Hadley's Birthday Weekend Part 1

Talk about a perfect day - today was that day for us! I know Hadley may not remember this day when she is older, but I know we will never forget it.

Today, was all about Hadley. We started out at the Children's Museum and spent a couple of hours there before we finished the afternoon off at the Aquarium. These 2 places were on my bucket list of to dos with Hadley this summer. She really enjoyed the museum and on the way out she got 2 balloons that said happy birthday. She really loves balloons! On the way to the Aquarium, there might have been some chanting of fishies, fishies, fishies going on! The Aquarium did not disappoint!

We were concerned about cost but it really wasn't that bad. It was the first time we tried eating out with her in a long time (in fact I cannot even remember the last time we went to a restaurant with her). I loved that I didn't have to worry about how loud she was and that there was plenty of things to entertain her. That made it worth every penny.

We did the carousel, but she wasn't all that thrilled. Then we had lunch, rode the train, and walked the exhibit. She was getting tired but she was a trooper and never whined. At the white tiger exhibit, she asked if she could go in and play with the kitty. haha! That cat is a little different than the neighbors cat, Hannah Montana.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today:

Matt's expression makes It looks like I am holding them up or something.. he's a good husband/dad and does all the silly poses I request

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that smile and it was permanently plastered on her face ALL.DAY.LONG

She loves her play kitchen at home and at Elsa's - we should have known the HEB in Kidtropolis would be her favorite place

Daddy and Hadley put on a puppet show and she is showing us her piggy nose

Even the walk into the Aquarium was a blast for her and this is my favorite picture of the day! LOVE those two!!

This must be her I am so excited face I cannot keep my eyes open! I have a dozen with her making this expression

Checking out the sharks on the train ride

Sorry baby girl you came by those cheeks naturally :)

Fishies, fishies, fishies!!

Mom, dad and birthday girl! Birthday girl didn't even make it out of the parking lot before she was out!

Tricycle from Grandzu and Grand-T! She loves it and practiced into the evening tonight. She is determined to get it

I cannot even tell you how happy she was when we sang "Happy Birthday" she requested it a few more times and we may or may not of obliged ;-)

Enjoying her 4th or 5th sweet treat for the day. It took some convincing for her to go to bed - wonder why?!!!

Grand-T and Grandzu babysat Crosby while we had our Hadley day. Then we came home and celebrated with them and Terry. I think it was a win win for all! I know we enjoyed our last day with our 1 year old very much. We are looking forward to spoiling spending time with her tomorrow (technically today now that I look at the clock!) on her actual birthday. I was just too excited about our day to go to bed, although I am exhausted.

I am in the middle of writing her 2 year old birthday letter to her for her to read when she is older. I am sure she will think I am the biggest sap/cheesiest mom ever but l hope one day she will love reading them. She better! ha!

Crosby 4 Months

My little butterball is doing really well in the eating department. We had his 4 month check-up a few weeks ago and his stats were:

Height: 25 3/4" in the 84%
Weight: 14lbs 12oz in the 41%
Head: 16 1/2" in the 67%

I am pretty sure he has packed on some more weight (what feels like pounds not just ounces) in the last few weeks. It's hard to believe he could gain so much when he spits up SO MUCH. We go through at least 15 bibs a day. I'm not talking a little mess on them so I change them, I'm talking soaking wet within a minute after putting a new one on him! We HAVE to wash them everyday or they would be disgusting.

He is eating oatmeal and some veggies/fruits now. He doesn't turn much down. I feel like he is going to be my good eater. Although the first time he had rice cereal he just sat there with it in his mouth and would not swallow.. I don't blame him! That stuff is nasty! Hadley wanted some of his food so I let her take a spoonful. She immediately started gagging; I started laughing so then she started crying. Neither one of my kids like that cardboard tasting stuff.

Crosby went from size 1 diapers to size 3 with only one package of size 2 in-between. I think that means I left him in size 1's a little to long. He is also wearing 6-9 month clothes now.

Last night he slept un-swaddled for the second time. He slept through the night (12 hours) on Monday night and then every other night started waking up 2x a night because he was getting out of the swaddle. So we decided it was time for us to stop that. Last night I only got up with him at 5:10 am so he slept 9 hours straight. The funny thing is when I went in there to feed him he wasn't really hungry, he just stared at me while I was rocking him. So I laid him back down and gave him his paci and left. I think he just wanted to make sure we will still come if he calls for us :-)

I couldn't resist taking the pics above! I'm honestly surprise Hadley didn't yank her Po (pillow) and Mimi away. 

Naked sister came running to his crib before bed time..
she always wants to lay in his crib and play with his mobile

Not really sure about her look there!

It's funny because he has the exact same facial expression in all 3 pics:
Do I look like I am having fun?!

Poor guy.. he was not happy about this!

My sweet boy! When he looks at me and smiles I just can't help but kiss those chubby cheeks!

Look at that look she is giving him - sums out how she feels
about the little rugrat :-) (Also note the spit-up coming out at the exact moment)

first meal

Giving him "tisses" or biting him.. one or the other ;-)

Nurseries

Lately, I have had an obsession interest in home decorating/DIY blogs and Pinterest. I was so inspired one night, I decided to paint the laundry room. 1) I thought it would inspire me to keep up with the laundry and 2) I figured it didn't matter what color I painted it since no one sees it and I could use left over paint from another room. I think my plan worked... I have actually been better about folding or hanging clothes right out of the dryer instead of piling it back into a basket. Either that or my OCD has kicked into high gear. If you ask Matt he will say it is the latter.

I love all things organizing, decorating, designing, DIY, and crafting.. I am my mother's daughter after-all. I have ventured slightly into landscaping but I wear gloves; just the thought of a worm touching me sends me running. That might have something to do with my brother dumping a container of bait worms down my swimsuit when I was 8.

When I found out I was pregnant with Hadley, I started collecting my nursery inspirations in a file on my computer, you know pre-Pinterest days. I had a vision for her room and loved how it turned out. It is looking a little different these days but overall it is still the little girl nursery/room I had envisioned. I couldn't have done it without Matt working many weekends painting and putting up the bead board. He worked HARD! My mom made the drapes, custom stencil, table and hand painted the words above the closet. My mom and Becky recovered the 1980's La-z-boy that was an important piece to their family (I feel honored to use it for both my kids!) and Stacy hand-made all the little roses that were glued to the balls hanging in the corner.. it was a group effort to say the least. Here is what her room looked like before she was born:

Currently her room looks like this:

She doesn't sleep in the toddler bed, but we read in it and she puts her babies to bed in there. This morning I had to swaddle mimi, bunny, baby Hadley, and baby while she put them all face down to go night-night.

I love her room and before she was born I would spend hours in there organizing/reorganizing everything. It was all so new and exciting. All that was a little different with Crosby and his room.

2nd Child Syndrome
When people would tell me you won't have tons of pictures of the second kid and baby books stay entry-less if you even have one, etc.. I thought no way, NO WAY, would I ever be like that. HA! 2nd born little boy - oh yeah he doesn't even have a baby book and new clothes... nope. I think I have bought him 6 onesies total. I have tried to take pictures, but it is just hard to snap a picture when I am so worried Hadley is going to try to grab him and run off. I did get newborn pictures of him (thanks to Victoria), but have yet to send out birth announcements. I read you can do that up to 6 months. I think I will just make him one and put it in his keepsake box - he'll probably never know or care.

When it came to decorating his nursery I was however, just as excited to do it as I was with Hadley. This time I used pinterest and blogs to find ideas and inspiration. I knew I wanted to paint the walls grey. I have always loved the grey/blue cool tones and figured that would be perfect for him. I also wanted to have dark wood in his room. I pictured a light white/neutral room for a little girl and grey/dark wood room for a boy. Luckily I had the chance to decorate both!

Crosby's nursery:

 

We were on a tight budget when it came to decorating his room. I decided to splurge a little when it came to the bedding. I found the custom bedding I wanted on Etsy and ordered it. She had great reviews and a 100% positive feedback. Long story short, I am out $259 and will never see that money again. Believe me I have tried everything to get it back. I learned my Google skills from Rachel and put them to good use but decided it might not be appropriate to mail something to her house (btw she just bought a new house). Yes, it is a little creepy that I know this. I don't need a restraining order for stalking; so I finally let it go.

We were able to decorate his room for less than $400 if you don't included my donation to HeidiRoseDesign. I am proud of the $45 Craigslist dresser we Matt refinished and the cheap Ikea bookshelf he stained. The crib was a gift from Gigi and Paw Paw. The chair we reused from Hadley's room and I made the bedding, curtains, changing pad cover and art. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't 8 months pregnant at the time. I actually finished his bumpers the Friday night before he was born.There was not time to sit in his room and organize. Sunday, after my water broke, I went in his room and put all his clothes in the dresser. Talk about disarray.

The rooms are very different and I think that shows me.. my styles vary and I just don't think I can be declared traditional, modern, cottage, etc. I like what I like and it changes all the time! It is fun to play designer/decorator and my list of to dos for our house it long. Next to tackle, creating the perfect playroom. I have so many ideas!

Blessings

I was thinking about these last few months since Crosby's birth and how much has happened in our lives and thought about if I should extensively blog about it or not... I decided to skim over it as I am positive I could never forget about how chaotic life has been. However, I do want to blog about how blessed we have been through all of it.

In the last week alone, my mom was hospitalized for sever pneumonia, our a/c broke and then my mom's a/c broke, I had a bad 24 hour bug, then some mild hearing lose, after 3 trips to the Dr./hospital we now know Hadley fractured her foot and all of her finger and toe nails are peeling off (apparently can happen in sever cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth which she had over a month ago).

It has been busy around here, but I am sure it is no different than any other household. I know we all have our ups and downs and chaotic life moments and for us it seems they have hit in a 4 month period. I don't want to say it can't get any worse because I don't want the universe to try to prove me wrong, but I do feel if we can handle all of that we quite possibly can handle more (don't really want to know if we can though).

Blessings
Through all of the chaos and sometimes what felt like catastrophes we have had great friends and family that have helped us out in more ways than they could know.

Matt now has a new boss that has a different perspective/outlook and he is now able to take the kids in the morning to help me out when I have early morning calls. Or like last week when I was running between my mom's house, hospital, dr's office, etc.. It seems small, but him not having to be in the office at 6:30 makes a huge difference for us and our lifestyle.

I have been frustrated at work, at times, (who hasn't) BUT the fact that I can work anytime and not have to be in an office strictly from 8-5 has been such a blessing. I also have the best coworker who covers any and everything without ever being asked. She has truly been my LIFESAVER!

When my mom was released from the hospital they sent her home with strict orders of rest, rest, rest and more rest. She was feeling so terrible it was actually easier to keep her low key. The nurses and doctors at the hospital said the prescription she was on was going to be very expensive (and they were right - I called 5 different pharmacy's and the price ranged $210 - $499). I decided to go to Kroger since they were the cheapest at $210 and that way I could also grocery shop for her at the same time. When I went to pay for the prescription, the tech asked if she had prescription coverage and I told her no and then she asked me a few things and then told me something (I couldn't hear her because of the dumb hearing loss so I just nodded my head - now I wish I knew what she said) and then the prescription rang up for $12 and change. Talk about a blessing. I wanted to cry right then in Kroger's but didn't. I just thought that girl has no idea how much of a blessing that was for my mom.

This past weekend Stacy and BJ babysat so we could have a little mini vacation. I will do a whole post about the weekend but they will never know what a blessing that was for us to have 32 hours of peace and quiet!!

So in the chaos of it all it was easy to see how certain things feel into place making life just a little bit easier or gave us the ability to handle it at all... that is why I feel like through it all we are truly blessed.