Hadley's Baptism

We traveled back up to Wisconsin over Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate Hadley's baptism. It was important for us to have this done in the same church where we got married and had Ally baptised since we really don't have a church that we attend regularly.  We chose our good friends Adam Bender and Andrea Kraemer to serve as Hadley's Godparents. They have been such great friends to us that we always want them to be part of our kids lives so this is a great way to make sure that happens. Karl's parents, aunt and the Bender family all came from Indiana to celebrate the extended weekend with us.
The trip up north was long with holiday traffic and construction. Ally watched almost 4 full movies since she decided a 20 minute nap was enough. We got to town in time to meet dad for a birthday dinner on Friday amongst the swarms of lake files- like nothing Karl had ever seen. On Saturday the kids played at the park and the festivities started at the church at 5pm for the mass followed by a brief ceremony. Hadley was quite noisy because the whole thing was right during meal time. Not exactly convenient but we handled it.  Unfortunately that meant that we didn't take many pictures as she just wasn't her usual quiet and content self.  Ally had about a million questions about all the things going on during the church service and she was a little disappointed we didn't dunk her sister under the water. Following the ceremony, everyone came over to the house for dinner and cake. The cousins all played outside and Ally loved every minute of it. Sunday we had time for more playing with the kids and some shopping at the outlet mall. My mom then kickd us out to spend time with just the girls so we could have a nice dinner without kids. Monday was time for a brief visit with dad before driving back.
Special thank you to Hadley's Godparents, especially the Benders for making the long trip with 3 kids under 3. To my family for hosting the event and getting the food all ready and to Karl's family for joining us for the holiday.It has sort of become a tradition to spend the Memorial Day Weekend together with our families since it is our anniversary. We held festivities in the same church and the out of town guests stayed in the same hotel, just as they did 7 years ago.

CLICK HERE to see the photos from the weekend

Month 2 with Hadley

Month 2 with Hadley has been fun. She started spending more of her day awake and sleeping for longer stretches at night. She has also started to recognize faces and voices and give us smiles and coos.  The big event this month was a trip to Wisconsin to introduce her to the family that wasn't able to make the trip to us when she was born.  I made the drive north with just Hadley, taking about 7 hours total with the two feeding stops. Karl and Ally came up the next day and then I stayed a few extra days and drove back with both girls myself.  Hadley got to meet most of her great grandparents, aunts, uncles and some of her cousins. The bad news is that I spent 5 days there and didn't take a single picture! It was nice to have extra sets of hands and Ally got lots of play time with everyone. She likes to be Grandma Julie's little shadow any time they are together. My poor mother can't even go to the bathroom alone when Ally is around... its crazy but cute.
Hadley and I have been making the most of our time together venturing around Indianapolis. We have been doing more shopping lately to get summer clothes for Ally since she has grown almost 2 full sizes since last year and nothing fits.  Hadley likes our trips to Target, Kohls and Hobby Lobby. We have also spent some time with our friends the Conners and the Benders but Hadley mostly sleeps through those dinners. I have been able to get little things around the house done while she naps on most days. We also have been exploring the neighborhood taking long walks with Ella (when its not raining). 
The next month will be very busy as we have plans for Hadley's baptism in Oshkosh and she will be startind day care when I go back to work after Memorial Day. She will also have her next doctors appointment mid-June where she will get all of her important shots. Here are a few of the pictures I did take this month.

Im 2 months old today

Sending love to Uncle Corey

The girls on Mother's Day

Play time

Happy Mother's Day

Me and my girls on Mother's Day. Had a very nice weekend complete with flowers, new shoes and brunch at IHOP. I love my little family and all the nice things they do for me. Wish we could spend the day with our moms too but the technology of Skype and facetime will have to do.

6 Week Stats for Hadley

Hadley had her 1 month doctors appointment on Friday which was actually at the 6 week mark.  She weighed in at 11 lbs and 9 ounces and measured 23 inches long! She has grown so much. Doctor said she is beautiful and growing like a champion.  Clearly this girl likes to eat! I am so proud of how well she is nursing and she has really been sleeping well during the night too. She makes life fairly easy on us.

Hadley's First Month

Yesterday Hadley celebrated her one month birthday. She has been very busy eating and sleeping since we came home from the hospital. Grandma Julie and grandpa Dew stayed with us for her first 10 days to help out so we could get some extra rest. Uncle Corey visited from Utah in her first few days as well as Grandpa Joel. At her first doctors visit her weight came up to about 7 lbs and at her 10 day weight check she was over her birth weight at 7lbs 12 oz!  She has her 1 month well visit next week so I am interested to see how much she has grown. We took trips to the Indy Zoo, shopping, Ally's school, children's museum and a few restaurants this month. Hadley has a much more established routine early on, eating every 2.5-3 hours like clock work. Her sleepy times are mornings and her really hungry times are 8-10pm right before I put her in bed. During the day we spend time on the floor and in her swing and trying to take walks with Ella when the weather cooperates.

Ally loves her sister but at the same time she is still very independent and doesn't pay a ton of attention to her. She likes to touch her hands and kiss her head often. When she does want to talk to her she uses the funniest baby talk voice that cracks us up. The whole concept of nursing has been a little confusing for Ally but I think she has given up on trying to understand the science behind it and just accepts it as 'how babies get milk'. Ella is not too enthused with either sister and spends most of he day asleep on the couch. Having us home really gets her off schedule.

Overall, the second child has been a much more relaxed experience for us. It's hard to tell if that's Hadley's personality or our ability to know what to expect this time around. Here are some of the main differences we have noticed this time around with an infant:

• She nurses like a champ, which is the total opposite of my experince with Ally. Since she nurses until she feels full she then sleeps more which makes everyone happy.
• She rarely lets a wet diaper bother her. Either she really doesn't care or diaper technology has really improved over the last 3 years.
• I'm not as afraid to put her down when she is sleeping. I can get good sleep in two 3 hour stretches at night while she is in her crib and during the day I don't have to stress about putting her down to get a shower in. I am not afraid that every little movement or noise will wake her.
• Both Ally and Hadley seem to be able to sleep through anything. Ally has never woken up at night with Hadley's crying- not that she really does much of that.
• Hadley doesn't freak out while riding in the car. Sometimes she falls asleep but if not, she just looks around and hangs out. She has really only screamed one or two times in the car which is totally different from her sister.

Here are more photos from Hadley's birthday and her first month.