The Richards Family: September 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Mr. Personality

Yesterday Brendan ran into my room and said, "Mommy! Shirt on! Brendan put shirt on!" He was so happy he could hardly talk. He has been trying to dress himself for months. He usually puts his head through the armhole, puts both legs in one side of his shorts, or some other similar thing that makes him really frustrated. Well, on this particular day he was wearing his pajamas (layer 1), found a t-shirt from the day before and correctly put it on -- which is what caused all of the excitement (layer 2), and then asked me to help him put on the sweater vest that he had worn to church on Sunday -- which was still laying on his bed, whoops (layer 3). I wanted a picture of the first time he dressed himself, even if it was just the shirt that he actually did himself. As soon as I came in with my camera, he plopped down on the floor in this pose! Ha! It is one the photographer had him do in the studio a couple of weeks ago and he remembered it exactly. He cracks me up every single day...

We were at the mall with my mom (MaMaw) and Brendan was waiting for his food to be ready. He climbed into one of the massage chairs and patiently waited while sipping a nice, cold, Hi-C. He acts sooo old sometimes.

My child is obsessed with candy! He asks for it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and every time in-between. I usually say no (usually means he still ends up with something sweet every day), but he gets really excited when I say yes. Here he is with chocolate all over his face. Lovely.

Finger paint or face paint?

We do an art project every-other-day (I live for schedules, sorry). He had been doing a fantastic job with the sponges and finger paint, so I left him for a few seconds to empty the dishwasher (which is right behind this table in the same room). When I came back around to see how he was doing, this is what I found. I started laughing and took him to the bathroom to see himself. Because I made such a big deal out of it, he now paints his face every time I give him paint. Lovely.

Brothers

Brendan now mocks anything Hadley does. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

Yes, Hadley is full of fear and Brendan is full of joy. Where do you draw the line between a hug and a tackle? I don't think I have quite figured it out yet.

Although sometimes rough, Brendan is a very compassionate big brother. He loves to take care of Hadley. He will get his pacifier, hold his hand when he is crying, run to me when he hears Hadley crying over the monitor so as to make sure I am going to get him, or, as you see here, cover him up with a blanket so that he is not cold. Brendan thinks that babies are supposed to be covered in a blanket at all times. I guess that is the way he most often sees them. Therefore, if he ever finds Hadley without a blanket, he instantly looks for one and covers him up.

Oh my, oh my... I guess Hadley will be one strong kid. That is what I am supposed to say, right?

Hadley's Baby Blessing

Sweet Hadley received his baby blessing at church on Sunday, September 6, 2009. Daddy gave a wonderful blessing and Hadley was awake, yet quiet the entire time. He looked quite handsome in his blessing outfit -- the same one that his brother wore two years before. If you look back at pictures from Brendan's blessings, you will be amazed how identical they look!

Relaxing...

Awwww...

Precious.

A motorcycle drove by right as this picture was taken. Brendan was much more interested in it than the camera...

We were so happy to have MaMaw and PaPaw with us!

Here's another attempt at a family photo, only slightly better.

Hadley's 3 Month Update

I a much better sleeper now! For the past three nights I have slept a consistent 7 hour stretch -- yippee! During the day, I fall asleep every 1.5-2 hours. If you do not put me to sleep when you should, I will often conk out where ever I am (hence the picture above). I take shorter, more frequent naps than my brother did, and that has taken Mom awhile to catch onto. However, now that she knows my preferred schedule and follows it, I am a SUPER EASY baby. I only make a whimper if I need to go to sleep or eat. Other than that, I smile and coo all the time! Yesterday I gave a full-out laugh for the first time and repeated it throughout the day!

When it is time to go to sleep for a nap, all it takes is my pacifier and about 2 minutes in the rocking chair and I am drowsy and ready to be put down. This quick routine is a blessing for my mom. My brother Brendan knows that he is not allowed in the room when Mom is putting me to sleep, but if it takes very long, he will come to the outside of the door (not open it, because he knows that leads to time-out), and say, "All done, Mommy? Hadley sleeping, Mommy? No? Okay...". Even though Mommy never responds, he will do this several times if I am not quick to fall asleep. Therefore, Mom is motivated to pay very close attention to my sleepiness signs so that she takes me to my room at just the right time.

I have to be one of the happiest babies ever! I literally smile nearly the entire time I am awake. I LOVE for people to talk to me. If you say anything to me in a sweet voice, I will immediately smile and coo for you.

I am also very strong! I can push up and straighten my elbows, and just this week I started consistently rolling over from my tummy to my back, to both the left and right sides, every time someone puts me down on a blanket.

Laughing and playing... so sweet!

I am finally able to sit in my Bumbo seat! I have been enjoying this new view of the world.

Brendan's First Haircut

On September 10th, Mom and MaMaw took me to Pigtails and Crewcuts for my first haircut! I LOVED it! I got to sit in a firetruck and hold a train in one hand and a sucker in the other. Does life get any better than that? The above shot was taken on Sunday -- my first day of church with my big boy hair!

This is the before shot. Mom and Dad had waited until they could not possibly wait any longer. My curls were soooo cute; no one wanted them to be cut. However, whenever I got my hair wet I looked like I had a rat tail... so everyone thought the time had come for a cut.

Mmmm.... I was loving the sucker, oblivious to the lady cutting my hair.

I was slightly perturbed that someone was pulling on the back of my hair and thus interrupting my sucker eating.

The finished back

The finished front

(This is my "Vmmmmm" face. The firetruck was off to rescue someone. I was having fun playing and did not understand why the lady wanted me to get down so another kid (who was screaming, "NO!!!!") could take my seat).

TA-DA!

They told me to pick out a prize from the treasure chest. I told Mom, "I don't want it! I don't like it!" because there was nothing but junk inside. Oh well. The cool seat and sucker made up for it.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Cute Kids, Poor Parents

This week I took Brendan and Hadley to Portrait Innovations for pictures. I chose this place because a friend recommended it and because it had a great $10 package deal (tons of pictures of ONE pose). I went to get one pose and pay $10. I came home with lots more poses... and lots more debt. Whoops. But what could anyone possibly expect me to do? These kids are too, too, too cute.

HADLEY - 3 MONTHS OLD

Sweet baby

Smiling baby

Laughing baby

Adorable baby

Precious baby

Baby already looking like a little man...

BRENDAN - 2 YEARS OLD

Happy, happy 2 year old

Are you serious? This picture was not even planned. The photographer took him in a separate room to let him play while she got things ready for Hadley's pictures. She found him doing this all on his own and started snapping pictures. This kid is out of control funny and soooo theatrical. Any idea where he gets his dramatic side????

2 years old or 16? Sometimes I am not quite sure.

This pose was so fun to watch. As soon as the photographer put his hand in his pocket, he cocked his leg and started posing. Then she gave him a break for a little bit, but he would not take his hand out of his pocket.

I can't handle the cuteness...

All smiles!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Happy Birthday, Brendan!

Brendan celebrated his 2nd birthday by having 16 of his friends over to our home for a DINOSAUR party! I had a blast planning it and was soooo happy to see it turn out well. From all indications, Brendan absolutely loved it and so did our guests!

The party consisted of the kids rotating through four stations (yes, I am teacher... what do you expect?). All of the details are recorded below. There were over 200 pictures (thanks, Carol!), so it was quite difficult to narrow it down to this little sample (that might not seem so little). We want to send a big thank you, too, to Michelle. She was my "right-hand woman" and helped out with every station. It was a very special day and we were glad to share it with so many friends. We were especially glad to have MaMaw and PaPaw visiting!

STATION #1: DINOSAUR PUPPETS
As they arrived, our guests settled down at Station #1 - "Dinosaur Finger Puppets". Here, they made/decorated dinosaur finger puppets using cardstock cut-outs, glue, glitter, crayons, feathers, and other fun craft items. They also received a brown "pre-historic" bag to decorate and then use to collect their party favors. By the end of the party, they had the following items in their goodie bags: 2 dinosaur finger puppets, a dinosaur coloring book, a dinosaur egg with a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur inside, the dinosaur they excavated, and their playdough.

STATION #2: BUILD A DINOSAUR
Using their own individual canisters of playdough, our guests constructed dinosaurs. Parents and kids had a blast at this station and it rendered some fantastic pictures.

STATION #3: DINOSAUR NEST
This was a plastic pool (nest) filled with lots of small balloons (eggs). The kids were able to toss them, sit on them, stomp on them, pop them, etc. They loved it!

STATION #4: DINOSAUR EXCAVATION SITE
The grand finale -- station #4 -- was "Dinosaur Excavation". It consisted of a big tub of sand which had around 20 dinosaurs hidden inside. Each kid had a shovel and was instructed to dig until each person "excavated" a dinosaur to take home. It was hard to pry the kids away from this one!

TIME FOR FOOD

After doing our best to clean up their little hands, we all gathered back at station #1, which had since been transformed into dinosaur place settings for lunch. We had dinosaur plates, napkins, party hats, and horns. We served pizza and grapes, followed by an excellent dinosaur cake.

THE CAKE

Brendan LOVED the cake and ESPECIALLY loved blowing out the candles. After doing it on the big cake, we replaced the candles on his individual piece and he kept having us light them so he could blow them out. He did not stop until he had gone through the entire box of 30 matches.

PRESENTS (a sample)

We did not open presents during the party because we did not have time, and because I was not sure how that would go over with so many two year olds! It actually took us nearly three days to open them all because Brendan would want to play with each one for a while before moving on to the next one. He seriously LOVED each and every present. Each morning he is incredibly excited to play with his toys as soon as he wakes up, and he rotates through all of them by the end of the day.

Hadley

Hadley was sporting a dinosaur outfit as well, but he did not make it out for much of the party. Naptime was calling his name, but he was there in spirit!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, BRENDAN!