For The Love Of Shoes

Hailey's love for shoes started off small. It started around 7-8 months old, when she would occasionally crawl over and take some shoes from our shoe area. As she started walking around 10 months, she began to enjoy handing me shoes, although they often didn't match and sometimes weren't even hers. However, she did put her feet up for me and it was nice not to battle trying to get shoes on her since many babies and toddlers hate their shoes. Soon, she was bringing me her own shoes and by 15-16 months, she was bringing matching pairs and would put her shoes in the correct place once she took them off. Now at 18 months, when I pull out a pair of shoes for her, she often shakes her head "no" at me, takes the shoes I suggested, puts them back in the shoe area, picks out her own shoes, brings them over, and tries to put them on herself. Wow! However, I think we have recently hit a new level of obsession. She has began carrying her shoes and cuddling them. I think this just shows that women were made to love shoes. At least when her future husband asks some day, I can say her obsession began when she was literally still in diapers.

Proof: here she is cuddling her shoes (forgive the tired-looking mama - it was a long weekend!):

And yes, that is her cuddling her shoes while sleeping:

I have one daughter who loves dresses and the other who loves shoes - I must be doing something right! ;)

18 Month Appointment

Hailey had her 18 month appointment today. She did really well. She was 24lbs 4oz (50th percentile), 34 inches (95th percentile), and her head was 19 inches (90th percentile). Her weight actually dropped a tiny bit from her 15 month appointment but we figure it's her desire to run everywhere, her sudden lack of interest in food, or genetics. Or maybe all three. Anyway, the doc was not concerned about the weight thing since she was still growing just fine and was very impressed by all the hair she has. Obviously this is just in relation to Hannah's hair (or lack thereof) at this age but it was still funny. Hailey says about 40 words now and a few two word combos. She passed all the other questions without concern and the doctor deemed her a smart, healthy, and cute little girl. I concur! :)

Besides the two crying kids from shots at the end (Hannah got the flu shot too), it was a great appointment!

Wordless Wednesday

Suggested captions?

Hello Teeth!

Hailey has been having sleeping issues on and off for a few weeks now and I've been blaming it on other things: change in weather, being out of town, toddlerhood, etc. Turns out, I should have been blaming it on more teeth. It's about time - she only has 6 and hasn't had a new tooth in 7 months - but I was still a little surprised to see those two new teeth. She got one probably about 2 weeks and one within the last few days. You would think since she currently has the top 4 front teeth and the bottom 2 front teeth that she would be due for the other 2 front teeth on the bottom, but no - the ones coming in are her one year molars on the top. Go figure. She is pretty late in teething (as Hannah was too) but I have always read that babies who get hair late also get teeth late. I think we're living proof of that. I have also heard that late teeth signify stronger and straighter teeth. I'm not sure about that one, but I never had braces, so fingers crossed!

Either way, I'm still loving that 6 tooth grin right now, but I know she'll be just as cute with a mouth full of teeth very soon!

Baby Versus Box

The box starts out strong...

But it's baby for the win! :)

Fall Is In The Air

Last week, fall kicked off for us with a field trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch with Hannah's preschool. It was still unseasonably warm that day but that didn't stop the mood of fall. The girls liked the pumpkin patch but what they really enjoyed was picking apples. Here we are waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch:

On the hay ride:

Showing off their pumpkins:

Back at the apple orchard. Hannah kept hiding in the trees and asking me to take pictures of her:

Here is Hannah showing off her apples:

Hailey holding the one apple she picked:

And Hannah posing with Hailey while Hailey decides to try her apple:

Here is a shot a few days ago, when it was finally starting to feel like fall. It's also getting dark much earlier, as you can see since this was maybe 7:30pm or so:

Today we went on our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with the grandparents and the great grandparents. Here's Mom and Grandma walking with Hannah and Hailey. Notice the matching Halloween shirts - Hannah picked them out and they say "Scaredy" with a black cat underneath them.

Here is the whole crew:

Hailey with the grandparents, walking out of the corn maze (we only dared the "easy" version):

Mom was throwing the hay, which was making Hailey laugh while she was standing on the hay bails they put up:

Hailey saw a group of kids go by on the hayride so she stopped to wave:

Smiling for the camera:

Another cute picture:

Hannah and Hailey are queens of the hill:

Hailey was having a great time throwing some of the loose hay:

For a quarter, you could feed the goats. The kids LOVED feeding them, and I'm pretty sure we provided them with their entire lunch. Hannah feeding a goat:

Hailey feeding a goat:

I think the goat loved Hailey just as much as she loved him:

Just because I thought this was a neat effect - playing inside a plastic pumpkin:

On our hayride:

Welcome fall!!!

4 Year Pictures

Mare did Hannah's 4 year pictures for her birthday. Due to scheduling, it took me a while to find a day for Mare to take the pictures, but I did finally get around to it. She did a great job as usual and the pictures were extra cute thanks to Cash. The last one is definitely my favorite! :)

Camping!

Last weekend, we decided to go camping with some friends. Dustyn & Emily and Nick & Ashley are some good friends we made while I was in graduate school. We have all stayed in touch but unfortunately they live in opposite directions, about 8 hours apart. Fortunately, we are close to being in between their homes, so we made a plan to all meet up around here once a year. This year, we decided to go a little north to truly split the difference and even up the drive for them. We found a location online and it seemed great. When we got there, it wasn't quite what we expected. Online, it called it a campground, which would lead one to believe that there were, oh I don't know, woods somewhere nearby. Not so much. It ended up that we were in a cabin in the middle of a mobile home recreation facility, right off the highway. Not really what we were planning. However, the cabin was nice, most people were already gone for the year, and there was a bathroom, playground, and everything we needed close by. We laughed quite a bit about it but in the end, it was fine. All our kids loved running around and besides Hailey not really sleeping (probably at least partly due to the weather - it's been 90 here for months and the weekend we choose, it's low 70s with low 40s at night), we had a great time just sitting around the fire talking and enoying each other's company.

Here is our cabin from the front. The girls slept in the cabin with the younger kids while the guys slept in the tents with the older kids:

An interior shot. There were full size bunks and a full size bed plus enough room for 3 pack-n-plays:


Our view:

Our watchdog, Dylan (Dustyn & Em's dog):
Hailey enjoying the fresh air:

Nick and Lexie:

Hannah roasting a marshmellow (and avoiding smoke):

Me and Ashley with Hailey and Drew (and Rob - silly boy):

Nick, Lexie, Emily, and Dustyn around the campfire:

Emily taking lunch orders from Bradyn, Macyn, Drew, and Hannah:

On our way to the playground:

Emily pushing all the kids (minus Drew) on the merry-go-round:

Lexie and Hailey:

Lexie, Bradyn, and Hannah enjoying the tire swing with Macyn in the background getting on a regular swing:

Me, Emily, and Hannah eating by the fire:

Hannah enjoying dinner:

It was too dark at night to get any pictures of us sitting around talking but here is what we sat by:

On to a few pictures of the kids. Here are the big kids - Hannah, Drew, and Bradyn.
And the little kids - Hailey, Lexie, and Macyn:

And all the kids playing together:

Finally, a shot of our family enjoying the great outdoors:

We had a great time with our friends!