Cleveland Rocks

It was time for our annual fall baseball/Chiefs game trip with my parents! Woo hoo! Except that my dad got really sick with a fever for about 9 days and couldn't come. I was really disappointed not only because we love taking trips with my parents, but because now we had no babysitter to go outand for the Chiefs game. They were supposed to drive up to Winston-Salem and then we would all drive up to Cleveland in his van with lots of room and tvs. So much for that plan. Mom and Jeremy want to go to every baseball stadium before they died and Cleveland was a new one for both of them. Mom will have to make another trip sometime. We had lots of fun anyway, but it would have definitely been more fun with them.

The cracker jacks must have knocked Hadlee out.

It was a little chilly at this game. It had rained before but didn't during the game. Our seats were under an awning but the stadium was so empty we could have sat anywhere. The game went to 11 innings (Cleveland won) and by the time it was over I was the only one freezing. It probably wasn't that cold, just windy, but I'm always freezing. I also had a cold and cough and was constantly blowing my nose so the end of the game was welcomed. On Friday we went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It was a great day for the zoo! About 68* and partly cloudy. All the animals were up and about moving around except for the lazy lions and a gorilla. At this zoo you weren't very far from the animals and there wasn't much between you and them. It wasn't all spread out with too much walking and the zookeepers were very informative. I really liked this zoo.

The lorikeets were free to land on you and you could buy nectar to feed them. Maddox even had them land on her although she didn't want to. They did it anyway and surprised her but she didn't freak out. She just laughed. So then I got her to hold the nectar cup and feed them.

Is your hearing really better with big kangaroo ears?

Jeremy prooves that it's not.

Maddox is almost 36 inches tall now! We only checked because you had to be 36 inches to go down a snake slide at the zoo and when I told Jeremy how close she was he didn't believe me. That means she's grown about an inch in the past 5 weeks!

Hadlee got to go swimming for the first time! She seemed to like it, as much as a 3 1/2 month old can.

That's a map Maddox is holding. She wanted to navigate as we walked around the city. It took a LONG time to get anywhere with her reading the map and walking. But she's learning early watching Mommy with a map all the time.

That's Cleveland Browns stadium behind them. We're down by the waterfront.

Maddox wanted to go to the beach, just like she always does since we visit NC beach and Grammy and Papa's beach. Just 2 miles east of downtown there's this park with rocks to climb on and a beach. Not quite the same as a coastal beach, a little dirtier, but hey, it's sand. Maddox liked it.

Impossible to get all 4 of us to look at the camera at the same time.

Sunday we went to the Browns/Chiefs game. We had tickets in the Family Zone so there were some kid friendly activities to do.

Again, it was a great day for football! It was near 70* and partly cloudy. Not hot and not cold. That stadium is right on the water, really, right on the water. I can't even imagine going to a game in December with snow and wind whipping off that lake! Brrr!

Hadlee didn't sleep for most of the day. She was awake from 8:30 until about 3:30 when she finally was tired enough to ignore all the noise and nap. By the way, she's wearing a size 12 month jersey which is not huge on her. The fall clothes she wore while up there are 6-9 month and, again, she's only 3 1/2 months old. She's a chunk.

Yeah!!!!! The Chiefs won!!!!!!

We've been to 4 away games in 3 seasons and this is the first game we've left being winners. Maddox is only 2 1/2 years old, born and raised in NC, and has already been to 4 Chiefs games. Pretty good for 2!

Where will the Chiefs play next year? I'm already looking forward to our 4th annual trip. But this time, my parents better stay healthy for it!

Aunt Suzy and Cousins

The day after we got home from the beach in August Aunt Suzy and her kids came to visit us. Yes, I'm a little behind with blogging. Every time I tried to load the pictures blogger wasn't working. They came out to meet Hadlee. Here's Emily and Hadlee: And Matthew and Hadlee:

It was hot, as usual, when they came. One day we just went to a park to play and feed the ducks and have a picnic. It was so hot that our fun didn't last long and we came back home to the air conditioning. Maddox loved having her cousins here and still asks about them. Matthew hung out with Maddox all the time, playing with her and giving her piggy back rides. She loved all the attention. Matthew is such a cool cousin and loves playing with little kids!

Another day Suzy and Katherine went canoeing so Matthew, Emily and my girls went to the Children's Museum. The two little girls were enjoying story time while Matthew sat with Hadlee, again doing a great job at babysitting!

Emily and Maddox had to do everything together, from going potty to bathing together! Emily's just showing Maddox how. And it must have helped, Maddox seems all trained now!

Their last day here we went up to the mountains to go to Linville Caverns and hiking to a swimming hole and rope swing. By the time we got to the swimming hole we only got about 20 minutes to swim because a storm rolled in and it started raining pretty hard. We had to climb back over the slippery rocks to the trail and hike back in the rain. Emily was pretty scared about it and Hadlee was scared to death. By the time we got back to the car all the kids were freezing and the sun was starting to peek out again. Where is radar when you need it?

Emily and Maddox took refuge under a rock while we waiting the rain out for a bit.

Just a few pictures since I'm so late. Their visit was the last of our summer visitors that came to meet our new addition. We were kind of bummed when they left. Not only because Maddox especially loves playing with her cousins, but because their visit marked the last of relatives to come see us and summer was coming to an end. Thanks to all who made the trek to come our way this summer!

Hadlee's 3 Month Photos

Just a sampling of some of Hadlee's cute pictures. I bought enough that I got the whole cd of all 64 of them. They were all just too cute! She needs to smile less so I can save money! If you want to see them all you'll have to look on facebook.

Hadlee's checkup

We took Hadlee in for her 2 month checkup on August 9th (a little late since we were on vacaton so it was almost 10 weeks). She was perfectly healthy and growing well! She got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine and cried a little but quickly recovered.
Here's her stats: 12 lb 5 oz, 90% (a pound more than her sister at this age)
24 1/4" long, 97% (about the same as sis)
15" head, 50% (same as sis)

So Hadlee looks chunkier than Maddox did for a reason--she is! She coos and squeaks a lot now, smiles and sort of laughs if we make funny faces at her, and is nursing every 2 to 3 hours now. Enough space is between feedings that I called the vet and said I'd come back to work in September. Hadlee is even starting to sleep longer at night. Most nights now she'll have her last feeding about 10:30 to 11 and not again until 6 or after. Once in a while she still wakes up for a 4:30 feeding, but not very often. She's a very happy and easy baby!

Cute video of some very successful tummy time! She's never held her head that high before today!

OBX Aug. 2010 Part 1

We took our summer vacation this year to the NC Outer Banks. I'm pretty sure it's the first real family vacation we've taken that hasn't involved my parents going with us or going to visit one of our relatives. We had such a good time making memories with our two girls. I wish I could vacation all the time! Our first stop was to Nag's Head for 3 nights. Maddox was immediately ready to go to the beach and wanted to wear all her paraphenalia. Once she got there the water wings came off. Maddox was a little nervous about the beach. It's loud on this coast, there are lots of waves that crash about 5 times before they come ashore, it's daunting! She would walk in the surf only holding our hands and pick up shells and put them in her bucket. By the end of the week she wouldn't hold our hands in the surf, she was running up and down the beach, and even wanted to sit in the surf. But the rougher the ocean was on various days and places she knew she should stay farther away and hold hands more. In the places where the ocean was calmer she was much braver and independent. She and I would walk for 30 minutes down the beach and she would get upset when I told her it was time to turn around, knowing that the 30 minutes back wouldn't be quite as much fun. If only a car could pick us up when were done, we both could walk forever on the beach exploring shells and critters and people.

I love this huge sports tent. Provides lots of shade and SPF 50 for Hadlee. Unfortunately it does not provide a block from the wind very well if the wind and the sun are coming from different directions. The second day on the beach her face got wind burned. It didn't even cross our minds to think of the wind coming off the water. She was fine though, not a big deal.

One day was kind of overcast and off and on sprinkles so we went up to the Wright Brothers Memorial, Kitty Hawk Kites to buy a kite, and miniature golfing.

It was still overcast and chilly that night but we went to the beach anyway to walk and fly our new kite. On the Nag's Head beach there were tons and tons of jelly fish in the surf and washing up on the shore. Maddox though they were icky and freaked out if she got near one while walking. I kept poking them with my toes to show her they were okay, just squishy. We bought her Jenny Jellyfish by Suzanne Tate (an children's author the biology and shore loving side of me loves) in the hopes that reading about the jellyfish would help Maddox be braver around them. It didn't work, but she likes the book anyway.

Maddox picked out a fairy kite that's pretty cool. The fairy's dress and feet are the tail. Now that we're home it hasn't been windy one day and we haven't gotten to fly it again. She keeps asking though. It's so windy on the beach that it takes no effort to get it in the air. Just let a little string out and there it goes and goes and goes. Maddox and the fairy tried to touch toes with Daddy's help.

A little early morning sisterly love.

We went up to Jockey's Ridge State Park which has 100 foot sand dunes and looks like a desert in North Carolina. It sort of strange to climb the dunes, like nothing I've ever seen before. It made me feel like I was in some desert in Africa you only see in the movies. Until you get to the top and see the ocean and bay all around you.

This picture doesn't make it look like they're climbing a huge hill, but really, it was huge. Maddox had a hard time getting up and going down she was a bit nervous.

Jeremy's leaping to his death off a sandy cliff! Okay, so the sandy hill was right below him, but it looks like he's jumping off a cliff, doesn't it? Especially if I could photoshop out that kid below him.

I tried to get Maddox to make a sand angel with me. She wasn't too keen on getting all dirty. Hadlee apparently wasn't either, she cried while I made my angel.

Fine, if you're going to whine, Maddox, about laying in the sand then I'll just tickle you to death and make you laugh!!

That's the hill we were up on, jumping off of and climbing up. See? Big!

We went to have pizza at this place on the bay. Of course we wanted to eat outside on the deck but the you could see through the deck to the grass about 12 feet below. Maddox refused to walk on it. She'd sort of tiny step along, sure that she was going to fall through, and finally just stopped and made me come get her. It was pretty funny. I'd put her down off the picnic table and tell her to go to Daddy's side and we'd laugh and how long it took her walking like a 90 year old woman. Then he'd send her back to me. With all that she never did get used to it.