apple picking

Yesterday we went to DeMerrit Hill Farm with the Chalifour cousins. The farm was a great idea (thanks Katie!). There were animals, a playground, cutouts to take pictures, apple trees and a pumpkin patch. Hailey tried feeding the animals rocks, but thats another story :-)

Believe it or not after living in Maine for most of my life I have never taken part in apple picking until yesterday and though it was fun I think I may just stick to buying apples in the store! Ha, ha ... It was a great "fall" activity though and I love this season!

After apple picking we all went back to Autie Tracey's house where the kids played some more! Hailey and Jordy missed out on apple picking last year so it was great to have them all together.

to cook or not to cook, that is the question

Hailey loves to cook and has to be underfoot whenever we are in the kitchen. This poses a hazard and makes it difficult to cook, but we have learned to work around it and now she joins in stirring and prepping dinner.

On the reflux/eating front I thought I would give an update. She has been off her reflux meds for a week and has been doing wonderful! Remember not to long ago we weaned her zantac and she started spitting up again (like when she was little) and cringing in pain so we started her on prevacid. At her 2 year check up the pediatrician asked me to stop that within the next 2 months and see what happens and if it didn't improve we would have to see a GI specialist.

Well, lets hope we continue this road, because in the last week I have seen no spit up and no signs of pain or cringing. Also, her eating has improved. It sounds funny because most mom's talk about getting their kids to eat, I talk about backing off, but sure enough she has become somewhat of a "picky" eater and actually pushes food away. Usually Hailey is a bottomless pit to the point where we have talked with doctors and other preemie mom's to see if this is normal. I had been told it can be normal for some preemies and that by 2 they usually grow out of this. There is no "scientific" data to as why she is like this, but from watching her and noticing when it is worse/better my mom's theory all along was that her eating was due to her reflux/meds. I agree with my mom, it is interesting how it has coincided with changes to her meds and reflux severity.

It is funny how you can go from such extreme's. At the beginning our lives revolved around getting her just to eat less than 1oz, and this could take FOREVER and burping was a nightmare, but if she didn't it would all come up. This process could take over an hour ... and then soon enough it would be time to feed again :-) Then once she was home we went to a GI doctor and his suggestion was to limit her feeds even more than they were because he said the more she ate, the more her reflux would flare up. To this day I still wonder about this advice because this is when the problems all began. Maybe she never was able to eat till she was full and so she never learned to regulate herself and just now is learning this ... Well, theories don't change anything, but I am hoping and praying that her reflux is now gone or at least bearable because I hate seeing her suffer!

inherited genes

Hailey officially started biting her tongue tonight. She does this now when she does ANYTHING. When I first saw it I broke out laughing and then I saw a trend all night.

All I could think of was Papa and Daddy, they both bite their tongues ALL the time. She spent a couple hours with just daddy tonight, maybe that is where she learned it?! I think it may just be an inherited "Chalifour" gene :-)

broken crayon and vacation

We took small family vacation this weekend to N. Conway NH. Daddy has been called into work lately on many Friday's so they decided to give him a few days off.

We had lots of fun walking trails, swimming in the pool, riding the train, mini golfing and of course shopping the outlets!

This was Hailey's first time in a hotel and she did wonderful! She was scared of the pool which was interesting ... so we took turns going in while she watched us from the sidelines and would throw a beach ball at us, she thought this was quite amusing.

It was great to have quality and quantity family time, when usually quantity is not a part of what we have together. We at least take what we can get and make the most of it! This weekend for the first time we heard Hailey count all the way to 9 without skipping the number 2. Go Hailey! She also (almost) has her a, b, c's down to a science.

Lately, she has taken quite an interest in coloring. Before she would color, but not with passion, now she puts thought into it, chooses colors etc ... Well, lately when she comes to the color white, she stops, hands it to me and says "broken". I can see her point, but its quite funny!

conversation with a 2 year old

Tonight Hailey and I had dinner at Meme and Papa's house with Luke and Alyssa. She had lots of fun playing with Meme and Alyssa while Papa and Luke worked on building a model car. Every once in awhile though she would yell "HELLO LUKE". I think she loves to hear herself say his name!



On the way home from Meme's tonight ...

First, I hear *boink*

Hailey: I throw binky ... (can you tell she is bored in the car?)
Mommy: What happened Hailey?
Hailey: What happened? I throw binky, binky broken.
Mommy: Well, if you throw binky its all gone till we get home.
Hailey: All gone? Where are you binky? Where are you? *whining*
Mommy echoing: Where are you binky? Where are you? *hysterical laughing - Hailey thought it was so funny when I started in with her looking for binky and the laughing lasted all the way home*


Its fun to now have "conversations" with Hailey. They are not complete, but we are moving in the right direction and she really does understand what is being said.

Hailey's adjusted 2nd birthday

If Hailey didn't decide to plan her escape route and come out early in true Hailey fashion today would have been Hailey's due date. Its hard to believe we celebrated Hailey's birthday over two months ago and only today was she actually due. What a blessing she is - looking back I will never forget wanting to cherish every moment because every moment was a gift and to this day I still feel that way. I love these two pix. The one above is one of my favorite pictures ever, and the one below she is actual 3 months old, adjusted 1 month - those are 0-3 months clothes and hat. I couldn't wait for them to fit! If only you could have seen how big those jeans were on her in person. It was hilarious!



I guess at this point you are supposed to stop adjusting her age and stop worrying about every little milestone, but its hard to forget those early days and its hard not to celebrate two years later that she is here and thriving. I told Hailey today was her due date/birthday and she started to sing "Happy to you ... Happy to you ..." Her version of the Happy Birthday song.

And to commemorate her "adjusted 2nd birthday" she had a temper tantrum on the floor with feet kicking and all! Oh the joys of the terrible - I mean wonderful 2's!

Chalifour Look-alike Meter

fall is here

Fall is here whether we are ready for not. I wasn't ready until last Saturday when it turned 90 degrees with high humidity, after that I realized I had enough of this and the next day it was in the 60's - talk about weather changes. On Monday it was a nice rainy day so Hailey and two of her little friends went puddle jumping. Note to self: buy some puddle jumping boots! Believe it or not the shoes she was wearing are still wet as of today!



On one hand Hailey is obsessed with cleanliness, always wanting to wear her bib whether I put it on or not, always asking to wash her hands, clean etc - but when puddle jumping she gets down and dirty. By the end of our time outside she was sitting, yes sitting in the puddle.



I thought this picture above was worth sharing. Hailey and daddy are "playing" music together. It was quite funny ...



Lastly, notice Hailey's newest obsession above. Food she can cut ... "I wanna cut it mommy". When asking for help she says - "help you mommy, help you". She really means me, but I think she says you because I look at her and say "do you want me to help you?"

monkeys, zebras and bears oh my!

Hailey had a fun filled weekend, finally after a couple long weeks daddy had a day off and we went to the zoo. Hailey LOVED seeing the monkey, zebras and bears oh my! She loves animals and those are her favorites, but she has never seen them live, so it was so much fun watch her expression as she saw them.



As usual Hailey hates car rides so we usually do alot of singing, usually we will sing and she will repeat her version, but on Friday she actually sang the whole song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with us - it was priceless.



On Saturday, it was 90 degrees, can you say hot, hot, hot! We celebrated Ashleigh's 15th birthday! It is fun to watch her grow up, I have known her since she was born and babysat her for years after school while her mom worked when I was a teenager. I think I was the age she is now!



Hailey, with my brothers girlfriend Laura discovering an iPod. She was amazed that she could hear music by sticking that little earphone in her ear!



"Cuddling" with Uncle Matt



And sadly, Hailey had to say goodbye to "Peppy" tonight. We had a goodbye party for him as he leaves for bootcamp. He is my brothers best friend and a great friend of my family. Hailey loves his lots and even put her name in his "little black book" - ha, ha! He promised to write and we are holding him to it!

Happy Birthday Munca Matt!

Finally pictures from Labor Day ... Monday was my brother's 22nd birthday and he spend the day with us at the beach. Later that day we took Hailey on a few rides at a local amusement park.





Before Hailey could say "Uncle" she would call my brother "gunca", then it became "gunca Matt" so she could distinguish between him and her other uncles. Now the older she gets the better she pronounces it - he has now officially became "Munca Matt"!



We love you "Munca Matt"

favorite words

Tonight Hailey went to visit Luke and Alyssa at Meme and Papa's house. Luke started building a model car with Papa and Hailey and Alyssa played with Meme. I love the picture above of them holding hands. Too cute!



For a Hailey update, I need to make note of three statements that she now makes quite often around our house. "I throw it" - "I dump it"- and "I hit it". Do you see a pattern? She really isn't a violent child, but she comes out with these things. Its hard not laugh sometimes. She has never hit another child or us, but when things don't go her way or she just feels like being silly, she will lightly tap a toy or her blanky and say "I hit it". The throwing is usually in reference to her binky and this is usually in the car, I think she does it for entertainment purposes, but it can get old fast and the dumping is usually in reference to dumping out her toys or blocks from a bin, but tonight she used it in reference to a drink she didn't want. At least she just voiced it and never really dumped it :-)

And as of this week she finally says the number 2! The strike is over - yeah! Ha, ha ...

Lastly, another binky idea I got from the pediatrician. She said at this age she feels its ok for them to have their binky in the car, at bedtime and at the doctors, but they shouldn't need it at home. So she suggested keeping it in the crib/bed and if she wants it she has to go in the crib. The broken binky has been working well at my mom's, but not at my house because I forget to hide the "unbroken" ones and she loses it when she sees them. So tonight when she saw an "unbroken" one in her crib she asked for it and I told her if she wanted it she had to go in the crib. She accepted the offer and happily stayed in her crib, jumping up and down until we had to pry her away for dinner. It made dinner prep easy, but she can't live in her crib can she?

no longer a "preemie"

They say by the age of 2 most preemies should have caught up to there peers and you no longer have to adjust for their age. For the record, as of next week Hailey's actual age will be 26 months, adjusted 24 months. We may no longer have to adjust her age, but we will forever be changed by her entrance into this world and she will always be our little miracle.

Today we had Hailey's official two year check-up. Drumroll please ... Hailey is on the charts and by a pretty good margin - 20%! The two extra months I waited to schedule her check-up helped :-) She weighed in at 24lbs, 11oz and 32 and 1/2 inches. Not bad for starting at 2lbs, 15oz a couple years ago! Her pediatrician was quite impressed with her progress. She would like to see us wean Hailey off her reflux meds in the next 2 months and see how it goes. The miralax we will continue for now as needed. And believe it or not we don't have to see the doctor for a year! YEAH! Lets hope we keep healthy through the winter and can really stay away.

labor day weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend spent with lots of family. Sadly, daddy had to work everyday including his usual Friday off so we worked in what time we could with him. Friday before daddy left for work he took Hailey to Toy's R Us and bought her the train below ... she loves it! Notice the concentration, its quite funny!



On Sunday we went to camp and spent the day with Tim's family. We had lots of fun and of course Hailey was showered with attention from her cousins.







We ended the day with a boat ride, Hailey was a little apprehensive at first, but eventually relaxed and enjoyed the ride!



And if you are wondering what she is looking at - Taylor caught a bug in the cup holder :-)

Today was my brother's 22nd birthday - Happy Birthday Uncle Matt! We spent the day with my parents and him at the beach. My dad took most of the pix (being the photographer that he is) so once I get them from him I will post them.