New Friends

Haley had a weekend full of meeting new people. On Friday, she hung out in the pool with Daddy and company. Trenton had come over and Haley was trying to play with him but 1 1/2 year old boys don't like girls too much. Haley and Trenton did manage an open mouth kiss but Mom and Dad had to put a stop to that right away. Haley was in bed before dark but I think all the fireworks around woke her back up, which was fine by us. We didn't want her to miss her first 4th of July fireworks. And to our suprise, she watched them across the lake for awhile, it was a good show.

On Saturday Matt, Haley and I drove up to Ft. Worth to attend Kourtney's 1st birthday party. This was the first party Haley has been invited to and we were excited to see her play with the other kiddos, and there were a lot of them. She did really good and had lots of fun. Thanks Kourtney for inviting us! On Sunday we had a great breakfast with Kourtney and Braden, and of course their parents. The kids did great at the table, pretty good for 3 little ones at breakfast time. We headed home after breakfast and Haley slept most of the ride.

Tomorrow Haley is going to meet her other 2nd cousin, Phillip, for the first time. Phillip has been living in Belgium for the past year but has just moved back to Ohio. Great Aunt Jan is bringing down Sarah &Abby and picking up Phillip (her grandkids) at the airport then they, along with Haley and Grandma Jean, are all going to Space Center Houston for the day. Hopefully the 2 grandma's can handle three 7 year olds and a 9month old! Glad I'll be at work :)

Here are some pictuers from this weeekend.
Haley swimming on the 4th. She loves splashing in the water.

Helping Daddy read some woodworking magazines

Haley trying to figure out what Trenton is doing




Getting ready for her big party

Haley with the birthday girl, Kourtney

The proud Daddy's. Matt, Haley, Kenneth and Kourtney

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! We hope you have a fun and safe 4th.




Haley went to the dr. yesterday for her 9 month checkup. She is 18.2 lbs and is now in the 25-50% - slimming down some. She was 28 inches long but she was squirmming so don't know how accurate that was and her head is holding steady at still above average :) We blame that one on daddy!
She had to get a finger prick to test her iron levels and she didn't even flinch. I was amazed. She was trying to figure out what the shiney thing (band aid) was the nurse put over her finger and couldn't figure out if she should eat it or pull it off. She managed to get if off before the dr. came in. Much different from her dermatologist visit in that she was laughing and playing with the dr - go figure. He said her blood work is perfect and gave her a clean bill of health. He did order 2 shots and those didn't go over as well as the finger prick. Poor thing screamed and had huge tears coming down but that only lasted a minute or so.

Here is a picture of Haley climbing thru the table. She has found it is fun to climb thru small spaces. What she couldn't figure out is what to do when she gets stuck. So Mom came to the rescue and got her out of the table.

Crawling, crawling and more crawling

Haley is just a crawling away. She loves to pull herself up on everything, walk around holding on, then sit down and move on to the next. Grandma bought her one of those 2 in 1 walkers and ride on toys for her house. She isn't quite tall enough to ride on it but she was trying to push it around the house. Only problem is, Grandma has hardwood floors and it moves to fast for Haley. But Haley solved that problem. She found the cooler on wheels at Grandma's and that is much more her speed. Knowing how much she liked the toy, I bought her a lion one for our house. It works much better on the carpet and Haley is starting to master it.

On Friday I took Haley to a girl's night party at a friend's house while Daddy was out of town. She was good for the most part, minus the throwing up her Cherrios on my jeans. After we were cleaned up, I went in the kitchen to make her a bottle and looked back up at Haley - on the 3rd step of the stairs - STANDING hold on to the handrail. That kiddo got up there all by herself. I quickly pulled her down and thought good thing we don't have stairs yet. She hasn't managed to find Grandma's stairs either - whew. Daddy is back home now and we sure missed him!


I had come inside from getting the rest of the groceries and found Haley trying to get into the box. Hurry Mom! I want to play!!!

First tooth!

Haley's first tooth is finally here! Her bottom tooth has broken thru the gums and the one next to it is starting to push it's way in too. Hopefully that is why she has been a little fussier then normal lately :) A couple times last week she woke up around 9pm screaming in her bed. She would be asleep but big tears would be rolling down and it was really hard to calm her down. I don't know if she was just really tired and a little off her schedule or they were her teeth hurting, or maybe even night terrors. Maybe a combination. Seems like she has solved the problem this week by just staying up until 9pm. Chunkster's has just been full of smiles and laughes at night yesterday and today so it was hard for us to force her to go to bed.

Grandma & Grandpa Vara and Uncle Michael left on Saturday to head back to El Paso. Haley had a great time playing with her grandparents and pulling on Uncle Michael's leg hair. She would laugh and smile at Uncle Michael when she was playing with his legs and feet. Haley will miss her grandparents but will see them again in August.

Haley also has a new family member to introduce. Her cousin, Samuel, was born earlier this month in El Paso. He has two older siblings, Ben and Sophia, whom Haley met in April. We can't wait to meet the little guy! Samuel, Sophia and Ben are the children of Matt's cousin Chris and his wife Glenda, who just moved back to El Paso from Boston.

Here are some pictures from this past week.
Haley working on the computer - we're starting her early!

Cheese

Hi mom!

Pretty girl

Haley giving Mom the best birthday wish - naptime with her precious baby.

Adventures at the doctors

This afternoon Haley and I both had dr. appointments. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking scheduling the appointments during her nap time but I guess that was all they had available. So off to the first dr. we went. Haley fell asleep in the car as expected and woke up 10 minutes later when we arrived at the office. Guess that was all the sleep she needed. She was such a good baby waiting for me to see the dr. Then as soon as I was called in Haley started to choke on her Cheerios and blah....she threw them all up all over herself and her stroller. I tried to explain to Haley that happens when you stick 6 cheerios in your mouth at once but she didn't listen. Good thing it was an easy cleanup and I guess if you're going to choke, the dr. office is the best place to do it! She was REALLY good the entire time and a huge hit with all the people waiting to see the dr. On the stroller ride out to the car she put her head to the side and zonked out.
Unfortunately, her appointment was only a few minutes later and about a 1 minute car ride. So she didn't get to sleep long but managed to have fun in her dermatologist's office too. She had lots of fun sitting in the chair and ripping up all the paper. Then the dr. came in. She was fine at first until he pulled out a ruler (of all the things to make her terrified!). He put it to her face and the next thing you know her lip started to quiver and she started screaming. Huge tears were pouring out. Poor thing. All the dr. was doing was measuring her birthmark to make sure it isn't growing, which it's not. Funny how the dr. that hurts her the least is the one she is most terrified of. The dr. just said to keep an eye on it and he'll check up on it once a year. When she is a little older we might biopsy it or just remove it. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

First Father's Day

Haley is feeling better and I think you can tell from the expressions on her face. She loves to walk around in her walker, crawl all around the entire house, and pull herself to a stand everywhere she goes. She is getting brave and even started walking down the couch. She also loves her Cherios and even manages to get most in her mouth. What a big girl ;)

Grandpa and Grandma Vara and Uncle Michael are in town for the week staying with us. Haley is getting to stay with them during the day and really enjoying playing with her grandparents. They came in town just in time for Father's Day. Daddy had a great first Father's Day relaxing at home, enjoying his parents and spending time with family. Grandpa Jeff, Lee Ann and Uncle Mark also came over for dinner and Haley was on her best behavior (she had a good nap!).

We're still on tooth watch but nothing yet. I think they are going to show up any day.


Enjoy the pictures!

Walking around eating Cherios - and passing some to Buster along the way.

Crawling around and getting into things she shouldn't.

Haley giving Daddy his card and present for being the best daddy!

Grandpa Jeff bought Haley a pool and we tried it out on Father's Day. Here she is walking with Daddy to her pool... She's not too sure about the grass on her bare feet.

Still walking...daddy let her walk all the way from the kitchen! That's a lot of walking when you have such short legs.

Yep - the pool didn't go over to well at first...

So we emptied the water, moved it into the sun and started to refill it with her in the pool. Much better idea... (it's hard to tell but that is a big smile on her face)

She likes the pool now!

Stinker

What an adventurous weekend. Haley at restaurants has been "fun" to say the least. On Friday we tried to have a nice dinner at Market Street but I guess we forgot to share our plans with Haley. She was asleep when we got to the restaurant but that sure didn't last long. She was really whinny and loud - which has turned to the norm now at restaurants. So I had to hold her almost the entire dinner. Poor girl was just tired but everyone would smile at her and wake her back up. Oh well, we still had a good time.

On Saturday, we went to Uncle Nathan's high school graduation in College Station. We explained to Haley that in 22 years we expect to see her walking across the same stage to get her college diploma. I know that 22 years will come so fast so I'm not rushing :) I always love visiting College Station, seeing how much it has changed, driving by our GHETTO apartments where Matt and I met, etc., Ahh, college life.

On to Sunday, Haley was sick but that didn't stop her too much. She was pretty fussy most of the day and running a fever. I'll spare you the details of what else was wrong but I think it is more then just teething. Grandpa Jeff came over in the afternoon and took Haley to the park. She tried her best to have a good time but you could just tell she wasn't feeling 100%.

This morning she woke up again with a fever so I worked from home in case I needed to take her to the dr. She seems to be doing a little better and her fever has come down. Haley is trying to help me work by pressing all the buttons on the computer and pulling on all the cords. Needless to say, not too much work got done but that's ok. I'm glad that we have the luxury of working from home when needed with my new job.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Haley had a BIG stinky and Buster was glued to her bottom while Matt walked her to her room for a diaper change.


He's still following...


Grandpa Jeff walking Haley to her stroller. This was her first time to walk with shoes.