Trip Home

Shannon and Hayden at the reception center

My brothers Sean on left and Ian on right

My sister Michelle and her husband Jared (aren't our bridesmaid dressed cute!)

Hayden sadly couldn't eat the lamb at Lamb's grill, but she enjoyed her own lunch!

Paul and I actually woke up at 5:30 am on Friday morning and we were on the road by 6 am. Hayden did great the whole drive to my surprise. I was nervous because Paul and I drove separately and I knew I could not entertain her at all for the whole 6 hour drive. She slept until about 9:30 am and then we stopped for breakfast and to feed Hayden her breakfast. Then about 20 minutes after we left Sonic she was asleep again until we got to Park City. Anyway, I'm grateful the drive went so smoothly and that she is such a good baby. She has been doing great with all the new faces and being off her normal routine.
My sister Shannon's wedding went great. She looked beautiful with her hair all curled, makeup done, and dress. They had their wedding luncheon at Lamb's Grill which is the oldest restaurant in Salt Lake City. Paul and I had never been there, so it was a neat experience. We walked to the restaurant from the Temple and got caught in a crazy hail/sleet storm with about two blocks to go! It was freezing but Hayden was just laughing as Paul sprinted her stroller across the streets. That night the reception was at Le Jardin which was an indoor greenhouse. It was also beautiful. They had Cold Stone cater the dessert. Paul and my brother in law Jared went to town that night!
The next morning we met all my cousins and grandpa for breakfast at IHOP and visited with them until they went back to Southern Utah. Unbeknowst to me, Hayden had her first taste of whipped cream thanks to my grandpa! Once I realized why she kept trying to get to him it was too late. But I guess that's just the paranoia of a first time mom. My 92 year old grandpa has had problems with his heart recently and everyone was worried he would not make it, so I was so happy to be able to see him again and having Hayden play with him.
Today it SNOWED!!! We escape Cheyenne, Wyoming, only to be met with frigid weather here! I hope it gets warmer so we can get outside more. Hayden loves my families chocolate lab Sasha and jumping on the trampoline.

The Scoot

Today Hayden has finally starting MOVING! I don't think she will be a traditional crawler which is weird because both Paul and I were. She puts one leg bended in front and the other bended in back, goes down to here belly and scoots forward. She doesn't go far, but at least there is some progress.
We leave for Utah tomorrow morning hopefully at 6am for my sisters wedding. Hayden usually enjoys car rides, but I have never tried a 6 + hour car ride, so wish me luck!

8 Month Update

Hayden is 8 months old today and I made a list of all the things she is doing and enjoying, hopefully she'll enjoy reading this someday! Sorry, but I will probably be using the word "loves" and "likes" a lot.

1) Loves to sit, but now instead of falling backwards when she gets tired, she will go to her tummy and then flip to her back where she is comfortable
2) Still basically immobile, refer to #1. If there is a toy out of reach she will just chalk up her losses and go for one she can get. Although she does scoot backwards sometimes
3) Likes to growl and arch her back like she is about to fight
4) Not a picky eater at all. She will eat anything I give her and loves playing with her spoon when she is done eating
5) Sleeps about 11 1/2 to 12 hours at night now
6) Although #5 is great she always wakes up about 45 minutes to an hour after she first falls asleep screaming bloody murder. We wonder if she is having a nightmare. Anyway, we have to go calm her down and then she is out for the night.
7) Loves splashing, standing, and sucking on her wash cloth in her tummy tub
8) Just recently started saying "da, da, da, da"
9) Loves playing on our bed and looking at the sheets
10) Just like her daddy, she likes moving her feet in a circular motion all the time. She also giggles when I pretend to eat her feet
11) Likes all kinds of straps and tags
12) Loves to be standing and holding on to things
13) Hates the aspirator, but what child doesn't right?
14) When I nurse her I cannot talk on the phone or read. She will pull at my book until I stop and not eat if I am talking to someone. She wants all the attention on her!
15) Likes to sleep with a lamp on all night. If I try to turn it off she wakes up
16) Loves grocery shopping, seriously I think it's her favorite thing to do during the week. I carry her in the baby bjorn while she looks at all the cool stuff. She also usually has a produce bag in her hand. If I stop too long in one location she gets antsy and starts kicking her feet and whimpering
17) Likes looking at new people's faces. In church today she got bored with me in Relief Society and wanted my friend next to me, when she got bored there she went to the next woman and kept going down the row. She also loved their jewelry, especially the shiny stuff.
18) Obsessed with hair and mouths. Wants to grab them ALL the time
19) Likes grabbing Paul's whole head and pulling it down
20) Enjoys listening to any kind of music, it always calms her down as well as walks, jogs, bike rides, and the vacuum cleaner.
21) Still thinks her hands are awesome. If I catch her looking at them in awe she usually stops and looks at me like, "what, I wasn't doing anything."
22) Started sticking her lower jaw out and exposing her two little teeth.
23) Loves paper
24) Her head sweats like a champ

It is so fun to see her little personality coming out and to know that she has preferences now. Love you Hayden!

Graduation!!!!!

Paul finished his last final yesterday and he is now officially done with his MBA from Colorado State! He took the final yesterday afternoon and our internet was being so slow, so he was a little stressed out, but it all worked out in the end. He did not want me to do anything to celebrate, but getting your masters is a big deal, so I invited some of our base friends over for dessert to celebrate. He did not want to walk in the graduation, so I told him we had to do something. I made one of my new favorite recipes, it's called "Hummingbird Cake" it has toasted pecans, bananas, and pineapple in it as well as a delicious cream cheese frosting. I also made some cupcakes for the kids. I gave him his graduation gift a day early because he was having a bad day. He got a white G-shock watch that he has wanted for a long time now. I am so glad he has this done and he no longer will have to do homework at night. I am so proud of him for being dedicated to his education and completing this the past 2 years. Now we just have the student loans :)

Mother's Day

Paul did a good job of making my 1st mother's day a special one. He tricked me into thinking he hadn't done anything at first though. He got me a new really cute notebook for all my recipes as well as a Hamilton Beach pan where you can cook a bunch of pancakes or other stuff (I don't know the official name) and a movie. He also wrote me a thoughtful card. For dinner he even made this new dessert, doesn't it look beautiful. I had bad allergies all day, but overall it was a great day. We had our neighbor Susannah and her daughter Payton over for dinner since her husband was on alert.

The Simple Things

It's funny to me that we spend money on toys at all because kids typically love the simple things in life. Hayden absolutely loves to watch me vacuum our home. Today she was having a blast in her exersaucer jumping around and the second I turned on the vacuum she was locked in. She also just discovered the washer and dryer and has really enjoyed watching these as well. She loves to stand up and put her hands against them, although she still needs some help so as not to fall over.

Sick Again

Just when I thought Hayden was getting over her cold her rash started, which turned out to be allergies (oh and by the way Zyrtec usually makes children drowsy, but Hayden happens to be the 2% of kids that it makes hyper, she didn't take a nap during the day for 2 days!) and now that we have the rash under control her cold came back! Last night she woke up at 10pm and her nose was so stuffed. So we pulled out the aspirator again and went to work. The only problem was it wasn't getting anything out. Paul kept saying, "huh, I guess there is nothing in there" as she is struggling to breath. I finally look at the aspirator only to see a whole in it. Luckily we have great neighbors who let us borrow theirs last night (after boiling it of course). She slept an awesome 12 hours, but then woke up to sealed shut eyes. So I took her to the Dr. again just to make sure it was normal to be congested for 3 weeks. He said she probably had a back to back virus and to keep her hydrated and use the saline rinse. As he examined her he kept saying how strong she was as she thwarted his attempts to look inside her ears and throat. I'm glad I'm not the only one that struggles to hold her down, she is seriously strong!

Good/Bad News

Paul went on alert yesterday and found out that he will be going back to "the shop." This means that instead of pulling 6-7 alerts a month, he will only pull 2 alerts and the rest of the time he will have a normal 7:30 am to 4:30 pm job. He will conduct training rides and other training I believe. This is really good for the following reasons 1) He will usually have weekends off and actually be able to attend church again 2) It is a good career progression and will help him get to a good next assignment and 3) He will be home at night and I won't have to be alone with Hayden. But no situation is perfect here's the reasons I am not excited about this switch 1) Hayden will need to be at the babysitters every Tuesday and Thursday (before Paul was home on these days at least half the month) 2) We will not be able to save as much of my pay check because it will go towards childcare now 3) Paul would sometimes have a week off at a time because he pulled all his alerts and did his training at the beginning of the month, it was nice to have him home during the day and 4) I was really excited to enjoy the summer and go biking or just get out during the day with him on his days off, but now he will be at work.

So while I am proud of him for going back to the shop, I am sad about it too. Oh well!

Allergies

Hayden has had a round dry spot on her torso for the past couple of weeks and I kept thinking it would just go away with the application of aquaphor. Then a couple more appeared on her front and back. So today I finally took her to the clinic. I had read about eczema and it did not sound like she had that. The Dr. agreed with me and believes she is developing allergies! How sad! I am still nursing her which I was hoping would prevent this, but she will probably get my crappy genes anyway. My allergies have caused me so many problems, I hope that hers are not as bad. It's sad to think that your imperfections have to be passed on to the next generation. Anyway, they also weighed her, she is 17 lbs 8 oz. Also I asked about why she sweats so much (seriously, she is a sweater) despite keeping our house at 65 degrees and the Dr. said it is most likely due to a high metabolism. So that will be nice for her in the future!