Chuck E. Cheese

Today we took Sadie (and Braden) to Chuck E. Cheese. It was another one of Sadie's rewards for smiley faces. Truth is...we would do these things with our kiddos anyway, but it just makes it better to have Mersadie have a reward for good behavior. And yes, there have been a few weeks where we didn't get to do our fun thing because there weren't enough happy faces. Thankfully, only a few. If all goes well this coming week, we get to go to Disneyland again. Yes, WE - that's me being just as excited as Sadie to go. They will have all their Christmas decorations up, so I'm rooting for Sadie big time this week! In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from Chuck E. Cheese today! *Warning...there are A LOT* but you'll want to scroll all the way to the end, because those are special!

One of Sadie's rewards was that she got to get a "coke" - which actually was Sprite. I have NEVER let her have her very own coke to drink. This was a special day. :)

Very first thing she wanted to ride was the horse.

Then, she wanted Daddy to play the next game. He did so happily.

I love B's wonder and amazement in this picture. He looks a little scared, but he was really mesmerized!

First "ride" by himself. Loving it!

There was this car ride with the guy from Curious George. The next few pictures are funny. Sadie was being so silly with that guy!

I think she's in love. Haha!

Smooch!

Sadie's first go at air hockey! She didn't really get the concept of NOT letting the puck into her goal. She got so excited no matter if she got a point or if Brian got a point! I love this oblivious age!

More air hockey action!

Sadie was having so much fun!

Braden was watching from the other side.

Here's Braden looking in on the air hockey game. Can't you just see the words in his head: "can't wait until I'm big enough to play with Daddy!"

And now for the most precious shots of the day...no pun intended. Here is Brian helping Sadie with the basketball game. He's a natural at teaching his favorite sport ever!!

Sadie picked it up really quickly!

She even has good form already...look at the follow through!

Awwww!!! This one I will treasure forever! Like father, like daughter! I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who has turned in to such an amazing father right before my eyes these past 3 1/2 years.

One Year

Last year on this day I woke up a mother of one and went to bed a mother of two. It has been the longest and shortest year of my life all at the same time. Braden came to us completely unexpectedly exactly 6 weeks before his due date. I knew we were in store for some complications, but I had no idea what the next few months would hold. Braden started out in the NICU and suffered a collapsed lung the day after he was born. All in all, he spent 13 days in the hospital. Bringing him home was such a joy! Mersadie finally got to meet her younger brother and our life as a family of 4 began. Read about Braden's birth story here. Read about the rest of his journey here.

By December, I knew something with Braden was just not right. After numerous doctor visits, x-rays, exams and a G.I. specialist, and a span of 5 months, I finally figured out that he was allergic to cows milk. We put him on a special amino-acid based formula. This solved almost everything and everybody (especially me) started getting A LOT more sleep!!

Even though he was a preemie, Braden has met most developmental milestones on time. He started rolling over around 5 months and sat up at 6 1/2 months. He started crawling a little late for his actual age, but right on time for gestational age - at about 10 months. As soon as he could crawl, he would go straight to whatever he could pull up on and cruise around it, so I'm sure the walking thing is right around the corner!

Through this year, nothing has stopped this boy from flashing a huge smile (well, maybe getting picked on by Sadie doesn't make him smile, but everything else does)! He is such a joy and we are so excited to see what this next year holds for our birthday boy! Happy birthday to the most wonderful son anyone could ever ask for...we love you Little B!!!

Smiley Face Clean Sweep!

We have a smiley face system that we have been using with Sadie since late July. If she gets the required amount of happy faces, she gets to do something special. There are 3 things we've really been wanting her to work on: being nice to Braden, obeying the first time, and no throwing fits. She's been doing very well, but this past week, she was PERFECT in all three areas! So her reward was to go to Disney and see World of Color.

Sadie's board this week! Way to go girlie!!

The princess waiting for the show!

Silly girl!

Daddy and Sadie!! (How did she get so old so fast?)

Mommy and Braden - he'll be one year old in 12 days!!

We each got a treat last night. Sadie picked suckers, Brian picked Haagen Dasz ice cream and I picked a Mickey caramel apple!! I've had my eye on one of these since we tried to duplicate them for Sadie's birthday party. We finally splurged for one last night. Yum. Well, I actually haven't eaten it yet, but I'm sure I will say "yum".

Yes, even Disney sometimes makes mistakes...notice the caramel dripping from the top? I'm sure it won't make it taste any less than delicious!!

Yellow.

A friend of mine that has a wonderful, fun blog (www.debraparker.blogspot.com) started doing weekend photo challenges. This is the first one I participated in. The challenge was to photograph yellow. Here is my take on "yellow" for the weekend. Enjoy.

I recruited Sadie to help me with the challenge. She picked out the yellow lemons on our tree in the backyard.

I found a yellow rose hanging on to the last bits of summer.

And another pretty yellow flower. I should probably know the name, but I don't. But I can appreciate its beauty.

My sweet girl and our yellow findings. Hope this makes your Tuesday a happy one!

Keeping Up with Braden!

Sadie getting ready to pry Braden's mouth open to get the UNused bandaid out. He even bit her and she still went for it. This was a good big sister day.

Chewing on the 1st of three items in a 3 minute period...an UNused bandaid. Ew.

Going for the stairs...down stairs.

This boy thinks he's funny!

Sadie says, "geez, can Braden get into any more stuff today?"

The 3 things pulled from Braden's mouth today. Unused bandaid, plastic ring, piece of wicker from the toy basket. Watch out! This boy is on the move and into everything!

Almost Crawling!

So, today I finally figured out what would get Braden moving...FOOD!! I should have known. I've been trying to get this little guy to crawl for months, enticing him with everything from the remote to Sadie's puzzle pieces. He's been so frustrated and just cries because he can't make himself move forward! Well, here he is going after his beloved "puffs". Hopefully this is the beginning. And yes, I know what I'm asking for! Enjoy the video!!

Sibling Love...or something like that.

Mersadie loves Braden (most of the time). When he first came home and was pretty much immobile and non-expressive, she didn't care much for him. Now that he watches her and laughs at her silliness, she loves to entertain him. Sometimes her form of entertainment is not Braden's idea of fun. See example below:

You can see it in her face. This isn't going to be a joyful encounter.

I told you guys. And for all of you out there thinking, "why didn't the momma put her camera down and save the poor boy?", I want to say that this all happened in the matter of mere seconds. I have a fast shutter speed on my camera. I saved him, I promise.



After I saved Braden, Sadie asked if she could hug him. "Sure", I said, thinking that she was gonna "hug it out" as a way of making up with him. Wrong answer. This is what happened as a result of that "hug".

Once this boy has words, I'm sure he is going to be saying, "heeeeeyyy - stoooooopppp!"

And the full tackle from the result of the hug. I have learned my lesson.

On to other, more glamorous things about Sadie. Here is some more of her artwork from random toys in her room. Sadie has a ball pit in her room and the other day while Braden was playing in it, this is what Sadie decided to do with all the balls she was stealing from him.

She's a genius. I know!

I love my artistic little lady! Brian and I still aren't sure where her creativeness comes from.