Resolutions

Since January is pretty much over, I figured I better get on this year's resolutions before the "New Year" feeling wears off.  First a look back at last year.... 1. Start recycling.  We did pretty darn good with this.  Go us! 2. Carpool to school.  I am happy to say we carpooled almost every day last year.  It was really tough, but worth it! Of course it was really only about five months and then summer vacation, one week of work and Sadie entered the world! 3. Read one book a month.  I love this resolution, but some months I don't think I made it.  However, I read a ton in the summer so I am pretty sure it all evens out.  However, now that I have mommy brain, it takes me about four years to read one paragraph.... 4. Read one book of the bible a month.  Didn't do too well with this.  We joined a 40 day in the Word bible study last February that kind of threw us off and then I joined a Beth Moore study in September.  Not proud of this one :( 5.  Use our new juicer 3x a week.  Juicer?! What juicer? This was the most epic fail of them all.  I blame pregnancy! First trimester I was too tired to get out of bed and then being diagnosed with gestational diabetes prohibited any and all juice.  Boo :( 6.  Pay off Sallie Mae.  Sallie Mae I have not missed you one bit! 7.  Go to a concert.  We went to Brad Paisley and it was awesome! 8. Continue Sunday night dinners with my family.  Love this tradition! 9. Learn something new.  How to be a mom?! That counts :) 10.  Take a cooking class.  I did actually sign up for this, but canceled when I was diagnosed with diabetes because cooking and not eating sounded like no fun. 11.  Perform one random act of kindness each month.  Oh boy this was another bad one... 12. Go to an out-of-state sporting event.  Nope :( 13.  Go to Disneyland.  We went to Harry Potter World! Butter beer yummmm All in all, I think we did pretty good.  Considering I was either pregnant or with an infant the ENTIRE year, I am pretty proud of us.  Now for 2014: 1. Read a book a month. This is just an awesome tradition and even if I don't keep it, I like having this goal every year :) 2. Plan monthly meals/order a produce box. Now that I am staying home, we cannot afford to eat out at all.  My mom and I will be planning all of our meals on a monthly basis to hopefully keep us on track with cooking.  A produce box just sounds awesome, although maybe a little pricey.  I might just have to stick with the Farmer's Market for now :) 3. Take a weekly bath. Mommy needs some "me" time! 4. Start a garden. I pretty much kill everything I try and grow, but it could be fun to try! 5. Exercise daily. Chesney will appreciate a daily walk and we could all use some extra vitamin D :) 6. Limit social media to once a day. Oh boy as a breastfeeding mom I was on social media all the time! Sadie would latch and I would log on.  Social media is so addicting and it can be such a joy robber sometimes, so I am cutting down to just once a day and I will give up the f-book again for Lent. 7. No TV once a week. When you first start out breastfeeding, you are pretty much camped out on the couch for hours on end.  I could have read a book or the Bible, but instead I watched TV.  Time to cut back! Hopefully this will help with my reading goal :) 8. Eat dinner at the table. What a concept, right?! Lazy pregnancy lady, plus disorganization made for dinner on the couch.  Really trying to break this habit! 9. Have Sunday Night Dinners. Keeping this great tradition alive! 10. Make a monthly budget. Dave Ramsey we have let you down! We were so good at this and cut out so much debt and thennnn we got pregnant (Do you see a theme here?!).  When you are expecting a child you naturally go in to saving mode and ummmm major spending mode! You think you have to have everything that lines the aisles of Buy Buy Baby! Well again it is time to see where our money is going.

I pretty much blame everything on this sweet little nugget :) Good thing we love her to pieces!

Here is to a great 2014!!!!

A "White" Christmas

Yes, I realize Christmas was almost a month ago, but that's apparently how life is with a baby who boycotts naps like nobody's business.

don't let this face of innocence fool you...

This year Christmas was a little different for us.  Not only was it Sadie's very first Christmas, but we also spent it on an island off the coast of Florida.  My cousin decided to get married the weekend before Christmas in Orlando, so earlier this year, my whole family decided to make a vacation out of it.  It was quite the adventure traveling across the country for two whole weeks with a 3 month old.  I probably would not recommend it, but I am looking forward to the day where I can tell her she has already been to Disney World....and everyone knows you can only go once to keep things fair for all children of the world :) Don't judge that place is a money pit! Anywho, back to the trip....

first plane ride!

Sadie did really well on her first plane ride.  She did have a massive blowout a few minutes in, but besides that she was a pretty happy camper.

Sadie's first trip to the Atlantic!

We spent the day at Cocoa Beach and Sadie put her toes in the Atlantic.  She is such a water baby and loved every second!

love those grins

The first week was pretty much spent in preparation for the wedding.  We did enjoy a nice bridal lunch and pool day at the Ritz.

where is that cabana boy?!

she is definitely my daughter!

Sadie was not a huge fan of the wedding.  Thank goodness she slept through the ceremony, but the reception was a little much for her.

The wedding!

The rest of the trip was spent on Anna Marie Island off the Gulf coast of Florida.  We stayed in a beautiful house with about 20 of our family members.  Overstimulation anyone??? The beach was gorgeous and the white sand made for a different white Christmas.

baby sandals <3

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas tree

Beach day

Catching the sunset

Christmas Day

 Our last day we checked an item off our bucket list and spent the day in Harry Potter World!

Butter beer at the Three Broomsticks!

Four Months Old

Weight: Sadie is weighing in at 10 lbs. 15.7 ounces! So close to 11 :)

Height: 22.5 inches.  She is finally on the growth charts, but only about the 3rd percentile.  Her head is apparently very large and was highest of all three of the charts :)

Nicknames: Sadie babe, Sadie Baby, Sade, Peanut, Pooper, Stinker, Sweet Girl, Terk, Roczen, Pistachio, Sadie Bear and just added "Savie" by my cousin's adorable little guy

Eating: Sadie is still a great eater.  She is becoming much more efficient sometimes only eating for about ten minutes at a time.  She is still going about two hours between feedings the majority of the time.  Every once in awhile she will go three hours.  I'm getting excited about these hopefully spreading out in the next couple of weeks.  It is very hard to accomplish anything when you are feeding a tiny human every two hours :)

Sleeping: Traveling was so tough in the sleep department! It was so hard without having any "tools" like her swing available.  We tried the pack n play the first night and you can see below how well that worked.  After that first night, I found a little portable changing table that we used to bed share for the remainder of the trip.  None of us got very good sleep though during the trip.  Besides the trip, sleeping has been going great.  Naps are still tough, but she does so well at the night, we shouldn't complain (according to Grandma, Sadie gets this from her mommy...).  She goes to sleep at about 9-10pm and will wake up at about 5-6am.  After that she will sleep until about 8-9:30am.  

mommy heart attack

Diapers: She is still in size one, but probably for not much longer.  I just found like four huge packs of size one diapers, so hopefully I can get those exchanged soon.

Social: Sadie went on her first plane ride (she pooped about five minutes in to the flight).  We spent two whole weeks in Florida and Sadie did pretty darn good.  She definitely was overstimulated at times, but with our crazy family, I think most of us can relate.  She also went to Downtown Disney, Universal Studios, the beach (Atlantic and Gulf) and she went to her first wedding.  Most importantly, she was able to meet most of my dad's family for the first time.  She loves to smile, talk and screech all the time.

Likes: She still loves breastfeeding, although she has started getting distracted at times.  She still loves the bath, sometimes it's our go to move when she is fussy.  She also likes standing up on your lap and sitting up like a big girl.  She still likes to move all the time.  

Dislikes: She still DOES NOT like waiting for food. When she is ready to eat, she still makes it loud and clear. She doesn't like to get out of the bath. She screams her head off! 

Mommy: This has been a much better month for me.  Traveling was super stressful at times, especially since we had to leave daddy behind for the first part of the trip.  Thankfully, my mom was so helpful and we are back home now (although we are still living out of suitcases...).  The biggest change for mommy, is I am currently a stay-at-home mommy.  Last month, we made the decision to have me stay home for as long as we can swing it.  It was a super hard decision because I LOVE my job, but I just couldn't imagine leaving my baby girl right now.  Being a full time mommy is no walk in the park, in fact, sometimes if I'm honest, I miss my fifth grade kiddos! The hubby and I are just getting a small taste of the tough decisions you have to make as a parent.  

Daddy: Still rocking the daddy role.  He helps every night with her bedtime routine and always sings her to sleep.  They also had some good naps together on the trip :)

Furbabies: It was SO sad leaving them for Christmas.  We missed them so much! I think we are all happy to be back under one roof :)

What we are looking forward to:  Getting back in to a normal routine! Also, celebrating one year of our life changing forever! Last year about this time, is when we found out about our precious miracle.  It is so overwhelming to think about how we were feeling last year and now we have our baby girl!

love our Auntie Rachel

unsure about meeting Santa

DG Unit!

<3

cousin party

4 generations

mom of the year...

still has the tiniest feet!

headed to the doctors!

meeting Santa!

Adios 2013!

2013 was by far the hardest year of my life, but it was also the greatest.  2013 was the year I met my daughter and became a mommy.  Although I am happy to see 2013 go, I am so thankful for all the blessings the year brought.

January: Hiked Torrey Pines to welcome in the New Year.  Had a surprise celebration for my grandpa's 80th birthday.  Husband won a soccer tournament!

February: Spent some time in time in San Diego.  Anddddd found out we were having a baby…..

March: Kept our little secret from most everyone :)  Celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday.

April: Finally shared the wonderful news.  Chesney turned one!

May: Husband threw me a surprise birthday party and we found out Baby Shives is a girl!

June: Traveled to Wisconsin for a wedding.  Spent a lot of time at the doctors :(

July: Took a mini vacay to San Diego and Palm Springs.  Celebrated three years of marriage.  Diagnosed with gestational diabetes…no fun!

August: Took a babymoon to Palm Springs. Went to see Brad Paisley in concert.  Had a beautiful baby shower.  Started back to work….although I had no idea I would only last a week.

September: My water broke on Labor day and we welcomed our sweet baby girl in to the world the very next day seven weeks early.  Spent 17 days at the hospital living in the parking lot. Brought our baby girl home!

October: Celebrated 8 years together.  Went on our first date post baby.  Sadie became an insta-celebrity :)

November: Sadie met her GG.  Celebrated her first Thanksgiving. Learned how to smile!

December: Celebrated Sadie's first Christmas.  Went on her first plane ride.  Went to Harry Potter World.  Fell asleep fifteen minutes before the ball dropped :)

Christmas Pictures

In November, we were able to pick a day that worked for our entire family to take some pictures.  We hadn't taken any pictures since our wedding, 3 1/2 years ago.  My baby brother is now in high school, my middle brother just started his first big boy job and of course we have a brand new precious addition.  We were definitely due for some photographs!