Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fall Festival

While we were in Charlotte for Ryan's grandmother's funeral, Hailey spent the day with Grams and Gramps so that we could attend the visitation and funeral. It just so happened that it was the same day as the Hickory Grove Fall Festival, so Hailey got to wear her Halloween costume and see some old friends. Here is my cute little watermelon:


Partners in crime...They're a mess!
soon to be three when Mack (my nephew) gets here in December
Hailey got to ride the train,


 

and watch Tucker play some games


Then Grams and Gramps tried to get a picture with both grandkids...here's how it turned out:




Ha! Not quite...maybe it'll be better next year when there's three?

Hailey had a fun day with Grams and Gramps!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend was going to be a relaxing one for us...a weekend at home; something we haven't had in awhile. Unfortunately, and sadly, Ryan's grandmother passed away Thursday morning so we ended up traveling to Charlotte for the funeral. She had had Alzheimer's for several years and it had progressed quickly, so we all knew that her passing was coming, but that doesn't really make it any easier. We rejoice for the fact that MawMaw is in heaven worshiping our Lord, but are still sad.

We drove to Charlotte on Friday morning and enjoyed some laid-back time with Ryan's family. Several of his family members that live out of town were arriving that day for the funeral so it was nice to see them and catch up.

Our little family. I love this!
We decided to take Hailey to a pumpkin patch to take a few pictures in the afternoon. Ryan's parents, sister and cousin went with us so it was a fun trip. We didn't pick a pumpkin to bring home, but had fun taking pictures of our punkin with the pumpkins!
So happy!


What is this thing?!


with Mimi and Poppi
Mimi and Rebecca teaching Hailey about horses
Although it wasn't a fun reason for a weekend in Charlotte, we had fun with Ryan's family. More to come about Hailey's visit to the Fall Festival with Grams and Gramps!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Fall Retreat

This past weekend was our Life Class Fall Retreat. We went to Emerald Isle Beach and had a blast. I was interested to see how Hailey would like the beach because when we went over the summer she was so little that she didn't do much except sit in her bouncy seat under the tent. I knew that wasn't even going to be an option this time! Little miss busy body hardly ever sits still anymore!

When we got there on Friday we checked into the two houses that we would be using and drove back and forth between them in a golf cart to get things ready. Hailey thought that was just the funniest thing! She laughed and laughed as the wind blew her hair and face.

Big girl "driving" the golf cart
She had the best time!
After things were ready, we spent time hanging out with those who were already there and waiting on the rest to get there. Hailey was exhausted so we made it an early night...although she slept terribly both nights.

Saturday we spent about an hour or so on the beach. Hailey loved the sand! And yes, she tried to eat it. We spread out a huge beach towel for her to play on, but of course she wanted to play with the sand more.

notice Ryan holding the back of her shirt to keep her from crawling off the towel?!

What is this stuff?

Fun! (We had to put her paci in her mouth to keep her from eating it.)

sweet chubby legs

cuteness! I love her little hat.
Saturday and Sunday, Ryan taught a few sessions to our Life Class about watching a movie with a Christian Worldview. Hailey and I didn't even attempt to go to them...I knew she wouldn't make it and be quite a distraction. Ha!

We played a few Minute-to-Win-it games one night and they were hilarious!
Keep a balloon in the air with only one hand and one foot
Get an Oreo from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands
 We had a great time and Hailey got loved on all weekend! I'd say it was a successful fall retreat!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Hailey's first friend

The last few months adjusting to our new "life" have been filled with new people: new coworkers for Ryan, new leaders in the singles ministry, new people that we're ministering to, new friends in the form of the other pastor's wives, new faces as I get used to dropping Hailey off in the church nursery, and the list goes on... We've met a ton of new people since we've been here in Raleigh.

One thing that's been different for me is to not have an automatic group of people that I hang out with and see everyday like I did when I was teaching. I've had to actually meet people to hang out with, not just have them there. I've loved meeting and getting to know the singles and other pastor's wives but I've been hoping and wanting to find other moms with babies or young kids that are in the same stage of life as I am too. My Bible Study on Tuesday mornings has been a great place for that, but as crazy as it sounds, I've also met a few moms in the nursing room on Sunday mornings as I feed Hailey at church. They have babies right around Hailey's age so it's been neat to talk about things like starting solids, sleeping schedules and such because let's face it, only moms with babies want to talk about things like that!

Anyways, our first week at Providence I met Megan. She has a daughter Clara who is one day younger than Hailey. A few months ago, Megan invited Hailey and I to join her and a few friends on their weekly walk around the park. That has been so much fun for me! I've loved it not only for the exercise, but for the friendships that are forming too. This past Saturday, we went over to their house for dinner. We had a great time! It was awesome for Ryan and I to hang out with another married couple with a baby the same age as Hailey. We don't get to do that much! It was fun to see Hailey interact with another baby too.



Hailey didn't do so well with the sharing thing. Every time Clara would pick up a toy, Hailey would take it from her. We'll have to work on that.

Notice the "grabbing" hand?! Not a good sharer.

We ended up not getting to hang out for long. Hailey was really fussy and tired, so we had to leave right after dinner. But it was still a lot of fun!

Here is a picture that Megan texted me this morning after church. Hailey and Clara went on a stroller ride in the nursery and both fell asleep! How cute are they?! I think Hailey found her first friend...and I did too!


Saturday, October 13, 2012

NC State Fair

Ever since we've moved to Raleigh, everyone has been talking about the State Fair and how much fun it is. So, being the new Raleigh-residents that we are, we had to try it out!

Since it officially opened on Thursday, we were hoping that early afternoon on Friday would be a good, not-too-crowded, time to go. We were wrong! There were a ton of people there already! We still had a great time and were able to walk around and see most of what we wanted to see, but there were a lot of people. I can only imagine what the weekends are like!

We decided to do a few of the things we had heard so much about:
eat deep-fried food,


see the flower exhibits,

and take silly pictures.

We can definitely see why people go back more than once during a season! There is so much to do and see; we felt like we didn't even get to do half of all we'd heard about. Luckily, the fair comes back next year!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Quick Trip

Last Saturday Hailey and I made another trip to Charlotte. Mary Katherine was going to be in town and hadn't seen Hailey in a while, so we made the trek. It was fun to see and spend time with family again and for them to spend more time with Hailey. Because of the Singles Event on Friday Night, we didn't leave until Saturday morning for Charlotte. We tried to get up and out early because we knew we didn't have a lot of time. Hailey did great in the car, sleeping for most of the way and then playing in her car seat for about 30 minutes before we got there. (That makes the trip so much easier!)

We had a lot of fun playing and showing off Hailey's new skill of crawling to everyone. They were all impressed at how quick she was! She enjoyed getting into everything, even Tucker's train set. He was a good sport about it and didn't get too mad at her though.



She also helped us cook dinner.

Sunday morning we got to go to Hickory Grove and Grams got to show off her baby! The dress that Hailey is wearing is one that used to be mine when I was a baby.



listening with Gramps...notice the bow is gone
After church, we played at Grams and Gramps' house before making the trip back home to Daddy.


It was a really quick trip; but a fun one nonetheless! Can't wait for the next one!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

I heart Fridays!

I know I've posted before about how much I love Fridays. It's the start to our weekend and we love having Ryan home! This past Friday was especially nice because we'd had a really busy week.

The first great thing about our day was that Hailey slept until 6:30. The past few weeks, she's been waking up extra early on Fridays for some reason. Then Ryan surprised me by making pancakes for breakfast! They were yummy!

After breakfast, Hailey decided that Ryan looked like a good pillow.


The rest of the day we just spent together. I ran errands and we played and cleaned up a little bit. Friday night, Ryan and I had a Singles Event to go to at the church and Hailey got to hang out with a babysitter. (One of the other pastor's wives kept her because all of her normal babysitters were at the singles event at the church.)

We met at the church for pizza and then headed to a local corn maze. It was a lot of fun! I had never done a corn maze before, especially at night, but we had a great time! The farm had a lot of fun things to do. They had some games and bounce houses for kids, little petting zoo, pony rides, hay rides and of course the corn maze. Since we went at night, we didn't do a whole lot of the other stuff there but we did do the corn maze, hay ride and fed the goats.

a map of the maze...we made it thru!

Ryan and I being silly before we started the maze

We had a great time hanging out with friends from the church and getting to know them better. I love the fact that I'm really starting to feel like we have friends here in Raleigh; people we can hang out with in and out of church and people that know about our lives. It makes it feel so much more like home.

Monday, October 8, 2012

The months are flying by!

I have a lot to post from this past weekend, but first my sweet girl has an important day! Today Hailey is 7 months old! I can't believe how fast the months are flying by.

this is the perfect picture of her...on the go!
According to our scale, Hailey weighs about 17 and a half pounds. (We go to the doctor on Wednesday for her flu shot, so I'm going to try and get them to weigh her for a more exact weight.) She is wearing 6-9 months clothes and size 2 shoes. Her sleeping patterns haven't changed much lately; she goes to bed around 8:00 and sleeps until 6ish in the morning. (Sometimes it's even closer to 7:00!) She still takes a 30 minute nap every 2 hours.

Hailey eats a baby food meal twice a day, in the morning and evening. She has tried a few of the stage 2 fruit blends and really likes them. We gave her a puff one night just to see if she liked it, but it made her gag because she wasn't used to the texture. We'll wait a little longer on those. We have tried to use a sippy cup a few times but Hailey mostly likes to chew on it. She doesn't really care for juice and is just as happy with water.



Hailey started crawling this month! She had been scooting on her belly for a while, but finally got the motion down! Now she is everywhere and into everything! She loves to find our shoes and many times crawls into the closets in our bedroom to play with them. She is quick too!



Hailey loves to stand in her walker and help me cook or get ready in the mornings. Give her a plastic spatula and she is occupied for a good 10 minutes.


Hailey LOVES books. She loves for us to read to her all the time. Right now her favorites are "Baby Love", "Water Water Everywhere", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I think she likes the song ones the most because we sing them to her. A few times we've started reading (singing) them to her and she tries to sing too. It's so cute to hear her try to sing!


She's still not the biggest fan of the church nursery on Sundays or Tuesdays for Bible Study, but she's getting better. Last week she wasn't even crying when I picked her up (baby steps...) She is always tired when I pick her up and falls asleep on the way home. I guess being around all the other babies makes her sleepy. This particular day, she couldn't even wait for the car to fall asleep.


I'm sure next month will bring many more milestones and new tricks. Our baby girl is growing up so fast!