she just keeps growing...

I don't like it one bit, but Hailey jsut keeps getting bigger and bigger on me.... She's always learning some new trick or "skill" and while I realy think it's fun to celebrate all of the little accomplishments, I really do miss the baby that just loved to snuggle and be held all the time! (I've kinda had a little taste of what that was like, 'cause she's been sick, lately, and does really like to snuggle!) :)

Here's Hailey's new skill- standing while playing with toys. She was kind of able to stand up on her own, before, but she never had the coordination to actually play with things while she was standing there...she used to reach for a toy and fall over! She still does fall over, but not as much and she can definitely stand there for a while by herself. I can tell when she gets tired, though, she gets a little wobbly and just looks at the ground, like she's not realy sure how to get there, but would kind of like to! :)

the giggly little girl playing with her book...she's actually growling at it, but we'll call it smiling! ;)
now that's a real smile! (i had to hold her book so she'd actually look at me!)

yup, now she has it back. I love how she looks at all the pictures, now. She even has her "favorite" books and the ones that if you get out she'll just keep looking at the basket until you get her a different one! :)

I love my little peanut, but it's sad to think that she might not be such a little peanut for a ton longer...I feel like she's grown so much already! I can't believe that this little girl standing here is the same one that I brought home from the hospital!! I also can't believe how much fun I can have with her. She's definitely my little buddy these days and I just love it. She laughs at things, now, even when I don't mean her to! I was telling Korey a story the other day and I said a funny sounding word (i forgot what it was, though...bummer!) in kind of a funny voice and Hailey laughed. It was so cute. And if Korey says, "wham" really loud and makes it look like he's gonna hit his head against the wall she just goes ballistic with giggles. It's great! I guess I am excited for her to get bigger and get more of a personality, but I just love the sweet little baby that I brought home from the hospital! That baby and I had such sweet times...plus, it was so much fun to sleep on the couch with that baby...Hailey never wants to sleep anywhere but her crib or her carseat! ;( Sad...no more excuses for naps for me!

I like the fall, the mist and all...

Since the fall weather is upon us- whether we like it or not- Hailey and I have decided that we need to get ready. One of the things that we've been doing is spending more time indoors. Usually we go for a walk or hang out outside on the swing or just on a blanket playing, but with it being so chilly (not to mention windy and rainy) it's been more fun to just hole up inside! I guess you could say that we've gone into hibernation mode...maybe we'll emerge by next spring! ;)

Here's Hailey enjoying her johnny jump up that I hung in the doorway! She usually plays in this for at least an hour each day and she just jumps and either growls or talks to herself! (yeah, I did say growl...it honestly sounds like she's trying to imitate the dog growling at the door or something...)

here's an action shot...she never stops moving...she's in constant motion in this thing! (no wonder she never gains any weight...) ;)
getting ready for the fall also means warm clothes! I haven't turned on the furnace, yet...I just can't do it...so our house is a little cool, but it is kinda fun to wear our warm clothes!

and...it means getting new books to read! We just got two new ones yesterday and they're great! one is called "puppies" and it has all these little puppies that you can feel, Hailey loves it! The other one is called "busy baby" and it has a baby blanket that you can feel on each page as the baby goes through it's day! She likes that one, too...she doesn't ever want to let go of the blanket.

So, I guess I would have to say that I like the fall and all that goes with it. It's fun to spend more time holed up indoors and to think about being able to get stuff ready for winter soon! Yeah!! bring on the snow! ;)

Sunday...

We had a big day, yesterday! Great Grandma Yetter came to visit and the Packers were playing!! (they won...so Daddy and Grandpa were happy!!) I really like my Great Grandma. She is a lot of fun to play with. She even gave me a bottle last night before I went to bed. Here she is playing, "this is the way the ladies ride..." with me! I love that game!

Yummmy...she lets me eat my Uncle Phil's hat!
She tried to put it on my head, but I pulled it off...I'm too quick for you, Grandma!

watching the Packers with my Daddy! Do you like my hat?? Daddy says that it's good luck, 'cause when I wore it the Packers started doing better...

I love you, Daddy. Thanks for letting me sit on the couch with you...now if I could just get you to share the chips and dip with me!!!

I love my new swing from my Grandma K

Korey's Mom gave us a swing that Korey and Kelly had when they were little and Hailey absolutely loves to spend time in it! Plus, she's just so adorable that I can't help but put her in it! :) Korey took Hailey to Charlie's with him the other day to pick up the stuff to put it up on our clothes line...which in itself is always a big adventure for Hailey. The ladies at Charlie's just love her- usually if just Korey takes her she ends up walking around with one of them while he shops. I think yesterday he said that she was up in the front of the store greeting costumers as they walked into the store! (she LOVES all the attention from them and is probably the perfect greeter...she smiles and coos at everyone!)

Isn't this just the sweetest face?! I just love her little looks...they're so adorable!

I put her in a little skort that I got from Steve and Barry's before they closed, she's just so cute in it! I'm sad that now that she's finally fitting into her 6-9 mon stuff it's too cold to wear a lot of the super cute little dress stuff!! ;(
Hanging out in the swing before bed with Daddy and "uncle Bob" our nextdoor neighbor

giggling at Uncle Bob- he and his wife never had kids and they just love Hailey, everytime we are outside and they hear us one of them heads over and has to play with her for a while! I guess that's what you get when you live in a neighborhood pretty much surrounded by retired people!

Thank you for my swing, Grandma K! I love it!!

Is there ever enough???

I used to think that the problem was that there wasn't enough time in my day to get all the things accomplished that I'd like to get done, but, now I've realized that it's not so much a problem of not eough time in the day as enough energy to fill up the time that I already have. (hence the reason I'm sitting on the couch writing this and not up vacuuming the floors or something like that!) I thought I'd been doing really well with getting all of my stuff done and crashing into bed each night, exhausted, but feeling really good about myself, until Korey brought me up short. The other night he asked, "why don't we have any fun anymore? why are we always so busy with stuff and so serious about everything? I miss how much fun we used to have!" I know part of it is just being parents and growing up- you don't have the ability to just leave whenever and go out for dinner on a whim or take a drive just for the fun of it. We're definitely more tied down with Hailey around, but he's right- what did happen to our fun??? I'm pretty sure that the answer lies with me. Most days by the time he gets home I've had my quiet time, done my bible study, run all over town, probably hung out with a friend or two, gone for a walk (if it's a good day), cleaned the bathroom, done what felt like loads of laundry, vacuumed at least two floors if not the whole house, filled and emptied the dishwasher at least once, snuggled with the baby, and maybe gone on facebook a few times. But, with all of that- somedays I barely have the mental and physical energy to get dinner on the table, let alone be funny and engaging when korey walks through the door. Besides, I'm not even sure I thought it was that big of a deal. But, Korey's question really brought me up short and made me think, honestly, about going back to work. I know that that's not the answer to any problem, but I think that for our marriage our best days were while I was working. When I was going to school I was busy doing homework at night and all that and when I worked from home I just missed that people to people contact so much that when he came home I think I was too clingy, but when I got a job at the bank I'd come home every night with funny stories about the people I saw or the people I worked with and all their drama.(not to mention the fact that every morning I'd put dinner in the crock pot before I left, so I didn't have to worry about that when I got home!) We didn't seem to have the struggle that a lot of couples have about not seeing each other- I think that in a weird way we both kind of liked having our own lives and just coming and hanging out together on the weekends and evenings. Plus, Korey worked 4, 10 hour days most of the time and that gave him a whole day off to go duck hunting, fishing, ice fishing or whatever else he wanted to on that day so that when the weekend rolled around or I got home from work he actually missed me and wanted to spend time with me- instead of wanting to be outside doing something. I know that I'm not going to go back to work, but it does make me wonder what I can do to make that "fun" come back to my life...maybe it would help if Korey did the laundry and helped clean the house like he used to...or maybe Hailey and I need to be gone when he gets home more often! ;) haha...i'm sure neither of those would make huge differences, but I'm really going to have to get it together and think of some funny stories to tell him when he gets home, tonight...or maybe I should take a nap so that I'm not as exhausted when he comes home...hmmmm...

apple picking with baby buddies!

Today Hailey and I went apple picking with some friends from baby buddies. It was super fun, but the best part was that Hailey had a big sister for the day. My dear friend, Christy, had to take her youngest to a doctor's appointment, so she wasn't able to attend, but we didn't want Abby to miss out, so we offered to adopt her for the day! She was such a great little helper and I think that she had as much fun being Hailey's big sister as Hailey had having a big sister. All the way up to Merrill they sat and "chatted" in the backseat. I had told Abby that it was her job to put Hailey's nuk in her mouth if she got cranky and to hold her hand for her so that she could fall asleep, and she did her job admirably! Hailey didn't fall asleep, but I heard a lot of giggling and chatting coming from the backseat. Right before we got to the Orchard Abby said to me, "you need to have another baby so that Hailey can have a big sister all the time!" :) (only if I could adopt you, Abby!)

Here are the two girls enjoying their ride to the apple trees

All the little girls sitting on a big chair...you can barely see Abby and Ellie, who are holding the two babies on their laps! I guess that means Hailey's finally getting bigger!

Anna, Kate, Hailey, and Ellie

Josie and Hailey...isn't Josie's little tonge adorable?? I just love it!

Josie crawling away. Isn't she a peanut?? She and Hailey are exactly the same age- only an hour apart, but you'd never know it by their size...Hailey has a lot of catching up to do!

Abby, posing under the apple tree! Isn't she a gorgeous little girl??

aww...they're just precious!

my dear friend, Beth! the only one of our group that has 3 kids...i'm the only one with only 1, everyone else has 2! That must be the magic #

Abby was just so good at taking pictures with everyone ;)

Hailey eating apples...or maybe just playing with it!

My dear friend, Beth's daugther Lauren!

Hailey, Samuel, and Josie...this is about as interested in each other as they usually get!

But, we did finally get a good picture of them all looking at the camera!

Samuel's sweet sister, Katrina!

Samuel and Hailey...maybe we can use this picture at their wedding someday! ;)

All done and ready to go home!

8 months

Today, I turned 8 months old and I had a big day! I spent the morning at a coffee shop with my favorite friends, practiced my standing skills in the dining room, tried out my new "self-feeding" skills, and then I spent some really great time at swimming lessons with my mommy! All in all a good way to spend my 8 month birthday!

Tyler, my buddy...I'm smiling at my favorite lady, Esther

My favorite lady, Esther!

peek-a-boo, Mommy! I see you!

only big girls stand on chairs by themselves and I do that, so that must make me a big girl!

wow, I'm such a big girl, but mommy still doesn't trust me all by myself...see her hand in the background??? She feels like she has to have it there just in case!

hanging out on the floor making faces at my mommy!

eating cottage cheese all by myself for the first time! It was mostly messy, but a lot of fun!

somedays it's just harder than others to trust God...

Yesterday our neighbor (who's a retired lineman) came over and told Korey about a guy who got super badly burned while working on a powerline! (that's the same job that Korey does) What he didn't know is that the guy's wife actually used to work with Korey- she is the first woman to be hired by Public Service to do that kind of work. My heart just broke when I heard of it, because you never like to hear of a husband or father getting hurt, but it makes it so much harder when it is someone that you know. It was so scary to watch my husband walk away to work this morning and know that I need to surrender him to the Lord. And, as Darlene, watches her husband fight for his life at a burn center in Milwaukee, I have to watch my husbnd leave for work and fight with my flesh over not wanting to weep and cling to him harder and harder. I can't imagine what Darlene is going through, today...she has two little boys that are about 2 and 5 months and no matter what their life will never be the same. Even if her husband, Mike, does survive it is never going to be life as normal in their house- but, there's a really good chance that he won't. I guess Mike's whole body was burned and when they found him his skin was hanging and all of his clothing had been burned off, leaving only his boots and leather belt still in tact. I know that it really threw Korey for a loop and our neighbor, too. (our neighbor used to work for the same company as Mike did) I don't think that Korey slept very well last night, he was just too wired about it all! I think the thing that worked Korey up the most is that this guy was a foreman- so he potentially could have quite a few guys working under him and how scary is that, that a guy who doesn't know how to keep himself safe is in charge of keeping other guys safe?! I hear my little peanut waking up, so if you have time pray for Mike Rhode and his wife Darlene and their little boys.

Owen Andrew Albright

Next week or the week after, depending on if my friend takes another week off of work or not, I'm going to start watching a newborn baby boy! His name is Owen and he is such a little peanut. He will be 5 weeks old tomorrow and is such a good baby. Unlike my own little angel, Owen barely cries and is always such a happy little guy. He and his Mom, Laura, came over to visit the other day and he and Hailey got along superbly! :) The only thing that I think is going to be an "interesting" little problem is that Hailey can't stand watching me carry, hold or snuggle with any baby and she hates it when another kid gets a bottle and she doesn't! I'm thinking that the first week or two isn't going to be very fun and that it will be filled with a lot of tears and screams by Hailey, but after that I think that she'll just settle in and be fine with it all. I'm actually really hoping that it will help her get over some of her "need to be held by my mommy" thing! I don't really know when that started, but it feels like within the last week anytime that I'm around Hailey has to be in my arms or at the least looking at me or she isn't happy. Even if Korey has her and she sees me she'll start screeching until he hands her over, but if I just walk out of the room and she "forgets" that I'm there then she's fine! It's rather annoying, but in a weird little way it's kind of endearing. I've always felt like she just had this super special bond with her Dad and it's kind of nice to see that she really does love me! :) Not that I want to keep rewarding that behavior so that it keeps up or anything, but it's nice to know that I'm loved!!!

Here are Hailey and Owen playing on the floor. I actually think that they're holding hands...kinda cute! (i haven't shown this one to korey, otherwise he might not let owen come back) ;)

she definitely looks bigger than him but not that much...
ok...don't even ask about her outfit or the fact that her little socks are all the way up to her knees and her pants are all scrunched up...some outfits just don't lend themself very well to wearing! :)

Mommy workout plan 2009!

Before Hailey was born I had this grand notion that everyday I would get out with her and we would go for walks, we would rollerblade, or we would ride bikes- whatever- as long as we were outside and working out. Well, it didn't take too long for reality to hit...then I realized that logistically speaking, after housework, grocery shopping, hanging out with friends, and diapering, feeding, and playing with a baby there just isn't always time to take a walk around the yard, let alone go rollerblading for a few miles! So, I began looking for a workout plan that would fit my lifestyle! My only requirements were that it didn't take a lot of time, it couldn't add any work to my day, and I didn't have to buy any fancy machinery to do it! Unfortunately, I couldn't find any workouts that fit those requirements, so I had to do my own. Here it is:

*To get you started- rise at 6 in the morning- before even the sun is out and brush your teeth vigorously for 2 minutes- or however long it takes before they actually feel clean...which could be 5 min, if you fell into bed an exhausted heap the night before!
*For a warm up- walk to the kitchen to start the coffee and pack husband's lunch. Walk back to the bathroom because you forgot to put your contacts in, walk back to kitchen, walk back to bathroom because you realized that you now have to pee, walk back to kitchen...you get the picture. Do this repeatedly until you realize that either a) whatever you forgot in the bathroom isn't worth it, anymore or b)you should just go back to bed
*To build up your arm and leg muscles- carry the laundry basket down the stairs, come back up for a few stragglers that fell out, go back and start a load, sprint up because you hear the dog barking upstairs and realize that you forgot to let her in, go back down and finish filling the washer, return upstairs to get the clothes out of the baby's room that you forgot the first time, fill washer and return upstairs. Repeat this process for as many loads of laundry that you have!
*For those hard to strenghten back muscles- retrieve baby out of crib, bend down to change diaper, reach up for nuk and a toy for baby to play with. Repeat this action at least 6 more times throughout the day
*Work those forearms by holding the baby's head as your feeding her, then put her in highchair and work the wrist by mushing, stirring and shoveling spoonfuls of food into her mouth
*Build your mental sharpness by trying to remember things...such as, where did I put my keys? bottle? nuk? This exercise is especially helpful to build up your stamina for the bigger questions such as, where did I put the baby? and what was I supposed to do today?
*For stamina training- sprint around the house just minutes before it's time to leave grabbing diaper bag, baby, carseat, bottle, extra diapers, filling the wipes container, a nuk, some baby food, your purse...and whatever else you think you might need for the trip. It is necessary for this exercise that you reserve some energy for the very last minute sprint from the car to the house for the missing car keys! (it is best for this workout if everything is in a different place each day, so as not to get too used to a certain routine!)
*And, last but not least, as a cool down- walk around the living room and kitchen picking up all the stray toys, clothes, books, and diapers.

swimming lessons at the YMCA

Ever since I taught swimming lessons to put myself through college I've wanted to take my child to parent/child swimming classes and now that Hailey's over 6 months I could!! It was an exciting day for me. I just couldn't wait to get there. Even though we had a super busy day and I ran around until almost the minute before we left for lessons, it just felt good to be there! Hailey was by far the youngest baby there and I'm pretty sure that I was the youngest parent there, but it was still fun. She absolutely loved being in the water and by the time it was time to leave she was even splashing and hitting the water with her hands. We played a lot of little games that were pretty fun. Mostly the hokie pokie, if you're happy and you know it, and brown bear brwon bear. Most of the kids could blow in the water or go under, but Hailey was definitely the best at floating on her back. :) I was just so proud of her, she didn't even whine or cry the whole time, in fact she was smiling at all the lifeguards and other teachers and pretty much chatting with anyone who would listen! Now, if I could just keep track of my swimsuit bottoms we'd be good to go! (yeah...that's right, I can't find them anywhere-hopefully they're in the lost in found...You really wouldn't believe how hard it is to change a 7 month old and yourself at the same time, especially in a super wet, kinda gross, super full locker room!)

You can't see us too well 'cause the sun is shining in...but, we're there practicing swimming towards a little toy!

Here we are practing our kicks! Hailey has some killer kicks...I think she's gonna be a breastroker! ;) (she does awesome froggie kicks!)