Lotsa birthday fun!

Finally, a birthday recap post....I'm only a little late...okay a lot late. Here is, sadly, the only picture I actually took of Sadie Beth on her first birthday.
We had fun going through Sadie Beth's birthday package from her Grandma and Grandpa Balzer. She especially loved the Elmo card. In fact, Elmo had to sit at the dinner table for several nights with Mommy pretending to feed Elmo in order to get Sadie Beth to eat.

And puffs are always fun!

Sadie Beth got a pretty dress too...but boy the hanger was the most exciting part of it all!

She tossed the tissue paper around the room for a little while.

We had a mini-party at home...nothing big, just her 2 one year old friends that she plays with at least once a week.

Amelia, Elijah, and Sadie Beth are such fun babies...it has been great seeing them grow up together this first year.

I found this little puppy dog cake at Kroger. It is 2 cupcakes shoved together and then covered in icing. Sadie Beth got so excited when she saw it and whenever she got to look at it, but wanted NOTHING to do with it and cried when we tried to get her to touch it.

She danced while we sang Happy Birthday.

Sadie Beth was being "so big" with Grammy.

Her big birthday party was with family in Indianapolis. My cousin and her husband, Jennifer and Adam, were awesome to host a party for her. It was fun to seeing family and celebrating Sadie Beth with everyone. As you can see, Jenny got Sadie Beth a BEAUTIFUL cake.

So nice, in fact, that Sadie Beth didn't want to smash into it!!! She really had no idea what to do, I think probably because I don't really let her have much in the way of sweets. We tried to get her to dive in, but she just observed.

Look at her, all decked out in her birthday accessories...

Don't be fooled, the damage to the cake came from us trying to show her how to dig into it....

Aaron, Jennifer and Adam's now 1 year old son (Sadie Beth's 2nd cousin), on the other hand, knew exactly what to do with the cake. At his birthday party last weekend, he dug right into his teddy bear cake.

Again, don't be fooled, I think I put her hand in the cake and about 10 seconds after she started crying. :)

She sure thought it was pretty though!

Sadie Beth did a great job at her birthday party after she recovered from the cake experience...she had a great time with family.

My family: (Bottom Row): Jennifer holding Aaron, Elijah, Joe III, Blair holding Sadie Beth. (Top Row): my Aunt Jan, (cousin-in-law)Teresa, (cousin) Joe II, Adam, David, Mom, my Uncle Joe

Catching up...

Boy I am so behind on my blogging. This post should catch us up to Sadie Beth's birthday. To start us off, meet "Cookie," one of Sadie Beth's best friends. He makes the top 5 of her favorite to carry around with her everywhere she goes. We have to have at least one, usually two of her friends everywhere we go. If she sees any of her friends around the table while she is eating, she stops eating until we sit them up on the table and take turns giving them "bites and drinks" while she finishes her meal. She gets very excited about feeding her friends.
Sadie Beth keeps getting more and more mobile, which she loves of course because her curiosity equally abounds. The more she can move, the more she can get into...right now if she gets into something that is a "nonono" she will squeal loudly when she realizes you see her and toss the forbidden object as far away as she can, all while having this look of complete surprise on her face that the "nonono" SOMEHOW managed to end up in her hands. It's hard not to laugh...
We enjoy our playdates with Elijah and his Mommy Heather. Oftentimes we will go for walks or just hang out at home. I've been so thankful for Heather recently as she has helped out watching Sadie Beth while my dad was in the hospital and moving to Christopher East.
Now that the babies are getting bigger, they have great fun together - eating off each other's trays, chasing each other around the living room, etc. Elijah is on the move big time, so he can leave Sadie Beth in the dust.
Meet "Dog," probably top #1 or #2 "friend." Dog goes EVERYWHERE with us. David brought Dog home from his business trip to Texas. Sadie Beth makes dog go "oofoofoof" (her dog noise). Sadie Beth has become very serious about her reading, as you will see even more in the pictures below. She will sit and intently look at books, the same ones over and over. She even will find pictures of the same things in different books (usually dogs or cats) and open them all to the same pages.

Bath time has gotten to be SOOO much fun! She loves playing with her toys. For awhile I was having to get on her about standing up in the tub. We have been starting to work on obedience, mostly with having her "come" when we call. She is doing well with "sitting down" when she is in the tub. Funny how training a toddler is like training a dog.
Oh Tanzy...Tanzy is Sadie Beth's dearly loved bear. We got him at a bear shoppe in Oregon, and he was already named. Sadie Beth calls him "Teezee," and attacks him with hugs multpile times a day. It is amazing to see how she is already so loving and nurturing at such a young age.
Here is my spunky baby with her first pony tail. David doesn't like it like this but I think it is adorable. Her hair is getting so long...and this was almost 2 months ago!

I think she looks like me here...but I don't know.

More hugs for TeeZee...
So, awhile ago Sadie Beth started this funny habit where she would sneak up behind you and blow raspberries on whatever body part she could get close enough to. She knew we thought it was funny which made her think it was HILARIOUS.
And more raspberries...and look at those beautiful blue eyes!
Funny bath pictures that will one day probably embarrass her...

I got this cute little dress at a consignment store and I loved it. Sadie Beth loved wearing a bow with it. In fact, she loves wearing bows with anything...so much so that she will ask for them before I even turn the light on in her room in the morning. She says "Dohhhhhh" and signs "please"....such a girlie girl!
And another Teezee hug...I couldn't resist....

what a face....
We love being silly...Sadie Beth thought this was very silly.
And she figured out how to escape.
Meet Sadie Beth's other very best friend "Grover," who also goes everywhere with us. Usually Grover is in the left hand and Dog is in the right. She loves crawling around the house with them.
As I mentioned, reading is a very serious activity. I can recite this book, in my sleep, without using any brain power..."Blessing one is earth and sun, that God gave to everyone, blessing 2 tells us it's true, God made rainbows for me and you!....."

Sadie Beth has become quite the little eater! Sometimes I am fascinated by how much this girl can eat. Seriously...I was so worried that she was eating too much that I talked to the doctor about it. He assured me that she was growing healthy and was definitely not eating to much since at her one month appointment she weighed 20lbs even, which is below the 50th percentile for her height and age. Her doctor explained that it is probably because she wasn't getting much nourishment from liquid feedings so she makes up for it in food! I'm thankful that she is eating so many healthy foods and is willing to try most foods. Really the only food I can think of that she won't eat that we've given her is eggs. Not a huge fan of those...

Here's a sequence for the family to enjoy...
She was serious about eating her chicken with tomatos and spices.

Sadie Beth loves "sharing" her food, and squeals with delight when you actually eat a bite that she gives you.
Here we are with the baby in the mirror....Sadie Beth has kindof lost interest in her now, but at this point was still regularly giving her hugs and kisses.
One day during Sadie Beth's nap I rearranged her toys and books like this...(I think I was hoping the new setup would buy me some extra time while I was trying to clean). She thought it was pretty fun.
Hugs for Grover and Ernie!!! And yes, if you were wondering, Sadie Beth spent a lot of time in just her diaper over the summer...(and even now).
Next up....Sadie Beth's first birthday celebrations!!!