and just like that...

2014 is 3/4 of the way over (almost).  There have been so many times I wanted to or was inspired to post to the blog.  And then there wasn't time, and so a photo went up on Instagram or via text instead.

Since this year has been one to remember (that's nearly laughable at this point!) I thought I should at least try to capture the milestones.  And will photo dump later.  Love my iPhone but hate that I don't take more pics with the camera or make more photo albums.  We will work on that in 2015...

So, here goes nothing...

2014
based on Sara's memory...which is bleak.  Disregard any errors :)

January

• Sara and kiddos survived the polar vortex with David traveling
• Sara conquered Whole 30.  

February (so far, this month takes the cake!)

• Sara, Grammy, Hads & Brady ventured to Boston.  Travel was a success!  
• Sara enjoyed not being on Whole 30 in Boston! Hello wine...
• Hadley's 1st trip to the ER and 1st stitches
• Sara interviewed for and accepted a new job, managed two weeks of overlap between new and old jobs and said goodbye to her LLS family after 6 years (whoa)
• After only a week on the new job, a discovery was made - B3 was on his or her way (WHAT?)

March

• Seriously cannot remember much happening in March (phew) aside from normal 1st trimester stuff, the discussions on "um, should we move??" and prepping for April vacation
• We told the Lehman's about B3 and started car shopping for a third row vehicle!

April

• Sara and David jetted off to Mexico with the Evernhams...what was already their babymoom became one we shared.  The announcement to them was priceless...
• And, while telling the Wannamakers about B3 via Facetime from Mexico...we learned baby W #2 is on the way - yippee!
• We told David's family about B3 and started to tell our friends too!

May

• We make an offer on a house and it's accepted!!  Get ready Carmel, here we come!
• Ramsey drive on the market!
• Memorial Day Weekend getaway to Greensboro...the big girls had a blast as always, Brady survived the girls and a connecting flight and Sara & Cameron sat around and chatted pregnancies. So fun to have kiddos close in age!

June

• Brady turns 1! 
• Sara is 20 weeks pregnant at Brady's 1st birthday (we are still in shock to some extent at this point)
• Ramsey Drive sells!

July

• Close on both homes, within a week, David is a GC for a week and managed vendors and the move like a rockstar
• Sara leaves for a week of business travel right after moving in (poor timing!)
• Hadley starts sleeping in a big girl bed!
• Hadley enjoys two weeks of swim lessons
• New house gets so much needed love...floors, paint, updates, etc.  So much more to come!

August

• The Glenns and Lehmans sneak off to South Haven for a week - so much fun!  
• A third row car is now ours...whoa!
• Hadley turns 3!
• We continue to settle into the house and enjoy the pool a bit more
• The Waldners come to Indiana!  Hadley's best 2 weeks ever!
• Hadley is rocking the big girl potty!

September

• Labor Day weekend pool party is a blast.   This weekend is the start to Sara feeling "different" for some reason
• We have a walker - finally!  He's been able to walk for weeks, but wouldn't use it as his primary mode of transportation until literally 15 months exactly.  Silly boy.  
• Sara is put on bed rest - a shock to her, our home and our work-lives.   

That's all for now...I think I should just continue to update this list to keep to laugh at one day.  One day..

Glenns...Party of 4

One week before his due date, Brady Lehman Glenn joined our family.   Yes, a boy.  We thought we were having another girl - what do we know??   Here is a little story about Brady's arrival....

His arrival story started for us on Tuesday.  I had been running around like crazy at work for the last week hoping to make Tuesday my last day at work.  I was getting more uncomfortable in the afternoons, knew if I didn't draw a hard line in the sand I would have a harder time leaving work and I was majorly stressed about the list of things to do at home.  Not to mention that in my mind, there would be a baby by Sunday...so I need to get those things done!

Tuesday:  I started thinking that I wasn't feeling that great and things felt different.  I had more pressure and tightening and major heartburn making me feel almost nauseous.  I called David to give the requisite heads up, called the dr. and decided to visit Labor & Delivery to be sure.  We also promised our Dr. that if we felt different in any way that we would play it safe.  Operation Avoid 30 Minute Delivery was in full effect!  We were only in L&D triage for about an hour, only at 3-4 cm (no change since appointment the week before) and decided to head home instead of stay and walk around.

Wednesday:  Home from work, but still on email and doing stuff along with my plans for the pool and a pedicure.  Hadley had other plans with a bad morning, visit to the dr, diagnosed ear infection and throwing up twice.  Poor kiddo.

Thursday:  A great acupuncture appointment to start the morning (Hadley is with Grammy this day, no school for her!).  David at acupuncture said my pulse was stronger - a sign in his "world" that labor is near.  Hmmm.    Then a 2:15 appointment with our Dr. Still 3-4 cm, so we decided to strip membranes.  She gave us an option of doing that or breaking my water to get things going.  We laugh at these options because they seem SO different to us!  The baby has been super low for a long time at this point and we were 80% effaced for many weeks too.  We hoped stripping membranes was all we needed.  We ended with a fun evening at the park for a concert, fun with friends and dinner.

Friday:  Hadley went to school so mama was on an errand mission.  I am happy to report all items were found and all stops made!  I felt a few contractions but nothing consistent or painful.  We all went to bed early and crashed after a crazy week.

Saturday: THE day!  I was up 4-5 times to use the restroom overnight, which is a lot for me.  I kept wondering if this meant something.  duh Sara.  I got up in the 6 o'clock hour and could tell things were tight and there were a few contractions. I woke David up and decided to get ready for the day...thinking (without overreacting!) that this might be our day.  I had contractions while in the shower, but again nothing I couldn't handle and continued to get ready. I kept texting Megan (neighbor, friend extraordinaire and mom to ParkerChase) about her help that morning. We decided she would come over to get Hads once we heard from the Dr.  I called the Dr. around 7:45- which was after an hour or so with contractions.  We never got a call back due to some pager confusion.  So, Megan came over around 8:15 and we left the house around 9 and decided to just show up at the hospital.  We were examined by 9:30 and were now 5-6 cm dilated.  Contractions still weren't that painful or consistent, I thought, so we weren't even sure if we'd have to stay.  But, by 10:30 we were in our Labor & Delivery room and hanging out.  Lots of options on how to proceed but we could not make a decision.  We made no decisions with Hadley's arrival so now being asked to make them was somewhat debilitating.   How does one know what is best in this situation?  It came down to waiting or breaking my water.  We chose to wait.  At around 12:45 the contractions were super painful and learned we were now at 8 cm.  Our plan became to finish an IV bag of saline, receive a low dose epidural and then break my water.  Shortly after 1 p.m. we started the saline on the super fast flow.  Around 1:30 we were set up to get the epidural.  We did a low dose one, only to learn it only took on my left side.  The right side of my body being a "hot spot" they said.  We waited a bit to see if it would even out, if laying with my left side propped up would help, etc.  Close to 2 p.m. we were working to readjust my position thinking that we might administer some more epidural to attack the hot spot.  Well - my water broke instead so it was go time!  Dr. Meltzer (OB) said we were better off to just go with it and not address the right side.  So, everyone around me hustled to get ready, I just sat with my eyes closed wincing through the constant pain and David geared up to get us through this.  Two contractions later - HE was here!

Recovery is going really well so far - I think better than with Hadley if I can remember!  Family has met the prince and we know we will have lots of friends to the house soon.  Brady and I even snuck in a quick nap today after he was circumcised.  This pace will not continue at home so we are taking advantage of it!  Hadley was adorable meeting him last night...but a little stinker today.  I can't blame her, it's all confusing and a hospital room is a weird place to hang out.  And what is this baby thing doing with her mommy and daddy???  Being at home can only be better for her.

Enjoy some more photos!  Our photographer came to capture Hadley and Brady's big meeting - we cannot wait to see those from her!

Before Delivery

Right after delivery

Mommy and Brady

Daddy and Brady

Mommy, Daddy and Brady

Mr. Brady Lehman

Hadley is trying to see her little brother, while hanging onto her new doctors kit.

18 months...old and young

Hard to believe Hadley/Hads/Sassafras/Crab Apple/Punky is 18 months old.  As you can see by some popular nicknames...she is a toddler through and through!

She is such a loving girl with a blooming personality...here is a summary of the life of Hads...

Signs that she is a Big Girl!

• Lots of words - she can repeat anything we ask her to and if used enough, will use on her own.  Love how she will come home with a new word like mirror, and act like she's always used it.
• Has her own language - I love the realization of how much David and I know this and have learned to communicate with her when we are around people who look at us like "um...what is no no nay??"  Well, it's elephant of course! (she totally stumped Grandma Bonnie with Hip Hop Hop (bunny) yesterday! ha! Lots of sounds used as words now.
• Washing hands after school is fun
• Says hi to everyone everywhere.  The poor people at the stores...
• Says no way too often (and learns more and more the true meaning of the word!)
• Tells us when she is dirty/poopy (doesn't say before it happens...but this has to be a sign it's coming, right?)
• Will hold our hand and walk next to us like a little lady
• High fives
• Takes her meds like a champ
• Is learning her colors, letters and numbers - this is way too much fun to watch!
• Gives kisses
• Says "night night" when you can leave the room 
• Attitude!
• Points stuff out as we drive "uck (truck), dee dee (birdie)"
• Recognizes herself ("adley") in photos, plus other family members
• Understands commands or requests to stop, bring something, do something, etc.

Signs that she is still our baby girl!

• Snuggles up when tired or sad
• Cries and melts down when tired - just tell us Hads!
• Milk at bedtime makes her happy
• "Curled up and feet tucked under" sleeping pose - love the tushie in the air!
• Thinks we are silly and funny when we sing, mimic her funny noises or dance around
• Picky picky eater - still sneaking baby food and veggies into smoothies to get her vitamins and nutrition in!
• Cannot contain her excitement at times - squealing and running around
• Wants to be held as I work in the kitchen
• Wears footie pajamas

She keeps us on our toes for sure - we had a GREAT day yesterday! Road trip to Grandma Bonnie's with barely a peep, just read and looked out the window.  Played great and slept the entire way home.  Then ate tons (for hads) of chicken at dinner, was so happy, took a long bath and went to bed without a peep.  THEN we get to today and she barely makes it past 6 p.m. and was fuuuuuuussssssyyyyyy an entire hour before that.  We'll take the good days as they come! 

Enjoy these photos!  Happy half-birthday Hadley Louise!

Breakfast with Daddy 

Tiny Dancers music class - tutu and all 

crazy piggies while downing a smoothie - daily breakfast! 

jammie day at school 

Valentine's Day eve date with Quincy Boling - see Jenny's post here. 

Loving the old school desk at Ethan's bday party! 

Mommy's little helper 

checking out Grandma Bonnie's cane 

if you look closely - you can see a ponytail. We are so close! 

Painting with water on her half-birthday!

We are having built-ins installed and painted now, and have major work to do on Big Girl Hadley's room...so maybe my next post will be about the house and projects.  

This post is about Hadley.  Someday soon we will talk about the new baby - because that is happening too. ha!  We should probably take a belly pic...

graduate!

Hadley graduated from her first swim class tonight! She had a great cheer section with cousin Lins, Grandma, Grammy & Gramps. Gramps brought the big camera so I'll have more pics to share soon!

Yay Hads! So proud of her and her new swimming skills!