Christmas Eve!

Today we visited the Botanical Gardens.  Sadie loved all of the "Fairy houses" I think I would have liked it a lot more if there weren't so many people!  It was crowded!  I get a little stressed out in big crowds (like most people) and I had a killer head ache.  But overall it was a good time.  I learned that Sadie has absolutely NO interest in watching trains.  Good to know!

Funny day!

Sadie was hilarious today.  The fact that she had a smokers voice only enhanced the fun.  Yesterday I made her some play dough.  She wasn't interested in it yesterday but today she was watching Little Einsteins and then suddenly said "I bake a cake".  So she went into the dinning room and started playing with her play dough.  I was feeding Tyson so I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing until I heard her singing loudly "Happy Birdday to MEEEEE, Happy Birdday to Mom, Happy Birdday to ME!"  I got her some birthday candles and let her play birthday party all day! 

We were playing outside.  Missy was going crazy running and spinning everywhere.  Tyson and I were laughing.  I guess it was making Sadie jealous because she came over and said "Put him down!"  I said Sadie I can't put him down right now!  So she goes "PUT him DOWN in the DIRT!"

Later we picked up some pizza for our friends that are sick.  When I told the girl I wanted a cheese and a sausage pizza she flipped "I do I do!  I want pizza!  I want cheese!"  It was hard for her little self to understand that it wasn't for us.  Later when I was tucking her into bed and just about to give her a kiss goodnight  I heard her whisper "I want my pizza back"

While Sadie was going potty (this is after I had already put her to bed once) I accidentally knocked over Tyson's bathtub.  Once Sadie was done she said "Get in the corner mom."  I was like "huh?" (I didn't understand what she was talking about) "GET IN THE CORNER!!!"  Again I said "What?"  Then she said "Put your hands on the WALL!"  She was putting me into time out!  So I put my hands on the wall.  As soon as I touched the wall she grabbed my hand and said "Ok talk to me"  I said "What did I do?"  "Hit Ty's tub."  "Oh ok I'm sorry Sadie."  I gave her a big hug.  She just turns around without a word and walked to her room and put herself back to bed.  What a little goof!

On a side note:
Tyson is rolling around like crazy now!  My life is over...  He's also scooting.  When he's laying on his stomach he puts his bum up and pushes forward.  He's like a little inchworm.

Tyson 4 Months!

Happy 4 month Birthday my little man!  This past month was a little rough on Tyson.  First he got a really bad rash all over his body, then he was constipated for 5 days and he was colicky.  I was really worried for a while because he used to be such a happy baby and I was afraid I wouldn't get him back.  But luckily, He's back!  He still gets painful gas bubbles but for the most part he's back to his cheerful self.  Some things about this past month:
-He got really good with his hands.  He can grab his Binky and put it in his mouth.  Its pretty cute to watch!
-We buzzed his hair because he looked pretty silly.  He looked like an old man!
-He went to his first amusement park and water park.
-Sadie sings him "Edelweiss" to calm him down.  It works EVERY time!  Its so helpful when I'm trying to get dinner on the table.  He LOVES his big sister. 
-He's still in size 2 diapers.
-He smells like rotten eggs.
-He snores.
-He is a Mamma's boy!  I'm pretty proud of that one!
-He started using his Jumparoo.  He is pretty much obsessed.  If he sees it he starts wiggling like crazy to get to it.
-He tried his first solid food today.  I gave him some Whole wheat cereal with avocados in it.  He loved it!!
-Oh yeah...HE STARTED SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! (Usually from 10-7) So nice!

Sadie funnies...

This girl is so funny.  I wish I could record everything she does because I think we would probably be AFV winners by now.  Sadly every time I get out the camera she gets all shy :(  I'll have to do my best to describe it but some things you just had to have been there.

As you all know we are potty training right now.  Some days are good.  Some days are really really bad.  This was one of them...

Sadie had just had an #2 accident in her brand new mini mouse undies.  Usually #2's are not a big deal because she poops like a deer (Someone get this girl some FIBER!) so its really easy to clean up IF it stays in the undies. 

As I started to change her she FLIPPED out because she really wanted to wear those new undies.  She started to kick her legs right when I was trying to pull the dirty undies off and little pellets went flying everywhere.

Me:  "ARE YOU SERIOUS SADIE?  Are you SERIOUS?!"

So I clean up the mess and give her a bath.  LATER as I'm trying to get her dressed she is NOT cooperating.  I finally pin her down and attempt to put a sweater on her while she's struggling and I hear this...

Sadie:  "ARE YOU SERIOUS MOM?  Are you SERIOUS?!"

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Ben came home from work and gave me a kiss while I was cooking dinner.  (don't get too excited, this is a PG post!)
From below we hear a little voice say "NO!  Kiss ME!"

Now whenever we say "Sadie, Who should I kiss?"  She always replies with "Kiss ME!"

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We went to Busch Gardens recently.  While we were there it was their first night of their version of "Fright mares"  They did a good job!  It was pretty scary!  We were walking past the Werewolf section of the park.  They had werewolves in the trees and peaking out from behind signs.  I could tell that Sadie was getting a little nervous but "Miss Independent" wanted to walk.  It was taking for EVER because her little legs don't really go very fast and I wanted to go home.  So I said "Sadie!  I'm so scared!"  So she ran over to me, jumped up into my arms and squeezed me as hard as she could and whispered in my ear "Don't be afraid.  I got you.  I got you mom."  She stayed in this position the WHOLE rest of the way through the park.  Anytime I tried to lift my head up she would yank it back down and say "SHHH...I got you.  Don't be afraid."

Ty 3 Months!

This boy is HUGE!  People ask if he's 6 months old all of the time.  The best word to describe his personality is delightful.  He is always so happy and giggly and talkative.  I love it!  He is SO fun.  He likes to wake up at 3am just to talk.  He isn't even hungry most of the time.  He just wants to chat with me.  He gets so happy when I walk in.  He starts flapping his arms and kicking his legs.  Having someone so happy to see you feels really good!  Here are some highlights from this last month:

*He moved up from 1's to 2's in diaper sizes
*He's wearing 3 month clothes
*His hair started falling out in clumps!  I'm so sad!  I loved his dark silky hair.  Now he only has a little peach fuzz on top. 
*He still has extremely bad gas!  Luckily it doesn't seem to bother him too much.
*He still loves the bath.
*He watches his sister and smiles at everything she does.  He adores her.
*He has the most beautiful blue/sparkly eyes I'm so happy that I finally got a picture that shows that. (The one above)
*He shakes his head violently while trying to fight off sleep.
*He weighs about 15 lbs right now
*He is extremely tickelish.  Especially his feet.
*He giggles all the time.  All you have to do is kiss his cheeks.
*He is exploring his voice.  He copies the noises we make and he LOVES it when he feels like we are copying him back.
*He gets really sad when he hears loud noises.  His little lip pokes out and his eyes get all teary.  It's pretty dang cute!
*He can fit his whole fist in his mouth!
*He can almost roll over from his back to his stomach
*He spits up pretty much everything I feed him :( but he's still gaining weight so I don't worry too much about it. 
and...thats all I can think of right now! 
I LOVE this little cutie!!!

Perspective

Sometimes when I feel like things are hard I like to read this: http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/2010/09/answers.html
It inspires me to be a better Mom and it really puts things into "perspective" for me.

NC Zoo

"Ew elephanto bummies!"-Sadie (I really don't know where any of those words came from!)

Since Saturdays family activity was sort of a failure.  We decided to use Ben's day off to check out the North Carolina Zoological Park.  Sadie LOVES animals so we knew it would be a hit. (It was!) 

Even the 2 hour ride there was enjoyable.  I could hear Sadie in the back saying "CAAAMMMEEELSSS deener time!" (Camels! dinner time!)  She was so excited.  The weather was perfect and the drive was beautiful.  We got a little nervous when the GPS was telling us we were almost there but we were driving down a dirt road.  Also we hadn't seen any signs suggesting any kind of attraction whatsoever.  Other than pottery shops.  I think we passed at least a hundred different pottery shops.  I thought it was weird at the time but the history of it is actually kind of interesting.   

"Bye Bye big bird, Night Night"-Sadie

Sadie LOVED this Ostrich.  She talked to it like they were best friends.  Then she said "Shoo!  Shoo! bird" "Cheep Cheep Cheep" She was sad to say goodbye so we told her he had to go night night.  She was ok after that.  I think it was because she didn't want to have to go night nights too.

I was impressed by the acrobatics that I was able to do to get myself out of that egg!  It hurt a little. 

This girl is just like I was when I was little.  She has an obsession with rocks.  I love it that I see that part of me in her. 

Tyson was amazing through all of this.  He did have a pretty nasty blow out when we got to the zoo though.  Luckily we know our kids and their proneness to major poopage so we were prepared.  It's amazing how much more skilled you are with your second kid then with your first.  If it would have happened when Sadie was a new born I probably would have cried.  It would have ruined my whole day.

OK so here is the 411 of the NC Zoo:

*Be ready to walk, A LOT.  Wear tennis shoes!

*The exhibits were great because the animals had a LOT of room to move around and be more "natural" but at the same time you might not see all of the animals because they have places to hide.  (The gorilla hid behind a log, Sadie was very disappointed.)  Maybe take binoculars if you have them.  In a way it makes it feel like a real safari because you don't really know what you're going to see.  We only made it through half of the park in 5 hours.  We were EXHAUSTED after!

*They charged 2$ to see the giraffes which was really really dumb.

*The indoor exhibits like the desert and the "swamp ghosts" were pretty lame. 

*There were lots of drinking fountains and they even had air conditioned rest areas. 

*If you stay until 5 stop by the chimpanzees.  They went CRAZY after they got fed.  They were so loud! It was pretty cool.