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.

Transplant Holiday Party

One of the projects Karl has been working on at IU Health is with the transplant department. Because he is so great at his job, we were invited to their highly exclusive holiday party. It gave us a reason to get a babysitter and to get dressed up for some adult time. We weren't sure what to expect and I didn't know anyone but it was a very elegant party at the downtown Indianapolis Library.  It was a very beautiful set up with food stations of all kinds, drinks and a casino night. Everything was paid for so we just got to relax and play some black jack with fake money for prizes.  The girls did fine with our regular babysitter, Chelsea and there is proof that I actually put on a dress!

This actually did happen! Of course, it only happens when I am playing with fake money for raffle prizes!