Sadie's First Trip to Sea World

For our last day before I went back to work, we went to Sea World.  Sadie liked having so many new things to look at.  In our opinions, she loved to look at the penguins, Shamu and turtles.  It was our first time with a stroller at a theme park and we loved having all our things in the stroller!

 

Sadie's Four Months Old!

We have a FOUR month old baby!  She weighs in at 15 pounds which is 55% and measures 26" which is 99% taller than other babies her age!

Turning four months old brought some new challenges.  Mom went back to work which was a tough transition for all of us.  And it was Dad's turn to stay home for the whole month of December.  And the best part is that Sadie is getting some nights in where she is sleeping through the night.  Not all the time, but it's happening.  And, some naps are even becoming longer than the standard 45 minutes.

Sadie is more mobile and so we're able to be out and about much more with her.  The major spitting up seems to have stopped and we're getting the hang of this parenting thing.  Finally.  Sadie loves to laugh and smile and of course put things in her mouth.

Sadie's First Christmas Tree

We got up bright and early and went out to get Sadie's first tree.  She didn't seem to understand or care...but we took photos of it anyways...maybe next time if we go some where more Christmassy than Home Depot she will be more excited.  Plus she will be 1.  Which I'm sure is what will really help.

Noodle however, did care.  Very much.  The top third of the tree is decorated to be Noodle proof.  None of the presents have bows or ribbon to be Noodle proof.  Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving

At our house we are thankful for a baby who sleeps again!  After having two really bad weeks of sleep, we decided that we just couldn't take it anymore.  We had decided to do some serious sleep training of the "cry it out" fashion.  We spent the day reading the book about it and started in at nap time with just doing our nap time routine and putting Sadie in her crib awake and walking away.  And after one nap that had a lot of crying...the rest of them worked.  We couldn't believe after spending HOURS rocking Sadie to sleep for every nap and every night that we could just put her down and walk away and she would fall asleep ON HER OWN.  I honestly thought this "babies who self soothe" thing was a myth.  How could it be possible when Sadie needed so much of our love and soothing to fall asleep.  Well...what she needed was for us to leave her alone and let her do it on her own.  In sometimes less time than it takes for me to leave her room and get to the baby monitor.

Now, I'm not saying she's perfect...there has been a little bit of crying.  But SO much less than we anticipated!  And the first four days of this, she slept through the night!  Which she hadn't done in weeks. We had dreams again.  It was a miracle.

Here is our little turkey who we are so incredibly thankful for this year.

Sadie's First Trip to the Zoo

We had been very excited to take Sadie to the zoo for the first time and we finally did it!  We tried a few weeks back, but by the time we got to the zoo in the late afternoon, we had a screaming baby who had spit up all over her clothes and there was no place to park in their entire parking lot.  So, we felt very defeated and gave up.

So last weekend, we went a little earlier in the day, brought plenty of extra supplies in the diaper bag and we made it!  No tears at all!  Sadie even had a little nap while we were there.  And even though the only animals she really saw were some gazelles and the thing she liked the most was a waterfall in a bird aviary....we felt so accomplished that we took our baby to the zoo!  Sadie didn't even cry on the way home which is a major accomplishment!

We're looking forward to many more trips to the zoo in the future...

Seeing the koalas.

 

Sadie's favorite waterfall.

Sadie's First Plane Ride

Last weekend Sadie and I took a big adventure.  Kristi and Oliver were coming from Baltimore to Sacramento to visit their family and so we flew up to see them.  Kristi and I just couldn't stand it that our babies had not met yet.  Thankfully Alicia came with us so we had an extra set of hands on the airplane.

I was really nervous since Sadie had recently learned a new, really loud, like pausing to take a full breath so she can use it all to scream, cry.  But, Sadie did great on the airplane!  She fell asleep after we went through security and slept through take off.  She was happy and smiling the entire flight.  The flight attendants even made an announcement that we had a very special passenger aboard and that her name was Sadie and she was only three months old.  All the passengers clapped and she got a pair of wings and a certificate!

It was so wonderful to finally meet baby Oliver and see Kristi!  It had been almost a year since we had seen each other.  Although we learned how hard it is to visit when one baby or the other is always eating, trying to fall asleep or needing a diaper change...but we had fun anyways.  And most importantly Oliver and Sadie had their first date!

They even held hands.

Matching holiday jammies.

Sadie's Three Months Old!

It's amazing how time flies when you're home with a baby!  Our baby girl is three months old and weighs twice as much as when she was born.  She's growing like a weed and is already wearing six month clothing.

We have had some challenges this month.  Bottles are still a challenge but after a "Bottle Stand Off" with her dad, Sadie is finally taking bottles again much to our relief.  She's not always happy about it and really lets us know...but if she's hungry, she'll drink it.  And this means that Grandma and Grandpa can watch her for longer than 2 hours!

Sadie also stopped sleeping through the night.  It was an amazing feeling for almost two weeks she was sleeping from about 10pm to 6am.  I had dreams.  I felt like a normal person again.  I hadn't slept through the night since I was seven months pregnant.  And then, one night, she just stopped.  She has been either getting up about 3 or 4 am to eat or she sleeps until about 5...neither of which we're crazy about.  But we are just thankful that she sleeps in long stretches and that sometimes she is still sleeping through the night.  We know that she can do it and that she'll get there again someday.

BUT, Sadie looks at us and smiles. And laughs.  And turns to our voices.  And snuggles into our necks when she's sleepy.  And it makes it all worth it.  She knows who we are and loves us.

Working hard at Tummy Time.

Outgrowing the Rhine family cradle.

Finally, what we have been waiting for... a photo of them together.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Petersens!

Sadie and Noodle both dressed up like kitty cats.  Sadie made it to two houses trick or treating and then her grandparents all came over to see her.  We had the most trick or treaters that we have ever had at our house and we almost ran out of candy!  The last set we got before we turned off the lights were teenagers and I was so embarrassed when I handed them each one piece of candy instead of the handful I'd been giving out all evening.

Adam and I really felt like parents when we were taking our child trick or treating.  It was a strange moment to think that we were going to be doing this for years to come!

When we were taking Sadie's picture Noodle wanted to be in all the pictures we were taking of Sadie so badly.  She was in almost all of them that we took and we had to just crop her out...

Sadie's Official Halloween Portrait

 

Noodle's Official Halloween Portrait.

Giggles!

The best thing that has happened to us as parents so far is that we made our baby girl giggle!  AND thank goodness for you all that we caught her second and third giggles on video!

And thank goodness that she did start to giggle and be so wonderfully cute.  Since, she stopped sleeping through the night.  We moved her into her crib in her own room and she now misses us and wants to be cuddled and sometimes fed twice a night....so much for those full nights of sleep.  We are very hopeful that she will remember how to sleep through the night again very soon.

Here are some other favorite photos from the past week.

Looking very fashionable in an outfit sent all the way from Italy from Michelle.

First time in her bumbo chair!

First family selfie during Sadie's first trip to Coronado.  She was not amused as you can see.

Pumpkin Patch

Because we're new parents and didn't know better, we thought it would be fun to take our 2 month old baby to a pumpkin patch. Where I guess we figured we would take adorable photos of her with pumpkins, go on the hay ride and have so much fun with our friends and their babies (ages 2, 1.5, 3 months).

It was a chilly morning, so we dressed for fall.  And by the time we arrived, almost an hour later than we were supposed to (thanks to little Sadie's healthy appetite), it was hot.  And the toddlers were basically done being at the pumpkin patch.  But we waited in line for the hay ride where at least one of four kids was always crying, sweated in the hot sun and then let a 2 year old lead us through a corn maze.  Needless to say, we were in there for awhile.

Anyways...we decided that we don't need to go back to a pumpkin patch anytime soon.  But, we did it and have some photo proof that we survived thanks to our friend Becca.

With Laura and Miles. The babies have no choice but to be best friends.

Hooray for hay rides.  Sadie is hiding from the sun under a blanket because her parents didn't think enough about sunscreen or a hat when taking their newborn into the sun....

Look, pumpkins!  

As you can tell, Sadie was thrilled to be put in this photo. But obviously it had to be done.

Sadie's Two Months Old!

Sadie's Second Month

Look at this cute baby!  Sadie has been growing and changing so much in the past month.  The best thing that happened is that she started smiling!  The worst thing is that she stopped drinking from a bottle!  We've been trying everyday to get her back on the bottle, but she screams and screams....so it's not easy.  In better news, the last few nights she has slept for 8 hours!  So, you win some, you lose some.  And you just keep trying.

Here is what you came to see...photos of this cute baby!

She loves to sit in her bouncer seat!

One of her first captured smiles.

In one of her most adorable outfits.

Having tummy time with her friend Jacob.  Jacob was having much more fun than Sadie.

First pair of jeans.

And just one of Noodle for good measure.

Sadie's One Month Old

It's so hard to believe that our little baby is one month old already.  This month has been a crazy blur for us. And it's amazing to see how much Sadie has changed in just one month.  We want to thank our parents for being so helpful during this first month.  We don't know what we would have done without you!   Thank you also to all our friends who gave us advice, brought us food and showered Sadie with so much love. We feel so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Remember Noodle

Noodle has had a hard time adjusting to our new life.  Suddenly we were gone for four days and we came back with a noisy little person who takes all of our time.  She's adjusting by sleeping really close to us at night and being as cute as possible to distract us from Sadie.

Knocking all the baby bottles out of the cupboard.

Playing on the baby's play mat...her new favorite spot.

Playing with the baby's bath toys.

Just being so darn cute.

Sadie's First Trip

At just three weeks old, Sadie went on her first road trip.  My friend Bridget got married in northern California and I was determined to get there.  I was feeling very confident as my mom and I started out on our 8 hour drive.  And about 2 hours into the trip...I was wondering if we should turn back.  

Sadie would wake up and in 30 seconds be screaming her head off while we frantically tried to find a freeway exit that was more than just a corn field.  It took 11 hours, and I think my mom and I both probably grew a few gray hairs, but we made it.  My aunt Kathy lives in Modesto and took us all in for a few days. Once we were there Sadie had a great time with her Grandma and Great Aunt Kathy and I had a great vacation from changing any diapers!  

Adam flew up on Friday to be with us and Sadie got to meet our friends Pam and Joni who graciously picked Adam up from the airport.

Sadie attending her first wedding and did very well.  She didn't cry during any speeches and Adam learned what a "chick magnet" having a darling baby is at a wedding.  On the way home we stopped in LA to visit a few more good friends which made it easier to break up the drive back into 2 days.  Although we made it, I think that was my first and last road trip with a newborn.

Learning how to play Indian Poker.

Spending time with Grandma outside.

All pretty in her wedding outfit.

With Great Aunt Kathy

Carl and Bridget the newlyweds!

In the car with her duck friend.

Meeting our wonderful friend Liz.