Dear Hadley

**I wrote this last month, but never got around to posting. It is mostly for my sake, to keep track of my everyday life, it goes so fast!***

Dear Hadley,

Today I realized you are getting to be such a big girl, and I just love having a little girlfriend around. You really came with your own little personality, didn't you? And I love discovering it. Today you woke up and hung out with your Daddy, it is a perfect arrangement bc he doesn't always get to see you at night, and you wake up a little to early for my liking so I do him a favor and let him take you for an hour before he goes to work. When he needs to get ready you come help me make him lunch and pull all of the cans out of the cupboard. You then follow me and sit right next to me peering into my cereal bowl until I put a few rice crispies on my lap for you to eat - you pick each one up and then ask for more, your favorite cereal is Cocoa Krispies and you like it best when I give you a whole spoonful. We dance for a bit to Mickey Mouse while I check email and you try to put the laptop cord in your mouth, one day I tried it to see what the fuss was about turns out it gives you a bit of a buzz... still not letting you have it though.

You take your nap, I just lay you down, you turn over and put your arm out for your little toy. You sleep with the soft stacking rings from PBK your cousin gave you. You wear it like a bracelet and cuddle it, seriously the cutest thing ever. I cover you with the crocheted blanket from you Aunt, turn out the lights and rarely hear another peep for the morning nap. I woke you up after an hour so we could go meet a friend in town, you LOVE people. I think you get bored of me these days. You flirted with the little boy and smiled at the older ladies, you love older ladies, do they remind you of grandma? You have this little lash thing you do, I swear you have better flirting skills that I ever did and all the people love your huge smile and the ladies at church call you the girl with the smiley eyes. I bought you a blueberry muffin and you scarfed it. We had to head home for another nap after a few hours and I think you are still worn out from the trip bc you took a 2 hour nap...and that hasnt happened in months! I laid down with you and we both got a nap, it was heaven.

You woke up happy and dumped everything in your bed out of the bed and somehow took off the animal on your mobile - I will have to figure out how to reattach that later. We went downstairs and played with blocks and tried to practice walking - I know you can do it, you just dont want to right now. You can stand on your own and love to hold our fingers or the wall and walk along. It is funny to see you so cautious, but I know you will figure it out soon. You are so tall!! and when you stand you really feel like a toddler to me. But then you come crawl in my lap and you feel like my little baby, sometimes I wonder if you are trying to crawl in my skin, but you just come for a hug or to sit awhile and then are back off again. I love when you come lay your head down on my shoulder and put your forehead out for a kiss. I give you cheese puffs for snack and grab a bowl of fruit and all you can do is beg for the strawberries. You eat them as fast as you can, you will say "mo" when I prompt you but basically all you can think about is the strawberries. You also say "no" with a headshake but normally your red-faced shriek can get the point across quite nicely. You jabber all day so I am not sure what words you really have, I hear mama alot when you are with me and dada when dad comes home, but I dont know if this is wishful thinking? But you talk non stop with facial expressions and hand gestures - I am wonder what you are saying and is going on in that little pretty head of yours.

We start dinner and you are very picky about what you want and when you want it - if it isnt what you want you clear it off, and dont even think about putting more than one thing on. So we started with quesadilla and traded to sausage, we liked that for awhile and then ate the strawberries with both hands, we finally snuck some quesadilla in and then went to the grapes, back to the sausage then to the grapes and then we wanted the quesadilla (I had eaten it so I had to make another...) and finally finished with the strawberries. You end up eating a variety of food so it is nice not to have to worry about what you end up eating, but you make it a bit of a work out.

Dad texts that he is on his way home early tonight and we head to the bath before he gets home. You love the squirty toys and like shoving all of the duckies onto the floor. It is just water so I let you. You also pull the chain of the plug up and drape it around your neck like a necklace...where did I find you? In your world everything is an accessory, I find you with dad's shirts like a boa around you, pull my headbands off to put on your head and anything that has a hole is officially a bracelet - I know to find all of my hairbands on your wrist! I think you are just getting a package of those for Christmas. I love seeing personality traits in you that I don't have myself, you are your own little person. We get done with the bath and stop by the mirror like we do every night, when I say you are my pretty baby you have started to point and touch the mirror now. We go get dressed in Jammies, you hate being on the changing table to get dressed and holler at me the whole time.

Dad comes home and we go play, he head butts you so you roll across the floor and you think it is the funniest thing ever. You have the best laugh and dad always gets the biggest belly laughs. We finally head upstairs, read scriptures and pray, you have started folding your arms, at least for a second! And I sing you a lullaby and put you down, you reach for your "bracelet" and I close the door with a "Love You".

Thank for a wonderful day baby girl, I am so very lucky to spend so much time with you and be the one that raises you, I know this is such a privilege. When I get homesick or feeling sorry for myself that I am so far away from friends, it is days like this that remind me I am actually doing exactly what I want to do, which is spend all day with you. Sleep tight Sweet Pea.

Love Always,

Mom