Milestones

As a parent, I've always noted milestones. When our oldest was born we were always anxious for her to do the next thing.  Whether it was rolling over, cooing, crawling or walking we were always excited to see it and then couldn't wait until the next milestone.

When we had our last child, Sadie (AKA Sadie Lady, Lulu, Goobsie, Goobs, Goober Smootch or anything else that pops into our heads!) I had finally learned to just enjoy my children. I was much less anxious to see her "do" everything and much more concerned with enjoying the journey. Nonetheless, the crazy mom in me still has watched and noted the milestones, though I'm not nearly as anxious for whatever comes next.

Well, something came next. My little Sadie Lady turned 8 last week. That's a pretty huge milestone in our world. She has been thrilled to finally have her birthday.  Her wish list hung on my fridge for three months constantly having things added to it. (In case you're wondering she did NOT get "an actual, real life puppy" or a "soft and furry kitten".) Being eight means no more riding in a car seat in Utah, this will be the first time we haven't had a car seat in our vehicle in 15 years!

It also means she can be baptized, she's giddy about it.  Every single day she asks how many more days until she gets baptized. 

Sadie has kept us on our toes from the moment of her arrival. She is the sweetest, sassiest and silliest Sadie that I know!  When Sadie was born, I always wondered inside how she would mesh with the other girls.  They are so much older than her, I worried that they wouldn't all be able to forge a close relationship with one another.  Then, I took all three of them shopping to find Sadie a baptism dress.  I sat back and watched as they took her from rack to rack piling on all the things she "had to try on".  As she came out of the dressing room with each new dress on they would tell her to twirl and give her advice on why it did or did not work for her.  As I sat watching, I knew in that moment, that the years would melt away and they would be just fine.  I suppose it should come as no surprise that in the past year she has watched her older sisters and learned many new things to try. She's put on her own makeup, tweezed her own eyebrows (that wasn't pretty),

tried on more pairs of six inch high heels than I can count, tried to convince me to buy said high heels

and last, but certainly not least, shaved her own legs! I honestly don't remember the last time I laughed so hard as when I found out she shaved her legs.  See what I mean about keeping us on our toes!!!

Nonetheless, Monday began with tons of fanfare and happiness on the part of this little girl.
She opened her gifts, went to lunch with mom and dad, went school supply shopping, played with her gifts, had steak, without potatoes, for dinner ("It's my birthday, I don't want to eat potatoes.") and then had cousins over for cake. She finished the evening by painting her toenails by herself for the first time and "singing herself to sleep" with her new Frozen CD. (I'm sure some of you heard her singing at the top of her lungs.) It was a whirlwind day, but according to her, "The best day EVER!"

We love having this sassy lassy in our family.  She always has a smile to share and funny little quip to keep us all in stitches.  It's interesting to watch your youngest child as she watches the older children.  Her take on the things they say and do is fascinating.  Nonetheless, she has a heart of gold.  She is always there to give a warm hug and kiss.  Her determination and her spunk are two things that I'm convinced she will need to make it through life in the world we live in now.  We love her to pieces and can't imagine our family without her.  And regardless of how she feels about it, she'll always be my baby.  I just wish I could convince her to slow down with the whole growing up thing.  :(