Dear Santa, I Want Wrapping Paper for Christmas

Christmas with a new baby is so awesome. Haley was very overwhelmed in many ways but the rest of us had lots of fun with her and buying her lots of cool toys, books, and clothes. Christmas was also very busy. Right after Thanksgiving, we took Haley back to Sylver for Christmas pictures. Again, the pictures were absolutely wonderful and Haley did great. Here are a couple favorites from that.

A couple weeks before Christmas, we went to Kyle's Christmas Party at his work, which is 100% geared toward the kids. This is where Haley met Santa and Mrs. Clause for the first time! Here is a picture:

The week of Christmas, we started in Michigan with my Dad's side of the family; several of which Haley met for the first time! Then we came back to Indiana to Grandma Leonard's and then to Kyle's Mom's in LaPorte. Then, the next day, we hosted Christmas with the rest of Kyle's family and my Mom and brother. Busy week but lots of fun! Lots of time for Christmas outfits too! Here's 2 of 4-ish Christmas outfits that Haley sported over the weekend!

Haley got lots of nice things from everyone. Although it wasn't the toys that she was so excited about, it was the wrapping paper that the toys came in! Once the gift was unwrapped, she'd look at it, and go back to playing with (or eating) the wrapping paper! Here's the proof:

As Christmas wound down and all of our guests left, Haley was wiped and just plain passed out! Not sure what I mean? See below (Haley and Unkie)!

More to come soon, I PROMISE!

Turkeys & Doggies

First, I apologize for the lacking posts over the past month. This holiday season has been nothing short of busy! Here are two posts to make up for it...first one starts Haley's first Thanksgiving! After a classic Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Leonard's, we hosted Thanksgiving with the rest of the family at our house. Haley was great. She was a little tired of getting passed around by so many people but she did fine. The highlight of Thanksgiving for most people is the delicious turkey dinner. For Haley, it was her introduction to Hunter the dog! Kyle's brother Brandon and his wife Katy brought their dog Hunter with them over the Thanksgiving weekend. You would not believe the fascination Haley had in this dog! I have included some pictures of Haley, Brandon, and Hunter to prove it! Also included in the Thanksgiving pictures is a four-generation picture of Haley, her Daddy, her Daddy's Mom, and her Daddy's Mom's Mom (Mema)!

Additionally, and as a quick update, Haley is doing fantastic with her cereal each night. We're mixing it with a baby veggie or fruit and she doesn't seem to dislike much of anything so far! She loves being in her high chair and loves to play with the empty bowl and spoon when we're all done. Below is another great picture of Haley making a huge mess of herself at the "dinner table"! Also, Haley is now getting baby Oatmeal each morning and is doing great with an added meal per day!

I guess it's pretty sad when I can't remember what I've posted and what I haven't at this point because it's been so long but just in case I forgot this part, Haley is now rolling over! I've finally witnessed this event but still haven't gotten it on video camera yet. We're working on it; it doesn't happen very often! On a similar note, Haley is doing great sitting on her own for a short period of time and will be crawling and moving around before we know it. She just has to figure out that her knees need to go under her, not behind her!

Let's move on to Christmas! :)

Cookie Monster

I'm just 2 weeks behind but this post is so worth it! We started feeding Haley baby cereal every night and video-taped her first attempt at eating from a spoon. Since she loves to put everything in her mouth, she seems to get kind of excited that the spoon actually belongs in her mouth and doesn't taste like plain ole' plastic! She even tries to help hold the bowl and feed herself - but she usually just ends up shoving the spoon against her face making a huge mess...reminds me of Cookie Monster! We were putting her in the Bumbo for cereal time and just yesterday, we put her in her high chair for the very first time and she did great! Her first spoon-feeding video is below, and also some pictures of her in her high chair!

Another huge milestone that Haley reached last week...she rolled over on her own for the first time! It was two weeks ago this Tuesday that she was playing on her back, Kyle turned around to answer the phone, and when he turned back around, she was on her stomach! Back to front first! And then the next day, she rolled over twice for Peggy from stomach to back! I, unfortunately, haven't seen it yet and we have yet to have any successful attempts at capturing it on video but it still happened and I'm so proud! :)

Aside from these things, Haley's doing great. She's such a happy baby; smiling back at people and laughing! It's still my favorite thing when she laughs! She's making lots of sounds and lots of times, they're very loud! No idea who she gets a loud voice from! Just kidding.

Coming up next...Haley's very first Thanksgiving!

Poodles & Candy

Happy Halloween (a few days late)! Haley was a precious little poodle for her first Halloween. Of course we didn't take her trick or treating yet (I handled the candy-eating part!); we pretty much just put her costume on her, took some pictures, and took it off but it was still super cute! The next day, my friend Carrie took some pictures of her in her costume in her front yard, as well as some others. Haley was less than cooperative that day but for the costume pictures, was distracted by the leaves long enough to get a few cute shots. Below are some of Haley's Halloween pictures.

These are a couple other great pictures that Carrie took of Haley...




Stay tuned this week for another milestone caught on video! :)

It's a Little Person!

Haley is turning more and more into a little person everyday! It's getting so awesome! Not that it wasn't before...

I realize I haven't posted anything in a while and we have a lot to catch up on! First, I'll start with another awesome photo shoot that Peggy and Haley had last week! Peggy always dresses her super cute and takes some great pictures so I'm including a couple of my favorites (again, hard to chose) and one non-photo shoot picture from several weeks ago that I just love (in her Bumbo)!

So, last week, Haley discovered her bottom lip. Sounds really weird, but it's true. She couldn't stop sucking on her bottom lip; so everytime we looked at her, she had that little lip tucked under her upper lip. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it 'cause I didn't realize she would get bored with it so quickly! I should've known! Take my word for it, though, it was pretty cute!

And this week, she's all about faces. She loves to be within reach of anyone's face so she can grab on! As a matter of fact, earlier in the week, she put her little hands on my cheeks and pulled me in for a smooch! Well, she was probably more interested in eating my face instead of giving me a kiss but it was super cute regardless!

Which leads me to another thing...everything (and I mean everything) that she can get her hands on goes in her mouth! It's not scary yet since we're holding her all the time and see everything she has in her hands but I can already see how nerve wracking this will be when she starts to move around and picks mysterious goodies up from under the kitchen table or from the corner of the room and decides to give it a taste!

Haley is also loving standing! I'm more and more convinced everyday that she will skip crawling and go right to walking because she has no interest in being on her belly, and she absolutely loves to stand up. Her legs are very strong...I even had a dream the other night that our little 4 month old was walking all around and we had to hurry up and baby proof because he weren't ready for walking (who is at 4 months?)! And because she loves to stand, she also loves to go in her little Baby Einstein entertainer where she can stand all she wants, on her own (kind of) or sit when she gets tired. And she can play with all the toys, or try to put them in her mouth, at the same time! We have to put a little book under her feet to help her reach but she doesn't care! Haley's thankful to the Lear ladies for the Baby Einstein! Below are some pictures of Haley standing and in her entertainer!

And so tomorrow's Halloween. Of course we have a little costume for her and a Halloween party at the Armory tonight to take her to! I will keep all of that quiet for now and publish another post at the end of the weekend with some pictures of Haley's first Halloween!

Picture Perfect

Finally! I'm posting Haley's 3-month pictures that we had taken by a friend of Kyle's from college. She's so wonderful and I'm so thrilled with these! Haley was quite a little trooper too. We have to drive about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the studio (she's worth it!) and Haley did great. She smiled (on and off) for the first 20 minutes or so, and then she ignored the camera and played with her hands (as usual), and then she cried, and then she fell asleep...and if I were to post all of the pictures that were taken that day (which I'm not), you would see this progression! Pretty funny! But she was wonderful and the pictures turned out awesome. Here are a few of my favorites (hard to pick though!)...

On another note, there isn't much to report these days. Haley's officially out of newborn size clothes (finally); she pretty much skipped over the 0-3 month stuff and went right from newborn to 3 month. Some stuff is 3-6. Her little legs are so long that her PJ's were restricting her stretchability!! It gave me a fantastic reason to go shopping for baby clothes, to say the least!

We're also entertaining the idea of Haley teething. She's almost 4 months old, which I know is early...but not crazy early and she's showing a lot of signs. I don't see any little buds in her gums yet though. Soaking wet clothes (from drool), having a hard time sleeping, fighting with her bottles a bit, putting just about everything she can get her hands on in her mouth, and sometimes fussier than other times. It's hard to say if she's just being a baby or teething but she's been a little different the past week or 2 and Peggy, Kyle, and I are on board with this teething idea. We'll have to see what happens. We got really lucky with a baby that sleeps through the night...I wonder if we're going to be cursed with a baby that teethes horribly just to be reminded how hard parenting can be!

Another big football weekend ahead of us...I'm sure there will be some entertaining videos and pictures. I'll be sure to post them!

Go Irish, and Go Bears!

Daddy Barks, Baby Laughs

Haley's very first laugh, caught on tape!! If you choose to watch only one video of all those that I've posted so far, you'll want it to be this one!

Earlier today...

Cheerleader with a Side of Football

There is no doubt about it, Haley loves to watch football. She will literally sit and watch the games with us...and be entertained for longer than 15 minutes before having to move on to the next thing! It's probably a really bad habit to let her watch TV but we'll worry about that after football season!

Below are two pictures of our little cheerleader: one was for a Notre Dame game and the other for a Chicago Bears game (her little pink outift is a Bears outfit)! The video, which is awesome, is Haley watching the Notre Dame game on TV this past weekend and seemingly yelling at the TV! It's a good one...

Pandas and Photo Shoots

Well, it's been a little over a week, I apologize! I ordered Haley's 3 month pictures on CD and was waiting for that so I could post some and the CD was delivered cracked so that'll be the next one.

Anyway, Haley's doing awesome. She's babbling and smiling a lot more. We're still waiting for the giggle but it's SO close!

We've been learning a lot of things that Haley loves...along with some other stuff, she loves her Panda bear that her Pops got for her and she loves to watch football! I have included a video of her and her Panda and will post an awesome football-watching video later (with some Cheerleader pictures)!

And her and Peggy are doing great! Peggy takes lots of pictures of her during the day so I can keep up on her cuteness! One day, she even dressed Haley in different outfits and had a little photo shoot! Below are three of my favorites from last week.

The Life of a Little Princess

For the first post on this blog, Haley is 3 months and 1 day old! I just went back to work one week ago today and we're both doing just fine despite! We have a very good friend of Kyle and mine, Peggy, coming over to take care of Haley everyday. She is so great with children and we are very lucky to have her. I miss Haley a lot during the day but I sure don't have to worry about her...she's in great hands! (And I know they have lots of fun because Haley sure is wiped out when I get home!!)

Well, if we start from the beginning, Haley was breech for my whole pregnancy and was a scheduled C-section. Our appointment was at 8:30 on a Monday morning and she was born at 8:44...no time wasted! Recovering from a C-section was a lot harder than I thought it would be but I have to say, I still think I prefer that over "the other way." I really can't imagine that's any better. She was born with a full head of dark hair (contrary to both Kyle and I!) and very dark eyes (actual color still hard to say - sometimes dark blue, sometimes hazel, sometimes brown...)!

Haley was supplemented with formula from Day 2, and then fully formula fed starting at about 6 weeks. Now, 7 weeks later, we've been through 4 different types of formula and 4 various attempts at medication! Around 5 weeks, her pediatrician diagnosed her with acid reflux; a very common problem among infants and something they generally grow out of around 12 months old. Haley's is considered a "silent" reflux because she never spits up, essentially making it worse since the acid-stuff just sits in the back of her throat and never comes out. To spare you a very long story, she now eats hypoallergenic, pre-digested formula (Alimentum) and takes an acid reflux medication twice a day. Already proving to be a very high-maintenance little child! It took us a good 9 or 10 weeks to figure this combination out but better late than never and it's been working! She went from a relatively fussy baby to a very happy little thing (usually)!

Haley was sleeping for 6 solid hours during the night starting around week 5! She moved into her crib just shy of 8 weeks, and has been sleeping through the entire night since 9 weeks! She goes to bed around 8:30 and doesn't wake up until 7:30! I realize we got very lucky...but, she gets her sleeping "talents" from her Mom!

The latest and greatest is that Haley now smiles on command (or in response to other smiles), babbles and coos like nobody's business, loves to stretch out her arms and kick her legs; and we're bracing ourselves for a real laugh and rolling over...both coming very soon! She also hates pacifiers, loves to eat (eating "talent" comes from her Dad!), and absolutely loves her hands...mostly in her mouth!

I have attached a video of Haley from mid-August when she just started "talking" to us. Be patient, the video is a little less than 2 minutes long and she doesn't say much until after about a minute...she gets camera shy! I have also attached a couple of my favorite pictures to date.

I will try to update her blog at least weekly with a few pictures, maybe a video (Grandma Jan got us a sweet little video camera!), and an update on any new cool things she's doing! Pictures are typically a daily thing in our house so it should be no problem to keep this current! This blogging business should be really fun...hope you enjoy it too!

Before I publish this post, I feel the need to add a note about Haley's acting skills as Daddy's Puppet! Our defenseless little baby is such a trooper when Kyle entertains using Haley as his little puppet! The cowgirl picture has puppet-tendencies but below, I've included the real thing...it's cute, and hilarious for her audience! Disclaimer: no babies were harmed during the filming of these pictures! :)