Hooray! We survived another year! And with a toddler, no less! :) Our sweet little thing has entered her Terrific Two's and we are thrilled! I remember right after she turned one it seemed like she really took off! Literally, because she started walking, but she also got so much better at communicating her needs. We also were able to do so many fun new things because she was finally mobile. Well we are experiencing the same excitement now that she is two as her brain continues to develop rapidly, putting together 5 and 6 word sentences! She is telling us EXACTLY what she wants, whether we'd like to know or not... haha! And she is so curious about the world around her! Challenging, entertaining, exhausting, yet rewarding... this is two... 

Two Year Favorites: 

Books: "The Day the Crayons Quit!" Oh lordy.... how she loves this one! She asks for it every time we sit down to read. "Cray-yawns!!!!" The book is a really cute little story about crayons going on strike and writing letters to their owner about their grievances. Hadley could care less about the letters,as she mainly prefers to be quizzed on naming the colors over and over again... A good thing I guess, because she needed a little extra tutoring in this department. Now she can easily identify most colors including beige and gray! Haha

Foods: Macaroni. She could eat her weight in this cheesy noodle "delicacy". Sometimes we have to avoid the pasta aisle at the grocery store, just so she won't catch a glimpse. She also developed a taste for and a fondness of jelly beans and gummy bears after Easter, but of course those are only given as a treat here and there. 

Movies: Hallelujah! We can watch Disney movies now! So much more entertaining than children tv programming! So far she has watched Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Lady & the Tramp, Beauty & the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty. Mermaid & Cinderella are her two current favs! 

Toys: Tea Set (she loves to serve Mommy & Daddy "special" tea), Grocery cart & plastic foods (every night she covers us in plastic food as we discuss the name of each item... she's got it down though! She can easily tell a croissant, from a baguette, from a dinner roll!) Perhaps a budding pastry chef!? :) She has a ton of new toys, especially after her birthday, and is pretty good at rotating playing with them and not getting bored! Thank goodness! We have a long summer ahead of us! 

Phrases: 
*Oh Goodness!
*Mommy, sit down!
*What's this? What's that? 
*No, I don't want new papoo (diaper)!
*Thanks!
*Mommy's car!?
​*Yay! Hooray! Wahoo!

2 Year Old Stats: 
We visited Hadley's pediatrician last week for her 2 year check up. She still hates the doctor about as much as she always has. Cries when she gets weighed, measured, her eyes checked, her ears checked, her heart listened to, etc... it's an all around traumatic experience for her. Surprisingly she did the best for the finger prick/blood drawl. Ha!
​
Height: 34 3/4" (75th percentile - She grew 3 inches since her last checkup)
Weight: 24.8 lbs (25th percentile)
Head circumference: 47.6 cm (50th percentile)

Still a lightweight, but perfectly healthy! 

Hadley, 

You are so beautiful, so smart, so head strong, so loving, so polite, so gentle, and so playful! So far you are all of things that we could have hoped that our daughter would grow to be! Your growing up doesn't make us sad, however, because we are loving watching your transformation from a baby to a little girl! Daddy & I often look at each other in amazement at something funny you've said, or remembered, or learned. Each year seems to keep going faster than the last and we are cherishing every single day with you, our sweet Hadley Mae! We love you and can't wait to see what's in store for year three!

"Here's to a child who is joyful and clever! Happy day. Happy year. Happy Always and ever." - "Happy Birthday Little Pookie" by: Sandra Boynton (one of your favorite books)

Happy 2 Years! 

​We love you! XOXOXO

Welp! Looks like we skipped month 22.... whoopsie! That's what happens when Mommy goes back to work part time! Luckily, my little working stint is only for another 4 weeks. Meanwhile, our sweet little girl has been growing by leaps and bounds. She is such a little talker and her pronunciation has really gotten good in the last few weeks! She has most of her favorite books memorized and likes to read along with you and there's no puzzle we've given her that she hasn't dominated. We are so proud of our chatty, little smarty pants! 

23 Month Favorites: 

Favorite Books: She still rotates heavily between all of her favorites, which is probably why she has so many of them memorized. Lately, she's been going into her room and closing the door and reading her books by herself. We love occasionally spying on her through her monitor and watching her during quiet time. :) Such a cute little bookworm!

Favorite Foods: Still a popcorn head! She also loves applesauce and yogurt. I let her feed them to herself now and she is such a neat eater she hardly ever spills any! And of course, she has a major sweet tooth, just like Mommy & Daddy and will happily share ice cream with us whenever she gets the chance!

Favorite TV Shows: Still love love loves her Bubble Guppies and Wonder Pets! But she also has become a fan of Mickey Mouse, Thomas & Friends, & Tayo the Friendly Bus! She's got a major obsession with animated transportation! Ha! To each their own, I suppose! :) 

What's Hadley Up To? 

As I mentioned before, her vocabulary has exploded! She is talking in sentences now and has gotten so much better at communicating what she wants. Her teachers even commented on how well she is talking! Proud Mommy! :)

We took our first solo road trip together! We drove to San Antonio (about 4.5 hours) during Spring Break to visit G-Daddy & Nana! She did great! It was an easy trip and we had a fun time getting away for the week! She also conquered her fear of big dogs, as she became fast friends with their big black lab, Chuey! 

She attended her first wedding! My cousin Collin got married to Sarah in Boullard, TX and we had a great time dancing and eating cake! Hadley also enjoyed knocking over the perfectly stacked pyramid of golf balls on the putting green next to the ceremony site. Ha! Oops!

She has been sleeping through the night in her own bed for the last week! I mean, I probably just jinxed it,  but not having her join us in the middle of the night and hog the whole bed has been quite nice! We felt like we had gone back to the newborn days level of sleep for a little while there.  

Her attention span has grown considerably! We can now get through about half of "The Little Mermaid" before she loses interest. Progress! 

She got to visit her cousin Vivian over Spring Break, as well.... and boy was she jealous when her Daddy held another baby! I feel sorry for her future sibling! She is a Daddy's Girl to the extreme and apparently doesn't like sharing! Wonderful...  :) 

She is fast and likes to run away from Mommy! This has made shopping trips and daily outings so much fun, let me tell you.... Ha!

Hadley, 

I can not believe that you will be 2 years old in just one months time! I feel like you just turned one!!! You are a joy to all who know you, sweet girl! I enjoy my time with you more each day, as I get to watch you grow up right before my eyes. Every milestone you reach, whether it be one we have worked on for months or one you just came to out of the blue, make your Daddy & I so very proud! We constantly are in disbelief at how intelligent you are for your age! And you're funny and beautiful to boot! Hard to believe that we are so very lucky to call you ours! We love you so much and will savor this last month with our precious 1 year old! 

Happy 23 Months!!

​XOXO

I honestly didn't even know how many months old Hadley was until I looked back at my last blog post. She is such a "big girl" now that when people ask me how old she is, I just say, "She'll be 2 in May!" Counting in months just seems so babyish as she has grown up so much recently! 

21 Month Favorites: 

Favorite Book: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" She is pretty obsessed with the alphabet letters right now, so this book is definitely her new fav! 

Favorite Foods: Still popcorn, or as she calls it "paw-corn". She'd eat this and this alone for every meal if we'd let her. She is also a little cookie monster, but we only give her them sparingly. 

Favorite TV Show: Bubble Guppies! A cartoon with little mermaid girls and boys. It's a pretty cute show and educational, so we let her watch her "Guppies" while Mommy cooks dinner. 

What's Hadley Up To? 

Her very favorite activity is brushing her teeth. She brushes them at least 5 times a day. I'm not sure if it's the novelty of standing on her step stool, the excitement of sticking her toothbrush under the water faucet, or that she is just really into good hygiene, but I guess there are worse concerns we could have! 

She has a major obsession with school busses! We try to go sit on the front porch around 4:15pm every day as the busses are en route from the middle school to the high school. About 12 of them drive past us in a 10 minute span and Hadley is in HEAVEN! "BUUUUSSSSSS!!! Another BUSSSSSSS!!!!" :)

As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she tiptoes to our room, ALWAYS with something in tow. It's like she's bringing us an offering to come get in bed with us. Sometimes it's a doll, a book, a puzzle piece, a stuffed animal, 3 pacifiers, etc. It's always amusing to see what she will bring us each morning! 

She has a "boyfriend" named Hunter in her Mother's Day Out class! :) One day Hunter's mother and I arrived to pick them up at the same time and Hunter gave Hadley a hug goodbye! So sweet! Their teachers informed us that they also like to sit on the classroom bench together! His Mama is a Longhorn, so we, of course, approve. She told me that he says Hadley's name on mornings before school. Too cute! Luckily, they will be in the same Tuesday/Thursday 2 year old MDO class next year, as well. :)

Being a little chatter bug! She learns new words daily and even surprises me with some that she knows. Like "cool!" Haha! Our communication has never been better as she is able to answer me with a "yes" or "no" about things that she wants. She still has her own babble language, but we are getting better able to decipher it! :)

Hadley, 

What a treat it is to be your parents! When you aren't frustrated trying to get your way, you are the sweetest thing. Sometimes you'll look me right in the eye and then give me a kiss, without my even asking. You are pretty generous with your hugs, as well. We love watching you light up at the simple things in life like a trip down the slide, a passing bus, an airplane in the sky, or Daddy coming home from work. We just adore you, sweet girl, and hope that you always find such joy in the world around you! 

Happy 21 Months!!!
XOXO

It's been a while since I did a monthly update for Miss H. Between packing, moving into a new home, the holidays, and extensive plumbing problems in our new home, I've been a little sidetracked. Month 18 and 19 were a little rough for Hadley. I think getting adjusted to our new home was a little hard on her. Combined with being sick on and off for the month of December resulted in a lot of whining and sleep issues. However, now that things are finally starting to settle down, we look to be on the up and up. 

20 Month Favorites: 

Favorite Book: She has a lot of favorites. Anything written by Sandra Boynton ("Little Pookie" series), "Little Blue Truck's Christmas", "The Nose Book", etc. She will happily sit in my lap while we read 27 books in a row. I love it! 

Favorite Toys: She got so many things for Christmas, which is nice because I don't usually buy her any toys between her birthday and Christmas! So she has had a great time playing with some new things! She loves her kitchen, table and chairs, baby dolls and all of their accessories. She also loves her Elmo "ABCs on the Go" puzzle. I thought that might be a little challenging for her since it is 26 pieces, but she completes that thing in no time and takes them all out and starts again! Smartie pants!!! 

Favorite TV show: She LOVES the "Wonder Pets"! We just happened to be given a "Wonder Pets" DVD a year ago and put it on for her a couple of months ago and she is obsessed. We usually just play it in the car when we have places to go. It has been a big hit and a lifesaver for Mommy & Daddy! It is so cute to listen to her "sing" the songs or mimic their words. Such a cute show, I enjoy listening to it too! :) 

Favorite Body Part: Her belly button! She loves touching her belly button, especially while she is falling asleep. Ha! She also likes for Mommy & Daddy to lift up their shirts to show her their belly buttons. Not really our favorite thing to do... especially when she jabs her finger in there!!

Favorite Snacks: Popcorn, mandarin oranges, black olives, crackers, and FRUIT!

What's Hadley Up to? 

Sleeping in a "toddler bed". After Christmas she pretty much refused to go down in her crib, like literally would scream for over an hour.... So, we lowered her crib mattress and removed one side and converted it into a little toddler day bed! She loves it! No more rocking her to sleep. We just lay her down and sit next to her for a little while until she is sleepy enough to fall asleep. 

Now that she is no longer confined, she will get out of bed, open her door, and come out of her room once she wakes up! Definitely weirded Mom & Dad out the first couple of times! She's on the loose!! 

Lives to be outside! Rain, shine, or snow. She wants to be taken for stroller rides, ride her tricycle, or push her baby dolls down the street in their stroller constantly! She also loves going to the park!

She is now able to climb the steps and slide down the little slide at the park all on her own. She also loves watching the big kids! 

She loves going to Mother's Day Out! No more tears at drop off! Just walks in like a big and greets her favorite teacher, Miss Denise! 

Teething! Her 4 canines are about to come through! 

Talking up a storm! She is beginning to use short phrases and can say so many words! She also loves pointing at things and having you tell her what it is. 

Hadley, 

You have grown up so much in the last two months! It is such a joy watching you turn into a little girl before our eyes. You constantly amaze us with your intelligence and we will do just about anything to see your beautiful smile. We look forward to all the great things that  2017 has in store for our family. We love you so much!!!

Happy 20 Months!!!
​XOXOXO

Last Friday, as the January temperatures dipped below freezing, we had our first snowfall of the season and Hadley got to enjoy the first snow of her entire life!

There wasn't too much accumulation, but it was still a nice surprise. Especially, for Hadley, who woke up from her afternoon nap to find a winter wonderland outside. 

We got as bundled up as we could, with the few winter gear items that we had on hand (hey.... we dont see much snow here in Texas)! When Hadley's little hands got too cold, we went back inside and I was able to dig out her mittens from last year that still fit! She called them "socks"! :) 

As we were checking out all the white stuff on the ground, I told her, "Hadley! This is snow!" to which she replied, "This is snow??". Perhaps a little underwhelmed at the light dusting that we got, haha? She loved it, even so! We had to go in several times to thaw out, but she begged to go "ow-side ow-side!!" over and over again, all afternoon. This girl loves the outdoors, no matter the temperature! 

It was a fun day! Hoping we'll get at least one more snow day before the spring! 

Happy Half Birthday to Hadley, who turned the big 18 months last Friday! Our little lady is one and a half years young, going on 16! Sometimes she is such a teenager. At times dramatic, stubborn, needy, and quite the sleeper! It is not uncommon for her to sleep in until 8AM or sometimes, like today, *gasp* 9:30AM! She likes long afternoon naps, as well. No complaints over here, thats for sure! Our Sleeping Beauty's vocabulary has also exploded this month. She can say well over 50 words and is starting to string them together to make mini sentences. It has been so fun really being able to communicate with her better than ever before! We are at such a fun age right now, that's for sure!

18 Month Favorites: 

Favorite Book: This month it was "One Halloween Night", a counting book with flaps. She's super into books with flaps right now. We're also getting mature enough not to rip them off, which is progress! "Goodnight Gorilla" was also a hit this month, although it's more of a picture book. 

Favorite Toys: Her fav "toys" weren't actually toys. She enjoys opening up our tv cabinet and getting out our collection of DVDs! She likes stacking them, lining them up in rows, analyzing their covers, etc. Too bad she missed the 90's, this girl was born to work at Blockbuster. Ha! Which brings me to her other favorite "toy".... shoes! She is OBSESSED with shoes! She likes to bring shoes over for you to put on, she loves lining them up and finding matching pairs, and she hates taking hers off. Since Blockbuster isn't going to work out, perhaps she has a future in the Nordstrom Shoe Department...? 

Favorite Body Part: Nose! She loves pointing out her nose, your nose, her doll's nose, etc. She knows most of the names and locations of the other parts of the body, but noses are just the best thing ever! 

Favorite Song: "If You're Happy & You Know It", Even if she is on the verge of a full blown melt down she will stop and clap her hands, stomp her feet, nod her head, and shout hooray if you start singing this song to her! She can't help it, she's happy and she knows it!! :) 

What's Hadley Up To?

She is so particular with just about everything! If there is a speck of trash on the ground she stops to pick it up. She literally got out the broom and started sweeping underneath her high chair the other day! :) We also can not go upstairs or downstairs without stopping to close the baby gate. She is a creature of habit and follows routine exactly. 

She loves to collect acorns! Without a doubt, if we go on a walk, she will stop to pick them up and hand them to me for safe keeping or carry them home herself. I find acorns everywhere, from the laundry basket to the car seat. 

Her hair is plenty long for ponytails, pigtails, and other fun hair styles, but she absolutely refuses to let me put her hair up in a rubber band. She does let her teachers at school put her hair up, however. Such a teacher pleaser! 

She is scared to death of animals, especially big dogs. But she wants to like them so bad! She reaches out her hand to pet them but then comes flying to me if they even look her way or God forbid approach her. She's very slowly starting to warm up to them though. 

She has 12 teeth, but has gotten a little more picky with her foods. She loves drinking her "milk-um" though. 

She can't get enough of her books! She loves to snuggle in with us and read her favorites over and over again!! Even though reading them repeatedly can be overkill, I definitely try to savor these sweet moments. I'm just looking forward to some more exciting literature in the future! :) 

She is SUCH a Daddy's Girl on the weekends, since that is their main hangout time. Totally glued to his hip! Which is a nice break for Mama! :) 

She has an amazing memory! We can teach her a word or point out something just one time these days and she'll repeat it or refer to it days later! It's so fun watching her vocabulary grow!

She is doing great at Mother's Day Out! One perk is that it has greatly helped us with putting her down for naps and bedtime at home. Before, there used to be  tears if she wasn't 100% asleep when we laid her down in the crib. Now, she doesn't even have to be asleep and we just lay her down and she rolls over without complaint. Angel baby! 

Hadley,

There's not too much more to tell. You are smart, you are funny, you are beautiful, and you are kind. Everything that we could have ever wanted in a daughter. Watching you grow is the greatest joy of our lives and we can't believe you are already half way to two years old! Moving into a new home will be an adventure we look forward to sharing with you this next month. Our blessings are abundant. We love you so so much!

​XOXOXO

Happy Halloween!!! We loved celebrating Hadley's second ever Halloween! :) And, let's be honest...
​I had just as much fun dressing her up in Halloween theme during the weeks leading up to the big day! I live for a theme day, let alone a theme month! Orange and black EVERYTHING!   

And why yes... I did sew the dress she is wearing on the right! :) :) :) And her Aunt Lauren gave it the final touch with a pumpkin monogram! 

This was also Hadley's first holiday attending "school" (Mother's Day Out), so I, of course, had to get her teachers a little something!

Teacher gifts are also my jam. Seriously, I'm sure I was way more excited to give these than they were to receive! Haha... 

Hadley's costume was super easy to decide on this year! Her favorite word to say that she repeats day in and day out 6 million times is "BOO!!". This came about after many, many viewings of her very favorite nursery rhyme video called the "Peekaboo song", in which they repeat the word "boo" over and over again. 

So... I set out to find our little boo a ghost costume for Halloween night! I had planned to make her costume, but I found a darling one online for super cheap, so I went with that. 

Isn't she Boo-tiful!? :) 

As has become tradition, we celebrated with our friends, the Butlers, but we stopped by Mason's office on the way to their party. Our sneaky little ghoul grabbed a piece of chocolate from Daddy's desk and decided to have herself a little treat on the 30 minute drive to their house. This is what I found waiting for me in the back seat when we arrived...

What a little stinker! Haha!! Too funny! And my sweet little ghost didn't even get any chocolate on her costume! Mama has trained her well! :) :) 

It was a great night spent with our cute little ghost! Happy Halloween Hadley! Thank you for such sweet memories! :) 

Oh my.. another whirlwind month for the Guinn family! This month we decided to buy a house on a whim (more on that later), we added an extra day a week of Mother's Day Out for Hadley (and for Mama!), flew to Houston for a friends wedding shower, and we tried to squeeze in some fall fun in between all the madness! Each of these fun times deserves a post of their own, but as I'm playing catchup and should really be spending time packing up my house instead of blogging (can you say procrastination), some pictures will just have to suffice for now! 

Texas State Fair 
Last year, Mason and I slowly strolled Hadley around the fair as we stopped to sample fried food delicacies at our leisure. This year Gigi & Pops came with us and we chased Hadley around for about an hour and a half until she had a meltdown and we had to go home. She did enjoy riding the carousel with Daddy, however!

Dallas Arboretum 
We got Hadley all dressed up in her prettiest smocked pumpkin dress hoping for some picture perfect pumpkin photos, but again, we spent more time chasing her around the patch than getting our model to sit still for pictures. 

Yesterland Farms
We drove out to Canton to visit Yesterland Farms where they have pumpkins, a cornfield maze, petting zoo and other fallish activites. We were also hoping to get some christmas pictures of H amongst the Christmas pine trees. No such luck... Pictures are hard to come by these days! 

Anyway, we've had a good month of making memories with our little pumpkin! We are excited to celebrate her second Halloween this evening! Will post pictures tomorrow!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! XOXO

We have a full blown toddler on our hands these days! Curious as ever, talking up a storm, and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way! She is equal parts sweet and sass. Just yesterday when I told her to sit down on the bench outside, that she was standing on top of, she smiled her sweetest smile at me and shook her head no. Ha! Testing us already! Which of course makes me have to turn my head to laugh so as not to encourage her bad behavior. This girl is currently adding lots of spice to our life! 

17 Month Favorites:

Favorite Book: "Goodnight Moon"! Here favorite part is pointing out the red balloon in the room! We're on a big balloon kick over here!

Favorite Toys: Her tea set (that she got as a birthday gift, but that we just opened) has provided some entertainment lately. But she's just as easily occupied with Mommy's broom and dust pan! Let's hope her love for sweeping lasts throughout her teenage years! :) Also, she LOVES her bubble machine from Uncle Connor!

What's Hadley Up To?: 

She has started calling me "Mommy" instead of "Mama" which I LOVE!!!! XOXOXO Ha, but she also points to glasses of wine and says "Mommy's"! Grreaatttt...

She totally gets what I am telling her these days. If I ask her if she wants to go on a stroll in her stroller she'll nod her head yes, get her shoes, and head for the gate to go "dow-stairs"!

She loves being in her stroller all of a sudden, too! I took her to the zoo the other day, fully expecting her to throw a fit when making her get back in it, but I asked her if she wanted to sit in her stroller and she nodded yes and climbed in!

We are refusing to sit in a shopping cart these days, however. She likes to walk around freely when we shop. I've been letting her too and she's actually been pretty good about keeping up and staying nearby. 

She is a CLUTZ! This girl walks full steam forward without looking down and constantly trips over things! We've had scraped knees, a bruised forehead, a scratched chin and a bleeding tongue all in the last couple of weeks. We need to wrap her in bubble wrap and get her a helmet! 

She still loves her nursery rhyme music videos! This week I was beating eggs for a quiche, being rather loud with my whipping I suppose, and she turned to me and said "Mama! No No No!!" Such a disruption! :)

There are certain nursery rhyme songs that she doesn't like, however, and will cry every. single. time. that they come on! Funny girl! :) She hates the "Hot Cross Buns" song!

We finally got rid of her bath seat and put some grip things on the bottom of our tub so she can stand up and walk around during bath time. She is loving the freedom and as a bonus it is way easier to bath her now! 

She is adjusting great to Mother's Day Out! She doesn't even cry when I pass her off anymore. She opens her arms wide to them and then tells me "bye bye"! 

Oh Hadley!

At the beginning of this month, I was nearly in tears over your strong willed, stubborn nature. But as I've learned to let go and let you do your own thing you've really gotten so much better! Our days seem to be going much faster now as we've fallen into a nice little routine. I truly enjoy your company and am astounded at how smart you are getting! You have an amazing memory and are able to recall words, sounds, or find items that I have only pointed out to you once. You are our heart and our sweet angel. On Monday, morning you leaned over and kissed my cheek out of the blue as we walked upstairs. Then you pointed out a picture of Daddy on the wall and blew him a kiss! How did we get so lucky? We thank God for our precious Hadley each and every day! 

​Love you big girl!! XOXOXO

Vivian is finally here!! Her poor Mama (and Daddy) had to wait 41 weeks and 1 day to meet her! But, of course, she was very much worth the wait! 

Vivian Marie 
September 9, 2016
10:58PM
8 lbs, 15 oz
20 3/4 inches

I love that Vivi was born one minute before Hadley's birth time (10:59PM). These girls are little night owls who like to keep their Mommy's waiting! I am so very excited that Hadley will have a girl cousin so close in age! I hope that they will be the best of friends and I look forward to all of the special memories that they will make together! 

I am also thrilled to be a first time Aunt! I can finally add that to my long list of titles (sister, daughter, wife, mommy, godmother, & now AUNT)! Mason and I already love little Vivian so much. She is absolutely precious and we look forward to loving on and spoiling another little Guinn girl! 

Congratulations Cameron & Keisha! Welcome to the wonderful (and exhausting) world of parenthood! The very best is yet to come and we are so excited to watch you begin your new roles as Mommy & Daddy! Love you all! XOXO