Puzzles, Playing, Parties, Pounds, & Possibilities

There's been quite a bit going on here lately.

First, we had a fun Easter weekend. Saturday we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo and enjoyed a beautiful day outside. On Sunday PaPa and GiGi came for the afternoon and watched Hadley hunt lots of eggs.

Lately Hadley has been very interested in working puzzles. He got one for Easter and quickly mastered it, so we found some more for pretty cheap and got them as well. He will sit by himself and work the puzzles for a long time.


Last weekend we went to Starlyn's 2nd birthday party and had a lot of fun. The party was Elmo themed, so of course Hadley enjoyed it! He also enjoy swinging, sliding, and riding in Starlyn's car.




This week has been kind of crazy for our sweet babysitter, so mommy and Hadley got to spend two days home together having fun. Today we even went to the park in Gainesville and rode the train! Then tonight we all played outside for a long time together.





Hadley seems to learn new words every day, and I would really like to try and remember as many of them as possible. The latest one (that I can remember) are: pig, swing (sing), cracker, car, shoes, pea, ball, bowl, Ernie (as in Bert & Ernie).


In other (non-Hadley) news, both Eric and I are doing Weight Watchers. Well, I am actually going to the meetings, but he is doing the points and tracking his food with me. So far I have lost a little over 10 pounds and Eric has lost as well (not sure exactly how much). Hopefully we can both stick with it and reach our goals.

Some not so good news...a couple weeks ago Eric found out that Callisburg, for budget reasons, is downsizing the Ag department next year to one teacher, so he is out of a job after this school year. We were totally shocked to find out that news, as well as very disappointed. We kind of thought this might be where we would settle down and stay a while and raise our family. But now we are looking at moving (again) this summer. Eric has already applied at a few school districts and hopefully we will find just the right fit for our little family.

An Interesting 24 Hours

The past 24 hours have been filled with "wetness" where Hadley is concerned, and I'm writing about it because someday all of these things will be funny. (Some are already, but others...not so much yet.)

When I picked Hadley up from the sitter's yesterday he was in a different outfit than when I had dropped him off that morning. Now, for some babies, this is not an unusual concept, but for Hadley that was only maybe the second time he had an "accident." Miss April said during his nap his diaper leaked quite a bit and his entire front side was soaking wet when she picked him up. Luckily I had stuck an extra onesie in his bag long ago so he had something to wear the rest of the day. (I say luckily because of the "mom of the year" stunt I pulled later in the day!)

Next event (this is the "mom of the year" stunt referred to above): Last night Eric, Hadley and I went out to eat at The Smokehouse in Lindsay and as we were getting Hadley out of the car I realized that I (super mom) had not brought a single thing for the child...no diapers, no wipes, no burp/snot rag, no bink...nothing! Way to be prepared, Mandi! You would think this was our first time to take our child out in public, but no...just me having a complete "what? I'm a mom? My child requires supplies to leave the house?" moment! Luckily, we made it through supper and even made a quick trip to Walmart without any incidences requiring the above mentioned forgotten items. Oh...forgot to mention that all of the above happened after I made one trip back into the house during the leaving process for something else I forgot. Nice!

Later last night (and this one is pretty funny), Eric took Hadley outside for a little while since it was so nice. He later came back in to tell mommy that Murph (our dog) had licked Hadley from his toes to his nose. I'm not sure if he smelled the restaurant on him, or just wanted to know what "baby" tasted like, but Hadley didn't seem phased a bit by it. Good thing since I'm sure there will be much "licking" in the years to come!

Now here's the one that was not funny at the time and is still not really that funny to me. (Maybe someday it will be.) Hadley has been sleeping between 8-10 hours almost every night for several weeks now (very nice, by the way). But last night he decided to wake up at 2:30. I really think it was the wind and rain that woke him up, and I think he would have gone back to sleep if we had left him alone. But...we're not that smart. So once he saw us, the crying began and there was really no consoling him at that point. So (against my better judgement) we fixed him a bottle and I sat down to feed him. He seemed to devour the bottle in very little time, but I decided I had just dozed off while he was eating so the time seemed to go by faster. No...not the case. When I sat him up to burp him I realized the burp rag that was laying on his chest was soaking wet, as was his night-shirt (front and back), as well as the entire front of my shirt. What in the world? Turns out, the lid on the bottle was screwed on crooked and the milk had just been pouring out of it rather than going down the desired hole (Hadley's mouth). At that point both Hadley and I were unhappy, wet, tired, and needed a change of clothes. The rest of this story is not really important, but it did make for a not-so-restful night. Note to self (and to Eric): always make sure the lids to bottles are screwed on straight and tight unless you want this episode to be repeated.

Here's the best super-mom thing about all of this...Hadley didn't get a bath before, during, or after any of these events took place. Wow...I'm doing good!

Finally Friday

Yippee! It's Friday and that means I have made it through the first week of Hadley in daycare, and the first week back to work. This week was long and very tiring, and included quite a few tears, but we made it and will do it all again next week. One thing this week has taught me is to enjoy every single minute I have with Hadley. This weekend I plan to do a lot of loving on and playing with my Hadley to make up for lost time during the week!

On Monday Hadley goes to the doctor for his 2 month checkup - which means 2 month shots (yuck!). I will update again then with his stats. Until then, enjoy some more pictures of my little cutie!

Dread

Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading since November 18...or really since the day I found out I was pregnant. I have to trust someone else to take care of my baby while I go to work. I know that mothers deal with this every day, but I just can't get past the thought that no one can take care of him like I can. So, tomorrow I'm sure a lot of tears will be shed (or I should say MORE tears will be shed...it's already started!), and I will probably not accomplish anything at work. And maybe each day will get a little easier, but right now all I am thinking about is tomorrow.

My sweet baby...