The rest of our visit

Even though Grandparents Chapel was on Thursday, Hailey and I stayed in Charlotte until Saturday because Ryan had a conference to go to here in Raleigh. I was excited we were going to get a few more days to see family and not feel so rushed.

On Friday, Grams and I took Hailey shopping for her first pair of shoes! I haven't put shoes on her at all really, because her little chubby feet are just so cute! Plus, it's been summer and she hasn't needed them. But since it's starting to feel like fall, we decided she needed shoes. We went to the mall and had her little foot measured and then got to pick out some new shoes!

trying on her first pair of shoes...I think she likes them

Since Hailey is still so little and in shoes with soft soles there weren't a whole lot of options, and she doesn't really need a lot of pairs yet. We were able to find three pairs, all on sale! Here is her cute, little, chubby foot in one of them.

In the afternoon we went to Julie's house to make Hailey a cute pumpkin dress for fall. Here's what Hailey did:

She loved to eat the ribbon! I think she liked the different textures.

Friday night we were supposed to have a Girls Night with some friends, but Hailey wasn't really feelin' it... I don't know if she's teething again, didn't like the smell or sound in the restaurant, was just over-tired or what, but we only lasted about 20 minutes. So unfortunately, I didn't get any cute pictures of her with the girls...maybe next time. We had to rest up on Friday night because Gramps was coming home from a business trip.

On Saturday Julie, Trey and Tucker came over to play for a little while and here's how it ended up:

Playing trains with Gramps

Hailey had her first official crawl while in Charlotte. She's been army crawling for a while, but this weekend finally got the hands and knees motion down! She only does it for a few steps (scoots? pushes?) and then resorts to army crawling again, but we're getting it!

I love spending time with family, but we were excited to get home and see Daddy on Saturday afternoon.

We'll be back in Charlotte this weekend to see Mary Katherine!

Grandparents Chapel

Hailey and I traveled to Charlotte this week for a special day, Grandparents Day! Well, Grandparents Day was actually a few weeks ago, but this week was Grandparents Chapel at HGCS, and since Grams is the principal she wanted to show off her sweet grandchildren.

Wednesday, Hailey and I drove to Charlotte and enjoyed spending time with my mom (Grams). We did a little shopping and a lot of relaxing. Thursday was Grandparents Chapel. We got up and ready early (for us) and went to the church and picked up my nephew Tucker from his class at school (day care), then went to see Grams at chapel. I got to experience life with two kids for a portion of the morning, and it was much busier!

waiting for chapel to begin...not really into picture-taking

waiting for their turn

Hailey and Tucker got a few minutes in the spotlight as they were introduced to the students and grandparents. They did great; besides Hailey trying to grab and eat the microphone!

Aren't they cute?!

On the theme of Grandparents...on Thursday Hailey and I went to visit with Mimi and Poppi. Here are a few pictures from our visit:

Hailey thought their carpet was so interesting. She wouldn't stay on the blanket.

We had lots of fun on the first half of our visit in Charlotte! More to come...

Weekend Away

In my last post, I mentioned that Ryan and I were going away for the weekend (ok well, really just one night). Providence does several Pastors Retreats each year to give the pastors time to relax, spend time together and plan for the church. Well, one of those retreats each year is for pastors and their wives! This past Friday and Saturday was that retreat!

We got to go to Wrightsville Beach / Wilmington. It was so much fun to hang out with the other pastors and their wives and get to have more than a 5 minute conversation! We drove to the beach Friday afternoon and had time to check in to the hotel and take a quick walk on the beach before dinner. We all ate at "Sweet and Savory" for dinner and then just went back to the hotel to hang out. Saturday morning we had a prayer and praise time. It was so sweet to get to pray for the other pastors' families and praise together. After that, we did a little shopping and had lunch at "Flaming Amy's" before heading home.

It was a quick trip, but a great one nonetheless. For Ryan and I it was really a great time to actually get to know the other couples we serve with each week. We had a chance to actually sit and talk with them about their lives and families. I'm so thankful that Providence makes these retreats a priority each year.

(No, I didn't take any pictures while we were away...)

Anyways, my mom and dad came to Raleigh to keep Hailey for the night. (in the midst of the minor catastrophe) It was hard to leave her for the night, but I knew she was in great hands and it was good for both of us. Throughout the weekend I got picture updates of the fun they were having. Here are a few pics of my sweet baby on her first weekend with Grams and Gramps:

Mr. Hightops~ her new toy from Grams and Gramps

playing on the patio in her walker from Paige and Brandon Summey. She loves this thing!

swinging on the Nature Trail

the good morning picture I got on Saturday morning

to prove to me that she was eating! I was so excited!

Hailey had a great time with her grandparents over the weekend and it was nice to get away with Ryan. I missed her a lot and was very excited to see her when we returned, but now I know that she can survive without me! (this was the first time that she really had to take a bottle because I was gone for so long and she did great.)

I'm sure there will be many more weekends with grandparents in the years to come!

Minor Catastrophe

We had a minor catastrophe at the apartment on Thursday. Although at the time, it didn't feel quite so minor. So... Ryan and I were going out of town for one night and my parents were coming to keep Hailey for us (already hard for me, first night being away from her). So I was cleaning the apartment, specifically the bathroom off of the master bedroom. I was wiping off the back of the toilet which had a picture resting on it. Well, the picture slid off of the back, in between the toilet tank and the wall, and severed the pipe that connects the toilet to the wall. (You know the one that has the knob on it kn case you ever need to turn the water off...) Yeah, completely broken in half, a geyser spraying out of the wall.

Of course Hailey was in there with me, just happily playing in her walker. Water is now spraying in her direction; didn't actually hit her though. Well, it's an apartment and I don't have any idea where the main water shut off thing is. So I have to grab Hailey and high-tail it up to the leasing office and tell them what happened. They called the maintenance people who met me back at my apartment and quickly turned off the main valve. But by that time there was two and a half inches of water in the bathroom, and it had traveled about three feet into my bedroom carpet. :(

 These pictures don't do the damage justice. It was TERRIBLE! Well, God was watching out for us and the carpet cleaning people just happened to be at the apartment complex that day. So they were able to immediately come and clean up the water. They sucked it up in the giant vacuum, put the furniture up on blocks and put two huge fans and a dehumidifier in our bedroom for the weekend.

 But, we couldn't sleep in the bedroom or use the toilet in the bathroom. Did you forget that my parents were coming for the weekend to keep Hailey because we were going out of town?!

Yeah, lots of fun. Thankfully, my parents were able to let the maintenance and carpet people in on Saturday to fix the toilet and check on the carpet drying process. Thankfully, we had another bathroom for them to use. Thankfully, the carpet is almost dry and they're going to shampoo it. Thankfully, it wasn't worse.

It does make for a good story, right?!

More on the weekend to come...

Catch up on all things random

First, let me say Ryan is an awesome weigher...I said that he weighed Hailey at 17 pounds. Today at her 6 month doctor's appointment she was 17 lbs. 1 oz. (75%). She was 25 and 3/4 in. long (50%) and her head circumference was 41 cm. (10%). 

pre-shots obviously

The doctor said she was doing awesome and is a determined little girl! Oh my, what are we in store for?! She said to start feeding Hailey solids twice a day working up to 3 times. So big! Poor thing did have to get three shots and an oral vaccine but Ryan had her giggling before we left the doctor's office! I told him that he is coming from now on!

after shots: puffy eyes, but not crying anymore!

In my last post I also mentioned that we were starting a Bible Study on Tuesday mornings. Hailey did pretty good in child care. She was crying hard when I picked her up, but they said she hadn't done that the whole time. I think she was hungry and we found out she popped out her other bottom tooth so that could have something to do with it too. I had a great time meeting other young moms and women in our church. I am so blessed that I get to stay home with Hailey and be a part of things during the day at the church.

Cutie Pie before we left home

Out-takes: My shirt is so interesting...

And Yummy

We stopped  to see Ryan before Bible Study. Hailey was very intrigued by his books.

OK. I think that's all the updates. Here's to hoping next week is even better for Hailey in child-care!

Weekend in Review

Once again, we had quite a busy weekend. On Friday, we had a much-needed family day. We went on a walk in the park, we spent time playing, Ryan made ribs for dinner (yum!) and we just hung out. We all need days like that once in awhile.

It was good that we didn't have much we had to do on Friday, because Saturday and Sunday were packed. Saturday morning our LIFE class (like Sunday School, just a different name) met up at Wal-Mart across the street from the church and passed out free water. We had labels printed with the church information on them and the verse from John about Jesus being the Living Water. It was just a way to love on the community and let people know about our church. It was interesting to see people's reactions when we asked, "Would you like a free water?" Most were skeptical and responded with something like, "Free?! Really?!" We were asked many times why we were out passing out water. It was a good lead-in to share the Gospel. We passed out around 250 bottles of water that day and were able to share the Gospel with around 20 people. Hailey and I didn't get to stay the whole time, but we were able to pass out a few bottles. It was great! Here are a few pictures.

These are just a few of the people that came to help.

Saturday night we got to hang out with Jodi and Chad! Jodi and I have been friends ever since we both worked at HGBC Afterschool, right when Ryan and I started dating, like 9 years ago! We hadn't seen them in a while, so we got together for pizza and dessert. They are expecting so it was neat to see them interact with Hailey and give them some of our parenting experience. (Ha! Like we have any!)

Hailey and Jodi

Sunday we had a full morning at church and then several meeting with the Singles Leaders after. Hailey and I stayed for as much as we could. That evening was more of the same. It's exciting to go to meeting with the Singles Leaders who are so excited about getting others involved in the church!

Unfortunately, Hailey wasn't loving the nursery so much yesterday...I got called in the morning and the evening to come and get her because she was crying so much. I think we have a little of a separation problem; plus she's teething and I think she just wanted some Mommy-love to help her feel better. I hate to see her so upset, but I know it's good for her to socialize with other babies and adults. We'll see how Tuesday goes. I'm starting a Ladies Bible Study at the church for a few hours in the morning. I hope we have better luck with the nursery!

Hailey before church that night. I know her bow is huge, but it's so stinkin' cute!

6 months already!

I can't believe it's been 6 months since Hailey was born! It's so exciting to see her learning and discovering new things everyday.

We have her 6 month doctor's appointment on Wednesday so I don't have the official stats but according to the Epley weighing system, Hailey weighs around 17 pounds. She wears 6 month clothes. She goes to sleep around 8 and wakes up at 6:30 on a good morning. (We had a rough time with sleeping this month.) She still takes a 30 minute nap every two hours. Hailey is cutting her first 2 teeth! One on the top and one on the bottom.

She can sit up alone, and is rolling and scooting across the floor. It won't be long until she is full-on crawling. She has gotten onto all fours a few times, but hasn't made a move from there yet.

She sometimes ends up in the funniest places with all of her rolling and scooting. These pictures all happened with a few minutes of each other. Hailey started under her play gym and ended up laying beside it facing the opposite direction, then within a few minutes had rolled herself up in the blanket that is on the floor for her to play on! She makes me laugh.

She loves to play with this bucket. It is technically a shape sorter toy, but Hailey just likes to dump everything out of it...over and over again. This can occupy her for a good 10 minutes, as long as I keep putting the toys back in it.

She also loves her bouncer. That can buy me a few minutes here or there too. But, I tell you, that girl can find a tag anywhere!

One day I gave her a sippy cup with some water in it so I could make dinner. It was so cute to watch her learn how to use it. She didn't end up drinking much water, but had fun playing!

Hailey still loves bath time! She has learned to splash and can get us quite wet!

When she is upset, nothing calms her as fast as dancing with Daddy. She loves any kind of music.

We love you Hailey Grace!

Wordless Wednesday: Another first

First Ponytail

Weekend Recap

We've had a busy but fun weekend! We've hung out with friends and family and enjoyed being together.

Friday morning we went shopping! Well, to BJs and Kohls...as much as Hailey (and Ryan) can handle.

I love getting to park in these places!

How Hailey rides in her stroller...with her feet propped up!

shopping at Kohls

That evening, we met up with a couple that we met in the new members class at church. They live in a big neighborhood that has a little grill restaurant in it. So we met them at their house, then walked to the restaurant to eat. I forgot to take a picture of Hailey in her stroller but she loved the walk, even though it was HOT! We all got a little gelato treat on the way back! Yes, Hailey had a taste and tried to devour more than I let her.

Saturday we just hung around the house and did a little cleaning. Nothing exciting.

Sunday was a busy day! We went to church in the morning.

In my cute dress from Mimi

Exhausted after church

After church Grams and Gramps came to visit! My dad hadn't seen our apartment yet and they just wanted to spend time with a cute little baby.

playing with her new toy

oooh...it makes noise!

While they were here we had a little Halloween preview fashion show. Hailey tried on two different costumes and looked adorable in them both. I'll show you the pictures but won't share the final decision until Halloween!

Which do you think?! Waterrnelon or Sunflower?

She was so exhausted after her busy day that she actually went to bed early!

Today was Labor Day so Ryan had the day off of work! This morning we went to the park for a walk. (Raleigh has some of the best parks.) We have spent the rest of the day relaxing and preparing for the busy week ahead.

We love long weekends!