Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sleeping Beauty

I finally feel like I'm really starting to figure my baby girl out. I'm starting to just naturally know what each of her different cries mean. For awhile, about once every day, I would get to a point that I would feel so overwhelmed because she would cry for what seemed like no reason. She wasn't hungry. She wasn't dirty/wet. She wasn't too cold or too hot. Sleepy? I always thought that was not the case because you see, my baby girl wasn't really too much of a napper. Even from her earliest days she never napped. Ever!
I don't know what made me think to try and get her to nap one day, but that was the problem. Go figure, right? Now thinking back on it, the random crying for no apparent reason, was at the same time every day. 1:30/2pm. About that time every day Hadley girl needs her one and ONLY nappy!

One nap a day, for a 11 week old, is the craziest thing ever!! I've worked in daycares and was even a Nanny to a precious, wonderful little boy for the last 2 years before I had Hadley. I've never seen a baby this young not take 2 naps a day! BUT I guess, there is a small explanation for it.

You see, my little miss has been sleeping through the night since she was about 5/6 weeks old. She will sleep until about 6 am and get up to eat. Then she will lay back down and usually sleep until about 10:30 am. Most little babies (that I've been around, at least) wake up really early and stay awake then take a morning nap about 9 or 10 am. So I guess Hadley would take 2 naps, if she didn't sleep in all morning. But I'm NOT complaining. She likes to sleep in...just like Mommy! :)

Now that I have my little love figured out she usually takes her bottle about 1:30 pm and is laying down by 2 pm. She will usually sleep for a few hours. Like right now for example: I laid her down at 2 pm and it is now 4:43 pm and she is still sleeping away. This makes for a Happy Hadley.

Last week, I think she was going through a growth spurt because my little lady kept waking up at 3 am every night!! This was so unlike her that I knew something was up. She always was eating more than normal so growth spurt had to be the answer. Luckily, that only lasted a few days and my little sleeping beauty is back to her normal sleep patterns.

This weekend me and Hadley will experience our first road trip. And this trip will also be just the 2 of us. No daddy! I'm realllllllly nervous. I worry she will cry the whole way there because she hates sitting in her car seat. She hates it because it makes her so hot and sweaty. She is naturally so hot natured that sitting in her seat for too long makes her extra hot :-/ Poor baby. But I pray she just sleeps the whole way there. OR I would be ok if she talked to and laughed at her Elephant mirror because that's pretty cute too :) Wish us luck...

I'll leave you with a few pictures of Hadley sleeping throughout her days:

sleeping at Nanny's about 2 weeks old

First picture I got of her smiling...and it was while she was dreaming

Snug-bug cuddlin' with Mommy

She can't sleep without wearing her "Swaddle Me," but while she is sleeping she somehow manages to get her arms out.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

8 weeks pictures (little late!)

Hadley had her 8 weeks pictures done....2 weeks ago! She is 10 weeks now. UGH, I know! I'm running so behind and wished I had posted them sooner. Due to crazy circumstances I'm just now finding the time! Here are just a few of my favorites :) Enjoy! (sorry, I do not know how rotate them! Someone please inform me how!!!)







Tuesday, August 9, 2011

2 months: little love letters

Hadley Ruth,

You are getting so big!!! I think you are starting to look more and more like your Daddy. I think you look like him, but with my nose and chin. Oh, and, we also think your eyes are starting to change colors. You see, everyone in my family has brown hair and blue eyes. Your cousin, Grace, and I are the only ones with brown hair and brown eyes. I just knew that with my luck you would have brown hair and blue eyes. Daddy hoped that you would have blue eyes, just to pick on me! But against his better judgement, I believe they are turning brown :)

You had your 8 week check up yesterday with the doctor. You were so happy and smiling when we got there. Poor girl, you had no idea what was coming. You had to get 3 shots, but you handled it like a champ. Well, for the most part! The first 2 shots, you barely cried. You squealed for about 3 seconds then you stopped. But that third shot, it was a doozy. You got so upset. You cried so hard. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. I wish you never had to get a shot again. Really, I wish you never had to get a shot period! I didn't cry. I was strong for you. That was until Daddy was holding you and one of your band aids moved and he had blood on his shirt. You had blood on your leg. You had blood on your diaper. Then I lost it! When there is blood that means its a true "injury." Oh sweet girl, I felt so terrible for you. But luckily, once we left you fell asleep. When we got home you took a bottle then took a three hour nap. You woke up so happy and giggly. That's the sweet girl I was hoping to see. I was worried those stinky shots would cause you to run fever and be fussy. So far so good!!!

-Growth: Yesterday you weighed 10.2 lbs. You measured to be 23 inches long. The doctor says you are right on track! You are starting to out-grow most of your newborn clothes. Actually, you are just out-growing your newborn sized onesies. You are mostly wearing 0-3 month sized onesies. You seem to have broad shoulders like your Daddy, but a super skinny waist. You are also wearing size 1 diapers now. Once again, they are pretty big around the waist, but your little cute chunky thighs were barely fitting into the newborn size. Also, the you having grown a couple inches in length we have had to extend the straps on your car seat so you fit properly and they aren't digging into your little leggies! You're moving up, big girl!

-Eating: You are taking 4 ounces about every 3 hours. When you are sleeping you can go longer stretches in between feedings, but it better be ready as soon as you wake up! You're a hungry girl!! You are taking Gerber Good Start "Gentle." This has seemed to solve your tummy problems you were having before. You are no longer needing gas medicine. You are, also, now taking your bottles with a medium flow nipple. You get so angry with the slow and fast is way, way to fast. It is so fast it all just runs out of your mouth. Medium seems to be doing great, so far...

-Sleeping: YOU ARE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!! Woooooo!! You are doing awesome! You start getting ready for bed between 8:30 pm and 9 pm. You take your bath -- which is your favorite time of day -- Then you take a bottle. You usually lay down about 9:45 or 10. Then you will sleep, usually, until 5 or 5:30 am. Then you get up and take a bottle and you go back to sleep until about 10:30 or 11 am. Last night you slept through the night until 7:10 this morning!!!! You took a bottle and went back to bed until 10:45. I was surprised you did so well last night since of your shots yesterday. I was kind of expecting you to have a rough night, but actually it was your best night yet! You don't really have too much of a day time schedule with naps, but I'm ok with that since you do so well at night time. I figure you will get yourself into somewhat of a day time schedule as you get older.

-Play time: Most of your play time includes laying on a blanket on the floor "pedalling" your legs like you are on a bicycle. You also love to spend time with all your cousins. You love to watch them play and listen to them talk. You're pretty nosey!

-Strength/Movement/Tummy Time: You're holding your head up pretty solid now. You prefer to be sitting up so you can see everything. I try and lay you on your tummy more now. When I do, you dig your toes into the ground, pull your knees up and push around. You can scoot yourself off the blanket if you want to bad enough. If we keep working on tummy time, I have a feeling you will be crawling in no time!!!

-Events: Your biggest events so far have consisted of Mommy and Daddy being brave enough to leave you with people to go somewhere. So far you have stayed with Grandma and Punkin for a couple hours at a time. You have stayed with Nammy and Papa Brian a few times. You stayed with Nanny Wanda and Papa Ronnie once. And even cousin Shelby has got to watch you a few times :) You are really starting to recognize people now. When we get to other's houses you look around for a minute then you start to smile. You smile like you remember being there once before. You have also been to the doctor again. That wasn't a great experience, but you did pretty well.

-Funny/Cute Moments: You are still clicking your tongue all the time. You even did it once "on command" for Nanny Wanda! That was hilarious! Your newest "funny" thing when we are riding in the car you are happy until we slow down or stop. When we stop you scream your head off, but as soon as we start moving you are happy again! You also have become pretty particular about the music we listen to while driving. There is a certain JJ Heller CD that you like. BUT you only like the first 7 songs. The last few songs are too slow for your likings. I discovered your preference one day when you were screaming and I couldn't figure out why. As soon as I change the song you stopped crying and you never cried again. You already have your opinions and you're very vocal about it. Boy, we have our work cut out for us.

You are such a happy baby!! Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I don't know why you're crying, but you really are such a wonderful baby. You giggle so much and you're always smiling. You couldn't be happier! And we couldn't be happier to have you!

I'll love you forever and ever. I promise!
Love,
Mommy