Second day as a one year old

It is crazy to think that a year ago, Hadley was in the NICU. I remember that I had brought a baby's first new year's onesie I wanted so badly for her to wear, but with the IV, the nurses said that wasn't happening! I remember that day like it was yesterday, how has that been a year, 365 days ago?? I truly can't believe how quickly time marches on...

Hadley spent today enjoying her toys, ready to welcome in 2012. My dad refinished a rocking horse that was mine as a child for Hadley's birthday and it turned out beautifully, I am really impressed and Hadley adores it. I also wanted to show off the toy box my dad made, goes perfectly in Hadley's room with everything else he has made with love for her!

Day 365

We have finally made it, 365 days! Hadley Grace is one year old, I can hardly believe it. What a blessing she has been to me and my life. She is one amazing little girl; she is full of life, personality, and love. She has, for the most part, been an easy baby and makes me laugh almost daily.

This month was pretty big one as far as milestones are concerned:

• Hadley is officially walking and walking everywhere....she is very fast!
• She is eating 3 meals of "real people" food a day
• We are doing 2oz of whole milk mixed with 6 oz of formula, soon to be 4 oz of milk to 4 oz of formula, perhaps by 13 months she will be on straight milk!
• She can brush her teeth
• She has mastered the sippy cup and can feed herself with a spoon- sort of
• She can point
• She is starting to be able to pick out animals, for example she can pick out a cow or a pig from a line up of animals
• We have introduced puzzles, so hopefully next month she will be closer to mastering those
• She sat through an entire church service with me and did not cry
• She got to see lots of family and friends as we celebrated her first Christmas
• She went to her first parade
• She sat on Santa's lap multiple times and did not cry!
• She tried lots of new foods and snacks
• She can brush her own hair
• She has learned how to feed Maggie from her high chair!

There is so much more, it is crazy how quickly she is growing up. I am so thankful to have such awesome family and friends that have been my support system this last year, I am so lucky that so many people are in our lives that truly care about us! I am even more grateful for today and the celebration of this past year!


Hadley got several things for her first birthday, including a zebra chair, puzzles, clothes, and lots of new toys! She also got her very own cupcake which she seemed to love!

 

Day 364

We spent today cleaning and decorating for tomorrow. I am VERY THANKFUL to my mom who did pretty much all the cleaning, while I entertained Hadley and even got a a nap in- it was AWESOME. I have crafted a few things for tomorrow- a balloon wreath, which I hope to use every year for Hadley's birthday (I will change at the ribbon each year to match the theme- this year we did zebra and hot pink- what a shock, huh??). I also made a time line with Hadley's pictures from each month so you could see how she grew. We also had a lot of fun with the crepe paper- again it seems silly to do all this for a handful of people, but I really wanted to celebrate Hadley and her birthday- it needed to be special for her, because she is a special little girl!

Day 363

We spent a lot of today running around getting stuff ready for Friday, which is Hadley's very small birthday celebration (I'm not really going to call it a party). We went grocery shopping, went to Target to get some new stuff for Hadley's/the guest bathroom, and just basically were out and about all day. Hadley did great all day, I was impressed. When we got home among all of her new toys, Hadley found something she loved the most- a shoe box, big enough to fit in. She had a blast getting in and out of it, carrying it around, putting it on her head, etc.

Day 362

Hadley came home today at about 1. She came with several stuffed animals, the Polar Express, lots of clothes, socks, and lot of other Christmas goodies from Christmas at Nana's. Once she was home we spent most of the day playing with all of her new Christmas presents. I am really glad she will be getting a toy box from my dad for her birthday, as she is getting more and more toys, we REALLY need somewhere to store them all!

After her bath she put on some new pjs, and went to town with her new toothbrush; even though she only has two teeth, its good to get her used to brushing her teeth, and from the looks of things, she really enjoys it!

Day 361

We spent the most of the day on the road, headed home to drop Hadley off at her Nana's house for their Christmas. After we dropped her off, I had to run up to my school to print a transcript to mailed Express to Hong Kong for one of my former foreign exchange students. I dropped that off to be mailed and then we headed home to unload my car, which was CRAMMED full of stuff. This was one time I was relieved we didn't have Hadley because we had two people able to carry all that stuff up the stairs, and once it was there I was able to unpack and put everything away without having little hands helping me, or getting in to everything!

Once we were unpacked we ran up to CVS to get a movie from the red box (I had a gift certificate from dish for a free PPV rental, but there wasn't a single movie I wanted to watch). So we got Crazy, Stupid, Love. I knew I would love it just because I love Emma Stone and hello Ryan Gosling in a gorgeous, gorgeous man!!! It was really good, I of course cried in a few spots, because I cry in every movie! It was a good ending to a day of driving four hours with a baby and running around unpacking. I am excited my mom will be here for the week, it will be nice to have company and of course to have someone help with the day to day!

Day 360

Wouldn't you know it, my precious baby, that is up and at em early EVERY day, slept in until 7:30 this morning (yes, that is sleeping in!). When she woke up I took her into the living room to see what Santa left under the tree. She was greeted with a kitchen, a Little People car, and a puppy.



She had a stocking full of goodies and several things under the tree, including a baby doll that goes in the bath tub, a Sophie bath toy, some clothes, several books, the Little People farm, and some new jammies. She loved it all!



Shortly after opening presents, we enjoyed the breakfast cassarole I made overnight in the crock pot and left over sausage balls I made on Christmas Eve, I really have taken up this whole cooking for the whole family thing, it really is the least I can do!

After breakfast we had to get dressed and ready, because Kelly and her family were coming over. We had a nice time visiting with them and snacking. They opened their presents and stockings, and they brought a puzzle and shape sorter for Hadley. They had to rush to their next stop, so I decided to go on and start my portion of Christmas dinner. James and my mom made a ham and delicious cranberry glaze/sauce, I made a new spinach artichoke casserole I had found online (SO DELICIOUS!!) and baked fruit. We also bought pickled or spiced peaches because I LOVE them and wanted Hadley to try them. She seemed to enjoy it all, especially the spinach, she is like her mama that way!

Overall, we had a really great Christmas. That is what I have always liked about having divorced parents and a step father with two kids, it seems Christmas always is spread out over several days, and it will be that way for Hadley too as we are headed back to Dallas tomorrow so she can have Christmas with her daddy, Nana and PawPaw.

Day 359

Christmas Eve, is one of my favorite days. As an adult I have enjoyed it most because of Christmas Eve services. I wasn't sure this year about where I would want to go. I was really ad I would be missing the AWESOME service at Lake Pointe, but knew I wanted to find a great church to take my parents and Hadley to, for her first Christmas Eve service. I opted for First Baptist Kingwood. In the end I was very pleased. The service did a great job of melding the story of the birth of Christ together with traditional Christmas songs/hymns. It also included the Lord's Supper, which I was pretty happy about to; not to mention the end included a candle light service complete with a fake snow fall.  It was beautiful and above all Hadley was a perfect angle the entire time! She loved the singing and the snow especially!

Earlier in the day we spent how I have spent most Christmas Eves of my life with my dad. We took him a few presents and spent some time visiting. I am really excited about the gifts he has made for Hadley's birthday that he will be bringing her on her birthday; it's especially exciting because the last time my dad was here was nearly a year ago during my whole blood pressure fiasco.

Just for some persepcetive, here is me last Christmas Eve and this Christmas Eve...my how a year changes things, but it has been a great year!!

Since Hadley was so great a church after her bath, we let her open one gift. She picked the gift Coy, Robin, and Jay had left earlier that day, while we were at my dad's. She was semi interested in attempting to open it, but really was interested in it once it was open. They got her a Fisher Price talking Cuckoo clock, she LOVED IT (thanks, y'all!).

Day 358

For the first time in a long time, or at least for me, we had a get together for my mom's family today. We went over to my cousin Carol's house and had some delicious shrimp. For a lot of my family, this was their first time seeing Hadley. Everyone loved her, so of course she had a ball being the center of attention, I am not sure she knows it any other way! My cousin Jack especially loved her! It was great to see everyone and for Hadley to meet them all. I don't see them all that often, but I really do love spending time with them, it isn't the same since Aunt Myrle has died, but I know Hadley would have especially loved her!











I am stealing these most of these pictures from my cousin Maddie, she is a SUPER awesome photographer!!!

Day 357

Today, Hadley and I had lunch with my BFF Tara and Hadley's future boyfriend Landon. We had lunch at Italiano's. It went pretty well considering we had two babies under the age of 1. Landon was perfect, Hadley got a little agitated at points. She did enjoy sharing my lasagna and cheesecake though.

After lunch we did a little shopping at the Dollar General. Hadley and Landon shared a shopping cart, they were so cute, everyone said so. Hadley kept trying to touch Landon, or play with his toys, and even at one point hold his hand!








After shopping we headed to my mom's so we could sit and talk and let the babies, well really Hadley play, and more importantly so I could get my hands on Landon. He is so darn adorable I just had to hold him!

While I was holding him Hadley kept trying to kiss him. It was really funny. She is really sweet and loves to  give kisses, even to her baby dolls, so I guess it is only natural she would want to kiss him...or maybe she is ALREADY boy crazy- Oh boy!

Day 356

We ran to Hobby Lobby today to get some supplies to make several things I have planned for Hadley's first birthday today. For dinner I was pretty excited, because I had printed off several recipes from blogs I follow to try at some point, and I figured I would take them with me to my mom's house, so I could try a few out. Tonight I made Munster Chicken and a broccoli rice casserole, both were so good! Hadley didn't get to try them tonight, because we were at Hobby Lobby too long and got home and dinner started to late for her to eat, but she did enjoy a nice dinner of homemade apple sauce and cottage cheese, she LOVED it!

Day 355

I finally started feeling like a functioning human today, so we decided to brave the mall to get last minute Christmas gifts, including a stop to Stride Rite to get Hadley a good pair of shoes. She had been wearing shoes from Payless, but evidently I need shoes with better support and more importantly rubber soles that don't slip all over the place. I got a cute sparkly zebra pair for her- they are adorable!!!

Days 3252-354

Saturday started off to be a great day. My friend Farrah let me stay with her, so I got to spend the early part of the morning with her chatting and drinking coke (our shared favorite morning drink!). Then I headed on to Julia's mom's house to make Christmas cookies, an annual tradition I haven't been able to attend in years so I was super excited. We got everything ready and got to decorating. I started feeling a little bit sick, but brushed it off as being tired. At 2pm, Josh told me to come on and get Hadley since she was sleepy and I was going to drive to Humble that evening, so optimum sleep time was NOW. So I met up with him in Ennis, got Hadley and headed home. About an hour into the trip I started feeling really sick. By the time I got to Humble, I had fever and felt like death. I am THANKFUL, that my body waited until I got to Humble to get full on sick, because I couldn't have fathomed feeding, bathing, and entertaining Hadley on my own- so that was a BLESSING.

I still had fever the next morning, so my mom played with Hadley while I rested. On Monday, I started to feel a little bit better during the day; however that night the fever was back. So I headed to HEB to their clinic. I was I had an ear infection and a sinus infection...oh joy. So I got some Amoxicillin and we spent the remainder of the evening looking at Christmas lights. Sorry sick momma equals no pictures!

Day 351

Today was the last day of the semester. It was a bitter sweet day. It was going to be a good day because it was only a half day, the first day of break, and I would get to see my Richardson friends in the afternoon, but a sad day because one of the nicest, just all around greatest people ever would be leaving our school. Our registrar Shawn is moving back home and won't be here next semester. It is sad to think about having one less person in our office, one less friend at my school, but I know this is the path she needs to take at this time. In honor of her last day here are a few pictures of my WP friends and the counseling department...

Later that afternoon I met up with my fabulous former North Ladies: Jill, Farrah, Lindsey, and Krista. We had a great time at Amigo's and then moved on to karaoke at Main Street Tavern, we LOVE that place. Julia even stopped by to join us, unlike me she can actually sing.... it was a great evening, a great way to spend the last day of the semester!

Day 350

Last night at about 2am, right around the time I was SHOCKED she had been sleeping for 8 hours, Hadley woke up throwing up. She continued to do this 5 more times in the night! Three shirt changes later, we got on the phone the moment they opened and made an appointment for 8:45.

Hadley has her fourth ear infection. They ran a strep test, and praise Jesus that came back negative. Since is her fourth ear infection, we will be talking about tubes at her one year check up. I had them when I was five, so I guess it was only a matter of time!

After the doctor Hadley went to school to take her teachers their presents. They also had stockings full of toys for the kids and even a present for me. We are so lucky that we have a day care Hadley loves.

Hadley will be staying with her Nana and Paw paw tonight so I can help a friend with a favor and judge cheerleading tryouts. In a way the timing couldn't be better, since Hadley isn't feeling too great, it will be good for her to be where she can get one on one attention. I just hope she feels better soon- she looks so sad when she is sick!!!

Day 349

This morning Hadley did not want to wake up, as a result when I did have to wake her up to dress her she was not in a good mood. She was so hard to keep still and get dressed today; everything made her cry, and it was just a difficult morning. She has been fighting sleep in the car lately which usually means a crying baby to and from school. It makes that 20 minutes in time EXTREMELY stressful, especially on the ride home after a long a day of work. The worst part is that no matter what she ALWAYS falls asleep in the last 3-5 minutes!! It’s crazy, but I am hoping it is just a phase!

Hadley slept great last night; I on the other hand did not. I don’t know what it is, but every once in a while I just have those nights where I am wide awake at 1am and can’t go back to sleep. Needless to say the 5:30 alarm went off way too early for my liking, and I ended up snoozing until almost 6:15. Evidently this was too early for Hadley too!

This afternoon we had cookies with Santa at my school, so of course Hadley had to be there. She was decked out in her tutu and huge flower. She did great; she was just mesmerized and couldn't stop staring at him! They got some cute pictures which I am hoping to get my hands on soon. My principal is one of my favorite people I work with and he really did make a great Santa ( we will be seeing him again tomorrow morning at Hadley's school for story time with Santa). This is the second time Hadley has seen Santa and didn't cry! She is always fascinated with men and facial hair, I assume because she isn't around men very often, and Santa is no exception. Hadley especially enjoyed the candy cane Santa gave her, I let her nibble on it bit, before it became a total mess!

Hadley continues to me a messy eater- at school she had three outfit changes today and really made a huge mess with ravioli an apple sauce! I know my mom always said it was like 3rd or 4th grade before I came home without stains on my shirt, so I guess it's genetic!!!

Day 348

When I went to get my Sonic happy hour drink ( often I wait to take lunch at two specifically for this reason) I took a back road and went by Hadley's school. While I did this I saw her class in the stroller buggy they have. She was in the front loving it. I turned before she saw me, I was certain she would knowing car ( she is THAT smart!!). When I picked her up she was actually wearing the same outfit I dropped her off in, this is a first in weeks- perhaps she is becoming less messy! Tonight she had leftover quiche for dinner and she loved it, especially the broccoli- this makes me happy!

After her bath lately she is obsessed with her brush, I guess it feels good on her gums- she is such a weirdo!!

Day 347

Oh Monday, why do you come so quickly, yet Friday comes so slowly?!?! Today was a pretty busy day- I had to make a to do list to make sure I got all my tasks done. Our registrar and my dear friend is moving and Friday is her last day. I, like an idiot, offered to do her job plus my job for a small raise. My superintendent loved the idea because it saved the district having to pay out a salary. So today I got a crash course in everything I didn't know how to do. I am sure it will be manageable, but I will never be as good as Shawn, she was the best! I am just at a point in my life that I have to worry about the bottom line- and as a single mom doing it all alone I appreciate anything I can do for additional money!

After my long day it was awesome to come home to a mailbox full d Christmas cards, that is the best thing about sending cards- people send you cards in return! I got some cute ones and a funny one from my friend Rebecca. Tomorrow will surely be a long day, as I have to give finals to one of my homebound students. Between helping out a friend and visiting Santa at my school, our afternoons are going to be busy, so hopefully we can knock most of it out tomorrow.

Hadley is walking up a storm, it's all she wants to do- walk up and down the hall! She also has taken to opening and closing doors; her favorite is to go into the hallway bathroom and shut herself in. I just flashback to my childhood and times of locking my self in the bathroom or locking the door then shutting it (so my mom had to take off the door knob to get the door open) and I am wondering what is in store for me!

Herr is Hadley this morning, in the same outfit she wore Saturday (gasp!) Her class at school is the penguins and before she was in strictly Santa and full blown Christmas outfits she HAD to wear this!!!!

By the way, if you aren't watching 2 Broke Girls on CBS, you are missing out- so funny!! Also Hadley was such a mess last night after her yogurt and spiced apples dinner- see for yourself!

Day 344-346

This weekend just went by entirely too fast. Even though it went by quickly it was a pretty good one. Friday afternoon my mom got in at about 4. She brought a few little birthday presents for me to open, which was a nice surprise, we bathed Hadley, and then I headed to a little get together with some co-workers. Saturday morning came super early, as I had to be at school at 7:15am to supervise the ACT test, I had three rooms and 64 testers it was a big group. While the testing was going on, I wrote my final paper for my principal course, did Hadley’s birthday invitations, and printed recipes for Christmas, so I was pretty productive.

As soon as the ACT was over my mom and Hadley, who met me at school, and I had to rush to the Christmas parade. We left my school at about 12:55 and the parade was SUPPOSED to start at 1. However, luckily for us, it didn’t get underway until 1:30ish. We had plenty of times to scope out a spot and even drop off all my ACT testing materials at the post office. The parade was a small town parade, so it had lots of horses, old timey cars, and wreckers…there were some cute floats and lots of candy. Hadley had a pretty good time and evidently has become a fan at pointing at things. After the parade we headed to the craft bazaar and looked at what they had, which sadly wasn’t much. We decided to head to Rockwall, so my mom could do some last minute shopping and eventually we had my birthday dinner at Chili’s. Unfortunately, this had to be cut short as Hadley decided that after being a trooper all day, she had reached the end of her rope. So for the benefit of the other the dinners, we packaged up our meal and headed home.

Sunday we went to church, which was wonderful, they played a lot of Christmas music and had a great message about how Jesus was 100% man and also 100% God- it was really interesting. Sadly after church, we headed home so my mom could pack up and head back to Humble. Hadley and I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging and playing, but certainly not napping- Hadley would have nothing to do with that! This week should be a good one, Hadley has the chance to see Santa twice-once at my school and once at her school; incidentally both times my principal will be Santa! I know EVERYONE is just ready for the break that comes with the holidays, I know we are!

Day 343

Yesterday was a different kind of day, I had a staff development and didn’t have to be at school, but I did have to travel to Wills Point to drop Hadley off at daycare and to pick her up. Honestly, before I went and got her I whipped up some lunch/dinner, while I could quickly get it done without an 11 month old attached to my ankles or worse, an 11 month old attempting to crawl into the oven. I made a very simple broccoli quiche recipe, I LOVE quiche and had a left over pie crust and eggs from Thanksgiving, so thought it would be something easy to make, and something I knew Hadley and I would both love to eat. It came out pretty good and I ate close to half of it for lunch.

I was actually able to get to Hadley a little earlier today, so we had a little extra play time together. She was a bit fussy, and has really taken to tantrum throwing lately. I just let her do it and ignore it, I figure if I ignore it she will realize I am not going to react to her futile attempts to get her way- that is the hope anyway. So I have captured a few of these moments of film, because I just think it is funny (it that wrong…). Hadley loves the Christmas tree. I have purposely put plush ornaments LOOSELY on the bottom so she can explore it. I mean because honestly making it off limits will only make her so much more determined to pull it down- that is just how she is. She goes up to it every once in a while and picks off an ornament and that is pretty much her ornament of the day- yesterday it was a silver snowflake.

This morning I got up a little early, for no particular reason, while Hadley slept in. I got some stuff done- I made the bed, repacked our bags for Humble next week (yes they are essentially packed already-I am bit obsessive that way). Hadley’s eyes were a bit puffy this morning, but weren’t goopey, so that is good. Once I got her dressed and ready, we had some extra play time. I have been complaining this week, because everyday when I pick up Hadley from school she is NOT wearing what I dropped her off in, because for whatever reason it has gotten dirty…well wouldn’t you know KARMA got me in the butt and while I was giving her her daily vitamin drops, they got all over her…oh well she went to school with a stained shirt, perhaps today she will still be wearing that when I pick her up. We have an exciting weekend coming up, including a holiday parade, so EXCITED!!