A Big Week with Big Accomplishements

Sadie and I had a big week this past week. We were left alone while Josh went to D.C. to do protective services for a guy from Lebanon. We did lots of shopping to help pass the time. Sadie was most helpful in that arena. She generously offered to hold the clothes I was going to try on and then promptly took off out of the store in the mall. I grabbed her just as she got to the door but it still set the alarms off. I was so worn out after that shopping trip from chasing her down that I vowed "never again without the stroller". After we figured that out it went much better. However, even from the stroller she was most helpful in the dressing room, grabbing onto the clothes I was putting on and "helping" me put them on. She thought it was a great new game.

We got an exciting delivery from Daddy one day; flowers for Momma and a teddy bear for Sadie. She likes picking out a "friend" (aka a stuffed animal from her shelf) to go to bed with for every nap and at night. She picked her new teddy bear that day and toted him around like he was the greatest thing ever. Josh got home Thursday afternoon and we're so glad to have him back! He had a very successful week out in D.C. but it's good to be together again.

Sadie also had a big week deciding that she's going to be a big girl now. She decided "one nap is sufficient for the day and if you try to put me down for more than one, I'll sit in my bed and talk to my "friends" for an hour instead". So we've been trying to figure out if she's actually dropping it for real, or if it's just a fluke. Sadly, it seems to be for real. I'm terribly disappointed because I sure enjoyed having 2 naps a day for her. We also quit nursing this week. Apparently I had already decreased in my milk supply enough to where it didn't affect her or me when we quit. Another sad but necessary milestone towards her becoming a big girl.

After daddy came home, Sadie had a whole lot of fun exploring the treasures in his backpack. Yesterday she came into the room with an apple she had found. Previously she wouldn't eat apples cuz she couldn't soften them enough. As you can see from the video, that has passed and she now considers herself a big girl when it comes to eating them.

She's also figured out this week how to climb up our legs when we hold onto her hands (something she finds to be great fun), and just tonight she figured out how to suck stuff from a straw (a strawberry milkeshake!). She is changing and growing so fast!

She finds new ways to be "helpful" every day. Lately she helps throw her diapers in the trash every morning. Here's a video of her this morning helping with that task.

The bad thing about this new trick is that she thinks everything should get thrown away. I have to watch extra close now for things thrown in the bathroom trash (the only one she can access). She also puts socks in bedside table drawers, books and toys in daddy's boots, and shoes and socks in the magazine rack. She thinks she's being very helpful now that she's putting things away rather than just pulling them out. :-)

She's definitely keeping us busy, but providing lots of laughs at the same time. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. We don't know what we'd do without her!