Hailey 6 months

I just can't believe that my little squish is 6 months old.....and on that note...I'm not sure I should call her a squish. When I think of something squishy, I think of something that is more light and fluffy. This girl is "fluffy", but is more comparable to a brick as far as how light she is. Anyway, moving on.

I sort of wish every child could be my first. I had so much time to just eat Claire up and document every second of her life. Jared got much less attention in exchange for protection from his semi-violent sister. Hailey gets mauled by Claire on a regular hugging schedule (which she loves to her squishy core), but I feel like she has always been here and I've missed half of her life already. Gosh! Why does time go so quickly when you're trying to absorb it? I think it partially gets lost in loads of laundry, cooking, playing, reading, errands, discipline, etc...which is all just amplified when another person is added to the mix. More laundry, playing, reading....

I love all of it.

So, little miss spoiled is 6 months old. She loves to play with anything that is on the floor. If she can't reach it, she rolls to it and has added crawling attempts to the mix. Still eating everything from her thumb to toys, to paper. We let her suck on apples at dinner time and she gets a little spazzy over how wonderful they taste (don't worry, she IS supervised and we hold the apple. She never gets any free range apples in her mouth). She loves to play with the kids. Claire is a little obsessed with being an adorable sister, so she gives her lots of hugs, kisses, and tickles. Most of the time Hailey laughs enthusiastically (unless she's tired). Jared likes to wake her up. Hailey is quite the morning girl. I get the biggest smiles from her when I walk in to get her. Apparently I light up the room by how happy she gets. Let's all talk about a self-esteem boost here. :) I think she's incredibly excited to try some baby food, which we'll all find out about in the next few days. She has some stranger danger and I think it's pretty darn adorable. It's that cry face that I can't help but love. Our poor relief society president has tried to hold her several times and she immediately starts to cry and look around for me to save her. I'm starting to think that she'll only allow blondes to come within 6 inches of her.

This girl is all wonderful!

She looks like she just got caught doing something naughty.

"Girl Time"

I REALLY, really wanted a good picture of all three, but alas, it's not meant to be. This is the best I could get.....and it turned into....

this,

(see how cute that cry face is????) 

I know this is blurry, but it's the only one I could get of her sucking her thumb. 

I took so long taking pictures that nap time eventually came around. 

I want to remember these cute little fingers and toes!

AND....Claire really wanted her picture taken, so she came in and was uber adorable. Why can't Jared get on the "I want to take pictures" bandwagon?!

Jared is picking his nose. Classy, son.

One of my favorite Jared faces. 

Gah! I love them! Stop it with all that adorableness!

She CRAWLS!

Looking back at this video, it amazes me at how excited parents get over firsts. Seriously, the first crawl leaves something to be desired as far as mobility goes. Haha. You know what though, it's the little things in life. You can't walk without that first step, and you can't crawl without that first time hand/leg movement; therefore, I will continue to squeal with glee at every achievement, no matter how small.

Yes, we count this as crawling. She's added about one more "crawl" to her one. Getting there. :)

And...feel free to laugh at me. I do.

Changes

This adorable 4 year old started preschool today! Due her semi-lame mom, she started a week late, but all went well. She was so excited to buy her new clothes and especially her new backpack. She was even so excited that she obediently went to bed an hour earlier than she's used to. I'm sure she would have been less tired this morning had Jared let her actually go to sleep last night instead of jumping all over her. Maybe tomorrow. :) 

Her teacher, Ms. MinTurn, is young as can be and looks very nice. Claire came home and told me that she got to sing lots of songs (head, shoulders, knees and toes) that she's learned in primary. The biggest story of the day was the trip to the bathroom and the drinking fountain. Although they feed them breakfast every day, Claire insists that she didn't eat breakfast because they ran out of food. I can assure you that she ate breakfast because she was happy. If breakfast would have been missed, she would have been an emotional basket case. 

We also celebrated my 28th birthday last weekend. Instead of a gift, I wanted to have a fun family day. I'd rather do something during the day than do nothing, but get a gift at the end of the day. We decided to go to Fort Worth and see the Botanic Gardens and the Water Gardens. It was HOT!!!!! We were dying by the end, but it was very fun and very beautiful. 

We came home to eat a most delicious steak dinner and far too many cupcakes. We had a wonderful time in our very low key birthday kind of way. 

Let it be known that I am OBSESSED with these yellow pants. :) 

Japanese Gardens 

Love this green stinky water. It makes everything so beautiful. 

Daring, you say? Claire did fall in a little at the end just as Brian let go of her hands. Only her feet and shins got wet, but she was oh so traumatized.  

Feeding the fish was a big hit. 

We didn't have enough time at the water gardens. Brian and I took turns literally running through this. It is so cool and I can't wait to go back to spend some time there. 

Happy cupcakes! 

28 feels so good. I love even numbers. :)