Hadlee at 9 months

I put Hadlee in Maddox's bed to wake her up from a nap.  It didn't really work.  Maddox slept, and Hadlee just smiled.

Hadlee went in for her 9 month checkup this week.  She weighed 20 lbs 1 oz (3.5 lbs more than her sister at that age) which is the 75%ile.  She was 28.5 inches long, also 75%ile.  The child STILL has no teeth but that makes nursing all that easier!  It certainly hasn't stopped her from eating whatever she wants, preferably off of our plate.  She much prefers table food as opposed to baby food.  She'll eat whatever we do at dinner as long as I cut it up tiny if it's tough to chew (steak and chick and such).

A rare moment of the beginning of tears.

Hadlee is going through some separation anxiety.  She's started to cry when we leave her at church or with neighbors.  At her 9 month pictures she REALLY did not like being set on the floor, even with Maddox, to have two strangers take her picture.  She cried and reached out for me and hid her face on me.  She finally calmed down enough, with the coaxing of some graham crackers, to at least sit next to Maddox without crying.  But we got no smiles.  I really don't remember Maddox going through separation anxiety.  It seems like Maddox is the shy one and Hadlee is the more outgoing one, but not for now.

Not really wanting to stand on this laundry basket.  Can she squat enough so that she can sit?  She eventually did.

Hadlee wants to stand a lot of the time now.  She can't pull herself up yet, but if you try to sit her down she'll get stiff legs and refuse to bend and sit.  So I'll put her next to her activity table or a chair with some toys and she'll stand until she cries because she's afraid of trying to sit down.  It's a long way down she thinks!  She also isn't crawling.  She'll lead over from sitting, get on her hands and one knee with the other leg still streched out and reach for things.  She'll also lay on her back and roll around the room to get to things.  She makes me wonder if she'll skip crawling.

The cute girl claps her hands all the time now too.  You can hold out your hand and say "clap, clap, clap" and she'll clap your hands too.  We're working on peek-a-boo and waving but so far she just thinks those are funny to have mommy do.

I had to throw one picture in of Maddox, our tom boy lately.  She's into wearing this hat, my old Charlie Brown hat, on backwards all the time.  She looked especially sporty in her Iowa jersey.  She's happy though, and this is with an ear infection and all!

The Birthday Party-part 2

Jeremy's awesome decor job.  I'm going to hire him out.

Maddox had a snowman/snow party.  It was 50 degrees that day.  It snowed the day she was born, but it can't snow on our snow themed birthday party day?  Well, in NC your chances are pretty slim.  After researching on the internet I combined some snowman cake ideas and made our own.  I only made the actual cake, I left Jeremy up to the decorating.  And to top it off, I left him to the decorating it alone with the girls while I was working at the vet that morning.  He piped the icing and then used fondant to make the scarf and cover and ice cream cone for the hat.  When I got home I okayed it and put on the candy face and buttons.  It looked awesome!  He has so much more patience for this stuff than I do.  He did a really great job!

My girls, waiting for guests to arrive.

 We invited just a few friends; our neighbors Grady, Ethan, and Brennan, and my choir director's daughter who she plays with while I'm in rehearsal, Madeleine.  I planned a couple of crafts and just play time together.  One craft was making a sticker snowman scene.

Grady and Maddox making snowmen scenes with stickers and crayons.

 I also planned to make snowmen and snowflakes with marshmallows and pretzel sticks.  No one had any interest in that except eating them.  Maddox would stab a little marshmallow with a pretzel making me thing she was actually going to make something, then stick it in her mouth.

Really, I can EAT this marshmallow?  How many can I eat?

 She also stuck most of the big marshmallows directly into her mouth all at once.  Oh well, it's her birthday, she can get away with it.

 The most fun was had by just hitting around a few balloons I had blown up and thrown on the floor.  Crafts are not necessary, just balloons and a wide open area.  They were crazy and giggly for quite a while.

Ethan, Maddox, and Grady throwing balloons around.

 Maddox got lots of cool stuff for her birthday.  Stuff I even like!  She got the Elmo alphabet game for her DS, The Learning Circle game, Candyland, Sequence for Kids, Caribou Island, a Tinkerbell craft and a cute shirt, a Barbie mermaid for the pool and tub, a birthday book, some crafts, some money, and a few other little random things.

Maddox calmed down and forgot about balloons when I told her it was time to open presents!

Blowing out her candles one at a time.

 After the neighbor kids left Madeleine stuck around to play so I brought the trampoline inside for them to jump on.  Madeleine was looking longingly through the door at it.  They had a blast!  They jumped for a while and played a couple games and played with playdough. 

 I realized the next day I hadn't gotten any pictures of the decor.  Jeremy and I stayed up way too late untangling fishing line with snowflakes on it I had bought at the party store.  We strung it back and forth across the room and it looked very festive.  I also bought a snowman and put a birthday hat on him.  Hanging on all the windows and some walls were a bunch of snowflakes I had cut out over the course of a few nights.  It looked very snowy in my house.  Now that spring is coming outside, I can deal with it a little better and will leave all that work up a little longer.

Maddox can't quite believe her birthday is over.  I still catch her singing "Happy Birthday to me" once in a while.  But she does get that she's now 3 and "getting bigger" as she'll tell you.  She has also pointed out that Hadlee's birthday is next.  I guess she's already looking forward to the next one!

My big girl is 3-part 1

Since we had such celebrations for Maddox' birthday I'll divide the photos into 2 blogs.  Friday was her birthday but no one was around but her and I (and Hadlee but that doesn't count for much).  One of the first things she said was "Where's my Daddy?  I have to tell him it's my birthday!"  So we called him at work.  I let her open a few presents throughout the day.  It was kind of a nice way to do it because she'd open one and play with it for 30 minutes then want to open another.

Modeling a dress from Grammy

 I put curlers in her hair the night before for the first time.  The next morning she had a Shirley Temple/afro.  Next time I'll use one size bigger.  I eventually had to put a little water on the kinky parts to calm it down.  I couldn't stand it!



Playing with new educational books from Aunt Jennifer

  I made her baked oatmeal for breakfast and put a candle in it for her.  The baked oatmeal may have been just as much for me as it was for her. 

The beautiful birthday girl!

To celebrate the rest of the day we went to have lunch with Daddy at the restaurant of Maddox' choice.  She chose Chick-fil-a and then ate hardly anything.  After we came home for a short nap the two girls and I went to see Gnomeo and Juliet.  Maddox carried in her Elmo stepstool to sit on so the chair wouldn't fold up on her since I had Hadlee on my lap.  It was pretty cute.  She sat there and ate her M&Ms during the movie.  After all this she said her birthday was over and she didn't want to have a party anymore.  After a good night's sleep she changed her mind!

And so it begins . . .

It's birthday week and Maddox knows it.  She'll occasionally sing "Happy Birthday to me . . . " and constantly point out that her birthday is next, she'll be 3.  She got her first present on Saturday from Renee when she came to visit me at work.  Since they Renee and Maddox were both there I went ahead and let her open it.  She got a Tinkerbell doll, skirts, slippers, games, and coloring book.  She tried the skirt and slippers on immediately when we got home and I asked her if she could fly like Tinkerbell now.  She disparagingly said "No Mom, I don't have wings!" 

 Flapping her arms like wings:

 Maddox got 2 skirts, the second coming in handy for Hadlee's head.

 On a warm day last week Hadlee had her first ride in the bike seat.  She was pretty indifferent about it.  I know, no helmet, but we just rode up and down the street a little.  Sunday we were going to go to the lake and I'd ride with one kid and Jeremy would run with the other in the jogging stroller but it was a bit chilly for kids with runny noses.  Eventually we'll get to go outside more!  By the way, Jeremy still went to the lake and left us girls home to nap before the superbowl party.  A fine plan with me.

They're CHICKEN nuggets, not turkey nuggets!

Hadlee at McDonalds.  She even has a bite hanging from her lip.

Maryann after her chicken nuggets.
 She's my friend Katie's little girl whom we watch 2 days a week.