The past few weeks.....

These past few weeks have been so much fun with Hailey. She has really mastered her crawling and is using it to explore the house. She hasn't gotten into too much mischief yet, but her favorite thing to go for is Brandi's water bowl. She has been a huge mamma's girl lately and if anyone tries to take her out of my arms she buries her head in my shoulder and grabs on. I'm enjoying it because I know soon enough she will be miss independent and won't need me as much. The past few days she has really protested eating in her high chair and eating anything with a baby spoon. I think she just wants to be like us and she realizes that we don't eat that stuff so why should she. My favorite thing now is that she is starting to play games with us. She loves peek-a-boo and she likes it when we crawl after her and try to get her. I never thought my serious little baby would be this much fun!

9 Months Old!

I can't believe Hailey is already 9 months old. It's amazing how quickly time passes. We took her for her check-up on Friday and she didn't want any part of it. I think she still remembers the ordeal at the Children's Hospital because she didn't want the nurse or doctor to touch her at all. She screamed for most of the appointment, but she is healthy and doing great! Her crawling style is so funny, she now drags one leg behind and only moves forward with one knee. I don't think she likes her knees being on the ground so hopefully that will entice her to start walking soon!

She Can Crawl!

I can't believe it, my baby is crawling! We were so surprised yesterday when Hailey started making attempts to crawl, then this morning she just got up on all fours and started moving! I was really thinking she would never crawl because she had not made any attempt whatsoever and would cry if we tried to encourage her to crawl. Of course she is still quite shaky and will only go a few feet at a time, but I'm sure she will be moving all over in no time!

Separation Anxiety

The dreaded separation anxiety has now taken over Hailey. I'm not sure if it was related to her being sick, but since we got home from Denver she has not been the same. Hailey used to be the best baby in the YMCA day care, but this past week she has cried every time I left her. The worst is nap time, she won't even sleep unless I hold her. If I lay her down she screams hysterically until I go back in and get her. I'm not really sure what to do with her, if she doesn't nap than she is so cranky all day, but I also don't want to hold her every time she needs to nap! Hopefully this phase will pass quickly and we will get our Hailey back!

It's play time

Hailey and I went to our first play group this afternoon. We met the moms and babies in our gymboree class so it's nice that they are all the same age as Hailey. The kids didn't really interact with each other, I think they are still to young but it's good for Hailey to be around other babies and it was nice to be able to talk to other adults again! I'm just excited to have met some new people who are going through the same things we are and hopefully make some new friends!

Temper, Temper

Hailey is so funny, she now gets mad when she doesn't get what she wants. She slams her little hands into her lap or her stomach and makes a whiny scream noise. It always cracks Mike and I up when she does it. She has finally recovered from her ear infection and is eating normally again which is a relief! Her teeth are still giving her trouble though, her first tooth that erupted almost 3 weeks ago keeps going up and down and she keeps biting her hands and crying because of the discomfort. I really hope the rest of her teeth don't cause this much trouble!

First Family Vacation

Well we just got home last night from our first family vacation to Denver. We went out to visit Mike's brother and sister and his parents and other sister also flew out. Vacations are definitely not as easy with a baby. The flight out went fine, Hailey was entertained with a Go Diego Go DVD and some toys but it was hard for her not to be able to move around. We got in on Saturday morning and just hung out at Andy's place most of the day. Hailey slept pretty good the first night considering it was her first night not in her crib. On Sunday morning we woke up early and went for a walk. Denver has some really beautiful scenery, the mountains are beautiful, it's so different from North Carolina. It was quite warm in Denver but it was nice to escape the humidity for a few days. That afternoon we went to the pool and grilled out while the Hailey and Caitlin played in the pool. We went to the park for dinner and had a picnic but Hailey started feeling really warm and didn't want to eat very much. That night she woke up crying with a 102 degree fever. At first we thought it was due to her teething but she just really wasn't herself and was getting really clingy with me. On Monday we went to the aquarium and poor Hailey was just miserable she refused to eat or drink anything all day and we were getting worried about her. Tuesday we woke up around 3:00 a.m. and panicked when her fever was 103.6 so we called the children's hospital. They recommended that we have her checked out because we were going to be traveling home later that afternoon. So at 5:00 a.m. we took her in, they said she had infections in both of her ears so no wonder she was feeling so awful! We gave her Tylenol/Motrin to keep her fever down and some benadryl for the flight home to make her more comfortable so she could sleep. She ended up sleeping the entire flight home and this morning she is feeling much better. Overall we had a great time, it was really good to see mike's family but it was definitely stressful having Hailey not feeling well. But I will say it is great to be home!