Four and a Half Months!

Our sweet baby is now four months, and I am beginning to realize that this blog has become ALL about her. But I am okay with that. I am posting some pictures from when she was about 3 months old, but she pretty much still looks the same.

I have gone back to work now, and I miss her so much during the day. If you have any comments to help make this transition easier for me- please post! I have spent the last 4 months with her by my side- often only her since Chris was in Houston most of the summer. She has been my constant little "companion," and now all of a sudden I am away from her all day and even most of the evening. I am seriously having separation anxiety!

She is growing normally, and she loves to roll over! It is her favorite! She still is fiesty- I guess I will have to stop thinking that will go away and just accept that this is her.

Hadley also laughs now! Full out bursts of laughter. The first time she did it was at Chris. It is one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard!

I think she may also be an early crawler because when she rolls over to her tummy she tries to get her legs under her and her legs go crazy. Yikes! We may be in for it!

But, despite crazy work hours, (and I mean crazy- until 10:30pm or even midnight a few times a week- don't even make me go into it) some setbacks and frustrations at work, etc. when I come home to my little family and see my loving husband and sweet baby, everything else falls by the wayside. Overall, these really are great times!

My Baby is Above Average

Okay- so the title of this blog sounds really conceited. Let me tell you why my baby is above average.

1. She throws up more than the average baby- or so I am told. Yesterday was the first day I can remember Hadley getting through the day is ONE outfit! Usually it is three. I think that she is such a piggie that she gulps it all down too fast and then up it comes. And I think she overeats sometimes. Seriously, she is the noisest eater. She eats like I starve her!

2. She needs more diaper changes than other babies. This is my way of sparing you the icky details. I guess this could be a result of all that she eats?

3. She is more needy than the average baby. Okay, so she is my first child, but I have grown up around LOTS of babies. I was kind of offended at first when Chris would call her fussy. This was soon after we brought her home from the hospital. I guess I took it personally. But, turns out, she is quite fussy! While other babies are full of smiles at this stage, Hadley, we will put it like this...is not. (But we get them sometimes).

Okay. So those are in no way complaints. This is just Hadley. On the upside- here are some things we have been doing lately that she enjoys.

We have been to the community pool here in the neighborhood where we are staying in Houston. We go a few times a week. Hadley usually sleeps for a little while in her carseat in the shade. Then when she wakes up she gets fed and comes in the pool. I do have a suit for her, but the one that fits right now (thanks Erin and Keiya) is in Lubbock. So she wears a long-sleeved onesie to keep her more covered from the sun. And FYI- the picture was taken and then I promptly put on her hat. I keep her pretty covered from the sun.

We go on walks sometimes towards the evenings when it is not deathly hot here. She likes to sit in the stroller (or slump) and she often falls asleep.

Once in a while I take a nap with her. I haven't though since the other day when she woke me up kicking me, happily, and I realized we were both covered in poo.

But, I have to get back to real life so we head out on Monday to return to Lubbock. Chris will follow two and a half weeks later. This means that I have to drive to Lubbock from Houston by myself with the baby. I plan on stopping in Ft. Worth for a day and 2 nights. If you have any tips for driving long distances alone with a baby please leave me a comment! Even here in town she gets upset after just driving for about 10-15 minutes.

Three Months!

Hadley is three months now! While she is still smaller than many babies her age, she seems huge to me because of the milestones she has made. Oh, I know that these milestones are nothing more than other babies have made, but they still never cease to amaze me! Here are some of the fun things she is doing now (well, let's be honest, they are not all fun.

-Hadley sleeps through the night, which she has been doing for quite a while now. She goes down around 9 p.m. and wakes up around 4:30 or 5:30 to eat. A few times she has even slept until 6:30! She gets up again between 7:30/8:30 and usually stays up for a few hours before taking an early afternoon nap.

-She loves to eat. She gets angry when she wakes up and realizes there is no food waiting in her mouth. She often over eats (she can't handle more than 3.5 of 4 oz., but she tries), barfs and then gets violent hiccups. We go through this about two times a day. I can't remember if this picture is before or after Hadley barfed all over my sweet Grandpa Lee's leg. -She smiles! She laughs and makes the cutest happy noises. It usually lasts for about 15-20 minutes at a time. Here she is content with my father, her "Papa." -She has a short attention span. She can lay on the floor happy for about 15 minutes and then wants to be somewhere else. She goes to the activity mat, bouncer, swing, etc. Then of course she wants to eat. This cycle can become tiresome.

-She has the little bald spot on the back of her head. I try and give her tummy time, but she gets frustrated.

-She holds her head up real well, but then after a bit it gets floppy again.

-She tried to roll over. Her arm stops her and this makes her mad.

-Watch out! She will suck on you if you get close! She things anything that comes near her mouth is fair game! This picture is of her and Natalie (baby of Ashely Veater, one of my very best friends). They are 9 days apart and Natalie just goes with the flow, is always happy. So Hadley took advantage and tried to eat her). -She still scratches her face a lot.

-She has to be swaddled at night and she pretends at first that she hates it, but I know that deep down she doesn't.

Our Vacation!

I know, it has been a while since I have posted anything, We left Lubbock when Hadley was seven weeks old and have been in Houston, Arizona and California. We just got back to Houston where we will be for a few weeks before Hadley and I return to Lubbock. Chris will come back there a few weeks after us.

We had a good vacation, getting to see lots of family and friends! In Arizona Hadley and I got to meet her Great Grandparents on Chris' side.We first visited with The Lisonbee's, who were so excited to meet her! Then right down the road we visited Grandma Lloyd, who showed us pictures of her kids and grandkids and jump started my imagination with pictures and stories of her travels. If I had extra time in Arizona I could spend days with her going through pictures of the world. She is a world traveler!Hadley had a few firsts on our vacation. She went to the beach (3 times), the county fair (twice), and even had two nights away from her mommy and daddy! My mother offered to watch Hadley while we went away for a day and night. So we went to Long Beach, CA, about an hour and a half North of where my folks live. We visited the Queen Mary, a huge ship that once transported passangers from England to the United States and back. During World War Two the ship was transformed into the "Grey Ghost," and transported troops, even having over 16,000 men on it at a time. It was super fast for its time, but when the war ended the city of Long Beach Purchased the ship and now it is a hotel and tourist attraction. It is stationary, but we did a tour and we even got to go on the "Haunted Tour," which I liked best. There have been a lot of ghost sightings on the ship in the past and numerous mysterious deaths, so we got to see some of the areas where these deaths happened and of course they hype it up for you, but it was pretty neat. It let you see areas of the ship that otherwise you would not see, like the boiler room, the pool areas, etc. I was pretty fascinated. I wished we had more time.

Two Months Old!

My sweet baby is now 2 months! She gets to see her daddy again in just two more days. This baby has truly captured my heart. I just can't give her enough kisses during the day, and I love to kiss those little toes, that belly, those chubby cheeks...She has started to try and smile now. Sometimes she gets it pretty well. Today she gave me a huge one and her eyes lit up huge and joined in on the smile, too. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world to have your baby smile so big at you, and I know she means it when she worked hard to get it out! I absolutely love to have her with me all day- every day.

I love to give her a bath in the evening and watch her skinny little legs kick about in the water. Anytime the water comes up near her mouth her little tongue goes in and out of her mouth a bunch and she likes it when she gets a little bit.

My sweet mother came for quite a bit and watched Hadley for 3 days. I now am certified to drive a commercial motor vehicle. I have 2 endorsements. I spent three days driving around Lubbock in a huge bus, learning to do turns, parallel park, backing up, 3 point turns, etc. And I took the test and passed! I secretly wished I had failed because then I might be able to weasel out of driving the kids, but the instructor told me that if I failed I would have to take a 4th day to try again. So I guess I was relieved to finish the third day.

I feel like my summer has officially started now that those tests are out of the way. I can enjoy my two months and the time I get to spend with family and friends!

Well, Chris is in Houston and I get to go join him here in a few weeks. First I have to learn to drive a bus. Yep, that's right. The school district here makes the coaches learn to drive school busses (yellow dogs) so that we can transport our teams to games. And since nothing is near us and our district is large we have to drive hours sometimes for the games. I have been putting this off and now I have to do it. So my mom is out here again to watch Hadley while I go for 3 days of 8 hour behind the wheel training sessions.



Hadley sure is growing! She still has skinny little legs, though. She is just under 8 pounds now. Here is her daily routine: She wakes up and eats. She lays on her mat with little toys hanging in her face for an hour or two and kicks her legs and makes adorable noises. She has even started to smile just a bit!

Sometime she goes in the swing for a bit, but she really just enjoys entertaining herself on her mat. She sometimes falls asleep for a short nap on her mat. We got on an errand some days and she usually sleeps in her carseat.

If we need just a few items we take a walk to Walmart down the street. Sometimes we got feed the ducks at a pond nearby just so we can get out and get a little exercise.
Once back in the house Hadley finishes her nap while I get something to eat. I know she is growing a lot because she has been eating a few times a day about 2 hours apart- sometimes less. And at night it has been 4 hours- which it used to be 5-6. Sometimes I start to feel worn out with all the feedings! But no complaints, I enjoy this girl and everything that comes with her to pieces!

Hadley's newborn outfits- the ones that are 5-7 lbs are starting to get too short and tight for her! I think after this week I will have to pack them away. But if my sister has a girl (she is due in December) then I will send them to her, if she has a small baby.

My friend Denise came out to visit from Washington D.C. She wanted to be sure to see Hadley when she was still new- since the next time we will see one another is at Christmas. She is totally enamored of Hadley. But who wouldn't be once those big baby eyes lock with yours?


While Denise was here my brother, Jeff and his friend, Casey stopped by for an evening. They were driving to North Carolina where Jeffrey will work for the summer and they were so kind to take a route through Lubbock so Jeff could meet Hadley. Hadley really liked both of them, and her little expression when Jeff was holding her was too cute! We all went to a Memorial Day picnic that our church held. It was a really fun day and such a special to treat to have them out here!

Backtrack One Month...

Okay, so I just posted some pictures and commentary yesterday, but I forgot to put up these pictures of us just two days before Hadley was born. We got some pictures taken of the pregnant belly. I know, I kind of have an obsession with pregnant bellies. I think they are amazingly beautiful! I absolutely love having Hadley here, but I also miss my pregnant belly. It was so fun to feel the baby move and grow. I loved seeing my stomach grow and change. I just loved most everything about it!