Yay!

Got an unexpected call on Friday. Due to our sitter situation, I was offered an extended maternity leave - an extra week to stay at home with the girls. I happily accepted it (even if it is unpaid and I haven't received a paycheck in over a month). I'm just so happy I got this unexpected extra week at home with the girls. Now I won't be going back until Hadley is almost 13 weeks old. I'm excited to be here for this 12 week mark - not sure why, but it seems rather important to me. :)
Last week, I had a cold the whole week! I said before that my sore throat had gone away, but it ended up turning into a laryngitis/runny nose/cough thing. And the cough has been unpleasant and rather annoying. Andrew won't even sleep in the same room with me because I cough all.night.long. It's been exhausting. And I told him it figures that I'd end up sick my last week at home. My cough is still lingering, but it's not near as bad as it has been and I've been sleeping better at night, so this week should be great!

Onto the girls:
Avery has been doing great at school. She's been writing her name well, and the teachers said she doesn't even have to look at her name to write it. That was something we've been working on for a while - spelling and writing her name. She's very good at it. She could spell it out loud for over a year now, but now she's writing it no problems. I still feel like she has a hard time recognizing all of her letters, but little by little I've noticed she's gotten better. In school, they have been working on colors and shapes. Shapes have always been Avery's "thing." She notices shapes and will point them out, all the time. She's been doing that for about a year and a half now. So I'm hoping she does well when they move over to the alphabet. I also noticed she's picking up her numbers too - she can see a number and point it out (1 through 9 - she hasn't quite gotten the hang of two numbers together).
We still have challenges throughout the day with tantrums, random crying/stomping her feet (when she doesn't get her way) and getting dressed - ALWAYS getting dressed. It doesn't matter if she picks it out or I pick it out, the results are the same. Typically I let her dress herself within reason (she has to wear tennis shoes to school, for example, and weather-appropriate clothes), but sometimes I will make her wear a specific outfit (today for church, we matched the girls for Hadley's baby dedication). Regardless of how the outfit is chosen, she does not want to physically get dressed. She also doesn't like getting her hair brushed (though once we start, she's fine and will sit through whatever I do to her hair) and she hates brushing her teeth (which is frustrating, she already needs to see the dentist for a cleaning). The age of 3 is absolutely way harder than I ever expected it to be. I was dreading two. But three so far has been much worse.

Hadley is starting to laugh, and she loves to smile and coo. she's still an easy going baby for the most part. It's 9:21pm and we're winding her down and getting her ready for bed. Once she goes down, she'll most likely be out until about 6:00am or so. She is becoming more interested in her play toys, so we do a lot of time under her play mat (until she gets mad and we stop). Tummy time is still a fail. She is a bit lazy and doesn't like to lift her head still. But I still make her do it every day. She'll thank me for it later in her life (when her head isn't flat in the back).

Still love seeing them together. Avery is by far the sweetest girl to her. She just told her Daddy, "She's so adorable!" And she pats her belly/rubs her head when she's tired to help her go to sleep. One night I came in, and Andrew was unloading/loading the dishwasher and the girls were on the couch. Andrew said Avery was "babysitting" Hadley. I check on them and Avery is putting her pacifier in her mouth and reading her a story. She's going to be an awesome babysitter some day! I can't wait to see their relationship grow stronger as they both get older.

Andrew wants to have one more, and I'm inclined to do so in a few years. I know he wants a boy, and of course, I would LOVE a boy, but I'd also love a girl so that all 3 sisters could be super close like I am with my sisters. I think it would be awesome. :)

So It Begins...

This is my last official week of maternity leave. I go back to work a week from tomorrow. I cried a little about it today. The past 12 weeks have by far been the best 12 weeks of my life up to this point (with 2 girls, I'm sure eventually I'll have some other wonderful weeks ahead of me). But seriously - best 12 weeks of my life. And cuddling for an afternoon nap with Hadley made me cry. I'll still get those times with her. I'm still keeping my Fridays off and I'll have Saturdays and Sundays with the girls. Plus the occasional vacation day with them. But I couldn't help crying. My days have been so wonderful. I get to spend time with both girls, then I get alone time with Hadley in the afternoons while Avery is at school. The times with that baby are sweet because it only seems fair that she gets me alone sometimes since Avery has had me alone for a whole 3 years and a few days. We mainly just cuddle and nap during those times. Sometimes we shop (she loves to ride in the car and be pushed around, so she gets a good nap in during those times). And lately we've also been playing a bit, which is fun. It's really fun to see her developing. They develop so fast at this age. It's amazing.
But alas I'm back to work in one week. Really savoring this week. And really trying to remember that although I'd rather be at home, work isn't that bad and the money is always a plus, right?? It means more outings with the girls, like our upcoming Toy Story 3 on Ice event Friday night (excluding Hadley on that one, she isn't quite ready for that yet). But it will be fun to do more things like that with the girls. Santa probably has some pretty good ideas about fun tickets he can buy us for such events.
I caught Avery's sore throat Friday night which I was pretty upset about, thinking it would lead over into my last week at home. But the good news is that it only lasted a few days and Hadley has yet to catch it (hoping it stays that way).
I have a major feeling this week is going to fly by. And next Sunday's post may be a lot less upbeat - by then, I may be sobbing and refusing to go back. :) We'll see how this last wonderful week goes.

Hadley gets better, Avery gets sick

Hadley is feeling much better from her shots on Thursday. Praise the Lord we didn't have any more shriek-fests from her. She's her normal and happy little self. However, Avery started out with a hoarse voice on Friday. It turned into a cough yesterday. And this morning, we woke up to her running a slight fever with a sore throat. We knew going to Oklahoma last weekend ran the risk of Avery or Hadley (or, God forbid, both girls) could catch whatever it was that Addy had. We were hoping since Addy had been fever-free for over 24 hours that wouldn't happen. And truthfully Avery gets pretty knocked out from allergies and sinuses, so there's no telling if this did in fact follow us home from Oklahoma.
So, today, Sunday, we are skipping church (I feel like I have to do that a lot, but Andrew has previous obligations at church this morning) and staying home. Avery is confined to my room (to watch movies) and her own bedroom to keep her away from Hadley. And we're hoping that nursing Hadley has given her lots of immunity to these pesky little viruses.
Avery is really acting okay - her normal self - which makes me think it is just allergy/sinus related. This is pretty much what happens when she has a sinus infection. She's sad she can't be around the baby. She just loves her so much, it breaks her heart. Hopefully, the fever and cough cease by tomorrow so Avery can still go to school - she's missed at least one class each week for the past 2 weeks and I'd hate to start off another school week the same way. Praying it's gone quickly!

Hadley is 2 Months!

On Monday, the 5th, Hadley turned 2 months old. I can't believe how fast time is flying by.
We took her to the doctor today for her 2 month check up and first round of shots from the office. Ugh. Have I mentioned I hate shots?
Hadley weighs 12 lbs now and is 23 inches long. She's in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. Her head is in the 50-75th percentile (even though I think she has a pretty big looking head, she's well rounded I guess!).
Poor baby got some oral medicine (which she first didn't like, then she started sucking hard on it) and she got 3 shots in her thighs. Avery wanted to hold Hadley's hand while she got her shots, so she grabbed a hand and I kinda held the rest of her body. Well, once that first shot was in and Hadley shrieked, Avery was gone and when I looked at her, her lip was quivering and her eyes were full of tears - poor girl couldn't take Hadley getting the shots!
Hadley's face turned bright red and she was barely gasping for air in between her screams. I laughed, but only because I couldn't really do anything else! I fed her to make her feel better and fed her some more when we got home. She was a little fussy, but the nurse let us give her some Triamincin before they started the shots. By the time we got home, I think it had kicked in a little. She was pretty happy for the most part the rest of the night, quiet.
Well, she typically eats between 8 and 9 and then goes down for usually an 8 to 9 hour stretch of sleep (love her). She's a fairly easy baby at night. So I woke her up to feed her about 9 and she did good for most of it. But then she just started screaming and shrieking, very unlike Hadley at all. 45 minutes of this later, I had called the doctor and gave her some more Triminicin, and the Graco SweetPeace swing was my last resort - and it worked! Whew.... so that's why I'm up still, supervising Hadley while she tries to sleep a bit in her swing. The doctor said some babies just react that way, and could cry that hard for 3 hours or so. If it goes longer, we should take her in, but I think she just may have been uncomfortable from those silly shots. :( Here's to hoping tomorrow is a pain-free day for Hadley!

Weekend Update with the Naylor Girls

Oh how I miss the old weekend updates... they used to be so funny. :)

Anyway. This past weekend, Labor Day weekend, Andrew and I had plans to take the girls to Oklahoma City to visit his brother and wife and our two beautiful nieces. Addy, our oldest niece, turned 3 on September 5th! So, pretty much Labor Day weekend is Addy's birthday weekend, and we've went the past 3 years. We almost didn't get to go as Addy was sick last weekend. But her doctor said it was a viral infection and instead of leaving Friday afternoon, we left Saturday morning, after she had been fever free for about 24 hours. Our drive there, which typically takes about 8 hours, took about 9 1/2. We had to stop a few times for Avery to go to the bathroom and I think we stopped twice to feed Hadley. Hadley did amazing on the drive. We rarely heard from her except for when she needed to eat. Avery did not like the long drive and kept asking for Addy.
My favorite line from Avery: "I just can't stay in here much longer!" Talk about a drama queen! (She gets it from her father, haha.)
Our weekend there was pretty good, but the temps (which had been well over 100 for the past several weeks) dropped to the 70s/80s, which was disappointing for Addy's party as the second half was a pool party! But the chilly weather didn't stop Avery or Addy, who enjoyed an hour or so of swimming with their dads. Unfortunately, I had only packed us tank tops and shorts, since it had been so hot! We had to borrow some jackets from the girls. I won't make that mistake again!
We decided to stay through Monday and drive home Tuesday, so we did some BBQing and enjoyed our last day there. Addy still wasn't feeling so great on Monday, which was a bummer, but she did enjoy her fancy Thomas the Train toy! (And so did Avery.)
Tuesday, our 8 hour drive home took about 10 hours - not too bad between stopping for bathrooms, feeding the baby and a late lunch break at Lambert's Cafe!
All in all, Hadley's first road trip was an overall success! She even slept late a few morning, sleeping for 10 hours one night! Yes, my baby rocks!! :)