Hadley at Nine Months!

Hadley has officially been out of the womb longer than she was inside! What an amazing month this has been. Almost every single day Hadley does something huge, like learning to crawl and starting to say her first words (mama and dada). We have had so much fun with her!
Here are some nine month factoids:
• Hadley is a fantastic crawler. She can get from point A to point B in a blink of an eye and we're already much more on our toes than we have been before.
• She loves cords. She finds cords plugged into any and everything and will suck on them, much to my horror. Short of squirting her with a squirt bottle, I'm not sure how to discourage her from doing this :)
• She can pull herself up on anything. Unfortunately, this includes her crib so each night we wake up to her crying because she has stood up and doesn't know how to let go of the railing and fall to her bum, so she hangs on for dear life, crying, until one of us comes and gets her.
• Hadley can walk all by herself, if she's pushing something like her stroller. She grabs on to the part underneath the seat (where I stow my purse) and she stands up and pushes the stroller. It's insane!
• She's getting bored quickly with toys. We're having to come up with creative ways to keep her entertained. She still loves her bath though, and would stay in there until she was wrinkly if she had it her way.
• She is a cautious little girl, and doesn't freely smile or laugh at strangers. She has to study a person for a little while before she'll warm up to them and then she *might* give them a half smile. This shyness is fascinating to me. She reminds me a lot of Eliza, when Eliza was her age. I should be so lucky that she grow up as nice and sweet as Eliza has. What a great role model for Hadley!
• She is still a huge daddy's girl. When Levi comes home from work, she will start screaming until he picks her up and plays with her. He has to set her down to get in the shower and she'll fuss and cry until he gets out and picks her back up. What a drama queen!

I could go on and on. Hadley has become such a delight this last month and I cannot WAIT to see what we're in for this next month!

Hadley and her best friend Eliza.

Christmas Card 2011

I didn't have the time to create Christmas cards this year (I haven't had time to do much of anything lately, including blowdrying my hair) so I decided to go the digital route and create something fun.
We are super excited to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Gates, followed by Hadley's first Christmas at Papa Brad's house. I think she'll be asleep for most of it, but it's still very, very exciting for us. Three years ago I was praying and praying that we'd someday have a baby to take to the Gates party. Two years ago I prayed for the same thing. Last year I couldn't believe our fortune and was five months preggo with our little Hadders. And now, FINALLY, we get to celebrate with our little angel.
This has been an amazing year for us and we love each and every one of you who supported us through the years. I still can't believe how blessed I am to have not only been born into an incredible, loving family...but to have married into one too! How great is that?
Well, we love you all and can't wait to see what this new year brings.

XoXo
Carly, Levi, and Hadley Gates

Thanksgiving 2011

What an amazing Turkey Day we had! Levi, Hadley, and I drove down to Utah the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and had such a great time. Although it was a quick visit, and we had to leave after eating on Thursday, it was a blast and we are so grateful that we got to see everyone.
Hadley was quite the little bear and was not looking her best. For some reason, she had a major rash all over her face and was also tired and teething during the trip. I swear, Utah family, she's usually really cute and sweet! Ha ha! We got to see Scott's cute family, both of my grandpas, plus Aunt Bonnie and her adorable family.
Thank you to Laurie and Justin for (once again) putting us up in your beautiful home. We love visiting and it's so fun to watch Hadley get spoiled by all those cuties in your house!
To list what I am thankful for this year would take all day. Here are just a few things

• My amazing husband and our beautiful daughter. Where would I be without these two?? Levi has seen me through thick and thin (literally!) and his love for me is what keeps me going.
• My family. My incredible mom, my sweet sisters, my loving brother, not to mention a gaggle of aunts, uncles, in-laws, etc. etc. that make life so great.
• Our jobs. Even if I complain, the fact that Levi & I both have jobs that allow us to have a nice home, running cars, and food to eat is something I am so grateful for.
• The internet. Seriously, I am able to do so much as a mom thanks to this tool. This includes saving time by Christmas shopping online, uploading photos of Hadley so I'll never lose them, catching up with old friends on Facebook, and having the ability to look up all kinds of baby info (not to mention talk online with my awesome moms group.) The internet has made life so great and I'm so happy that I grew up knowing what life was like before the internet so that I can appreciate what life is like now.
• Christmas. Yep, I am truly thankful for Christmas. The music, the decorations, the excitement for the big day, you name it. I love listening to Christmas music on Pandora while wrapping presents on my day off, especially now that I get to watch Hadley play in the living room while I do this. What a great thing!!
Anyway, I love you all and thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Every little girl needs the influence of strong Jacobson women.

An adorable note written by my niece Rachel, after we had our second miscarriage. Could she be any sweeter? PS Laurie, I'm taking her up on her babysitting/move to Idaho offer!

More spoiling by the cousins.

The necessary trip to Ikea.

My sweet, sweet Grandpa.

All I want for Christmas...

...is Hadley's two front (top) teeth! Poor little baby has had the roughest couple of days. Her top lip pokes out because her gums are so swollen. We've been rotating tylenol/ibuprofen and giving her lots of love, but she is not a happy camper. A couple of weeks ago, Hadley was sleeping through the night and finally getting used to napping in her crib and now all of that has been undone. We've been letting her sleep in our bed again, since it's about the only thing that comforts her through the night. I know this is temporary, but man, I am tired!

On other fronts, Levi and I have been having a busy holiday season. Work for me has been crazy and I am definitely looking forward to the calmness of February. People have been especially grumpy this season, not sure why. I'm trying to stay positive and just be thankful I have a job, but sometimes I really want to ask people why they are so rude. It isn't necessary, it isn't helpful, and it certainly isn't the "reason for the season." Ugh. Levi's work has been steady and we are very, very grateful for that. Knowing that we can afford our house and our car and celebrate Christmas is a great motivator to not give up.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah, I'll be posting pictures later. I miss my family down there so much and sometimes I wonder about us eventually moving there, but I know that Boise is our home and I'd love for Hadley to be raised here, but it would be fun to have all her cousins around all the time. She is so adored by them all!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Take care!

Hadley at 8 Months!

Love that wild morning hair!
Our little Hadley has grown up so much this last month! On the 19th she turned eight months old and just in this last week she has grown up even more!
Hadley is starting to be fairly mobile. While she doesn't outright crawl, she can scoot all the way across any room. I'm not sure how she does it, but I'll put her on the ground facing one direction and two minutes later she's twenty feet away facing the other direction. Too cute!

We bought her a no-slip bath mat so she can sit up without assistance in the bathtub. She still loves her bath so much and will play in there as long as possible.

Hadley still loves car rides and will, at first, cry and fight when we're strapping her in her car seat, but once we click it in place she's a happy camper. When we drove down to Utah for Thanksgiving this year, she was the best little traveler.

She is learning how to smile at cameras. I say, "Say cheese!" and she usually will look up and smile. I love taking pictures of her. I have spent a small fortune at Kinkos getting the pictures developed on the "good" printer.

Here are some more 8 Month Hadley Factoids:
• She is now a wiggle worm when changing her diaper and we have become pros at changing her diaper with her rolled onto her stomach, as well as her standing up. A pain? Yes. Funny? Yes.
• We bought her a little mesh thingy that you can put fruit and veggies in and she can suck on them without choking or creating a huge mess. It's been a big hit, especially bananas.
• She loves the movie Cars and will usually fall asleep for her nap listening to it.
• She is quite musical and will dance whenever she hears any music. We also made her a homemade maraca out of an empty Tylenol bottle that we filled with popcorn kernels. She loves to shake that thing!
• She has started signing a tiny bit and we're working with her every day on communicating that way. So far she does "Big Girl!" and while this isn't an actual "sign" it's still adorable to see her lift her hands above her head. She also waves hello and goodbye and puts her hands together when we ask, "Where's Daddy?" (the sign for "work" is hitting her one hand on top of her other hand, but she so far just puts her hands together, which is adorable.)
• She is SOOOO much better about sleeping through the night. We have The No Cry Sleep Solution to thank for our success. Now if we could get her take naps longer than 20 minutes!

Hadley is such an angel and is so funny. I love hearing her funny laugh and her little noises. She has her "Pffft" noise that she makes when she sees something pleasing or funny. We are so blessed to have her in our house. What did we ever do before her??

Thankful!

Since Thursday, I have been having severe back pain that reached a breaking point during last night. I honestly didn't know what to do if the pain got any worse. Being immobile and in pain sucks, but to have to go through it as a mom is way worse. I felt so helpless not being able to scoop Hadley up and blow on her stomach, couldn't change her diaper quickly, couldn't get her in and out of the crib without nearly collapsing in pain, and couldn't bend down to play with her.
This is where the thankful part comes in. I am so thankful for a mom, a husband, and a sister who all came to my aid. Thank you guys so much! My mom has been so great watching Hadley while I went back and forth to chiropractor appointments, Levi was such a big help this weekend getting up with the girl during the night and taking her for walks and drives so I could ice my back, and Heather dropped everything this morning to take me to the chiropractor first thing this morning. Thank you guys so much!!
Hopefully it will be feeling a lot better within the next few days. I know how much more I'll appreciate a healthy back and will NEVER take it for granted again!
Until then, at least I know I have the BEST family in the whole world!

Mr. Sandman...

...please come visit our house!!
I know that in a few short years I'll look back on this time and wonder why I was so concerned with Hadley's sleep. By then she'll probably be sleeping just fine in her OWN bed and I'll wonder why I was so frantic to get her on a sleep schedule, right??
That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. Hadley is officially one of the worst sleepers in the world. She hates naps, hates going to sleep at night and hates her crib. Basically, she's a social animal that would much rather hang out with us during the day and night and can't understand why we would ever put her in a dark room in a *gasp* crib.
To combat this, I finally purchased a parenting book that was recommended by the lovable Dr. Sears called The No Cry Sleep Solution. Since Levi and I are not "cry-it-out" fans, this book seems to have some great ideas, I'm just worried it's too late to start Hadley on new ideas, but then I remember she's only seven months old and some people have children as old as two still getting up three or four times in the night.
Our first goal is to get Hadley to take longer naps and to fall asleep in her crib, rather than in our arms. Second goal is to get her to fall asleep at night in her own crib and be able to fall back asleep in there through the whole night. Currently we end up co-sleeping about 50% of the night and, while having Hadley in bed with us is nice and cozy and sweet, I can already tell she's depending on it, plus my back is tweaked from not being able to spread out. Third goal is to have her wake up less frequently in the night. Currently, she's up between 3-4 times a night (as much as when she was a newborn) and I can't wait for the day that it's only 1-2. That would be DIVINE!
I know all of these problems are problems created by us. We knew that rocking her to sleep in our arms would come back to haunt us, but how could we resist! It took us so long to get Hadley here, and for all we know she might be our only child, so we absolutely love holding her until she falls asleep...we just can't do it for much longer.
Hadley is such a great baby, other than her sleep habits. I just have to remember that this is a temporary thing and won't be something that plagues us for the rest of our lives. In the long run, ensuring Hadley knows that she is loved and in a secure, safe home is the absolute most important thing. I love that little girl so much and would do anything for her...we all just need a little more sleep! :)

Halloween 2011

What a fantastic Halloween we had this year! We had great weather, fun parties, and silly costumes, which in my book translates to total success!

I found Hadley's bee costume a while ago at Kid to Kid for $6 and then spent another $5 on black leggings. We already had her black undershirt, so we came out very well financially on her costume. I hate spending money on things that are only worn once (hence my ill-fated $80 wedding dress that got scrapped at the last minute) so I was excited to find two adult bee costumes online for only $35 total, including shipping. Woo hoo! I was worried Levi would say no, or be a poor sport about the dressing up, but then I had a reminder of how awesome and amazing he is when he happily put on the costume and danced around, to Hadley's and my delight.
We weren't planning on doing another party this year, but Levi's dad said that we could use his house to celebrate if we wanted, which was great considering how much more room he has than us. Our house isn't tiny, it's just comprised of a bunch of tiny rooms, so it's not ideal for hosting more than a handful of people at a time. (Note to self...next house MUST have better entertaining space!)
Saturday the 29th was spent carving our pumpkin army. We had so much fun doing it last year, we decided we needed more pumpkins and more help carving them. Luckily Wilson, Wilson's friend Lachlan, Eliza, Chris, Avery, Pat, and Pat's girlfriend Sarah all stepped up to the plate and helped us out. They looked fantastic!

Could Eliza get any prettier?!

That evening we went over to Brad's house to play games and eat pizza. It was also Chris and Seth's birthday on the 27th and 28th, so we also celebrated their birthday. Earlier in the day, Mom and I had made caramel popcorn balls (a first for me!) and, along with the popcorn balls, we had an over abundance of treats at the get together. I was seriously sugared-out by the end of the night, which takes a lot for me. Everyone's costumes were great. Avery and Chris went all out with their zombie costumes and Avery even hand-made her mask. Hadley screamed when she saw Chris, so they were nice enough to only wear their masks for pictures. Thanks guys! We missed Sevy, but we got to talk with her and see how she was doing in Boston. It was a great time and I can't wait for next year!

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, so we had just enough time after getting off work to get dressed up again in our costumes and run over to Harrison Blvd. for the trick or treating. Harrison Boulevard is a fantastic street in Boise, filled with gorgeous older homes and beautiful landscaping. It's a tradition for kids to use that street, which is about 3/4 a mile long in both directions. This year, they estimated 4,000 people showed up. It was amazing. Aunt Avery was able to come straight from work, in her hippie costume, and join us on the walk. While the sun was still up, we got to see all the cute babies and toddlers in their costumes and as the sun went down it was fun to see all the elaborate costumes of the "older" kids. Too much fun!

It was such a blast to celebrate one of my favorite holidays with my two favorite people: Miss Hadley and my handsome husband. I can't wait to make a tradition of dressing up and visiting friends and family. What a fun time of year! Now, on to Christmas......

Jacobsons' visit!

Is there anything better than when the Jacobsons roll into town? I think not!
Laurie brought four of her five adorable children up last weekend and we had a blast visiting with them and they all got their Hadley cuddle time in. (Well, some felt they didn't get the correct amount of cuddle time and I had to promise them extra cuddles with Hadley when we go down to Utah in November.)
The big highlight for the twins was getting to help Hadley take a bath. Hadley LOVED it and was glad to be the center of attention.

How many people can we fit in our teeny, tiny bathroom?!
We hated saying goodbye but were so grateful to spend the time we did with that amazing family. Love you guys!

Hadley is Seven Months Old!

Seven Months Old?!


Talk about a fantastic age! Hadley is so much fun, I can hardly stand leaving her for even a second. I can't believe how many things change just between six and seven months.
First, Hadley is in the midst of a teething frenzy. We went from Hadley being a happy camper with a tiny bump under her gums, to a red-faced, grumpy Hadley having not one, but two teeth popping up in a matter of two weeks. Poor little girl! Her chin is always wet from her sucking in her lips to sooth her gums and now she has a rash. She's still adorable and we just make sure to give her nice, cool teethers and let her suck on anything that makes her feel better (this includes her bathtub washrag, and believe me, I've told her that Grandpa Allen says she'll get the Guinea Worms.)
Besides the teething milestone, Hadley is now sitting up on her own. I love being able to prop her up and watch her entertain herself. Her favorite thing is sitting in front of her little toy basket and pull out ALL the toys one by one.

Hadley is a great little helper!

Nothing cuter than Hadley in her jammies!


Here are some other seven-month Hadley-isms:
• She is now LOVING the kitties. She squeals when she sees them and her chubby hand shakes when she gets to pet them. Now she's learning what, "Soft! Hadley, soft!" means. Luckily, Louie doesn't mind too much when she grabs handfuls of his hair, while cooing at him in a high pitch.
• Hadley loves all of her toys equally. Whether it's the little plastic sea animal bath toys, her Fisher Price smart phone (which looks enough like Mommy's phone to keep her satisfied), or her Sunshine Symphony (which plays 4 pieces of classical music for her enjoyment, as well as ours) she loves them all. I'm excited to start shopping for her for Christmas, even if it's just a couple of toys and a couple of outfits. It's going to be so fun!
• She can lay on her stomach and scoot along. I think crawling is still about a month away, but she's definitely using the scooting and shuffling to get around.
• Hadley is a master at rolling to her stomach, but still can't roll over to her back. This makes for some fun nights when she's rolled into a corner of her crib and can't roll back. We're working with her as best we can, but I think she'll just do it on her own when she's good and ready.
• She has tried several baby foods and doesn't hate any of them, but doesn't love them either. We haven't been doing the best job of making her do it every day, but we'll be buckling down and getting her used to all those different flavors this month.
• She is still on her own, unique nap schedule. The only thing consistent is that she is almost always takes a nap within two hours of waking up. How long that nap actually is can vary from fifteen minutes to two hours. You never know what you're going to get with her!
• She loves a good game of peek-a-boo. She can get laughing so hard and it really is the sweetest sound in the whole world.

Happy Seven Month Birthday, Hadley! Every day with you is such a treat and we love what a fun, hilarious girl you are becoming!

She finally gave up on her photo shoot.

Two things that make me happy:
1. This picture of Hadley and Aunt Avery:

Hadley's telling Avery all kinds of stories

2. This video of Hadley with Levi:

Could Levi be any cuter with her?

Life is good.

October 14, 2011

Last week Hadley had to get her six month shots. I absolutely hate doing it to her, but it is a necessary evil. She's always so cute and happy before the shots.

Look at that sweet little thing!
I made the mistake of looking, right when the nurse jabbed the first needle into her chubby thigh and I thought I was going to faint. When Hadley cries, there are rarely tears, she mostly just fusses, so to see her absolutely wail with tears in her eyes was the most traumatizing thing for me. We have to get her second part of the flu shot in November and then her nine month shots in December. Poor little girl! She was fine the first day, just sleepy and a little hot, but the second day she was even worse and we ended up having to give her baby tylenol and just tried to keep her cool. Hopefully the next time will be better.

A couple of days after her immunizations Hadley was right as rain!

Lately, I've become addicted to a frozen yogurt place downtown called Aspen Leaf. I know, could you pick a worse name? It sounds like a day spa, but it is so dang yummy. I get the cake batter and red velvet yogurt and top it with about twenty kinds of chocolate. We met up with Brad and Julie the other night so they could spend some quality time with their grandbaby. It was a great night and Hadley was happy Papa Brad let her eat some of his peanut butter chocolate yogurt. Mmmmmm!

Speaking of eating, Hadley is slowly getting the hang of eating baby food. She definitely doesn't like it, but we're getting her to eat about six bites per sitting. Here's what she looks like after about three bites and five minutes in her high chair:

Well, fall in Boise is definitely upon us and it is time to break out the sweaters. We've had to buy the little girl some warmer pajamas and it's time for Levi to buy his annual pair of Carhartt pants. I really don't like the cold weather and I'm already looking forward to a nice, hot summer next year.

At least Hadley looks adorable in her hoodies :)

Last weekend was Brad's birthday, so we went over to his house on Sunday and hung out with the whole family. Hadley even got to meet her second-cousin Porter!

Now, if I could somehow get Chris and Avery to have a baby soon! You can't tell me these two wouldn't have the cutest family ever!

Everything else is going well, I have been outrageously busy at work (the spirt of "do-more-with-less" is only intensifying) but I'm just happy to have a job that I enjoy. I still struggle with not getting to see much of Hadley and Levi on days that I work. It breaks my heart to think about all the things I'm missing and every now and then I get really sad about it, but then I remember that she's just fine when I'm not there and she also gets to have her daddy/daughter time with Levi on the weekends. Levi and I are going to try to go on a date tonight. We've never really been out without the baby, so we'll see how this goes. I'm sure I'll miss her!!

Saying Goodbye to Sissy

Last night we had a little going away get-together for Levi's sister Sevy. She has met a nice guy from Boston and is moving out there to be with him. While we're excited for her, we're going to miss her too! Sevy is a great auntie to Hadley and, even though technology like facebook, skype, email, smart phones, etc. has made it easier to be across the country from your loved ones, I still found it very hard to say goodbye to her yesterday. Sevy, I wish you luck, love, and happiness and I hope this is the beginning of a great new life for you! We love you so much!!