Thursday, January 31, 2008

So much fun!!!

We are having so much fun with Sadie Beth. Each new day brings lots of smiles and laughs as she shows us more of her personality. Sure we have our moments of frustration (eg. when she was screaming her head off for no apparent reason on Monday night for 30 minutes non-stop), but those are few and far between. She is now 4 1/2 months old!
Tummy time! Sadie Beth is starting to actually enjoy short intervals of tummy time, maybe 5-7 minutes tops. She is starting to think about rolling over, but has only actually done it once...and that was when her hand was positioned under her to start with so it was really more of a fluke.
Here is a fun picture with Daddy. She was smiling huge at him.
Grammy (my mom) got this outfit for Sadie Beth for Christmas. She looks so cute all bundled up in it and boy is it warm. What is neat about it though is that it has a slit in the material so that she can wear it while buckled into her carseat.
She is really getting into toys! She has several that she definitely prefers over others. She will spend pretty big chunks of time examining her toys and playing with them if she can figure out how. Of course the biggest challenge of all-- exactly how much of each toy can she fit into her mouth?
I love this little blue dress. It was a hand-me-down from one of my old coworkers, Allison. Before I left Seven Counties, Allison brought me this great big box of clothes and a couple grocery bags full of socks and shoes that belonged to her daughter Peyton. I have had so much fun dressing Sadie Beth up in all Peyton's clothes and shoes. Thanks Allison!
Super Baby!!!!! Sadie Beth likes to "fly" with Daddy and Mommy, and when she has a sleep sack on it makes her look like she is wearing a super-hero cape.
And in the spirit of being repetitive, I couldn't help but put all of these pictures up. They are some of her Grandma Balzer's favorites.

And now, I think she is tolerating me and the camera.

Funny story...we had gotten home late one evening. Not too late, just past her 7pm feeding time. So I sat Sadie Beth on the recliner as I often do while I ran into our bedroom to take my shoes off before feeding her. I came back into the room and this is how I found her. The amusing part was, she appeared to be having fun and not in the least bit upset about her present predicament. Needless to say, I'm more careful now about putting her in the chair.
Another funny story...we try not to let Sadie Beth watch tv since the American Academy of Pediatrics says that television for kids under 2 isn't really a great thing for their brain development. Of course I know that she sees it occasionally and that will happen. We just try to be careful not to sit her facing the tv and turn her away from it while she is playing on the floor. However, Sadie Beth LOVES watching it. It is mesmerizing to her and she is always trying to watch when we have it on. One day I laid her down propped up on the boppy pillow, (facing totally away from the tv), left the room for a moment, and this is how she was when I returned. What a stinker! She figured out how to scoot down off the pillow and was craning (sp?) her neck as far around as she could to watch the screen. I said to her, "What are you doing?"....she just looked at me and grinned.
And these are just cute.....
Funny note about the Minnie Mouse rattle. She's a bit confused about the nose because when she first played with it she was constantly trying to suck on it. I guess the black tip of the nose makes it look like a miniature nipple. :) So maybe that's a little weird...
A few Sundays ago, she had on this adorable little knit outfit that my mom's friend had given her for Christmas. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to church because of a flat tire. So while David was taking care of tire-things, we had a photo shoot.
Aren't these tennis shoes so much fun? Another goody from Allison's hand-me-downs. Sadie Beth wasn't really sure what to think of them.
Here's a very sweet picture of her. She constantly has her hands in her mouth these days. No teet yet, praise the Lord, but my guess is we are in the early stages of teething. Every now and then she acts like her gums might be causing her some pain. I have put Orajel on a few times, and it is hysterical to watch the faces she makes. Bath time has gotten lots more fun for Sadie Beth with this little green friend. She loves toys with faces and whenever she takes a bath, she spends several minutes concentrating very intently on her frog (that also "ribbits"). The doctor says she has a good attention span. And not to worry about the big red on her shoulder....I can't remember what the doctor calls it exactly, but it will shrink as she gets older. He says it has already reached its peak size.
Precious smiles during bath time! Again, a bit repetitive I know, but I couldn't pick which one to post.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that she has her vitamins all over her mouth. She takes them SO much better now. She used to throw up every time I gave them to her, but now she is a champ.
Love is in the air...not really, but this was awfully cute. We watched our friend's little boy while she was in the hospital having her and her husband's third baby...a little girl btw. Luke was so good the whole time we had him. Before he left, he wanted to hold "Badie Beth." So he did and she smiled the whole time. This was right after that. He was very gentle with her...he stroked her hair and held her hand. It was pretty fun to watch. She smiled the whole time!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Exersaucer Time!

The last month or so has been lots of fun, as Sadie Beth has started playing in her exersaucer. At first she acted like she wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but now she is learning how to play with all of the different toys and she loves it! Last weekend she figured out how to bounce herself up and down in it and she thinks that is great fun. This new exciting activity couldn't have come at a better time as she has just started to show less interest in her bouncy seat. For the first 3 months or so, the bouncy seat was our life-saver. When she would be having a "moment" we could put her in her bouncy seat and she would immediately settle down. It would also entertain her endlessly. Now, she's kindof over it, but the exersaucer is a whole new world for her. She is so good about playing in it for good stretches of time....long enough for me to get a shower or work on dinner!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! We had it on our desktop background for awhile. I just think she is adorable...but then again I'm a bit biased.

Big smiles from Sadie Beth!!!

Funny faces!

That's all for now...she's letting me know that she's awake and not planning on going back to sleep!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Christmas 2007

Finally our Christmas post. We had a wonderful, very busy holiday filled with so many blessings. Can I just say that I love my family? I didn't think it was possible to be as happy as I am. Sadie Beth is such a joy and I enjoy every day with her and David. I think these pictures capture that sentiment very nicely. They are out of order, but they are my favorites, so oh well.This is Sadie Beth on the day that Lauren came over to take her Christmas dress picture for our Christmas cards. The poor thing felt so yucky. She had just come down with a cold the day before and just didn't have it in her. The only smiles we got were when she wasn't wearing her pretty dress.
We did get this half smile. :)
And here is a very glum baby who was very tolerant of her mommy. Is't she pitiful?

So, after much crazyness we finally made it to Oregon...thanks to our Morrocan cab driver. The night before we were supposed to fly out, I came down with some sort of stomach virus and threw up repeatedly. The next day I felt better. We get all packed and head to the airport, only to be bumped from our flight. At this point we were thinking maybe God had other plans for our Christmas and we just hadn't been listening (especially after all the plan changes that had already occurred). We head home after being at the airport for several hours, thinking we probably would not be coming back the next morning for our scheduled flight. Just to be safe, David asked about a number to call to schedule a cab in case we decided to go and our cab driver pretty much demanded to know what time our flight left and then informed us, "I be at your house at 4am to take you back to airport." So, back he came and off we flew without any further glitches, and 2 travel vouchers to use sometime. This picture is right after we got in the car with 2 very happy grandparents who were THRILLED to see their grandbaby. Sadie Beth has a new "trick." She has figured out how to blow bubbles and will entertain herself endlessly with this fun activity.
That afternoon she got to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. It was so special for Grandma and Grandpa Shelton to get to spend some time with Sadie Beth. She was quite the charmer the ENTIRE time we were in Oregon.
Grandma and Grandpa Shelton gave Sadie Beth a Christmas book that instead of reading you sing to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me."
Sadie Beth loved getting to see her Grandma and Grandpa Balzer. She certainly did not suffer from a lack of attention being paid to her during our trip.
She loved smiling at her Grandpa!

Here is our Christmas dinner that we enjoyed at Grandma and Grandpa Shelton's house. Deanne even made my family's special noodle recipe and we had peppermint ice cream for dessert. It was nice to have a few touches of familiarity for our Christmas celebration.
Sadie Beth loves her Aunt Darla!
This was our 3rd married Christmas! Boy time sure flies by....
Isn't this a classic picture of Darla? :)Sadie Beth makes this cute little face a lot. I love it!
The "Balzer" side of the family.
All the Great-grandparents enjoying their little great-granddaughter.
We kept Sadie Beth on KY time and her normal schedule while we were in Oregon since we were only there for a few days. Incidentally, this picture was taken about 5am Oregon time. Sadie Beth did great sleeping. We put her down about 5:30-6pm and she slept until 4:30-5am. Made it a little rough on us, but it was worth it to keep her normal. Here she is getting all spiffed up for church.