Hadley Marie: 9 Months

Hadley has been nine months for oh, about three weeks now, so I thought it was about darn time to get an update.  I take all sorts of pictures, but with it being pretty warm, I haven't wanted to sit in the warm office to edit photos.

She's weighing in now about 23 lbs. and 30 inches long, which puts her above the 96th percentile line for weight and well off the chart for height..  Hadley is a BIG girl!  When we see other babies her size when we're out and about, they're invariable well over one year old.

Her personality is really starting to shine.  She blows raspberries all the time and laughs readily.  She is so interactive and after I wipe her face after a meal she will take the wipe and put it on my face - she thinks that is hilarious!

We had to go through all of Arden's toys that are in common areas and sort out the unsafe toys becase she is into everything!  Especially if it's a shoe, a cord, or my phone.  It's almost as if you sit her down and she looks around thinking to herself "what in this room does Mommy not want me to get into?" and then she makes a beline for it.

She put the car in drive this month and now is motoring all over the place.  So much so that she was giving herself rugburns on the top of her feet and knees from following a boy at daycare around.  Older men, always getting girls into trouble!  Amost immediately after beginning to crawl she started working on pulling up to stand.

She is very content to play for long stretches by herself.  She wants to know that someone is near, but they don't have to be alongside for her to stay occupied.  It's a good thing that Arden has broken the cats and dogs in, because Hadley is bound and determined to catch whichever animal is daring enough to stay in her vicinity.

Hadley has fully graduated to finger foods and I think we're going to have a swifter transition away from purees than Arden.  She really enjoys feeding herself and within just a week or so of introducing goodies like blueberries, avocado, bananas, pasta, green beans, and corn she's chomping them down really well.

She especially likes blueberries!  Takes after Grandpa fishy (Arden's new nickname for my Dad).

The two teeth that made their way through at five months are now fully in place and she's beginning to suffer pretty badly from the next round of teeth.  From the look of things, the top two middle and perhaps another top tooth are on their way.  Not a happy camper!

And the nine month collage.  I wish I had been more consistent about how I positioned her and where I cropped the photo so you could see the growth more easily, but it's still fun to see how she matures over the months.

Hadley Marie: 8 Months

Hadley is now eight months and man she is on the go, go, go!  She still can't get the transmission into forward so it's pretty comical to watch her back across the room while trying to reach a toy.  Nursing has become a contortionist act, introducing lesser-known holds like "octopus" and "hang ten" instead of cross-cradle or football holds!  I can't count how many times I've been kicked in the throat, and I sleep with a hair band around my wrist so I can get my tempting hair out of reach while still half asleep.

She's been waking ahead of when I used to get her up in the morning or staying awake after I feed her, so we've taken to hanging out together while I get ready and then playing in Arden's room while I get big sister ready.

She's got this boisterous personality and a belly laugh to go with it.  She loves physical play and "don't drop the baby" gets her squealing and hiccuping every time.

She weighs in at 22 pounds this month using our scale at home.  That puts her about 98th percentile for weight.  I didn't get a length, but I bet she's still at the 97 - 100th percentile mark for that as well.  I forgot to say last month that she had gotten her first tooth on April 26th and then the neighbor on May 30th.  She did pretty good cutting teeth - a little grumpy and some drooly days but overall not too shabby.

I used some of the money from the One Kings Lane order to get a 50mm prime lens for my camera and I've been having some fun with that.  This picture of Hadley is completely unedited.

She thinks her big sister is the best thing and just loves any attention Arden gives her.

Here's the collage!  I can't resist the little Pebbles ponytail on the top of her head!  I'll probably start putting two in as soon as it gets a little longer.  She'll probably be mad at me for doing it when she's older but I think it's cute!

Hadley Marie: 7 Months

Bring on the warmer weather and some more chunky baby skin!  Hadley's got the chubby baby thing down cold.  I don't have a weight for seven months since it was just an immunization visit for the pediatrician.  She takes her shots like a champ - only crying for a moment and then going right back to her happy-go-lucky self.  Love this baby! 

She's sitting up on her own and still working on crawling.  She can move in just about any direction she wants by rolling, spinning, or scooching - - except forward.  When she tries to go forward she just sort of teeters on her tummy and kicks her legs.  If it wasn't so frustrating for her it would be hilarious.

Both my girls have crazy thick and long eyelashes - most definitely not from my side.  Don't you just love a sleeping baby?

We've added Cheerios and some small soft foods into her repertoir.  She thoroughly enjoys picking them up and getting them into her mouth, but she's not at all sure she wants it there once it's in.

I did a six month photo shoot, even setting up a little natural light studio in Arden's room.  The backdrop is pink fabric that I used as a tablecloth for Arden's third birthday, and I piled up a few mattresses and some fuzzy blankets for Hadley to sit on.  Pink polka dots might be a little busy for a backdrop, hmmm?

Chubby baby fingers!

She was a little over the photo shoot at this point, so as proof that she does cry on occasion I threw this one in.

Shots on the quilt are getting a little more challenging.  Hadley finds playing with her feet or rolling over to be much more interesting than holding still and looking at me.

We went for our first family wagon ride and Hadley did great.  She sits so erect that she did fine, but it was a pretty chilly April day so she was all bundled up.  Arden was so pleased to be on a ride with her sister.

And finally the seven month collage - Yay!  PicMonkey added collage functionality so I was able to put one together at long last for this month.  I tried my darndest to use Photoshop Elements, but that just wasn't happening, so then I had a passable collage crafted in Picasa, but it wouldn't let me add the text so when I went to take that collage into PicMonkey I saw the collage feature.  They've got some nice shape stickers that Picnik didn't have, so I'm warming up to it a bit.

Florida in Pictures