Thirsty Girl

Two weekends ago we headed out to Lowe's in search of some supplies for our latest project, the guest bath. A new Jamba Juice had just opened up in the same shopping center and much to our delight they were giving out free smoothies. Brian and I each got one and were excited to share some with Hayley. Knowing that this was Hayley's first experience with a straw, we figured she wouldn't know what to do. You can imagine our shock when she immediately stuck the straw in her mouth and proceeded to suck down half of our smoothie like she's had all the practice in the world! Of course the next day I headed out to buy the sippy cups with the straws in them and Hayley can't get enough.

As we swam in the pool this past weekend, we set her straw sippy on the side of the pool. Hayley would walk off the sundeck and Daddy would swim her across the pool and back (what we call a "Hayley Lap"). Once she was back up on the sundeck she would immediately walk over to her sippy and take a big swig like she'd just spent the past five hours running a marathon with nothing to drink! Apparently "Hayley Laps" are very strenuous in this hot Florida sun!

So, at this point in time, Hayley just can't get enough water to drink. I'm not sure how long the novelty of the straw will last, but for the time being Hayley is
well hydrated and we're allocating a little more money towards our Pampers budget!

As far as our guest bath goes, we're pleased to say it is almost complete. We have just a few decorative finishing touches to complete over the next week and we're still planning to frame the vanity mirror, but here is a picture of what we've completed so far. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a before pic, but those who have visited us know that this is a BIG improvement! :-)

Eye Surgery Update

Hayley's eye surgery went very well this morning and we thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. Mommy and Daddy were a little nervous about the whole thing, but luckily Hayley was a champ. We arrived at the surgery center at 7am, quite apprehensive about Hayley's attitude since she wasn't allowed to eat anything before the surgery. Luckily, she met a little boy to play with in the waiting room which seemed to keep her mind off food until we had to take her back for the procedure. She did great with the doctors and seemed very comfortable with the anesthesiologist... she didn't even cry when her took her from us and carried her off into the surgery room. Of course when she woke up from the anesthesia, it was a different story and she was sure to introduce all the nurses to the power of her lungs. The nurses told us that it was normal for babies to wake up from anesthesia very upset, however they still seemed shocked by the sheer strength of Hayley's vocal cords. After about 15 minutes, a cup of juice, and a few Cheerios, we managed to get Hayley calmed down and we were ready to head home. She napped for three hours once we got home and was ready to play hard the rest of the day!

Her eye already seems to be so much better. We think this is the first time we've ever seen her right eye look "dry." Because of the excessive tearing the blocked tear duct caused, her eyelashes were always clumped together. The next few days will tell whether the surgery successfully opened both eye ducts, but so far so good! What a relief to have this done!

We bought Hayley a water table to play with out on the lanai. She loves to splash in the water and we thought this would be fun for her to play in without us having to get into the pool all the time. So far she has had fun playing with it empty! Seems like a good toy purchase so far!

Here's some video of Hayley saying "ball!"

Loving on Dabin

Hayley knows who Dabin is, she named him after all!

Hayley is "SOOOOO BIG!!!"

Here's a video of Hayley holding her arms out to show how big she is!

Pictures

We had a fairly uneventful week filled with the usual errands, playing, and work (for Mommy of course). Hayley is scheduled for eye surgery next Friday. She has had a blocked tear duct since birth and usually these clear up on their own, but Hayley just happens to be in that 2% that requires surgery to open her tear duct. The actual procedure will only take about 5 minutes, but she will be anesthetisized so the entire surgery will take about an hour. We aren't looking forward to this, but are looking forward to not having to deal with the recurrent eye infections that have plagued our little princess. Here are some pictures from the week.

Warning: One of the benefits of having our own private pool is the option to swim sans a suit. Hayley is exercising her right to swim topless, so if you are offended by baby nudity, do not scroll down!

Hayley's "space girl" pajamas

"What's for dinner?"

A sponge bath in the sink after dinner before heading out to the pool

"Get this back float off me!!" (And wipe the dinner off my face while you're at it!)

Proof that Hayley says "duck!"

A little update

We've kept busy the past few weeks with several miscellaneous projects around the house. Over the Memorial Day weekend my wonderful, handy husband installed some cabinets for me in our laundry room. I spent the following week painting and putting the finishing touches on my beautiful new room! Other exciting projects have included toe kick lighting under our bathroom vanities, painting the office and guest bath, and installing various hooks for hanging "things" throughout the house. Most of these are simple projects that we intended to do after moving into the house, but Hayley put a little kink in our schedule last year and so we're getting around to some of these items now. I did learn a valuable lesson that trying to paint a room with my little Picaso on the loose just isn't smart.

Laundry room cabinets

Of course in our free time, Hayley has kept us pleasantly entertained. She's a busy little bee and a handful to keep up with! Trying to snap a picture of Hayley is like trying to catch a jack rabbit! I have lots of pictures of her backside as she runs away! Hayley has always been a babbler (okay, she's a downright chatterbox), but she's now saying things that we are able to make out as actual words. Her favorites are "duk" (duck), dee-dee (Daddy), Hi-da (Hi Daddy), bah (book), baw (ball), and dah (dog). She knows the sign language for several things, but still isn't real big on actually doing it herself. She gives me "five" on command and we're slowly learning to give Mommy "ten." Hayley is not one to sit still, but she is absolutely enthralled with books. She'll go into her room by herself and sit for minutes (an eternity in Hayley time) looking through all her books.

It's funny to drag Dabin through the house!

Hayley's Austin Powers pajamas!

Having fun with good friend Pooh

I told you Mommy... blow more bubbles!

I LOVE reading my books!

One Year Checkup

We visited the pediatrician for Hayley's one year check-up today. She measured in at 29 inches long and 17 pounds, 14 ounces. She checked out just fine other then the doctor's concern about her weight as she's barely in the 5th percentile now. The fact is that Hayley can practically out eat Daddy... it isn't a lack of food that is causing her svelt figure, but rather the inability to sit still is what I suspect to be the culprit. If she isn't moving (like when I've strapped her in the carseat), her mouth is moving. Suffice it to say that this baby is an active little handful! I'll be upping her daily dosage of avocado and will try mixing some olive oil into her meals to see if we can't "fatten" her up a bit! Unfortunately, Hayley received three shots which she protested quite loudly. When I say that Hayley screams, I mean literally, she screams. It isn't just a loud cry. It's a blood curdling scream. After Hayley was done shocking the nurse, the nurse turned to me and said, "Wow, she's got quite the set of lungs! She's louder then our five year olds!" Yes, Hayley is VERY advanced!

We're finally getting some much needed rain here, but it sure makes for a gloomy day that causes us Floridians to mope around and complain endlessly. It's all I can do to keep myself from wanting to spend all day laying in bed. I don't know how people who live in places like Seattle function! Anyhow, we braved the rain this evening and headed out to the Mexican restaurant down the street from our home for dinner. Much to Hayley's delight, the live Mariachi band was there. Brian and I usually spend our dinners out with Hayley alternating spoons. We each take one of her spoons and alternate feeding her from our plate. As simple as this sounds, it really is a complex manuever that we have perfected as Hayley DEMANDS a continuous and rhythmic motion in order to keep the entire restaurant from hearing her dismay. It takes a lot of skill (and practice) to time our bites in between hers. As relieved as I am to not have had to cook a meal, eating out is far from relaxing at this point in our parenthood adventure. Which is why dinner this evening was so enjoyable as Hayley was absolutely enthralled by the Mariachi band. She'd never seen anything like this group of guitar yielding, tight (and I do mean TIGHT) white pant wearing, shiny shoe singing Mariachi men! She laughed, she danced, she tried to sing, she yelled Arriba (okay, just kidding), and she really checked out their shoes. I'm kicking myself that I didn't have the video camera!