Meme

Hailey says lots of words, including Meme, but she has never said Meme in front of Meme. So today while Meme was visiting, as always, we kept asking to her to say it. I really believe she thinks its a game and clams up on purpose. Well, today we tried with no avail and just as Meme was turning to walk away she says "BYE MEME"! We all clapped and cheered. Then for good measure she said "MEME" one more time before leaving. FINALLY!

As you can see from the picture above she also stole Meme's scarf and kept calling it banky. She is starting young already taking Meme's stuff.

And for good measure ....

GO PATS!

too much cuteness?!

Is there such a thing as too much cuteness?! If so I think Hailey can be classified in that category. I had to share a couple cute things Hailey is doing because I never want to forget them. First of all, I have already shared that she started saying Santa. Well, she is still obsessed with Santa. For christmas she got a cute Noah's Ark Little People Set and she thinks Noah is Santa. So everytime she opens it up and says Santa I can't help but laugh. I also have to note she has learned to say Jesus as well, so everytime she sees a nativity scene or Noah's actual ark she says Jesus. I guess the nativity scene and ark look alike to a toddler?!
Also I have been practicing teaching her body parts and tonight she got it. At least her head and her nose. She even said nose! She just gets smarter every day. Her new favorite song is the alphabet song. She got a doggy for christmas that sings the alphabet song. She tries to sing with him, but starts at "d". She also sings the clean-up song with me. I am not sure if I heard this song somewhere or made it up, but when I used to babysit Ashleigh we would sing the clean-up song when picking up toys. A few weeks ago I started it with Hailey. She loves that song and will now sing it with me and its clear enough that you can tell what she is saying.
She is also going through a phase where she loves books! She will sit down and pull books off her shelf and open each one, put it aside, pull at another - until the whole bookshelf is empty. If I am in there with her she hands them to me and lets me read about a page till she is ready for the next one. Tonight though she decided she didn't want to share and everytime she would pull one out she would pretend to hand it to me then withdraw and laugh.
Lastly, my mom taught her "ouch". Whenever Hailey takes off my mom's glasses, my mom says ouch. Well, now Hailey has learned I say ouch when she pulls my hair - so on it goes - she pulls I say ouch - she repeats with an "ow" and then laughs at me.
Silly, silly, silly ... thankfully she doesn't pull hard, but I better break this habit before its too late.
And to end this post, my little cuteness is sick with a cold and breaking a few teeth through all at once. Today is the worst of the cold so far. You can hear the congestion in her chest when she coughs, stuffy nose etc ... but as long as she is in good spirits and sleeps through the night we are o.k. Maybe I shouldn't jinx myself. Lets hope it stays this way and tomorrow she is a little better.

Baby kisses ...
I was laying on the floor and she attacked me with kisses.


I did a couple post today so make sure to scroll down to see some cute NICU pix I just found in the vault :-) Also, I added a family christmas pix to my christmas post.

NICU pix

I was raiding my dad's computer today for christmas pictures he took and found a couple NICU photos of Hailey that I absolutely loved and had to share ....






Well, I have lots more to update, but I had a video in for Hailey and she just learned how to use the remote and has gone from rewinding, to changing channels to now snow so I better go.

More later!

Christmas 2006

The pictures pretty much say it all. Hailey had a great christmas! I have so many pictures I would like to share, but I can't put them on all at once or you may not be able to open the page :-) Christmas Eve was spent with daddies side of the family and Christmas Day with mommies side. We did get a wonderful surprise today, because daddy worked Christmas Eve 2-11pm and was supposed to work today 2-11pm. About 11am he got a call saying to take the day off. That was quite a sweet surprise! As you can see Hailey was showered with lots of wonderful presents and came away a little overwhelmed. She was so overwhelmed she would not take a nap today. For an hour she just laid in her bed talking and laughing. For missing her nap she was quite good natured and never stopped playing. She didn't quite get into the opening of the presents, but once she saw what was inside she would take it, play with it, go back to the last thing she opened, play, open another, go back to the last one ... on it went. I really think she enjoyed herself and though she might not understand the whole concept of christmas she defintely knows she loves this day filled with lots of new toys!!!

oversized doll

Hailey was able to visit with some friends tonight, Natalie (7) and Erin (3). She loves playing with them and they have so much fun with her. While us mommies were out talking they were in Hailey's room playing quietly and then out walks Hailey in her butterfly wings and 1st birthday headband. Earlier they had her Happy New Year headband on her with a purse in her arms. SO CUTE! She is like an oversized doll they can dress up and the funny thing is she didn't even make a fuss about it. Then they very kindly cleaned up Hailey's room before leaving without me even asking. I need to invite them over more often :-)

8 days till Christmas

8 days till Christmas and my dad is home from the hospital. The homecoming is bittersweet because after Christmas he has to go back for another scan to see if what is going on has resolved, worsened or stayed the same. If it has stayed the course or worsened they will do exploratory surgery. So please pray it resolves! They still don't have an official diagnosis, but that takes surgery and they don't want to be quick to open him up. He is doing better so they are hoping it is resolving. On the xrays it looks "somewhat" better. They have three "theories". 1. some foreign object caused this, it will resolve and they will never know the cause. 2. crohns disease or 3. lymphoma, but we won't go there because that is very last on their list and it wouldn't make sense if that was it because it is slowly getting better. Also, his bloodwork looks great. So we wait and pray for the best.

Anyway ... not much new to report on Hailey. She is cuter than ever and so much fun! She is starting to love books and we spend hours with her pulling out all her books one by one, we read a page or two, she gets bored and hands us another book. She also has started to wave at everyone and say "bye".

We have alot of Christmas prep to do this week as we lost time last week with all that was going on. Wish us an event-less week with lots of holiday fun!!!

Here are a few more of our attempted christmas card pictures that my dad took. They have been on his computer all this time and I went to upload them today so I could share.

What you want me to sit in the chair?


For me?! You shouldn't have ...



With her friend Elijah who came to cheer her on!

a walk on the beach

Its amazing how much a toddler can change in 24 hours. Hailey just gets more and more brilliant every day! She follows commands, says more words and is just plain cute! As you can see after visiting my dad at the hospital this afternoon we took Hailey for a walk on the beach. If we didn't stop her she would have run in the water - brrr ...



This week she learned to say Santa or as she says Sanca. Now everytime she sees anything with a picture of him she yells - Sanca!!! She also now says thank you. She has said it before but not on a regular basis, now its in her everyday vocabulary. Please and thank you are regulars at the dinner table. What more could I ask for :-)

Also, Hailey is starting to learn to sit still. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself. Don't get me wrong, sitting still for us only means for a minute or two, but thats better than a few seconds. Usually these minutes are for reading books. We used to try to read to her every night, but she just wouldn't sit. Now she brings books to me and even participates. Woof, woof for doggies, choo, choo for trains - and babies and sanca - they are all in the books and she points them out and says their names! Why does she have to grow up so fast?!



As some of you know my dad was admitted to the hospital Sunday, he is still in there today. They believe he has a blockage in his intestines, but they are not sure what it is. He has had it pretty rough, but things seem to be moving along very slowly so they are holding off surgery to see what happens. Right now I just got off the phone with my mom and he is getting worse again. Please pray somehow he can pass whatever it is and not have surgery.

feeding the baby

Sorry the video is so dark, please note her mouth as she feeds the baby. One day I was feeding her baby and smacking my lips making a "feeding" noise and then she started mimicking me. Now she can't feed the baby without making that noise. Too cute!

Also, please keep my dad in your prayers. He has been in the hospital since Sunday and they still don't know exactly what is going on.

SantaFest 2006

SantaFest 2006 sounds exciting doesn't it? Exciting is not the word, but cute nonetheless. Near where we live there is a cute narrow gauge railway along the waterfront and every christmas they light up the train and run christmas lights/decoration along the route for the kids. Then at the stop they have Santa, hot chocolate, cookies etc ... So Tim, being the train fanatic he is thought it would be a fun family trip and off we went last night. We went early enough so there was not alot of people and actually had a train car all to ourselves. Hailey LOVED it! During the whole trip she kept saying choo, choo and pretty! The lights were actually pretty few and far between and the ride was short, but the experience for Hailey will be a memory we will keep forever.



At the stop we got out and went to the "museum" to see Santa. I figured we would have Hailey look at him and that would be the end. First I didn't think she would sit in a strangers lap, whether Santa or not, and secondly can you say GERMS! But since we were the first train in and she was in awe over him we ended up giving it a try and guess what? We now have the famous baby with Santa picture that all mom's pull out to show you when you are all grown up. What's even funnier is Santa had an opinion on how the photographer should take the picture and whether Hailey should look at him or at the camera. Too funny!



All in all, it was pretty fun-filled night for a little girl and she was down for the count by the time we got home!

crayons

This week I bought Hailey a nice new box of crayons and decided to let her take a try at her first drawing. As you can see above she did pretty well with some help from us though at this point she would much rather walk around with the crayons, occasionally nibbling on the ends of them :-) She also can't decide if she wants to be left-handed or right-handed. Since I am a lefty I am assuming she could go either way ....

eating with a spoon

I forgot to mention in my last post that I am actively trying to teach Hailey to eat with a spoon. Up until this point in her toddlerhood I have mostly given her finger foods - meat, cheese, veggies etc ... Usually there was no need for a spoon and when I did give her yogurt or something where a spoon was needed it was usually in the morning when I am in a hurry to get us dressed, fed and out the door so I would just feed her.

Then, I came to the realization this weekend that I don't want my 5 year old someday using her fingers to eat and depending on me to feed her with a spoon :-)

So Sunday I gave her yogurt in a bowl, handed her the spoon and let her make a mess. After helping her for a few tries she understood the concept and fed herself. Defintely needs work, but she gets the idea. She did feel the need to have one hand in the bowl while eating with the other, but I figure whatever works go with it (ha, ha). At least there is a hope of having a five year old someday who can eat with a spoon!


Mom, what is this toy walking toward me with
a blinking nose?

choo, choo

I have talked about our christmas tree, but never posted a picture so there it is. Yes, there is a train around it compliments of Meme and The Polar Express movie is indeed playing in the background compliment of Nana (ha, ha). When it comes to trains I can't win :-)

Now that we have the train running around the tree Hailey is really good at saying ... "choo, choo". Its so funny! The train makes that noise rather loudly so she learned quickly. At first she was scared of the train, but Tim would not have that so he has slowly warmed her up to it.

As many of you know Hailey does not sit still, and she does not like to sit and watch tv yet. The only thing up until this point that gets her attention is the Elmo song and when that is over she is off and running. Well, Tim was watching Hailey the other night and put on The Polar Express movie and when I came home she was sitting down, watching it with daddy - my jaw hit the floor!



And we have some teeth ... Hailey now has 6 teeth! Thats a accomplishment for a baby who had none on her first birthday. I think we may see more in the coming weeks because she is now waking at night and during naps crying and very clingy and whining during the day. Motrin does help, but I do look forward to sleeping through the night once again.

And now for her newest word - puppy!!! Normally to indicate puppy she says "woof, woof", but not this time. You can see below in one of our many failed christmas picture attempts (no smiles), she is holding a small purse in her hand and in the purse is a puppy. She carries this everywhere and last night she looked at me, held the purse out and said puppy!

graduation day (x3)

While most children's first graduation is from kindergarten, preemies have many graduations before that day. They graduate from the NICU to a step down unit (1), they graduate from the NICU to home (2) and now Hailey has officially graduated from early intervention (3)!!! YEAH! Go Hailey!

If you remember Hailey was discharged from physical therapy a few weeks ago, but she was still being evaluated to see if she needed occupational therapy. They thought she was having some "sensory sensitivities" that impeded her progress, but as soon as she started walking it seemed to liberate her and all the sensory sensitivities seemed to resolve. In order to officially "graduate" from PT and to cancel OT therapy you have to have an official meeting. So that is what yesterday was about. Lets just say shock and awe were the words. They just kept saying they couldn't get over what a difference a few weeks made in her overall demeanor. Jen, the PT, asked Denise, the OT if she had ever done an eval and saw the child's demeanor completely change this quickly and she said she never had, but it was evident and so the recommendation was "graduation" and if I had questions or concerns to call!

For those who don't know preemies usually need some kind of therapy because they are introduced to this world too early and their immature, disorganized nervous systems aren't ready to handle all of the sensory messages bombarding them and by laying in the isolette instead of swimming in utero they can develop weak muscle tone as well.

Hailey has overcome so much, she is my little miracle and I am so proud of my little graduate!!!!

Kitty, kitty, kitty!


Night, night!