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.