Christmas Photo Dump

If you think I am bad about keeping the blog up-to-date, you should see my photo taking that I rarely do!  Most of these photos are from our phones.  Not because we don't have a decent camera, but because I'm too lazy to get it out.  

This Christmas was probably our best Christmas yet.  And I'm sure it's only going to get better now that Hadley is getting older. 

 She did not like Santa this year.  But for us, it was a good laugh.

 We went to Arizona for Christmas to join sixteen of our family members.  We had such a great time this year.  It began with this guy (Uncle John) reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.  All  of us had a word from the book and when our word was read we got to choose from the pile of Yankee Swap gifts (equivalent to a white elephant gift).  And no, we are not the cheesy family this is made out to be. But as I am writing this, it sounds totally cheesy.

 Hadley loved listening to the story and watching everyone fight for certain gifts.

 Mom and Aunt Sue having a good time during the Yankee Swap.

 The hot item for Hadley was this empty box with daises on it, and the Pooh sunglasses.

 I'm not sure about these shoes, but Kristy was way too happy to end up with them. 

Santa had no problem finding Hadley Christmas morning. 

Uncle Jim was way too happy about having a little one around again.  I think it's time for another one in the Denn family (who cares that the oldest Denn is in college.).

 I don't think Hadley even knew what was going on….

Elmo,

 Rockstar Elmo, Elmo bus, ElmoElmoElmo. Dolls, dolls, dolls.  

Because by the end, all she wanted were some animal crackers from her stocking. 

 And the best part of Christmas for everyone was my sweet grandmother.  She is feeling great and looking wonderful too. 

 Kristy and I finally got to catch-up after what felt like years of absence. 

 Megan, Kristy, Carly, Abby, and I showing off our new vests and slippers. We lived in these the entire week. No joke. 

John, Kristy, and Abby after playing one of our many games of celebrity. 

My Mom and Dad not amused by our many games. 

 Hadley loved pushing my Grandma's walker around.  She also liked to sit on the walker.  Here she is spin painting with Carly and Abbey. 

 Forget potty training, these Santa diapers were way too cute.  We tried potty training, and I think it was way too early (or we just suck at it).  Maybe next Summer. 

 Hadley's version of the Sorry! game.  Within five minutes the floor was covered with all the pieces. 

 I didn't realize this at the time, but she had a really full diaper here. 

 She loved being outside so much that she tried to fall asleep outside.

She loved the pool, and the girls swimming with her.

Hadley was spoiled rotten this Christmas, and let's just say it has been very hard to get her back to normal.  But it was worth every minute.

Happy New Year!

Paper towels?!

So, what's your worst diaper story? I bet I could beat it. But for now while I am visiting my sweet grandma in AZ. , here is a pic of Haddles riding a merry-go- round.

Olga

Children have it so easy…

Olga from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

another Saturday night movie

Untitled from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

Miss Independent

Girlfriend likes to play in the dirt at daycare. Not only does she like to get dirty, but she likes to eat the dirt too. 

Hadley moved to the big girl room this week.  This is where they don't eat baby food anymore.  And they only take one nap.  Also, they do coloring pages.  What?  Yes, it's true.  Now I am a proud mom, but I know she cannot hold a crayon let alone color with one.  (But she can eat one. I told you I was a proud mom.) I think the sweet workers are doing some scribbling "with" her.

It's funny because I think back to the days I thought were wonderful when I was preparing bottles and she was wearing size one dipes, and realize now just how boring and fragile that stage was.

I love this new non-baby stage….

Third World Living

Saturday morning we woke up to no water in the house.  I immediately blamed David for not paying the water bill. Again. (Did you know it takes TWO delinquent bills to get your water shut off? That's just what I heard.) David shoved the water bill in my face to show me we remembered to pay this month and we went to David's work to find out it was not working there either.  He checked the Valdosta Daily Times website for breaking news on a water main break, walked the street to see if he saw anything (not sure what he was looking for), and he considered waking up our neighbors to get the latest on the water situation.

But instead I just opened Facebook.  At 7:30 a.m. there were at least five posts about the water not working in the entire town.  And those neighbors I was so worried about David waking up? They called us at 8:00 a.m. from Sam's Club wanting to know if we needed a few cases of water.

Long story short, we are now on a boil order and we are not to consume any water from the city until further notice.

Here are five amazing thoughts about this situation: 

1. If ever there is a crises just open Facebook.  Although the information might not be accurate…"Just talked to my second cousin who is a secretary for the water place and he said we won't have water for two weeks." , at least you won't be aimlessly walking around the house looking for the water shut off while wondering why someone would want to mess with our water shut off.

2. Babies are so much happier after they take baths.  Hadley (and everyone else in town)  went 24 hours without cleansing.  So you can imagine how her day went.

3. Dixie plates, bowls, and cutlery are fantastic.  I challenge you to do your dishes under a boil order…  boil water for at least a minute, let cool,  pour into sink.  Repeat about five times until you have enough water in your sink to do dishes.  Then wash dishes.  Rinse (But be sure not to rinse with boiling water or it will burn you.  Let. It. Cool. I would know.).

4.  Running dirty water is a lot better then no water at all.  At least it is warm dirty water and we can still take showers.

5.  Don't forget about your pets in a situation like this.  If you have a dog like Albert who likes to drink out of the toilets frequently, make sure you shut the lids.  We realized this today (48 hours later) after David said "is Albert supposed to be drinking out of that toilet?"  So far, no symptoms.  But luckily for us he has a lot worse things in his belly (dirty diapers, pacifiers, a 12 pack of bagels, and the list could go on).

American Idol contestant

My mom and dad send the loudest and most obnoxious toys to Hadley as a joke on us.  This is latest and greatest...

Hadley's Favorite Toy from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

Thanks mom and dad.

2010 in Photos

2010, I have no complaints.  What a great year.

But, 2011 we are off to a rough start.  I've managed to keep my resolutions for two whole days, but they are quickly dropping one by one. My resolutions are so silly to most people, but these day to day activities are things I should be doing as a grown adult. 

First, make the bed every day.  Well, does it count if I made it at 5:00 PM today? It's kinda hard when I'm the first one up every day. 

Second, pick-up after myself.  No joke, I'm very messy.  

And third, save money rather then spend money.  Long story short… my hair costs more money than I want to admit.  So I decided LAST NIGHT to go to a random salon and let some random lady color my hair ( I should have seen the many red flags my husband was talking about after they said they could "get me in right away!").  Well my hair is now the color of a new penny.  But I saved money. Forget that I look like a clown.  This resolution will be shot because I now have an appointment to correct my money saving idea. With my original stylists I've been going to for three years. Embarrassed? Yep.  I think I can save money elsewhere. 

Resolutions are pointless.

But Hadley is still as sweet as ever.  Here is a slideshow of her fabulous year. 

btw... These lullaby songs on this slideshow had good intentions, but were used in only the first few weeks after Hadley was born.  Now we just push the button on her mobile and she'll be lucky if it's not out of batteries.

2010 in Hadley Photos from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

ALLLLLLBERT!!!

My neighbors made us some red velvet cupcakes with walnut cream cheese icing for Christmas.  Delicious.  Well delicious looking.  My fat dog ate ALL of them.  I hope he gets sick.

Happy Holidays. :) 

A teacher's holiday break

I decided that the holiday breaks teachers are so lucky to have are no longer a break for me.  I remember the days of sleeping in until 9:00, drinking several warm cups of coffee until 11:00, and heading out the door for wherever the day took me at about 12:00.  Now during my not-so-luxiorious holiday breaks I am up at 7:00 (if I'm lucky), hopefully drinking a cold cup of coffee by 9:00, and lucky to be out of my PJ's by 12:00. During this time Hadley is out of whack because her schedule is different too, and it's like having two teenage girls in the house who just started their period.

But I aslo decided that holiday breaks are much more meaningful with a child in the house.  There is never a dull moment when our families come visit because of Hadley.  There are so many "firsts" to celebrate during the holidays that I don't want to sleep in until 9:00. And good news, my coffee can stay warm due to an early Christmas present from David's mother (Keurig). 

Happy Holidays!  

(Very cheesy pic, I know.  But I'm saving our least cheesy one for the x-mas card.)

Hadley's grandma came to visit for the week of Thanksgiving.  She not only spoiled Hadley for the week, but us too.  Thanks, mom, for the full pantry/refrigerator/freezer and every other cupboard in the house you filled. I think we're set until Hadley is 18.  We missed my dad for the week.  But he was with my grandpa Parrott who is fighting pancreatic cancer right now. 

(I think Albert misses grandma just as much as Hadley does.)

The long blog delay has been due to our uncharacteristic busy Fall. Recaps of a first birthday, NYC marathon, and my cousin's wedding are soon to come.

Ouch!

A teething baby is not a fun baby.  I feel so bad for her. Does anyone have any tricks to make it more bearable for ME? Ha!  You'd thought I'd say her!  She whines like this all day long. 

Teether from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

One

I know this sounds like the typical boring post that everyone does:  "I can't believe my baby is one!", or "Where has the time gone?" or "______ is one!". Blah, blah, blah...

But oh my gosh, HADLEY IS GOING TO BE ONE!  What?  Since when have I became that mother? I am not sentimental. I like to live in the moment.  It rarely occurs to me that on the 23rd of each month that Hadley is 1, 2, 3, …. months old.  I don't care about getting fancy pictures done every month.  My scrapbook for her consists of absolutely nothing. Nor do I know when she is supposed to hit certain milestones.  I am not that mother.

But I am the mother asking where has my baby gone?  She is coming up on one and she IS a whole different child.  Am I going to miss those fancy pictures I didn't take?  No.  But I am going to miss the immobile helpless child she pretended to be.  And I am going to miss the clean face she always had.   And I'm really going to miss her wanting to be held.  And why does SHE want to hold her bottle all the time now?  Sometimes mom wants to help.

So Hadley is going to be one soon.  Sometime around Thanksgiving.  No fancy parties will be had and no clips of hair will be kept to remember her first haircut.  She's turning one and I'm kind of afraid of what the next year will bring.

Year 1 from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

A Single Mom's Story

I've been one for four out of the last six seeks. Bottles, food, ALBERT, laundry, work, running (or lack of. did I mention the marathon i'm doing in ONE MONTH?), oh and of course the messiest diapers I've ever seen due to Hadley's enormous appetite and speedy eating habits - have been taking up my days.

Props to all single/military moms. But I sure didn't sign-up for this; therefore, I am allowed to complain. I don't want sympathy or anything.  Okay, maybe I do.  Thank god David will be back in three days and a wake-up. The lawn needs mowing. Just kidding, but it really does.

Coming Soon: Hadley's first steps…

The newest toy...

… does anyone want to rent Albert? He will be your child's best friend and will keep him/her entertained for a whole lot longer than an overpriced toy ever would do!

Untitled from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

Allergic to me?

Neither David or I have allergies. So naturally I would think Hadley wouldn't have any either. Except David pretends to be allergic to snow when we go skiing. And I am allergic to David during football season. God, I hope Hadley is not a football fan and WE can win the television battle during the falls.

Anyways, Hadley has been getting red dots everywhere on her body. They are not bumpy, just red. She doesn't itch them, they are not exzema-like patches, nor does she have a fever. Just random red dots on her body. Frequently. Well as frequent as I am around her.

I told her 76-year-old caretaker that I thought it might be heat rash. She said she hadn't seen that in 30 years. And this woman is usually dead-on about children. So I crossed heat rash off the list. I googled everything you can about red dots on infants, and none of her symptoms (red dots when mother is around) matched any of the results.

This girl honestly breaks out in these red dots when I, yes me her MOTHER, am around.

Could she really be allergic to me? Do I really stress her out that much?

My mom is trying to convince me that it is because of my perfume. That'd be great and all if I wore perfume. But I don't. Then she tried to convince me that it was something in her car seat and that I should throw it in the wash. That'd be fine and all too if I left her in her car seat all day. But I do let her out every once in awhile. And still the red dots are there.

When another person, or Albert, is near her the red dots fade away. NO JOKE. I STRESS MY NINE-MONTH OLD BABY OUT.

But I tell you all what, if it's nothing medically wrong with her, this little girl better get use to mama. Otherwise, when she's a teenager she is going to be a mess because I am not changing a thing.

Gettin' Busy

Well, life has picked up in our house again. I am almost two weeks into the school year, and Hadley is three weeks into everything. While getting ready for work last week I walked into the kitchen to find this… I'm still not sure how to put this back on the fridge.

That same morning Albert was barking an abnormal amount of times and I found this… She was in the dog food when I found her.

Thank goodness David is helping out this school year. I don't think I would be to work on time if it was not for him.

We got a floater!

Not that kind. Gross!

Floater from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

Hadley can now float. As you can see she does not enjoy floating. However, I would recommend this program because 1.) the number one death for kids under the age of four is drowning (that's what they told me to get me in the door, so it must be true), 2.) as a parent I learned my child is not as helpless as she seems, and 3.) it's good for you to get your heart rate up sometime during the day, just don't mention that it was anxiety that brought it up.

I promise no more videos for a bit. I can blame this one on Hadley's grandparents in Utah because they've asked me about it for a week now. I don't think they can stand being away from their little girl. And I'm not talking about me.

Random

Wouldn't you love to go to bed with this beast every night?

Saturday Night Movie

For your Saturday night viewing pleasure we have Hadley attempting to crawl.

Because I know you all were just itching to see this.

Crawling, kinda. from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

Do milestones really matter?

I think my baby pretends to be an immobile, helpless human being. Really. She secretly knows that she can get anything by laying on the floor and screaming. Then her mom will come to her rescue and do whatever it is that is sooo urgent.

I know this because I caught her drinking from her sippy cup. The same sippey cup that she refuses to hold. The same sippy cup that she won't suck from. And the same sippy cup that leaks all over her and makes her sticky because she will not hold or suck from it.

Yes, she was drinking from it and was caught in the act. Hadley has not figured out that I can see her in the back seat of the car. She is STILL reverse facing (another milestone she missed too, I'm sure) and the mirror attached to her seat lets me see her. I peeked at her and you better believe she was holding up that sticky cup and sucking from it like a pro.

Once we got home I handed it to her and wouldn't you know, she was back to her helpless ways.

This girl is smart. All you moms can have your baby milestones! Hadley has missed a lot of them because she is actually very smart. She knows she gets more done for her when she misses all her marks.

This article that points out that babies are not as innocent as they pretend to be really hit home for me.