Peek a Boo- Wordless Wednesday

Warm January Days

The weather the past two days has been beautiful! So yesterday we went for a quick walk around the apartment complex and stopped for a few minutes at the little playground. It was the first time Hailey had been on the swings and that she's been able to walk around outside. She had a blast!

It took her a minute to warm up to the swing. At first she didn't quite know what to think of it, but she soon started giggling and squealing! I love that sound!

I let her walk around a little too. She hasn't really walked outside much and she wasn't too sure about the uneven ground. She stumbled a few times and ended up with mulch on her hands so I wiped them off and soon she was doing this to wipe them off herself:

How sweet!

Then she decided to take a little rest

I guess she didn't mind the mulch too much! By the time we left she was trying to eat it. Ha! I made sure she didn't actually get any in her mouth.

This little adventure makes me excited for Spring and the playground in our new neighborhood!

Just a Saturday Morning with Daddy

Here is the sequence of events from our house this morning...

Hailey is supposed to be on the other side of the pillows (to keep her out of the office nook). Apparently they don't keep out a smart baby! She just climbed right over.

Hmmm. What else can I get into in here?

Read to me Daddy!

What a good Daddy to stop working and read to his baby

What a perfect way to end the morning, with a nap on Daddy.

I think someone is smitten with their Daddy! (and he might be just a little smitten too)

Exciting Times!

We closed on a house today! We started looking at houses back in November and officially put in an offer on this one in December. I haven't written about it yet because I wanted to make sure everything went thru on it and that it was actually ours.

We are so excited and can't wait to get into it. Luckily, we have about a month before we have to be out of the apartment so we can take our time and get some things done before we move in. First on the list, scraping that horrible popcorn off of the ceilings! (Well, it's first on the honey-do list; I'm not doing a whole lot of it.) Then lots of painting, removing terrible wallpaper and building a pantry! I'm already realizing that moving with a 10 month old is going to be a lot harder that moving with a 7 week old...especially a walking, into-everything 10 month old. Hailey was so funny when we went for the final walk-thru. She was practically running thru the house in circles. I think she's going to love the space!

Be looking for before-and-after pictures as we get things done!

So on the same day we closed on our first house, there was an ice storm in Raleigh. Thank goodness we weren't planning to move today because it would've been miserable. Here are a few pictures of Hailey in the snow again. She still wasn't too interested in it (for the 3 minutes she was out in it to take the picture)

Exciting times are here and ahead!

Little Mommy

Hailey has been carrying this baby doll around all day. So cute!

Don't worry. We'll work on the proper way to carry a baby soon! :)

Long Weekend: Take 2

We have enjoyed the rest of our weekend! Saturday we didn't do much of anything because Ryan wasn't feeling well. We just hung out at home and rested.

Sunday morning started with cinnamon rolls for breakfast; an Epley tradition started when Ryan was little. I think Hailey likes this tradition.

Then it was off to church and for some reason, my baby looked so big to me! (Isn't her dress cute? We got it back in the spring at a sale here in Raleigh and Julie and I put her monogram on it a few weeks ago.) On a side note, Hailey is a full-time walker now and doesn't really crawl for anything any more. I can't believe it!

 She may or may not have gotten to try chocolate after lunch. Do you think she liked it?!

Hailey had some serious bed head today. Just like her daddy!

After we tamed that mane we ventured to the mall to return a few things and look for some new shoes for Ryan. Hailey enjoyed exploring the shoe store and wowing the other customers with her walking skills.

And what mall trip is complete without Chick-Fil-A for lunch?

Feeding herself! What a big girl!

We had such a fun weekend as a family. I can't wait for the next one!

Long Weekend: Take 1

Oh how I love long weekends! And it's only just begun...

Last night (Thursday) I had my monthly prayer time with the pastor's wives at Providence (love, love, love this time every month!). So Ryan got to hang out with Hailey and put her to bed. This is what I saw from the night...

 We also got our first snow! Hailey got to go out in it for about 3 minutes this morning...Just long enough to say that she had been out in snow.

Don't you just love her hat?

And another wonderful thing about the first half of our weekend is that we got to meet Brayden! One of my best friends Jodi had him almost two weeks ago and we finally got to meet him! We got to bring them dinner and love on them for a little while.

Hailey checking him out

He's so tiny!

Isn't he adorable?!

We were going to meet up with some other friends for dinner at their house, but their little boy got sick so we steered clear of the germs and went to eat at Smithfield's BBQ instead. Hailey did great and had fun feeding herself! (diced veggies and chicken nuggets)

What a big girl

I think what I love most about this weekend is that it's only half over...I wonder what else we can get into before it's over...

Smarty Pants

Can you guess how this ended up?

If you said with Mommy vacuuming puffs off of the floor, you're right!

So, I was trying to get a picture of Hailey to send to the Grandmas and she was playing with the puffs container. She got it open using her bottom teeth and I thought it was an accident. So I put the lid back on and gave it back to her. She did it again! And then spilled them on the floor...Think she wanted a snack?!

Weekend with MK

My sister, Mary Katherine and her fiancee, Justin, came to Raleigh this weekend. He had an interview with Duke for a residency so Mary Katherine got to hang out with Hailey and I! Here is our fun weekend in pictures... (because I know that's what everyone wants to see anyways!)

Hailey trying to get MK to play with her...playing peek-a-boo around the computer.

She was happy when Mary Katherine let her play on her computer some.

Mary Katherine and Justin babysat Hailey one night because we had an event at church. This was the picture she sent me of Hailey eating dinner. Apparently they had lots of fun...until bedtime and then Hailey wanted her mommy. We'll get better with babysitters one day right? On a side note, Hailey pretty much refuses to let us feed her baby food anymore. She wants to do it herself. So I am now taking suggestions on good, soft finger foods.

These are all pictures from this morning before church:
Justin teaching Hailey dental hygiene. Hailey was fascinated with the sound of his electric toothbrush and was so excited when I gave her hers to use (or play with).

MK teaching Hailey how to put on make-up.

Sweet girl ready for church wearing a dress that used to be Mary Katherine's when she was a baby

And a few other random pictures from the weekend:
First walk in the backpack carrier

Hailey decided she wanted a clementine...peel and all!

Oh how I love weekends with family!

10 months

I'm only a day late...

Hailey turned 10 months old yesterday. I can't believe it's only two months until my sweet girl turns 1!

Hailey weighs around 20 pounds and is wearing mostly 12 month clothes. (She can still wear 9 month ones but most of her winter clothes are 12 months so we're going with it.) She is wearing a size 3 shoe and size 3 diapers. She still nurses about 5 times a day, eats 3 solid meals and an afternoon snack. Hailey goes to bed around 8 pm and wakes up anywhere between 6 and 7 in the morning. (unless we're traveling and then she wakes up at 5 am. Not fun.) She has gotten into the habit of taking a good hour to hour and a half morning nap (yay!) and then will take one or two 30 minute naps in the afternoon.

The biggest news this month is that we have a walker! Hailey started taking a few steps here and there a week or so ago and really started walking more and more this past week. She will walk to things and around the room if she's not in a big hurry. If she wants to get somewhere quick, then she'll take off crawling. She's a bit impatient! (just like her Mama, ha!) She's not a full-time walker yet, but it won't be long. She loves to walk behind her push toys too.

I love this picture of her because it shows her doing something she loves...screaming. Hailey has perfected her little high-pitch scream / shriek this month too. It is ear piercing.

Hailey's favorite pass time is still reading. She loves to bring / throw us a book and crawl into our laps to read to her.

We have a little Miss Independent girl on our hands. Hailey loves to feed herself and it is getting harder and harder for us to feed her baby food. So far she loves diced veggies, any kind of cheese, cheerios, puffs, pancakes, monkey bread...pretty much anything we can make small enough for her to pick up and eat.

This month Hailey has also started to play more and more with us. She will roll / throw a ball with us, pretend to feed us her play food or toys, and she LOVES peek-a-boo. She will play peek-a-boo around anything she can: the shower curtain, any door, curtains, blankets, tables, etc.

She can say "mama, dada, Bobo, hi and occasionally bye". She has also perfected waving bye-bye. Sometimes she kind of does the sign for "more". We're working on that one.

With all of the new things this month, I don't know what is in store next! We love you Hailey Grace!