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