Sadie's 4th Month

Steve was back!  When I expected him to be gone a month, I was really prepping for damage control.  It's one thing having the girls by myself all day long, but at least I would get a break to breathe or go for a run when Steve came home.  Flying solo 24/7 taught me A LOT about my girls and myself.  In truth, I have a whole new respect for my girlfriends who did this for 4-6 months while our husbands were deployed.  But, as I said earlier, both girls really did surprise me with how well they did with just Mom around.

Steve was coming home after Stella's nap time, but if he didn't hurry he was going to miss something special from Sadie.  Our little lady who had been trying to roll over had just about got it down!  She was all about watching Stella play with her toys in the morning, and she really was straining to see what Stells was doing.  Literally, just a few hours before Steve came home, Sadie was about to roll over... then Stella stopped her!  It was hilarious!  Stella seriously turned Sadie back onto her back to stop her from rolling over.  Yep, Stella was looking out for her Dad!

I told Stella that after she took her nap, she would wake up, and Daddy would be home!  She threw her blanket over her head and closed her eyes tightly- this girl missed her Daddy!  Steve came home to a house full of girls (Gwen included) who were thrilled to see him.  We had functioned pretty well as a team, but our favorite guy adds something special to our house when he is around.

In addition to Dad being home, we still had another guy in our house.  My dad had been staying with us for a few days since his surgery, and would be through July.  Our guest room is really separate from the rest of the house, so he had a lot of time to recover and sleep without being interrupted by the girls.  It was nice to have him around because we all lived together for the first chunk of Stella's life, so he was used to seeing all the "firsts" and fun things that babies do.  Lucky for him, the same night that Steve came home, Sadie decided to give us all a treat and roll over!  Steve didn't get to see Stella do this live because he was living in Albuquerque, so he was thrilled that he didn't miss Sadie's first milestone while at his training.  Needless to say, Stella was asleep, and therefore was not there to thwart Sadie's attempt :).
 





Right after this first, Sadie was prompted to give Steve another one.  Steve was talking and Sadie, and the next thing I knew, she was laughing at him!  I can't say that he was saying anything particularly funny, but as with most babies, the way he said it was just in the tone that made Sadie cackle.  I was so happy that Steve was the cause of her laughter.  For him to only hear about Stella's firsts and watch them on iPhone videos was hard, and this time with Sadie, he has been able to experience everything in person.  It really is so nice that we have been able to share this experience in the same house this time!

A week after Steve came home, it was time for the 4th of July!  With my parents now both living with us, and Dad still recovering, we decided that it would be nice to have a little party to give them a little fun.  In addition to it being the holiday, we had something else to celebrate.  When we moved into our house, we had inherited the bar that my grandpa built.  It needed a bit of work, so it took us about almost a year to get everything finished.  We invited over all the people who had helped with the bar, including my Grammy.  It was pretty amazing to sit around my grandpa's old bar, and to celebrate him, and one of his favorite holidays as a family.

The company was great, but someone was especially good for the holiday- Sadie!  The last time that we had company over and it was hot weather, Sadie screamed for the entire event, and I'm not exaggerating.  I was worried that the heat, extra bodies, and loud noises would make for a rough day for Sadie, but she surprised me.  She had one of her best days since she was born!  My aunt and uncle were commenting on what a good baby she was, and I just sat in awe of our youngest daughter.  For me, this was the day that I really realized that Sadie had in fact turned a corner and was going to stay a happy baby.

Speaking of family, we also had many wonderful weekly visits from a rather important family member- Auntie Ashley.  My cousin Ashley is Sadie's godmother, and she has to be the biggest fan of our girls.  She always comes to see them, checks up on them, and spoils them both to death.  As Stella is getting older, she is really beginning to love her auntie, and in her short list of names she knows, Ashley is one of her people.  She knows that A is for Ashley, and she associates all purses with Ashley- we even had to explain to her that purses are not called "Ashley."  As time goes on, I am sure that Sadie will love her just as much if not more than her sister does.  

With the summer winding down and Steve coming home early, this meant that we had a few weeks until he had to put in his summer hours with the Guard.  I immediately started to look at the calendar and find events to fill our days that we would be together.  I wanted to get in a few activities that neither girl had yet to do, so we started with a small first for Stella- a train ride.

 


Now, I am not talking an actual train, but we have a kiddie train that runs through a park here in Reno.  When I was a kid, it was an actual kiddie amusement park, but now only the train remains.  Stella currently has three loves when it comes to television: ESPN, anything with a tractor, and Thomas the Tank Engine.  They happened to have a tractor on Thomas one day, and ever since, she has liked to watch the theme song. With her knowledge and appreciation of trains, I thought taking her to see and ride an actual train could be pretty fun.  She had one of the best days of her little life when she got to see and sit in a tractor, so I hoped that the train could be equally as special.

We drove down to Idlewild Park early in the afternoon, and we were the first people there to ride the train.  This meant that Stella got her own private ride; only Stella, Mom, and Nonna were on the train!  She pointed out the train, said, "Woo, woo," and that's about as far as her interest went.  We even offered her a second ride, but she said, "No, no, no."  I think that maybe this milestone was more fun for me than Stella, but it is pretty cool to think that we both had our first train rides on the same train.  

Our next place to take the girls was to the zoo!  We decided not to hop in the car and try to see a legitimate zoo in say Sacramento or San Fransisco, but we knew that there was a zoo here in Reno that would do.  The zoo is called Sierra Safari, and I had only seen signs for it when we were headed towards Graeagle.  Having never been there myself, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  When we went to pay to get in, they offered feed for the animals for one dollar, so I prepared myself to show Stella around a petting zoo.  Surprisingly, for a little zoo in the middle of nowhere, they had a pretty good variety of animals!  Yes, there was a petting zoo with animals like deer to feed, but there were some notable animals to see.  Steve was impressed to see a Liger, and I was surprised to see animals you would see on an actual safari.  For Stella, she named a few of the animals and told us the sounds they made, but her favorite animal there was the cat.  No, not any of the big cats like the lion or tiger; the regular house cat that was wandering around the zoo made her day.  As for Sadie, she slept through her first zoo experience.  

 The following weekend, we decided that it was time for Sadie's 1st trip to Lake Tahoe!  For me, Tahoe is my favorite thing about living in Reno, so I hope that our girls will grow to love the lake as much as I do.  We took Stella for her first time when she was a little over six months, so Sadie was going to be a little younger for her first trip. We went to our favorite restaurant, Jason's, to get lunch as a family, and then we walked over to King's Beach to play for a bit.  The drive was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, and the girls were perfection!  It was definitely a day of peace at the lake for everyone.

The end of this month had me come to a realization.  One day while I was trying to take pictures of Sadie, Stella hopped up into the chair with her and began to read her a book.  Three or four books (and many pictures) later, it suddenly dawned on me that I was looking at sisters.  For months I had dreamed about and thought about having sisters in my house, but once Sadie was born, I was too wrapped up in her to remember this detail.









For the first time, I realized that I had given Stella her first friend.  Having spent almost an hour reading to her and talking to her in the rocking chair, Stella even looked to see a change in the thing that had been brought into her house; she almost seemed to realize that Sadie could be more than just a thing that took attention away from her.  It was by far the sweetest moment that I have had with my girls, and it reminded me why Steve and I decided to have two kids in the first place.  We no longer had the big girl and the baby in house- we had two little girls; two sisters.





Sadie's 4th month has ended, and it seems to me that so much has changed.  Where we were once struggling and trying to bond with our new baby, this month has really has ushered in a new time with Sadie.  They say that around three to four months, babies tend to outgrow colic, and whatever issue was causing their discomfort or sadness seemingly disappears.  This is exactly how it happened with Sadie.  I can't say that she never cries, but she no longer has periods of screaming that no one can bring her back from.  It is like a light when on in Sadie, and she now wants to be happy, smiling, and part of everything that we do as a family.  I cannot begin to explain what this means to me, and how far I feel that we have come.  I will be headed back to work here in a few short weeks, so I am grateful that I was able to see this time pass, and be here for the happiness and joy that Sadie has become.  Here is our little Sadie Lady... and her cheeks:

July 23, 2013