Standing Tall

Hailey has always loved her exersaucer, but now she's found a new way to enjoy it; instead of sitting in it, she loves to stand on the outside of it and play! Big girl!

Sitting Pretty

Hailey has been sitting a little bit for quite a while now. However, she'd weeble, she'd wobble, and she'd definitely fall down. Part of the problem was her refusal to put her hands down and her desire to be moving. She loves to be grabbing things and moving toward things. Sitting was never enough. Suddenly, about a week ago, no more wobbling. She has found that she can balance herself just fine and she loves to play in her new stance:

A few more pictures of sisterly love (because I never get tired of them being so darn cute together):

And I'll leave you with a final pic of my beautiful blue-eyed baby:

Another Comparison Picture

It's fun to do this once every few months, especially when I notice that I took a picture of Hailey that looks similar to a picture I took of Hannah. Here they both are at 7 months, practicing their crawling!

Hannah:

Hailey:

Friday Funny

Hannah and I were talking about numbers and counting. She commonly counts to 29 perfectly and then proceeds to announe "20-10" as the next number. Since I am now 30, I thought this would be a good teaching point. Setting the scene - Hannah has just counted to 29.

Mommy: And the next number is 30. You know, Mommy is 30 years old.
Hannah looks puzzled.
Mommy: Just like you are 3 years old...
Hannah nods her head "yes."
Mommy: ...well, Mommy is 30 years old.
Hannah pauses and thinks for a minute.
Hannah: Wow Mommy, that's a lot of coutin'.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Traits That I Love About My Three Year Old:

1. She is intelligent. She memorizes books and "reads" them back to you word-for-word. Which is great unless you are trying to skip a few paragraphs to make bedtime come sooner. ;)

2. She is expressive. She is constantly telling me how she feels. A new toy makes her happy; a crushed juice box makes her sad; a screaming sister makes her mad.

3. She has meticulous attention to detail. She loves lining things up, stacking things perfectly, and doing things in a particular order. That's amazing to someone like me who is so not detail-oriented.

4. She is a negotiator. I swear she tries to negotiate for things she doesn't even care about. I think she just likes seeing if she can do it. She is pretty good at it too, and surprisingly, when she does get me to agree to a negotiation, she always follows through on her end of the bargain.

5. She is caring. She gets so upset if Hailey is crying and I don't immediately run to her rescue. She will literally stand by me and say "Hailey is upset" over and over again until I fix whatever the problem is. She also constantly asks me if I'm happy and if I am annoyed at something that she has done, she apologizes without being asked and offers to fix the problem.

6. She is polite. Pleases and Thanks Yous all around here.

7. She is observant. She notices when Daddy is trying to pull out of the driveway and Mommy doesn't have her seatbelt on. And she corrects it.

8. She is fearless. She loves all things "scary." You would think she would shy away from it but instead she thinks it's great fun to talk about ghosts and monsters. Amazing!

9. She is imaginative. She plays house with her dolls, walks her stuffed dogs, talks on the phone to princesses and Peter Pan. The older she gets, the more realistic it is. For instance, she actually pauses on the phone and occasionally says "uh-huh" like she is really talking to someone.

10. She is helpful. She pitches in and cleans. She also helps with things like Hailey's diapers, picking out Hailey's clothes, and making sure Hailey doesn't put small things in her mouth.

11. She is adventurous. She loves to be out in the world doing things. She gets so upset when it's time to come home. I also get bored easily at home, so it's nice that she likes to be on the go.

12. She is articulate. She loves to talk about anything and everything and will talk to other kids. She is learning to make friends easily.

13. She is independent. She asks for privacy and wants to do everything by herself. She recently learned how to open the car door and strap her 5 point harness so now there is no helping her. I love watching her learn something new and she is never afraid to try!

Fall Fun

The end of October has been extremely busy for us!

Zoo Boo (round 1):

We started out going to Zoo Boo. The kids can trick-or-treat at the zoo, there is a "haunted" train ride, and even the carousel goes backwards for the occasion. We met up with Rob, Mare, Zane, Cash, Holden, Ben, Amy, Bryn, and Shay. Here is Hannah and Hailey in their princess costumes (with warm clothes underneath) standing outside the zoo:


Here is Bryn and Hannah on the "haunted train":


And Amy and Shay:

And Zane, Mare, Cash, and Holden:



Halloween Party for Hailey:

The nursing support group has a Halloween party. Here is Hailey posing for the camera in her Ariel costume:




Zoo Boo (round 2):

We met my friend Carrie and her son Brett for another try at Zoo Boo. Hannah wanted to pose as as a zebra:


And she got to go on the carousel with Carrie and Brett (which she begged to do last time but we didn't have enough time):


Hannah insisted on hugging every mascot we saw and even wanted a picture with each of them. I'll spare you the numerous pictures I took and just post the cutest one:


And here we all are on the train:



Hannah's Preschool Field Trip to Get Pumpkins/Apples:

Hannah's first preschool trip was to the pumpkin patch. We were supposed to go earlier in the month but we got rained out. As a bonus, we also got to pick apples because they still had some
left on the tree. Here we are on the hay ride:


Hannah picked out her pumpkin:


Hannah is proudly showing me the apples she picked:


There was a hay pile that all the kids were playing on:



Halloween Party for Hannah:

Hannah's preschool did a Halloween party. I won't post most of the pictures because it has her classmates in it and I don't know the other moms well enough to know if they would be okay with their child's picture being posted, so here is the one picture I got of just Hannah, practicing her bowling:




Trick-or-Treating:

Finally, the main event that Hannah (and Rob) we were waiting for. Halloween. Again, it was freezing, so the kids had to wear layers. I still think they looked cute:


And here is Hailey rolling around in the candy afterwards. Hey, if she can't eat it, she should at least enjoy it somehow:



Fall has been so fun!