Sadie's 9th Month

Immediately after the close of last month, I was thrilled to embark on my fall break from work!  My work decided to take off the week of Thanksgiving, so I was definitely looking forward to a whole week off with my girls.  We were all planned to have a Thanksgiving party at our house for a few friends and family members for the holiday, so Steve and I spent a fair amount of time preparing to host the holiday at our house again.  Unfortunately, fate did not have the same plans in mind.







The day before Thanksgiving, Stella gave us the scare of our lives.  She took a fall while playing that clearly shook her up pretty badly.  After watching her seemingly struggle to stay awake, I decided it was time to head down to the emergency room. 
The rest of the day was a series of firsts for Stella that we never wanted her to ever have to experience: Stella's 1st trip to the emergency room; Stella's 1st CAT scan; Stella's 1st IV; Stella's 1st ambulance ride; Stella's 1st overnight stay in a hospital.  Stella was amazing throughout the entire event, and she really made it seem like she wasn't even hurt.  The whole event is still a complete blur, but thankfully, Steve and I are the only ones who remember much and seem bothered.  All that Stella remembers is that she had a nurse named Barbara Ann (her favorite song) and that she met a basketball team (the Cal Bears were visiting the hospital while in town for a tournament).  If only our memories were so kind!

We were discharged with a clean bill of health for Stella mid-way through Thanksgiving day, so needless to say, we cancelled the party at our house.  Even though Stella was cleared to go home, we were told to watch her and keep her quiet for a few days.  She didn't get much sleep in the hospital, so it seemed that she was looking forward to being home and in her own bed.  Thanksgiving wasn't going to go as planned, but thankfully for us, my dad had been staying at our house with Sadie, so he decided to prepare the meal anyway. This was Sadie's 1st Thanksgiving, and Stella had walked away from a pretty scary event, so we had a lot to be thankful for. 

 
Life doesn't stop when things happen, so we did have other appointments and activities planned over the week that I was off from work.  One small and yet important activity we had planned was Sadie's latest photo shoot. After a notoriously horrible first photo shoot with Kendall, we always hold our breaths when Sadie has to cooperate for pictures.  Lord bless her, this was her best photo shoot yet!  She was an absolute angel, and Kendall got some adorable pictures of her and Stella.  




 After trying a few foods at the Thanksgiving table, Sadie started a new trend- finger foods!  Yes, I had been making a range of purees in my Baby Bullet as I did with Stella, and Sadie was eating them up. But, after Thanksgiving, she started yelling at us when we would eat food around her.  We gave her Cheerios on her tray to see if she could feed herself, and we created a monster!  She would refuse to eat anything that was pureed and only wanted finger foods.  Since she was able to feed herself, we thought we would give it a try. She will pick up anything off her tray, and she even is very good about pacing and feeding herself.  She wants to eat anything that Stella does (in true little sister fashion) and now Stella wants to eat everything that we make for Sadie.  So, our house is all about bland and boring food for our little ladies.  It's too funny because Stella has always like spicy and flavorful foods, but now she wants to eat all the plain things that her sister gets.  Oh well, at least I'm no longer cooking individual meals for everyone! 

Now that we were officially in December, it was time to start preparing for Christmas!  During nap time, I took the free hour or so to decorate the house and start getting into the season.  Sadie didn't seem to notice much of a difference, but Stella definitely took notice when she woke up from her nap.  We had another big snow headed our way, so Steve even went out and got a tree so that we could finish our decorating efforts.  Stella has started to show the tree and the presents to Sadie, so now Sadie too has a bit of an interest in what is going on around our house. 

Sadie also had a big month in her movement around the house.  She started out by continuing to work on her crawling.  She really is motivated more than anything by her want to be included.  If she can't be in the thick of things, she will do just about anything to get herself closer.  She isn't traditionally crawling yet, but she crawls 360 degrees!  It's hilarious because she'll get where she wants to, but she may have to make a few passes to get there.  This spurred even more ideas for moving places, and before we knew it, she was pulling herself up on things and trying to stand!  She can now stand by herself for a few seconds, so between that and all her practice walking with us, her mobility will only continue to grow by leaps and bounds.





As this month ends, we are literally days away from Sadie's 1st Christmas!  I'm sure that this one won't mean much to her, but I am excited to see her take in all the sounds, smells, and sights of the holiday.  I'm also thrilled for her to see her Auntie Mantha again!  To cap the year off/start the new one off right, we also will be taking a trip to Hawaii as a family, so we have A LOT in this little lady's future!  Here is our expressive little Sadie Lady:    

December 23, 2013

Sadie's 8th Month

At the end of October, we had a very big day to celebrate- Stella's 2nd birthday!  It's hard to imagine that our journey into parenthood began two years ago when we were blessed with our beautiful little firecracker!  Every day since we met her has been so much more joyful and entertaining, and I know that both of us cannot picture life without her.  To celebrate her birthday, we decided to have a big day of all things that Stella loves.  We started with breakfast at her favorite restaurant, Squeeze In, then we headed over to a pumpkin patch to play with the pumpkins, and finally, we held a small football/pizza party at our house.

Stella was given MANY incredible gifts from all of the generous people in her life, but the number one gift that both girls are clearly enjoying is Lucky!  Auntie Mantha got Stella a horse for her birthday!  Sam and I had a similar horse when we were kids, but Lucky puts that one to shame.  This horse has fur and a mane, and it has songs and phrases.  Stella took to it immediately, but so did someone else.  Sadie was jumping out of our arms to get to that horse, so we gave her a shot, and it was a huge success!  Lucky has a similar feel to her Jumperoo, so now Sadie has two places to get her jumps in.  

The day of Stella's birthday party was also made even more fun because it happened to be on the same day as a very important football rivalry game in our house- UNLV vs. UNR.  Being the only UNLV fan and graduate in my family, I generally have to hold my own during any game against these two schools (especially during football season) but we actually won!  Between all the shouting and excitement, Sadie really started to watch everyone's reactions in the room during the game.  She was definitely taking it in and processing because the next day during the 49er game, she started clapping! 









Stella's birth-day always turns into a birth-week because of the holidays that are right around her day.  Nevada Day means that we have a day off to all be together (and usually prep for her party) and then there is Halloween!  This was Sadie's 1st Halloween, so for me, it was all about the costumes.  Luckily, we already had that sorted because of Sadie's godmother.  Ashley is SO on top of the themes that I have for both girls in their rooms, and she always tries to find things for them that match the animal in each girl's room.  She had seen an owl costume months prior and immediately picked it up.  This prompted us to keep it simple and have matching owls for the holiday.  Sadie wasn't into more than teething on the outside of the treats that her sister gave to her, but this was Stella's 1st time trick-or-treating!  Let's just say that we should have prepped her before we went because she wasn't a huge fan.  She liked walking through the neighborhood, but she didn't like people putting things in her pumpkin.  Oh well, maybe next year!

As Sadie headed into November, she really started to be more aware and interested in the world around her.  Her new interest in life this month- Gwen!  Having two dogs always around, I think that both our girls often take them for granted.  But, there comes a time in each of their lives when they are very interested in Gwen.  They want to get kisses from her, pet her, and generally follow her around.  Sadie just reached this phase, so now Gwen has another little buddy in the house!  It's only a matter of time until Sadie starts crawling around after her.

Speaking of crawling, Sadie is just starting to test the waters.  She is in that phase when she knows that she can get to things that are out of her reach if she moves, and she is so over rolling around to get places.  She has been working on her army crawl to move across the floor to get to things, but she has realized that she doesn't necessarily have to go to her belly.  She is rocking and bopping on her knees, so she's awfully close.  Between wanting toys, Gwen, and Stella, it's only a matter of time until Sadie legitimately crawls across the floor.  Two mobile little ladies- God help us!

While we have been interested to see when Sadie crawls, we've actually been waiting for her teeth to finally come.  Stella already had four teeth at this age, so we have been surprised that Sadie has yet to show any, especially because Sadie's teeth have really been bothering her.  We never knew when Stella was teething, and her teeth never were a factor, but Sadie has been a drool-monster and teething on everything for months.  Sadie stopped sleeping through the night mid-way through November, and Steve and I were grasping at straws to figure out what caused the change.  Finally, we got our answer when Steve was feeding her Cheerios one night; our little lady at last had some teeth! 

Oh yes, I said Cheerios.  Sadie has had a very different introduction to food than Stella did.  Stella could've cared less about food, and it was a struggle to get her to eat anything.  Sadie on the other hand started food earlier on her own accord.  As I mentioned in a previous post, she grabbed and took bites of my banana months ago.  From there, she would cry at the table when she watched anyone eat.  We decided to start making baby food a bit earlier this time around because of this.  Honestly, the kid loves food!  She sits with us at every meal and gets bites from everyone and will yell when she doesn't.  Her favorite- vegetables- and I mean any vegetable.  I was thrilled to see teeth coming in because the lack of them was holding her back from eating things she clearly wanted to try.  God bless having a good eater!

To end the month, Sadie had one more first- her 1st snow!  Now, this isn't too exciting for any child under a year, but it is awfully fun for their parents!  We got a decent amount of snow here in Reno just this week, so Steve and I quickly put the girls in their new winter duds and headed outside.  This time around, Stella is obsessed with the snow; we can't get her inside without a few tears.  Sadie wasn't too impressed, but she did look awfully cute in her snowsuit!







Well, yet another month has come to pass, and I am in disbelief as to how fast this year has gone.  With the holiday season officially upon us, we are one step closer to the end of the year, and the close of Sadie's 1st year with us.  Even in the last month, she has changed so much.  As each day passes, she continues to get more inquisitive and involved in her world, and more and more she is becoming a little person.  Here she is, our little dear, Miss Sadie Lady:

November 23, 2013

Sadie's 7th Month

Right as Sadie's sixth month ended, we had to quickly get ready for a rather important celebration- Grandpa's 60th birthday!  It's incredible for me to think that my dad is anywhere near this age, mainly because the number is one of those that has seemed so far off all these years.  Grandpa is far too young, vibrant, and athletic to be sixty-- but, I guess I need to adjust my idea of a sixty-year-old.  My parents had remodeled their kitchen over the summer, so the birthday party became an Open House for them to show off the final product.  Literally, they did not even mention his birthday on the invitation.  There were all kinds of wonderful people from my dad's past and present in teaching and coaching, and they really are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  It was a wonderful party, and it even ended with cake, candles, and singing Stella's favorite song.  For his present, my mom has decided to get my dad a new puppy!  Dad was beyond surprised, and a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having two dogs, two kids, and a puppy to watch during the week. 

Sadie's six month check-up was right after the birthday celebration.  It's always fun to hear how big she's getting, and it's reassuring to get an "all clear" from the doc.  For the first time ever, this appointment got scheduled at a time when I couldn't go, so Dad had to take Sadie by himself.  As usual, Steve was incredible, and he even called me on my lunch to update me about the appointment.  According to her doctor, Sadie is healthy and growing and progressing beautifully.  She now weighs 16.2 pounds, and is 27 inches long.  Her size continues to outgrow her sister at her age, especially in height!  Sadie remains a little weed growing tall, and continues to stay in that ninetieth percentile in height. 

October has always been our favorite month!  Steve and I love the weather, the color change, the sports, and all the festivities that come in this month.  With kiddos now part of our lives, we now had one more thing for the whole family to enjoy in October- pumpkin patches!  We had taken Stella to Apple Hill last year, but we never sought out a pumpkin patch locally.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I stepped foot on one, but we had a feeling that the girls would enjoy themselves.  Stella loves pumpkins, and most patches are filled with all kinds of fun activities, so we figured we would start looking for a few to check out.

Our first stop ended up being more of a fair than a pumpkin patch, but the activities sounded like ones that Stella would enjoy, so we headed out early on a Sunday to the Verdi Craft Fair.  The elementary school out in Verdi puts on a Halloween Fair every year; we have never attended, but I thought we would give it a try.  There was a little pumpkin patch, all kinds of games, bouncey houses, and children everywhere.  Stella took a brief interest in the pumpkins, but then she found two things that really took her attention- horses and football.  Stella had never seen a horse in person until this day, and she was VERY interested.  She didn't want to take a ride, but she wanted to pet, feed, and generally be next to the horses.  Maybe she's taking after her Auntie Mantha!  Right next to the horses, there was a football tire throw that interested Stella as well.  She has recently become very interested in football, so she really wanted to hold the football and try to throw it through the tire.  For a little person just under two, she already has an arm on her! 

After getting a taste of fall and pumpkin patches, we decided it was time to hit up a legitimate pumpkin patch.  So, we took the short drive over to the Corley Pumpkin Patch in Gardnerville.  This is a pumpkin patch on a farm, so the whole event was pretty special.  I had never heard of so many events on a pumpkin patch, so I thought that this would be a great spot for us to try.  From train rides to horse rides, miniature golf to pig races; there was a lot to do!  I don't think that we even did half of the activities that were offered, but Stella really did enjoy herself, and I enjoyed the beautiful views.  Unfortunately, Steve did not come with us for our first visit, but Grandpa and Nonna made the trip.  We had a noisy, fun trip, and Stella really did have a big day. 

Sadie was definitely starting to realize that in our rather chatty family, everyone has to be a bit more vocal to be heard.  She had found her voice long ago, but this month she actually discovered it for herself.  She started to chatter and "talk" when she wanted things, and really started to let it be known that her voice would be heard.  In all her chatter, we were waiting for her first word to emerge.  Stella said hers right around this age, so we knew that Sadie's chatter would start to come together soon.  During a Sunday football game, Sadie was rocking herself in her pack 'n' play, talking to herself, and all of the sudden her chatter turned into a word-"Dadda!"  She seemed a bit shocked herself, but then she just started repeating the word.  For the rest of the day, she practiced her new word and really honed her first word.

As a parent of two, I have learned that the number one thing that keeps our family together is routine.  We all have our schedules, and we all keep things very routine.  One of the biggest things in our routine has been Stella's swimming lessons.  Every Friday, Stella has swimming lessons, and we all attend as a family.  Steve is in the pool with Stella, and Sadie and I watch from the deck.  Stella has been doing really well and enjoying her Friday nights, but just this month, she celebrated her first graduation!  Stella is now a Level 2 Baby Bear, and she will be moving to a new swimming class.  She got to ring the bell after she passed her swim, and we officially had the first of many graduations in Stella's life.

The morning after the big swim, we were asked to tag along with Grandpa to begin his puppy search.  He decided to take my mom up on her generous birthday offer, and he is looking to get his new addition this spring.  He wanted to start looking at local breeders, and he thought that Stella would like to join him to check out some puppies.  To say the least, I have never seen so many dogs in my life!  The woman we visited is a prestigious breeder who has Labradors from England and Scotland that she uses as her main breeding dogs, and they are by far the most beautiful Labradors I have ever seen in my life.  There were more dogs than a pound, and they just continued to appear from room to room.  They were well-tempered, good-sized, and seriously good-looking dogs.  Stella lost her mind!  Puppies were everywhere, and she was allowed to pet them all.  To say the least, we were grateful that Grandpa invited us to join!

Following our big trip to scout out puppies, we returned home to relax for the weekend.  I realized that even though I was tired, I had two little ladies who still had tons of energy.  How did I know this?  I had two little jumping beans bouncing around my house.  Sadie had really found a ridiculous appreciation for jumping thanks to her Jumperoo, and now she wanted to jump all the time!  She started this day by jumping in my arms, on the ground, and pretty much every chance she got.  Because we were talking about her jumping so much, I think Stella was feeling a bit neglected.  The next thing I knew, she was trying to learn how to jump.  Steve had been practicing with her a lot, and just like that, she was catching air and jumping all over our house.  So, both our girls were literally jumping around every chance they got!

 Speaking of the girls together, the month ended with another reminder that we had sisters in our house.  Stella continues to realize that Sadie is another person to play with, and that she is so close to actually playing with her.  After every nap, Stella wants us to put Sadie in her crib to hang out.  She even tells me, "Bye, bye, Momma," to let me know that she wants to play with Sadie alone.  They are getting cuter and sweeter by the day, and I'm dying for Sadie to be just a bit older so they can really enjoy each other.   




Sadie's seventh month was packed with all things fall, and many reminders that we are lucky enough to share every day with these two little ladies.  Sadie continues to grow and progress each week, and it is crazy to think how close she is to already being one!  We are getting close to many more milestones, but it was incredibly lucky that we were both home and in the room when Sadie decided to share her first word with us.  Here's hoping that we're just as lucky with the rest of her firsts!  Here is Sadie Lady at seven months:

October 23, 2013

Sadie's 6th Month

Right after we dropped Uncle Billy off at the airport, we drove home just in time to watch the smoke rolling into Reno.  There were major wildfires all around us, but a significant fire in Yosemite had an unhealthy amount of smoke swirling through the area.  What did this mean for our little family?  Sadly, it meant that we were confined to our house until the health warnings were lifted.

All of the circulated air and close quarters led to a little bug that bit the entire family.  Yes, ALL five of us (Gwen included) ended up getting sick.  There have been times when we were sick before, but it was always one person or two people at a time- never the whole gang in one fell swoop!  This was also Sadie's first time being sick, so it was a test to see how she would handle being under the weather.  It seemed like the cold that would never end, but after a few weeks and a day off work to care for the sick, everyone finally began to feel better.  In truth, I think it was because the smoke finally started to leave Reno, and we could get outside!

In addition to Sadie having her first cold, she also hit a peak in her teething.  I remember Stella having teething issues, but once we got her amber necklace on her, we never knew when the kid was having problems with her teeth.  I had a necklace waiting for Sadie since before she was born, but unfortunately her teething issues seemed to be a bit more severe.  For those who are searching for teething aids, we did have a few winners that Sadie seemed to enjoy: beer bottles, cold glasses, and  mesh teething bags.  The mesh bags were the only purchase we made, the other solutions were discovered because Sadie reached out and took them.  She has pretty incredible hand-eye coordination, and those little hands are incredibly strong!  Even the mesh bags became a thing of the past when Sadie realized she could just grab what she wanted.  For example, bananas :)

While we were confined indoors, it did ensure that we wouldn't miss one of our favorite fall activities- football!  Regular football season had gone into full swing, and with us not being able to take the girls outside much, we were definitely getting in our weekly football fix.  As I have mentioned before, Stella is a fan of ESPN, so we are now trying to get her to enjoy actually watching a game.  She likes to say "boom" when people get hit/tackled, and she points out her foot when she says "football."  Other than that, I don't think that her interest for them game has developed quite yet.

The end of this month brought around one of my favorite events that comes to Reno- the Balloon Races!  We had yet to take either girl to see balloons, so this would be our first year to go and see hot air balloons.  The main event kicks off early in the morning with the Dawn Patrol happening before the sun rises, but with a mother of two tiny people, I was determined to find something balloon related that would allow us all to maintain our sleep schedules.  How could we see the balloons and take in the events long after they had started?  I decided that we would chase the balloons once they were in the sky!  All I had to do was wake Stella up and let her choose a balloon to chase.  That weekend, I woke Stella up both days and let her choose a balloon in the sky.  We would pack up the car, and go chase that balloon to the place where it would land.  BEST IDEA EVER!  You get to sleep in, grab a coffee, let the kids relax in the car, and wait for the balloons to land mid-morning.  When they land, they give a few rides, hand out cards with pictures of the balloon, and let you help take down the balloon.  I then read that they were having a fair at the park where the balloons take off from, so we would head there after our balloon we chased landed.  For our first year of experiencing the balloons as a family, we had one of the most entertaining and relaxing weekends ever.  I don't know if I'll ever feel the need to do a Dawn Patrol again because this was so much more enjoyable.

Sadie enjoyed all the excitement going on around her- especially with Stella!  She wanted to see what Stella was doing and be part of the action. She used to do this by rolling over to see things or crying to be picked up to see, but this month she decided to take matters into her own hands.  Sadie wanted to sit up by herself. This is one of those milestones that isn't as exciting for the parents as some of the bigger ones, but the child always finds a new sense of freedom and interest in the world around them.  Sadie now could be part of what Stella was doing, and she became even more observant of the world around her.

Sadie's sixth month ended with a rather big bang- her baptism!  Now, I know that baptisms don't normally give cause for a bang, but we planned to make this a little different than your average baptism.  To start, the ceremony would be on a Sunday... in football season... so, this meant that we had more than one reason to throw a party!  The plan was to have the ceremony, then get everyone over to our house for the baptism/football celebration.  Beyond the initial plan for the party, we were very excited to have Sadie's godparents officially "sworn in."

Before Sadie was born, Steve and I decided that we would each get to choose a person who we would like to be a godparent.  Truth be told, we actually picked the godmother before I was even pregnant with Sadie.  My amazing cousin, Ashley, had been so involved, invested, and in love with Stella that we knew that no one would be a better choice.  As for the godfather, Steve decided that he would choose his favorite person from his time in Albuquerque- Joe!  Joe had not only worked with Steve while he lived there, but he had truly helped Steve get through the months that he and I were apart.  Joe and his family were even sweet enough to drive here from North Dakota to be here for the ceremony; we have the most amazing friends!  So, Sadie had two perfect people to be forever part of her life.

We are very lucky to have a long-time family friend at our church, and for now a second time, she managed to make a baptism seamless for us.  She schedules the baptism at a different time from mass, and manages to bring in the same deacon who can make the ceremony short and sweet- which is key when children are involved!  Sadie was her quiet, calm, observant self, and more than anything wanting to teeth on the deacon's binder.  Of course, there had to be a bit of humor in the ceremony, especially after Stella spent hers sticking her tongue out at the deacon.  This time around, our second child did something even more comical!  The deacon was reading a verse describing the exercising of demons, and removing all demons from the child (seriously... I know) and right as he was reading the part about how he would remove these impurities, Sadie spit up!  No joke- whatever impurities or demons were in her were apparently cleansed by the deacon.  After the short and sweet ceremony, we headed back to the house for babies, Bloody Marys, bacon, and a ball game.  It was a perfect Sunday, and we were lucky enough to have two incredible people become officially tied to our sweet Sadie.

Sadie ended the month with a new-found love of an old toy in our house- the Jumperoo!  We had received this a a gift for Stella, but it was something that she never really appreciated.  She would dance with the music, pull herself up on the sides, but she never liked to actually sit in it and jump.  We decided to put Sadie in it one day on a whim, but boy are we glad we did!  From the minute we put her in there, Sadie was a jumping fool!  Maybe it was all those months I spent bouncing her on my stability ball, but the kid could not get enough!  The ball has long since been retired, but Stella's old Jumperoo became the Sadie's favorite thing in the world, and jumping became her favorite pastime.






Six months old, and half-way through her first year in our family.  As I find myself saying all the time, it really is crazy that she is already this old.  It's amazing how fast the months go by with your babies and just how fast they no longer are your baby.  Sadie continues to change and grow, and we are just starting to see hints of her little personality develop as she begins to assert herself.  She is so very different from who she was just a few short months ago, and I am so excited to see who she continues to grow into.  Here is our little bruiser after a few bumps and scratches:

September 23, 2013

Sadie's 5th Month

Sadie's fifth month was a fast and jam-packed month in our house.  I was heading back to work earlier than previous years (no joke, August 5th) so we had but a few weeks to fit in all things summer that we had yet to do.  As a teacher, I think I start to get fatalistic about the end of summer, and I start to think that there will never be time to do anything fun once I start back to work.  This usually means that I have a mini-panic attack right before I head back to work and fill my calendar with too much to do.  Even after a four-month vacation away from work, I was starting to feel that we had so much that I wanted to fit in and so little time left. 

With our happy little girl now a constant, we were looking forward to starting out the month with a visit from the girls' photographer, Kendall. The first and last time we did our photo shoot with Kendall was the day that Sadie turned the corner into a scary few months, so needless to say, I was nervous that a day of posing and positioning could bring back the dark side.  Right before the shoot started, typical Reno weather gave us a torrential downpour with flash flooding, but that was the only darkness that day.  Sadie was smiling and laughing through the entire session, and she truly cleared her name from the previous session with Kendall.  As usual, we ended up with some beautiful photos, and this time, with one happy baby.

The day after the shoot was Sadie's four month check-up at the doctor.  We were eager to hear how she was coming along statistics-wise, mainly because she seemed so big to us!  Whenever we held her next to Stella, it was odd to us how big Sadie looked, so we wondered where she was on the growth chart.  It was no surprise when the doctor told me that Sadie was in the fiftieth percentile for head and weight; she seemed a bit heavier than Stella was at this age.  On a side note, if this is what a baby in the fiftieth percentile looks like, good God, I cannot imagine baby in the seventy-fifth or hundredth!  However, the surprise came when I heard how tall she was- Sadie was in the ninety-fifth percentile for height!  I knew she seemed tall next to Stells, but not that tall!  Well, I have always said that as long as our babies came small they could grow like weeds once they were born.  I guess we are on track to have a mini-Steve!  Truth be told, Steve has told me that he caught up to his older sister at about Sadie's age, and then was mistaken for her twin for years later.  Perhaps we are destined to see history repeat itself. 

 As if the last few days weren't full enough, I decided that we had to go back up to Tahoe at least one more time.  So, Saturday morning, we packed up the gang and headed up the hill.  Today was not going to be just lunch and a brief visit to the shore; I wanted to spend the entire morning enjoying the sun, eat lunch at my favorite restaurant, and then make it home a little after nap time.  My grand plans for the day were somewhat realized, but mainly foiled.  First off, packing everything needed to spend time anywhere with two kids is a task in itself.  We definitely did not get on the road as early as I had planned, but we arrived at the lake a few hours before lunch. 

 Stella usually likes going to the lake, but that day she was actually really interested and invested in everything around her.  She wanted to stand in the water, throw rocks, kick the beach ball, and make friends with everyone else who was enjoying the lake that day.  On the other hand, Sadie was not having the best time.  The minute we got to the lake, she began to cry and was not happy about being out on the beach.  After a lot of effort, Steve finally was the big winner when he rocked her to sleep in the car seat.  I had a sneaking suspicion that this return to unhappiness from Sadie could be a hint of things to come.  

Two days after our Tahoe excursion started our "trial week."  This is the week that I try everything that I can think of that we will experience once I go back to work.  This means: getting the girls used to Mommy being gone, going into work and prepping myself, getting Sadie used to taking bottles while I'm at work, getting into a pumping schedule at work, and giving Daddy Daycare its trial run.  From my previous experience with Stella, I had learned that it takes about a week to get everything and everyone on board with the changes ahead.  As usual, Stella took to change with little problems.  Sadie however was not too happy with the new arrangements.  

 In all this change and experimentation, we managed to awaken the beast.  Yes, out of nowhere, Sadie had returned to bouts of screaming, not eating or sleeping well, and generally rejecting all forms of anything new and different.  The changes we had made to prep for my return to work seemed minimal, but to Sadie, we had turned her world upside down.  In an effort to help Sadie eat better and sleep more, we decided that it was time for her to begin eating rice cereal.  We had started Stella on rice cereal at right about four months exactly, so we were a bit behind what we had planned on doing anyway.  The first few weeks of rice cereal do not really have your baby actually eating the stuff anyway, so we thought it was best to start her as soon as possible so that we could get into solid foods.


  

With all the prep and planning the week prior, it was officially time for me to go back to work.  Even though I had had four months at home this time, I would have to say that this return to work was harder than the last.  This time I had two little people at home that I would be missing.  My maternity and summer leave had not just been about Sadie, but I also had truly enjoyed my time with Stella.  We all had routines and activities that filled each day, and now I would be coming home at the end of the fun.  The only thing that was getting me through was the idea of Daddy Daycare.  I knew that Steve would have the girls while I went to work, and nothing made me feel more confident and secure than this fact.

To his credit- Steve was amazing!!!  I cannot begin to describe how wonderful he is with our girls, and he slipped into the daily routine with such ease.  I never had any frantic or panicked phone calls, but rather, he would FaceTime me at lunch so that I could see the girls.  Having him there was what made my transition back to work happen, and I feel so lucky that we are able to work our child care this way.  He will be starting back to school here shortly, and then Daddy Daycare will split time with Grandpa Daycare.  Again, we are incredibly lucky that we are able to have family watch our kids!

As we headed toward the end of August, we were surprised by a very special guest-Uncle Billy!  Billy is one of our oldest friends who we still consider our big brother.  He has been a co-worker, a supervisor, a groomsman, and the list could go on forever!  Let's just say that he has played many roles in our lives, and he is most definitely considered family.  On a whim, we asked him if he would be free for a visit up to Reno for Steve's birthday weekend.  We were beyond surprised when he told us that his trip was booked.

Steve and I knew that Billy was good with kids, but we had never seen him with babies.  Let's just say that he had no problem winning  over our girls!  When he got here, his first little person to meet was Sadie.  I came home to the two of them thick as thieves, and Sadie let him carry her all weekend without any protest.  Stella took to him pretty fast as well, but on Saturday it was clear that she was a huge fan of "Abba Babba."  Billy could not go anywhere or do anything without his little shadow following him around and asking him to hold her. 

The whole reason for Billy's visit was to come for Steve's birthday, so the two of them spent a lot of time golfing and catching up.  We also had a little birthday barbeque over here to celebrate the day, and Stella was really looking forward to someone actually having a birthday!  She loves the song and wants us to sing "Happy Birthday" to everyone (dogs included) every day.  The idea that we actually had a birthday to sing about with candles made her very happy.  I think we sung to Steve about ten times that night.

The following day we took Billy to Stella's favorite place to eat, Squeeze In.  I think it's her favorite because they give her a big cup of blueberries every time we eat there, but they really do have amazing food.  The boys went golfing again after that, and before we knew it, it was time to take Billy to the airport.  It really was incredible having one of our oldest friends in town, and it was so sweet to see our big guy finally meeting his nieces.  We are already in the talks for future visits, so here's hoping that we see Uncle Billy up in Reno again soon! 





Sadie hit her five month mark and ushered in the end of summer.  I had truly enjoyed having so much time with my girls.  It's amazing how much a little person can change over the course of a few months, and I had the pleasure of watching two little people come into their own.  I got to watch Stella grow and learn so much each day, and I got to see the sweet little baby that Sadie has become finally emerge.  With Steve back to school and me back to work, we are now working hard to maximize the time that we do get together with the girls.  Stella is our bright little parrot- seriously, the kid repeats every word and song she hears now!  And Sadie, oh Sadie, she is now this cuddly little ball of laughs and smiles.  There is nothing better than coming home to her sweet little face with its huge smile each day after work.

August 23, 2013