Birthday treat

{I wrote this a long time ago. I published it and I guess it never went through. I'll go ahead and post it for memories sake.}

***

There are a few movie theater's around here that show movies to kids for free. The movies are older movies. By older I mean older Disney movies or movies that have been released within the last few years. 

The week of Hadley's birthday, one of the theaters was showing The Little Mermaid. I decided I was going to take her to see the movie. Hadley has never been to the movies before this time. 

We also invited Aunt Cindy and cousin Brylie. 

Hadley and Brylie getting their seats for the show.

She was so excited!!! (so excited she wouldn't stop moving, hence the blurry picture.)

Cousin cuddles during the movie.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Healin' in the Heartland

After the tornado on May 20, Blake Shelton and many other Oklahoma (and non-Oklahoman) country music artists got together to form a benefit concert: Healin' in the Heartland.

My friend, Karen, and I decided that we wanted to try and get tickets. Karen was on the computer all morning and when the tickets went on sale at 10 am. She was on there and snagged us four tickets! 

We were so pumped because we later found out that all of the tickets sold out in 30 seconds. 

We each got a ticket then both invited someone to go with us. I decided to take my mother in law. You see, she is OBSESSED with Reba. The last time Reba was in Tulsa she wasn't able to go. Well, Reba was at Healin' in the Heartland. I knew she would be thrilled to go so Lee and I decided to buy her ticket. 

It was a Wednesday night so we drove back into OKC that evening. 

The concert included: Blake Shelton, Reba, Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Usher, and one of the guys from One Republic. 

They filmed the concert live for television, but after that was over they had another concert just for us. It was AMAZING. 

People, I saw Usher. Live. 

Be still my heart. 

Karen and her friend

Me and Tracey (Please ignore that we are completely soaked!!! It was storming.)

The stage

The Queen of Country: Reba!!!

Fatcation 2012.

Most people dream of going on big elaborate vacations. Maybe some place like Paris. Or Spain. Me? My only request was to go to Branson, MO during the holidays. I wanted to see the lights and the pretties. This year, I was pleasantly surprised when Lee suggested we go this year! Along with me, Lee, and Hadley came my grandparents, my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Lee's parents, and his brother.

We left on a Friday morning and headed that way. We stopped in Springfield, MO at Bass Pro. We were hoping to see the aquarium that has been under construction for years. Well, of course, it was still under construction. That was disappointing, but since it was Christmas time there was tons of Hadley to do. She rode the carousal 3 times. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but after the first go 'round - she loved it. 
  

When we left Bass Pro we went to lunch at Lambert's Cafe. This is where we met up with my family. Usually the wait to get into Lambert's is about 1 or even 2 hours. We were fully expecting a long wait. Somehow we got in in less than 10 minutes. Lucky! We all ate lots of rolls and lots of food. Hadley was so funny. Every time the man throwing the rolls would come out, she would throw her hands in the air. But he never saw her. We finally caught his attention and he came over and "tossed" her her own roll. She was so excited. Sweet baby!

 

My mother-in-law, Tracey, and her ridiculously large salad. I couldn't stop starring at it!

 

 Hadley "catching" her roll. 

Lambert's is only about 30 minutes outside of Branson, so we got there shortly after lunch. We checked into our hotel and got settled in our rooms. Then we decided to hit up the Tanger Outlit Mall. We weren't too impressed overall. I've been there before and have found much better deals. I'm not really sure if I wasn't looking in the right spots or if it was just bad timing. Oh, and for once, I didn't buy anything at the COACH outlit. I didn't see anything I just couldn't live without. 

That night we had reservations for the Dixie Stampede. I love love love the "regular" Dixie Stampede. I was very impressed with the Christmas show. It was the best live Nativity I've ever seen. The only bad thing about it was, we were stuffed. We were stuffed from lunch. It was a terrible decision to eat Lambert's and the Dixie Stampede in 1 day! Hence why the renamed this vacation to "fat"cation.

Saturday we spent the morning shopping at The Landing. Saturday afternoon we went to Silver Dollar City. I normally love SDC. I've dreamed of going during the holidays. BUT it will never happen again. It was so busy. So crazy. So packed! That it wasn't even really enjoyable. Plus, it was pretty cold. It took 1 hour just to get to the parking spot then another 30 minutes waiting to get into the park. Madness, I tell you! We stayed long enough to see all the lights "officially" light up for the night, but left shortly after. We didn't even stay for the parade. Oh well, Hadley loved it for the few hours we were there. Hopefully, we can take her back another time so she can enjoy the rides without it being so busy. 

 

Hadley and Daddy at SDC after going through the fun house. 

 

Hadley and Mommy in SDC.

 

Daddy and Hadley looking at the lights.

IT'S A WHAT?????

There was this one time, when my car was making a mysterious noise. I hadn't heard it consistently enough to say anything to Lee.

Once, I continued to hear it for about a week or so I decided to mention it to him. I insisted,

"It's weird. If I turn to the right, I can hear it rolling to the left. If I turn to the left, I can hear it rolling to the right. But the strange thing is: If I turn to the right, it will roll to the left. If I turn to the right again -- nothing happens. It's like a rock or can is rolling around, back and forth, in the trunk."

I don't know anything much about cars, but I know that's not normal. The funny thing is is that the car was driving perfectly fine. Nothing was happening any different. 

I am OCD about certain things. Specifically, I am more "O" than "C." By that I mean: clinically, OCD is obsessive thoughts with compulsive behavior. I don't have compulsive behaviors that often. However, I do have obsessive thoughts. Or as Lee so lovingly puts it -- I "fixate." Once, I have my mind set on something I obsessive about it. I think about it, easily, five to eight times an hour. I will think about it. I will question it. I will talk about it. And I will continue until it's settled. What's bad is, once it's settled, I usually will find something else to obsess about later. 

{Small example: The other night I went to bed with dishes in the sink. I do this often, but for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about it this time. The reason they stayed in the sink was because I didn't feel like unloading the dishwasher. Well, I dreamed about those dishes all night long. Then I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm went off -- thinking about those blasted dishes. So I got up at 5:45 am to do dishes. Give me a break. Now back to my car...}

I obsessed about this noise for three weeks. Non-stop. Lee striped the trunk of my car. He took everything out, all the way down to the frame of the car. He did this four or five times. The noise was coming from the back of the car. We thought for sure we were just missing something. It had to be in the trunk.

Well, after about four weeks going on five I called someone to look at it. This is a man that I went to church with growing up. He used to be a mechanic before his current job. We took him my car on a Sunday afternoon. He wanted us to drive him around so he could hear it. We made our first right hand turn and he heard it. He made the strangest face and said "Wow. That is weird." I just remember thinking "Oh, great!! This isn't going to be good." 

We went back to his house. He, also, thought it was coming from the trunk. He and Lee dug in that car for an hour and a half. And nothing -- they, again, found nothing. 

I was inside the house, but Lee said after so long they had given up. As Dennis was closing the hatch he started shaking the door. Lee said that he was trying to see if maybe the noise was from the door and not necessarily in the car. But, of course, nothing. He closed the hatch. Then he started pushing/shaking the entire car. Lee said he looked up with a strange face. He reached on top of the car and there it was! Dennis pulled down a WALNUT! There was a WALNUT rolling around on the roof of my car. I have a rack on the top of my car. Apparently, the walnut had gotten stuck up there and couldn't roll completely off. 

I can't make this stuff up, people.

hello, world.

Hello, blog-o-sphere! It's me, Heather...Hadley's mom.

No, I have not forgot that I have a blog.
Yes, life is still going 'round and 'round. Ya know, the norm.
But unfortunately, I've felt like I have nothing to talk about.

I couldn't even do a "weekly wrap up" because it would literally consist of "went to work, came home, made dinner, went to bed." REPEAT. Every-single-day. Really....I'm not lying.

I'm a creature of habit :)

Anyway -- I realized a few days ago that I haven't posted an update about Hadley since she turned one. Hadley's little love letters faded away. I decided to update with pictures {and with words, if I chose} because she obviously didn't stop growing!

In July we: played at the Splash Pad for the first time!

In August we: started working in the Kids Club. Hadley has made lots a new friends and has learned how much self control it takes to sit at the table and eat lunch, without being strapped into a high chair.

In September we: experience our first time out. Hadley is still working on "listening and obeying the first time." I repeat this phrase to her frequently. So much so that when she is about to do something she knows she is not supposed to do, she will look at me and say "OBEY!"

It October we: went to the pumpkin patch! Hadley enjoyed the people watching more than the pumpkins. 

Thanksgiving is coming up. Hopefully I will post more pictures soon :)

chaos

I've been out of the blogger world lately. We've been so busy and coming and going. It's madness around here.

Two weeks ago, Hadley came down with a runny nose. No biggie - until it turned green!!! T.M.I.?? Then she started pulling at her left ear! GREAT! We made a doctors appointment and got her checked out. No ear infection and no sickies - thank goodness!

This past Memorial Day weekend Hadley and I packed up and headed to North Missouri with my family, for the yearly family reunion. I haven't been in the last four years. This year I was determined to go. It is an eight hour drive so I was nervous how Hadley would do. She did great. But when got there she didn't seem to feel well. She was a little "off" all weekend. Then she came down with a fever. THEN she didn't sleep at night. She cried every five minutes from ten pm until midnight! So I let her sleep in bed with me. She has never, never, EVER, in her eleven months of life EVER slept in bed with us. That is the one thing I was adamant about never doing. Well, I guess things change when you're eight hours from home, without Daddy, and running a fever! OY! Luckily, on the day home, she seemed to act a little better. She crashed when we got home.

Then there is today - she woke up covered in a mysterious rash? What the heck is going on with my baby love? So I call the doctor and they suggest I bring her in today. I took her in and when the nurse came out she reached for her with excitement. THAT'S how you know when you are in the doctor's office too often. Apparently the rash is the result of a little virus working out of her little system. (see previous paragraph about her fever and acting funny).

...all while Lee is working nights! I have no idea how single mother's do it. They are super heroes.

Secrets...Secrets...

...Make me nearly have anxiety attacks!!!!!!

I started my "Friday Favorites" posts 2 weeks ago. This was with full intent to post every Friday. Obviously, I missed last Friday. But let me tell you why!

SECRETS!

I was harbouring secrets in my household. I was keeping a secret from my husband.

You see, Lee finally finished his Paramedic clinicals last Tuesday (1/31/2012). His class had to go to a lecture in OKC last Thursday (2/2/2012).

To make a long story short: I got together with his mom and planned a mini-vaca in OKC. Yeah, I know, there isn't anything exciting or "vacation"- like about OKC, but it was fun. We went to college in Moore and most of our friends still live in the Moore/Norman area.

But of course there was a crimp in the plan. The Tuesday before I was supposed to leave Hadley started acting funny. I don't know how else to explain it, but funny. She just wasn't herself. She isn't a fussy baby, but she was being exceptionally fussy. Then Wednesday after her morning nap she woke up crying which she NEVER EVER does. I just had a gut feeling and rushed her to the doctor. Of course, she had a double ear infection. My heart broke. My baby girl was hurting and I had no idea. I know, I know...there was no way for me to know since she can't talk, but I still felt terrible.

Then there was the big question of: could I go through with the over night plan? could I leave my baby girl over night without me while she had her first ear infection? would she get worse while I was gone? would she be upset with me for leaving her while she was sit? So many questions. After a long Wednesday of secretly crying (because I couldn't tell Lee the plan) and debating I decided to go through with my plan and that she would be fine. Hadley never ran a fever or never acted like she even felt terrible. Luckily, all things worked out fine. Hadley was fine. She never got worse and is getting better.

Now jump to Thursday morning:

I get up and rush around to finish packing, shower and get ready before Haddles woke up, then get her over to her grandparents before 7:30 am! Everything went smoothly and I was off...

Lee had no idea I was coming. When he came out of the building where the lecture was being held his first thought was that something had happened back home and I came to get him. Once, I explained to him what was going on I think he was excited? lol. Neither one of us show "excited" emotion well, so I can't blame him.

Our over night stay consisted of: lunch at my favorite yummy Mexican restaurant, movie at Lee's favorite theater, swimming / hot tub at the hotel, dinner with our friends, shopping at Hastings. It was so fun and a much needed break for him.

It was our first time leaving Hadley without at least one of us. I was ok as long as I didn't think about it :( But little Haddles was so excited when we got home. She kept going from my arms to Lee's arms and back and forth and back and forth. She was so excited that she was panting like a dog. Haha!

Time and money well spent, I think!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Pumpkin Patch Round 1:

This past Monday, [10/17/2011], we took Hadley to the pumkin patch after her 4 month check up.

Even though she got shots :( she did SO well.

We were so excited to take her and for her to see all the pumpkins and animals.

She was more interested in watching the other people (and kids) and the cars driving by.

Go figure!

Daddy and Hadley



Mommy and Hadley



Our little family :)



Hadley and Nammy

She wasn't too sure about sitting on that hay. It felt especially funny with a skirt on and no sockies.

Pumpkin Patch Round 2:

On Thursday, [10/20/2011], Aunt Launi and Uncle Dan & cousins Tatum and Titus came into town. We went to the pumpkin patch with them in hopes to get a few pictures of all of them together.

It was a little too bright for them

Cousins- Tatum and Hadley; I love this one!



little booger baby ;)

I can't wait for Halloween this year. I normally am not a "halloween lover," but I'm so excited for Hadley to get to dress up and experience all her "first holidays!" Love that little baby girl and all her cuteness!

do-over.

I like pictures. Actually, I love pictures. The last few nights I've had a hard time falling asleep at night. At night I've been laying in bed looking at pictures on my phone, over and over. I find myself looking at these pictures and trying to remember the emotions of that day. I try and replay what all happened over and over. I find myself wanting a "do-over." Not a redo, but a do-over. Redo implies I want to change the way it happened the first time and that is not the case. I literally want to do certain days over. And over and over and over. I want to live certain days for more than the 24 hours they were allotted.

I would love to do this day over:

I love weddings. I loved our wedding. I want to get married every day over and over again. Obviously, to Lee ;) To me, it was so fun. Everything about it. Planning it. Buying stuff for it. Seeing your vision all come together is just exciting!! Lee on the other hand...well he is a typical boy. He hates weddings. He is just ever so disappointed  (complete sarcasm here!) when he has to miss a wedding because of work. I guess our wedding was alright, to him, but he definitely wouldn't do it over and over.

But our wedding was a day that our lives began. We had our lives together. From that moment on it was about us. It was about us and us as a family. Our own family. It was the most magical day of my life.

Then our family turned into this:  

My heart nearly explodes every time I look at these pictures. I will never forget how I felt the moment I laid eyes on this little girl. I want relive that moment over and over again. Even though, it was the most miserable, painful, and longest day of my life -- that face, with her every smile and giggle, was worth all eleven and a half hours! Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not convinced that I will ever have another baby. Those eleven and a half hours were horrifying. But what I am saying is that if I never have another baby, Hadley will be enough. She will always be enough. She has exceeded my every hope, dream, and expectation. I can't imagine my life any differently.



3 months: little love letters

Oh my dear little Hadgey Padgey,

You are getting so big!! You are, also, developing quite a little personality. It has been so fun watching you change and grow. I can't imagine doing anything else in my life. Today you are 12 weeks old. You don't go to the doctor today, but I'm still going to attempt to write for you 12 week letter.

-Growth: Since you don't have a doctor's appointment today I don't know your current, exact, weight or length. But what I do know is that you have gotten longer. And chunkier! :) We have had to lengthen the belts in your car seat 2 different times now. Once we had to lengthen it for an actual length purpose. Then I swear it was the next day we had to make the belts bigger again because they were a little tight around your chunky belly :)

-Eating: You are now taking 5 oz every 3 hours during the day. Right before bed time you take 6 oz. This past month we have had a hard time getting you figured out in the eating department. One day we decided to let you try some rice cereal. You do not eat this on a regular basis. Actually, you haven't had it since the "taste-testing" day.  I think you hit a growth spurt because you were wanting to eat all the time. Instead of deciding to permanently introduce cereal, we opted to bump you up to 5 oz of formula. This has done the trick...for now. Here are a few pictures of the "cereal taste testing" day:

You were really excited to try the rice cereal

....then you weren't so sure about this stuff

-Sleeping: You have been sleeping pretty well. During that growth spurt, you kept waking up at 3 am every night. That was miserable for everyone, but you seem to be doing really well again. Also, you have started taking naps. For the past 3 weeks, I've been laying you down for an afternoon nap about 1:30 pm/ 2 pm. You will usually sleep until 5 or 6 if I let you. This past week, though, I've started noticing you don't sleep in as late as you usually do (until 10:30 am). You have been waking up around 8:30 am or 9 am. Then you will take a bottle and play for a little while and then you want to take a nap around 10 am or 11 am. Today you got up and ate around 9:30 am and stayed awake and watched tv with Daddy. Then you played for a little while and about 11:30 am I noticed you would not stop crying for anything, so I decided to lay you down. That did the trick. You were sleepy! I think you're starting to develop and work into your own little schedule.

You still wake up all smiles and as happy as ever! :)

-Play time: Now that you are getting bigger and staying awake more you are really starting to enjoy toys/playing. We were giving a wonderful exercise play mat that has a jungle (literally) of toys that dangled and make noise. Your favorite part is the lights on top that flash different colors. You weren't too sure about the play mat at first, but you love it now! You have never been much of a "hold me all the time" baby. In fact, you don't like to be held too often at all. So now that you are bigger you really enjoy laying on the mat and looking at the toys/lights and looking all around the room. You have even been able to accomplish grabbing the toys hanging about your head. You get really excited when you get one! It's cute!

Playing on your jungle mat

This is your laying on your mat, but trying to roll over to watch tv! And Copper wasn't too sure about this contraption either. He doesn't seem to mind it now.

-Strength/Movement/ Tummy time: You are getting very strong. Your "new thing" is that you like to be held up to you can stand on things. This is good, as your legs are getting stronger every day! We bought you a tummy time mat that came with a pillow with attached toys. I thought this was going to be a great thing because the pillow keeps your face propped up so you don't lay right down on it. Then with the toys attached to the pillow they will give you something to reach for and play with while laying there. Well, I was wrong! I wouldn't have been wrong except you figured out how to push up on your toes and push forward (like crawling, but instead on your knees you use your toes) and push yourself head-first over the pillow. Bummer! This makes you super angry, which I can understand because it does not look comfortable at all. In fact, you hate tummy time in general. But you've got to keep trying to you can figure out how to roll and crawl one day. But at the rate you're going you may figure it all out sooner than later!

Laying on the tummy time mat and pillow

Pushing up on your toes and rolling over head-first. Oopsie!

You figured our how to get off that pillow and wiggle off the mat. There she goes!!!!

-Events: Two weeks ago you went shopping with me and Nammy at JBF. I wanted to go buy you some pants and a coat for the winter. We were in and out in an hour and a half, which I thought was good. Come to find out, you hate shopping! You whinned and some what cried the whole time we were there. We will have to work on this later. We can't be having this "shopping-hating" attitude! But your biggest experience was your first road trip this past weekend. We (just me and you!) traveled to OKC. We traveled during your afternoon nap time so luckily you slept the whole way to OKC and the whole way home! You did so well.

-Funny/Cute Moments: The absolute cutest thing that you've started doing is that while we are traveling in the car somewhere, you have started talking to the elephant on the top of the mirror you look at. You talk and laugh at the elephant the entire time we are in the car. I'm so glad that you are happy in the car and don't cry the whole time. You only start crying if we stop at a stop sign or light. Or you start crying if you can't hear the music...OR if you don't like the song! Oh geez. You already have very strong options. Another thing I never want to forget is how you first started laughing when Daddy would hold you and kiss on your feet. You thought this was hilarious. When he would stop you would extend and hold out your legs as far as you could to put them on his mouth. You loved it! Here is a little video of me kissing your feet and you laughing out loud. We love your little laugh! It is the sweetest sound I've ever heard!

I'll love you forever and ever. I promise!

Love,
Mommy

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.