Easter 2014

Here are a few pictures of the Easter holiday:

Hadley and Auntie M dyeing Easter eggs. She is the lover of all things holiday.

Hadley's meeting of the Easter Bunny didn't go as smoothly as her meeting Santa Claus. She wasn't happy. She barely would go up there to see him. She hardly smiled. This was the best we got and then she said "Mommy! I'm done!!"

Hadley and Aunt Cindy playing on the four-wheelers at Bass Pro after meeting the Easter Bunny.

This is the only half way decent picture I got of Hadley's Easter dress.

Hadley and Daddy doing the Easter Egg Hunt at church.

She was so proud of all the eggs they found!

Family picture after church.

Maybe we will have better luck with the Bunny next year...

Hadley grows!!

While on our trip in Missouri, we went to Wal-Mart one night to get some headphones for Hadley. She didn't like the ear bud headphones I gave her. She kept saying her ear plugs were falling out. 

While we were at Wal-Mart I found this growth chart. I mentioned to Lee that my biggest regret was not getting one when Hadley was born. We had just had a disagreement on Hadley's height. I insisted she was already half of my height. He didn't agree. 

We bought the chart.

Well, on 5/29/14, Hadley found it and Lee hung it up for her. We measured her. She loved it. 

Now we have this to keep forever. I love seeing marks on old family doors of everyone's height (like at Lee's grandparents house), but if we ever sell this house (LORD WILLING!!!) we can't exactly take a door with us. I love that this one is paper and easily moved. 

 

P.S. -- She is half of my height.

It's true... #2!!

You may or may not have heard by now but....

How I told Lee

Baby's first ultra sound

Nammy's reaction to grandbaby #4 on the way

Playing the game to tell everyone

17 weeks and 4 days (4/30/14)

Baby Brother is due October 4, 2014. Hadley has decided that she will name him "Pickle." She refers to him, daily, as either brother or pickle. Or even Brother Pickle. Whatever...

She took some convincing because she wanted a sister. But I think she has come around to the idea of a brother. She is already obsessed with him. She pretends she can just take him out and tote him around with her. They always play together. Take naps together. Which leads to fighting because "Mommy, pickle is taking my blankets!!!" They even take baths together. That can be problematic because Mommy forgets and leaves brother in the tub. Oops... She'll take care of him I'm sure.

Summer is beginning

There used to be this thing where the seasons would change gradually. 

Winter melts into Spring.

Spring jumps into Summer.

Then there is Oklahoma....

We don't really have Spring and Fall. Which is a shame!! Those two are my favorite. 

With Summer having quickly approached here are a few little updates thus far:

As I mentioned before in a previous post, Hadley is a reader. She loves to be read to or read to herself. She quickly memorizes books as well. You can read it to her once, twice, (at most) three times. By that point she will be finishing your sentences. Naturally, she calls this "reading by herself." (If you should know anything about Hadley it is that she can do anything and everything by herself!!) About a month ago, I began talking to her about the library. She instantly wanted to go right then and there. We couldn't at that time so we went the next day. I got her all signed up to have her library card. I showed her the section of books she could pick from. Her first trip she checked out eight books!! Read them all repeatedly. And was ready to go back.

Bubbles at cousin Shelby's house because the park was filled with the entire 4th grade of Bixby elementary.

Tea party in her Ariel mermaid dress

Hadley and Uncle Lucas at Aunt Leslie's college graduation. She did really well considering everyone hates graduations to begin with :)

Aunt Leslie and her nieces and nephew

Hadley playing with Aunt Cindy while everyone else takes pictures with Leslie

Hadley sitting outside at Aunt Leslie's graduation party. She found this little bench by herself and just sat there by herself. She was just happy to be outside in her favorite dress.

Daddy has been working a night shift for the last several months. It really isn't too bad, but recently I've started letting Hadley sleep in bed with me only if I know we have to get up early the next day. Lee insists I'm the only parent on the planet that actually likes to sleep with their child. That will come to an end as Lee's schedule is changing back to a day shift.

This is what happens when a two year old refuses to take a nap. She falls asleep in the chair while I work on the computer. This lasted a solid 45 minutes, at least!

Hadley has been asking for "pink cow boots" for the better part of a YEAR now! "Cow boots" are quite expensive. I don't even mean real ones that are intended for riding horses or the farm life. I mean just cheap, pretending cow girl boots. The cheapest I found was at Target for $27.99 - NO THANKS! Well, one day we were at Wal-Mart with Aunt Cindy looking at sandals. We went to another aisle and Cindy just so happened to find these "cow boots" on sale for $5! And wouldn't you know, they came in Hadley's size. What's funny is right before we found these, Hadley was just telling us about how she wanted "pink cow boots" for her birthday. When we found these and she tried them on she said, "I not wait 'til my birthday now. I want these!" LOL. For $5 you better believe I snatched them up. Of course, she insisted on wearing them to church in a full cow girl get up the next day.

Hadley found this wig at Nammy's house the other night. She put it on and began taking pictures of herself. She kept shaking her head back and forth. She has never felt so much hair before. It was hilarious!

Well that is Summer thus far...
I'm sure the rest of the summer will have a lot to offer.
It will also bring a time of change as we prepare for baby brother coming in the beginning of Fall
...or whatever we have of Fall.

Spring time 2014

Winter came and left. 

We moved into Spring time.

With warmer temperatures and lots of sneezing from allergies. Hello, Oklahoma!

One of the first warmer days this year, I took Hadley to the park. She loves to play outside, but our yard is filled with stickers in the grass. I can't take it. They are annoying and they get all over you. We have a local park that is just a few miles down the road from us. We try to go there frequently (time and weather permitting).

Of course to go with Spring time you also need some new sunglasses.

Quickly after upgrading to her big girl bed, Hadley potty trained herself through the night. I'm not joking. When we moved her into the big girl bed she was still wearing diapers at night. Usually at nap time as well (unless Lee would forget to put a pull up on her). We were about a week or two into being in the new big girl bed and she started waking up in the middle of the night. At first I thought, "Oh great. Here we go with the trying to get up and sleep in our bed." I was wrong. She was waking up because she needed to go potty. So I would take her and she would go straight back to bed. After two weeks of doing this consecutively, every  night, while in a diaper, I told Hadley that that weekend we would go buy a mattress cover for her bed (just in case) and new "night time panties." I wanted a cover to protect the bed for the accidents I knew would come later. I also wanted to get her training panties for night time since they are a little thicker. Well, much to my surprise, she never had an accident. She never had any problems getting up to go potty. Honestly, her first accident was just about three weeks ago (in my bed none the less, LOL).

Hadley has also discovered she likes wearing "big cozy shirts" to bed, like Mommy,  in the place of a pajama set. She found this "wow wow" truck shirt in her closet one night. She insisted on wearing the "Daddy truck" to bed.

I was getting ready one morning while Hadley was still asleep. I open my drawers to find this! Her blow dryer in the same drawer as my blow dryer. Her straightener in the same drawer as my straightener. Too smart for her own good, I tell ya!

Spring time is definitely more of her pace. 

She loves to be outside and playing.

She particularly likes to be out at her grandparents house trying to catch bunnies. She is never quiet enough. 

Go figure... 

Two year old, wild child. 

Winter 2014 recap

I wrapped up 2013 in my last post. 

But that still leaves the last 6 - ish months to catch up on too.

Here was our winter months:

This is Hadley and, my niece, Tatum. Tatum got into a horse riding accident at the beginning of the year. Literally like the first day or two of January. She injured her thumb pretty severely. This was a couple days after it happened. We (me and my SIL Launi - Tatum's mom) changed the bandaging on her thumb for the first time. Not the first time since the accident, but the first time a doctor hadn't done it. It was a rough 20 or so minutes trying to figure it all out and do it correctly - without inflicting more pain. After it was all said and done, Tatum had her pain medicine and was ready for bed. Hadley thought she needed to get in bed to comfort her. You can see in poor Tatum's eyes how out of it she was. I was so proud of her and how brave she was during this whole process. Since then she has begun riding again more regularly. She was really scared at first, but she quickly is overcoming her fear for her love of riding horses. 

Hadley has become quite the little reader. She really loves being read to, but also loves reading quietly to herself. Neither Lee nor I are readers. We try to encourage her to do it as much as possible. I've read more since having a two year old than I have in my whole life.

 

We had a few big snows this winter. Poor Haddles was sick every time it snowed so she hadn't got the chance to go outside and play in it. But the last time it snowed she was healthy and ready to get out there. We bundled her up and took her outside. She loved it! We were outside for I think two hours that day. She screamed when we came inside. And by "came inside" I mean when we had to pick her up and drag her in because she was not coming by herself.

My birthday is three days after Valentine's day. We usually just lump the two dates together. I don't mind doing this. I've never been a big Valentine's Day person. This year Lee took me to the jewelry store we always use (both my engagement and wedding ring came from this place. Plus other anniversary jewelry). He gave me a limit, but said I could buy anything I wanted. I had been eying these infinity rings on Pinterest for awhile. Well, just my luck, they had some diamond ones!

My mother in law helps out at her friends flower shop regularly. She is especially busy there on... you guessed it... Valentine's Day! After the holiday is finished they always have extra flowers. You either take them home or they are thrown away. Naturally, she brought them home. She let Hadley make me this arrangement. She was so proud of the flowers she made for me. She was very offended that I threw them away after they died! She was quick to let me know, "Why did you throw those away? I worked hard on that!"

Through the winter, Hadley constantly wanted watermelon and cantaloupe. How do you explain to a two year old that those two fruits aren't in season? Luckily, you find find pre-peeled-sliced-diced watermelon and cantaloupe year round at Wal-Mart and most grocery stores. Well, I discovered that Whole Foods selection of these fruits was cheaper than Wal-Mart or any other place around. Plus they came in much bigger quantities. Plus it was organic and better quality. And DOUBLE PLUS they have little baby shopper in training carts that Hadley is obsessed with. We made a weekly trip to Whole Foods to stock up on her watermelon and cantaloupe addiction. But we also had to go weekly because on my birthday, Lee had his tonsils out (horrific experience, but well worth it in the end). The only things he wanted to eat was fruit because it was cold and contained a lot of water to keep him hydrated. But seriously though... Those carts are too cute!

Hadley "upgraded" to a big girl bed! She loves it.

Over Spring Break, Hadley had her first big girl sleep over at her Aunt Cindy's house. Cindy invited over Hadley, her cousin Brylie, and their friend Rachel. She thought she was big stuff. 

So many changes and so many firsts for this little girl happened this winter.

First play in snow.

Big girl bed.

Big girl sleep over. 

...No wonder she thinks she is 13! 

Let's take it back... Wrap up 2013

HELLO BLOG WORLD! 

I started this blog when I was pregnant with Hadley. I wanted to document every month I was pregnant with her. I want to remember all the little moments we have with her. 

There are so many other social media outlets that I seem to forget about my little blog. 

It's kind of sad when I think about it too. I'm a writer by nature. I enjoy doing it. I feel like I'm fairly decent at it. Yet, it's the one thing I completely neglect. 

I should make a resolution to keep up with this better. 

Oh wait!! I had a good post about 2014 resolutions ... that I forgot to write :)

Anyway, I figured since I haven't updated since September then I needed to just do a big "wrap up" post for the rest of 2013.So here we go. Be prepared for lots of pictures and probably not many words.

Hadley at Charmichael's Pumpkin Patch.

Hadley trying to pick out a pumpkin. She wasn't really "in to it" this year.

The stencil she chose for her pumpkin. She liked it because it was like "Monster's INC."

Hadley digging out and carving her pumpkin with Daddy.

Hadley's Wednesday night class at church painting pumpkins. This was the first time she had done this. She loved it.

Hadley had two costumes this year. During the day she was Minnie Mouse.  Cutest Minnie I've ever seen :)

Trunk-OR-Treat at church; We made a castle to go along with Hadley's second costume.

Costume #2: Cinderella

I forgot to have her two year old pictures taken. So me and her cousin Shelby took her to the park around two and a half years to try and get some pictures. I think we did pretty decent considering we have no idea what we are doing.

Around Thanksgiving, we all had family pictures done at Lee's parent's house. This is my favorite :)

Family picture in front of the Christmas tree after decorating the house all day.

Hadley seeing Santa Clause. This went much better than I anticipated. She loved him.

Hadley at Nammy's house (with her cousins) making gingerbread houses. She was so proud of her little "castle."

Christmas morning with her gifts from Santa and Mommy and Daddy.

The cousins at Nammy's house for Christmas round 2. 

That wraps up 2013!
It's crazy to look back at the pictures from what seems like not that long ago and already see such a change in Hadley and how she has grown.
The one thing I love most about Hadley is how eager she is to do everything.
She is excited for every holiday.
She is ready for most all new experiences.
She wants to try everything "all by myself!!"
We aren't rich. We can't give her everything she wants and probably everything we want to give her.
But she doesn't care (nor does she know).
She is so happy to do and have everything she does.
She loves her little life.
And I love her.