Too close to 30

January 13th was my 28th birthday. I can't believe I am so close to 30. I had the day off since it was a Wednesday, so Paul and I went to Fort Collins and Loveland Colorado to do some shopping and go out to dinner. We went to the Bent Fork which is one of my new favorite restaurants. Then Paul got me an ice cream cake from Culver's and had some friends over for dessert. For years I have been telling Paul how much I would like an ice cream cake for my birthday and each year he "forgets." So this year he had me convinced that he got me birthday pie (which was a Robinson family tradition that I always enjoyed better than cake) and then that night surprised me with the ice cream cake. All in all it was a fun day. Here is a picture of the family blowing out candles, Hayden and I at the Bent Fork and Hayden sitting up on our bed.

Grunter

Hayden is really enjoying all the new sounds she can make. Some of her favorites are the fake cough and grunting. The grunts are hilarious because it sounds like she is either really mad or trying to poop. But it is neither, she just loves to grunt. She grunted through an entire relief society lesson a couple of Sundays ago, it was hard to pay attention to the lesson because it was so funny.
She also rolled over for the first time on January 11th from her back to her tummy. The problem with this is that she does not like her tummy too much so once she got on her tummy she was not too happy. Hasn't rolled since! She also likes sitting up propped by a pillow and leaning forward. And last but not least, she really likes grabbing neck skin and squeezing as hard as she can. It is crazy how quickly she is changing.

Sleep & Work

So about 3 days ago Hayden started teething! Can you believe this, she isn't even 4 months old yet, so when she woke up screaming I didn't even think about this possibility for several hours. I burped her, checked her diaper, gave her gas drops, tried nursing her, but to no avail, she continued to scream. Of course Paul was on alert so I was alone. Paul did get a call about 2:30 am and immediately knew something was wrong for me to call him at this time. When moms and dads use to tell me that they were up all night with their child I definitely thought this was an exaggeration. Well I want to apologize for not believing all of you, because it is true, you can stay up all night! Thank heavens I now have orajel and some other baby teething medication, works great. Wish I had had it that night.
I started work today and definitely have mixed feelings. I am working 2 10 hour days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Paul had the day off and stayed home with her. She is enjoying taking a bottle from dad and loves petting his arms. Maybe she likes the hair :) He had to take her in to work for about an hour and Paul said his commander was so happy to see her and kept commenting on her beautiful eyes. He even said that they should put her through a training sequence and she could go on alerts. Anyway, I hope I am happy working part-time and that life balances out. I always thought I wouldn't like staying at home full-time, but I think I could be quite content.

Wyoming Christmas

This year was both Paul and I's first Christmas away from home and also our first Christmas with Hayden. Paul got the day of Christmas off but was not allowed to leave Cheyenne for the holidays this year. But we made the best of it and had a great day. We started off by buying our first Honey Baked Ham in Ft. Collins on Christmas Eve and making my Grandma Cowan's yummy roll recipe. We read the Christmas story and ate Ham sandwiches and opened our Christmas jammies that Paul's mom gets each year.

The next morning we woke up around 8:30 am, Hayden slept 9 hours-thanks Hayden! We made German pancakes and opened up our stockings. Although Hayden had no idea what was going on, I think she was excited because she could tell we were both excited. We got Hayden a tiny love play mate and despite the lamb not singing "Old McDonald had a farm" like it was suppose to, she really loves it. After all that excitment she was tired and took a nap while Paul and I opened the rest. One gift that I found for Paul was a device you attach to your key chain. If you lose your keys all you have to do is whistle and the keys beep. Paul whistled most of the day and thought the gift was pretty funny. For any of you who know Paul, you know that he loses EVERYTHING. Both his mom and dad asked if I got one for his phone, watch, wedding ring and wallet.

That afternoon my sister Michelle and her husband Jared made the drive from Colorado Springs to spend the evening with us. We had them and our neighbors the Sanders over for dinner. It's the first really big dinner I have ever made and all in all it turned out really well. We spent the rest of the evening playing catch phrase and balderdash, which I won! It was a great day.

Paul was supposed to go on alert the next day, but due to the crazy wind and snow drifts (we had a 6 1/2 ft snow drift behind our house!) he didn't have to go and got to spend the day shopping with me.

Merry Christmas Eve!

This is Paul. It is my first attempt to add anything to our blog but I can't help but express how I feel about this holiday season. I just finished writing my brothers, Mark and Kyle, who are serving missions in Alabama and Uruguay, respectively. Without sounding preachy or pompous, I am so grateful for not only the birth but als0 the life of Jesus Christ.

I remember being excited about Christmas at an early age because of the presents (of course) but finding a deep satisfaction in feeling connected to the birth of the Savior of the world. It dawned on me as I reminisced about my mission to Paraguay that without His sacrifice it would have been just another person to enter the world. His life would not have been meaningless but would not have had the infinite reach that it does today. Everything has to start somewhere and we would be hard pressed to find a more auspicious entrance than a virgin giving birth, but as is the case in most things in life the finish is how we are remembered. I am personally grateful that He had the courage, strength and foresight to not only endure but to endure well. I look at Christmas as an opportunity to offer much deserved, and never adequate, gratitude for all He has done for my family and I.

We hope that you all have a memorable, safe and meaningful Christmas!

New Family Photos

My cousins Brian and Becca were kind enough to take some great pictures of Hayden and our family while we were in Cedar City for Thanksgiving. Here are a few of our favorites along with the header photo recently added.

Christmas Party

Paul and I decided to go to his squadron Christmas party this year and there were so many new babies in attendance. Paul says that in his squadron 8 babies were born all around the same time as Hayden. Here is a picture of Susannah Sanders and her daughter Payton and Laura Graham and her son Sam. They are all about 3 weeks apart in age. It was fun to dress Hayden up in her Christmas dress and show her off a little. It was fun to get dressed up a bit and have a night out. They had a raffle and guess what Paul wins....a 12 pack of beer. They had i pods and a playstation 3 and we win a 12 pack! When Paul went up to redeem his prize everyone started hysterically laughing because everyone knows he doesn't drink. Anyway, they let him exchange it for a workout bag filled with protein shakes or something. I thought Hayden would sleep through most of the dinner but there was way too much to look at, she was wired all night!

Mom and Hayden

Family Picture