Catching up

Saturday has definitely become our "catch up" day and it seems to be my blogging day too. We have had a good week and are enjoying our Sadie so much. She is at such a great, fun age. She is starting to say lots of words and phrases. I am making her say words now (or at least try) instead of ,"Uh, Uh" whenever she wants something. This week she did a couple funny things. Not only does she look like her daddy, but she also has developed his love for food. We were watching TV one night and she was running around playing. A commercial for Red Lobster came on and she looked at the TV and said, "Mmmmmmm!" Pretty funny. Then tonight at dinner- Gabe had made french onion soup (Yummy!) and Sadie was eating roast beef and peas. (2 of her favorites) We were blowing on our soup to cool it down and she decided she needed to blow on her food too. She picked up the peas one by one and would blow on each one before she put it in her mouth. Gabe and I were cracking up!

We were also excited today because we got to see our Jose. He is home from Iraq for a visit and we were so excited to see him. He hadn't seen Sadie since November so she had changed quite a bit. He even got to see her throw a tantrum! Jose told us that he reads the blog all the way over in Iraq to keeep up with what's going on with us. That's motivation enough for me. It was great to visit with him and his sister Brittany. Jose and Brittany- we are so proud of you, who you have become, and what you are doing! We love you!

Nana, here is the best picture that I got of Sadie last week in the lady bug dress. So cute!

Sadie, Gabe, and Jose. I didn't realize Brittany had ducked out of the picture.

One of Sadie's new fun things to do...take her baby for rides in the laundry basket.

Lovin the weekend!

More Saturday pictures

I realize that this is a lot of pink, but I went a little crazy taking pictures this afternoon. I just haven't been happy with the pictures lately so I started practicing and ended up taking quite a few. A friend has told us that the trick is just to take a whole bunch of pictures and your chances are a lot better that you will get some good ones. So, I'm going to try that philosphy and see what happens. I took so many that the battery died on the camera. Here are a few.

This is Sadie's pose when she wants you take a picture of her.

The Gillespie Garden-Phase 1

We have officially started a garden! We haven't planted anything yet, but we (actually it has been all Gabe) started digging today. I was a little apprehensive because we tend to get excited about projects like this and then nothing happens, but I really think we actually might do it this time. I guess we will see, but so far it is looking good. Sadie really enjoyed being outside for the afternoon and seemed to have a lot of fun.

Here it is...so far...

Can you guess what she is eating?

I was cleaning the kitchen and hadn't heard anythinng for a while. I went out to check and found Sadie sitting behind Gabe. He was digging and she was eating-DIRT!

Just some cute pictures of our sweet girl exploring outside!

Spring Break

We've had a fun time this week being off of work and spending lots of time together. We went to Ruidoso, NM for a few days to hang out and now are just getting stuff done around the house. Just wanted to share some of our pictures.

This is Gabe's favorite picture from our trip. Sadie just enjoyed some yummy pizza and her hair got lots of staic while she was riding in the backpack. She loved it!

Feeding the ducks. Sadie LOVES ducks. She also loves eating the bread. Gabe would give a piece of bread to the ducks and then a piece of bread to Sadie. She also figured out that she likes to run down the hills on the golf course where we were staying. She got going a little too fast once and kind of did a face plant, but she recovered quicly. Just a little scrape on her forehead.

We tried to take a family shot of all three us in our green on St. Patrick's day! Sadie doesn't look too excited.

Swinging at the park.

Sadie loves slides too! She especially liked the tunnel slide at the park. They had pony rides too, but she was not interested at all. Maybe in a couple years.

Reading her clifford book in the car. Doesn't she look so sweet. Just a little while earlier, she got really upset about something (can't remember what) and started screaming! A few minutes later, she threw up all over herself! It was lovely. You would think she would figure out not to get that upset, but on the way home, she got upset again and...threw up again! She has never thrown up when she has gotten upset before and she is perfectly fine after. I'm thinking she got a little car sick too. Hopefully this stage won't last long!

Hanging out at home. Going for a ride in the laundry basket.

We went to see some animals at a petting zoo. She kept her distance, but had a good time.

Birthday Celebration!

Last Friday was Gabe's 30th birthday and we had a great time celebrating. We went to dinner with some friends on Thursday night and they made him get on a saddle to sing Happy Birthday. He did a lot better with it than I would have. On Friday night, I had planned a surprise date night. I made up some poems about where we were eating and the movie we went to see. Sadie even spent the night with Jenny so we could stay out late. The dinner wasn't quite as good as I would have liked. I tried to pick a new place to go and well...it wasn't good at all, but it was a memory none the less. At least we enjoyed the movie and being able to stay out late.

I am so blessed to have a great husband. I know that he loves us so much just as we love him. He is such a great dad. He tries to do extra stuff to help out all the time and wants to be the best husband and father that he can. He takes care of so many things that I know I don't even realize. I love you sweetie and I hope you had a great birthday.

Sadie and Lincoln waiting for dinner.

Happy Birthday Daddy! Of course she has to be wearing my headband which does not match at all!

Happy Birthday!

This week at the Gillespie's...

Well…we just thought Sadie was done being sick for a while. She got an infection last week and has been sick for about a week. She finally started feeling better on Monday and I am sooooo glad. When we took her to the doctor he said that kids get an average of 13 infections/sicknesses between 1 and 5 and if they don’t get them when they are young they will get them in kindergarten. She did start going to P.D.O. in February and it was the first time she was around a lot of other kids so there is an explanation. Not that that makes it any easier to see her sick. I think the doctor told us all that to help us feel better about her being sick and I appreciate him doing it.

This is one of those times that I have struggled with working vs. staying at home. I know that I love teaching and that I would want to be working if I was at home. I know that teaching is one of the ways that I take care of myself. I always thought that I would stay at home and at times I felt like it was my responsibility to stay home, but I feel differently now and I am so grateful that I have been able to make the choice that is best for me. We have been so blessed with wonderful people to take care of Sadie while we are at work and I truly believe that she has been blessed to have other examples in her life other than us. I also know that my time with Sadie is precious and I truly appreciate and try to really be in all of the moments that I have with her. I believe that God gave Sadie to us as a gift, but ultimately she is His child and we are just trying to guide her to him and help her to learn to seek him and listen to what he desires for her. To me this means that we seek his guidance and wisdom as we make decisions for her and do the best that we can to raise her. I have been so comforted by the truth that raising children does not look that same for everyone and as my wonderful mother-in-law has told me many times, “You need to do what’s best for you and your family unit.”

So…are we finished with sickness? I know that we aren’t. But I also know that God is guiding us and that as long as we are listening and obeying He will take care of us.

We've taken Sadie's temperature so much that now she knows what to do with the thermometer.

And she loves to play with it now too.

Checking the numbers. No fever! Hooray!!!!

We were so excited.

Aren't they too cute?

Now she was just being goofy.

Definitely feeling better and wanting to be left alone.


Posing for the camera.

Oh well!

So I just realized that I have written just about the same thing in two posts. I really don't want to go back and change it so it is what it is. I figure that's real life and Sadie will look back some day and laugh just like I did when I read it. I think all the sickness really threw me for a loop. It is very stressful for me to have a sick baby. Once again, I am soooooo thankful she is better.

Gotta love winter!

We have had a lot of sickness at our house the past couple weeks with Sadie changing environments and Gabe getting use to a new school. We have made it through our first double ear infection (3 days of antibiotics to go) and two colds. We were able to get out some this weekend since the weather has a gotten a little warmer and we are so ready for spring. Only two weeks until Spring Break. Sadie is definitely feeling better and I am so thankful to have our happy little girl back.

She loves to push whenever we will let her. Strollers, shopping carts, doesn't really matter.

Whenever we say "So sweet" she puts her head down like this. I just love it! It's kind of like Pavlov's dog at times. We can just say "Night Night' and she lays her head down on our shoulder. That is until a couple of days ago when she has learned to shake her head no :)

Ready to go and feeling so much better.

Playing with Daddy.