Visit From Grandma Kern

What an awesome past couple of weeks! Sadie now has 12 teeth, 4 of which are molars! She is very ahead of the teething schedule but hey! At least we are knocking it all out at once and will be done with it! No dragging it out. Sadie has 11 words in her vocabulary, plays kick ball with daddy, and can point to her teeth when asked where they are as well as point at ducks when asked where they are while making quack quack noises! She doesn't just stack blocks, she actually puts the big legos together to build them. According to What to Expect the First Year she is at twenty months! I am soo proud of her! (yes this is my brag time about my baby) Everyone keeps asking about her hair color. Well, it truly has every color you can imagine except black. Red, blond, light brown, a few dark brown strands....and the more she is outside in the sun the redder it is becoming! :-) Who knew there was red in the genes?! But I do have uncles and second cousins with red hair so I guess I shouldn't be surprised...plus she is Irish!

Grandma Kern cam to visit for a week! YEAH! And what a great week it was! Tom and I enjoyed LOTS of extra sleep and being that I only have to work one day this week (Friday), I got all of our "to do" list accomplished! Tom and I also enjoyed a night out to dinner and a show. Jeff Dunham performed here in Savannah and it was FUNNY! I am not really a puppet person but he is uber famous and Tom really wanted to go. We had pretty good seats! And I can honestly say it was hysterical! I would definitely see him again! I know that Grandma Kern and Sadie are well bonded after a whole week together. We just LOVE having family we adore stay with us.

We are getting a nice sized patio poured next weekend, YEAH! And we may go with the stamped concrete look; we will put up pictures when the project is complete.

Days at Home

Another day at home with my Princess. She is cutting her first two molars on the bottom, so she has been a bit fussy and in pain. Thank goodness for Motrin and Tylenol! But the two molars are already popping through the gums, so hopefully not too much longer!

Tom's soccer league has finished. They made it to the playoffs undefeated and then lost! :-( He has decided to continue with the outdoor season.

My days are getting monotonous. You can only play inside for so long and then outside for so long. You can only take so many walks. I think Sadie needs a sibling! :-0 Don't get any ideas though people! Not gonna happen for a LOOOOOONG time!

We took Sadie for ice cream with the ice cream money her Bapshi and Grandpa sent. We took her to Coldstone and she ate stawberry ice cream with sprinkles! Yummy!

After lunch today, Sadie ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug EVER! And, I though gee! This is a LOOONG hug!....When I realized she was fast asleep on my shoulder! How sweet! And fast! My heart melted and I will forever remember that moment!

Another WONDERFUL day with my baby girl! Here are some recent photos of Sadie. She loves to wear her princess crown every single night after bathtime until bedtime. She leaves it on and gets upset if it falls off. It was 99 cents at walmart, but it is her favorite thing right now....she IS a Princess afterall!! Thomas plays on an indoor soccer league called SuperGoose and his team "Da Foosball" is number one and undefeated in the league! Go Tom! I am so proud...:-) I have taken Sadie to a couple of his games and she loves it. Sadie cheers on her Daddy even when it is quiet and all the people just laugh! She cheers quite loudly. I think she is such a great cheerleader because she has heard Tom and I during NFL season cheering on our team the great one and only COWBOYS :-) and she picked up a few things. The day has finally come where Skip and Sadie can play together. They play tug of war with his rope. On the area rugs, Skip wins. On the floors, Sadie wins; but he does drag her all over the place!

We are really settling into our neighborhood. Almost all of the homesites are sold and phase two was passed which is great market news. There are several young couples and young families. We have met in particular a young couple with a nine month old baby girl! We will have some play dates set! (the mom's name is Amy too) And so far, all of our neighbors have been so friendly, talkative and nice. They even came to Sadie's birthday party! It seems that a lot of people take walks at the same time everyday with their kids and dogs like we do, so it is nice to socialize and see the progress going on.

To Spank or Not to Spank

To Spank or Not to Spank.....that is the question of the day. Thomas and I decided before we were even pregnant that we would not spank our children. I must say though, that lately with Sadie testing me every second, I have thought about it. But I remain the adult and have not spanked her. I can't stand to see a child being hit. I always look at that adult and think....I do NOT want to be like that. SO impulsive and teaching that if you are mad it is ok to hit. Any advice out there from non spankers? I bought a time out chair. Supposedly you are to put them in time out for the number of minutes that match their age. So far it is working. I get really annoyed when I hear people say that just because you don't spank your child, they will be spoiled. That is their excuse to make themselves feel better about spanking their child. Anyway, just my personal opinion. But I could use some advice on how to help a one year old understand the word No! :-)

P.S. I know this is a touchy subject because many people do spank. It is on my mind because I just witnessed a little 3 or 4 year old boy get beat repeatedly on his butt by his mother and it made me sick to my stomach as I watched him cry telling her to stop.

My beautiful Sadie! We had another wonderful day together. It gets so tiresome, but it is so worth being able to be with her as much as I am. She is truly the love of my life. I am sure all mothers feel this way about their children, hopefully?

Sadie

Here are some fun pictures of our day with Sadie! She loves to ride in her new Radio Flyer Wagon her daddy bought her. She also loves to make a mess at dinner and bath time is her favorite! She likes to get on her belly and pretend to swim! She even puts her face underwater on purpose. :-)

Sadie Walked :-)

Sadie took her first steps on January 22!! She did it for Uncle Jeff...not fair! But the very next day, without any warning or convincing on my part, she just let go of her changing table and walked straight at me with open arms!! I just died of happiness in that moment and I will never forget it! Later that night, when Tom got home from his buisness trip, Sadie also walked to him! Since then, she will walk only when she wants to. We cannot get her to do it when we want her to. She doesn't perform for anyone except herself! What a smart cookie.

Also, no more bottles....:-( Makes me so sad! But it is adorable to see her becoming such a big girl. She is actually doing okay with whole milk, just like her DR said she would. Her digestive system has matured enough to handle the milk proteins. She LOVES yogurt! She can say Dada, Mama, ball, no!, ChooChoo!, and lots more. I thought this past year was amazing but I have a feeling Tom and I are in for another great year!

Sadie has decided also that she HATES a wet or dirty diaper and will change herself if needed. LOL Lets just say poor Tom had a HUGE clean up last Saturday morning while Amy was at work....poop EVERYWHERE. How does a one year old know how to take off a diaper already?? My mom said I used to do that when I was nine months old! Goodness!