Sadie In A Dress, Saying "Cheese!", and More

I realized this weekend that I never put Sadie in a dress. In fact, the only dress she has ever worn was her baptism dress. She looks really cute in dresses too. I might have to put her in them more often.

Eli has learned to say "cheese" with a really cheesy grin in his face whenever I have the camera out. I don't know if I'm going to get a normal smile out of him ever again.

Ahhhh... A tender moment.

Aunt Pat came to visit and I snuck in a few shots of her and Sadie. We all love when Aunt Pat comes to visit because she is really good at playing with babies. And she watched the kids so Dennis and I could go to a hockey game. Nice!

Wow! I think Eli looks just like his Grandma Zeman in this picture. Too cute. Oh, and this is how I know he's tired: He lays on the floor and plays with his cars.

Sadie is already a good reader.

Auntie Mia Came To Visit!!!!

Guess where we went? You got it, the zoo! (Note to all future and returning visitors: we like to go to the zoo. If you come to see us, we WILL take you to the zoo for free!!!) It was sort of cold, but not bad. If we lived in ND (or Alaska), we probably would've worn shorts and t-shirts, but when you leave ND your ability to tolerate cold leaves quickly. There are plenty of indoor exhibits (elephants/rhinos, aquarium, reptiles, gorillas and manatees) to keep us busy for several hours and there were hardly any people (we got to park really close). I can't think of a better way to spend Eli's half-birthday (yes, Eli's already a year and a half) and Dennis' (35th!) birthday. And then Thai take-out afterwards. Yum!! And Dennis beat Mia and me really good at trivial pursuit. Now I remember why I hate playing trivia with Dennis.


The kids had such a great time with "My" as Eli called her. And I loved having her around too. She just knew what to do and did it without me having to ask. It was like having my own personal nanny. It was great. We were all spoiled except Mia who had to sleep on the couch and get up when Eli and/or Sadie got up! She was a great sport.


Eli loved having "My's" attention the whole time and kept her entertained by reading to her, dancing for her, playing catch with her, etc. And she happily played along. We miss her already. We all hope she comes back soon.

Top 10 Things To Do On A Cold Winter's Day

It's been pretty cold around here and we've been spending a lot of time inside. (OK. Too much time inside.) What do we do all day to keep ourselves from going stir-crazy? Well, I'll show you.

10. Read the paper with dad.


9. Play in the sink.


8. Make pizza.


7. Have tummy time.


6. Build a tower.


5. Play "So Big".


4. Wash all of the toy trucks (and Eli's mouth too).


3. Sit in a box.


2. Laugh.


And the top thing to do on a cold winter's day...

1. Bundle up and go outside anyways!!

The Greatest Kids In the World

I have to admit that I have been blessed with two great kids. They make me smile, laugh, think, and enjoy life. What great gifts!



We got the snow I requested so we took Eli and Sadie out to enjoy the simple pleasure of sledding. Sadie is nestled in my coat and Eli was enjoying the ride.


Eli's big grin.


Eli's favorite past time--reading!

Just Sadie

Growing up, I hated the fact that my brother is in almost every picture of me and that he had twice as many baby pictures. Now that I'm a mom of two I know why this is. First, you're too busy to think of taking pictures of every 'first." Second, you still love your first baby so you still want to take pictures of them. Third, your first baby just scoots his butt into every picture no matter if you want them to or not. I don't want Sadie to feel like I love Eli more so here are just a few of Sadie. She'll be 3 months on Sunday!!

Sadie lifting weights so she can protect herself from Eli.


Getting stronger at tummy time.


What an angel.

Brother and Sister

Eli insists on having Sadie do everything that he does or wants to do everything that she is doing. It's really quite sweet. Here are a few pictures of them enjoying each other's company.

Taking a bath together has become a nightly ritual. Sadie and Eli both LOVE it.


Tickle, tickle. Playing with boxes.


Fun in the baby gym.

More From ND: Hanging With Grandpas

Grandpa Zeman with Sadie and Eli. Dennis and I got to go out several times alone while grandma and grandpa babysat. Everytime we came home, Sadie was snuggled in grandpa's arms sleeping and grandpa was sleeping too. They must have really enjoyed each others company!


Grandpa and Grandma Sperle have about 100 stuffed cows that Eli just adored. His favorite game was "bring cows to grandpa". I think they played it allday, everyday we were there.

A Few Pictures From Christmas

We were very busy over the holidays and found every minute enjoyable. Eli was so excited to meet all of his cousins again and maybe felt a little overwhelmed by how many there are. We spent Christmas Eve in Napoleon with Grandma and Grandpa Sperle, then we got up early the next morning and drove to Fargo to spend Christmas day with Grandma and Grandpa Zeman. We ate too much, laughed a lot and watched as Eli took in all the pleasures of Christmas and family.

A Christmas kiss.


Sadie's sweet smile and silly hat.


The careful tearing open of presents. Eli was a little slow for me as he wanted to take off every little piece of paper and I just can't wait to see what's inside!! (I've had this problem my whole life.)

Sadie's Baptism

While in ND we had Sadie's baptism in Napoleon. Sadie looked beautiful all dressed in white. And, like her brother, didn't make a peep when the priest poured water on her head. Her Godparents are Dennis' brother, Greg, and my best friend, Mia, but Mia couln't be there so Dennis' sister, Terri, filled in and did a great job. When the priest was pouring water over Sadie, Eli leaned in, pointed at Sadie and really loud said, "Ha,Ha".

Sadie, family, and Godparents.


Getting dried off.





Sadie in her first of many dresses that cost too much and that she'll only wear once, but are worth every penny.

To Tide You Over

Happy New Year!!! I'll post more pictures when I get caught up with my long list of things to do, but until then, enjoy these!

A Visit With Santa

You can tell by this picture that Eli did not enjoy his visit with Santa and that Sadie couldn't have cared less who was holding her. Oh well. It was a fun time anyways.

The 100th Post

This is my 100th post on the Eli and Baby Sadie Blog. I have posted about 2 births, baths, sitting, walking, eating, falling, family, vacations and more. That means, you have read a lot about my children and you probably know more than you need to know. Thanks for tuning in every week to watch my children grow. It's been an exciting run! And, I'm sure, the best is yet to come.

Now, for the pictures.

I took pictures of Sadie's first bath, but they weren't very cheerful. She hated every moment of it and screamed her head off. I realize now that she likes the water really, really warm (like Eli) and is perfectly content to sit for long periods of time as long as the water is warm enough. So, these pictures are from her 8th? bath.



Last Thursday it snowed in Columbus. It doesn't snow in Columbus very often so Eli doesn't have the opporunity to enjoy snow as much as he would like to or as much as I would like him to. It snowed several times last year, but he was oblivious to the fact that white flakes were falling from the sky. So, when it snowed Eli and I went out in our jammies and played in the snow. When he touched it, he said "Oooooo". I think that about says it all.



Eli got this very cool sled as a gift and this is the first time he got to use it. As you can see, the snow is already melting. It was gone about an hour later.

The Many Faces of Sadie

Finally! We've had some camera difficulties around here so I'm just getting some pictures posted. Sadie looks sort of washed out in these pictures, but such is life with flash. These are the best ones. I can't believe she's already 6 weeks old and almost 11 pounds! She's starting to smile, follow people and objects and knows my voice. She's also pretty tolerant of Eli.






Eli fell down our front porch steps on Sunday. He fell so hard his head bounced off the cement. It must have looked worse than it was because he only cried a minute.