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I'm such a bad blogger...here are some updates:

Sadie has been busy the last few months! She is becoming a little girl and is no longer a baby. We’ve been discussing when we should begin potty training and when we should move Sadie to a big girl bed. We are just watching Sadie and waiting until the time is right to move forward with her next big milestones.


Sadie is now jumping- she jumps everywhere! It was really amazing to watch her learn how to jump. At first she would try to jump, but would not leave the ground. Eventually, she did leave the ground…about a centimeter and now she can jump really well off the ground. She is so determined. She wanted to jump and she worked on it until she could.

Sadie is also talking a lot more now. Today at Gloria’s at the end of lunch she said “I’m done.” She also can say pig and when you ask her to say Halloween she says “Weeeen”. It’s so cute! Some of the other words she can say are: eat, apple, milk, cow, shoe, sock, up, that, this, cat, dog, frog, green, yellow, red, ball, bear, car, and outside. We are still working on Grandma and Grandpa- right now she says Mamama and Papapa- which is actually different from what she calls Keith and me (dada and mama).

Sadie now sings along in the car to certain songs. Keith has a recording of Summertime by Billy Stewart and she loves it! We listen to it all the time just so we can hear her sweet voice.

We now have grass in our backyard – thanks to my dad and my brother. The grass is beautiful and Sadie absolutely loves to play outside. She has a sandbox (Thanks Carrie!) and Sadie will bring the sand toys from the sandbox to another place in the backyard one at a time. Once they are all in a new spot she will take them back to the sandbox one at a time. When it’s time to go in we say, “Time to clean up.” And to my surprise – every time- she picks up all of her toys and puts them in the sandbox and goes in. Let’s hope she will always be a good listener.

We’ve become Zoo members and we are enjoying going to the zoo. It took us 3 visits to see everything the zoo had to offer. The last time we went we went to the children’s area. We saw Koala bears and Sadie was able to pet a goat. She really liked that. We didn’t see any barnyard pigs, but there were warthogs with mohawks! The zoo also has a great playground- it’s fenced in- except for the entrance so I was able to let Sadie run free without having to worry too much about her running off.

Since the zoo did not have farm pigs – we went to a farm for a fall festival. The farm had three pigs, but they were sleeping when we were there. Sadie liked them, even though they did not do anything. Sadie also got to run through a maze for little ones, jump in a jumping house, play games, and look at pumpkins. We had a great time and we really enjoyed the beautiful weather. Sadie walked all around the farm and never got tired.

Halloween was so fun. Sadie was a 50’s girl with a poodle skirt tutu. I actually made her costume. I am quite proud of it! She loved flouncing around in her big skirt. We trick or treated at a few homes around my parents’ house and then came home and Sadie hit the hay and went straight to sleep.

Now it’s November and holiday season is in full swing. I am getting ready to plan for Sadie’s birthday party. Her 2nd birthday will be here before I know it.

Sadie is always silly!

Summer Time...And the Living Is Easy!

Wow! Where has the time gone!? It’s already July 9th!

So far this month Sadie and I have had fun hibernating and only going out in the early mornings! We’ve enjoyed going on a morning walk most days and we’ve hung out with our family and friends. (Just thoroughly enjoying a relaxed life.) It’s been fabulous!


Sadie is really coming along with using a spoon and has started using a fork too. She is also getting better about drinking from a cup without a straw and without getting it everywhere.


We are enjoying Sadie’s expanding vocabulary. Some of the works she can say are: that, shoes, apple, milk, and up.


We are retiring the highchair and she is now sitting in a booster (strapped in). The amazing thing is she was always making a fuss when I would put her in the high chair and now when it’s time to eat, she goes right over to her chair and wants to sit in it.


She is just growing way too fast!

Sadie's new slide.

Sadie's new seat

Playing with blocks.

Reaching

Sadie grabbed this bowl of strawberries and started munching!

Yummy

Then she got really sticky!

Time to clean up...too bad she was wearing white...

Thank you Oxiclean!

Great Grandparents!

Sadie and I spent two mornings this week hanging out with my grandparents, Sadie's great grandparents. Sadie has so much fun playing with them. Getting them to chase her and snuggling on the couch together. What a great time we had and I am so thankful that they are a part of Sadie’s life.

Great- Great Grandpa's Rocking Chair

Zoo Fun

This morning Sadie and I went to the Phoenix Zoo. We had a lot of fun spending the morning together. We started out by looking at the giraffes. It’s really amazing how big they are when you see them in person. Sadie was not too interested in the giraffes; she was too busy watching the people who were watching the giraffes. We went down the trail and walked by the zebras (including the baby zebras) and stopped at the flamingo exhibit. It was early in the morning so the flamingos were eating breakfast. Sadie enjoyed watching them. They were on her level so I think she could really see them. There were also some ducks eating the flamingo’s food and Sadie really like to see them. We then wondered around and looked at several different animals.

We skipped the monkey exhibit, in this exhibit you actually walk into the monkey’s habitat. That sounded a little scary to me and I really did not want to take Sadie in to the exhibit by myself. Maybe next time. We were able to see one tiny monkey from outside of the exhibit. He was cute. Sadie really was not interested in the monkeys or really any of the animals. That is until we saw a little jackrabbit. This little jackrabbit was not in an exhibit. He was eating grass just passed the monkey exhibit. Sadie loved this little animal. We watched him for a few minutes and I got a few pictures. Then he jumped away and we were able to see his cute little cotton tail!

We continued looking at animals- well I looked at animals and Sadie watched the people. Then we stopped at the Leapin’ Lagoon. Which is a splash pad. This was Sadie’s first time at a splash pad. At first she wasn’t sure what to do, but she watched the other kids and soon she was running all over to get the water. She would try to grab the water and as it went down she would follow it and then stick her finger in the hole. She was so silly.

Once she tired of that, we changed clothes and we rode the carousel. Another first for Sadie. I will say that it is much more fun to ride a carousel then to hold onto a child while standing on a carousel. I actually felt a little dizzy. But Sadie liked it. She rode a zebra and I realized that it is just about impossible to get a picture while on the carousel. But I did get a few good ones.

We ended the day by walking through the Arizona Trail. We saw different amphibians and reptiles. We also saw a Coati, which resembled a raccoon. And was very playful.

Unfortunately we didn’t see all of the animals. Sadie was getting tired and we had to cut our visit short…although we were there a little over two hours! I was surprised that there were not very many people there, and at times it seemed like we were the only ones there. We also were very lucky because even though it was hot, the sun was covered by the clouds most of the time we were there. So it really was not too bad.

I am thinking about getting a membership. I would love to be able to take Sadie on a regular basis. We just had so much fun together.

Sadie took a 40 minute nap on the way home and then took no more naps the rest of the day…until about 4:30 when she was riding home from the grocery store with Keith. He got her out of the car and laid her down…

That is the sign of a fabulous day!

Happy Father's Day

Today was a great day!

Sadie painted on her Daddy's Father's Day card and Keith loved it. We had a low key day because Sadie was not feeling well. Sadie took 2 long naps today. In between the naps-we ran out to Costco. After the 2nd nap, we went to my parent’s house for an early dinner. My Grandparents came over for dinner too and we all had a great time.

It's amazing that in one week, Sadie will be 17 months old! We have a busy week ahead of us. We will be having a play date with Claire, enjoying time with Sadie’s grandparents and great grandparents, and then going to the Zoo on Friday.

Going on a walk with Grandpa.

Giving a high five. She is so smart!

Sadie has been without her paci since May 11. It was actually much easier than we expected it would be. The first night she fussed a little, but fell asleep and slept all night like usual. The next night was a little tougher, but again she fell asleep in no time and slept all night. Other than that she has done fine at night without it.
She is a smarty however, she remembers that her grandma and grandpa used to keep a spare paci on a little end table at their house. At first she looked for it a lot when she would go over there. But over the past few weeks she has been looking less and less.

I just can’t believe how quickly she is growing up. She is officially a toddler now… no bottles, no paci…what’s next…no diapers! Maybe over Christmas break we will tackle that next milestone. No rush, we will just watch for Sadie to show us she is ready.

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Last photo with paci!

June began in an exciting way. Sadie’s Nana and cousin Avery came to visit us. We had a lot of fun hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. We all went to ASU for a college tour, which was actually a lot of fun. I was surprised at how beautiful ASU’s campus was. Avery also got to go fishing and attended a Diamondbacks game with my dad. The Diamondbacks were playing the Braves and the D-backs actually won! It was a nice visit Keith and I were both off, so we really spent a lot of time together.

 

I am so excited for the upcoming weeks as this is my last week working full time for the summer. I will work two days next week and then I will be off until the last week in July. I just cannot wait to spend the next few weeks being a stay at home Mommy with Sadie.

Sadie Update!

Sadie had her 15 month visit today. Her height is off the chart...33.25 inches and she currently weighs 26.5 lbs. She is growing like a weed!

What a Wonderful Week

Last Saturday Keith had to work so Sadie and I hit up the mall. Sadie scored some new clothes and a big white hat to protect her from the sun.
This is what she looked like at the end of the shopping trip!

One night this week, Sadie had Spagetti for dinner. We are really trying to get Sadie to use a fork and an actual bowl or plate. So far this is how well it is going…

Today Sadie and I got together with some of my friends from high school. We all have little ones and it was so fun to see them together. Sadie had a good time running around and keeping me on my toes. It was so good to see everyone. It’s amazing that 13 years ago we were hanging out on Friday and Saturday nights getting ready to graduate! I hope that we can get together again soon!

Sadie’s Swimming Lessons

For the last two weeks Sadie and I have been going to swimming lessons. The lessons are with the city of Chandler and are really basic. The parents learn different holds and how to encourage their child to blow bubbles and kick.

The lessons have been at 5:30PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This has been difficult to manage due to the fact that most days I do not get home until 5:00 and we had to leave at 5:07 to get to the pool on time! So needless to say the afternoon consisted of Keith rushing to Gloria’s to pick Sadie up and then rushing home. Cooking Sadie dinner and then dressing her in her swim diaper, swimsuit, and cover up. Then I would rush in - change into my swimsuit and walk out the door at 5:07. Needless to say it has been crazy!

Despite the rush, it was so fun to go swimming with Sadie. To see her learn and have fun was the highlight of my week.

Oh and she is so darn cute in her swimsuit and cover-up. She even wore sunglasses today, but I didn’t get a picture of her then! I tried to take some pictures of her in her swimsuit, but this is the best I could get.

Tired Baby Girl- After swimming lessons.

A Wonderful Day
What a wonderful day we all had today. Today was Sadie’s 2nd Easter and it was a blast. It all started early, just as every day does. Sadie was up at 5:30AM and no amount of coaxing was going to work to get her to go back to sleep. Her daddy had a pork shoulder in the crockpot and it smelled delish so I think that is what woke her up a little earlier than normal. After breakfast Sadie went looking for her Easter Basket and found it in the Family Room on the ottoman. She checked out the books, tossed Mickey the Easter Bunny and her kite on the floor. Then she spotted the “rubber” duck. I opened the box that her duck was in and gave her the duck. (The duck was actually an edible milk flavored duck!) She was playing with the duck and then she put it in her mouth as she does all things. She took a piece out of the duck and looked so surprised. She took another bite and then the whole duck fell apart. So I quickly cleaned it up and put it in the trash. I didn’t want her to eat the whole thing, but I knew she would love it since it was a duck!

Sadie then took a 2 hour nap and Keith and I ran around like crazy, cooking and getting ready. At 11:45 Uncle David and Aunt Carol came over. Then Great Grandpa and Great Grandma came. Finally Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Bobby came over. I got the macaroni and cheese in the oven and in 20 minutes we were ready to eat lunch. Oh the food. It was ridiculous: BBQ sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, garlic cheese toast, salad, fresh fruit, and cole slaw. Then for dessert we had pecan pie, coconut crème pie, fruit torte, and homemade blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I don’t think we will need to eat for days.
Then Sadie played while everyone else chatted and just enjoyed spending time together. What a great day!
Next year…Sadie and I are going to dye eggs!

Sadie’s First Christmas

Sadie did not sleep well on Christmas Eve. It was either her teeth or the onion dip her Grandma gave her at Karen and Ed’s Christmas Eve Party. J She was up at 5:30 AM, after going to bed around 9PM. She had a bottle and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When Keith woke up we all went out to see what Santa brought Sadie for Christmas.

Sadie crawled out to her gifts and went straight to My Pal Scout. (He’s a green dog that can say her name!) She played with him for awhile and then noticed her house. She went right through the front door and touched the knobs, buttons, and all the fun stuff. She loved the music and sounds the house made.

Then she noticed the Leapfrog Music Table from her Aunt Jean, Uncle Bobby, and Cousin Avery. She continued to play while Keith and I opened our gifts.

At one point, Sadie decided she wanted to check out the hallway. So off she went. Keith tracked her down and she opened a few gifts with help from Mom of course. She was not as into the wrapping paper as I thought she would be. After her first trip down the hall, she decided that was fun, so whenever Keith would open a gift she would take off. It was fun!

Soon it was time for Sadie to eat, Keith got ready while I fed Sadie and then we loaded up the car to go to my parents’ house. At her Grandparents’ house she actually opened one gift. She ripped the paper and really got into it.

Then it was time for a nap. She wasn’t too happy about it, but she needed it!

She woke up just in time for dessert! She had a carrot cake cupcake and LOVED it! Aunt Carol makes the best carrot cake and this year she made cupcakes with EXTRA frosting. YUMMY!!!

She spent the rest of the day playing and practicing walking. She enjoyed spending the day with family. We left my parents’ house at 5PM. Once we were at home she ate, took a bath, and was asleep by 6PM. What a lovely day!

Sadie did not finish opening all of her gifts until New Years Day talk about stretching out a holiday!!! J