First Walk

Sadie and I took our first official walk yesterday. I took her on walks after she was first born, but she was buckled into her carseat, clicked into the stroller, and pretty much always sleeping. This time she was sitting up like a big girl, feeling the wind in her face, and loving life. Seriously, she wouldn't stop smiling and laughing for no reason.

P.S. This is how I found her when I went to get her up from her nap. She had her hand through the slats on the crib, playing with the random assortment of baby junk stuck between the wall and crib.

Daniel's Child

People constantly tell me how Sadie looks exactly like Daniel. I agree. I know she does.
But sometimes I get a little sensitive about it since I am the one who did all of the work getting Sadie here. Doesn't she look even a little like me? A little?

My mom and I spent a long time analyzing baby pictures of the 3 of us. We decided she does in fact have some of my features. She has my eye shape, hair color and thick eyebrows, and the bridge of my nose. That being said, she still has Daniel's overall face shape (cheeks!) and chin, eye color, the end of his nose (Nielson nostrils), and his mouth. Oh and she definitely has more of his temperament.

So, yes, this is clearly Daniel's child and not necessarily clearly mine. To make myself feel better I tell Daniel she likes me more.

Welcome

Last week Daniel was met at the airport by one crazy looking driver.

Visitors from the East

My mom and sister Meredith came to Utah last week.

Sadie (and I) were very happy about it The timing could not have been better. Daniel was out of town all week and I was still a little exhausted from taking care of Sadie and Daniel while he had whooping cough. Meredith stayed with us and watched Sadie every day while I was working.

Sadie immediately took to Meredith and was her goofy, happy self. (Sorry for the bad picture Meredith, but it shows Sadie loves you)


We did some stuff for Alicia's wedding, ate good food, stayed up way too late talking, shopped in Park City, and just laughed at Sadie
.
This is Sadie's adorable dress for Alicia's wedding.


This is an amazing picture of Sadie's double chin.
For more pictures of Meredith's visit go here

A Girl and Her Lotion

The Tale of the Magical Gold Dress

Sadie's grandma Nielson gave her the cutest Christmas dress back in December. It was a little big for her at Christmas because it is size 6-12 months and she was 5 months old.

I thought it would be a great dress for Valentine's Day. Especially paired with her patent leather red shoes from Courtney.

It is still huge on her! This dress is magic. I swear it just keeps growing right along with Sadie. You know why else it is magic? When Sadie spits up it absorbs the barf and dries nearly instantly. Amazing!

In case you didn't hear

Daniel is recovering from whooping cough (pertussis). Yes, people do still get this.

One of the things that got Daniel to go to a doctor was the vomit that followed his coughing fits.
Our interaction went something like this.
Me (in an alarmed voice): You are coughing so hard you are throwing up???
Daniel: Yeah, that happens to people all the time. I am just coughing so hard I can't keep the food down.
Me: I have never heard of that. That has never happened to me before. Has it happened to you?
Daniel: Well, no, but I am sure it happens to people all the time.
Come to find out coughing so hard that you barf is a tell-tale sign of pertussis. Daniel also had a low-grade fever, headaches, overall tiredness, and no sleep from coughing.
Oh, and an interesting side-note- whooping cough is named this because of the high-pitched "whoop" sound made when the person tries to take a breath during a coughing spell. Most adults do not experience the whoop.

Another thing that got us to go to a doctor was this woman's devastating story. One of my friends linked to it on her blog the week before Daniel started coughing. (He was actually probably already contagious when I read the story, but he was out of town and he hadn't started coughing yet.)

Whooping cough is on the rise. Why? First, because in the last 25 years parents have not been vaccinating their children as much (Pertussis is the "P" in the DTaP shot) so there is a generation of children and young adults who are more vulnerable. Second because the immunization is not life-long. Adults need to be vaccinated for it. I had no idea. A 2005 New York Times article by Kate Murphy focused on the fact that pertussis is back with a vengeance. Adults like Daniel are falling ill. Infants like the one from the my link above are falling deathly ill. Perhaps what is most dangerous about it is that most people don't know for weeks that they have it. By that time they have exposed many people.

While the number of people contracting and dying from whooping cough in the United States is not incredibly high, the thing that especially strikes me is how preventable these deaths are. "Pertussis is the only vaccine-preventable disease that is associated with increasing deaths in the U.S. The number of deaths increased from 4 in 1996 to 17 in 2001, almost all of which were infants under one year" In 2005 there were 20 deaths from pertussis.

Here is my plea: please vaccinate yourself and your children against pertussis so that you a) don't contract it and b) don't infect others. Daniel likely exposed many people to pertussis before getting treatment. I just pray that if he infected anyone they can recover like he did
(He's not contagious any more- don't stay away from us friends!)

I will be eternally grateful I chose to vaccinate Sadie. While I do wish I had done more research on vaccinations so I could have made a more informed choice, I don't want to even imagine the possible consequences if we had not gotten her vaccinated. Sadie got her third DTaP shot during the week Daniel was out of town (and probably most contagious). Like I said- eternally grateful.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Myspace Pictures

My favorite way to take pictures of Sadie is myspace style. This means I sit behind her, stick the camera in front of her face, and just hope for the best. This type of picture taking often yields horrible results, yet I continue to do it. I think because the pictures usually make me laugh.

(Not cropped in any way- just zoomed in too much.)

Oh, and here's Sadie supporting Texas while enjoying some sweet potato/oatmeal mix.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to Courtney (2/7), Matt (2/7), Daniel's Dad (2/14), my Mom (2/19), Meredith (2/26), Hillary(3/4), and my Dad (3/5).

I have seen a lot of people post pictures where their cute child sits nicely with a sign with warm wishes to family or friends. That is easier said than done. Just so you appreciate how much effort the above picture took, let me show you some of my other attempts.

Simply The Best

Sadie is better than ALL the rest. The best spitter-upper I've ever known. There's talk she may be one of the best ever. (By who? I don't know, but just trust me- there is talk.) A couple weeks ago her talent was captured on camera in what may be the best picture of all time.

The four ladies to the left of me look great.

Then there is me.

And Sadie.

And all

that

spit up.
Anyone out there think their child spits up more? Sadie will take you on. This is the kind of competition you are up against.

Sadie Goes Recruiting

Last week Sadie and I attended a girls' high school basketball game with Daniel. It was going to take all night and we were tired of not seeing him so we invited ourselves to come along. Sadie offered Daniel some great feedback on the players.

Watching intently...

Forming an opinion...

Now listen here. This is what you have to know...

...she stinks!

Just give all your attention to me!