Hadley Marie: Three Months

Hadley continues to be a super baby.  I posted on Facebook today that I feel like I've won the Mommy lottery.  In an unscientific at-home measurement, she weighs 15.6 lbs. and is 24.75" long.  This puts her in the 100th percentile for weight and 90th for length.  Go Chubba-Chunk!

She's been sleeping through the night for three weeks now.  And when I say sleeping through the night, I mean the entire nigh - she'll crash around 8 or 9 pm, then I'll do a dream feed around 10 or 11 pm and then she doesn't wake on her own until 7 or 8 am.  I usually wake her at 6 am to feed her and then put her back down while I get Arden up and around.  She just goes right back to sleep and we don't hear a peep from her until it's time to load her in the carseat.

She's super happy and smiley - showing off her two dimples pretty regularly.  In the evenings she turns into quite the little chatterbox, cooing and babbling away for at least half an hour.  She loves to have her diaper changed - laughing and smiling immediately when we lay her down.  I'm not sure if it's because we're paying her close attention or if she just really doesn't like to be wet.  She also gives a good belly laugh when I'm getting ready to feed her.  I'm not sure if I should take that personally - I guess boobs are funny!

A development that dearls indirectly with Miss Hadley is that I have caught up to her with my milk supply, and am building up a happy stockpile.  I'm even thinking I might have enough soon to consider donating some excess milk (gasp!  I never thought I'd have enough extra!!).  I need to do some research to determine if and where I'd want to donate.  I have a friend who donates hers locally and advocates for that, but there are also national organizations that accept and process breastmilk.  I'm pretty excited to be in a position to possibly help some babies.

I love putting this little monthly collage together.  Next month she'll be in a different outfit, cuz those pants aren't going to fit for much longer!  She's pretty much in 6-9 month sleepers, and I'm starting to phase in that size for daytime clothes as well.  She's also in the Medium gDiapers, which means that Arden and Hadley use the same sized inserts.  Arden still wears a diaper for sleeping even though she wears panties for daytime.

Hadley's 1st Day at Daycare

My maternity leave has ended, so Hadley started daycare on Monday.  Since we had kept Arden there to hold her place and to keep her attending preschool we were all pretty used to the routine for getting out the door in the morning.  I don't remember why Arden was upset, but check out that pouty lip!

The 2nd was a holiday for most businesses so it was pretty quiet.  Both Dave and I had decided to take the girls to daycare and use the day to get some projects accomplished - One Month To Win It for me and building a wall between our breakfast nook and the office for Hubby. 

She did fabulous!  I had to refrain from overselling her to the teachers because I didn't want it to backfire, but she's such a good baby.  Everyone said she was super easy - drank her bottles down no problem, burped right on cue, slept really well, etc.  She's more excited and happy to have her diaper changed than any baby I've ever met.  Cracks me up!  Since there were so few kids there that day, Arden got to spend some time in the infant room with Hadley, which makes me feel happy that they both got to have a special day for Hadley's first day.

With Arden, Dave used a week of paternity leave and stayed with her the first week I returned to work.  This really helped us determine how she would react to bottle feeding for a whole day - she was a snacker and I didn't want to make the bottles too big and risk having them dump them out because they were out too long.  No worries like that with Hadley.

I work three days a week, so we sort of have the best of both worlds - the social interaction for the girls at daycare and some adult and intellectually challenging time for me, and then four days at home with my babies!

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.