Hadley's First Parade

The past few days and the rest of this weekend are known 'round these parts as "Great River Days." There are carnival rides, a beer tent (of course), and general small fair-like things to do at the river front park area. This morning as soon as Adam got home from golf, we high tailed it to the parade that goes along with these great river days and enjoyed some BEAUTIFUL weather, a happy and super content baby for her first parade, and an elated 2 year old who got more candy than she will know what to do with. I must say ... we are so lucky to have such happy, well-behaved girls when we take them out. We told Morgan about 3/4 of the way through the ridiculous amount of candy receiving that she should ask the older kids (2 younger teens) and their parents near us if they wanted any candy b/c they weren't making any moves on candy that fell even semi-near them and let Morgan have it all. Maybe most kids would do this (I envision lots of no! mine! when asked to willingly give up candy from a 2 y/o...) but she easily asked them and kindly said thank you when they told her she could keep it. Hadley was a ball of smiles and had no problem watching the parade from her stroller and playing with little bags of candy and toys and watching the festivities. Enjoy the pictures!

Not from the parade, but Hadley now LOVES to stand at the music table. 

And may it be noted that if her legs aren't giving out and you take her away from said music table, beware of the screaming wrath that is Hadley. This kid knows what she wants.

First parade time!!!

Look!! A FIRE TRUCK!

Hadley enjoying the fire trucks

Parades are cool!

I don't know if we'll get a picture of a parent and the girls smiling in the same direction until they're 22 and 24 years old.

Or without a goofy "smile."

Hopefully the rain will come and go during nap time and we can make it back for the carnival or we might have a rather devastated Morgan on our hands...

Teegan Monroe! She's here!!

Our newest family member has arrived!! My brother, Travis and his wife, Tabitha, welcomed Teegan Monroe Seefeldt into their family yesterday morning - a day earlier than her planned arrival - and she's beautiful!! She was 8lbs 2oz and 20.75" long. We are heading home next weekend to meet her after they've had a week or so to settle in. Baby's doing great and Tabitha is doing as well as can be expected  after a c-section and adhesion. We are so excited and Morgan was THRILLED to see the pictures that family members have sent us and been posted online so far. Welcome to our family, Teegan! We love you so much!

The Power of a Best Friend

Adam and my girls and the rest of my family are ridiculously important to me. I love them to the very core of my being and am sure I'd not be the person I am today if it weren't for them.

That said, there is another super extra very important special person who is not necessarily "family" as defined in the dictionary, but I'd also be equally as lost without her in my life. Sometimes a few weeks go by and we haven't chatted but then we do and all is right with the world again. It's amazing how she can bring me back to "zero" sometimes in a way that no one else can. Here are a few words to explain why Steph is my bff, my left hand (obviously, Adam is my right ;-), and like a sister to me:

• Loyal. I know she'd have my back at any time for anything even if she thought I was out of my mind (but if it was something she thought was a bad idea, she'd tell me, too, and it wouldn't be the worst thing I'd ever heard). Although if I were out of my mind in a fun way, she'd make it even more fun - I know. ;-)
• Caring. Steph is one of the most caring people I know. The other day, an envelope arrived in the mail and I knew it was from her by her handwriting before I even noticed the return address. Inside was a hilarious and ridiculous card and a gift card to Cold Stone (a place we could live at together if people weren't offended by two very fat people eating ice cream right out of the ice cream case while pushing the ice cream workers out of the way). Caring. We hadn't even talked for a few weeks and her timing was perfect. 
• STRONG. She is one of the strongest people I know. Life has thrown her cupcakes and roses and thorns and she handles it all with a grace I don't know if I could have. I am in awe of her and her wisdom and ability to see the other side of things, good or bad, easy or difficult. 
• Too far. I know that's two words, but she lives too far away from me. I'm so lucky though b/c almost every time I'm home (in WI), she makes the trip to where ever I am or coordinates somewhere to meet so I can see her and get our girlies together to play. 
• Beautiful. She just is. Inside and out. And I'm a little jealous of her flat tummy so quickly post baby. ;-) 
• Teacher. Steph is a middle school teacher but also wears tons of different hats at her school and rocks them all. She's on of those teachers who you wish could follow your child every year in school b/c you KNOW they'd get a damn good education no matter what the state or district throws at them (32+ kids in a class, mostly boys, that sort of thing). 
• Cry. Oh how I love that we can have a good cry together over anything. Sappy commercials are not off the table either. Oh, and I liked how last summer we got to whale it up together for a few days while Steph's baby tried crawling out of her belly button and mine just did flips.
• Best friend. (yeah, yeah, two words.) There are so many more words that describe Steph, but I might be writing forever and let's face it. I should really be a parent at some point when the girls wake up from their naps. So thanks, Steph, for being you and who you are for me. I am so thankful that my path led me to UWSP for school not only to find my husband, but my other partner in crime for life, YOU! :)

This is us at my baby shower for Morgan, summer 2009. 

I think I need to get an updated picture of the two of us!! :)

I'm supposed to be cleaning...

Hi. It's me. Or the person I think is me. I know I haven't blogged much lately but I've been feeling out of sorts. I can't really pin point the one or two things it might/could be, but I just haven't felt like me lately. The past day or two have really improved my mood and I think it has lots to do with a GREAT day with the girls yesterday (that included story time at the library and a 2.5 hour nap for Hadley - unheard of), a nice-to-me scale the past few days, and some bits of organization going on around here. A dirty/messy/unorganized house can really get to me after a while. I know there's more to it but it's just not "stuff" I'm ready or willing to share with the world who might actually read this (sometimes I wonder? But either way this is one of my little "therapies" so onward!).

The girls are wonderful. Both woke up LATE today after sleeping through the whole night without bothering us for ANYthing. Hadley is growing like a weed and the new diapers we recently bought (snap BumGenius 4.0s) make me super happy with their bright colors and security (the velcro kind we have tend to get caught and come off if she wears nothing but a diaper). She sits and is almost to the point where she is relatively coordinated to go from a sit to her back/belly via her side. She can pick up small items (cheerios, puffs) but doesn't get them to her mouth yet. She is exploring her food options and really enjoyed a puffy cheeto at the library yesterday. She likes to stand tons and is a VERY happy morning baby. She talks like a crazy person and it's fun to listen to her (depending on the time, of course) over her monitor in the morning as she wakes up and talks to her hippo and the monkey/lion duo on her single bumper in her crib. To say the least, she's a joy to have around. She's wearing 9 month clothes with a few 12 month clothes thrown in there but of course, they're a little big. I want to buy her tons of clothes but she already has clothes she'll never wear (of Morgan's) so I hold off.

Morgan is equally as lovely. She is reasoning through things I wouldn't expect a 4 year old to think about. She's polite to others and is still learning how to gently take desired things from her sister instead of ripping them away (especially last night when Hadley would quietly (sneakily?) take her beloved Baby Jaguar while playing in Morgan's room...). She's wearing mostly 4T clothes and at Urgent Care last week she was 41.5" tall and 32lbs (with clothes/shoes on). She LOVES to move and is dancing/singing like crazy. She loves to jump off of things and the higher the better. She loves swimming and the water as long as she's in control and the water isn't falling on her (ie. a sprinkler). This can be hard b/c I KNOW she'll love something but she won't do it b/c she doesn't like falling water. Oh well. She'll figure it out sometime.

Ok, I was supposed to start cleaning and making kid-less phone calls 20 minutes ago among all sorts of other things so off I go. Pool is full and ready for our shenanigans after naps this afternoon! It's going to be another HOT one and even worse tomorrow...forecasting over 103 in sweet sweet Muscatine...

Wisconsin Dells, July 2012

Oh dear, it's been a while. But we were just on vacation and we were too cheap to buy the internet in our condo so it had to wait. Enjoy the pictures!

WI DELLS JULY 2012

In a nutshell, our vacation went a little like this...arrive Sunday with a sick Hadley. Morgan and I had just gotten over our colds from last week, but then shortly after arrival, Morgan's made a hasty comeback and was even worse, including a sore throat and random new rashes (that I was convinced and hoping I was wrong, was hand/foot/mouth disease since that's running rampant in good ol' Muscatine). Then Adam joined in on the sickness fun and I was Nurse Melissa, taking care of everyone and trying to persuade them that water slides and wave pools WERE the best thing invented and it was not, in fact, kleenex and sleeping. By Tuesday/Wednesday, Hadley was feeling better and Adam was reaching his peak yuckness. Morgan was super upset with her sore throat and not eating much and then she got a rash on her chest. Instead of enjoying a family dinner out Wednesday night, I took Morgan to Urgent Care (where they found nothing wrong with her and deemed her full of a virus, untreatable) and we ordered amazing pizza and cheesy bread. Honestly though, we made the most of it and had a good time. Since everyone was feeling better by the end, I will remember this vacation as "the sick one" but also as a good time.

Sunday, we arrived around 4pm and Adam's parents arrived shortly thereafter (and stayed until Tuesday late afternoon) since they were coming along as a thank you for watching the girls while we were in Vegas a few weeks ago. We went out for a great dinner at Moose Jaw (must try!!) and settled in including our humidifier that we lugged (thank God) all the way from home.  Monday was spent at Mount Olympus, at which water park we had free passes to all week through our condo. Everyone held up ok but we brought along tons of kleenex. The weather was perfect for being in "refreshing" temped water. Tuesday, we were going to go to the deer park in the morning but the sickness took over so we hung out and then went to the Mt. Olympus for a bit before dinner. Tuesday, we spent more time at the water park and general relaxing (and obviously, dealing with the sick). Wednesday, we went to the deer park and Morgan LOVED it. There are no less than 500 pictures of Morgan (and Hadley!) feeding  deer and various other critters (see link if you haven't already). She asked to go back hourly until we left for Iowa. We spent more time at the water park and then went on a train ride at this cute place on Thursday (when it never got over 70 degrees! The whole day!). Thursday afternoon we went to the amusement park part of Mount Olympus and Morgan rode her first roller coaster. I almost died for her but she liked it! We had her watch one turn first and then asked if she wanted to go...and she did! Whew! Now Adam will have someone to go on roller coasters with later! (I don't do that sort of thing b/c I will pee my pants and vomit.)

Friday we packed up and since we got back earlier (around 1:30) than we had anticipated, we called up Mary to see if she'd take the girls for their naps and we went golfing on the back nine! It was awesome and I shot a 53, which I was pretty proud of. It was a good week, despite all the sickness, and we were sad to see it be over even though Morgan asked to go back to Iowa a few times towards the end...but who could blame her? It's hard to be sick and away from home. I can't wait to go again soon! I'm thinking we may make this an annual event but on a smaller scale - perhaps a 3-4 day weekend. ;-)

7 months old (also known as "Time Flies")

Yes, time flies. It flies so fast sometimes it makes my head spin and I know I'm not alone. We no longer have a tiny infant anymore but a full-fledged baby. (In my mind it goes newborn, infant, baby, toddler, giant toddler (Morgan), kid.) I don't exactly know when this happened but Hadley is growing and changing so fast and the speed of this summer is not helping (what?! it's already July!? I have to go back to work in a month from Friday!?) Anyway, in Hadley news...

• She now sits for tens of minutes at a time. I still leave a pillow behind her and on her sides (if she's near a hard floor) but she RARELY uses them. That said, it's a little hilarious to see her get stuck momentarily when she does tip over on them. 
• It's time to start in on the textures for real. She's struggled here but last night she didn't die when she ate part of a noodle and she's been working on dissolvable stars so here we go! Tonight at dinner, she actually loved her stars, chewed them, and seemed to be "getting it" lots better! She also tried raspberries in her oatmeal tonight...not so sure about that one.
• Hadley continues to love standing. She is the best belly spinner I've ever seen. She can reach and reach and it's impressive where I sometimes find her in the shortest periods of time considering all she does is spins/rolls/reaches. 
• Fine motor wise, I didn't know this until yesterday but she's able to pick up Cheerios-sized items with her finger tips. She's not 100% accurate, but not bad! 
• She's talking up a storm. Ok, ok, not talking, per se, but she's using some variegated babbling and just making more "noise" in general. :) 
• I'm taking her in tomorrow morning for a weight/height check so I'll post that in place of this point tomorrow. I'm sure there is more that I'm missing but it's that time of night where things are starting to get fuzzy and I should probably be in bed rather than considering having a smores bar. ;-)

Enjoy the pictures below. There are some random ones during various play times and then, of course, the monthly photo shoot (which is not easy anymore. Hadley is a master at sliding down and not taking pictures like a nice, holding still baby.)

I think Morgan's "mad eyes" are stinkin' hilarious and 

I laugh every time I see a picture of them. She's doing 

them on purpose here.

Silly sisters and their toes. Hadley, you are obsessed.

Sister giggles

Sister hugs. Hadley is so seriously in love with 

her sister and vice versa.

Giggled out.

Crime in progress!! I left her far away from the wipes box. She's obsessed with this box so she managed to get to it, open it, steal a wipe out (see evidence near right knee), close it, and try to escape before my return 92 seconds later.

First watermelon! 

7 months old! 07/10/12

Sliding down instead of sitting nicely...

Sisters (and toes, shocker) - 7 months and 33 months 

Attempt #692

Shall I lean forward for you, mom?

Sisters again

Playing patty cake on their sides

Hadley always has to check out what's in the fish bowl but isn't 

quite there yet for taking things out or putting things in.

The Hea(r)t of Summer

Holy buckets, you guys. It's hot. This is not news. The end is in sight and I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to low/mid 80s coming up here next week. I miss being outside! We can't even go outside after dinner b/c it's still 90something degrees out and humid as the tropics. Sigh. Soon, friends. Soon. And when the time comes, we have TONS of outdoor water activities to keep us busy.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. We had a bit of a par-tay over dinner and everyone left by (kidlet) bedtime. It was nice to see everyone except Hadley. Around 1pm yesterday afternoon, someone flipped a switch with the kid and we were transported back to newborn stage where she screamed cried in our faces for no reason and nothing stopped it. Then she aspirated some formula/spit up and was scared of her bottle for several hours. Eating? Ha. Didn't even attempt. She wouldn't sleep, as she'd nod off for two or three breaths and pop back up in hysterics. It was awful. Mary, our sitter, attended our party and was magic (as usual) and was at least able to keep her from screaming as much, but she finally fell asleep for about an hour and a half and woke again at 8:30 or so. We put her jammies on, fed her a good sized bottle, and put her happy self down for the night. Yup, she was happy when she woke up and acted like she was a normal baby and not the diva baby who had something seriously wrong with her earlier in the day. Either way, Happy 4th of July!

In other news, our vacation to Wisconsin Dells is coming up in TEN days. I think we're all counting down and more than a little excited. I'm praying the weather isn't atrocious one way or the other at least most of the time and that we will be able to use our daily free Mt. Olympus passes to their fullest extent.* Other plans include the zoo and now that I'm thinking of it, doing some research to find some other family/baby friendly things to do. We've done Tommy Bartlett, we don't need such things as Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, but either way, we could just be away and swimming the whole time and I'm going to be a happy camper.

 In Hadley news, she's now sitting on her own. I never know when to call this as a skill but now that she can sit for up to a minute without touching anyone for support (but then promptly falling over b/c I thought she was doing awesome), I'm going to call her an independent sitter. Supervised sitter. Sure. She's also trying her damnedest to crawl but it's not working quite yet. Shoot, she's going to figure this out FAST once she gets there.

Hadley now bats at things with all her might when she doesn't want them. This is especially fun when you have your A- game on and don't see her fists flailing at your spoon full of baby food goop. She does, however, think it's positively HILARIOUS when you lick her fingers off b/c heaven forbid you leave her to get a washcloth and envision where all that goop is going to be when you get back.

Morgan is full of one-liners and she doesn't even know it. She is hysterical to listen to and just from today alone she had a few zingers that left her laughing along with us once she realized how funny she really was.

Scene: She was sad about something so she asked to talk to Adam. We called him and had him on speaker phone. talk talk talk blah blah blah and all of a sudden she looked at me, looked at the phone, and said, "Daddy, I'm all done with you now. Bye." and walked away. Uproarious laughter ensues...

Scene: We had just left HyVee where we had eaten dinner and Adam had given Morgan some of his fortune cookie as her dessert (remember? This kid must have dessert at all times. Seeing as how she's a bean pole, I'm ok with her having small desserts for 2/3 meals a day). So we're on our way to Menards to look at some tile for a potential overhaul of our ugly bathroom floor (sale! why not?!) when Morgan asks for dessert. Somehow it came along that I said, "I think you already did (have dessert)." Morgan came right back with, "I think I already didn't! HA HA HA HA HA!!!" Again, hilarity all around the truck.

It's been fun lately around the Schmidt household. One quick thing though that Adam was more than delighted to hear...I am feeling even more at peace with the idea that we are done done done with babies and that our family of 4 is complete. I leave behind some of these not-so-desireable baby things (crying, poop all over sometimes, up in the middle of the night, the list goes on) and when we leave one of these less fun things behind, I'm not sad. It's sort of like woo! Won't have to do that again...although I do find myself snuggling her a little extra here and there b/c I'm still very much awwwww, that's the last time I'm going to snuggle a tiny person that's all my own...either way, it's time to be done or I'll go back and forth on this topic all night long. Happy 4th week, friends!

*Note to self - buy stock in baby sunscreen and aloe vera (for mom and dad) before leaving.

Oh (6 month old) baby!

I've attached a bunch of our pictures (you've seen them on FB already, sorry) from our photo shoot at Portrait Innovations this past Sunday for Hadley's 6 month "day" before she turns 7 months old next week (oops). It went well but of course we got another new person which makes me want to go to our local person 100x more forever and ever Amen. Alas, we've still got some serious keepers even though our sister pictures did not turn out at all (goofy faces, falling over, fussy baby, that sort of thing). Enjoy! Few quick things...

• Hadley can get lots of places without being a real-live crawler yet. She is OBSESSEDDDD with the wipes box and will do any/everything in her power to get to it. I left her (safely) alone in the living room for 2 minutes last night and in that time, she made her way to the wipes, opened it, pulled one out, closed it, and started to try to get away from the scene of the crime. I have the picture to prove it, but not the time to post it b/c I'm supposed to be cleaning for our 4th of July party tomorrow afternoon while the girls are at Mary's. ;-)
• Hadley's back on the kick (well, yesterday) of eating well. She comes and goes with this and it's awful.
• She's the happiest baby ever. Foh shizzle. 
• The pictures are not in any particular order, not that you'd know b/c you weren't at the shoot. 
• PS. I can't believe it's already July. I feel like we have way too many things to accomplish yet this summer!! Thank goodness we have a good solid month before I really feel like I'm getting sucked back into professional working mommy mode. :)

Hadley and her hippo and her toes. 

This outfit was her last but she was getting very "done" at this point

Hence the half smile

Our big girl...she's getting so big!!

So much easier to photograph this kid at 32 months rather than 6 months!

One of my favorites...

Sister fail but best of the bunch

Thank goodness it's not but doesn't this look like a kindergarten picture!?

I can't get over this bow/dress!

Flying baby!

Happy family of 4

:-D

And the hat that goes with the beautiful dress

This shot of her left arm would be how she tells us she's tired - she waves it all over up/down in a repetitive motion which means it's go time for something...

We had to get hippo shots b/c Morgan's bunny shots with her very favoritist lovie were so cute at 6 months (and it's a little gross to see how white her bunny was way back then...)

Feel free to add your own caption of what she's thinking here...I love her face!!

Hello, hippo...we meet again.

And I EAT YOU AGAIN. NOM NOM NOM.