6 years later....

Wow, I'm feeling blessed. Six years ago today (Sept. 30th, 2006) I walked down the aisle to the love of my life and we were married in front of family and friends and it was the BEST. DAY. It was the first day of the rest of our lives and has turned out to be a beautiful day to celebrate. What a thrilling 6 years it's been...

Rest of 2006 - Made our first house a home, got a puppy right after the new year (2008) (Maddie, who was to be our first fuzzy human), I established myself in my company, Adam continued to do so in his, and we enjoyed being a married couple in the same town (since we lived apart for 8 months while I finished school). Great year.

2007 - I don't remember much about this year as a couple other than it was easy - we came and went as we pleased, we had Maddie with us everywhere, and we made lots of trips to WI. I believe there were a few more weddings in there too, as well as a niece by then (Tatum). Life was great!

2008 - I took the plunge and moved my career to the school setting instead of the private sector. I loved it even though it was completely overwhelming. Thank goodness I had such amazing coworkers who never hesitated to answer (6,000,001) questions and help me out when I needed it. We also added our second fuzzy human, (crazy) Jessie, to the mix and Maddie had a sister and partner in crime to keep her busy when we were too (lazy) exhausted to play.

2009 - This year I got pregnant and Morgan was born. We went from 2 to 3 and really started to learn about what it was like to love someone more/same as we loved each other. It was a tiring year but one where we grew and grew as parents and needed to learn to take time as the two of us (still working on that one for sure).

2010 - Morgan grew and we learned how to change as she did. We took lots of trips to WI and just thoroughly enjoyed life as 3. 4th anniversary this year...time is FLYING.

2011 - We found out in April that Morgan would be a big sister. Hadley made her appearance a little early in December and we were a family of 4 - just right for us. We had a quiet Christmas in Iowa with our two little girlies. It took Morgan 3 days to open her gifts as she would only go 2-3 at a time and all the presents from WI took her forever. She was a lucky little girl!

2012 - We juggled learning how to have 2 babies at home, parenting small children at very different developmental stages, and trying again to find time for ourselves but also for us. Morgan and Hadley quickly became fast friends and enjoyed playing together. Adam and I have vowed to make 2013 a better year for us to find time for each other and continue to be the best parents we can be. I'm so lucky to have him!

Happy Anniversary, Adam! Six years great now, 60 great years to come...xoxo

Teeeeeeeth!

Finally. FINALLY. SO much in the past week. Here goes.

The last post should have been entitled, "Bring on the Sickies." We made it through daycare and weekdays with less than usual sleeping nights and then Friday evening/night came. From then on it was high fever for one, bad teeth for the other. Bad fever for the other, playing for the big one, and then both hit rock bottom. They kept going back and forth like this all day Saturday and then everyone slept. It was glorious. Sunday was better, not super, but much better and everyone was more easily managed with meds. Long story short, Hadley's cold is still hanging on but it's hard to tell what's lingering cold and what's "I've got what feels 50 teeth coming through."

We had a really nice homecoming when Adam finally made it home in time for a late dinner Sunday evening. We all missed being a family of 4 and now the house is full. ::contented sigh::

And teeth. We've been waaaaiiiiiitttting for Hadley's two top teeth to come in and late Saturday night which is part of the reason why I think I slept that night. I'm not sure exactly when the second one came through but it was today or yesterday. (sorry, Hadley. I don't know the exact minute your teeth came in like I did with Morgan's...).

And now that Princess Hadley has 4 teeth, she can GRIND her teeth. Yuck, shivers, bad baby. I remember Morgan doing that too, once she got more teeth, so hopefully Hadley will get it out of her system and she'll stop soon.

Off to write out Pirate Party Invitations for Pirate Morgan. :) Pool Party at the Y, here we come!

Double Sickies?

Ok, folks, any prayers you can jet our way are appreciated as tonight is our first night of double (low-grade, thank goodness) fevers with twogirls. Morgan was complaining of a sore throat this morning and throughout the day (per Mary) but when we got home from McDonald's, I checked and sure enough, LGF. Then I thought hey, Hadley seemed a little warm but nothing too major since she was fine in any/every other aspect of life and sure enough, she had one, too. Tylenol all around, prayers next b/c I have an IEP meeting at 3:30pm tomorrow that I'd greatly prefer to attend than not so hopefully everyone's feeling well enough and it's just a passing cold. Otherwise everyone has been really well behaved since Monday!

Annndddd they have arrived. Hello, Thrilling Threes.

In case there was any confusion, you are not welcome in our house, Thrilling Threes. You may be a short phase that then exits and leaves behind our well-behaved little girl who has been living here all along.

Oh wow, you guys. If Hadley (yes, Hadley) survives Morgan's thrilling 3s, I'm going to be ecstatic. Yesterday, shortly after the three of us arrived home, (long story short) Morgan thought Hadley was trying to steal her iXL game away from her off the couch (H couldn't actually reach it) so instead of just yelling at her, moving, calling for help, etc, Morgan took matters into her own hands and clocked her upside the head with it.

:-O

WHAT?! Whose kid IS this!? After time out, discussion, and grounding from all fun devices/screens for the rest of the evening, we carried on in a routine fashion with only normal amounts of whining and general ruckus in our household. Oh boy. Saturday we had a time out in Kohls b/c Morgan wouldn't stop doing something I told her to stop doing (5x later) so boom. Time out right in front of the jewelry case and within 20 seconds we had to move said time out 5 feet down so a nice gentleman could look at the watches.

It's gotta be a phase. It's gotta be a phase.

I remember something short-lived right before Morgan's language boom when she had her terrible twos but I've heard the thrilling threes last longer and are more ... awful.  Super. We'll get through it and I'll be a better parent at the other end, even if she tells me, "Now GO AWAY from me!" after I give her the most darling pig tails ever that SHE asked for.

Hang in there, Hadley. Hopefully the bumps/bruises won't last too long and soon you'll be able to at the very least fend for yourself.

Hang in there, Morgan. I'm going to try to handle all your situations well and not blow a gasket next time you do something ridiculous. I will also try to remember that you are still only 2 (almost 3, I know) and often I take for granted that you are, in some ways, a 4 y/o trapped in a ... 4 y/o's body? You're huge! :) Anyway, we'll all get through it. The end.

**Note: I wrote this Monday. Now it's Wednesday and things are looking extremely up and up comparatively speaking. Whew. Let's cross our fingers they stay that way? Yesterday, Morgan had to call Adam when we got home b/c she was devastated they forgot to make muffins at Mary's house like they had planned. Then she wanted nothing to do with the phone. What? Call someone to complain and then be done? I wonder where she got that from...

2/14

No. This post is NOT about Valentine's Day. HA, far from it.

Warning - this post is a little whiney but I feel justified. *

So...we are just finishing up Day 2 of this weekend which just so happens to be Day 2 out of 14 in a row that we will have Adam home. He traveled this past week M-F and didn't get home until 11pm Friday night where I was faithfully snoring on the couch when he got home. We had a really nice weekend - all 4 of us together the entire 48ish hours...and then tomorrow he leaves again but this time it's for SEVEN days instead of our usual 5. Let me explain.

First off, we knew this was going to be our life when Adam accepted the sales position his employer offered him over 4 years ago. I get that. But after last week's travel, he's got another week of it coming up, M-F, and then it just so happens that a weekend man golf trip to WI Dells was moved up a weekend (he had carefully scheduled traveling to NOT piggy back on this weekend, one of which I wasn't super thrilled about to begin with) so BAM. We are 7 days daddy-less with a 9 month old and an almost 3 y/o (who is every bit testing right now and it's super).

Last week, I worked really hard to make it happen and the girls and I had a really good week as far as one can expect a single-parenting week of 2 to go. This week? Hmm. I'm not looking forward to it AT all and am doing my best while enjoying my glass of Spatlese to turn around my line of thinking and get these girlies on track for a second awesome-pants-we're-going-to-rock-this-shit week I-can-do-it-all. We'll be fine. It's just that we don't LIKE to go that long without him and with him traveling last week too, it's just a bit of a bummer. Especially since he will be having all the fun and not dealing with diapers and barf/spit up and almost 3y/o sass and the like.

Onward to bigger and brighter things since that's what's going to help me this week while we are rocking the pants off of all things toddler/baby - THANK GOD FOR MY IN-LAWS, Al & Sherri, as they will be here to rescue me from my sanity by 5:30pm (and not a minute later, mind you) ;-) on Friday to help out for the weekend. We always enjoy their visits but I must say that this visit is one that I'm especially thankful for (much like the Vegas visit...very much like that) as A) the girls love to spend time with them and B) I could take off all day Saturday and they wouldn't bat an eye and the whole time the girls would be in excellent hands (being gone that long won't happen b/c I love to spend time with them too, but the fact that it CAN happen is key here).

Another bright spot - I'm so very thankful that it's not ME being gone for 7 days. Of course you want to know why, don't you? What? You're not sitting on the edge of your SEAT waiting for me to TELL you!?!? HA. Well, I'm thankful it's not me b/c I couldn't handle it. I couldn't be gone that long and not be a blubbering mess by day...4. Ok, 3. No, I'd make it to 4 if I could Skype. And had 3 bottles of wine to occupy my time. And a lot of cash (shopping). Adam is used to being gone for travel/work and that's fine, but it's not me. He's going to be not so happy if he reads this b/c I'm posting a not-so-positive post (although, honey, I'm pretty sure I'm ending this post on sunshine and bubbles so you can't be too upset).

More sunshine and bubbles anyone? My wine is gone buuuuuuutttt....there's still one glass left in the bottom of the bottle in the fridge. No worries - I'm not wasted. I started that bottle early last week. ;-)

Adios, amigos. We shall see what transpires in the week to come while I battle through single parenting, planning a pirate party for October (well, 2, one in IA and one in WI), and being a better worker-bee.

*Disclaimer - I am VERY aware that there are many other families out there that have it way rougher than I do (ie. military families, families who work crazy shifts and might as well almost never see each other, etc.) and they deserve to whine about this subject 100 million times more than I do. However, I'm still going to whine in my wine a little before the night is done b/c it still sucks and sometimes I wish we were just a "normal" family who was boring and home staring at each other all the time so I could get some routine boring hobby and be "normal."

9 months!

I'm so boring. I say it every month (well, every 11th of the month since I don't seem to ever post on her actual "month birthday") - she's already 9 months!? What?!!? But truly, we believe it when we are shocked every time she's a month older. Her personality continues to shine through and we're so proud of the little big girl she's becoming. A few interesting Hadley points as of late...

• I have no idea how much she weighs but I know she's over 20 now b/c my arm feels like it's going to fall off if I hold said beef cake for more than 5 minutes without changing arms.
• She's also getting taller b/c now almost nothing 9 months fits unless it's NOT a onsie. Again, no trip to the doctor for a well check or anything until the end of the month so we'll just go with growing like a weed child status there.
• Gross motor: 
• Hadley pulls to a stand with ease. Just today she was gaining confidence on going back the other way (to the floor) but it's a slowwww process of careful hand reeeaaaacccchhhhing and then plopping a little on the floor. 
• Hadley crawls where ever she wants to go but isn't the lightning fast speed baby that I thought she'd be by now. Mostly she gets distracted by something or changes her mind and pulls herself up on the nearest taller-than-her thing. She crawls "better" with pants on than shorts. I don't think she likes the floor on her bare legs. 
• Fine motor: she picks up food (and dirt she finds on my floor, say what?!) and things with her thumb and forefinger. She can feed herself when she's in the mood but she's a smart one, she is, and will know to just wait me out since her sister is usually begging to be excused from the table b/c while I'm feeding Hadley baby food, trying to stuff my face with anything on my plate, and then feeding Hadley table food, I'll wait for a few seconds before just shoving it in for her. Maybe this is more pronounced when Adam is traveling as he is this week.
• Hadley says "mamamamama" and "dadadadadadad" but like her sister, she said mamama first but now very much prefers dadadadada. 
• She signs/gestures more, sometimes milk, working on all done, so big, hi/bye, sort of blows kisses g'night, waves all the time, and maybe more that I can't think of at the moment b/c I'm tired and it's getting late. 
• Hadley went through a period of "stranger danger" but was great this past weekend with all her family she doesn't see as often as we'd all like. She stayed with my mom almost the entire time at church on Sunday and easily went from one person to the next. It helped when we were in view, of course.
• She now sits in a "big girl car seat" which is actually the same one as Morgan has although it's rear facing. It's a million times better and she seems to enjoy it so much more. 
• Hadley's little personality just shines now. She's a happy baby who still only has two bottom/front teeth and is now even with her sister there, as Morgan got those teeth on her 9 month birthday (yesterday for Hadley). 
• Hadley eats baby food (baby oatmeal) including pureed fruits/veggies. After she's had a good amount of that stuff at a meal, then she has tiny bite sized table food and loves it. Favorites include cheese, chicken, kielbasa, potatoes, crackers, and anything I can mash into acceptable baby-like textures. 
• She LOVES her big sister and with all this mobility, we're now starting to teach Morgan that she can't push/pull things away from Hadley, including Hadley herself. :) 

I'm out for now. If I think of anything earth-shattering I'll add it later. Enjoy the pictures from the 9 month photo shoot. It was a doozy if there ever was one. :) I'm adding in the outtakes b/c they made me giggle. Can you tell I'm tuckered out? Happy 9 months, baby Hadley. We love you so much!

Hadley 9 months, Morgan almost 35 months

and then came /d/

So toDAY Hadley came home saying "dadadadadadadadadaaaaa!"

She continues to be our cluster baby and waits to do things until she's going to do them all big in a cluster at once. She now pulls herself up on everything (thus increasing mom's anxiety at times 10x when I'm in another room and can see her while my hands are ridiculously full).

Off to WI tomorrow! Baby Teegan gets baptized on Sunday and we're spending some quiet time at my dad's all day Saturday (except for the run in the "cold" weather I'm going to take and the potential trip to Kohls while the girls nap in the afternoon - waaahhttt!!?! Mommy time!??! HA HA HAAAAA!)

Princess Fairy Morgan

Yesterday, we were all playing downstairs in the playroom and Morgan decided she MUST put on every stitch of princess clothing/accessories on that she could find (I must say, the size 2T princess stuff looked pretty hilariouscuteadorable on a size 4/4T child). She NEVER wants to play dress up except for wearing heels (awesome!) so this was almost considered epic as it was her choice and not suggested by anyone. Adam wasn't so sure about the whole thing. ;-) That said, Morgan has asked to wear a skirt every day this week so perhaps we're leaning on the girlie side now? Anyway, then the BEST part was that after she had all her princess/fairy wings gear on, she HAD to golf.

"Mommy, I have to golf now." 

In her heels.
With her fairy wings on.
And her uneven leggings she won't take off EVER since Monday.
She's so great. :)

Somebody found her /m/ sound...

and it's one of the most adorable things I've ever heard - a tiny baby goofy crawling (b/c she just won't let that right knee on the floor for very long before she decides to crawl with her left knee/right foot) while saying, "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!" She isn't yet putting it to an association with me, but it still warms my heart (and ears) to hear her develop new sounds. Happy, contented SLP mommy tonight. xoxo

I Skip Crawling, HA.

Dear blog readers,

I have taken over mom's blog, oh great Hadley that I am. I have decided a few things:

1. I am going to trick them all and be a crawler for only a few weeks. I will then seriously consider walking as long as my chubby little legs will agree and listen. Yesterday and today I have independently transferred from the couch to my adjacent music table and then today crept/walked around my music table 2x (each taking about 20 minutes) while I played with each activity center on it. I know, I sort of rock. 
2. I am amazing as I now imitate and sometimes use on my own the following signs: more, all done, ball (MYFAVORITETOYOMGosh), milk. The reason this makes me amazing is b/c my mom's eyes get all buggy and excited when I do this and I think I did this earlier/faster/better than my sister. My mom wasn't sure. Either way, when it gets serious, I get more of what I want b/c I can tell them so. ;-)
3. I sleep fairly well at night (except last night and likely tonight b/c I have a cold. Boo.) which my parents thank their lucky stars for every morning they wake up only having to have gotten out of bed 0-2x total. This alone should make me one of the most stunning babies on the planet.
4. I am starting to use more consonant sounds in my babbling. That said, my absolute favorite is to blow raspberries back and forth with Morgan while we both laugh hysterically. 
5. I now rock an adorable (exactly the same as Morgan's) big girl car seat in mom's car. It's still rear-facing but I actually have space while still being comfy and able to sleep well. Even better, my parents got it on sale (would they have bought it otherwise?). Sweet. Just in time for another trip to WI this coming weekend for my cousin, Teegan's, baptism.
6. Ha, ha, DON'T put me in the exersaucer. Yes, I love standing, but being contained is too much and it's only a matter of (short) time before my (silly) parents are forced to put it in the basement to be forgotten until it's garage sale time again or mom brings it to Once Upon a Child. 
7. I have pulled myself to a stand on my own once. It was awesome until I dropped a big dumb toy on my bare foot. That hurt a diaper load. I have now aced being a great half-kneeler but can't seem to get my second leg to cooperate. All in good time. 

I'm tired and need a new diaper. And a big bottle that I'm only planning on drinking half of before I throw it on the floor in an effort to tell Daddy I'm done without using my words. It's been real. Peace out,

Hadley