Haley's First Year Book

I finished up Haley's baby book/first year book just before her birthday. Below is a link to look at it all digitally. I just love how it turned out and will enjoy it for many years. One day I will give it to her to keep.

A lot of time and effort went into this book but I truly enjoyed making it. It's just a hobby to me and I love to organize memories and photos and find the perfect elements and paper to go with them. I made some of the layouts from my scrapbook supplies and many of them I just used the stock layouts that Shutterfly offers in their book making program. They have some very nice ones.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Haley Turns One!

We celebrated our Haley Rose turning ONE on August 9th. We had a little Pink Lemonade party at my parent's house. My Mom and I took to calling Haley our little sunshine girl when she started really smiling around 4 months old. When I started to think about her first birthday the thought of summer, sunshine and lemonade just popped into my head. I didn't see a party or anything in that theme before I thought about it. Then I jumped on Pinterest and my head about exploded....lots of people had already thought of that theme! LOL

So I got lots of ideas from Pinterest and commissioned my Mom to warm up her Cricut and make all the party decorations. We had fun with it but we mainly wanted it to be a special day celebrating our little miss priss with friends and family. It was just that and we had a great day and Haley was in a perfect mood for her party. Without further ado, here are the pictures from her big day!

My Mom made the best strawberry lemonade! It was more like punch, it was so sweet. We drank all of it!

 

I got this idea from Pinterest and my Dad helped and cut the wood and assembled it. I painted it. I also used in some of Haley's recent professional portraits.

Favors were lemonade mixes and bubbles for the kids.

 More of the decorations on the tables. My Mom did all of them! So cute!
 

I bought this old 6-pane window and knew I wanted to incorporate Haley's monthly pictures in it. My Mom took my pictures and window and turned it into this awesomeness!

Haley's adorable and delicious smash cake! It did not have the crack in it when the lady delivered it. I think somebody's little finger got into it (cough, cough Jonah). LOL

Here is out little sunshine girl right after she woke from her afternoon nap. She didn't know what to think about all these people here at her Nana's house.

We tried to get a family picture real quick before we did the cake but Jonah was not in the "mood" to be in a picture. Oh well at least we got one with the birthday girl.

Haley loved it when we sang her Happy Birthday!

Miss Priss didn't do much damage to her cake. She didn't know what to think of it....oh but she will one day. So brother helped her out.

Haley got lots of fun goodies to play with this whole next year and some cute clothes too. This a rocking chair that my in-laws gave her. It's a vintage one that will be worth a lot of money one day. But we intend to keep it for Haley to do what she wants with it one day. 

Our sweet baby is growing up on us already even though we've told her many times to just stay little. We love Haley so much and can't wait to watch how she grows and learns!!

Haley is 12 Months Old!

Our sweet baby girl is 1 whole year old! Gosh! I don't know where this last year has gone but boy has it been a fun adventure! We are preparing to celebrate our sweetie pie this weekend with a Pink Lemonade theme birthday party. She is our little Miss Sunshine!

Milestones this past month:

-Scooting on her bottom everywhere! She is into it all!
-Drinking and holding her sippy cup
-Sleeping ALL night long!
-Talking and jabbering away
-Has 6 teeth and cutting a couple more right now

Sleeping:

As I mentioned above, Haley has finally started to consistently sleep all night long. (I hope I didn't just jinx it) She goes down around 8:30 and wakes anywhere from 6-7 each morning. She still takes 2 solid naps a day of 1-2 hours each. She can go longer and longer now between naps so that is good. Now we can actually go more places in between naps. We could not have asked for a better sleeper than our Hay Hay! Just proof that God hears all prayers (because oh yes I did pray for a better sleeper) and He answers them.




Eating:

Still doing baby food and puff snacks and drinking water with food. She still takes 7 ounces every 4-5 hours. She eats lunch and dinner baby food but still doesn't eat a whole lot of quantity. She just doesn't seem to want a lot of food like some babies. She is health and growing so we can't complain. I know we will get to the bigger pieces of food in time but I am not going to rush it and go off of her. She is paying more attention when we eat so I know she will get there soon.




Playing:

INTO EVERYTHING! We have officially baby-proofed the main floor (the basement is still iffy but we don't go down there much) We have to close doors and put up gates now. She is so fast with scooting and she picks up every tiny piece of anything she sees on the floor. So sweeping and vacuuming feels like all I do. She loves her toys though and has started to love touch and feel books too. They keep her entertained a lot when I need to sit and hold her (like at church) and keeps her quiet. She still chews on pretty much anything she gets her hands on. I will be glad when that phase is over! She loves for us to pretend chase her and she takes off scooting. She loves to swing outside in the baby swing and loves to be pushed around in her stroller.




We are thankful to the good Lord that she has remained healthy during her whole first year and that she is growing so beautifully. I am very biased but I think she is just the prettiest baby girl! People tell us that she is so pretty all the time but we know she is just fearfully and wonderfully made. I am so nostalgic here lately with Jonah just turning 4 and now Haley is 1. I just wish that time could stand still but it cannot. We just pray we are teaching them both how to grow in the Lord and in wisdom and knowledge that they can use throughout their lives.

Weekend Fun

We haven't done anything very productive or out of the ordinary. We have just hung out and played and soaked up just being together and not having to run here and there and everywhere. Also, this is the tax free weekend for Tennessee so since we don't need anything from the stores or town, we decided to lay low. I am sure the stores have been crazy!

Here is most of our Saturday in pictures. I took advantage of the cool temps and snapped some pictures of the kids just enjoying the day.

"Mama take my picture."

"Take a picture of Windlifter's face."

My world!

Chewing, chewing, chewing!

Jonah loves his bike a.k.a. his motorcycle. 

Love that lop-sided grin!

Them feet are into what ever she is doing. Haha!

If it has a tag...she will find it.

Some of the decent looking roses on my rose bush. 

Mid holler

These are the days!!!

Haley is 3 Months Old!

Our precious angel-baby is already 3 months into this world! Michael has taken to calling her "angel-baby" because she is just that! Our sweet, sweet angel. He has always called Jonah his "baby-man" so it's only fitting she gets her own name too. :)

Haley has changed so much from last month to this one. I think she has finally "aligned with the universe" to steal the words of our pediatrician. Here is her monthly pic and updates.

Sleep:

Haley is now sleeping through the night!!! But I feel I should disclaimer that she is sleeping in he swing. It's a cradle type swing so she is laid back but still inclined. She can't fall over or out though. But she has been sleeping consistently from 9:00 - 9:30 p.m. to 5:00-6:00 a.m. So we will take it for now. Michael is all concerned about the swing but I am not. I know she will eventually give up that swing as she gets bigger and can roll over. I am in no rush!! I know the second time around that nothing lasts forever and they will only be this little once. We will cross getting her out of the swing when the time comes. :) She is also taking about 4 naps a day. Usually two long ones (2 hours) and a couple of shorter ones such as her late evening one.

Eating:

Haley is up to 5 ounce bottles for the most part. She has her days where it takes her an hour to take the whole bottle and some days she only takes 4 at most feedings and then will take her 5 ounce bottle before bed. She can still be a stinker sometimes to get her to finish up bottles after her first burping. She just loses interest or gets distracted, I guess.


Playing:

Haley is busy girl when she is awake. She is still so content though and just happy to be wherever she ends up being laid or sat. She has been doing lots of kicking and cooing and trying to talk. She loves for someone to talk to her and just grins. It's the sweetest thing!! She has found both of her hands and loves to give them some good licks and munch on them. She follows us around the room with her eyes and turns to look when she hears familiar voices such as her brother's voice. Haley loves the TV too. We can sit her where she can see it and she will just lay there and stare for up to 20 minutes. She must love the colors and movement because I know she can't really see it yet.

Personality:

Haley is just such a content baby for the most part. She lets us know when she is tired and seems to choose sleep over food most of the time. She is addicted to the swing like I mentioned above and if nothing else will calm her then the swing will. She is a very smiley girl and has the cutest little grunts and noises that she makes. She loves to be on our shoulder so she can look around. I think she is going to be my baby that gets into stuff once she can move around.


I have just been soaking up every bit of Haley's baby-ness! I had really forgotten how much I missed having a little armful of baby to carry around. Oh and they smell so good!!

Haley - 1 Month Old!

I cannot believe that one whole month has come and gone for our sweet, precious Haley! She is just the sweetest and best baby ever!! I am biased of course. LOL Here is what she has been up to so far in her first month of life.

Weight: Not totally sure but I would guess she is past the 8 lb mark
Height: Probably still close to 20 inches long

Sleep:

Haley is so much better of a sleeper than Jonah ever thought about being and that has been a God-send! She goes 3 to 3.5 hours between bottles and takes about an hour to 2 hour nap between feedings. She still gets up twice in the night to eat. Once usually around midnight to 1:00 a.m. and then again around 4:30 to 5:00 in the morning. She sleeps very soundly in the night (or maybe we just pass out so deeply we don't hear her LOL). She doesn't just wake up and scream for the bottle either. She just kind of starts stirring and then we know it's time for her to eat because she never goes back to sleep once she starts stirring. I usually feed the midnight one and then Michael does the early morning one so I can rest more. It takes her a good 20 minutes to finish a bottle and then burp and sometimes she has gas so the whole process is almost an hour worth in the night. It's great to have Michael's help at night and especially as I transition back to working.

Haley is a noisy sleeper though. She grunts and wallows around in the bed for a while but she does go to sleep on her own. I don't remember Jonah being so noisy or going to sleep without our help. She does like the pacifier from time to time to get her calmed down enough for sleep. She takes it in spurts though. All in all, we are so grateful for her being a good sleeper this time around...we are older than we were with Jonah, ya know! LOL

Haley is also a great napper and she can sleep through anything. We don't make Jonah be super quiet when she is asleep and he plays with is toys (many that make noises) and it never phases her. She even slept through the lawn mower while we were outside the other day. Michael was mowing with Jonah on there with him and so we were outside and it was loud. I had her ears covered with a blanket but still. I don't know how she did that!

Eating:

Haley takes 3.5 ounces at each bottle already and I am sure we will be up to 4 ounces soon. We haven't had any issues with her formula and she does not seem to have any major gas issues other than the normal stuff. She does not spit up regularly either, which I attribute a lot of that to having her adjusted twice already by our family chiropractor. Once at the hospital the night she was born and then last week he adjusted her again.

Personality:

Haley is just the most content baby! We can just lay her down anywhere and she is just happy to be there and will fall asleep just about anywhere too. The only time she fusses is if she is having a gas pain and then once it's passed you can lay her back wherever she was and she is fine. She just seems to be an easy-going baby for the most part and we have gotten lots of little smiles (probably gas but we'll take it) and coos already.

Milestones:

Lots of firsts of course.

-First bath
-First trip to church, Roro's, Nana's, Hobby Lobby, grocery store and Dr. office
-First time sleeping in crib
-First smiles and coos
-Loosing her cord stump

Loves:

Haley loves her swing and bouncy seat. She loves her bottle and pacifier. She also loves white noise like fans and the dishwasher running. She loves her bath and has never fussed once when she is getting bathed. I think she also loves her Mommy, Daddy and big brother too.

Hates:

She hates being dressed and having her arms handled too much. She hates the car seat sometimes too. I think she hates it because her little head has to be squished in the newborn support and then we have to handle her arms a bit to get her latched in and she doesn't like that. Once she is comfy she will go right to sleep in the car though.


1 Month Pictures!!

We just love how Haley has rounded out our little family and can't wait for all the fun that she will continue to bring to our lives. I am hoping to post some more before I have to go back to work full time. I want to write about how Jonah has taken to being a big brother and some other happenings around our home. Stay tuned!