Highlights of 2013

Reed and I were both glad to say goodbye to 2012. It was a hard year. Reed's younger brother passed away and we suffered our second miscarriage after months of trying. We welcomed 2013 and it didn't disappoint. We had a lot of fun this year and a lot of big, happy things happened.

I started the year off taking a spontaneous weekend trip to Albuquerque to see friends. We shopped, ate some good food, and hung out! I also flew by myself for the first time and I handled it like a seasoned traveler!

For my birthday we took a trip to New York City! I fulfilled a life long dream and we had an amazing time. I have wanted to go to NYC since I was little. Whenever we would go on a family vacation, I always asked if we could go to New York. It was freezing and snowed a little. My kind of weather! It took me a little bit to warm up. I was a little grumpy the first day as we walked around. I didn't put on enough layers because I didn't want to be too hot. After about half an hour I adjusted and loved the weather. It felt so nice. One night we walked around to try and find something for dinner. It started snowing and it was so much fun to walk around in the snow.

The weekend after we returned from New York, we found out we were pregnant. I called Reed and rambled on for about 10 minutes about how we shouldn't get excited, or get our hopes up, that it wasn't a big deal, and I was just telling him because I had to, but I didn't want to get excited. I repeated those things over and over, then I told him I took a test and it was positive. 

In May we found out we were expecting a baby girl!

Reed took a couple days off of work in July and we went to San Diego for his Aunt's wedding. While we were there we hit the beach and the San Diego Zoo. San Diego is one of our favorite places to visit. It was a nice last vacation as a family of two!

Sadie dominated the rest of the year.

She was born in October and the months have flown by!

This picture was taken before we left the hospital. She's so tiny here!

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving together.

And our first Christmas.

Christmas morning, Sadie and I had a chance to hang out while we waited for Reed to wake up so we could open presents. I took the time to think about how thankful I am for our little girl. It's funny how much can happen in one year. God truly blessed us and I don't take His gift for granted. I know Sadie won't remember this holiday, but I'll treasure it forever. 

Two Months

Dear Sadie,

Another month has flown by. You're growing so fast! You weighed 10 pounds at the doctor last Friday. You're such a big girl! You're officially out of newborn clothes which makes me a little sad.

You still sleep a lot. 

When you are awake you want to see what's going on. You don't like to be sitting, we always have to be moving when we're holding you. 

I live to see you smile. You have such a beautiful smile. You're pretty serious though! You look like you're solving a long division problem most of the time because you're busy taking everything in. 

Your strength continues to amaze us. You are so strong! You lift your head up and look around all the time. 

Your favorite thing in the world is to be naked! As soon as we unsnap your diaper, you kick your legs like crazy. Sometimes when you're fussy, I put you on the changing pad, take off your diaper, and let you move around! It settles you down. 

Your second favorite thing is the ceiling fan. You smile at that more than anything. If you're crying it will stop you in your tracks until you remember you were crying and start all over again!

I love your little toes. I wish there was a way to keep them this size forever.

We're getting the hang of breastfeeding. We have these moments in the middle of the night where you pull yourself off and look up at me and smile. I know I shouldn't encourage you at 3 A.M., but those moments are my favorite. 

You're starting to talk and you have the cutest little voice. You found the mirror on your swing and will talk your own ear off. 

Your dad and I often stare at you and talk about what a blessing you are. You bring us such joy and happiness.

Who knew we would talk about poop so much?

You still eat every 2 to 3 hours during the day, but are starting to go closer to 7 to 8 hours at night and then another 3 to 4 hour stretch. You must have had another growth spurt because two times last week you slept from 5 P.M. to 2 A.M.

You still have a love/hate relationship with your car seat, but you are starting to like baths more. They're not your favorite thing, but you don't cry anymore. You don't like having your clothes taken off or put on. You don't want to be messed with!

We love you so much Sadie baby. You are the sweetest little thing!

Love, Mom

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving Week

On Thanksgiving I asked my sister if she would take a few photos because I have a lot of pictures of Reed with Sadie and me with Sadie, but only a few of the three of us together. Unfortunately, someone was a sassy pants and didn't like getting their picture taken, like father like daughter.

I handed Sadie to my sister because I told her to dress nice so I could get some pictures of the two of them and didn't want to waste the opportunity. Guess who settled down as soon as she got into her Auntie's arms? I'm going to have to keep my eye on those two.

Thanksgiving morning my mom and sister came over for a brunch and then we went over to our friend's house for a traditional Thanksgiving feast.

My beautiful friend Tonya was in town so we did what girls do and got our shop on! We tried to convince Reed that Sadie needed her first coach purse. Yeah, that didn't happen!

While the three of us were out to lunch I breastfed in public for the first time. I usually do it in my car because it's easier. That whole hooter hider thing is a pain in the ass! If we didn't have an extra step involved to get a good latch I wouldn't use it.

We took Sadie to her first Christmas parade. She loved slept through it. Reed and I had fun. We look forward to doing more things like that when she's older and can enjoy them too. 

On our way to the parade the grinch made an appearance. She doesn't like stuff on her head,

but she looked so cute in the santa beanie I made her and it matched her outfit! 

What we've been up to lately

Time is flying by. I cannot believe that Sadie will be two months old in a little over a week. She certainly keeps me busy during the day so it doesn't leave me much time for blogging. I've been trying to enjoy every moment with her. She is the sweetest thing, but she's demanding! :) Generally, I like to have everything scheduled/planned out so I know what to expect. I figured once Sadie arrived we'd get into a routine and try to stick with it as much as we could. Since she's been born, it's kind of been the opposite. I let her call the shots and go with the flow. If I have stuff that needs to be done, I work around what she's doing and get it done when I can. She still sleeps a lot so there isn't much to put into a routine anyway. When I can, I try and follow the EASY routine (eat, activity, sleep, you). However, she usually falls asleep while I'm feeding her. I know there's a lot of stuff out there that says you're not suppose to nurse to sleep, but so far it hasn't caused us any issues. I don't think it makes sense to wake her up just to have her fall back asleep or keep her awake so she's fussy.

Our days fly by. She eats every two hours during the day, sometimes she goes three hours between feedings. It blows my mind how fast two hours go by. I'm lucky because she's always been a pretty fast eater, but before I know it, it's time to feed her again.

I don't want to jinx anything, but she's been sleeping pretty good at night. She usually eats between 8:00 and 9:00 P.M. and sleeps to 3:00 or 4:00 A.M. Reed changes her and brings her back to me to eat and then she sleeps until 6:00 A.M. or 7:00 A.M. I've tried waking her around 10:00 P.M. to feed her to get her longer stretch of sleep to last longer in the morning, but she still wakes up a few hours later. It isn't horrible so I'm just letting her do her thing for now. Once she starts staying more alert we will not be starting our day at 3:00 A.M. so we may have some sleep training in our future.

We started using her one size cloth diapers a few weeks ago. I LOVE them. There was a small part of me that was worried I wouldn't like using cloth. I read so many blogs and different opinions while researching cloth diapers. There were a handful of people who tried it and for different reasons didn't like it and switched to disposables. I've had a couple small leaks, but both times she was in her diaper for longer than usual. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about using cloth diapers is that you touch poop. I touched waaaay more poop using disposables.

Christmas is about a week away. It's going to be special sharing it with our little Sadie girl. We're having family over on Christmas Eve morning for a brunch. We'll go to church in the afternoon and come home to open our stockings and eat yummy food. Christmas morning we'll see what Santa brought us, open our presents, and eat a nice breakfast. I'm very excited about starting traditions with the three of us!

Newborn Pictures

We had newborn pictures taken when Sadie was six days old. It's pretty crazy that she's almost two months old! Ah! She has changed so much from when these were taken. She looks so little, now she's our big girl with big ole cheeks and belly. Our photographer is so amazing. Sadie was a little sassafras and you can't tell looking at the pictures. Seriously, if you need any pictures. check her out.