Nine Month Birthday

Miss Haisy Daisy turned 9 months old this past weekend. WOW. Time is going soooo fast! She is all over the place and into everything. It seems like a 9 month old should still be a little baby that just wants to be rocked and held, but oh no, she wants no part of that. There is too much to see and explore!!

Thanks so much for the food suggestions. Thanks to Tara R.:) I braved up and have started giving her some big people food. Her daddy made her some baby blueberry pancakes for her special day on Saturday. She was hilarious trying to eat them, but did a good job getting most of them in her mouth! Sadly her blueberry pancakes were the best part of her day. The rest of her day was spent with a fever and several naps. She also had a visit from Pop Pop but did not feel like playing very much. We took her Sunday to the dr. and she has her 1st ear infection. But now we have medicine and are on the mend thankfully. Also back to sleeping normally. No one that lives in this house got ANY sleep last week b/c of those tiny little ears!!


(Here she is wondering if we're really giving her those pancakes?)



Her favorite toys these days:
Trash cans of all sizes-kitchen is the best b/c she can pull up on it, the dishwasher, kitchen stepstool, magazines, dining room chairs, remote control, and any other object that is NOT brightly colored and does not resemble a baby toy. No m'am pam, she wants anything and everything she is not supposed to have.

Her favorite places:
The PARK!! her all time favorite thing to do is get in the stroller and ride up to the park. She is super enthusiastic about this and sits up as far as she can in her stroller and waves her arms.
Publix! Her favorite part is still riding in the front of the grocery cart.



We are so enjoying watching her grow and learn so much every single day,and falling more in love every day!! I think I read somewhere that having a child is like watching your heart walk around outside your body. It's so very true.

Today we're going to visit our new cousin Baker in Tuscaloosa. He's 6 days old now!! I have some recipes to share so I'll be back later with those. Happy Tuesday!

Our newest family member...

UPDATE for Emily C.
Forgot these little details on his birth:
Baker weighed 7.2 lbs and was 18 3/4 inches long.
Lindsey went to the hospital around 1:00 Wednesday morning and then he arrived via C-section around 11:30 a.m.
Hope you win the bet Emily!!



Baker Thomas Jones was born today! Our new little cousin on the Kennedy side is finally here-2 1/2 weeks early and he is beautiful and healthy. We are so thankful for a safe arrival and Lindsey is doing great, despite a long day! We spent the afternoon in Tuscaloosa with them today and we can't wait to go back again and visit. He is precious!! It's really fun that he and Hayes will just be 9 months apart. They will have so much fun together growing up. I cannot believe how fast time flies b/c it seems like our little one was just born. I just want to savor every day I have with her because her first year is going away too quickly. I need to stop typing before I start crying.

Sweet baby Baker...I think he looks like his Daddy right now,we'll see how he changes though!



This is the best picture we could get w/Hayes and Baker together-she kept wanting to touch his face, and then she fell out of picture taking mode. There will be plenty of time in the future for more pictures though!

4 Little Monkeys

Last week we had some visitors-our cousins came to town! They were out of school for fall break and decided to spend their time with us this year. We had a great time playing, eating, and being wild. We love when they visit and can't wait until they can come again!

This little monkey is 7 and is in 2nd grade.

This little monkey is 5 and is in kindergarten.

This little monkey is 3 and probably the wildest of the monkeys!

The is the baby monkey-almost 9 months old now. She just had bananas for the first time this morning. She did not know what to think. She ate the few pieces that she could get to her mouth. I feel like she eats so much baby food! I want to start moving her to table food soon so we're taking baby steps-bananas for now. It's so easy to count her fruits and vegetables each day with baby food so I'm worried that when she starts eating real food she won't get as much! Any suggestions?

Happy Tuesday!!

Friday Recipe for the Birthday Boy-Peanut Butter Pie

I'm super excited. Tonight we're having Nathan's birthday dinner (#32!) with some friends at our house. Last night I made our dessert, yummy peanut butter pie! This the best recipe and sooooo easy. You have to try it!!!



Hope you can read all the ingredients. I add a little extra peanut butter, sugar, and cool whip just to make more filling. Do you see how I noted ~$13 for the recipe? I do that to all my favorite recipes so I'll know next time I need something to make. Oh and the best part is that is makes two pies so it's definitely budget friendly!

We've been celebrating our favorite daddy/husband all week! Last week we had a fun date/late night for his real birthday (without a baby.) It was super fun and such a treat. Happy Fall! Enjoy the cool weather this weekend!!

First time for everything!

It is so true that when you are a baby everything is NEW, FUN, and the world is super EXCITING! That is definitely the case with Hayes. Everytime we do something, even something small, it's like a whole new world has opened up for her. It's really fun and so sweet to watch your child learn and explore. There is nothing like it!!

Here is her first time for the grocery store buggy rides! Sitting up in the front (and not in her pumpkin seat in the middle of the cart) is a new thing for her. She flaps her arms and smiles at ANYBODY who looks at her in the grocery store. Publix is definitely one of her favorite places now. (And now apparently Nathan will take her there when it's just the 2 of them just to push her around to entertain her for a while!)



Next, here is the first time in the high chair at a restaurant-maybe we're behind but we just put her in here last Sunday after church at Roly Poly. She did not know what to think not having to sit in her carrier-so much easier too.



First fall and first football season! We're loving this nice, cool weather here in Birmingham. Here is Hayes entertaining us in the drink bucket at our friends' Jason and Emily's house last weekend.



First trip to the zoo! We had a field trip to the zoo today with our preschoolers and Hayes got to tag along. I did not know how she would do sitting in the stroller the whole time (mostly she is a climber/escaper from the stroller or anything tying her down, plus it was a long time for her w/no nap!) but she strolled and animal watched like a champ. She looked at a few of the animals but some were too far away for her to notice. She did get some good face to face time with the goat. I can't wait to take her back when she's a little bigger, although she really did enjoy herself this time!!







Last, here is our mess of a house. Yikes! It is a scary place right now! We are doing some work and it is a total disaster right now, but will be worth it in the end!

Eight Months and under the weather

Another whole month has flown by! We had our eight month mark last week but Hayes and I were both sick so I'm just now getting around to it. I did not care that I was sick but it's a terrible feeling to see your baby not feeling good. Runny nose and coughing are sad little symptoms for someone so little and innocent! Two trips to the pediatrician in the last 2 weeks and $50 later for them to say "it's just a cold," and "she is fine, she'll get over it!" is a little frustrating, but at least it's peace of mind for this mama to know it's not the flu or anything really bad! So sorry, the point of this post is to document my little growing baby at 8 months!

8 fun things about Hayes being 8 months old:

1. EXPLORING! She is very mobile! She is always on the go and notices everything. I love to watch her to see what she is looking at and what she is interested in. If she hears footsteps she will look at both doors to see who is coming in the room, then she gets really excited if it's Nathan. She also likes to help out in the kitchen:)


2. EATING! She is eating so much baby food now. I buy b/t 25-30 jars each week. She goes through them so fast and sometimes have to go back to the store early to buy more for the weekend. She loves to EAT! and so far is not at all picky-likes all fruits and vegetables-yeah!
3. PLAYING in her pack and play-this is fairly new for her-at first she was not having it, but now she will sit and play with her toys for 5 minutes or so and then climb the walls trying to get out. Her other favorite toys are her giraffe, piano, maracas, books, and the outside of the exersaucer (does NOT want to get inside anymore-standing up along the outside of it is okay though)
4. LOVES peek-a-boo-she laughs so loud at this-so funny!
5. Flapping her arms like a little penguin when she gets excited-I hope she always does this-it is precious.
6. She has a TOOTH! Her 1st bottom tooth is coming in-we had a few middle of the night wake-ups last week-hope it's just teething related-it felt like we had a newborn all over again.
7. She is doing really good in the nursery at church on Sundays- (or this is what they say), and I think she gets about a B or C for Mother's Day Out during the week-still learning to love that!
8. SLEEPING! She is still a good sleeper at night and takes a good afternoon nap every day. Thank you Lord!!



Hayes, you just amaze us more and more every day. We love you so much more than we could have possibly ever imagined before you were born. We talk ALOT about what you will be like when you are 2, 3, 5, 10 and 20 years old. What will you be when you grow up? Where will you go to college? (haha-hopefully Auburn:) It's so fun to think about all that, but most importantly we hope and pray that no matter what you are like or what you choose to do with your life that you will always honor the Lord, because your relationship with Him is the only thing that matters in this lifetime! Happy 8 months, Hayes! We love you!

Friends and Family

I love when a new baby is born. It doesn't matter who the baby or parents are or even if I don't know them. If I read about it, see a picture, watch the Baby Story, etc. I am going to CRY. It's just such a special, amazing miracle every time God gives a new life to a family! But especially if the new baby is someone we know and love and that our little one will grow up with, I am ALWAYS over-excited!
We visited our good friends Ryan and Marybeth and their new little baby boy, Wyatt, last week and he is such a precious baby. He is beautiful and we're SO happy for their new family and especially excited that he and Hayes will be raised in the same church. Hayes was really interested in looking at Wyatt and watching him drink his bottle. It's so funny now to see her notice babies and children. She will break her neck to turn around and watch them! We're looking forward to lots of playdates with you little man. Happy 6 weeks already!


We also had a yummy mexican play date with our friends Lindsay and baby Caroline last week (well mexican for the mamas!) Hayes had her maraca with her to show her love and support of mexican food too. She had quite a bit of it while in the womb. This little pink maraca shaker is one of her favorite toys now-thanks Aunt Alyssa. She will get in her carseat (usually) without a fuss only if she has her pink shaker.


We had a fun trip to Dothan this past weekend to visit our family! We did not have a very peaceful trip on the way down. Hayes only slept from Birmingham to Clanton and then fussed/screamed the rest of the way. But our trip back was much better! She slept most of the time and more importantly we had a safe trip and got back home safe and sound. Here are some pictures from the weekend!

The beautiful rainbow that welcomed us to Dothan, a sweet site after a LONG and rainy trip


new toys from Shug and G'daddy!


supper on the porch w/a messy but happy baby


checking out Miss Piggy


lunch w/our cousins at Mama Rosa's-mmmmmm! I would eat there too many times each week if I lived there!


playing in the grass and wagon




karaoke w/ cousins


It is always lots of fun going home but also LOTS of fun coming back too! We're home today with a sick baby-runny nose and coughing-yuck! But we did manage to get out and run a few errands. Hope you're all staying well and dry at your home!