to Meme's house we go

We stopped by Meme's today and we were able to see Taylor and Jordy again. Hailey had loads of fun playing with them.

I love these pictures because Hailey does not usually sit, but for a good half hour today she took turns sitting with each of her cousins.





And when she wasn't sitting and playing with her cousins she was running into the kitchen every 5 minutes for cake or cookies. Oh the joys of Meme's house!

Meme asked me tonight if I felt like all we ever do at her house is eat ... and I said yeah, I do see a pattern, but the big question is does she feel like all she ever does is cook?! Thankfully she loves to cook and is great at it, the problem is being married to her son I will never live up to the standard she has set :-) I guess that is what Meme's are for ...

e-i-e-i-o

Hailey comes up with new things everyday. You read her a book once and the next day she is repeating it. She has a book about Old McDonald's Farm and it has a push button where it actually plays the song. I have read it to her once or twice, but thats it and I forgot about the book. Well, last week she started singing in the car e-i-e-i-o. I couldn't figure out where she learned this from until yesterday she carried the book out for me to read it to her. Its amazing the memories these kids have!

She also is at the stage where she repeats everything we say. This can be cute as long as we watch what we say ... Lately when eating crackers she will pretend to give us one then take it away and eat it. So while laughing I looked at her and said "meanie" well, now she looks at me and says it back.

Now for some cute pictures from the past week ...

Below is Hailey in her babies crib ... notice the baby laying beside the crib.


Hailey decided if she couldn't get a ride in her car she would push Elijah around in it. She did a good job too.


Starting last week I decided it was time to wean Hailey from her binky and banky. I have realized how attached she is to them, but didn't worry about it because she was still little, but with the big "2" coming up I figure its time. Let me just say this was not expected to be an easy task, but it has turned out just fine. Surprisingly, as long as binky/banky are out of sight, they are out of mind. The only time she asks for them is if she sees them, is tired or hurts herself. She has always hated car rides so they were always a must, but this week I just didn't bring them with us and maybe the first time in the car she asked for them, but the rest of the week she has been perfectly fine without them. I do let her still use them to sleep though. For right now I see no harm in that and you better believe that next month on our 8 hour trip to Maryland they will be the first thing I pack :-)

This week I am starting to wonder if binky/banky are more for her sanity or mine? Maybe I need to devise a plan to wean me from needing to give them to her when she is upset or just being loud!

Happy 3rd Birthday Alyssa!

Today was Alyssa's 3rd birthday party! It was a beautiful 70 degree day and fun was had by all. Her theme was a bugs life and they had an live exotic animal and bug show.



I love watching Hailey grow up and be able to interact more and more with her cousins and other kids. She loved the bubble machine ...



Waiting patiently for cupcakes!!! UMMM ...



Alyssa's big gift was a Dora jeep, Luke was the chauffeur giving each kid a ride around the yard. It was very cute, but Luke wasn't very impressed. He wanted to know why it didn't go any faster :-) He has a need for speed!!!

to the circus we go ...

Friends of ours, Tim and Elita, gave us tickets to the circus so we took Hailey today. She had lots of fun and lasted about an hour which I think is pretty good for someone her age. She isn't afraid of the dark, but did cring when the lights went out and clung to me for most of it while watching the show. Her favorite was the clowns, it is funny how much this child loves anything dressed up - santa, easter bunny, clowns etc ... She just screeches and runs up to them. One of the acts she saw was a flying trapeze act and she kept yelling "monkey, monkey". She thought the lady was a monkey. HA, HA! Sadly, most of all our circus pix came out blurry. Here is a cute one though ...



After we left the circus we headed to a park to let Hailey run off some energy ...



Notice we are enjoying the outdoors again. Yes, it hit between 60-70 degrees today. Hailey LOVES the park. Its great to watch her run around and play because last year during the summer she wasn't walking yet.



Then I had to throw this pix in for good measure ...

much better!

We are feeling better and ready for the weekend - yeah! Daddy has 3 days off this weekend - Thursday, Friday and Saturday so we are looking forward to spending quality time together. Best of all its supposed to finally warm up - yeah! We might even hit 70 degrees! Come, spring, come!

Hailey has really been having fun dancing lately. She recently decided twirling would be fun and has started doing this when dancing. It is so funny to watch. She also likes to hang upside. Go figure ...

We also got our first "love you's" out of her. What's funny is she knows just what it means and decides to be selective on when to say it. We can say it to her and she will repeat back at some points and other points just grin at us a walk away. She knows exactly what she is doing!



Tonight Wyatt came over to play. They both have strong personalities and bullied each other around. They have been friends since they were babies so its fun to watch them grow and see what each stage brings :-)



Also, Jaimi (Mae-me) as Hailey calls her, came to visit for a few minutes tonight. Hailey loves Jaimi and kept jumping in her lap every few minutes to give her a hug and if she wasn't in her lap she was saying her name to get her attention. This child is so social I swear she wouldn't even care if mommy and daddy were in the room. I guess that can be a good and bad trait :-) It makes me wonder sometimes how she can be so social when she the first year of her life she hardly ever left the house. I amstarting to think its just something built in her personality, just like her daddy.

sick again

Arghh! Can someone say sick again? We have had 3 stomach viruses this winter, that is a record for me. That is actually a lifetime record for me. So much for me saying I never get sick. Yesterday I started in and early this morning Hailey started with it. So far Tim has been safe. My mom came yesterday and thankfully helped me with Hailey! Thank you mom! Lets just hope she doesn't get it.

Right now it seems Hailey and I are on the mend so lets hope it stays that way.

holey, moley

Today we went to a train show with daddy. Yeah, how was I suckered into that one? I still don't know. On our way home daddy was talking to Papa on the phone and said "holey moley" - not sure where that came from because I have never heard him say that before, but from the backseat all of the sudden I hear HOLEY MOLEY in a little baby voice! We couldn't stop laughing ...



Also, notice in the picture above she is holding keys. Her newest obsession is getting the mail. We have a separate key chain that holds our mail key and Hailey knows right where they are and from dawn to dusk she yells for them - mail, mail, mail. Once at the mailbox she kindly hands the keys to me to check the mail and then off she runs with the keys once more.

And just for fun I was looking at Hailey's easter pix from last year compared to this year. Notice the same facial expression. She defintely has grown up alot since last year and I am very thankful I now have hair to style! YEAH!

who stole spring?

Busy, busy, busy ... what more can I say? Work has been crazy, being new to the finance department is crazy enough, but what makes it more crazy is having only two others in your department, one on maternity leave and the other out sick with the same virus we had last month. Needless to say she was out all week - YIKES! Thank God its Friday!

Hailey has been her usual silly self. Potty training is pretty much non-exsistent right now. She would much rather stand naked on the potty looking out the window than actually sitting on it :-) I have great blackmail pictures for when she grows up. Her language skills are exploding. She repeats alot of what we say and comes up with new things each day. We have "book" time before bed and she loves to read. The other day she was reading her books by herself in her room and I walk in, she doesn't even acknowledge me, but keeps reading and points out a page that is pink and says "pink" - I was in shock. She then proceeds to another book of animals opens it and says "pig" - then turns to the cow and says "moo".

In the picture below she is reading mommies potty training guide - I hope she learns alot from reading that book :-)



April 11th was Meme and Auntie Tracy's birthday's! Happy Birthday to both of you - we love you! On their birthday they went out to dinner together, but when I talked to Meme she said she never got a cake so the next day we surprised her with a cake. No birthday is complete without cake!



Sadly, this is April 12th on the way home from Meme's house. Notice the railroad tracks (courtesy of my husband). We ask (as a store sign states near my house) who stole spring? And note the weather is calling for MORE snow Sunday. Florida here I come!



And lastly, tonight after some shopping fun Jazzie came over to play for an hour. She was visiting her Meme (our neighbor) because her mommy is in the hospital with her new baby brother Kendrick. Notice her new shirt that says I am a BIG sister!

Easter 2007

Hailey had a great easter which can mostly be summed up by the pictures below. She started the day by getting her easter basket from mom and dad which mostly contained books, a sippy cup and peeps. Yes, peeps because they are daddy's favorites and by the end of today Hailey not only loves peeps she can say "peep".



After church we went to Nana and Dooda's house for lunch where she was spoiled rotten with lots of goodies and yes, more peeps. Notice the bunny from hallmark that sings. Everytime we would go to the mall she would lead us to Hallmark and dance with the bunny so Nana and Dooda bought it for her.



Hailey and her "UNCA Matt"


After lunch we headed over to Meme's to get more goodies. Uncle Jeff was visiting, as well as, Auntie Tracey and cousins Jordyn and Taylor. Because of Jordyn's bone marrow transplant last March she has been under house arrest this past year and Hailey hasn't been able to see or play with her. Slowly, these precautions are being lifted, but she still has to be careful around other kids especially because they can be germ carriers. Today though since Hailey was healthy she was able to play with Jordy and Taylor for a little while. We can't wait for the day when Jordyn can be at all our family gatherings again! Here are a few pictures ...

little miss daredevil and the potty

Life has been so crazy that I haven't really had a chance to update on what is new with Hailey. As you can see above she is very helpful when I am folding laundry...

Her language skills are taking off. She talks up a storm and has quite a vocabulary. A couple of her new words are "up" and "hot". To her up means both up and open, so we are working on knowing the difference. Hot is a fun one because when she says hot she also starts blowing out her mouth like she is cooling something off. I started saying hot and blowing on her food so she would understand why I couldn't give it to her right away so now she does it for everything. Her food, the bath water, candles, the stove while I am cooking ...

She has also become quite the daredevil. I share this because in the fall we were getting an eval for occupational therapy due to sensory issues - gravitational insecurities is what they called it. Now she takes risks like its nothing at all. She loves to be put upside and then flip over my arms to the floor, she stands on chairs, jumps on the bed, swings high in the air. I am not saying all of these are safe - do not try this at home (ha, ha) - but I say this because last year I was worrying about how these sensory issues would prohibit her in the future and all the implications and that came with it and now look at her. She has overcome so much and I am so proud of her.

We are also starting early with potty training. I defintely see a readiness in her, but it will take time. I figure it can't hurt to start early. She knows what potty is and will sit on it, as well as, wipe herself after sitting on it and then wash her hands. Its a start ...



Sadly, I have no nice spring outdoor pictures to share with you because it won't stay spring for very long! We had a week of nice weather and now its cold with lots of snow! ARGHHH! Hailey on the other hand loves it and keeps yelling - snow, snow! We just bought a new all-terrain Jeep stroller getting ready for our outdoor spring walks and the only place we have used it so far is the mall - go figure!

Below is a picture of daddy and Hailey playing trains. For daddy's birthday he took the money he received (thanks Joe/Robin and Meme) and bought a Thomas the Tank Engine train set for him and Hailey. They both throughly enjoy it ...

WalkAmerica 2007: Team Hailey

We are getting ready for WalkAmerica once again to raise money to fund research targeted at preventing prematurity, and lessening the negative impact that it has on so many lives.



Please visit our WalkAmerica site at Team Hailey to donate in honor of Hailey, to sign up as a walker for our team, or just to monitor how much money we have raised.

Thank you in advance for your support in helping us reach our goal!

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!!!!!