what I've always wanted to do...

Ever since the day that I found out I was pregnant, I've dreamed about making food for Hailey and freezing it in ice-cube trays!! I don't know why, but this small act was always that one act that struck me as being completely "motherly." Maybe it's because I can remember my own mother making food and grinding it up in her little baby food grinder and then storing peas and squash and beans and whatever else she made in little ice cube trays and then when they were frozen moving them to baggies and storing them in the freezer! So, I finally got to do this wonderful motherly task the other day and I wanted to share it all with you guys. It was so fun to grind up food and keep it for Hailey. I now have little bags of applesauce, peas, and bananas! (those are pretty much all the foods we've tried so far) I guess maybe it made me feel like I was finally a real Mom...as if giving birth, middle of the night feedings, changing oodles of poopy diapers, dragging a million things with me wherever I go, and constantly putting another human being way above yourself doesn't make you feel Mom enough! :) But there is just something about being able to make food for your baby and put her in the highchair to feed her that's kind of fun. I like to watch her face as we try all these new foods and think about all the fun we're going to have in the coming years and all the things we're going to get to eat! I just hope that she develops a taste for Mexican!! maybe I can try and grind up an echilada in there...ha,ha,ha. Just Kidding. I won't try that for a while yet. :)

i love you, daddy

Hailey just loves her Dad and I think the feeling is definitely mutual! :) I love seeing them "hang" together. And, lately, it's been so hot that we just haven't felt like doing much, other than just lay around the house! Mostly I think it's because we don't have central air, we just have a window unit air conditioner in our bedroom and it does an ok job of cooling off our house, but it definitely doesn't cool it off super well!! Oh well, it just gives us all a good excuse to have fun together without doing any work...which for Korey and I is definitely different! We dont' even know what to do with all of our time. ;) (so, we spend it taking photos of our very cute baby...)

I was talking to my friend, Christy, today about being a Mom and what I liked about it the best and I think that it's just the little smiles that you see everyday...there's just something so wonderful about seeing your child's face light up that words really can't explain it! I'm sure every Mom can understand that feeling, and maybe it is just me who can't get over it, but I feel like everyday I'm amazed again and again how wonderful it is to be a Mom!! I began my "love relationship" with Hailey at the exact moment that I felt the top of her little head, in the middle of my labor and it hasn't stopped! I fall more and more in love with her each day. I just can't even believe that it is possible to love another human being this much! I can't wait until the day that I can have another one. I told Korey the other day that I wish we could have at least 6 kids, because I just so enjoy every aspect of being a Mom!! :) I know it sounds "sick," but it's even been fun to changer her diapers, lately, because it's "fun" to see what color they're gonna look like!! It's so funny, now that we're feeding her real food, because her poops are just so different. They pretty much look like what she ate! Pretty crazy, huh?!

swimming in the sunshine!

Hailey and I were so hot today, because we don't have any air conditioning, so we decided to go outside and play in the pool. :) How do you like it??? She cried when I put her in it by herself, but when I climbed in she was happy...go figure! Yesterday she had a wonderful time playing in there all by herself...not that I'm really complaining because, even though it was a little cramped it was nice to cool off!

5 months!

Hailey turns 5 months old, today!! And, I just can't believe the grace that God has lavished on Korey and I in the last year. I was reminded this morning of the verse that Korey and I prayed for Hailey before she was even conceived. 1 Samuel 1:27, "For this child I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition that I asked of Him." The Lord has surely granted us the petition that we asked of Him- above and beyond what we could have hoped for. Even though Hailey cried almost the entire day- I think the heat was a little too much for her- I can still end my day by thanking the Lord for this glorious gift that He has given me! Thank you, Father, for your indescribable gift.

This is me with my adorable little child! I love her so much and have never been happier...
This little dress was one that I wore when I was a litle girl! I think it is just adorable!!

Hailey loves "reading" these little books that I found at a garage sale. They are great- they can go right in the washing machine, so I don't have to worry about what she might get on them. :)

Her Nani bought her this cute litle outfit. Isn't it adorable?? I think that the pants are supposed to be capris, but she doesn't quite have long enough legs for that!! (I guess she takes after her parent's!) :)

I love how she's starting to grab at things and play with things, now! It's so fun to be able to give her little toys and watch her enjoy touching them and putting them inside her mouth! :) I'm gonna make her a little "touch and feel" book, as soon as I can get to my sewing machine again!

I love seeing her in her little bumbo seat. I have been putting her in this to feed her and she just gets so excited to go in here, now!

Happy little baby!!

Fort Wilderness/21 weeks

Hailey turned 21 weeks yesterday! I can't believe it...yikes! Where has all the time gone??? She's gonna be 5 months old soon!!

To celebrate we went with my Mom to pick up Phillip from JV Camp at Fort Wilderness. It was so great to go back to the place where I spent a lot of my summers. I seriously can't think of any other thing that I spent more of my summers doing, after 10th grade. I went up to LAB,which is basically 3 weeks spent canoeing, hiking, backpacking, swimming, using a shower without a top and pit toilets, eating in a "mess tent" like structure, doing dishes by hand for 20-30 people, spending oodles of time studying God's Word, enjoying the beautiful creation, and building great relationships, in the summer before 10th grade and that was it for me. I was totally hooked on Fort from then on. I think Fort has been so pivotal in my spiritual walk, that I'm not sure where I'd be today without it. There was one summer that my parent's said I could come up and counsel at LAB and then I had to come home and work to pay for college. But, after LAB I came home for about a week before quitting my lifeguarding job and going back to camp to be a head cook in the kitchen. After that summer, I ended up not going to school in Eau Claire, but staying on at Fort to be the head cook. I learned so much during that time and I'm so thankful to my parent's for letting me do it! I know that both of those times they were mad at me for "copping out" on my responsibilities, but God had better plans for me than what we had planned!

Here is Hailey with her Nani at the main camp, down by the beach. I used to get up early in the morning, before I had to be to work in the kitchen and have my quiet time down by the lake. I so loved those times and I still can't go back to camp without thinking of those early mornings where it was just me, God, and the loons! (everyone else who was smart was sleeping. :))

Hailey with one of my dearest friends and mentors in the LAB kitchen, Becky Chapman. She taught me how to do so much of the cooking that I can now do with ease. She was blessed with an amazing amount of love and patience. I can only pray that God would make me more like her!

You'll notice that it's pretty rustic...but, it definitely serves the purpose of getting you out of your comfort zone and letting God work in your life! I have seen so many lives incredibly transformed- including my own! Plus, Korey and I really "began" our relationship here. There was one summer while I was in college, that I came up here and cooked at LAB for the summer. It was slightly less people than at main camp to cook for(which can serve up to 350), but definitely just as much work!
Here's Phillip hanging out on the beach by the lifeguard stands...I used to spend the evenings helping out as a lifeguard just so I could go waterskiing with them after the beach closed. :)

Hailey getting her first touch of lake water by her Nani.

Hey, Kid! I love you!!

Hailey is so loved by her Uncle Phil! This is one of the beautiful swings that I used to sit on and have my morning times alone with God! I wish more than anything else that I could go back to Fort and have that time again!

walking down to the water

My dear friend, mentor, and boss- Janet Merkel. We had a blast working in the kitchen together and even though we had some rocky times we worked through them and she would still be one of the first people that I would go to if I needed someone to pray or cry with! I spent a lot of time in the back store room with Janet praying, talking, or crying together. She prayed so hard for me to get pregnant with Hailey, but also made me think about the reality of what would happen if God chose not to grant that answer and I love her for that!!Don't you just love the random bottle of shampoo on the rocks behind Hailey?? JV campers will just leave their stuff anywhere....

I love Fort Wilderness and I can't wait for my daughter to have the fun and amazing times there that I did. It was so great to go up there today and show off Hailey. Everyone was so welcoming and excited to see her! (which made it doubly exciting) :) It is fun to go back to a place where you feel loved and no matter how much Fort changes through the years, it will always be home to me! Korey and I are planning on doing family camp there next summer with my best friend from there- Krysta and her family. That excites me more than anything, ,'cause Krysta and I spent more time at Fort together than we did even at home. She even met her husband there and got married there! I can't wait for our daughters to be able to experience Fort together and I can only hope that they get into as many scrapes and have as much fun as we did! Krysta and I used to say, "oh there's just one more thing to write home about" everytime that something bad happened to us (and between all the snakes, falling trees, leeches, horses dying, freezing cold canoe trips, getting lost on hiking trips, and many other misadventures, there was plenty to write home about!!) and I hope I can impart that same carefree attitude about life to Hailey!

first time haircut!

Korey sporting his new haircut, while holding his little "bandit"

No, it's not Hailey that got a haircut for the first time, but me that gave Korey a haircut for the first time. I'm not really sure why Korey decided that it would be good for us to buy a clippers and me to cut his hair with them. But, for whatever reason instead of going to the usual hair salon for a haircut, Korey got one in our garage yesterday. I was a little nervous at first, so we borrowed a pair of clippers from our neighbor and she gave me a few pointers to begin with. Plus, we were just about to begin and our neighbor, Dave, who practically lives in our garage (not sure why...he has a perfectly fine one of his own- in fact, his is a lot bigger than ours. But, I guess ours does have one thing up on his...you can usually find Korey in ours and sometimes me and every once in a while Hailey), came over to see what was happening and smoke a few cigarrettes. Immediately I was pretty happy that I had put Hailey to bed earlier, 'cause I really don't like it when he smokes in front of her! In the end, though, he ended up giving me a lot of unsolicited advice and basically just turning a stressful thing into a big joke. Plus, you know Korey and I, whenever there is an audience we get all goofy and put on a good show, so it did end up being pretty funny. But, other than the fact that I felt like it took forever, we both were covered in little tiny hairs, Korey kept checking the little "bit" sizes to make sure that I wasn't going to short or too long, it got cut a little crooked in the back(nothing anyone will be able to see from main street) ;), and I only nipped his ear once, it seemed like a successful haircut. And, if I do say so myself, I think he looks pretty dashing in his new haircut! Maybe I'll go professional. Ha,ha,ha!! Don't tell that one to Korey! ;)

I'm rolling over!!

I can't believe that Hailey is getting so grown up. Just a few days ago she learned to roll from her back to her stomach and now she is rolling from her stomach to her back! It is crazy to think that this "mobile" little individual is the same girl that just a few months ago was learning to pick up her head. Amazing, isn't it, what they can learn in such a short time. Think of all the things that you and I could accomplish if we learned things as fast as baby's do. In no time flat I'd have a whole book of the Bible memorized, the entire E3 curriculum, all of my cousins, aunts, friends (and Korey's too) birthdays, the pledge of allegiance, the directions to all the places I want to go, how to fix a tire on the car, and the prices of every major item at each place and if it's a good deal or not. (that one my Mom told me that I'd just automatically start knowing once I started buying it all and it's been almost 4 years now that I've been buying it all for our family and I still don't know what a good price for butter is!! Usually I just buy the cheapest stuff...) Unfortunately I haven't acquired any of those skills- I do know how to roll over, though! :) Now if I can just work on the being as flexible or have as strong of tummy muscles!!!

Puppy Love!

Hailey was playing on the floor today, and for a rare showing- Allie decided to go and lay by her. Maybe she was interested in her toys or something...whatever the reason, it was pretty fun to watch them together. It was nice, too, to have a reason to like Allie...lately she has been running after walkers or barking at other dogs from the house and it has gotten super annoying. It used to be that we could let her outside with us and she would just stay by our side, or at the very least she would obey us when we called her off of something. And now I feel like I can't even let her out to go to the bathroom without putting her on the leash. This morning I let her out to go to the bathroom and from the backyard she heard another dog and made a beeline for the front yard, barking and acting like she was gonna eat this little dog...so, here I am in my pajamas without my teeth brushed or my hair done running after my very bad dog!! It was so embarassing. (the worst part was that I had slept in until 8, today....so, that lady probably thougth I was a super huge sluff off that never does anything...) Anyways, I don't know what has gotten into her lately, but I'm not a huge fan of whatever it is!! But, for this afternoon anyways, she decided to work on getting herself back in my good graces. :) (and what better way than spending time with my favorite person...see, even Allie has figured it out!)

Here's Hailey reaching for Allie. It's so fun to see her reaching for things...although it does make it harder to feed her or have her sit on your lap and do much of anything!

Hailey is grabbing onto Allie's mouth....she pretty much had a death grip on it. I thought it was pretty funny, but apparently Allie did not!(as you can see by the next picture)

Allie saying "I have had enough!"

Poor Hailey looking lost and dejected without her buddy...or play toy. :)

As close as Allie got after that! (and Hailey rolled right over, trying to get closer to her! she just really loves Allie. I can see them being good friends in a few months...ok, maybe more like years! But, hopefully the love will be mutual someday) ;)

I loved this pic, too, 'cause it shows how Hailey rolls over- she grabs the back of her legs and just hikes herself up and over. It's so funny to see how she prepares herself to roll!! (like it's a major event or something...) ;)

what parent's do for their kids!

Look at how much Hailey appreciates all the sacrifices we make for her!
oops...now she won't even look at the camera she's so mad at us!! ;) (what an attitude...lol!!)

This afternoon I went to the dentist to get some work done on a few of my teeth (I had my first cavity...) :( I had a little bit of pain this evening, not too much, but enough to want to just hang out on the couch for the evening. However, since we are having a little party for Hailey's dedication on Sunday, I didn't have that luxury. Tonight, Korey and I felt the need to clean the garage. And, as I was vaccuming the sawdust and spiderwebs off of the walls (Korey does a lot of woodworking in the garage and there is a lot of dust...) I was thinking about the love of a Mom and Dad and what it makes you do! It actually made me think a lot about my own parent's. There aren't many people that can say they had a picnic/wedding reception in their parent's backyard, but Korey and I did! I knew, at the time, that I was asking a lot out of my Mom and Dad, but I never realized how much work/stress it really was for them. Our little party will definitely be smaller than a wedding...but, there are a few similarities, mostly the fact that Hailey was sleeping while we were doing all the work and the night before and the morning of my wedding, I was sleeping over at a friend's house while my Mom and Dad were doing all the work! I guess I still feel kind of bad about the fact that I was off having fun while my Mom was sweating about the fact that it was raining and we didn't have enough seating under the tent, or that all the food wasn't there yet and she didn't have enough room in her refrigerator for all of it and who knows what else....I guess I've never even asked her what she all stressed out about!! But, I know that my parent's love me and that is why they were willing to go through all the work of having our wedding in their backyard and Korey and I love Hailey so much that we are willing to stand up in front of our church and dedicate our little daughter and have a little get together for her at our house! (actually, now that I think about it I think that having the little get together and cleaning our house is the easier of the two...) :) Needless to say I'm a little nervous about getting up in front of the church and dedicating Hailey. I'm a little afraid that Hailey will either cry or spit up on Pastor Engle!! She usually eats her "2nd breakfast" at about 10 or 10:30am, so if we can feed her before that at least we shouldn't have to worry about her crying...but, then we'll definitely have to worry about her spitting up all over Pastor. Hopefully she'll get it all out of her system before we get up there!!

I guess all in all being a parent means sacrificing and giving up things for your kids...it all begins with the pregnancy where you try your hardest to eat right, take prenatal vitamins, drive slowly so that you don't get in a car accident, and deal with huge amounts of nauseousness willingly, goes onto labor and delivery, where you, again, willingly, go through a tremendous amount of pain to bring your adorable baby into the world! But, it doesn't end there- as a parent you continually put yourself second and your baby first. I don't know if you ever get to the point where you stop putting your child first and live for yourself after you have a child, but I guess I hope that I don't!

I'm eating real food!!

ok. so, somehow these photos got uploaded backwards and I just don't have the heart to delete them all and do it again, so look at them backwards. ;)

We fed Hailey her first taste of cereal last night. It was really fun. I think Korey and I enjoyed it more than Hailey did, though. She didn't seem to mind it and she was super interested in chewing on the spoon, but I don't think that she got a lot of the cereal in her belly! (she got a lot on her face and hands, but not so much inside!) Even the food that she did end up getting in her mouth she had a hard time swallowing. Hopefully as she gets older she'll get better at swallowing...

Here she is in the bath that she needed after she ate! I think she enjoyed the bath more than the food! She loves being in the bath, splashing around and kicking. She's started doing this new thing where she kicks the front of the tub and scoots herself backwards!

Korey and Hailey- with her mouth full of cereal!
Mommy feeding Hailey while holding her hands to try and keep them out of the food.

The little chubby one eating! She kept moving her mouth trying to get the spoon, even before it made it to her mouth. She looked like a little bird. It was pretty cute, but I'm pretty sure that's why so much of it ended up on her instead of in her mouth!

Hailey trying to grab the bowl of food!

Playdate time!

We went down to Kody and Devra Ashbeck's house this weekend and Meredith, their daughter, is only 4 days younger than Hailey. It was so fun to see them together. I think that the two of them look a lot alike. It was kind of fun to compare them, also. Hailey definitely enjoyed playing with Meredith's toys! Meredith was a better "talker," though. She kept squealing about everything. :) I think that the two of them must be pretty close to the same size, too. Meredith has a bigger head, but she and Hailey seemed to be pretty close in every other sense.

Kody and Devra have inspired Korey and I to start trying to put Hailey to bed without rocking her to sleep. They just put Meredith to sleep every night and she falls asleep, after a little bit of squealing! (not even crying...just talking to herself!) It was so impressive. So, we have decided that we're gonna try that...maybe later, though. This morning we all fell asleep in the bed together, then she took her afternoon naps in the car seat and then tonight she fell asleep while she was eating and I really didn't want to wake her up and make her fall asleep again. So, I guess we'll just have to try it tomorrow!

Here are the two Mom's with their babies!
Meredith grabbing at Hailey- wanting to give her a hug! :) (or maybe just trying to play with her ear or something...)

The Dad's with their little girls! There is nothing better than watching the dad's play with their babies! It was so fun to see them play with them. Kody and Korey were friends in highschool and they were ushers in each others weddings and now they both have little babies the same age! isn't that fun?!

They were holding hands right before this, but we missed it! Go Figure. Hailey was sticking her finger in Meredith's ear and then she was grabbing at her and shirt and twisting it. I was so afraid that she was going pinch her on accident.

They were so cute just laying on the floor giggling and playing together!

sleeping baby!

Here's Hailey the other day...she fell asleep while I was vaccuming and she looked so dead to the world that I couldn't help but get a picture!

Korey, Hailey, and Allie all sleeping in on Sunday morning. I don't know why I'm up taking a picture instead of joining them, but I just can't seem to sleep in too late! (this was definitely past 7, 'cause I had gotten up and fed Hailey at 7 and then I left them all to go and take a shower...)
The best part is the fact that the dog is sleeping on my pillow!! What is that??

fishing adventures!

Last night when Korey got home from work he wanted Hailey and I to go fishing with him!! We had such a blast. Hailey was just such a peanut and she was so good for us!! Yeah! I think she enjoyed being out on the boat- there was so much to look at. Too bad she missed it when Korey actually got a fish. She was sleeping one time and the other times she and I had gone back to the vehicle to eat! ;)

Here she is sitting in the front seat, helping me pull the trailblazer and the trailer out of the water. I was too afraid to leave her in her carseat...I just kept thinking about that lady whose car went backwards into the water, off the boat launch, and how they had such a hard time even getting her out and I figured that you'd never get a baby out of a carseat in time! (Plus, she's just so goshdarn cute sitting there!!) :)
I know this isn't a super good picture of us, but I loved how you could see the sun setting behind us and kind of glistening off the water!

Here's Hailey holding onto the pole all by herself! she's so grown up. :) Too bad she didn't catch anything.

Daddy and Hailey!

Taking a nap, all wrapped up in her blankets!

I put some blankets up as a little sun and wind barrier for her. She had a good time laying on the bottom of the boat just hanging out talking to us! She really liked it when Korey started up the motor and drove us around, maybe it was the vibrations or something...

I set her on her own little seat and tied a blanker under her arms and around the seat. She sat there for a little while, but the sun kept getting in her eyes whenever the boat would turn a certain way and it was pretty windy, so it just kept turning. :)