Cold Halloween

The weather was miserable for Halloween, very cold with strong wind and freezing rain. Ally went out for a short time with the neighborhood kids but Hadley just dressed up for fun. Neither was very cooperative for pictures!

First Baton Competition

Ally competing in her first baton competition on Sunday, October 5. It was the Indiana State competition and was hosted by her teacher right in Brownsburg. Very convenient! She started taking lessons in late January and started working on competition routines a few months ago. She competed in modeling, basic marching and one-baton solo at the novice level. I was not sure what to expect from her and Miss Veronica and I did our best to prepare her for the setting of the day. She does fairly well at her weekly lesson since she does it with a pair of sisters that are her same age but have been twirling about a year longer and have competed before. I wanted to get her a nice costume for her birthday as a surprise but I was hesitant to invest a lot, especially since she refused to practice for me. And when she did, it didn't go very well leaving us both frustrated. I was able to get a beautiful custom-made costume at a great price and grandma Julie took care of the shoes and a special warm up outfit as well for her birthday. She looked the part of an advanced twirler and was so excited. She wasn't nervous at all but asked a lot of questions about all of the girls she saw when we got there. There were about 70 kids participating and she had between 6 and 8 girls in each event she competed in. I knew three of the four judges, one being a girl I used to twirl with and former Purdue Golden Girl (Ann Loppnow). For all the whining about practicing at home, she was very serious about it during the day. She wanted to practice each thing before she took the floor and was interested in what every other girl was doing. The first thing she did was modeling and I knew it was going to be her best event. I was right! The first thing she did was near perfect and she took 2nd place. The second modeling she did wasn't as good, she was a little distracted by some other girls. Next we put her hair up like the big girls and she set out for two rounds of basic marching. This did not go so well. It involves marching in a perfect square and she is used to following lines on the floor. I honestly have no clue what she was doing. She wanted to practice more before one-baton solos and I was really worried about how this was going to go. She was having a hard time remembering the sequence and was very easily distracted all day. The first one she did was so good! I was shocked and then the second was even better! She got 3rd and 1st place medals. For her last one, we didn't have the time to practice and she definitely got distracted and forgot a lot of it. She ended the day with 4 medals: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and then a small trophy for placing 5th in the overall combined event Miss Autumn pageant. She was so excited and happy! I was absolutely shocked at how well she did for the majority of the day. She may not like to practice but she already knows how to turn it on when its time. I received so many compliments about her costume and her excitement throughout the day. Definitely a lot of things to work on but our main goal was to try it and see if she enjoyed it. Now we are on to the next one!

 

The one thing I didn't expect was ho hard it would be for me as a mom this time. I've been a twirler and a judge but having your kid try it is a whole different level of stress. Mostly exciting but taking the whole day in as a parent was a little overwhelming for me. I almost wish I didn't know so much about what was going on. It was great being able to help all the moms and daughters with hair and makeup and cheering them on but its just odd without my team and family there. I was really proud of Ally and the effort she gave. The fact that she wants to do it again is good enough for me. I really wanted our family there to see her so hopefully we can find one close to home before regionals in July. We called Grandma Julie after every event and she showed off her awards on Skype but its just not the same! I cant say enough about the impact baton has had on my life and seeing the second generation getting started is so strange.

Ready for modeling

Marching and solo time

Posing with her practice buddies Chrystin and Kaitlyn

Miss Veronica's students- the Starlight Twirlers

So proud of her first medals

Ally and mommy day

Happy 5th Birthday Ally!

 

Last week Allyson turned 5 and celebrated with a full week of festivities. We started the weekend before with a tailgate birthday party at the Purdue vs. Iowa football game. Ally got to see her favorite Golden Girl, Whittney and meet the Iowa Drum Major (the cutest boy she has ever seen) and also share a birthday cake with Grandma Sharon. Grandma Julie and Grandpa Dew came to visit so we all took the day off on Monday for lunch at her favorite Mexican place and presents. Monday evening, Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Henry and Susie came down for dinner, ice cream cake and more presents. Tuesday was the big day and Ally was so excited to wake up and be 5! She kept staring at herself in the mirror to see if she looked different. She picked donuts for her school treat and got a fun book, sticker and certificate. She felt very important!
Tuesday evening was a quiet celebration at home where she requested her favorite breakfast for dinner. She got to open a few things from Hadley and us and also presents Grandpa Joel left behind from his visit the weekend before. The finale was her Frozen themed party on Saturday for some friends, mostly just the neighbor kids she has become close with and a few of our good friends with kids she likes to play with. Ally and Hadley both helped with the party prep and made some fun Frozen themed snacks like snowman mix and blue party punch. It was a small party but she had a great time. I was very proud of my theme skills with this one, all the snacks fit the color scheme!

By now, everyone that knows Ally knows her personality. She is a lot of fun but also has a independent/bossy side to her. She says and does the craziest things, sometimes surprising us in a good way and sometimes not so good. Her attitude is getting a little defiant lately (lots of back talk)and we are working on concepts that are tough even for adults to understand- patience and gratitude.

About Ally at 5:

• Can count as high as she feels like but sometimes forgets a few once she gets into the higher double digits- 80s are tough to remember. Working on identifying double digit numbers more consistently.
• Can recognize all upper and lower case letters. Working on using sounds to read simple words but prefers to say the letter rather than its sound.
• Writing has improved and can do basic proper nouns from memory.
• Can navigate the monkey bars at school and hang on just about anything.
• Likes riding her bike around the neighborhood and wants to try without training wheels next summer.
• Getting too big for a bath and has started to take more showers but her thick and long hair makes it tough to manage on her own.
• Cannot wear enough dresses and skirts- does not like jeans at all. Needs more shoes since she is so picky about what she thinks looks good. Wants to only wear heels!
• Still loves the same blanket she has had her whole life. She never uses a pillow but has the have the blanket under her head.
• Same bed routine which includes 2 books. Favorites are LadyBug Girl, Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious.
• Moved away from cartoon shows and movies and is now on to the teenie-bopper dramas on Disney Channel. Her favorites are Jessie and Austin & Ally. We usually only let her watch one show before bed but weekend morning ritual includes watching on Netflix.
• Still loves to watch movies. Also moved away from the cartoons but has a regular rotation of Pitch Perfect, Mary Poppins, Rio and Muppets. Mostly just on the drives to Wisconsin but she loves movie nights at home with popcorn.
• Barbies, barbies and more barbies! Fashion is her thing and she cant leave a Barbie in the same outfit for more than 3 seconds. The shoes are her favorite part.
• Can color extremely well. Over the last year she has really excelled with her abilities to stay in the lines and color all of one picture instead of just the main thing on the page. She loves to draw too.
• Seldom takes a nap but we try to enforce rest/reading quiet time at home.
• Loves to dance and sing- anything that has music is her favorite thing. Always wants to listen to the radio and sing along or make up her own songs. We have a "no singing at the table" rule because she doesn't stop!
• Gymnastics, baton and dancing are her favorite activities she has participated in. Also wants to play volleyball if she can.
• Loves being a big sister and having someone to boss around at home.

18 Month Stats and Milestones

Hadley is 18 months old today! She measured in at 33 1/2 inches tall and 23lbs 11 oz at her doctors visit this morning. She has recently starting showing off her personality at home, becoming very vocal and wanting to do a lot of "big girl" things. Some of the things she used to enjoy just don't seem to hold her interest any longer so we are now getting into puzzles, coloring and throwing balls. She is also perfecting the art of tantrums and gets easily upset at times. She still doesn't quite understand the concept of sharing and tests her limits by repeatedly doing things she isn't supposed to- like putting toys in her mouth or stealing crayons and barbies from sister. She loves Ally very much and wants to do things like she does and is usually very affectionate with her. Sometimes this means jumping on her but that's the price Ally has to pay for laying on the floor these days. Hadley has the same crabby/pouty face Ally had but Hadley seems to be less forgiving than Ally was when she does get upset.

School is going fairly well, minus a few sicknesses that have been going around. We have made a lot of unexpected trips tot he doctor with Hadley but usually it is nothing major. Although she can be difficult and managing two of them isn't easy, we are very lucky to have a happy and healthy big girl!

LOVES
Her pink and white blanked with the pint satin trim
Her NUK: purple one with the flower on the end
Climbing up on the kitchen chairs and living room furniture
Riding toys
Doing anything big sister does
Pulling caps off markers
Taking off her right shoe and sock
Cuddling with mommy
Any toy with a ball- especially the elephant that blows the balls up and plays music
Music of all kinds
Holding the leash when we take Ella for a walk
Playing on the neighbors jungle gym
Facetime and Skype kisses with grandparents and Uncle Corey
Eric Carle books- specifically Brown Bear and From Head to Toe

Clothes: mixed bag of 12 and 18 months stuff and size 3 diapers. Mostly hand-me-downs from Ally for the winter so that will be great. Feet have grown a ton, going from a 3 to a 5.5 almost over night!

Foods: eggs, chicken, noodles with white sauce, cheese, popcorn, corn on cob, yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit snacks. Recently not interested in any fruits or sweets but likes meat and vegetables of all kinds. Stating to use spoon and fork well. Very into smashing all foods and throwing them onto he floor when she has had enough.

Words: Mama, Dada, Ally, Hadley, Ella, mine, dog, cup, milk, nuk, up, down, mine, car, baby, shoe, sock, eat, snack, yum, mine, baba (blanket), bike, no, yes, Emme (school friend/Sue's dog), MINE.

Photos from Around the House

Fashion Week Show

Twinsies just for fun

Daddy's Girls

Clearwater Beach Vacation

We took out second family trip to Clearwater beach for a brief vacation at the end of August. We visited the zoo which was great for the kids, and spent a lot of time at the beach and pool. Grandma and Grandpa were with us so Ally got to take them on the pirate cruise she enjoyed so much last year. While Hadley does not like sand in any other context, she absolutely loved the beach. She had no problem running around and was perfectly happy to sit and bury herself in sand under the canopy. The ocean water was warm and the weather was great the whole time we were there. Wrangling the two girls was quite a task so I didn't get many pictures but here are a few.

 

 

Hadleys First Haircut

Sunday I ventured out with both girls to the local Great Clips. Hadley's hair was getting a little unruly so just needed to get a little trim to keep it out of her eyes. The sat very patiently and looked very serious the whole time. No tears, not even a noise at all while she watched the lady work around her. Its not even noticeable really but her little bangs are now out of her eyes for the time being. She has much finer hair than Ally and the top just doesn't seem to curl quite like the back. We will see where this goes but for now I think its adorable!

Target Fail

Yes, I tried this and it failed. We attempted to make a Target run a little later than we should have last week. I had 2 dum dums in the diaper bag so I decided to see if I could bribe the girls to entertain themselves while we quickly got what we needed. Im pretty sure Ally was at least 3 before she ever had a sucker so not sure exactly what I was thinking handing one of these to a 16 month old. It actually worked for a few minutes. Hadley was very excited to be like big sister and she had it all figured out. I was feeling pretty good at first. Then the novelty wore off after about 5 minutes and Hadley was putting the sucker on everything and biting the stick and Ally still just wanted to get out of the cart. Ally finished hers and Hadley was a sticky mess before we were done shopping which resulted in the exact meltdowns I was trying to avoid. Fail. Live and Learn.

First Baton Performance

 Allyson age 4, Mommy age 3

Ally had her first baton performance with her group in the Brownsburg 4th of July Parade. There were 7 girls from the group that participated between the ages of 4 and 12. Ally was the youngest and this was the first real appearance for the newly formed Starlight Twirlers. A connection from Purdue went out on her own to start a baton twirling group right in Brownsburg so Ally started taking lessons for fun with her in January. She is learning a lot and having a great time, especially now that there are two other girls close in age that all go at the same time. All of the girls are at the novice/beginner level but they are having fun and Miss Veronica is providing a lot of great opportunities for the girls to get started with competitions. I judged a small contest she hosted earlier this year and Ally is looking forward to competing very soon.

Ally was very excited to have her very own costume with tights and special shoes. She talked non-stop about the parade asking 1001 questions each day leading up to it. She then asked about a billion more when we arrived to get lined up. She was so excited to get started! The route was 1.8 miles starting at the high school and ended near a large park in town. The two littlest girls rode in a convertible for the first street but got in line and marched the majority of it. There were so many people watching, every street was packed. Everyone was so nice and cheered for the girls but it was definitely a distraction to them that they weren't exactly prepared for. Ally spent a lot of time looking at the people and would get farther and farther behind from the group and forget what she was supposed to be doing. Sort of comedy to watch but made it tough to get any good video. I walked along with the group to help and watching her was really fun for me. The whole day brought back a lot of memories and I certainly never expected how fun it would be to watch my own child enjoy doing something that I love so much. All of the girls did a great job and Ally had so much fun! She thinks she is now competition-ready but we will keep working on her skills and shoot for something more in the fall. I wish all of our family could have been there to see it but the video and photos will have to do.

15 Month Check Up

Hadley is becoming a real toddler now! Had a great check up with the doctor and has really grown a lot in the last three months. Weighed in at 22.6 lbs and measured 32 3/4 " tall, almost the 98% for height! The strange thing is that she still has tiny little feet and only wears a size 3 shoe. She has great motor skills and just cannot sit still. She has to be running around as busy as possible at all times. Her verbal skills are not quite as advanced but she is starting to talk more. Lots of noises just not a ton of words yet. Last week Hadley made the transition into the 1 year old room at the day care. It has gone better than we expected so far. She is down to 1 nap during the day at school on her own little cot, feeds herself sitting at a real table and has lots of fun on the playground. She has been a little more tired at night this week but overall she seems to like her new teachers and new friends.

Here are some of our favorite photos from her 1 year photo shoot with Kim Davis.

Dancer Dress Up

Ally had a great time playing in my box of old baton/dance costumes. There were many to choose from but she really only liked the ones that were pink and included a skirt. Most of the ones I have in my collection are from more recent years but there were a few that were close to fitting! She can't wait to have her own collection.

Derby Day

For our anniversary this year, we decided to cross an item off our Bucket List and get grandstand seats at the Kentucky Derby. Neither of us had been before and living so close made it too hard to pass up this year. With work schedules and child care we weren't able to make it to the Kentucky Oaks on Friday but we were able to leave for Louisville Friday evening and take our time getting to our hotel. Everything fills up far in advance and is very expensive for the weekend so we ended up staying on the Indiana side just over the bridge into Kentucky.

We sort of slept in a little on race day and headed to the track by 10am. We received lots of tips from friends to park in the University of Louisville football stadium parking lot and walk over so that is what we did. It was full of tailgaters and party buses and was just a short 10 minute walk over a bridge to Churchill Downs. It was everything I expected and more! So many people from the fanciest of the fancy to the very casual. The weather was perfect, even maybe a little hot by the afternoon. I borrowed an awesome hat from my moms Derby party collection and we fit right in with the crowd.

Our seats were along the straight part of the track, about 10 rows from the front so we were able to walk around, see all of the areas of the track and watch a lot of the races. Once it was time for the actual Derby race it filled up quickly and everyone was standing on the bleachers so it was near impossible to see other than on the giant video screen. We placed a few winning bets early in the day to test our luck but my picks for the big race were terrible. Karl ended up about even but it was amazing to see how much people would win and lose with each race. We weren't playing with big money but there were a lot of people that were. We could not have asked for a better day and while we went just the two of us we did meet up with a few friends that were there. We are definitely making plans to do this again and gathering up a bigger group for next time!

Ally was having her own Derby Party before we left!

Happy 1st Birthday Hadley!

 

On March 23 we celebrated Hadley's first birthday with some family and friends at our house. It was a big day and Hadley loved opening presents and digging right into her yummy cake! Hadley is a very happy girl and checked off a lot of major milestones before her first birthday.

1 year stats:
20.8 lbs and 30.25 inches tall
4 teeth- 2 top and 2 bottom
Took her first steps on March 1 but still prefers to crawl or walk holding hands
Curly hair in the back but straight on top
Can drink from a soft sippy cup but still prefers bottles
Never had formula and made the switch to whole milk 1 week before her birthday
Attends day care full time and is the class favorite
Much improved nap routine which usually includes an am and a pm snooze for about an hour each
Turns into a pumpkin at 8:30 pm on the dot
Bedtime routine includes PJs, sleep sack, bottle and rock with blanket
Usually find her sitting up in her bed around 7:15 am, happy as can be
Very particular about her blankets and likes to hold them close to her face like sister
Very smiley :)
Eats or tries just about anything you put in front of her but favorites are cheese, chicken, eggs, pancakes, yogurt and goldfish
Loves her sister and her dog so much
Very minimal trips to the doctor, just 1 ear infection but teething really gives her issues
Vocabulary includes mama, dada and yes

Overall, Hadley is a very happy and healthy girl. In many ways so different from her sister but similar in many ways as well. From my lack of posting and lack of photos compared to Ally at this age, clearly she is the second child. Looking forward to warmer weather and some big changes as she gets ready to move to the 1 year old room at day care, expands her vocabulary and become a more consistent walker.

Happy (Belated) St. Patrick's Day

First Steps

On March 1 Hadley took her first real steps. She did it a few times across the living room and of course decided to get distracted the time I tried to actually capture it with my camera. She hasn't really tried it much since because she can crawl so fast. She also loves carrying things in her hands which isn't easy to do when you are struggling with balance.

Months 10 and 11

We have been very busy the last few months so I have been lacking in the photo posts.  Hadley now has 4 big teeth you can see (2 top and 2 bottom), thicker curly hair and the cutest giggle. She has moved on to only table foods and holds her own bottle. Working on walking and mastering the cup. Hard to believe she will be 1 very soon.

I'm 10 Months Old!

I'm 11 Months Old!

Happy Valenties Day

Happy Heart Day from our two loves!

Rewind: Holiday in Pictures

We had almost a full week off to spend with family in Wisconsin around Christmas. The girls were able to spend time with Uncle Corey during the week and have two big Christmas celebrations while we were there. Ally began to struggle with nightmare issues the night before we left and her irrational fear of Santa sort of made for some difficulties at times. She was not feeling her best but was still able to visit with Andrea and Robbie (and soon to be baby boy) and play at the indoor water park at the Y with Uncle Mark, Uncle Corey, Corey and Grandpa Dew. Hadley had a lot of fun, she is at a much better stage than Ally was at her first Christmas. She was able to unwrap presents, play with toys and she really loved looking at the trees.

Following our trip back we then had our own small family Christmas at our house with the girls and then one last celebration with Karl's family. The girls got so many great gifts from so many people that love them. At first I was wondering what we were going to do with all their new toys and where we would put them. Soon after the first of the year the Polar Vortex hit and we were snowed in and trapped at home for 3 days. Good thing we had all those new toys because we went through them all, many times over!

Hadley is 9 Months Old!

How did that happen? The time is really going by so fast and before we know it, she will be 1.  Her big accomplishment in the last month has been standing and cruising. She loves to walk! She started to pull herself up on everything and quickly followed that up with walking around furniture and moving from thing to thing around the room basically all in the same weekend. Very adventurous!

She crawls on all fours very quickly and loves to squirm away as quickly as possible to hide. She has also figured out how to play peek-a-boo and its adorable.  She loves to hide under blankets with Ally or hide behind table legs and toys.  Her top two teeth have really been giving her a hard time, lots of biting and grinding. They are both very close to the surface but just haven't come down and stayed down. This makes for an unhappy girl at times. It also has made eating difficult. Aside from the fact that she gets distracted very easily, the tooth pain has made her a little more picky. We pretty much have to wrestle her these days to get a diaper changed, clothes changed, bathed and fed.

At her doctors appointment she weighed in at 19 lbs, 7 oz and measured 29.75 inches tall. This translates to the exact 75th percentile in all measurements.  She is still wearing 9 month size clothes in most brands but we have moved onto size 3 diapers. She is solid and loves working all her muscles by walking and jumping.

Rewind: Ally's Dentist Visit

Back in November, Ally made her first trip to the dentist. I know we are way behind the recommended age to start with the dentist but with all of our moving and insurance changes, it just didn't happen until now. She was a little nervous about it at first but Karl took her and she did great. No cavities and she was cooperative with the process. She has a cross-bite that will need to be corrected once her next set of molars come in so we have that to look forward to in a few more years.