Metro Richmond Zoo

This past week Hailey has started noticing animals. Since it was exceptionally warm yesterday, we went to the zoo. It was so much fun and Hailey loved it. There were tons of animals out and about, and it was so fun to watch Hailey's excitement. We saw lots of animals, but here were some of the favorites.

She loved the Flamingos. They were very loud, pink, and active.

Our little Zebra with the Zebras

Giraffe Goo!!

Christmas Slide Show

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all have a safe and awesome Christmas and New Year.

For some reason the video squished our heads.

Monkeys, Loud Noises, and Baths

Here are a few fun facts about Hailey at this time in her life.

1. She has a sock monkey. Actually, it is a super hero sock monkey, made especially for her by a family friend. She loves it. She especially loves the tail and spends a lot of time sucking on it.


2. Whenever there is a sudden loud noise, Hailey makes the funniest face. The other evening Josh had the tape measure out and had it stretched out so far that it would snap and fall. Every time it snapped, Hailey would make this face and we would just laugh. The funniest thing about it is that she makes it like 5 seconds after the noise.


3. Now that she can sit up, she loves taking baths in the sink. She really likes playing with the water coming out of the faucet. She seems to really like the water. It makes me excited to take her swimming in the summer.




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If you scroll down, to "Hailey Meets Santa", I added a couple pictures.

Hmph

There are no words...

Hailey Meets Santa

One of our friends had a Christmas party this evening at his place of work. He is a dentist and every year he does a Christmas party/Food drive at his office and Santa comes for a visit. We took Hailey to have her picture taken with the big guy. She was so in awe of him, it was cute. She didn't know what to think.



Hailey's new favorite word has to be "dada" or "dadadadadadadadadadadadadada." Sometimes when she wakes up in the middle of the night she just lays there and talks to herself saying "da da da." Then of course she eventually starts crying and wants someone to come and get her. But, we are working on that.

Hailey's First Gobble Gobble Day

Our First Thanksgiving as a Family

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent a few days up in Park City with Josh's family. Sadly it didn't snow, making skiing a little hard, but we still had a good time. We spent about 7 hours Friday night playing guitar hero, which was actually a ton of fun.

On Thanksgiving day, Hailey got her first taste of sweet potatoes. She wasn't really a fan. I think it was more of a texture thing. It was a lot more gritty than the avocado. We tried them again last night and she liked it pretty well. This week we are going to go with a banana.

Hailey has a new facial expression. When she does it we call her Beaker because she looks like Beaker from Sesame Street. It's the funniest thing. We can't quite figure out how she does it. Josh thinks it's because she doesn't have any teeth.

Benny and Joon

One more project checked off the list! Yesterday we were able to get our bedroom floor in. (When I say we, it was mostly Josh and his dad, though I put a board or 2 in.) It looks awesome!!! It's a lot lighter than the floor we put in downstairs and looks great with the new paint.


After we had chucked the carpet and padding out the window, we were pulling up staples in the closet and Josh's dad says "This is mouse poop." After he said that I thought "huh, what is this under the wall." I used my trusty pliers and pulled out the culprits, two wee mice (at least I hope they were the culprits and there aren't more running around in there). They were very much dead...I'd guess a few years or more. They have been named Benny and Joon, and tossed out of our window into the bushes, where they can make friends with the bugs.


Other exciting news! Hailey has found her center of gravity, making sitting up much much easier. My baby can balance. It will be a whole new perspective on the world for her. Also, she has now eaten some avocado! Yummy! She likes eating much better now than when it was just rice cereal. And next week, (on Thanksgiving) she will get to have some sweet potatoes too!

Red, Black, and Gray

We finally finished painting our room!!!!! Our room has been in the process of being painted for many months now, and we are finally done! (Except for a few touch-ups.) Before we bought our own place we would talk about how we would paint things and such when we had our own place. And now, we finally do! It's so fun to be able to do what you want to with it. Over the last 3 years our ideas have morphed to many different things, and this is what we finally came up with. It looks awesome.


There is still much more work to be done. We are going to tear out the carpet and put in laminate (fake wood) flooring. We are going to install some book shelves so we will finally have a home for our many books. And, we are going to make a headboard for our bed. When all is said and done, it is going to rock.

6 Months!

Yesterday Hailey turned 6mo old! I can't believe my little girl is getting so big. Time has flown by. She had a doctor's appointment and weighed in at 16lbs 7oz and was 25.5in long. I remember when I used to be able to get my hand around her thigh (with room to spare) and now I can hardly get my hand half way around. She is so precious. Josh and I are having such a blast with her. She is getting more and more fun every day.

She had her shots yesterday morning, and it has been a little rough. She hasn't ever really had a reaction to her shots before, so it is a new (not so fun) adventure. Poor babe. She just wanted to be held all night long (I don't know how she can tell a difference when she's sleeping, but every time I tried to put her down she started screaming). She seems to be feeling a bit better though. Her fever has gone down, though not completely away and she is actually taking a nap in her bed.

Today we are going to give her some real food, not just the rice cereal. I'm excited. I'm hoping she will like it better. After the first time we did cereal, she wasn't a big fan, so maybe a little flavor will make it better.

It has been an amazing 6 months watching her grow and learn new things. She soaks in everything around her and is so interested in everything. I love it. I never thought being a stay at home mom would be so awesome.

6mo! Finally asleep after a long day.

First Food

Yesterday we gave Hailey her first taste of real food (aside from the hot dog Josh stuck in her mouth a few months ago). She has been very interested in food for about the last month, and definitely new something was up when I was mixing her cereal together. We sat her down in her high chair and when I tried to give her the first spoon full, she grabbed the spoon out of my hand and shoved it in her mouth. It was adorable. Granted, everything she gets a hold of gets shoved into her mouth, but this time it was supposed to be there. We gave her a few spoon fulls with most of it ending up on her face and bib, but I think she swallowed a little bit. It was a really fun "first" for all three of us. Next week we are going to try a veggie.

Snip Snip

Hailey got her first haircut. Her hair has just been growing and growing. She was starting to look a little ragged and her bangs were in her eyes, so we decided to get a little trim. Wednesday evening we went over and Hailey's aunt Kristen gave her a hair cut. She did a really good job, even with Hailey constantly turning her head trying to see what was going on.

New Tricks!

She has done it! She has rolled over from her back to her tummy. On Monday she was laying on the floor trying to reach a rattle. She tried a few times and finally flipped over. It was so exciting! This morning she was laying on her back when I left the room, and when I came back, she was on her tummy.

Hailey is also learning how to sit up. She is getting stronger and stronger every day. It's amazing to watch her grow and learn how to do new things. She can't sit up by herself for very long, but she can do a good 10-15 seconds without falling over. She really enjoys sitting up and playing with her toys, a new perspective on things.

No one is holding her up!

As for her last new trick, Josh has taught her how to turn off the light.

Halloween

We had such an awesome day. We carved our pumpkins in the morning and Josh came up with this cool idea of putting dry ice in them. It took a few tries to get it to work right. It looked really cool, though the pound of dry ice was gone before we knew it. Now that we have it figured out, we can do it better next year.

Josh baked his pumpkin by putting a 250w halogen work light inside of it. It was awesome, though after a few hours it started to stinketh.

Hailey was a tiger and she looked super cute. In the afternoon we had a neighborhood party for the little kids to go trick-or-treating before dark. It was actually really fun. There are 2 other babies that were born within 5 days of Hailey, and we finally took a picture of the three of them together. It has been so fun to watch there similarities and differences as they grow.

Later that night we got a good amount of trick-or-treaters, which rocked. Last year we had one knock at our door.

Hailey and her pumpkin

Rawr!!
(Ok, so it was a yawn.)

Tave the Pirate, Hailey the Tiger, Noah the Bee

Us and Our Pumpkins

I would say Hailey's first Halloween was a success. We are already starting to plan for next year.

Floor

We finally got our flooring replaced downstairs. We procrastinated doing it for so long, it is nice to have it done. We had this nasty carpet that used to be white-ish. (Keywords "used to be") Now our living room and dining area are gorgeous. We love it. Josh was such a trooper, he did most of the work because I had to tend to Hailey a lot of the time, though she was very good at sleeping through the banging.

Josh's brother came over and helped for a bit, which was great. It's a lot easier to run a table saw with 2 people.

Here is a picture of our living room.


Our next project is the floor in our bedroom, but we have to finish painting first.

Pumpkin Patch

Growing up, one of my favorite things about Halloween was going to the pumpkin patch. I'm talking about the real deal...you take a hayride out into one of the endless fields of pumpkins, you scavenge to find the very best pumpkins while someone stands guard so no one swipes your pick, a half hour later the hayride comes to take you back in, you get some hot apple cider and roast a hot dog...finally it is time to leave and you stack as many pumpkins as you can in your dad's arms because however many he can hold for one minute are yours for $10 or something. Those were the days...

Since living in Utah I have yet to find the "real deal." There are a couple of farmer's fields of pumpkins where you can wander around, but you can see the whole field without turning your head. I think most people get there pumpkins at the grocery store. If anyone knows of anything better, let me know.

Anyway, yesterday we went to get pumpkins. I was so excited to get Hailey's first pumpkin! We stopped by the farmer's field, but most of his pumpkins were trashed (as we were a little late for the good pick), so we found someone selling piles of pumpkins in their front yard. It wasn't the pumpkin patch, but at least it wasn't Walmart.

Can't you just see the excitement!

It was actually pretty fun, and maybe one day she will get to experience the real thing.

Tongue Action Take II

I didn't think we would be able to get any video of Hailey's new tricks. Whenever we turn on the camera, she is more interested in it than us. But after a minute or so, we were able to distract her.

Tongue Action

On Friday Hailey discovered her tongue. It was so funny. She has been practicing all kinds of things and discovering new sounds she can make. A lot of it involves spit flying everywhere, but it's really cute.

Swing Swing Swing

The other day I took Hailey out to the playground. I decided to try putting her in the baby swing. She's not quite big enough for it yet, but I thought if I held on to her, she might enjoy it. Oh my goodness. It was awesome. She loved it. When Hailey gets excited about something her jaw drops and her eyes get so big. It is the cutest thing. Every time she swung towards me she would get this huge face.

Visitors

This past weekend Michelle and Jacob came to stay with us. It was fun to have them, and Hailey enjoyed having someone to play with and a couple of other faces to look at. Whenever Hailey would cry, Jacob always looked really concerned, it was cute. It will be fun when they are a little older and really able to play together. Here are a few pictures of them.

Scottish Terriers

The other day I'm talking to my mom on the phone and she starts describing this Sunday outfit she got for Hailey. "It's a sweater dress and it has little Scottish terriers on it. And there are matching tights with Scottish terriers, and a cute little hat with Scottish terriers."
I am thinking to myself...what....? This is going to be crazy. As it turned out, it was actually quite cute. The hat...maybe I just don't know how to put it on right, but it kind of made her look like a baker...but the dress and the tights were adorable. Something I wouldn't have ever picked out, but look quite cute on the babe.

This is a pretty good shot of the whole outfit.

Hailey the Baker

Precious

Photo Shoot

Hailey is intrigued by the sound of the camera shutter. The other night she was really fussy. We discovered that when Josh would start taking pictures, she would stop crying. After about 10 pictures we would have to wait for the camera to catch up and save the images. It was just long enough for Hailey to start crying again.

Laughs at Last!!!

We have been waiting and waiting for Hailey to laugh. She has done a little bit of giggling in the past, but today was the big day. We got real laughs. It was awesome. I'm so excited.

Live Action for the Distant Ones

Here are a few videos of Hailey. I took them a month or two ago, and never got around to actually getting them off of the camera. The last one was taken last week. She is getting so big.

Tummy Time

Talking Time

Good Morning

I'm currently working on another one. She has rolled over from her stomach to her back a few times and I am determined to get it on tape, but when the tape is rolling, she isn't.

Gary Coleman

So on Monday, Hailey and I went grocery shopping. It was a normal day at the Macey's grocery. As we were checking out and I was waiting for the credit card machine to do it's thing, I was just kind of lookin' around and I see this guy walk past that looks like Gary Coleman. I thought to myself "What? That's can't be him. But I really think it is. But that can't be him. But really, how many small black men are there in the world?"

As we are walking out of the store into the rain I hear "O crap!" and I see this "Gary Coleman" guy run out of the store towards this little BMW parked in a handicapped space. I thought, "That has to be him. But we are at the Spanish Fork Macey's."

When we got home I looked him up and apparently Gary Coleman lives in Santaquin. Random.

Who would have thought that Gary Coleman would be spotted at the Spanish Fork Macey's? So, if need a little bit of excitement in your life, go hang out at the Spanish Fork Macey's, you never know who you will see.

Recap

Here are some highlights of this year so far to get everyone up to speed.

* In March, Josh got a job as a software engineer. We were so excited. The job hunt was a beast, and we were glad to finally have a direction in life.

* After Josh got a job, we purchased a townhouse. What an awesome feeling to buy your own place. It was stressful going thru the whole process. But we love it. Debt never felt so good.

* About a month after moving into our new place, we welcomed Hailey to the world.

Getting her here was a struggle and I thought it would never end, but we all survived.

* When Hailey was 1 month old, my family came out for Hailey's blessing. Also while they were here, Hailey got to take her first rock climbing excursion.

Dad and Hailey on Blessing Day

Peaches and Hailey Rock Climbing

* At 6 weeks old, Hailey got to take a dip in the Atlantic ocean. Josh was also able to get some good kiting time.

She Loved It!

The wind was awesome.

* A few weeks ago we went down to St. George to go scuba diving. It was my first excursion without Hailey and it was a lot of fun. (Though I missed her a lot more than I thought I would.) Josh and I went with Jeff, Josh's dad, to Sand Hollow just outside of St. George. It's an awesome place to go snorkeling and diving. The diving association down there sunk a plane for divers to go and look at.

Jeff

Josh

Jenna

We've done lots of other things I'm sure, but my sleep deprived brain can't focus any longer.