Year in Review- 2013

I do have a Christmas post coming, but I figured since we are about to ring in a new year, and Christmas has already passed, I should post the new year post first.  I really should get better about writing my posts in advance. :)  2013 has literally been the best year of my life.  How could it not be?  I brought my beautiful daughter into this world.  I'd like to remember it, so here's a little recap.

January:

I had to work New Year's Eve last year!  My friend Jessica and I rang in the New Year with a Tiger win against LSU!  Go  CLEMSON Tigers!
Also notable-- celebrated the birth of our friends Phil and Emily's little girl!

February:

Aside from her birth, this was probably my favorite month.  The day I found out I was pregnant.  February 16th.  A day I will always remember. :)

March:


We told my family about their new family member on the way!
Also notable-- my 26th birthday :) and spent some time in the hospital for dreaded morning sickness...

April:

Our peanut was finally starting to look like a baby! :)

May:

We celebrated my cousin Amy's graduation from UNC!

Also notable: I left work early one morning (or late...however you want to look at night shift!) and headed to triage for some issues; celebrated my first mother's day, and we told the world about our baby!

June:

We found out we were having a girl!!  Although I already knew that. :)
Also notable--We celebrated the marriage of our good friends Jess and Jake! And a visit to the high risk OB for a baby check.

July:

We celebrated this guy's birthday!! 5 years old already...

August:

We got Hadley's furniture all set up in her room.  

Also notable: Another check at the high risk doctor--all went well and we were released!

September:

I finished the blanket I made for my girl!
Also notable--we had our first baby shower!

October:

Our beautiful Hadley was born!  Two weeks early and absolutely beautiful.
Also notable--we had our 2nd baby shower and I ended up on bed rest on week 36.

November:

Hadley had her first play date with Ella Rose, the daughter of one of David's good friends, Mark!   Ella Rose is about 3 weeks older than Hadley!

Also notable- Hadley celebrated her first Thanksgiving with Grammy, Nana, Grandpop, and Aunt Susan.

December:

Hadley celebrated her first Christmas at just 2 months old.  David and I celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three!

2014...you've got a lot to live up to!

2 Months

Hadley,

You are two months old today!  You have done some serious growing over the last month!

*Fist bump- made it to 2 months...yeah!*

     You weigh 10 pounds 4 ounces-- you gained 2 pounds in a month!
     You are 21 1/2 inches long.
     You graduated to size 1 diapers.
     You also graduated to 0-3 month/ 3 month outfits!  I'm having a hard time putting all your newborn            outfits away!
     You have started smiling and it is the prettiest smile I've ever seen!
     You have also started cooing!  Your newborn voice is disappearing and your sweet baby voice is starting to make its appearance.  Music to your Mommy's ears!
     You are trying so hard to turn over!  It hasn't happened yet.
     You are sleeping about 3-4 hours at night, waking up for a feed and then another 4-5 hours before morning.
     You're still on zantac for your reflux!

Even though you have grown a lot, you are still my petite little girl!

Likes:
     - Hanging out with Mommy and Daddy!  If you're awake, we better be around!
     -Music!  You love all kinds, but especially classical and Raffi :)
     -Being naked!  You flash some pretty big smiles when you're clothes are off, but the minute we start putting clothes on, you cry, cry, cry!  I hope that habit is short-lived.  I'm not sure Daddy can handle the thought of his little girl running around naked, ha!
     -Bath time!  You treat it like a spa.  You try to sink down as low as possible to get as much of your body covered as possible.  It's so funny!
     -Looking at yourself in the mirror.  If I was as pretty as you, I'd like to look at myself in the mirror, too.  :)

Dislikes:
     -Being by yourself.  You are such a social little girl.  Even if we are in the room and you can hear us, if you can't see us, you let us know!
     -Tummy time!  Those 5 minutes a few times a day are torture to you!
     -Daddy's kisses and snuggles when he hasn't shaved.  Hysterical.
     -Sitting still.  You love for whoever is holding you to walk around and show you things.

Mommy and Daddy love you, sweet girl!  I can't believe you're already two months old.  You are such a good baby.  You bring us such joy and I am enjoying watching you grow!  I love you!

One Year

One Year.  Okay, well it hasn't been quite that long.  But it's been a good 11 months since my last post.  And boy has it been a whirlwind of a year!  My hope is to start blogging again.  Probably not everyday, but hopefully once a week!  I'd like to keep up with everything we are doing now as a keepsake for when I'm old and gray! :)

Pretty soon after my last post, I found out I was pregnant!  To say David and I were excited was an understatement.  I was almost to the end of my first trimester when my birthday rolled around so we told our families and they were able to share in our excitement with us!  I could have blogged my weekly progress, but I was so sick the first trimester it wouldn't have worked out, and work kept me pretty busy the rest of the time!  I did keep a weekly journal, though!  I can't believe all that time has already come and gone.

We had a few scares, but all in all, the pregnancy went smoothly and labor was quick!  I went into labor 2 weeks early after working 3 nights in a row. I pushed for 30 minutes and Hadley Catherine was born at 2:02 am on October 19th weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long!  She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen and has been such a joy.  I can't describe the love I have for her.  I think it's only something another mother would understand. :)

We are gearing up for a very wonderful holiday here.  I know Hadley won't remember a darn thing about her first Christmas, but this mommy is so looking forward to Christmas morning!

Project Photography: 1

Wow.  Two months.  It's been almost two months since I last posted.  What in the world happened?!  Well, life happened.  Regular, boring life!  I don't have children yet and I work 3-4 nights a week, leaving me in recuperation mode for the rest of the week!  I almost feel that when I don't have exciting plans (Going out to dinner with friends!  Game night!  Fixin' up the house!), my weeks basically all look the same!  Who wants to read each week about how I slept, cooked dinner, worked, and did it all over again 3 days in a row?  Not this girl!

So, I've decided I need a project to 1) get me back in the blog groove and 2) get me motivated during the week!  I've got quite a few "fun" machines around my house and I need to use them.  But first I need to learn how to use them!  My hubby and I are working on fixin' up (see...there it is!) my craft room so I can set up my grandma's Bernina sewing machine and my brand spankin' new Brother embroidery machine!  I also have an amazing Nikon DSLR that I got as a gift on my wedding day.  I use that baby all the time on auto, but am beginning to want to learn how to use my manual settings.  I plan to put aside time each week for all 3 of my machines, but the project I'll be focusing my blog on for now is my camera.

I found this little project blog through Pinterest (of course!) and I'll be using that for the next few weeks.  It's technically 31 days to a better photo, but with my work schedule, there's no way I can do a blog-a-day and practice enough to really learn what I'm doing with my camera.  So I think I'll be doing one day...once a week.  I'll practice the lesson throughout the week and post my pictures on here!  Hopefully I'll be disciplined enough to follow through.  We'll see!

Without further ado, here is lesson 1:  Take the photo.
When did you realize you loved your photos?  What motivates you to love your images?

I love photos because I love the memories they capture.  I can't count how many times I've looked back at my wedding photographs and my honeymoon photos.  Even our very first photos when we started dating!  I remember exactly where we were, what we were doing, and I almost feel like I'm back there again.  So often, I mean to bring my camera with me, only to forget it and later regret that my memory is starting to forget certain details.  I think I have always loved photos because my grandmother always took them.  Most of our family things have been captured by her and she's passed that love on to me.  But what motivates me to love my photos?  Expressions.  Soulful eyes of my sweet puppy, the open-mouthed laugh of my best friend.  Intricate details of the people (and furbabies!) I love so much.

So, here is my photo for today: