pigtails

Where did my baby go and who replaced her with a toddler? Last night daddy was at work and we had a quiet night at home. While playing I had the great idea of trying to see if Hailey had enough hair for pigtails. Surprisingly she did and it looked so cute!

I think it makes her look more like a toddler and less like my little baby! The good thing about them is she feels the top of her head for barettes etc so she can pull them out, but since these are in the back she feels the top of her head, doesn't feel anything and leaves them alone!!! I think I have won the hair war for now until she discovers the back of her head ...

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeff!

Last night we celebrated Uncle Jeff's 30th birthday! Today is his actual birthday - Happy Birthday Uncle Jeff!

Uncle Jeff & Auntie Jessie


Uncle Jeff and Alyssa doing a puppet show


Derek, Rex, mommy and me


umm ... good cupcakes Auntie Jessie!

future american idol finalist

Tim has music practice with his group Newsong every Wednesday night. They lead worship at our church on Sunday mornings. Once in awhile I will take Hailey so she can watch daddy because she LOVES music.

Last night was one of those nights. Usually before and after practice daddy will sit Hailey in his lap and let her play the "real drums" and she loves it. She also is pretty good at it! Once practice begins she wants to play along so we have extra drum sticks for her and she runs around banging whatever she can! Below you will see a picture of daddy with the band. My brother is actually on the drums. Tim also has 3 girls who sing with him, but they couldn't make practice last night.



And here is Hailey jamming with the group we found a makeshift drum for her to bang on ....



I will have to get a video of her playing the actual drums. It is sooo cute!

I really think she is following in her daddy's footsteps. At 19 months old she already sings with us and loves to play her little keyboard, guitar and of course the drums!

Hey, keep an eye on this girl as she may be the next American Idol!

back in full force

We had a low-key 3 day weekend and throughly enjoyed it! Hailey is doing fabulously other than being annoyed by a couple of teeth trying to come in which makes her a bit more cranky. Her language skills are taking off and she is now repeating almost everything we say. Its funny to hear what comes out next. Another funny thing she does is yell MEME anytime she sees a phone. She doesn't get to see Meme as often as Nana, but she talks to Meme on the phone quite often so of course "phone=meme". Its quite cute! I was talking to a friend last night and the whole time Hailey is yelling "MEME, MEME" and trying to take the phone from me.

Also, the days of putting her hair in a barette or ponytail are over. Now matter what I do to distract her she pulls it out as fast as I can put it up. Any suggestions?! I found the cutest headbands at GAP kids and couldn't even think of buying them because off they go before I pull my hand away!

She also likes to tease me now and when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't (like putting a barette in her mouth) she yells mommy, waits for me to see what she is doing, says no, no, no and then puts it in her mouth! I guess she wants to give me fair warning that she is doing something she shouldn't! She also has the art of shopping down. We went to the mall with my mom and a friend yesterday. Hailey saw an ELMO shirt. She yells ELMO so I give it to her to look at and she then hands it Nana and says, thank you!!!! I swear we didn't practice that :-)

So thankfully I have my baby back in full force and I am enjoying every minute!

and they lived happily ever after

Feeding her preemie doll.
This was actually taken before she got sick.

And they lived happily ever after (its over - yeah!) Can someone say healthy!

The last time Hailey vomited was late Monday night, Tuesday she went in for IV fluids and bloodwork, then Wednesday she was tired and run-down from fighting this nasty virus. Yesterday was her first day in a week of actually having some energy. Her appetite still isn't back, even this morning she didn't eat much for breakfast, but I am sure that will come, I am just so glad to have my baby back!

Her new word: monkey! It is so funny! Meme bought her a monkey that attaches around her waist with velcro. At first she didn't like it, but she has warmed up to it and now runs around the house yelling "monkey" - "monkey" until she finds it.

Looking forward to a fun filled weekend and lots of new stories to share now that she is back to her normal silly self!

to the hospital we go ...

Well, Hailey has been the same which means she is still very sick. Finally after day 5 of vomiting we decided the ped should take a look at her so Tuesday am she was seen first thing. After examining her he sent us to the hospital for bloodwork and fluids. Hailey was a champ! Of course she cried and hated every second of it, but she did settle down and when it was all over she watched them take the IV out and never cried! The ped said she should perk up last night, she never did, but thankfully she never vomited. Now that's an accomplishment! She is down in her weight as well, but that is to be expected. She was 21lbs back at the beginning of January and should have gained since then, yesterday she was 19lbs, 12oz.


You can see she doesn't look good, but do notice the snickers
in her hand. Dooda gave her a bear that held snickers so she
is toting them around the house.

Today she is VERY tired and cuddly (I am defintely enjoying the cuddles), but she hasn't been whining as much so I am hoping that means her tummy isn't hurting as bad, she is just worn out. She usually goes all day and then vomits between 7-10pm every night so we will see ... I will defintely believe we are doing better if we go tonight vomit free.

Also, valentines is bittersweet because daddy is not home to celebrate with us. We are getting a blizzard today - what fun - but because of this he is stuck at work. He worked 3rd shift last night and tonight so they put him up in a hotel because of the weather. We are hoping all will be well by Friday and we will celebrate then.

Happy Valentines Day and Happy SNOW day to those who live in the area!

when will it end?

She's still sick ... Saturday night and Sunday am she seemed like she was getting back to normal. I even saw a twinkle in her eye Sunday morning. She even got to play a little with her friend Sidney from Maryland because it had been 24 hours from her last "episode", then a few hours after they left she vomited again and again.



She has lost a noticeable amount of weight. Not sure how accurate my scale is, but it puts her around 19lbs - she was up to 21lbs in January. She is hydrated though. Today she is just whining and moaning. I feel so horrible and just want to take it away so badly.

Looking forward to HEALTHY days ahead!

still sick ...

Well, its not the flu - norovirus is going around. Everyone has been beyond sick ... We finally thought things were getting better yesterday and then last night Hailey started vomiting again. All over everything in her crib ... We got about 3 hours sleep last night and I am just tired, tired of vomit and changing diapers. Over the course of this week she has learned to say poo-poo when she has a dirty diaper. That, sadly, was learned because she has had one to many dirty diapers! Today she has been worse than she was Thursday (and trust me that is VERY bad) and she went from asking for food to refusing to even drink. OH BOY!

Hoping and praying for relief soon ...

Looks like we won't be able to spend time with our friends coming up tomorrrow. This spring they are moving to Mass (about an hour from us), so at least they will be closer than Maryland!

Hopefully today will be a better day ...

flu-fest 2007

The title says it all! Since last week we have been celebrating flu-fest 2007. It actually started with friends of ours, went through their household, then my parents household, then my brother got it and now we are celebrating full force.

Thankfully I am feeling better today because someone has to keep the washing machine running :-) Hailey had her 6th costume change by 11:30am. Busy girl!

I think for the second half of flu-fest she might celebrate in her birthday suit. I have missed 2 (going on 3 tomorrow if Hailey isn't better) days of work, but again, thankfully Tim got it just in time for his weekend (Thursday/Friday).

Anyway ... please pray that flu-fest passes by soon because I don't know how much more the washing machine (and mommy) can take! Also we have friends coming to visit from Maryland on Sunday and we haven't seen them since October 2005. Their daughter Sidney will be turning 1 next month and Hailey and her have never officially met (unless you count when they were in the womb). Ha, ha!

Anyway ... please send us some germ free vibes and prayers that this passes fast!

talking (video)

look whose talking ...

Hailey has been loads of fun lately! She has been saying more and more words and putting phrases together. Instead of just saying bye, she will put words together, such as, bye nana! Also she has started saying "uh, oh" "no, no, no" and "ewww". Its hard not to laugh when she says these things. She say uh, oh whenever anything drops or her shoe falls off ect ... and ewww is usually when I am changing her diaper or she sticks her hand in the cat food :-) And before she does things she shouldn't comes the no, no, no!
She also said Jordy (her cousins name) ... Yesterday she was talking to Papa on the phone and he was saying how he saw Jordy and she repeated ... Jordy! I can't believe how much she picks up!
Mommy is sick with the flu (it is going around like wildfire), so far daddy and Hailey haven't caught it and I hope it stays that way. It was nice being home with her though. She is such a riot and so much fun!



Hailey also met Bradyn on Sunday when he came to visit ...

Notice the bottle in her hand - she was prepared to feed the baby!

Happy Birthday Auntie Robin!

Yesterday was Auntie Robin's birthday and today there was a party planned for her. Hailey and I were all ready to go (daddy had to work), but last minute we had car trouble and couldn't make it, but we wanted Auntie Robin to know were thinking of her and wish her the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday Auntie Robin!

IKEA

So yesterday we made our trek to Ikea. It actually only took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. We are glad to know its not that far as we plan to make more trips in the future. This particular trip was about Hailey. We wanted to get her a small table and chair set and a bookcase. Mission accomplished ...

Notice the mini cookware set ... she loved it and has
played with it all day.


Cute, huh?! The bookcase was made so it can lay
down or go upright when she is older. I love the way it
is made with little cubbies so she can put her toys in it too ...


On her bureau notice the cute new lamp that matches her room ...

sledding

We got a fresh coat of about 3 inches of snow so this morning we took Hailey to Target to buy a new sled and off we went.

Notice the tiny hill behind her that she went
down (she loved it!)


isn't it pretty?!


She's screaming because the sled stopped and
she wanted to keep going ...

much ado about nothing

Not much to report, we have had a great week so far and mommy has tomorrow off from work YEAH! We are taking a trip to IKEA. When we lived in Maryland we were only 5 minutes from the closest IKEA and we would shop their all the time. Actually IKEA was the first store Hailey ever went into. She had been home from the NICU for about a month and I was going stir crazy so we went to IKEA right before close to avoid the "awful" germs. It was funny, I remember being so paranoid, keeping her bundled up and not really enjoying myself because of worry. Of course, she didn't get sick, but because of my incessant worry she never entered a store till the next spring. Anyway...when we moved we went through withdrawals (ha, ha), but thankfully they built one somewhat close to where we live. I say somewhat because we are going to have to make a day of it (I believe its about 2 hours away), but it will be fun and we are on a mission to get some new furniture for Hailey's room. I think she will really love IKEA like we do!!!

Also, NAP STRIKE is over! It took a couple of days, but we are back to our regularly scheduled naptimes!!!! YEAH!

And time for one cute story, my mom taught Hailey to say "num, num" (I am guessing it is supposed to be yum, yum) when she wants food. Well, Hailey wants food ALL the time, so this can be a problem, but it is so cute! At the place that I grocery shop they have cookies for the kids and Hailey is now figuring out where they are. Since she had just finished dinner before we left last night to go grocery shopping I figured I would by-pass the cookies. Think again! Just as I was passing them, she bursts out ... num, num, num - please!!!! How can I resist?!


Notice the cute boots that Alyssa let me borrow!


Mom, why are you trying to put things on my head again? You know I can't stand it!

Party!

Sunday night Hailey went to a birthday party for Rex who is turning 1! She had a great time in spite of being sleep deprived :-) They held the party at the Portsmouth Children's Museum. One of Hailey's favorite parts was the little table/kitchen area where she could play.

Here she is about to feed daddy dinner ...


After lots of pizza and blue cupcakes she got a second buzz of energy and suprisingly made it to bedtime without a breakdown after only sleeping for 15 minutes the entire day!

Getting daddy some lobstah!


Happy Birthday Rex!

nap strike

Hailey has gone on a nap strike. Never in her 18 months has she ever gone on a complete strike. Sure we have had our difficulties, but eventually we get her to sleep or move around/consolidate her nap schedule to make it work. Well, yesterday she woke up at her usual (on the weekend) around 6:30am. We got up, ate breakfast, played a little and went to put her back down around 8:30am, but she would have none of that. When on strike she doesn't scream and cry, to the contrary, she laughs, plays, sings and melts my heart, by saying ... momma, momma ... dadda, dadda. Well, we played this little game for awhile and gave up because she was in such a great mood. Around noon we went out for lunch and she slept in the car for about 15min and then when we got home, we let her play and around 3pm we tried this nap thing again. Nope, still on strike ... laughing, playing, singing ... momma ... What can one do?!

I tried just letting her play, nope, I tried rocking and singing to her, nope - heck she starts singing with me (I need a new song that she doesn't know :-) So we got her up and took her to Rex' birthday party! Happy Birthday Rex! She actually did great and just started acting really tired about 7pm. Today was a little different because I was at work, but she fought naps again. Morning nap with daddy, afternoon at Nana's. Finally around 4:45pm once I was home she fell asleep, but now its 5:15p and I think I need to wake her up so she will sleep tonight!

On her normal schedule during the week she gets up at 6:15a, goes back down around 7:30a at Nana's house and sleeps till between 9-10am, then takes another nap around 3pm (when I am home from work) till about 4:30pm, then bed by 8pm. Maybe its time to start working out a new schedule ... lets see how the rest of the week goes.

clothing connoisseur

Close friends of ours, Wayne, Kim and Travis Ward who live in PA sent Hailey a christmas gift. Lots of new clothes! For those of you know both Hailey and I you know she loves clothes and I love to dress her up! Tonight we had a fashion show so we could send pictures to them and thank them for the gifts. I had to share the pictures with everyone ...

shopping

Yes, I still fit in my doll stroller!

Hailey is a born shopper! Just like her mom, nana and her great-nana. Growing up, every Friday my mom and nana would go shopping and I would go until I was old enough to go to school or if I had Friday's off. They are very fond memories of being with two ladies I love and getting spoiled rotten by my nana.

Now Hailey, my mom and I don't get out that often, but we do plan shopping trips every couple of weeks and without fail Hailey gets spoiled rotten by her nana.

Because of this Hailey LOVES the mall. As soon as we enter the mall she screeches ... Last night her dad and I took her to the mall and since it was so slow we let her walk around. At this moment she does not follow because she is so easily distracted so we followed her. First she choose Hallmark because of the stuffed doggie right in the window, then off to Gymboree to watch the tv and sit in the chairs (she LOVES the chairs), but don't fret we taught her well because she didn't leave the store before looking at the clothes. She would walk up to racks, stop, look at the clothes and go to the next rack. It was so cute and she didn't pull them, just looked and went on ...

Lastly, she went to Baby Gap, where she knows exactly where the shoes hang, she sits on the floor and pulls them off the rack one by one (until mommy stops her :) The Gap must love us!
Train a child when they are young and when they are old they will not depart from it ... ha, ha!

This week she also learned to say tummy and knows where it is. I love sitting with her and asking her where her body parts are and actually have her repeat the names of them and point them out!

Another cute thing she has started doing is shouting our names when she wakes up. She used to wake up crying, but all of the sudden the crying changed to names ... so in the morning she wakes up saying Momma, Momma ... it just melts your heart!



Lastly, we are having a hair crisis! Her hair is getting longer in the front so she needs clips to hold it back, but she won't let me put anything in or she pulls it out. I found these cute headbands at Gap and she won't leave it on for 10 sec! HELP! I thought I had found a solution with ponytails, but sure enough she searches her head for anything that might be holding her hair back and pulls it out.

Game Day