Hayley's 4 Month Checkup

We survived Hayley's second round of shots and Daddy even stayed in the room without causing bodily harm to the needle wielding nurse. Hayley actually did very well with this set of shots and just cried a little (who can blame her?) rather than the blood curdling screams she let out two months ago. Overall she had a good checkup and is hitting all her milestones, but as I suspected, the Dr. is concerned about her weight. At 4 months she is 24.5 inches long and weighed 11 pounds 9 ounces which is a significant drop from the 25% range that she had been weighing in for her previous checkups. The Pediatrician seems to think that perhaps my milk is not "fatty" enough and has asked me to start giving Hayley about 8 ounces of formula a day. We go back in a month for a weigh in to see if Hayley's weight has gone up some.

Heads or Tails?

Some of you (Mimi) have been very concerned about Chloe's "lifestyle" now with all the recent change of a new house and Hayley's arrival. While I know that Chloe still doesn't understand why we have to keep the new "Bebe," Hayley certainly hasn't cramped the pampered life that Chloe is used to living. While Hayley was napping over the weekend, I went to work straightening up clutter and getting a meal ready. As I walked into the great room, slightly out of breath from a day of non-stop running around you can imagine how relieved I was to know that the work I was doing in the kitchen was not disturbing Princess Chloe! Chloe's got a big kiss for the first person to identify which end is which!

Hayley is 4 months old today and tomorrow we are headed to the Pediatrician for her 4 month checkup and shots. Daddy will be coming with us for this appointment and I'm certain I will have to send him to the car when it is time for Hayley's shots. I'm armed with a list of questions for the Dr. and am anxious to see where Hayley is at in terms of growth at this point! I'll post the results of our visit in my next post.

They're GRRRRRRReat!

Well it wasn't Frosted Flakes, but Hayley got her first bites of rice cereal today. Our Pediatrician suggests starting cereal between 4-6 months and I'd tried to hold off as long as I could but I just finally got tired of the nagging feeling that my little girl was hungry. I feel even worse about her being so hungry after seeing the way she responded to cereal. After about three bites she figured out exactly how this eating thing is done and couldn't get enough. We started off with just a teaspoon and ended up giving her 2 more teaspoons. She was not happy that we cut her off after that, but we felt it was best to see how she responded to this small dose first. By the second bowl of cereal she would start shaking with excitement when she saw the spoon coming towards her mouth! She'd even wipe her mouth with her bib after each bite! Talk about a southern lady! :) Below is some video of her first few bites.






Hayley was not happy when the cereal was gone. Here's an "after" picture as she was fussing for more!



I finally got a little bit of video of Hayley laughing.

Let's Eat!

I think I've mentioned this before, but our sweet, little Hayley can be awfully demanding when it comes to food. While I wouldn't say she's exactly "laid back" about everything else, she does handle other uncomfortable situations (such as a dirty diaper) without much fuss. However, when it comes to her food she wants it when she wants it or somebody is going to pay. Brian and I can't help but laugh each evening (when she seems to be the hungriest) about the little tantrum she will throw over getting her milk! She'll be happy and playing one minute and within seconds, with no warning, she will turn to an all out rage until she gets that bottle in her mouth.


This second video shows her rolling over. We were trying to get her to laugh but she wouldn't until we turned the camera off!

Fish Feast

Brian's old Army roommate, Trey, came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. The guys kept busy with a round of golf and a deep sea fishing excusion on Saturday morning. They had wonderful weather for their fishing trip and I know Brian really enjoyed the experience. Here's a picture of Brian's "big catch!" Just kidding, before heading out into the deep water they stopped close inland and caught some bait fish. (Kind of cruel, don't you think? Guess I'm just not so fond of the whole food chain concept, even though I'm at the top of it.) Brian didn't catch any fish period, not even a single bait fish! However, Brian's brother David and our friend Bob each caught a Barracuda. That left me with the challenge of figuring out how to cook Barracuda! We had a huge feast on Saturday night. We grilled the Barracuda and topped it with an avocado chile salsa. The fish was actually really good... it is very similar to Mahi Mahi. Anyhow, we had plenty of fish leftover that we froze and will enjoy our second Barracuda feast in the coming weeks. Below are some more pictures from the fishing trip.




And of course no post would be complete without a new picture of Miss Hayley. Here she is fresh from the tub and in all her glory!

Creative Problem Solving

I've really been enjoying the jogging stroller I purchased and Hayley seems to enjoy our walks/jogs almost as much as me now that she can sit up like a big girl and see all the trees, clouds, and people. However, I couldn't help but feel bad as we would head out the door and I would see little Chloe's heartbreak that she wasn't invited on our outing. The problem is that Chloe poops out fairly quickly and I don't get much of a walk in if she is with us. Knowing that Chloe is pretty adaptable, we developed a solution that seems to keep everyone happy (and give all the neighbors a good chuckle). Chloe will even let me jog while riding like this. I think she enjoys being up so high and feels like the spoiled pooch she's always been! I know people must think I'm nuts, but I sure enjoy getting some fresh air with my two girls!