Spring photo shoot

2 weekends ago we went and had photos taken by a friend of mine in Aurora, CO. I figured Sadie was 7 months old already and we hadn't had any great shots taken yet, so we buckled down and made plans for a photo shoot at a park. It was really windy and Sadie, for some reason, got camera shy. She's the most smiley baby I've ever seen so I figured getting great smiles out of her would be no problem, but of course, when it came time for real pictures she got shy. It took her nearly the whole session for her to warm up to the camera. Oh well...we still got some great photos!!

I think this last one with the bear is my favorite. So sweet. :)

Tag! You're it!

So my sister in law Emily tagged me and since I enjoyed reading her responses I decided I'd do it too. I usually don't do these kinds of things, but I figured I don't have anything else interesting to blog about so this will do nicely. :)

Here are the rules:
1-Post these rules.
2-Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3-Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4-Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5-Go to their blog/twitter/facebook and tell them you've tagged them.
6-No saying "If you're reading this, you're tagged!"

Here's my random photo:
This was taken in San Francisco around the spring of 2007. I don't remember exactly when but I know it was before I got married but there's a ring on my finger so it was sometime between December 2006 and June 2007. Anyway, it doesn't get much more random than that.

11 random things:

1-I just ate a Fiber One 90 calorie brownie and it was delicious. Surprisingly delicious for something that low cal and that high fiber.

2-I love the color yellow. Not mustard yellow, or sports car yellow, but sunshine yellow, and crayola yellow. It's just so bright and happy.

3-I can't wait to see the Hunger Games. It comes out tomorrow; we'll probably wait a week or so to see it to avoid the opening weekend crowds, but regardless, I'm really excited.

4-I wish it were summer so I could take Sadie swimming for the first time. I think she'll love it.

5-I wish I could find some way for all my family to live close by. Now that I'm a stay at home mom I find myself missing family (my family and Chris's family) more than I ever have before. Living so close to Ben and Allison has kind of made me realize how cool it could be to live close to everyone. haha, then I'd have more options for walking buddies and I wouldn't be bugging Allison all the time to work out with me. :) If only there was some kind of invention that would make it possible to cross large distances in minutes...that'd be cool.

6-I've had a hankering lately to go on a cruise. This summer will be our 5th wedding anniversary so I'm toying with the idea of a cruise this summer. Like most of my ideas it probably won't happen, but it's still fun to think about.

7-I've recently discovered Zumba and it is way fun. I have the Zumba Fitness 2 game for the Wii and do it about 4 days a week. Great work out and lots of fun.

8-I kind of want to learn something about photography. We recently had photos taken by my awesome friend and I felt bad because Sadie got super camera shy. She's such a smiley baby and will smile and anyone at anytime, but for some reason she wouldn't crack a grin for nearly the entire session! If I knew something about cameras and editing photos I could get some great shots.

9-Sometimes I wonder why anybody chooses to be vegetarian (don't want to offend any vegetarian friends out there!). Meat just tastes too dang good to give up. Plus it's a fantastic source of protein. Plus it tastes good in just about anything. Plus if no one ate meat we'd have cows ruling the world. And who wants that, really?

10-I love being a mommy. It's the best!

11-I need a new phone. Seriously, it's time to upgrade. I've had the same phone for nearly 6 years now and it wasn't a top of the line phone when I got it. I've been waiting for it to die and it just won't. I've made a deadline to get a new phone before we go visit Utah because I need a way to track my eating (I count calories--myfitnesspal.com--it's amazing) so I can keep losing weight. We're going to Utah in a few weeks so I think I'm gonna finally buckle down and get one.

whew!! It got kinda hard coming up with random things. It's kind of fun typing my random thoughts. :)

Now to answer the questions from Emily's post.

1. What is your favorite animal, and why? --I haven't seriously thought about this question since I was a kid. When I was a kid my answer was always a horse or a wolf. Now I don't really know. I always considered myself a big animal lover, but as I've grown up I'm learning that I'm not really sure if I like animals all that much. They smell, leave hair all over the place, you gotta clean up their poop, etc etc. I think I may still say horse because they're fun to ride.

2. In your opinion, what is the best board game ever made?--Ok, this is a really hard question because there are a ton of great games out there, but I LOVE the game Ticket to Ride. Whenever I meet someone who has it I want to play it. We don't own it because it's ridiculously expensive for a game and we've just never put the money down for it. Someday we'll probably cave. Also Curses is fun (more of a card game) and Bang (also a card game).

3. Carpet, hardwood or tile?--Carpet!! It's cozy and you can play on the floor with the kids (in my case just one kid)...it's just more comfortable. If I were to own a house though I would make it a combo of the three: tile in kitchens and bathrooms, carpet in bedrooms and other less formal rooms (rec room or whatever) and hardwood for others.

4. What are you/did you look for in a spouse?--someone who was my best friend, who understood me, made me laugh, balanced me out.

5. What is your favorite food/dessert your mom makes?--my mom makes awesome desserts. Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, cherries jubilee, texas sheet cake, chocolate pudding yumminess... Even though I use the exact same recipe and follow it to a tee, her cookies are always a zillion times yummier than mine. I don't understand it.

6. What is the first FUN thing you would buy if you won $1,000,000 dollars?--Hard question. I first think of paying off student loans, then buy a house, new cars, etc. All practical things that a family needs. Then I think of all the books I would love to own, but those aren't particularly expensive. Maybe clothes, I haven't bought new clothes in a long time, but that's kind of practical too. If we're being really ridiculous maybe a private jet so we could fly wherever we wanted whenever we wanted. That'd be sweet. :)

7. If you could choose anywhere to move to raise your family, where would you go?--We've already moved there, Colorado!

8. What is your favorite memory from high school?--I think about all the hours spent swimming. I had a lot of good times in the pool. Also stake play my junior year was super fun; that was a very social year.

9. What is your dream pet?--see question 1. I always wanted a dog (or a horse, but really, I'm never gonna have a horse) but now that I think about it, I don't really want to take care of a dog and they slobber all over you. Cats are more independent so I wouldn't have to do much, but I don't really like cats. They're mean. Maybe we'll get a hamster or something small that will stay primarily in a cage.

10. What is the best book you have read in the past year?--that is a very hard question. I keep a blog documenting all my books that I read. (sninny.blogspot.com) This last year has been a bit slower on the book reading front, what with having a baby and all, so I think my favorite from this last year was the Percy Jackson series. I know that's technically 5 books, but they're written for kids so I'll count them as one. :) I borrowed them from Lance (Chris's youngest brother) and they were really, really fun. Year before last had a lot more books that I would call "favorites": Hunger Games, Fablehaven, anything by Shannon Hale.

11. What is your dream date/favorite date?--Ok, dream date here, and maybe this isn't really a date but more of a vacation, but I'd love to go traveling with Chris through Europe, Italy especially. I know Chris wants to take me to Spain so we've fantasized about traveling across Europe together. Who knows when that will ever happen. We have a hard enough time taking little trips together, let alone a trip across the ocean. And then add kids into the mix...maybe when we retire. :)

Ok, now to post 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
1-What is your favorite color and why?
2-If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3-Do you prefer the beach or a lake?
4-What's one of your most embarrassing moments?
5-What was your favorite subject in school?
6-When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
7-What is one goal you have for the future?
8-What is your favorite book of all time?
9-What is a recipe you can make really well/your favorite recipe to make?
10-Who is someone that inspires you?
11-What kind of animal are you most like?

I tag Allison Meakin, Michelle Ryan, Alexandra Wink, Diana Hawkes, Liel Boyce, and Kate Challis. BTW, ladies, I won't be offended if you don't do this, so no worries. :)

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

Ok, so I've been doing pretty badly with updating this blog. Apologies to anyone who has been wanting new pictures of Sadie. Sadie went to her 6 month appointment a few weeks ago and here are her most recent stats:
Height--26 inches / 50-75th percentile
Weight--15 lbs 2 oz / 25-50th percentile (she went up a percentile!!)
Head--16 3/4 inches / 50-75th percentile
I'm so proud of my little bug; she gained 2 pounds since her last appointment just over a month ago. She's no longer the tiniest baby around and finally has some good chub on her body. Such a cutie.

In other news Sadie has officially moved into her own room and into a nice new crib. That's right, she is no longer sleeping in a pack n play at the foot of our bed. While it's not as easy to give her her binky in the middle of the night, it's so nice to have our own space again. And she LOVES her crib!!! There's so much more room for her to roll around and play. Plus we get to use super cute bedding we got from Teresa.
We've been nice and busy this month; we've had lots of snow, some sunshine, library trips, hospital trips to visit Sadie's poor cousin Rosie who had pneumonia,
lots of trips to the store, and lots of family time. We splurged this month and bought a new tv, finally laying to rest our huge, boxy and heavy tv. I bought Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii and have been enjoying working out with latin dancing for a few weeks. It's a great workout!! Sadie had become comfortable with solid baby food and really likes her vegetables; she doesn't spit them at me anymore. :)
She's also become comfortable with sitting up
and has really strong arms and back when she has tummy time. In addition to her Exersaucer, which she still loves, she likes to play with water bottles, the tags on her stuffed animals, electronics cords, the basket that holds her toys, and lots of other things that she's not supposed to play with. She enjoys reading before naps, baths, having her picture taken, watching daddy make silly faces, going for drives and walks,
and chewing on my sweatshirt's hoodie strings. She hates having her face cleaned off after eating and having the boogers cleaned out of her nose. We have lots of fun together each day. She's my best little pal!! Such a sweet little girl. We love her.

Happy half-birthday Sadie!

Sadie turned 6 months old this week and I can hardly believe it. I still feel like she's a newborn, which she definitely is not. Here are some milestones she has accomplished lately:

• I heard Sadie laugh for the first time a few days ago. She hasn't repeated her achievement so Daddy can hear, but she definitely did it, twice.
  
• Today she pulled on the dangley toys in her Exersaucer and made the music play all by herself.

• She likes to reach for things, whether it be a toy, your face, your food, her/your clothes, and put it in her mouth. She's getting pretty good at getting things in her mouth.

• She makes the most magnificent spit bubbles.
• She has found her feet! ...and loves to play with them. I'm certain that they, too, will soon find their way into her mouth.

• She loves to stick out her tongue.

That's all I can think of for now. I think she'll be starting to crawl/scoot soon. She gets antsy when playing on her tummy. She'll kick her legs and bounce around but can't move anywhere yet. She also likes to scream and holler when she's playing, it's pretty funny. What a silly little girl we have!!

In other news, Chris celebrated his 30th birthday last week and we went on our first date since Sadie was born. We left her with her wonderful Aunt and Uncle and they watched her while we went and had dinner at Olive Garden. I can't believe how nice it felt to just go somewhere and talk and take it easy and feel like a couple again. Though I admit, I had to consciously stop myself from texting Ben and Allison to check on Sadie, even though I was sure she was fine.

We have also experienced a hearty round of stomach sickness. I got it first (thanks Ben) and then Sadie and then Chris got it a full week later. Chris and I each lost a few pounds, so I guess it wasn't all bad, but being sick is never fun. Especially for a baby. Hopefully no one gets sick for awhile.

Otherwise we've all been doing really well! Nothing more to report. It's great to stay on top of the blog so I'm not overwhelmed with stuff to write about. I'll keep trying to post weekly, or at least biweekly. Cheers!

Stats!

So Sadie went to her new pediatrician last week to get her 4 month shots (even though she is 5 and a half months old...) and we got her new measurements!

Height: 25.5 inches long / 50-75th percentile
Head: 16.25 inches (didn't give a percentile on this one)
Weight: 13 lbs .2 oz / 10th percentile

So she's long and skinny. Enjoy it while it lasts, girl, cause with your genetics you won't be tall and skinny for long!! :) But of course the most important thing is that she's healthy. She has been introduced to solids and has been gobbling up rice cereal for about 2 weeks now. She loves her rice but hates the oatmeal. I think I'll give her a couple weeks and then try it again. I mean, who doesn't love oatmeal, right?
Sadie's latest (and favorite) trick is to roll from her back onto her tummy and then getting stuck there. She'll start to scream and flail her arms and legs until you turn her back over. The real kicker is that she knows how to roll from her tummy to back; she's been doing it since November!! But I guess since she starting rolling onto her tummy she has forgotten how to go the other way. Highly inconvenient if you ask me. I'm thinking she's going to learn to crawl soon with how much time she spends on her tummy and kicking her legs. I can tell she's just itching to get into everything around her. I better appreciate this immobile time while I can!

Disclaimer: this video is a bit long (~3 mins) and only moderately entertaining. I don't know how to edit out the boring parts. :)

Sadie loves to read books. She'll sit on my lap and listen to stories and stare at the pictures. She is already a lover of books, just like her mom and dad!

Her favorite toys right now are an Exersaucer toy Ben and Allison are letting us use, her teething rings, a little piano rattle that plays classical music, and a little monkey rattle/teether. Actually, I should say that her ultimate favorite toys are her hands; she plays with and chews on those things till they're rubbed raw and sore! That's why we bought her teething rings for Christmas, but alas, they can't compare with those little hands.
Ok, so we also got her a Johnny Jump Up for Christmas. I found it at Target for only $20 and I was so excited to use it. We set it up right away and she used it for a couple days trying to get the hang of it. One morning I put her in and walked over to the kitchen to put some dishes away, something I'd done before and didn't think twice about. Then I heard this odd sucking in, almost gasping, noise and I quickly go check on Sadie and her head was leaned over the edge so that the weight of her head was putting pressure on her neck and it was too heavy for her to lift up on her own. I got her up, comforted her, almost started crying myself, and immediately took down the Johnny Jump Up and hid it away in the closet. Clearly, she is not ready for this toy. We'll try again when she can crawl, or at least when I know she can pick herself up if she leans too far forward. Sadie takes all her naps and sleeps all night in her pack 'n play (still haven't gotten around to getting a crib yet...), which is a big thing for her since up until about a month ago she required all naps to take place in someones arms. The little princess wanted to be held while she slept but luckily we have broken that habit and she sleeps quite well on her own. Thank goodness. :) And she usually sleeps between 9-11 hours at night, which is fabulous!

We sure love our little Sadie-bug and are so happy and thankful to have her in our lives!

I meant to post these a long time ago, but for reference, here are her measurements from her first few doctor check-ups.

Age: 1 month
Height: 20 and 1/2 inches long / 10-25th percentile
Head: 13 and 7/8 inches / 5th percentile
Weight: 7 lbs 9 and 1/2 oz / 5-10th percentile

Age: 2 months
Height: 22 inches / 25th percentile
Head: 14 and 1/2 inches / 10th percentile
Weight: 9 lbs 2 oz / 10th percentile

lots of pictures!

So I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera to the computer from the last 3 months. Instead of writing about all of our adventures I think I'll just post pictures and captions.
This was her adorable Thanksgiving outfit. We bought it at Babies R Us. I made her wear it about 10 times during the month of November to get our moneys worth. It was worth every penny. :)

On November 11th we took a day trip to Estes park to find a place to go hiking. It was a nice sunny day but the wind was FREEZING. We found a short trail had a nice adventure. Sadie did NOT enjoy the wind. I haven't heard her scream like that since she got her 3 month shots. Poor thing.


Here's Sadie just being adorable. I love those Winnie-the-Pooh overalls. Thanks for the hand-me-down Teresa!


At the library!

We went to the mall with Ben and Allison so they could get a picture of Rosie and Evie with Santa. The pictures were like 20 bucks so we opted out and just took our own. I'm kind of sad that we never got a picture of Sadie with Santa this year. We were gonna do it at our ward Christmas party but the line was forever long and we didn't want to stay that long. Oh well. It's not like she would have any idea of what was going on anyway.

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving and went to Temple Square to see the lights. They were beautiful!Sadie and I like to go on walks around this beautiful lake right in front of our apartment complex.

And 0n cold days she wears her cow suit!!

Family tummy time!
Festive Santa suit!!

We went to see the lights at the Denver Zoo with Ben, Allison, Rosie, and Evie. It was a fairly warm (at least for December) night and the lights were beautiful. Good times!
On Christmas Eve we had our annual Lord of the Rings marathon. Since we don't have a couch yet we laid out all of our blankets and pillows and created our own makeshift couch. It was cozy and fun. We made homemade pizza, spinach dip, and scotcheroos to eat during the 11 and 1/2 hours of LOTR goodness. Best Christmas Eve (by ourselves) ever!
This post has gotten way long so I'm gonna post the rest of the pics in another post.