Are you my chicken?

We went down to San Diego a couple of weeks ago to visit my family and to celebrate my granny's 80th birthday. Of course Sadie loved all the attention and was on her best behavior. She was also completely attached to my mom leaving Peter and I with a bit of time on our hands. We were able to go down the beach, walk around and have some lunch just like the old days. During that time Sadie really turned a corner in the walking department. She kept following my mom everywhere, walking behind her like a little duck.

Now that she's walking it seems like she's turned into a completely different person. She's talking a bit and mimicking what we say a lot which is just plain creepy. Over night, she went from starting to walk to going full speed ahead! We even had to buy the kid a pair of "real" shoes. Girl is into everything now, and I mean EVERYTHING.

The shoes that Sadie was wearing before she really started walking were this really cute pair of mary jane sneakers that I found at Target. Once she really started going we realized they were too small. We had two pairs of Vans waiting for her at home. One pair was a hand-me-down with pink flamingos on them. The other pair are black with red and white trim and a skull and crossbones on the ankle, they were a gift from Jana. Unfortunately, I think the poor kid has my skinny feet and the things wouldn't stay on. So we picked up a pair of red Converse with laces for her. My parents bought her a pair of light pink Salt Water Sandals. They are the cutest things ever. My mom still has my first pair. Sadie keeps pointing to her "soose" and saying "sigh". Which means "mom put on my damn shoes and take me outside!"

On Memorial Day we went to Children's Fairyland. I used to go there as a kid and have very fond memories of it. When Peter and I first lived together we lived on the other side of the lake from the park. I was very excited to take Sadie there. Sadie was really into the little plastic key they give you to put into the boxes. She wasn't that interested in the what came out of the box once the key was in, but she kept going up to each box and trying to put her key in. She was sort of overwhelmed by most of the things at the park and was too small for a lot of the rides. She did enjoy seeing the animals and didn't know what to do when the pony came over to her.
It was a nice day but Peter and I decided the park may have seen better days. The only way I could think to describe the place was like a drag queen the morning after. Once sparkling and beautiful now just tired, dirty and faded. The kids running around the place didn't seem to mind, so I guess that's all that matters.
That night we grilled some corn on the bbq. It was quite tasty. At least I think it was. Sadie ate my entire ear of corn and part of Peter's! She thought it was just the neatest thing.
BTW-if you want to know how fast your kid's digestive system works, let them eat corn-on-the-cob.

Sadie's started playing dress up with my clothes recently. While I'm in the shower I usually lay out some clothes for her to play with in the bathroom. This keeps her occupied and away from the toilet (which she can flush). She used to make a ton of noise in the bathroom, now she just babbles and tries to put all of the clothes on.
I never know what she's going to have on upside down and inside out when I step out from behind the steamy shower curtain.
The other day she had on my tank top. She even put it on correctly. Later, I gave her a belt, bracelet and purse. She thought this was just the funniest thing ever. Another time, she kept going into the closet to get my bra and put it around her neck.

Today, Sadie had her 15 month check-up. She is in the 75th percentile for both height and head circumferance, but only in the 15th percentile for weight. Skinny Minnie this kid is! What's funny about that is that she eats ALL THE TIME. When it's not mealtime, she's snacking on something. I don't know if it's because we don't feed her cow's milk or what. She definitely eats. During our visit to the doctor, Sadie was her usual self, flirty and giggly. She made everyone laugh and fawn all over her. Little ham.
The nurses kept saying, "oh I wish all the babies could be as happy as this one!" One of the nurses stood outside our door, while we were waiting for the doctor. She kept saying to any doctor or nurse passing by, "oh you gotta come in here and see this little girl, she's so happy!"

enjoy!
xoxo

may 2009

Birthday Chicken

Sadie's first birthday party/baby naming party on Sunday was a success!
My cousin, Jonathon was nice enough to take pictures for us with my camera.
My parents hosted the party at their house. It was a real nice day.
The rabbi came and gave Sadie her Hebrew name and she ate her first cupcake.
Because Sadie is named after my great grandmother, we had planned to use her Hebrew name, but no one could remember what it was so we chose another.
Naturally, Amelia (Sadie's middle name) isn't a Jewish name really so we picked a first and middle name that started with the same letters.
Shira Ahava
Shira = song
Ahava = love
Cute, right?
I made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, chocolate cupcakes with fudge frosting and vanilla cupcakes with raspberry coconut frosting. I made a little vanilla cupcake for Sadie with a pink candle on top. She tried to blow it out but couldn't really figure out how to blow so I sort of helped her.
I think she surprised everyone when she ate the cupcake in 4 bites and didn't even make a mess allover herself. (she actually did make a mess all over my jeans and underneath the table)
Technically, that was her first "sugar." We have been real good about keeping sugar to a minimum in the foods we serve Sadie.
I couldn't tell if she liked it. Eating it in 4 bites doesn't really mean she liked the cupcake. She shovels everything into her mouth as I mentioned last time. So who knows.

Peter's parents came down from Portland to help us celebrate. They brought Sadie a whole bag full of musical instruments. Peter's mom even made a bag to hold everything in out of an old Lifetime shirt!
Sadie enjoyed the maracas and the drum most of all I think. I was pretty into making some noise with Peter's old fife. That thing is hard to play!

We've been having band practice ever since Mookie and Pop Pop left. Sadie plays the Xylophone and Drums at the same time now. It's real cute.
Awhile ago, I wrote about Jimmy and Pat being in a band with Sadie. Jimmy seems to have left the band and I wasn't sure about Pat until the other day Sadie started shaking her shoulder just like she used to when Pat was around. So I took this to mean that Pat was back.

I was sort of hoping that Sadie would be walking by now just because I want her to be better than all the other kids. :)
But I'm pretty sure we're a ways off from that and I'm okay with it. I'm already having a hard enough time keeping up with her crawling from room to room I can't imagine what it's going to be like when she starts walking!

On Peter's bedside table there is a clock radio. I was brushing my teeth and couldn't see what Sadie was doing. Suddenly I heard music in the bedroom! Sadie figured out how to turn the radio on and off.
I turned around to look at her and she was totally dancing and smiling. Hilarious.
The next day, she was napping in our bed, I was out in the living room when I heard her giggle.
Apparently while learning to turn on the radio, she set the alarm to go off at 12noon. When it went off it startled her and she woke up! There she was just sitting in the bed shaking dancing.

Now whenever she can she goes over to the radio and turns it on and off. Each time she dances and says "da da da" and giggles.

The story gets better.....
Again, Sadie was napping in our bed. I was in the living room when I heard a 'thump.' Not a loud sound but enough to make me stop and wonder what it was.
The next thing I see, the bedroom door swings open and there's Sadie crawling out with a smile!

I am trying really hard to lose weight. It's turning out to be harder than I thought. Especially because I just can't seem to get on a schedule with going to the gym. I have to do it at night after Peter gets home and sometimes I either don't feel like it or he gets home late and then I just don't go.
The other night I knew he was going to be late so I thought I would try one of those "watch instantly" videos from Netflix. I chose a silly cardio kickbox video and set the laptop up on the couch.
Sadie was playing by herself on one side of the couch so I figured I'd be safe to kick and hop around.
Once she saw what I was doing she started giggling and crawled over to where I was. Every time I lifted my leg she would try to catch it. A couple of times she pulled herself up on my pants thus pulling them down.
When she finally realized that I was copying the lady on the computer screen she went over to it pointed at it then back and me and laughed. This continued until I finished.
The workout was good, but watching Sadie was more fun and totally made the time go by faster.
If only I could get off my butt more and continue doing the video!

After all the time we spend trying to find toys for Sadie to play with all the girl wants is either a tube of lip balm or a shampoo bottle.
She loves them! When I dry her hair after the bath she points to the shampoo bottle on the counter. She just holds it while I dry her hair all the while looking at herself in the mirror.
On the changing table she either wants to hold her lotion or vitamin bottle. She always hands it to me as if I'm going to open it and then hand it back to her.
With the lip balm, usually she wants a little on her lips first then she holds it.
This was my first mistake. I put some on her and then let her play with the tube. I forgot to watch her and the tube went missing.
No more Philosophy lip balms for mommy! Burt's Bees will be just fine from now on. Not to mention I can buy 4 Burt's Bees lip balms for the price of one Philosophy balm.

In addition to pointing to herself when you ask "Where's Sadie?" Sadie makes dog and cat noises. She talks to the dogs in her fire engine book and tries to meow like a cat when I read "Brown Bear what do you see?" to her.
Tonite, she made hissing sounds like the Boa Constrictor. She looks at me to make the noise then tries to imitate. Way too cute for words, man.

This is probably TMI but I have finished nursing!
Almost exactly 1 year to the day too!
Peter's mom (or the baby whisperer as we call her) was actually a big help in this department. While she was here she took charge during nap time and got Sadie to sleep without nursing. (even if she did have to sit in a chair or lie in bed while Sadie slept on her!)
I was starting to have a lot of trouble with this. I had weaned her off nursing at night and in the morning without a lot of difficulty but since nap time was already an issue with us it was proving to be really hard for me to get the situation under control.
When Monday rolled around and Peter's parents were leaving to go back home I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get Sadie to nap without nursing.
I was so nervous that I made sure I was in the car during nap time so she would fall asleep on her own.
Yesterday, I was able to get her to sleep on me after dancing around the room with the Bee Gees blasting (just like old times!).
Today was easier, she just put her head down when she was tired. While she was asleep on me, I watched a some TV online so I really can't complain about the forced down time :)

The list of music that Sadie likes is getting longer and longer by the day. The Bee Gees are my go to band though. I guess because I used them as my secret weapon back when Sadie was small to get her to relax and go to sleep she must be conditioned now to hear them and start to fall asleep.
It only seems to work when I'm holding her and dancing around the room though. As soon as I sit down, her head pops up and she shakes it back and forth as if she's saying "no."

One of our new favorite bands is Priestess. Maybe you think I'm a dork for liking them but I do. So does Sadie. Every time they come on the ipod she stops what she's doing and starts dancing. Then she looks at me and smiles.
Sometimes we dance together either while I'm holding her and twirling around the room or when we're both on the floor.
A lot of times we do acrobatics when bands come on that Sadie likes.
I swing her around, or flip her upside down. She likes to jump on the couch or bed too.
She really gets going when I flip her over and hang her down my back. Some times I hold her ankles and raise her up and down to get in a quick arm workout!

As I mentioned before this is most likely (I say most likely because it IS sort of fun writing about my kid, you know!) my last weekly post about Sadie.
Our little Princessgruntingchickendonkeycry, madge, moose, boogs, bubby, birdie, sweet baby, Sadie, Sades made it through her first year of life and there really isn't much else to tell. At least on a weekly basis that is.

enjoy!
xoxo

happy first birthday sadie!

The race to the finish

Sadie's 1st birthday is Sunday, can you believe it??????
It's been raining like crazy here. Every time I look out the window and see the rain and dark skies I flash back to last year when I went into labor and this same storm that is over us now was over us then. I get a little choked up when I think that I have been basically blogging her progress for a year give or take a few weeks here and there.

When Sadie was about 2 weeks old, Octavio came to visit us. We ate pizza from Zachary's and I hadn't quite figured out the whole breastfeeding thing so I was hiding under a blanket trying not to flash Roc while feeding Sadie. It was really funny.
He asked me if I was going to keep a journal of Sadie's first year. At the time I laughed and thought that was a ridiculous idea. I was tired and could barely sit down without wincing. Nicole Richie had just given an interview about how she was keeping a daily journal on her daughter with 40 names, it just seemed silly. I had no intention of being a crazy parent who talked about their kids all the time. I still hadn't even come to terms with the fact that when Sadie cried it was because she needed me. ME! What a thought.

As you well know, I did keep the journal. It was actually quite easy and sort of fun to do. At first, I started posting while Sadie was sleeping on me. Later on, I found myself keeping notes on my Blackberry each week so that I could remember what to write when I got the chance. I might even put all my posts together to show Sadie one day. I certainly have enough photos to save of her.

The year flew by and I haven't quite wrapped my head around the fact that Peter and I have a daughter that's a year old. I still remember the first time we talked about whether or not each of us wanted to have kids.......

Before I got pregnant I made a lot of declarations about things I would or wouldn't do as a parent.
I think I did almost everything I said I wouldn't do and didn't do almost everything I said I would. Funny how that works isn't it?
I've heard some of our friends talk about how after having the first child they'd do things differently with the second. I'm always confused and surprised by this. Except for a few minor things like remembering to request a vegetarian meal in the hospital, I don't think there's much I would change for the next one. For the most part, everything went real smooth for us. I mean, Sadie still doesn't nap in her own bed but she sleeps in her bed at night and sleeps through the night until 7:30am so I can't really complain.
She's mellow, happy and a good eater what more could a parent ask for?

Speaking of eating, our kid is what the "experts" call a "big eater." Girl shovels it in. On Valentine's Day, Peter took us out for sushi. Sadie ate all the edamame a bunch of rice and some tofu. She was totally eyeing our sushi and I'm sure if I had given her some she would have scarfed it.
We're thinking of changing her name from chicken to moose.
Set a bowl of peas out in front of her and be sure not to blink or you'll miss her eating them. She's quick but delicate. Her pinkie is always raised and she plucks the food up off the tray ever so gently.
There isn't much she won't eat, so far it seems to be nectarines are the only things she's not so into. She loves her Goldfish and insists on having at least one in each hand and 10 in her mouth. Strawberries are her new favorite fruit. I said "new" because that banana is still holding the top spot and doesn't seem to be coming down anytime soon.
She's even started to feed herself with a spoon. She dips it into her yogurt and puts into her mouth without waving it all over the floor now.

It's taken us a while to get Sadie into brushing her teeth. At first when she was teething it wasn't a problem, she liked chewing on the bristles. But after awhile she got smart and realized what she was doing was not a game and didn't want to do it anymore.
I even tried putting her on the counter while I brushed my teeth. She held her toothbrush and brushed like I did twice.
Now, she has two toothbrushes. She uses them both at the same time. She brushes with one, smiles and then sticks the other one in and brushes some more.
Whatever it takes, man. Whatever it takes

When you say "Where's Sadie" she points to herself.
When you say "Where's mommy?" She points to her food. She'll shake her head and say "mo" if you've said "no" to her. But then she smiles coyly and does what you've just said "no" to anyway.
But, she remembers what you said "no" to. For instance. I have a cup in the bath tub that I use to pour water over Sadie when she's in the bath. She tried to drink from it once and I said "no, no don't drink." Every time she's in the bath now, she raises the cup to her lips, shakes her head and says "mo," then looks at me.

I'm totally enjoying all the hugging and kissing she's been doing. Sometimes she'll come up behind me if I'm sitting on the floor and hug me and climb around and plant one on me. It's cute and I keep telling myself to soak it in, because some day she's going to be a teenager and she's going to hate my guts for a few years.
At night before going to bed, she gives Peter 3 kisses sometimes 4 then we go off in to her bedroom to read 2 stories and rock in the chair for 3 songs, no more, no less. Trust me, she knows how many books and how many songs are going on. One of the stories is always "Where The Wild Things Are." Sadie loves her Wild Things.

Peter and I keep wondering when Sadie is going to have some hair. She has a little and you can tell it's growing but there really isn't much. It's blond and curly. When I blow dry it after her bath it smooths out a little. The next day it's a big fluffy mess no matter what. It's not long enough to clip yet. You'd think, being a hairstylist I'd know what to do about this dilemma, but I don't.

I'm pretty sure this is the second to last weekly update (the last being the one I intend to post about her party next week) I will be making about Sadie.
I bet you're happy. I'm going to try real hard to write about food. If I could post as regularly about that as I did about my kid that would be nice, wouldn't it?

enjoy!
xoxo

sadie 52 weeks