Where has my lil baby gone? by Sadie's Young Mommy

Where has my lil baby gone? Sadie is becoming more and more independent and mobile everyday.

She is still tiny and my lil baby girl but she has started trying to walk now and it just puts me in shock at how fast ten months went. She pushes behind her lil push toy hippo and walks all over the apartment now..

she also loves to hold onto our hands and walk around. I believe she is determined to figure out this walking thing
since she will cry sometimes and just get mad at crawling so we will help her stand up and then ta da laughing
Sadie once again :)

We also just recently moved to a two bedroom apartment...that was a crazy move and we are still unpacking bits
here and there...but the most exciting of all about moving is Sadie has her own big room now and she sleeps through
the night now!!! I was so used to getting up with her 6-7 times at most through out the night so it took me awhile to get use to
either getting up just once to nurse her or not at all!! Now I just sleep though :) It is so nice to sleep again....Friday night
she slept from 8:30-6:30 then slept in till 10am!!! Threw both my husband and I off since Sadie is usually our trusty alarm
clock between 7-8:30. And last night she slept from 9-7 so a full nights rest again :) I am just so thankful to God that she is
sleeping much better now and not demanding to be nursed every hour. She obviously needed her own space to rest better..she
even is taking naps better. Granted this might change due to teething or what not...(she is on her third tooth..getting them
all at once) but for now I am just so happy to finally get some goodnight sleep :)

The pictures are of Sadie playing at the Sciencenter...she loves going there and hanging out with her friends and all the new toys
and fun stuff to explore.

Sadie has this one friend who is almost two years old..his name is Aden...and they just love each other
so much its so cute...Aden will look around at nursery (church) for Sadie and when he sees her he yells out Sa Sa !! They hug each other, play together, and one day Aden decided to even carry Sadie around!!! that was a little scary turning around and seeing him holding her and carrying her...she was fine but it made both his mom and I hold our breath and run for the babies :)...Its so so cute
watching her interact with other babies and toddlers :) She loves other kids...as long as mommy isnt holding them we discovered she has a jealousy about sharing her mommy :) I was trying to help out a friend and hold her baby for a few minutes and Sadie acted like I had betrayed her for life...it was quite devastating for her...I quickly ran to her to let her know everything was alright...and I hope that she will learn to be okay with it. But for now Sadie has all of Mommy to herself :)

Sadie's Teething by Sadie's Young Mommy

Sadie has gotten her first tooth...and it has made her very cranky so far. It is poking out more and more each day
and just the other day her Aunt Sophia found that she has another tooth coming in right next to the other one.
So Sadie is getting both her front bottom teeth all in one week! Poor Baby...

She also entered the phase of I don't want to sit still for any bit of time... She does not like her stroller anymore
and wants to crawl all over the stores we go into. At church she just recently started going to the nursery which
she loves a lot more than I thought she would. I was all worried the first time and came to get her early and she did
not want to leave the other kids or toys. Sadie is a very social baby...she loves other toddlers and kids..she will follow them
around everywhere and look at them with those pleading eyes and laugh as if she is saying "hey lets play" in her own
little baby language. So know she plays in the nursery while we actually get sit and listen to the sermon.

It is amazing to watch how she interacts with others and how she approaches situations. She has just started to try to walk
behind this little push toy. She gets very nervous though and tries to signal to me to come help. So finally she decided
to walk on her knees to get around lol....it is pretty funny but works fine for her I guess. She also loves waving at everyone ..
at moving cars, when people leave, and just for fun she waves and blows kisses its adorable!

Her Daddy has also gotten her attached to music that's upbeat and fun. When we play her favorite song she will bounce up and down
and dance all goofy like...then when the song goes off Sadie signs more more frantically. Silly Sadie :)

Monkey see Monkey do by Sadie's Young Mommy

Sadie has started to copy us now..which is both cute and a little scary. She saw me goofing around
the other day and I hit my head with a macaroni box while laughing about what to do for dinner. She saw this
and has not yet stopped hitting her heads on objects and laughing about it.
Also the other day we were waving goodbye to Dustin (Daddy) as he left for school...she copied us blowing kisses
to one another so super cute!! Then she gave Daddy a big wet kiss and me too...it was one of those adorable moments. She now crawls everywhere blowing kisses at everything...it is the cutest thing.

We had a little special mommy and Sadie time the other afternoon and did each other's hair. She learned how to brush hers...mostly hits her ear and then tries to brush mine too..we also put lil barrettes in our hair and laugh at the mirror and wave at the other baby in the mirror. :) It was so cute watching how quietly she sat there waiting to brush her hair our play with the clips and look at all the pretty colors. I mean of course I would never leave her alone with all those small objects but she loved being a big girl and playing with them with mommy. It was very sweet.

We went outside last week while we had a good amount of snow and made snow angels too. Sadie was laughing hysterically when I would move her arms all goofy in the snow to make the wings for her baby angel. She loved playing in the snow even if she couldn't move in her big snowsuit very well. Ahh mommy always overdresses her. But she has not gotten a single sickness since she has been born!! thank goodness.

Sadie is napping now and I think Mommy (me) is going to copy her and take a lil nap too. Take Care :)

Bedtime Debate by Sadie's Young Mommy

We had this great bedtime routine down for a couple months...Sadie had a nice bath around 6:45 or earlier then books and prayer and nursing..then bedtime by 7:30pm. She at first fussed a bit about it but soon was fine with it and went to sleep. Sure she still woke up at night but she went to bed on her own. :)

After over a month of her deciding this wasn't working anymore she would stay up till 10pm or later and wake up lots through out the night. She cried when we left her at nap time at anytime. We finally decided to lay down with her at nap and bedtimes...we eventually put her in the crib but it works much better both ways. Sometimes we even nap with her. Both my husband and I worried about her getting used to us all being in mommy and daddy's bed and it does seem she prefers it. But after one day when she was too tired from not sleeping that she wouldn't even play I decided enough was enough. We had to get her to rest somehow. So if she needs mommy or daddy to soothe her so be it.

After this decision I have received feedback of all kinds...most negative of the letting your child sleep in your bed with you. We are first time parents and are just trying to get our daughter to get some good sleep so I figured till we move in August and get a second bedroom (hopefully) that this is are only option for now. And if she needs one of us for extra comfort ..I am fine with giving it to her. She is much happier to during the daytime and plays more. She still wakes up at least three times or more at night to nurse...that is another issue that is tough to ignore. I know she is healthy and able to make it through without nursing but we live in a one bedroom apartment so she knows mommy is right there and is able to nurse her. I will love the night she sleeps through..but until then I believe the best way to get her back to sleep is nursing or rocking.

Sadie has also been signing more about her wishes and needs which is very helpful for us in understanding what she wants. Her sign for mommy so far seems to be milk...lol it is very cute how when she really wants me ..she will look right at me and sign milk as frantically as her lil hands can make it out. She has also bonded more with her daddy since I go to class two mornings a week..she has special time with Daddy. It is cute to come home to her and Dustin playing on the floor with her toys and her giggling.

She has also mastered crawling and pulling up on everything...:) uh oh

Sadie's a Night Owl

After a whole week and weekend of pretty much no sleep my husband and I were starting to argue over the silliest things. Sadie Lynn seems to either have really bad teething problems or is deciding to be a night owl...As her mother who thinks she couldn't be rebelling against bedtime ( since she is such a good baby) I truly believe its teething. :)

We decided to get out of the house and try to get Sadie to be happier...it worked!! For the first time Sadie sat in her stroller like a big girl instead of just in the car seat. It was so cute watching her in the stroller looking around at all the different sights and sounds of the MALL!! OOo exciting..oh well its winter and the Mall is a warm and convenient place to go out to. Sadie cooed and talked while we pushed her around she also loved laying down in the recline position and drinking her juice. These cute moments wipe away all the lack of sleep and frustration. We also ran into my parents who gladly watched Sadie for a few moments while Dustin and I had a break ( I love my parents and parent n laws so much for raising us kids and also still wanting to help out with grandchildren!! got to give them credit.). We love Borders so we went there for some quit reading time.

This week seems to be getting better and she is just back to waking up 2-3 times at night instead of every half hour.

We also finally trimmed Sadie's hair this week ..just her bangs b/c they were touching her nose! So far she has had to have two bang hair cuts...this girl has tons of hair for a baby :)

Also another incident that brought laughter in our house was caused by me (mommy)....
After two and half years of marriage and living on my own...I finally figured out why the koolaid mixes got so bad after I moved out. I would buy the 20cent lil package to make some punch..lemonade etc...mix it up with water
and then dump it after every time it tasted horrible...thought that the company just got worse.
Realized tonight after trying to make it again and it turned out bad again...Dustin commented about sugar!! Ahhh another Bethany moment that lasted for a long time,...I thought the sugar came in the packet and totally forgot about that. oops

We were all laughing even Sadie seemed to catch on that mommy had made a goof. She crunched up her nose and did her silly lil face that she loves making when we all laugh. We love her so much :) Even at 2am ...

Sadie's Birth Story

My daughter Sadie Lynn was due on May 26, 2007 which was my father's birthday and also the day that my husband purposed to me so that day was pretty significant to us. As it got closer to the due date I was nervous about making sure we were all prepared for her big arrival. We both finished our school finals and due to low blood pressure making me black out all the time I was pretty much stuck at home through out my pregnancy unless my husband Dustin took me out somewhere. Dustin planned to take a motorcycle safety course two days before her due date which I was all nervous we would spend the money on it and then he would have to miss it because I went into labor.

On Thursday May 24, 2007 Dustin had just finished his safety course and was with me until work that night from 5-1 am....and I really wanted to clean the apartment, do laundry, and go grocery shopping. I had this sudden feeling that everything needed to be done. So we did laundry went shopping and did some cleaning. At this point I was very sick of people touching my belly and calling to see if she had been born yet. So while Dustin went to work I invited my friend to come over and hang out for a couple hours. We watched a movie and I started to feel very uncomfortable and sick...I just kept ignoring it though because I thought it was just nerves or some stomach bug. So she left and then Dustin came home on break and I told him I thought I might be having contractions...he said to walk around and take a bath and see how I felt afterward. We had already had one false alarm a month ago so we weren't too sure this was the real thing. I took a bath thinking that would help but it didn't so I called him around 12:30 and he came home. We called the obgyn and the midwife asked how far apart the contractions where. AT this point they were every 5-6 minutes on the dot and pretty campy. Since I had tested positive for Group Strep B she said to come in to the hospital since I would need medicine soon.

With excitement building we packed up and headed out to the car at 1:45am and driving over to the hospital was a exciting and also painful trip since my contractions kept coming every 5 minutes and the bumpy roads did not help. When we got there the nurse checked me and said I was around 2 to 3cm...Yeah!!! I was so nervous they were going to send me home...this was the real thing now! They gave me the medicine through the IV for 20 minutes and monitored the baby for awhile then let me get out of bed which felt great. I did not like laying in bed while in labor. We tried the tub for awhile...but after awhile I got too hot and dizzy and got out. We were both exhausted and it was 2am when we got to the hospital so there was no sleep in the near future. I tried walking a bit but then decided to try a shower which felt nice....around 4am the contractions got closer and we were delighted to hear that after a couple more hours I had dilated to 4cm. I did not like when the doctor did the exams because my cervix was hard for them to find so it hurt a lot and every time I got a contraction I wanted to be left alone.

Then the nurse suggested this big ball to squat on and that was the best idea ever! Dustin rubbed my back and I swayed back and forth on the ball every time a contraction hit...by 7am the pain was getting worse and I was very tired...I started to lose it but then this nurse who was the best nurse I ever met..came in and calmed me down and stayed with me for a long time helping me concentrate on just getting through the contraction. Around 9:30am I was 6cm and was unable to deal with the pain anymore...I was disappointed in myself but the pain just became to much and felt like my hips where being torn apart every time a contraction hit. I also was tried and so was Dustin so I decided to get a epidural which was so great. After waiting forever I finally got the epidural around 11am and was able to rest. I did not like how my legs went numb and I still felt faint contractions for awhile and the numbness switched in legs. I also had to have a catheter which was unpleasant.

Around 1:30 I felt different and pressure in my butt and asked the nurse to call the doctor..she checked me and found I was almost 10cm...I had to wait for the last lil bit to dilate which seemed like forever. They turned the epidural off and it was pushing time. Around 2:45pm they let me start pushing which was exciting and both hard work. I knew we were closer to seeing our beautiful baby but it still was painful and scary. The thing that kept me going was the encouraging nurses and my husband encouraging me and looking so happy. He was watching and the smile on his face was priceless. Anytime I felt like giving up I saw him looking so happy and saying "sweety she is almost here"...that helped me a lot. I was not so good at pushing at first...I just wanted it over with so I pushed anytime I could, but then they instructed me to push only when a contraction came. After an hour the doctor was thinking of giving me a little bit of pitocin to push things along...I did not want this though and I am glad I did not end up needing it. I started pushing with all my might and got the hang of it...even after nineteen hours of labor I somehow found energy to push her out. As the baby started to crown they let me touch her hair which was a great experience and when Sadie Lynn finally entered the world I was both in shock and amazement that this was my baby that was in my belly for nine months and she was on me skin to skin. It was the best moment and I will never forget looking into her bright blue eyes and getting to hold her for the first time.

Dustin cut the cord and she was weighed...8lbs and 2 oz!! Big girl :) she also was 19 ½ inches long and had tons of hair! She still has tons of dark brown hair and green/blue eyes. My recovery was slow...nobody warned me how much it hurts afterward! But after about a month I felt more like myself and breastfeeding was going great and still is!

I am very happy with the overall care and treatment we received at the hospital..the nurses followed our birth plan and respected our space and wishes. And Sadie Lynn is a healthy, energetic, and happy 7 ¾ month old!! She is our joy and I still find myself just amazed at this lil miracle God blessed us with.

Sadie's Young Mommy--Intro

My name is Bethany and I have been married for over two and a half years now and also my husband Dustin and I have a beautiful baby girl named Sadie Lynn who is 7 ½ months. Dustin graduates from college this spring and I am working on my degree also...so juggling motherhood, wife hood, school, and other family and friend activities is quite crazy, but fun. My daughter Sadie was born on May 25, 2007 one day before her due date which was going to be on her Grandpa's birthday..I guess she decided she wanted her own day for her birthday.

Now that she is 7 ½ months old I am just amazed at how much she has grown in such a little span of time. In one week she figured out crawling, pulling up to a stand, and sitting up after falling down. She learns something new everyday good and bad!! Like this week she thinks nap time consists of standing up in her crib and yelling Da! Da! Da!! over and over again...till mommy breaks down and goes in to check on her. She also has decided to move her bedtime to 9 or 10 clock instead of her 7:30 bedtime routine we had down so perfectly for months. I guess this all comes with the changes she is making, but it is very hard to adapt to such a sudden difference in our baby. She also has decided mommy is the only person who can feed, bath, cloth, and or do anything with her.

Sadie Lynn does bring a lot of challenges, but she is overall a very content and happy baby and I am overfilled with love for her. Being a young mom has its own sets of stereotypes also. I get a lot of grief about it from strangers in stores or some classmate joking around. It is tough being a mom at any age I think and I know I have the maturity, knowledge, and love to care for my daughter no matter what age I might be. I got married at eighteen to Dustin and I now have my daughter Sadie at age 20. I enjoy being a wife and a mother so much...it is filled with huge rewards. My Aunt Erica asked me if I wanted to write some lil bits here and there about my life as a young mommy, I am enjoying being a mom and I like to think of myself not as just a young mommy, but also Sadie's mommy :)

Sadie's Young Mommy :)