It's A... TORNADO!

On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get a first glimpse at my little parasite through ultrasound. It was amazing how clear and perfect this little person is already and I'm only 11 weeks pregnant. When I was pregnant with Hayley, I only received one ultrasound at 18 weeks so seeing our babe this early on was a great new experience. It certainly makes all the (exhausting, never-ending, gut wrenching, did I mention exhausting?) nausea "almost" tolerable to have the proof that there is actually a baby causing it. The good news is that the baby looked healthy and active... very active. So active that the nurses asked me TWICE if I'd had caffeine that morning. Are you kidding me? I ended up with a "Hurricane" my first go round and I was caffeine free the entire pregnancy. I shudder to think how much more hyped up Hayley would be had I been on caffeine during her development. So at 11 early weeks, I'm already a nervous wreck that this time I'm growing a "Tornado." I'm.In.Trouble.

So of course Hayley thinks her Daddy is just the coolest. So cool that she's turned into quite the little copy cat. I've tried to explain to Brian that this unique power is something that needs be used wisely. I was hoping I'd get the point across that he should get Hayley to copy him doing something useful... like oh, say, cleaning the house or cooking dinner. Instead? THIS is what he teaches her. I'm doomed!

American Idol 2025?

Daddy and Hayley have a nightly routine. It goes a little something like this:

6:00pm - Daddy returns home from work to a frazzled Mommy and a VERY HUNGRY Hayley.
6:01pm - After giving Daddy a hug, Hayley yells at Daddy to change so she can EAT!
6:15pm - Mommy, Daddy, and Hayley sit down for family dinner.
6:25pm - Hayley is done eating and spends the next 5 minutes mashing spaghetti into her hair while Mommy and Daddy attempt to have what almost resembles an adult conversation.
6:30pm - Daddy wrangles Hayley from her highchair and whisks her off to the bathtub while Mommy begins dishes.
6:40pm - Daddy proceeds to nursery with American Idol Wanna-be wrapped in hooded towel.
6:41pm - Hayley begins her tryouts for American Idol (this is Mommy's cue to pour the milk, we don't want our songbird to be parched)
6:45pm - Tryouts are over and Hayley's pajamas are on. Our diva proceeds to the couch where she demands her milk, quality time with Daddy, and the opportunity to watch Wheel of Fortune while she "unwinds." Mommy begins scrubbing the red spaghetti ring out of bathtub.
7:30pm - Lights our for our little star.

Below is an outtake from one of Hayley's latest recording sessions. Keep in mind, this happens EVERY night!

Here We Grow Again

Perhaps it's time for me to confess that there is a better explanation to my lack of blogging besides just being busy. If we combine my (somewhat sudden) increase in business with relentless, all day nausea, followed by an unwelcome head cold it may explain a bit better why I've refrained from burning up the keyboard. Fortunately, the life altering nausea that I'm suffering from is not the result of a terminal disease (although most days I do feel terminal), but rather the result of what I like to call my own personal parasite. "Somehow," I've managed to turn up pregnant. My new status comes as a bit of a surprise for us. We had factored another child into our life spreadsheet (yes, Brian has created a spreadsheet which maps out our future) but Baby #2 was not scheduled to appear on the spreadsheet until year 2009. Of course we realize that sometimes God's plans are different (and better) than our own and Brian's spreadsheet hasn't imploded, so I think we'll be okay!

At this point I'm nine weeks along and looking forward to weeks 13 and 14 as that is when the nausea I suffered while pregnant with Hayley ceased. My due date is April 17th which will make Hayley and the new baby approximately 23 months apart. We've definitely become exicted about the aspect of our two children being closer in age then we had ever anticipated. We think this will be a great opportunity for them to be close friends, and after being an only child I'm anxious to see the relationship that will develop.

Now, if we can just figure out how to break the news to Chloe...

"I'm Done"

So Hayley and I have been dutifully attending 10 minutes of swim lesson everyday for two and a half weeks now. It's been a lot of work... for both of us, BUT Hayley is making good progress. Today the skills that she has been learning seemed to "click" for her and she did a great job of back floating all by herself. Her swim is getting much better as well. We've had some head orientation issues to overcome. All of Hayley's previous experience in the water caused her to develope a habit of pulling her head back, as if to keep her head from going under water. When she pulls her head back, it makes her body go vertical in the water when we need her to be completely horizontal in order to swim and rollover into a float. The progress is slow, just a little bit everyday so having a day like we had today is VERY rewarding and encouraging.

Hayley's swim instructor, Miss Amy, has been very consistent about telling Hayley "All done" when the lesson is over. Yesterday at the end of the lesson, Hayley began telling Miss Amy "All done." This is definitely Hayley's new buzz phrase.

Are you ready for some football?

Hayley is, but only if it's good 'ol Denver Bronco football! We may live in Florida, but don't worry, her Momma intends to raise her properly. Courtesy of Grandpa, Hayley was able to start NFL season off right!

Hayley is 15 Months

It's been a while since our last update as we have been a busy, busy family! Mommy has been working with clients a lot lately, Daddy has had some out of town travel, and Hayley has had some busy days since ISR swimming started last week. Hayley's first swim lesson was last Monday. The class is a big committment as we have to attend a private lesson every weekday for 10 minutes. Of course Hayley was none to happy about being put in the pool and not being allowed to do exactly what SHE wanted. She's cried through just about every lesson (which apparently is normal for the first week or two). By Friday, the cry was pretty fake and she was actually smiling and laughing in between remembering that she was supposed to be mad. In just a short week though she's learned to hold her breath, open her eyes under water, and pull up on the side of the pool for air. We're excited to see Hayley progress through the lessons and are even more excited about the end result. We think Hayley will be thrilled to be so independent in the water.

Last Monday, before her first lesson, Hayley had her 15 month doctor checkup. The Dr. reaffirmed that she's still a little peanut. Hayley is STILL not even 20 pounds! She came in at 19 pounds, 12 ounces and 31 inches long. Luckily, the Dr. didn't seem at all concerned about her weight and she got a clean bill of health.

We got Hayley her own chair last week. So far she loves it! A fitting throne for our little princess!

There's a thief among us...

and the suspect completely denies any culpability. I spent a good hour today tearing the house apart in search of the remote control for the TV. We've been pretty good about setting the remote on one of our end tables, but now that Hayley has gained a few inches, I'm beginning to realize that perhaps that isn't the best idea. See, we have one of those complex cable, audio, tv systems that without a remote, you're dead in the water so I knew that finding this remote before Daddy came home to relax for the evening was a matter of life and death. I searched everwhere, pulling the cushions off the couch and looking under furniture. No remote, but I did find a significant amount of Hayley's toys and books stuffed under the couch... who would've thought??

All the toys Hayley had managed to stuff under the couch



I pleaded with Hayley to show me where the remote was, but she just looked at me like I'd lost my mind and went back to playing with her new found toys. I began to think like my Hurricane, tracing the steps to all her favorite hiding spots in our house. I looked under the dining room table, in her hamper, in every single one of my kitchen cabinets and drawers. I checked the office, scoured her room and finally headed off to the master bedroom. I checked the bathtub, under the bed, our hamper, our closet, the shower, all of our bathroom drawers... suddenly it hit me! Daddy had caught Hayley sticking one of her toys in my trash can (located inside the bathroom cabinet under the sink) over the weekend. VOILA!! The remote! It's always the last place you look, isn't it? :-)

The scene of the crime



Hayley still wouldn't fess up to the crime. She claims she was drunk on milk all day long... pretty weak alibi to me!

The suspect... trying to talk her way out if it

Category 5

Hayley picked up a few new words over the weekend. She now says boat (in reference to the raft that she floats around the pool in while yelling at Mommy to "kick"), and bawk for book. I've noticed a deeper connection between Hayley and Chloe and apparently now they are having full fledged conversations. If you ask Hayley what Chloe says she will tell you "Arf!"

Hurricane had a wonderful time at friend Luke's second birthday party on Saturday. She loved the toys, other children, and Luke's dog Satchley! Below are some pictures of our party animal!

Trying to climb into the school bus


Hayley insisted on being in the middle of Ring Around the Rosy


Playing ball with Satchley


Building with the boys!


Refueling... Looks like a hurricane has already worn Daddy out!


Time to play again


Hayley REALLY liked Luke's new toys


Hayley saying "Arf!"

Tiny Bubbles

I managed to wrangle Hayley's hair into pigtails this weekend. It was tough getting those few strands of hair into two different rubberbands, but she sure did look cute!




Now the after pigtails style does leave something to be desired!



Hayley has started to try to copy Daddy and blow bubbles in the pool!

Where the Wild Things Are

Hayley almost got us kicked out of Barnes & Noble today. We stopped in to kill half an hour while we waited for another store to open in the same shopping center. I figured that looking at different books would be a great way to pre-occupy Hayley so we headed back to the children's section. When we arrived we were greeted by a little children's play area, complete with a train set and other children to play with. "This is not going to be good," I thought to myself as Brian set Hayley down. See Daddy hasn't seen Hayley "experience" a new, fun environment the way Mommy has. I do belive that after yesterday's experience Daddy fully understands why Hayley has been annointed with the nickname "Hurricane." There were two little boys playing with the train and a little girl who was quietly sitting on her Mommy's lap. We all made small talk and found each of the children were within 3 months of each other. Hayley began her usual project of hoarding every toy in sight, specifically the train cars. This did not make the little boys happy. She then adopted a stuffed owl that evoked a shriek if taken away. It only took a few minutes before the little girl became terrified of "Hurricane" and cried if Hayley went near her. After Hayley tired of the train set, she decided that running through the aisles yelling and carrying owl was the best way to spend her time. Suffice to say that Hayley was not happy once we caught her. Red faced, we exited Barnes & Noble leaving owl behind as fast as we could. I will say the one word that comes to mind when I think about my little Hayley now... determined.

Below is a video of Hayley running around the house the way she did Barnes & Noble. We have no plans to visit any libraries in the future and my apologies for those of you who end up on a plane with us someday.

You can count on Hayley's vote!

We think Hayley has been doing some sneaking around behind our backs. We're not quite sure if she has just been logging onto the Internet, or actually sneaking out of the house during naptime, but the other day we received a piece of mail revealing her secret activities. The letter was addressed to Hayley Roberts with a return address of "Tancredo for a Secure America." The salutation said "Dear Fellow Conservative." While we're pleased by Hayley's political activism (and relieved that the letter didn't say "Dear Fellow Liberal"... hey, we must be doing something right!), we can't quite figure out how Hayley's name has ended up on Tancredo's mailing list, particularly since Mommy nor Daddy received the same piece of mail! Looks like we may have a little Alex P. Keaton on our hands... she must get it from Daddy!

Another Thursday means another morning of PlayAway. This morning when we pulled in the parking lot Hayley started laughing and clapping her hands. She was apparently aware of where we were going and was so cute I just wanted to squeeze her!

Daddy just returned from a four day business trip and all his girls were excited to have him home. We sure do miss him when he's gone!

Daddy's Little Helper - Trying to show Daddy how to use the drill

A Trip to Marina Jack's

This morning Brian and I took Hayley to one of our favorite pre-Hayley places, Marina Jack's. It's a great park that jets out into Sarasota Bay with lots of grass, shade trees, and beautiful views of the bay. We used to love to just sit and read on a Sunday and watch the boats go by.

Now that we've entered our Hayley era, Marina Jack's is still one of our favorite places and I think it will probably be one of Hayley's, but for a different reason. After all, there are no lazy days, SITTING, and watching the boats go by anymore! (At least we can still enjoy the ocean view, right?) Not when there is a splash park and lots of room for a little Hayley to run around! I took a TON of pictures, but it is virtually impossible to get a non-action shot of Hayley at this point in her life.

Marina Jack's Splash Park

Hayley Boot Camp

Little did I know that when I gave birth to Hayley, I was giving birth to my own personal trainer. She gives me a good cardio workout all day long chasing after, and when I'm actually in the midst of a scheduled workout she's relentless. Hayley has always been fond of going for rides in her jogging stroller. She's made it quite clear that the faster I push her the better. For the past few months she's literally started yelling at me if I stop my run to take a walk break. I'm not quite sure exactly what she is yelling, but it doesn't sound very nice!

Since we're in the middle of a hot summer, I've started doing some workouts in the pool while Hayley is in there with me. I'll do pushups on the sun deck and count out loud. She thinks this is absolutely hilarious until I get to the end and she starts yelling at me to do more. I've tried to explain to her that they're hard and she should try some, but she won't take any excuses. After pushups, I stick Hayley in her swim boat and use it as a kickboard while I do laps in the pool. I know it doesn't sound hard, but believe me, it's harder then it looks (ask Brian) and really makes my legs burn. As I kick-push Hayley back and forth across the pool, she's now started yelling "kick, kick, kick" at me! "Yes Drill Sergeant Hayley!" Sheesh!

We've had a busy week as I've had clients in town and Hayley has spent time at Nana and Papa's. We did make it to PlayAway today. Hayley is starting to get a better feel for the flow of the class and is participating more in each of the activities. She absolutely loves bubbles right now. Despite being very active, Hayley is usually very sweet and gentle with the other children. Except for yesterday when that darn "Gregory" came over and started popping the bubbles that Hayley was going for. Gregory is about an inch taller than Hayley and he could reach the bubbles first. Of course Hayley didn't try to push or hit "Gregory," but if looks could kill... I'm afraid by the end of our class Hayley is going to let "Gregory" know not to mess with her!

Romper Room

This morning I added an extra scoop of protein powder to my usual morning smoothie, dressed Hayley in one of her sweeter, more innocent looking outfits, put a girly pink bow in her hair, and we headed out for another adventure at PlayAway. There were a lot more moms seeking toddler entertaining refuge from the summer heat this week, and our class was packed with about 20 babies. As we walked in the front door, Hayley took one look and nearly lept out of my arms. Unable to contain her, I set her down and "Flash" took off across the room, yelling. "Hurricane Hayley" likes to make an entrance you know, much to her introverted mother's dismay.

Luckily, Hayley seemed a little more interested this week in the group songs. However she was certain to embarass me with her new found desire to steal all things round and being enjoyed by another child. Yes, Hayley has developed a strong fondness of balls. She runs around our house playing soccer now and despite the fact that there must be over 50 different balls at PlayAway Hayley wasn't about to let any other children enjoy the balls. I was mortified as she kept walking off and taking balls out of the hands of the floor ridden crawlers. I chased after her, apologizing to the victims mother and I know they were thinking, "that woman needs to get her child under control." And believe me, I will, just as soon as I can catch her!!

Hayley ran up to two of the 18 month old boys who were playing with a ball. They were bigger than her, but definitely not faster. And intimidated she was not. She snatched the ball right out of Gregory's* hands. (*names have been changed to protect the innocent) He looked at her, yelled "mine," and promptly snatched the ball right back. Hayley stepped back stunned, gave him "the look," and attempted to take the ball back which led to a Hayley and Gregory tug-of-war match. By that time I had reached my little thief and directed her attention elsewhere. I'm pretty sure Hayley would have ended up with that ball had I let the tugging continue. She might be little, but boy is she tough.

All in all, we had a good hour of organized play and arrived home in time for lunch and a few rounds of "Chase Chloe with the biscuit" before naptime. Speaking of biscuits... I'm not sure who enjoys eating them more at this point, Chloe or Hayley... but that's a whole other story!

What am I in for?

Hayley is creating quite the reputation for herself and I'm not certain it's a good one! Today was the second time someone mentioned the term "hurricane" with my daughter's name behind it! Of course by this point I've realized that "Hurricane Hayley" is a little busy body, which was why we decided to try a class at Play Away today, a gym for the little ones just down the road from our house. It's a lot like Gymboree, but they offer a lot of fitness and dance classes to the preschool and elementary age as well. The facility is great because there are mats everywhere and tons of things for the kids to play on. Hayley obviously loved all the equipment, so much so that she pretty much refused to participate in the class! Oh she'd come to the circle and join us for a second or two (literally) before running off to find something new. I tried to make her sit in my lap and sing songs for a bit, but of course that only made her mad which was actually more embarassing then just letting her run wild around the room. And below are the answers to the standard question that every mother asks me upon observing Hayley for a few moments:
1.) Is she always this... energetic (wild is what they really want to say)? Yes
2.) Does she only have one speed? Yes, extra fast
3.) What age did she start walking? Hayley never walked, but she did start RUNNING at 10 months - Yes, it's been 5 months now that I've been trying to keep up with Speedy Gonzalez here. I'm considering getting myself a trainer because it's becoming obvious that I'm going to need more than a few protein shakes to keep me one step ahead of my little speed demon.

So in light of Hayley's adventurous attitude, lack of fear, and speed, we've determined it necessary to enroll Hayley in ISR classes. As we've mentioned before, Hayley loves the water and has no hesitation about jumping in our pool. Scary. Luckily, we have a great instructor close by that teaches these survival swimming lessons for 6 month to 6 year olds. It's amazing because this program really teaches babies to first survive and then swim. Basically, the babies learn to swim - back float - swim. It's a very big committment as we have to attend a lesson every weekday for 10 minutes for a period of 4-6 weeks, but the peace of mind will definitely be worth it. We start class at the end of August and are looking forward to the new skills Hayley will develop.

In an effort to help teach Hayley the sounds that each animal makes, I bought her the magentic Leap Frog Fridge Farm. Little did I realize that not only does this wonderful toy make animal sounds, but Farmer Tad also plays the banjo. The good news is that Hayley loves this toy so far. The bad news is that Hayley has decided that she isn't interested in the animals and would much rather hear Farmer Tad play the banjo all day. I'd like to personally thank the creator of this toy!!


Daddy and Hayley after the SOCOM Change of Command

Uh oh, Cheerios!

Our good friend, Army Rob, was in Florida last week and drove down to visit Hayley (and Mommy and Daddy) on Friday night. Hayley was quick to introduce Rob to life with Hayley and amazed him with the amount of food she can eat.

So this morning Hayley was finishing up her morning Cheerios and just babbling away all the while. I grabbed the video camera in hopes of getting some of her talking on video. The second I turned the camera on, she started dropping Cheerios from her high chair. This food dropping trick has been going on for quite sometime and we've been trying to let Hayley know that dropping food on the floor is a no-no. We're certain she knows that dropping food is a no-no, and this video proves it! We haven't used the term "uh oh" for much other than just trying to get her to make sounds, so were surprised that she related "uh oh" to something she knew she wasn't supposed to do!

Keeping Cool in the Pool

Of course we spent part of the weekend in the pool! Here's some video of Hayley's new found trick of jumping in the pool. This baby has no fear!

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!