All About Hadley: One Month Old

Little Miss Hadley is now one month old! She already has the cutest personality and is growing so much.

At her two week appointment she weighed 7 lbs, 1 ounce and was 20 1/2 inches long.  She eats about every 2 hours for about 5-6 minutes, and she sometimes eats every hour depending on if she spits it all up on not afterwards.  After she eats she usually goes into a milk comma and usually will fall asleep in my arms or on my chest. 

October 16, 2014- Two Week Check Up

She still is in newborn diapers (Pampers Swaddlers) and wears white newborn onesies with mittens all day every day. She doesn't like having anything on her feet, especially when we swaddle her.  After we tightly swaddle her up she will wiggle her way around and out will come her cute little feet.  She doesn't like wearing footed pajamas, socks, or very large bows.

She loves snuggling with mommy and daddy in their bed and loves it when we sleep on the glider with her on our chest.  We have also discovered that she loves the song "Glorious" by David Archuleta and it can calm her down when she is fussy.  She scrunches her forehead (which apparently she got from me...) and does double sneezes (which she got from Grandpa Woody).  She sleeps with her mouth wide open (which she got from the Hayward side) and loves sleeping all day and being awake all night.  She is a little squeaker and makes the best noises.  We finally had to try putting her in her crib in her nursery because she would wake us up with all her little squeaks.  She is a fighter that's for sure and is always throwing punches left and right. 

Hadley loves doing what I call "secret smiles".  She will smile every once in awhile and when I try to take a picture, she stops.  Although I did manage to catch one picture. We sure do love this cute girl and can't wait for her to start smiling more each day!

Hadley has had a lot of "firsts" this past month, but some of the big ones are her first bath and her first blow out.  After exploding through her diaper and then spitting up at the same time we decided that it would be a perfect time to give her a nice clean bath.  When we would give her sponge baths she didn't like it very much, but once we were finally able to give her a real bath and put her in the warm water, she loved it!

She loves sponge baths...haha not.

October 23, 2014- First Bath

October 23, 2014- First Blow Out

We have loved every minute with Hadley and couldn't imagine life without her!  We can't wait to see how much she grows this next month and be able to experience new things with her.  Here are a few pictures from this past month!

Visiting daddy at work!

Snoozin' all day long

October 24, 2014- First time at Zaxby's (Pete's favorite place to eat from the South)

Hadley all dressed up for church (she didn't like it too much)

She loves having her hands out of her onesie

The First Month of Motherhood

I can't believe that Hadley is already ONE MONTH old!  This past month has seemed like it has flown by and she is growing up too fast.  This month has been filled with LOTS of diapers, sleepless nights, feeding after feeding, and both tears of happiness and exhaustion.  Being a mother has been everything I ever dreamed of and I couldn't imagine my life without Hadley, but the first two weeks were not what I expected them to be.

When everyone talks about being a mother they always mention how amazing it is, which don't get me wrong it is, but they don't talk about how big of an adjustment it is.  We came home from the hospital with this perfect little infant knowing that life would be different from then on.  I was prepared for the sleepless nights and changing lots of diapers, but what I wasn't prepared for was that breastfeeding wasn't easy and Hadley slept all day every day until she needed to be fed or changed.  So I would just sit at home and wait for her to need me.  It literally took everything from me.  I went from doing 17 credits at school, 2 internships, working, and having the energy to at least go get some groceries to sitting on the couch all alone.  I obviously knew that I had Hadley there with me, but it was hard because she just slept all day.  I didn't want to take her anywhere because of how much energy it took to get both of us ready and I didn't want to be alone when she started screaming in the aisles of Target. 

You would think that I would have found some hobby to do at home like bake, sew, or knit right?  But my emotions were all over the place and my body was healing that I couldn't even get myself ready for the day.  In the late afternoons after watching movie after movie on Netflix I finally would put Hadley in her bouncer and put her right next to the shower so that I could at least clean myself up for the day.  I looked forward to a shower each day because it was one way that I could relax my body and clear my mind.  After my shower it was back to changing diapers, feeding, and watching Hadley sleep.  

I am the type of person that doesn't like being alone, so when Pete would come home for lunch or to quickly grab his backpack for school it was like Christmas for me.  The only hard part is that he would quickly come and quickly go.  I longed to interact with someone other than a sleeping baby.  Pete was always good to come home from work or school at night and get me out of the house.  Whether it was going to get a treat, going to the store, or just going on a drive together...Pete was there to save the day!  He has been amazing with helping comfort me and listen to me while I cry in his arms.  I know it may not make any sense to him of what I am going through, but he sure knows how to make things better and I am so grateful to have him as my husband and father to Hadley.

I would have my good and bad days.  Some days I would get the courage to finally get out of the house.  I would plan it just right so that Hadley would eat and have her diaper changed and then I would put her in the carseat.  I knew that from the time I fed her that I would have about two hours to do something.  Getting out of the house for even an hour was a huge accomplishment for me, but then coming back home to no one and nothing to do was like I had gone backwards.  I didn't want to admit it but I could see myself falling into depression. I needed to find something to keep me busy and make me feel like I was accomplishing something each day.

My family and friends were great to help me find things to do.  We came up with all these ideas of hobbies I could start.  Writing a blog has been on my list of things to do since the day Pete and I got married and so I am glad I finally am getting around to it.  I also have been making an effort to clean the house at least once each day.  It is amazing at how crazy things can get after just picking everything up.  I've also bought fabric to make hair bows for Hadley (which I will get around to once I learn how to make them).  I also just started working for State Farm from home which has been a huge blessing.  Both Becky and Pete have been a huge help in teaching me insurance things and I feel like I can now have a conversation with them and understand what an umbrella policy is or know that you get more discounts the more policies you have with State Farm.  I also have to give a huge shout out to my mother for being there when I need someone to talk to.  I have called her crying multiple times and it is amazing at how she knows exactly what to say to make me feel better about things.  She is always telling me how great of a mother I am, even when I feel like I have no idea what I am doing.  I know she is super busy, but it means so much to me that she would take the time to listen to me.  I admire her example as a mother and hope I can be just like her someday!

After two hard weeks I found myself slowly accomplishing more and more each day.  I wasn't just sitting around all day.  I would make small goals each day that I wanted to accomplish, and once I did...I felt great!  I even went to Target all by myself!!  I've learned that it takes twice as long to get something done while trying to take care of a baby.  Hadley loves having our attention and loves to be held, which of course makes it very difficult to get anything done but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Each day I learn more and more about Hadley's personality and what she likes and dislikes.  I am enjoying our little moments we are having together and love being her mom.

So as each week goes by things just keep getting better!  I have had a lot of time to reflect on this past month of having Hadley in our lives, and when I think back on everything that has happened I realize that each day I accomplished at least one thing: being a mother.  I may not have done everything on my list for the day, but I at least accomplished what I was called in life to do.  I love the quote by Neil L. Anderson that says, "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.  It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in.  It is what God gave you time for".  I know that God gave me those long days of what I thought I was doing nothing so that I could realize that taking care of Hadley was what I am supposed to be doing each and every day from now on.

Hadley Rae Hayward

Big thanks to Maleah for taking our pictures! Click on the link below to see more of her amazing pictures!

Fotos by Maleah

Maternity Photos

On Wednesday, September 24 my doctor stripped my membranes and told me that our baby could come anytime.  Some people go into labor a couple hours after having their membranes stripped...and some go into labor weeks after.  I didn't know how much time we had left and I still hadn't got any maternity pictures.  I called up my good friend Maleah Maziarz who was going to take our pictures and we planned to take pictures that night up at Sundance.  I thought that all the walking around and getting up and down from the ground would put me into labor that night, but our little girl wasn't ready to come.  I am so grateful we were able to get some pictures just before Hadley came earlier the next week.

Big thanks to Maleah for taking our pictures! Click on the link below to see more of her amazing pictures!

Fotos by Maleah