Thanksgiving in New York

We had the best time with family in NYC this past week. Sadie loved spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenny, Great-Grandma Bev and many other relatives as well as seeing some friends. She was very interested in her five year old cousin Sam and her three year old cousin Isak, although they weren't quite as interested in her as she was in them.

Some fun memories from Sadie's First Thanksgiving...

Playing on the roof playground with Grandma's class:

Sadie really liked the tunnels!

At the parade with Daddy and Mommy:



(While at the parade, Sadie ate a NYC hot pretzel from a street vendor!)

Mommy and Aunt Jenny saw a "celebrity" at the Rangers' game:

It is Jason Priestly of Beverly Hills 90210 He's probably grumpy because they won't let Donna Martin graduate. It couldn't be the results of the game because the Rangers won following an exciting shoot-out!

We were too busy feeding Sadie to get pictures of her on Thanksgiving night, but Grandma did, so we'll scan some pictures in when she develops her film. Sadie ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, peas, cranberry sauce and a little bit of turkey. Birthday cake too!

Even more memories: visiting Grandpa's office and Auntie Lauren's office (it's the same office, believe it or not!), seeing Kate and meeting Ryan, lots of Hanukah shopping with generous grandparents, visiting FAO Schwartz with Mommy and Daddy, general big city fun!

More pictures, if you want to see them!

Some of our favorite pictures from this fall.

Almost birthday time...

The celebrations have begun for Sadie's first birthday, which is less than two weeks away. Today, we had a nice playdate and lunch to jointly celebrate the first birthdays of Sadie's and her special friends, Natalie and Tavyn. Katie and Clayton were going to come and celebrate too, but at the last minute, neither could make it. We had fun, but we missed them!

Here's Sadie, eagerly awaiting her friends' arrivals.

Here are some pictures from the party.

Daddy's Little Helper

Sadie helps Daddy with yard-work.

Swinging

Sadie enjoys a quick swing before going to the Library on Monday. Can you see the wind ruffling her "hair"?

Hi!

Here I am inside the new 3-season porch at Nana and Grampy's house. Daddy was outside and I was waving to him. I'm going to have a fun excursion today to Montpelier and Stowe...you can see pictures of it later!

What's New?

What's new with Sadie now that she is 11 months old?

*She is walking everywhere and is getting to be quite speedy on her feet.

*She loves to eat and now eats most table foods. She has 7 teeth.

*Books are so fun! Sadie will happily spend long periods of time "reading" her books. She especially likes books with flaps to lift up and see what is underneath.

*We are hearing lots of babbling, with a few words. She calls Dan "Da-Dee" and Ann "Da-Da". Her cup of milk is "muh muh". She points and says "Dat!" (that). Sometimes she says "Hi" and "Bye". She is beginning to repeat us when we say something.

*Lots of hand motions: waving, clapping, pointing, rolling fist over fist (from the 5 Little Pumpkins Rhyme), "open shut them" and more. We're working on holding 1 finger up for "how old are you?"

*We are seeing a little bit of imitating our actions. She feeds her baby doll a bottle. She likes to hold her plastic phone up to her ear.

*A new game is that she picks up a toy and brings it to one of us or offers us some of her food.

*Everything is fun! Sadie loves to explore her world, especially checking out grown up things, like a basket of napkins, car keys and anything else interesting.


*She is starting to give hugs.

We love her more and more every day!

Halloween Round-Up

Sadie "trick or treats" at Beth and Jake's house (yes, this was the day before Halloween).


Sadie and friends at playgroup.

(left to right: Dinosaur Riley sitting, Octopus Sadie standing, Butterfly Madelyn crawling away)

Walking with candy at Powerhouse Mall Trick or Treating.


Sadie ran into her daycare playmates at trick or treating...Griffin had a cool flashlight toy!

(left to right: Ethan, Sadie, Griffin)

We met up with some of Sadie's special friends at the Mall. Here they are posed on a bench...we had to take this picture quickly before one or more kids jumped off the bench!

Sadie is interested in Natalie's antenna.

(left to right: Charlie Brown Tavyn, Lobster Natalie, Octopus Sadie)

The girls smile at each other, while Tavyn looks on.


Our last stop before coming home was Isaac's house.


And finally, what you've all been waiting for...
Little Miss Octopus in action!

I love Halloween!

Trick or treating is so fun!

Stay tuned for more pictures and a video...

I'm an OCTOPUS!

Happy Halloween! I am dressed as an octopus today. Here I am with some friends from Lebanon Library Play Group. Riley is a dinosaur and Maddie is a butterfly!



That means our contest winner is technically Anonymous, who guessed exactly correct when he/she wrote "octopus". However, since we can't award a prize someone without a name, we are declaring Jake to be in the winner, with his guess of duck. A duck, like an octopus, is an animal, and it is often found in the water, like an octopus. Jake, your prize will be mailed to you shortly!

Here's one more picture of me, with my friend Clayton, who is dressed as a puppy. We're checking each other out. I'll be doing some more trick or treating tonight, with some other friends, so Mommy will post even more pictures later.

One more day...

until Halloween!

Can you guess what Sadie will be dressing up as? (Hint, she is NOT wearing any part of her costume in this picture.) We will offer a prize if you guess correctly or make the guess closest to her real costume. If you have already seen Sadie in her costume, you are disqualified from this contest but may participate in future contests. Hurry, make your guess today because Halloween pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Thank you, Lolly and James!

Thank you for the Halloween card, Auntie Lolly and James! I love playing with it. On Halloween, Mommy and Daddy will put up lots of pictures of me in my costume, so make sure to come back on Monday.

Homecoming=Good Times

Last weekend was a busy one for us...Dartmouth Homecoming! Reggie and Liz stayed with us for the weekend, Scott and Shannon spent one night with us, and we got to see Aunt Jenny too! (Auntie Lolly and James also stopped by for a visit!)

Thanks for bagels, Reggie!


A visit to the apple orchard.


Liz and Sadie at the Food Co-op.


Waiting for the big bonfire to be lit.


Aunt Jenny and her friend Alex visit with Sadie in the alumni tent.


Sadie, Mommy and Daddy watch the football game.

(Sadie was getting ready for nap by then!)

Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato Sauce

A delicious dinner is a good way to end an excellent day.

What could top off a day that included playtime, a morning nap, a walk with friends Isaac and Laura, lunch at Rosey Jekes, another nap, more playtime and a visit to the Coop to buy groceries?

Sadie's favorite dinner, that's what!

She's a diaper baby...

With the recent press about diaper free babies (as seen in the New York Times, on the Today Show and in this week's People Magazine), Sadie would like to proudly admit that she's a diaper wearer.



Wow! Look at that diaper. Isn't it nice? Don't you just love it? She's very comfy in diapers and it works very well for a baby busy with activities and day care.

I have to say that I really find the diaper free people really annoying. It's like one more way Mommies can compete to be the "best mommy" around. I think it also really places the stay at home mom firmly in the home...where can you really go with a four month old who wears panties? Luckily, the mommies I know around here around here are not the competitive type.

In other exciting news...she walks! The record so far is four steps in a row before sitting down on her tush. She's also really curious. What's behind that door, Sadie?

Montshire Museum

Sadie and I visited the Montshire Museum today with Sadie's friend Natalie and Natalie's mom, Amber. It was Natalie's first time at the Montshire and Sadie showed her all the good parts...the preschool area, the life sized moose model, the bubble area and the outdoor park.

Sadie especially liked the wooden blocks in the preschool area.



She also had fun walking along the outdoor xylophone. In this picture, she's looking over at Natalie. Natalie knows how to walk on her own and Sadie is very interested in that.



The girls also enjoyed their lunch in the Montshire's lunch room. Sadie's lunch: Yobaby vanilla yogurt, Morningstar Farms vegetarian sausage patty, Cheerios, an arrowroot cookie and milk in a sippy cup. What a big girl!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Sadie and Daddy want to wish Mommy a very happy 29th birthday! Mommy is so good to both of us, and we just want her to know how much we appreciate her!

(Also, a very happy 60th to Grandpa!)

She walks! (sort of)

Sadie can walk (with the aid of a push toy)! Here is a movie of her in action.

(As usual, you may need the latest version of Quicktime to see the movie.)

Photo Album!

Here is a new album of Sadie pics from August and September.

Messy

Mommy's homemade maple squash is so good that Sadie likes to put her leftovers on her head.

She was trying to be nice

After our big trip to NYC, we came home and made a quick stop at our friends' place for a birthday party (Isaac was turning 3 weeks old, his dad was turning 30-something). Sadie was very eager make friends with little Isaac. You can see Sadie's overture of friendship on Isaac's blog. Look for the link on the right side of this page, scrolling down a little bit.

Congratulations, Kate and Ryan!

I'm smiling because Mommy and Daddy's friend Kate is engaged!
And also because I am a nudie on the loose!

Friends

Today, we hosted a brunch for some of Sadie's baby friends. These are all friends we made through 4th Trimester, the drop in group for new babies and their mommies. Amy started gathering our email addresses and one thing led to another. Now, we try to get together for brunch every month or so.
This is Tavyn in the black t-shirt (11 months), Katie in aqua top and khakis (almost 10 months), Sadie in denim jumper (9 months) and Clayton in plaid shirt (8 months).

It was great hanging out with the parents and watching the kids play. Sadie shared her toys nicely, although she commandeered the little wooden fish toy that Katie brought with her. She really had fun with so many babies to play with. She even let her friends use her high chair and her booster seat for their lunches.

The favorite toy of the day was the wooden busy box. Here, Sadie and Katie play with it together.

After everyone left, Dan and I agreed, "We should have people over more often." So, maybe you'll get invited over one day soon!

Who needs toys?

Sadie has a great collection of toys but some of her favorite things to play with aren't toys.

-plastic baby clothing hangers
-small tupperware container, preferably with some Cheerios inside
-car keys
-egg carton (as seen above)
-plastic card, such as Coop Membership Card
-box
-plastic cup
-cardboard beer coaster
and the number one favorite:
-paper, especially newspapers or magazines

Go Lebanon HS Raiders!

Friday night, Sadie went to her first football game, Lebanon vs. Somersworth. She had a great time, so we think she'll enjoy Dartmouth football games even more, especially since they are in the daytime.

The cheerleaders threw mini footballs into the crowd. Daddy got one for Sadie.


We left after the 3rd quarter, with Lebanon winning. The final score was 29 to 0. Go Raiders!

Fang

Not Sadie's prettiest moment, but she wanted to show off her top teeth. As you can see, the side ones have arrived before the front ones, so she appears to have fangs.

Busy week

We had a very nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend, which brought a definite change in the weather. There is just a little hint of fall in the air. We took a walk from our house to downtown Lebanon, where we played on the swings and then had lunch at Salt Hill.



That nice weekend was followed by a very busy week, as Mommy went back to her academic year work schedule, Daddy is hard at work in the lab and Sadie is learning lots of new things like standing, feeding herself, turning the pages of books and, as of last night, actually stopping what she is doing when we say "No". One more exciting thing happened this week; our friends A and L had their little boy, Isaac, who will be a friend for Sadie and also one of her daycare "classmates" when his mommy goes back to work in a few months. Welcome to the world, baby Isaac!

9 Months old

Yesterday was Sadie's 9 month birthday. She's now been out as long as she was in. Doesn't she look grown-up?


3 months and 1 day ago, 6 month birthday.


6 months and 1 day ago, 3 month birthday.


9 months ago and 1 day ago, birth day.

She listened to me!

I asked her to come out and play with me, and she came out. Welcome to the world, my friend Gilly!