My first tooth!

Finally that tooth managed to push through! The upper two have looked ready for a month now. Even the Dr. thought any day - that was two weeks ago! A mom at preschool told me the longer they take to come through the better they are. It seems true when I think of Spence and Evan's teeth. We shall see...

How cute is this? She will pick up her cell phone and put it up to her ear and try to say "Hi" into it. She will also pick up cups and spoons from her tea set and "eat" and "drink". It is amazing what kids learn by watching.

"I am a prince and I must find a princess who is true and kind. Through hill and dale I'll search the land, until I take my true love's hand."

About 50 times a day, we hear that song. She LOVES to ride on this car. I am stunned by how well she can do it. She pushes herself backward and forward. The boys could only go backward at her age. The car has three buttons on it that play princess songs. The "prince" one must be her favorite because she pushes that button the most. Very cute.

I just loved these pictures of her. I know the lighting is atrocious. Always it seems. And she is not in her jammies all the time....on these snowy days it just seems more comfy. I wish I could hang in my jammies all day.

Fashion dichotomy

I was trying to take some pictures of Hailey in her birthday tu-tu and her pink camo sweatshirt. I thought it was a good worlds colliding look. She did not want to cooperate one bit. She is much too mobile now. I will need a helper. (Trent is shuddering in his shoes somewhere after typing that.)

I am frustrated by my camera skills. I am frustrated that we built a house that is filled with the worst light imaginable. What were we thinking? Let the sun shine in! It is not like we are windowless - just facing the wrong way most of the time. I need it to warm up so I can get the kids and camera back outside. Although I did take some snow photos that actually turned out awesome.

I am one now and I am not going to take this anymore!

Standing and Jumping and Climbing! Oh My!

This is Hailey's latest accomplishment. I walked in to her room a couple mornings ago and she was standing at her crib - beaming for her new found skill. I beamed as well because they just look so darn cute standing there. I seem to recall with the boys that the crib standing went along with some temporary sleep issues (i.e. more night wakings, lack of or shorter naps). I need to remember the word temporary because when we went through it before we were beyond frustrated.

She is a maniac jumping machine in her doorway jumper. It is hilarious to watch and also a little frightening. I am sure she is going to bang the heck out of her head on the door frame. She makes herself swing in that thing! She also jumps in the Exersaucer. Evan gets mad at her because he can't hear the TV over the racket it makes while she jumps.

She is stair climbing. The gates went up today. Spencer has mastered the climb over. Evan is not sure how he will ever get upstairs again. Today while I was in the kitchen Spencer informed me she was on the 4th stair. Bad Mom! She will also climb up the hearth and just sit there in front of the fireplace. She climbs up onto everything - cruising all over!

Look what I can do!

Dear Hailey,

You turned one year old yesterday.

It is unfathomable to me that one year has gone by already. I remember the day you were born like it was last week. It was just an ordinary January day. Not snowing but cold, the sun would peek out here and there so it was kind of bright out. I thought I was in labor but not sure because it did not seem so bad. And then I WAS sure because the pain WAS bad - and then you were in our lives crying your little lungs out. It was seriously that fast. Then that ordinary January day became one of the best in my life.

I never realized how much it would mean to me to have a daughter. A little girl to share all the mother/daughter stuff with. I love your brothers with all my heart but inevitably, they will soon head toward all things male. I thought I was destined to sit on the sidelines and watch them do their boy things - and then you came along. A little girl for me to dress up and bake cookies with. I look forward to doing "girlie" things with you, but I can wait. I want you to stay little as long as possible.

Your brothers are excited about your birthday. They love you so much. Yesterday we went to order the cake for your party this weekend and Evan told me as we were walking in the bakery I want Hay Bay to have a beautiful cake. Spencer loves to carry you around now. You can see in his face how much he loves you and the pride he feels about being able to help you. They have been making tunnels from couch cushions for you to crawl through and making cushion castles and pretending that you are the princess they have to rescue. You don't always like being trapped between couch cushions, but you LOVE playing with your brothers and being included in their games. I love to watch you all play together. They are so protective of you and will always tell me when you are headed for danger or they will tell you NO when you are putting something in your mouth - which is all the time.

You are starting to pull yourself up on the furniture and on us. You are so proud of yourself when you are cruising on the couch. You are starting to crawl in the traditional sense but still prefer your faster army crawl. You still have no teeth - I swear I can see some coming but they just won't pop through. You loved your birthday cupcake and will eat almost any "real" food that we give you. I am curious for your Dr. appointment tommorrow to see how big you are. You still look so tiny to me. We made it a year with nursing but I sense the end is near. You only nurse twice in the morning now and only for a few minutes each time. It almost seems more habit than necessity. I am proud of us for making it this long - the longest nurser and the third baby. And they said it couldn't be done...we showed them baby girl!

One year...I know the early baby days with you were sometimes tough but now I can't even remember the hard parts. Our brains are amazing how they do that - file the bad stuff way in the back so that only the good stands out. That way when we look back, we always remember the glass as half full. In my memories, the glass is not half full. In my memories, my cup runneth over. You are amazing and beautiful and I couldn't love you more!

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!

Love, Mommy

Perspective

I read this on another blog today and thought it was worth posting.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. Appreciate every single thing you have, and those who are most important to you!

2008

Four days into the new year. I know it is totally cliche' but the years do fly by the older I get. We spent New Years Eve bowling with my cousins and their kids. It is hilarious to watch little kids bowl. Evan went for it with gusto but was pretty disappointed that he didn't excel at real bowling as he does on the Wii bowling. I suffer the same fate. After bowling for two hours and 7 minutes for $20.07 - clever - we came home and made cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. Daddy and Spence lit off some fireworks and we hunkered down to watch Shrek. The kids fell asleep before midnight and I would have as well except Trent and I started working on the puzzle. Of course our clock was a minute off so when I kept checking it, I was seeing the wrong time and we missed the ball dropping - the hundred year anniversary of the ball. Bummed.

So here we are in 2008. I seem to have the same resolutions that I have every year but this time more of an action plan.

I resolve to lose 15 pounds. By exercising more. By eating out less. By eating better foods - less processed foods. By drinking more water and weaning from Diet Soda.

I resolve to save and invest more money. By cooking at home. By following a meal plan. By thinking do I really need this before I buy.

I resolve to live in the moment more with my kids. By letting the house go and playing with them when they want to play. By not worrying so much about messes and getting dirty.

I resolve to take more time for my hobbies. By watching less TV. By spending less time aimlessly on the computer - except for my blog of course. One hobby goal would be to get up to at least 2006 in all scrapbooks by 2009 - hopefully further.

I resolve to try to keep the household organized. Our house just seems to run so much smoother and it reduces the family stress so much.

I know there are a million more little things but I am at a loss right now. I hear Hailey waking from her nap so I need to go spend some time with the little gal. Most of all my wish for this new year is that everyone I love and care about finds happiness and stays healthy!