Our Little Sleeper

Hayden has been quite the snoozer. He has been sleeping 12+ hours at night then taking 2 naps that last 2-3 hours. He likes to push his head all the way against the edge and stick his feet through the rails. He has been sleeping so sound that I have to wake him in the morning to go to his grandparents. He has really increased his signing and words even more in the last week. We had a great time yesterday all being home on a snow/ice day! Such a short week this week with only 3 days of work. Hayden has been having a few more tantrums and definitely knows the meaning of the word "No". Everyday I seem to love him more and more which I didn't think was possible. Our life is filled with such sweet little treasures and hopefully sometime soon we'll be able to grow our family by one more. We are ready for another. Actually have been ready for about 5 months now. I was packing up baby things for storage and sorting the things I wanted to send to consignment and found all these little baby outfits and can't remember Hayden being so small yet I know he wore these outfits. Everyone warned that the time would go so fast and as aware of that as I was it still has gone too fast. My once non mobile, non talking, non opinionated baby is now a walking, talking, very opinionated toddler. Each stage brings such new wonders that I am ready to experience this again with another child. I am ready to see if the next one will love to snuggle or want his or her alone time. Will he or she like fruit and not cottage cheese. Will he or she give neat little kisses that are pecks on the lips or will it be open mouthed slobbery baby kisses. Will he or she be a night owl or a morning bird. Will he or she laugh easily or make you perform to get a grin. For now we will enjoy learning about Hayden and enjoy this short time that he will be the only one needing our attention... where all eyes are on him and its all about Hayden, Hayden and more Hayden.

A Little Behind and Not Feeling So Well

I have not been faithful with keeping this blog updated for the past two weeks. I kept thinking last week that I had to post but I was under the weather and really just didn't feel like it. Then over the weekend Jeff and I went to Dale Hollow in TN with another couple from his work. The guys actually fished in freezing cold and each caught a whooping 1 fish. At least they each caught one but I couldn't imagine spending hours on a boat in single digit weather at 6am. Not my cup of tea! I got to do a little reading and tried out some yoga and balancing moves on the wii fit. I actually enjoyed yoga which was a shock to me. I have been doing a little dieting and would like to incorporate some exercise into my routine but can't push myself past the thinking about it stage. Hayden got to spend some time overnight with Nana Dede and Paw Paw. He was excited to see us when we picked him up on Sunday afternoon. I really did miss him and couldn't wait to go get him. I knew he was well taken care of but I kept wondering about what he was doing while I was away. He has really continued to walk more and crawl less. He is getting more balanced on his feet and can now get to a standing position without pulling up on furniture. He continues to sign more and has added please to his signing vocabulary.
Today has been a more challenging day as he has not been acting himself. He woke up screaming this morning at 6:30 which is unusual and has been crying on and off all day. He took a 20 minute morning nap before waking up crying and acting as if he doesn't feel well. I finally just got him down for his afternoon nap but only after reading a couple of books and some cuddling which he normally doesn't enjoy. That's when I know he doesn't feel well when he wants to lay his head on my shoulder and just snuggle. I hope he gets feeling better and isn't getting what I had last week.

Our Little Walker

Hayden is walking more and more each day. He is so much fun at this age! Everyday he is surprising us with some new skill. He is starting to use more sign language now. He started doing the "more" sign in addition to the milk sign. He smacks his lips when he is thirsty. Although this isn't an actual sign it is a great way for him to communicate his wants and is so darn cute. He is learning his body parts and knows where his eyes, nose, mouth, foot and sometimes where his ears are. Who knew these little things would bring such joy

Cousins

For Christmas Jeff got me a smaller digital camera. I have a very nice all be it large digital camera that takes great pictures but it is just too large and cumbersome to take places.

I got a nice small compact digital camera that I just uploaded the pictures off of and decided to share a few on here. These are from the day after Christmas when we had Jeff's moms side of the family over. Hayden had a lot of fun playing with his cousins, Addison (13 months) and Kayla (12 months).
We tried to get a group photo of them with great Grandpa but you can see how well that turned out

Christmas Photos

Happy New Year

After a Wonderful Christmas we celebrate the New Year. Hayden rang in 2009 with Grammy and Peepaw so that Jeff and I could go out to eat. Jeff watched the ball drop and played video games while I was already in bed with my eyes closed (although not asleep) well before the midnight hour. Hayden took his first solo steps days before he turned 14 months. He now is getting braver and walking further and more frequently. Our baby has officailly become a toddler!! Such a bittersweet moment. Hayden enjoyed Christmas and unwrapped his presents and actually showed more interest in the gifts themselves than to the pretty wrapping paper and cardboard boxes that they came in. He loved his two gifts from Santa .... a toothbrush and a doggie ball pit. Santa had the ball pit blown up and sitting in the family room. Hayden crawled down the hall and into the room. Upon seeing this new toy he made happy noises and craweled as fast as he could through the doggies mouth and into the pit of balls. He loves his new toy. This year was really special since although he still doesn't understand Christmas he was old enough to enjoy spendng time with his family and opening gifts. I think he will miss having the tree up with all the lights but it is time to clear away all the decorations until next year