Sadie Reese Haldeman

Many, many first in the past 4 months!

2010-08-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sadie is officially a Toddler! She walks (finally at 16 months), dances, follows directions, ignores directions, laughs, cries and more. She decided no more bottles, no more changing table (because she climbs!), rarely sits in the high chair and even tries to dress herself. It is all happening so quickly! She's even interested in the potty. Aaron says that he can't take it anymore. :-)

Our biggest challenge is just upon us. Sadie is starting to try to climb out of the crib. I can't even begin to imagine the fun of training her to stay in her toddler bed! We love her more than words. ALMOST makes me want another one. :-)

Sadie is ONE!

2010-05-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

Sadie had a fantastic first birthday! The chick party theme was a hit. The best part was the LIVE chicks. Though still not walking, she gets in to EVERYTHING! The child climbs inside, on top of, around anything in her way. She says, "mamma, dadda, bye, hi, book," and a few more. Of course I think she is soooo smart. The coolest thing she does lately is pretends to read. She holds a book in her rocking chair and babbles fast and loud JUST like she's reading, turning the pages and all! Our second favorite thing is watching her dance. She loves music. Thank goodness Zoe is learning to play the guitar!

We've had a lot of family time over the past month. Her cousins from NC came down. She also has 3 new triplet cousins that were born 4/1. We celebrated Pop Pop's birthday at the Ronald McDonald House so that Mark, Marissa, and Micah could celebrate with us.

Sadie sleeps like a charm! She takes an hour nap in the AM, 2 hours in the PM, and goes down at 7 for a 13 hour night. It has been wonderful because we are actually able to clean, cook, and study. :-)

Since it is already so hot outside, we have been in the pool. Sadie LOVES the beach ball and laughs hysterically while playing with it. She will take swimming lessons this summer to help with going under the water. We plan on being outside a lot!

Our biggest challenge right now is really making sure the house is safe for both girls. In fact, we (Aaron) are busy this weekend installing alarms, flood lights, and extra locks. Sadie reaching for the door handle and knows that's how to get outside. Hopefully we will be extra protected soon.

She is still the highlight of our day. I can't believe how fast it is going. I'm loving every minute.

Caught in the act...

2010-03-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

I love catching Zoe and Sadie playing...priceless!

Wintertime Sadie

2010-03-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it has been 2 months since I last posted on Sadie! I'm sorry. :-(

Sadie crawls like crazy, eats everything, stands, slides, dances, blows kisses, clucks like a chicken, raises her hands when you ask her "how big is sadie?", says mamma, dadda, meow, bye (like a redneck), waves, pat-a-cakes, sorts toys, hugs, kisses, blows, blinks, takes her pants off during nap time and much much more.

By far the biggest accomplishment has been her ability to respond to what we say and do. I can't believe how much she knows, listens, and is capable of. She is so close to one and that kills me. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. My next post will include 1st birthday pics.

Today Sadie played Aaron and I so well. She reached for him and then gave him a hug and then reached for me and gave me a hug. We love her so much and are enjoying every minute of this journey. Sadie's biggest love though is Zoe. Zoe trumps ANY one holding her. I think Zoe really does think it is pretty cool. :-)

The pictures above show a few highlights from the past few months. We were lucky to have Amanda come over with her camera and play to capture the first two shots.

Happy Holidays!

2010-01-01T13:11:00.001-08:00

Well 2010 is here and I'm finally adding to Sadie's blog! Yay! :-) Sadie has changed so much over the past month. She crawls, has 4 teeth, loves to play peek-a-boo, and is shaking her head 'no' when she doesn't want to eat! She is also starting to pull up, which is scary because she falls most of the time and cries. I can't stand to hear her cry.

We all had a terrific Christmas. We spent time with both sides of the family eating, playing and enjoying the company. Sadie got croup last week, which has been pretty miserable for everyone- but especially Sadie. I hate the "just wait and see" approach to healing! She is already feeling better though just in time for Zoe to come down the same thing!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to post once a month on this blog until she turns 1. Then, I'll create more of a family post. Have a great 2010!

Sisters

2009-11-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

Look at our girls!! These are genuine smiles, not glued on for the sake of a photo. Sadie just adores Zoe and although she doesn't say it, Zoe shows that she feels the same way. I makes me so happy!
Sadie sings, smiles, and has two bottom teeth! She is VERY close to crawling. I was hoping she would wait until after Christmas so that we don't have to fence in the tree, but...
I've been gone for the past 4 days. I could not get home quick enough today. I missed them both like crazy.

I HATE cold weather, but there is just something about this kid in a coat! We are looking forward to spending time camping with my family for Thanksgiving. There will be 4 under 12 months, so it should be entertaining.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sadie the Butterfly!

2009-11-01T08:24:00.001-08:00

Sadie was absolutely adorable last night! She did such a good job even though it was the hottest Halloween that I can remember. I can't believe she is almost 7 months. It feels like I just posted on this blog, yet it has been almost 2 months!
She measured in the 97th percentile for her length and Aaron is SOOO proud! She skipped all of her 6th month clothes and is onto her 9-12 month stuff. It is so sad. :-( She is still wishy washy on when she sleeps through the night. Some nights she makes it and some she does not.
She is eating ALL stage 1 and stage 2 foods. She does NOT like peas or meat still. We are working on it, though. We stopped nursing and are totally on formula. :-( It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It just shows how fast its all going.
Sadie is almost sitting up on her own. She gut laughs with Aaron and is starting to reach to people. There are certain behaviors she repeats like playing with my hair EVERYTIME I hold her and ALWAYS reaching for her butterflies above her changing table. Sadie wakes us up EACH day to squealing which is so sweet.
I'm sure the next time I post, she'll be crawling- hopefully not walking!

Has it been a month already?!

2009-09-22T17:24:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how fast the time is going! Sadie will be six months soon and Zoe just turned 13. I hate it!!

Things have been so busy around our house. Aaron went back to work, I'm back in school, and Sadie STILL isn't sleeping through the night. We've tried going to bed later, going earlier, more food, less food... I can NOT figure her out! Naps are just about the same.

One of the funniest things happened a few weeks ago. I left Zoe alone with Sadie for a short time while I worked upstairs. Much to my surprise, Zoe dressed up Sadie in mismatched clothes and put a dreaded head band on her. We all died laughing and Sadie cried. :-)

She laughs out load and rolls over all the time. Her newest accomplishment is kicking her legs in the pool. She has not cried in the water at all. Good thing Aaron likes to take her swimming. It gives me a chance to get stuff done inside. What are we going to do when its gets cooler???

I plan on posting a very cute video within the next few days. We are trying to take it all in and not miss a thing.

Food, toes, screams, and Greats!

2009-08-22T11:28:00.001-07:00

I can't believe its been almost 4 weeks since I've posted the latest on Sadie...well, actually I can! We have been so busy. Sadie is now almost 15 pounds and 24 inches long. She screams on purpose, laughs when you kiss her neck, and "tells" you what she wants.

We were up front with the Dr. and let him know that we've been giving her rice cereal and sleeping her on her stomach- against his orders. Since she looked so good, the Dr. said to begin her on solid foods. She LOVES carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and even green beans. She's not so thrilled with peas, though.

Her sleeping was great UNTIL her 4 month shots. Since then, she's back up to waking up in the middle of the night. The GOOD news is that she now goes down pretty much on her own. We had to let her cry for about 3 nights. It was tough, but man was it worth it!

We are all enjoying each day with her. We all 'fight' for who gets to go get her in the morning because she smiles so big first thing. She's found her toes and loves to chew on her clothes. Are teeth in the future soon? She rolled over one time when she was really mad, but hasn't since.

Sadie got to meet her two remaining Great Grandmas (Ganny Werner and Great Baker). Great (Baker) was not shy to tell me that 'she favors OUR side of the family.' My grandma, Granny, even admitted that she looks so much like Aaron.

I hope this month doesn't go by as fast as the last!

Where has the time gone?

2009-07-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

We've seen July 4th, a few more cousins, and survived a week without Daddy! Man, has it been busy!

I screwed up royally on July 4th. I left the rice cereal at home and boy did she let us know that she was NOT happy about it. She screamed all the way from CK to home and then some. I didn't realize how much she really does depend on it.

She stares at everything...so hard you'd think she can stare through it. I'm hoping that makes her smart. :-) She gets excited around certain people now, especially Zoe. Big sister can do almost anything and Sadie loves it!

The last few days have been rough. Aaron went camping for the week in NC. I didn't realize how much I depended on him! I haven't submitted school work, cooked a decent meal, or gone to Wal- Mart all week. :-)

Sadie squeals, laughs, coughs, and sticks her tongue out. She has lots of new hair starting to come in, too. Everyone now has a different opinion about who she looks like. We are trying to absorb as much of her as we can each day.

Sadie Saying "Hi"!

2009-07-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Three months old yesterday... Wow, has the time flown by! Things are pretty good. Sadie teases us all with her lack of consistency. Just when I think we have some sort of schedule...she goes and changes it. I never know when we can eat, grocery shop, go to the bathroom (lol), etc...

She has been 'talking' to us a lot lately. She LOVES to lay on her changing table to talk and squeal. We've learned to lay her there when she's fussy and low and behold....she calms right down.

Overall things are going well. We are looking forward to getting a pool, which should make for some really good Sadie footage. :-)

Yippee!!!

2009-07-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

New good habits by Sadie equals happy mom and dad!!!

Sadie has found her thumb, slept through the night, and has stopped crying (for no reason)! It has been a really good week and a half. I feel refreshed now that I've gotten some sleep. I look forward to getting her in the mornings because she now smiles at me! My mom has been promising me that things would get better at 12 weeks. She is 12 weeks tomorrow!

Sadie coos all of the time and actually tries to mimic your sounds. This has been quite a fun change from just staring at us all like we are crazy. Although, I've broken the rules by giving her rice cereal AND sleeping her on her tummy, she is happier and well rested.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day, Aaron!

2009-06-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sadie and Zoe have one terrific Dad! Aaron does it all with lots of love and patience. What would we do without him? I don't even want to think about it.

Sadie has been a much happier baby lately. She smiles more, laughs a little, and coos on demand. :-) We are starting to have so much fun. Still not sleeping through the night, but is sleeping a little better during the day. She has gotten much better in the car seat and stroller which has made riding and walking so much better for us all.

I can't believe she is 10 weeks old already. She follows Zoe with her eyes everywhere Zoe goes. It is so cute. I'm sure Zoe might not think so in a year or so. One other cute 'happening' was with our dog, Trixie. I was burping Sadie near Trixie. She must have thought that I was hurting her because she growled the entire time that I did it. Sadie even has the dog looking out for her!

Daddy is home with Sadie during the day all week this week while I'm at UF for a class. I'm sure I'll have lots more to write next week!

Sadie talks to the puppies...

2009-06-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

11 pounds and growing!

2009-06-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

She's so serious.

Sadie's first Watermelon Festival!

Finally some proof that she does belong to me! Oh how I wish this were us EVERY morning.

Things are going fairly well. We still aren't sleeping too much. She still feeds about every 3 hours, which explains why she's still gaining weight. She is perfectly average, falling into the 50% for weight and head. She's 75th percentile for her length. Daddy is VERY hopeful that she'll play basketball!

I can sure tell that work is back in session. My house is a wreck, we are eating take out, and I look forward to Friday nights. This week, Nonny (Aaron's mom), is watching her while I work. She's helping get Sadie into more of a routine. Thank Goodness!!!

It takes a village...

2009-05-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

It really does take a village to raise a child. Thank goodness for grandmas!

Sadie has hung out with Anny (Mary) a ton this week...literally. Last night she screamed for 5 hours with Anny while Aaron and I went to a graduation party in Cedar Key. I think Zoe may be scarred for life!

We gave her drops for Colic when we returned home and within about 10 minutes she was out like a light! She slept for 6 hours!!! I slept for 5 of them. It is so nice to be able to rely on family for advice and help. We are very lucky.

Week of firsts!

2009-05-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Its official! Sadie now 7 weeks old weighs as much as I did at birth! My poor mother... She weighs 9 pounds 13 ounces and is 22 1/2 inches long. No wonder she eats all of the time. We went to her six week check up with LOTS of questions:
1. Will she ever sleep through the night?
2. Why did she throw up our one and only attempt at formula?
3. How can we get rid of the cradle cap?
4. How can we do away with the baby acne?
5. Why is she such a noisy sleeper?
6. She is really gassy...what can we do?
7. Does she have an eye infection because it is draining all the time?

Within a few minutes we learned that we have a perfectly NORMAL baby and that with most of our questions the solutions is to just let it go. :-) Dr. Landay did give us eye drops, a formula to try, and colic medicine. Although we don't think she has a bad case of colic, she does seem uncomfortable every afternoon. The formula will help me get a few more bottles of breast milk in the freezer so that Aaron will have something to give her during the day. :-)

I have given up on the hunt for a schedule. I realized that if I just let it go, she'd be happier! :-) She does seem to be stretching the feedings to about every 4 hours now.

This week was filled with firsts. The photos below highlight most of them...
First pattern of ALWAYS holding on to whoever holds her.
First nap in the swing...heck, first time in the swing without crying!
Her first shoes...they didn't stay on too long.
And my personal favorite... her first big girl outfit!
Her first bottle!
Sadie's first bath without screaming! Yay! I finally figured out how to do it!

Overall, she is doing really well. Oh how I dread going back to work. I don't want to miss a moment.

Sadie's First Sponge Bath- 4/12/09

2009-05-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sleep, Sadie Sleep...

2009-05-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, for the past two nights Sadie has slept beautifully! She only woke up once both nights! I feel like a new woman with just 5 hours straight sleep. Zoe has been a HUGE help this week. She gets Sadie up from her nap, changes her, and entertains her while I get ready. It has been sooo nice!

Poor Sadie now has Cradle Cap, Baby Acne, and an infected eye. She looks like we've totally neglected her. But, on the up side she has 'cooed' 2 times. It's so funny how excited we get over the tiniest things. :-)

Sadie had quite a few visitors this week. Aunt DeAnne and Jolie, Aunt Jonya and Tucker, and even got to meet her other cousins, Tyler and Adysan.

Goal for this week...Aaron is going to introduce Sadie to a bottle. I can only imagine what that will be like!

What a Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Haldeman family had a great weekend. Our friend Milinda visited us on Saturday. Milinda is fun for the whole family. Each of us have a special relationship with her. :-) I can't wait to see what Sadie will think of her in a few years.

We have been encouraging Sadie to soothe herself by sucking her thumb. She just can't quite find it yet. It melts my heart to watch.

Mother's Day was terrific! Zoe spent a ton of time making me napkin holders, flowers, and a card. She was so proud, but not as proud as I. :-) Aaron spent the morning with his mom, while I got to clean my house. Yay! Believe it or not, that is exactly what I wanted to do on Mother's Day...feel caught up. Aaron surprised me with new patio furniture and a crab cake sandwich from Anne's Resturant in Cedar Key. The Day could not have gotten any better.

Almost a month old!

2009-05-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sadie has enjoyed a CALM week this week. Tomorrow she will be 4 weeks old. It has been a CRAZY 4 weeks.
She enjoyed meeting cousin Micah for the first time. He was really good with her. Maybe he's ready for a little sibling?
I love the picture below. Neither one of them had any idea that Zoe and I were filming them sleep. They BOTH snore! :-)

Last night was one LONG night. Sadie couldn't get settled. We are convinced that I'm eating something that hurts her tummy. I feel like I've elminiated everything that could potentially cause a problem. Today I'm trying to avoid dairy. She screamed and ate for 6 hours straight. Of course this would happen when we were alone. Aaron got no, "Hi, how was your day?" when he walked in the door. Instead, he became Mr. Soother. It worked! I got the longest stretch of sleep that I've gotten in the past month (6.5 hours!).

We are working really hard on some sort of schedule. Keep your fingers crossed!

Who does she look like?

2009-05-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

All I've heard since the day she was born is, "Wow, she looks just like her daddy!" While this is not a bad thing, I'm a little disappointed. :-) She does have several combined traits, like our well defined family cleft chin. She has my brown hair and Aaron's top lip.

I can't help but think she looks like Zoe in the photo below. There is just something about that profile. I love it! It really is like having a chance to do it all over again. Good thing we're happy with the results so far with Zoe.

So, I'm dying to know. What do YOU think? Who is this girl?

Back up to birth weight!

2009-04-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

Things are going well. We have settled in to sort of a routine. It involves eating and sleeping. :-) Sadie's earned an "A+" at her 2 week appointment. She has regained up to her birth weight which means that we don't have to wake her up to eat anymore...as if we ever did. :-)

Zoe is easing in to her role as a big sister. We've refrained from asking her to 'help' with Sadie hoping that she'll want to on her own. She really likes helping give baths and picking out the next outfit. Sadie dirties about 4 outfits a day, so Zoe is busy.

Aaron returns to work on Monday. :-( Its been so nice having him around. Maybe we'll win the lottery tonight so we can all stay home? I now understand the importance of a 6 week maternity leave... it takes 6 weeks to get caught up on rest, laundry, and hospital/insurance issues. I swear we no more than pulled in from the second hospital visit and our first bill was waiting in the mailbox. Oh what fun...

We really appreciate all of the love and support during this exciting and worrisome time of our lives. After next week we'll be 'lifting' the lock down at our house. :-)

We are home...Again...

2009-04-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

As we pulled into the driveway on Friday night, Aaron said, "Okay, lets try this again." Things are going well at home. We couldn't wait to wash the hospital smell off of Sadie during her bath. We had to remove 6 bandages before we could. She has two bruised hands and heels and has her days and nights mixed up, but overall is doing well. Here is what we were dealing with all week:

Thanks for all of the support.

Our Own Grey's Anatomy Episode

2009-04-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

The fact that I have time to post this blog is encouraging as we have been at Shands UF Teaching Hospital since Tuesday night. What we thought was simple jaundice, escalated in to much more. On Monday, Sadie's pediatrician told us to keep an eye on her yellowing body. If it were to get worse, we were told to call. Aaron and I both agreed on Tuesday afternoon that things were worsening. Our debate was whether to call or wait until our Wednesday 10 AM appointment. We've learned to ALWAYS error on the side of caution.
We called peds after hours. They had us check her temperature, which read 96.3. After lots of back and forth on the phone, more temperature checks, and efforts on our end to feed and warm, we were told to take her to Shands ER. Aaron is truly amazing. He held it all together as I sobbed. Sadie was lethargic, wouldn't eat, and had absolutely no expression. It is amazing that we were already used to her "norm" by day 4. I made the call to 911 for an ambulance ride, rather than us chancing having to sit in an ER waiting room with Sadie. This is where the nightmare got even worse.
Within minutes the ER staff had inserted a catheter, given her a spinal tap, given an IV, and placed her under a warmer. A 4 day old experienced what many of us rarely experience as adults. By 3 AM they had us in an isolation room due to risk of her being infected. They put her under UV lights to treat the jaundice, gave her 3 antibiotics through the IV, an antiviral, and a fluid drip. This would be hard to handle under any circumstances, but after 5 days of little to no sleep, it became the worst night of our lives. With infants, the protocol is to treat for everything and then back off once test results narrow down the illness. Since the blood work is cultured, we knew we would be here for a few days.
The staff has been awesome. Because it is a teaching hospital, my thousands of questions are welcomed! Things are slowly getting better. Sadie has opened her eyes, held her own temperature, and has been eating. As of last night she even woke us up to feed! Its amazing how all of the little inconveniences of caring for a new born have become huge blessings!
This morning I felt like we were on an episode of Grey's Anatomy because an entire team gave us a run down of Sadie's progress. The attending quizzed the doctors, the doctors answered back- it was awesome.
Tomorrow is a BIG day. We get back the rest of the blood results which will help indicate what went wrong. The good news is that she's being treated for everything regardless of what it is. The general consensus is that she contracted a virus and we'll never know where it came from. Viruses have to run their course and we are grateful that the hospital was able to help her get through it. Needless to say, our house is now quarantined for a few weeks. If she or any other 12 week and under baby were to get a fever, they MUST do the spinal tap.
I will keep everyone posted on the progress. We have literally not stopped since we arrived here. We are all looking forward sleepless nights at home.

Day 1 is over...finally

2009-04-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

How can a little tiny baby eat SO much and SO often?!
We are all adjusting to our newest family member. She is super sweet. I think she must think that she is some kind of superstar because she has had visitors all day! Her big sister Zoe came to see her and brought her some fabulous Easter goodies.

Later she met her cousins, Seth and Cason, who came all the way from North Carolina to meet her! They even had to cross the flooding I-10 to get here!

Dad has successfully changed his first poopy diaper- SOLO!!! Yay!

Things are going really well and we feel very blessed. Tomorrow is going to be a huge day, as we are finally going home. I can't imagine what kind of response our dog is going to give to Sadie. I'll share it all tomorrow night. :-)

Okay, where did the past 20 hours go?

2009-04-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sadie Reese, 6 pounds/12 ounces, 20 inches long, was born at 4:44 PM on 4/10/09. It has been a long and tiring day. We are so excited about her arrival! Stay tuned as I will be posting Aaron's first diaper change soon.

At the hospital...

2009-04-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we were admitted at midnight last night (4/9). It was funny to see folks from Cedar Key in the waiting room. I felt like I had my own welcome party. :-)

I was contracting on my own last night, which was encouraging because the more you can do on your own, the less needles, drugs, etc... They stopped at 3 AM and we are now back to square one. Aaron and I did manage to sleep around 3 hours or so.

Dr. Iobst (bet you can't say that three times real fast) came in at around 9 AM to examine me. He said that I'm not quite ready to be officially induced yet. He will check me again at noon to see where we are at.

So far, both shifts of the nursing staff have been great. Thank goodness they are not slammed. A lot of the doctors offices are closed today, so maybe most mommies will wait until Monday to have babies. :-)

Overall, we are doing well. Sadie's heart rate "looks beautiful" and she's had the hiccups twice.