month 9

i am pretty sure that on a daily basis i am still surprised by the fact that i am a mother of two. it is just crazy how time seems to just take these huge jumps, chunks at a time. same thing happens on this blog... it just jumped forward from month 7 to month 9, totally by passing month 8.

so hads in her 9th month:

• weighs 18.9 lbs
• drinks 5 bottles a day, at 7 ounces each. the exception being her night bottle which she is down to 4 ounces now. maybe before she is one will we have her over night feedings!
• is still on prevacid 15mg a day
• eats such a variety of foods. way more than i would have ever dreamed of given caroline when she was 9 months. plus, she eats lots of it. she has a great appetite for table foods
• favorite foods include spaghetti, bagels, mango, and watermelon
• she will actually eat baby food now. love those little squeezable packages. she just self feeds w/ those. so convenient for traveling.
• still loves puffs
• loves playtime with her sister
• loves playing cars
• became a world traveler when she went to jamaica
• stands still, on her own, for a few moments at a time
• claps, claps, and claps. a favorite song of hers is "if you're happy and you know it," though the version in our house is "if you're haddie and you know it." she claps every time.
• loves to dance
• if you say "arms up" to her, she expects to be tickled
• gives high-fives
• loves to knock over blocks after we've stacked them
• talks a lot and even enjoys hearing herself scream a bit
• prefers to be held by either mommy or daddy
• says mama. and i am pretty sure she means me
• waves
• crawls everywhere. every. where.

month six

when left with nothing else... improvise.

that is what i am doing.

i did not get hadley's six month onesie shot. GASP! right. but totally not surprising from me these days. my brain has gone on a vacation. it's been on vacation. maybe a permanent vacation. i am not sure. so guess what i did? i still schlepped that six month sticker on her onesie this weekend and am going with that.

so hads at six months:

• had four teeth come through in a matter of two weeks. the bottom middle two and her top two eye teeth
• began scooting backwards but that didn't last long
• started eating veggie puffs
• started eating cheerios, which she loves. a pretty impressive pincer grasp already if you ask me, especially considering that the cheerios are broken in half
• eats sweet potatoes, avocado, and green beans cut up into tiny pieces
• still doesn't eat baby food... blah!
• is taking one bottle at night
• drinks 6.5-7 oz per bottle
• still on prevacid. her gi is basically slowly weaning her by not increasing her dose based off her weight. so far she is doing great
• likes to be tickled
• took an actual bath sitting up with her big sister
• had her first thanksgiving. ate some roll and sweet potatoes
• smiles a lot
• loves playing with her leapfrog musical table

hadley pretending to be 6 mos

month five

so hadley turned 6 months on october 29th. i took these pictures last weekend. just being honest people.

i can't believe this month i have a six month old and a six year old. it is just nuts.

anyway, since hadley is so freshly six months, i am still making this her month 5 update.

at month 5, hadley-

• is an official sitter. what a big deal that is! i love seeing her sitting on her nursery floor and playing with her toys. such a big girl already
• has so much hair. it really seems to be coming in fast. won't be long till i am getting some sweet hair clips in there
• is still only drinking about 5 ounces per bottle
• is still waking twice a night to eat. so need to get rid of one of those feeds. haven't i said that before. the husband and i need some decent sleep
• weighs 16 pounds. had to take her for a sick appt last week and they weighed her then. can't believe she has more than doubled her birth weight already
• is eating several new foods. though i wouldn't really call it eating. more like taste testing. so far i think she has had peaches, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and prunes. she just isn't a big baby food eater. she'll get there
• loves to use her little mesh feeder. so far we have put ice cubes, frozen carrots, and grapes in it.
• drinks water from a straw sippy cup
• eats her socks when she doesn't have her robeez on
• loves peek-a-boo
• smiles the biggest for caroline, who we refer to at our house as "sissy"
• sits in her bathtub now rather than laying back. i think we are going to move her to just the regular bathtub this month
• loves to play with her sophie the giraffe, which i often call a chew toy. how ridiculous is that. isn't that what you call a dogs toy. i really need a better name
• is such an easy, happy baby. even when the girl is tired, she rarely cries
• really notices the dogs now

and here she is


with her favorite rattle




she has got some serious blue eyes
playtime


okay, so i said she rarely cries right. i just pushed my luck here by trying to add a headband...

month four

i apparently will never be on time with my postings for each month, given the fact that hadley turned 5 months on sept 29th. what can you do!

so here i am doing her 4 month post... today.

and at month four, hadley:

• weighs 15.9 oz
• eats twice a night. can't wait to get her down to 1 feeding. this happens every so often. and i stress.... every.... so.... often
• eats about 5.5 oz of formula in a bottle every 3 hours. she totals 7 bottles a day. she doesn't always finish her bottles though
• still takes prevacid solutabs 15mg a day
• started solids. she has tried oatmeal, peaches, and pears. in one sitting i am lucky to get about 3-4 bites in her. i can say she doesn't seem interested in eating but sure loves to watch us eat
• rolls over from front to back and from back to front
• was sleeping in her crib full-time but is having a little set back currently due to those horrible vaccinations. so she is back in the rock n play for a bit since they aggravated her reflux
• wears size 3-6 mos
• still eats her feet
• still is a drool machine
• is quite the giggler
• loves to stand and bounce
• intentionally kicks her crib aquarium on and off with her feet
• when doing tummy time, actually moves around like a wiggle worm. the girl loves to be on the go already
• is highly awesome as a little sister
• is read to by her equally awesome big sister at bed time. more often than not she reads her "the very hungry caterpillar."
• definitely seems like she knows her name
• smiles when you sing to her

month 3

3 months already! I'm sad that I am rushing Hadley to grow up while I should be savoring each and every baby second. She has come so far though with each week she turns. She doesn't cry all the time like she once did. She is happy a lot and as a parent, that is so rewarding.

So at three months, Hadley:

-is all hands. She can practically get a whole hand in her mouth. Impressive, right
-is a drool machine still
-loves her feet. She is caught holding her feet lots
-can grab anything she sets her sights on
-is now on week three of the prevacid solutabs. She had been on compounded prevacid since two weeks. If I had known how well she would do on the solutabs, I would have changed her over 2 months ago. It's working out great
-is on night 3 of sleeping in her crib in her room on her belly. (ironically I'm on night 3 of sleeping on the floor in her room) she is doing so well with it since she has such strong neck and head control. She's still waking twice a night but seems to be sleeping more comfortably
-drinks 4 oz of alimentum formula every 3 hours.... So she probably won't be giving up those night feedings until she increases the amount she drinks during the day
-smiles so much
-is full time in daycare
-is still smitten with her big sister

Her three month pics

This sums up hads at 3 mos perfectly ... Mouth full of hand and hand full of foot!



Still has blue eyes. Thinking there here to stay


Such a sweet girl with an extra sweet smile

month 2

Hadley turned 12 weeks yesterday but these pictures were taken Monday, so technically she was still two months.

These days hadley
-holds a baby speak conversation with you which is totally adorable
-reaches for things with her hands in a semi uncontrolled manner. She wants to grab something and flails her arm in the right direction till she hits something
-smiles lots, especially if Caroline is in view
-eats 3oz per feeding which is usually ever two hours
-is no where close to sleeping through the night. The longest stint to date was 5 hours, and that's only happened twice! Average is four hours then every two
-takes 2.5mls of prevacid in the morning and evening, and mylanta as needed
-is absolutely adorable
-is due to start school, as we like to call daycare, in two weeks

month 1

what a month this little girl has had!

from the minute i saw hadley choke the first time in the hospital when she was only 2 days old i knew we had another reflux daughter on our hands. the choking is scary because when she is doing it, not a sound comes from her. her only movement is flailing arms. so unless you are staring at her and happen to see it, something serious could easily happen.

so when she was two weeks old i got hadley in for her first appt with the gi doctor. i knew the protocol and it was prevacid, mylanta, and keeping her up right 99% of the time. it is tough when you are getting used to it again but once into the routine of it again, it is obvious why you do it. she also only sleeps in a nappy nanny. that thing really makes sleeping at night possible for her and us.

two weeks ago when hadley was only 5 weeks old she had a reflux episode like we have never seen before. it was scary enough to warrant a call to 911. come to find out once we got to the er that she also had a fever of 101, pretty serious in a newborn. so now not only is she getting treatment for the reflux, but for the fever we didn't even know she had. any time a newborn has a fever it is automatic blood work, iv, and spinal tap. those two words freaked us out... spinal tap! thank god it all turned up ok. however our one night in the er turned into 4 days in the hospital. hadley also had a upper gi and was seen by a speech therapist.

we were so fortunate that my parents were able to come down and stay with caroline the entire time we were in the hospital.

in the end hadley had a viral infection that has gone away on it's own. we learned that anytime hadley gets a virus, to expect her reflux to get worse. as a result of her hospital visit and testing, her prevacid was increased from 1.5 ml to 2.5ml and her diet was changed from soy to alimentum formula. here we are now at 7 weeks old and she is really doing wonderfully. so much better than she had been. of course she still has a bad day here and there, like yesterday when her food was coming back up through her mouth and nose. overall she has improved so much.

then we have this past saturday night when hadley had her 2nd er visit. she had a yeast infection of sorts under her chin, an area where it tends to stay moist under her rolls from spit up and food.never even knew such a thing was possible. i unfortunately agitated this rash when i put aveeno lotion on it. aveeno! of all lotions. suddenly within about 2 hours it had swelled up, blistered, and she was crying in so much pain. it was a hard cry to hear knowing she was in a lot of pain. we were in and out of the er within 2 hours. our childrens hospital is so amazing! her treatment is a paste of cortisone, nystatin, and butt paste. it is working wonders too!

the amazing thing is that this week alone you can catch hadley smiling on purpose... sucking on her fingers on purpose.... and talking to her sister on purpose. she is definitely one happy baby. it is a beautiful thing!