Day 341

Last night, I decided to make ravioli for dinner. I knew Hadley would love it, because she has always been a fan of spaghetti sauce. When I picked Hadley up from daycare, they told me she did a great job with her lunch, this made me happy since this was day one of her eating their food. She had steak fingers, a roll, and pears- what a combo, huh? I personally despise steak fingers, but I am thrilled that she liked them! Before we headed home we had two stop, the art show at my school and CVS. The art show was awesome, there are some seriously talented artist walking the halls of my high school, I was truly blown away! One of my favorite students had 9 pieces on display, they were all oil paintings and all PHENOMENAL!!! After admiring the art, we had to make a stop by CVS to pick up my blood pressure meds, nothing says “I’ll be 28 years OLD tomorrow,” like picking up not one but TWO different blood pressure medications, I have been on these pills for over a year now, how crazy is that.

As I was driving home today I was thinking about my birthday last year and how much different it is going to be this year. Last year I was on bed rest, almost 9 months pregnant and spent the day alone with Jake. The highlight of my day was driving to the nearest Freebirds!, I am sure my doctor would not have approved, but it was the one thing I REALLY wanted! Then that got me thinking that a couple days later Jake had a crazy seizure and fell off the bed and it was really just terrible. The next day at the vet they couldn’t find ANYTHING wrong with him, which is crazy to me because six months later he was dead. As if someone knew Jake was on my mind, when I got home in my mail box was a post card from the said vet that Jake was due for a check-up. It was just too much, it made me really sad. I miss that dog, especially around this time of year. He and I had LOTS of quality time it was just the two of us at home together 24/7 for almost 2 months.

Okay, before I start getting all emotional again, I am going to change the subject. When we got home it was already after 5. Hadley was fussy and nothing seemed to make her happy, until I put her in the high chair and gave her some peaches. I had bought those little fruit cups of peaches, in natural juices not syrup and she gobbled that up! Finally I was able to get dinner done and she loved it! I let her sit on the floor with her bowl and some spaghetti sauce and she really loved that, plus it kept her busy while I cleaned up the kitchen. While I was putting dishes in the dishwasher, she decided it was prime time to attempt to get into the dishwasher, she likes to do this with the fridge and the dishwasher-I have no idea why. I tell her no, but of course to Hadley anytime I say no, it is a challenge, she is one stubborn child!

This morning, Hadley must have wanted to wake up and celebrate my birthday extra early, because she had us up and out of bed by 5:30. Her poor little eyes, they go from looking fine to being swollen and gunky so quickly. I spent a large part of the morning fighting her trying to wipe that stuff out of her eyes and off her eyelashes while also trying to get eye drops in her eyes. Eye drops and Hadley are a joke. She HATES them and I practically need the Jaws of Life to pry her eyes open. I finally got a least a portion of the drops in her eye, got her dressed and went about our morning.

I am not sure I should admit this, but oh well. I have about 17 episode of Yo Gabba, Gabba, saved on my DVR, one of which is an episode called birthday. I had it saved for HADLEY’s birthday, but this morning though what the heck it is my birthday, so that’s what she watched. It doesn’t stop there. There is a song on that episode that goes, “It’s a party for Brobee,” I totally sang that to her subbing mommy for Brobee…yes it is true some things never change. I am an only child my birthday has always been a BIG deal to me. When I taught I had countdowns on my board at least a month out, but as I have “grown up” and become a mom, I just don’t do that anymore. See I may not feel like a grown up (when do you suppose that will happen??), but I have come to realize that maybe my birthday isn’t a holiday celebrated by everyone, but guess what Hadley’s certainly should be! That’s 23 days away, for those of you that might be wondering!

Day 340

Well since it is December, it is time to pull out the Christmas sock, jewelry, and clothing. I am not sure why I love Christmas attire so much ( don’t worry it’s not in the creepy tacky sweater way). If you know me AT ALL, you should not be surprised to hear that I am super excited to dress Hadley in Christmas themed clothing. I am pretty lucky, between friends giving me things, Tara’s garage sailing, and the plethora of options at Once Upon a Child, I have been able to accumulate Hadley quite a few Christmas clothes and so starting this week, she will be decked out in red, green, and everything Christmas. Here are a few photos from this morning, the wonderful thing about this outfit is every single thing she is wearing was GIVEN to me- that’s right all free, can’t beat that.



On a random note, now that Hadley is eating real people food it is really nice to sit down at the table and eat dinner together. She tries to feed me her food too, it is pretty darn cute!

Day 339

One thing I didn’t realize that would be true of parenting is the amount of pressure you feel to make sure your child is meeting age appropriate milestones at age appropriate times. Perhaps this isn’t nearly as stressful for some, but for me- a type-A person to a tee, this is what keeps my braining reeling at the late hours of the night. I think that a lot of this pressure is exacerbated by my constant research. I am a part of several message boards, e-mail lists, and I just generally look into all things that Hadley “should be doing” all the time. There are ages associated with every milestone and it makes you feel less than adequate when your child isn’t there. For instance, Hadley only has two teeth, both of which she got at almost 10 months old (this is relatively late), she STILL isn’t sleeping though the night, she is just now really getting into table food, she isn’t drinking exclusively out of sippy, she drinks more formula than most babies I read about, but she isn’t overweight…see none of those things in the grand scheme of life are important. I know that ONE DAY she will sleep, I know I personally hardly ever sleep through the night and I am almost 28 years old…I know she won’t be 13 years old drinking out of a bottle, so why do I feel such an incredible amount of pressure??

I think it all boils down to that I want Hadley to excel, every parent wants a child that is well adjusted, somewhat intelligent, and generally likeable- I mean I know that is what I want. Right now, as we are approaching her first birthday, it is like this drive to transform her from a baby to a “toddler” is overwhelming me. I know this sounds stupid to some, but really I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can to make sure she is where she is “supposed to be” so that she can have any and every opportunity she wants. So in the meantime, I will advocate for her, and encourage her to try new things, and ensure that everyone who is a part of her life does the same. This morning at daycare I had a talk her daycare teachers to make sure everyone was on the same page. She is expressly eating table food now, which means she can eat breakfast and lunch there, which means the days of making two meals and a snack to send with her are over. We are also going to switch to sippy cups only, I am hoping if they do that while she is there, it will be something she will also do at home, because I am having a hard time with this one. We are also slowly moving from formula to milk and they will be doing that there as well.

It is crazy; it is like all of a sudden she is not a baby anymore. On one hand it is kind of sad that she is growing up, I mean I am not a huge fan of babies, but there are so many sweet moments that a mom and baby share, but on the other hand I am SO INCREDIBLY excited to see what kind of toddler/little person she will be. Being a mom is a lot of hard work, in ways that I can’t even really explain, but it is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done!

On a completely unrelated note, Hadley wore a sparkly top and pink sparkly pants to school; I am so jealous that it is NOT acceptable for me to wear such awesomely flashy clothing!!

Days 336-338

I had a very productive weekend! Friday I dropped Hadley off with her Nana, so I came home got two loads of laundry done and vacuumed the entire apartment. The most glorious part of Friday was I fell asleep at about 8 and slept for 11 uninterrupted hours, it's been MONTHS since I've been able to sleep for a stretch longer than 3-5 hours. I got up early did some more laundry, uploaded nearly 300 pictures from this past month on Facebook, reorganized my socks (I sadly have three drawers of socks, yet I only wear sock in the winter), showered, and headed out to spend the day with Camille and Julia.
We ran around getting Camille's secret Santa gifts, had a nice lunch at Genghis Grill and had a pretty nice girls' day ( added bonus Baylor beat the hell outta Texas!!!!). However, mid day it started raining an didn't stop. There were puddles, traffic, and accidents all over- thus I was late getting Hadley Saturday night :(
The change in weather has evidently upset Hadley's allergies. She has the misfortune of having my eyes...they get swollen and puffy looking and get all crusty. Luckily I had some of her allergy eye drops left over from the last time this happened, and it seems to have calmed her eyes down a tad.
Sunday we started our day at church. It was a good service, but a yucky day. After church I had to make a trip to the grocery store because I had zero food in my house. Now that Hadley is eating real food, I can't live off of popcorn or chips anymore, but perhaps that will mean I will shed a few pounds. I also picked up some vitamin drops for Hadley- since we are slowly weening off formula ( hello huge savings each month), I am concerned she might be lacking the nutrients she was receiving from formula.
So after checking out and running a very far way from the door to my car, I got the groceries loaded and Hadley ready to go; only to have to get out of the car again to run into JcPenny to FINALLY pick up her Christmas/birthday pictures.
Once we were finally home I rushed around like a crazy person: made Hadley her lunch, started dinner in my crock pot ( recipe for Creamy Italian Chicken to follow), boiled potatoes for mashed potatoes, put Hadley down for a nap, making homemade apple sauce, getting Christmas cards ready to mail tomorrow, framing pictures, and squeezing in some playtime with my fussy/moody baby. Dinner was so good- Hadley devoured it, which is good because I've packed it for her lunch tomorrow. Once dinner was eaten and the kitchen was clean, it was time for bath and bed- both of which went smoothly. Unfortunately with the weather and my day alone, and Hadley's sour mood all day- there are no picture this weekend, BUT here is the recipe I promised...

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can cream of chicken soup
8oz block of cream cheese
1 can mushrooms steams and pieces
1 packet dry Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup water

Put chicken in crock pot; mix water and dressing mix. Pour mixture over chicken. Cook on low3 hours. Combine cream cheese and soup, until it's smooth- pour over chicken. Pour mushrooms on top. Cook another hour or until chicken is done.

You could serve it with rice or pasta, I did mashed potatoes because I had some I needed to get rid of and Hadley LOVES them! Super good and super easy!! It was pretty good with green beans too! I don't know about you, but I LOVE crockpot recipes, they are perfect for working mamas, or ladies in general!

Day 335

Last night, I thought to myself that I might get up a little early so Hadley and I could have a few extra minutes to play together. As if she read my mind, she woke up early in such a great mood! After I was showered and we both were ready for the day, we got a good 20 minutes in of play time. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post- Hadley loves to open drawers. Well this morning, I hadn’t shut the drawer all the way after pulling out her shirt; so of course, she seized the opportunity to get in that drawer. She had a ball taking most of her clothes out and throwing them on the floor. I have clearly wasted money on toys, Hadley can clearly entertain herself for hours with her clothes and the drawer! She was in an extra loveable mood this morning too, so I got lots of Hadley hugs and kisses. As I told the girl I am working with that just had a baby, it is insane how much you love your child. I mean you just never knew that loving anyone so much was possible!

Day 334

Today I started homebound teaching with a student that had a baby 10 days ago. Oh my goodness, her baby is so adorable and tiny. I have never really been a baby person, but since having Hadley I seem to fawn all over them. It is so crazy to remember how tiny my own little baby was compared to how not so tiny she is now. The difference nearly a year makes….

When I left her house, I headed to daycare to pick up my baby. She, as always, was so excited to see me. Once I picked her up she reached up for my face and gave me a big ol’ kiss- I love it when she does that. I am glad that is so happy to see me too! When we get home I quickly get everything unpacked and then repacked and settle in to spend lots of time playing. Hadley is going to stay with her Nana tomorrow and I know I am going to miss Hadley SO much, I have been with her every single day for a long time. It will be hard to not have her for a night, but it will also be a good time for me to clean my house, do laundry, make something that Hadley can take in her lunches, sleep in, and even squeeze in some time with friends; so I will be so busy the time will, hopefully, just fly by.

When my parents were in town, Papa James redid the child drawer locks that were on her changing table. For the first time yesterday, Hadley noticed. She loves opening drawers and cabinets, and threw a bit of a fit when she realized she wouldn’t be able to open the drawer (it opens an itty, bitty bit, which I think taunted her). It was kinda funny! She also tried to take several steps last night. She can do it, she is just so clearly scared/nervous about it. She will take a few steps and then squat down to the ground. She is taking more and more steps every day though, so I am not complaining!

Day 333

After the whole heater debacle the previous night, my apartment was still really warm when Hadley and I got home yesterday. There was a note from the “maintenance man” saying that there was a 2 minute delay for the heater to go; insinuating that I am idiot and that I just didn’t wait long enough. Well, last time I checked 2 minutes came before 4 HOURS…so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Anyway, Hadley and I were red faced within several minutes of being home. I could tell she was one tired baby, so I quickly started in our “just got home” routine. Got lunchbox unpacked and repacked, changed into comfy clothes, played a bit, fed Hadley, and got her in the bath. She still fought sleep like she has been doing lately, but was asleep within 30 minutes.

I actually caught Hadley in the middle of something she shouldn’t be doing, below you can see her trying to get in the toilet, and my personal favorite, trying to (well actually succeeding at) getting into the stuffing- she loves to play in the refrigerator, so while I make her lunch sometimes I will hold the door open with my foot. Mostly she likes to grab drink cans and put them on her gums, this was a first. Hey, she was hungry and I suppose I should be proud of her for being self sufficient!