Sunday...

Well last night Hadley slept a few hours in her bed before waking up and not going back to sleep until after 10! So we will continue to try, it will be a process I guess.

This morning I actually had to wake Hadley up, she slept well past 7:30, for some reason I had it in my mind that church was a 9, not 9:30. So we got there really early! I took advantage of the time and caught up on my devotional and has Hadley's picture updated in the system I'm pretty sure it's been I a year since we've done that! We also had some time for her to run around and play on one of the playground in the church. I left her crying at her class, knowing she would be okay in seconds...I heard a great service today comparing our hearts to soil- I really needed to hear it, then worked the parent pager. It was a good day at church.

Randomly, I had a conversation with woman in charge of parent pager at church and she asked how many kids we had. I told her I had one and it was just me. I got an "Oh..." and suddenly felt the familiar pit in my stomach that I get when people learn I am a single mom. The book I am reading, Heart of the Matter, has a single mom and there is a character that feels the same. I feel like people assume I got pregnant by mistake, that I was irresponsible, or something. I am the last to judge, I never assume anything about single mothers at all, but what people can't see is that I am a single mom outside of my choice. I can't make my husband stay when he doesn't want to. I can't control anyone but me, is my life how I wanted it to be, raising a child alone? No. But we are happy and I like to think I am doing a pretty good job. There is always more to the story than meets the eye...that's all I'm sayin!


I wanted to get Hadley home for lunch and try to fit in a short nap. Neither of those went as smoothly as I had hoped. Lunch ended up on the floor and no nap happened. It was nice out for a few hours and according to the. weather it is supposed to rain all week, so I thought we needed to do something outside. So we headed to the splash park so Hadley could play in the "wawa." She loved it and I got pretty wet myself, I always refuse to wear a swimsuit thinking I won't get wet and always regret it. Afterwards I swung by mcdonald's to get a frozen strawberry lemonade- Hadley and I are both I obsessed with all things lemonade so we shared it, or I drank most of it and let her have the last few sips, semantics!

We came home relaxed and played. Hadley has not had a nap today so I am hoping tonight goes much smoother than last night, we shall see!

Photo dump...

The latest blogs include mostly photos from my phone, here are some pictures I got off my mom's camera...

Operation big girl bed

Last week when I went into Hadley's room I found her with one leg dangling over the front of her crib- at that moment I became obsessed with converting her crib.

Now this isn't something I mention on the blog ever, most likely because I fear judgement, but we have been co-sleeping for a while. I NEVER in a million years thought I would be saying that, but life happened. It started out of the need to have sanity!! I was a single working mom and Hadley didn't sleep though the night until well after her first birthday. It was easier to get her back to sleep while she was in my bed rather than having to go walk into her room, and honestly I liked it. I like knowing she was right there, and I liked the morning cuddles, and it made my king sizes bed not so lonely. However, I am sure there will be a day when a husband rather than my daughter will have a need to sleep on my bed, so I knew I had to get her out. Plus she moves and kicks a lot and that is just no fun!

So after naps in the crib were no longer safe, I knew the change would be good. I also concluded that I wanted to skip the toddler bed and go straight for the full size bed. She is used to a king, she needs her space; and as much as she rolls around she would wake up all the time in a smaller toddler bed.

Luckily my dad offered to bring the rails to convert the bed to me ASAP, they were being stored at his house. He also decided to buy Hadley a new mattress, how awesome is that!?!? So he came up today and set that all up. It looks pretty good I think, and Hadley seems to like it!! She is currently napping away, hopefully tonight goes just as well. I am not sure she will make it all night, but I am dedicated to making this happen. She is lucky enough to have a nice bed and her own room and she needs to use or!

Fourth of July and other not so exciting things

I was pretty excited about the 4th this year for two reasons. I had a really cute skirt I was excited for Hadley to wear and I was excited for her to see fireworks. My apartment was having a pool party and we are right next to a park that was having a firework display that night- so it was all right here which was nice. We hung out at the house most of the afternoon and took it easy, I was hoping to keep Hadley rested so she wouldn't be a grouch that night when she was up later than usual. We had hotdogs for dinner, and headed down to the pool shortly after. It was pretty crowded so we didn't stay too long. Then we played a bit on the playground, Hadley befriended a cat, then we headed home. Hadley fell asleep for a short nap and shortly deter it was fireworks time.

She did not like them AT ALL!!! Get were a little loud and I think the noise really jarred her. We watched from my
balcony which were pretty good seats! The city did a great job! Probably the best firework show I have seen ever! Hadley actually passed out mid-show. Getting all worked up and hot didn't sit well with Hadley and she got sick, bit that's not anything we aren't used to around here.

Thursday morning my dad called and said we was coming up on Saturday to bring the rails to convert Hadley's crib to a bed and an extra awesome bonus he was going to buy a mattress!! So that afternoon we ran to babies r us to get a bed rail and a night light- two essentials I knew Hadley would need. The rest of the afternoon I was forced to do the prep for a colonoscopy I was having the next day. Even though this is my fifth colonoscopy, it still is something I dread doing.

We had to be in Plano at 8, which meant Hadley had to be a daycare at 6:30 that morning, so it was an early start. Everything went well and quickly! I came home, napped off the anesthesia and then went and got Hadley. I couldn't drive all day so my mom had to escort me around. Overall it was a pretty uneventful three days!

Hadley's first haircut

Hadley giving her baby a bottle before she goes "night night"

I have been wanting to cut Hadley's hair for a while. It was getting to be pretty long and was always in her face, but I have been putting it off because I thought it would be an awful experience. I wanted to take her to a place just for kids, so we went to Cool Cuts for Kids. Let me tell you, it was a great experience. Hadley loved it. She got to ride in a fire truck, watch Elmo, and play with bubbles all while getting her hair cut. She got a little bit of a trim and some bangs. I am amazed at how awesome she was!

We headed to the Splash Park in Forney afterwards since she was so good! She had a great time running around in the water and in the park. It was a pretty nice day from start to finish!

A not so manic Monday

Hadley hasn't been to day care in almost two weeks. I am wanting to keep her in the routine of going, and I have to pay if she goes or not, so she will be going two to three times a week. This will give me time to run errands, go to the gym, have time to visit with friends, a probably even go into work at least once a week.

Today she slept in until 7:30, which was OUTSTANDING! We got up, I took her to school, and I went into work for a few hours. My office had been painted Maroon and beige while I was gone and it looked AWESOME! I had to hang everything back up, mail out some transcripts, and few other miscellaneous things. About noon, my mom came up and we went to Ham's Orchard for some fresh produce, emphasis on peaches. Then we went to lunch in Rockwall. She had a gift card for Olive Garden so we used that. It was a nice leisurely lunch, we took our time and chatted and didn't have to rush out due to a screaming baby. After lunch we picked up Hadley, came home, ate some dinner, gave her a bath, and got ready for bedtime. I am going to take advantage of having an overnight babysitter and get out with my friend Jill tonight. We are having a play date later in the week, but this will be good gossip and girl time...I am pretty excited!

Hadley Grace is 18 months old!

I want to start off by saying a big Happy 1st Birthday to Landon Clay, Hadley's future boyfriend. It doesn't seem like it's been a whole year, does it Tara?? I can't even believe I have a 1.5 year old, yup that's right in six months I will be the mom of a two year old!

Here are some highlights from this month:

• Hadley has been going to the next class up at the daycare a few times a week, in the fall she will be promoted to the Bumble Bee class which is 18 months to 3, I think. She will be with the big kids. I am really sad about leaving her teachers, they are all we have ever known, but really excited about all the new things she will be learning....especially potty training!
• She continues to expand her palate and seems to like to eat almost everything
• We attempted swimming lessons, they didn't go as well as expected, but wouldn't you know it, now that they are over her sudden fear of water seems to be gone. She is back to loving baths, in fact she wants to get in the bath ALL THE TIME!
• She is up to a size 6 shoe, size 18 month-2T clothes, and size 5 diapers
• She loves to drink through a straw, particularly of drinks that aren't hers!
• While I don't give her her own glass, anytime I drink it, which is pretty often this summer, she LOVES lemonade
• We went to several new places: The Splash Park, The Children's Museum, had a few play dates...we are really exploring this summer (last summer Hadley's highlight was sitting up on her own!)
• She really likes to play by herself. She will go to her room, look at books, play with her baby, or whatever all on her own
• She still loves books, but I can't trust her with anything other than board books, because while she loves books, she doesn't yet appreciate them!
• She is a pro at all animal sounds, her favorite seems to be moo or a roar (she roars a lot!)
• She is talking more and more everyday, she is excellent at repeating, and really seems to understand anything I say to her, which is good!
• She is such a big help these days. She loves to throw her diapers away, which is funny...
• We have entered the terrible two's it seems; we are no stranger to temper tantrums around here and oh man my child has a temper. She gets so worked up; biting it the biggest problem...that seems to be the only way she can express anger. It's a struggle, but I know it is all a learning process...this too shall pass (hopefully sooner than later)
• Hadley is definitely like me...for the most part, early to bed and early to rise, unfortunately, sometimes early to rise comes at 4:30...
• While she still loves Yo Gabba Gabba, Dora has sort of become a big deal around here!
• She loves dogs, that girl needs a dog soon...so do I
• WE went forward facing in the car seat this month. I know I might get flax for this since 2 is the recommended age. I did a lot of research and thought long and hard about it and for her size, I feel like I have made the best choice FOR US...

Overall, this month we are just enjoying our summer while trying not to die in the heat! She is still such a loving baby and is so good 90% of the time, but when she is mad or when she is determined to do something, you better watch out. Everyday I see more and more of a big girl and less of a baby. I was talking to some girlfriends and they said a good way to see how they have changed was to think of them in terms of last summer...well my, oh my...how she has grown. She is a walking, talking, self feeding, do it herself big girl. It is amazing to me how smart she is, which maybe I am a little biased. I just know a lot of changes lie ahead in the next six months, I remember reading blogs of 18-24 month year olds' mothers thinking that is so long away...but it is here and I know the next six months will be the end of the baby era and the start of my little girl growing up. I am not sad about it, though. I am excited to see who she will become!

Here are some pictures from Hadley's Nana from yesterday...