Over the river and through the woods to Lissie's house we go! This past weekend we took Hadley on her very first road trip and overnight stay to Tyler, TX to visit some of Mommy's family.

Such a come-full-circle moment for me, because as a child I too used to make trips from Dallas to Tyler to visit my Grandmother. 

I have many fond memories of visiting this East Texas town as a child and hope that one day Hadley will as well. While visiting Lissie at her new house, we were able to take advantage of a somewhat cloudy and not too hot day - the perfect time to take Hadley on her first outing to the Willow Brook Country Club to dip her toes in the pool. 

But mainly it was a chance to model one of her many swimsuits Mommy has been so anxious for her to wear! My little bathing beauty! 

We were also able to spend some quality time with our cousins Chris, Julie, Emma, and Olivia!

We had such a great weekend in Tyler and Hadley did pretty well on her first road trip. We only had to pull over once for a diaper change/feeding. Tomorrow night, we will be taking a much longer journey to Houston to visit Daddy's hometown and to see GiGi, Pops, Uncle Cam & Aunt Keisha as well as many other friends! We can't wait! 

This weekend, we got to officially celebrate the  newest Daddy on the block for the very first time! Hadley was very excited to let her Daddy know just how special he is to us.

Hadley and I started the day by moving ourselves to the guest room in the wee hours of the morning, so that Daddy could enjoy a little extra sleep on his special day! 

Then we went to The Rustic, an outdoor restaurant/live music venue, for a delicious brunch complete with a jazz band performance. It was the perfect outing for our little family of three!

And of course, it was the perfect opportunity for Hadley to get all dolled up and model her newest hair accessory from her growing bow collection! :)

Daddy also got to enjoy watching the U.S. Open and later cooked some ribs for dinner, his favorite meal. 

The day ended with a pre-bedtime snooze on Dad's chest! Already such a Daddy's Girl! :)

I always knew that Mason would be an amazing father one day, but watching him be such a sweet Daddy to our little girl makes my heart triple with love for him. Hadley, doesn't know how lucky she is yet, but she will someday...

So to the man who cleans up blowout diapers without flinching, gets the swaddle perfect each night, and showers his ladies with affection each day... we wish you a very Happy 1st Father's Day! We love you! XOXO

By my estimates, I'd say about 70% of the time Hadley is a dream baby. Nine pounds of happy, smiling adorableness. Surviving the remaining 30% of the day.... well, that's the part that makes this Mama desperate for a glass of wine by 10am. Relax people... I wait until at least Noon to pop the cork... I kid, I kid! ;) 

Anyway, I wouldn't be doing this blog justice if I didn't report on the nitty gritty of motherhood on occasion. To all of my girl friends who aren't pregnant yet, feel free to stop reading this post NOW. For those who currently have one on the way.... here's a little glimpse into your future.... Muhahahahahahahaha! 

Let's start with our morning wake up call... No, not the one at 3AM. That's just the pre- pre-breakfast snack. At around 5AM, Hadley likes to give Mom and Dad an early start to their day with some really charming groans and grunts. Likely she is busily digesting a tummy full of milk from the previous day to clear some room for another full day of grubbing down. Unfortunately, there is no consoling her during this time. Rubbing her back, burping her, or gas drops provide her with no relief. While she IS considerate enough not to scream or cry during these early pre-dawn hours, her grunting makes it nearly impossible to continue to sleep. If she's gonna suffer, so must we all!

After Dad leaves for work and we've sorted out our tummy troubles, it's time for Mom to eat breakfast! Hahahaha, SIKE!!! Hadley's all..." Don't even think about setting me down somewhere to whip up something nutritious for yourself! Oh.. you're trying to lose baby weight!? Not on my watch!" So I am typically forced to eat things that require no time to prepare, like a banana or a granola bar. If she does on the rare occasion allow me a few minutes to luxuriously scramble my eggs, she makes me pay for it by holding her while I eat. Which means more food lands on the floor than in my mouth. 

Yesterday, I finally was like SCREW IT and started shoveling the eggs into my mouth with my hands, because who has time for tricky things like forks when you only have 60 seconds to eat your meal. Which brings me to my next point. My meals are like scorchingly hot as I "enjoy" them, because ain't NOBODY got time for letting things cool down around here... except for my coffee of course, which often becomes frigid before my first sip. 

After breakfast, we chill. It's probably the easiest part of the day. I get to blog or get on g-chat while the princess has her brunch and settles in for her mid-morning siesta... on the Boppy which must be sitting on my lap, because I BETTER NOT PUT HER DOWN anywhere else or there will be hell to pay! This is also how I get to enjoy my lunch...

Yep, that's a pre-packaged salad from Trader Joe's, because again there's no time for meal prep around here. Yesterday, I did not plan ahead and therefore got to call a bag of cashews my lunch. Ha, and I used to think teachers had it rough with our 30 minute scheduled lunches, pshhh - that sounds like a lavish amount of time to me these days.

From time to time, Hadley and I like to get out of the house to see the world (Target). She usually falls asleep during car rides, but if she doesn't... you BETTER NOT STOP AT A RED LIGHT!!! As such, I have developed a whole new phobia of red lights. If I can see one in the distance, I will slow down well in advance so that we can coast along, praying that it turns green by the time we make it to the intersection. I now have alternative routes mapped out so that I can avoid any unnecessary delays in our journey. Because whatever we do, we must NOT stop driving!!! 

After our errands, it's afternoon nap time! YES!!! The best part of the day, which is directly followed by wine time, and Daddy's return from work!!! :) :) :) While our morning nap time is a little less formal, Mama's got the afternoon nap routine down! A snug swaddle, a few gentle rocks, and down she goes... for what can sometimes be a 2-3 hour nap! Which means I get to do glamourous things like pee in privacy, put away dishes, and fold the laundry... BY. MY. SELF.  Because any activity done on your own is like a trip to Six Flags! 

And just when I've finished patting myself on the back and have nicknamed myself the baby napping whisperer, Hadley decides that nap time is sooo overrated. Watch as she literally laughs in my face about going down for an afternoon snooze. 

Yesterday, it took me 50 minutes to get her down and she woke up 30 minutes later. Fun. Luckily, her Daddy pulled into the driveway shortly after and I'm like, "YOUR TURN SUCKER!!!"

Peace.

Today, Hadley turns 6 weeks old - which means if I weren't already on summer vacay, I'd be heading back to work this morning. Thankfully, I am not. Can you imagine? Going back to work after only 42 days with this sweet one! 

Seems almost criminal that mothers are forced to leave their babies at home (or worse... at day care) at such a young age. Sadly, many must make that tough decision and often have no choice in the matter. As a teacher, I would not even be paid during my maternity leave except for the fact that I had planned ahead and saved up enough days (over a period of 5 years) to cover my leave so that I could still receive my full paycheck. Still... it seems that mothers are being penalized for starting their families. You would think Education, of all professions, would be the most family-friendly. Obviously the State of Texas feels otherwise. 

Anyway.... as soon as friends and family members found out that we were pregnant, there were two questions on everyone's mind. 

1.) Boy or Girl?
           and 
2.) Are you going to work next year or stay at home? 

For starters, we are beyond fortunate that my staying at home with Hadley was even an option on the table. I think part of me has always wanted to be a Stay At Home Mom (or SAHM if you're into abbreviations ;). If you had asked me 3 or 4 years ago, it wouldn't have even been up for debate. Quit my job!?!? Woohoo! Where do I sign!? But somewhere along the way... I really started liking my job and I got really good at it. I was even offered a pretty great promotion at the end of this year, making my decision even harder. 

But then this happened.

And her Daddy and I just couldn't bare to leave her with anyone else during her first year. So the decision, although hard to make, was pretty much made for me. I sent my letter of resignation to my Principal and last week I headed to A.C. New Middle School on the last day of school to pack up my room and leave a place where I had many laughter-filled lunches in the teacher's lounge (because if you don't laugh...you might cry), taught hundreds, if not thousands of math lessons, and perfected my "teacher look". 

I'm sure I'll go back some day. But leaving the place where I learned how to be a teacher and where I made so many friendships was extremely bittersweet. I know, however, that even though my class size has dropped down to just one and I'll have far fewer shocking and funny stories to tell Mason at the end of the day, the rewards will be even sweeter. 

Last night, I received the following message in my fortune cookie.

I'm a big believer in fortune cookie messages... If the cookie says it's so then it MUST be true! ;) And though I'll be sad to kiss my paycheck goodbye come September (farewell, NorthPark mall...) I'm beyond excited to be on this adventure with the cutest little girl I know and even prouder to change my job title from "Mrs. Guinn" to "Mommy".  

 Schooool's out for summer! Schooooool's out FOREVER! :) 

Last week, Mason received a phone call from a friend that he does business with asking if we wanted tickets to see the Rolling Stones that Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium. He almost said no. What kind of idiot turns down free tickets to see the Rolling Stones?! One that has never left this beauty at home without her Mama or Daddy!

Luckily, I was there to be the voice of reason and happily accepted the tickets! My mom "Lissie" was in town and told us that she would gladly babysit Hadley for us so that we could have our very first date night since becoming parents. So... on Saturday night, we got all dolled up and left our precious angel for the very first time. 

It felt good to dress up and drive more than 5 miles away from the house for a change! However, we were missing our Hadley before we even made it inside the stadium! Fortunately, we had AMAZING seats and a few cold beers to help ease our separation anxiety...

They ain't lying.... Mick Jagger's definitely got the moves. We were quite impressed! I hope I'm still getting down like that at 71 years old!  **Note: This was not the best video that I took while at the concert. However, I have already deleted the others to free up more room on my phone for pictures of Hadley - such a Mom move, I know! 

While we thoroughly enjoyed the concert, we left WAY earlier than people with as good of seats as we had ever should. But we had to get home to our princess, plus my boobs were starting to hurt! #momproblems 

I'm a big believer in the importance of having date nights and still doing things for yourselves occasionally. A healthy and loving marriage is one of the best gifts that we can give Miss Hadley. So... if that means spending a Saturday evening with the Stones every now and then, I guess we'll take one for the team! :) 

Thank you Lissie for your babysitting services! Who wants to babysit next!? :)

We survived Hadley's first month! That's really quite an accomplishment if you think about it... We kept a tiny human being alive without any major breakdowns, screw-ups, or even so much as a phone call to the doctor! Yay! High fives for Mason and me! :) 

However, we couldn't have made it look so easy if not for our super chill baby girl, Hadley! I mean seriously... when I read about some of the little monster babies out there... makes me thank my lucky stars! 

So yeah.... anyway, yesterday was Hadley's 1 Month Birthday! This is how she chose to celebrate: 

All. Day. Long. 

Mommy had been planning her monthly photo shoots since before she was born, and Hadley just wasn't having it. It may be cliche but she says, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!" 

So, unfortunately, we were forced to push the photo shoot back a day. And that my friends is why we are a day late. Babies....

So without further ado... 

HAPPY ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY HADLEY! 

Aside from a rough day yesterday, which we'll attribute to some tummy troubles, she really is the best baby! She adapts very easily to new things, can almost sleep through the night (Mama usually has to wake her up to eat so she doesn't starve),  only cries when she needs something, and has had no trouble at all with nursing. I'm telling you, as first time parents, we won the baby lottery! :)

Hadley, here are a few things that Mommy & Daddy have loved best about you this month...

Mommy LOVES: 

• Watching videos of your adventures that Mommy sends him throughout the day.
  
• All of the funny noises that you make!
  
• Taking naps together.
• Watching you chew on your hands.
  
• Bottle time when he gets home from work.
  
• Swaddling you up each night into a little baby burrito!
  

We so love being your parents, sweet girl, and have enjoyed watching you grow from a tiny infant to a still tiny baby. We can't wait for all that is in store for us during this next month! 

Happy 1 month! XOXO

Pastels, baby animals, storybook chic .... so NOT my style when in comes to decorating a baby's nursery. There are many ways to make these looks work and turn out completely fab, I'm sure, but personally they just don't do it for me. I am a much more modern mommy and as such, Hadley's nursery had to reflect this.

I went for a Kate Spade-esque style. Black and white stripes, with pops of golds and hot pinks! Most baby stores aren't really feeling the "Modern Baby" look, so I had to scour the internet to find pieces that would fit my theme. 

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It's definitely not your typical baby nursery, but babies are only babies for a short time. I wanted pieces that could grow with her and potentially be placed in other rooms of the house down the road. 

I really didn't have an end result in mind when I started decorating. I just tried to stick with my Kate Spade theme and a black, gold, and pink color palette when selecting pieces. There was a lot of purchasing and returning of items as I would find things that I liked better along the way.

I'm sure to some it may seem a little busy or loud for an infant, but Hadley's not like a regular baby... she's a cool baby! ;) It is exactly what I wanted and it has quickly become my favorite room in our home. If there was room for a guest bed in here, I might just become Hadley's roomie! Sorry, Mase... ;)

I had the best time decorating her nursery. It was definitely my favorite part of being pregnant and helped me pass the time.