Big Girl Sadie

Sadie is steadily growing up. It's crazy. I feel like she grew up so fast before I even realized it was happening. It seemed like between 0 and 20 months with Ella, it was slow and almost leisurely (although I wouldn't have said that at the time...hindsight is 20/20). I realized last night that I was already 8 weeks pregnant with Sadie when Ella was 20 months old. We haven't really even thought about having our third child yet, but back when she was born we wanted to time it the same. I guess time just snuck by without us even noticing.

Sadie started preschool last Wednesday. She did amazing. She cried for just a moment, then went to her teacher (Miss Kim, who was also Ella's first teacher) and then stopped crying. I took Ella to her classroom and by the time I walked back by Sadie's room, she was intently playing with a Mr. Potato Head. I thought Friday was going to be brutal now that she knew just how long she would be a school that day. Nope. She didn't even cry a little bit. She stuck out her bottom lip, but never cried. Today, Josh said that she put on her backpack and held Ella's hand as they walked to class and she went right in. It's amazing. I am so thankful that this has been such a smooth transition. And so far, she hasn't come home with any awful illnesses. Maybe being at PCCare her entire life has built up some immunities.

And in other big girl news, last Wednesday after Sadie's first day of school we put her on the trundle bed in Ella's room and she has done marvelously at sleeping in a big girl bed. We can hear Ella and her giggling and talking to each other as they fall asleep. She gets up a few times every night, but she'll walk into my room saying "Mommy" and I'll walk her right back to her bed and she goes back to sleep. I haven't had to stay up with her at all. And the best part??? Josh and I FINALLY have our own room back! We don't have to go downstairs in the middle of the night to use the restroom and we can brush our teeth in our own bathroom at night instead of in the guest bathroom. We can take showers in our own shower without waking up the baby...the list goes on and on. It's awesome.

So maybe we'll enjoy this new found freedom before we start thinking baby number three. Although 30 is steadily creeping up on me.........

I've been doing my best to get in shape for the Tough Mudder next month....So far, I've lost 15 pounds and can run 7.34 miles straight! And I've only fallen in a hole once and gotten bit by one dog in the process. I'm going to assume that everyone else falls in a couple holes and gets bit by a few dogs....right?

T minus 47 days until the Tough Mudder.

Mud Running

After our very first mud run.

Over the past year, Josh and I picked up a new hobby. We did our very first Mud Run last October and just finished our fourth one. Each time we (and I mean I) do better and better. Josh is the best running partner. He is in terrific shape and during his time in the Army, he did a lot of running and he's fast. But every time we run, he makes sure to stay with me at my pace and he gently pushes me to do better. He never gets frustrated or upset with me that I'm quite a bit slower than he is. I feel like he is just as proud of me as I am when I finish. So, after this last one we decided to try something a little more difficult. So we signed up for the Tough Mudder. I am starting to regret that decision! I've been running and trying to get to where I can at least run the length of the course...it's about 12 miles. And to elaborate, there are obstacles such as jumping across haybales, running through fire, and the ending obstacle is called electroshock therapy, where you run through a field of hanging live wires that will shock you. Yes, I feel as if I may have made a mistake. :) So far, my furthest run to date is 5.61 miles and that was on Sunday. The hard part for me is that my pace is about a 10 minute mile, so running takes a while for me and now that daylight savings is gone, I tend to run out of daylight before I can even get started. But my goals for the Mud Runs were to not walk the course at all, which I've been able to accomplish. So I'm hoping that I won't have to walk on the Tough Mudder, but I'm not even close to 12 miles yet. I'm going to keep pushing and hopefully by January I'll be able to run 10 miles. That's my goal.

I love the holidays!

And here it all starts again. Halloween kicks off my very favorite part of the year. And I'm already excited about Black Friday!!! Halloween was such a success this year. The girls had some pretty cute costumes that other people handmade for me since I am not very good at that sort of thing.... :) Ella was Little Red Riding Hood and Sadie was The Big Bad Wolf. Being that Sadie has grown up pulling hair and biting her sister, I felt that the roles were very fitting! Sadie and I went to Ella's Halloween party yesterday morning at school and we had such a fun time. Sadie wanted so bad to be a big kid like the rest of them. She got to eat cookies with the big kids, play games, and sit in the circle with them.

Here are the kids praying over their snack. It was so cute to hear them saying their prayer in unison.

Sadie got hold of some of the super cool loot Ella got from her party.

Josh and I carved our very first pumpkin. Ella was supposed to have the job of scooping out the seeds, but she was too grossed out!

And we ended the night with a little trick or treating. It was so much fun. Ella would show Sadie where to go and would walk her up to the people handing out candy. And if someone looked a little scary, she'd make sure Sadie was ok. Although I think that was more for her own comfort :) And Sadie told every single person that gave her candy "Tay-tu Mama". It was the cutest ever.

Sadiebug's 1st Birthday!

Okay, so I realize it's been over 4 months since her birthday but I'm just now getting around to this post. So, let's start with the food (because that's my favorite part).

The party favors (strawberry jar cake with homemade buttercream frosting)

And now for the cake (as promised). Completely homemade from scratch and my first attempt at a cake. I found these really neat food color pens that the guests used to sign her cake.

And apparently, if you use gel food coloring instead of the regular kind, the colors are much brighter!

There were some imperfections in the cake, but all in all it was a success and an accomplishment for me since I don't even own a mixer. Luckily my mom let me borrow hers.

And now for the party! It was a berry-themed party since that is her favorite food of all time.

this was the best present and still saves my life most days. the girls love to "cook" for me.

thanks to noelle for the super cute birthday outfit :)

Sadiebug, I had so much fun celebrating your first birthday. I still can't believe that you're the same tiny, cuddly, little newborn who slept hours on hours in her swing. I love watching you figure out who you are and what you like. Your personality is all of it's own. You are such a mommy's girl, but when daddy is around you are mesmerized. I know just how you feel. :) You are so much fun and I love you with all of my heart.

Since Sadie was born, I never thought that having two kids was all that difficult. Maybe it's because they were spaced out perfectly in age or the fact that I didn't have any sort of hormonal issues after Sadie was born, or the fact that I was only home with both kids two days a week.  The hardest part was the typical newborn stuff that you get with the first one anyway, so it's not so much of a culture shock the second time around.  Sleep training is the devil.  Either way, two kids was a piece of cake. The older Sadie gets, the more difficult things get. She is like a walking disaster. A small toddler-sized tornado ripping through every toybox, closet, and cabinet within reach. I don't ever remember Ella being so destructive. Yesterday was a wild day. As I was taking a shower, Sadie was in my bathroom drinking her bottle and as I'm trying to hurry through my shower, I see her take every tampon under my sink out and scatter them on the floor. Then she gets all of the extra hand soaps (apprently I stock up) and litters them throughout the bathroom and closet. Then she comes out of the closet holding several tank tops she took from out of my drawer. Finally I'm able to get out and stop the madness. So I'm getting dressed and then she comes walking in with the toilet brush in her hand. I am hoping, by this point, that she didn't put it in her mouth. So the morning goes on like this. I'm in the kitchen later and hear an "Uh-oh" come from Sadie in the living room. She spilled Ella's entire cup of water onto the rug. Then she's thrown every single toy out of the toybox, destroyed every puzzle (because she only likes to take them apart and not put them back together), pulled every book from the bookshelf, and dragged out all of my tupperware. So I scoop the kids up and we go to the grocery store. I linger for a while because I really don't want to go face the mess. We finally get back home and Sadie tells me she wants a "Mahnah-mahnah-mahnah" (banana)....

I may lose my mind soon. :)

I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime recently Ella has decided she'd rather play with her friends. *GASP* But I was always her favorite playmate. It happens so fast, doesn't it? But I still have Tuesdays and Thursdays where it's just my girls and me and those days are the best days.