Baby Turned One

My baby is one. She could not be sweeter or cuter. She's nowhere near learning to walk but has started to pull up and can support her own weight briefly. I love that she is growing up a little more slowly than other babies her age so I can enjoy each stage more. She's a delight to watch as she interacts with her big brothers, scoots as fast as she can to greet her daddy or lifts her arms to be picked up by mommy. Her favorite breakfast is yogurt, banana and cheerios. She is also starting to eat pancakes and eggs. For lunch she eats baby food, rice crackers and applesauce. Dinner is sometimes the same or we add in a little bit of whatever we're eating.
We had a great time celebrating her first birthday with everyone on both sides of our family. I decorated in pink and purple with a butterfly theme. It was so fun to be girly!
Lots has been happening in this family in the last two months...my sister in law got engaged and is planning a December wedding...one of my sisters and her family left for the Philippines for two years...my hubby got a new position at work that starts in August...Levi has graduated from Safety Town and moved up to Red Fish in swimming lessons...Ian is finally potty trained...my brother and sister in law gained permanent legal custody of their foster son and they are expecting a new little boy in September...and probably lots more news that I'm forgetting.
This week both Levi and Ian are going to VBS where they are taking an Egyptian adventure. Next week Levi will be going to a day camp at another church while I attend a ladies' Bible study. The following week we are going to a Bible conference for our family vacation and by the time we get back...it will be August! Whew. Can't wait to see what's next.

Seven Months

This blog wasn't supposed to be all about babies but here's an update on Sadie anyway!
At seven months she...
*wears 12-month clothes
*weighs around 20 pounds
*has two teeth coming in on the bottom
*sits up by herself
*sleeps 8+ hours per night
*takes 2 naps per day
*eats Stage 2 baby food twice per day
*nurses several times per day
*enjoys riding in the car
*says "hi" and "dada"
*plays with rattles, teething toys, keys, etc.
*sits in her swing occasionally
*sits in her Bumbo chair at most meals
*likes to play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake
*watches movies with her brothers
*laughs, coos & squeals with delight often
*melts our hearts daily!

Six Months

Our little baby is growing up! She was six months old on Christmas Day and weighed about 18.5 pounds. That puts her in the 75-90th percentile for weight. She is quickly outgrowing her 6-9 months clothes and getting ready for either 9-12 or just plain 12 mos. clothes. We started feeding her rice cereal yesterday and she loved it! Once she figured out where the food was coming from, she opened widely and let me shovel it in. She's also learned to sit by herself now. I still have to spot her, but for the most part she stays upright. It's nice to be able to sit her up in the laundry basket with some toys and let her entertain herself. I don't think she's ready for a high chair yet but the Bumbo works fine for most things. Sadie's sleeping is going pretty well too. She goes down around 11 or 12 and sleeps until 8 or 9, depending on how loud the boys are. After breakfast and a little playtime, she's ready for a morning nap that lasts 1-2 hours. She's up for a while and then back down in the early afternoon. I think she would go to bed earlier if it weren't for her pesky 8 p.m. nap that pushes off bedtime for another couple of hours. All in all, she's an extremely easy, contented baby who keeps us smiling and laughing every day.

Miss Sadie

I never did blog about our brand new baby daughter. She caught me by surprise as I had been expecting her to be a boy. In fact, I entered into marriage believing (and accepting) that I would only ever have sons. I came to this conclusion based on my husband's family history that is predominantly male...one uncle even had 7 sons and 1 daughter. I called the baby "he" all during pregnancy and it took a few days after she was born for my husband and sons to get used to saying "she" and "her." We didn't spend much time on choosing a girl's name because I truly felt we wouldn't need it. In hindsight, I wish we had, but now our Sadie Loise is in our arms and she has been an amazing blessing already.

She was born on her due date, in the afternoon, just as I had dared to hope. She weighed 8 pounds even and came complete with a full head of dark hair. She immediately reminded me of her older brothers, who adore her. They both love to give Sadie hugs and kisses several times a day. Levi already tries to teach her things such as how to share and play with toys. He's a thoughtful and doting big brother. Ian has learned the rules of not feeding the baby or pushing her carseat. Sadie miraculously sleeps through most of their noisiness during the day and they, even more miraculously, sleep through her screaming fits at night.

Sadie has been a great sleeper from the get-go. In fact, it was hard to wake her long enough for feedings in the beginning. She still naps most of the day away and sleeps for 4-hour stretches through the night. Normally when she wakes up she doesn't cry. She just stretches, looks around and quietly waits for someone to notice her. Sometimes I catch her smiling at her own joke. But more often she smiles wildly when we talk to her. And then she talks back and makes the cutest little faces. She's too precious! God is so good to make babies so cute. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of her, which isn't hard, but I still feel like I just can't get enough baby-loving until she will be grown up and out of this stage.

Farm Review

On September 5--hubby's 31st birthday--we took another "vacation" day. This time we visited Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland. The weather was beautiful and the setting was perfect for two little boys and a stroller. First we watched Mickey the cow get milked and Levi even tried his hand at milking her. Then we watched as all the children cranked the handle on the homemade icecream maker. It took so long we didn't wait around to try the finished product but I'm pretty sure it would've been the best we've ever tasted. Levi and Ian's favorite part of the day was watching the electric train go 'round and 'round the track outside. We also took a tractor ride out to a huge corn maze and watched an informative presentation about sheep. We didn't have time for everything but the park is small enough that another hour or two would've done the trick. When the boys are older I'm sure they will be interested in more things--maybe even taking a pony ride or feeding some of the animals. In addition to the cows, horses and sheep, they have pigs, goats, llamas, alpacas, rabbits and chickens. I'm sure this park will be on our list of annual spots to visit for many more years to come.

Summer Review

This summer, with a new baby and all, we never made it anywhere for vacation. So we've been trying to do special things around here, one day at a time. Yesterday we toured the NASA Glenn Visitor Center. I'm glad it occurred to me to visit there because as I was researching our trip I found out it is slated to close at the end of the year. We thought Levi would love seeing the rockets and all things astronomical but it turns out he's an even bigger fraidy cat than we thought. He was even scared during the astronaut movie which he was only able to watch securely anchored to daddy's lap. We wondered around the exhibits for about an hour, viewed the 20-minute movie and then bought freeze-dried ice cream as a treat. After that we ate our picnic lunch in a pavilion at the Metroparks during a light rain.

Last weekend we visited the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center in nearby Bay Village. A great day weatherwise, the boys thoroughly enjoyed inspecting the outdoor grounds and meeting the animals inside. We even played in Critter Corner for a while. We wanted to view the planetarium show but Ian wasn't old enough to go so we'll save that for another time. The science center offers educational programs throughout the year which I'd like to take advantage of. They even hold a pre-school that I was considering for Levi but the $15 per hour rate is a bit hefty for us.

Polar Bear Days

We visited Cleveland Metroparks Zoo for one of its January Polar Bear Days. This means that whenever the high temperature for the day is forecasted to be less than 32 degrees F, zoo admission tickets are half price! First we explored the rain forest, where the temperature is always 80-something. We ate our picnic lunch in the Crocodile Cafe. Then we caught the heated shuttle bus up to the primate building for a look at the big cats and fish. By then it was nap time so we headed home. The boys were especially impressed with the apes. One big gorilla stared Levi down and frightened him so much that he started walking backwards away from the glass. Ian yelled, "Monkey, scared!" Many of the zoo's exhibits are closed for the winter but you can still see wolves and of course, polar bears. The zoo is reconstructing the elephants' home into a huge open area similar to where the zebras and giraffes now reside. Today at lunch Levi declared that he had a plan: "Every Saturday let's go to the zoo!"