When we returned from Vegas, it dawned on both of us that the little baby in our house only had a month of truly still being our baby. She was on the verge of walking, her vocabulary was starting to increase, and she was already moving beyond Mom and Dad to spend time with her sister. Luckily, the beautiful Vegas weather came home with us, and we had almost a solid month of gorgeous opportunities to enjoy our little one outdoors.
We had been waiting for Sadie to get over six months old, for the weather to get warmer, and for our Vegas trip to finally put Sadie into swimming lessons. Now that it was time to have both girls in swimming, we prepared to make Friday nights quite the weekly event. I cannot say enough about Silver Bear swimming, and we were excited to have Sadie finally get into the pool! Much like her sister's first time in swimming lessons, Sadie definitely had a few tears, but she enjoyed all the toys and songs. Our Friday nights now consist of an hour at Silver Bear followed by dinner at Qdoba. It's our weekly date, and it is very important in our house.
As I've continued to say, the girls really have fallen in love with each other, and they find and create new things to entertain themselves every day. The latest realization has been that the loft has some really incredible things to play with. I started to collect random clothes, hats, and accessories to create a dress-up drawer, and the girls have finally understood that they can put on whatever they want and pretend. I don't know where children learn to pretend and imagine like they do, but it really is so neat to watch a child's imagination grow.
The beautiful weather had definitely come to stay in March (which is not typical in Reno), so we spent a lot of time playing outside. With the girls being little redheads, we had trained them from an early age that the outdoors = hats. Literally, no hats, and no one goes outside. Due to this, the pictures in my phone at this point are all of the girls in hats. My friend has joked that this is the girls' signature look, but it really is something that they've simply embraced. Hats and all, the girls really do enjoy being outside. I think that their favorite new thing that came this month was washing Daddy's truck! They get to stand in the back while he washes, and both of them love to be part of the process.
With Stella and Sadie being so very much Stella and Sadie all the time, I thought that it would be nice to take Stella out on her first solo date. She had never been out to lunch by herself, so I decided that we should have an afternoon of being the ladies who lunch. She had never had a sandwich (other than one involving peanut butter), so I decided to take her to Port of Subs to have her first turkey sandwich. She ate a lot of tomatoes, mustard, and lettuce as her "sandwich," and she definitely enjoyed being the center of attention again.
With Sadie's birthday right around the corner, we started to plan for her party. I think a few of Sadie's aunties did as well because we started to get birthday presents in the mail. In particular, the girls received individual packages from their Auntie Dana that were both huge hits! Dana knew that Stella love tractors, so she sent Stella her first tractors and a lovely note to make her feel special on her sister's birthday. For Sadie, Dana sent one of her daughter's favorites- a pink and purple house that both girls could play in. It wasn't even the birthday yet, but we were definitely celebrating with the new toys!
The day before her birthday, I was talking to my mom about how Sadie seemed so close to walking. She would take a few steps, but they were not fast enough to keep up with Stella, so Sadie would quickly abandon the idea. Like her parents and sister, Sadie was not patient and did not want to get left out by taking things slowly. I don't know if she heard us talking or just felt confident, but that night, she started walking around the house! She was brave and determined, and she was walking very quickly for someone taking more than just a few steps for the first time. It is finally official- we now have two walkers in our house!
I'm one... I'm a whole new person! That truly is the best way to explain Sadie now that she is one. It's almost like the day she turned one, she completely changed and grew up. She woke up the day of her birthday and her personality shined more than ever. I kept waiting for Sadie to catch up to Stella and transition to being a one-year-old, but she literally did it overnight.
How did we even get here? I remember a year ago being so thankful that our family was completed by our sweet little boo, and now she is already one. This last year has been harder than I think any of us anticipated, but it has definitely challenged us to grow as a family and learn to work together. Sadie has been the final piece of our puzzle, and she really only grows on me more and more each day. What a difference a year makes, and what a pleasure it has been watching our little Sadie Lady grow in so many ways over this last year.
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| March 23, 2014 |
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