Bedtime Routine

For the first month of Hadley's life she had her days and nights mixed up. We would be up until midnight with her and she would sleep in until noon. It was pretty exhausting. I ended up putting her on a bedtime routine in the hopes that she would begin to recognize nighttime. It has really helped out and I feel like she finally has her days and nights in order. She even starts to get fussy around bedtime, which in Hadley language means, "Put me to sleep!!"
Here is our little routine:
Around 7 I give Hadley her bath. Most of the time she seems to enjoy sitting in the warm water. She stares at me as I wash her off and I talk or sing to her. Lately I've been giving her some medicine called Colic Calm during her bath. I give it in the bath because it turns her mouth black. No joke. Black. She looks like a little goth baby. I like to give it to her in the bath so that I can easily wash it off her face. I feel like the meds help calm her gassy tummy and help her have a better nights sleep.
After the bath we go into my bedroom where I have all the things needed for the rest of our routine set up in front of a space heater. She gets pretty fussy from the bath to the space heater because she hates being cold. Her little lip just trembles.
On the floor I have set up the space heater, a blanket for her to lay on, her lotion and comb, her diaper and wipes, the boppy, face wipes, p.j.'s, and swaddle. We even have Pandora Rock-a-bye baby station playing in the background. I lay her on her blanket and finish drying her off. I then put her diaper on and begin giving her her lotion massage. Man, I wish someone would give me a lotion massage every night before bed. Anyway, after the massage I put her in her p.j.'s and let her have some tummy time. I'll talk to her and rub her back or sing to her during this time. Usually while she's occupied with tummy time and less likely to get fussy I'll wipe her face with face wipes.
Around 7:45 I swaddle her and feed her. If that doesn't put her to sleep I'll rock her and sing until she is out. Usually I can get her down by 8.
I love our bedtime routine, not only because she's getting used to it, but also because it's special mommy-Haddie time.

A Visit to Roundrock

Three weeks after Hadley was born I was in a wedding in San Antonio. Yes, that means we had to take the 5 hour car trip with our newborn. Not the best timing.
On the way back from the wedding we made a stop in Roundrock to see some of Shane's family. Hadley got to meet Grandma Huffman, the sweet lady she was named after. (Faye)
I am so sad that I left my camera at home, so all we had to take pictures with was my Iphone. Terrible. We'll have to get better pictures when we see them again in May.

Aunt Debi

Celeste

Smile!

Look what I caught on video on Dec. 26th! Hadley gave me her Christmas gift!

Fire Station Visit

Oh what a patient husband I have! On New Years Eve Hadley and I went to the station and Shane cooperated with me and put on his gear for a mini photo shoot. I love the pictures and am so glad he gave into taking them! I'm so proud of him and his profession. Plus he just looks so darn good in his gear! : )






Smiling at Daddy



Love this one!

Hadley's First Christmas

Hadley had a wonderful first Christmas! We traveled to Abilene on a Tuesday and got to stay all the way until Sunday so she got lots of quality time with family. Here are some pictures that we got of her on Christmas morning at Lolli and Pops house...
The stocking on the left is from Lolli and Pops house and the stocking on the right is from our house.

Mommy helping Hadley open her stockings.

Aubs loved holding baby Hadley. She would say, "Can I have some hanitizer so that I can touch baby Hadley?" (Yes, we're crazy germ freaks when it comes to Hadley)
She would stroke Hadley's head and say, "It's okay Hadley." It melted my heart! She even made up a song for us to sing to Hadley when she cries. Works every time! ; )

On Christmas morning at Tank and Nonnie's house Hadley got to see her great Grandmom, again!

Four Generations

Hadley and Nonnie

Hadley posing with her stocking from Tank and Nonnie's house. This is one spoiled little angel!


It was a (sorta) white Christmas! It snowed just long enough for us to get some pictures, then it went away and melted.






Hadley in her Christmas outfit.

Hanging out with Tank. (We had a little blow out, so that's why there is an outfit change.)

Nonnie

Tank and Nonnie loving.

She was into looking at the lights of the Christmas tree.

Big yawn...

and she's out... along with Dad.

Christmas is exhausting to a little girl!

One Month Old

Again, I'm behind on this post, but better late then never.
I cannot believe that Hadley is one month old. Where did this month go? Our entire lives have changed this month and we couldn't be more content. We didn't know what we were missing. Hadley has added to our family in ways that I never knew were possible.
I feel like she has already changed so much in just this one month. I look at her newborn pictures and feel like she already looks so much bigger.
She did have a little trouble gaining weight the first couple of weeks, but it was because her tummy was upset from the antibiotics I was on for my kidney infection. Since then she's been gaining weight just fine.
Hadley is a strong girl! In the hospital she was holding her head up for about 10 seconds at a time and now she can hold it up for a few minutes. When we got her newborn pictures done the photographer would try and mold her into positions and kept commenting on how strong she was! I'm pretty sure she's a future athlete!
At one month we were not getting smiles quite yet, but I couldn't wait! I would always ask her for smiles, but she would just look at me or around my outline. Now we're at 6 weeks and we've had some smiles, but I'll save that for another post! : )
Hadley has finally made it into size 1 diapers. Her newborn diapers were becoming a bit too snug. Her size 1's are a little loose, but we wrap 'em up tight around her belly to avoid any blow outs. She goes through diapers like it's her job.
Now for some pictures. I can't say I'm really pleased with how all these turned out, but that's what I get for waiting until it was dark outside to take them. So please excuse the lighting, but I'm sure her cuteness will make up for her mommy's bad judgement!










Cute little tongue



Hello there mommy.




See! I can hold my head up!