Hadley joined the big world at the kitchen table right before her five month birthday when I fed her rice cereal for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it and definitely ate it much better than the other two ever did. We sporadically fed her cereal until she turned six months and then introduced veggies and then fruit which she has gobbled up regardless of what kind of food it is.
Once October rolled around this fall, Tales of a Peanut ramped up and I literally spent every free or semi-free moment working on new designs, orders, and other business “stuff”. Which is great and I loved it but it leaves me here now without having blogged about the entire fall. And since I use the blog as my scrapbook I kind of want to catch up. So, please excuse me over the next few weeks while I try to catch up and try to get back in the blogging routine. I have big plans for the shop and the blog for this year and hope to get them going soon also!
So, let’s rewind the clock back to September….
James got a set of real golf clubs for his birthday from us. To say that he was excited would be an understatement. He immediately wanted to go hit some balls.
Sissy rode her bike while James golfed.
We headed to Tuscaloosa for gameday on James’ actual birthday. We had a great day celebrating James and he enjoyed more presents and more birthday excitement. Although, he might have been more excited about the game than his birthday by that point. As a downer on the day, Charlotte got sick that night and then the fire alarm in the condo went off and we all had to evacuate to the parking lot for a while after the kids had gone to sleep. They’re still talking about that! But, overall, we had a great day celebrating James turning three!
We headed back down to Tuscaloosa the next weekend after a very long week while Jason, Memma, and Papa were all out of town. Charlotte took her first of many pictures with the Sparkly Cheerleaders this season (that fascination has not waned in the slightest) and Hadley got her first game attendance of the year.
Hadley continued to grow like a week this month and both Charlotte and James grew a lot also. James also either got tired of me only taking pictures of Hadley or got more interested in her because he asked me to take this picture of the two of them one morning.
Coming up next…our trip to Watersound!
Hadley girl,
It’s hard to believe that it’s now closer to your first birthday that it is to when you were born. This first year of your life is passing in the blink of an eye and I’m out of breath just trying to keep up. While these pictures were taken on your seven month birthday and I’m writing this from notes I made on that day, this post is obviously very late. December has been full to the brim and I’m so glad that we were able to add you to our family this year!
At seven months you are all over the place. You’re army crawling everywhere and can get somewhere fast. You are no longer content just to stay on a blanket but can crawl off of one almost as soon as I put you on it. Because of that I’ve started to let you crawl around on the floor even though my germaphobic tendencies have me cringing almost the entire time you’re down there. In good news, I’m cleaning our floors more often than I ever have before and I’m also telling myself that you’re just building your immunity.
That doesn’t seem to be the case though (I’m sure they’re not really related) but this past month you got your first ear infection. The cold of doom descended upon our family after the Homecoming game and after a few weeks of a runny nose and a yucky cough you finally succumbed to an ear infection. Numbing drops made you more comfortable and you celebrated your seven month birthday on your first round of antibiotics. Here’s hoping that they kicked it for good and we won’t have to worry about another one for a while.
During this past month you celebrated your first Thanksgiving and stayed through your first full football game versus Mississippi State. You are a very go-with-the-flow kind of girl and are happy pretty much all the time. We weaned you off of your reflux meds this month and you did fine without them. You are still spitting up some though but I guess that will just go away with a little more time.
You love baby food and are eating veggies now. You open your mouth as soon as I sit them down in front of you and will eat an entire container in one sitting. Right now you’ve tried peas, green beans, squash, and carrots and have loved them all.
You weighed 14.1 pounds on December 1st at the doctor. We think you’re growing so big but you’re really still very very tiny compared to other babies your age. I don’t really understand that though because you’re wearing 6-9 month clothes so the fashion industry doesn’t think you’re small! Our doctor says that you’re just perfect though and you sleep and eat good and are developing wonderfully so that’s all that matters.
You are still in a size 2 diaper and eat at 7am, 11am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, and 7:45pm with naps between all of those except after the 5:30pm feeding. On the rare occasions that we get to sleep late you will sleep until we wake you up, sometimes as late as 8 am! And I wake you up at 7am in the morning’s so that we can get Charlotte and James up, fed, and to school. You, and me, would prefer we slept later in the mornings.
You are babbling up a storm these days with lots of sounds that sound like words. You have noticed the tv when it’s on and you’re up and also love interacting with all of us but especially with Charlotte and James. You squeal and giggle when they do silly things and smile so big when you see any of your people.
This month you also got a new nickname: Hadley monster. I don’t really remember the story behind it…Daddy gave it to you, but it’s stuck and we all call you Hadley monster some. I promise, if it sticks, that it is all out of love kind of like Cookie Monster loves cookies, calling you Hadley monster means we love Hadley.
We love you so much Hadley!
Mommy
Hadley girl,
I am in total shock that you are already six months old. It seems like just yesterday that we were finding out that you were on your way and now here you are, growing up before our very eyes! We love you so much and thank God every day for the blessing that you are to our family. You are so happy and fun these days and we love watching your little personality develop. Here’s a brief glance at what you’re doing now that you’re six months old.
You are mastering sitting even if you do tip over to the side some when you reach for something. I’m not confident enough in your abilities to just leave you sitting but the times that you have toppled over haven’t seemed to phase you and you just wriggle around to whatever you need. We call you Roly Poly sometimes because you are quick to roll over to get where you want to go. But I’m not sure that crawling is far away before you also get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth some and sometimes seem to push yourself forward with your legs while your elbows are on the ground. I’m not ready for you to be that mobile though so let’s hold off on the crawling for at least another month or two, ok? Your favorite toys right now are your Sophie giraffe and your Fishy Tales book. They are consistently the items that we give you if you happen to be fussy or we need you to entertain yourself because you love them so much.
You are very happy and are a great sleeper these days. You are eating at 7am, 11 am, 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm, and 8pm-ish and sleeping from 9-11, 1-2:30, 4:15-5:30, and 8:30-7am. I am trying to start consistently feeding you rice cereal and you eat it really well when I give it to you but I’m having trouble finding a time when I’m not running around like crazy and it’s also a time when you should be eating to feed it to you. Hopefully we’ll solidify that schedule this next week. I think you could go to two long naps but I can’t figure out how to work the schedule and also manage Sissy’s art and dance schedule so until you just absolutely can’t handle it we’ll probably stay at this schedule. You are wearing 6 month clothes with some 6-12 month and 6-9 month outfits. You are still in a size 2 diaper also.
You love talking these days and are rarely quiet. It’s like you just want to join in with your sister and brother and vocalize all the time. Sometimes it sounds like you’re saying Dada or Hi but in no specific instances yet that we think you know what you’re saying. But if you keep talking like this it won’t be long. The only times that you aren’t talking are when your hands are in your mouth. You love sucking on your fingers and we can tell that you’re getting tired if you’ve put them in your mouth. Of course sometimes you just do it when you’re bored so it’s not a perfect indicator. You also sometimes grab your toes which is funny to watch.
I love you so much Hadley and am so thankful that I get to be your Momma. I pray daily that I can be the Mom that you need me to be and that you will always know how much we treasure you and your life. God created you for a purpose little one and we can’t wait to see what that purpose is.
Happy Half-Birthday!
love, Mommy
We decided last spring that we would try to take Charlotte and James to the first football game in Atlanta. As it got closer and closer to our trip the feasibility got shakier and shakier as Hadley was not mastering taking a bottle and we were planning on leaving her with my in-laws. In addition, I was very unsure about leaving her for two nights just because I didn’t want to leave her. But we finally decided that we needed to go for it and so we did. Putting Hadley in the car seat in my in-laws car and watching them drive away was heart wrenching but I knew that she was in good hands and when they sent me this picture I knew she was happy so I was able to relax somewhat.
With Hadley happily settled, we set off with our big kids for a weekend of adventure. On the drive to Atlanta we surprised the kids with a stop at Little River Canyon to see the waterfall. It wasn’t flowing as much as we would have liked so it was a little underwhelming but Charlotte and James still enjoyed it.
We continued on and made it to Atlanta in a very calm fashion. After getting settled in our hotel we headed over to Lennox for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. It was an odd experience to only have the four of us after a few months with an infant and we enjoyed the time that we got to focus on Charlotte and James.
After a very, very hairy time getting the kids to sleep on Friday night, we woke up exhausted on Saturday but determined to enjoy game day. We headed to the stadium early for a reception and the kids were in rare form. They were ready for the game and so excited that it was finally football season! You might be able to gather somewhat from this picture how excited James was…
Take note of his hat on backwards, shaking his shaker, and his tired face because he had literally been running in circles around the reception for the past 15ish minutes!
Charlotte was excited but a little calmer than her brother.
The kids were even more excited when we got to our seats and they could actually see the players and cheerleaders and band. Unfortunately, everyone in our section and the sections around us decided to stand for the entire game which put a damper on it because we basically had to hold the kids the entire game so that they could see. But they enjoyed the game regardless!
At the end of the game we headed up to where my parents sat during the game and Jason and I grabbed one of my favorite recent pictures of us.
On Sunday morning we got up and headed home to our baby. I loved getting to spend some quality time with Charlotte and James over the weekend and we had a great time watching the Tide start the season off right. But I won’t lie, I was overjoyed to get my baby girl back in my arms on Sunday afternoon!
Because I am so behind, I’m just going to hit the high points of most of August. These months with three have been a whirlwind but I don’t want to forget what was going on.
James continued to come in to his personality and it sure is a big one! He hammed it up while I was trying to get a picture for his birthday invitation.
And this one continues to figure out who she is and I’m amazed with every facet of her being. She is gorgeous inside and out!
We had a family movie afternoon watching Finding Nemo and now the kids are all about Nemo.
Hadley went to big church of the first time. I held her during the service and she (and my arms!) fell asleep.
The big kids enjoyed trying out their new umbrellas on a sunny day. Their raincoats and umbrellas came in handy last week when it was raining cats and dogs and we had to get to school! James called it his “Wooo Wooo” jacket because it has fire engine’s on it and that’s the sound he says they make.
Jason took the bigs to the driving range and they loved it. They were very proud that some of their balls even made it past the flat area that you hit off of!
Memma gave James a Peter Pan costume and he was mesmerized with himself as Peter Pan. He’s going to be the cutest little boy on Halloween!
There was lots of accessorizing going on at our house! I love that Charlotte has her own sense of style and it doesn’t bother her if it’s a little wild. I’m happy to let her pick her own, unique outfits and play around with different styles as long as she wants to. I know all too soon she’ll want the “cool” outfits like everyone else and I want her to always feel confident in her own choices and style.
With the start of school means lots of time spent in carpool line which means lots of fun conversations with this little man. I learn a lot waiting for Sissy to get in the car. Mostly that he most likes to play with Claire at school and that he is SILLY!
Charlotte is still drawing all the time. The picture on top is her self portrait from the first week of school. And bottom is a coloring page of Elsa that she recreated on a blank piece of paper. She is so creative!
James continued his love affair with his sunglasses including wearing them almost constantly. Even while he was eating peanut butter out of a spoon. At least it’s protein y’all.
Charlotte spent some time in August raising money for our regional NICU. She joined some friends for Swim for Melissa and was so proud to help the tiny babies and enjoyed swimming some laps and getting a new t-shirt for her efforts. Thank you so much to all those who helped support her by donating money. It’s a wonderful cause that changes the lives of so many in our area and it was a great experience teaching Charlotte about giving to others and generosity.
We also celebrated Mary and Joel’s wedding in August. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so happy for them. James especially had fun at the reception as he went around asking a few different bridesmaids to dance!