Did I Catch a Niner in There?

9 months. Elise is...emotional. She smiles easily. She cries easily. I'm not sure when we decided that she was so sweet and laid back, but we always say it. The truth is that I am not sure it is possible for our DNA to create a sweet kid. She smiles a lot, but I'm starting to suspect that's just to lure you in close so she can rip out fistfuls of your hair. We love her more than anything, sweet or not.

Louie army crawls all over the joint, getting into everything she can. She's a menace. It makes us laugh so, so hard every time she takes Sadie's stuff. Yesterday Sadie cried like someone shot her when Elise chewed on her baby doll's feet. I can't wait to see Lou grow more and give Sadie a real run for her money. Elise adores Sadie, even when she tackles Lou to the ground with "hugs". The other day the girls were sitting in a grocery cart together taking turns squealing and making each other laugh. My fellow store patrons may not have appreciated it, but it was one the coolest moments of my life. Cannot wait until they play together more.

Lou's bottom teeth are almost completely in. More teeth are on the horizon. She is on the tall side (65th percentile) and she has been really burning the calories with army crawling (down to the 23rd weight percentile). She pounds cheerios, kix, puffs,  yogurt melts, goldfish and pretty much anything else I put in front of her. She's sleeping 11 hours a night and 2 long naps a day. She could care less about tv/movies (Sadie already loved Baby Einstein's at this age). Still a complete mama's girl and no one else will do if I am in sight. 

Her life is flying by. I remember feeling like Sadie was so old when she hit 9 months. And just because I never pass up an opportunity to compare my children, some photos of the girls at the same age:

I chose two pictures where they look a lot alike. Elise is more delicate looking, but that could be due to the fact that Sadie had almost 2 pounds on Elise at the same age (but Elise is taller). Still the same differences we have always recognized: Elise has big eyes, Sadie's got big cheeks. Speaking of cheeks, the photo above doesn't do Sadie's justice. Lest anyone has forgotten, here are the cheeks in all their glory:

And an innocent, little, chub-less gooer who smiles all day for her mama. 

On this day in 1993: Having Brothers, Hiding Journals & Hating Alexis

"Thursday _____1993 March [apparently I didn't know the date]- Mom ald ad already had the baby. It's a boy. She had him February 7th 1993. His name is Matthew. He hardly cries at all. I thought Hillary would be jealous of Matthew but she actually likes him. I hate the snow. Its been cold every day now for a couple weeks. So the snow doesn't melt. Tomorrow night we are going to the Omney theater and the science museum for Meredith's birthday. But Hillary and Alicia are not coming. Then mom says she is going to throw a suprise party for dad. But it's going to be at night. I thought I had lost you but then I found you hiding in the desk. I got a new journal and if you run away like that again I'll use that instead of you and forget about you. So don't hide again! Tomorrow is class picture day. Tonight we are celebrating Hillary's birthday. Hillary even has cloths presents. She also has a birthday cake. Hillary is turning two years old. You know that game that's called going to South America? Well I know the strategy and so does Justin. But Alexis asked the student teacher and she told Alexis what it was! So now Alexis telling everybody what is was. And blaming it on Annie. I hate Alexis. Well I wish I could go to South America right now! Because this hous is so noisy."

*I try to type exactly how I wrote things, but I had a hard time figuring out what was original to this entry because in 5th grade I went through and edited my entire journal. I, seriously, cannot wait until my kids do weird stuff like that.

Snow

Sadie loves snow. She is willing to play outside with freezing limbs as long as we let her. The first bigger storm we got this year was on a Sunday. Sadie came home from church, put on her boots, and went straight outside. No tights, no gloves- just boots, a dress and a coat (with the arms rolled up because Sadie has some sort of phobia of sleeves touching her wrists). 

Sadie marched back and forth across the snow for an hour.

MimiPaco

One of my favorite pictures of all time

When Sadie talks about Daniel's parents they are often referred to as the collective force of MimiPaco. She addresses them individually in person, but they are usually MimiPaco when not in her presence. My girls love their MimiPaco. We are so glad they have been in Utah the past while so the girls get to see them all the time. Please enjoy the plethora of pictures from the past month or so.

 Check out Lou's halo of rings

Btw, we have no idea where the name Paco came from. Tom had decided on Bearpaw and somehow Sadie turned that into Paco. There's no turning back now and I love it. 

I took a break from blogging for most of January (I like to start a new year out really low so I can only improve from there), but I kept taking pictures so I need to share a few good ones. 

 Elise fell asleep with her usual scowl, but what is really exciting is that she fell asleep on Daniel. For cute.

 Sadie got The Incredibles for Christmas and she always tells me that she runs so fast like Dash. Apparently my camera agrees. 

 Looking intense at the "jumpin place". It's our favorite place to be lately. I'll do another post on it.

 The first real snow we got this year (and it wasn't bad). Sadie loved it. I'll do another post on it (but probably not, so don't count it).

 The UVU Athletics holiday party held at the end of January. It was a cross between the Dundees and that SNL skit with the Culps (Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer performing at assemblies and such). But the comedy here was not intentional.

 Louie forced me to accept she does not fit into her 6-9 month pjs by busting her piggies out. I guess I won't make her wear them anymore.

 A different kind of piggy- check out that hair-do. Sadie was loving it; I could tell she felt so cool. She walked with a different kind of confidence that day. Maybe I should always try to make her hair look like a non-homeless person's. 

 Yes! Sadie has entered into the phase of life where all the kids "assist" in opening presents at birthday parties. I was giggling too much to get a non-blurry picture.

 Sadie actually wearing tights. That's a momentous occasion. Probably won't happen again soon. Especially since she has since realized she can take them off herself.

Sadie made a bridge with her books across the living room. She told me there were alligators in the water. 

Daddy's Games

The girls love going to Daniel's games. I hope this love lasts through the 384,912 or so games they'll be attending the rest of their lives. Sadie's favorite part is running on the court when it's over and most people have gone home. 

Louie, thrilled to be watching the Lady Wolverines

Sadie's other favorite part is giving the team fives after the game. She gets disappointed every half-time when I explain to her that the game isn't over and it's not time for fives. 

(Have you noticed that Sadie's favorite things have nothing to do with the actual game?)

Playroom

 Hey everyone, this is important. We've got a playroom now. A room just for toys in the basement. Even though it doesn't get any warmer than 60 degrees, it is awesome. We spend at least a couple hours down there every day. I clean up the mess of toys most days, but the best part about it is that I don't have to clean it up if I don't want to. Not to be dramatic or anything, but it's been life-changing.