Smart Cookie!

So, before Hadley's 9 month checkup, she said her first word.  Drum roll please.........it was "mama" and it was so cute to watch her little mouth say it.  

When we were at the 9 month checkup, the doctor asked if she was starting to say "mama" or "dada" noting that "dada" is usually first. Of course, I had to tell him that she decided to start by saying "mama" (with a little encouragement...hey, it's every man for himself).  Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure "dada" will be any day now.

I've been trying to capture it on video for a while now but my mom was able to get it while Hadley was strapped in her car seat on our way home from vacation.

Now, she's on to saying "baa baa" and I can't get her to say "mama" or "dada" to save my life.



As you can see in the video, she's starting to lift her hands off the table to practice balancing herself.  She's getting pretty brave!

Fun with a Coaster

Here's Hadley having fun with a coaster.

I love that kid.

Catching Up

Let's do a quick recap. 

We had a great time on vacation. Hadley was amazing on the long, very long drive back.  Damn near perfect!  

And thanks to all my travel companions for your help (and a couple of times your understanding) with Hadley.  Much appreciated!

We were dropped off at the lake where we extended our vacation a couple more days and spent some time with friends.

It was Hadley's first time at the lake and first time on the boat. Let's just say she's a boat baby but not so much a lake baby. I can't blame her. I wouldn't want to wear that crazy life jacket either. I have no idea who the baby is in the picture below but it's a good representation of the life jacket and how Hadley and her boating friend Max felt about the whole life jacket thing.

Not. Happy.

So, while we were stopped we just let them play in the boat.

They were awesome especially considering we were encroaching on their nap time. Troopers!

Hadley enjoyed the screened-in porch in the early morning.

 

And an early game of poker with Max.

I have no idea what's going on in the following pictures. I'm kind of afraid to ask.

When I told Hadley that it was time to pack up and head home she looked at me like this.

 

I told her not to worry.  We'll go back.

Days 4,5 and 6

The clouds parted and...

 the pool side fun began.

We also worked in some other kinds of fun.



Day 3

Well, day 3 got off to a rough start.

We've been through this before so, we made the best of it.  Some of us didn't get out of our pj's all day long. Some of us passed the time by playing, reading books, and napping.  And others went shopping.

Once the rain cleared, some went down to walk on the beach.

Hadley went on a walk with her Mimi and enjoyed a relaxing day of just hanging out.  Then she went to bed which enabled me to have a wonderful dinner that...

...a few key contributors made for the rest of us.  It was delicious and hit the spot.

We're hoping the sun will shine a lot more tomorrow!

Day 2

Hadley woke up from a restless great nights sleep and was ready to face the day.

We drove to Blufton, South Carolina and stopped for lunch at one of our favorite places.

Hadley did great the whole time we were there and even made friends with our server.

Then we took a quick 15 minute drive to Hilton Head, checked into our house, checked out the pool...

 and got settled in...some of us more than others.

Once we were rejuvenated, we headed to dinner to celebrate Nana's birthday.  This picture below pretty much describes how Hadley felt about sitting at the table for dinner. 

Once Hadley had dinner and while the rest of us were waiting on ours, we went outside for a bit.

Then, while I was elbow deep in crab legs, Hadley was cruising around Harbor Town with Erin.

Hadley wasn't that thrilled about the car ride home but we made it and she went straight to bed to rest up for tomorrow.



Day 1

Well, on Friday morning around 9:45 we loaded up and heading south.

(Thanks for the use of the trailer Darrel!)

Hadley did her part and spent a good bit of the trip like this.

We stopped at Cumberland Gap State Park and had a picnic lunch in the woods.  It was great.  Hadley really enjoyed herself.

We got back in the vehicle and continued south to Columbia, South Carolina where we met up with the rest of our group. 

We headed to dinner at a place we'd seen on The Food Network.  There was a short wait so Hadley had her dinner al fresco.

The rest of us had something more like this...

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and hit the hay!  Well, I should say that some of us slept better than others.  Not surprisingly, Hadley had a little trouble sleeping in a different bed in a different place. But we managed.