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

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

Sadie's 3rd Month

To start this month, we had to get through Sadie's two month check-up.  I was definitely interested to hear what our pediatrician had to say about Sadie's progress.  After hearing her cry and seeing her so upset so often, I was hoping that he could offer some explanation.  To start, I wanted to hear that she was growing and thriving as she should.  It was wonderful to hear that she was 10 lbs., 8 oz.; she was in the seventy-fifth percentile for height and head, and fiftieth percentile for weight.  For a baby that was struggling to eat successfully in between screaming, I was so happy to hear that she was doing well.

I told Sadie's doctor that she was perfection until the day after her last visit to see him, so I wanted to know what he did to her during her last visit.  He laughed, checked her out, and said that health-wise she really was still perfection.  However, he did notice that she may have a mild case of thrush, so he thought that might be to blame for the unhappy eating.  He said that she would outgrow the colic, but maybe taking care of the thrush would help things.  I hoped and prayed that he was right!  If this mild condition was the root of the problem, I was happy to nip it in the bud.  Sadly, Sadie also had to have shots during this visit.  Truth be told, she took them like a pro!  For a little baby who cries a lot, she didn't have much to say after getting her shots... thank God! 

Sadie left the doctor doing very well and having no fever after shots.  But, it was time to start the procedure to get rid of the thrush.  In a nutshell, thrush is yeast growing in the mouth because the immune system is not killing the bacteria from milk.  We had to give her drops three times a day and brush her tongue.  Try doing this on an infant- it was not fun!  To top this off, she really had started to turn a corner with her colic, and now we had given her a new reason to cry.  At one point, I even called the doctor because it wasn't worth it to be to kill a mild condition when the process of killing it made her cry for hours.  He talked me down, and we continued to brush the thrush away.

While Sadie was doing through her bout with thrush, we were finishing up on a HUGE landscaping project.  It had taken us a year to finish the front, back, and sides of our house, but we finally had our biggest project on our house complete!  It's crazy to think that we have lived here for a year already.  I think Stella enjoyed the project the most because there was always a tractor parked at our house, and she is currently obsessed with tractors!  In addition to the end of our project, we were given a happy surprise from my aunt.  My aunt had bought a pool for Mother's Day, but she never ended up using it.  She thought that our two little ladies would enjoy having a pool around, so my cousin brought over our new pool! What an extraordinary gift!  In truth, I don't know who enjoyed it more; Stella or Mommy.  It is pretty awesome having a little pool in our backyard;  I tend to slip out there during the daily nap time :).

Even though we had been very careful with Sadie, Steve and I decided that it was time for her to be a big girl.  Stella had slept in her crib from the age of about a month and a half, so we thought that Sadie was overdue.  She had after all been sleeping through the night in her pack and play for about a week now.  So, I made the sad entrance into Sadie's room for her 1st night sleeping in her crib.  In truth, it's always harder for Mom, so I had to prep myself to start having my bedroom baby-free again.  Sadie was a champ!  She slept through the night, and she didn't even seem to notice the difference.  I did pretty well too- I only slept one night on the floor this time!

Now that we had this big milestone out of the way, we had to prepare for something that I had been dreading.  After years of being a military spouse, it has been nice being a spouse to a Guard member.  They rarely work, work reasonable hours, and never leave- well, they never leave all that often.  Case in point- Steve had to leave for training in Arkansas.  He had been working with this new air frame for a year now, so we thought it was silly to send him for training now.  Regardless, he had a month away from Reno on the books.

The idea of having Steve gone for a month made me incredibly stressed.  I had handled the girls alone for the day while he was at work or school, but never entire days, and entire days back-to-back.  My dad also informed us that he had to have back surgery during this time, so I really would be flying solo.  To say the least, I was not too happy when it was time for Steve to go.  I hoped the time would pass quickly, that I could tackle the girls, and that we wouldn't kill each other while Steve was gone. Just days after Steve left it was Father's Day, so I was sad for him that he didn't get to spend his holiday with us.  However, we do have a few friends stationed down in Arkansas, so Steve was not left to celebrate alone.




With their father gone, the girls and I started to get into our groove.  I was hoping that Sadie would play along while I was on my own, but she was still very much into crying and screaming.  We had gone through the thrush treatment, but it didn't seem to be the root of what was bothering her.  All that trouble for nothing!  Stella became my right-hand woman!  She learned very quickly that Mom wasn't going to be able to do much when Sadie was having a moment, and in turn, she became quite the little helper!  She would look through her books, play quietly, and even roll my stability ball over to me when Sadie started in.  There were times would she would come over and kiss my back while I was bouncing or rocking Sadie.  The time that broke my heart was when I was trying to put Stella to bed one night, and Sadie would not stop screaming.  Stella took her book from me, blew me a kiss, said "bye, bye," and started reading her book to herself.  I was blown away by how self-sufficient and intuitive Stella had become. 

Speaking of Stella, she also had a huge milestone this month when we enrolled her in her first swimming lessons!  We had been in the pool with her a lot last summer, but she had never had any formal lessons.  I figured that more than anything it would be good for her to be around other kids.  She had her first lesson this month, and she did pretty well.  Let's just say that going underwater is not her favorite thing, but she does appreciate all the toys around the edges of the pool to give her a break.

 My dad had his back surgery as scheduled, and it went very well.  With my mom working and Steve out of town, my parents decided to call in reinforcements to help with the patient.  My sister came to be at my dad's beck and call for his first few days out of surgery.  It was great news for us because Stella LOVES her Auntie Mantha, and Sam would get a chance to meet Sadie.  Sam and Stella had a great time visiting while she was here, and I see FaceTime in Sam's future because Stella still thinks that she lives downstairs and looks for her around the house. 

Steve had been gone almost two weeks, but in this time both girls had grown so much!  Stella had matured more than I expected, and she made my life a breeze.  I've said it a lot lately, but if I were a rich woman, I would buy her a pony!  I couldn't have survived this time as a single parent if Stella had not been such a sweet and helpful little girl.  Sadie herself had changed and grown.  She had grown literally, and I swore that Steve would not believe how big she was!  One day this month, I finally got her to fit 0-3 clothes- then just like that, those were looking a little short.  More importantly, her screaming fits had lessened.  They say that babies outgrow colic, and Sadie was starting to do just that - thank God!  I think part of it was because she was becoming more active.  Tummy time and mat time became much more the norm!  



Sadie's month ended with good news- Steve was coming home early!  The instructors decided that the full course scheduled was a bit much, so now he would only be gone two weeks!  We were just says from Daddy being home when Sadie turned three months old, and I couldn't be happier to have him back so he could see how much the girls had changed in just a few short weeks.  Sadie ended the month full of smiles, chatting away every chance she got, and trying to roll over.