My easy-going babies

When I think back to Avery as a baby, I always say she was such a good baby. We struggled with two things: breastfeeding and sleeping. Both things I swear were caused by her prematurity. Which wasn't her fault. That was my awesome uterus's fault. I bet you loved reading uterus. Anyway. She was born early and she was tiny. Well, she was big, really for a 34 weeker at 5 pounds and 5 ounces. But she was tiny compared to full term babies. And she had a tiny mouth. Which caused some latch issues. Once we kicked breastfeeding at 4 months (something I beat myself up over, but was relieved once it was done), she ate like a champ. Seriously, like at 6 months she was taking 14 ounces every 6 hours during the day. It was cuh-razy. I had to make 2 bottles every time. Just look at this face:

Those chubby arm rolls were to die for. And as for sleep, she started sleeping through the night in her crib and then at around 7 months, she just stopped sleeping in there period. She slept if we held her. Which is when we started co-sleeping. Believe me, that was the last thing I wanted to do. But we were out of options and we both worked and we both enjoy our sleep. So into our bed she went. Technically I attribute that to when she was airlifted to Children's and had a 3 night stay in a mini jail cell. If she even saw her crib after that, she threw a fit. So, yeah, it took us, ohhh about a year to get her back to sleeping in her own bed full time (she would fall asleep with us, then we'd move her to her bed until early in the morning, when she'd come back). So, when we had Hadley, we realized what an actual laid back baby is like. Hadley ate amazingly (and still is). Hadley sleeps amazingly (she will roll over and go right to sleep most of the time... or cry for a few seconds then roll over and go to sleep). Hadley laughs all of the time. I don't lie:

Seriously so cute. So, I get it, we've been super blessed in the baby department. Avery is a temperamental 3 year old, but I think we've done a pretty good job with her. And Hadley is so great.... except I realized these past few weeks that she's totally going to be my troublemaker. She's laid back... but quite the stinker. She gets in to everything. EVERYTHING! She just pulled some gallons of nursery water around the kitchen today. She's got insanely super strength. And when we say no, she laughs. Totally just laughs right at me. Which I'm not used to (Avery cried at the word no). And when we smack her hand or take something away from her (oops, just admitted we smack her!), she will throw a fit and just go after it again. It's pretty funny, but she knows when we laugh so I'm having to really control it. I didn't realize a 9 month old knew how to throw such temper tantrums. I am PRAYING that this difficult infant/toddler stage will mean and easy 2-3 year old (it went the other way for us, so why not??). I'm nervous about having 2 strong-willed teenage daughters in my house. I've just about got one (and only "just about" because she's 3... she's as strong-willed as they come). So since I've complained about my 2 gorgeous girls, here's a picture of the lovely ladies that rule my life:

Seriously gorgeous. 2 laid-back babies that have turned into their mother. Poor Andrew.

Our Summer Bucket List

A list I'm compiling of things I want to do with the girls this summer...

- Six Flags
- Purina Farms
- STL Zoo
- The Magic House
- Picnic in Forest Park
- Camping in a tent
- Lunch at Crown Candy Kitchen
- Lunch at Fitz's Root Beer
- Grant's Farm
- Science Center
- Teach Avery to swim (with the assistance of swimming lessons)
- City Museum
- Cards game (or 2 or 3)
- Missouri Botanical Gardens
- Watch fireworks
- Watch an outdoor movie
- Have a water gun/ water balloon fight
- Have 2 awesome birthday parties!
- Start a book series with Avery (is she too old for Ramona Quimby??)


That's all I've come up with so far... I'm hoping to add to it and do it all! I'm so ready for this summer!

April Already??

Well, another month has passed and I didn't update this blog nearly as much as I wanted to. So, here's my April post.

The girls are doing great. We are gearing up for lots of stuff this summer. We still have our Magic House membership through August and we should be getting our zoo membership soon to take advantage of a lot this year and Andrew won a Six Flags season pass, so maybe Avery and I will be getting one as well for another fun thing to do... and with all of these passes, we'll need to be saving up for gas money just to get there, ha!

Avery just finished up soccer tots and is all signed up for t-ball, which starts in May some time. I'm interested to see how she does with it. Softball was definitely my sport so I'd be lying if I said I didn't care if she liked it or not. I am really hoping she loves it! She did tell me she wants to do cheerleading next spring. I have never cheered a day in my life, I guess it's time to get ready for this girly girl. Her ballet and tap recitals are June 2nd - she is going to be so cute! The costumes are adorable and the dances and songs are perfect. We'll also be doing swimming lessons this summer, probably starting in June. So happy Avery knows one of the instructors... I'm anxious for her to learn to swim. She really loves swimming and she always wants to go without any floating device, so it will be better when she actually knows what to do in the water. I want her to learn water safety as well, which is also important since my parents have a pool and we'll be there practically every day this summer. :-D

The allergens are super high this year and Hadley is suffering big time, as am I. I cannot kick this stuff and I feel like my asthma is back - asthma I haven't dealt with since junior high! I'm making an appointment to see about an inhaler - it's that bad! Hopefully I can get rid of this junk soon. I am really disliking how horrible I am feeling during the day and how hard it is to breathe.

Hadley, besides suffering from allergies, is still not officially crawling, though her army crawl and scoot will get her anywhere she wants to go. And she can go from lying down to sitting up now on her own. And she says mama a lot more now! (Though dada is still her favorite - word and person!)

I can't wait for summer, but I'm hoping the allergies aren't so bad. We have lots of friends that will be home with their kids this summer and we're taking advantage of that and doing all sorts of fun things for the girls! I just hope Hadley enjoys it all too - she's gotta be going with us! :)