House is Sold!

Remember this house?  The one that had been on the market three times in the past two years, and despite its charm and prime location, it just would not sell? Nathan and Ryan put it back on the market a few weeks ago, and it sold in a matter of hours!  It was a cash offer and they wanted a quick escrow, so the house closed today!  We are so thankful and relieved...now Nate doesn't have to work a "part time job" as property manager, and we don't have to worry about when the market will finally recover so we can sell it. We are so thankful!

Like all endings, it's a little bitter sweet.  The house that I went to for our first date, and was greeted by his roomates parents sitting in the living room!  The house that we lived in our first year of marriage.  The house where we learned I was pregnant. 

Goodbye, sweet little house!

Hadley, Two Months Old

Hadley Two Months Old

Sleeps through the night in 7-9.5 hour stretches!

               Pushes up on her forearms

                                Still likes to be swaddled

Smiles during play time and when Mom gets home from work

               Loves staring at her hair bows while on the changing table

Likes listening to books and looking at pictures. 

Two Months

                               

Looks like spring!

Dad and his girls!

One Month Old!

Hadley- One Month

Sleeps 14-16 hours each day

Shows little hints of a smile- we can't wait to see the real thing!

Loves listening to music and the songs Daddy makes up for her

Holds on to her little birdie blanket and rubs her face on it

Wakes up 2-3 times each night

Sleeps with Mom and Dad in her co-sleeper, but is moving to her crib soon!

When sleeping, she sneaks an eye open to be sure someone is still holding her

One month

 4 days

First bath- 3 days 

Hadley's First Easter

I used to not enjoy the Easter holiday, not because I didn't appreciate the meaning of the holiday, but because I was away from my family and always felt a little like a vagabond, hopping from one random celebration to another. The past couple of years have been different now that we have found a group of friends that has quickly become our Denver family.  We spent Easter with these friends, and I am so happy that Hadley has people that love her and will set a good example for her as she grows.

Before church. I can't seem to get those socks to stay on!

Hadley's Easter outfit #1.

Our church held their Easter service at a hotel downtown so that all three services could be together.  The service was a half hour alter than usual, but it took us so long to get out of the house!  Hadley decided to have a marathon feeding session, and we kept thinking of things we might need for our afternoon out.  The car was filled to the brim by the time we left, and we barely made it on time for the service. 

We covered Hadley up during the service to keep strangers and their germs away, and she slept soundly- right until the sermon started.  She then decided that she needed another marathon feed, so I missed the rest of the service! I did meet about three new moms in the bathroom, though! 

Some actual family in Denver- Hadley and her Auntie Marissa. 

Yard games!!

Easter outfit #2.  Love the little bunny bottom :) 

Ready for Baby!

I just put up our maternity pictures on Facebook, and it is hard for me to believe that we are going to be done with our baby bump album in just a week or so (less than that, please God!) Even though the last few weeks have dragged on, nine months flew by overall.

We are all set for Baby to get here. Tonight we ran our last errand- we got a baby book so we can start filling it out while we're at the hospital and the memories are still fresh. The nursery is done, the clothes have been washed, and now we are just paying attention to every little ache and pain, in hopes that it means baby is on her way.

Here is a little look at what we have been working on the past couple of months!

 

Baby Crafts

I am thankful for all of my friends, and this weekend, I was especially thankful for Eleanor, who lent me some of her interior decorating talents and donated her time to help with a BIG nursery craft that I kept putting off.

Nathan's mom gave us a beautiful wooden rocker, but it was just so uncomfortable that it needed cushions.  All of the cushions I found either were not the right size or were just ugly.  So I ordered some fabric with the intent of making it into cushions. I scoured the Internet for patterns.  I look on Pinterest for ideas.  The fabric sat there for weeks, and I was pretty sure I'd never work up the courage or motivation to get the job done.

Enter Eleanor.

Eleanor didn't need patterns or Pinterest.  Once I knew the size of the cushions I wanted, we started snipping, pinning, and sewing (she did the machine sewing- I am still afraid of my sewing machine!) It took us a little over three hours, but the end result was better than anything I could have schemed up myself.

It is reversible, so when I get bored of the pattern, I can just flip it over. I forgot to buy white ribbon for the ties, so after a little bit of rummaging in my sewing trunk, we found tulle.  I love the way it adds a little bit of whimsy and frill to it!

After Eleanor left, my nesting instincts were still kicked into high gear, and I still had some batting and fabric left over for the chair cushions.  I decided to get started on a bow board, which I also have been thinking of doing for ages. All it took was the batting, fabric, elastic, a staple gun, and some hot glue.

I wasn't sure how I was going to hang the headbands, but the elastic did the trick.  Now I feel like the nursery is all set, just in case Baby girl decides to come a little bit early!  

Race to Nowhere

Last weekend, I watched the movie Race to Nowhere, a documentary claiming that the Race to the Top initiative and No Child Left Behind have taken away childhood and put more emphasis on test taking than actual learning.

Nathan gets annoyed when I start talking about the sad state of education, but now that we have a baby on the way, it seems like I have to speak out so that her education is not the fill-in-the-bubbles type that the American system is becoming. Have you ever heard of expectant parents dreaming that one day, their child will be an excellent test taker?

I get angry when I see those Exxon commercials saying how far behind America is on international tests. People like to blame the teachers for this, when really it's the testing itself.  Most of the countries that outperform us do not have a yearly standardized test that is offered. In fact, many Asian countires that once used standardized testing realized how harmful it is, and have moved away from it (I'm reading a book that talks about this in depth.)   So why are Americans so stubborn?  Because there is big money in standardized testing. 

There is a lot more information out there on this topic, so do some research to figure out what you think about it. If you have children, have infants, or hope to one day have them, this does affect you. Politicians are stifling creativity, critical thinking, and general enjoyment of learning and replacing it with convergent thinking, rote memorization, and big-business. That's not what I want for our baby's future.