Holy Cow this kid is getting cute! She was not very happy during this photo shoot until Irma, our housekeeper, came into the room and started saying "Princessa! Princessa!" That got a smile out of her. 

Hayden was accepted into the Lamplighter prescshool program!

Besides being deemed very advanced and above average in the areas he was evaluated, he is also very advanced in temper tantrums, parental manipulation, jumping up and down, dinosaur taxonomy, running around, screaming and singing songs about Jesus. 

In other words, a typical and wonderful 2 1/2 year old.

Congratulations Hayden-we hope you get a scholarship to college, because paying for your preschool is dipping into your college fund!

At the Table

Evelyn had her first solid food, rice cereal, on January 26th, 2012 and here are the obligatory pictures of her pre and post eating.  We were all present to witness the monumental event! Although she didn't really love the food that day, she tried hard and has now tried all sorts of fruits and vegetables (most of which she loves).  You don't need a keen eye to notice that our Christmas decorations are still up in these pictures.  When I was growing up, our Christmas tree was often up into February, so you can't blame me. 

And then there is Hayden, pointing at the camera and telling us what to do...as always.

In the backyard

It has been an unseasonably warm winter in Dallas this year so we have spent many of our afternoons in the backyard. We have a few little games we play like "green dinosaur" and "spin around until you nearly throw up", but mostly, Hayden likes to run. He cries when mommy and daddy can't go anymore. That's just more inspiration for me to start running again-so I can keep up with my 2 year old!

                                     

 

Getting back on track

I stopped blogging over a year ago. I am not sure why, but I guess I felt like the posts couldn't be as honest as I wanted them to be. At the time, I felt like they needed to be profound, though-provoking entries. Now I just want to document what is happening around me so that I don't forget this time in our lives. So much has happened since my last post, but most importantly, we added a new member to our family: Evelyn Kate Miller. Evelyn for my grandmother and Kate for Matt's great aunt-both of whom are deceased. She is four months old and the fourth human member of our family, which is what prompted the new name of this blog. I'd like you to meet her now:

Morning Walk

Hayden and I take a walk almost every day, but the weather hasn't allowed for walking lately. It has been raining and icky for about 4 days now, so today we were both happy to get outside. For a brief moment we had some sun and the world just looked a little different.

Boy Clothes

Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit


Hayden in his Thanksgiving jon-jon

I had been saving Hayden's Thanksgiving outfit since May when I bought it at a fantastic sample sale-a precious corduroy burnt orange jon-jon with a squirrel aplique on the front. I paired it with a white peter pan collar button down and brown lace up shoes. He looked like the perfect angel child that he is (except when tired, hungry, thirsty, cold, hot or bored) and when he looked at himself in the full length mirror, he pointed to the squirrel and flashed a huge, dimply smile. "Success!" I thought to myself. When I told him to go show DaDa how cute he was, he tore out of his room to find him. DaDa took one look at him and said, "what is he wearing?" It was at this point that I realized that fathers don't understand jon-jons.

If you don't know what a jon-jon is, you are probably a) not from the South and/or b) not a mother of a boy. Imagine a one piece jumper either short or long, depending on the season, made of some type of adorable fabric, with precious little buttons at the straps. They usually have a matching shirt of some sort with piping or small details on the collar. Rarely, the collar may have some kind of lace or scalloping, but honestly, I think that's taking it a little far. When my dad used to see a little boy in a jon-jon, he would refer to him as "little Lord Fauntleroy" (see above) which is a bit of a stretch considering the Little Lord wore some sort of knickers, but this was my first introduction to men not understanding that moms of little boys need jon-jons.

For the record, I don't dress Hayden in a jon-jon for school or trips to the grocery store or otherwise mundane outings. Jon-jons are reserved for special occasions AND playdates with my friends who have little girls who always show up in precious little dresses with matching bloomers or tights and mary-janes adorned with a little flower. Sadly, jon-jons are the mother of a boys lame attempt to compete with tiny girls in dresses.

The lure of the jon-jon begins when the soon-to-be mother of a little boy goes on her first shopping excursion to find that perfect outfit. She finds herself in a section of the baby clothing store that is 1/100th the size of the little girls clothing section sifting through a bunch of striped oufits that look OK until you flip them over and see the words "mommy's little monkey" or " gone truckin'" or "junior firefighter". As the boys get a little bigger, the clothing manufacturers move past stripes and start using things like a skull and crossbones, reptiles, trucks, firetrucks, cars, bulldozers, footballs, etc. Hayden has all of these things in his closet, mostly because I have bought them out of frustration that this is it-this is what there is for little boys to wear. For Holidays, it's Argyle sweaters or sweaters with dogs on the front; maybe some plaid to spice it up. Meanwhile, over in the girls section, there are tufts of pink toile, polka dots, florals, velvet, glitter and everything I always wanted when I was little (but it was the 70s, so I mostly wore hand-me-down polyester jumpsuits). The jon-jon becomes the middle ground, the not-quite-dressing-your-little-boy-in-a-dress option.

The other thing about jon-jons is that their presence in a boys life is short-lived. I am hoping I can push it until Hayden is 2 because I have some really precious hand-me-downs from my nephew, Pierce. But I fear, as most mothers of little boys do, that as soon as Hayden can make his own decisions about what he'd like to wear, he'll opt for the skull and crossbones, or worse, the I heart NY t-shirt. Since Hayden has recently been classified by his pediatrician as a "strong-willed child", we may not make it until 2. But to me, when the jon-jon goes, my little baby is also gone. He will be a little boy, and I am not quite ready for that.

Take Two

When I received a call from my sister, Kim, this afternoon asking if I was OK, I immediately realized that my previous post had been sent to most of your emails-unfinished. I know this little mistake sounded pretty desperate, but I promise, I had a (self-proclaimed) fantastic idea for that post. It went a little something like this...

My failure to get a job, despite all of the letters after my name has inspired me to really focus on being a great mom and wife.

{Sidebar-please refrain from sending me emails or comments stating the following or some modification of the following, "Amy, you have the most important job in the world." I already know this and as I watch with amazement as Hayden grows and changes by the day, I am so incredibly grateful to be unemployed. The problem is, I would like to have a PAYING job. A job that allows me to do what I have been studying to do for the past 10 years. So please, Save it!}

As most of you know, the duties of the mom and wife are often mundane and typically go unnoticed by the rest of the family. Although they would notice if you didn't do the dishes for 24 hours, no one really compliments you on what a great job of dishwashing you did (but Matt often thanks me for doing them, which I really appreciate). No one really cares when you clean out the closets or organize the tupperware cabinet or make up the bed every day. These types of tasks don't make you a more interesting person or make you feel rewarded at the end of the day, but they are necessary to make the household run properly. Besides, when Matt comes home at the end of the day and asks me, "what did you do today?" I can't just run through what happened on the Today show, The View, Oprah, Ellen and Animal Cops Houston (please don't ask about my love of animal cops). Instead, I can proudly reply, "I cleaned out Hayden's closet" or "I organized my office" or "I went to Anthropologie"-oops, that one slipped out by mistake.

One of my newfound wifely obsessions is saving money. This was inspired by last month's horrifying $1000.00 grocery bill, which I was determined to decrease significantly. Another inspiration was the depressing amount of food I was throwing away each week. So I started doing a few things like planning the weekly meals on Sunday, clipping coupons and shopping sales. I have to say that saving $40.00 a week on groceries might seem like nothing to some people, but it equates to $160.00 a month or $1920.00 per year! Giving up the Starbucks habit, probably another $50.00 a month ($600.00 a year); Changing my gym membership from family to single (no one else in the family uses it) saves us $360.00 a year. Although this is exhilarating for me, I think I am secretly driving Matt a little crazy. At first, the prospect of saving all of this money was exciting to him, but now I think he'd rather listen to Hayden cry than me saying. "today I found a coupon for $1.25 off a 12 pack of LaCroix" or "If you mix water with this remnant dishsoap, I think we can get another week out of it", or the worst of the worst, "I am re-instating meatless mondays".

The truth is, everyone needs a job. That's why retired people volunteer, kids sell lemonade and mow lawns and moms cut coupons and work to save money-it gives you purpose, it makes you feel like you contribute and it gives you something (really boring) to talk about besides your children. So for now, my job is supermom and superwife. I will quietly go about my organizing, cleaning and clipping coupons while Hayden sleeps and give him my undivided attention when he is awake. And even though I don't get paycheck or a raise or a Christmas bonus (but let's face it, no one gets Christmas bonuses anymore), I know that I am doing my job.

mulligan

I started posting a blog about swim class today, but it was terrible, so I am taking a mulligan.
I will try again later.
Until then, here are some cute videos of Hayden.

When I am done with boards

A friend of mine who is also taking boards in september recently sent an email to friends and family letting them know that he will be out of touch for the next nine weeks as he braces for the final stretch of studying. This email (and a recent conversation with my sister, Jen) has prompted me to write the following:
When I am done with boards, I will get back to the gym
I will excercise and eat less carbs and and run at 5 am
my house will be spotless and decorated in style
my office will be organized (which it hasn't been in a while)
Emily, my hairdresser, will know me by first name
She'll get my grays under control and keep my tresses tame
Yoga three times a week will keep my body toned
Friends and family that I've missed will finally be phoned
Letters will be written soon and emails sent at last
Phone calls will be returned and presents mailed real fast
I will finish all my manuscripts and submit them for review
Perhaps they'll be accepted and if rejected, well Boo-hoo
I will meditate and contemplate and find my missing chi
I will think using my right brain and dream up some poetry
My garden will grow vegetables and bright flowers galore
I will composte and recycle and knit scarves some more
I will start my own business or find myself a job
With boards under my belt, I don't have to be a slob
At night I will once again be peaceful in my bed
without dreams of cytology rushing through my head
I will have a conversation with a person i've just met
without having to explain how I am a studying vet
Hemoglobin and bilirubin will vanish from my thought
Erythrocyte metabolism wont leave me so distraught
My eyes wont ache, my head wont hurt, my back wont be so sore
from hunching at the microscope and thinking 'bout my score
I will be a better wife and a better mama, too
a better sister, friend and colleage just to name a few
Oh, the things that I will do when i finish this test
Take it easy ACVP, I need to get some rest
And when I'm done I hope that I will do all on my que
But honestly, I may just sit on the couch and watch The View
Or read some smutty magazines like people or life and style
My brain might turn to mush but it will all be so worth while
I know it all sounds crazy and I hope you all will see
that my life gets much better when I'm ACVP

Love to you all-
Amy

BTW-hayden is walking-videos to come, but I can't find the battery charger to the camera tonight!

Adaptations

I know, I know-it has been a long time since my last entry. I apologize, but suddenly we have a very active baby to tend to which is taking much of my time and energy. In between crawling, pulling up, falling down, cruising, chasing the cat and dog and screaming, there isn't much time for blogging. But, no excuses, I will try to do a better job.
My very wise sister, Kim, told me right after Hayden was born these words that I will never forget, "as soon as you think you have a baby figured out, they change and you have to totally rethink how you were doing things and adapt." Kim probably said it a lot more eloquently, but the idea is the same. So now we are living it. We had a few months of bliss where Hayden was sleeping from 7pm-7am or sometimes even 7:30am. Now he has been waking up sometime between 5:00 and 6:30. Sometimes he chats in his crib for an hour and sometimes he screams. The other morning he was screaming at 4:30am. I went in and he was standing up in the crib, howling. After a song and a lot of rocking, we were able to get him back to sleep for a few hours, but suddenly it feels like we have an infant again!
If that is the only negative, then I am fine with it. I could sit there and watch Hayden talk to his cheerios all day long. I could chase him all day long as he investigates "new" things and tests out his new strength. I could watch him learn and grow and succeed and fail until we are both exhausted. And I will cherish that last minute of the day before I put him to bed while he lets me cuddle him while he coos and rubs my arm. Yes, I know, all of this will pass and we will adapt and move on to the next phase. But for now, things are just about perfect.

What a difference a day makes!

Yay! Hayden did it-he FINALLY crawled for the first time yesterday. Some of you may have already seen it on Facebook, since matt has an iphone and in one click he was able to upload a video. Me, on the other hand, still iphone-less and uploading videos old-school (with a camera and the computer), spent most of the morning working on these videos.

Yesterday he took a few forward crawling steps intermixed with the usual "slither", but this morning he was off. You can see the difference 1 day made in the videos below!

Wish us luck...

A couple of nights ago, Matt and I were getting ready for bed. I was reading and Matt was checking his iPhone when suddenly, Matt started giggling. Quickly, the giggling turned in to a full out belly laugh and next the laughter became uncontrollable hysteria. I can't remember the last time (or any time) I heard Matt laugh like that.
At first I wrote it off because I knew that Matt was looking at "the chive" which is a website with all kinds of silly photos that random people post. At his persistence, I looked at the apparently hilarious photo...
It took me a minute, but I laughed, and man, I laughed hard. It was one of those rare moments when I realized how the last 8 months had really changed us and how our perception of hilarity had shifted. If we had seen this picture 8 months ago, we may have missed the joke, or not even found it funny. Perhaps we would have even been mildly offended...
So yes, we have changed. We think poo is funny. We have a hard time carrying on a conversation that doesn't revolve around Hayden. We are probably pretty boring to our old friends. But as "they" say, change is good-change is really, really good!


Even though this is not us in the photo, it easily could be. It's amazing what you don't realize when you are staring at your precious child.

Easter

This is how we spent our Easter afternoon...

Believe it or not, I am sitting here looking out of the window at about 2 inches of powdery, white snow. This Dallas weather was not what I expected! I am actually excited about this snow because last time it snowed we forgot to take pictures of Hayden sitting outside in a pile of snow or next to a snowman. As all of my mom friends were posting pictures of their precious babies on facebook all bundled up out in the snow, I was feeling like an idiot, because we completely forgot to do that. Thank goodness for second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances.

Well...

The snow melted quickly, so fifth chance gone!

Anyway, that is not what I wanted to write about today. I also do not want to write about crawling-you all know where we are with that. Today, I sadly write about the soon-to-be-retired bouncy chair.

The bouncy chair has been my salvation for the past 6 months and has allowed me to take a shower, put on make-up and dry my hair in the morning-it is responsible for me looking somewhat pulled together. The bouncy chair lives in our bathroom to allow me these luxuries while I keep an eye on the precious child. Meanwhile, Hayden kicks back, plays with the dangling zebra and elephant, listens to his music and gets a lovely vibrating massage. He talks and yells and laughs. It is a good start to our day.

Lately, however, Hayden has become increasingly dissatisfied with the relaxating nature of the bouncy chair. He is constantly trying to find ways out of the bouncy chair. I often see him arching his back and trying to roll out (which he can't sucessfully do because of the restraint device). Yesterday, he discovered a new move which has proven more successful. First, he rips down the arch that holds the zebra and elephant and tosses it to one side. Next he uses his legs to push his body to the very top of the chair which loosens the restraint device. The final move involves me grabbing him out of there so he doesn't end up on the floor! It's probably not the ending he had in mind, but the overall goal to get out of the bouncy chair has been met.

I have been struggling with the idea of retiring the bouncy chair for several weeks now, but I have not been able to do it. Why, you ask? Mainly because retiring the bouncy chair involves me getting up early to get my shower in. My goal is to get up at 6:00AM, but so far I have been completely unsucessful. I have read several articles on how to get up early in the morning which suggest that you set your alarm 15 minutes earlier every couple of days in order to allow your body to adjust. You should also put your alarm across the room so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off. Sounds great in theory, but so far I have simply gotten out of bed, walked across the room, turned the alarm off and gotten back in bed. Obviously, I am going to have to take drastic measures to make this work.

The take home message is that Hayden has a way of getting what he wants and whether I like it or not, I have to adjust my life to keep things flowing around here. So I will continue to set the alarm and try to become a morning person until I succeed (sorry Matt!)

Everyone keeps asking if Hayden has begun crawling yet-well, the answer is no, but we are making progress...

Yes, we are still painfully watching Hayden try to crawl. Both Matt and I have tried demonstrating how easy it is to get on all fours and crawl around a room, but Hayden just hasn't quite figured it out. We show him how to coordinate his arm and leg movements, we encourage him when he makes 1 centimeter of forward progress, and we pick him up when he has had ENOUGH. Yet still, after weeks and weeks of trying, there is still no crawling in a forward manner-lots of backward progress, but nothing forward. Now I know I should be thankful. Most of my mommy friends with crawling babies look exhausted from chasing their babies all over the place. But the truth is that you want your baby to be advanced (as we say in the Grob family)-you want your baby to crawl at 4 months, so that you can nonchalantly say to your mommy friends, "Oh, my baby started crawling at 4 months, is that early?" It's not that you want to brag or anything, it's just that by having superior offspring, you appear to be a superior parent. And I WANT to be a superior parent. Of course, all of you reading this will say, "Oh you are a superior parent, Amy," but that isn't fair because most of you are my family and you have to say that even if you think I am doing a sucky job.
Regardless of how long it is going to take Hayden to learn to crawl, we practice every day, everywhere. Hayen takes any opportunity he can to flip over onto his tummy and make an attempt. Doesn't matter if he is on the changing table, in his swing, or drinking a bottle in your lap, when he is ready to give it a go, he goes for it. As parents, Matt and I do everything we can think of to get Hayden to crawl to us, but truthfully, he is only interested in Sage, Aston and Alba. As soon as he sees any of them, his eyes light up, he goes into hysterical fits of laughter and tries so hard to crawl over to them (usually resulting in backwards movements). Poor animals-they have no idea what is in store for them in the next few weeks!

16 pounds 5 ounces

As promised, here is the report from the pediatrician visit:

Weight: 16lbs 5oz-30th percenile! (up from 25th)

Length: 27 inches-80th percentile

Head circumference-70th percentile

These numbers equate to a tall and skinny baby with a big head! Thankfully, he looks more proportional in person compared to what he looks like on paper.

Overall, the Doctor was very happy with Hayden's progress physically and developmentally.

Now our job is to work him up to three meals a day by 9 months! Sounds like a fun, messy process. Good thing that Sage is around to clean up Hayden's crumbs.

I thought I would post a video of Hayden's preliminary crawling so you guys can watch his progress. We keep thinking he is going to take off any minute!

Six months and running (almost)

Last week we "celebrated" Hayden's six month birthday. By celebrated, I mean we sang happy birthday to you about 100 times and had an extra serving of apples for breakfast. It was a grand day!

Besides having Hayden's 6 month birthday, there has been a lot of excitement on Willow Lane, starting with the blizzard of '010 (as Matt calls it). We had 12+ inches of snow in 24 hours and let me tell you, that kind of precipitation does not fly in Dallas. Now I understand why there are no live oaks in Colorado-they do not fare well in snowy conditions. You could actually hear the branches snapping in the middle of the night, which was quite eerie when you are trying to sleep in a house with no electricity. The only one that got a good night's sleep Thursday night was Hayden, who didn't notice anything was different except that he was really cold when he woke up Friday morning. We were without power for 3 days, but happily returned home Sunday evening after a vacation at Nana and Poppy's house.

As you can see by the pictures, Hayden is trying to crawl. He is a very determined little crawler and will try to move forward over and over until he is in tears. Typically, he goes backward, but he is beginning to make some forward progress-mostly lunging forward onto his belly. Babies are supposed to sit up first before crawling, but Hayden has NO interest in sitting still. He can sit up on his own, but has little patience once in position. I give him 2 more weeks before he is totally mobile-Whew, we are not ready for that!

Lastly, Hayden has his first tooth and it is a sharp little sucker! He is constantly drooling, sticking his fingers in his mouth and chewing on everything (including my fingers when he can get to them). I can't wait until it gets a little bigger so we can see his toothy little smile.

We are off to the doctor today to get Hayden's 6 month check up! We will see how much he weighs and get a slew of vaccines. I will report back soon!

Blah, blah, blah

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. We have been busy over the past couple of weeks with all sorts of things (none of which I can remember right now) and it is amazing how easily time has slipped away from me.

Hayden has suddenly become very chatty! He has been "talking" for some time now, but over the last 2 weeks, he has really been testing out his vocal capabilities. This sometimes manifests as laughing, yelling, cooing or blahing-today has been a yelling day. For those of you who have spent any time at our house, you realize that this creates a problem because our dog, Sage, does not appreciate Hayden's vocalizations. Competition ensues. Hayden yelling and Sage whining and barking. It's enough to drive you insane. Strangely, our cat, Aston, often "yells" which sounds eerily similar to Hayden's chatter. In fact, a long time ago, (in our previous life) we had a party and had to lock Aston in the guest room so he wouldn't escape. This resulted in loud cat-yelling and one of our guests asked me if we had a baby crying in the other room! The only animal who is quiet around here is Alba and that is only because she hates everything and everyone. Because of this, she follows the rule "If you don't have anything nice to
say, don't say anything at all".

So now that we can hear the beginning of language development, another competition has begun. This time it is between Matt and me. When I leave the room, I can hear Matt saying "Dada dada dada..." and I am constantly pointing to myself and telling Hayden "Mama mama mama..." when Matt is away. You may think that I have the competitive advantage since I am with Hayden all day long, but everyone knows that "d" is easier to say than "m", so I actually have to work longer and harder. I think we both have a long way to go!

This video is not really exciting to watch, but it highlights some of Hayden's newest chatter-so turn up the volume! He only performs when he can't see the camera.