Hadley Marie: 15 Months

Now that Hadley has passed a year, I'll do quarterly updates until she turns two.

Since her birthday, Hadley:

Attended her first parade.  We went with gMa & gPa Sunshine to CMU's homecoming parade.  That's my sorority house in the background.

Went Trick or Treating for the first time.  She is so definitely an extrovert.  She was waving to passersby the entire time, often with both hands.  It was like her own personal parade.  Hi-larious!

Started walking.  The week before Thanksgiving she took off and never looked back.  She also weened about the same time.  It was her choice and it went very smoothly.  

Traveled with us to Chicago and met Aunt Jean and Uncle Matthew.  She had a cold and the beginnings of an ear infection and slept through most of the commotion.

Found Thanksgiving dinner to be most enjoyable.  She was incredibly suspect of the mashed sweet potatoes until I managed to get some on her tongue and then she was smitten.

Helped set up our feeble attempt at outdoor decoration for the Holidays.

Was WAAY not into Santa Claus.

Was simultaneously confused and excited by our little New Year's Eve celebration.

During this span, she also cut six new teeth; three of them within the space of a week.  Ouch!  And graduated completely from bottles, another smooth transition.

She took a little break from working on her vocabulary while she was perfecting walking, and is now back to jabbering away.  She's at that stage where she's stringing an unintelligible litany of gibberish with full expectation that we understand her.  Sounds more like Chinese, and I've heard "she she" or thank-you in Mandarin multiple times which only provided more evidence.  She's also displaying baby signs with proficiency - "more" being her favorite.

See you in three months!

Easter 2012

As proof that I stepped away from flag production to celebrate Easter with my family, here are a few from an egg hunt we took Arden and Hadley to at our local state park and then dying eggs at home later that day.  I have more photos from Easter morning with baskets and another egg hunt at our house as well as a visit to my brother's house for yet another egg hunt, but those are still in the camera.

Did you hear that some egg hunts had to ban parents from the course so there wouldn't be problems with aggressive adults?  Insane.  Parents were allowed to walk with their kids but asked not to handle the eggs.  The older kids were on their own but were on a different section.

That's Erwin in the background.  We have three cats, two dogs, and two kids three and under.  It can get cra-z at times!

Baby Shoes

I made my first pair of shoes today!  I used a pattern from Amy at Naptime Crafter's Etsy store; Peekaboo Pattern Shop.  I won a giveway on Fingerprints on the Fridge a while ago and I had chosen as one of my prizes the Pleated Mary Jane shoe pattern.  Amy and I were both participants on Project Toddler Runway, so I was especially pleased to win this prize from her!

I needed tiny shoes for Hadley to go with her holiday outfit, but the smallest shoes at Target were too big for her.  Then I remembered my free patterns!  I had the houndstooth suiting from my inspired by boy-themed entry for Project Toddler Runway - Lil' Rascal, and the lining fabric was leftover from a baby quilt I made for a friend.  Woo-hoo!  Everything free and I didn't have to leave the house!

The pattern was really easy to follow and I made these start to finish with Hadley on my chest in her Moby wrap.  It made checking the fit really convenient, since her little feet were right at my waist!

They were a little difficult to maneuver and sew but I think this is purely because they were the smallest size.  I'll likely be making another pair very soon in the next size up so I'll let you know if it's easier!

I really like the little pearl snaps on the straps and the pink lining peeking out.