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.

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.

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.

It's That Time.....

Hailey Austin is turning 1 year old!
on December 10th

Here it is....

...the picture that comes along that makes me realize my little girl is growing up.

It brings a happy little tear to my eye that she's not a helpless little baby anymore. They all say that they grow up too fast. And here we are counting down to Hailey's first birthday...
...less than a month away.

I feel so blessed that I was able to spend all that time with her; that my work allowed me to bring her along so I never missed a moment.

What a Summer

The end of this summer has been crazy. Well, what little of summer we had. Definately the rainiest, coldest, lack of sunshiniest summer ever. (You like that last word?) But such a summer of milestones. Previously I may have mentioned that Hailey began crawling at 6 1/2 months while we were visiting family in Oregon. Within 3 weeks she started pulling herself up on furniture. By 8 months she was full on cruising around holding onto stuff. She is days away from standing on her own and will be walking in no time.

REEEAACH!

August was such a busy month. We went to Justin's good friends' (and now mine too) wedding in Wasilla the weekend before my birthday. It was to be a great time; we had been looking forward to it for months. Well, needless to say, the day of the wedding Hailey came down with a fever. She was totally ill, not wanting to mingle, and would not let me get near the dancefloor of the live band. I was soooo bummed out. So we sat in our room right off the lawn of the outdoor wedding, listening to all the fun everyone was having, patiently waiting until 3 in the morning when Dad came in for the night. The party was a blast from what I heard, but I couldn't help being disappointed that I couldn't join in the festivities. Ah, the responsibilities of parenthood.

The groom John, Hailey, and groomsman Justin

Hailey's illness lasted the whole following week. By my birthday she was starting to feel better, and we had a lovely get together with some of our closer friends. Unfortunately by the next week, the worst of it got to my poor baby. She came down with her first ear infection. I was dreading this since I was so prone to them as a child. She was absolutely miserable. Thankfully she never fought with me to take her antibiotics and she pulled through like a trooper.

September rolled around and not 10 days after she finished her medicine, we had just got to Anchorage for Justin's follow-up appointment and low and behold, she screamed through the night our first night into town. So as Justin did his bloodwork and scans, we went up to the pediatricians office, and sure enough, ear infection #2. They gave her some stonger meds and she seems to be doing good now. Justin's appointment went great. The docs are pleased with his results and so far he is completely in the clear - thank God!

During this time, our darling daughter has continued to amaze us in her developmental progression. Within 3 weeks time, she has learned to wave hi and bye-bye on cue, clap her hands, click her tongue, sign "more", and dunk her face in the water when we go swimming.

Well, that should get us through for the time being. There is a couple of other fun events that probably deserve their own posts, so I'll save them for later. I'll try and do better at keeping up, there just hasn't been a whole lot of down time. So stay tuned.

The best bed head ever!

"Sitting Up" Practice

Hailey has been slow at getting the hang of sitting up. We found this one thing that really helps keep her focused and steady...Sesame Street. She still can't get herself into the sitting position, but hey, it's a start!

So intent on the show

"What? Quit bothering me, Mom, I'm trying to watch my show."

It's Not for the Lack of Quality Info...

Oh how the time has slipped away from me. Over a month as gone by since my last update and plenty has happened in that time. In an effort to maintain my sanity, I will oblige with a few of my favorite pictures followed by links to my cousin's blog. She somehow found the time to make many quality posts on our trip to Oregon to visit. Thank you Kelly for letting me cheat and copy your hard work!

Hailey visiting Mama's old stomping grounds: Beverly Beach. She LOVED it there. Her little kickers digging in the sand, splashing in the frigid water, having an all out blast on a perfect day!

Our fabulous family photo taken at the lighthouse right outside of Newport

This one is sentimental to me. Hailey snuggled into sofa bed with Bapa just like I used to do when I was little.
The way he is holding her little hand makes me cry every time.

Hailey and Mimi: all smiles at their first meeting. And my family knows how hard it is to get one of Mimi smiling!

The following points are chronicled through Kelly. Click on the links to go right to her pages!

• After our short stay in Salem we ventured on for a weekend trip to Detroit Lake.

• Our week with Mimi and Bapa ended and it was off to a week with Kelly and Eddy. We started by meeting up with Kelly and Lacy at the Portland Zoo.

• Kelly, the fantastic amature photographer grabbed some beautiful shots of baby Hailey.

• We got to take a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine.

• Kelly again with the camera grabbed some fun shots at the jelly store and the Mt. Hood lookout point (funny story with this one!)

• Kelly again does a lovely job and summarizing our down time in Hood River and Portland.

• Last but not least, the other important reason we went when we did...our 5K LiveSTRONG Challenge walk.

Check out all the photos from our vacation when you have some time on your hands at www.flickr.com/photos/justshan and one last time...THANK YOU KELLY!!!