We had a nice Easter with our friends here in our neighborhood. Hadley was grumpy for a good portion of the day, but you would never know it by these pictures. Our friends gave Hadley a little basket with this flower headband in it. She thought she was pretty cute wearing it! I was surprised she kept it on. For a few days after she wore it and would tell me, "I so pretty!"
It is so fun to have family time on the weekends. I miss playing soccer, but the last season's games were Saturdays and took up a portion of the day. Lately we have been having fun doing family things. This past Saturday we met some friends for a pancake breakfast and an Easter egg hunt.
Then we went to one of our favorite parks in town on the Northeast side of Albuquerque.
And Hadley had a lot of fun on the swings and slides. She has so much fun with her Daddy!
After the park we went to a birthday party for one of Hadley's friends. Then home for Hadley's nap. If the weather permits I think that next week we will go to the Botanical Gardens. I took Hadley last week and Chris saw the pictures and also wants to go there when it is in full bloom.
I wish I could get her shriek recorded. It is the best sound to hear this girl squeal with happiness on the swings! Hadley turned two on April 10th. We had a birthday party at the house for her...Elmo themed. She loves Elmo, even though she has never watched Sesame Street. She's not a tv watcher at all. I made the cake and her birthday shirt, and I took a few pictures, but then my friend came and had a way better camera, so she took the pictures. When I get those from her I will post them. 
A few other things worthy of mention, at least to me...Hadley is defenitely a two year old. She screams a terrible ugly scream, doesn't want to share, yells 'no' and 'mine' to other kids for no reason, and has days where she gets picky on eating. Sometimes when she refuses to eat I let her indulge in Spaghettios. She will eat almost an entire can. And then, and she picked this up on her own (Chris and I do not do this), she licks the bowl clean. She loves it!
And yes, I learned that from here on out she will need to eat Spaghetti0s with no clothes on. Her pajama sleeves (even though I rolled them) are stained red.
Despite Hadley's bad behaviors, we still have lots of fun times. When I am not working she takes naps for 2.5 to 3+ hours. My house stays looking decent most of the time because of this. We go to a playgroup every Monday, spend time at the zoo, botanical gardens, and aquarium, and play at the parks.
Here is a little update on our munchkin. She weighs 23 pounds. She has horrible allergies, which are getting more controlled, but her face has been red lately due to that. She likes to try to squeeze into small spaces, which makes her mad when she gets stuck. She has discovered hot dogs and juice and would live off them if we let her. And the spaghettios. She loves anything baby and dolls and likes to sing. She sings in the bath and sometimes to Daddy when he is trying to get her to sleep. She has been off the pacifier for a week now. Maybe before long I can get her off the diaper, too! She is a big trouble maker for sure, but she still melts our hearts! 
I know this post is really overdue...like 4 or 5 weeks, but let's face it, there are only like 5 people that actually read this blog, so my motivation to keep it updated is withering away. And there are a few other things...I went to California for my sister's wedding (previous post), I have been working a part time job (this is something that is fine for me, I get to take Hadley with me and it's as much or as little as I want per week), and I have been planting a garden, dealing with the world's worst allergies, etc. So, the pictures were clear. Little Wyatt flashed us right away and before the technician even told me I thought I saw boy parts. Chris unfortunately didn't get to come with me. He had planned to, but the night before Hadley was up throwing up with a stomach bug, and we didn't feel right about asking anyone to watch her. She was pretty sick and clingy that morning anyways, so Chris stayed with her and I went alone. Chris, and the rest of our families were overjoyed. Neither side seems to have much luck getting boys, and Chris has had a deep fear that he would never have a son.
Hadley knows and understands pretty well about the baby. She now calls all her dolls 'baby brother.' She pats my stomach and says baby, and often she will hug and kiss it. I can ask her, 'where is momma's baby?' And she will point to my belly or pat it. I know she will have a hard time adjusting, as she has become pretty selfish lately, but I also know she will be loving. She is always sweet and gentle to babies, and absolutely loves them. My part time job is at a daycare/preschool, and most of the time Hadley is in the two year old room, but sometimes she comes with me into the older kids' room near the end of the day or into the newborn room with me, and she always wants to give the babies lots of toys and hugs. 
So the baby's name will be Wyatt Richard Elmore. Chris chose Wyatt, as it is a name he has always liked and hoped to name a son. And Richard is my dear grandfather who is 97. He married my grandmother many years after her first husband, the father of my father, passed away. I never knew that Grandfather, and had thought as a kid that maybe I would pass that name on, but after my Grandmother passed away a few years ago I knew that I wanted to use Richard, so that my grandfather would know that he was always a part of this family, and always our grandpa. I think the two names flow nicely and sound strong. I hope Wyatt will be as loving as my grandfather is.
We went to California for my sister's wedding on March 19th. Hadley and I actually flew out a few days before Chris. While it was a little hectic, with the expected chaos of wedding planning, we got in some fun times at the beach and Sea World. Hadley loved the beach. I didn't bring a swimsuit because it wasn't all that warm, and I thought she would just want to dig in the sand when we went. We brought the sand toys, which she only played with a little bit. She ran straight for the water and was up to her waist before I knew it. We both got soaked, and once I changed her clothes she ran right back in the water. She went through three outfits! It was really fun. My sister and her family came as well as my brother and his fiancee and their dog. Now Hadley has been calling every black dog Kena, my brother's dog's name. The numerous times we drove past the beach Hadley yelled out, "BEACH!!!" And other times, "BATH!!!" 
Hadley became more selfish and a tease during this trip. She apparently will have that down when the baby comes in August. My niece is 8 months younger than Hadley and is the biggest Momma's girl I have EVER seen. It didn't help that she was sick with a stomach flu during a chunk of the trip. Hadley would run up to her mom (my sister, Erin) and hug her and turn around to see if Niyah, my neice saw this. It would infuriate Niyah, which made Hadley only hug my sister all the tighter, and laugh. I haven't seen this side of Hadley before. And she made sure to tell everyone what belonged to her, or what she thought did. Every other word out of her mouth was "MINE!" She claimed the slide at the park, the one in my parent's yard, and tried to boss other kids when they tried to use them. Now sometimes I will be driving with just Hadley in the car and she yells, "NO! MINE!" She is a full fledged two year old (she will be two next month). She has an incredible vocabulary, to which everyone comments. She speaks in full sentences quite a lot, and even though she can communicate really well, she has developed this terrible scream that drives us all nuts. 
We had fun on our trip and will be going back in May for my brother's wedding. This means that for ALL of my sibling's weddings I will have been pregnant. I was due 4 weeks after my older sister's wedding, so I was looking it more than this wedding. But I sure did pop out while in California. I will do a pregnancy post later. I need to take pictures.
I know it is sort of late that I am finally posting these pictures from our post-Christmas trip to California. Okay, that might be a stretch. I am really late. Its mid-February. But while in California we went to Sea World with my friend, Ashley and her husband and their oldest. I had numerous late game nights, and we spent a lot of time with family. We also had breakfast with my folks at my brother's place. He lives on a huge amount of property in a pretty area of San Diego County. They have zip lines, horses, dogs, goats, cats, chickens, orange, avocado and grapefruit trees. I swear that those oranges are the best I have ever had. Chris thinks it is just a weird pregnancy thing, but I am on the verge of asking my brother to mail me a bunch and I don't mind the cost. They are heaven. Below is Hadley on the largest goat I think I have ever seen. There were two of them this size. This one was on top of its little shelter house and was very nice and gentle to let Hadley sit on it. Have I told you that Chris wants land someday and he wants a pet goat? He wants to milk it.
Below is Hadley with my grandpa. He turns 97 this Valentine's Day and has always loved seeing Hadley and holding her. She liked stealing his water cup and trying to drink all his water.
Hadley kept giving Charlotte baby (my cousin's baby) little loves and kisses. She was super sweet, as she is to babies in general. I think she will be very loving to our new baby.
Below are some pictures from Sea World. Hadley discovered Elmo there and has been on an Elmo craze ever since. Once she warmed up to the characters, she couldn't get enough. She screamed and tried to hold on to them when it was time to go. I had to pry her away.
"Poppa," Mommy and Hadley on the tea cup ride!
I know Hadley is never smiling in these pictures so it is hard to believe that she has so much fun, but she just doesn't usually smile for pictures. As soon as we pull out the camera she stops smiling and goes stern or confused.
New Years at Ashely's! Hadley and I crashed there overnight.
Matching jammies on the kiddos- made by me! And matching outfits bought by my sister, Erin! Matching isn't just for siblings!
And below is the alien head picture. Got to have one of those!
