SIX-MONTH UPDATE!

Words cannot describe what an absolute blessing these last six months have been. Life has been more challenging, frustrating, and overall; just different, but I truly cannot imagine life without our Hadley Roo!

It has been so fun to watch you go from a teeny newborn to a curious, sitting, grabbing, and giggling baby girl. You are so smiley and happy the majority of the time- only really getting cranky when you're tired. You light up, and give daddy a big toothless smile whenever you see him, and he might just be the one that gets the best giggles from you!

You are pretty much able to sit up in your own, but occasionally you fling yourself backwards. Also, you love to high five everything...with your face, so I stay close by to catch you and sit you back up straight. You sing/hum/moan/groan to yourself when you are getting tired, so that's our telltale sign that you will be conked out soon after. You still cross your ankles sometimes, usually while nursing, and if I start reading/talking while you are eating, you stop eating, look up at me, and smile. Which is just about the cutest thing ever!

You laugh after sneezing, stick your tongue out while smiling, love bath time, turning pages while mama reads, watching pool reflections dance across your bedroom ceiling, watching ice come out of the refrigerator door, coffee being made, grabbing at our Yeti tumblers, and pulling mama's hair.

You've never been interested in a pacifier, don't seem to want to drink out of a bottle anytime soon, and right now, you prefer to roll yourself to where you want to go!

You are our new normal, and we just couldn't be happier about it!

FIVE MONTHS [FLIPPING OUT]!

Girlfriend is five months old, but gosh, I look at her and feel like she's five years old sometimes! She impresses me every day with all of her new tricks. ;) It's so fun to start seeing glimpses of her personality as we step out of her just being in the baby fog. Here's the run down. 

 Age: Five Months

Stats: 17.4 lbs, 25 3/4" 

Milestones: You did a lot of work during your fourth month! You are a rolling rock star, rolling both from front to back and back to front (front to back was first).
You look at toys and reach for them now-usually able to grab them with both hands- instead of just batting at them. The feet have officially made it to the mouth! You are so close to sitting up on your own, even lifting your head and shoulders off the ground while lying down-for now you'll have to settle for just getting in some daily crunches! ;)

Likes: Can I say everything? You like anything that you can pick up, because then it goes straight into your mouth! Must feel good on those gums! Still loving looking/being outside, pulling hair, and when daddy let's you claw at his face. You're pretty much okay with being on your tummy, probably because you know how to roll onto your back now, which you do almost immediately after being set down. Also, you are a big fan of our steel tumblers, reaching out to touch it and mesmerized watching it get filled with ice and water.

Dislikes: Not the biggest fan of mama being out of sight, but you can usually get distracted by something that is shiny and/or makes noise. 

You are a pretty content baby most of the time, really only crying out when you are tired or hangry, you are the absolute light of our lives, and we love you so much! We will be saying this for the rest of eternity but, how are you already so big?! We feel incredibly lucky and blessed to call you our little girl, our Little Roo.   

 

MOMMIN' AIN'T EASY

Each day we face new struggles as mamas. I have absolutely loved getting to know the wants and needs of this new human in my life, and I love raising this baby girl. My struggles come with letting go,- letting others watch her, hold her, love on her- embracing my new mom bod, unsolicited advice, and questions that feel more like attacks. 
When I was growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a mother one day, I envisioned the type of mom I would be- nurturing, attentive, playful, but with expectations of respect and a work ethic for my little ones. I remember babysitting for others' children as a teenager and thinking how strange it was for them to call so often while they were away, that maybe they didn't trust me, or they knew something that I didn't about how their kids would behave. I totally get it now. It didn't really have anything to do with me particularly, just the fact that they were away from their kids... it can be a struggle to trust anyone besides yourself with your kids. 
I was definitely unprepared for how I would feel about my body after baby! Apparently, in my mind I thought, "baby's out, body goes back to the way it was...instantly." Ha! Getting used to stretch marks, bigger boobs that just kinda make me feel like the character Gru- big upper body, with little legs sticking out ;)- and just the overwhelming feeling that my body doesn't really belong to me anymore, has been a strange sense to get used to. 
I know each day will get easier, and soon I may beg for just a little time away for myself. But right now, I am perfectly fine with our quiet days of snuggles, nursing, and playing!

 

MOM CONFESSIONS

Because mom life means you don't have it all together, all the time!

1. Most days I let my baby take at least one of her naps on me. Like right now. I don't get as much done but, snuggles!

2. My hair gets pulled out on the daily. So between that and so much coming out in the shower (why?), I should be bald by the end of the year. :/

3. More spit up ends up in my hair than on any burp cloth/blanket/tarp I have on my shoulder, working on wearing my hair up more but I hate to...So that smell is me.

4. Cursing political calls right now. Buh-bye nap time.

5. Officially a sleep-stalker, and totally one of those moms who miss their babies while they're asleep. 

6. I'm definitely obsessed with McDonald's ice coffee now (still not a fan of hot coffee since I got so grossed out from it while pregnant), and pretty much roll thru every day. Drive-thrus are life right now.  

 

TRIP TO NASHVILLE

We absolutely loved our trip to Music City with our Hadley Girl! Such a fun place to visit, I'm already excited to take her back when she's a little older, and maybe not in the heat of summer! I've been to Nashville once a while back and visited the Gaylord hotel at that time, so I was super excited to know we would actually be staying there this time. It is the coolest place, y'all! We actually have a Gaylord hotel in Florida but this one was the original and it's just too awesome! Hadley was so content just walking around the giant atrium they have there. We liked it because it feels like you're outside, but with air conditioning! With a baby, that's the perfect combo! :) 

While we totally could have spent our entire trip exploring the hotel, we did venture out to Broadway- the main, Honkytonk strip in Nashville. With each one we popped into (mostly to get baby girl in some A/C), all I could think of was the line from Sweet Home Alabama, "You have a baby! In a bar!" ;)

We also made it onto the General Jackson Showboat for their lunch cruise. Hadley was amazing through the show and was, as always, perfectly content hanging out in the wrap! This was the perfect way for us to sight-see the city while still hanging out in the air conditioning! 

Finally, we went on the Grand Ole Opry tour on our way out town. We almost didn't do it, but after we were so glad we did! Girlfriend fell asleep right after the Blake Shelton video introduction and woke up juuuust in time for the picture on the stage! Both my husband and I love country music so it was pretty cool to see something that's so special to so many artists. It was pretty freaking awesome that they even let you stand on the stage that many greats have graced. 

FOUR MONTH UPDATE

I see all of these pictures of newborn baby goodness on Instagram each day, and it makes me realize how far we've come in four months! Even though this whole mama thing still feels so new, it's amazing how much growing and learning has happened in these four months. I'll be honest, I miss that itty bitty newborn fog, but I'm also so enamored with watching my Hadley girl discover new things, and it makes me SO excited for what's to come! 

Age: Four Months

Stats: 16.5 lbs., 25.5"

Milestones: You pull your cute chubby legs straight up in the air and twist them over to your side now- you're almost ready to roll over and mama is getting way too emotional over you growing up so fast! You are able to hold toys in your hands for a while and even bring them to your mouth to gnaw on. Tummy time doesn't bother you as much anymore now that you are able to lift your chest off of the floor. Cooing and making all sorts of pterodactyl noises is your jam- and cracks us up, which makes you laugh. Currently your reach extends to your ankles, next stop; FEET! 

Likes: I'm officially declaring that you like to travel because you are the BEST little traveler! You sleep on plane rides and you are perfectly content being strapped to one of us in a carrier. You are still easily calmed by white noise, and it usually puts you to sleep in minutes...I need a new hair dryer because it's now used as a baby shusher. ;) You also like patty cake, rattles, sticking out your tongue, breathing in when you laugh, and Sophie the giraffe!  

Dislikes: Still not a fan of clothes being put on over your head, but you smile when they're taken off over your head! Silly girl. You dislike everything but mama's arms when you are tired, but sometimes not even those will do. That's when the white noise machine hair dryer is turned on! 

Noteworthy: You had your second set a vaccinations at the doctor's office and you were a total champ about them! 

 I may be a tad biased, but I just think you are the BEST baby! ;)

 

MICHIGAN TRIP: GETTING THERE

A few weeks ago we packed up only the necessary baby gear, which still seemed like a ton of stuff, and took our three month old on a plane headed for Michigan! I was super nervous to fly with a baby and was kind of freaking out about what to bring for her. Since we were only going for a long weekend, Thursday to Monday, we decided to try not to bring the entire nursery with us. Instead we brought her car seat and base, diaper bag, and packed her fold-up bassinet, monitors, and eight days worth of clothes-just in case- for Hadley in a carry-on while we checked our bag. This way, if anything happened to our luggage, we would still have everything we needed for her! 

We bought this travel bag for her car seat and base on our way to the airport because we're really good at planning ahead like that. ;) 
When we got to the airport, I changed her before we got out of the car, nursed her while Tommy checked our bag, then we headed for TSA. 
I wore my SollyBaby wrap, but I didn't know if they would let me leave her in it through security, so I just held her...and she may or may not have spit up all over the floor while we were in line. We went through the metal detector instead of the full body scanner and then got to our gate with an hour and a half to wait. She looked out the window for a little while and then right before we were to board, fell asleep. She woke up once we got to our seats though so we took some pictures to document her first flight! She totally looks like she was trying to figure that whole thing out.
Everyone's advice was to nurse her on the way up and the way down to help her pop her ears. BEST. ADVICE. EVER. annnnd, she slept the entire flight in-between. On our way off of the plane we passed people who complimented us on how well she did.