The Strosnider's

Flat Stanley

2012-01-31T14:16:00.000-08:00

We had a visit from Flat Stanley...He came from Scott's brother's youngest daughter's 3rd grade class.

Dear Mr. Mickolof’s Thrid Grade Class –

Flat Stanley arived safe and sound he traveled 342 miles from your school to the home of Becky’s cousin, Hadley, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here is a map to show you how far that is. Point A is where your school is in California and point B is where Hadley lives in Arizona.

Scottsdale is near Phoenix which is the capitol of Arizona. Here in Scottsdale we are in the desert. That means it doesn’t rain very much and we have lots of dry warm and hot days. We have lots of cactus. We are most famous for our Saguaro cactus. Saguaros have a relatively long life span. They take up to 75 years to develop a side arm. The speed saguaros grow depends on how much it rains. Some of these cacuts can live up to 150 years. Whenever it rains, saguaros soak up the rainwater. You can see the cacuts expand, holding in the rainwater. It conserves the water and slowly uses it. Here is a picture of some saguaro in the sunset.

In the summer it sometimes feels too hot here but in the winter the weather is great. You picked a great time for Stanly to come visit. Lots of people like to live in Scottdale in the winter and then leave for the summer. Frank Lloyd Wright, who was a famous architect, had a winter home in Scottsdale. It’s a beautiful place to visit. We didn’t have a chance to take Flat Stanley so he will have to come back again sometime. Here is a picture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s House, Taliesin West.

Because it’s so hot in the summer we like to swim a lot. Flat Stanley came with us to Hadley’s swim lesson. If you look to the left of Flat Stanley you can see Hadley floting on her back in the pool with her coach. There is also a picture of Flat Stanley with Hadley after her lesson. She was still wet from the pool!

The next day we had a lot of errands to run. Flat Stanley went with us to pick out some new glasses for Hadley. She needs glasses to help her see. Flat Stanley was very good at picking out glasses and even found some he liked. He liked red to match his shirt.

Most of the other errands were really boaring so he hung out in the stroller and played the iPad with Hadley. He is really good at puzzles.

Finally we were home and Flat Stanley played toys with Hadley while her dog Archie watched. It was a long day so Flat Stanley decided to take a nap with Hadley. They both slept very well.

The last day Flat Stanley was with us we had a very fun day. It started with a very special treat, lunch with another visiting student. Elen is visiting Arizona just like Flat Stanley. She is from a country called France. France is over 5,000 miles from your school in Europe. The big Atlantic Ocean is between the United States and France.

Elen has been missing the food she eats at home so Flat Stanley thought we should try French food. He was able to eat some traditional French food at a resturant called Scratch. Scratch made him think of something itchey and not food but it was good anyway.

After lunch Flat Stanley helped make cupcakes for a birhtday party. They turned out perfect. He even got to help Hadley eat one!

We had a great time with Flat Stanley and hope he will come back to visit soon!
Love,
Hadley and her Family

Sad Sad Sad

2011-12-24T08:05:00.001-08:00

I received many blessings when I married Scott. Not only did I have a loving husband and great life partner but I also received 2 wonderful brothers in laws and my 2 fantastic sisters in laws. I was blessed with 3 handsome nephews and 4 beautiful nieces. I was so excited to be an Aunt and take my role very seriously. In fact I feel like I had unofficially settled into that role during the 2 years Scott and I were dating before we were married. I was Aunt Megan to these beautiful children before I was Scott’s wife. I read once that an Aunt is “the friendship of a sister and wisdom of a mother”. In my case I feel this especially true. Since Scott is 10 years older than me and his nieces and nephews are older I often feel like the filler of the generation gap. I love being able to relate to them and they keep me feeling youthful. Next to being a mother being an Aunt is my most fulfilling role.

Last night we received terrible news. Our oldest nephew, Chris, passed away Thursday night. Chris had a rough start in life and the path of his life was not always straight, narrow, and clear. But last night in remembering him Scott and I both were drawn to his genuine kindness. I was always so impressed with his gentle nature towards his three younger sisters. Scott remembers how eager he was to help us when they visited for Thanksgiving. He had genuine goodness in his heart.

When Chris found out he was expecting a baby with his girlfriend Alex, Scott and I both received personal phone calls from him to share his exciting news. You could hear in his voice the excitement and love. We often chatted on facebook, he always said hello when we were both online at the same time. His life was really taking a good turn. He was overjoyed when his beautiful baby girl, Lilyana Rose, arrived last July. He felt welcomed by Alex’s family and often referred to them as “good people”. I feel a debt of gratitude towards Alex’s family for being there for him in such a meaningful way.

Chris and Alex with beautiful baby Lilyana Rose.

Chris’s own sisters left such beautiful notes on facebook I wanted to share…

From his oldest sister Stephany ~ To the most beautiful person I have ever met (my brother) Chris Edward Strosnider you really had the biggest heart anyone could ever have. I don’t know what to do without you…This is a nightmare. I can’t accept that your gone. I feel numb. I’m shattered in a million pieces and I really don’t know how I’m going to put the pieces back together. I was supposed to visit you soon but now I can’t. I don’t know what to do…You’re my other half. I just want to hug you and hold your hand and talk to you but I can’t. I miss you so much. Why did you have to leave me? I’m empty. Rest in peace my beautiful brother.

A drawing from his middle sister Sarah

And a heart breaking note from 8 year old Becky ~ i miss you so much chris you are resting now you are the only brother i have in my life remember i miss you with my whole life bye your sister becky

The disease of addiction took this kind and gentle soul from us. In this disease the separation of the disease and the person can often be hard for people to remember and maintain. There is not a simple solution, a medication or a short hospital stay, that can battle this ailment. It affects many and yet is often so misunderstood. In the end we, the families of those who are taken, are left with many questions and few answers. Our hearts are broken for the loss of such a beautiful young soul.

In closing I found this quote and feel its message is very appropriate for the world’s loss of Chris.

Life is a gift to all, especially the young. For when you are young you know everything, and are willing to do anything. Ready to reach to the farthest part of the universe, for one moment of fun. And that's why when the young die, the world goes dark for a few seconds, because the mind that stretched through the universe disappeared, and there's a hole in the heart of the world.

Santa Time

2011-12-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year…yes the time of year when parents (like me) torture our young children by making them sit on a strange/magical man’s lap. Really, why do we do this?
Last year Hadley wasn’t really into Santa. She screamed her head off and has had trauma when seeing men with white beards.

I thought things would be better this year…she handled Disneyland Characters well and we’ve been talking about Santa a lot. She likes to tell us that if she sees Santa she will close her eyes. And she really does this. When he came by on the Christmas Parade in Disneyland (I really will post about this trip some day). Eyes closed up. We asked her why she was closing her eyes and she said, “I can’t see him or he won’t give me presents” Seems there was some miscommunication about when you can and can’t “see” Santa. We’ve been working on idea that the only time you have to close your eyes is on Christmas when you hear him on the roof. You can now add breaking and entering to Santa’s list…no wonder the kid is scared.

Anyway, Hadley got a video from Santa which she watch while clung to my chest and closed her eyes at various points. We’ve waved to Santa a few times at the mall, in Disneyland, when we see him on TV. He’s even waved back. We’re getting closer.

Every year since Haddie was born we’ve gone to Bass Pro Shop for our Santa pictures. They are free. They have fast passes (so the line isn’t too long). And they have really nice and authentic Santa’s. We have a tradition of going with Natalie, Michael, and Spencer. Next year we’ll let Baby Elliott come along too. This year was a little different. Scott had to work late and Natalie (well she’s in a hospital trying not to have a baby) so Michael and I were on our own. We made a good team!

I prepped Hadley all day letting her know we were gonna go see Santa. She told me she didn’t want to. Spencer promised to “help” her so she wouldn’t be scared. She declared that she would just wait in the car. Spencer tried to reason with her…Hadley if you don’t tell Santa what to bring you he can’t bring you any toys. Hadley’s response…I don’t want any more toys. I have toys.
Hadley’s death grip started in the parking lot. She again begged me to leave her in the car! I promised she wouldn’t see Santa right away and that we could just look at him from far away.

We started with some pre-Santa pictures.

Hadley and Spencer in the Winter Wonder Land

Then we looked at fish

They requested I take a picture of this fish

Hadley looked at the sign and then found the matching fish in the tank (she did this all on her own) She’s very into what matches and who looks like who.

Spencer rode on the marry-go-round which of course Hadley opted out on. (Sorry no photo. I was in line at this point holding our spot)

Hadley did some coloring near Santa

Then it was our turn..

Spencer looking like a pro of course

Hadley…terrified that he is touching her.

He asked her what she wanted for Christmas.
She said “Presents”.
He asked her if she was a good girl this year.
She said “Yes”.

I asked one more time if she would sit on his lap for a picture.

She said, “No I wouldn’t like to” (Okay then).

As we walked away she ran up to Spencer and said, “I saw Santa”

Seconds after seeing Santa

Look at that smile.

So really this is progress look back at last year.

2010

Mommy who is this guy?

You want me to sit where?

No way…Mom get me out of here!

This next set of pictures reminds me how much easier life is with a 2.5 year old than an 18 month old.

Let’s try again

Okay again

Never mind

I think by next year she’ll be into it.

And really who can complain about two years of no good Santa picture when this is what we got in 2009?

I mean truly. Is there a better picture ever?

A life time of bad pictures is worth this gem!

Another Day with Spencer

2011-12-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Spencer was over again today for another play date. He arrived at lunch time and Hadley, Spencer, and I made homemade pizza. Once again homemade as in fresh and easy did all the work and we did the easy part. Everyone was very hungry so I didn’t take the time to snap a picture of the pizza before it went in the oven or before we started eating it. Sorry…

Hadley and Spencer enjoy eating lunch “together”…it starts with Hadley eating and Spencer watching and ends with Hadley playing and Spencer eating. Now I know it’s okay to share what I am about to write because Spencer’s parents know and 100% agree with this statement. Spencer is a SLOW eater…like really slow. Hadley is a very FAST eater. The two make quite a pair. Here’s how the pizza lunch went.

Hadley finishing off her SECOND of three pieces.

Spencer not yet taken a bit of his FIRST (and only) piece of pizza.

Side by side…it’s really true.

Now you may wonder is Spencer’s pizza too hot? Nope both pieces went into the fridge for nearly the same amount of time. They were the same temperature. Spencer just wasn’t ready to take that first bit yet.

Here is Spencer…25 minutes later. Really 25 minutes. He finished eating 38 minutes after we started and 30 minutes after Hadley finished. Not gonna win any speed eating contests.

Now for some baking!

I had two fresh and easy pizza dough’s but really didn’t need two pizzas. I have wanted to make a dessert pizza with yummy sugar and chocolate for a long time. I found a recipe and it called for ½ cup of cake mix. I just so happened to have cake mix and since I didn’t want to toss the dough (which was going to go bad today) we whipped up this guy.

Yumm….

Now what to do with the other 3.5 cups of cake mix?

I guess it’s time for some cupcakes.

This is Hadley signing please cuz she always seems to think I am saying “say please” when I am saying “say cheese” gonna have to work on that one.

We made red and green swirl cup cakes and then two cakes for cake balls.

I let them lick the bowls, I licked some too so we would all get salmonella together.

Hadley watches everything Spencer does

Then copies it two seconds latter

She really liked licking the bowl

I mean really liked it

Once we cleaned the stickiness up it was time for a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

Here is the final baking product. These were to be delivered to the Labor and Delivery Nurses at Chandler Regional Hospital where Natalie has been staying for the last 10 days. Hope they liked them. I wasn’t gonna keep them at my house!

PS: Sorry for all the topless pictures. Haddie won't where a shirt when eatting pizza and wouldn't put it back on! Silly 2 year old!

Just a Rainy Day

2011-12-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

It’s been raining for two days now. I can’t even remember the last time it rained that long. I have been enjoying the change even if it means being a little soggy.

We had Spencer came over for a play date. His mom Natalie (my best friend) has been in the hospital since last Monday Dec 5th trying NOT to have Baby Elliott early. I plan to post more on that later. Spencer usually comes on Thursdays but this week has been quiet for me at work so we had a play date today and plan to have another one Thursday.

Since I thought we would be playing inside we started the day by giving Spencer his Christmas present early.

It’s a Candyland like game in a zoo theme as a bonus it has two matching games. Since we go to the Zoo a lot with Spencer and he LOVES games it seemed like the perfect fit.

We played a few rounds but really Hadley is not so into games yet.

After about 2 hours of playing the kids were standing at the back door having a whole chat about the rain. Spencer and Hadley are the only 2 and 4 year old pair I know who can have full on adult conversations about things.

Spencer: It sure is rainy out there.
Hadley: Yeah, it sure is. We should go outside and get wet.
Spencer: We’ll need our jackets.
Hadley: I should get my gloves to so my hands don’t get chilly.
Spencer: We shouldn’t take your toys out there cuz they would get really wet.
Hadley: We should just ask my mommy if we can go outside now.

They had it all figured out so I decided it wasn’t such a bad idea. It wasn’t really cold just wet. I told them we had to stay under the porch.

Don't you love these two?

They made shapes with the chalk…Spencer would make a shape then Hadley would draw a line next to it. He would say look I made a (fill in the blank) then Hadley would say look I made a LINE (like it was the most exciting thing in the world and not the same thing she had just made 2 seconds ago).

I had cookies in the oven when I stepped inside to take them out this is what I left Hadley and Spencer doing.

30 seconds later this is what I found.

So much for staying dry. I figure it never rains in Arizona may as well let the little guys enjoy it.

After about 20 minutes in the rain they came inside for some good old homemade (by fresh and easy) warm cookies and milk! Neither of them have pants on as they are in the dryer but as all news casters know this is no issue when sitting at a desk...or kitchen table.

Then Haddie took a nap. Spencer and I played a few rounds of Zoofari and a few rounds of each of the two matching games. I happen to be quite good at Memory so I gave Spencer a run for his money. The competitive part of me can’t let him win but I realize that he is 4 so most of the time we tied and a few times he won.

Then Spencer and I did the unthinkable. We combined the two matching games for a total of 52 cards…26 pairs.

It took up a lot of space. We had so much fun.

And Spencer legitimately won…14 to 12. Guess we know what my limit is in Memory!

Stroller

2011-12-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hadley hasn't been a great stroller rider since she could walk. She doesn't like her stroller at the zoo, she doesn't like it at the mall, and she doesn't like it on walks. When in Disneyland (I promise to post about that soon) she tolerated the Disneyland stroller which was a jogging like stroller. She didn't love it but would ride in it. Since I want to start running I bought a used jogging stroller for $75. We made it around the block once before she complained that she wanted out.

Today after nap she came in my office and told me she wanted to "sit in her Disneyland stroller and eat a snack". So that's what we did. I may have purchased a mobile high chair!

Love the chocolate face right?

Archie as usual is not far when she is eating.

Maybe someday I will actually be able to "stroll" her in this!

Fog

2011-12-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to this morning.

Nope...we didn't move to San Francsico, this was really ourside our door.

When I left the Bay Area I said that if I ever saw fog again it would be too soon. I have to admit it was kinda cool to see here. But one day was enough...no fog tomorrow okay!?!

Halloween

2011-11-08T06:24:00.001-08:00

We started Halloween a few months ago when Hadley began dressing like a Princess nearly every day. She wore her princess dress to the grocery store, to story time, to/from swimming. She even has glass slippers (sparkling silver mary janes). If questioned she said she was a princess and that she wore the pink dress and Stella can have the blue dress because it’s itchy. I found a cute wand and crown (Purple and Ariel two of her favorites) at the Disney Store about a month ago and she added those to the mix. Walking through the mall in her princess dress, crown, wand, and glass slippers someone said, “Such a pretty princess” Hadley responded with “I’m not a princess, I’m just Haldey.” Could have fooled us!

(I somehow have ZERO pictures of her in this…will take some soon and post)

A few weeks ago I pulled out my old Little Red Ridding Hood Costume (wish I had a picture of me in it at almost 3 yr old). Hadley has a perfect red dress to go with the cape. And we just so happened to have the prefect basket as well. For a few weeks she rotated between Little Red and the Princess.

We got serious about Halloween the Saturday before when we went to a block party a few streets down (Joe, Scott’s Coworker/Friends lives on that street and invited us). I got 2 pictures before my battery died.

As you can see Haddie was Little Red Ridding Hood, I was a flapper, and Scott was Mullet Man (Business in the front/Party in the back).

Little Red Ridding Hood

At the block party Haddie got to meet 4 of the horses from the Scottsdale Mounted Police Force. This of course this was a highlight. The fire department also showed up with fire hats for the kids and their fire truck. Haddie was hesitant to get in the fire truck but did finally agree when offered the front seat rather than back seat. Good food, good company, a little cold.

On Sunday we took our Pumpkins to Nino and Nina’s House (Pam and Spencer, Hadley’s God-Parents). We had a pumpkin carving party with the “big girls”. Sorry Matt, I realize you arn't a girl but when you marry into a family full of girls you get lumped in with the rest.

Elen, Erin, and Matt

Hannah - Somehow I missed getting a picture of Emma

Here she is at her sister's wedding this summer. You just have to believe me that she was there.

Hadley enjoyed scooping her pumpkin and was fascinated by the carving tools. I filled her pumpkin up with innards 3 or 4 times. I asked her what Halloween things she wanted and she requested a spider and witch’s hat. I added a little jack o lantern face to complete the look. She really enjoyed cutting the pumpkin (with help).

Hadley and I consulting.

Hadley putting seeds back in the pumpkin.

Looking at the candle.

Then we did the “big” pumpkin. It was a simple Jack-O-Lantern with a twist.

Nina made the glasses. Hadley loved it and walked around with it all night.

All the pumpkins.

Halloween day arrived and much like every other day for the last few months Haddie was all about dressing up. She wore her Little Red Ridding Hood Custom in the morning and changed into her Princess costume after nap. Just as we were getting ready to trick-o-treat she stated that she would wear her tutu…So Haddie was a ballerina for Halloween. How’s that for a last minute change? She looked adorable.

Sorry didn't get a good picture...she truned when I took it...guess she likes her profile look better.

We left the house with 5 adults, 1 dog, and Haddie. What a group. Nana, Coco, Daisy, and Heather joined us. Heather (33 yr old) had never trick – o – treated so it was a fun first for her.

Again...no pictures of the others just Nana and Haddie. Turst me they were there.

I thought trick-o-treating was going to end even before it began. The first house we stopped at had big kids in scary costumes. One tried to put candy in Haddies bucket and she turned away crying. We recovered quickly and avoided “scary guys” after that. Hadley reminded us about every 2 minutes that she doesn’t like scary guys and didn’t want to see any. A few houses in and she was a pro at saying Trick or Treat and Thank You. When she would get back from the front door she would say…”I got another Trick or Treat”. We did about ½ of our subdivision (just 2 streets) and walked to our friend Joe’s house (from the block party). Hadley had more candy than any 2 yr old should really ever have. I did let her eat 2 pieces that night and a few since then. I will admit I have eaten most of the candy and am ready to give the rest away or my clothes won’t fit anymore.

After we trick – o – treated Hadley handed out candy at our house. One of our last tick or treaters was a big kid in a scary costume. Hadley opened the door and said, “I don’t like scary guys” I told her to close her eyes. She did and proceeded to reach in the candy bowl get a piece of candy and drop it in his bag all with her eyes closed. It was so funny. After that she was finished handing out candy and things had slowed down.

We called it a night! Halloween Success!

Disney...you ruined my day!

2011-11-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

I had planned to post tonight about our Halloween activates this past weekend. However, a trip to the Disney Store this morning changed all that. Halloween post tomorrow…I promise.

As you know Hadley started wearing glasses about 10 days ago. She has been doing great with them. She is good about keeping them on and loves being able to see. Our only problem is that they slide down her nose a lot. I was doing some research a few days ago and I found a website called littlefoureyes. It’s a forum about kids with glasses. It has discussion boards, information, and pictures. I did some digging to see if there were some good recommendations on frames for such a small one. What I found was that 2 yrs old kids don’t have much of a nose so it can often be a challenge. I also found that many parents were upset, concerned, worried, etc about their kids wearing glasses. I was surprised that others were so bent out of shape about their kids wearing glasses. I do admit that I feel a little frustrated when people saysay “She’s still cute”. But as we all know people say things, when they mean well, that don’t always come out right. So really I haven’t been worried at all about Hadley being judged by her glasses because I think she looks adorable and they add to her personal style. I will admit that I’ve been noticing glasses more. For instance I found cute hair clips with cats that had glasses and got them for Haddie since they “looked” like her. We also added glasses to our Jack-O-Lantern this year and I think it turned out really well.

Side Note…My mother is THE WISEST person I know. When asked at my baby shower to provide 1 piece of advice hers was, “Never say anything about Hadley you wouldn’t want to be true”. We have taken this to heart and not only been careful with our words but have also been careful to avoid “negative messaging” on clothing. That is we don’t dress her in things that say, “mommy’s little monster”, “here comes trouble”, “Drama Queen”,etc. It’s always amazing to me how much clothing, gear, etc out there has a negative message.

How does this all relate? Today Hadley and I went to the mall to check the Disney store for some after Halloween costume deals. She loves the Disney”land” store and I wanted to pick up some costumes for her to play dress up in. Since it was 10 am on a Tuesday morning we had the store to ourselves and we took our time. Hadley was playing with the large plush toys (her favorite activity at the Disney”land” store) and I spotted this across the way.

Can you imagine my excitement to see Mickey and Minnie in glasses? Looking so cute?

As I got closer this is what I saw.

Hmmm…not sure I’m loving the “nerds rule”. I thought maybe there’s something with glasses that doesn’t have “nerd” on it. Looked and looked and looked and nerd was everywhere.

I felt disappointed that there wasn’t anything with more “positive messaging”. We bought a few things (without glasses) and left.

As the day went on I felt more and more frustrated about what I saw. I felt like maybe I was over reacting to the word “nerd”. Maybe nerd isn’t a bad thing to call someone. I came home and asked Webster.com for the definition of nerd.

Nerd: an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.

Hmm…seems my gut was right “nerd” is not such a nice word. Not even one positive attribute in the description. I then thought about what I would say if I heard someone calling someone else a nerd would I be okay with that…no not really. How would I feel if someone called Hadley a nerd? What would I tell Hadley nerd meant. The more I thought about it the angrier I got.

Then I looked at the merchandise again on-line. Not only do Mickey and Minnie have glasses. There is a pair of glasses on the pocket. Really the glasses are the center piece of what they are using to define nerd.

I googled “Disney Nerd” and found another mom who was unhappy about the products. With her permission I will be posting a link to her blog here.

She and her daughter were on the news. Thier story is here.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/mother-of-child-with-glasses-stunned-by-disney's-%22nerd%22-clothing-line

I plan to write a letter to Disney. I’ll post if it’s good.

Let’s just hope these clothes aren’t the reason I have to explain the definition of the word “nerd” to my 2 yr old who will be looking at the Minnie version of herself next to the word! Agent Oso and Mickey Mouse wouldn’t approve. Shame on you Disney, you ruined my day.

Towels

2011-10-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Every towel in our house was dirty (I have no before pictures so just trust me). There wasn’t a clean towel in the kitchen, none in either bathroom, all the beach towels were dirty, and even the “backup” kitchen towels from the laundry room were dirty. There are many reasons that a family might have no clean towels 1) stomach flu 2) flooding 3) house guests (like a family of 10). Did we have any of these? NOPE. We had no clean towels simply because I “skipped” the towel load the last 3 times I did laundry. The end result is proof that we have too many towels to begin with. We went a whole month without washing a towel in this house.

4 loads of laundry latter…8 if you count the 4 loads of clothes that I washed as well…all the towels in my house are clean. All but one that is, I found one dirty towel after I had cleaned and put away all the other towels. This made me want to cry. I was so intent on having every towel clean that I did a load of sheets just so I could wash the 1 dirty towel. Really I should get help

Beach Towels (We use for swim lessons)

Kithen Towels (Not including back up in laundry room)

Bathroom Towels (Approx 20 towels for 3 people...seriously too many)

Fall Events

2011-10-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

The cool crisp air, leaves changing color, sipping on apple cider…oh wait not in Arizona. We waited all of September and fall never came, we had a few cool days this month, but now the last week of October and it’s finally fall. Let’s be clear on what that means. The high yesterday was 76 and today was 83. Not fall by many standards but cool enough for us.

We’ve been pretending its fall for a few weeks. We started by visiting MacDonald’s Ranch for a stop at the pumpkin patch. We went on Saturday Oct 15th. The high was 99…that’s almost 100 which is most surely NOT fall. We tried to have fun but really it was TOO HOT. I informed Scott that we would never again pick a pumpkin in such heat. This may involve moving to a different state!

Let me back up, we are very lucky to live in a neighborhood with a number of young children and more specifically young girls. Stella (18 months) lives next door, Alexa (2.5 yrs) lives across the street and to the east, MacKenna (almost 4yr) lives across the street and to the west. If we all stand outside our doors we can all see each other. Sadly, everyone is often so busy we don’t spend nearly enough time letting the girls play. Sherri (Alexa’s Mom) is on a mission to change that and has been organizing events for us lately. It’s been quite fun. So…the pumpkin patch trip was with Alexa and MacKenna.I have many pictures of Hadley and Alexa holding hands but somehow have no photos of MacKenna. You will have to trust me that she was there.

Hadley and Alexa

We started in the petting zoo. Haddie loves the farm at the zoo which has only goats. This petting zoo was amazing they had goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys, small horses, ducks, chickens, and bunnies. Hadley could have spent all day there but it was 11 am and 99 degrees so we had to hurry her along.

Piggy's name was "Jimmy Dean"

Hadley loved the Donkeys

They were named "Pete" and "Repete"

Some day she may ask for a Donkey not a Pony.

Next was the hayride to the pumpkin patch. I promise she isn’t sunburned just HOT!

We picked our pumpkins quickly but made some very good choices. Hadley got a small one and Scott picked a larger one to carve.

After the hay ride we got cool drinks and took a break in the shade, listened to some (not very good) live music, and the girls danced. Hadley insisted on dancing with Daddy for a bit.

We were drained. Sherri, Alexa, Maria, and MacKenna decided to do the corn maze. Which was 100% in the sun. I knew we wouldn’t make it so we decided to hit the road. On the way out Hadley spotted the horses. She asked very nicely if she could ride a horse. She so genuinely wanted to ride one. There was no line so we stopped for a ride.

I had to sign a waiver that we wouldn’t sue them. To prove that the waivers were signed they stamped the kids with a horse stamp. Hadley hates stamps and temporary tattoos. I’m not sure why but it’s a VERY big problem for her. I asked if they could stamp my hand instead and they said it wasn’t an option. They said she could get it on her leg if that was better. I handed over her leg and they stamped it. She SCREAMED…she was so unhappy about the stamp.

After cleaning 80% of the stamp off with a baby wipe and ensuring her that we would get it all off as soon as we got home she was recovered enough for her ride. She LOVED the horse ride. She was concerned about her helmet (which was falling off) but enjoyed the ride. The second she was off she asked if she could go again. If it hadn’t been so hot we would have done it again. She is such a cowgirl…not sure how given she has two city folk for parents.

My girl loving the horse.

We left with our pumpkins, 5 pounds lighter from all the sweating, but had no sunburns so I guess it was a success.

Our second fall activity was Boo at the Zoo. We did this last Sunday with Alexa and her mom, Sherri. It was MUCH cooler at only 96 degrees. The best part of Boo at the zoo was that they fed the animals pumpkins. I knew Hadley would love to see the goats eat their pumpkins (since she is such a big goat fan). The goats loved their pumpkins…maybe even too much. There were a number of goat “fights” and it was a bit crazy in the petting zoo. My nerves were shot (I’m not a big fan of goats to being with) Hadley still had fun.

A goat who wasn't fighting or concerned Hadley would steel his pumpkin...hard to find.

Boo at the Zoo was 2 days after she got her glasses and it really confirmed for me that she sees better with them. We have gone to the zoo weekly since she was about 6 months old (except in the summer). So we have been to the zoo often. There is a play area for small children 18 months to 5 yrs. That has a small slide and some other play things. Hadley has never been a big fan of sliding and really didn’t even like climbing up the stairs without help. Last Sunday she marched right up the stairs and when down the slide without any help. I guess if I couldn’t see I would be hesitant to climb stairs and slide on slides.

They also had tunnels set up in a grassy area. Some tunnels were see through but others were not. She has a few tunnels at home and really hasn’t ever liked them. Once again she went right up to it and climbed through them. Over and over and over. I never thought of her as a shy or cautious kid but it’s amazing to see how much braver she is with her glasses.

More horse riding. You go Cowgirl!

Hadley's New Look

2011-10-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Long Post….bear with me….scroll to the bottom if you just want pictures.

When Hadley was about 4 months old we noticed her left eye seemed to turn in often. Scott had a lazy eye as a kid. He had surgery to correct it when he was 4 yrs old but if they had caught it sooner he may have been able to avoid surgery. I also found out later (this week in fact) that his mom had an eye problem as a child that was never corrected and still causes her problems. Anyway, I mentioned it to her pediatrician at her 4 month visit. Since her vision and eyes were still developing he wasn’t too worried about it and he said it was likely not anything to worry about. However, since Scott had a lazy eye he thought it would be good to take her to see Dr. P, a pediatric ophthalmologist, just to be sure. I made the appointment and took her when she was about 6 months old.

Dr. P is older and seemed very knowledgeable. He checked her eyes and said he didn’t think anything was wrong. He dilated her eyes and checked them after that and again said nothing was wrong. I felt the visit was very thorough so I didn’t question his answer that she was fine. He said that he didn’t need to see her again until she was 5 yrs old but that since I was an “over protective first time mom” I could bring her back in 6 months for a follow up. I scheduled the follow up and figured I see how she was in 6 months. I don’t typically think of myself as over protective and I surely didn’t appreciate someone who knew me for 20 minutes labeling me as such but I got over it. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about even if he had terrible bedside manner.

We continued to see her eye turn in over the next 6 months. It became more noticeable when she was eating. When she was looking down at her high chair tray and then back up at us it would turn in. We began calling it her “crazy eye”. At her 1 year appointment with her pediatrician he asked if we had any concerns about her health. I mentioned that her eye was still weird but that we had an appointment coming up with Dr. P. Her pediatrician looked at it with a light and said, “I think I see what you are concerned about but let’s let Dr. P look at her again.” He said we might want to get a picture of her with her eye turned in to take with us. He also said that if one eye has red eye and one doesn’t that could be a sign that they aren’t tracking together. Below is the picture we took. You be the judge.

Holding a 6 month old while she got her eyes checked wasn’t great but it wasn’t awful either. I was unprepared for how hard it would be to hold a 1 yr old still while some scary man shinned lights in her eyes. Hadley screamed from the moment the appointment started until we were in the car. It was torture for all involved. Once again Dr. P looked in her eyes, dilated them and checked them again. Once again he said there was NOTHING wrong with her eye and that it looked fine. I showed Dr P the photos I took and he told me they meant nothing. He then told me that she did have a vision problem that would need to be corrected eventually but that she would never leave glasses on at this age so I shouldn’t waste my money on them. Once again I felt like he was judging us (not me this time but Hadley) without really knowing us. How did he know she wouldn’t wear glasses? She wore headbands and loved hats which isn’t typical for a 1 year old. Plus, if she needed them we just wouldn’t let it be a choice. I’m sure sitting in her car seat wasn’t her favorite activity but she did it and we made her because that’s how the world works. I left the appointment feeling frustrated but still didn’t question Dr P’s medical opinion. Once again I scheduled a 6 month follow up appointment.

Her “crazy eye” continued to be crazy and we continued to tell people who asked (which was everyone all the time) that she was under medical care and her eye was fine. A few weeks before her 18 month eye appointment I realized that it conflicted with something (can’t remember what now). I considered not doing this thing it conflicted with, then I considered moving the appointment, after a while decided to cancel it. Twice I had taken her across town, paid $40 to then held her down while she screamed, to finally be told I was over reacting and that she was fine. I was worried how much worse she would be at 18 months as stranger danger was in high gear. We didn’t go.

A few months ago we had a play date with some new friends. After about 20 minutes of playing the mom asked me if I had noticed Hadley’s eye turned in. First of all this was a ridiculous question. Of course I had noticed, I’m her mom, I spend LOTS of time with her, everyone notices. I could see if she asked if something was wrong with her eye but to ask if I had ever noticed…seriously. I told her the whole story of all the checks and all the assurance that she was fine. That seemed to satisfy this mom’s concern. Later I was telling my BFF (Natalie) how ridiculous this mom was to ask if I had noticed anything with Hadley’s eye. I was lamenting on how frustrated I was to not have a “real” answer to tell people when they asked what was wrong with her eye. Natalie said something amazingly simple that had never occurred to me. She said, “Why don’t you just take her for a second opinion.”

How had I never considered this? Why did I let Dr. P give me an unsatisfactory answer twice and not question it? Well, I have a whole post I’ll share on why we all must be in charge of our own health care. But that’s for a different day.

So I scheduled an appointment with Dr. P’s colleague Dr. R. We saw Dr. R last week. I made a promise to myself that I would not leave until I had an answer I was happy with. If she said nothing was wrong I wanted to know at least what causes it and why I shouldn’t be worried. This time I made Scott go with as back up. Hadley is an expert patient with the practice she got in April (post on that later). We talked a lot about what this doctor would do and promised no band aids. Hadley HATES band aids. She did great. Dr R’s nurse did a few tests and said, “I think I see what you are seeing we will see what Dr R says.” Dr R looked at her eyes a little and in the first 5 minutes and this was the conversation.

Dr. R – “Her left eye doesn’t track”
Me to Scott – “Thank God, someone who finally sees it.”
Dr. R – “That’s an unusual reaction most people are worried or upset.”
Me to Dr. R – “No, I am so glad someone finally sees it. I was worried you would say she is fine.”

So the final verdict…Hadley’s left eye is lazy. (As we have known for 2 years now). Dr. R is confident we can fix it with glasses and wants to see her again in January to see how things are going. Hadley was a champ for the whole visit and only cried for a minute when they put the drops in her eyes but other than that was very cooperative.

We went the next day to pick out glasses and she had a great time trying them all on. We went to Red Mountain Eye Care (where I get my eyes checked and glasses) since I love them so much. Megan (office manager/optician) and I have become friends over the years and she did a great job helping us pick them out. Our choices were limited as she is young, her face is small, and her nose is nonexistent. We ordered the glasses Wednesday and I was so bummed that we wouldn’t have them for our annual family pictures Saturday morning. Guess what? They came in Friday. She has had them for almost a week and only asked a few times the first few days if she could take them off. Usually she asks for them and doesn’t want to take them off. Her vision correction in both eyes is more than my worst eye and I don’t like having my glasses off. It’s amazing to see her in this whole new world. She has a whole new sense of adventure when playing at the park and zoo and seems to love seeing her surroundings. I think she’s totally adorable but you can judge for yourself

From our family photos this weekend because her glasses tint in the sun we only took a few before they were too dark.

Hadley with Scott when we picked them up. She was happier than she looks.

Hadley and I before a Zoo trip

She spends a lot of time looking over them….gonna fix that soon.

Picture from today…first time I have taken a picture and posted it on the blog in the same day!

Anyone Out There?

2011-10-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Chirp, chirp…okay so I know I have been blog silent for a while. I have many excuses but no good reasons. I told Natalie today I would blog more now that I don’t need to nap when Haddie is napping. I am 1 hour and 40 minutes into her nap and only now posting this SHORT post. I’ll work on some catch up posts until then here is our latest family picture.

PS - Leave a comment...maybe I'll post more often!

Counting, ABC's, and Giggles...

2011-03-03T04:45:00.000-08:00

Get this...my last post was titled "Counting" because I put an adorable picture of Scott and Hadley with an Einstein quote about counting. Now just a week later I want this post to be titled "Counting" what's a girl to do?

Oh well, as you can guess this post is about Hadley counting, singing her ABC's, and some good old giggling. Hadley's an amazing girl, our nanny is an amazing woman, and Scott and I are just amazed on a regular basis. Figured since I'm over using the word "counting" may as well over use amazing/ed while I'm at it. Dorothy (our nanny) is always teaching Hadley new things and some times I have to remind myself that I am not raising a preschooler.

Hadley started to count a few months ago. This is how it went, "1-A-1". Adorable I know. Then a few weeks ago it progressed to "1-2-8-9". Monday she was playing with toys and I was doing dishes and I heard, "4-5-6-7-8-9-10". I figured she must have started at 1. I declared this the first time she counted to 10. Tuesday night she was coloring and Scott and I both heard the whole thing (twice) "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10". We've tried to get her to count the past few days but she would have none of it. Wednesday morning I asked her to count the frogs on her PJs and she did it. I grabbed the video camera and got her to do it again. The video isn't "great" quality and yes that is the shower you hear.

Hadley is also working on her ABC's. Here is where she's at now...the end is too cute.

And lastly some good old fashioned giggles. Hadley loves to be tickled. It's hard to tickle and video at the same time. Apologies for the quality of the video.

Counting

2011-02-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Since I'm such a numbers person when I saw this quote I had to match it with this pefect picture of my two favorite people in the WORLD! This is now the desktop on my computer.

Zoo Date

2011-02-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

For the past two years my mom has given me a zoo membership for Christmas, best present ever. I love my membership because it gets me and an adult guest plus 4 kiddos in. This means I can invite a friend to join in for a fun day at the zoo. All for free! Last year Haddie and I went to the zoo every Wednesday and usually took along our friend Rachel. So we are zoo experts. A few other times we’ve meet Natalie and Spencer at the zoo too. This time we had all our zoo buddies with us! It was a blast.

Hanging with Rachel!

We got there a little early so we visited the giraffes while we waited for Natalie and Spencer. Don’t Rachel and Hadley make a cute pair? Rachel is the youngest of 5 kids and LOVES being a big sister. Hadley is the perfect little sister.

Haddie and Rachel looking at the "cows" (I think they were Ox)

We visited the goats which Hadley loved. She told me about 100 times, “Mama pe go”. That’s Mama pet goat, for those of you who don’t speak 1 year old. We spent a long time with the goats and decided to leave when there was a goat uprising and things started to get heated between a few goats.

Haddie saying goat (go)

Spencer ready for the cover of Baby GQ

We stopped at the spider web and GIANT cactus slide where Rachel and Spencer were daring enough to slide down the world’s fastest children’s slide. (Seriously it’s an insurance claim waiting to happen)

Spencer looking fearless!

While the big kids were sliding Hadley hung out by the world’s largest spider web and I got this PERFECT picture of her. Thanks to the overcast weather the lighting was great. I think this one might go in a frame!

She should be in a magazine...or at least the zoo brochure!

It wasn’t long before Hadley clearly needed a nap. She was so tired from our slumber party last night. As with all slumber parties we stayed up too late and were crabby the next day. I thought we might have to cut the zoo trip short but Hadley feel asleep nursing and was happy to take a snooze in our new (garage sale) wagon. Just the nap time use made the wagon purchase worth every penny. I didn’t think it was worthy of taking a picture but since Spencer has never been an on-the-go sleeper Natalie had to take a shot. I of course regretted not having a picture so she kindly emailed it to me. (Thanks Natalie).

When did my baby get so big?

Once we had a happier baby we made a stop at the Endangered Animals Carousel. It’s a great carousel but I do have to say I’m a little worried that a dragon qualifies as an endangered animal. Phoenix Zoo you might want to rethink this. Usually Hadley and I watch (in distress) as others ride the carousel. She’s been so not into the carousel that she even gets upset when others ride it. This time Hadley was so excited she stood right up to the fence and made it clear she wanted a ride. I figured this was a great time to see if she liked it. We all piled on and while Hadley was not interested in riding an animal, we did sit on the bench. I asked her while we were riding if she was having fun, response was…okay. Guess it was a success. I do think it’s a clear indication that waiting a little longer for Disneyland is a good idea. She wanted nothing to do with sitting on anything other than my lap.

Haddie ready to go

Spencer and Rachel (Eagle and Lioness Wranglers) ready to go.

All of us...minus Natalie (photographer)

Spencer and Natalie wanted to see some more animals and Haddie and Rachel wanted to play in the tree house. So we said good bye for the day and split up. Hadley really wants to be big and was determined to walk up the “steps” (very slanted walk way). She needed a little help but in the end we went up and down that same ramp about 100 times. Oh the excitement one can find in “little” things at the zoo.

Wow...daring

Hadley thinks the whole zoo should be a petting zoo so here she is petting some statues. Silly baby!

On the way out we were ATTACKED (okay maybe just followed) by a KILLER (okay maybe just hungry) squirrel. For those of you that don’t know I am very afraid of squirrels. My friends and family find this funny. I am not as amused. I would like to point out that this curious, hungry, human stalking squirrel was caught doing exactly what it is I’m afraid of squirrels doing…it followed us. It started far away and I noticed it was following us down the path. Since I wanted to prove (mainly to Scott) that squirrels are an animal to be feared I took out my camera and started to take pictures of said squirrel. As I was taking pictures it was getting closer and closer to us. At one point it stood on its back legs to look in the wagon. I stomped and waved it way. I just want to point out that squirrels (especially friendly ones) are no good. I maintain that I have a justified fear of squirrels!

Following us...

Getting closer

Up to no good

Officially too close for comfort

ATTACK...just after this he stood up and looked in the wagon.

still not scared...the squirrel or kids. Good thing I saved them.

Slumber Party

2011-02-17T20:33:00.001-08:00

Haddie had her first slumber party tonight. Our great friend Mama Jess let us borrow sweet little Rachel. We made pizza for dinner, Scott took the girls to the park so I could get a walk in with a friend (who's starting a blog about her fitness journey), girls took a bath, and we all squished into a small chair for some Monsters Inc. Rachel informed us that we should watch Monsters Inc. because it's hilarious. That's Spanish for funny. What a funny little girl!

Then we had two sleeping girls. Don't they look cute? I wish Haddie had a "big sister" everyday!

Tomorrow we have a Zoo date with Natalie and Spencer from A Beagle and a Baby. Stay tuned for more cuteness!

I L-O-V-E February

2011-02-15T09:01:00.001-08:00

I love February...it's the unoffial start of spring for me. Haddie went to the park with Nana today, smelling of suncreen and looking like this...

Gotta love it!

Spread Sheets

2010-12-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

I read a number of blogs regularly and so enjoy the writings of my friends (and some strangers). This is why I've been trying to blog more myself. I have to say blogging is rather forced for me since I'm not much of a writer. If my blog was based on spread sheets I would have no trouble.

Here is an example of a spread sheet that is one page of my 6 page spread sheet to do list for work.

And here is an example of a pricing spread sheet we use.

My day is full of number crunching and spread sheets and yet it was nearly impossible to find any I could post on my blog. I have much cooler more involved sheets but they are all "confidential" so you'll just have to imagine the colorful rows of numbers that I so love!

I am so known for my spread sheets that my mom got me this little guy for my desk.

Maybe some day I'll find a way to express myself in only numbers until then I'll continue to try and share my life with words!

Books!

2010-11-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

For the past 10 years I have been so spoiled when it came to time for reading. When I lived in the Bay Area I had a 1 hour + commute on public transportation which allowed for so much reading time. Then when I left the Bay Area I was traveling a lot for work which meant many hours in airports and on airplanes. I did find that airports and airplanes are notably harder to read in/on than public transpiration but it was reading time none the less. After I had Hadley I didn’t think I would ever read again. Even finding time to read magazine articles was a challenge. A friend lent me a book “Little Bee” which I started 4th of July weekend and finished at the end of September. Little Bee is not a long book and should not have taken 3 months to read but it did. I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it…warning it’s a book about an African Refuge in the UK not exactly a “fun” read but still very good.

Once we moved into our new house and got Hadley settled on a good schedule I found that I had time to read again. Hadley goes down between 7:30 and 8:30 at night and when I’m not working crazy night hours I have some time to crawl in bed with a good book. Halloween weekend was our first weekend in months that we didn’t have big plans. I curled up in bed to start reading “Rosie Dunne” by Cecelia Ahern.

I was so excited to read this book because Ceclia Ahern also wrote “PS I Love You” which was a great book and an okay movie.

Don’t you hate when they make the book cover from the movie poster. Here’s what the cover looked like when I read it.

Anyway I got to page 73 of 434 in "Rosie Dunne" and still wasn’t into it. One night I thought of crawling in bed to read and said to myself…Ugg I really don’t like the book I’m reading…Then a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered something I learned when living in the Bay Area. I don’t have to finish a book if I don’t like it!

Here is that story!

I’m not the kind of person who stops something midway through. There are very few TV shows and even fewer movies that I stop watching half way through. I am also the kind of person who doesn’t like to start something halfway through. I don’t like watching TV shows or movies from the middle and I don’t even like starting a TV series in the middle. I want the whole story beginning to end (and usually I want even more after the end…)

So about 7 years ago I served on jury duty for a 6 week trial. It was everything you would imagine 6 weeks of jury duty to be and more. Anyway, I took a book with me on the first day of jury duty “We Where the Mulvaneys”

This book had come recommended from Oprah and my Aunt Lisa. These two Oprah and Lisa had recommended other good books in the past like “The Pilot’s Wife”.

So I took this book to jury duty for two weeks. And I read, read, and read this book. I was about half way through and still had not connected with any of the charters. I had never stopped reading a book half way through so it didn’t even occur to me to take a different book. I tried so hard to get this book read and one day I realized I had closed my book and was sitting staring at the walls in the jury waiting room. Then I thought…really if you can’t motivate to read a book while on jury duty when will you ever want to read this book. I took it home and left it! I took many wonderful books to jury duty (remember it was a 6 week trial with 2 weeks of deliberation). “We Where the Mulvaneys” sat on my bookshelf with a bookmark 2/3 of the way through it for years until I finally got rid of it! Never will I know what happened to those characters I remember nothing about.

So after this bad book recommendation Aunt Lisa recommended “The Time Travelers Wife”. I wasn’t going to read it until my mom read it and said I would love it. Glad I trusted them because it’s my favorite book of all times!

Anyway, back to Halloween weekend. I stopped reading at page 73 and picked a new book from my shelf of “waiting” books. I started “The Bean Trees” by Barbra Kingsolver.

I loved it. Couldn’t put it down and read it even when I should have been sleeping. I had it finished about a week ago which is less than a month from when I started it! New post baby record. Can’t wait for our trip to the library Wednesday so I can get the sequel “Pigs in Heaven”.

I have one last book recommendation “Parenting from the Inside Out” I haven’t finished it because I like to read nonfiction in small chunks. I’ll keep you posted but as of now recommend it to anyone who is a parent.

So there you go there’s my first blog book review! The moral of the story…it’s okay to stop reading a book half way through!

What we have been doing…

2010-11-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

These are all the things I was doing the last 13 days in which I haven’t blogged.

1) Working
2) Mothering
3) Sleeping/Napping
4) Stuff around the house
5) Reading

Last week we sent a proposal out for a large job similar to large jobs I’ve worked on in the past. So I was asked to help with the proposal. This didn’t mean that my “regular” work went away so instead of 20 hours a week I worked more like 30-35 the last few weeks. Without Dorothy here (our wonderful nanny) most of this work was done between 8pm and 4am. It was a rough few weeks. Hadley was very patient while I worked a million hours. She hung out with her Daddy when he was home and she got to spend time with Daisy (Conor’s Girlfriend Brianna) and Ama (my mom).

Over the last two weeks when I wasn’t working I hung out with Hadley. With so many late nights we had to start a new morning tradition. She still got up with Scott and they did there thing but when he would leave for work we would watch an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the portable DVD player in bed. Okay Hadley would watch and I would catch 30 more minutes of sleep. I would often wake up to Hadley patting my face saying Mickey, Mickey, Mickey when the episode was over. We also spent a lot of time coloring, dancing, and playing with trains. I took a number of pictures so I’ll catch up and post some photos of Hadley the last few weeks.

When I wasn’t working or mothering I was sleeping. This included a “nap” at night from about 3am to 7am and a good long afternoon nap. Since Hadley gets up so early with Scott (5:30), she’s happy to take a 2-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. This was great since we could nap together. Lots of great napping happened at our house over the last few weeks. Good thing since there wasn't much sleep at night.

I’ve also been so ready to feel like we are completely done moving in. I thought we’d have the house “all ready” by Halloween. That didn’t happen, then I thought it would be done by this past Friday (we had some friends over for happy hour) but again it wasn’t. Now I’m trying to be realistic and am hopeful that we have everything done by the new year. We have made some great progress. We hung a number of pictures up (thanks to my mom for helping) and we have most of the curtains up. Hadley is not a fan at all of the drill so it’s challenging to find a good time to hang the curtains. I worry we will wake her up if we do it when she is sleeping and she cries her little heart out if she is awake. So looks like next trip to the park will be my time to get the last set of curtains up. Promise to do a post about the new house soon!

Lastly, I’ve been reading. I’m going to do a whole post this…stay tuned!

November Thankful Thought - I am thankful for a job I love even when it means more hours than I'd like to work.

Who loves Day Light Savings?

2010-11-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

I do! Crazy since I live in one of the small parts of the country that doesn’t adjust their clock. So you might wonder why I even care…simple..sleep. That’s right, it’s all about sleep for me. I work on projects across the county which means early conference calls. When day light savings ends I am one hour closer to the east coast which means 6am calls become 7am. I guess a more appropriate title for this blog would be who HATES Day Light Savings…because I look forward all summer to when Arizona is back on the same time as Denver and only two hours behind Washington DC.

November Thankful Thought – Today I am thankful that I got 7 errands done before noon! Haddie was a trooper and we flew through my to do list.

Mo...

2010-11-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post…not even any pictures.
Friday night we went to a concert for the ASU School of Music. Conor was playing his bassoon and since it was at a church it seemed like a good time for Hadley to attend her first musical event. She loved it. The church had a beautiful music hall and an nice lounge outside the music hall. While the musician’s were warming up Hadley got some up close looks at the instruments. When the concert started we sat in the lounge so we wouldn’t disturb anyone. When the music started Hadley would point to the music hall and say “Mo”. She would put her hand up to hear ear (showing her listening ear). Between songs she would clap and clap. A few of the songs had some very exciting parts and she got her groove on! When the music was really soft she would say shhhh with her finger over her lips. For 15 months old she shows great music appreciation. So fun to watch her discover the wonder of sound!
November Thankful Though – I am thankful that Hadley is such a happy girl!
Haddie Says – Lately when Hadley asks for something (either with a word or a sign) she will answer with “alright” before anyone answers her. For example Mick…pause…alright. She says alright with such excitement like we’ve asked her if she want to watch Mickey Mouse. So dang adorable!

MS Walk - 2011

2010-11-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

This post should be all about the MS Walk at the Phoenix Zoo…why then will it not be? There is a very simple answer. We like to sleep!

Last year we participated in the MS Walk with a number of our friends and family as part of Team Hadley. We raised a few thousand dollars and had a great time. This year I kept meaning to register us for the walk and I kept meaning to invite friends to join us. However our October was the busiest month on record with Dorothy’s (our nanny’s) surgery, the move, trip to Denver, family reunion in Tucson, and Halloween. Knowing that this week was the MS walk I asked Scott if he thought we should register. He said it didn’t matter to him either way. I really wanted to do the walk since it was so much fun last year and it raises money for a good cause. But in the end I decided I was just too tired. So we opted to skip the walk (with the promise that I will mail in a nice sized donation) and we’ll try again next year. Be ready to join our team!

Since we didn’t get up at 4:30am to go to the zoo, Scott and I both got to sleep in this morning, thank you Grandma Magic. In addition the whole house took an afternoon nap. It was so worth skipping the walk.

Scott on the couch with Archie (who was asleep before I took the picture)

And Hadley and I in the bed…you have to imagine I’m laying next to her.

Hadley loves her naps!

November Thankful Though – I am thankful that Scott's MS is well controlled. He had his 1 year follow up over the summer and they don’t see any “progression”. He is still working with his neurologist to get his hand tremors under control and some days are better than others. Scott takes such good care of himself and is an example of how we should all live our lives. I’m also thankful that he never complains about the every other day injections that he gives himself and that he doesn’t ask for my help! What a trooper.

Haddie Says – Tonight while watching Mickey Mouse with Conor I heard Hadley say Toddles. She was prompted by Conor but it was very clearly “toddles”. Frankly, I’m surprised she hasn’t said it before now.

Tricks – Hadley has been fascinated with marching since our walk with Spencer the other night. She marches around the house. She marches to music. She tells other people to march. If the MS March had been today we might have gone…

Haddie and Daddy Time

2010-11-06T22:05:00.001-07:00

Okay I missed my blog post yesterday. In my defense we had no internet for part of the day so I’m giving myself a pass. I had the post written but didn’t get it up. Two posts tonight should make up for it…

Scott gets up at about 5:30 every morning and he leaves for work at about 7. He’s a morning person and gets up early because he likes the time to “relax” in the morning. Before I had Hadley I got up at about 7:56 to be at work downstairs at 8. I clearly am not a morning person! Hadley usually wakes up between 5:30 and 6. Scott gets her up and brings her to me for mommy chow (nursing). I nurse her (while mostly still asleep) and when she is done I roll over in bed put her feet on the ground and let her toddle out to Scott. Since I don’t want to interfere with their Daddy/Daughter time I make it a point to stay in bed as long as possible. (I’m such a giver). Scott and Hadley have developed their own “excusive” routine without me. They watch the news, eat breakfast, and sometimes have time to watch some “toons” (cartoons). Next week I’ll do a post soon about why “toons” are so important to Scott and Hadley. Anyway, Scott told me she likes to sit on his lap and eat breakfast. I asked why he doesn’t put her in her high chair he said, “It’s just what we do in the morning.” Since this morning tradition of eating on Daddy’s lap takes place while I am getting extra sleep I’m not one to question it. The other night at dinner Hadley was feeling extra clingy to Scott. It was the day she had gotten her shots and she wanted nothing to do with me or Daisy (Brianna) but she was all about her Daddy. She ate dinner while sitting on Scott’s lap. It was super cute.

Who needs a high chair right?

November Thankful Thought – Today I am thankful for morning’s I get to sleep in. Thanks to Scott for all the weekday mornings and to Grandma Magic who watched Hadley this morning so Scott and I could both sleep in!

Haddie Says – Hadley is really into putting two words together. She said No Ama (no grandma) this morning when I tried to send her to my mom before giving her mommy chow. She went happily after she had her chow. She also said ByeBye Coco tonight when Conor was leaving. Tank-a-mama (thank you mama) is still often said to people other than me but she will sometimes correct herself and say thank you with the right person’s name.

March, March Beagle Brigade

2010-11-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

As I write this Scott is playing with two kids in the play room, there are chocolate chip cookies in the oven, and two beagles barking at the neighbors. No…you have not flashed forward to a time when we have two beagles and two kids. I can (almost) grantee that will never occur. Instead you are peaking in on a play day with Spencer and Ginger Marie Jones. Spencer and Ginger are the little boy and beagle of one of my “oldest” friends Natalie. Her blog “A beagle and a baby” features these two…if I knew how I would add a link to her blog here but I don’t so sorry. Maybe she will teach me how to do that.

Anyway, Natalie has been watching Haddie on Thursday’s while Dorothy has been out. Today Natalie, Spencer, and Ginger played with Hadley and Archie while I worked. Tonight Natalie and her husband, Michael, are off winning a car (AKA listening to a time share pitch). After they left Spencer helped me make dinner (pork chops) and while dinner was baking I thought it would be a good idea to take both dogs and both kids on a walk. I got the leashes on the dogs, Hadley loaded in the stroller, and Spencer’s shoes on…it was not easy I’ll say that. I asked Scott to take a picture (for this blog) and off we went. As we left Scott said, “You sure you’re okay?” I replied, “I have 2 beagles and 2 babies what could possibly go wrong?” I realized Spencer isn’t really a baby and Hadley is boarder line but it sounded good. I took my cell phone just in case our trip around the block turned to disaster.

Natalie is the best dog owner ever and takes Ginger on a walk at least once a day. I figured with that many walks Ginger must be a good walker. It wasn’t long before I realized that just the two dogs would have been a lot and adding two kids was very ambitious. I decided having Spencer push Hadley would “solve” some of the problem. This worked except for the steering part. The stroller wheels kept ending up in the yards. Every time the wheels would go of the sidewalk Hadley would say, ”Oh No”. It was so cute. Spencer makes a great big brother (hint hint hint Natalie). About half way around the block Spencer was “done” pushing. Hmmm…I’m now at the farthest point from the house what should I do? Play a game of course. I thought Spencer red light green light which he loved. Then he taught me how to march. He would say march, march, march…and I was supposed to march with the dogs. Haddie loved this and was saying “Ma-Ma-Ma” in sync with Spencer as he said “march”. I made it back to the house with both crazy dogs, the stroller with a 1 year old, and the 3 year old. So the walk was maybe not the best choice I made all day but fun to try. In the interest of full disclosure I will say Ginger’s leash got out of my hands at one point. She trotted ahead and I had to run to catch her. Spencer said, “Wow that was close”. Good thing Spencer, Archie, and Hadley waited patiently for me to retrieve her. Everyone made it back safely and I didn’t have to call for help…success.

After our walk we had dinner. One guess as to where the beagles could be found.

Below is Hadley being a ham.

Dinner was a success so Spencer and I made cookies. One of the many things I look forward to as Hadley gets bigger is baking together. I can’t wait till she can help. Until then Spencer and I make a great team.

Here is the egg and butter

Then we added this Bad Boy!

Then Spencer wanted to know what we needed to add next. It took me a few times to convince him that really that’s all we had to add. Clearly Natalie doesn’t bake cookies from a bag and I bet she doesn’t make here cakes from a box either. (You should really read her blog she has some great deserts featured).

Both kids are Mickey nuts. They both had Mickey Mouse birthday parties and they both dressed as Mickey for Halloween. Here is a picture of them reading the Mickey book together.

The cookies were baking and the kids playing nicely so I decided to get the computer out and type this very blog. After I got started I heard Scott giggling and this is what I saw...

Spencer found Haddie’s Hat collection and tried some on for size.

These two are too funny!

November Thankful Thought – I am so thankful for having such great friends. Natalie has been my friend for 25+ years and it just keeps getting better and better! All those years we imagined our lives as grown-ups and here we are each with a beagle and a baby. CRAZY.

Haddie Says – In addition to saying “Ma-Ma-Ma” for march, march, march she also said chicken when Scott was feeding her. I think she was eating pork but whatever it’s the other white meat right?

15 Months Old

2010-11-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

This title is a little misleading because Hadley was born the first of August which means she was 15 months old the first of November not the third but close enough right? Today Haddie had her 15 month check up. This was an important visit because it was with our new doctor. We loved Dr. Seitter with Pediatric Medical Associates but his office was a good 20 minutes south and east of our Mesa house. This puts him a good 45 minutes from our new house in Scottsdale. I liked Dr. Seitter so much I considered keeping her with him and doing the drive. But then I remembered that one of the important things about moving was that we would be close to everything, Scotts work, our doctors, etc. So if I didn’t change doctors I was defeating the purpose of our big move.

Our new doctor is Dr. Garrett. She is with Scottsdale Children’s Group, which according to Google Maps is 1.8 miles or 6 minutes from our new house. A little before noon today we got in the car and we checked in at 12:06 for our 12:15 appointment. I am so glad we didn’t opt for the 45 minute drive. The office was great. They have a separate well and sick waiting area which is always nice. Also they are a very kid friendly office they have an underwater theme and the walls are a nice aqua color with tropical fish all over. They have bead toys , books, and little tables for the kiddos. Our last office while nice was not very kid friendly. It could have been a dermatologist, eye doctor, or even OB/GYN office. The only hint that it was a Pediatric office was that there was a kids movie playing on the TV. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think an office should be judged by its décor. Trust me I know after years of working for Catalina Pediatrics that there are many more things that matter. To me the most important part is the actual doctor but nice décor doesn’t hurt.

We did have to wait long (also another important quality in an office). It was a very exciting visit. Hadley was a big girl today and for the first time ever she stood on the scale to get weighted. She was cooperative but hesitant because although we were in a new doctor’s office she still understood where we were. She has a well justified concern with doctor’s offices (only further reinforced by the outcome of today’s visit).

The nurse was nice…can’t remember her name and then we saw Dr. Garrett. She let Hadley sit on my lap the whole visit which was nice so she was a happy camper most of the time. I didn’t have any real concerns so there wasn’t much to talk about. Haddie had lots to say to the doctor most of it included saying “no” a number of times. Like I said she’s not a big fan of doctors, nurses, or their offices. Then the hard part, three shots, Hadley does well but it still sucks. I just have to remind myself less sucky than the alternatives.

Here's the best part, at my old office there was a $20 co-pay and I would have to pay extra for the immunizations so I usually paid about $70 each well visit. Our grand total for today’s visit, $0, that’s right nothing. I’m still puzzled by this but whatever. Hadley recovered enough by check out time to pick a sticker and say bye-bye to the front office staff.

I’m really happy with the new office but still hope to visit very rarely.

Here are her STATS from today.
23 lbs - 50%
32 inches – 75%
19 inch head – 95% (Thank you Scott)

She does not get her “big head” from me as I can’t ever find a hat to fit my little noggin. Her dad on the other hand has a very large noggin. At least she has hair if you are gonna have a head that big you gotta have hair. I will put the rest of her stats at the bottom of this blog so I have a “record”.

Since there are no real “pictures” to include with her doctors visit info I am including a shot(no pun intended) of Hadley napping. She took a morning nap which she usually doesn’t do but with shots coming up I figured I’d let her get the sleep. Not sure it was the best plan because she didn’t nap again all day. Oh well, atleast she was darling during her morning nap.

November Thankful Thought – I am so thankful that I listened to my mom and got a cleaning lady. She was here today and my house looks great. I have never minded cleaning so I didn’t think it would be worth the money. However, I never have the time to clean and I love having a clean house! Totally worth it! Love, love, love my cleaning lady!

Haddie Says – Today Haddie has started saying “boom” or “bum”. She says it when she jumps or when she drops things. She also love to say “oh no” when something falls down. It’s so stinking cute. I promise a blog where I write down everything she can say but I have to get the list pulled together first. It's a long one so good for a weekend blog.

FLASH BACK - STATS to date:

12 Months
21 lbs – 50%
31.5 inches – Off the chart
18.4 inch head – 90%

9 Months
19 lbs 9 oz – 75%
29 inches – 90%
18 inch head – 90%

6 Months
16 lbs 12 oz – 75%
26 inches – 75%
17 inch head – 90%

4 Months
14 lbs 6 oz – 75%
26 inches – 75%
16 inch head – 45%

2 Months
10 lbs 11 oz – 50%
23 inches – 75%
16 inch head – 55%

2 Weeks
7 lbs 2 oz – 20%
21 inches – 75%
14 inch head – 25%

Birth
7 lbs 3 oz – So she gained (almost) all her wait back by 2 weeks…what a champ.
19 ¾ inches - Can you believe they grow over and inch in 2 weeks it seems unreal.
Luck for me no one mentioned head circumference at birth. I think no mother really wants to know at that point so they spare you the “details”. I do know that she had 9/9 APGARS. Go Haddie! Good thing I have these all written down together. I had already forgotten her birth weight and length…see I need a blog.

Zoo Day with Haddie

2010-11-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had the whole day off today with no plans (other than voting). So Hadley and I went to the Phoenix Zoo. Last Christmas my mom got us a membership, which was one of the best gifts we’ve ever received. We love the zoo but haven’t been much the past few months as it’s been too HOT!

Today the weather was beautiful. San Diego weather as Scott and I like to call it. For the first time Hadley really seemed interested in the animals. Usually she is all about the kids.

Our first stop was at the Koala’s. I was so excited to see them and we hiked all the way across the zoo to make them our first stop. Hmmm…disappointment, do you know what Koala’s do all day?

Sleep

So while I would love to be a Koala visiting them at the zoo is rather boring. I didn’t have my camera with but if I did this is basically what you would have seen.

I don’t think I would have even taken a picture if I did have my camera. That's how boring it was.

Next, we made our way to the farm area and tried a quick visit at the petting zoo. Hadley was not into petting the goats but she did wave her finger at them and tell them to sit (like she does to Archie). It didn’t even actually matter if the goats were sitting or standing to begin with. It was actually kind of cute and in a way I was relieved that she didn’t want to touch the goats because I think they smell. We played on the play ground equipment which is perfectly sized for Hadley. She went up the steps and down the slide all by herself. I did take about five minutes for her to get up the three steps but we weren’t in a hurry. We had a quick lunch of zoo food which is actually decent.

Then our last stop was Monkey Village. This is an exhibit that takes you right inside the habitat of the Zoo’s Squirrel Monkeys. I used to be afraid of this since I’m not a fan of squirrels and these monkeys are very squirrel like but I’ve gotten over that. Anyway, we stayed and looked at the monkeys for a long time. They were having so much fun chasing each other.

DID YOU KNOW? – That all the monkeys in the exhibit wear a bead around their neck to identify them and they are all named for Star Trek characters?

Since I loved Star Trek as a kid I found this to be particularly fun! Haddie and I spent a lot of time with Troi. Counselor Troi happened to be one of my favorite characters so it seemed fitting.

Counselor Troi

A monkey who shares the likeness of "Troi" in Monkey Village.

The zoo was super fun and it was nice to enjoy some of the nice weather we’re having. Since I don’t have any pictures from today’s zoo trip here is a quick flash back to our March zoo trip with Grandma and Grandpa Strosnider.

I guess I was the only one who knew we were taking a picture.

Amazing how little hair she had!

Crazy how much she still looked like Scott here.

November Thankful Thought - is thankful for a day off with Haddie...and the fact that she naps through a visit from the yard guys and a barking Archie! (stollen from my fb status)

Haddie Says – Today Haddie started saying “milk” when she pulls the milk cartoon out of the recycle bin. She is also saying two words together byebye-dada and tank-mama. I prompt her often to say thank you mama when I give her something. Tonight in the bath tub she asked for a toy which Scott gave her and she said “tank-mama” so either she thinks Scott’s her mom or she is getting confused since I always put mama after thank you. Either way it’s super cute.

Back to Blogging!

2010-11-02T21:28:00.001-07:00

So I have proven to be a really bad blogger in the past. I have been through all of the stages of blogging grief.
1) Denial – I don’t even like blogs anyway (this is a lie)
2) Anger – I don’t understand how anyone has time for blogging anyway.
3) Bargaining – If I could just blog I’d treat myself to …
4) Depression - I’m never going to remember anything about the first year of Haddie’s life 
5) Acceptance – Not everyone can be as clever, witty, and dedicated as Natalie (but I’m gonna try)

So now that I’m in “acceptance” I’m going to try to be a better blogger. I think there are four main ingredients to blogging.
1) Having something to say
2) Writing down this something
3) Supporting documentation (photos)
4) Time!

So here’s where I fit in, I always have something to say so number 1 is covered. As far as number 2 goes I am quite lacking in the writing it down part. I have “written” countless blogs in my head over the past year but have found it challenging to actually get these blogs into blog posts. When it comes to number 3 my problem was twofold; 1) we have a really nice camera that takes great pictures but is a huge pain to get out and carry around and 2) our old house had bad lighting so I never wanted to take pictures. Now for the biggest problem number 4! How is it that anyone with a baby less than 1 year old has enough time to blog? This is something I don’t think I will ever understand. (I say this however I find time to waste countless hours on facebook…)

So why do I want to torture myself, I mean start updating my blog again? Well, I love reading other people’s blogs and I love that they have such great documentation of the milestones their kids are meeting. Hadley is getting so big so fast and learning so much. I want some record of what a cool baby she’s been since I can already tell the baby days will be over before I know it.
So my goal is to post every day for the month of November. I know it’s the 2nd so I’ve already missed one but I’m doing two posts tonight so that should make up for it. To all my readers (there are 6 of you) please forgive my lack of writing ability and enjoy the peak into our world.

PS – I promise to not start every thought with “So” in the future!

November Thankful Thought - Today I am thankful for the time to update my blog.

Haddie Says – She has just started saying Minnie (as in Minnie Mouse). It’s super cute!

Here’s Haddie at 14 months old (I missed the boat on getting 1 year pictures but at least I got some right?)

5:30 Wake Up Call

2010-05-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hadley has woken up and been ready to start the day at 5:30 maybe 5 times in her life. She’s not really an early riser. In fact the last time she was “awake” at 5:30 was when I woke her up for an Amigos retreat. She was not pleased and I’m thinking she gave me the stink eye. (It was 5 am so I don’t have a picture)Anyway, according to Hadley it’s best to wake up at 5:30 on a Sunday morning when you mom has (foolishly) stayed up until 2 am blogging…I mean really mom you’re gonna take those kinds of risks?

So 5:30 this morning Hadley’s wide awake and ready to go. I made her lay in bed with me until 6 am because 5:30 is not an acceptable wake up time. We both made our best effort to sleep. I tried to ignore her shoving her fingers in my mouth and eyes. She tried to use every part of my body as a pillow. Head on my elbow, head on my knee, head on my back, head on my tummy, head on my legs. Apparently I’m not such a great pillow because sleep never did happen.

It’s okay we got up and played toys and watched 10 Most Outrageous Beach Houses on travel channel. If you’re gonna be up at 6 am on a Sunday morning after 4 hours of sleep you may as well tour homes you can’t even imagine being inside much less living in.

Here is a little note from Hadley…she loves typing.

Z m,c c m,vm mcm, .xc

Notice she already uses punctuation.

A few pictures of Hadley plotting her great escape…she always wants to be outside with Archie.

Peak-a-boo

2010-05-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hadley learned a new trick…peak-a-boo. She loves it. We aren’t sure if someone taught her this or if it’s just a developmental thing she does. It’s adorable so we’ll take it however it comes. She loves to hide her eyes and she has a great smile and look of surprise when we are on the other side of the peak-a-boo. Enjoy the video.

She's hiding...

there she is!

hiding again...

big smiles...

do it again...

so much fun.

The lost video camera cord…

2010-05-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post I don’t ever loss anything (okay not ever but it is rare). I really wanted to post Hadley’s peak-a-boo video so I decided against going to bed and searched instead. I knew the cord was in the camera case but I wasn’t sure what had happened to this case. After 20 minutes of searching I found the camera case in my office closet. I was very surprised it was there since I don’t put anything in that closet since it makes a terrible noise when I open and close the door. Case found but guess what…the cord wasn’t the right cord. It was the cord that connects the camera to the TV not the computer. So, do I decide to go to bed now that the camera case is found?

Nope.

Now I’m looking through the cords in my “cord” box which has computer cords, electronics cords, cell phone chargers from phones I haven’t had in 10 years. (This box needs some major cleaning out) In the process I find three of the cords that have the same shape. It’s the small little connecter that connects basically every electronic device known to man to a computer…see below.

I figure this has to be the right cord. I search and search for the spot to plug one of these bad boys in. Nope, no connection anywhere, so I see that there is a mini SD slot in the video camera. I know that my blackberry has a mini SD card. So I disassemble the blackberry and pull out the card. The mini SD card is really small…see below.

I get the mini SD card into the video camera and start searching through the menus. I realize rather quickly that I have no idea how to get anything loaded onto this card. We have had the camera over a year and never taken any of the video off it. So now I need to find the video camera box with the owners manual. My search resumes. I know exactly what this box looks like because I keep all the shinny boxes that my electronics come in. I realize during this search that I have an unusually large number of shinny boxes that are basically empty. Below is a picture of the boxes I found that aren’t the video camera box.

I did ultimately find the video camera box.

So why do I keep all these empty boxes?

Because I love how they open…

and give warnings…

and have a little spot carved out for each little piece…

I really do love these boxes but I decided that I do not need empty shinny boxes. So they are all in the trash now. This is the space I have available on my bookshelf now that I no longer have empty boxes.

So back to the video camera, I pull out the quick start guide and the first thing in it is backing up to a PC. So I’m in luck, now you won’t believe this. The cord I need is the universal connect every electronic device to your computer cord. Yeah the one I have three extra’s of! And where does it connect?

Not the side…

Not the back…

No this cord connects in the FRONT of the camera. Don’t see it? Me neither…

Oh look again.

What kind of craziness is that?

So I finally figured out how to download Hadley’s adorable peak-a-boo video. And since it’s now technically Sunday I’m posting it. And I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to blog about!

I’m BACK

2010-05-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

An amazing thing happened a few weeks ago. Hadley started sleeping through the night. Now we aren’t just talking 8 hours. No this girl is sleeping 11 to 12 hours very routinely. This is on top of taking two 2-hour naps a day. This is the same baby that just weeks ago nursed at least twice a night and wouldn’t nap longer than 30 minutes at a time. Hadley has always been a good baby but all this sleeping is an amazing thing.

With all this sleeping I now have time to blog. So here we go. My first post is going to be about Hadley and I’s favorite chore, Laundry. I know it sounds weird to have a favorite chore but if I had to pick one laundry would be it. I think it all stems from my love of clothing. I like to sorting the laundry, I like starting the laundry, I like moving the laundry from washer to dryer, I like hanging clothes, folding clothes, putting clothes away…you name it when it comes to laundry I’m in.

As far as I can tell Hadley is a fan of doing laundry as well. She however seems to enjoy unfolding clothes and pulling the folded clothes out of the laundry basket. That’s okay laundry is our fun chore to do together. I have many fond memories of doing laundry with my mom. (Maybe that’s the real reason it’s my favorite chore).

Here are some pictures of Hadley "helping" with laundry.

She's happiest with a full basket of laundry to play with.

She's always helpful in unloading the basket.

If you need any of your laundry eatten just give us a call.

I have very adorable pictures and video of Hadley playing peak-a-boo but I can’t find the cord required to get the video off the video camera. I never lose anything so I’m rather frustrated about this. Since I don’t want to hold up my first post in over a year I’ll save the adorableness for another day!

Watch For...

2009-03-30T17:27:00.001-07:00

Disney World Blog and Updated Baby News...

Strosnider Baby – Boy or Girl?

2009-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I was very sure that I did not want to know if the baby was a boy or a girl and Scott was very sure he did want to know. Because we are good at compromise the deal was he would find out and keep it secret. No one thought this would work everyone was sure he wouldn't be able to not tell and I wouldn't be able to wait...But we knew differently. I didn't want to know so I wouldn't ask and he liked having a secret no one knew so he wouldn't tell.

So you might be wondering how is it I now know. We'll just so you know it wasn't the case that either of us caved...While at the ultrasound I closed my eyes for the picture of the "goods/or lack off" and I watched the rest. The Ultra Sound Tech gave us a DVD which I then watched on continuous loop for about 30 minutes (that's about 10 times). It was just so amazing to see a baby moving around in ME!

Well, there's a part on the DVD where baby gives a very good between the legs view and there is very clearly a large dark spot between the legs. So while I tried for a few days to convince myself I didn't know it was clear to me that we were having a boy. After a few days I decided to talk to Scott about the benefits of him telling me since I already knew. It seemed silly to pretend I didn't when there really wasn't a surprise to look forward to. Plus this way we could get really cute boy things instead of neutral.

So even though I really did want to wait and Scott really was able to keep a secret baby clearly wanted me to know. So I asked Scott to confirm what I knew...and I WAS WRONG!

We are expecting a baby girl! Now, let me qualify that Scott has reviewed the DVD and confirmed that I was not making things up. She has something between her legs but we figure it must be a cord or foot. Bottom line, I'm not an ultra sound tech nor have I ever played one on TV.

So I was a little bummed that I "ruined" the surprise by my complete certainty that it was a boy but I am glad I found out because I was really sure it was a boy. While I wanted a surprise in this case it would have been more of a shock maybe not the best idea! Besides, all of you wanted to know so consider this my gift to you!

So it's pink and purple all around. Don't ask her name...it REALLY is secret!

:-)

PS – The ultra sound pictures really aren’t as good as the first one and don’t show anything exciting so please accept the updated Belly pics as a substitute.

16 Weeks

18 Weeks

20 Weeks

Pink Princess Party

2009-03-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

So my Pink Princess Party for my 30th Birthday was a hit.

Many of my favorite Princesses and Pirates were there!

I had a glamour station set up by the door for all to add jewels, crowns, pirate patches, etc. Scott’s not up to speed on the whole birthday party picture protocol so we didn’t get pictures of this. You’ll have to trust me that it was cute and I promise to have him up to speed by Miss Squirt’s 1st Birthday.

The kids decorated crowns, made treasure maps with stickers, and decorated their piñata bags with princess and pirate stickers! What a hit.

We had my favorite pregnancy foods such as pizza and cheeses puffs. All the decorations were of course Pink!

Even the adults got into the Princess and Pirate spirit.

I made fantastic pink cupcakes with white frosting, pink and purple sprinkles, pink sparkles, and pink crowns. I also had chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting and pirate skulls. (Again no pictures prior to singing and eating…I promise to get this under control)

I had lots of help blowing out the candles...probably could have even blown out 30 of them if we had them.

We took down the evil dragon piñata without any human injury and found that our front patio has a perfect piñata space. (Good to know…)

While everyone was in the front yard Archie decided it was a perfect time to jump up on to the patio table and eat cupcakes! Seriously, Beagles are crazy about food!

Very Guilty Archie

Overall it was a huge success…What a perfect way to start my 30’s!

Blog Update

2009-03-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so it's been over a month since I last updated the Blog. I know it's bad...Here's my excuse, after a whole day of working in front of the computer it's just the last thing I think about doing when dinner and bed are just a few hours away. So I'm going to try and do better about updating this. My dear friend Natalie has been insisting I do so I think she should just join Facebook since I'm good at keeping that up-to-date. :-)

Thankful Thursday

2009-02-19T17:27:00.001-08:00

I know it's cheating but I am so very thankful for Scott. He is a fantastic husband and my soul mate. Who knew being married could be so much fun!

Worldless Wednesday - Thailand Scuba

2009-02-18T06:18:00.001-08:00

Fisrt Blog Entry!

2009-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

So I decided to start a blog because I love my friend Natalie’s Blog. It’s titled A Beagle and a Baby. Since she had her beagle first and she had her baby first I can forgive her for having the best blog name ever. Since I couldn’t think of anything fantastic we have a boring blog name but hopefully it will be filled with just as much cool stuff as Natalie’s. I plan on using the blog to update everyone on the baby growing progress.

Here is the ultra sound picture of “Squirt”.

And Squirt in 3D

And of course the first belly bump picture.

I call it my barley bump.

13 weeks 4 days.

The first trimester went fast and for the most part I felt good. I’m glad to be in the second trimester as I do really have more energy. The exciting news is that over the last few weeks I have been feeling what I am pretty sure is the baby moving. It doesn’t last long and just as soon as I notice it stops. As Squirt gets bigger I’m sure this will become even more noticeable.

So that’s my first blog entry! I plan to steal Natalie’s idea for Wordless Wednesday’s and Flashback Friday’s. I will also add my own Thankful Thursday’s so stay tuned…