Bartons

Bartons

Thursday, April 12, 2012

New York!! (insert Alecia Keys singing "New York" here)

As a last hoorah we decided to go to the big ol' apple on Saturday. We woke up early and got there around 8:30, parked on Staten Island, and took the ferry across to New York City!!! When we got there it was kinda dead....there was barely anyone out, which was kind of weird. So we started walking, got to Wall St and that's where the crowds began. There was a large Asian tour group in line getting their pictures with the Bull, so we just passed it and admired it from afar. The first thing we did was go to the 9/11 Memorial. I'm not a particularly sentimental person, but as soon as we got close, it hit me like a ton of bricks that that was where it happened. I teared up on the spot and we hadn't even gotten to the memorial yet, the feeling of just being there was incredible. It was just the soft opening for the memorial so it was all closed off and we had to go through a bunch of airport-like security to get in, but it was worth it. It was amazing. The most beautiful monument I've ever seen (and I've seen my fair share of monuments). They had all the names of the victims on the edge of the waterfalls, and we saw a couple that said "and her unborn child" next to the woman's name. It really was a very spiritual thing being there. My heart ached for the people who lost loved ones, and I felt so thankful and proud to be an American. It was truly truly incredible, and afterwards Justin told me he noticed quite a few people crying, which made me feel better because I had started crying a few times at random.
Well, onto happier things. After that we got onto the subway (which was difficult for a germaphobe/terroristaphobe), and headed up to the Empire State Building. This we had to admire from the outside because it was about $23 per adult to get in, and we are poor. At this point I just needed to find a place to change a diaper....so we went into Macy's. When we got into the same general area as the bathroom, Haddy threw up all over the floor... I tried to clean it up without anyone noticing. Then the line to the bathroom was a million miles long which was discouraging, until I realized I wasn't using the bathroom, just the changing table, so I passed a lot of women who gave me a mean look....well while I was changing her messy diaper I ran out of wipes. With the crowds, the fussy and throwing up child, and me running out of wipes, I was starting to get stressed out a bit. Thankfully the changing table was right next to a sink and paper towels, so I was able to just get some paper towels wet and finish the job. Once we sat down and ate I was starting to feel better, until we proceeded to Times Square......HOLY COW!! I hated it. It was so crowded, and not stroller-friendly at all. It was literally wall-to-wall people, and a brain overload with all the TV advertisements that were flashing across everywhere. K, I'm gonna try and go faster because this post is taking me forever, long story short I hated the crowds. Then I went to Wicked and Justin and Haddy went to Central Park to hang out (yes, I went by myself...I'm cool like that). In short, Wicked was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! Loved it. Then Justin and Haddy came and picked me up after, and we headed home. The end. Pictures:











This is one of the twin towers they're rebuilding

empire state building

See that look on my face? I hate Times Square.
So excited!!

Central Park





Justin and I decided we'd like to live here. Minus all the other people in the park.


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Little Rascal is Walking

Well here she is! Our progressing child. We sure love her.
Haddy now has four teeth, the bottom front two and the top front two. She likes to scrape them together and it drives Justin and I CRAZY!!! It's so much worse than nails on the chalkboard...ewwwww I get squeamish jut thinking about it....moving on. Haddy started walking on Sunday, April 1st. After Conference ended I sat down on the floor to play with her and she remarkably took a few quick awkward steps towards me without holding onto anything, so I yelled at Justin to get the video camera and we got a bunch of great video of some of Haddy's first steps! It was so much fun and she was having a blast! You could tell she was so proud of herself. And we were quite proud too!
Here are a few more pictures of our sweet Haddy :)
Whoaaaaa there!!

Hello. What's that you say? I'm adorable? Oh, why thank you.

One of Haddy's cute birthday outfits
This beautifully made cake represents the love I have for Haddy (also I'm showing off how awesome it is because, let's all just say it, it's aweome....did I mention I made it?)

Haddy likes to help me with the laundry. I usually put her in the laundry basket, then go fill it up with the clean clothes in the dryer with her at the bottom, then scoot her through the apartment then into her room, where she hands me clothes to fold. Once I've folded all of them is when she goes into destructo-mode and starts throwing them all over the place...

This is Haddy in the process of making a mess...the mess turns out much bigger btw

This is Haddy playing with her favorite toy, her quiet book! But it doesn't keep her quiet.....she likes to take out all of the pieces and scatter them throughout the apartment. She does this, literally, multiple times a day, which means multiple times a day I have to go on a scavenger hunt to find each piece, put it in its spot, and zip back up the quiet book until Haddy hands it to me again to unzip so the process can start all over. And speak of the devil, she just barely walked up and handed it to me so I can unzip it....I promise I didn't plan that!

Love that smile!
Isn't she just the cutest little patient you ever did see? Haddy got sick and went to the Doctor. She looks pretty happy here, the following pictures are the worst of it and you can see she is a very sad little goob.

:( Poor thing. She kind of looks like a zombie in this picture.

Her sad little red eyes and runny nose. I hate it when she's sick!

Swimsuit showoff time!!! I have always loved the baby suits that have the rash guards, and I thought this one was especially cute!! This one is a size 2T! So it's slightly large for a swimsuit, but it will last a long time we hope! And I love it.
Another shot of her adorable suit. She's got a pretty great swimsuit bod, don't ya think?

So happy! She wants to go swimming right now!!

Doesn't she look happy to be in a picture with me?...and this will hopefully be one of the last pictures of me with brown hair, since I'm going blonde again when we get to Utah.

Haddy in her wife-beater, eating her first popsicle. I don't think I need to mention she loved it....

Diva! This picture is dark, but so cute.
Look at that face!

There is a picture of Justin when he was really little on his paren'ts wall, and this picture of Haddy looks JUST LIKE that picture!!

This is Haddy on her first walk where she actually walked and not just wheeled around in her stroller. She did very well!
Well I love this girl. Besides walking she can do some other cool things, for instance she points to her mouth when I ask her where her mouth is, and when we say "where's baby" she points to herself, and when we say "more" she does the sign language sign for "more" which we're pretty sure she does without having a clue as to what it actually means.... She also is on the verge of learning how to give me a kiss. I have been practicing this one over and over with her for a long time, and every once in a while it will actually work! Although the other day I asked for  kiss, puckered up, leaned in and got a big lick on the mouth (I didn't ask for a puppy kiss!)...but it was still cute, and a little gross. Haddy enjoys playing hide and seek with me, and she is quite good at it! I crawl somewhere very quickly and hide, and she always finds me. Amazing. And she loves piggy-back rides, she always pats me on the back (that means she wants a piggy-back ride) but I just don't have the energy to be giving her constant piggy-back rides!
I love being a mom. It is definitely not easy! Sometimes I feel lonely, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and most of the time I don't know how I'm supposed to react in any/all situations, but there's nothing else I'd rather be doing! I wouldn't want anyone else raising my extremely sticky and dramatic child! I love her.