Friday, December 31, 2010

A Crazy Year!

Wow...I knew the older I got, the faster time seemed to go.  But I never imagined just how fast time would go by once I became a mom.  Every day is filled with some kind of craziness or chaos or silliness or chaos (oh, sorry, did I already say that?).  This past year was a good one for major changes and incredible memories. 
At the very beginning of the year we found out we were expecting a second baby.  What a way to start off a new year!  As soon as I found out I was pregnant I wanted to start doing more with Maddie knowing that those would be the last 9 months that it would be just me and her.  We had a lot of trips to the zoo in the early part of the year, a lot of trips to the park during spring and summer, had lots of outings to the library and just generally spent time together.  It's time I cherish and I'm so glad I always took time to do special things with her even if it meant some chores were left undone. 

February brought a trip to San Antonio for our family.  Maddie went to Sea World for the second time in her life, swam in a hotel pool (the highlight of the trip for her, I think) and really started showing attitude and defiance!  Maddie still remembers that trip (well, not her bad behavior) and tells me "that man splashed water in my face".  At one of the shows, there's a funny guy who plays with the water fountains before the show starts and Maddie remembers getting hit right in the face with the water.  What a memory to have!  She also remembers swimming in the pool with Daddy and eating ice cream in the hotel bed.  Also, to this day when we turn on the Disney channel, she tells us "this the tv I watched at the hotel".

March was the last month we went to the zoo (until this fall) and we got in at least 3 visits.  Maddie enjoys the zoo so much when we go and especially loves the carousel.  I can't wait to take her again soon to the new African Forest they just opened up!!

April was filled with playdates and trips to the park.  Maddie celebrated her second Easter by coloring Easter eggs all by herself!  She also got to pet/play with a real bunny on Easter Sunday at her friend's house.  She was so sweet and gentle with it and loved having it sit on her lap.

In May Eric was home for another visit.  We found out on May 5th that we were having another girl :)  The fighting over names began immediately...I'm SO glad that's over with!!  Maddie made me french toast (with Daddy's help, of course) for Mother's Day!  At the end of the month I took Maddie to the beach.  It was her one and only trip to the beach for the summer :(  Poor baby!  She LOVES the beach and I hope to be able to go more this summer.  I can't wait to watch my two girls playing in the sand together!

June was a BIG month for us!  Maddie turned 2.  It was an uneventful day but we spent it together and had a nice time.  I took Maddie to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and they were having a special night so she got to climb up into a firetruck.  She thought that was pretty cool!  She didn't, however, like the cow...Also in June Maddie started Mother's Day Out.  Oh my goodness!  If you've been reading my blog, you know what an ordeal that was!  She's now been in "school" for 7 months and it's going VERY well.  She loves her teachers and her teachers love her right back.  They tell me all the time what a sweet girl she is.  YAY!  :)

In July Maddie and I made a trip back to Baltimore for the 4th of July.  It was really nice to be back home and to see a lot of my family members that I hadn't seen in YEARS.  It's always fun to see Maddie interact with her cousins.  Maddie enjoyed her first parade, although she wasn't too sure about the clowns.  She also enjoyed her first fireworks show.  The trip was just under 2 weeks long but we got a lot in during those 2 weeks and were exhausted when we got back home.  I was pretty much down for the count for the rest of my pregnancy.  At the end of July Eric came home for just 6 days.  It was a fun 6 days that included a couple trips to the pool and a trip to the circus.  Maddie wasn't too sure about those clowns either...Also in July our cat, Audrey, found a new home.  What a relief it was to get rid of one animal, it cut down on the dust bunnies in the house immensely!

August was a draining month.  Maddie didn't have school for most of the month, I was trying to sqeeze in as many playdates at possible (but cancelling a lot too because I ended up being too tired to get out of the house).  I was also trying to get ready for the new baby (who we had officially named by this time, just hadn't told anyone) while Maddie was home, that was VERY trying.  The nursery wasn't complete...oops.  We were seeing the ob/gyn every week and Maddie started to really look forward to our doctor visits :).  This was the month that Murphy became a tailless dog.  Poor thing :(

September was the month that had the biggest impact on our year.  Sadie Mae was born on September 2nd.  Eric's mom had been with us for a week before her birth and we had help with us for the entire month!  It was a crazy month but one we won't soon forget!  We were also blessed with my aunt and her family moving to Humble in September!  You can't even imagine how awesome it is to have close family living within 15 minutes :)  I guess I should tell you that my aunt is more like a cousin, or even a sister...we're only 4 years apart in age and we grew up REALLY close!  It's been so nice having her here to take my girls (or even just Sadie) every once in a while to get a break!!  Ahhhh...  :)

The rest of the year is a blur...having a newborn and a toddler is a pretty busy life.  I enjoy it a lot, but I also dread it a lot.  Some days when I hear one of the girls starting to wake up I just want to cry and pull the covers back up over my head!  (wow, did I just say "covers"?)  Other days I can't wait to pick them both up and get a big hug and breathe in all their sweetness!  October was trying as I was attempting to get into a good routine.  That's hard to do with a breastfeeding newborn!  November was better but we still had our moments where I had little "mommy meltdowns".  That brings us to December...but I'll save that post for tomorrow.  This one is already long enough :)

Happy New Year!!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Early Christmas Present

I got the BEST Christmas present today!!!  My hubby gets to extend his vacation to stay home for Christmas this year!  Instead of leaving here on December 22nd, he gets to stay until December 26th :)  YAY!!!!

We're decorating for Christmas on Sunday :)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

3 Months Old

Sadie is three months (13 weeks) old today.  It's hard to believe that three whole months have gone by.  I'm amazed at how much personality she has already and how much she's grown and changed in these short 13 weeks.  Last week Sadie found her hands!  She had been holding onto her own hands when she was in her swing or "playing" in her activity mat but she started looking at her hands and smiling now.  It's so cute to watch.  Just today she found her feet!  She's also trying really hard to giggle.  She's gotten a few breathy "gasps" out and only one sweet little giggle.  I love it!  She has also started to grasp at toys.  She enjoys looking at different toys and reaching out to them.  For now she doesn't have a lot of control over her movements (and has even hit herself in the face pretty hard!) but she's getting better and better every day.  I've started reading Goodnight Moon to Sadie at bedtime now.  She really looks at the pages and even smiles every once in a while at the book.  I know she doesn't understand what reading is just yet, but I'm glad I started adding a book to our nighttime routine so she'll be used to it as she grows.  I started reading to Maddie at a really young age too and she STILL loves to sit and read books.  I hope both girls grow up to love reading!

Sadie has started sleeping through the night already :)  The night before Thanksgiving was the first night she slept for 12 hours.  She had gone 9 hours here and there before, but 12 hours was such a blessing to this tired momma.  Thanksgiving night she didn't sleep all night but the next night (Friday night) she woke up around 2:45 and I decided to let her cry for 15 minutes to see if she would go back to sleep.  Sure enough, she did!  I didn't hear from her again until 6:45am.  Nice :)  Since then she's been sleeping all night every night.  YAY!!

Sadie's naps are also getting better.  She's turning into a good sleeper like Maddie was.  She has gotten into a pretty good routine...sleep (1 to 2 1/2 hours), eat, play/activity (1 to 1 1/2 hours).  It goes like that all day until it's time for bed then she sleeps all night.  It makes me want to stay home all day, every day just to keep her sleeping well!  The bad thing about her sleep habits are that she has to have the "perfect" conditions.  I never tried to be quiet or make the room dark for Maddie because I wanted her to be able to sleep anywhere.  But with Sadie I had to accomodate her if I wanted her to get any sleep.  It's worth it to me :)

We're so blessed to have our little Sadie Mae!  She has been such a little joy to have, trying at times, tiring at times, but amazing all the time.  There's nothing better than having a little one hear your voice, look into your eyes and give you the biggest, brightest smile you've ever seen.  This is unconditional love!  Being a mommy is the best job in the world :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Maddie, My Maddie

Wow.  This girl continues to amaze me every day!  Today at school they had pictures with Santa.  Over the past week or so Maddie has randomly told me that Santa is a little bit scary.  We haven't seen Santa yet, have only talked about him bringing presents and leaving cookies out for him but for some reason she still thinks he's scary.  So last night I warned her teacher that she's afraid of him and I apologized in advance if she gave them a hard time.  Well, they had her go last so she got to watch all of her classmates have a picture taken with Santa.  NONE of them cried!!  Then it was Maddie's turn...they said she walked right up to Santa, the teacher put her on Santa's lap, then Maddie cried.  They took a picture.  I'm anxious to see it!  :)

Eric comes home on Friday.  Yes, as in 36 hours from now.  My house is a disaster so pray I can get some of it cleaned up (and stop thinking "Get off the computer, Sarah"...don't you know what a procrastinator I am?  The more I have to do the less I want to do).  Anyway, back to Eric coming home.  Maddie will be in school when he comes home and she has NO IDEA he's coming home this soon.  She's definitely ready to see Daddy again.  Over the past couple of weeks she's asked me, "Mommy, is Daddy getting close to us yet?"  I'm pretty sure she thinks when he leaves on the big airplane that he just circles the world in the plane for a few weeks then comes home :)  Today her teacher told me that she started crying (before the Santa photo) and said she missed her daddy so much.  :(  Poor baby girl.  So, when it's time to go pick Maddie up from school on Friday Eric's going to go with me to surprise her.  I can't wait to see the look on her face!!  I plan on taking the camera and hope to capture the moment...

And now I'll leave you with some conversations with Maddie:

I was explaining to Maddie that all parts of you make up your body, your arms, legs, chest, head, everything.  She smiled and said, "And you nipples?"  Nice.

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Maddie (smelling the airfreshner):  "Mommy, this one smells like caffeine.  I LOVE caffeine, Mommy!"

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Me:  "Maddie, have I told you lately how cute you are?"
Maddie:  "Yes, Mommy.  I am super cute."

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Maddie was chewing on her sippy cup at dinner...

Me:  "Maddie, don't chew on your cup.  Drinks are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie:  "Mommy, are chairs for chewing?"
Me:  "No, chairs are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie:  "Are tables for chewing?"
Me:  "No, tables are not for chewing, food is for chewing."
Maddie (giggling and looking WAY up at the ceiling fan):  "Are fans for chewing?"
Me:  "I'll tell you what...if you can get your mouth on that fan, you go right ahead and chew it."
Maddie (looking  perplexed):  "But I just not have a ladder..."

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Goodnight!