Lake Time with the Norton's...

Tonight was another fun night of entertaining at the lake.  We enjoyed an evening of grilling and boating with Austin's good friend from High School, Randy and his wife Dana.  Randy's parents, Randy (Sr.) and Judi, also came down for the visit.  Randy and Dana live in Florida so we don't get to seem them very often, but when we do, it's always a good time.  We've already planned our next visit: Das Dutchman Essenhaus in December when they're back up for the holidays! 

The previous pictures are all compliments of Judi.  I failed to get my camera out, but she managed to take some great pictures for me to use on my blog.  The pictures would be even better if I had one of Randy Sr. and Judi, and one of myself.  Oh well, that will teach me to not be lazy about taking pictures, won't it?   

She's Legal

Hadley weighs 20 pounds on the nose.  Yeah! 

She's now "legal" in her carseat...only 1 week after we let her start riding forward facing, and 4 days after her 1st birthday.   

First Steps...5 of them!

It won't be long until Hadley is walking.  Austin and I have been playing with her in the evenings, sitting across from each other and convincing her to walk back and forth between us.  Tonight I was getting ready to take her to bed and decided to try and get her to walk from the chair over to me, and of course, she did...but this time it was 5 real steps in a row without falling down.  I'm calling these her first official steps!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Steffey!

Austin traveled to Grand Rapids, MI today to celebrate the wedding of one of his good friends from High School, Andrew Steffey.  Austin had a great time even though he was sans his wife and daughter!  I had to work, and Hadley spent the day (her official 1st birthday) with Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Shelby.  Aside from attending the wedding, Austin also got to hang out with old friends like Randy and Keith.  From the looks of it, Adaline did a great job planning a beautiful wedding.  I wish I could have been there.  The pictures below are a collection of Austin's and Judi Norton's.       

Austin's lone place card...

The boys: Andrew (groom), Randy, Austin and Keith

Dancin' it up!

...the cutting of the cake!

A close up of the cake:

...and finally a picture of the wedding party table and one of the reception.

Congratulations Andrew and Adeline! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Hadley!

One year ago today God answered a prayer. After many hours of anticipation, Austin and I welcomed our daughter, Hadley Martelle, into our lives at 12:11 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and measured 20 ½ inches long.

Never in a million years could I have imagined what it would feel like to wake up every morning to Hadley's smiling face; to watch her learn and grow.  She's almost walking now and every milestone has been nothing but pure joy.  As everyone tells me constantly, “She’ll be grown in the blink of an eye!”  I try to take that to heart; to slow down and enjoy the moments and cherish every day that we spend together, because each day is a day that I will never get back. I love having Hadley in my life and I love being her mother. All too quickly she will be grown into a beautiful young woman, but for now I have but one request: Time, will you please slow down just a bit?

Happy 1st Birthday, Hadley!

Happy 12 Months, Hadley!

Newborn and 1 Month Old

2 Months Old and 3 Months Old

4 Months Old and 5 Months Old

6 Months Old and 7 Months Old

8 Months Old and 9 Months Old

10 Months Old and 11 Months Old

12 Months Old!

Whew!  We made it.  Over the last few months, it has gotten harder and harder to get Hadley to sit still and look straight at the camera for her picture.  She just wants to run around and play all of the time.  I'm so glad that we got all 12 headshots though.  They will be awesome for her to look at someday and see how much she changed from month to month during her first year of life! 

12 Month Doctor Appointment = Big Girl Car Seat!

I took Hadley to her 12 month well baby checkup

and here are her stats:

 One year ago:                      Today:

            7 pounds 1 ounce           19 pounds 11 ounces

     20 1/2 inches                     31 inches

**They also drew her blood today to check her lead level and do a complete blood count. Everything came back good.  She's a healthy little girl!

Indiana State law requires anyone under the age of 8 be restrained in a car seat or a booster seat, whichever is appropriate according to the manufactuer's specifications.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that the child be 20 pounds and one year of age before switching them to a forward facing car seat.  Hadley's new car seat is manufactured by Evenflo and it's specifications state that she can be forward facing at 20 pounds, and that the car seat is designed for children at least 19" tall rear-facing, and less than 50" forward-facing.

Whew!  After making an informed decision I decided to allow Hadley to start using her new car seat, forward facing, even though she is 5 ounces short of the 20 pound requirement.  We put it in the car last night, 3 days before her 1st birthday.  She loved riding forward.  It was as if we showed her a whole new world.  Yeah...she's in the big girl car seat now!!    

Happy 6 Year Anniversary!

Austin and I celebrated 6 years of marriage today.  In celebration we had our first lake party with about 40 friends who traveled from as far as Louisville, KY and Indianapolis to celebrate with us.  I can't believe how quickly 6 years has gone by.

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."

--Dr Seuss 

Happy Anniversary, Austin! 

You are more than I could have ever dreamed of and I can't wait to celebrate many more August 7th's with you! 

Hadley's 1st Birthday Party!

I can't believe that my daughter is turning 1!  We celebrated Hadley's 1st birthday today, one week early.  This was due to my work schedule and Austin's friend getting married next Saturday on her actual birthday.  We decided to keep the party small, inviting only great grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins (plus Pete, Holly, Gabe and Lilah).  Hadley had a great time and everyone enjoyed helping her celebrate her first year of life! 

    

Hadley got to wear her birthday tutu for her party.  She didn't have it on very long because we needed to keep it clean for her 12 month pictures.  Doesn't she look cute?

I wanted to make a banner to display all of Hadley's monthly pictures at the party, so when Grandma Kim and Aunt Shelby arrived, I put them to work.  They executed my idea perfectly and it looked great!

Hadley's party was centered around the colors brown, fushia, pink and white. She also had some giraffes and elephants on some of the decor. 

We served gourmet cupcakes from Caketopia Bakery and they tasted awesome!  There were 5 flavors: Red Velvet, Blueberry Pancake, S'mores, Cookies n' Cream and Cherry Cordial.

Aunt Lex made Hadley's 1st birthday cake and she did a great job!

Everyone kept asking where I ordered it.

Hadley had a great time "smashing" her cake.  It took her a few minutes to figure out why everyone was staring at her and to put her little fingers into the icing.  By the end, she was wearing the cake all over, including her face! 

Before and After...

After getting a much needed bath, Hadley got to open her presents.  She sure did get a lot of nice things, and we are very thankful for all of them!  It'll be fun tomorrow morning when she will get to play with her toys.

Everyone seemed to have a great time hanging out and enjoying the lake.  It was great just getting to spend the evening with family and friends, and even better because it was in celebration of Hadley's birthday!

And Hadley wants to say..."Thanks a bunch" for making her 1st birthday so special!

Happy Birthday, Hadley! 

Mommy and Daddy love you very very much!