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!

Hadley Marie: Six Months

Hadley is still growing like a weed - she had her 6-month well check yesterday and she is 19 lbs. 4 oz. and 28" long, which puts her above the 97th percentile for height and in the 95-97th band for weight.  So this means that at six months she's wearing nine month clothing, and there's not a whole lot of extra room.  Arden was like clockwork and would go into six month clothing right at six months.  If she keeps growing like this, Arden and Hadley will be wearing the same size at the same time.  Arden only outweighs her by a little over ten pounds right now...

I started her on solid foods a few weeks ago.  I had every intention of holding off until six months, but she was so interested in what we were doing at mealtime that it almost seemed mean to wait.  So far she's had sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, apples, peaches, bananas, and pears.  She's done pretty well with everything except peaches - not a fan!  Even with eating she's pretty even-keeled.  She just clamps her lips together and sort of hums when she doesn't like something or has had enough.  She REALLY liked bananas - opened up her little birdie mouth every time she finished the previous bite.

She's getting pretty mobile in a roll-y, scootch-y sort of locomotion.  She can roll front to back and back to front no problem, but I've only seen her roll to her left.  She can almost sit up by herself and is really stable on our laps.  She goes bonkers jumping in her jumparoo - she shakes that thing so much I'm afraid she's going to bounce right out at times!

There's at least one tooth nubbin' working it's way to the surface right now.  She's super drooly some days and gnawing at her fingers (and my boob - have to work on that before teeth come for real!)

She likes hanging around with Daddy.  She also likes diaper changes when I can't resist those chunker thighs and have to chomp on them for a bit!  Watch out next month, because we're going to start seeing some more skin as the weather warms up.  Bring on the baby chub!

Butterfly House

I took the girls to our local garden's Butterfly House this morning.  Hadley started out with a little snooze in the car to build her energy for the big outing.

These big butterflys were more than willing to perch on the visitors.  Arden wanted nothing to do with it, but Hadley didn't seem to mind.

It sort of looks like a big hair bow!

Still there!

And proof that Arden went along and I exist - here's a group shot of us; butterfly still included!  One of the staff from the house went to grab her camera because it was so cute and offered to take one of all of us with my camera.  I'm still getting used to handing my DSLR to people - everyone's so accustomed to being able to preview the image on screen that going back to the eye piece requires explanation.

I have done some sewing (other than nautical flag banners!), but Arden has been reluctant to model my creation even though she says she likes it.  Maybe tomorrow...

Entering in the spring challenge at:

Eating and Sleeping

First Food

We introduced rice cereal on Saturday - sorry for the unedited cell phone pictures, but I haven't had a chance to download the ones from my DSLR.

... and a little video.  I thought she was going to be way more into eating than she was, but she kept thrusting her tongue out and pushing the food down her chin.  I figured out the next day that I can sort of lay it on her tongue when it's out and then most of it will go in and stay there.  Oh, another new adventure!

Hadley Marie: Five Months

Time marches relentessley on, and Hadley is now five months old!  I liked this photo of her because she sort of looks like she's posing.

I love the little kissy lips!  I think she's working on a tooth or something because she's started making this face a lot.

Hadley's still a super easy baby!  I keep realizing how lucky we are that she's sleeping so well - frankly anything is better than Arden, but Dave and I both still laugh when we put her into bed and she just goes right to sleep.  She had a few nights with some wakeups, but that seems to have been a growth spurt and she's back to normal now.  She's mostly been sleeping overnight in her crib, but since I like having her next to me in her cosleeper I've been pulling her in there after her dream feed a few nights lately.

We pulled the Jumparoo out of storage and she immediately went to town jumping and playing with the toys.  When we introduced Arden at about the same age we needed to put a pillow underneath and a couple of burp cloths around her to help her fit.  No props needed for miss Hadley - she reaches the floor no problem and isn't lost in the seat either.

Hanging out in her Bumbo seat.  We think it looks like she's holding a meeting or something.  She's sporting one of her head bands - I like them okay, but I don't put them on her very often.  Dave thinks head bands on babies are ridiculous but he puts up with them.  Love those cheekers!

Arden is still a super good big sister.  She calls her "baby Hadee".  When she kisses Hadley she says "I got some baby sugar!".

Awww... sisters!  Arden likes to hold Hadley, but only for a couple of minutes - then you better be ready because when she's done she pushes her off her pretty quickly.

Here's the five month collage - I can see she's filling out the little orange sweater and blue jeans a little better this month - in fact those jeans might not make it for 6 months!

Hadley Marie: Four Months

Time just keeps flying by with the craziness that is having two little girls in the house!  Hadley is four months old, and Arden will be turning three in a month!  We officially had to say goodbye to the yellow/green onesie, but now we get to see her in the cute orange sweater I had originally knit for Arden.

Hadley continues to be the World's Easiest Baby, or WEB for short.  She's still sleeping through the night, and for the last couple of weeks has been going down around 7 PM and staying asleep until around 6 AM with the exception of a dream feed around 10 or 11 PM.  She's still working on rolling over, having done so successfully once about three weeks ago.

I did a little photo shoot for Hadley just after three months.  I took them in her nursery and used a reflector to bounce the light coming in through a small window to the right.  I think they turned out pretty well, and I should be able to do even better next time after taking the DSLR photography class - I can shoot on manual now!  Previously I was mostly using the action or the aperture priority setting.

This one is my favorite - I love how it shows her little pointy chin and the alphabet wall art behind her without being distracting.  This is edited in Picnik.

... or maybe this one is my favorite - little chubby belly and chunky thighs!  This is edited in PhotoShop Elements with a free action from the Pioneer Woman called "seventies".

Hi there, cutie!

She spends a lot of her time with her hands clasped together in front of her.  If they're not there then she's trying to cram her thumb or her whole hand in her mouth - I'm trying my darndest to prevent having a thumb-sucker!  I want to be able to take pacifiers away when it's time.  She's got an awesome belly laugh and she smiles so big when I go to pick her up from daycare.  She still gets chatty in the evenings and we swear she's saying "hello" to us.  She's getting better with her hands and grabs onto to toys in her floor gym, or a toy on the Bumbo tray.  She also grabs a fist full of hair at every opportunity, something Arden is not too thrilled about!

I don't have a weight for her right now - not even an at-home one.  I forgot to do it over the weekend, and I work Monday-Wednesday and it's too hectic in the evenings to try to do it then.  We have our Dr. appointment on Thursday so I'll update her stats then.  I think she might be leveling out a bit, but I could be surprised!