Bitter, But Mostly Just Sweet!

Well school started today here in Spanish Fork and for the first time in three years I am not there!! Today it was real for me... even after the school year ended I guess I was kind of just still thinking I was on summer break. But since all the kids went back today and I wasn't there teaching them, it finally hit me - I really am a stay at home mom. Yes, I seriously miss the kids like CRAZY. I seriously miss some of my best friends. Being at home all day with a baby can be lonely, hard and tiring. But in the end I am definitely grateful that this is where I am!

My prinicipal gave me the opportunity last week to go back and teach half day this year in first grade. I kind of tossed the idea back and forth in my head for a day or so but in the end I knew this is where I was meant to be this year. I love being at home with my little Haddles and seeing her grow, change, and develop daily.

Who wouldn't want to see this adorable face all day every day?

In celebration of not being at school today Hadley and I went out to lunch with some of my teacher friends, Sharon and Susan, who are also no longer teaching! What great company to celebrate the day with!

Saturday Fun

Saturday was our family day! It was the first Saturday in a while that we didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do- it was blissful :)

Hadley loves when Steve plays with her! He does all sorts of crazy voices and songs and apparently is much more entertaining than I am!

After Hadley woke up from her nap we headed up to Canyon View Park and fed the ducks. Ok so Steve threw the bread, I took the pictures and Hadley just watched. She was very fascinated by the ducks- her little eyes just followed them!

Aren't they cute together? I think they look just the same here except for thier noses! And you can't see it because the bread is tucked in Hadley's chubby little hand but everytime Steve would give her some bread to throw (haha, like she would) she would just shove it in her mouth!

We played in the grass for awhile afterwards and Hadley always seem to make it across the blanket to suck on my toes! Gross I know!

First time on the swings!


After the park we went home and enjoyed some delicious homemade KFC mashed potato bowls and then went out for frozen yogurt! Yumm!!

And just for fun:

Hadley at 6 Months

I feel like all I ever really post about is Hadley. But what can I say? Once you have a baby they pretty much become your life...

Hadley is actually six months old- I cannot believe it!! I was telling my mom that other day that for some reason 6 months seems old to me! I know it's not but it just seems so much older than 5 months. She is still just the best little girl and we love her bunches and bunches.

At 6 months, Hadley:

- growls ALL the time (this is now her most frequent and preferred form of communication)

- eats Gerber 2nd foods twice a day (1 veggie/mixed meal and 1 fruit)

- is becoming much more social with other people aside from Steve and I

- can finally kind of "play" with her cousin Max- really this just means they take toys from each other over and over and over and over

- lays on her tummy and scoots backwards to get around (most of the time)

- most of her wardrobe is 6-12 months

- her favorite thing to do is to stand on the bench at church and laugh and growl at the people behind us, yesterday she just sat on the bench looking around with her arm resting on Steve's scriptures... so cute!

Her stats:

Weight: 17 lb. 14 oz. - 80th percentile

Height: 27 inches - 90th percentile

Head- 75th percentile

So she may be big but at least she is well proportioned :) She is very tall and would only have 10 friends taller than her!

Here are some more things she is doing with pictures to match:

She has VERY strong abs- she really will just sit with her legs in air like this for like 5 minutes.

Still puts everything in her mouth- hair, keys, toys, books, clothes, jewelry, my toes, her own toes... I mean everything!

She has two little teeth :)

Sleeps on her tummy with her bum in the air!

Sits straight up all by herself.




Gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. After about 20 seconds of doing this she just goes back to her tummy to play :)

Now that she can get around by several different methods she is starting to get into things. She opens drawers and grabs at anything at her level! Looks like trouble to me!!

She is the best part of my day and we can't imagine what it would be like without her!

Play Group

So yesterday we had our last "play group" before Mejken goes back to school next week. I put the words play group in parenthesis because Lizzie being 2 is the only ones who really play. The rest just lay, roll, or crawl around on the blankets while we mom chat it up!

It's so funny to think that all three of these little ones will be in the same grade. They are all at such different stages but all equally cute...

Dexter, 8 months
Hadley, 6 months
Daniel, 1 month
Pollux, 4 months
Unfortunately Lizzie didn't not want to take a picture with the rest!

Yes, looking at these pictures I realize that Hadley looks like some kind of toddler next to these three. Dex is more than two months older than her and she is noticeably bigger :)


These two were funny to watch. Out of all the babies they are probably the closest developmentally plus they were twiners with their binkies!!

Hopefully we will continue this "play group" through the fall but we will miss Mejken and little sweet Pollux!

First Hair Cut

This weekend Steve made me cute Hadley's hair :( Actually I wasn't sad about it, it was high time her little mullet was removed. Most of her newborn hair has fallen out and has been replaced by new much lighter hair. Except there is this one patch in the very back that has been relentless. It was long and got ratty really easily so we decided to give it a little trim. I don't have a picture but you can just trust me that she looks much better!!

Lions, Tigers, & Bears - Oh My!

Last week Becca and I took the kids and braved the hot weather (neither of us are big fans of heat) and went to the Hogle Zoo. We have made this an annual summer tradition. It turned out that it wasn't really too hot until the end and it was cloud covered quite a bit of the time!

Hadley and I on the little train ride around the zoo. She was so cute to watch because she was absolutely fascinated by the entire thing!
Cute family picture (minus Jesse)!

We got to see this amazing elephant show! Besides the fact that there was an adorable little baby- who knew 8,000 pound animals could do such cool things!

Sadly the carousal was one of Luke and Livi's favorite parts!! Livi remembered that she didn't get to go last year so she has been waiting an entire year for this. Hadley and I decided to sit on the bench and watch since I wasn't willing to pay $3 for us to ride and her not even to know what was happening :)

So funny but if you look really close at Hadley's feet in this picture this is how she rode the entire day. Feet resting up on the drink holder just hanging out!

Besides the lack of sleep for the babies (which actually didn't even show with either of them) it was a fantastic day!

Oh and by the way we the Hogle Zoo doesn't have lions, the tigers were asleep, and they took the bears out! Haha!

Baby Food Eatin' Machine

So our grand adventure for the week thus far has been starting Hadley on baby food! She's been eating rice cereal and baby oatmeal for like 6 weeks so I figured I would start because she was just not satisfied at lunch time with just a bottle.

We started on Monday and we started with sweet potatoes (Steve's favorite veggie, my least favorite). Well obviously she has inherited Steve's pallett and ability to eat because she loved them! She was a little unsure like the first two bites and then after that it was great! I was telling Steve about how she had done and I was saying that she was making the funniest noises like it was the best thing she had ever eaten. I stopped and then said, "Come to think of it, they probably were the best thing she had ever eaten!"

So yesterday she ate green beans and sweet potatoes again today. We have already stained two bibs and 2 burpcloths- which obviously means I need to get in gear and get to Becca's to make her vinyl bibs like I have been planning for last two weeks!


Before the baby food... She LOVES her high chair because she knows exactly what it means..... foooooood!

These pictures were of her first bites- still a little unsure!