Our little princess is already 15 months! It is so hard to believe how quickly time is flying...my next update will most likely be my "Hadley's a big sister!" post and that's REALLY SCARY!
Hadley is such a big girl now - Gregg and I seriously look at each other everyday and ask, "When did she get so big?" It's amazing to watch her grow and change...and learn new things everyday! She has become somewhat of a technology addict over the past couple of months, so we really have to be careful to limit her "connected" time - she would watch videos and TV all day if you would let her, which is interesting to me since she otherwise hates sitting still at all! "Melmo," "/C/" (Cookie Monster), and "Hehehe" (Ernie - the sound of his laugh) are currently her favorites! She is still not much interested in entertaining herself, which makes for one tired (and sore) Mama most days, after sitting on the floor with her reading stories and playing with her babies all day!
What new changes have we had over the past 2 months or so since our last update? Let's see! Haddy's still not much of a talker, but there are a few words that are recognizable pretty much all of the time...Elmo, Nimmie (Minnie or Mickey Mouse), keys, stink (as in flowers or feet!), Mama, Dada, cat, dog, meow, moo, pawoo (what an elephant says), MumMum, Gam (Grammie), PopPop (for Pops or Grandpop or Grandpa Joe). Hadley now has six teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom) with another two coming on the top, we think! Her hair is really starting to grow in now, so we can get a ponytail or two out of it, but only when we distract her with movies/videos while fixing it. Hadley can also open and close her own water sippy cup and Daddy is also starting to teach her how to slide down the stairs on her butt.
Hadley now consistently sleeps 10.5-11 hours a night with one good nap (almost always 1.5 hours) and sometimes a second 45 minute nap each day. She is still in size 3 diapers, but will be moving up to 4s once we are out of those, and she is wearing mostly 12-18m clothes & size 4-5 shoes! She is starting to enjoy being outside more (especially walking up and down the sidewalk in front of the house) and she loves to play with her baby dolls (especially putting them on her shoulder and making them burp!)! She has grown attached to one particular type of baby doll, so we've been stocking up on them & probably have about 5 of them all over the house & car, so that Haddy knows she can leave one behind and still never be too far from another! She is also learning to be a much better traveler in the car (we think it's mostly because she is now able to see out the windows)!
In January, Hadley had her first trip to the sick-side of the doctor's office with an ear infection and cold. She was so miserable the whole time and we felt so badly for her, especially the first few days before the meds kicked in. She couldn't breathe, so Mama had to hold her and rock her to sleep for a few nights until she drained out enough (with the humidifier and VapoRub) to be able to be laid down. Seeing your baby sick is so, so sad!
Haddy's stats from her 15-month well-baby appointment (which she screamed through the entire time) are: 29 inches long (+1.75 from 3 months ago), 20 pounds (+1lb, 14oz), and 17-3/4 inch head circumference (+ 3/4"), putting her in the 10th percentile for height and weight and the 30th percentile for head circumference...so she's still a little peanut, but definitely healthy (and up from her 5th percentile at her previous appointment)!
Now that Hadley's over a year, I won't be doing monthly updates, but I do plan to post when I think of enough significant things from her life to blog about. I would also love to start blogging about OTHER things, but we'll see how that goes - I know how much time I don't have on a daily basis!
Hadley had a WONDERFUL second Christmas! She seemed to love opening presents, but as expected, the boxes and paper were much more entertaining than what came inside! Haddy also did an amazing job with all of the changes in schedule/routine and considering that she was sick with her second cold (to go along with her second and third teeth coming through)! She did end up being rocked to sleep quite a bit, which (thankfully!) we've gotten out of the habit of doing except for occasionally at nap time, but it's really hard NOT to rock her to sleep when you're traveling, sleeping in a Pack n Play, and/or staying in a house full of people who are also trying to sleep!
Hadley was so blessed by the generosity of family and friends this Christmas (as were Mommy & Daddy)! So much so that I do believe we'll need to add on to our house just to contain all of the toys and clothes she received! What a blessed little girl!
Hadley got to see Santa (or was he Father Christmas?) at Goody'z restaurant this year! She was shy and a little clingy, but she didn't cry! She really enjoyed looking at his musical pocket watch! We also took her to see the train display at Uncle B's store - she really enjoyed that, too!
Haddy also started doing many new signs this month, and making more noises/sounds/words. She now signs "fish," and "please," (in addition to milk, more, and thank you). She has also started making up her own signs for things like "sit" (she pats her belly, mimicking how I pat my lap when I want her to sit on my lap) and "Captain Hook" (she makes her finger into a hook and waves it around). She also stretches her arms up for "so big!" and will consistently say, Mama, Dada (although she thinks SHE is Dada), dog, cat (in a cute high-pitched voice), duck, and she'll smell Daddy's shoes, scrunch up her nose & say "stink." Hadley has also started to put her hands in front of her face to play Peek-a-Boo & she will act out "If You're Happy and You Know It," "I'm a Nut," "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (we sing Haddy Scholl, Haddy Scholl)," and "Patty Cake."
Hadley still knows what she likes as far as food is concerned, so Mama's still having to figure out ways to sneak in fruits and veggies other than bananas, peaches, applesauce, and peas. Meats and breads never seem to be a problem, though! Haddy is also starting to feed herself with a fork. She will put the fork right into her mouth if you pre-load it for her, and she will try to load it up herself, but she doesn't quite have the hand-eye coordination needed for that yet! She is also starting to be able to catch and throw.
Oh and one last thing - come this spring, Hadley will be a big sister to a LITTLE SISTER! Yes, Baby Scholl #2 is a GIRL and we couldn't be more excited (especially Daddy, since now he doesn't need to buy new stuff - LOL!)!
Here goes - Hadley's ONE YEAR UPDATE! I still can't believe our baby girl is a year old! Time truly DOES fly once you become a parent. To start off with, here are Haddy's one year stats from her well-baby checkup last week. Our little peanut is still a little peanut. She measured in the 5th percentile for everything: she weighs 18lb-2oz, has a 17 inch head circumference, & is 27-3/4 inches tall. She got three shots, which she was NOT happy with and she didn't seem to be too convinced when Mommy tried to tell her that the shots were meant to keep her safe & healthy!
Hadley is completely weaned at this point, which may have happened sooner than the time that I actually weaned her, as I've been feeling like my supply had been drying up for a while since I've become pregnant again. Especially since I just decided to go cold-turkey one day (2 weeks before she turned 1) and she never looked back! I would say that Haddy had minor emotional issues that week & it wasn't exactly a smooth transition to cow's milk, but I think that was more the fact that she doesn't like to drink much period, not just milk. She seems to be doing pretty well now. There were a few weeks in there (that coincidentally went hand-in-hand with weaning) where Haddy was a terribly picky eater. Fruits & veggies were spit back out the second they were put into her mouth. We seem to be working past that for the most part now, though, which is a huge relief to Mommy!
Haddy FINALLY sprouted her first tooth this month, which coincided "nicely" with her first cold. The first night was rough, as she was so congested & couldn't breathe, so she spent a couple of hours sleeping on Mama's shoulder in the rocking chair until she had finally drained enough to be put down flat, slept 5 hours in her crib & was then super clingy all of the next day. She was pretty much her normal self after the first day or two, which was a relief, since she wanted nothing to do with anyone other than Mommy while she was sick. Lucky for her that she has a great Daddy who went out to buy her VapoRub at 10PM after a super-long day of work with parent-teacher conferences just to give her some relief!
In Haddy's 12th month, she celebrated her first Halloween and her first Thanksgiving! For Halloween, she dressed up as Tinkerbell. We only went trick or treating to two houses, Aunt Mel/Uncle Pat's & Carolina's (the next door neighbor), but Haddy didn't really know the difference. She was more excited to pace back and forth in front of the door, waiting and watching out the window for more trick or treaters to come! It was so precious! Hadley did a great job eating her first Thanksgiving dinner, as well! She really seemed to enjoy the turkey, stuffing, corn casserole, homemade noodles, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes!
During this month, we also celebrated Uncle Rob & Aunt Kasia's wedding! Hadley enjoyed entertaining everyone there!
Hadley's vocabulary is slowly starting to grow. While mostly only understood by Mommy and Daddy, Haddy can now say dog and duck (which basically sound the same). Although she doesn't verbalize much, she understands a TON! It seriously amazes us on a daily basis how much she seems to know and absorb from her environment. And WOW can she communicate! She really started to pick up on the baby sign language this month! She regularly (and accurately) signs 'more' when she wants food (or more food) or if she wants you to read her a story again - she also uses it for 'please'. Haddy can also sign for 'milk' and she finds her own way of communicating other things to us. For example, if she wants a snack, she will sign 'more' and then smack her lips!
Hadley also learned how to climb the stairs this month, so I guess it's about time we invested in some baby gates at the top and bottom of our stairs, huh? Haddy also loves to dance now! Her favorite tunes are Sharky & Bones from Jake & the Neverland Pirates (hopefully we'll get video of this soon!).
And here are some picture updates from Hadley's two birthday celebrations!
If you would like to see the video that Gregg made for Hadley, you can watch it here (password in caps: HADDYKINS)
Can I just say how much I LOVE Christmas? I have always been one to be really excited about the holidays (pretty much from Halloween through the New Year) ever since I was a little kid, but I have to say that this year is probably the most excited I've been in a long, long time. Five of the past six Christmases have been marked by sadness, emptiness, and longing for a child. And then last Christmas, I was mommy to a one-month old, so while I do remember bits and pieces of it, it more or less passed in a sleepless blur.
But not this year! This year, we will have a one-year-old who loves to play with paper and boxes and can really pick up on the emotions (excitement!) of others, particularly Mommy & Daddy! Although I've already started listening to Christmas music with Hadley, we're most excited to start decorating the house, watching Christmas movies and cartoons, and making our own Christmas traditions.
I'm also really excited that we'll be sending out photo Christmas cards again this year! I've already started scouring through our recent pics (and we even purposely took a couple photos while we were on our vacation) to find the perfect ones for our cards! I’ve been browsing the cards on Shutterfly and there are so many options, my head is spinning! I think thesetwo are my favorites, but we will probably want to put in one family pic and one or two of Hadley, so maybe something like this or this or this would be better! I'm also planning on making photo calendars for Christmas gifts, too! ☺
And now onto the fun stuff! Because I have such great readers & took the time to share about my great experience with Shutterfly, they have sent me 3 codes to give away to my readers, good for 25 free photo cards! (Shipping may still apply, but I know it is very affordable!) If you would like to enter, simply leave a comment below telling me your favorite thing about Christmas (favorite song, movie, cookie, food, memory, tradition, etc! Anything!). I will use a random number generator to select three winners on November 28th! Good luck!
G & I tried for a baby for nearly 5 years, endured many tears and two losses before being blessed with our miracle in November of 2010. It was a long, tough road and some days, it was hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel. My husband and my faith in God are the only things that got me through. Praise God for an amazing angel-friend and the miracles of modern science! We are FINALLY parents to our pride & joy, Hadley!
