Dear Hadley,
Yesterday you turned eight months old. As I write this letter, you are currently upstairs taking a nap. Moments ago you looked up at me, gave me a smile that melted my heart, and then closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep. And that pretty much sums you up right now. You are a very easy baby and an incredibly happy child.

You love nothing more than being surrounded by your family. Literally. You love being in the center of everything that is going on. Whenever we are sitting on the couch just hanging out you twist, scoot, and wriggle yourself into the middle so you can be touching as many of us as possible. And from what I’ve witnessed, there isn’t a single person in this family complaining about that! You have such a happy personality that everyone is just drawn to you.

Mobility, or your lack there of, is your biggest irritation at this time. You are trying SO hard to crawl. It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch. First you get into “plank” position…

Then you get up on your knees and rock for a bit…

Then after you have scooted around backwards for a bit, you finally give up in frustration. But don’t worry. You will figure it out eventually and when that time comes, there won’t be anything holding you back!

During the last month we took a little mini vacation up to Seattle and to Great Wolf Lodge. This was your very first time to leave the state! Wahoo for Washington! We had a great time visiting our friends and then playing at the water park. While you typically love water (bath water, drinking water, you aren’t picky) you were more impressed with the wristbands than playing in the water. Having a chew toy literally attached to your body was the best entertainment ever. I’d consider picking up some for every day, if it weren’t for all the drool that came with it.

Over the 4th of July weekend, we visited our family in Seaside and you finally got to meet your Uncle Greg and his family. It took them so long to meet you because they live in Arizona, so we were ecstatic that they came up here to visit. You were very happy to see him because you have a great fondness for big guys with a beard and glasses.

Since you are pretty dedicated to your 8pm bedtime, we opted out of going and watching fireworks this year. But we did do a few of our own at home. You weren’t exactly sure what was going on. There was a lot of noise and smoke and occasionally some pretty lights. All you knew was that your sister was happy, so that made you happy.

The other big news this month is that we recently introduced you to finger foods. This pleased you immensely. We figured since eating came so naturally to you, you would probably do pretty well with some food you could feed yourself. And we could not have been more right. You have been desperately trying to grab food off our plates, with little success, so you were quite shocked when we handed you a teething biscuit. As with everything else you come into contact with these days, it went straight to your mouth. Then your eyes lit up with delight when you realized it was something you could EAT! You sucked, chewed, and gummed it all up, only gagging a couple times, until there was nothing left. Pretty impressive for a first try!

As I’m sure is the case with most younger siblings, you want to be wherever your big sister is, doing whatever she is doing. I can already tell that you two are going to be thick as thieves when you grow up. Ana tells me on a regular basis how much she loves being your big sister and I can tell by the way you light up when she walks in the room that you love being her little sister.

Hadley, I just love you so much. I feel like saying those words is going to start to lose it’s meaning because I can’t help but tell you all the time. There are just so many things I love about you. I love the way you lay your head on my chest when you get tired. I love the way you stretch and stick your little belly out every time I set you on the changing table. I love the way your hair tickles my chin when you sit on my lap. I love the way you lunge forward, like a striking cobra, when you try to grab something. I love the way you wiggle from side to side in your car seat when you get excited. I love the way you laugh and the magical effect it has on our entire family. I love the way you rest your hand on my face when you look into my eyes. And these are just a few of the things I love about you. I could go on and on listing all the little things you do that make you amazing and special and absolutely perfect in every way, but that’s what the rest of our lives are for. I will spend every moment loving you and all that you are with all of my heart.

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
Today you turn seven months old. It has been such a busy and exciting month for you. You have had so many milestones, firsts, and things going on, that it is almost hard to know where to begin. All I know is that it has been so much fun watching you conquer the world around you.

I guess if I had to start somewhere, the big news this month is that you started solid food. You are an amazing eater. Regardless of what we are feeding you or how much you like it (Carrots are your favorite. Peas are not.) you will always open your mouth for another bite. You even manage to (mostly) keep your hands out of the way, so you stay relatively clean as you eat your meals (which delights me to no end). You don’t like to play with your food. To you, meal time is NOT play time. You get down to business and I could not be happier about it.

You have also finally mastered sitting up, and you now do it like a pro. Unless you get overly excited about something or you get knocked over by one of our animals (or a “helpful” older sister), I can pretty much guarantee when I set you down in a seated position, you will be in the same spot when I return.

However, if I set you down on your tummy, all bets are off! You have started scooting…backwards. It frustrates you to no end that you try and try AND TRY to move forward but you are constantly stuck in reverse. A lot of the time this results in you getting stuck under various pieces of furniture.

A few weeks ago we took you to the beach for the first time. Not just to the coast (where a lot of our family lives) but to the actual BEACH. Sand and all. It was a pretty nice day so we decided to venture out and let you take it all in. We set you down and you immediately reached down with both hands and ran your fingers through the sand. Before we knew it, you were covering your legs with sand and wiggling around in delight.

Almost as shocking as your reaction to sand, was your reaction to grass. When we set you down directly on the lawn for the first time instead of recoiling in shock at the spiky new texture, you reached down with both hands and grabbed it by the fistfuls. It was everything we could do to keep you from tearing all the grass right out of the ground! It never ceases to amaze me how fearless you are of new things. Nothing takes you by surprise and very rarely does anything even bother you.

In the same trip to the beach, we let you sit up in the stroller for the very first time. During our Stroller Strides classes, I still have you snuggled in to your car seat in the stroller (so you are more secure AND so you are more likely to fall asleep), but for this adventure we wanted you to be alert and able to see everything around you. You didn’t seem to care too much about this new seating arrangement… you were more concerned with the array of straps and buckles you had yet to taste.

Another very exciting thing happened this month: your Grandpa Larry held you for the very first time. This may seem like an odd thing to have happen seven months into your life, but my Dad isn’t too keen on holding the little babies (he says that is what Grandma’s are for) but he has a great time rough-housing with his grandchildren once they are a little less, uh, fragile. So when he swooped down and picked you up off the couch the other day, it broke my heart just a little bit to acknowledge how quickly you are growing up.

With your ever increasing physical abilities and interests in the world around you, the options to keep you entertained are expanding all the time. While we were playing outside the other day you were eying our Cozy Coupe. I looked at it, looked and you, and thought, “Why not?” So I plopped you inside the car and watched your eyes go wide with delight when within a matter of minutes you were not only sitting up in the car, but you started moving it (backwards, of course!) with your tiny feet. Have I told you lately that you are still suppose to be a baby? Because I am not ready for you to be a KID just yet.

Ana is also thoroughly enjoying that you can do more things so she can FINALLY play with you. Right now she is finding the most success playing food related games (restaurant, tea party, etc.) because everything she gives you goes straight into your mouth. She is much more accepting of this fact when you are shoving a plate or cup into your mouth rather than one of her La La Loopsy dolls.

It has been such a fabulous month with you. I love watching you experience things for the first time. I love the way you smile every time you see me. And I even love it when you cry when I set you down because I know that it is just your way of telling me that you love me and you need me. I know that I may not always be the most important person in your world, but at this moment I am and for that I am eternally grateful.

All my love,
Mama