Hadley's Silly Faces

One of Hadley’s favorite books is “Toby’s Silly Faces,” which is about a mouse and his Dad who make silly faces in the mirror before going to bed. The other day Hadley and I were being silly and taking pictures of all of her silly faces.

So here are the Silly Faces of Hadley

Surprised

Excited

Sad

Angry

Scared

Silly

Another Silly

Tough Girl

Sleeping

Dancing

Malia is 6 Months Old

It is hard to believe, but you are already half a year old. It seems like every time I turn around you have grown a little and are doing something new. This month you have mastered sitting and are already learning how to get onto your belly from a sitting position. At first that wasn’t the most graceful move, but you have quickly learned.

While you enjoy sitting, you prefer moving. You are an expert at rolling to get to the things you want. You can go around corners, change rooms, and spin yourself in circles. Rolling isn’t what you want to be doing though. Crawling is your goal and you are so close. You can get onto your hands and knees and rock back and forth. You know some how you are supposed to be moving, so you get a little frustrated when you don’t get anywhere. You have started lunging forward to get that forward progress. And just today you started moving your knees forward. Any day now you will be crawling and then I will be in so much trouble.

You no longer have your gummy smile. Your first tooth popped through this month. It is so cute to see your big, cheerful smile with that one tooth sticking up from the bottom. A second one is close to popping through as well. While your teeth aren’t doing much yet, they will be there when you move from purees to solids. You love to eat and are already eating three meals a day.

Everyone mentions how you are a big baby, but I think you are just perfect. You are still my little baby and I wouldn’t change anything about you. I love watching you grow and develop, but it has gone so much faster than with Hadley. I know part of it is me being busier, but I think most of it is the fact that you are doing everything so fast.

I love the idea of watching you grow, but I’m not quite ready for you to stop being my little baby, so please slow down just a little bit for Mommy.

Mommy Wow! I'm a Big Girl Now!

And yes, you were supposed to sing that to the pull-ups jingle. For over six months, we have been trying to get Hadley interested in potty training, but she wasn’t having any of it. She knew what potty training was and usually even knew when she needed to go potty, but she wasn’t ready yet.


As it got closer to Malia being born, we pretty much dropped the topic all together because it is common for toddlers to regress once a baby is born. Once Malia was a few months old though, we brought up the topic again. And again, Hadley resisted. (She is very stubborn.)

We then decided to tell Hadley that once she went pee pee and poo poo in the potty all the time she would be a big girl so she would get a big girl bed. It still took a little time, but one day in January Hadley decided she wanted to wear a pull-up and not a diaper.

From then on, she always went in the potty. We have only had one accident and that was because she waited a little too long to ask to go to the potty. Sometimes we do go to the bathroom and nothing happens, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Even though the time she insisted she needed to go potty at the restaurant and we went to the bathroom 5 different times wasn’t fun. She is already in panties during the day and pull-ups while she is sleeping.

My big girl

A few weeks ago, we made the trip to Burlington to order her bed. Hadley preferred the bunk beds, but we went with a regular twin size bed with a trundle bed for future sleep-overs.

Her bed was delivered today. I’m still a little worried how sleeping will go since she will have the ability to get out of bed and play. I’m sure we will have some long nights and late mornings, but that is all a part of growing up.

Making sure it is good for jumping

She was so excited to read in her big girl bed

Reading under the covers

Pretend sleeping

She is so excited

After her first nap in her bed.  Her first nap went really well.

So now I have my big girl and my baby. I’m still wiping a lot of tushies, but at least I only have to change 8-10 diapers a day rather than the 15 I was doing before.

Melissa is 29 Years Old

I do it for the girls, so why not? Yesterday I turned 29 years old, which Gideon keeps reminding me is only one year away from the big 3-0. I have never been one that is too concerned about age, so the thought of being 29, almost 30, doesn’t bother me. It’s just a number. I don’t feel any older than I did on Friday, and I’m sure I won’t feel any older tomorrow. Watching my girls grow actually reminds me I’m getting older more than any day. But since I’m having so much fun watching Hadley and Malia grow, I really don’t mind the thought of getting older.

In the past year, I have become a Mommy for the second time, made some friends, visited with family, organized a play group and had the privilege to work as a stay at home mom. It has been a good year, and I had a good day celebrating.

It started out with Gideon and Hadley baking me a cake. Then I got my card that Hadley picked out and my presents. Hadley and I then went to music class. We had a lot of fun. I think we both enjoy our Mommy-Hadley special time.

Baking my cake

Hadley picked out my card

After lunch we headed to Burlington. We did some shopping and I was very excited to find out that I fit into size 6 jeans, which I haven’t worn for about 10 years. After the mall, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

Meals are always eventful with two little ones, and I feel like we are moving into the restaurant with all of our stuff, especially during the winter. The food was excellent as usual. If you are familiar with Texas Roadhouse, you know they bring out a saddle for the birthday person to sit on. Well, I rode the saddle, while everyone watched. It was a little more embarrassing than I expected. The meal concluded with Hadley vomiting and Malia screaming because of stranger anxiety. While it didn’t faze Gideon or me at all, I think we were excellent birth control for the table of teenagers next to us.

Malia and I on the saddle at Texas Roadhouse

After driving home through yet another snow storm, we ate the cake that Gideon and Hadley had made. Gideon wanted me to point out that it tasted much better than it looked.

My yummy cake

Icing thief

She couldn't wait for a fork

Getting caught reaching for my cake

It was a great day. I’m so glad I have such a wonderful family to help me celebrate special occasions with, even if I don’t feel any older.

I love my family

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