Early Christmas

Since we are flying home to Utah for Christmas tomorrow, Paul and I decided to write Santa and ask him to come a little early!  He came to Indiana on Saturday and we opened up the gifts he left us!  Hayden got a kitchen from Paul & I and Grandma Anne & Papa Steve, so Santa thought it would be a good idea to get pots, pans, plates, etc.  Hayden had so much fun playing with her new things all day.  We will set up her kitchen once we get to Georgia since we are moving so soon.

Paul got very frustrated with Hayden because she would open one present and then just want to play.  He wanted her to set it aside and open the next one.  It took us awhile, and a breakfast break, but she eventually got around to opening them all.

What Santa left for Hayden.  Our stockings were one of the few "fun" things we brought with us from Cheyenne.

Hayden liked her stocking a lot this year and wanted to hug it! Also you may notice the scratch on her face, she got in a little tiff with a cat and the cat won.

Santa is helping fly us home for the holidays so this year Paul just got a new ornament (diet-coke because he is obsessed with it) and a symphony bar!

Mom helping Hayden open her presents

Here is a picture of what her kitchen will look like when we set it up

Hayden had such a hard time deciding what she wanted to play with when it was all laid out in front of her.

The video is a little long, but it shows off some of her new dance moves and what a difficult time she had deciding what she wanted to play with.

One Step Closer

This is how I found Hayden after her nap a few days ago:

Awesome, one step closer to taking off her clothes on her own!

15 months old

Hayden is 15 months old today.  I just keep picturing the way she was last December and cannot believe how much more independent she is.  Here's the new things she did last month...

• added "thank you" and "ne ne ne" (translation: no) to her vocabulary
• can now also identify her hair, eyes (will only point to them with her thumb) and belly button (she really likes sticking her fingers in there)
• loves dancing in her diaper 
• likes having scarves around her neck
• is obsessed with having a pen in each hand at all times
• can click a pen in and out and take pen lids off and on
• likes to pretend she is writing in small notebooks or on paper
• thinks Shrek is the best thing ever
• recently discovered how awesome Mickey Mouse Club House is and loves doing the "hot dog dance"
• likes to blow mom and dad kisses at nighttime
• likes to "talk" on the house phone
• can pull herself up on the coach with no help!
• loves clapping when she hears clapping on tv
• can now absolutely destroy the pantry, fridge and dishwasher if accidentally left open by mom (she used to play so nice in there) 
• likes pulling clean clothes out of the hamper for mom to fold

It is amazing how she is constantly learning to do new things!  I should follow her example and learn as many new things in a month, think how smart I could be!!!

New Home

When Paul went out for the home inspection, I sent him with our camera.  Did he take one picture....nope!  I guess he was paying attention to the housing inspection which is more important.  But here are some of the pictures of the house they had online.  Enjoy...

 The only thing that will be different is the homeowner replaced the garage doors with nicer ones!

We feel very fortunate to be able to buy this home.  It's definitely not perfect and there are things I want to change someday soon.  If nothing else right now, I love the south for their affordable homes!

Homeowners

Such a daunting term that now describes Paul and I!  We officially closed on our house today at noon and literally signed paper after paper for one hour.  The title company we went through said that due to using a VA loan and because our seller was very picky we had more paperwork than most home loans.  We were suppose to close on our home yesterday and after waiting for over an hour in the office (after waking Hayden up early from her nap) the seller and his lawyer were unable to send the paperwork. 

Is it terrible that I did not understand most of what I signed?  I hope Paul knows what is going on because I was just trying to sign and keep Hayden entertained.  It is an exciting, yet scary thing to be a homeowner.  I am so excited to make it ours in the years to come, but worried about repairs and things going wrong.  Oh well, can't turn back now! 

We will drive the 9 hours from Indianapolis to Atlanta on January 12th and have our belongings moved in on the 13th.  Life feels like it has been on hold the past 4 months and now it is finally starting up again....

Videos

Some nights Hayden can be such a stinker when it comes to eating.  She never fights me during breakfast or lunch, just dinner.  This is such a funny video because she protests so hard and then realizes she actually does like the way it tastes.  So she covers her eyes and eats it and then protests again with the next spoonful!

This has become one of Hayden's favorite things to do: dance in just her diaper.  She loves being naked.  She has even tried to take her clothes off in public which worries me just a tad!  Lately she enjoys dancing to the music from her ball popper toy (thanks Cahoons!)  She is so funny to watch.  Sometimes she is more crazy, but this is a pretty good picture of what our nights are like. 

Stranger Danger!

I took Hayden to her 15 month appointment today (Hayden will be 15 months on December 16th) and it was the first Dr. appointment where she has been fearful of the Dr!  She said that this is normal around 15 months they become afraid of strangers.  Anyway she is doing fine and is really growing like a weed (although they weighed her with her clothes on today and she had just eaten lunch)

Weight: 23 lbs 14 oz    70%
Length: 32 inches         92%
Head: 48 cm                 95%

One funny note:  Hayden was strutting around the room after we took her clothes off for the rest of her exam and the Dr. said, "boy she's got a strong will that one, I can tell just by the way she is walking!" It's so true, she definitely does, she lets you know when she is not happy for sure!

Christmas Party and Goodbye baby food!

December 4th was Paul's work Christmas Party.  It was held at the dolphin pavilion at the Indianapolis Zoo.  So we got to eat our dinner, watch a dolphin show and then head for dessert!  We had what looked like raffle tickets behind our name tags, so we kept waiting for the raffle to begin, only to find out after the event was over that they were our free drink tickets.  Someone said, "You could have sold those and made some money."  Anyway, it was a fun night out and so nice to put faces with all these names I keep hearing about.  I got to meet the 2 managers Paul will have in Atlanta and they seem like such genuine people and true Southern gentlemen.  My friend Liz from college watched Hayden for us again which was so nice of her.  Hayden loves her and did not cry at all when we left.  She was even sound asleep when we got home.  

Paul and I before leaving (Paul really needs a haircut as you can see, but he wants me to shave it and I keep trying to convince him to leave it longer!)

Since I didn't need to worry about cooking dinner I figured I'd just give Hayden her favorite food:  baby food.  But she actually spit most of it out!  I was so excited.  She is eating most of our dinners each night and I am so happy about it.  She still doesn't like any other vegetables other than the baby food jars, but at least she is eating mostly "real" food now!

1st Snow of the Season

The past week it started snowing in Indiana and today there was enough of it sticking that we decided to take Hayden out.  This was her first time walking around in the snow.  She approached it so cautiously like most things in her life and then ended up having a great time.  She liked falling down in it and watching dad make snow balls and throw them at me or the ground!  Paul was very concerned that she was cold because she does not have appropriate snow pants, so we went in after about 25 minutes only to find that she was very toasty in all her layers!

These are her first moments in the snow.  Classic Hayden! 

Laughing at dad throwing snowballs