Christmas Day

Christmas morning at the Gillespie house started very early. Sadie was ready to go at 5AM, but Nana and Big Daddy held her off until 6:30 when Josh and Brianna got there. She was super excited to see what Santa had brought her. It was a great day with family and a blessing to be together.

Sadie in front of her Christmas tree.

Playing with Uncle Josh.

A picture I was thankful to snap while they were both looking in the general direction of the camera. :) Not exactly the most lady like picture, but I think it's cute anyway.

Sadie writing her letter to Santa on Christmas Eve.

Sadie with her Rapunzel purse and headband.

And her Tangled doll.

Big Daddy helping Claire open her present.

A tickle me Elmo. Claire loves to hug her Elmo and really loves to chew on his nose :)

Christmas week at Nana and Big Daddy's house

We have just gotten back from a great week at Nana and Big Daddy's house in Savannah. Sadie has been excited for weeks and the trip did not disappoint. We had such a great time with family and enjoyed relaxing for a few days. Nana took such great care of us. The girls love them so much. Claire would reach and fuss whenever she saw either one of them until they would hold her. Sadie was so excited when we got there that she did not go to sleep the first night until 3:30AM. She then was awake again at 6. I had her laying with me and she leaned over and whispered at about 6:15, "Mama, I need to see Nana, Big Daddy and the puppies." How can you argue with that? Every morning after that Nana would go get her when she woke up and take her in to see Big Daddy. Needless to say she kept waking up earlier and earlier the longer we were there. The last morning...4:30AM!

The girls loved having puppies for a week. They have to enjoy it there because I am not a pet person so puppies are not in our future. (At this point anyway. The girls aren't quite old enough to ask so we'll see...) Claire has had a little bit of trouble adjusting to not having puppies at home. She loved to drop her food for them at Nana and Big Daddy's house so since we've been home she has continued to drop food from her tray and then will lean over the side looking for the puppies. It's pretty cute. Anyway, here are a few picures from the trip. I haven't posted Christmas morning yet, my plan is to make that a seperate post. 4 more days before we go back to school, but I will get it done!

Thanks for a great week Nana, Big Daddy, Aunt Bri and Uncle Josh. We are so thankful that we were all able to be together!





One day we went to downtown Savannah and rode a ferry to a hotel to see some Gingerbread houses. The girls loved the boat ride.

Checking out the Gingerbread.

Claire on the boat.

So sweet.

A picture of Riverstreet from acroos the river at the hotel.

Making cookies with Nana.

Decorating the Christmas Tree Nana had just for the girls. Sadie loved it.

Hanging out before bed time with Daddy.

Helping Nana make rice krispy treats. Sadie is sporting her 3D glasses she got when Aunt Bri and Uncle Josh took her to see Yogi Bear.

Claire's Birthday

The Saturday before we left for Nana and Big Daddy's house we had some friends over for dinner to celebrate Claire turning one. Claire and Sadie both seemed to have a great time. In fact, Sadie is still talking about Claire's birthday. It was great to celebrate Claire and the blessing that she is to our family.

Sarah made a flower cake that matched Claire's outfit perfectly!

I don't think she knew quite what to think about the cake, but she figured it out.

Yummy!

Starting to feel a little sick...

and she's had enough.

We ended the evening with Claire playing with a few new toys.

Claire's first year!

Claire is turning 1 tomorrow! When I look back at the pictures I can't believe how much she has changed and I can't believe how fast it has gone. She already has such a personality. I just love to see her smile, laugh, and even throw little fits. She really seems to be content most of the time. She does have a 3 year old sister to watch and help keep her entertained. She has just started clapping her hands to "If you're happy and you know it" and she will put her head back and go "Aaahhhhh" when you act like you are going to sneeze. That is really cute! I need to post a video of it.

I just love to watch Claire and Sadie together. They are so sweet to each other. Exept when Claire tries to take things from Sadie, but that really doesn't happen too much. I love to catch them "playing" in Sadie's room or Sadie saying to Claire, "Come on baby" and Claire taking off after her down the hall to go see what they can find. I can not wait to watch them grow up together and have each other as sisters and friends.

Claire, I remember holding you in the hospital and thanking God for giving me such a beautiful baby. I can not wait to see the life that God has in store in for you and I am praying just like your dad and I have been since before you were born that you will listen to his leading and become what he wants you to be. We know that he has great plans for you. We pray also that we will be the parents that he wants us to be to lead you to be that person. You already are such a sweet spirit and beautiful child. We love you and Happy Birthday!

Exciting Day!

It was an exciting day at the Gillespie house... We threw away the bottles! We've been working on Claire taking a cup for a while now and she hasn't had a bottle since Monday! Way to go Claire!!!! She was a little fussy at first, but I think she likes that she can get the milk out faster because she has been chugging it. I am so excited not to have to wash bottles anymore I don't quite know what to do. Claire will be 1 in just two weeks. Hard to believe.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Claire has definitely had a memorable first Thanksgiving so I wanted to be sure it was a part of the blog. She woke up during the night Wednesday with a high fever. Gabe rocked her for a couple hours during the night and after the medicine kicked in her fever went down some and she went back to sleep. Not quite sure if it was a stomach bug or infection, but she threw up a couple times and didn't do much but sleep on Thanksgiving.

(Claire, your first Thanksgiving meal was a few teaspoons of Gatorade by syringe. Sorry you missed out on all the good food, we were especially excited for you because you are such a good eater and LOVE meat. You're really going to love it next year! )

I took her to the doctor on Friday morning and she was treated for an infection since she had been running the fever off and on for over a week. She got a shot and some medicine and has been doing so much better! Just to see her want to eat and drink again is such a relief. We haven't had one of the girls that sick before and it was pretty scary. The doctor was very encouraging though. He asked if she was in daycare and I told him yes. He said that it is common for babies to get sick when they are in daycare and also told me all about a research study he had just read about strengths of children that have been in daycare. He said that they are usually very social and have an increased vocabulary. Those are the two I remember because they reminded me of Sadie. He also said that they usually do not miss very much school because they have already been exposed and have been sick when they were younger. Anyway, he said it would get better after the first two winters which proved to be true with Sadie and to hang in there. It was just so nice to be encouraged and just what I needed after the couple of weeks we had just had of ear infections and sickness. I was praying on the way to the doctor that I was going to need help to hold it together. He gave me the right doctor with just the right words and I am so thankful she is better.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get so far off of Thanksgiving... Here are some pictures from our weekend and the fun we have had.

I was determined to get some pictures of Claire's first Thanksgiving. She looks pretty miserable huh? This would be the hour she was awake. Poor baby. Sadie was a trooper and would pose for me to get some pictures.

Our plans for Thanksgiving were to go to the Lamm's and eat, but we had to cancel. They were so sweet and brought us some dinner. We are so grateful for their friendship.

Gabe and Sadie went on a movie date late morning since we had to change our plans around. They went and saw Tangled.

Claire's First Thanksgiving Photo. Pitiful huh?

Gabe decided to make pizza tonight so Sadie was all about helping. They turned out great. At dinner she said, "Mamma, I made it for you." She is so sweet.

So proud of her creation.

Claire is feeling better! Hooray!!!!!!!

Halloween Fun!

So I debated about even posting pictures since it shows the messy house in the background, but then I figured, oh well, that's our life right now so why not? We had a fun Halloween and went Trunk or Treating. Here are a few pictures. Claire was a cute pumpkin and Sadie loved her Minnie Mouse dress. I think she would wear it 24/7 if she could. This was her first year to really pick a costume and wear it so it was really fun. She had fun handing out candy after she was finished walking around. She LOVED seeing all the candy that was available, we had to limit it quickly. Claire was just as sweet as ever and smiled and pointed to everyone.

Here they are before we left.

And there goes Claire. One picture. That really is about all I get before she takes off. Sadie is about to say, "BABY!!!!!"

Eyeing the candy!

This was pretty much her post. She was very generous though and loved giving it out to the other kids. She just always wanted to have some too. Imagine that!

Claire is 8 and 9 months old :)

So Claire is actually 10 months old today, but I am just getting her 8 and 9 month pictures posted. My goal has become to get this month taken before the next month gets here and so far I have made it. Now I'll just work on getting them posted. To say that Claire is on the go would be kind of an understatement. She is moving, moving, moving. She does not stay still as you can see from trying to take her picture. I had a little better luck with the 9 month picures when I made Gabe help me. It has become a two person job. Claire has such a funny personality and it is so much fun to watch the girls together. Sadie starts talking and Clarie just jabbers right back. Sadie loves her so much and has started calling her "baby sister" or "baby Claire" I really just melt. As busy as we get, my favorite time of day is the precious few minutes we have after dinner before bed when we are all on the floor just playing. We just talk and laugh and enjoy being our family.

Really, these picures do not do justice to how many I took. I did not get one picture of her actually sitting looking at the camera, but she was smiling and laughing and all of them!

Sadie turns 3!

It's hard to believe, but today is Sadie's 3rd birthday! She is quite a little girl and such a blessing to our lives. She is so talkative and wants to tell us things she is learning all the time. It is so fun to see all that her little mind is taking in right now. Her sweet smiles brighens my day whenever I see her and I pray that she will continue to spread joy wherever she goes. My prayer continues to be that God will guide us as we raise her to be His and what he wants her to be to glorify him and his work. We love you sweet girl!

We had her birthday party last weekend with Lincoln at Jumpin Jungle. It was so much fun! All of the kids had a great time and we got to enjoy watching them. Sadie knew she was having her birthday party, but I don't think really understood what we were doing until it all started happening. She had never been to Jumpin Jungle so it was a lot of fun for her. She was all smiles when she arrived and saw all the jumpers and then when all her friends started to get there too it was so sweet. They all were so excited to get to play together.

Sadie with her friend Kynlie

Alison letting Claire have some fun too.

Watching the video before we went in.

Going down a slide.

So excited to blow out her candles.

Group shot

Lincoln with his cupcake.