Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you to all our family and friends and strangers that have dedicated their lives to the service of our great nation. You are truely appreciated.Take on the Alyeska Pipeline Marine Terminal

Are they Related?

I was looking through all of our photos putting together Hailey's First Year picture frame. I noticed something strikingly similar between Hailey at 7 months and her cousin Lacy in Oregon at 22 months. Can you see the resemblance?

Who needs toys when you have a basket?

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!!!