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.

Safety Lessons

I think parents might need therapy after sending a child to a swimming safety program at 7 months old. I sweat bullets the entire 10 minutes, but I am told to stay strong otherwise Hadley will figure out that I am worried…

I might be hearing from Hadley's grandmothers soon.

What's in your garage?

I found a couple of garage sales while I was out and about on Saturday. I've never been to a garage sale, but I figured the nicer the neighborhood probably meant the nicer the items for sale. Boy was I wrong.

At first glance I saw a weed eater and a big box of books. Perfect, I thought. I hate paying full price for books. And David has been wanting a gas weed eater to take care of our weed filled ditch on the side of our house for awhile now.

I parked my car while another lady was pulling up to the sale. She jumped out of her car as if it were a race. I thought it was strange but I let it go. I walked to the bin of books - all romance novels. Not just romance novels, but novels with heavy nudity on the cover. I was embarrassed that I even walked over to the box of porn books. I couldn't imagine how the sellers felt. So I walked over to the table of junk. Snow globes from all over the country, a playboy bunny ice tray, a used ceiling fan, used dish towels, and a lampshade shaped like a leg were all found on this table of junk. And that lady that raced me when I arrived would grab everything I touched or even looked at. I wanted to say "You can have the playboy bunny ice tray".

Finally I asked the seller if there was something wrong with the weed eater. He walked over to it as if it was the first time he looked at it and said the gas bubble thing was cracked, but he'd still sale it to me for $5. Sure, buddy. I'll buy your trash for $5.

I went to another sale in the same neighborhood and found just as much random crap as the first sale. I began to think garage sales tell a lot about a family. I wonder what our garage sale would tell about us? I don't think I want to find out.

I lost.

She won.

After a week of overstimulation, a lack of naps, being spoiled, and getting her way with her Grandparents in Salt Lake City, Hadley had a melt down. On the plane. For two hours.

When we landed in ATL she kept turning herself over in her carrier. She screamed when I put her on her back. So, yes, I walked through the busiest airport in the United States just like the pictures above. I did get several evil eyes, but I also got many "Oh she's so cute!". Yeah, join us on our next flight and we'll see what you think.

Baby Food

So, bottles have been easy. Formula, water, warm, feed, wash. Then repeat. And repeat again five times before bedtime. A very mindless routine.

Now that the midget is moving into the first stage of real food, I feel like I am entering pregnancy again. Your baby can eat this, but not eat that. Only certain foods in moderation. Be sure to get a lot of this vitamin but not too much of this other one. Oh, and watch out for processed and surgery foods.

My resolution has been her bottle when she wants it, and mashed up bananas and avocados with cereal a few times a day for a month now. She has loved it! Your baby will too!

Until… well she revolted today during our afternoon snack of bananas - a fit that made her wheeze. I thought she was hyperventilating and calling 911 crossed my mind. I've never seen her do THAT before.

After the two of us calmed down and a few hours later I pulled out the dreaded avocado mixture again and she began to fuss. I realized maybe she needed a break from the old routine.

So gave her bottle and I let her suck on my apple core.

Apple Core from Lindsey Fox on Vimeo.

An old habit has returned

Good or bad, we all have 'em... habits. Talking too much. Tardiness. Biting your nails. Eating a certain food (peanut butter for me). Facebooking, tweeting, blogging, or should we just call it "Interneting". Exercising. On, and on, and on. What's yours?

Some habits will drive you nutty whereas others make you feel good. Many habits come and go. But it's those that have come and gone and came back again that begin to, well like it or not, define a person.

A habit, good and bad, of mine is running. I love it. But at the same time, I HATE IT.

Now I've had my glory days of running. I consider my high school and short lived college career as glorious (even if I was DFL on my college team). And the two marathons following college (one, btw, only a minute from qualifying for Boston) were the highlights of my running career. And just like that, I was done.

But have you ever had old habits pop up periodically? Like smoking, for example. Now I don't smoke but the trend seems to be that a person can quit cold turkey, and then a social situation or a stressful situation presents itself and the old smoking habit arises again. Or another example would be dieting. We all know how that goes.

I have occasionally ran 5k's and 10k's in the past five years with a lot of competitive spirit, but by no means do I have competitive speed anymore. BUT I DEFIANTLY SWORE OFF MARATHONS. Nope, I would never care to do one again. Absolutely not. Done cold turkey.

But just like smoking, a situation has arisen and I'M IN! How could you pass up an invite to the New York City Marathon? Kelli, I really appreciate what you've done to get me in, but god I'm out of shape.

However there is something to say about the feeling you get at 7:00 am and you've just completed a ten mile run. And your furry running partner is foaming at the mouth because the humidity is 110% and he looks as if to say "WTHJH" (what the hell just happened)?

I do hope this old habit sticks around for a bit.

Our newest challenge...

The sipppy cup! Any suggestions?

BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS

My residing state of Georgia has its good points - the average temp is about 85 degrees, its people are courteous, its luscious shrubbery is abundant, and of course these southerners fry just about anything. Oh, and boiled peanuts (I can't get enough of those salt laden pieces of mush).

But Georgia also has a few bad points - the average humidity is like 100%, its people are top of the list in the nation for obesity rates (probably due to that yummy fried chicken, fried pickles, fried Twinkies, fried, fried, fried...), and its luscious shrubbery brings with its great beauty big BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS and BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS and... Seriously, cockroaches the size of your middle finger... in our house... with a baby.

When we first bought our charming 1940's BUG and INSECT and SPIDER infested home, we weren't aware of the BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS that resided in the swamps of South Georgia. Older homes = more BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS. Oh, and the bigger the trees the more, you guessed it, BUGS and INSECTS and SPIDERS.

So when I woke up with a bite from an obviously HUGE and DEADLY spider, I got a little worried. But I tried to play tough guy; even taking the dog and baby out for a run in the morning. But as the day progressed, I quickly thought I was dying a slow death from the HUGE and DEADLY venom that was in my body. I convinced myself I couldn't even eat. Too sick, going to die.

So after a night of no sleep due to watching for spiders that were going to get Hadley, and to the fact that my leg felt like it was going to fall off, I convinced myself to go see a doctor bright and early in the morning.

"So did ya get a meskeeder bite?"

This was no mosquito bite. "Really? Could a mosquito cause this much pain?"

"Either that or an ingrown hair. It looks like you just shaved your legs."

I knew I wasn't going to win with this guy, so I didn't tell him what I had dreamed up in my mind.

"In all my 20 years of practice I have NEVER seen a spider bite...." Never is a very strong word, and I doubt anyone who uses it.

He gave me a shot on my butt, handed me some antibiotics, and told me to come back if the ingrown hair gets worse.

Yes, I will be back to show him his FIRST spider bite in all his 20 years of practice.

Here is a roach I cleaned up just TODAY. They are always dead and they flip themselves over. Our monthly extermination does not keep the roaches from coming in our house, it just kills them once they are in our home. Lovely. Don't you want to live in the swamp lands?

On another note, little miss Hadley has been sleeping for 12 hours most nights and has been for about a month! This happened thanks to a wonderful book recommendation by my friend Holly called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.