Almost!

Sadie was 11 months old on Christmas Eve. I can't believe she is almost a year... just a few short weeks away! We have recently been going through photos and printing all of our favorites to fill a collage frame. It has been fun to look back and compare Dylan at the same age. Here he is (with Mom) just a month away from his first birthday. Dylan didn't take steps on his own until several weeks after his birthday. Sadie has been "walking" since New Year's Eve. The quotation marks are because she won't do it without much coaxing and it definately isn't her primary mode of transport yet, but she's ALMOST there. Maybe by her birthday! (She has a few weeks to practice in the secrecy of her dark room and crib!) I promise to post video very soon of her "walking."

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!