Sadie 9 month checkup

We took Sadie in for her nine-month checkup appointment today and she impressed the doc with her crawling and cruising skills. No shots today, but they did have to draw some blood for a lead test -- they really make you earn those stickers they give you. Actually, Jake got the stickers, so Sadie didn't even have that to show for her suffering. Anyway, here are the stats:

Weight: 18 pounds, 3 ounces (45th percentile)
Height: 29 1/2 inches (99th percentile)
Head: 17 inches (25th percentile)

Same story: average weight, long body and tiny head.

This post is about Sadie, but Ali took this shot the other day and I thought it was so cute, even though you can barely see Sadie's face.

How many Ali's does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Well, I thought I should contribute to the blog a little more. I do get a lot of laughs and sweet moments throughout the day that aren't usually captured on these vivid pages.

One of my tasks today was to go to Target to get last minute Christmas items, as well as, some long needed lightbulbs for the bathroom. Before Ryan left for work today, we had a serious conversation. "You need to get the small lightbulbs. They have a smaller base than the regular lightbulbs. Do you know what the regular lightbulbs look like?" Rolling my eyes, I said, "Yes, I know what regular lightbulbs look like. Jeez!" So, off we went, the kids and I and lollipops aplenty, to do our chores. We did great! Got the lightbulbs, got the plastic cups for next week, got the extra dishwasher detergent, etc. But sure enough, when Ryan got home tonight, and he went to screw in the lightbulbs, they were the wrong wattage. *Sigh* Oh well. In my defense, I did have a toddler and baby in tow as we raced through the store before any meltdowns occurred. Guess I will have to restock my bag with lollipops for my return trip to Target tomorrow.

I had sort of a rough day in the land of "Terrible-Two's" today. They sure gave it a cutesy name for a rotten stage. I got this face a lot today........

Followed by, "I not gonna hit Sadie anymore" Argh!

THOUGH, we did have a really nice time reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" together, while Sadie was napping (before Jake woke her up! Grr...). He definitely has his cute, snuggly moments and I will love them forever. We took turns reading, well, sort of. He did a great job playing the role of Santa, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas" and I read the rest of the story. It sort of reminded me of when my family used to sit down and read the play, "The Miracle Worker" for family bonding time. (Sidenote: Although, this probably contributed to my weirdness, I do have fond memories of this and plan to do it with my kids. Sorry Ry. Though, why was I always Helen Keller???)

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more cute and frustrating moments tomorrow, but now it is time to go watch the Wizards game. Woot!

The Three Amigos in..........the Botanic Gardens!

On Sunday we headed downtown to meet up with Jake's daycare buddies, Rachel and Jocelyn to check out the trains at the US Botanic Gardens. Well, the trains were mostly outside and it was a cold rainy day, so we just decided to head in and search the jungle for frogs. One of the kids noticed the "ribbit" sounds so we had them looking all over for the frogs. We finally found them, but for some reason they were hiding behind these big speakers.

Here's Jake and Rachel taking a break on a bench:
And here's Jocelyn pointing something out to Jake:

More photos (including some cute shots of Sadie) over here.