12 months!

12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. With each day better than the last, my heart gets bigger and bigger as my love grows for my sweet girl.  These have been the most rewarding 12 months of my life by far.  I can't wait to see what the next 12 will hold for our family of 3.

I have such mixed emotions about you growing up.  So excited to see you explore and learn new things, though part of me longs for the days when I could hold you for hours (you are much to squirmy for that now).  Although I am excited about you growing up and learning and becoming your own little person, I get scared as I know you getting hurt is inevitable - a bump on your head as you learn to walk or a broken heart when you get older.  But you'll always be my baby and I will always protect you. You bring so much joy to our lives and I'm so blessed to be your mommy!  I can't imagine my life without you in it.  I love you!

What Hadley is up to lately...

• 20 lbs even (65%) and 29 inches (50%) 
• Size 3 diapers
• Some 12 month clothes and some 18 month clothes
• Eating 3 meals a day plus a snack. Still a great eater, yay!
• We are on whole milk!  Tried it one week ago and Hadley just chug-a-lugged like she'd been drinking it forever!  3 sippy cups during the day and the nightly bottle.  Goodness, we have a small fortune invested in sippy cups trying to find the one she liked best!
• Can blow a kiss and make a little kissing sound. This absolutely melts my heart each time she does it!  Also gives the best kisses in the world...open mouthed haha!
• Love books!  When we sit in the floor, she will go get a book and come sit in my lap and wants me to read it to her.  Well, not so much read the whole page before she flips it, but I try to get in as much as I can before she turns the page!
• When you say "patty cake, patty cake,' She patty cakes!
• When you say "peekaboo," she covers her ears, haha!
• Learning new words, like "book," and "doggy."  She has a pretty extensive vocabulary of 5ish words. 
• She is great at mimicking words, sounds, and actions.  It cracks me up!
• Loves to push around her baby stroller (walker toy) and the kitchen chairs and bar stools. I need to post of clip of our little furniture mover I took last week :)
• Sleeping about the same - bedtime around 7:30 or 8:00 and wake up around 6:45 or 7:00.  At Nanny's they are transitioning her room to one long nap per day (rather than 2 naps).  I don't know what to think about it yet as they just started that last week. We shall see.
• Really likes toys where there are little pieces she can put them all in, and them take them all out. Over and over again!  She's a great self-player which is helpful when I need to get something accomplished :)
• Cruising along the furniture and toys, and can even stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything. But when she realizes she isn't holding on, she gets nervous and falls down to the ground. 
• She's taken 1 to 2 steps all by herself!
• Such a dancer!  Hadley loves music on the radio, on tv, and from her toys.  She gets into it and it is hilarious!
• Kind of likes getting her teeth brushed.  Apparently we are supposed to be brushing those pearly whites everyday, but I think every other day (or three) is perfectly fine at this age.
• Speaking of pearly white, Hadley has about 7-8 teeth but I think she is cutting some new ones at the moment.

A look at how much Hadley has grown in the last 12 months...