Hadley Marie: Two Months

Hadley is a little over two months!  I was waiting for her two-month well check to post this so I would have her updated measurements.  As of today, she is 14 lbs., 13 oz and 24" long.  That puts her at 97th percentile for weight, and 90th for height.  Looks like she's going to be tall, though not too surprising since I'm 5' 8" and Dave is 6' 5".

Here she is modeling some knits I had originally made for Arden; a little bolero sweater and a (raspberry?)beret.

She's turned out to be a really good sleeper, and has slept through the night on several occasions.  A typical night has her zonking out around 10 or 11 pm and waking around 3:30 am.  I'll get her up at 6 am to nurse and then back to sleep until after we get back home from taking Arden to daycare.  On days that Arden doesn't have daycare she'll sleep until around 7 or 8 am.  I'm pretty much caught up to her with breast milk, and only have to supplement with formula on rare occasions.

Arden continues to be enamoured with her little sister and likes to hold and feed her on occasion.  She offers her toys whenever I'm changing Hadley and makes sure she has a pacifier if she wants one.

Here's Hadley at one and two months for comparison.  She's not really as much larger as it appears, but I couldn't get the collage to be proportional.  My plan is to take a monthly picture of her on the quilt for the first year so we can watch her grow and change.

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.

A Fair Isle Sweater for Big Sister

I did it!  I finally finished the second fair isle sweater for big sister Arden.

Here it is with the smaller version I made for Hadley.  I made this one size larger than the pattern was written, which involved a lot of figuring, so I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Don'tcha just love the fair isle part?  I wish it didn't go up all funnel-y, but I like it irregardless.  It works better on Arden because she actually has a neck.

I staged a mini photo shoot of the girls in their matching sweaters before Hadley completely outgrows hers.  You can see she's already testing the buttons...

I like this one - it looks like Hadley is tickling Arden.

Arden's such a nice big sister.  She likes holding Hadley and feeding her bottles.

Too bad Hadley was having some trust issues with letting her 2.75 year-old sister hold her!

I can't imagine how professional photographers manage to get two or more little ones with good expressions!  Do they swap out the heads in photoshop or something? 

So anyway, Arden's sweater should fit her through this season and likely the next, while Hadley's might fit through next week.  So sad. On the bright side there'll be more sweaters I had knit for Arden that she will grow into!

Hadley's Hat

While waiting for more yarn to arrive to finish the last three rows on the fair isle sweater I'm knitting for Arden, I finished up a cute little flower hat for Hadley.

It's the same pattern to coordinate with the one I made in purple for Arden last fall.  It's from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson.

This time I wasn't a rusty knitter and didn't knit into the backside for the entire project like I did for Arden's.  I'm supposed to say it gives it character, but we know the truth...

Hadley's is a little on the big side, but that gives it room to grow.  At the rate she's growing, it's a good thing!  Arden's hat still fits her a year later, so I'll get one more season of use.  Plus, the coat and snow pants I bought are still fitting - go slowing growth rate!

All the hats in the book are adorable and look super quick and easy - I should have tried a different one, but I couldn't resist the matching sister hats.  I'll have to get a picture of the two of them together in their upside-down daisy hats!

Hadley was getting hungry during the photo shoot so she was trying desperately to find her fingers.  I had just fed her, but obviously she didn't think it was enough.

I have a weekly knit night on Thursday during which I should be able to finish the sweater for Arden - if my yarn comes in time.  If it doesn't, I guess I'll just have to start a new project.  Maybe something for me?!

Cutie

Just couldn't resist posting this picture of my littlest cutie snoozing this afternoon.  I'm making good progress on the fair isle sweater, so hopefully will have a finished sweater to share soon!  I'm working on the fair isle part, which is the most fun.

Hadley Marie: One Month

Our sweet little Hadley has reached her first milestone - one month!  After initial concerns about failing to gain weight after leaving the hospital, she's made up for it in fine form and at her one month check was 11 pounds, 4 ounces and 23 inches long.  Both measurements put her in the 97th percentile - quite a change from Arden who was 15th percentile for weight and was nearly three months old when she was Hadley's size now.

She's a super snuggler, and pretty quiet unless she needs something.  We started calling her "mouse" at the hospital because she was quiet except for some squeaks.  I've added "Gus", after the chunky mouse on Cinderella now that she's gotten into her eating groove.  She likes to fall asleep while eating, and then get really upset as soon as you try to put her down to sleep; begging for more.  This is a bit tiring at night when I get up to nurse her, but I'm getting the routine down a bit now.  She sleeps in three hour stretches and is creeping up on four hours, so that's not too shabby for one month.  I'm not able to keep up with her appetitie solely with breastfeeding and expressed milk, so we're supplementing a bit with formula.



She's doing great with tummy time; doesn't complain and lifts her head up really nicely and tries to scoot with her little legs - I'm thinking we have an early crawler on our hands.  She loves to look at lights and faces, and there's a tree outside our living room window that she could stare at for hours.  She's awake and alert most of the morning, and then begins a cycle of cluster feeding and snoozing from afternoon through night.

Big sister Arden is still doing amazingly well with her and as a bonus seems to have clicked with the potty thing and is now on her fifth day accident-free!  Let's hope I haven't jinxed things!  The key seems to be some cute panties I got from Old Navy and we let her pick a new pair of "big girl panties" at the end of each day without accident.

Trick or Treat

Arden's daycare had their Halloween party on the 31st, and I stuck around to help out and take some pictures.  This is the only one I can share without other kids identifiable in it, but it was a great party with lots of activities.  This is the first time I've seen Arden use scissors, and I thought she did really well.  There was a candy corn craft with stick on buttons, coloring, stickers, and a chain craft with the paper where you scratch off the black coating to reveal colors beneath - not sure if there's a name for those!

She was the only girl not wearing a princess costume with the exception of a duck and Minnie Mouse.  I like that she chose a more original outfit; I wonder how many more years she'll escape princess peer pressure...

Posing with our pumpkins while waiting for Daddy to get ready.  You'd think a man would take less time to get ready, but I can be out the door in less than half the time it takes Dave.  I guess I'll give him an allowance because he was also getting Hadley ready!

I just love her smile.  She kept the goggles on the entire time, which I think is really surprising for someone her age.

We took the sit n' stand stroller, which she's really taken a liking to.  Hadley was all snuggled up in her bundle me carseat snuggie.

Hitting her first house.  She did a nice job saying "trick or treat" and "thank you".  I'm not sure everyone could hear her, but she said it.

Dave dressed up as Gru, the super villain from Despicable Me to go with Arden's minion costume.  We had the bald head cover and he wore running pants and his pea coat.  I thought it turned out darn good for a free impromptu costume.  Only one group of fellow trick or treaters got Arden's costume, but we expected that.

Hadley slept through the bulk of the festivities.  I love the button nose and pouty lip!