18 months!

18 months seems like a big milestone.  Almost like my baby isn't a baby anymore.  She's growing up so fast and I love each day more than the last with her.  I know she'll be going off to kindergarden and having sleepovers before we know it.

It's been an amazing 18 months, watching Hadley grow and learn things. Watching her sweet little spirit develop at such a young age has softened me in many ways.  This has been the most challenging and most rewarding 18 months of my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything.  Hadley is truly a joy and I feel so blessed that God gave her to Brandon and me.

What's going on with the Hadster lately?

Hadley is at such a fun age.  She's on the go - constant motion - and interested in everything!  She loves puzzles, books, playing with Riley, watching "Melmo" on the iPad, climbing off and onto furniture, "helping" me with the laundry, playing outside (yay for spring and awesome weather lately!), and laughs a lot like her momma!  She is normally up for anything, but definitely have had some trying times with her, especially as we get closer to the "terrible two's."

Potty training is not in our immediate future.  She has made the connection between going #2 and wanting a clean diaper.  She actually took Brandon a clean diaper last night after she went to the bathroom, so she knows.  I bought her the Fisher Price Cheer for Me Potty and just trying to get her interested in it at this point.  I put her on the potty when I caught her in the act, but she froze once she was on the potty, and when I finally put a clean diaper on her, finished her business.  I don't think anyone in this house is ready for this task yet.

Hadley is wearing most 18-24 month clothes, just switched her this week, and size 5 diapers.  I also switched her to big girl jammies recently, rather than the one piece zip up sleepers.  I must say she looks precious in the 2 piece jammies!

She's still a little piglet.  There are only a few things we've found that she doesn't like very much - green beans, hotdogs, and lettuce.  She is normally ready to eat as soon as she gets home in the evening, so we've had to get creative at dinner time.  Meal planning and early prepping is essential to a calm dinner time around the Skeen household!

Bedtime is 7:30ish, just after her bath.  We always read Goodnight Moon and Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  We make all the animal sounds in Brown Bear, Brown Bear as we read.  I tell her "I love you" and she says "I lub ew" and gives me an open mouth kiss.  One of my most cherished moments of the day.

March fun...

March has been pretty good thus far...

• Hadley is almost 18 months and each day is better than the last with her.  She's really getting such a fun personality and is up for anything (most of the time).  
• The weather has been phenomenal lately!  Perfect for zoo days, playground visits, and nightly runs - all of which I partook in this weekend.
• Our contract on the new house is going smoothly and we are still set to close on May 15th.  Still waiting for someone to buy ours though....minor detail.
• I had to buy new pants because most of my pre-pregnancy are too big.  I'll take it!
• Love my new job and the people I work with.  As an added bonus I get to see my favorite KPMG'ers quarterly too :)
• I can play pandora radio through my iPhone in my car. A-maz-ing!
• Hadley did so well with the time change.  I really don't think she noticed at all!
• Excited for some of our besties kids 1st birthdays that are coming up!

At the zoo today with daddy...

Eating wings at Wild Wings with some of mom's work peeps...

Watching some basketball with Aiden, Reese, and Sophie...

Have a wonderful week!

     

love muffin

Sometimes I can't believe how big our little love muffin is getting...

Today, looking like a big girl after church!

Eating her first happy meal yesterday! She demolished that burger...

Don't judge me....this is hilarious...Hadley and Riley really love each other

smarty pants

My sweet, smart baby!

A few quick updates!

I've been slacking on the blogging lately.  Here's what we've been up to lately.

Hadley turned 17 months this week.  She is getting SO fun and SO big!  She's about 26 pounds, happy most of the time, "talking" more these days, and loves Elmo (or "Melmo" as she calls him).  She thinks he lives in our iPad because whenever she sees the iPad, she saids "Melmo?!"  Its precious!  She is still very much into books and loves to color in her coloring books.  We had great weather last weekend and took her to the zoo and she seemed to really enjoy it.  We bought a membership so we can enjoy the zoo anytime we want which I'm really excited about!  I think we have a great zoo here in Knoxville!

I've started running at night since I can't work out at lunch anymore, and I try to go to Zumba twice a week as well.  I've never been a runner, but I've actually really started to enjoy it.  The weather has been mild here so that has definitely helped!  I have noticed knee pain with all the running, so I think I need to get some new kicks.

We've been at houses again for the past month or two.  I know.  We get the itch this time every year to move!  Well, we found an amazing house about a month ago and put an offer on it around the 3rd day it was on the market.  We were not the only people that loved the house - 3 other offers rolled in THE SAME DAY.  Long story short, we didn't get the house, and we were crushed.  I cried.  On more than one occasion about losing this house.

We started looking again and found another wonderful home this past weekend and we have a contract on this house!  We are putting our house on the market early next week and are praying that God will bring the right buyers to our house and that we can sell our house fairly quickly.  We close on the new place May 15th!