Our Fourth Year

Today Tyson and I celebrate 4 wonderful years of marriage.
I love the time of year in which we were married. The colors of Autumn are everywhere and they remind me so much of our wedding. On that day we couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces. Thinking about all of the events we've gone through together and the sweet memories we've made keeps that same smile on my face.
I love our little family of four and how we will be able to learn and grow together so much for years to come.
 4 years- we're just getting started!!

Love you Tys.

                                                                                               

A low key day

 Fresh from the bath. 

I'm pretty sure bath time is her favorite thing after nursing :)

Polka dot PJ's

Taryn has been in her superwoman pajamas (complete with awesome cape!) all day long. We played with playdough, our sticker dolls, many stuffed animals and on the stairs because we took the gate down for a little extra fun. 

Hadleigh has been sleeping most of the day . I'm running at half speed (ok- probably less) and that's just fine by me. I see a nap in the near future for all of us. This low key Wednesday is just what we needed. It is really nice to take things slow every once and awhile. My batteries were definitely due for a recharge. 

Blessing Hadleigh on Sunday

Tyson blessed Hadleigh at church this past Sunday and everything about the day was beautiful. It was a chilly/windy fall day. Hadleigh was calm during the blessing which I always worry about. She looked like a little doll in her blessing dress and I was reminded just how tiny she really is as the dress hung from her little body.  

We were so glad to have Tyson's mom here for the baby blessing. Tyson and I kept feeling so grateful that we changed our plans for the next few months and were able to bless Hadeigh here while we're living in Virginia. It's amazing how unpredictable life can be and though you may not know why, some events happen and things seem to always turn out better even when it's not exactly what you had planned or expected.

I never realized how much Brittany and I look alike!

 It's so great to have a sister living so close!!

My pretty girl

Hadleigh's blessing dress was a gift from Grandma Scott and the blanket she is on is a handmade gift from Grandma Smith. 

Hadleigh is one lucky girl!!

 And big sister wanted to get a picture with her sister too!

The dream East Coast Halloween

-Photo bombing by the creepy fishing skeleton at the legendary Halloween house in our neighborhood-

I remember watching movies as a kid and always loving the fall colors depicted for Halloween. How cool is it to experience a full change of season!?! In California- it was beautiful weather- but everything pretty much stayed the same. I always wished for a colorful, crisp fall Halloween on the East Coast. And this year that's just what we got. 

It was Taryn's first official trick-or-treating experience. She held onto Tyson's hand the entire time as they walked door to door together. We picked a street just one block from us that was completely decorated for Halloween. It also happens to be the street where a ton of kids Taryn's age live. It was perfect. The day was beautiful- a bit overcast- creating that nice gloomy fall Halloween weather. The fall leaves of orange, red and yellow littered the streets, and I could here the crispy leaves crunching all day long as we ran our errands. 

We originally wanted to be Smore's as a family ...Taryn-marshmellow, Hadleigh-chocolate, Tys & Brianna- graham crackers. I even scouted out the perfect sized card board boxes on the side of the road on trash day for Tyson's tall body- stuffing them into my car at 9 months VERY pregnant... running into our friends bright and early in the morning... making quite the scene as people were on their way to work. 

Taryn recited "I be Marshmellow, Haddie be choc-o-late, Mommy & Daddy be cracker" over and over again. 

But about a week later I remembered I would be having a baby...and packing...and functioning in survival mode. Oh ya... so I scraped that because life was/is crazy. Then Taryn was a kitty for our church Halloween party. We were given the mask days prior and we could make it work. Then guilty mom set in and I felt bad that I was being so lame. So Halloween day I gave Taryn a few choices, completely willing to make her a Smore's all in one to make her happy (insert crazy Mom here.) We talked about her costume choices when she woke up from her nap and in the corner of my eye I saw her tutu. 

That's it!!! A fairy princess. 

She was sold and never looked back on the marshmallow. It took us 10 minutes to put her costume all together (a little make up, a tutu, a magic wand, a princess crown, sparkly shoes) and then she began to dance around like a little sugar plum fairy in the Nutcracker. Happy child.

It was a wonderful night of trick-or-treating. We were all happy and Hadleigh slept through the whole thing. By the time we had finished our one street, the rain started and we headed for home. Man, VA doesn't joke about their 20% chance of rain! But Taryn was done at that point which worked out perfectly and we had just seen our friends. We came home, Tyson and Taryn sorted through her candy,  and Brittany & Seth came over to see the fairy princess (who started bouncing off the walls like I've never seen before and she had only like 3 pieces of candy!!?!!)

I think Halloween has become way more fun now that Taryn understands everything about it a little more. And I loved watching Taryn & Tyson holding hands and enjoying the evening together, with Taryn singing a song we think she made up... 

"Trick or treat, it's gonna be fun!"

Sister love

"Ohh mom! Haddie looking at me!"

"Look mom, I be gentle!"

Love them with all my heart

Our Friday

Ready and happy to go to the park! Well, that is until we got there and it was just too cold! Taryn showed me her cold hands and asked for gloves. I hadn't bought a hat or gloves for her this season yet so the next best thing was my sweater. It was huge on her and she got a good laugh out of trying to play with it on. But we finally decided it was just too cold with the wind and 50 degree temperature (mama didn't layer her up. This cold cold weather hit fast and I didn't expect it to be THAT cold!!)

So we went to Barnes and Noble and played forever at the train table. They have another section of the store just for kids with building blocks. But today, our attention was given to the trains and stuffed animals. Endless entertainment! And we were warm!!

Week by week she just keeps growing!

Hadleigh at 1 week old

Hadleigh at 3 weeks old

How is it that they can change so much in just a few weeks?! She barely fits into her newborn outfits which seemed so big on her when she got home from the hospital. She's adding more chub to those chubby checks and looks more like Tyson's baby photos than Taryn did. There are times I feel guilty putting her down in her bassinet or bouncer because when she wakes up I know she has grown just a little more.