From wail to whale

Here are some pictures from Hadleigh's first swimming experience. She loves taking baths and splashing in the water, so we figured she'd love the pool. Well, this pool was a little too cold for her taste, so the first few minutes were not so pleasant. The first picture is her reaction to sticking her feet in the water. She finally adjusted and enjoyed floating around in the whale for a little while.

Fun times

Here are some more photos. She is a much happier camper now that she is able to move around on her own.

At an outdoor concert with Tanner and his family. Yea for beautiful weather

Reading about 'So You Think You Can Dance'...maybe she has a secret desire to audition???

Crawling around the kitchen floor.

She has discoved the trash can. She is not interested in what is in it, but what is on it. She loves playing and talking with herself. Don't worry, I use lots of Lysol wipes to keep it clean.

On the Go

Here are a few shots of Hadleigh on the go. She has discovered her freedom and is constantly exploring the new terrain. Time to baby proof!

I finally learned how to take black/white shots with my camera. I'm trying to figure out how to take better shots, but so far have had no luck. I have no idea what aperture and shutter speed mean---I need major help! The photo above was my best shot out of about 1000! If anyone knows how to use the Panasonic Lumix FZ50, let me know.

Ready or not, here I come

Well, at just a few days short of 9 months, we can officially say Hadleigh is crawling (though not far)! She gets into crawling position, makes a move or two, then sticks out one leg and scoots along with the one leg sticking out. She looks like a frog with a broken leg. Nonetheless, she can get from point A to point B by herself now. However, I don't think she has quite realized her freedom yet, so maybe we have a few more chase-free days.
We spent a fabulous weekend with good friends down on Lake Ouachita. It was perfect weather, though the water was still a little frigid. Thankfully, Hadleigh is still too little to want to get in despite the water temperature...the other dads were troopers with their little ones. Hadleigh did pretty well on the boat, but hated wearing the life vest. Someone really needs to invent a comfortable one for infants her size. All in all, she had a great time with all the little girls. She was even a good sport about being dressed up like a hula princess.

Pretty Princess, Madison

Maddie sporting her movie star glasses. Note the cute life jacket...she was the only kid who didn't complain all day!
"Get me out of this thing!"
Michael, Maddie, and Madison...brrrr

Sun bathing on the back of the boat

"Here I go""This is fun""Mrs. Abby is so funny!"

Thanks Michael & Abby and Justin & Michelle for sharing your homes with us this weekend!

Internet Playdates

First it was internet dating, which thankfully came after our dating years, and now we have internet playdates. Well, sort of. Today we had a playdate with someone we met through blogging. Meredith started a blog for her daughter Payton, who is just 11 days older than Hadleigh, and I found it through a mutual friend, Kerry, who lives in San Diego. It's a very small blogging world. Anyways, since our daughters are so close in age and we live so close to each other, we decided a playdate was necessary. So here are pictures from todays successful meeting. Scarlett also joined us for the fun.

Off to see the wizard...

The wizard of Omaha, that is.

We took a road trip to Omaha this weekend for the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders meeting. This is something that Christian looks forward to every year, so this year, Hadleigh and I agreed to tag along and see what all the fuss was about. We attended the reception Friday night which was a lot of fun, but very crowded. Hadleigh made lots of new friends and held the record for the youngest shareholder until she met a 3 week old! We kept her out way past her bedtime which put a slight damper on the rest of the weekend. Saturday we spent the day at the meeting where Christian took in many valuable pearls of wisdom from Warren. Hadleigh got restless pretty early on, so she and I hung out with the Fruit of the Loom guys and the Geico gecko and ate Dairy Queen ice cream. It was a fun adventure and we added 2 more states to Hadleigh's 'Been To' list.

Below are pictures of Hadleigh's newest trick. She loves standing up and is trying to master moving around holding on to things. However, see below to see how this trick usually ends up..."I made it!!!"



"Oops, maybe not."

You may notice the rash on her face...she broke out all over after sleeping on the hotel sheets last night (it was a very long and loud night). Apparently, her skin is still sensitive to the heavy-duty detergent. Hopefully it will clear up quickly. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all.