Blackie Romeo

I'm pretty sure I've already blogged about Sadie's maternal instincts. Most every day hours are spent carrying babies around (be it actual baby dolls or stuffed animals, the preference changes daily), tucking them in with blankets, packing a pocketbook with their things, and telling everyone to be quiet because they are sleeping. For quite some time she has been attached to a little black dog (stuffed animal) appropriately named Blackie. For some reason Blackie didn't like my parents for awhile, but they've since made up. Blackie accompanied us to Virginia this weekend where we went to visit Steven's grandma. On the way up we were talking about who all we were going to see, which included a (real) dog that Sadie is also very fond of named Romeo. Suddenly Blackie's name was changed to Romeo, which often happens in Sadie's world. What made me laugh was that when we got to Roanoke and Sadie was talking to Robin (owner of the real Romeo), I prompted Sadie to tell Robin what her dog's name was. She slipped up and answered "Blackie" so I said "Oh, I thought you changed her name to Romeo?" She hesitated for just a moment before saying "That's her last name. She's Blackie Romeo." I worry about the stories she might come up as a teenager....
Meanwhile Eli's vocabulary is growing.....louder. Does that count if the words aren't new but he yells them now? Actually, he does have a couple of new words. He can officially say Mama (or Mimi), Dada, Nana, Papa, Sadie (Dadie), uh-oh, hot (ot ot), ball, Jude (dude), and supposedly has said "yogurt" and "all gone" but I can't get him to repeat those. He is a mess, but a cute one.
We had a great weekend in Virginia. Steven's grandma has some lake property at Smith Mountain Lake so after staying at her house in Roanoke we spent Saturday at the lake. We took the kids on the Sea-doo and the paddle boat (Sadie wasn't impressed with the paddle boat after riding the sea-doo), and Eli got a kick out of Steven wakeboarding (I think the falls were the real entertainment). Sadie kept saying, "let's get him back in the boat," I think she might have been worried about him. It was a fun day and we are thankful to have his Grandma as well as the rest of the family in our lives.
It is officially tomorrow so I need to get to bed. Until next time!

Back to one...

Sadie is staying with my parents for a few days in Charlotte, so we have just Eli for a couple of days. You wouldn't think it would be so strange to go back to having 1 kid, I had just 1 kid for 22 months before little man came along. But it just doesn't feel quite right around here without her. I know she's having fun though, so it's worth it. We have had a fun couple of weeks, lots of pool days, a family reunion, dinner with friends. I took both of the kids to a well check up and it's official, they're scrawny. Approximately 97 percent of 3 year olds weigh more than Sadie. Eli is a whopping 22 pounds, which puts him in the 10th percentile. Oh well, they sure are easier to carry around this way!  And thankfully they checked out ok. I do thank the Lord for healthy chidlren. In other news, Eli (sort of) said his first sentence. Which is amazing because he only says like 6 words (mama, dada, dadie (sadie), nana, papa, and ball) but the other morning we were trying to get Sadie up to go to SC and Eli went up to her face and said "hey dadie". Very cute, and fitting, since he's pretty enamored with her. He isn't such an easy playmate these days, though, his newest joy is taking whatever Sadie is playing with and either taking off with it or throwing it across the room, much to her dismay. He's getting her back, I think. Gone is the little boy that cries from a cross look, he is showing his true colors now and being a bit defiant at times. The sinner in us comes out way too soon, if you ask me :). Speaking of sinners, Sadie has been trying my patience these last couple of weeks as well. It is something most people refer to as "temper tantrums". I like to call them "demonic episodes". Thankfully she usually just does them for me, although my mom and a couple of good friends have also witnessed them. Hopefully this too shall soon pass, as we are trying hard to nip it in the bud as ole Barney would say. I thought it was cute this week when she was pretending to be a puppy. I was going along, nurturing her imagination, when suddenly the puppy wanted a fudge ram (a fudge round, a little debbie chocolate cookie) and to watch Max and Ruby. Pretty clever little manipulator.
We went to a family reunion this week, as I already mentioned, and it is definitely worth a quick paragraph. My Grandma Nash was the youngest of 8 kids, her parents were Sadie (hence our Sadie) and T. Eddie Lee. There are 23 first cousins (my Dad being one of them) and 21 of them came on Saturday for the reunion, as well as many 2nd and 3rd cousins. My Grandma is the only one of her silblings still living. All told there were about 125 people. It's a little strange to be in a room with so many people that you're related to but don't know. They had a lot of neat stuff for the kids, delicious food (about 4 trays of fried chicken), and sweet fellowship. I am thankful to be a part of the Lee family.
I guess I better wrap this up. I am thankful that we have a few more weeks of summer, lazy days to take the kids swimming and enjoy no schedule. In just 2 short years we will be getting Sadie ready for Kindergarten (yikes!) so I am enjoying this time now. I hope you are too.
Goodnight!