Happy 2nd birthday to Hadley!!

Today is Hadley's 2nd birthday and I just keep asking myself, "Where did the time go?" It's hard for me to believe that she is 2 years old when it seems like only yesterday I was at the hospital giving birth to her. I feel truly blessed that I have been able to be a stay at home Mom for the last 2 years because the time I have spent with her is so precious to me. I love watching her learn and discover new things and every day I find myself looking at her and thanking God that she is here!

I know that Wes is thinking of her today, he was very upset that he wouldn't be here for her birthday, but he's out saving the world right now.

We had her birthday party this last Saturday. Her Grandma and Grandpa came, along with Auntie Amy, Cousin Analea, Auntie Monnica, her BFF Victoria, her God Parents Chris and Lacie and Monnica's Mom Joelle, and her sister Tiffany who brought along her son Corbin. Her birthday party was a Hello Kitty theme and she enjoyed some pizza, cupcakes and lots of presents!

Talking, snow, and cousins.

It has been quite some time since I have updated, but I thought it was time to do so. Hadley and I made it through a very long deployment, this was one of the longer deployments that I have done being that it was over 80 days. I hurt my back about halfway through and was unable to do a lot of things for a long time. I have gotten a lot better although I am still not 100% and won't be for a while.

Hadley had a great summer! Her cousins Kyler and Analea moved here from Indiana and she was very excited! Hadley loves to play with her cousins and when they come to the house she claps and lets out cute little squeals to let them know she is excited to see them!

Wes came home and Hadley didn't take long at all to adjust to him. The first few minutes that she saw him she seemed a little shy, but she came around very quickly and remembered who her Daddy was!

Since being home Wes has spent most of his free time playing with Hadley. He is an amazing Daddy and I am so lucky to have him! I knew he was going to be a great Dad when I married him, but he has gone above and beyond my expectations! Hadley loves him so much and every day she runs to the door to see him when he comes home from work! She has started talking a lot more, she says 'mom', 'dad', 'your welcome', 'hi', and 'pretty'. We are still working on other words, but her baby babble is the cutest! I love to listen to her babble!

Hadley went trick or treating for the first time this year. We didn't take her out last year because it was very cold and rainy. She still doesn't understand the concept of trick or treating, but she had a great time! She was a bumblebee and I have to say she was the cutest little bee I have ever seen!

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving and will have a house full this year! We have my sister Amy and her children Kyler and Analea coming, along with my best friend Monnica and her daughter Victoria and our friends Chris and Lacie.

This year will be our first Christmas together as a family and we are so excited for it. Wes was deployed for Hadley's first Christmas which we spent in Indiana with my sister Amy. I am looking forward to decorating the tree and the house and I know Wes and I are both excited to see Hadley open her gifts!

That is all for now, I hope everyone is doing well!

God bless!

Walking

Hadley has mastered the art of walking, but is still working on the running. She hardly ever crawls anymore which is sad to me. Crawling is one of the last few things she has from being a baby, now she's a toddler and as much as I love watching her grow, I have a hard time letting go of my little baby.

I thought I had baby proofed as much as I could possibly baby proof, but no matter how much you do there will always be things that can hurt your baby. She is also getting braver and smarter, she can get into things that I didn't think that she could. She's a very sneaky little one!

She's still a great eater, she loves pasta, eggs, bananas, cooked apples, steamed carrots, and just about anything else we have let her try! The one thing we have found she doesn't like is ketchup, but I gave her some hash browns with ketchup a week or so ago and she ate it, so who really knows.

I watch her play and laugh each day and just think to myself how lucky I am to have such an amazing daughter. She is such a happy girl and loves to laugh! She's still working on saying words, she says thank you in her own way, and a few other things, but we're still working.

She has her 15 month well baby check up on the 19th of July, and I'm very anxious to see how much she has grown!

Wes will be deploying very soon and I have to say I'm not looking forward to it. Hadley gets very excited to see him when he comes home from work everyday and I'm not sure how she is going to react when she has to go a long period of time without him. My hope is that she will re-adjust to him when he gets back and it will be like he never left.

I hope every one is well, take care and God bless!

Happy birthday Hadley!

Today is Hadley's first birthday and I can't even believe where the time has gone. I remember every detail of her birth like it was yesterday. We have been blessed with such a miracle and we cherish every second with her. I never knew the love a mother could have for their child until I had one of my own and now I know that there is no greater love in the world. Hadley has been the best gift that God has ever given to me and I feel so lucky each and every day to be her Mommy. She's such an amazing little girl and I love watching her learn and grow.

We had Hadley's birthday party on Saturday and it was tons of fun! Hadley loved getting so much attention from everybody! Her birthday guests included: Mommy, Daddy, Grammy, Auntie Kimmy, Uncle Jake, Cousin Kaydence, Cousin Preslee, Great Auntie Nina, Uncle Topher, and Wes' chief Orlando along with his kids Braydon, Nathan and Erica. Hadley got lots of clothes and toys including an activity table from Mommy and Daddy that is her new favorite toy. She loved eating her cake and after taking a bath she passed out in her swing for 2 whole hours! Thanks to everyone that came! It was a memorable day!

She had her one year well baby check today and she weighed 18 lbs. 6 oz. (37th percentile) she was 28 3/4 inches tall (65th percentile) and her head circumference was 18 inches (82nd percentile). Her doctor says that she is developing well and we have nothing to worry about. She's perfectly healthy.

When she was born the nurses in the NICU at Madigan didn't take her foot prints like they do with most babies. I'm not sure why, if they were too busy or just didn't think of it, but I was knocked out after my c-section so I couldn't ask. When we brought her home I was dealing with having post-partum depression so I never got around to getting a foot print or hand print kit to do them myself. A few months back I decided I would wait until she was a year old and do them myself with an ink pad. Wes and I did that today and let me just say I understand why they do them at birth. They aren't able to move then! We managed to get them onto a paper, they are a little smudged, but I don't care. I just wanted them to keep for her baby book.

We hope that everybody is doing well! God bless!

Hadley's first Easter!

Hadley enjoyed her first Easter! She loved her Easter basket, sure, she didn't get to eat the candy, but she liked the toys. We got her a stuffed bunny and a few rubber duckies. She's had an infatuation with rubber duckies lately, she takes them with her when she gets out of the bath tub and is attached to them all night.

We had a big dinner that included pot roast with potatoes, carrots and mushrooms, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, deviled eggs and rolls. It was a really good meal, I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off! Our best friends, Chris and Lacie came over and we all spent the day together. We really wanted to go to church, but we didn't get up for the morning service and the only evening service we could find was pretty far away.
I have been keeping busy with school and lots of appointments for my eye and I have also started the process of getting lap band surgery. It's a 6 month process and I am at the beginning, but I am keeping a positive outlook.
Wes has been working, but not a whole lot. He had to start standing duty which is never fun, but he's going on leave at the end of the week.

We are preparing for Hadley's birthday party on the 17th of this month, I can't believe that our little girl is already a year old! It flew by so fast! She is have a polka dot themed party, nothing big, just a couple friends and family.
She has her one year check up on the 19th (her birthday) and I am excited to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. She's working on walking on her own, she's pretty good at doing it while holding onto our hands or a toy, but she's not quite ready to do it on her own yet.
We hope everyone is well, god bless!

Hadley crawling and lots of other stuff

Hadley started crawling on the 11th of this month. Wes is incredibly excited that he was the first to see her, I was getting in the shower and he yelled to me to come look and by then she was already doing it so he's super excited! He feels like he misses out on a lot of things so this was a point for him! Hadley is very mobile now, since our house is made for a handicapped person it's hard to find gates that will fit the entry ways so we decided to buy something called a Super Yard instead. It was only $55 and it's a huge circle, play pen type thing that is big enough for Hadley to crawl around in and play with her toys.
As for Wes he has been doing well, he's been playing Mr. Mom lately since I have been unable to take care of Hadley on my own due to a spinal headache. He's missed a lot of work, but his chief has been very nice about all of it, so Wes has no reason to complain.
I am doing well, the spinal headache is finally gone. I had it for about four days. I decided to try an IV with caffeine before doing a blood patch and it ended up working so I'm very happy about that. I have an appointment this coming Sunday to get an MRV done (like an MRI but they look at your veins). I will be doing that at Madigan in Tacoma. I also have to do a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea, apparently there can be a link between that and pseudotumor cerebrae, so I guess we will find out.
Hadley's birthday party is in a month and we have been slowly planning for that. Hopefully everything works out with my health and her party will go on as planned. I hope that everybody is well and God bless :)

Hadley has teeth!!

So, I was feeding Hadley puff-puff and felt in her mouth and she has 2 teeth that have broken through the gums! One is barely through, but the other one is totally there, I mean it still has to continue coming out, but you can see it! I'm so excited! This is perfect timing as well, Wes is coming home tomorrow (Friday) and he's going to be so excited!

Also, I took Hadley to the doctor on Wednesday for her 9 month well baby check (3 weeks late, but that's the Navy for ya) she weighed 16 lbs. 3.9 oz. (40th percentile for weight), she was 29 inches tall (87th percentile for height) and her head circumference was 18.5 (75th percentile). The doctor says that she's doing well, I was a little concerned with the weight, but she assured me that I have nothing to worry about and she's within the range she's supposed to be.

That's about it for now, here's a video to enjoy. She learned this from her Auntie Amy :)