Hadley had her 4 month checkup at the doctor yesterday. She got 4 shots, bless her heart. She is growing well and is in the 90th percentile for height--she will be taller than me by the time she is 12! I knew she was long but I was stunned when I heard that. Hadley is the wiggliest little worm, she does not hold still for a second--reminds me of her darling brother.
Speaking of, Hayden has been kind of a wild child lately. He is still a sweet little boy, but he gets pretty ticked off when he doesn't get his way, mostly when it is time to come inside or if we won't let him go outside for whatever reason. He loves school (mothers day out) and his teachers, Miss Cristen and Miss Danielle.
Hayden loves Hadley and he is being nicer to her most of the time. He likes it when she grabs his hair or kicks him in the face, and they make each other laugh when he gets in her face and squeals. She usually squeals back at him. Hayden still slaps her in the face sometimes or yanks toys out of her hands, but he likes to kiss her and pat her too. We have been asking Hayden "How old are you going to be on your birthday?" and he says "TOO TOO TOO!" and points his fingers and pumps his fist in the air. We don't think he has any idea what that means but it is funny.
Last week we had a playdate with a friend of mine from work and her little girl, McKenna, at this place called Radijazz. It is one of those indoor play places with a foam pit and slides. Hayden loved it but I thought I was going to pass out when we left. I thought for sure we would leave there with someone seriously hurt. Thank goodness my mom was there, because it took all 3 of us adults to manage the 3 children, since Hadley needed a full time watcher and McKenna and Hayden were running wild in opposite directions. Bless Radijazz, my kids both napped afterwards for a long time at the SAME time!!
Hayden and Drew both got teeth very early, so it is no big surprise that Hadley seems to be doing the same thing. She has her two bottom middle teeth coming in at the same time right now--same way that Hayden's came in--and she is not pleased about it. She has never slept through the night since she was born, and she certainly isn't doing so right now! She is up most hours of the night and has a tendency to really get worked up at 3AM and screams for about an hour or so around then. I had heard that boys are worse than girls with teething, but Hayden just fussed during the night (he finally slept through the night when he was 7 or 8 months old)--Hadley screeches like you wouldn't believe.
Let me preface this little anecdote by saying that my husband has done no wrong. Wonderful Husband took Hayden for a haircut at my request on Saturday morning. I couldn't handle another Hayden haircut experience because I am not physically capable of restraining Hayden while someone comes at us with a pair of scissors. My nerves couldn't take that again. So Drew took Hayden because he is in fact Wonderful Husband and did a fabulous job of restraining Hayden, which is all you can do--you are then at the mercy of the haircut person. Who in this case was awful. Hayden's beautiful blond hair now looks like someone started hacking pieces off at random with a Swiss Army knife. Everyone else seems to think it looks fine, but you can honestly see his skull in the back in many random places, and since he didn't actually get hair until he was 15 months old, I am pretty attached to the hair that he does have. Surely it'll grow back...
Hayden has a new obsession that will come in handy in a few years. He loves mowing, which includes watching anyone mow any grass, talking about mowing the grass, watching a man repair our broken lawnmower, and.....pushing his brand new incredibly loud plastic lawn mower around our house and yelling "MOW! MOW! MOW!". He also likes to have his lawnmower put away in the garage when he is done mowing and tells it "night night" thank goodness. Hadley is partially terrified and partially fascinated with the loud mower (it is sort of like a corn popper and makes a loud noise with the little balls on the inside). She stares transfixed while Hayden runs back and forth in the living room mowing and more often than not then spits up milk from the stress of it all.
Hadley has been having fun playing in the Jumperoo lately. I decided she was old enough for it last week. Last year I don't think I put Hayden in it until he was a good 4 months old or so just because I didn't realize he was big enough for it, so I figured we'd go ahead and give Hadley a shot at it, and she likes it. She must be longer than Hayden was at this age or something though, because her feet actually touch the ground so she isn't just dangling there. Hayden likes to climb under it and say "Hide" repeatedly.
Hayden had a good second day of mothers day out today. Last week his teacher told me that he was the most patient child, and I almost laughed myself out the door. This is Drew Houlihan's child we are talking about here. Apparently Hayden is quite patient for those to whom he is not related. :)
School is about to begin for both Drew and now Hayden...Hayden is going to go to the Monday and Wednesday program at the baptist church here. I didn't think we would get in this year, but we did so we're excited. Hayden will enjoy being surrounded by kids again I think, and it will be nice for Hadley and me to get some time together while he is busy. He will go from 9AM to 2PM.
Hayden is our little parrot and repeats absolutely everything we say. He and Drew have a makeshift soccer goal and course set up in our play area, and Hayden likes to dribble the soccer ball and shoot a goal and then either says "goal!" or "miss". He also likes to sit in Hadley's Bumbo seat, especially if she happens to be in it. So I'll move her into her playgym, and then he wants in that instead. It is a big game of switcheroo. Hayden also likes to lip-synch, which Drew taught him. He has this little "kitty" piano that plays obnoxious songs that haunt me in the middle of the night...the worst is to the tune of "Skip to my Lou" and goes something like "Where's my Gerbil, I haven't got a clue, the big fat cat was hungry" and it is one of Hayden's favorites to lip-synch to.
Hadley started rolling from back to tummy (which is odd since I thought they usually rolled the other way first since it is easier) several weeks ago, and now she is also rolling from tummy to back. She does 180s in her playgym and inches her way around in a half circle. Hadley gets up at the break of dawn in the morning, usually between 5 and 5:30, which is pretty terrible, but Hayden sleeps until around 6:45 or 7, which is nice.
Drew starts school again on Thursday...on Thursdays he has class from 9AM to 10PM...seriously. Tuesday nights he only has class from 4PM to 7PM I believe, which is slightly better. It is going to be a busy week, as Saturday we leave for Houston for Hadley's baptism and to see Aunt Ashley and celebrate her birthday a little early!
Yesterday was my official "last day" at my job at the bank, I am going to be a stay at home mom now since I will not return from leave. Hadley was twelve weeks old yesterday! Time goes by so quickly. On Thursday Hadley and I went to a going away lunch that they had for me, which was very nice. Hadley was well behaved until the end when she got very tired. She is so determined to sit up all the time...she likes for us to pull her up to a sitting position so she can look around and listen to Hayden carry on. She also laughs, and it is the funniest little laugh that sounds just like her brother. Hadley enjoys sitting in her Bumbo seat and looking at her toys. Her favorites are her bee rattle and, coincidentally, the giraffe that was Hayden's favorite. She never stops moving. We have scheduled her infant baptism at Memorial Drive Methodist for Labor Day weekend in Houston. It is not only the church that I grew up in, but it is where Drew and I were married and where Hayden was also baptized last year.
Speaking of Hayden, he keeps us laughing as he repeats everything we say. We always tell him that his food is "hot hot hot" and now he says that everything is "hot hot hot". He loves to eat tuna fish for lunch (which grosses Daddy out bigtime). We like it when he says "owl" because he pronounces it "wowl". We are sad this month because there is no toddler library time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays...we will have to wait a few more weeks until school is back in session. Hayden adores story hour at the library. We go on both Tuesday and Wednesday even though the story is the same in a given week. At the end, the librarian leads us in "Wind Wind Wind the Bobbin", which is Hayden's favorite song to sing and do hand motions to. There is a stray cat at Nannie's apartment complex, and Nannie taught Hayden to say "SCAT CAT" to the poor kitty. Hayden also tries this out on Abby, but she'll have nothing of it. She charges him at times, but so far it seems mostly like a scare tactic. This morning Hayden slept in until 7AM, which is wonderful! Hadley is sleeping fairly well also, she just gets up about once a night.
Hayden is being nicer to Hadley these days, although he has his moments. He likes to show her the toys and will only occasionally throw them at her. He usually tries to take the books away if I am reading to her, but he likes when I read the Dr. Seuss ABC book, and he'll repeat the letters as well. He loves to put his face near her hands or feet and wait for her to kick or bop him--he squeals and laughs when she gets him. I'm sure one day she'll decide to pay him back for his misdeeds and get him good.
Nannie has gone to help move Aunt Ashley to Oklahoma City so she can begin medical school at OU this fall--yay Ashley! We are so proud of her. She will be gone all this week. Lucky for us, Nana is coming for the week to visit from Oxford! She is coming on Tuesday after Pop's birthday on Monday. Happy birthday to Pop!
Drew has a few weeks off between summer and fall school sessions, so it will be nice for him to have a break and just focus on work. Next weekend we are traveling to Dallas for Ebes baby shower. Last weekend Hadley and Nannie and I went to Dallas for Jennie's shower--it was so fun!! Jaime had us to stay at her lovely home, and it was beautiful. We had to miss Jules's baby shower which was today. There are quite a few babies due in October. We heard today that Amy Keeler Hadley had her little boy this past Wednesday...welcome Brayden Hadley, we can't wait to meet you!
Did I mention our visit on the 4th of July from the Austin Police? Somehow that escaped my mind until I was telling my cousin Jennifer about it today when she visited us.
In the afternoon on the 4th, I was in the back yard by the pool with the baby monitor (Hadley was sleeping) waiting for Drew and Hayden to come out and join me. Drew was getting both of their bathing suits on inside. I heard the back door open and expected to see the boys, but instead I saw a police officer. I panicked thinking what on earth had happened and where were the boys.....before I could ask him anything he asked me if everything was OK since someone at our number had called 911. Apparently, Hayden had dialed it (it was on the caller ID since I had called 911 to pick up Nannie when she had the kidney stones), and so they came. They have to see everyone in the household to ensure that there isn't domestic violence or a hostage situation or whatever going on, so he had to come in the backyard and check with me even after he saw Drew and Hayden safely inside. Ever since then I am supposed to keep the phones away from Hayden, but honestly he gets them from me at least once a day if not more....
Drew went to Charlotte for a wedding this weekend and saw our good friends from North Carolina. I hated to miss the weding and an opportunity to see everyone, but it just wasn't going to happen to get me and the kids there right now. Hayden walloped Hadley today while I was feeding her--he hit her in the face with one of those Frog & Toad books. Yesterday he reared back and slapped her. I am thinking she is going to have to be a tough little girl, she doesn't have much choice. When I put Hayden in Timeout, he tries to distract me by saying Ball, Bird, Piggies, Squirrel, with a very innocent look on his face, but I just shake my head and say no, this is Timeout and describe his infraction. Hayden has been singing "round and round" when we do the Wheels on the Bus, which is cute. Nannie and I tried to convince him to do tummy time yesterday while Hadley was doing it, and that worked for about five seconds but it was worth a shot. He also likes to blow kisses and dance to "stir stir stir the soup" on his play table.
Hadley's two month doctor's appointment is tomorrow. I am interested to see what her measurements are, she seems so long. She is amazingly strong and wiry; she is starting to warm up to Nannie and even let her hold her yesterday for ten or fifteen minutes. Hadley is kind of a mommies girl and can be difficult to please, but she loves Dr. Suess books just like Hayden did. She talks back to the books when I read ABC and Oh the Thinks You Can Think. Hadley also likes to look at herself in the mirror and smiles at herself alot. I haven't caught any of her smiles on camera (or anything else for that matter--taking pictures has seriously been neglected lately), but I hope to get a picture of her smiling soon!
