Six Wonderous Months

During her first week

Lucky Shot by Shannon

At 5 1/2 Months

Photo by Kelly Tofslie Photography

Has 6 months really flown by since we welcomed our second baby girl into this world? I still look at her every day and can't believe she's mine...that I have been blessed with two children...that I'm a mom. (You'd think that last one would have sunk in by now.)

Whitney Noelle has a twinkle in her eye that I don't see in other eyes. It lights up my day and eludes the camera. Some qualities just weren't meant to be photographed. I'm still going to let Kelly and Kristen try though.

Whitney smiles so big that all you can see is gums and cheeks. Her cheeks stick out farther than her face. All 6 dimples appear. She giggles at the drop of a dime. She belly laughs when you tickle her feet, her back, her knees or blow raspberries on her tummy.

Whitney lights up when her big sister comes near. The girls get along so incredibly well. I can only hope it stays that way forever.

Whitney can roll around when she chooses to. She is pushing up on her knees and rocking, scooting backwards and around in a circle. It wont be long before she is cruising forwards.

We love you so much baby girl and are so glad you are a part of our lives.

Don't Punish Me...

...I'm still here. Blogging unfortunately has not been at the top of my priority list. I've been doing most of my computing from the comfy confines of my nursing perch and on my iphone. I can't even promise that I'll catch up on the last three months worth of fun. But here are a couple of fun sneak peaks at what went on:

Hailey carving pumpkins with Grandma


Whitney enjoying her Halloween costume (even though we never made it outside)


Hailey's birthday balloon


My goofy girls

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).

Monkey Business

One of Justin's parents favorite stories to tell about his childhood is about the time they came into the kitchen to find a toddler-sized Justin (maybe about 3 or 4) up on top of the refrigerator. Justin also tells stories of how he climbed light poles in high school. Now he runs the ladder as a firefighter. I was warned often to look out when we got around to having children.

Turns out, the monkey gene runs in the family.
We are in sooo much trouble.

Yup, this last one was not staged at all. I looked over and she had conveniently pulled the drawers out like stairs and proceeded to climb up them. And like any good mother, I took a few pictures before I took her down.

At one year old, we are definitely in for a long journey of monkey business to come.

Hailey Turns One

The day has finally come. Our little girl is one year old. So many changes come with being one. The car seat turns around to face forward. Babycenter updates quit sending "your baby this week" and start sending "your toddler this week". Hailey started standing on her own. She got a little attitude. She started growing her one-year molars. And of course, she had a rockin' party.

Hailey did a wonderful job posing for the camera. She did at one point get side tracked with all the lovely presents under the tree..all of which were for her birthday.

As guests were starting to arrive, Hailey decided to put on a show. She goes through this short period of shyness when new people enter the scene. For this shy bout she spread out on the floor and put on a little show for us.

Too much, too much. I need a break. If I put my head down then I can't see them and they can't see me.

This is the glorious scene of the party in full swing. We had 35 people in our living area. It was a comfy, cozy, loud and crazy good time. It was an amazing privilege to have so many friends and family in our home to help us celebrate our daughter's birthday. It really meant a lot to me that so many people have become attached to our family. It warms my heart that our little one is so loved. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hailey is not the baby anymore. She has a new found fascination with babies. Here she is loving on baby Charlie.

Party Time!!!

Hailey was so confused with the singing of the birthday song. It looked like she couldn't figure out why everyone was looking at her. Then she wanted to join in,
so she started clapping along with everyone.

Hmmm....

Maybe just a sample...

Starting to dig in...

The sweetness made her thirsty. But her hands were so covered in frosting that she couldn't hold on to her cup. Mama had to help. It was comical watching her try to pick up her cup.

Now she finally reached the cake part!

That's my girl! Her initials don't spell HAM for nothing. Every time I look at this picture it reminds me of the Christmas Story when the little boy is snorting and eating right off his plate.

Present time, YAY!

Hailey's friend Ashley (7 weeks older) is an experienced present-opener and was willing to show Hailey how it was done. She happened to sit on a bow just the right way. This was not a planted bow, it came to rest where it is naturally.

This was the hit of the party. Everyone stopped what they were doing to pay attention to Elmo. A huge thanks to the wonderful women I work with for the coolest toy ever.

We were all enchanted by Elmo

Kailyn snuggling with her mama

Chad and Hailey taking turns on the Tiger

Once more...thank you to all our friends and family for helping celebrate Hailey's 1st birthday and making it a truely memorable day. We feel so blessed to have all of you in our lives.