one little, tiny person can go for so long without sleep! We tried out best to do everything right today. We went to a Christmas show (lots of dancing and singing) and the show started at 3pm. Sadie's usual nap time is between 12:30 and 1:30 these days, so we figured she could sleep on the drive in to town. At first it seemed like it might work out perfectly. I fed her lunch and changed her into her beautiful red velvet dress and then nursed her until she was asleep. And then I made the transfer to the car seat.... except that her nap didn't make the transfer. By the time we pulled out of the drive way she was wide away and pointing out every thing that we drove past with a loud "ah" sound (which is the sound she makes when she wants us to look at something she thinks is interesting).

Then she stayed awake.... all the way to the show... which was an hour and a half drive.

The show was in an old theater with beautifully ornate gold and bronze walls. There were lots of kids dressed up in their Christmas best and the theater was filled with chatter. Sadie was reenergized. She sat on my lap (and squirmed, but otherwise did pretty well... she didn't cry at all!) for the entire two hour show (I explained to her before hand that it was going to be like going to Mass, because she knows she's supposed to be quite during Mass). She saw giant dancing penguins, a belly dancing hippo, a line of reindeer, Santa and Mrs. Claus, a ballerina elephant and quite a few other dancers (the show was a mix of costumed dancers that the kids loved and more traditional dance scenes). Sadie would get so excited during the animal numbers that she'd almost start to cry, so I actually liked the traditional numbers a bit more, although the animal costumes were awfully cute.

With less than five minutes left in the show Sadie fell asleep. Disaster!

I waited until the theater had emptied and very carefully carried her down the stairs. After all, we couldn't stay there and we were headed to Grumpa's birthday dinner. It was 5pm and Sadie had not yet had a nap.

The moment I put her into her car seat she was wide awake. She giggled through dinner and then played happily through a quick trip to Target to pick up a few things since we hardly go to town at all these days (I was getting nervous because the happiness had a sort of hysterical edge to it and I sensed she was close to snapping). And snap she did! When we got back in the car she was quiet for a few minutes and then began to cry. Then the screaming started. I tried singing, and I tried reciting one of her favorite books (The Big Red Barn). Nothing worked. I finally started to sing a little song I used to sing to her when she was tiny. She quieted down. Fifty repetitions of the song (it is short, but still, we'd nearly driven through a county!) later she finally put her head to the side and fell asleep. It was 7:30 pm. What a day!

You Want Me to Sit on Who's Lap?!?!

2009-11-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

Poor Sadie! She's been looking forward to seeing Santa since last year. Last year she sat on his lap and smiled for the camera and glowed at everyone! We put the picture of her on his lap on the fridge and she looks at it every day. We had hoped that that might make it a little less scary this year....

Let's just say that it didn't work out exactly as we'd planned. And pictures probably tell the story a little bit better than my words!

She started out happy...

Then started to look a little nervous...

But she was really okay until they got near Santa...

And then the hysterics started...

No picture on Santa's Lap this year...

One Terrified (and Very Silly) Little Bunny...

But at least she got a candy cane!

Sadie's Second Football Game

2009-11-25T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sadie got to go to her second high school football game tonight and she made it all the way through halftime before we went home. She would have made it longer, but between the morning sickness and the cold I wasn't feeling great and we decided to call it a night. Sadie may have been a little disappointed! She was excited to drive home with the moon roof open on the car though so that she could see the moon. It's been so foggy around here at nights that the moon has rings around it and while Sadie's already pretty obsessed with the moon as it is, the rings make it even better.

Sadie had an appointment down at the Health Department today, where we got our H1N1 vaccines and they weighed her and checked her height again. She's still 30 lbs (the same weight she was at her 1 year appointment but now she's 31.6 inches (we think she is at least, she could be taller, because she was not thrilled about the measurements and fought tooth and nail to get off the measuring machine). The people at the Health Department are so nice and I'm definitely going to think about taking Sadie and the baby there for future vaccines (which would save a ton too). Now it's time to get a little sleep before the baby bunny wakes up again!

A Silly Daddy and a Fun Walk

2009-11-24T21:27:00.000-08:00

Sadie thinks that Daddy is pretty hilarious. He does an amazing impression of cookie monster (and we don't watch Sesame Street but we have some Sesame Street books and Paul was doing the voices and Sadie was practically falling over from laughing so hard). Even better he was wearing a fire shirt today (from one of the summer forest fires that pop up near our house on a nearly yearly basis) and Sadie loves to look at the tractors and fire trucks that are on the back of the shirt. Which is what I think she was doing when she started hiding from Paul, behind his back. She would giggle for a second and then run around on his left side and squeal and put her face right next to his to make sure he'd seen her and then she'd sprint back around his back and dive across in front of the other side, landing in a pile between his leg and my leg since I was sitting right next to them. She did this about twenty times, laughing uncontrollably the entire time. I think she's definitely feeling better today! I'm also hopeful that she might sleep fairly well (only 3 night wakings?) tonight.

Sadie also walked an entire mile today outside! Our walks take a bit of extra time, because while Sadie practically runs when she's moving, she also has to stop and pick up every pretty rock and leaf that she spots. And right now there are a lot of pretty leafs on the ground. There is one particularly rocky patch of earth that we actually have to carry her over, otherwise our walks would be at least a half hour longer. After she picks up a rock or leaf she hands it to one of us to carry for her. Our walks take a lot of extra time these days!

The Baby Bull

2009-11-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sadie and I are sick today. We're hoping tomorrow will be better but if it's not I think we'll make an appointment at the clinic because it hurts to swallow and has for a couple of days. I was hoping it was just because the hotel air was so dry with the air conditioning, but I'm afraid that was just denial. We have caught a bug. And it is a sore throat type of bug. At least we know we have already had the H1N1 vaccine. That does make me feel a little bit better (actually it makes me feel a lot better).

Sadie did have a lot of fun acting like a little bull yesterday. She got the idea from playing with one of her cousins with his sweatshirt and now whenever she sees someone take off their sweater or sweatshirt she starts to giggle hysterically. She'll head for it full speed like a bull running after a matadors cape, giggling non-stop and closing her eyes when she runs by. We have to stop her from running into furniture constantly, because she gets so excited. The first time she did it to Nani, Nani wasn't sure what she was doing and was just trying to put her sweatshirt away and Sadie kept trying to pull it down with her hands while shrieking and running circles around Nani trying to run past her shirt.

Speaking of running in circles, that is another favorite Sadie event. She thinks that it's hilarious to run around in circles until she falls down. And she's been trying to do somersaults (no idea where she got the idea for this and I don't like it because she's so little it looks like she's hurting herself, but she puts her head down like she's going to flip over and giggles). She just never stops moving!

We're Home!

2009-11-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

It's good to be home! I expected to be able to post here while we were down south, but the hotel charged $9.99 a day for internet access and that was a bit steep for me these days! While I was very tempted I just couldn't justify it and so my blog and email got put on hold.

Sadie had an amazing time on our trip. She was excited to meet more of her cousins and second cousins. My sisters kids, ages 16, 15, 13 and 10 were there and my cousins three younger kids were there too (the youngest is 2 and a half and Sadie was thrilled to have someone her size around). And I took a ton of pictures, which you'll be seeing here over the course of the next few weeks.

We did discover on the trip that Sadie is most definitely the most sea worthy member of our family. Both Mommy and Daddy got very sick on the boat. There were 9 foot swells and it was pretty bumpy. We were all okay until they killed the boats engine for the memorial part of the service and then the bumpiness got to be a little bit too much. Sadie is the only one who has a chance of being a sailor in this family.

Sadie was relieved to see that all her toys were still her when we got home. She always seems to worry that they'll disappear when we're away and has to check every one when we get back (even when it's just a day trip shopping). Now it's time for sleep! Sadie has been bouncing off the walls all day and I'm worn out!

A Long Day of Driving

2009-11-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

I just have time for a quick post. I'm so sleepy these days that my new bedtime seems to be 8:00 and it's almost half past eight right now. Sadie is finally asleep, she had a tough time drifting off and seemed preoccupied with where each of her stuffed animals was, probably because we're in a hotel room.

We left the house at half past nine this morning and headed south. We're headed to Point Lobos for my grandmother's memorial service on Thursday and decided to take the long drive down in two parts for Sadie's sake. Sadie managed to stay awake for the first three hours and after a gleeful lunch at KFC (gleeful because there was a pack of feral cats outside the window) she got back in her car seat and fell asleep, just before we got to the gas station we'd planned on stopping at. After quietly getting gas we were back on the road...

Less than an hour later, Sadie was awake. I don't know why, but she's only taking one very short nap these days (please don't tell me she's outgrowing them and that our napping days are drawing to a close!). We had made it to Stockton by then, but we were hoping to get even further....so.... I pulled out Grumpa's portable DVD player and popped in a Wonder Pets DVD. Bingo. Sadie's eyes were glued on the tiny screen. She sat silently for the next sixty miles and probably could have made it all the way to the ocean. Instead we stopped for the night in the Central Valley. Tomorrow we'll head over to the coast. We should get there pretty early! We're only an hour and a half away right now.

A Not So Awful Day (Unless You Ask Sadie)

2009-11-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

From Sadie's Point of View:

Today was a pretty fun day, but then Mommy had to go and spoil it with a trip into town tonight. I thought that the trip into town was going to be fun. Mommy let me bring Ming Ming, the Wonder Pet duck that says "this is serious" and I sat in the back in my big girl seat and tried to kick the back of Nani's seat, which doesn't work because when she drives the seat is further forward than when Grumpa drives. I can always give Grumpa's seat a good kick to make him say "who's kicking my seat!"

We got to a building that I recognized and it seemed like we were going to have some fun. There were a lot of people there and most of those people had kids with them. I knew exactly where all the toys are in this place, so I headed over to the table with all the toys and showed a little blonde boy how they worked. He just watched me though. Mommy was standing in a line, but Nani came over and helped me play and kept me from making the little boy cry by taking the toys in front of him (he was older than me! but I was quite a bit bigger). More and more people kept coming into the room and standing in the line and pretty soon it was filled all the way to the door! Then a door at the other end opened and Nani said we had to go and she took me over to stand by Mommy.

This is where things get bad. All the sudden I heard it. Kids crying. Babies crying. Then the big boy in front of me started panicking and screaming. I started wondering where Mommy had brought me! What did these kids know that I didn't know! I was rightfully concerned. We finally get to the front of the line and Mommy, who is usually pretty smart, looks at me and says the craziest thing. She says "okay Sadie, now watch Mommy, she's going to get a shot." And that's when I realize why we're here. Mommy smiles while she gets her shot and then tries to roll up my pant leg and I realize she thinks I'm going to get a shot too! So I start to scream to let her and everyone else know that she's crazy. And they give me the shot anyway!

To make matters worse after dinner (which was mac and cheese, which almost made up for the whole shot debacle) Mommy announced that tonight we're going to wash my hair! She knows I hate washing my hair! Tomorrow is definitely going to be better though! There's no way Mommy could top taking me to get a shot and washing my hair in one day, EVER!

2009-11-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Sadie brought Robbie into the pillow house today for a ride. She doesn’t seem to realize that stacking pillows and putting a giant rubber horse on top of them, with the intent of riding him, could be a potential danger. She just knows that it’s a little more bouncy. I had to stage a rescue after she face planted, on purpose, into the pillows and was pinned by Robbie (and the fact that she’d gotten her arms behind her). I really hope she would have been able to get out on her own, but she seemed pretty stuck!

Sadie also got to see Taylor, the little deer that was born the same month as she was, hanging out on the lawn between our cabin and Nani and Grumpa’s house. He has certainly grown. He has little spikes now and you can recognize him by his fluffy white nose. Sadie stood at the window and watched him for at least ten minutes, hardly moving a muscle. His older brother, Tucker, has been spotted around too, and made it through hunting season safe and sound, now that he’s got forked antlers.

And in super happy news: The whole family now has health insurance! Yay! What a blessing!

And here's a Sadie Flash Back Picture!

Sadie Meets Her First Bully

2009-11-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

Sadie met her first play ground bully today. I think she was a little shocked. Particularly since the girl had three or four years on Sadie and probably should have been in school. Instead she was at a playground with her dad (so maybe she was a tall four year old...).

Anyways, the first thing I have to say is that I was the only parent at the playground actually watching my child. ALL of the other parents were too busy text messaging on their blackberries to so much as glance up and see what their little ones were up to. I think there could have been a brawl in the pre-school play area and some of the parents would have sat, eyes glued on their phones, clicking away, without so much as glancing up.

Our little playground bully in particular was running wild. She was climbing up on all the little kids' toys and then launching herself through the air, nearly knocking the littler kids over with each swoop. Sadie mostly stayed out of her way as she sprinted back and forth from one side of the playground to the other, giggling. Then the little girl climbed to the top of a slide, stood up and started dancing (these are little, soft slides for little kids. Sadie stopped next to it to watch. And the little girl turned around, looked at her and said "Hey little kid, get away from this slide! I'm playing on it!" I was already headed over, worried that she was going to slip and come crashing down on Sadie, and I convinced Sadie to come over and play on the big soft bear toy. Sadie was still pretty happy and was about to give the bear a big kiss when the little girl followed her over to the bear to claim it as her toy too. And that's when we decided it was time to leave the playground to play on the Bob the Builder Tractor.

Nothing is better than riding the Bob the Builder Tractor, even at 75 cents a ride. Sadie completely forgot about the playground as she steered her tractor "around" the mall (okay, it stationary, but she really thinks she's driving it around the mall)!

Football Game Pictures

2009-11-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures from Sadie's big night going to her very first football game!

Mac and Cheese at Burger King Before the Game!

Sitting with Nani!

Go Wolves! Beat the Bears!

Cuddling with Mommy!

Watching the Game with Grumpa!

The Energizer Bunny

2009-11-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

Sadie is running right now. She sprints from the living room, into the kitchen, around through the dining room into the front hallway and then makes a last sprint by the bookshelf before making her way back into the living room where everyone is watching Wheel of Fortune. She leaves a mini path of destruction in her path, trailing board books, toys and occasionally a dish towel, behind her.

The tables and counters are no longer high enough to deter her grabby little hands and if a surface is too high, she's willing to climb to get what she wants. The other day I watched as she (quickly) launched herself up onto a chair and stood, grabbing hold of the tv and trying to hoist herself up onto the tv stand so that she could lower herself into her bassinet/toy bin to go after the cat who had taken refuge there. I jumped up when I saw her plan unfolding and stopped her just before a major accident occurred.

Today Sadie's favorite game was peekaboo. She would run up behind me when I was sitting on the floor and hide behind my back and then giggle hysterically while I pretended to "look" for her. She actually managed to stay quite for about three seconds a couple times, and then she'd giggle and start tugging on my shirt before completely falling over on a pile of pillows, only to start the game over again a few seconds later.

Sadie had a little time away from Mommy today when I went to the a doctor's appointment (to confirm that Sadie's going to be a big sister for the insurance). I don't think she even knew that I was gone (and it was confirmed!)!

The Giggle Monster

2009-11-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Sadie was in a giggly mood today. I don't know what set it off, but it started fairly early in the morning and lasted right up until bedtime, when she started to look as if her hysterical giggling was impeding her walking in such a way that she was rapidly becoming a danger to herself (she kept standing up, walking one step and then dramatically collapsing on the ground in a fit of giggles for no particular reason).

Her little plastic Wonder Pet toys were her partners in crime. She carries them everywhere. They frequently stage attacks on the Fischer Price Little People house and this morning I saw the baby that lives in the house get tossed off the roof. I think that the duck did it. When the baby isn't jumping off the roof, however, Sadie has it driving the tractor. I think she's trying to tell Grumpa that she thinks she's ready to drive his tractor, but that's just a theory.

And now she's passed out, snuggled up to Oatmeal Bear and Mrs. Bunny. After all that playing and giggling, maybe she'll sleep more than two consecutive hours tonight!

The Baby's Where?!?!?!

2009-11-09T20:27:00.000-08:00

Sadie is a little confused. It started this morning when we came up from the cabin to visit Nani and Grumpa. I was feeling a little sick and went to get a rice cake to help my stomach calm down a bit and Nani took Sadie. Nani was talking with Sadie and asked her if Mommy has a baby in her tummy. Sadie looked at Nani and, in her perfect, clear little voice, said "no!"

Sadie is not one of those toddlers (so far) who says "no" to every question. In fact, she's much more likely to respond with a "yeah" answer when you ask her something. "Sadie are you ready to get down off Mommy's lap and play?" "Yeah!" "Do you want to eat breakfast?" "Yeah!" "Is it time for your bath?" "Yeah." The last time anyone remembers her saying no was on Christmas morning, when she was six months old and we were recording her playing under the tree. She was laying on her back playing with her feet and I said, "Sadie are you playing with your feet?" In her little, clear voice she said "no!" and went on playing. So Nani was surprised when Sadie said "no!" to her question.

I came back into the room in time for the next question, which was, where is the baby? Sadie looked very serious and pointed to her own stomach. She's been doing this throughout the day. She even did it when I asked her where the picture of "tiny baby Sadie" is. She loves pointing out this particular picture, and does so every day. It's the one that was taken in the hospital and it's framed in Nani's living room opposite the TV. Now when asked the question she gets a determined little look and points again at her belly button.

It's funny, because we've been talking about how she's going to be a big sister, and she definitely gets the idea that something is going on. She's taken an interest in her dolls (and she's a tractor girl, so that's unusual) and has been given her baby Abby wet kisses.

Something, however, has been lost in translation.

Her other new phrase is used when she wants to nurse. She says "num, num Mama!" Once she was a little more creative and said "ba-ba" when she was hungry. We figured out that this is because she has a book that says "hungry baby says, 'ba-ba'" and Sadie, who hasn't had a bottle since I realized how colicky they made her when she was about a month old (I tried to use them on a road trip and it was a disaster!), thinks that "ba ba" is another word for hunger, rather than the word for "bottle." She's a smart little princess though and knows that if she's hungry the book says the word is "ba ba"!

First Hair Cut!

2009-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

I finally broke down and trimmed Sadie's bangs today. We were hoping they would grow out, but since she refuses to keep a clip, bow or hair tie in for more than five minutes (there have been rare times when we've gone longer because she's been distracted, but as I said those times are rare!) it needed to be trimmed so that it would stay out of her eyes.

This is a before photo from a few days ago

--------->

I trimmed off the tiniest bit while she was asleep at nap time. It was tough to do, since she'd fallen asleep on my arm, but I finally managed to wiggle my arm free without waking her and a few minutes later, she had bangs. Between cutting Paul's hair (even shorter) again last week and cutting Sadie's hair today, our house is becoming quite the little hair salon.

I'll try to get some pictures of Sadie tomorrow with her news bangs because it really makes her look older. They're actually starting to get even (she still has some parts that are still wispy baby hair) and that makes her look much less like a baby and more like a little girl! I can't believe my eyes!

Sadie's Big Announcement!

2009-11-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Sadie writes:

There is big news today and since Mommy has been so incredibly sleepy, I figured that if anyone was going to write about what's going on, it was going to have to be me! So here it is, the big news you've all been waiting for.... drum roll please....

I am going to be a big sister!

That's right, it's really true! I am going to be a big sister and I'm going to get to do all the things that the big sister gets to do! I'm not sure what those things are yet, but I'm very excited! Now it's way past bedtime. I had a lot of fun at the game tonight and I drank more of Mommy's milk shake than she drank, which is probably why I'm still awake and bouncing up and down, but even I know when it's time to go to bed!

Oh, and before I forget, something else wonderful happened today! When we were at the game my Grumpa caught me one of the little foam footballs the cheerleaders were throwing up into the stands and I LOVE it! This has been the best day ever!

The Hamper

2009-11-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Sadie's favorite toy these days is the laundry basket that I use to fold the laundry in an carry it upstairs to put away. I left it empty on the floor of her play room and she has commandeered it and turned it into the centerpiece of most of her play time upstairs. She likes to get into it with two buckets, one of which we fill with puzzle pieces and the Saint cards that she got for Halloween. She then sits in the hamper and moves the pieces and cards from one bucket to the other. Sometimes she dumps them into the hamper around her and then picks them back up again. I don't exactly understand the game, but she assures me that it is absolutely fantastic AND a LOT of fun. She certainly has quite the imagination.

Tomorrow is going to be a very big day. Sadie is finally going to get to see her first live, in person, football game. Our local team is playing their cross state rivals (that's what happens when you live in a rural area, you're teams rivals live over two hours away, each way). The bus ride for the other team gives our team a real advantage during home games, although it also gives them a disadvantage at away games. She'll finally get to use her "touchdown" arms while watching a game in person. This ought to be fun to watch!

The Real Chuck E Cheese?

2009-11-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

Sadie has been pointing to the picture of Chuck E Cheese of the refrigerator for weeks. She smiles and giggles when she sees the cartoon mouse. her entire face lights up.

So today we decided to stop by Chuck E Cheese to take a break from our shopping. It's great to go on a weekday for an early lunch because there's hardly anyone there, usually just a couple of parents with toddlers or preschoolers.

I took Sadie straight over to her favorite ride, which is a car with a statue of Chuck E in the passenger seat, that snaps a picture a few seconds after you start it. The pictures taken are some of the ones we have on the refrigerator and during the last few trips there it has been Sadie's favorite ride.

Today it started out as her favorite ride and then.... Sadie realized something. She looked at the Chuck E Cheese statue on stage and raced over to see him. He moves and talks. We came back to the car ride and she examined the Chuck E statue, who has been her buddy for the past month, and she was horrified to discover that he wasn't even real! He doesn't move. He doesn't talk. She touched him mouth! He wasn't even soft like a mouse.

After that she would have nothing to do with him! When I asked her where Chuck E was she would turn in the opposite direction and point at the Chuck E on stage. So much for her favorite ride! I'm hoping she's forgiven the Chuck E statue for not talking by our next trip to pizza. I love getting the cute little polaroid shots for twenty five cents and they aren't nearly as cute when she's mad at Chuck E!

One Tough Bunny

2009-11-03T20:02:00.000-08:00

Sadie is one tough little kid. She had a clumsy day today that involved sitting down and playing next to a doll house that she had knocked over (the fischer price one for little ones) and then getting into a crawling position and looking at it. Suddenly in a completely unexpected move that horrified Nani and I she let go with both hands and face planted into the doll house. We both jumped up, expecting a scream and tears. Instead she pushed herself back up and wrinkled her nose (I was looking for blood because she hit hard). She was a little surprised and kept moving her nose around like a tiny bunny and then, without making a peep went back to playing.

Sadie's tears when she does fall down are usually directly related to how sleepy she is. When she isn't tired or in desperate need of a nap she doesn't cry. She falls down, gets back up, and keeps racing around the room. I'd like to strap pillows onto her with bungie cords, because she could use some padding as she smashes around the house, or scarier still, outside.

I wonder when the sense of balance start to improve or if this is just a sign that she's going to take after her two clumsy parents.

The Tattered Teddy

2009-11-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Sadie was not happy with Mommy today. See this look? ---->

I got it a lot!

Last week we decided that we were going to have a fun family day on Monday. We started out by going to Mass, where Sadie sat like a little angel (she's been getting better each week at sitting quietly and she spends most of Mass on Daddy's lap these days). Then we went to the post office and did some errands. Since we were planning on having lunch in town we had time to burn, so we headed over to the park where Sadie played in the leaves and swung on the swings, but it was still very cold and a little damp and so we got back in the car and tried to think of a way to spend the next hour.

There's a mercantile mall in town that we'd never been to, although it's been open for quite a while, and we decided to check it out. It had tons of neat antiques (although we weren't actually shopping) and Sadie enjoyed being carried around by Daddy, until she saw it. "It" in this case was a large, old, ratty brown teddy bear that someone (who has a loose grip on reality) thought they could sell for $15. I'm not sure they would be able to give the bear away if they tried.

Sadie pleaded and begged to be put down to see the bear. And then I made the mistake of the day. I picked it up. I was holding Sadie at this point and I don't know how I couldn't see that picking up the bear would be a terrible idea. I thought that she could play with it for a few minutes, while Paul looked around a bit more and then we'd head home.

Sadie kissed the bear. She hugged it. She snuggled it's tattered old face. After a while I pried it away from her and said "okay, we have to say goodbye to the bear. Let's put him back in the chair. Bye, bye bear." And then the screaming started. After a minute Paul decided to give cheering her up a try and lifted her into his arms for a game of peekaboo in front of a mirror. She calmed down a bit, although there was an occasional sob. A bit more time passed and I thought it might be safe to approach. I walked over and asked Paul if he'd seen something. And then the tears started again. I was the bad guy! I'd taken the bear away!

She forgave me a few minutes later, but only barely. It is clear that I'm not to be trusted with teddy bears anymore. I just don't know how valuable a beat up old bear can be!

The Lil' Angel

2009-10-31T21:08:00.001-07:00

Sadie loved going into town for the kid's fair and the walk through the historic district of town trick-0r-treating. She had never seen so many kids in one place at one time and she was even more surprised that they were all dressed up! There were little princess and little unicorns and one little, scruffy looking pirate that she took a particular interest in and would have followed around all night if we'd let her.

She has also really got the lollipop thing down! She's even figured out that she can chew through the paper on lollipops pretty quickly and spent our trick-or-treating walk up and down Main Street fishing in her bucket trying to sneak another lollipop into her mouth. I'm not sure our fun in town and the pizza we had afterwards (and even watching the almost full moon out the car window on the way home) could compare with what she saw when we got home.

Football. USC was playing Oregon.

Sadie was in heaven and repeatedly made the goalposts sign before collapsing on the ground and giggling. And Grumpa was happy because he always likes to see USC lose and it's even better if they lose by a lot (which was what was happening when we came down to the cabin!). Sadie was just too exhausted to stay up and see who was going to win (and it seemed pretty obvious).

So now the little angel is fast asleep, dreaming sweet little lollipop dreams. Hopefully in her dreams she actually gets to keep the lollipops!

The Football Fanatic

2009-10-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Sadie and Daddy spin around...

and around....

and around...

until they are so dizzy they can barely walk!

Touchdown! This is so much fun!!

Sadie is doing her "touchdown" signal all the time. She loves watching football on TV and we think that's where she picked it up from (because when she's sees football she does it and then collapses on the ground like she's just been tackled).

She was a little disappointed tonight, but was a good sport and kept making her touchdown sign even when there wasn't a game in sight. Nani and Grumpa were going to take Sadie into town to see what we thought was supposed to be the last home football game of the year for our local team. These days Sadie cries when bath time is over and it's time to get out of the bath, but when Nani told her that they were going to see a football game she made the touchdown sign and then held her arms up to be lifted out! On the car ride into town she made the touchdown sign the entire way there, giggling. And then they arrived at the school and it was.... dark...

It turns out the game is next week! So instead they went to Starbucks and Sadie had a vanilla milk (which she loves). Next week though, she'll hopefully get to see the Wolves face the Bears!

An Independent Little Angel

2009-10-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

We are headed towards another weekend and unfortunately Daddy is going to miss seeing Sadie all dressed up as an angel in her cute little costume, because he has class on Saturday. We won't be doing the house to house trick-or-treating. We'll go to a kid's fair in town and then all the kids go through the historic downtown district and every single shop has a table outside with people handing out candy or other treats. Some of the doctors and dentists even do it. Last year Sadie even got a tooth brush (along with loads of candy, which mommy had to eat for her).

Today while I was doing something in the kitchen Sadie started to have a meltdown. She wanted something and I turned around and looked at her and said "what's going on? What do you want to do? Are you about to walk over and visit Grumpa all by yourself?" (Grumpa was over at Nini and Gigi's building their deck. Their house is about fifty yards away from Nani and Grumpa's house and I was teasing when I said it!). She got up off the ground and walked out of the room. I followed her to see what she was going to do. She walked to the front door and opened it easily before I stopped her. She really had been about to head over to Nini and Gigi's by herself to see what Grumpa was up to! We've really got to keep that door locked because she's quick when she opens it and apparently she thinks she's big enough to go out on her own!

A Chilly Day and the Pillow House!

2009-10-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot how much fun it is to build forts, particularly on days when it's so chilly that we can't go outside for very long. Here's the reason we've been stuck indoors.

Hopefully the pictures big enough that you can see that this tree is frozen solid! It's really cold!

I get Sadie all bundled up to go outside and layer her stroller with blankets, but she's interested in pretty much everything other than staying warm. She pushes her blankets off and rips her hat off her head. In a matter of minutes her nose is pink and her fingers are ice cubes! So it's back inside where she's mastering the fine art of fort building. She's only in the beginning stages of fort building so far (pillow forts), but at the rate she's going they may take over the entire house. Luckily Nani makes beautiful pillow cases, so the pillow houses are pretty to look at. Here's on of the latest pillow houses (with a box we brought home from Costco that Sadie snagged and spent a large part of the afternoon sitting in).

Oatmeal Bear joins Sadie in the pillow house and they plot taking over the living room.

Sadie peaks out to see if she's being watched! It appears that others have noticed her plans of living room domination and are determined to stop her before there isn't a single clear path through the room!

She begins to blow kisses in an attempt to distract us!

It works! Everyone falls under the Sadie spell and she takes over the entire house, filling every nook and cranny with her Pillow Houses!

Daddy's Little Sports Fan

2009-10-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sadie has a new little thing that she does. I think she picked it up from watching Paul watch sports. Sadie loves to watch pretty much every sport. Football seems to be her favorite, but baseball is a close second.

Today she started lifting her arms up like she's signaling a touchdown in a football game. She does it when we're walking and she finds a pretty rock that she likes and she picks it up and hands it to me. She does it after she picks up a puzzle piece and drops it into my shoe (who knew that finding all the puzzle pieces and putting them all in Mommy's shoe could be so much fun?). And of course she did it when the TV was on and she saw a football player make a touchdown. After the touchdown she collapsed on the floor like she'd been tackled and then jumped up did the goal post sign again and then fell to the ground again and hid her face. I'm not sure exactly what she's thinking when she does this, but she sure seems to be a sports fan! Talk about being Daddy's Little Girl!

She also thinks it's hilarious to push her "breakfast bear" (a toy bear that sits at the table when she eats her breakfast) around the table with her mini bulldozer. This upsets the breakfast bear immensely and he roars at the bulldozer, but Sadie just laughs. It's almost as good as watching football!

Shoe Shopping

2009-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for oatmeal bear! Sadie hasn't been sleeping very well again these last few days and I suspect that tooth #9 is thinking about making an appearance. Sadie's sleeping patterns are heavily influenced by teething discomfort.

Today we went shoe shopping and Sadie fell in love with every single shoe that I slid onto her feet. She loved the red puddle stomping boots I showed her and cried when I took them away to suggest that we try on another size. She tried to insist we buy every pair of party shoes in the place (Walmart has quite a selection) but had to settle for on pair of black patent leather shoes for church.

And then there were the sneakers. Nani found a pair of light up disney princess cupcake sneakers (they really don't leave anything out, do they?) and they fit Sadie's little foot perfectly. She now wears a size 8. I can't believe how fast her feet are growing. She reminds me of a german shepherd puppy with giant paws sometimes!

She did also manage to convince me to get the shiny red boots and when we got home she insisted on wearing them around the house. She has some difficulty walking in them while staring at her feet, but finally got the hang of it. I'm actually surprised she didn't bump into more furniture.

She lets everyone know she's ready to put them on again by walking over to wherever they have been left and standing on top of them with a determined look on her face. She's going to have a hard time convincing Nani that they can come into the house though after they get actual puddle stomping mud on them.

Sadie's Almost Kiss

2009-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sadie is finally asleep, after putting up quite a fight. She's so afraid that she'll miss something the moment that she closes her eyes, that she would like to be awake twenty-four hours a day.

Yesterday we drove to a winery a few towns over that was having a wine festival. It was a kid's dream come true. They had a tractor pulling a wagon around the grape vines with free rides. Halfway through the vineyard they had created a pumpkin patch and all the chickens and roosters were spending their day at the pumpkin patch in the hay. Sadie was thrilled. She picked out yet another pumpkin (along with the pumpkins she's gotten at other patches and the ones Nani grew in her garden, we have quite a collection) and we hauled it back to the wagon.

After that we ate lunch in shifts, because Sadie was too excited to sit still (especially without a high chair to lock her into place). I took her over to a big lawn area to run around and there she met Billy. Billy was a little blonde boy who is currently 20 months old (although he came just up to Sadie's ear). Sadie was thrilled to see another little kid her size (there were tons of kids running around, but most of them were at least a couple years older) and she kept running up to him. He would run towards her and then change directions at the last moment (usually they would both point at each other then) and he'd run away with Sadie in hot pursuit.

Sadie went back over to visit everyone eating for a few minutes (which apparently gave Billy the chance to miss her) and when we went back he was thrilled to see her. So thrilled, in fact, that he ran up and hugged her and then tried to give her a kiss. Sadie froze when he hugged her and then took of at a run when he tried to kiss her! And then they were back to running around together, like two peas in a pod (and it was quite a lot of work keeping up with that little pod).

Then it was home just in time for a nap and a phone call from Daddy who was at class when Sadie almost had her first kiss!

A Serious Little Eater

2009-10-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Sadie is serious about food and her tastes are starting to take after Mommy's. She loves artichokes (which I think is a funny thing for a little kid to love) and actually took a bite of a marinated garlic clove yesterday and ate it happily. She also loves dill pickles and green olives. Tonight at dinner she was having cheesy noodles and the rest of us were having pork ribs (she was sharing my artichoke with me). She started pointing over and over again to the ribs and making her little "ah" sound which is the sound she makes when she sees something she's interested in or wants. I wasn't sure she would like the ribs because they are a little spicy (and slathered in barbeque sauce). She ate a piece off of the bone and then sat next to me saying "yum, yum, yum." After that she continued to point to the ribs and even got Grumpa to give her another piece after everyone had finished eating.

Here are some Sadie eating pictures! She looks serious but lately she really does seem to love everything we put in front of her. I like this phase!

Running 'til Nap Time

2009-10-22T20:53:00.001-07:00

Sadie has so much energy that I took her outside today and let her run around the track near our house. It’s a dirt track that is a third of a mile and Sadie ran around it twice today. It really seems to help her burn off the excess energy that would otherwise be used to chase down the cats and pull their tails (never a good scenario).

So this morning we went out and she did her first lap and then I let her explore around the houses. She slept much better at nap time than she usually does and after her nap woke up and seemed happy with the idea of going outside, so Nani and I took her on another walk (this time pushing the stroller just in case she got tired). Instead she raced around it again, stopping multiple times to look at rocks and trees and little piece of dirt.

She also has decided that she wants to “feed“ us. She thinks its very funny to pretend to scoop up food and then to pretend put that food into the mouth of whoever happens to be sitting next to her. We have to watch her though to make sure that it is actually pretend food (air) and that she hasn’t picked up an cheerio that fell down into a crack in her high chair at breakfast and is squeezing it between her grimy little fingers. It is a very real danger and Sadie would think that was even better than feeding Mommy or Daddy pretend “food.”

Ewwww! Baby Feet!

2009-10-21T20:41:00.001-07:00

Sadie and I have this little game that we play. It started months ago when she was nursing and started to take her foot and pull it up and put it next to my face. I would make a face when she did this and say "ewwwwwww, yuck, baby feet" and pretend to try to blow her feet away from my face. She would immediately start to giggle and put her foot back down until a few minutes later when I would see her foot sneaking back up next to my face.

We hadn't played the baby feet game in a while, but yesterday when Sadie was sitting on my lap she stretched out her flexible little leg and put her little foot right next to my cheek. This time instead of saying "yuck baby feet" I pretended to sneeze and said "oh no, baby feet, I must be allergic!" This, in Sadie's eyes, was even funnier than "ewwww, yuck, baby feet!" She laughed hysterically. As soon as she stopped laughing I would grab her foot and pretend to sneeze again and repeat "baby feet, I must be allergic, achooooo!"

Now she spending quite a bit of time trying to sneak her feet as close to me as possible to see if I'll sneeze and then laughing hysterically if I do.

She also figured out how to blow bubbles in her milk with a straw today at lunch. I'm hoping she forgets this new talent for a little bit longer!

I also purchased a monkey backpack "baby leash" today. Sadie has no problem racing off into a crowd on her own (or trying to jump into the ocean) so this may be handy. Sadie may not like the monkey quite as much though when she realizes what it is....

Sadie's New Cousin!

2009-10-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sadie is proud to announce that she is no longer the littlest cousin! As of today she has a new baby cousin named Ryan, who lives all across the country on the east coast.

Sadie doesn’t get to see any of her cousins very often. Half of them live in Massachusetts and the other half live in Texas. However, we have made an effort to make sure that Sadie knows all about her cousins. Every day, several times a day, Sadie goes over to the refrigerator and demands to be picked up. The front and side of the refrigerator are covered with pictures of family near and far and one of Sadie’s favorite activities is pointing out pictures as we name them. She looks at all of the pictures of her cousins and at the pictures of her grandparents.

These days we all have a hard time competing with the coupons from Chuck E. Cheese that were clipped out of the paper earlier this month (because they have a picture of Chuck E. right there on the front) and Sadie also loves looking at the picture of her sitting on Santa’s lap (we’re hoping that since she’s looked at that picture every day for months and months she may skip the being afraid of Santa phase that so many little ones go through).

Congratulations to the proud parents on their new arrival! We can’t wait to see pictures!

Surf Baby

2009-10-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

We found quite a few things out about Sadie this weekend, and first and foremost among them is the fact that, if given the chance she will run straight into the ocean without hesitating. Luckily, we had six adults who watched her and made sure that she couldn't run full speed into the icy waves.

Why would she want to run into that icy water, you ask?

As we walked down towards the water the first time (it was a negative tide and it was quite a hike), Sadie started to look at the places where the waves had washed up foam. First she stared at it. Then she pointed. Then she stomped. When she stomped the foam it disappeared under her shoe. She thought that was quite funny. So she stomped a little more. As we got further down and the sand got wetter she started to notice that it splashed a little when she stomped on the foamy lines. Hilarious. Life doesn't get better than stomping foam on a cold autumn day. Then she saw the waves. They were pretty foamy. She was ready to fling herself in and do a little stomping in the sea.

Mommy and Daddy said definitely not. We're such spoil sports!

She's also becoming quite a good little eater. We think that it may be a growth spurt. The day before yesterday she ate an entire fish stick by herself and this morning she ate an entire egg. She wasn't even finicky. She just gobbled up everything that we put in front of her.

I keep hearing talk about how she'll "slow down" on the growing soon. I presume that this will happen before she's taller than me, which at the current rate will be sometime next year.

Late Day Naps

2009-10-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today seemed like a long day, probably because Sadie resisted taking a nap all the way until 4:30 pm. She then slept for a little over an hour (despite Pumpkin's best efforts to wake her, which included walking right up to us twice and yowling at the top of her little 18 year old lungs at least a dozen times) and woke up ready to rock and roll. Late day naps are definitely not a good idea, because then the little princess thinks that she should be bouncing off the wall until 9:30pm (which is past Mommy's bedtime and way past Sadie's bedtime).

The high point of the day came when we went into town for the football homecoming parade. Sadie was moderately impressed by the floats and the marching band, but nothing could compare with her expression when a group of red balloons escaped from the freshman float and soared off into the sky. Sadie's eyes were glued to the balloons even when they were tiny and she kept pointing to them because she didn't want anyone to miss their flight into the wild.

Tomorrow morning we head to the ocean. We're shocked to learn that the little motel we're staying at does have wireless internet! I'll finally be able to download the updates for my computer! Yay! And I'll try to remember to bring my camera cord and battery charger (so I can upload some new Sadie pictures).

Vote for Sadie for Cutest Bunny!

2009-10-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

I can't help it. I see a cute baby contest and my motherly pride gets the better of me and I just have to enter it, even though I know that there are thousands of very cute babies that are already entered and nothing will probably ever come of it. However, I took this picture and entered Sadie in the Baby Gap/Disney contest.

Any and all votes are appreciated. You can click here to go to Sadie's page and vote. They do make everyone register before they can vote, which is kind of a pain, but after you register you can go back and vote every day!

Sadie seems to be feeling a little better every day. She's still snuffly and a little cranky (and extra clumsy at times) but she also felt well enough to walk all the way over to Nini and Gigi's house today without falling. She's been running so much that it's hard to tell, but she's really getting better at walking without tripping over her own two feet.

Tomorrow we are going to pack our bags. Nani and Grumpa are taking everyone on a little trip over to the coast on Saturday. Daddy is going to drive up after his class on Saturday and we should even have time to get some geocaching in. We're hoping it doesn't rain the whole time so Sadie can do some exploring on the beach. She's bringing her little bucket and shovel!

Climbing and Pillow Houses

2009-10-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sadie is sound asleep right now. She is still stuffy and her nose has been bleeding on and off all day, but at least she doesn’t seem to have a fever.

Sadie is currently in love with making “pillow houses.” She has five pillows and a bean bag chair and she spends long amounts of time rearranging the pillows and so that they completely surround her. Sometimes she lays down and pulls the pillows over her and tried to hide. Hiding usually lasts for a grand total of five seconds (on Sadie’s more patient days), but Sadie thinks it’s hilarious when we act like we can’t find her. Now that the fence is up around the fireplace it has become part of the pillow house. So far when I try to add blankets to create a fort, Sadie pulls them down and laughs, but I have a feeling that she’s going to get the idea soon and want to turn the entire living room into a giant pillow palace.

She is also becoming quite the little climber. She climbs everything. She moves her bouncy horse Robby over next to her playpen and stands on it (until Mommy makes her get down). She tries (and nearly succeeds) in climbing into and standing up in her little shopping cart (until Mommy makes her get down). And she even tries to climb up into the doll stroller (until Mommy makes her get down). Mommy making her get down off of things she has climbed has been a definite trend lately!