Princess Nest

Yesterday when I was done putting Jillian down for a nap this is where I found Hadley. I asked her what she was doing and she said "sitting in my princess nest." Mike had made it for her to watch tv in while he was showering.

New place to play

Jillian has a new favorite place to play...under the kitchen table.

Snow fun

Mike and Hadley spent some time playing in the snow today. The snow wasn't great for making a snowman but they did make a snow blob. They also had a snowball fight and made snow angels. I think they both had a great time.

*Since KU beat KSU today my brother said I owed him a blog post. Here you go Jordan. It was a close game. Hope we can pull it off next time.

Dance Me Daddy

Hadley got this book for Mike for Christmas.

It is called Dance Me Daddy. It is a very cute book and fits Hadley and Mike perfectly. She is always asking Mike to dance with her and calling him a prince. The book is based on a song by Point Of Grace. It came with a CD and Hadley loves to dance to it. Here are Mike and her before bed having some dancing time.

Iced/Snowed in

We have been iced/snowed in since yesterday and it is still coming down. It started as freezing rain and sleet last night. The snow started around 10am this morning and has been going strong. They are saying we could get up to 9 inches. I love being snowed in and staying in jammies all day but this time I am sad because it means my mom can't come visit. Maybe next weekend.

Here is how we have been keeping busy.

I'm a winner!

Mike came out from rocking Hadley last night and said, "I am so proud of my girl." I asked why and he told me what she said.
"Uncle J say go jayhawks. I no like jayhawks, I like Wildcats. I'm a winner."

I don't know where she got the I'm a winner part but I love it! Hopefully we will be winners on Saturday in our basketball game against KU!

Names...

I was thinking about the girls' names the other day and decided I wanted to write down why they are named what they are. Since this is basically our family scrapbook I thought this would be the best place for it. So here are the stories of how the girls got their names.


Hadley ElizabethFrom the minute we found out we were pregnant with Hadley we started talking names. We knew Elizabeth would probably be the middle name for a girl. It is a family name in both of our families. On my side it was my Grandma Sisson's middle name, my Aunt Janet's middle name and my middle name. On Mike's side it is his mom's middle name, his sister Tammy's middle name and his niece Rachel's middle name.
Then came the hard part on finding a first name we both agreed on. We are both a little picky. I had really liked the name Adley for some time but Mike just didn't care for it too much. After going through many name books one day Mike out of the blue asked what I thought about Hadley. I loved it! So we knew that if we had a girl, her name would be Hadley Elizabeth. After our 20 week sonogram we started calling her Hadley.

Hadley means a field of heather.
Elizabeth means consecrated to God.

I love the name Hadley and of course think it fits her perfectly. The kindergarten teacher in me loves it because it is pretty easy to spell and really can't be shortened to a nickname.

Jillian Ruth
With Jillian we started talking names again right away but had to come up with a boy and a girl name since we weren't finding out what we were having. We had a harder time agreeing on names this time as well. Especially a boys name. When we went to the hospital I still wasn't sure on a boys name. Good thing we had a girl :)
When we first started talking girls' names we talked about McKinley. My only complaint was it could be shortened and I don't like that. I think it is fine for people who plan on having their name shortened but I wanted my kids called what I named them. Must be the OCD and control issues coming out. So slowly McKinley and my next favorite Madalyn were crossed of the list. That left us without a girl's name. We then started looking through a name book and found Lillian. I liked that but wasn't sold. Then Mike said Jillian. I really liked the sound of Jillian and thought it was pretty. The only problem was it could be shortened. But the more I heard it the more I loved it and knew I would call her Jillian and figured most people would follow suit.
The middle name was an easy one for a girl. We knew that we wanted another family name and we both loved the name Ruth. This was Mike's Mom-mom's (Grandma) name.

Jillian means youthful.
Ruth means friend.

I love the name Jillian and think it fits her perfectly as well. Of course it fits into my kindergarten teacher rule of easy to spell and she will just have to explain that it is Jillian and won't be shortened. One out of two isn't bad :)

Wild Thing

I had to buy this shirt for Hadley when I saw it. I am not a huge character clothing fan but this shirt is special. Where the Wild Things Are is one of our favorite books. It also happens to be one of my mom's favorite books as well. In fact whenever we leave or she leaves we all say "Please don't go, we'll eat you up we love you so." It is something that even Hadley has started to say. When she saw this shirt she said, "Just like my book we read."
Lady this one is for you. :)

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning was a pajama morning for Jillian and me this week. Jillian has a had a very runny nose and nasty cough so I did not want her in the church nursery. We sent Mike and Hadley to church and we had playtime on the floor.

Jillian has figured out how to pull toys out of the toy box.


It looks like she is saying cheese.Time for some music making.
How about a pose for the camera.
She is really on the go these days so we have to find ways to trap her in. Here she is trying to escape.

Visitors

On Thursday and Friday we had visitors in town. Audra, Kane and Lydia came to visit. Well, Audra and Lydia came to visit and Kane had classes to go to. We had fun while they were here. We didn't do much but hang out at home and enjoy each others company. We did go out to dinner on Thursday night and Little Gym and lunch on Friday. The girls seemed to have a good time together. I will say that Audra and I both have some very strong willed 2-year-olds on our hands. They both must take after their daddies :)

Lydia hanging on the couch.

Hadley playing princesses.We put them to work.
Jillian smiling and enjoying watching the older girls.
Snack time.
Hadley might have taught Lydia a thing or two about dress-up and princesses.

Audra enjoying some down time on the couch.
We had a great time and can't wait for them to come visit when they have a new friend for Jillian to play with.

Hadley says the darndest things...

EDITED to add another.
Hadley says some of the funniest things. Here are some of the latest.

• Jillian was screaming while I was changing her diaper and Hadley ran to Mike and said, "Daddy, Jillian is screaming bloody murder."
• Mike and I were having a discussion and she said, "Guys, you are fighting and I don't want to hear that ever again."
• Mike jokingly told her he was sending her to military school and he said hut 1-2-3. Hadley went around the rest of the day saying "Hut 1-2."
• Later that day she said, "I don't want to go to mili school, I am too small."
• While in timeout for hitting her sister she yelled to Mike, "You are an evil dragon."
• I can't remember what happened to her leg but she said, "My poor little leg."
• We were practicing Bible verses and she said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Jennifer 1:1" She would not believe me that is was Genesis.
  

I am sure there are a lot more that I have forgotten but there will be more to come.

This is what she looked like when I said it was time to go outside and play.
And here is the bride watching some Little Bear.

9 month check-up

Yesterday was Jillian's 9 month check-up. I love that there are no shots at the 9 month mark. Just a quick finger stick to check iron levels. Of course Hadley cried more about Jillian getting a finger stick than Jillian did. She is such a loving sister... sometimes.
Jillian is doing great developmentally and growing fine. She weighed 18 lbs 8 oz and was 28.5 inches long. She is average for weight and in the 80th percentile for height. She may be taller than Mike and I some day.
We are dealing with colds right now. She is pretty miserable and so is mommy. Luckily Mike and Hadley are well and I hope they stay that way.
Audra and her family get her today. Hadley is excited to play with Lydia and I will love getting some adult conversation in with Audra.

9 months

Jillian is 9 months old today. I love something about every stage but the 9-12 month stage is one of my favorites. Still a baby but with a ton of personality. And Jillian does have a big personality. Lots of smiles and laughing.
Some things Jillian is doing these days:

• Crawling everywhere (She loves to crawl all over the house following Hadley.)
• Pulling up on everything especially the couch and kitchen chairs
• Saying mama and dada
• Waving (When it is time to go to bed she waves bye to daddy and Hadley.)
• Eating all the time (She especially loves all green vegetables.)
• Watches her sister's every move
• Sleeping a good 10 hour stretch at night (This is a new development and a huge answer to prayers.)
• She has a new attachment to her daddy and has become really attached to him
• Wiggling like crazy during diaper changes and getting dressed

Here are a few pictures from our photo shoot yesterday. We were sporting purple for the big K-State/Texas basketball game.

Daddy and his girl

Miss smiley

She is fighting a little bit of a cold so her eyes are watering in this picture but I just love her smile.
Sisters! Check out Hadley's goofy smile.

And one of big sister Hadley. She loves Jillian so much!

Keeping me busy

When I became a mom I don't know why I ever thought that I would have down time. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls more than anything. I am so blessed to be able to be stay home with them. But just like when I was working and needed a break the same goes with being a mom. I love nap time because it is my time to get caught up around the house and watch my show. Most days the girls nap at the same time for at least 1 hour. Not yesterday!

It has been a rough few days with Hadley. She is showing her independence in full force. One time this week she yelled from time-out (her Hadley spot as we call it), "You are not my mommy." Wow that stung. But a couple minutes later she was crying for me to hold her. I think all of this attitude is a combination of things

• being 2
• mommy being gone last weekend
• being strong willed
• being very active
• did I mention strong willed
• trying to get her 2 year molars
• once again strong willed (I blame her daddy)

Back to yesterday and no nap. I finally let her out of her room after an hour because she was yelling and I didn't want her to wake up Jillian. I told her she could come out but no tv. I was catching up on e-mails when I looked over to find this
Guess she decided to use the window sill as a seat. Then not 5 minutes later I find this
She said she was fishing. Boy does she have an imagination and keep me busy. I love this girl but I also love it when she naps. So here is hoping for a nap today. I think daddy wants her to have one too because when he got home from work last night she was not in a good mood.

Oh and all I can keep thinking when Hadley and I are battling is what my sister said, "After the kind of baby she was did you think it would be any different." She is so right, Hadley came into the world being stubborn and high maintenance and continues to live life that way. Some day her personality will take her somewhere amazing! I just hope I can survive to see it!

Great Weekend!

This past weekend was a wonderful weekend. I got to spend the whole weekend with my BFE girls celebrating our 30th birthdays! (Thanks Mike and Marlene for taking care of Hadley and Jillian.).
Audra,Christie, Laura and Megan all came down to spend the weekend in Tulsa. They came here so I could be close to Jillian in case she didn't take a bottle. The good news is she took the bottle like a champ. Now I can get away a little more.
I met the girls at the hotel around 3pm on Friday. We started of the weekend in BFE style with 7-layer dip. "We are always worried about getting something to eat."


Next up was shopping and dinner at Carraba's After dinner we headed back to the hotel to hang out and chat. Christie brought us a delicious birthday cake.
The next morning we got up and headed out to shop and have a spa afternoon. Shopping was a big success for me. Amazing what you can do without two little ones with you. The spa was very relaxing. That night we ate at my favorite restaurant, Charlestons.

Here we are ready to go to dinner.
Audra and Laura at dinner.
Christie, Megan and me at dinner.
After dinner we went to Target for the second time on the trip and then it was back to the hotel for talking and lots of laughing. I don't think it was quiet in our room until after 1am. Sunday morning we fit in breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and a little more shopping.
Then it was time for the girls to load up and head back home. I had a hard time seeing them go. We have all been friends for so long and have a great time together. I hate that we all don't live in the same town. I hope that we can have girls weekends more often.

To my BFEs,
Thanks for a wonderful weekend. I can only hope that Hadley and Jillian are blessed with a group of friends as wonderful as mine. I love you girls.

One last group shot as we were leaving the hotel.