Seven Months!

Sadie attended her first birthday party. Her friend - and apparent crush, judging by this picture - Dane turned 1!

Now that Sadie's over seven months old, life is definitely getting more active for all of us! Sadie scoots, bounces, and rolls EVERYWHERE . . . it's exciting but is keeping us on our toes. Just the other day I put her in the middle of our ginormous king-sized bed so that I could try on a dress. It took about a nanosecond for me to slip the dress over my head, but that was just enough time for her to roll to the edge of the bed and launch herself off of it. She cried for about 15 seconds. I cried for the rest of the day. Bad Mom moment.

Here's a peek at a few happier moments this month:

Willy the Penguin was a hand-me-down from our neighbors. It's a bit weeble-wobble-esque . . . you can punch it, kick it or whatever and it pops right back, with a soundtrack of giggles and peppy music. Apparently it was a hit with their little girl. Not so much with ours . . .

. . . she cries every time she sees him, completely terrified of the guy. Poor Willy has now taken up residence in our garage.


Mastering the oh-so-messy art of feeding herself.

Sadie now has two little teeth! Needless to say, the chilled teethers were a constant companion for a few weeks.

I'm not sure if it's the jean jacket or what, but I feel like this should be Sadie's back-to-school (or in her case back-to-playgroup) outfit.

The end result (no pun intended!) of most diaper changes these days. Maybe this is just preparation for all those calf wrangling tournaments we'll be in when we move to Oklahoma in a few months!

Bookworm

Another teething savior . . . frozen fruit in a feeder bag. As you can tell, Sadie LOVED this remedy.

Photo Shoot

We recently had Sadie's 6(ish) month pictures taken. We've been so fortunate to get to know Sarah Fuccillo - the amazingly talented photographer who also happens to be our neighbor. You might remember her work from Sadie's newborn shots (see the "Cover Girl" post).

Sadie and I had a lot of fun hanging out with her! For whatever reason, though, Sadie refused to smile. Until I was buckling her in her carseat after the shoot was over, that is . . . she was all smiles and giggles then and for the rest of the afternoon. Stinker!

Regardless, we love the shots Sarah got and hope you will, too. Enjoy!

P-P-P-Pucker Face, P-P-Pucker Face

Sadie tried an apple-cranberry combo tonight. She reacted like this with every bite:

Incidentally, that's the face I make every time I eat a sour gummy worm.

Anyway, despite the face, she LOVED it! Pigged out on it, actually . . . also like me with a bag of sour gummy worms.

Six Months!

Lil' Rhino

Sadie is six (and a half!) months old! How half a year has passed in what feels like a minute is beyond me. I look back at her newborn pictures and can't remember her ever being so tiny. At over eighteen pounds now, there's not much tiny about her anymore!

Sadie's so active now and each day seems to bring with it a new discovery or mastery of a new skill. She sits completely unassisted, rolls all over the place, and thinks she can feed herself. Thinks being the operative word. The food splattered all over the high chair, the floor, my shirt and her hair would indicate otherwise, but that doesn't deter her.

She's recently started scooting, as well. Backwards. It's pretty funny to watch, but it typically positions her further from the toy she wants, which inevitably leads to some whining and frustration. She'll get there, though!

Here are some shots of all she's been up to the past month:

A daddy's girl for sure, she loves to give kisses to Derek.

Sadie loves pianos! Maybe she'll take to piano lessons better than I did. . .


Sadie's first time in grass. She's not so sure about it.


Visits with the grandparents! At the airport with Mema and Papa Shumaker.

Fun with Papa Rhinesmith.

Sadie's first wedding, although she seems just as enthralled with my boot as the festivities. (For those of you unaware of my boot, let's just say it's an injury from running. In heels. From a bird.)

Lots of snuggling with Grandma Rhinesmith and cousins Grace and Salem.

Sadie loved all the attention she got when we were home, including from her Aunt hilary, Uncle Javi and cousins Cael and Gabe.

Family fun at Brent's wedding.

Sitting!

Sadie's first pool experience. She wasn't impressed.

Goofy girl!

Air Show

Sadie's pink headphones. The best part is the way they squeeze her chubby cheeks together!

All kinds of fun at the air show!

The C-17, the plane Derek flies.


The headphones worked really well! She even slept through the fighter demo.



Derek had a few quick breaks during the weekend. We were grateful for the few minutes we got to see him!

Since January Derek's been working hard on planning the 2010 Joint Base Lewis-McChord Air Expo. It meant a lot of long hours and time away from home for him, but it all paid off . . . the show was a great success! Nearly 300,000 people came out for it. There were some great demonstrations, cool static displays and, my personal favorite . . . fantastic kettle corn. Sadie and I had a wonderful time and are so proud of the great work Derek did to make it all possible!

Yum!

The verdict's still out on apricots . . .

Mmm . . . peas!


Pumpkin makes me so happy!

Over the last few weeks, Sadie's been exploring the oh-so-exciting world of fruits and vegetables! As you might imagine from looking at her cheeks, she's quite passionate about food and so the opportunity for more food has been met with much enthusiasm on her part.

I've been trying my hand at making my own baby food, which has been surprisingly easy. Turns out, it's a great way to use all our prduce from our weekly farm box. And since I'm always looking for ways to save money as a stay-at-home mom, I'd rather sacrifice my time spent making the food than sacrifice, say, my shopping budget!

So far Sadie's favorites are pumpkin and peas, but she's yet to totally refuse something. She needs to maintain her fat rolls, afterall!

Peek-a-Boo!

A glimpse at one of Sadie's favorite games . . .