Hadley is nearly 18 months old!

This summer with my baby girl was absolutely fabulous! We got to go to the pool a lot, we played in the sun, we ate lots of ice cream and we enjoyed the long days of Boise, with her bedtime getting later and later with the sun taking it's time to set. We also had our amazing trip to Redfish Lake (which I'll write about in my next post) and I'm already making big plans for next summer and can't wait! It's not that I hate fall and winter...wait, yes I do. I do hate fall and winter, but I understand that they are here to make me appreciate spring and summer even more. The countdown is on!
At nearly 18 months old, here are some Hadley factoids:
• She is talking more and more, and while she doesn't have a huge vocabulary yet, she has a few favorite words. One of those words is, "Beeya," which she says for everything. It's sometimes drawn out like "Beeeee-yah" and sometimes shortened like, "B'yah" but it's always cute.
She says, "Puss puss Did-ee" for "kitty." We always make the "pssshhh" sound when calling for the cat, so I think she's taken that on as well as saying the actual word, "kitty." Super cute stuff. She has many other words that she says, but mostly still makes cute sounds and singing noises. I love her so much!
• She is obsessed with phone chargers, or anything plugged in, for that matter. We have an abundance of USB cords in the house (phones, nook, laptop, etc.) and she will find the all and hide them in various places. Recently she's discovered that Louie the cat will chase the cords, so she swings them around trying to entice him to follow her. We have found cords everywhere, from in the trash can to in the toilet. She has even hid my mom's remote controls in the litter box. Gross!
• She loves dogs, especially Grandma Julie's dog Millie. Millie can keep her entertained for hours and we love being able to leave her at Papa Brad's with him, Grandma JuJu and Millie keeping her entertained while we go out. We've seen not one, but TWO(!) movies in the past six weeks. Pretty exciting stuff for us!
• After initially being slightly worried that she didn't walk until after she turned one, I now see why everyone was telling me to enjoy her non-walking days. When she started walking at fourteen months old, I didn't realize how strong she was and how quick she'd keep me on my toes. She doesn't just walk now, she RUNS everywhere! I love chasing her and scooping her up in my arms. She's always laughing and trying to get away.
• She loves music and loves to dance and sway her arms all around. It started with hand motions while we sang children's songs to her and now she just flat-out dances any chance she gets. She loves all kinds of music, especially mariachi music!
• She loves Yo Gabba Gabba. Every time she sees DJ Lance's bright orange fuzzy turban (just go with it...) on the tv she starts dancing and smiling. The songs are catchy and it's super short, so you're not stuck watching some drawn-out kids show for your whole day.
• She now shakes her head when she's being naughty and definitely likes to laugh at me when she's being daring. She'll start shaking our end table and when I come over to get her she'll start laughing, shake the table harder, and shake her head when I start saying, "No no." She's a wild one!
• She loves water of all kinds. She ran straight for the lake when we were on vacation and has no fear of pools.
• Though I've tried from the very start, she's actually picky with foods. Even though I'm picky, I've tried to give her more exciting foods than what I would normally like, but she prefers only a select few things. I'm not too worried about it, as I know the older she gets the more I'll be able to have her try.
• She HATES being in her stroller. I don't know what to do, since I can't always put her in the backpack and she takes off running if I let her walk on her own. Maybe those leash things aren't such a bad idea...
These last 18 months have been such a blast and I'm so happy to watch my little princess get bigger and bigger. We love you so much, Hadders!

Those LEGS!

At the zoo...sans stroller, of course.

Trying on new pants.

Big girl in the bathroom!
PS I hate that I take most of my pics with my cell, but at least Instagram makes everything look better, right?