A Day at the Newseum

We decided to finally check out the Newseum today. I had been there when they were located in Rosslyn but neither of us had made it to the new building. Not sure why we waited two years! But, today was perfect since it was a holiday- no traffic, parking right out front and not very busy.

The terrace on the top floor has some great views of DC! And, since it was 60 degress and sunny today we enjoyed the fresh air.

Hadley enjoyed hearing her voice echo and entertained several museum patrons with her noises.

And, I had fun taking pictures.

In all the other excitement of the weekend- Hadley had two teeth come in. We noticed one on Saturday and the second today. Hopefully, the third one will appear soon and we can take a teething break for a little while. I am sure Hadley would like the break too.

I get cranky sometimes.

I think Hadley has three teeth coming in. Two on top and one more to join the third one on the bottom. This whole growing of teeth thing makes for a not so happy Hadley sometimes.

Her shirt kind of sums up her mood the last few days. We really can’t complain because she is not terribly cranky but she is definitely expressing her angst over the teeth issue.

Chewing on her frog ice pack  seems to make everything better. Here is hoping for these teeth to appear soon and a short break from more new ones.

Is it only Tuesday?

This cold weather is getting really old. I am definitely not a fan of the cold and Hadley is even less so. If it is windy, she holds her breath. If it is below 40 degrees, she lets out a loud screech. If it is both windy and cold, panic takes over. And, getting her into a coat is a wrestling match.

Once I got her into her coat and into the cold on Sunday- she was happy that we ended up at playgroup. She had a blast playing with a group of girls her age and was fascinated with the kids running in circles around the room. The biggest smile came from the pretzel she got a hold of and gobbled up. This was the biggest playgroup we had attended and she was thoroughly exhausted by the end. There was no wrestling match to put the coat on and she fell asleep as I carried her to the car. We are looking forward to going again (and the long, long nap after).

Her favorite activity at home right now is to pull the toys out of the box and climb into the box. Or, to push the box around the room. Who knew it would be the perfect height to walk with?

Hours of entertainment comes from the clear plastic box.

And, she is still not happy about the gate.

Hopefully, she will be happy about her swimming lessons! They start in two weeks and I finally found her a swimsuit for this adventure. We are hoping that her enthusiasm and desire to splash, kick and move around the bathtub will be the same at the pool

Babyproofed.

In the last few weeks, Hadley has mastered getting into everything and anything so we finally babyproofed the place. She has no fear of anything and every door, drawer, stair, cabinet, shelf, box, outlet, cord, power strip, plug and plant is a new adventurous world. She is not so happy about the changes.

But, the gate is something new she can try to climb, pulldown, eat, lick, maul and kick. Luckily, the gate is winning the battle.

When she is not trying to destroy the place- she enjoys the piano. Kerry and I can hear the tunes on repeat in our dreams and know how to count in Spanish and Fench too

Christmas Week in Review

Since I have not posted too much in the last week- here is a re-cap of the Christmas week! Kerry and I both worked up through Wednesday and Mom arrived midday on Christmas Eve. I had one last gift to pick up for Kerry and had delayed because there was no where for me to hide a six foot ladder (it was on his Christmas wishlist) without him stumbling across it and I needed my mother’s SUV to make bringing it home easier. We told Kerry we were heading to a home furnishing store but instead headed to the large home improvement store near our house. I am not naming the store (but I am sure some of you can guess which store it is) because after finding the right 6 foot ladder, we headed to the register and according to the register it was only $13. I knew this was not correct (because I had seen the sign at the store and I had seen the price on the website) and pointed out this incorrect price to the cashier. I was then informed that the register was saying that was the price and if I wanted to pay more I am sure something could be worked out. So, I did not want to ruin the cashier’s lovely Christmas mood and decided to just pay my $13 and take the ladder home. Also, my mother told her FOUR times the price was wrong and continued to discuss the price discrepancy as we walked out. Kerry was thrilled with his new ladder and wondered why I had not bought several more.

After a late lunch and last minute Christmas wrapping- it was decided that Mom and I would go to church and Kerry and Hadley would stay home. Hadley would never have survived the service and Kerry was content to stay at home. We got to the Christmas Eve service and it was packed. The usher nicely took us almost to the front of the church where we sat in a u-shaped pew with a very nice family. We found out that it was George Washington’s pew and it was the first time in my life where I got to watch the church goers instead of the ministers! The family was super nice to share their space with us and we got to see Kelly Taylor’s mom lead the service. (Extra points for you all who know who I am referring to!) I do enjoy the Christmas music and lessons and it was a nice way to spend Christmas Eve.

Christmas was lots of fun with Mom and Leigh and we were all spoiled with nice gifts. It was nice to speak to many family members and friends and hear about their days. Both Dad and Kathy and Kerry’s family got truly white Christmas days in their home states!

On Saturday, we decided to take down the tree and decorations because keeping Hadley away from them was starting to get exhausting. While she napped- we packed away the things for next year and recovered our living room. The rest of the weekend was fairly low-key and we took a quick trip to Annapolis on Sunday.

Today was a busy day for Hadley that started off with a stay at the back-up daycare for my office. We were not sure how she was going to react to the new surroundings, new kids and new teachers but she did great. Then in the afternoon, she had her 9 month appointment and is healthy as can be. She is officially 18 pounds 13 ounces and 28 1/2 inches tall. The doctor was impressed with her balance, smiles, strength and overall health. He gave us the okay to introduce more foods so tonight Hadley got spaghetti with sauce for dinner.

Kerry moved her onto the tile floor because we thought it was going to be a mess.

But, it was not as messy as we predicted.

Hadley has enjoyed her new toys. She has not yet learned that it takes both hands to drive.

This year has flown by and we are looking forward to an exciting 2010! Hope you all have had a great holiday season!

Miss H’s First Christmas

We had a great Christmas with Mom and Leigh! We started off the morning with a yummy breakfast and right before we started to open gifts- Hadley decided it was morning nap time. After her 90 minute snooze- she was ready to see what all the packages were about. She was totally into the ribbons and paper but if we tried to put one in front of her- she was more interested in the packages that were not in front of her. With a litle help, she got all her goodies open! She got a car, a piano, weebles, a Dr. Seuss blanket, a baby doll, several outfits, rubber ducks, many books and lots of toys to keep her occupied.

Leigh and I got matching hats.

Hadley cruised the living room in reverse. But often got blocked by the packages.

Also, she modeled her new pajamas (what Santa does not bring me Grandma will!) and read Dr. Seuss.

Kerry put things together, including a Tennessee cheerleading outfit for Hadley’s bear and seemed comfortable in the pink chair.

We even remembered to pose for the Christmas Day photo.

Hadley was so exhausted from the packages- she almost fell asleep eating lunch.

More pictures to come!

9 months old!

Hadley is 9 months old today- and a special 1st birthday wish to cousin Elliott who turns a year old today!

We do not have any updated stats because her doctor appointment is next week but she is definitely getting bigger and getting into everything. While we were stuck in the house for most of the weekend and yesterday- she decided her new favorite toy is her pink chair. The chair has bypassed the wooden spoon in popularity. We even had to bring it out into the living room to distract her from trying to climb into the fireplace. But, it also doubles as a good blocking device for places we do not want her to crawl into.

This photo- complete with bed head hair.

Lucky for us, she can crawl into it all by herself. Not always the most graceful of entries or exits but still without much help.

And, it is a good place to eat read books.

This is the view we now see most of the time if we are on the couch. She loves to pull herself up on the ottoman and gets the biggest smile about her success. And, do you see the lovely plastic fence behind her?

Over the last week, she also figured out she can pull herself up on the couch, the refrigerator, the cabinets, the dining room chairs, the closet in the bedroom, the stairs, the window sill, the sliding glass door, her toy bin, her pink chair, the side of her crib and really anything within reach. Kerry and I are getting our exercise by following her around the house.

Happy nine months to Hadley!