More Pics from the weekend

Ok...so I got the pictures from our May-long trip from Tanya. Ahhhh....I'm so in love with them. I'm so in love with them to the point that I don't even CARE how white my legs are. Besides...after reading Twilight, I have a new appreciation for pale skin.

Enjoy

Oh man...I'm so in love with that cute little Hailey Babe. She made the weekend.

HMC...RV's Maiden voyage

Ahhh....only my mom would get the title to this post. I think I'm sooo clever!! he he he, HMCRV. - bwa ha ha ha!!! What a total loser I am. And if you even get what I'm talking about - then you're a total loser too (sorry mom)

Anyway, we took the RV out for her maiden voyage last weekend. It was fun...and somewhat stressful. I've just become so accustomed to getting a full (undisturbed) night of sleep that I was dreading this weekend. The only times we've taken Hailey somewhere else overnight have been complete disasters. Disaster in the way that a 9 month old baby wakes as many, if not more, times at night then a newborn...yes a disaster! Anyway, I spent the whole trip shushing everyone around us, and I've pretty much guaranteed that we'll only be camping alone from now on - no one likes being shushed that many times in one weekend. I know...I was so annoying, but I sooooo needed my baby to sleep. And....she did!!! At least I'm pretty sure she did, I wore earplugs the entire time, so I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, Nate and Tan and their boys came along. They had their own camper to stay in. Then Josh and his girlfriend Lita and my parents came too. Josh and my dad were banished to a tent and Lita and Mom stayed in our trailer. There was actually room for all of them in the trailer, but dad snores really loud, and we can't guarantee anything will smell fresh after Josh has been around - so they had to sleep outside. I think they were fine with it though... or at least they were used to it. Anyway, it was a fun trip. We stayed in a campground near Kalispel MO, which means we got to hit the Target, Ross, Lowe's, and Bath and Body works - all while enjoying some seriously beautiful country. Seriously, it's so gorgeous down there. So, here are some pics from the weekend. Tan, has some more on her camera - and I really really need to get them because if I remember correctly, there are some gorgeous ones of us on the Beach.

The front end of the big rig - pretty cool. Do you see the laundry basket there? that's directly below the laundry chute - yes, the RV has a laundry chute.

Me and the Babe in front of the monster just before we left to go home- it really is a monster. There's a full pop-out on the other side too...sorry no pics of that

Here's one of Mom and Hailey inside the camper...Hailey was trying on her new outfit - cute hey?

Hailey and Alexander...banished to the playpen. Alexander was free to go, but he actually liked it in there. Oh - and I usually do dress my kid in matching clothes, just not when she's crawling in dirt.

Ben - working hard as always...and telling me to do something useful - as always.

BPA and the Zoo

So I'm sure many of you parents are aware of this whole BPA thing. It's not actually new...but it's new in the news! Do you follow? Anyway, I've been fully aware of it for a while, but yet I still let Hailey drink out of her Avent bottles (which we ALL know is made from polycarbonates... which we also ALL know is made with BPA... common knowledge). So, my whole theory was that if I didn't heat the bottle, everything would be ok - no chemicals would leach into her milk and therefore we would be fine! And I'm sure we could have all lived a long happy life if we followed that hypothesis (maybe our kids would have an extra arm or two...but no biggie right?) Well, here's the thing, Health Canada decided to put out a report that basically sent all bottle feeding moms into a full blown frenzy. But that's the sort of thing that happens when you find out you've just spent the last 10 months poisoning your child - right?? Common everyday kind of stuff around here. Anyway, I joke about it because that's what I do, but in all seriousness, I think they're right. It's better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure us BPA bottle feeding moms didn't really poison our kids, but why take the risk? Especially when you can return all your 'bad' bottles without a receipt and buy 'good' ones with that money! It's a good deal and I'll gladly go along with it (as long as you don't get me started on the ridiculous mark up of BPA free bottles. Come on... we've totally been taken advantage of!)

So last week...or the week before we returned all three of Hailey's bottles and bought some nice 'Born Free' bottles. She doesn't seem to care...and I'm happier then ever because I didn't even pay for her original bottles in the first place. It all worked out fine....except for the time when Hailey overheard me talking about it all:

Interpretation of her face: What? BPA in my bottles?? What kind of world is this?? What about this sippy cup here? Will this give me a third arm too?

Don't worry, I'm a good enough mom that I explained to her that things will be ok (and she can always sue us later if she feels it's necessary) and that her sippy cup is BPA free, I checked. She seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer.

On to better things. So last week we went to the zoo with Laura and her kids. And this time we finally got some pics of the kids together:

They loved it...can you tell?

Hailey says: Excuse me Heidi...but you're not supposed to lick the glass

And finally - me and the babe...Hailey's still a bit wary of me after the whole BPA thing. She'll come around eventually.

ETA: So...I just have to be clear here...I really am a good mom. In fact, Hailey has been using the Avent Tempo liners for quite some time (and they are supposedly safe) - and that's only when she is lucky enough to get a bottle. I was never really comfortable with her using the regular bottles. Oh and we never microwaved them either...I at least knew that much. Anyway, here's a link to some info on BPA and bottles:

A list of 'safe' bottles: http://www.toxicnation.ca/node/161

-we now use the bornfree ones and we have an adiri - although Hailey isn't a big fan of it. It's a cool concept though

And an in depth review of bottles in general: http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bisphenol-in-baby-bottles-and.html

Actually read that entire blog, there's some really great info on there. Anyway, this is just my take on things...make up your own minds.

Things that scare...

So there are a few things in this world that are scary...yet completely harmless.

Examples??

Sure.

One would be Ben's reaction when he discovered the blue streak across our car was not some random mark, but was the result of his wife's lack of depth perception and minor run in with a wheelbarrow. Ok...he wasn't really scary, but he definitely was soooo harmless.

Another example would be me in labour...scary? Yes. Harmless? Completely - well I guess that depends on how fast you can run.

Anyway, the third thing would be Febrile Seizures! Hailey had two of these this week and boy are they scary! S-C-A-R-Y! But oh so harmless. Basically she had a high fever, and therefore she had a seizure. And then, the next day when I couldn't keep her temperature down she did it again. At first I wasn't too sure what it was, but I knew something was wrong. I took her into Urgent care and assumed they would send me home without a diagnosis and secretly laughing at me again behind my back (remember the Urgent care/teething post from a while back - yeah, you remember). INSTEAD...they sent me home with a pile of information on seizures, a requisition for an EEG and tears streaming down my cheeks. It was not a good day.

Here's the thing about Febrile seizures, they are completely harmless. They are an extreme reaction to a fever...and that's it. But medically speaking, there's no harm done. Once the doctors know what causes the fever and once they are satisfied that they can treat whatever that problem is, they don't care about the seizures. In Hailey's case she had group C strep...which is relatively minor and is often not treated. So our only concern was keeping her fever down...and therefore avoiding another seizure. Which we did...and she's fine now! No more fever...no more seizures and hopefully no more tears for a little while. That doesn't mean I won't be taking her temperature every 5 minutes for the next 20 years....but at least we know she's ok. She just scared us a bit...but that's what babies do.

What a week I've had...

It's been a crazy and oh so scary week around our house. My poor little baby decided to get sick and scare her mom and dad half to death. She's fine now and just as cute as ever. I'll post more about it all later, but I just had to share a little insight into my mind.

So Hailey had a pretty hot little temperature this week. I took her temperature, converted it to Fahrenheit like all bad Canadians do, saw that it was 104, and then thought to myself:

"interesting...If she was a werewolf it would be 109.9"

Do you think I'm too obsessed with my Vampire/werewolf books? I think so.

Pictures

As promised. Pictures, but no video - I can't get them to load:

Hailey before her bath...I can almost her saying "muuuuum, please - a little privacy??"

Second Cousins...she had to wait until he was strapped in before attacking. Definitely an opportunist.

A little Baby Daddy love

Going for the stairs...her new favourite thing

The Happy Couple!! Glamorous as always.

Oh, I can't forget about a few other fun things we've done lately. Just a few weeks ago, we headed south for the day for celebrate Ashley's Birthday! The big 21...which of course means she's going on a mission - watch out all you Knoxville Tennessee peeps - Ashley's a comin'. I just said peeps - ha ha ha.

We played mini-golf and Hailey was cute - of Course.

And then at one point we had Chris and Lauren over for some food and cards. We even dug the old coffee table out of hibernation for the event - lucky them!You think they'd be over more often since they literally live down the street...but it seems like we hardly see each other at all. Come over more (said in whiny pleading voice).

Here's Hailey and Chris, she thought she was pretty cool sitting there like such a big girl.

And that's it!

Has it been that long already??

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I swear it was yesterday...is someone messing with my calendar?? Anyway, since my last 'hopeless romantic' post, I have gone on to read the other two books in the series...and can I just say how embarrassingly in love I am?? I KNOW it's so juvenile but I can't resist it. Anyway, I'm done with the books for a while and I am looking forward to getting on with my life. I have been so consumed with the stupid books that it will be nice to have a break!

So not much has gone on in our lives since last post. I've been sick here for almost a week and I'm finally feeling better. All I can say about being sick though is that I now know (FOR SURE) that I can't handle being pregnant again for a LOOOOONG time. I had some sort of stomach bug and it was way too much like morning sickness for my liking. It just reminded me how awful those first 4 months are, and I'm so not ready for it any time soon - as in at least another year.

Hmmm, what else? Oh - Hailey is now crawling!! Yippee! She's so happy now too. She's also mastered the stairs (well the going up motion...going down is a distant dream) and she is an expert at pulling up on things - things like her crib at 4AM. Ugh. We practice the sitting down thing all day long so she knows how to do it, but there's something about the crib slats at 4AM that keep her from sitting down. One day right?? I have some cute pictures on my camera, which is conveniently dead right now, so once it's charged I'll post them. I also have some videos of her showing off...oh and some serious lunch time drama. They're good fun. So stay tuned, there will be pictures.

The things I can do when in LOVE

OK, I have a confession to make. I'm in love. Not surprising right? I'll explain:

Yesterday I was somewhat productive. I managed to make Ben lunch, feed and play with Hailey all day, make dinner, clean a bathroom, clean the kitchen, sweep the floors, clean all the mirrors and glass surfaces, dust our furniture, shower, brush my teeth AND read an entire 498 page novle...plus the first chapter teaser from the next book in the series. Impressive I might say.

So when Ben came home last night he commented on all that I'd done and this was our conversation:

Me: Us women can do amazing things when we're in love
Ben: uhh...thanks?
Me: Not you silly; Edward Cullen
Ben: Who?
Me: The Vampire from this book I'm reading
Ben: A Vampire?? I don't get it
Me: Of course you wouldn't, your human

So there you have it. I finally broke down and read the first book in the series - Twilight. And now I'm completely obsessed. I NEED more!! And just so you know, here's a sample of our conversation last night before bed:

Me: Ben, I wish you were a Vampire
Ben: Oh jeez, not again
Me: No, seriously; is there anything more romantic then desperately wanting to drink someones blood and then fighting every urge to do so because you love them so much??
Ben: I don't even know what to say to that...
Me: Don't say anything, you just can't understand...you're too human.

And that's it, a glimpse into our lives. Fascinating. I think I'm going to go and google Twilight right now and see what kind of things I can obsess over now. Wish me luck.

Just because I can...

I can finally upload pictures again, so here's a post. Yay!!! I'm nto sure what was wrong, but it was really annoying. Anyway, here's a quick one of Hailey and her (my) newest obsession.







I bought a pair of little leggings off ETSY and while I was waiting for them to arrive I decided that I could make my own for half the price. So I did. The skull ones I bought, the striped ones I made. Pretty cute hey?? She obviously doesn't wear them together like this most the time, just for comparison pictures. Seriously, it was so easy to make these, all you do is take a pair of knee high socks, cut off the foot, then cut the toe and heel off the foot so it's a tube of fabric, then fold it in half and sew back to the leg of the sock to make a nice little cuff. EASY! Mine wasn't quite as nice as the one I bought, but that's because I couldnt' find adult knee highs and had to make them with kids sicks. And of course, for you sock sewers out there, it means I didn't have enough fabric to completely fold the 'cuff' over. It still sort of works though.

Here's a close up

Oh...and just for reference (I check back here once in a while to remember what Hailey's doing and when). At nine months:

-she is now an expert army crawler

-she can pull herself up onto the couch and walk the entire couch length...ALL BY HERSELF!!

-She can stand unassisted for 10 seconds...

-but she still can't crawl.

-She still sleeps well at night

-She still has her 8 teeth and no more on the way....at least for now

And that's it!

Sleep

Things that wake Hailey up:

• Mom and Dad whispering in the next room
• People having fun...especially other kids
• Her favourite toy randomly saying "I'm a blue bird...tweet.tweet.tweet"...in another room
• The phone singing it's soft melody when it rings
• Someone (anyone) touching her door knob
• Her dad blowing his nose...down the hall, in a bedroom behind closed doors
• Her mom just thinking about her
  

Things she sleeps through with no problem:

• Her Dad's phone ringing on the loudest setting
• The Smoke detector announcing to the world that Mom burned dinner...again
• Dad taking out the gas line and putting in a new one (read: lots of banging of pipes that echo throughout the house)
• Dad drilling a hole through the basement wall to the outside world to fit said pipe through
  

Go figure, she must be my daughter

What we've been up to....

So, during the entire computer fiasco we still led a pretty normal life. Imagine that, my life extends BEYOND this computer screen!!

Anyway, at one point in the last bit Hailey and I had our friends Chantelle and Jocelyn over for some yummy food and just to hang out. It was so nice to see these two girls and I'm soooo sad they live so far away!! I wish we just lived downstairs from them still. Anyway, the girls decided they wanted to match, so the moms decided we needed to take pictures:

They're great friends, can you tell?

We also ate some YUMMY cinnamon buns. Ben's mom sent me This Recipe and they are to DIE for!



Hmmm, what else have we been up to? Oh...we just bought one of These

This one to be exact:



Hmmm, oh we also had a baby shower for this little darling....



She's the one on the right AND she's Hailey's cousin in case you were wondering. Check out her hair! Can she get any cuter???? This little cousin of Hailey's is in Japan rigth now and we miss her and her mom sooooo much..That lucky girl, she's got people loving on her from all over the world!

And here's one of Hailey just being cute:


One of her loving a shoulder ride in Raymond


And one of her being oh so grown up


We also spent a day with the The Taylor Girl's at one point...I can't forget them. That was so fun. Jadyn so full of personalilty and was so fun to hang out with. Heidi, is just perfect. Seriously, She's the dream baby.And Laura's always fun to be around - you just can't beat hanging out with an old friend. I'm also so sad these girls live so far away....maybe I just need to move back home so I can see my friends more often. Or....maybe that just means I should start making friends where I live. Can I do both??

And finally....we had a fun easter. We spent Friday and Saturday in Raymond with Ben's family and then Sunday with mine. But I forgot my camera, so when my mom decides to email me some pictures of Hailey trying to get her easter eggs then I'll share. I just have to say though, it was soooo fun watching the older kids hunt down their eggs. Soooo cute! Nad of course Hailey was a doll, in her whiney kind of way. You know what I mean.

I'm back

So...I reformatted my computer. I researched as much as I could and I felt like I was totally prepared for it. And I was...for the most part. Except for the whole part where I didn't make a copy of my recovery discs before I started the reformat, and then the computer ate my discs (literally) and then the company that sold me my computer decided it's not getting along with the company that made the computer (who is also not getting along with the real company that made the computer). Which all means...my computers a write off. Normally you can just buy recovery discs from your manufacturer. For example, if it was a dell, I'd just log onto the dell website, and order them or $30-$50. But when you buy a computer from a certain Canadian Electronics company (should I name names?? Let's just say they are supposedly in the 'future'), who claims the computer is their store brand, but then decides a year later that they no longer want a store brand computer. So that 'store brand' decides to cut all ties with the store and also with the real manufacturer of the computer. Meaning, there are three companies out here who have access to the recovery discs I need...but all three companies are refusing to cooperate. And trust me I've tried. I spent probably 6 hours on the phone with the true manufacturer, another six with the brand name company, and another six with the store. Plus....I spent a good half hour in the store trying to buy them from the techies....who were soooo uncooperative and sooooo unrealistically rude. Basically, I left that store in tears (and so steaming mad that I had to 'cool' off in the car for a few minutes before I drove away).

Anyway, if you followed this saga, you're a saint! Basically all I wanted to get out was that I had a totally legit reason for not blogging...and also that I'm still bitter about the whole computer thing. So, as it sits right now, we have a perfectly good computer that is temporarily useless because it's waiting for recovery discs that may never appear. In the mean time we had to buy a new computer so I can do all sorts of wonderful things, like blogstock, check Facebook, write complaint letters to companies that won't sell me recovery discs and so on.

Also...in between all this computer madness...we've had a pretty busy few weeks. I'll update you on all that later. But until then here is a picture of the Hailey babe in her toothy glory:



Cute hey??

I hate my computer!

Seriously, I do. Well...it's sort of a love hate thing. I loooove that it cares enough for me that it gives me the Internet (meaning all my blogs and Google - oh and of COURSE Facebook). But I hate that it's super messed up. We've got viruses or something. Whatever the problem is, I can't do a thing on here! The screen freezes....blacks out...freezes and then works about every three or four seconds. So, in the time it's taken to write this blog I've had to sit and wait three times while it figured out what it's supposed to be doing. All I can say is this mouse is very very lucky the computer room is right next to Hailey's room otherwise I would not keep stopping myself mid throw. Seriously, I've had the mouse in my hand, ready to throw it at the screen and then a little voice reminds me that Hailey's sleeping and I should wait to complete my rage toss later. Ugggh. So anyway, I'm going to reformat this computer. We've got everything backed up...we've got all our installation disks and things are good to go...EXCEPT....we are missing our Microsoft Office installation disk. Waaaahhhh. We bought a legitimate copy of it and now we can't find it. So frustrating. Needless to say, the computer reformat is ON HOLD until we find that disc...because I'm no where near ready to spend a load of money on something when I already own it. So, that means I'll have to continue this self restraint thing and try to keep the mouse and keyboard intact, and I might just not blog nearly as much because I can't get anything done. Ahhhh! Anyway...that's my life.

5 Years

So...it's been five years! Ben and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary and boy did we celebrate! We went for dinner and a movie! Amazing how before kids that would have been the lamest anniversary ever, and now after kids it's like the biggest treat ever! My parents came over and watched Hailey so Ben and I could have a night out alone! It was fun. We went to the 'Bucket list'...which I would highly recommend. I almost never recommend movies, but this one was so cute and so touching. Go see it! Anyway, Hailey had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa...who have now turned into full time babysitters. I'm just so glad they made the time to come out and play with the Hailey Babe. Maybe next year we'll do something really cool for our anniversary, so we don't sound so lame. But, Ben did score some serious brownie points last week.

On Tusday he bought me one rose:

On Wednesday he bought me two more...so total of three:

On Valentines Day he bought me three more...so a total of 6. (sorry no picture of that one...it's still on the camera)
And then on our Anniversary (the 15th) he bought me 6 more...a full dozen! Plus a cala lily -which was our wedding flower. (also no picture yet)

Serious Brownie points! Oh...he also got me a gift cert. for a mannicure, pedicure and a massage. Ahhh...I can't wait! Hailey and I made him a little album of some pics of Hailey and one or two of me. So we weren't really that creative or anything, and I definitely did not score any brownie points, but he thought it was cute. Here's a sample of what he got:



And finally, we decided to paint our wall. After much thought, and tons of feedback we decided to go with the brown. Our couches are a really dark chocolate and our carpet's on the brown end of things so it just made sense. We've also decided to move the art that was originally there and replace it with something like this picture, and to make new accent cushions too. This picture is sort of what it looks like. It's not an actual picture of what we did (I have to clean before I do that), so I just made some pics to put on the wall, coloured the wall and added the cushion. Cute hey? The actual brown on our wall is a very chocolate brown and is not green at all...nothing like this picture, but you get the idea. The paint actually looked like chocolate pudding in the bucket and it took all my will power to not take a bite. Seriously, it looked soooo delicious.



And the original art is now hanging above our bed...and it actually looks really great there. One day, I'll take a picture of it for you...but I have to clean first. And well, I just don't ever feel like cleaning. Oh...and some of you may know the paint story...so I have to fess up. We painted it brown all the way back in November. But, I chose the colour and I did most the painting. Let's just say I have been banned from colour selection and painting for the rest of my life. The brown I chose was more like something you would find in Hailey's diaper after a week of sweet potatoes and peas. Get what I mean? Not so nice. Also, I did half the cutting in of the corners/edges, and all I can say about that is that you really can see where I was working. Big thick streaks of paint. Sort of like a border of paint. Also not so nice. Anyway, we had to do a LOT of sanding and Ben had to choose the colour and paint the wall entirely himself this time. And I didn't mind one bit. Some may think I even planned it that way. I plead the 5th.

Randa...this one's for you

Ok, due to my cousin Randa's request, here are two vidoes of Hailey jumping. Neither are great quality...and definitley no real editing was done. The first video has her jumping to the music...it was playing in the background. I added some music to the second one just to make it more interesting, but it's not really in time with her jumps or anything. If I were my brother, everything would be perfect, but this was something I put together quickly (i.e. 2 minutes). Anyway, Randa, I hope this helps you out a bit and maybe adds a bit of variation to your day. Oh...please give Melia some hugs from her second cousin Hailey.

I lied

Well, sort of. Hailey really is a good sleeper, really she's great and I give all the credit to my babywise obsession. A babywise baby is a good sleeper - I promise...and I know lots of people that can back me up on that one. Believe me, it's the schedule. But I also think it has to do with the fact that we are just given the trials we can handle and losing sleep is just not something I can handle - I NEED to sleep. Some of you remember me from junior high and high school and you KNOW that I was grumpy and moody and difficult to get along with....I was sleep deprived. Ben can back that up as well...we get a long really great - as long as I've had a full nights sleep. But catch me on a sleep deprived day and you'll wish you hadn't even made eye contact. Seriously, sleep deprivation is just not a trial I can have. And I've had my fair share of heartache, so if I get a bit of sleep at night don't hate me. My life is far far far from perfect.

Anyway, onto my lie. I know what you're thinking...I have the perfect baby. Well here it is: Hailey does not sleep 12 hours a night straight. She gets a 'dream feed' about two to three hours into her night - so just before my bedtime. I feed her without waking her up and it works fine for us. She usually sleeps through it and will go back to bed without a problem. This works probably 85% of the time. Which means there is usually one night a week where she does not sleep all night. Like last night for instance...or actually the night before. Oh actually this whole week! She had a killer ear infection on sunday night and was up ALL night long. My baby does cry at night. So we got up with her and cuddled and rocked and tried everything to get her back to sleep. Then on Tuesday she slept great out of pure exhaustion...but Wedensday, well, let's just say I gave in. She hardly ate (drank?) anything all day long and she hardly had any wet diapers, so when I heard a little peep from her in the middle of the night I decided to feed her. She NEEDED her fluids. And then that's where it started. Thursday night I heard another peep from her and because I was having company the next day (Hi Laura :))I wasn't really up for spending the whole night trying to put her back down. So I fed her again and she went back to sleep....which means that last night she woke up expecting to eat again. So there you have it. Hailey's has a bad week...but to me this is just a glitch and not the norm (hopefully). Which is why I can say that she sleeps through the night, because when she's not teething and doesn't have an ear infection she sleeps well. I just have to get back to that way of life, and now that I've set a new precedent it may take some work. So please don't hate me for having a baby that sleeps. Cause she sure didn't this week.

But she still is the perfect baby...aren't they all? She's just perfectly our baby and she's just perfectly Hailey.

6 Months

Ok, it's time for Hailey's big 6 month post. Well, she's actually going to be 7 months in a week, but I still think I need to do this. It's the least I can do. I'm not one of those moms who takes lots of pictures of my baby (well at least not lots of good pictures), I don't scrapbook her pictures at all, I haven't made a baby book for her and so on. I just feel like I need to do more, like I need to be one of those crafty Mormon moms...she is my first baby you know. So if this is what I'm like with one kid - imagine what number 3 (or dare I say 4?) is going to have to deal with. At this rate, that kid will get one picture in the Hospital and one for each year of his life and that's it! My poor posterity. Anyway, here is a little collage I put together of Hailey and a little update on what she's doing. The collage idea is stolen from Ben's famous sister Rebecca Cooper (many of you know of her). My collage really has nothing on hers since she actually has some photography talent, she has a real camera, she has photoshop, and she's creative. Me on the other hand...I just plain old think my baby's cute - and that's good enough for this collage. So you won't see any pro pictures and you won't see any real editing, but you will see lots of one cute little girl. Does it work for you?? It does for me. So here it is:

Hailey, at 6 months you:
-love to roll over (but only from you back to your tummy...you still haven't figured the other direction out)
-are still not a fan of tummy time, but...you definitely are getting better at it
-have started to pull yourself up onto your knees, and almost onto all fours
-like to stand up and can do it all by yourself as long as there's something to hold onto
-L-O-V-E your jolly jumper, you just adore it
-also LOVE your exersaucer
-can sit up...not just a little bit, but really really well
-have 5 teeth, and two more on their way-they should be here by tomorrow
-weigh 17 pounds (50th percentile)
-are in the 75th percentile for height...tall little girl
-are in the 95th percentile for your head size...lots of brains
-are very very curious...you want to see, touch and hear everything
-sleep 11-12 hours at night and take two 2 hour naps a day
-you still nurse a few times a day, eat solids a few times a day and take a bottle every once in a while
-You say 'mmmmm' every time you eat anything
-you still love your thumb
-have had one awful ear infection, poor baby
-smile all the time
-brighten your mommy and daddy's lives more than anything else

We love you Hailey babe...thank you for being so perfect.

Flashback

Remember these two?
They would be: Hailey and her Friend Jocelyn. They are 6 months apart and boy did that seem like such a huge difference then. Hailey was just barely two months and Jocelyn was a fun 8 months. I remember thinking that day how I just could not wait until Hailey was as old as Jocelyn and could do tons of fun stuff - like smile on demand, sit up and basically just be the perfect baby. Well...they are still 6 months apart (surprising?) but it seems like less of a gap now. Well at least as far as their size goes. Hailey now smiles more...but not on demand, she does sit up too...but I'm not sure what a perfect baby is though. I thought for sure by 6 months I'd have it all figured out...turns out it just gets more confusing. Who knew? Anyway, Jocelyn turned 1 this month and we went to her Birthday bash last weekend. It was so fun - especially watching the girls together. They are going to be good friends one day. however, right now all they are to each other is soft-squishy things they can pinch and poke and pet and prod. Fun times. Here's evidence that babies do eventually grow:

Hailey still looks at Jocelyn with wonder...she really is amazing.

I'm pretty sure Hailey just stole that toy from Jocelyn and is avoiding eye contact so she doesn't get in trouble.

Awww...best buds

So Jocelyn's a petite little girl (i.e 10-15th percentile) and Hailey's a monster kid (i.e. 75th percentile - at least her height, her head size is the 95th percentile - she's definitely a Woodruff). So that kind of explains why they're so close in size.

On to other news...Hailey's top teeth came in. Turns out they weren't her fangs...but just her side two (totally don't know the 'real' terms here). Here's a little peak of them...and her new smile.


The close up

What's with the squinty eyes? We KNOW she does not get that from me.

Oh, do you like her bedding? I made it all! The crib bumpers are my favourite...no pattern or anything. Pretty cool hey? I started them in June, so it took me only...oh...7 months? not bad. You'll notice they're really floppy and flimsy...that was on purpose though. I wanted them there so she would stop hitting her head on the crib, but I wanted them thin enough that you could breathe through them...and I tested it out. So they work, they're not the best, but good enough for me. Oh and please disregard the puke on her sheets. My mom saw these pictures already and told me to wash her sheets next time I take pictures of her...to which I responded with 'I'll just edit the puke out'. I kind of don't think that was her point though. Anyway I still haven't washed the sheets and I didn't edit the puke out either. What's wrong with me? At least she now sleeps with her head at the other end...until her sheets are washed that is. Oh, and I need to justify that bathroom picture from my previous post a bit more...that's a our second bathroom (or third, depending on which order you're counting) and it never gets used. So it was clean. And I had just washed the mat she was on, oh and that floors. It was clean, I swear!

That's it for today. I do have a bunch of pictures of Hailey and a little '6 month old' official post to make. But I have to upload my pictures first and then edit them a bit, and I have to do some cleaning (and obviously laundry) some time before that too. But soon, I promise.

Should this embarrass me?

Ok...first of all I have to thank everyone for fessing up to blog stalking! I love that I'm not the only one and I love that people actually read my blog. Oh...I also love that I now have a few blogs to read/stalk myself. So, keep stalking! In a good non creepy way of course.

Anyway, onto the embarrassing thing...what do you think? Is it bad that this is where Hailey napped the other day?
In my defense, she was really really not feeling well (she was trying to cut one of her eye teeth) and the only place she would sleep is in the bathroom where it was dark - with the fan on. How did I discover this you may ask? Well, as most moms would know, you will do almost anything to get your baby to sleep and this just happened to be on of many tricks I tried that day - and surprisingly it worked. Two full hours of napping bliss! Don't worry there's a sleep positioner there and she doesn't know how to roll out of it yet... so it wasn't dangerous. But I might have to set up a play pen in there for future desperation naps. Want to hear something even more embarrassing? In true first time mom fashion, I took Hailey to the Urgent Care center earlier that morning. I was certain she had an awful ear infection and I needed something to be done about it. But, after the doctor checked her over (and laughed silently...I know he did), he sent us away with the diagnosis of 'Teething". Ever heard of it? Seriously, that's embarrassing. Urgent Care!! Teething?? Who does that? First time moms, that's who. Once again though, in my defense, she doesn't even have her other top teeth yet, so when I was looking for teeth to rule teething out I didn't even think to look at her fangs. So there you have it, this baby has her two bottom teeth, one fang and one on it's way in. She's my fangle toothed little baby. Cutest little vampire ever! I'll have to get pictures.

Anyway, here are some more pictures of the Hailey babe:

Helping me with the laundry...or hiding from the camera

Getting ready for some yummmmmmy butternut squash. Seriously, I'm the best mom too (a little self praise never hurts right?)...I make her baby food and it actually tastes really good. Like today, she had applesauce and sweet potatoe for lunch and when she decided she didn't want it, I was more than happy to finish it off for her. Yum-my.

Anyway, thanks for reading the blog...hope it's not too boring for you! I've got to run and feed to waking baby, she's a bit of a princess and eats the second she wakes. Spoiled?? I think so.

Do you?

Do you ever blog stock? As in read peoples blogs that don't really know you and then don't comment? I'll admit it, I do. I'm so embarassed by it too. There are so many blogs that I read and they have no clue that I'm there. These are ordinary everyday people (not famous bloggers or anything), just people like me! Is that creepy? I don't think it's too creepy, but I think it's funny that I feel like I know their kids and their husbands but I really don't. Ok...so most of the blogs I read are links from blogs of people I actually know. And most of the time they are people I knew growing up from church or something - I may not have ever talked to them and wouldn't ever really keep in touch, but I know who they are at least. And I'm pretty sure they know who I am...and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have stumbled upon my blog too. But here's where it gets awkward:

Last week I was at the mall with my mom...we were minding our own business, window shopping, etc. And then I looked up and saw a girl from one of the blogs I read and I totally smiled at her...almost waved...and then looked away quickly. Holy awkward. Seriously, I don't even know if I've ever talked to her, I know who she is (because she's somehow connected to a blogger who I actually know), but it's definitely not like we hang out or are buddies. But...but I do read her blog and totally feel like I know her. I feel like I should have said "Hi, how's it going? How's so and so? Is the baby doing ok? Oh...I love what you did with your place...and that shirt you were wearing that one time is so cute...was the holiday as fun as it looked...etc.etc.etc." Now that...that would be creepy.

So do you ever do that too? Or is it just me? Are you blog stalking me right now? If so, please let me know...just so I don't feel so creepy.

It's a new year

Which means I may just start blogging more. I haven't made any real resolutions or anything, but if I did, blogging just might be one of them. I also thought about possibly losing some weight or even getting in shape, but those peanut M&M's on sale everywhere sort of did away with that idea. The justification: I didn't write any resolutions down, so I'm technically not breaking them yet. But I do think getting in shape is a great idea! this baby weight is NOT coming off. Who said Breastfeeding helps lose all the weight?? Well, it doesn't work for me, I'm still holding on to an additional 10-15 pounds (depending on whether you go by my real pre-pregnancy weight, or what I liked to think it was...about 5 pounds difference). So ideally, I need to lose 15 pounds, but it will probably only be 10. I actually started working out there for a bit too, but then Hailey started teething, and I got sick then she got sick, I got sick again and she's sick again. Funny how she's sort of taken over my life and how teething alone can throw all my weight loss track plans of track. Teething?? Come on, I need to be more dedicated. Anyway, since I haven't been working on this weight thing, we've decided that Hailey should at least start working out...or just practicing a healthy lifestyle. Kidding, we're not that mean. But we do think a little time in the jolly jumper can never hurt anyone. So we tried it out and it's been a big hit...so in mommy fashion, I decided to video tape the kid.

A few things to keep in mind when you watch:

1. She likes to jump with a friend in her arms...workout buddy??
2. She jumps more when Ben's around
3. She pukes more when she jumps...she's a pukey baby generally, but we've now entered a new territory of puke (hence the blanket on the floor at all times - it's easier to wash a blanket then to shampoo the floors weekly)
4. I'm still sick...so my voice sounds stuffy and funny (although it always sounds funny to me, but this is worse than normal)
5. We don't have a video camera, so this was shot with our digital - which means the sound's funny and the quality is not so good...oh well.
   

Here it is:


Oh and here are a few still shots of her too:

The classic thumb in the mouth shot

...which was followed by me asking Hailey to take the thumb out for the next picture and then she said:

What do you think I am mom...five???

And finally....look at those teefers! We think she's prepping the top ones as we speak...hopefully in the next few weeks we'll see a few more!