Hadley Laughs

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be.
— James Matthew Barrie

A fairy was born yesterday. Hadley laughed for the first time. It was only appropriate that her first laugh was for Ana.

Ana was entertaining Hadley while I made lunch and Simeon was downstairs working. We both heard Hadley laugh and ran into the room. Ana was SO excited that she was the first one to make her laugh.

But the second laugh? That was all me. AND we managed to get it on video. Please ignore me making a complete fool of myself (that’s what Hadley prefers) and my husband, the laughing camera man. But I doubt you will even notice those things because Hadley and her beautiful laugh totally steal the show. Enjoy.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last night Ana and Sim went to the annual Daddy Daughter Dance that the Cedar Hills Rec Center puts on each year around Valentine’s Day. Ana looks forward to it all year. Anything fancy or special she sees she asks, “Could I wear that to the Daddy Daughter Dance?” So this year we really went all out. I let her pick out a fancy dress (from the leftover Christmas clearance). I let her borrow my heart earrings. I even ordered her a corsage.

Here they are, all ready to go!

Are they not the cutest thing ever?

My little girl is growing up so fast!

Ana was so proud of her fancy hair. And the silver heart earrings!

Ana is all ready to dance the night away.


They both had a wonderful time. Ana is already asking about next years dance! You can see all the pictures I took here. Enjoy!

A Letter: Three Months

Dear Hadley,
Today you turn three months old. That’s a quarter of a year. How is that even possible? A year always seems like such a long stretch of time, but we’ve blown through a fourth of it already! It’s been so much fun spending time with you. You are full of smiles and love to coo and squeal. We have some very entertaining “conversations” where I alternate talking to you and listening to you babble on in your own little baby language. I always love to hear what you have to say.



You are such a happy girl and are more than willing to just go with the flow. Our schedule is quiet full, and let’s be honest, a little hectic, but you are always mellow and happy to check out the myriad of entertaining places we go, whether it’s play dates with our friends, out to dinner, or just driving around running errands. I love looking back in the “baby mirror” in my car to see you gazing out the window, just enjoying the world around you.


Earlier in the month you developed a new “skill” of bringing your fist directly to your eye and then dragging it down your face to get it to your mouth. But now, in a matter of days after practicing that skill, you are now able to bring your hands straight to your mouth. Just like that. BAM. Hands to mouth? Mastered. It’s amazing how quickly you are able to figure things out. Now you are working on using your hands to bring other things to your mouth, such as your clothes, Ana’s hair, and just about anything else within your reach. Needless to say, I have to really be on top of trimming your nails because those little things are sharp and grow like you wouldn’t believe! So we have a standing manicure date every Monday to trim your nails. Anything I can do to make hitting those developmental milestones as painless as possible!


While I stay home with you during the day, there are often times when I need to leave you with your Dad at night so we have had to experiment with giving you a bottled of my (pumped) milk. The first time you were NOT a fan (and threw it up all over your poor Daddy). We understand there is often a learning curve to things like this, so we tried a few more times and the past couple times you have started to get the hang of it. But you still clearly prefer your milk directly from Mama… and that is just fine with me!

(Once you were better at taking a bottle we let Ana help feed you. She was SO excited to get to be involved in the feeding process.)

Bath time is easily your favorite time of day. We recently let you take a bath in the big bathtub with Ana. Sure, Daddy had to hold on to you the whole time (rather than letting you rest in your little baby hammock in the little tub) but you loved splashing in the water along with your big sister. In fact it was hard to tell who was enjoying sharing their bath more, you or Ana!



Well, my little sweet pea, it’s been another amazing month. I love watching you grow and can’t help but imagine the person you are going to become. You have your whole life ahead of you and I want to help you to have every opportunity you could ever want. I can’t wait to hold your hand along the way, stand behind you when you need someone to have your back, and be the first to hug you whenever you need me. Until then, I’m going to practice by holding your tiny hands in mine, soothe you by rubbing your back, and hugging you as much as possible.

All my love,
Mama

Saying Good-bye To The Nap

Well, it was bound to happen.

Ana finally gave up napping.

The majority of her friends have already stopped napping. I knew it was going to happen eventually but I was certainly in no rush. I was especially happy that Ana still took naps when I was pregnant and during Hadley’s early days because it made it easy for me to grab a nap for myself every now and then. But lately on the rare occasion that Ana would fall asleep during the day she had a hard time going to bed at night. Since she has to get up for school in the morning, I wasn’t really happy about her delaying bedtime and losing her much-needed sleep. So we took the plunge and simply omitted her nap.

There were a few days of grumpy attitudes and more whining that usual. And if we go for a car ride after 3pm I can almost guarantee that Ana’s head will start to tilt to the side and her eyes will get glassy and start rolling back in her head. But those occurrences are getting fewer and farther between.

It’s hard to believe my little girl is getting so grown up.

The Best Big Sister

Ana is an amazing big sister. Not that I ever doubted she would be, but that doesn’t change the fact that she continues to blow me away each and every day. She loves her little sister like you would not believe. She is always willing to help out any way she can. Ana loves picking out Hadley’s clothes each morning or keeping her happy in her crib until someone can pick her up. But more than the tasks I ask her to do (which she does without ever complaining), are the things she does all on her own.

Playing with her sister

The other day I was holding Hadley and she started making her hungry cry. I asked if anyone had seen the Boppy pillow and Ana happily volunteered to go get it for me so I could feed her sister. When she walked back into the room she said, “I grabbed the swaddle blanket too just in case Hadley gets tired and wants to go to sleep.”

Two Smiling Sisters

Then last night I was feeding Hadley at the kitchen table (yes, I can nurse and eat at the dinner table at the same time) when Hadley started throwing up. I tried to contain as much of the vomit as I could with my own body and clothes. Once Hadley stopped puking, Sim scooped her up and took her over to the kitchen sink to start rinsing her off. Ana vanished and I assumed it was just to get away from all the puke when all of a sudden she returned to the room with a baby wipe in her hands and said, “Don’t worry guys, I got this!” and she started cleaning up the few drips of puke on the floor.

Sisters

I don’t know what I did to get so lucky with my amazing daughters, but I’m not going to question it. I am just going to enjoy every minute I can with my precious babies.

Hadley and Ana