One

One is a lot of things...the loneliest number, a singular sensation, a U2 song, first place...it is now the age of my baby girl! Haley turned one this morning at 6:30 am. She was not so happy with her Happy Birthday wake up song. In fact, she cried the whole time. I could be the fact that she stayed up late last night and normally sleeps until 8. The rule in our house is nobody cries alone, so mommy cried for a little while, too. I never knew that a year could go by so fast!

Haley now walks all of the time and loves to talk to "Gu". We all know that is Gus. Yes, our child's first word was the dog's name. I will post photos from her cupcake tonight.

Happy Birthday Haley!

The past month has been full of travel and fun vacations. It was nice to be home this weekend! Haley is all over the place! Her new love is opening and closing doors. She laughs hysterically when she closes the door and flashes her smile when she opens it. Her giggle has been replaced with a belly laugh that Trey and I can't get enough of! Haley had her first ear infection a couple weeks ago and has recovered nicely. She loves the taste of the "bubble gum medicine" as Uncle Shawn and Mommy used to call it.

She takes steps and then realizes that she isn't holding onto something and drops to the floor. Walking is not too far away. She loves all food, red meat included, and can't get enough blueberries and strawberries at each meal. Haley gets 3 "bottles" at day care each day. To get her used to not taking a bottle, last week she had one serving in a sippy cup. She took to it with no problems. This week, she is getting two servings in a sippy cup. This makes bottle washing time at night much quicker! We are also mixing mommy's milk with cow's milk. She didn't notice any difference. This makes mommy happy since she is ready to stop pumping at work!!

Mommy finally got birth announcements sent out. My goal was to accomplish this before her birthday. I made it with a month to spare. Emily Post and my grandmother are probably disappointed in me.

We went out to eat on Friday night for Miss Amy's birthday at Mattitos. We are so used to eating at 7 and bedtime at 8, mommy was a little panicked about getting to the restaurant at 7:30. We didn't order until after 8 and she got even more nervous. Nothing to worry about, little Haley did great and was still going strong at 9:30. I think that she was asleep before we left the parking lot. Miss Dusti took a couple photos that I wanted to pass along.


The first is what we like to call the "Sam Elliott" pose. Trey and his friends did this pose in college and we have now officially roped Haley into it.


Sweet Haley!!

We changed up Haley's schedule, so now I pump and she gets a bottle when she gets to daycare. She now sleeps until 8:00 in the morning, which makes things great on the weekends, but means that I don't get to see her awake in the morning. This has caused me to have an overly emotional week, but I know that it is for the best. I always try to look on the bright side of not fun situations! I now get to work at 7:00 am so I leave between 4:15 and 4:30 in the evenings. This gives me an extra hour with Haley at night.

Trey is great and sends me a photo of her every morning. Some mornings she is just waking up, sometimes she is smiling at me and sometimes she is crawling away and won't sit still. This morning's photo shows that the love of shoes is something that all females are born with. We can't help but love them. Trey said she dropped everything and started playing with them. She takes after her momma!!!

New Trick

We got Haley a push toy a couple months ago and she has shown zero interest in it. I pulled it out last night and this is what she did....I don't think that walking is too far off...

We lowered the crib to its lowest setting on Monday night and removed the mobile and soother. She is getting too big for me!

9 Months!

I can't believe it, but little Haley Who (our nickname for her) has turned 9 months old. She is now 17 lbs. 13 oz (25%) and 28" long (75%). We have had her traveling over the last few weekends and have one more trip to go this weekend. We had fun at Hyatt Lost Pines with the Bookters and went to San Angelo for the 4th of July. More photos to come in a different post.

Haley is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything! She can also stand for a few seconds (up to a minute) on her own. I am afraid that she will be walking before 1. She LOVES to talk and jabber on- does that surprise anyone! Check out the video to see her in action!

Saturday morning walk

Trey and I decided to take a walk this morning with Haley and Gus. Haley got some new shades and a hat and wanted to look cute...like she has to try! Gus chased ducks and almost pulled Trey into the pond.

After nap, we are going to hit the baby pool!

Your child is active...and she talks a lot...

Words that I guess I better get used to. The nursery workers at church said that to me yesterday. I had told them that Haley was crawling and pulling up on everything. She was so active that the second hour of church was spent riding around in the buggy. Trey and I volunteer in the nursery and could hear her talking and kicking her heels against the buggy for most of the hour. I remember the days when Haley would just lay around and sleep...those are gone! Now we chase momma and daddy and try to keep up with Gus. Gus is the favorite target these days. He has learned to lick her in the face and she will stop. We have not found the dog food bowl yet!!



Haley is now 8 months old...yikes! Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, chicken and pears. I am making her baby food and she seems to enjoy what I make. She dislikes peaches and bananas. She can feed herself puffs, ritz crackers and yogurt bites. She has quite the appetite. She has also tried turkey, green beans, peas and carrots. Haley is a great eater, but is still in the 30% for weight. She gets weighed again this month! I can't believe that she is 3 weeks away from being 9 months old!



Haley also has 2 teeth and signs are pointing to her adding a couple more this week or the next week. She is making a great face to show off her pearly whites.


Gus turned a year old in May. He can catch any frisbee that is thrown in the air now. He also knows the names of his toys and can bring them to you when asked. He gets jealous when we spend too much time with Haley. He also enjoys story time.


We now like to play in the pool...more on that later!

I'm back...

So, I am the worst blogger ever! So much has happened since Rice Cereal almost 3 months ago! We now eat solid foods, can travel across the country/state without problems, have 2 teeth and can crawl across the room! I will try to go month by month!

February
February was a great month where Haley got used to eating cereal and got better at traveling long distances. We went to San Angelo at the end of the month for the annual Stock Show and Rodeo. Haley got to see her first rodeo parade and rodeo. She did great, but did fall asleep at the end. We went to the afternoon performance with Mema, Papa, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Mandy, Megan and Caroline. This was special to me since i grew up going to the rodeo with my parents and grandparents (Super Mema and Super Papa to Haley). Haley loved rice cereal, but had some problems with oatmeal.

On February 15 we participated in baby dedication at our church. Mema and Papa and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins came to celebrate with us. It was a very special day to us. We committed to raise Haley with God's guidance. She did great and smiled for the camera.


March
The theme of March was where else could we travel?!?! The first weekend in March we headed east to Arkansas to visit Trey's grandmother; aunt and uncle; cousins and their children. Nanny (trey's mom) joined up with us in Little Rock. Trey's grandmother was excited to meet the newest great grandchild and even sang her two signature songs to Haley. Haley loved meeting her and smiled and played with Grandma's face. Haley did great on the 8 hour trip and managed keep herself entertained and not sleep the entire time!! Gus spent time and Aunt Kellie and Uncle Brandon's house. He was exhausted when we got him home. I guess that is what 3 little kids will do to a puppy. haley mastered sleeping through the night! What a wonderful thing!!

The next weekend we got back in the car and drove to Colorado to go skiing with the Bookter bunch (minus Uncle Shawn and Aunt Mandy.) We survived 16 hours going and coming! I was so proud of Haley. Mema rode with us for a while and on the way back Haley rode with Mema and Papa and her cousins for a while. They loved it! Trey and I had a great time skiing with my dad and family friend Jack. I hadn't been skiing in 6 years and was pretty out of shape. I kept using having a baby as an excuse. I am wondering how much longer I can use it?!? Caroline helped Mema take care of Haley and Megan turned into an amazing skier! She was going over bumps, taking tree trails and jumps before the end of the week...she takes after her dad! Haley had a rough time with the altitude and didn't really sleep through the night. It is hard to get back up during the night after sleeping soundly for so many weeks. Gus stayed at our friends house in the country. They live on an acre. I think that he got spoiled with all of the space to run. He also got to go to the groomer because it rained for a couple days and he loved the mud!

Haley's snowsuit


Haley and Caroline and Megan

When we got back we discovered that the bouncy seat was too small. We also transitioned into Size 2 diapers. Our little girl is growing up! She was 15 lbs. 4oz. We also got the go ahead to start eating solid foods.


The last weekend of March we headed down south to see Nanny and Papaw in Harlingen. We survived our first flight with Haley. Being Type A, I called the airline as well as looked on the TSA website for tips on traveling with an infant. The TSA folks were impressed with my preparedness. We went to the 100th celebration of First Baptist Church Harlingen and we had a great time catching up with everyone. I did get to see some lovely photos of Trey growing up.


In Nanny's backyard

April
We settled down a little and kept it close to home, except for a little Easter travel to San Angelo and Abilene. We spent Good Friday and part of Saturday with my parents and then drove to Todd and Kathryn's house for Easter Sunday. I am excited about teaching Haley about the true meaning of Easter in the coming years. Not that bunnies, eggs and candy aren't great, but the real celebration is the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made for us and the celebration of Easter Sunday!

Haley with the Easter bunny


Haley with Emily, Keaton, Caleb and Payton




The easter bunny left Haley a blue sucker...Haley loved it!
Oh yeah...the food! I am attempting to make my own baby food to save money, so there is a little more time involved, but we are seeing savings from it!! We love all the veggies we have tried: sweet potatoes, squash (had to grow on her), peas, green beans, pears and apples. We are trying bananas and peaches in the next week. Mommy is a messy feeder and Daddy gets everything in the mouth...where is the fun in that?!?!







Haley cut 2 teeth this month as well. What a horrible experience for her! She had fever, runny nose and couldn't sleep. I have a hard time functioning at work on 3 hours sleep now. She looks really cute with her little teeth.

I promise to blog more!!

Rice Cereal

And so it begins...our love affair with food. We got permission to start feeding Haley rice cereal. We started last week with a pretty watery consistency and are going to make it a little thicker as the weeks progress. Haley seems to like it, which is good. The first night she knocked the bowl out of Trey's hands because she was so excited. Mommy tends to have better luck feeding her in the bouncy seat, but she can't seem to eat fast enough. She finished everything last night and I made a little bit more. Haley is still wearing 0-3 month clothes and I think that we are going to start growing out of them!! She gets impatient when we don't feed her fast enough. Check it out!

Lunch with George and Laura

I am a die hard conservative and have loved our President of the past 8 years. No comment on the current one as I am trying to keep an open mind for at least 100 days. His abortion decision of last week didn't help him in my eyes....enough about him and onto George! George and Laura Bush stopped by to meet with someone in our building. They had just been to their new house in Dallas and are headed to Crawford. George told me that directly. Not everyday that you get to stand and shake the hand of someone who personally kept me safe for at least 8 years and someone that I respect. I was able to tell him directly Thank you for everything. That might make me tear a little!!!

PS- Keep in mind that this is my blog and I can make whatever statements that I want to make. If you don't agree with my opinion of GWB, I don't need to know! This is the first political statement that I have made and it will most likely be my last.

4 Months!

Sorry for the delay in blogging! Mommy going back to work has been harder than she thought. She feels pulled in 15 different directions and when it comes down to blogging or hanging out with Haley and Trey...you see where this is going.

Haley had her 4 month check-up this morning. She is now 12 lbs, 14 oz. and 24.8" long. She is in the 30% for weight and 80% for length...we have a long and lean baby. We had 4 more shots and she did well again. She held her breath and turned red before crying. Mommy was a little nervous about this. Daddy read a book to her. She gets to start eating rice cereal, so life is about to get interesting!

I am posting a couple pics and will try to update more about Christmas, etc. soon.