Hailey's first steps

Hailey took her first steps on her own two days ago. She is still a little nervous about not having a hand to support her, but give her a few more weeks and I think she will be all over the place. She was more confident even only on her second day of walking. Currently, she is cruising on everything that is her level, whether it's the coffee table, the couch or the kitchen chairs. She trying her hardest to keep up with her big brother and it won't be long before she actually does.

Happy 6 months, Hailey

Today Hailey turned 6 months old. I can't believe how big she is getting. She eats rice cereal, she plays peek-a-boo, and just last week she sat on her own, which took me by complete surprise. I guess I still look at her as my 3 month old. I'm excited for her new accomplishments, but at the same time it saddens me because I feel I haven't cherished every moment of her newborn/infant stage as I got to do with Drew. I've also realized that with every subsequent child, I'll have even less time to devote exclusively to the baby. I imagine that as a family grows in size, the rate at which the kids grow up seems to escalate.

Hailey is a treasure to our family. She still is an angel baby. She's quick to smile and laugh., it takes a lot to make her cry. She sleeps all night long, and every morning greets me with a winning smile even though I know she's famished. She's a great eater so far and has even encouraged Drew to try a few new things.

Along the lines of eating, today Rob was trying to encourage Drew to eat his lunch of Pasta Roni. He begrudgingly ate the sides, but refused to touch the pasta. After Rob's several attempts Drew looked at his dad and said, "no! sorry." I guess he wanted to tell us there was no bribing or coercion that would convince him otherwise.

Drew's O's

This incident happened early last week and I still chuckle over it. You may not find it as funny, but I feel I should write it down so I don't forget it.

Even though Drew and Hailey look very much alike, they are different in several ways. The biggest difference so far has been their eating habits. Drew has always struggled with food. He doesn't want to eat it. Hailey, on the other hand, can't wait until she gets to eat it. She clings tight-fisted to anything with even the slightest taste and cries when she drops it or when it's taken away.

Last week Drew developed a fascination with Wintergreen Life Savers, which he calls O's. The appeal isn't the taste because he won't eat them, he just carries them around the house, saying they are too hot. One afternoon, Drew came running into the kitchen, clapping and shouting "Yay! O's, O's, Yay!" I praised him too because I thought he'd eaten the Life Saver and he's not one to eat new things. But on asking him if he ate it he said, "no, Hailey O!" Drew had given it to Hailey, who had it clenched between her two fingers and was sucking on it. I had to take it away, which immediately made her cry. Poor Hailey, she was excited that her big brother gave her something that tasted so good.

Happy Big 30!

This month we celebrated Rob's 30th birthday. I had a fun time with his birthday, and I think he did too. Just a few weeks before the big day, I decided to throw him a surprise party. I'm pleased to say he didn't suspect a thing, which is an accomplishmentsince his 25th birthday celebration was a surprise party as well. Either I'm great at surprise parties or he was just way too busy to notice all my planning. A good friend (and my accomplice) offered to watch the kids while Rob and I went to dinner. This allowed her to be at the house to set up and let everyone in. The food was good, the cake was good, and the company was fun. We had a great evening. And it was great to actually go on a date. The last one I can recall was in November 2009. (It guess 2010 was a busy year for us.)

New tricks

One thing I love most about being a stay-at-home mom is seeing all of my kids' new tricks. At Hailey's last appointment, her pediatrician asked if she purses her lips together and blows, making noise and a spit bubbles. I guess it is a common development milestone for babies. Recently, however, she has taken this trick to the next level. She scrunches up her face, sticks her tongue between her lips and blows, spraying saliva everywhere. Once she runs out of breath she inhales and does it again, scrunching her face more and spaying further. I get a kick out of the faces she makes as she does this. I hope to catch it on camera one day.

Drew new tricks are usually on the active side, something you'd expect from a two-year-old boy. His most recent is "big jumps." It can be off the couch, off his bed or off the stairs. I stopped him today, though, when he stood next to Hailey's head and said "big jump!", meaning he wanted to jump over his sister. He may have been able to make it, but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Yeah, I know I'm a few days late on it, but that is consistent with my blogging (i.e. the last post was Dec 27th and I included some Halloween pictures.) 2010 seemed to go by fast for me. I guess as I'm getting older, the years seem to blend together. This year will stick out for me, though. It was a year full of many changes: we have a new home, a new job and a new member to our family.

This week I had a rewarding mom moment. These are moments we all need once in a while as stay-at-home moms. It wasn't a grand event but a very simple interaction between Drew and Hailey that I happened to see. It was a moment where I saw Drew as a big brother protecting his little sister, and Hailey as the little sister looking up to and thinking the world of her big brother. Of course not long after this special moment, I put Drew into time out for hitting his sister. But perhaps as they get older I'll see these moments more.

Holiday Happenings

So I already have lapsed on my blogging commitment. I can't believe how fast December has gone. We had a great time with Christmas this year and have created some fun family memories. However, before I get into Christmas, I wanted to recap the last few holidays; and yes, I'm starting with Halloween since I didn't post anything about Halloween this year.

Halloween

Drew and Hailey had two different costumes this year. For the mall trick-or-treat event, Drew was a train engineer. He was going to be a race car driver, but I couldn't find a race car helmet anywhere. While I was looking at Spirit Halloween, I came across this train engineer outfit. It had blue overalls, a blue hat and a red scarf. I added the blue shirt underneath and he looked almost like the real deal. The costume was size 3T so he may just be a train engineer again next year. Since Drew is in love with trains right now, he sure was excited to dress up. He was even more excited to don the outfit when he discovered that candy was a major part of the fun. Even now, several months later, he says "trick or treat" when he wants to raid the candy bucket.

At the same mall trick-or-treat event, Hailey was the little doctor. She wore a pumpkin designed long-sleeved onsie under a pair of blue baby scrubs. Her ensemble was completed with black headband. Two years ago Drew wore this costume sin headband and helped us win second place in the church trunk-or-treat trunk decorating contest. I had mixed emotions as I fished out her costume from Drew's boxes of old clothes. I can't believe my little boy has grown up so fast, but I was glad to also have Hailey carry on the doctor costume tradition.

The kids' second costume was part of our family dress up for the ward Halloween party. Since there was and adult costume contest, I thought Rob and I should participate (my running partner spear-headed the activity and was judging the contest so on threat we had to dress up!) Rob and I were the washer/dryer pair while Drew and Hailey were the dirty laundry. I'm pleased to say we won the contest; although, I had an unfair advantage because I knew my friend would get a kick out of it.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was in two parts this year. Since Rob was scheduled to work 6 am to 9 pm on Thanksgiving, we joined him at the hospital for a Thanksgiving feast in the cafeteria. The meal consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing (filling as they call it here). Rob didn't mind the food (he's gotten used to the cafeteria-style food), but for me it was just an "at least we can be together" moment.

Thanksgiving round two was definitely better. The Sunday following Thanksgiving we had our feast at home. My sister Ashley and her husband, Matt, joined us. Rob's dad, Wally, was also with us. Drew loved having more family around. He relishes the attention he gets and is quick to perform for them, whether it be eating extra food or making silly faces. Hailey was doted on for the weekend and couldn't get enough of being pampered and held.

Christmas

These two pictures are my favorite pictures from Christmas this year. The first is of Hailey and one of her gifts. She fell asleep while we were opening gifts on Christmas Day so she opened some of her gifts after church on Sunday. I like how this gift was a big as she is. She was very interested in the colorful wrapping paper, but as of yet has not played with the gift inside!

The second picture is of Drew opening his first gift of Christmas. He had his eye on this gift under the tree for several weeks. Each day he would tear a little at the present hoping to get a peek inside. When it finally came time to open it, he couldn't contain his excitement. He tore it opened, throwing the wrapping paper all around him. Even the wrapping paper on the couch behind him came off of this gift.

Christmas was very special for us this year even though we were away from our families. We had Christmas Eve with a senior missionary couple who is serving in our ward. The evening was very special for sll of us. We are grateful they were able to share the evening with our little family.

Christmas Day was full of memorable moments, from Drew's excitement with every gift he opened to brunch with friends from Rob's work to Skyping with family to open gifts to each other to Hailey crying because, while playing with her new baby book, she would drop it and not know where it would go. With how busy Rob has been, I sure appreciated his efforts to try to surprise me with a sewing machine. (However, I stumbled across the wrapped gift hidden in a closet a few days before Christmas. I didn't know what it was but I was sure hoping it was a sewing machine by the size of the present.) But my favorite Christmas moment this year was putting Drew to bed on Christmas Day night. Even after a full day of excitement, new toys to play with and candy to eat, the last thing he said to me that night was "Happy Birthday Jesus." Christmas is a time to not only celebrate with family, but a time to remember the greatest gift we'll ever be given and the givers of that gift, our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.