1st Birthday Party

Has it stopped raining yet so we can play outside?

A lot has happened in our family in the last two weeks.  We celebrated Hadley's 1st birthday with a big family party, spent Memorial weekend at the cabin, began work on a 1973 pontoon boat in which we now are part owners and I started my new job.  Whew!  That's not mentioning just our daily grind of work, daycare, laundry, trying to eat a healthy dinner and all staying relatively sane.

As I mentioned, we headed up to the cabin for the first time this year for a long Memorial weekend.  It was a full house with my parents, Mike's parents as well as Rachel and Matt's families and 3 dogs.  The more the merrier!  In our family tradition we had very early mornings, ate lots of good food and were busy  keeping 4 kids 2 years old and under entertained - rain or shine.  

What kid doesn't like a horsey ride from dad and grandpas?

We had a lot of close bonding time.  Behind Hads is her new little cousin due in August!

We bought a pontoon but in actuality it's 2 floats that we're building upon  in order to transform it into a party barge!

 

We also had Hadley's 1st birthday party on Saturday afternoon.  After naps we opened presents and had one of her favorite meals of steak, shrimp, cheesy potatoes and fruit.  Hads liked the balloons and all of the gifts - including a doll house, riding toy, new clothes and her own comfy chair. 

She didn't even wait for the toy to be fully unwrapped before jumping right on.

I love to party!

Our best family photo at this party.

Hads held onto her birthday balloon throughout the whole meal.

We made her a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting topped with pink frosting and sprinkles.  Yum!

Hadley picked up her whole piece of cake and chomped on it.  Bradyn smeared it all over his face.

Someone didn't want to go to bed so played cards with Grandpa until 10:30 one night.

Godfather and Godson - they look like real father and son sometimes!

These two busy boys played so well the whole weekend. 

Bathing beauty on the beach.

Here's the whole crew for Hadley's birthday.

We also celebrated Bradyn's 1st birthday - this was the best cousin picture of the weekend.

Lots of cake in the hair and sand in the mouth necessitated a bath.  Who doesn't love a double baby bath?!

Our little "twins" also enjoyed the swing together.

Our big boy.

We are busy this summer but some of my favorite moments are found in enjoying the little things - like Miles singing church songs while helping us trim our bushes.  Hadley now signs please and blows kisses like a pro.  Nothing makes her happier then basking in attention and love from her brother but they are starting to enter a new phase in brother and sisterhood - "Hadley's looking at me!"  "Don't let Hadley touch my puppies!"  These are just a few phrases we hear often these days.  Both Miles and Hads also don't like it when I hold just one of them - they want me to put down the other one and hold only them.  Now that I'm working full time Grandma and Grandpa Gray are taking care of the kids on Fridays and the kids are loving all of the attention they are getting and fun they are having.  Miles is busy helping Grandpa Gray with lots of projects around the house and Hadley likes practicing to walk with grandma. 

Those kids are messy!

It's been an eventful couple of weeks.  Hadley turned 1, had surgery, the Gray grandparents arrived for a visit from Arizona and I quit my job and will soon start a new position in the Learning and Development department of a company just 5 miles from our house.  Whooo - sometimes it's the little things like messy faces that keeps me sane and grounded amidst so much change.   

Eating blackberries gives this baby a black beard!

Miles had remnants of blackberry juice all over his face too.

 Hadley is talking so much more now - her repertoire includes:  mama, daddy, hi, uh-oh, bye, she can bark like a puppy and makes truck and honking sounds when playing in her Cozy Coupe or with cars.  She also makes other babble noises that can sound like grammy or Miles depending on the context.  She can also stand for a few seconds on her own and everyone in the family has now witnessed her take 1 independent step without holding on to anything.  I worked later one day last week and she surprised me by riding a hot wheels bike in the driveway when I came home.  I still think of her as a little baby so as she's doing all of these things I'm just amazed because I keep thinking she's too little!  She's not too little though.  She had her 1 year check-up this week and she's a healthy girl.  Her ears are clear (since she had to have ear drops for a week post-surgery she sometimes pretends to take a bottle and put ear drops in her own ears) and here are her stats:

• Height:  28 1/4 inches (25%)
• Weight:  21 lbs. 5 oz (55%)
• Head:  18 inches (70%)

She tried hummus for the first time and loved it - polishing it off.

She had hummus everywhere so she took her first dip in the kiddie pool. 

Rachel and Corey came over for the weekend and these 2 best buds cozied up in the Cozy Coupe.

And were inseparable all weekend.

Hadley tries to keep up with the big boys.

Hanging out with Grandpa Gray in her big girl chair.

After being a messy girl all weekend she ended the evening squeaky clean.

She's 1!

So this is going to be a ridiculously long post with way too many pictures...but I have a lot to record and I selected these photos from the over 200 pictures I took this week.  We've had an eventful 3 days. 

Mowing the lawn - a new spectator sport

May 11 Hadley had surgery to have tubes placed in both ears.  Even though we've been through this procedure with Miles and know the doctor and are familiar with the hospital it still is scary and unnerving to think of your baby having surgery.  We arrived at the same day surgery area of Ridgeview Medical Center at 6:45 am and got all checked in.  It was really weird to think that almost 1 year from this date we were making the same early morning drive to this hospital to have Hadley!  Anyway, babies get to just stay in their pjs and we were one of four families in the check-in/recovery rooms awaiting tubes that morning.  I can't say enough positive things about all of the doctors, nurses and care we received while there.  Everyone took exceptional care of Hadley.  She was taken back into surgery in her pink, fuzzy pjs with her little stuffed lamb and purple pacifier at 8:00 am.  Mike and I went to sit in the waiting room and at 8:07 we were called back to talk to the ENT.  He reported that everything went very well and that the fluid in Hadley's ears was thick and infected.  This reaffirmed for us that we made the right decision.  Our baby has been living with plugged and infected ears probably most of her life.  At 8:20 the nurses brought her to us.  She was crying and you could tell she was dizzy.  She cried off and on for a few minutes and didn't want the nurse to listen to her heart but she handled everything like a little trooper.  I overheard one of the nurses ask the anesthesiologist if he was giving the babies angel gas because they were all doing so well.  Mike and I just cuddled her in the recovery area until 9:00 when we were released to go home.  That morning she ate and drank like normal and snuggled on my lap.  After her nap she was back to her usual funny and wild self.  Now she has to have ear drops put in twice a day for the next 7 days.  We are so thankful that everything went well and our little daughter is healthy again!

Yep, I'm feeling better!

Miles was a trooper during this weekend when he wasn't really the center of attention
-  a very difficult thing for a 2 year old!

Crawling everywhere and getting herself stuck in small spaces.

On May 12 we celebrated the 1st birthday of the most wonderful little girl in the world.  Hadley was born early in the morning just one year ago this date.  Oddly, this year she woke up crying at 4:25 am.  I brought her into bed with us thinking - at this time last year we were just starting out for the hospital.  She woke up again with a little cry at 5:30 am - just about the time she was born.  These were sweet little moments, although early, for me to reflect on how just one year ago she was newly part of our lives.  We started off  Hadley's birthday celebration by crowning her the birthday girl and had her favorite breakfast, pancakes and bananas.  

 She then got the gift I was most excited to give -  a new deluxe play kitchen.  Both kids loved it and have spent many hours cooking and rearranging their play food and dishes.  Only a few fights have broken out over who gets to open the silverware drawer. 

 In our family your first taste of cake comes on your first birthday.  Hadley's first cake she got all to herself.  (When I went to pick up her cakes that morning the baker presented me with two "Happy Birthday Haeley" cakes.  I thought she was joking until I saw the misspellings for myself.  They did their best to correct the spelling and gave us both cakes for free.  As a joke we've been shouting "happy birthday Haeley" all weekend.)  This little sweetie was tentative at first - just poking one little finger into the cake.  Soon though both hands were squishing and squashing that cake to pieces. 

We actually had a real birthday cake (one for eating) after dinner.  We debated a lot about what to serve for Hadley's big day.  We settled on grilled steak, cheesy potatoes and fruit.  This is a meat and potatoes girl - she ate so much!  We then sang and ate cake.  We had a beautiful day celebrating with our beautiful daughter. 

Today we celebrated Mother's Day.  Everyone let me sleep in until 7:30 when they climbed into bed with me and gave me their homemade gifts.  Miles made me a beautiful colored candle holder and Hadley gave me a painted apron.  Mike made breakfast and we spent the morning playing and doing yard work outside.  After naps we went to Excelsior Beach and strolled along the water, swung on the swings and watched the boats.  Tonight we went out for a sushi dinner.  I always feel lucky to be Miles and Hadley's mommy and don't need a holiday to celebrate it.  We had such a nice day though - I wish we could do this everyday!  Today was extra special because it's my first Mother's Day as Hadley's mama.  I'm so thankful for these wonderful children.  Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Two smiling faces

This week Hads stood for a few seconds on her own - without holding on.  This is her last week as a little baby - before her big 1st birthday next week.  I'm sad this little butterball is growing up so quickly but I'm loving every minute with her.  She's obsessed with this chair lately and will get in and out of it over and over when we play in Miles' room in the evenings.



Extreme garage sale-ing continues!  Miles loves it as much as I do.  He scored a new Radio Flyer tricycle and a free monster truck this weekend. 



He's been riding his Hot Wheels bike for awhile but mostly shuffles his feet on the ground to move it.  I unloaded this bike from the car and then went inside to grab Hadley's bottle.  When I came outside a minute later he was pedaling around as if he's been riding bikes for years.  Bike riding is his new obsession.

Best garage sale find of the week though goes to this new fun item - a Little Tikes climber and slide for $1! 

Miles says the funniest things:  "Oh my gosh!  I'm holding a naked puppy in my hand."  (He was showing us an imaginary dog.)  "Hadley wants to talk."  (He says this often as he rips the pacifier out of her mouth and throws it across the room.)  "Daddy didn't go to church and isn't a good boy so he doesn't get a donut."  (This said after he got a donut from grandma and grandpa after church today.)

Biking and running are his two preferred sports lately.  He flexes his muscles in a new way too - by always wanting to pick up and carry Hadley around.  The result of this is Hads being picked up by the neck and dragged a few inches before being plopped roughly down.

Is it rhubarb or a new horn?  Miles loves to bake and helped me make 2 kinds of rhubarb muffins this weekend.

The weather was rainy this weekend so we hung out a lot as a family.  One of my favorite moments was when Mike and I were flipping our mattress.  We put our memory foam pad on the floor and the kids thought this was the greatest thing.  They jumped and rolled around on it and giggled together. 

Pure joy!

After the memory foam pad was back on the bed they played in Hadley's crib for awhile.

Hey, wait a minute - that's my monkey!

Miles had his puppy and Thomas the Train backpack packed and ready for church this morning. 

Besides turning 1 this coming week, Hadley also has surgery scheduled on Friday to get tubes in her ears.  Please say prayers for our little one that everything goes well.