We had such a wonderful Christmas with our families here in Austin. The kids were so much fun, and Hadley had a great first Christmas! Drew's parents arrived on the 23rd (minus their luggage), and we all went to a Christmas party that night. On the 24th we went to the 3PM church service; somehow everyone in the house was napping at 2PM, but we were all dressed and in the car leaving the house by 2:17...a miracle. That night we had our traditional Mexican food dinner. Christmas day we were joined by my mom, sister Ashley and dad as well, and of course Bailey dog, who was a big hit with both Hayden and Hadley. Abby did not love Bailey, but she just hissed at him for awhile and then went about her business of staying away from Bailey. Bailey was too dumb to realize that Abby outweighs him by at least 15 pounds and could have eaten him for dinner. We all had fun watching the kids open presents, and after they were in bed that night we had our traditional lasagna for dinner, cooked by Drew's dad, and it was as tasty as ever.
The past two weeks we have hit some major milestones with Hadley! She now has 4 teeth and is not really crawling but gets up on all 4s and pulls herself around. She can also sit up in her crib, find her binkie and put it back in. Hallelujah! Even better...she has slept through the night for 3 nights in a row--finally! Coincidentally, she is exactly the same age as Hayden was when he finally slept through the night. My little darlings are just slow with the sleeping. Hadley feeds herself the little Wagon Wheels and Puffs, which Hayden wants to eat now too of course. Hadley is also taking a bath in the big bathtub now but with the little blow up tub inside of the regular tub. She graduated from the sink tub.
Hayden talks talks talks. When we're in the car he incessantly says "there it is, there it is" at whatever we happen to be passing. There what is? Who knows, but Hayden saw it. He makes us laugh whenever he says a word that starts with a vowel. He adds a consonant in front of the vowel, for example--oval is "woval", elbow is "belbow", Elmo is "Melmo". He can be so cute one minute and so unbelievably frustrating the next. He is a typical 2 year old, and things must be done a certain way. For instance, he has an Elmo sing along book, and I sang one of the songs but accidentally said Francesca instead of Natasha. I was surprised at the magnitude of that particular infraction and the ensuing tantrum.
Hayden and Hadley had both of their first dinners out last week! Hayden had never been out to dinner before, which I know sounds very weird, and Hadley also hadn't been, so we loaded up and headed for Chilis at 5PM for the earlybird special. Hayden had a hard time understanding that we had to wait for food, but once it arrived he had a blast, and Hadley did so well and seemed to have fun.
Drew has a big birthday coming up this Tuesday, he will be 30! Tuesday is not a very fun day of the week for a birthday, but we are planning to go out for dinner next Saturday night to celebrate. Our first dinner out together/date in a year and a half!!!! We're excited.
Hadley is up on all fours and rocking! She wants to get moving and now she is ready. She is such a busy busy little girl, you would think she would wear herself out and sleep through the night, wouldn't you? Not a chance. But we can't complain because she is the happiest and sweetest little thing. She pulls herself up on a basket full of toys and dives for whatever toy manages to fall into her grip. Hadley has 3 teeth now, and I think she is working on the 4th one. She now sits in the big girl car seat (like Hayden's only facing backwards)--no more infant carrier. I took her to the doctor for a flu shot yesterday and she let out a little yelp but that was it, no big fuss over the shot.
Hayden on the other hand went ape over the shots he got at his 2 year checkup, but I don't really blame him. Shots are no fun. Hayden had his birthday party right after Thanksgiving and we had so much fun. His little friends came over and had cake, and Hayden loved the singing and the blowing out of the candles. He also really loved eating cake. This past Wednesday was Hayden's class Christmas party at school, and the parents were invited to join in while they ate their treats and had a book exchange. When I arrived, Hayden was quietly eating his stuff at the table and being so good. Then he saw me......and he decided that we had to leave immediately. So he missed the sugar, the presents for mommy (his art projects), and all. I got 2 pictures, one of the back of his head before he saw me and then one of him running to me so we could leave. Oh well, maybe next year.
Hayden and Hadley love to play together (although Hayden takes all of her toys away from her). Hayden calls her Hadley (Hee-YAH), Sissy (Hissy), or baby. She was playing with a toy car the other day and he walked up and yanked it out of her hands and sat on the couch next to her and proceeded to play with it. She got this crazed look and lunged for the car and tried to wrangle it away from him. He is going to have to watch out because she is quick and strong and she is going to really let him have it someday, and that someday is coming up sooner than he might think.
Hayden is talking up a storm and playing lots of basketball on his little goal that he got for his birthday since it has been chilly and we can't go out as much to play. He loves the Thomas the Train video that Nana and Pop gave him for his birthday. Unfortunately, the songs from the video are a little too catchy and they haunt me in the middle of the night while I am awake dealing with Hadley. It is great and all that Thomas and James are racing, racing to the wharf, but when you're trying to get back to sleep at 3AM it is a little bothersome.
We are really excited for Hadley's first Christmas next week. Drew's parents and my family will be here, so it will be fun to all be together!
