Happy New Year

Have a happy and safe New Year! I'll probably be back sometime on Tuesday to do some more posting. I'll hopefully have some pictures to share of our fun New Years party. Have a Happy New Year!!

Wordless Wednesday #33

Click here to check out my other blog!

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about our Christmas over on my other blog- Livin' With Me.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I'll be back on Wednesday with some pictures from Christmas. See you then.

Pain Worse Than Giving Birth

Rich has been having some problems with his foot. He hurt it quite a while ago at work and it seems to be getting worse. He finally decided it was time to go see the doctor since it had been over two years since he originally hurt it. It's best to make sure there is really a problem before you head to the doctor you know.

Anyhoo- he went to the doctor who referred him to a foot specialist. So, last Monday we all went to the foot doctor. Yes, all three of us went. (Please tell me, is it only my husband? Or do your husbands beg you to go with them if they have to go to the doctor?) Keeping Hailey occupied in the waiting room is not fun, but that is another story for another day.

And so. The foot doctor made this special little foot thingee for Rich to wear. He's been wearing it for a week and it has actually made his foot hurt in a different place. So, Rich asked me to call the doctor for him (because- goodness gracious- we wouldn't want him to call himself).

On Wednesday we went to see the foot doctor again. Hailey and I waited in the car this time (with the DVD player). Rich came out not too long after looking quite white.

"I passed out." He told me.

"Are you serious? Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Well, I almost passed out." He responded.

It turns out the doctor told him he could choose surgery or a cortisone shot. Rich thought he'd go with the shot. Apparently the shot was quite painful. On his way out of the office, Rich started to feel hot and dizzy. The receptionist was trying to get some information from him for his next appointment and Rich told her how he was feeling.

The doctor heard what Rich said and came rushing out and told him to lay down on the floor. They gave him a chair to put his feet up on because they were worried he was about to pass out. They kept him for a while and the doctor checked his pulse and made sure he was okay before he let him leave.

So, while he didn't actually pass out he felt bad enough that he insisted that I drive home because he was not feeling well. He emphasized that this was the very reason why it is important that I always come with him for appointments. Because you just never know.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening Rich continued to tell me how I could not possibly comprehend the pain he was in when the doctor gave him the cortisone shot in his foot.

Finally I said, "You know what? I think I can imagine pretty severe pain. I have a feeling that giving birth probably hurt more than your cortisone shot."

"No," he replied, "I think the cortisone shot probably hurt more than giving birth does. After all, giving birth did not cause you to almost pass out."

Excuse me? What do you think ladies? Are men really that wimpy? While I do think that the shot probably hurt quite a bit, I don't think it can compare to labor. So- if there is a woman out there who has had to endure both kinds of pain- please do tell.... which is worse?

Your Advice Please

I don't know why, but I have been debating for a while whether or not I want to blog about this. I blog about almost everything, so I'm not sure why I've had a hard time deciding if I want to talk about this or not.

But, I've decided to go ahead and tell you what has been on my mind just about 24 hours a day lately. This post will probably be kind of long, but I am just really hoping someone somewhere might have an answer or know someone who might have an answer.

On to my concern- sometime a little while after Hailey turned one I noticed her doing something odd with her eyes. When I would be rocking her to sleep her eyes would turn up towards the right side of her head. At first I thought- well, she's tired and her body is just relaxing and her eyes are rolling up as she is falling asleep. I did ask her doctor about and she agreed with me- totally normal.

A couple of weeks later Hailey did it one day while in her car seat and then again while in her high chair. Both times she was tired when she did it, so I still thought- maybe it was a tired thing. But, the way it looks is unusual- her eyes go up so far that you can see mostly the whites of her eyes and only a little of the actual colored part of her eye (which I'm sure has a much more technical name).

Then she started doing this little head bobbing thing where she moves her head so that her ear almost touches her shoulder. (It does not happen at the same time as her eye movements but it is just another unusual thing). She was sick with a cold at that time so I thought maybe her ear hurt. We went to the doctor and her ears were fine. I explained the things she was doing. I had a done a little Internet research and found something called Paroxysmal Tonic Upgaze which seemed to kind of describe what Hailey was doing. I told her doctor about it, she had never heard of it but went and looked it up. She wasn't sure because she said Hailey did not meet all of the criteria. But, she referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist.

That was all right before Thanksgiving. I made her appointment with the eye doctor for Dec 17th. Then I actually didn't see her doing it much anymore and thought about canceling the appointment. Well, last week when she was sick she started doing it a lot more. Whereas before I might only see it a couple of times a day- or not at all- I've been seeing it quite a bit. Now they are not only turning up towards the right, but to the left as well. And, sometimes they do a little roll right across the top. It is very quick- seconds at the most. It happens and she closes her eyes and they are back to normal. While she has been sick it seems like sometimes coughing triggers it. The other day she fell and bumped her head and then did it several times after the bump. While she used to only do when falling asleep the last few days I've seen her do it right after she wakes up too.

So, anyways we decided to keep the eye doctors appointment. He asked us lots of questions and watched Hailey for a while to see if she would do it. (Of course- she did not)

A bit more information about what she does: When she does the eye rolling she doesn't have any other unusual movements with her arms or legs, which should rule out seizures. The frequency of it really varies- there have been days I haven't seen her do it all. While she's been sick I have seen it as many as 20 times in a day. She doesn't act like it bothers her- just blinks her eyes and then they look normal.

The eye doctor's opinion was that she does not have this Paroxysmal Tonic Upgaze that I found on the Internet. (although he gave me compliments on my intelligence for finding the information about it, and asked me if I had a medical background. I'm sure that's a normal thing- tell the parents how smart they are so they don't feel stupid for bringing their child in).

He said he'd been practicing for 17 years and had never seen it and in fact he only knows of 14 confirmed cases. So, it would be very unlikely that she has such a rare thing. Although, someone has to have it, even if it is rare.

He said he had 2 ideas of what he thinks could be going on. First- dry eyes- she's rolling her eyes up and blinking to moisten them. I told him there is no way it is that. Of course, he hasn't see her do it, so he can't quite understand.

His second idea was that it could be a childhood tic. He said a lot of kids have tics and do things with their eyes and faces and usually outgrow it. I do think he has a point about a tic, but then I wondered why Hailey's pediatrician never even suggested that when I was explaining the symptoms to her.

Another thing I have noticed Hailey doing (since the appointment, so I haven't told the doctor this) is sometimes she tips her head down towards her chin and looks up at me out of the very top of her eyes. At first I thought she was being silly, but now I think it's an involuntary thing with her eyes and so she has to tip her head in order to see me. I don't know if that even makes any sense because it is so hard to describe.

I'm trying really hard to get it on video but it happens so quickly that it hasn't been possible yet. I found something on Youtube about Paroxysmal Tonic Upgaze and if you go here you can watch it. It's over six minutes long, but it's about a little boy who does things very similar to what Hailey does. He also has seizures though, which Hailey does not. And his upgaze tends to stick longer than Hailey's- so they were actually able to get him on video doing it.

The eye doctor said that even if she had this Paroxysmal Tonic Upgaze that there is nothing that can be done for it. Kids outgrown it and it is completely benign. He said we could put her through all kinds of tests (MRI, catscan, etc) during which she'd need anesthesia (a major risk in itself) and find nothing. But, basically he told me to stop worrying- she's fine and on track developmentally. But, of course I am still worried and every time I see her do it I feel sick to my stomach with worry.

As my friend Kellan would say- On the upside- I've lost a little weight because when I worry I don't eat.

But- I'm just hoping that maybe someone might know something or know someone who knows something to help put my mind at ease.

If you're still here reading- thank for your time.

Don't forget to check out my other blog- Livin' With Me.

Santa was MIA

The day was going perfectly according to my plan. And with a 14 month old- you know that is a rare occurrence.

We spent the morning playing in the playroom. After a quick morning snack Hailey went right down for her nap and slept pretty well. She even ate most of the grilled cheese sandwich I made for her.

I got Hailey dressed in her Christmas dress and off to the mall we went.

We arrived at the mall and there was only one person in front of us waiting to see Santa.

"Things could not be going any more smoothly." I thought to myself with a smile on my face.

I KNOW- I can hear you all laughing at me right now and saying to your computers, "Oh, you poor foolish lady. You know you should never have thoughts like that."

So, then one of Santa's helpers came over and said, "Santa is going to take a little break. He'll be back at 2:00."

I didn't think that was too bad- only a half hour away and I had shopping to do anyways. So, I got some shopping done and at 2:10 we went back to see Santa. But Santa was not back. Well, I figured that maybe Santa was having a hard time finding a place to park his reindeer. I mean can you imagine how difficult that would be? So I decided we'd give him a few extra minutes.

At 2:30 we went back again to check. Still no Santa. So, I asked one of the helpers when Santa would be back.

"We're not exactly sure where Santa is or if he's coming back." She told me.

"Oh?" I responded.

"Here's a coupon for a free 5x7 if you want to come back tomorrow to use it."

We waited around until a little after 3:00, just to make sure. But Santa never came back. (Can you blame the poor guy though? I mean really- can you imagine doing that job all day?)

The next day was much too snowy and we did not go back. We made it back two days later (and- yes the manager did let me use my coupon). Hailey was so excited when she saw Santa. She waved and said, "Hi, O-O-O." (her way of saying "Ho, Ho, Ho")

When we got a little closer to Santa she started to dig her fingers into my arm. And when she sat on his lap..... well- I'll just show you.

Wordless Wednesday #31

Click HERE for an exciting announcment!

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

An Exciting Announcement

I am Rich has been working on creating me my very own blog. Isn't that exciting?

My plan is to work on getting my page rank up with my new blog and to eventually use it to do more of the paid posting. It will take a few months because most advertisers want to see an established blog. For now, I'll probably be posting on both blogs. You know, because I love blogging so much and I have tons of free time. But, mostly just because I love blogging so much.

It's a work in progress right now- but if you want to check it out you can go to Livin' With Me. I'd appreciate it so very much if you'd add my new blog to your blogroll to help my page ranking.

If you have any problems while visiting, please let me know so that we Rich can get all of the bugs worked out. And also- leave me a comment, so I know that you stopped by!

Thank ya very much!

Why I Love Lists

This is why I am a list writer. I have so many things going on that I am trying to keep track of that I start forgetting. So, I tend to write down everything!

$412.40

My title? That's how much we've spent between Saturday and today on Hailey's doctor appointments and medications.

In case you missed my post yesterday- it's here- and Hailey is still sick.

By yesterday afternoon I was getting worried because about an hour after her breathing treatment she would already be wheezing and breathing hard. So, I ended up talking to Hailey's doctor. She actually listened to Hailey's breathing over the phone and recommended using the nebulizer every 2 hours instead of every 4 hours. The treatments already had Hailey so wired that she couldn't sleep, so doing it even more often proved to be lots of fun.

Today she went back to the doctor. She's taking a new prescription that is exactly the same as the Albuterol, but it doesn't cause the hyperactivity. Why didn't they just give her that to begin with? Because it is considerably more expensive. She's also taking a steroid inhaler to see if that will help.

She also had an appointment with an eye doctor today. But, I am going to save that post for another day because that is a story in itself.

So, between the doctor appointment on Saturday and today, a nice new nebulizer machine, and several medications the cost has been $412.40. The nebulizer machine was $270.00 so hopefully the insurance company will be covering all or at least part of that. So, that will shrink the cost considerably.

I had planned to participate in the Christmas Tour of Homes today over at BooMama's blog. But, I am just out too drained. So, you can go on over there and check out all of the other participants.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a bit more energy!

My Poor Little Sweetie

Is so very sick. My poor little Hailey has had a cold for about a week and a half. What a coincidence that two weeks ago we went to a playgroup and there was a little boy there with a runny nose. His mom said, "Oh, he's just teething." Mm-hmm.

Well about three days later Hailey's nose started running. Since Hailey has turned one she has had one cold after another. She was perfectly healthy for the entire first year of her life (minus about 2 days when she got her first cold). Something about turning one did not agree with her. Or- could it be that we joined several mommy groups and playgroups right around that time too?

I know that kids are germ factories and colds and viruses are to be expected- but if you know your child is sick- keep him/her at home.

Anyhoo- Hailey's cold seemed to be like her other ones and she was feeling better by the middle of last week. But, Friday afternoon her cough was back and sounded much worse than usual. During the night she coughed and coughed non-stop. By Saturday morning I knew her cough was different so we went to the doctor.

Sure enough- as soon as we got into the room, the nurse said, "Oh, she doesn't sound good it's a good thing you brought her in." The doctor came in and heard the wheezing right away. So, they gave her a breathing treatment in the office which seemed to help.

The doctor said that there is a virus going around right now that is causing wheezing and that this does not necessarily mean that Hailey has asthma. I certainly hope that is the case. My dad and bother both had pretty severe asthma as children and my brother developed his at the age that Hailey is right now. I have problems with asthma when I get sick. So, given that history I am worried that it might not just be this particular virus.

Anyways, after purchasing our own breathing treatment machine, and a prescription of Albuterol we came home. Now every four hours Hailey has to get a breathing treatment and she has been really good about it. It almost seems like the treatment makes her coughing temporarily worse and it makes her nose run like crazy. But, it makes the whistling, wheezing noise stop- so I guess it is doing what it is supposed to.

Apparently the medication is also making it hard for her to sleep- even though the doctor said it shouldn't. She barely napped yesterday but once I finally got her to sleep around 10:15pm last night she actually slept pretty good. She has to propped almost upright in order to get any relief from her coughing. (I'm actually holding her upright right now so she can nap.)

Then this morning she woke up with a fever too. So, she is really having a hard day. So, please pray for my poor little sweetie that she will feel better soon and that this wheezing is not the start of asthma but is just part of this virus.

We are going to be taking a break from our mommy groups and playgroups for a little bit. While Hailey loves going and playing with new toys and seeing her friends- and I need some adult interaction- it is just not worth this.

Random Recipe Exchange

It's the day we have been waiting for! I know I have been excited about the Random Recipe exchange. To see the recipes of everyone who is participating- click on this picture:
The recipe I picked is one that my mom shared with me a few years ago. If you like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies- you will LOVE this recipe. The best part is- it is the easiest recipe ever. Really- it is. But, people will not know how easy it was for you to make it, unless of course you give them the recipe.

So, without further ado, here is my recipe:

Peppermint Bark

2 (1 lb) White Chocolate Mint bags
1 1/2 rows of Oreo cookies.

(And that is all the ingredients!)

Now, put the chocolate in the microwave:
Microwave for 1 minute, then stir
Microwave for 1 minute, then stir
Microwave for 1 minute, then stir (or, if your microwave is like mine- you may not need to do a full minute for this last one)

While the chocolate is melting- break up Oreos into little pieces.

Once the chocolate is melted- put the broken Oreos into the chocolate and mix quickly.

Spread onto a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Take out of freezer and break into small pieces.

Now- since this is such a difficult recipe- I made it and took pictures so that you could have a better understanding of what to do!
First we have the ingredients- it's a lot, I know. If you have a husband or children you might want to do like I did and put a little sticky note on the Oreos that says, "Please do not eat 1 1/2 rows."
Now, here is the first step. Put your 2 (1 pound) bags of White Chocolate Mint candies into a microwave safe bowl. Put into the microwave for 1 minute.
Next, if you are like me and you do not like the feel of smushed Oreo cookies on your hands- put 1 1/2 rows of Oreo cookies into a Ziploc bag.
Take your chocolate out of the microwave and stir it. Then put it back in for 1 more minute.
While the chocolate is melting- crush up the Oreos that are in the Ziploc bag.

Now, take the chocolate out of the microwave and stir it again. Since it was almost melted I only put it back in the microwave for 30 seconds, rather than the full minute.

Now that the chocolate is completely melted give it one more good stir.

Then dump the crushed Oreos into the bowl.
And, stir it all together. Do this quickly so that chocolate does not start to get hard.
Now, spread it onto a cookie sheet. It won't run so you do not have to use a cookie sheet that has sides on it. I did just because this is my best cookie sheet and I did not want you all to see the condition of my other cookie sheets. (Let's just say they are well used.)

Now put the cookie sheet into the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Or, if you're like me- forget all about for at least an hour. It won't matter- it still turns out just fine.

Finally- you can use a knife or your hands to break apart the chocolate. I prefer to use my hands.

Lastly, take a picture of the finished product while Rich decides to stick his hand in front of the camera because he thinks it's funny you are taking pictures of your recipe.
Ahhh- there- that is better. The lovely Peppermint Bark.

Now- don't forget- you will have 1 1/2 rows left over of your Oreo cookies. What you do with those cookies is up to you. But- I'll give you one guess as to what I do with mine.

So, now head on over to Pam's blog and check out the other participants!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Hoopla

Andrea at Lifesong tagged me to do this Christmas meme hoopla.

1. List 12 random things about yourself that has to do with Christmas.

2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word

3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.

4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

5. If you want to -- please give me, Andrea, some link-love as the 'Hoopla-Creator'. I love new blog-traffic.

(I was also recently tagged by Rhonda to do a post about 7 random things about me. Since I've done that about a bazillion times, I am going to count this 12 random things towards that tag too. I hope that's okay, Rhonda!)

And so- here are my 12 random bits of information:

1. I love Christmas time and I always have.

2. When I was little my parents and brothers and I always set up our tree together every year. We had Christmas music playing, egg nog to drink and cookies to eat.

3. We always had an artificial tree (due to my dad's allergies) and I always wished we could have a real tree.

4. I LOVE egg nog, but I do not like it when there has been milk added to it. My dad and Rich love to add milk to thin it out. Yuck!

5. I was always in the Christmas play at our church. Although I'm shy this never seemed to bother me for some reason.

6. We always went Christmas caroling with our church and I loved doing that.

7. When I was little we always spent Christmas Eve at my great Aunt Winnie's house. There were lots of relatives and lots of fun. I remember we always had to eat dinner before we could open presents. The adults would always sit around and talk while they ate dinner- and it seemed like they took forever- I think they were trying to drive us kids insane while we waited to open our gifts.

8. We always woke up bright and early Christmas morning. My dad would read us the Christmas story- the real one, right from the Bible. Then we'd open our presents.

9. Later in the day we'd go to my grandparent's house for more presents and Christmas dinner.

10. Although this didn't happen on Christmas- we always went to visit my mom's side of the family for New Years. Since we never saw them on Christmas- this was our time to celebrate with them.

11. When I was a teenager me and my closest friends would always have a little Christmas get together. We'd exchange gifts and eat goodies and laugh like crazy people. One year we decided to go Christmas caroling- I think there were 4 or 5 of us. Anyhoo- none of us were really spectacular singers- we weren't bad, just not that good. So, it was probably pretty interesting for our listeners. At one house we started our song in much too high of a range. There was no way we could actually hit the necessary notes- so we simply dissolved into laughter.

12.. Now that I have my own home- we have tried the real tree deal. I hated it. About three years ago I decided I was done dealing with the mess of a real tree and we bought an artificial one. It's easier to leave a fake tree up until February or March than a real one.

And so- that is my 12. Now I usually like to break rules and not really tag anyone- but since I like Andrea so much I'm going to follow the rules and tag: KC, Grams, Shaunda, Andrea, and Zamejias.

Wordless Wednesday #30

Go HERE to wish my mom a Happy Birthday (it was yesterday).

And, hey-guess what! It's my 30th Wordless Wednesday post. Happy 30th WW post to me!

Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Christmas Meme

I saw this Christmas Meme over at Regina's blog- and she tagged everyone to play along. It looked like fun, so I decided to go ahead and do this meme.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper
2. Real or artificial Tree? Fake
3. When do you put Christmas tree up? Usually the first weekend in December, but this year we were a week later than usual.
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime in March. No kidding. That's why we have a fake tree. A real tree doesn't look very good anymore in March. This year, with Hailey we may take the tree down a bit earlier than usual though.
5. Like egg nog? LOVE it!
6. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
7. Favorite gift received as a child? I have no idea- I guess the only thing that really sticks out in my mind is when I got a walkman (do they even call it that anymore?) it had a tape player and a radio. Back in the day...........
8. Hardest person to buy for? Usually Rich and my mom- but this year I had plenty of ideas for both. Actually, Brooke is getting harder and harder to buy for.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Hailey
10. Worst Christmas gift? I can't think of any bad Christmas gifts.
11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Mail
12. Favorite Christmas movie? National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
13. Favorite food to eat at Christmas? Sugar cookies
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Possibly.....
16. Favorite lights? White
17. Favorite Christmas Song? I love all Christmas music!
18. Travel during Christmas or Stay Home? On Christmas Day- stay home. But, I like to get to travel to see all of our family on the days around Christmas.
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen & Rudolph. (I cheated on this question and just left Regina's answers)
20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Star
21. Least favorite thing about this time of year? The bills that come in January
22. Which one person do you really want to see blessed this Christmas and why? Everyone

This was fun and easy- so if you haven't played along yet you really should! Let me know when you do so I can check out your post!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Love,

Our Happy Weekend and An Apology

Here's the news from our Happy Weekend!

A little while ago I entered the Christmas Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom and I WON! And, not only did I win- but I won two different contests. Yay for me! Well, look what came in the mail on Saturday?
It's a cute DVD called My Bedbugs. I let Hailey watch it for a little while in the car on Saturday while we were out driving around do some shopping. She loved it! There was also a poster that came with the DVD.
When I put the poster on the floor so that Hailey could look at it- she laid right down on it. Hmmmm- maybe if I put it in her bed she'll lay down there too. Not likely.

Now, the other contest I won- there were two prizes, but I won't be sharing pictures of those because I am actually going to use those prizes as gifts. And, I don't want the recipients to know I am cheap thrifty and that I am giving them something I received for free.

In other exciting Happy Happenings weekend news..... On Saturday Rich put up the Christmas lights on our house. Hailey stood on the couch and watched Rich working on the lights for a long time. She was fascinated that she could see him right outside the window. (Please do not be offended that I did not clean my windows for you. But, if are feeling a bit put out- please refer back to this post- Excuse The House.)

I think we have quite a few lights on our house and when we were coming home from some shopping on Saturday night I said, "Oh my goodness, look at our house." Rich told me that I can not tell you how many lights he put up because he wants me to take pictures and then have everyone guess how many lights there are.

So, I will be sharing pictures, but not until next week. (Remember that BooMama is hosting the Christmas Tour of Homes, so I am saving my pictures for the 17th. Check out her post if you haven't already- it sounds like lots of fun to me.)

On Sunday we Rich put up our tree.

Hailey offers some assistance in getting the tree set up.

I put the ornaments on our tree last night after Hailey went to bed. And, I'll be sharing those pictures next Monday as well.

So, that was our fun filled weekend. How was yours?

Now, the second part of my post- I just want to say- I am glad you are still here.

Can I just tell you that right now my blog seems like one big advertisement and I really hate it?

I know I have been doing a bunch of paid posts lately and I am sorry for that. I don't want to do it, but we need some extra money right now, so I have to do it. I plan to do several paid posts on the weekends when I know bloggyville is usually pretty quiet and I don't have a lot of visitors anyways.

When I do my paid posts, one of the requirements is that I do not have more than one in a row. So, I have been putting up some comics in between my paid posts. So, I will probably have quite a few posts during the weekends.

During the week my plan is to only do one paid post each day. I will also do my regular posting that I normally do. I will keep my regular post at the top of my blog with the paid post under it. Please feel free to skip over the paid posts like they are not there and go right to the regular Happy Happenings posts.

When I started my blog I never even considered using it to make money, it was just supposed to be a fun hobby to keep my family and friends up to date with our lives. Now it just doesn't feel that way anymore and for that I am very sorry.

Okay, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

14 Months Old

I can't believe that another month has passed and Hailey is already 14 months old. Time sure does fly by. So, once again it's time for our monthly update.

First a quick update on Hailey's newest words and signs. You can go here if you'd like to see the words and signs Hailey was using at 13 months.




During the past month Hailey has added these words to her vocabulary:
mum mum (yum yum)
wow
woe
sit
no, no (she says this to Dottie)
Ssssshhhhhhhhhhhh (she also says this to Dottie)
hi (everywhere we go she waves and says "hi" to everyone)
aaa daaa (all done)
hot
hat

And these are the signs she has learned in the last month:
turkey
play
phone
hat

Hailey picks up very quickly on the signs, if only I could remember to use them more often with her she would know so many more.

Hailey has also figured out how to whisper in the last month. She prefers to screech and scream, but when I ask her to find her whispering voice she smiles and whispers for a few minutes seconds then goes back to the screaming.

Today we were supposed to go to our local children's museum with one of our mommy groups. We I had really been looking forward to it. But, Hailey has had a cold for the last couple of days and last night she was up a lot coughing so I decided that we had better stay home. (If only all of the moms kept their sick kids home then Hailey wouldn't be getting sick so often. But that is another post for another day.)

Anyhoo, I had planned to take pictures at the museum to share with you- but since we stayed home I am sharing some pictures from home instead.
Hailey loves her Dora car that she got for her birthday. She has just recently figured out how to use her feet to make it go. She goes backwards, but she is proud to be moving the car all by herself.





Every week I pick a theme and then I plan activities around our theme. This week our theme was hats and mittens. So, we've been playing with lots of hats and mittens and putting them on the stuffed animals. Here Hailey is showing off her Virginia Tech hat.


Up until a couple of weeks ago Hailey didn't have much interest in dolls. Just recently she decided that she just loves the doll in this picture with her. She carries it all around and brings it to the table with her. She always gives her doll some of her food and drink too.




Right around the time that Hailey became attached to her doll she also decided that she must sleep with this teddy bear.

(The pajamas she has on in this picture- they belonged to my 22 year old brother when he was a baby.)

Another new thing in this last month? Hailey has discovered the toilet paper. Such fun!












I know that I usually take the weekends off from blogging, but I'll probably be around a bit this weekend trying to get in a few more ads. I won't feel bad if you don't stop by though- so have a wonderful weekend!

Day To Read

This morning as I started my blogging rounds I stopped by Regina's blog and saw her post about A Day To Read.

The plan is this- on January 10th we will stop blogging for part or all (gasp) of the day and spend that time reading instead. Now, I've already told Regina that I don't think I can stop blogging for the entire day. I mean- really- can anyone do that? For me the twitching would start shortly after 7am if I were unable to do my morning blog checks. And, if I am twitching it would be hard to hold my book still in order to read it.

So, for me- I plan to set aside part of January 10th to do some reading. If you can do it all (gasp) day- well go for it.

Allison at Soccer Mom in Denial is the one who came up with this idea, so if you are going to participate- stop by her post here and let her know.

Then on January 11th those of us who participated can blog about what we read. So, are you in?