easter pictures

Here are a few pictures my dad took the other night at the cafe. I love all her different expressions ... you can see her personality through these pictures!

potty

Lately I have been toying with the idea of when to start potty training Hailey. She is starting to show the signs of readiness, but I thought I would wait until she was 2 to really start the training. Well last night out of the blue she looks at me, pulls up her shirt, pulls at her diaper and says poo, poo. I looked at her wide eyed because she has never cared if she had a dirty diaper even as a baby and never, ever has told me that she needed to be changed. I figured I would play this one out and asked her if she wanted to go on the potty. She then looks at me and walks straight to the potty!!!! Remember other than me stating I am going potty I have never tried to train her. I was in shock! I then took off her diaper and sat her on the potty. Of course, she didn't go and she actually didn't have a dirty diaper at all, but the fact that she is starting to recognize this at all is a great step. The big potty was to intimidating though and she whined so tonight we are going to go out and look for a little girl potty.

And do you love the pix? We had a photo shoot with my dad Sunday night. Be sure I will have many more to share ...

Happy Birthday Dada!

We wanted to wish daddy the bestest birthday ever! He is a wonderful daddy and husband to mommy. I love when he picks me up from Nana's when mommy is at work and we spend time together, just the two of us. We have so much fun!

Today before he left for work we took him out for a big lobster and since I didn't want to stay in my seat to wait for daddy to finish eating mommy gave me a cupcake early :-)



I love you daddy!!!! Happy Birthday!

Boston

Yesterday, we took Hailey to Boston to visit the aquarium. Since daddy works for the railroad we were able to get free tickets on the Downeaster so that was our mode of transportation. This was her first train ride, and though she was a little intimidated by everything she did really well and enjoyed herself.



Once we arrived we went the aquarium where she had lots of fun ...









At lunch time we went to Faneuil Hall. About that time I noticed a small spot on Hailey's face, but thought maybe it was just some kind of baby acne. After we ate I went to change her diaper and noticed that the spot on her face matched the little spots all over her body - hives! It didn't seem to bother her though ... Our trip then turned into a search for some benedryl. What fun!
After walking all over the city (at least it felt like that) we finally found a CVS. At that point I was ready to go home, but it was only 2pm and we still had 3 hours before the next train left. YIKES! We ended up back at Faneuil Hall and Hailey made her first build-a-bear. She ended up choosing a bunny, which she calls "Lamby". Don't ask ... maybe it was the benedryl taking effect?! I think mom and dad enjoyed making the bunny as much as she did. We even put a sound button in with mommy and daddy saying I love you. If we let her choose that part we would of had a bunny, named Lamby with a monkey sound :-)
Once the bunny was filled the fun part for mommy begins - dress up! As you all know I love dressing Hailey up, so I was really looking forward to dressing the bunny, but my fun was spoiled because everytime I put clothes on it Hailey would pout and throw the bunny, then when I would take the clothes off she would grab the bunny and hug it. So needless to say we left the bunny naked. In then end Hailey got what she wanted a naked bunny, named Lamby!



As the day progressed I think the lack of a nap and the benedryl caught up with Hailey, but overall she did wonderful! We left the house at 8am and didn't get home till 7pm!!!

Lets just say we all slept well last night!!!!!

daddy and coffee

Hailey loves looking out the window. Yesterday she realized she could look out and watch daddy shoveling and cleaning snow off the car. She stood in front of the window the whole time he was out there knocking, waving and shouting his name. This morning daddy left to go to church. When he first left she started whining and saying dadda, then she stopped, thought about and said ... "dadda go bye-bye" - then she thought some more, babbled something and then said - "snow". It was so cute because she was following her thought through ... daddy left, but it was o.k. because he was out in the snow and so she proceeded to the window.



Her toybox is in front of the window so she gets up on it (with my supervision of course) and we look out the window.



Another cute daddy story is whenever we come home Hailey always runs to the bedroom yelling dadda, dadda ... because he works a couple 3rd shifts during the week when we get home from work/picking Hailey up at Nana's we come home to wake daddy up. This is done by Hailey screeching through the house yelling his name. It always brings a smile to both our faces. There is no better alarm clock!

Lastly, Hailey already has a coffee addiction. Sadly it stems from her parents :-) Again, since daddy works 3rd shift he usually needs coffee in the afternoon. If he goes out to get it she always wants some. Occasionally we give her sips - bad mommy and daddy - but this morning it was getting out of hand because she kept asking politely, "drink, drink - please, please" and I felt bad refusing because she was being polite and not throwing a temper tantrum. So I decided to make her some chocolate milk. I don't know if she thought it was coffee or just loved her chocolate milk, but her face was priceless when she got her "coffee" in a cup with a straw just like mommy and daddy. She wouldn't let go of that cup for the rest of the morning. Now I think she knows how we feel about our coffee in the morning :-)

snow and the easter bunny

Well, we went from 70 degrees and sunny down to 30 degrees and snow in a couple of days - how awful!

Hailey on the other hand loves the snow. Even on the 70 degree day when we went for a walk Hailey would point out the piles of snow and yell - SNOW! So she was more than happy yesterday afternoon when we got home from work and went out in the snow!



For a week we have planned to go see the Easter Bunny at the mall. Hailey is not afraid of anything and loved Santa so we figured she would love the Easter Bunny. Last week when we were at the mall we saw the Easter Bunny was arriving Saturday at 10am. Hailey loves bunnies and was walking around the little garden area they had set up for the bunny, yelling "bunny". Since I am still afraid of germs I decided if we were the first visitors to the bunny there was less chance she would catch something. So we trudged out in the snow this morning and arrived at 10:05am. Sadly, the bunny was digging out and running late. We walked around a little and had to stop at Gymboree so mommy could look around and Hailey could watch the tv. As we were their the bunny walked by - Hailey was sooo excited! Since we were pretty much the only ones at the mall because of the snow the bunny paid special attention to Hailey. Hailey danced with the bunny, hugged the bunny and even asked the bunny to pick her up. Once we made it to the garden where the bunny is seated they were taking a pix and actually gave it to us for free since we were the first customers. They also asked if Hailey could be the easter bunny baby model. So if you live in the area and go to the Fox Run Mall you will see Hailey's picture framed on the desk! Then as we were leaving the bunny motioned for Tim, it ended up being an older grandmother who said her granddaugter is scared of her in the costume and asked if it would be o.k. for her to keep a copy of Hailey's picture! Too funny! After all was said and done it was worth the trip. As you can see below Hailey was quite tired out ...



Because they took the picture I don't have it on the computer to share, but if I can get it scanned I will post it on the blog.

60 degrees and loving it!

Well, its been around 60 degrees for a couple of days so we took full advantage while it was here. Daddy works 3rd shift Tuesday and Wednesday nights so he was able to enjoy the weather with us.

Notice the spoon in her hand from her tea set,
she always has something out of the ordinary
with her when we go out.


Do take notice we had to stop and watch a train go by while on our walk!






Isn't this the cutest? She wanted to hold my hand
while we were walking!


Sadly, wet snow and rain are in the forecast for the weekend. Come quickly spring, come quickly!

bath time

Hailey will be exactly 20 months old in 3 days and still took baths in the sink - until last week! I finally was tired of cleaning up the water all over my kitchen because of her splashing and prepared for a new bathing experience.

For some reason she has been quite frightened of the bath tub up until this point and every time we have tried to transition over to the tub we started a tantrum like you have never seen so to keep it simple we use the sink. I asked for advice in my MOP's group and someone suggested filling the tub with lots of bubbles and toys and just let her play with everything from outside the tub. We tried that and she loved it. Then we transitioned to inside the tub, there were tears, but it was controllable. The next night she whined a little before going it, but once in had a blast. Last night she had conquered the bath ...

Take a look at the picture below. That is not a temper tantrum, that is pure joy from being able to splash without reserve.


Her friend Elijah was visiting and was as soaked as I was when all was said and done!


Things at work have picked up since I started working in accounts payable and because of this I haven't had much time to post. Yes, I used to post my blogs at work ... bad mommy! Because of this my post may be fewer in number and more in volume :-) I have a ton of pictures that I have wanted to share so enjoy!

Last week my friend Candace came over to visit with Bradyn who is 6 weeks old. Hailey wanted to hold and feed the baby. She couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her.

Mommy, why won't he play with me?


I just loved this picture! Daddy works crazy hours, but when he is home Hailey enjoys every minute with him. They are two peas in a pod.



My brother's girlfriend came to visit for the weekend and while Matt was at work last night she came to visit. At one point we were playing dress up and we all had funny headbands on. She was the birthday princess and Hailey was a bunny. Good thing I had the camera - you will never know what I was dressed up like :-)



she won't keep the ears on for long!


Here is Hailey playing with her friend Elijah


Tim and I was in a wedding in June, yesterday was the bridal shower. This week has been CRAZY with last minute planning, but it came together beautifully! I remembered everything - except the camera! Oh boy! That is why Hailey was dressed up in the pictures above.

This last picture is from this morning. Daddy and his group leads worship Sunday morning in church. Before church starts they practice a little bit and as soon as Hailey arrives she marches up front to be with them. So here she is singing with daddy.

party girl

The video you all have been waiting for is in a separate post below! O.k. you may not have been waiting for it, but I promised a video of her playing the drums so its posted below.



We had a fun weekend. On Saturday Hailey went to a birthday party for Amber who just turned 3!



Hailey had a blast. She loves playing with other kids. Actually she loves people in general. She is the most social child I have ever met. No matter where we go she yells out "HI" to everyone. Thursday night we were at the Gap and there was a little girl almost exactly Hailey's size. Being the shy little girl she is (not) she walks up to her and starts rubbing the girls coat and talking to her. It was soooo funny!

She is also the only 1 year old I know who walks around with a little purse. This winter I bought her a little purse at the GAP that had a little doggie in it because she LOVES dogs. Well, now she has a new love - purses. The dog is in the toy bin, but the purse goes everywhere with her. She calls it her bubby ... not sure where that name came from, but if she can't find it she will run around the house yelling "bubby", "where's the bubby"?

You can see it in her hand in the pix below ...


Last night Hailey counted to 3! I was counting and then would tickle her on 3, well all of the sudden she starts counting ... She also is starting to really recognize animals. It always makes me laugh because the animals she knows are not your average ones. She knows the zebra, monkey, giraffe ... I think its because she has a video where they take a trip to the zoo and she LOVES this video! Sadly as of last night I could not get it to play, but we won't tell her just yet :-)

little drummer girl

america's next top model

Last week Hailey was the next American Idol, this week she is America's Next Top Model. Do we have high expectations or what? Ha, ha!

Since summer clothes and bathing suits have already hit the shelves I went shopping last weekend and got Hailey a really cute bathing suit at Gymboree. I know I should wait and debut it this summer, but I couldn't help trying it on and taking some pictures.



If she doesn't look happy in this picture, its because she isn't. She has decided to sprout all her teeth at once and that makes for one cranky baby! She has been a late teether, her first tooth didn't pop up until after her first birthday so now they all decided it was a great time to grow. Poor baby!

Her eating is also getting worse. Many of you know I have struggled with Hailey's eating. Many preemies have these issues and they can go either way, where it is a struggle to get them to eat or they are never satisfied. It is defintely some kind of sensory issue. I also believe her reflux plays a part in it. Of course when she was little it was a struggle to get her to eat then she hit a certain age and was never satisfied, but when I fed her it would aggrevate her reflux and she would spit up and be in pain. She almost never seems satisfied. The ped said she will eventually grow out of it, but it is quite frustrating especially when we are out in public! She did seem to be improving and wouldn't scream after meals, but I think the teeth have aggrevated it because after any kind of meal or if she even sees food she screams and cries ... big crocodile tears! I just try to keep healthly snacks on hand for when she asks for "num, num". This week its strawberries (umm)! Its funny because for all she eats she is really tiny for being almost 2 years old. I will bring it up to the ped next time we go in, but I know they will say what they always say ... she will grow out of it!

And to end this post ... yesterday Hailey started singing her ABC's! We have been singing them to her for awhile and she tries to sing them back, but you couldn't really tell what she was singing until now. It sounds like A, B, B, D ... she can't really say C yet then she skips over to P ... Its definitely a start and oh so cute!