Sadie is Eleven Months Old!

My baby girl turned 11 months old this week!!  

What is Sadie up to these days?

• We went to her TEF doctor this month, and she weighed basically the same as last month - 18 lb, 8 oz (50%), and is 27 1/2 inches long (18%).
• She is in size 3 diapers.
• She mostly wears 12 months clothes, and still a few 6-9 month outfits. 
• This month, we have introduced her to blackberries, raspberries, plums, oranges, corn, yellow squash, black beans, pinto beans, northern beans, toast, and Ritz crackers.  She is such a good eater - she basically eats anything we put in front of her!
• Sadie just has 2 teeth on bottom, but she is teething on top no doubt!!  She knaws on everything - particularly her fingers, and has started drooling more, so I know it won't be long till we see some toothies coming through the gums!
• We are sleeping so good these days!  She sleeps 9-11 hours each night, and takes 2 naps a day - 1 around noon (2 - 2 1/2 hours), and then 1 around 5:00 (45 minutes - 1 hour).  
• The girl talks ALL the TIME!!  If she's awake, she's jabbering!  Her vocabulary consists of "Ma Ma", "Da Da", "ba ba" for bottle, "E - e" for Ellie, and "du" for duck.  She will also "call Ellie" by clicking her tongue - it's the sweetest thing ever! 
• Sadie is sooo close to walking independently.  She crawls all over the place, and is so fast now!  She pulls up on everything, and can now come to a standing position without holding on to anything.  She has very good control of her self, and will stand up and sit down slowly instead of plopping down or off balance.  She LOVES to walk with someone holding her hand. 
  
  We went for a check up this month with Sadie's TEF doctor, and got an excellent report!  We haven't had to have a surgery since January, and her doctor was very pleased with her progress in weight and development.  We don't have to go back for 6 months!!  That is AMAZING!!  God just continues to show out in Sadie Hope's life!
  
  Sadie's personality is starting to show more and more everyday.  She's a very calm, laid back, happy little girl - and takes EVERYTHING in.  She's sooo curious about things and people.  I have a feeling she's going to be a people watcher!
  
  
  She loves to be talked to, read to, sang to...she loves to play little games like peek a boo (which she knows how to play herself!), and finger plays like the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
  
  
  She has started to learn new little things like crawling away from you wanting to be "chased" - oh how she gets sooo tickled when you play along!!, and how to turn the light switch on and off.
  
  
  My sweet little baby is growing into more of a toddler learning all sorts of new things and becoming the little person God made her to be.  Oh how exciting it is to watch and experience with her!!
  
  I can't believe we're only a month away from the big 1 year!!  Time flies when you're having fun, and these 11 months have certainly been that!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Happy 11 months, sweet Sadie Hope!!!
  

Father's Day!

Brad got to celebrate his 1st Father's Day this year with this sweet little one!  I had looked so forward to my 1st Mother's Day, but I was just as equally excited to celebrate this special day with Brad.  

Sadie and I gave Brad some pictures of the 2 of them from the day she was born and when she was just a few weeks old (with our other baby, Ellie!), and some new clothes.

Sadie adores her Daddy so very much!!  She gets so excited when he comes home from work everyday, and loves for him to play and tickle her! I love to watch her eyes light up when she sees him, and how caring and gentle he is with her.  What a special bond these two share!  

Thank you, Bradley, for all you do for our family!  You are the most hard working person I know, and you always make sure your girls are taken care of.  The Lord blessed Sadie with a great daddy, and me with a wonderful husband!  We love you!!!

We also celebrated the day with our own fathers.  My daddy is my biggest fan, and toughest critic...always, always, always wanting us to learn from our mistakes, and try our hardest.  He's tough on the outside, but really just a big ol' teddy bear on the inside that loves his family and the Lord.  No matter how old I am, I know I can always count on my Daddy to come to my rescue no matter what.   Thank you Daddy for loving us and always taking care of us!!

 And, this little Goose thinks he's pretty great too!  Cheesin' BIG! :)

We all love our PAPA!!  We spent the afternoon with my daddy playing cornhole, eating watermelon, and sitting outside under the tree...I think that's probably about as perfect of a day as it gets!

A Trip to the Zoo

Last week, we went to the zoo!  Valerie and I have been planning for several weeks to take Sadie and Jenna Beth before it got too hot, and at the last minute Carolyne and Sam decided they wanted to go too!  It was a super fun day, with perfect weather!!

Sadie loves to be outside, and enjoys riding in her stroller, so I knew she would at least enjoy that part of the trip.  She actually noticed the animals, and would smile when she saw them.  

We all LOVED the giraffes, so we spent a lot of time there.  They're just so unique and beautiful...God amazes me at his workmanship in all the animals!!

My little giraffe :)

It was feeding time when we first got to the zoo, and Jenna Beth got to feed the giraffes.  I have never seen a child love animals as much as Jenna Beth does!!  She was sooooo excited to go to the zoo, and talked about it for days leading up to going (she's been several times before).  Every animal that we stopped to look at, she would say "I want to get in there with them"! HA!

Speaking of Jenna Beth, she and Sadie are the best of buddies.  Sadie LOVES all of her cousins, and always has the biggest time playing with all of them.  But, she ADORES Jenna Beth.  Such sweet girls!

The older 3 kids got to ride a camel...and, OH MY, they loved it!  

And, what trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride on the train?!  Little Sadie konked out just right before we got on the train, so she slept through the ride.  She didn't sleep long though - she took a little power nap, and was ready to go again when we were getting off the train!!  She was too cool for words in her pink shades. ;)

I always love the tigers...it must be all that orange and blue running through my veins ;)!!  Sadie liked the tiger exhibit too because it was just the right height for her to get to stand up and look in like a big girl.

What a great day we had for Sadie's first trip to the zoo!!  I've been looking forward to sharing lots of "firsts" with my girl, and this was one of those special firsts that I was so excited to do.  It turned out to be just perfect, with lots of fun memories.  We can't wait to go back again soon!