Christmas unwrapped

We hope this update finds everyone warm and well-rested after a wonderful holiday season. This year we stayed in Arkansas for Christmas Eve and Christmas which meant we were here for the white Christmas. Hadleigh loved celebrating Jesus' birthday with cupcakes and gifts. After the gifts were opened, breakfast eaten, toys tested, and naps needed, we ventured through the snow down to Little Rock to have Christmas dinner with Christian's family. After our visit there, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Richmond...so we thought. Yes, we know Chicago is not the best place to connect through this time of year, but the price was right! Long story short, we hopped in the car around 5:30pm and pulled into Richmond around 8:30am. Our time in Richmond was fantastic. We got in lots of family time and of course the girls loved all the attention. The drive back was a little longer, but once everyone finally fell asleep it was smooth sailing until we hit the snow and ice on 540. We made it home, thankfully, without any problems and have spent the last few days un-decorating, unpacking, and trying to catch up on the missed night of sleep. The snow has almost melted, but it is frigid here and we are expecting more snow tomorrow night. I thought we lived in the south!!!
Here are lots of pictures, out of order of course, from the past few weeks.

Hughes/Baldwin family picture

KK trying to pep Hadleigh up to get her face painted.

Pep talk didn't work, but she settled for a hand-painting instead (to match mommy's of course!).Posing with the dancing bears at the botanical gardens

Bundled up for her first visit to see the lights at the Garden.

The green jacket gang!

KK and Hadleigh in the tree house at the Garden

The girls with their great-grandma

Another family shot

Pops and Harper admiring their new gifts.

After the 14 hour drive, Hadleigh recovers quickly by ripping into all the gifts in record time!

Hadleigh can't get enough of Harper's toys. Poor Harper has had to share all her gifts with Hadleigh except for the pacis Santa left in her stocking!

Baldwin Christmas in Little Rock

Loving Christmas even though she's cutting her 1st tooth

I caught Hadleigh talking to this Santa at Doc's house. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I'm pretty sure it was important.

Christmas morning

Decorating cupcakes for Jesus' Birthday

Yummy!Sweet potatoes for this little one...yummy!Harper's first gift

Family picture after the Christmas Eve service

Having a pre-Christmas Eve dinner at Bob and Judy's home on our way to church

Hadleigh's debut on stage. She was a little timid during the singing portion of her school program, but when it was time to dance, she broke out of her shell!

Group shot of our Christmas dinner at Bordino's.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our family and friends! Thanks for reading our blog.

A peak into the future

Choke holds...

and lots of "she did it"s

On a more serious note...
Our sweet Harper turned 6 months old on Wednesday. Where does the time go? It seems like we just brought her home last week. She still is the happy, smiley baby that she has always been. She's rolling over, sitting up unassisted (but not unsupervised) for short periods of time, and spends lots of time on her tummy. She's eating 4-5 times a day plus has tried rice cereal and peas (which she is not too fond of!). Harper is typically a good sleeper at night, waking up occasionally in search of the paci. She's usually down around 8pm and will sleep or be content for a good 12 hours. Daytime naps are unpredictable, which I'll take the blame for. We are usually out and about in the mornings so the morning nap tends to occur briefly in the car. My goal is always to get Harper and Hadleigh napping at the same time in the afternoon. It happens more times than not, but again, is unpredictable. Harper loves to be held and can be a little demanding of it sometimes. She thinks Hadleigh is the funniest person ever. She will crack herself up whenever Hadleigh pays any attention to her.
A little over 6 months ago I was petrified of how I was going to manage with two kids. All I can say is God never gives you more than you can handle and we are so blessed to have our girls. The joy they bring into our lives each day is immeasurable.

Talkin' a big game

Hadleigh loves to talk a big game! All week we'd been talking about riding a pony and sitting on Santa's lap and Hadleigh was rearing to go...no qualms about it. That is, until it was go time. Friday we braved the frigid weather to see the lights downtown and give Hadleigh the pony ride she had been so excited for. She was fantastic until she realized she was going to have to actually get on. Once she finally did though, everything was perfect and she enjoyed her first pony ride.
Saturday we had Breakfast with Santa and then an event at church. The girls got to sit on Santa's lap, make reindeer food, decorate cookies, make a Nativity scene, and other fun activities. One of our girls enjoyed her Santa experience, one not so much...I'll let the pictures tell the story.
Enjoying her first candy cane and the lights

Before she made it on the pony. She's got me by a death grip!

She quickly became a pro-pony riderHarper enjoying all the activity from the warmth and comfort of her stroller.

"Bring on this Santa guy, I'm ready!"

Reunited with our long-lost blogger friend Payton. What a fun surprise!"I'm ready for Santa, too. No big deal...bring on the lap."
"Just kidding. How about we wait til next year.""Are we done yet?"

Her "cheese" face as she's showing off her reindeer food and picture frame. I can't get her to keep her eyes open when she's getting her picture taken.Another squinty-eyed shot with her Nativity scene.

Eyes open, wrong camera!

Fun times this Fall

I know I'm way behind on my blogging, so I'm just going to post lots of pics as a recap of the last month. It has been a busy one, hence the lack of blogging! The most exciting news, however, is that Hadleigh is diaper-free!!! It was so much easier than I ever imagined. In fact, we really didn't do much except stop putting her in diapers. She was obviously ready since she has never looked back. I have to say that I selfishly miss the convenience of the diaper. I think I spent most of November in bathrooms!

Fall is here...playing in the leaves at Old Main

Another failed attempt at a good picture of my girls...Hadleigh walked away unscathed, while Harper rolled away with scratch marks on the face!

Our precious 5 month old is all smiles all the time!

Thanksgiving dinner

We didn't want to deprive Harper on Thanksgiving, so she had her first helping of rice cereal...yum.

Not to sure what to think about this but she gobbled it all up in true Thanksgiving fashion.

Family photo before the Alzheimer's Gala

A girls' shot before the gala

Christian and the girls at the school's Thanksgiving Lunch

Playing outside in our Sunday best

Harper before our Thanksgiving meal...can you tell what she's thinking? My guess, "Look mom, I've got my bib on and I'm all ready to go...carve up some turkey for me!"

Hadleigh enjoying her meal, especially the sweet potatoes.

"Look at me with at the fancy table with all this food!"

"Fine, since I don't get any turkey, I'll settle for daddy's lap."

Halloween wrap up

What a holiday and what a relief it finally happened and is over! Hadleigh was supposed to wear her costume to dance on Friday, but I didn't think the sheep was very conducive to dancing, so she was the bumble bee from last year. The tutu was perfect for all her dance moves. That afternoon, our school had a Halloween party, so I took the girls up there so Hadleigh wouldn't miss out. The kids paraded around to all the classrooms and then got a sugar-high at snack time. I'm sure the teacher was glad most of the parents came to take their kids home early that day. As if we didn't already have a fun-filled Friday, we did pumpkin carving at our house that night. Of course when Christian is involved, nothing is done the old-fashion way. He had every power tool possible out and of course the kids quickly lost interest, leaving the dad's to take over. Meanwhile, I'm still cleaning up pumpkin from my wall, floors, and everything in between!
Saturday, Hadleigh and Christian went down to the tailgate for a while before the trick-or-treating festivities began. We practiced all day what she was to say at each house, however, she apparently lost her voice at every single house. Christian said she was pretty timid at every house and was extremely frightened by an 8 year old Dracula. The overall experience was a great one for her and fortunately for us, I think she has already forgotten about all the candy she got last night! Harper was a trooper through all of Hadleigh's parties. She was the cutest cow around by far and did a fabulous job helping me pass out the candy. I even heard a kid tell his dad that he didn't give me the "scary treatment" just because of the baby...lucky me!
Hope you all got lots of treats for Halloween!

The bumble bee at dance

The best snack at school ever!

She picked out this outfit/shoes for the pumpkin carvingThe girls displaying their dads' works of artsDylan and Hadleigh on the Razorback grillHadleigh geared up for trick-or -treatingMy trick-or-treaters at workAn exhausted sheep post- trick-or-treating. The costume is on it's last leg!Mommy's happy helper:)