Month 8

(I know two posts in one day, but I almost forgot to post about Hadley)

This month involved Hadley's first Christmas and New Years. It was busy, just as we had anticipated, but Hadley was such a trooper, having such a great attitude during all of the gatherings. She absolutely loved opening the presents...well let me rephrase that...she absolutely loved ripping off the wrapping and immediately sticking it in her mouth. She got lots of toys and clothes.

New Years was very low key which was nice. We all stayed home, Hadley went to bed at 8 and Jon and I watched Wall-E. When 10:30 rolled around Jon and I hit the sack but due to all the fireworks and guns being shot off we didn't fall asleep for a while, then Hadley woke up at 12 anyways so I got up and fed her. Finally asleep at 12:30!

Hadley still has just one tooth but we think that other front bottom one is sooo very close to breaking through. We've been trying to give her finger foods and it is the most hilarious thing. She loves to put absolutely everything in her mouth, except her finger foods! I tried giving it to her so she would know that it was ok to eat and as soon as it touched her lips she made a disgusted face. We keep trying but she's still not interested. We've also introduced the sippy cup. Obviously she doesn't do well with the lid on so we're just getting her used to the idea that there is something (water for now) inside the cup that she would want.

On other milestones, still no crawling, although she is definitely trying to move more so she just kind of rolls back and forth until she gets what she wants. She has figured out that she might be able to pull herself up on our coffee table but she doesn't quite have the strength and coordination yet. My insecure mommy voice sometimes pops up in my head and I start wondering if I'm doing enough to help her develop her gross motor skills but I know it'll come. She does love to dance (bouncing up and down while sitting).

The church nursery.....was getting better but last week was pretty bad. I guess she cried for like an hour and our pager didn't go off. They ended up paging us on the big screen when communion started so I ran over to get her and by then they had gotten her to sleep. Of course when they tested the pager in the room it worked fine. I felt really bad for the nursery workers and for Hadley. Jon and I are at a loss of what to do so she'll have a better time in there. It's right around her nap time but I can usually keep her up when I have her at home so I know she can last that long without a nap. And for a few weeks she was doing fine with new people. This week we're going to put a bottle in the diaper bag and see if that will help her calm down if she gets upset. I know hunger's not an issue because I usually feed her right before we leave for church, but at least it might be comforting. Any moms out there have any other suggestions? I know we'll get it figured out, just one of the many decisions to make as a parent.