In Sadie News...

My poor baby has been sick :-(  She's been congested for literally 2 months and then in turned into bronchiolitis (the dr. could hear wheezing in her lungs which is enough to qualify for that diagnosis).  That led to nebulizer breathing treatments at the doctor's office, an inhaler with a spacer and mask to give her treatments every 4-6 hrs, and MANY days and nights of watching her breathing praying she didn't become "distressed" in which case we were to go straight to the ER.  Ugh.  Sick babies are enough to break your heart!  Though it took almost 2 weeks, she was deemed wheeze-free at the doctor last friday (I'm becoming quite friendly with everyone in the office there since I'm there all the time!)  She's still been a little congested but has seemed almost normal for the last 2 days.  Whoohoo!!!!  This whole time she's been happy and never had a fever so though it's been tough, it helps that she hasn't seemed miserable or cranky at all!  Praise the Lord for such a sweet, content baby-and hopefully a generally healthy one from now on too!

She's quite a little giggler now!

She's big enough for the bumbo seat and actually starting to like sitting up!  She's also become an exersaucer fan in the last few days.

She's been getting in on the Christmas prep too!

Put on your Yarmulke, it's time for Happy Hannukah!

Happy last day of Hannukah!!

We've enjoyed celebrating this year and Ella, over the years, has become a candle lighting pro.  This year she even got into trying to pronounce the Hebrew words in the prayers we say before lighting the candles.  I'm so glad to be passing on this tradition from my half-Jewish heritage which so easily fits with our Christian faith-remembering God's miracle and praising Him for it?  Yes please! And for some Hannukah levity....a little Adam Sandler below :-)

Christmas Card Pics Fail

S: Camera?  What's a camera?  You want me to look where?

The hair has overtaken the baby!

Still only one kid looking...and one...sleeping?

Slightly to much like a head-lock

E=strained, sad smile and S=deer in headlights

E is finally smiling naturally!  Just have to get S onboard...

This was a result of Daddy dancing for them behind me.  Natural but too much tongue...

Clapping?  Ok...we give up.  We'll try again later (maybe with a better bribe for getting a good picture!)

Sadie and Noah-4 months old!

 I'm slightly in denial that Sadie is already 4 months old so I'm posting this somewhat begrudgingly.  Her babyhood is going way too fast!  There is no part of this I'm ready to give up yet!  She's so sweet!
 We had her 4 month appt a few days ago and she's 12lbs 13oz (30th percentile), 25 inches (75th percentile) and her head measured right at the 50th percentile.  She's doing well!  She's much more coordinated and reaching for toys and holding onto them quite well!  She's playing in the exersaucer and can sit up in the bumbo seat, both for short periods of time.  She still loves to just lay on her back and kick around.  She's rolled from her stomach to her back (once) which is 2 months earlier than Ella did! The main difference I notice between her and Ella so far is that Ella would cry out of boredom and need entertainment.  Sadie is pretty content most of the time. She usually cries if she's hungry which is easy to preempt most of the time.  Her smiles continue to melt my heart daily :-)

This pic is a little blurry and you can't see all of Noah but she's smiling and stretched out so you can see how HUGE she's getting!

Kisses for Noah!

Two Day Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

Thanksgiving was really good this year!  A relaxing, smallish Thanksgiving with Chris' family on Thursday and then we hosted my family and some friends on Friday (25 people in all).  Friday was a bit of a zoo but I learned my lesson after overdoing it with Ella's party so we had plenty of everything but I didn't do or make everything I thought of (or that looked cool online!). Hence, I wasn't stressed and my extroversion had a heyday with all the people around all day!  It was great to be able to invite friends who don't have family in the area.  Definitely a perk of hosting.  That, and the leftovers :-)  It really was a great celebration sprinkled with many conversations and prayers about all we're thankful for.

Miss Cree helping Ella squeeze a lemon for a cream cheese pie at Chris' familiy's annual Pie Night (30+ pies get made the night before Thanksgiving!)

Luke was a cheese ball fan at Pie Night!

I made some maple roasted carrots and fell in love with how the peels looked in the collander!

I LOVE the colors of Thanksgiving!

I let Ella get in on the peeling action and she did well!

We found a craft where you make turkeys out of gumdrops and toothpicks.  Even the adult attempts didn't quite resemble turkeys but the kids had fun!

A friend who joined us at my in-laws' house requested we make these "belly button" cookies and we were happy to oblige :-)

Ella and her two older cousins (the younger ones were out of town) spent at least an hour coloring pictures after the meal and hung them up to make an "art show" for the adults :-)  It was SO cute!  And super relaxing that they had so much fun while all the adults got to just chat over coffee and pie :-)

Nana, Chris' mom, the great leader of all things Pie Night and Thanksgiving.  She worked HARD to put together 2 great events!

Ella showed some interest in Aunt Stacy's project after dinner and got a little knitting lesson! Day One Done.

Friday after Thanksgiving was my Grandmother's 92nd Birthday!  We're SO thankful for her!

The early crew for Thanksgiving Day Two, Part 1 :-)  I was too busy having fun to take pictures of part 2 when 20ish people were there including 3 infants and 5 kids between 1 and 5.  Whew!  Great Day.

Leftovers!!