18 Weeks

Four Months

Dear Sadie, 

We meet again... The doctor said you are one healthy baby. You weigh 12 pounds 5 ounces and are 24.5 inches long. You're in the 13th percentile for weight and 50th for height. You've grown four inches since you were born. You pretty much wear all 3 month clothes. I put some 6 month outfits on you because we're tired of your old clothes! We need new stuff, right Dad?

You had an exciting month! You started sleeping in your crib. I thought it would be a hard transition, but you seem to like it in there at night. Taking naps in your crib is a little harder. We're working on it. You'll get there!

We started a schedule of Eat, play, eat, sleep that seems to be working really well. You take two, one to two hour naps each day. For most of the month you would sleep for about 11 hours, wake up for a feeding, and sleep for another hour or two. The middle of the night feeding is starting to jump around a little, but you still sleep to about the same time every morning.

You rolled over from your back to your stomach and haven't stopped! You're my little rolly pollie. I'll leave you for a minute on your back and the next thing I know you're on your stomach. You haven't mastered rolling onto your back yet. You're getting pretty close.

You went from having zero interest in toys, to swatting at them, to grabbing them and putting them in your mouth. Speaking of your mouth, you drool EVERYWHERE! You always have your hands in your mouth.

We're still exclusively breastfeeding. My goal was to make it to a year and as we get closer to six months I feel proud that we've been able to make it so far. Breastfeeding is hard!

You won't take a bottle. We try and try, but we're making baby steps.

You are incredibly happy in the morning. We took these pictures at 6:00 A.M. because we were heading to Tucson. 

You like taking baths with me. You're starting to hit the water with your hands and make water splash everywhere.

We don't let you watch TV, but if you catch a glimpse, your eyes are glued! You use all your strength to keep watching!

You're starting to like shopping. Yay! I'll hold an outfit up and if you smile we get it! If you don't smile and I like it, we still get it.

You're attracted to the color green.

You are mesmerized by this wood abacus you received for Christmas. You used to lay on your side and play with it with one hand, now I have to hold you in my lap so you can use both hands! Your face is so determined while you make the letters spin.

You make a really weird noise when you giggle. You give me a mini heart attack because I think you're choking. Every now and then we'll get a real giggle out of you!

You talk in a normal sounding voice and a really loud squeaky voice. I'm a little worried that's how I sound to you and you're trying to mimic me!

My favorite moments are when I look at you and you smile at me without any prompting. You're still pretty serious, but we get smiles out of you.

You're starting to have some stranger anxiety. 

I love you beautiful. These months are starting to fly by. You are my sweet girl and I cannot imagine life without you. 

Love, Mom

Thankful

My sweet, little baby is taking a nap on me and I keep thinking I couldn't be more thankful for her. The last couple of days have been a little rough. She's been fighting sleep during the day so she gets really upset because she's so tired, but won't fall asleep. There's been a few times when we've cried together. Even though she's been a little bipolar, going from smiling to screaming in 1.2 seconds, it is the most amazing thing I've ever done, being a mom. I love her so much. Sometimes my heart can't take it when she smiles, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. There's also been a few times when I cry looking at her because she's our little miracle. She's been pretty expressive since birth so when this happens she'll raise one eyebrow and give me a "what the heck is your problem lady" look. This often causes me to tear up a little more because while she looks like Reed, she's definitely all me inside.

Three Months

Dear Sadie,

Another month has passed. You don't go to the doctor this month so I don't know how much you weigh, but you're definitely growing! I love your little cheeks. You wear 3 months clothes, but you'll be out of them pretty soon.

You rolled over from your front to your back three times the beginning of this month, but you haven't done it since. You've gotten pretty close though!

You kick your legs and wave your arms all the time. You try and kick us in the face while we're changing your diaper.

You are so alert and always looking around. When we're out and about people always comment how alert you are. They also say you're pretty cute, but I already know that! :)

You love being naked and that makes your dad a little nervous.

We celebrated our first Christmas with you. It was very special. You had no idea what was going on, but it was special to me. We had family over on Christmas Eve for a brunch and went to a service at church in the afternoon. On Christmas day we opened our presents and spent some more time with family. You did such a good job with all the commotion.

I love hearing your little voice.

You don't like your head being messed with so that means I have to sneak headbands on you or otherwise you start crying.

You like taking baths with your mama.

You met your Uncle Kai this month.

You eat every two hours during the day and go 9 to 10 hours at night and another 3 hours after that.

You had a growth spurt last week and you were a little crazy! You ate for half an hour every hour and a half. You were a fussy, hungry baby!

I tried giving you a couple bottles, you won't take to them. I'm going to keep trying and hoping you'll eat from one. It would be nice to leave you with dad for a few hours. Whenever I leave you alone I worry the whole time you're going to get hungry and I won't be there to feed you.

You are starting to realize you have control of your hands. It's pretty cute watching you try to grab stuff. You have your hands in your mouth all the time and you're starting to drool all over the place!

You're a good little baby and I love you so much. I can't imagine life without you and I thank God daily for you. You have been such a blessing.

Love, Mom

Sadie's Future

Reed took a few extra days off last week and we were busy. We opened a savings account for Sadie. My grandfather opened a savings account for me when I was 5 years old. I still have it open! Saving has always been important to me. Reed and I want to teach Sadie good habits when it comes to money. If we don't do it, who will? She obviously has no idea what's going on now, but when she's older we'll teach how fun saving can be! Well, if she's anything like me she'll think saving is fun... 

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