Hadley Kate: 13 Months

I really thought after Hadley Kate hit the one year mark that I would be done with monthly updates! We did the whole "monthly photo" thing, and I think Johnathon and I were both secretly relieved that we didn't have to take those anymore, only because Hadley wasn't always the most compliant model. Then (of course) Hadley decided to go through a million and one milestones and life changes over the past month, so I feel that a month-13 recap is in order!

TEETH

Oh. My. Teeth. Hadley got her first two teeth at seven months, and then nothing. For months I kept checking, and I would swear she was teething, but no teeth came through. Then the night before her first birthday, I felt along her gum line, and realized that two of her top teeth were poking through! She was a little grumpy and didn't eat or nap as well for a couple of days, but handled the two teeth pretty well. Then two weeks later, two more top teeth poked through, and Hadley decided it was necessary to go through the five stages of grief teething...pain, tantrums, bottle refusal, fever, and sleeplessness. It was fun for all involved. THEN, when I thought we had finally made it through the month of teething hell, I noticed her next bottom tooth poking through!! How old are babies by the time all their baby teeth come in?! So for those of you that are keeping up, that is 5 teeth in one month! I'm really hoping for a teething break for awhile after this!

SLEEP

Hadley has been a great night time sleeper, and that is definitely still true. Once she is asleep for the night, I usually don't see or hear her until the next morning! It rocks. But halfway through February, Hadley decided she didn't want to take two naps a day anymore. I first I thought her lack of napping was teething related, but after two weeks in a row of consistently skipping her second nap, I knew she was ready to change up her nap schedule. After a few rocky weeks of nap transitions, I feel like she and I are finally finding our one nap a day strides!

EATING

Hadley chowing down on her favorite breakfast-whole wheat waffle with peanut butter

Hadley switched from formula to regular whole milk right at a year, and didn't seem to notice a difference. She is still pretty hit or miss with her bottles and how much she will drink at a time, but I do think the whole milk has helped put some weight on her. (Hadley is pretty petite-17.5lbs at her one year appointment, so I'm okay with her filling out a bit!). As far as solid food goes, Hadley will eat pretty much anything! Her current favorites are whole wheat waffles with peanut butter, sausage, blueberries, cherries, cheese, carrots, and peas! She isn't a huge carb eater which baffles me completely- she will eat pasta and breads, but not a whole lot of it- and she much prefers finger foods over food pouches or food that I have to spoon feed her! What she lacks in bottle consumption, she more than makes up for in the food department. I have never seen someone so small eat so much...

She inhaled a whole quesadilla and mandarin oranges the other day!!

HAIR

Hadley's hair continues to get thicker and longer each day! She finally progressed to clip in bows and pig tails, and I was so excited!

PLAYTIME

As Hadley gets older, I am noticing that she stays interested in her toys less and less, and much prefers to play outside at the beach, park, or to go to the library and play on the bean bags. She still loves the slide and the swings...

And we always love going to the beach with friends!

WALKING

I couldn't believe it, but Hadley took her first couple of steps this week! She has been cruising furniture for awhile now, but definitely prefers crawling as her main mode of transportation. We'd been trying to practice walking with her and with her walker, but she honestly didn't seem that interested in it, so I thought it would be awhile before she took her first steps. Then the other day she was cruising along a wall in the living room, and just kind of let go, and took two steps. She's done it multiple times now, so I'm sure it won't be long before she is walking all over!! Now that she realizes she can take steps on her own, she has become obsessed with her elephant walker, and cruises back and forth across the living room, then melts down as soon as she runs the walker into a wall. I turn her around, she cruises to the other end of the room, hits a wall, melts down, repeat. Luckily she was in an accommodating mood today, and agreed to get her model on with her elephant walker....

I mean...that's a lot of changes in one month, right?!!? Even though there was a lot going on with Miss Hadley, it was so much fun to watch her grow and learn. Even though I still get sentimental and miss snugly, baby Hadley, the consolation prize is that babies definitely get more entertaining and fun the older they get! Johnathon and I both agree that as she grows, Hadley Kate develops more and more of her personality and spirit, and we find ourselves saying that each new stage is our favorite stage!