A December to Remember

Where has the time gone? Another year is almost over. Dylan will be three before we know it, but not before his little sister turns 1! This time last year we were settling down from the holidays, getting Dylan ready to move into his new room and a big boy bed. Here he is a year ago, sleeping in that bed for the first night. Our life was busy getting things ready for a new baby that we didn't even know yet. Now none of us can imagine our life without her!

This month has been all about firsts for both of the kids. Of course, it was Sadie's first Christmas, first visit to Santa, first tree, first stocking, presents, all of that stuff. For Dylan, I think it was the first Christmas that he will really have memories of.

Here he is on Christmas Eve at Nana's house with all of his Arizona cousins: Lilee (4), Hannah (5), Felisya (8), and Sam (9).
Sadie was not happy about the idea of a group photo but was content to show off her holiday duds while sitting on Mom's lap and taking in all of the activity.

Here they both are on Christmas morning enjoying the spoils. Dylan is dorked out as Diego, animal rescuer (thanks, Hannah!) and in some safety goggles that came with a power saw that Sadie picked out for him. Sadie just watches and laughs from the big red wagon that Nana and Grandpa got them both.

This last photo is of Dylan and Sadie enjoying the shower in our nearly completed master bath. It was taken the day before the glass surround was installed. (It's gorgeous and makes it look like a real grown-ups bathroom!) We are just waiting for the vanity cabinet to arrive any day now and we will have our bathroom back! Scott finished the painting and re-installed the toilet. Last night was the first time since mid-October that I have been able to get up in the middle of the night and not have to go all the way down the hall to use the restroom! (Happy Birthday to me!) I promise to post great after pictures when it is all done (even though I also promised to post demo and construction photos, which I haven't. I will do one big remodel post when everything is in.)

Walkin' After Midnight (and other family updates)

If you are reading this now, I guess that you check in from time to time, so you have probably missed us. We're still here! I didn't realize that it had already been a month since posting! There is the "just too much other stuff going on to make the time" excuse. We were fortunate enough to have Dylan and Sadie's grandparents visiting us from Missouri this past week. We had a great visit with them, wish it could have been longer, and hope that had a safe journey home. We hope to see you again soon, Grandma and Poppa!

The other excuse I have for waiting so long to post since last time is this: When I first began blogging, everything that happened during the day became a post title and a story brewing in my head until I could get to the computer to dump photos and blog. Maybe the novelty of blogging has worn off a little because I stopped thinking up titles and stories for new posts as I went about my days. As more time passed between posts, more pressure mounted to come up with a new entry. I guess that I was inspired the other day to create a new post as I spied on Secret Sadie in her crib through the crack of the door. At about 3:00am I heard her in her room (not crying, just babbling). I went to peek in on her to see if she would need coaxing back to sleep. I saw her standing in the middle of her crib, not holding on to any of the rails, and rocking back and forth on her feet. She did this for a few seconds as I spyed, then promptly grabbed her binky and snuggle bunny and settled back down to sleep. She must have been inspired by her dreams to get a little stepping practice in. If you have read any other Secret Sadie posts, then you have probably guessed that this was more stepping than we have actually seen in public. This photo of Sadie is not of her walking in her crib, but actually taking an unassisted step toward Scott with the camera! She has taken steps on her own several times (only one at a time before she resorts to crawling), and she can stand without holding on to anything for many seconds at a time. She will definately be walking before Dylan did! I have to admit that I will be secretly sad to see her give up crawling. I cannot get enough of watching her cute little butt wiggle from side to side as she (very speedily) crawls around.

Here are some other cute, recent photos. The first is Sadie after eating her favorite breakfast (to eat and rub into her hair) of Cheerios and yogurt. Her hair was absolutely covered in yogurt and this was after my attempt to wipe some of it away with a damp washcloth.






Next are Dylan and Sadie enjoying a shampoo and some styling in a recent bath.








Sunday was Scott's birthday, and one of his gifts was a Kansas Jayhawks t-shirt and one for each of the kids. Here they are enjoying his gift.





I know this is already a long post but I have one last, GREAT update! We are officially a 1-kid-in-diapers household! Dylan is in BIG BOY underpants all the time (except he does wear pull ups at night but they are always dry in the morning). He has had only 1 accident in over a month! YEA!!!

New Tricks

Is it just me or does this happen to everyone? Every time Sadie does something new I am amazed at what she has learned to do, but equally so that I don't remember being that awed when Dylan had learned to do the same thing. Maybe it is because he is still doing new things everyday, like sharing thoughts and concepts that I can't fathom how he figured out, so high-fiving and clapping seem trivial. It could be that I feel more seasoned with this second child and not being so overwhelmed by motherhood is allowing me to enjoy every detail more than I was able to the first time. Or do they really just grow up so fast that you forget, as everyone says will happen. That must be it because even Sadie's short history fades from memory as she becomes more and more her own little person and less of a helpless infant. I will just continue to enjoy each moment of watching my children grow and learn, all the while keeping in mind the most important part: what amazing people both of them are becoming. I hope you enjoy this little clip of Sadie's newest tricks!

MMMMM... sketti!

Here is a picture of Dylan when he was about a year old, one of the first times he ate spaghetti with red sauce. He LOVED it! And although I liked the idea of fixing him food that he loved to eat you can imagine that pasta with red sauce was not at the top of my list for the mess that came with it. Now that he is pretty adept at using utensils for eating, red sauce isn't such an event, but he is just as fun to watch eating his pasta. I hope you enjoy this video from dinner a few nights ago.

Li'l Pumpkins

Dylan's nana got him this orange pumpkin creeper which he wore for his first Halloween. At the time he was 6 weeks younger than Sadie is now. We put her in the same jammies this Halloween and compared pictures we had taken of Dylan 2 years ago. Dylan is in the photo on the left with the jack-o-lantern and Sadie is in Daddy's chair on the right. (And then there's Dylan now lovin' on his little sister and happy to make her smile!)

It is amazing to me to look at what Sadie can do now and realize how much and how fast I have forgotten about when Dylan was that small, just 2 years ago (because look at all HE can do now!). These last 3 photos are of Dylan, showing us some things that he has since passed along to his little sister. She is now enjoying his Sesame Street activity center that Santa brought his first Christmas and his big red car. (She pulls herself up to standing on both toys and dances along with the music that they play!) She has this way of holding her feet with her toes all curled up that is so cute I can hardly bear to put socks on her. I did not remember that Dylan had done the same thing. (See how the toes of his right foot are all curled cute around that pumpkin? Would you cover that with socks?!!) Everyday of watching them both grow is such a great adventure...I can't wait for tomorrow!

Tricker Treatin'

I know it has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. Sorry to leave you hanging! Since today is Halloween, I have some great photos of my little trick-or-treaters to share. We have really been looking forward to today because this year Dylan is actually aware of what is going on. As decorations began appearing in stores and on neighborhood houses, he would talk about it being Halloween time. He decided on his own costume and helped us choose what Sadie should be (a ladybug since we always call her "Sadiebug"). Whenever we practiced what he would say as he knocked on doors to ask for candy, he would say, "Tricker treatin'!" Here they are, getting ready to head out for the big adventure and showing off their costumes for the camera. Sadie thinks she needs her big brother's hat but he's not so sure!

We baked and decorated pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with our day care friends today. Dylan was enjoying some serious frosting!

HUGE potty progress

We took the kids to the zoo today. We put Dylan in a pull up diaper before we left so we wouldn't have to deal with accidents while out. We asked him a couple of times if his diaper was wet, or if he needed to use the potty. When we stopped for lunch he was REALLY doing the potty dance, so Scott took him into the restroom. His diaper was dry and he pee'd in the urinal!!! YEA!!!

More Sadie Secrets

The other morning I went to get Sadie up from her crib. I put her standing up at the rail holding on and then called her dad. I jokingly told him that was how I'd found her, that she'd climbed up to standing by herself. Well, I guess the joke was on me because moments later here she is standing on the edge of the couch in the family room...she got there all on her own! Doesn't she look so proud of herself?



Here she is enjoying her lunch of peas and pear pieces. She only has 2 teeth as of yet, so we have been reluctant to give her much more than baby food. Lately it has gotten very frustrating to spoon feed her because she wants to grab the spoon (don't think this little girl is not strong enough to wrestle it away from us!) and we all end up covered in yummy puree. So we are trying real food in very small pieces that she can chew with her gums. So far no choking and we all seem happier (or at least cleaner!) at mealtimes. Max is especially enjoying the new found treasure trove of dropped morsels.

All Business

According to my mom, when she was raising her kids, it was frowned upon to have children still in diapers after 18 months. Now days all the books tell you that before 30-36 months is too early for potty training. (especially boys!) Either way, we are so ready to downgrade to a 1-kid-in-diapers household, so a few months ago we started "practicing" using the potty every day, hoping that Dylan (almost 32 months) would begin showing signs of readiness to use it on his own. It went okay for a while, especially because we got lucky enough the first couple of days to time potty practice so that he actually pee'd while he was sitting there! The excitement of that soon wore off, along with any other incentives we could come up with to motivate him. It became such a battle to get him to sit on the potty that we decided he wasn't ready and so tabled all potty discussion for a while. It also hasn't helped that he is still in either diapers or pull ups, which don't help him feel a need to go on the potty.

Well, my day care kids are off this week, and we've had time to work on potty training and deal with accidents. So we have ditched the diapers except for at nap and bed time and if we've had to leave the house to run errands. This of course is perfectly timed with all of us sharing one bathroom, and having our water shut off for hours at a time all week due to our plumbing being redone throughout the house. Oh well.

Here is my summary of this week's progress so far:

Trips to the store to pick out big boy underpants: 3
Loads of laundry to wash soiled big boy underpants: 7
Gummy bears eaten as a reward for sitting on the potty: too many
Dylan saying, "I go sit on potty, I pee in potty": priceless

Sledgehammer Girl

Do you ever watch those home improvement shows and secretly wish you could be that homeowner who takes a sledgehammer to everything in sight and then starts over from scratch? Our house was built in 1959 and although it is charming in a way that new construction homes could never be, it is far from pristine vintage. So we get to be those sledgehammering homeowners this weekend, at least in the (mostly original, yet surprisingly uncharming) master bathroom! (Yea!!) Here are some before pictures to show why:

This one shows a little demo already begun by water damage from a leaky shower. The baseboard an plaster have been crumbling off the wall. If you look really close you can see the grodiness that used to be grout around the base of the shower door. Oh, and lovely vinyl flooring.






We recently had a glass block window removed from the room and replaced with an energy efficient one. You can see the damage to the plaster around the window frame, and also more grodiness on the shower stall.











Here is another view of the dilapidated, dated (as opposed to pristine vintage) tile work and the teeny sink that Scott and I share.











All of this loveliness will be GONE this weekend. And I get to be Sledgehammer Girl! I hope I don't get carried away and forget about the new window!


Here is a shot of the tiny bathroom (which is also on the sledgehammer's hit list, but for a later date) that the 4 of us will be sharing during the remodeling; blow up baby tub, toys, potty training accessories, and all. We will keep you posted with during and after photos (sure to include at least one of me wielding, yes, a sledgehammer).

There she goes!

As promised, here is some video of Sadie crawling. She is not up on her hands and knees yet, but she is getting around much more agilely than even a week ago. Sibling love has become, "NO SADIE! Don't get my stuff!" as she is able to maneuver herself around and get her hands on whatever she wants. And Dylan's toys are SO much more interesting than hers.

Another new trick she is mastering is waving hello and good-bye, as you will also see in the video clip. And by the way, (though there is no video of it yet) she is now publicly sitting up on her own! Next week, walking!

It's Winter!

Not even close, but at least it is beginning to feel like what we could consider fall weather in Phoenix. Now that we can actually tolerate being outside for any length of time, Dylan, Sadie and I head out for a walk most afternoons around the neighborhood. I took this picture after we got home the other day and I had to snap it really fast before Sadie took off her glasses. Dylan had asked for his sunglasses before we left the house and I remembered that I had bought a pair for Sadie a while back. So I put them on her when we got in the sun and she actually left them on for most of the walk. She was absolutely over them, though, by the time we got back home, but I wanted a picture of her wearing them, so here it is. Dylan loves his because they are just like Daddy's.

So as you gaze upon the photo of my sunglass wearing, t-shirt and shorts clad children, you know that the weather was not the inspiration for the title of this post. I was amazed by something that Dylan pointed out as we were on our walk this day. We were going past a neighbor's home whose yard is covered in white gravel. (You know, the 1970's "desert" landscape look with the border of maroon lava rock.) Dylan saw the yard and said, "It's winter time!" Not, "Look, it's snow." No, he saw the white stuff on the ground and said,"It's winter time." Now I don't have low expectations for my children, but don't you think that's quite an inference for a two year old who has seen snow maybe 3 times in his life and who can't possibly remember the last time he was cold? We live in Phoenix! There is never snow on the ground here. It never feels like winter here. Does anyone know where I could get a MENSA application?

The Secret Life of Sadie

I think that Sadie lives a secret life in the privacy of her bedroom when she knows that no one is watching. Today I put her down for a nap (for which she normally goes right to sleep) but I heard way too much happy baby noise coming from the bedroom. This is what I saw when I looked in on her:
Yep, she is sitting up in her crib. Keep in mind that I put her in there laying down and she has yet to get herself into sitting position on her own in public view. So I laid her back down and left her to nap, but not without spying on her through the crack in the door. Do you think she let me see her do it again? Nope! Yet a few minutes later more happy baby noises and sitting baby. This went on for quite some time before both of her naps today, during which time I didn't once actually see her sit on her own, just found her sitting and most times struggling to get her legs unstuck from between the crib bars.

The other thing that I think Sadie does secretly is crawl in her crib. She is still not doing much more (in public) than a belly scoot, but many times I have encountered her in the morning or after a nap up on her hands and knees with a "you caught me" smile on her face.

Maybe she is practicing her moves in private so that she can dazzle us with her strength and agility when we are least expecting it. Here is proof that she actually could get up onto her knees in a crawling position. She must have tired herself out mid-practice session and fallen asleep right in the middle of it.

Anyway, the crib mattress has now been moved to its lowest position in case she decides to work on pulling herself up to standing soon. I wonder what else she isn't letting us know yet that she can do.

Goooooooooo Diamondbacks!!!!!!!!!!

And for Grandma & Poppa in MO... Wow! 48 years!! Happy Anniversary!

Sleepover, Part 2

Yesterday Sam and Hannah spent the night as the reciprocal part of Dylan and Sadie sleeping over at their house last weekend. Here are the boys this morning thoroughly engrossed in something on TV. It actually was a pretty rough night of sleep for a few of us, but not for Sam and Hannah. Dylan woke up crying at about midnight and after 10 minutes of trying to calm him in his room, I finally brought him into our room, where he ended up falling asleep. Sam and Hannah were sleeping in his room and were apparently unfazed by the racket. (This morning they claimed to have not heard a thing!) I read a study once that had something to do with alarms sounding in the middle of the night (ie. a smoke detector) and kids sleeping right through the noise, but waking instantly to the voice of a parent. I guess you can add the sound of a 2 year old waking and crying in fright for over 10 minutes to the list of noises that WON'T wake children. So Dylan (who hasn't spent the night in our room once since he was a 6 week old infant) ended his sleepover in our bed, while I ended mine on the couch. Who knew a two year old could actually kick me out of my own bed? He is quite the wild sleeper.


Later today, Dylan was "helping" me unload the dishwasher, and headed outside for some BP with his new found bat and helmet. All in all, Dylan and Sadie had a great day with their cousins and we hope Titi and Big Guy had some good time for themselves!

A Day of Anniversaries

Sadie is 8 months old today! Happy Month-a-versary!! We celebrated with lasagna dinner (as you can see by the sauce on Dylan's face) and chocolate chip cookies. Sadie had bananas with rice cereal and a teething biscuit. I guess the celebration was tastier for us, but she doesn't look like she minds too much! Here are couple more pics of our little bug just being cute and acting like an 8 month old!

This past week she has begun to act like she could crawl any day now! She scoots around the floor like a marine, but she hasn't quite gotten up on her knees and really moved yet. I will get some video of her "crawling" on here soon.

The other anniversary of the day is my dad. Happy Birthday Grandpa! Our whole family celebrated yesterday having breakfast together. Out of respect for the elderly, I won't tell you his age, but he was 30 when I was born, so if you know when my birthday is, you know how old he is today!

Sleepover! (or date night for Mom & Dad)

Sadie had her first sleepover last night, and for Dylan it was the first for quite a while (I think since before Sadie was born!). They stayed over at Katie and Pat's (Titi & Uncle Big Guy) with their cousins Sam & Hannah. Sadie actually DIDN'T cry (she seems to be going through a phase of separation anxiety lately) when we left and Dylan had fun hanging out with his cousins, watching a movie, and staying up a little late like a big kid. Scott and I got to have dinner at a restaurant with a wait to get a table, hang out in the bar and talk while waiting, and take our time eating. We actually stayed out past 10:00pm (I know, that still seems a little early), but the most important part of the sleepover is that we were still in bed sleeping at 8:00am this morning!!! Thanks for taking care of our kiddos so we could have some grownup time, Hobbs-Goodman family!

Siblings

When Sadie was a new, needy infant, I remember thinking how hard it was to have 2 kids. Each time I had to put Dylan's needs off because the baby needed me more, I wondered how scarred he would be. I wondered how this new child would ever fit into the family routines that we had created around Dylan or what new routines would be created for the both of them together. It seemed as though he would never get a chance to appreciate what having a sibling would mean to him. Well, we have obviously made it through the trying "newbornness" of Sadie and it completely floors and amazes me to watch the two of them together today; to hear them laugh together with pure and genuine joy. Sadie is completely enamoured with her big brother and cannot take her eyes off of him. He is so proud that he can do silly little things to make her laugh out loud. It fills my heart to watch them play with each other and to hear Dylan say (in his two-year-old way), "I make Sadie happy. I so happy too!" Here are a few pics of the two happy siblings!

Family Secrets

Welcome to our family blog, where I will try to keep you updated on the goings on in the Williams' household. I have decided to indulge my secret addiction to blogs by creating my own. It will be a great way to stay connected to family and friends both near and far. Hope you enjoy!