Summer Fun

We found a fun way to spend Saturday mornings this summer, to beat the heat. Wanna' join us?

9 Months

Hadley Max,

Today you are 9 months old...9 months!! This age has seemed so far away and so "old", but now here we are. Daddy and I have had you to hold and cuddle and kiss for the same amount of time now as you were in my tummy. That's just crazy to think about.

This past month you, once again, learned lots of new things and seemed to grow and change so much. You are an expert crawler now, and you can get anywhere you want to go. Gone (for the most part) are the days of scooting on your tummy, because you have the hands/knees crawl down. However, you do a bit of a bear crawl sometimes on one foot - super cute! Pulling yourself up to standing is no problem for you at all, and you do it ALL the time. Sometimes it scares us because you seem to have absolutely no fear at all! We have also noticed that you are very trusting, and will lunge off of things or out of our arms trusting someone will catch you. Again - very scary for mommy and daddy!

This is mommy's view of you most of the time lately.

This past month you continued to be a really great eater, and you are now eating even more different things. We finally gave you some meat, and you gobble it up just like everything else. You have gotten' quite a few new fruits lately too. But, your favorite it still YoBaby yogurt; you just devour that stuff! You also really love "puffs" (snacks) as well. We get pretty tickled watching you eat those sometimes. Usually you still want us to put them in your mouth, and you beg like a little baby bird for them. But you did manage to get some in your mouth a couple days ago (maybe just luck - who knows!), so hopefully you will get better at that. We sure give you lots of practice! You are an expert at drinking from a sippy cup, and you always want it. Until this past week all we had given you was water, but we did give you a little watered down juice the other day and your drank it like it was the best thing you had ever tasted!

As far as teeth, you now have three. You got the two on the bottom last month, and this now you also have one on the top. You're not quite sure what to do with those little teeth yet, but I'm sure you'll figure it out soon.

You make the silliest faces sometimes, and I have tried to capture some on the camera. Sometimes you're too quick though, so I'll just have to keep trying.

The latest funny thing you are doing that absolutely cracks me and daddy up is your sudden interest in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv. Whenever you hear the music to that, or hear Mickey talking you perk up and just stare at it like it is the most amazing thing you've ever seen. I'm not sure what it is about that show, but you LOVE it! So funny!

Here you are watching Mickey!

You still love bath time and just splash, splash, splash in the tub. We tried taking you swimming in a big pool while we were in Lubbock, but you weren't too sure about that, and you wouldn't let daddy let go of you at all. We even got you a little floaty, but you didn't want anything to do with that. (You do love playing with the box it came in, though!)


I could go on and on about the things you do that make me smile, Hadley. You are the best gift daddy and I could have ever asked for, and we love you more every single day. Keep growing and learning new things. Daddy and I promise to keep teaching you things, and keep doing our best to raise you in a home full of love and laughter.

This is what you do every night when you are supposed to be going to sleep!

Love forever and ever,
Mommy

7 Months

My Hadley,

My, oh my! You are 7 months old today! And you are growing up and changing every day, it seems.

This past month was filled with new things for you - new tricks, new foods, new toys, new adventures.

The first big thing you started this month was eating solid foods! We waited as long as we could before we gave you anything but formula, but we finally decided (since you were grabbing at anything we put into our mouths) that you were ready for some food. And you love it! So far you have had rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, yogurt (Yo Baby), applesauce, peaches, carrots, and pears. So far your favorite seems to be the rice cereal. I have decided to make some of your baby food so it is healthier and cheaper, and so far I have made sweet potatoes, squash, and applesauce. This eating food thing has also helped us get on a really good schedule both at home and at daycare.

As of sometime during this past month you are now MOBILE!!! That's right - you are crawling (or rather scooting) everywhere these days. It kind of looks like a mix between an army crawl and an inch worm. Super cute!! You are beginning to get braver and more adventurous lately as well. At first you just stayed on the rug in one little area, but you have discovered the tile floor in the living room and I think you like it. It won't be long until you are following us all over the house.

You are also sitting up on your own (most of the time). Sometimes you get a little excited and topple over, but you are getting better and stronger every day!

This past week you got a new "toy"...a little swimming pool for the backyard. We have tried it out a couple times and will probably spend a lot of time there this summer. You're not quite sure what to think about it yet, but you definitely like being outside (no matter what you're doing), and you like watching (and trying to pet) Murph.

Earlier this week we took you to the park for the first time and you got to swing (which was lots of fun!) and slide with me. I'm sure in the years to come we will spend lots of time at the park as well.

The only negative thing about this past month is that you were sick (again) for a portion of it. Originally the doctor said you had allergies so he put you on Zyrtec. But after several days on that you were getting worse (stuffy nose, coughing, fever) so we went back to the doctor. That time he said you had some kind of bug (possibly brought on by the allergies) and he gave you an antibiotic (your third in four months) and some cough medicine. That was a couple weeks ago and you are still coughing some and your nose is still stuffy sometimes. Hopefully you will get completely over this stuff very soon.

I think the stage you are at right now might be my favorite so far. You are so much fun, you love to play with me and daddy, and you laugh and smile all the time. Your little personalitiy is starting to really show and it seems like you are a lot like daddy - laid back and pretty easy going.

I love, love, love being your mommy, Hadley! Thanks for being my sweet boy!

Love,

Mommy