Happy Birthday, Daddy

January has been a pretty low key month with the exception of Christian's birthday. His birthday request was a "Meat Off, Eat Off". After some explanation of what exactly this meant, the party was on. His poor friends were great sports about the whole thing, spending most of the day outdoors cooking in the single digit weather....brrrrrr. From someone who doesn't have much of an appreciation for meat, I must admit that all of the entries were very delicious. It was a tough competition to judge, but there ended up being one clear winner. Michael Considine, who drove up from Little Rock, took the title as the 1st annual Meat Off, Eat Off Champion. He made a pork shoulder that was incredible. We can't wait to make this an annual tradition and hopefully the weather will be more accommodating to grilling next year.
Harper turned 7 months on Christian's birthday. Now that she can sit up alone, she can keep herself entertained for a while as long as a few toys are in reach. She is excelling at independent play. She loves taking a bath and can spend hours (though that doesn't happen) sitting in there splashing around with her hands and feet. She has 2 teeth coming in and is eating 2 meals a day of cereal, fruits, and veggies. She's sleeping pretty well, but has a bad habit of waking up sometime between 4-6am and it takes some work to get her to go back down, but she eventually will. Harper continues to be the happiest girl around, laughing or smiling almost nonstop!
Hadleigh has grown up quite a bit the past few weeks. First, she threw away her paci! I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into when she did it, but Christian somehow convinced her to do it. The first couple of nights were rough, but once the initial shock wore off, it really wasn't too bad. She continued to ask for it for about a week and nap time and bedtime are no longer as simple as they used to be, but she has managed. She still asks for it occasionally, but the meltdowns are few and far between and she knows that the garbage man took it away permanently. She actually sleeps better now since she's not waking up looking for it in the middle of the night. I never would have thought it would be this easy. I guess people were right...it was my crutch, not hers. Secondly, Hadleigh officially moved up to the preschool side of school (sniff, sniff). This means she eats and plays with the "big kids". I could tell she was nervous the first day and she wanted so bad to go back to her old class, but she kept it together and marched right into her class. I stayed (out of sight, of course) and watched her go to breakfast. She had to wait in line and pick up her tray cafeteria-style. I held my breath as she took the tray full of food and milk and carried it back to her new table. Like a pro, she made it to her table and sat down next to a new friend. I left daycare that morning one proud mom!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Hadleigh, Scarlett, and Marlee having a wild time. Can't wait for the first sleepover!

The Champ, Michael (with Adriene), giving a few tips to David for next year

Dalicia, Peyton, Harper and Abby

Cheers to the birthday boy!

The ladies man!

A few of the competitors tending to their grills and trying not to freeze.

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!