Hadley 17 months

Our almost 1 1/2 year old (how the time has flown) is laying in her crib right now "talking" to herself and kicking her legs on the mattress. It is 5:00 am and I cannot sleep (I will post why I have been up since 3:40 am in the baby k2 post coming up next) so I got up to work a little. I guess she heard me because she is yelling "bay bay" like she does when we come into her room in the morning. I think she is trying to tell me I am ready to get up.. and I am letting her know that it is not! I did get a bottle ready and was going to go change her and give her some milk if she kept up but after playing with glo-worm and talking to herself she is back asleep. That is my good girl!

Hadley at 17 months is...

... a happy girl!
Yesterday afternoon, I had a hair appointment, and Matt surprised me by showing up with Hadley along with a flower, chocolate and a gossip magazine. It was such a sweet surprise and after hearing he ventured to 2 other salons first because he didn't know where Tara moved to - it is even sweeter! Hadley was looking at me a little confused by all the foil in my hair and it took her a second before she ran over to me, but then she did and started her "whatsthat" while pointing at everything routine. I love that she asks me what everything is 24/7 - how else will she learn! She was smiling and very happy the whole time and the other ladies there just kept going on about how happy she was! I am not going to say she doesn't have her moments because SHE DOES, but overall she is just content with life.

The small things make her smile. She will run and I mean run around the house chasing Koda and then they switch and he chases her... she cracks up laughing and has the cheesiest grin on her face.

... a curious girl!

As I said above her favorite saying is "whatsthat" and will point to any and everything asking about it. Sometimes I think she is trying to test me. She knows certain body parts really well (nose, ears, eyes, mouth, belly button, feet, hair) and will point to my nose and ask me "whatsthat" and before I can answer she says "nose". If I ask her something she knows well she will give me a funny grin and point or say what it is like silly mommy you know that! If you take her picture (no one around here ever does ;-)) she runs over to see it. If she doesn't know what you are asking she puts her hands out to the side with the shoulder shrug of "i dunno know".

... a growing girl! 
She is eating pretty well these days and loves all fruit. We are having a harder time with making sure she eats all her vegetables. She does like them but to make sure she has enough we give her the Ella's Kitchen vegetable baby foods that are in the pouch and she loves it! She really likes yogurt as well. She will get that for dessert sometimes if I feel she just didn't eat enough of her dinner. She is learning to eat with utensils and although she picks up the food and places it on the fork and then in her mouth, she is getting better at it. She tests me all the time while she eats - she will take a piece of whatever she is eating and hold it over the edge of her high chair like she is going to drop it. I shake my head and say no and she does the same and then puts it back on the tray (sometimes). Sometimes she drops it... that girl!


She still has a morning bottle and evening bottle and if she is fighting a nap or we just want to make it really easy - she gets one then. I know by now she should be past that, but it works for us and I am not doing much to change it. I promise she will not be a 3 year old with a bottle.

... a helpful girl!
Hadley loves to help sweep, dust and vacuum. Or do anything we are doing - especially laundry! She loves to push the buttons and when she starts it she claps for herself and is so proud. We do a lot of clapping around our house.

Right now, we are lucky that she will bring us anything she finds on the ground. It is helpful, but I still freak out if she brings me something that could potentially hurt her if she tried to eat it or something. She has been good with the Christmas tree but has brought us a few ornaments without hooks on them so of course that worries us. We start crawling around and feeling for it but have yet to find one. I am sure it is still hanging in the tree. She will close the dishwasher even if you are not done loading it. In fact, she closes EVERYTHING. She doesn't like open doors or drawers. I wonder where she gets that from...

... a loving girl!
She still loves giving the puppies kisses. She will kiss your feet or legs if you are sitting down. I have no idea why we never kiss her feet ;-) She gives lots of kisses and hugs and is a lot more cuddly than she has been the last few months. I was shampooing the carpet when Matt and Hadley had left to go shopping and when they came back she was a little timid of this giant vacuum. She held onto Matt and had her head laying on his shoulder and boy was he eating it up! We had a few rough nights around Thanksgiving when she was getting up a few times at night and she would be so happy to see us when we would come into her room. Even though she was happy to see me she was very happy to see her daddy. She loves her daddy so much and loves to jump on him and tap on his back and run away playing the come get me game!

... a smart girl!
She catches onto things fairly quickly. We let her play with the iPad (and we are a t.v. watching family) and she knows how to open hers apps and play with some of them the way you are supposed to. There is one game with 5 animals to pick from and the name of the animal comes onto the screen and you have to pick the correct one and place it in the yellow circle. She doesn't know all the animals but understands the concept and knows some of the animals and gets those right every time.


... an active girl!
We have a girl on the move! She loves to run, climb, rock, dance, twirl and do anything on the move. She will keep you on your feet all day. We have a fun day planned for tomorrow so I am hoping because of all the activities there will be a nice nap for all!

Most of all Hadley is a true blessing to this family and it is easy to see during the holidays. I read stories of the struggles families have especially around this time and most are still trying to figure out how they can help others. Most everyone is just thankful for their healthy kids and even though they cannot get them gifts or pay all the bills they are reaching out to others to donate what they can (used toys, clothes, recipes.. whatever). I read one story that a lady is struggling pretty hard and she said she can knit and would be happy to knit a hat, animal anything for someone if she could. Someone responded saying how about you knit my daughter a hat and I will buy your kids Christmas presents.. .it is very inspiring and of course as a natural crier and being pregnant I just bawled my eyes out.

As I read and cried, I realized we are extremely blessed and although we are not well off and live pay check to pay check at times we are never without and we have friends and family that support, love and care for us. We are in a place where we can help.. we have reached out to help a family in need. I am sure many of you already do so and donate. Someone very wise told me "as you will learn, playing Santa is even more fun than being a kid" and they are very right. Not only is giving gifts more fun than receiving but helping out a grateful family is even more rewarding. We are truly thankful for all the blessing we have and cannot express to everyone what your love and support means to us.