Hadley 10 and 11 Months

With the move and finding a new routine, I have fallen terribly behind on poor Hadley's monthly updates. And I bring VERY sad news...we lost Tommy the Monkey in the move! I am so so sad about this. Tommy has been through some milestones with both girls and I can't believe we have no idea where he is. Anyway, Hadley's final few months of her first year are pics without her little friend :(. 

In Hadley's 10th month she started taking steps, weighed in at 18.3 pounds (no weight gain from 9 to 10 months), was about 27 1/2 inches, started signing "all done", waking only once at night to eat (unless teething or cold), was wearing size 3 diapers still and on the middle snap of her cloth diapers, and overall a happy little girl!!

Big Sister wanted in on the pics!

11 MONTHS!

Ok since she just turned 11 months last week I will be able to recall more! ha! 

What Hadley is up to these days:

+Weighs 18 lbs 8 oz

+Length is 28 inches

+Changed to the convertible car seat

+Wears mostly 6-9 month clothes. She can wear 9-12 months but

they are big on her and pretty baggy!

+Wearing size 3 diapers and middle snap on cloth diapers

+Still waking once to eat at night

+Eating pretty much what we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner

+I swore up and down she would NOT be allowed meat before 1...

Until she refused to eat what I gave her and insisted on eating my food.

And now she loves ground beef! Yikes!

 +Signs "all done" or just starts yelling (we're working on the yelling part)

+Says Mama, more, and yea

+Started nodding her head "yes"

 +Still loves to snuggle

+Is 100% mama's girl!

+Lights up and gets really excited when Daddy get's home

+Thinks her sister is hysterical and laughs all the time at her

 +On the go...walking everywhere now! If she falls she stands back

up and tries walking again. Not crawling much anymore.

+Loves paper

+Is obsessed with Kevin's computer (which because we don't have a desk for him

it is in her reach so the temptation is just too great!)

+Loves playing in a pile of clothes

 Hadley is just overall a fun, chill, sweet little girl. I can't believe we'll be celebrating her birthday in a few weeks! I still watch her during the day and wonder where the last year went! It's crazy to think we almost have a 1 year old and 3 year old. Wow!

 It's been a great 11 months indeed! 

Instagram

So I started taking pictures in Instagram again the other day. And I love it! I then did some editing in my Light Room program and got a pretty cool pic of each girl! Anyway, here are the 2 I like!

Valentine's Day

We've had a nice couple of weeks. I think each week Kevin gets busier with work but that's a good thing. The girls and I are doing our thing and keeping with routine...life is better when we are in our routine! ha!

Valentine's Day was very fun here. Kevin brought his girls beautiful roses and a sweet treat for me and Ayda. Hadley will join in on that next year! Ayda brought Valentines to her friends at school and got a bag to have fun with at home. I decided even though it's a hallmark holiday and I know my husband loves me everyday of the year it is still a fun day. Pink (my favorite color) is everywhere and we just had fun! I made the girls home-made heart cheese crackers, packed Ayda a red lunch, and then we had a red dinner. It's just fun to do something different for a day! Below are some pictures I took before school. Trying to get a picture of Ayda and Hadley together is near impossible!

This past weekend we took a trip to ATL to visit my mom and step dad. I was able to help my mom with somethings and it turned out to be quite a productive trip! I am really enjoying being so close to her again. But of course we now miss Kevin's family so much. We are looking forward to their visit in March!!

Well Ayda is up and ready for a snack...

Picture Post

I have a blog post in my head ready to go but I wanted to first just do a picture post from the past month or so. Enjoy!

(Family Pictures in FL: Grandparents, Great Aunt and Grandkids!!)

Chinese New Year 2012

 (FaceTiming with Kevin in NC!)

Celebrating Nathan's 2nd Birthday

 (The Year of the Dragon!)

Playing on the bounce house and relaxing at home!

Since the Move...

I'm not exactly sure how it is possible that I am so busy already and we've only lived here a month. I am not complaining at all but I can't seem to get to the computer to blog, email, check Facebook, etc. It's kind of nice actually. Our computer is upstairs in our room so it is just not easy to get up here with or without kids. Anyway here is my attempt at getting caught up and perhaps (don't hold me to this) I'll at least blog once a week. If nothing else I want to for me. I love going back and looking at previous posts of the girls!

I'm totally stealing this method of catching up from a friend (Thanks Sally Ann!):

Ayda Grace:

She is LOVING school. She comes home talking more and more about her friends, teacher, and activities. Though I still really miss South Lake Montessori, we are settling in with her new school. She has learned to trace her hand really well, she is sounding out words more and more, loves counting, is all about practical life activities, and she is becoming quite social when we are out and about. It's fun to see her personality blossom. I'm not entirely sure why Terrible Two's are for twos though because Three has already been more challenging. Probably didn't help that we threw in a huge move a month into Ayda being 3. Nonetheless she is finding her boundaries and we are, for the most part, making progress in behavior. She is really a good kid, just pushes us on some things! She also is full of hysterical things to say: "Mommy!!! I have lips!!!", "Mommy! There are NO potties on the hairplane?!?!" (I sort of told her there were none when I was flying to FL with her and Hadley by myself), "Mommy, I don't need a bath. I don't skank!", and so many more! The girl has quite the personality and keeps me laughing!

Hadley Mei:

I can't believe this little one is approaching 1 very quickly. At 10 months she is weighing around 18 pounds and is close to 28 inches. She still has quite the stubborn streak in her. She took about 5 steps the other day but still has a ways to go before she is officially a walker. Her sleep is good at times and bad at others. Since we got home from FL this past weekend she has decided that 5AM is a perfectly acceptable time to get up. I on the other hand am convincing her otherwise. We do NOT get up at that hour!! She is still breastfeeding beautifully but definitely loves her solid food. She eats pretty much what we eat minus meat and dairy. It has actually made us eat healthier because she wants what is on our plate. Overall, she is a sweet, laid back little girl. Her laugh is contagious and her smile, complete with 5 teeth, melts my heart!

And a recap on the rest of our life:

Kevin is busy at work doing amazing. He puts in many 12+ hour days but it is paying off! We have decided meat is not necessary at every meal and have cut back to two dinners a week (roughly) of meat. The rest is vegetarian and has been quite tasty. I am loving our weekly playgroup on Tuesdays and have met some wonderful mommas and babes there. I also have been to two MOPS meetings at a local church and am enjoying that. On the off week of MOPS (it meets every other week) I am attending a bible study at the same church. The girls and I had a blast in Florida with Kevin's whole family for Chinese New Year. He couldn't go because of work which was a bummer. It was good to see his parents, Aunt, sisters (and BIL), and their kids. Hadley got her first sickness while we were there and it was a doozy. She had Roseola with really high temps. But she fought it like a star and we still managed to get to Disney for one day! We are all quite busy but loving each day. Apparently Asheville is having a very mild winter so we have only seen snow once and the temps have been very doable. I am thankful for that as we transition! Though I would not mind a little snow!!

So that is us in a nutshell for the month of January! I'll attach a couple pics of the girls. There are way too many from the month to post them all! I'll try to blog again within a week. We'll see!!

Welcome To NC!

We made it to NC last week and are well on our way to getting settled in. I cannot stand boxes and clutter so I was determined to get a lot done this weekend. We have several boxes to go through but the stuff we need on a daily basis are unpacked and organized! The drive up was great. The girls didn't fuss at all and we made it in 9 hours. Kevin's parents and brother were here till Monday and helped with the packing the truck, driving, unpacking the truck and getting furniture where it needed to be. His mom kept us well fed and the girls received plenty of attention while I was unpacking boxes! All in all it was a smooth move. 

Ayda started school yesterday and seems to like it. She was a little confused when we got to her school yesterday and she walked in and didn't recognize anyone. I think she understood it was a new school but she thought her same teachers and friends would be there too. They said she had a great first day (which was actually a half day because of snow...see below). She told me she did nothing. haha! She had a little more to say today after school. Though she still talks a lot about her teachers and friends in Florida and I know she misses them, I think she will transition well here.

And yes we have already had snow! I was so excited. I have missed the cold weather and up here they actually knew what to do with the snow on the roads. Growing up in ATL I hated snow because driving in it was terrible. Here the roads were treated and clear in no time. Taking to Ayda to school at 10 yesterday was a breeze and quite beautiful actually. There is still some on the ground today but most of it has melted. Hadley has enjoyed standing at our back door and looking out at it. And Ayda only likes to touch it with her finger. ha!

View from our front door.

 Out our master bedroom window

Other way out our MB window.

Notice I didn't go outside to take the pics. They were all through the windows. With a temp of 15 I was quite content to stay inside!!!

Christmas 2011

Christmas was a little different this yaer but still very good. Kevin got home friday night as well as his parents. We relaxed Saturday and did presents on Sunday. It was so nice to be together as a family again! And I'd say the girls had a great Christmas. We cut back a lot this year and it was so nice to just remember why we are really celebrating. I felt so much less pressure to find the perfect gift and just enjoy the holiday. We plan to cut back even more next year and I can't  wait to really get into traditions with the girls since Ayda will understand even more!

All in all it was a perfect weekend. Then we went straight into moving!

My sweet girls in their Christmas dresses from Aunt Wendy! They are so pretty and I definitely plan to have them wear them again! 

Hadley was not so sure about the presents but once we got the wrapping off she was very excited about toys!!

Ayda on the other hand knew exactly what to do and tore into her presents! She got some fun toys and warm clothes!!

Kevin's family gave the girls a bounce house. Hadley was a little scared but Ayda jumped and jumped! 

My sweet blessings!