Do you think they're related?

Can you guess which girl is which? I swear they could be twins.

A:


B:





A= Hailey at 3 weeks old

B= Whitney at 6 days old

She's Here

Whitney Noelle Major

Born at home in a beautiful water birth
October 13, 2009
8:42 PM
8 lbs. 10 oz.
22 inches long

Hailey Likes Sesame Street...Really Much

The video is grainy since I didn't have any lights on and it was taken with my point-and-shoot camera. But you'll get the idea of the conversation Hailey and I have every single morning and after ever nap and after dinner, and so on and so on.

Art Thief

This post is dedicated to our good friends, Sarah and Adam Gilmore...who have a chalkboard painted wall in their home.

Justin has been working on sheetrocking our master bed room recently. During a break he was unloading the dishwasher. For some reason he left his tool belt on. I was in the bathroom doing my hair, when all of a sudden I hear the pitter patter of little feet followed by a mischievous little laugh.


Turns out a little thief stole a carpenters pencil and a regular #2 pencil out of her daddy's tool belt with out him even noticing.

Check out our little Picasso's work:



All I can say is thank goodness it wasn't a sharpie.

Hailey Tinkled in the potty...TWICE!!!

I'm sure you all wanted to know that, huh? But part of the reason for this blog is because I'm too lazy to scrapbook milestones, posting is much easier.

And it's not like she really meant to. I staged it a bit. Before we got in the shower this morning I put her on her Elmo potty seat and she went...without starting on the floor first like she has been doing. And then after we got out of the shower I have started drying her off and setting her right on the pot until I'm ready to put her diaper on...and she did it again!

I'm a proud mama. Although I know this is no way the beginning of actual potty training, it sure is a step in the right direction.

Arizona or Alaska?

I don't know where I live anymore.

The top temperature is inside our house and the bottom temp is outside.

July 6th, 2009

Do you see that? Does it really say 97 DEGREES!!!

July 5th, 2009

This is the result of a gorgeous day mixed with fires burning all over the state and the haze drifting into town and not letting the heat escape. Check out the news article from the
Anchorage Daily News here.

Here's the results (in case you didn't know already)

Wow...time flew and I got very behind in posting. Sorry about that. So much has happened too.

Eleven people took our poll and twice as many people thought we'd have another girl. Y'all must be psychic. We found out at the end of May that we indeed are adding another girl to our family. Don't get me wrong. There is not a lack of enthusiasm accompanying this declaration. It just seems that we've already told practically everyone. So, here's to you Loki, serving your time in the Peace Corp in Azerbajain, quite possibly the one person we haven't been able to tell:

IT'S A GIRL!!!

I look at my little girl now, growing up sooo fast right before my eyes and picture her playing dress up with her baby sister. Hailey is in a huge baby phase right now, which is so perfect for this new little one to come into. She hugs all her dolls. Points out every kid, baby or not, that we pass on the street and says "baby". She gives kisses to the picture of babies on the wipes package and anything Gerber. And best of all is watching her interact with the real little babies of our friends. She is very gentle (for the most part, as much as an 18 month old can be) and loves to give loves, kisses, and tickle feet. It's reassuring that she somehow knows to dote on them, but not to "play" with them. I've heard that is sometimes the biggest struggle introducing a new baby into the family is that the older sibling wants to play with the baby and has a hard time understanding the baby cannot play yet.

I didn't expect all that to come streaming out of my finger tips. I guess I had more on my mind than I realized. I have so much more to share, but really am feeling the need to go one at a time (and really, I just want to go eat my lunch now). So thanks for reading the ramble and ta ta for now.

Finding Out Soon!

So not this weekend, but next we go in for another ultrasoud. This will be our third viewing of our new little squirt. We're hoping (cross your fingers) that this could be the big showing and we'll find out what we're having. As well as seeing that everything is going ok, of course. I can't wait because we'll be having our viewing with the nicest woman ever. Gretchen has been doing ultrasounds for 30 years and knows her stuff. She talks to the baby like it's the only one she's ever seen. We know she loves what she does and knows what she's doing.

SO...hurry up and take the gender poll to the right of the postings.
I honestly have no incling to what the baby is. I swore up and down that Hailey was a boy, but this time...nothing. Let us know what you think!

From Monkey to Rodeo Star

My darling daughter has graduated from being a little monkey to being a full fledged, buckle-winning rodeo star. Ty Murray would be proud of her. Her daddy sure was. He begged that I skip the last month of neglected posts to get this video clip on right away.

She rocked her horsey like this for at least 5 minutes. I wish I had half of her energy. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm almost half way through this pregnancy and that is a valid excuse to be dragging a bit.

Keep in mind, even though she has mastered a new profession, she has not given up her one true passion of monkey madness. Her latest monkey adventure is that she learned how to jump on the couch and the bed. And by jump, I mean kick her legs out from under herself in order to fall down. I really don't want to encourage that behavior, but it is just so darn cute that I have a hard time stopping her. I haven't had the camera handy to catch that one yet--but that might encourage her even more, so maybe that is a good thing. "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" must have been the easiest nursery rhyme to create; it couldn't be more obvious.

My First Attempt at iMovie

When we went to Oregon back in June 2008, my cousin took the time to teach me the basics of iMovie. I honestly never got around to messing with it. Finally, with a little extra time on my hands with a broken foot, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Our video camcorder uses mini DVDs -which are not compatible with our Mac at the moment. (I'm sure there is some special cord that I could plug in to transfer the movies, but I'd have to watch them all while it would be downloading and I just don't have time for that right now.) So I thought that for my first attempt I'd make a show out of stills. It is definitely not Hollywood quality, but I was pretty proud of myself. The subtitles show up smaller than I was hoping for, so you may have to squint or get your glasses. Pay attention for the special twist at the end of the production.

Without further ado, here is "Hailey's New Accomplishment"....

Other big accomplishments this little monkey child had made in the past two weeks are

• climbing into the recliner chair...and from there up onto the end table
• climbing onto her Leap Frog activity table
• climbing into her high chair...when it is on the highest level
• deciding it's more fun to stand on her giddy-up horsey than to sit on it and bounce
• she finally stacked her colored pyramid rings in the right order all by herself'
• and she found $0.30 on the ground with dad. She's rich!
  

Rest In Peace William Leon Major

William Leon Major
July 18, 1922 - February 9, 2009

For a full look at this amazing life, please go to
http://web.mac.com/vicdenisewallace/William/William_Leon_Major.html
The site has been recently updated wtih new pictures and a farewell page.

I'm so glad that Hailey got to meet her great grandpa. Although it had been a year, almost to the day since we were able to visit, having these pictures of her with him are priceless.

A shadow box of Grandpa's WWII War medals

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated 60 years this past summer

Grandma Martha Major with two of her grandsons, Justin and his older brother Jamie,
and Grandpa watching from above.

I am also thankful that my mom lives so close as she took in me and Hailey (since my foot is broken and I needed help with her) so that Justin could drive to Fairbanks as soon as we got word of Grandpa's failing health. Justin was able to make it to see his grandpa before he passed away. Knowing he was able to get there in time brings such a comfort to me.

Valdez Gets a Baby Store!

One of my dearest friends opened up a baby store in Valdez! Little Ones of Alaska opened on February 3rd and has been hugely popular ever since.

Brandy's eye for fabulous merchandise is to be praised. The organic cotton and bamboo clothes are adorable. The lead free toys are a hit. And stuff for mommy too, everything Valdez was missing.

True to the name, here are Brandy's little ones; hers and her friends from all over Alaska...of course the majority are from Valdez. Such a special touch.

Thank you Brandy for taking on such a huge task to bring wonderful things to the
families of Valdez.

25 Years is a Good Run...

...but it had to come to an end eventually.

Yep, it's broken. First one ever.

I so wish that I had a cool story to explain this, but I really don't. I had just put Hailey to bed the evening after my last full day of work. Walking into the garage, I went down our three steps and when I hit the door mat at the bottom, I caught the edge of it. I rolled my foot too far and "pop" goes the bone. Amazingly it really didn't hurt at all unless I put any sort of pressure on it. As my darling daughter had just gone to bed, and there was no serious pain, I figured we could wait until morning to go to the doctor.

That was an experience all in itself. I showed up as hobble-in at 10:30am. At 12:30pm they informed me that the doctors were on rounds (i.e. lunch) and that no one would see me until 2pm. So we left to grab a bite to eat as neither of us had eaten all day. Hailey luckily was waiting all this out at my mom's house. So with one shoe one, and one froggy sock, Justin carried me piggy back into the Totem Inn for a quick burger before getting back to the doc's office. All this drama for them to say, "Yup, looks bad, you need an x-ray". No stuff sherlock. Finally by 4pm, my xrays were complete and my doctor who admitted that he really didn't know much about orthopedics (comforting, huh?) gave me the boot. Literally. And a pair of crutches. He said 4-6 weeks, come back and check it out again. I'm scared that when I go back they'll say that it didn't heal right, so I'm really contemplating going to Anchorage to get a reassurance opinion. As long as the volcano doesn't blow anyways. (For more on that, check out www.ktuu.com)

Needless to say, this whole last day of work, slowing down thing didn't quite go as planned.
Ended work, broke my foot, threw a baby shower, hosted a mini superbowl party, started weaning my daughter (going great by the way), crutching around, and tomorrow is the grand opening of my great friend's new baby boutique, of which I am supposed to be helping if I would quit hurting myself. Happy new year to me.

Monkey Business, Part II

Yes it is true, the monkey business continues. Hailey got an adorable, functional, and thank goodness, sturdy bookshelf for Christmas. She put it to good use. (I'm having trouble uploading photos right now. I'll try to get them up soon. The point was that she figured out how to climb up the bookshelf within minutes of unwrapping it. I have video proof too.)

But that is not all. With the New Year came some great new accomplishments for Hailey.
1. She started walking. Ok, well she started walking right after Christmas. The 29th to be exact. But it is continually being perfected and is a milestone worth noting.

Yesterday was a BIG day for my little one. To continue the list, because:

2. She got her first hair trim. Those shaggy bangs were always in her eyes. AND

3. The monkey crawled OUT OF HER CRIB. I put her to bed, but apparently she was not ready. She was crying from the moment I left the room. All of a sudden, the crying sounded much closer to the door. Sure enough, she made it out. I dont know if she crawled onto the rocking chair by her bed; if she swung her leg over and shimmied down; or if she wend head-over- tea kettle. I thought this was something that we had to prepare for closer to 18 months. Should of known better with the monkey genes that run through her blood. Needless to say, our project tonight is to lower her bed down to the last notch. Yay (with sarcasm).