My Birfday.

Wednesday was my birthday. The big 2-3! I actually still feel really young. Most of my friends are older than me. It was a good day. I woke up to the sound of Travis hanging stuff up with tape downstairs. He banned me from going downstairs until he was done decorating. It was really cute. I opened my (two) presents before Travis went to school. He spoiled me and got me some jewelry.

Then Travis went to school and Hailey and I went about our day like normal. Except not. Hailey refused to nap. That was her gift to me. Grumpiness. haha. Thank you Hailey! 

When Travis came home, he walked in with these babies:

I'm a sucker for red roses.

Travis is a keeper. That's for sure. He may think flowers are silly, but he still brings them home for me. So sweet.

We went to Red Robin for my birthday dinner. It's always fun going there. It's one of my favorite places. We have to get onion rings every time. Luckily, we're sneaky about it. We just pay 99 cents to switch out fries for onion rings for one of our meals. So we don't pay the big bucks for the tower. They're definitely a must have. 

When we got home, Hailey decided to grow up a little bit and start pulling herself up onto things. Awww, she's growing up too fast. How do I slow it down?

 

Disclaimer: We forgot candles, so we used old ones we had laying around. 22? haha. Oh well. 

I had a great birthday. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

This morning, the playgroup from my ward went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. It's a super cute little farm experience that's free on the weekdays. Although Hailey is too young to understand what's going on, it's still fun for me to get out and chat with other moms. 

There was a cow that the kids could stand behind a fence and watch get milked. Super awesome!

 And then they had a cute little station where kids could practice their milking skills. 

 It was pretty chilly, so Hailey was bundled up in the stroller for most of the time.

 The goats were so nice. Kids could go in the pen and bottle feed them. Super awesome!

 Hailey wasn't so sure about the goats.

 There was a cute barn the kids climbed inside and went down the slide.

 Pigs are a must-have at the farm.

 Cute little Shetland ponies. My favorite!

 This goat was scaring me. I thought it was going to jump out!

I'm a weirdo mom and I stuck Hailey behind one of these things. haha.

Isn't she the prettiest thing?

 I love this girl.

I'm glad we went. We'll definitely be going back, probably multiple times a year when Hailey is older. I love discovering new, fun places to take my baby girl.

A Day in the Life of Hailey Rae

Hailey is 7 months old today. That's only 5 months away from being one. Whaaat!? She's changing so fast it's crazy. I wanted to document one of her days so I can look back at it when she's older.

But let me tell you her stats from her 6 month check up. (Yeah I know... I'm a month late.) She was 13.3 pounds (5th percentile), 25 1/4 inches long (50th percentile), and her head circumference was in the 50th percentile (I never remember the measurement). She's a tall, skinny thing. I promise she's eating enough. haha.

She started crawling LAST NIGHT. She wanted to crawl while she was still 6 months old so we can tell her future posterity that she crawled at 6 months (a day shy of 7 months... but still counts). She's so fast at getting around now. Not fast at crawling quite yet, but quick with rolling and scooting. She's started to entertain herself well so she can sit and play alone for a long time. It's nice for me to get the dishes or laundry done. She growls constantly. She's started banging on things (the table, the fridge, toys, her highchair, etc.) I think we got a future drummer here. She can pull herself up holding onto my fingers, but not against furniture yet. She can stand for a while against furniture, as long as we stick her there. She sits up in her crib now, which sometimes makes it difficult for her to fall asleep. She is starting to learn to clap. She's only done it for us a few times and she's pretty clumsy at it. She knows what "milk" is in sign language. She can't do it, but if we sign "milk" to her and ask if she wants some, she'll respond by whining if she's hungry. Once we ask her if she wants "milk", we have to be ready to make a bottle because she is not a patient girl.

That's enough of an update. Now time for the fun part.

Hailey wakes up for the day around 8. We come downstairs and have a bottle and play. After about an hour we eat some fruit for breakfast. Hailey inhales the baby food. She loves it. She growls when we aren't quick enough.

After we eat some breakfast it's bath time- Hailey's favorite part of the day.

Ahhh! She's starting to pull herself up on the side of the tub!

We've been brushing her teeth (gums) since she was a wee little thing. I've just recently noticed how used to it she is.

After bath time, we get all lotioned up,

Get dressed,

Read a book or two together,

Hang our bow on the corner of the crib,

And go down for our morning nap.

Some days (like today), Hailey doesn't go down for her nap very easily. Ever since she learned to sit up in her crib she just sits there and talks. I go in there every so often to lay her back down. She's just too funny. I laugh all day long at that silly girl.

After naptime, we have another bottle and play some more.

Usually after lunchtime is when Daddy comes home. It's another favorite part of Hailey's day.

Today was special because Hailey and I both had adjustments at Travis' school. Hailey does great and is so cute laying on the chiropractic table. She doesn't have much that needs adjusting, but they find a little spot every once in a while that needs to be adjusted.

She has another bottle, a nap, and plays in the late afternoon. We do a lot of playtime around this joint.

Hailey eats some veggies and has another bottle towards the evening. She goes to bed between 8 and 9. Lately, she's been going to bed closer to 8. It's lovely.

So there you have it. A day in the life of Little Miss Hailey Rae. Life is fun and she's growing so fast.



Thankful Thursday

Today, I just feel so overwhelmed and blessed. I keep looking at my beautiful daughter and feeling so thankful for her. She has such a sweet little personality and she makes me smile and laugh all day long. 

Today the squirrels have been going crazy outside and Hailey finally started to notice them.   

And she's such a good little helper!   

She makes Travis and I so incredibly happy. She is a very busy little thing, but it's fun. 

My Journey to Self Worth

Okay, so this has been on my mind a lot lately. I've wanted to write a blog post about it, but I don't know how it needs to be worded. Sorry if I sound crazy or wordy. This is mostly for me. 

So it all started with my freckles. When I was growing up I hated them. I got called "freckle face" just enough times for me to feel lousy about myself. I buried that feeling deep inside myself, smiled, and kept going. Life went on, I went through middle school and high school. I never really had trouble making friends. No, that wasn't my struggle. My struggle was deep within myself- nobody could see it. Not even my parents knew the feelings I had. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I compared myself to others. I felt like my freckles were a curse and I didn't even come close to the beauty of all my friends. (I know it's silly, but it's how I felt.) That's just where it started though. When you start comparing yourself to others, you'll never be satisfied with anything about yourself. But I was good at burying my feelings. I went to college and made amazing friends. 

Then I met Travis. 

He was head over heels for me and I couldn't understand why. I thought that I was the luckiest person in the world to have him in my life. He was (and still is) a great person inside and out. So we got married. That's when I found out the disease I had. He would look at me and whistle (you know... that "you're super sexy" whistle) and I would blow him off. He'd compliment me and I would ignore him or even sometimes get upset with him. I didn't believe him. I continued on with life, not believing Travis when he told me how beautiful I was. It's really sad all the time I wasted feeling this way. And it wasn't like a constant feeling. I would bury it deep inside. It came and went. I was an overall happy person, but that feeling would creep up on me every once in a while.

Then I got pregnant. Such a happy and amazing experience. What's weird is it was probably the time in my life where I felt the most beautiful. There was no pressure to be skinny or a certain shape. I was growing a human inside me and that's all that mattered.

When Hailey entered this world, I felt a love I've never felt before-the love of a mother. It was and still is amazing. I love Hailey with all my heart and would do anything for her. She's so perfect. Every inch of her is beautiful. And I want her to know that. I want her to know that God made her just the way she is. And God doesn't make mistakes. 

So the struggle within myself came to surface full force post pregnancy. My body was in the worst condition of my life so far. haha. Sounds intense. What I mean is I had a body that was super loose and flabby. I would take my old body back any day. 

Travis and I made a goal to do a half marathon. Travis wanted to do it because it would be an awesome accomplishment. I wanted to do it for a different reason. I thought training for a half marathon would get me that perfect body that I always wanted. So the training began. And it was HARD. After having Hailey, my body was not in the same active condition that it was in before. Even running 10 minutes straight was impossible for me. I didn't think I could do it. I cried. A lot. I started to doubt my abilities and the dream I had of having the perfect body seemed unreachable. But I'm so blessed. Travis stayed by my side. He walked with me when I needed to walk. He didn't complain. He just stayed with me as I struggled to get back into shape. And it definitely was a struggle.

Training for this half marathon has been an amazing blessing. I wasn't losing the weight and magically turning into this skinny, perfect person. But I began to get stronger and stronger each week. Eventually I didn't need to walk at all anymore. I started to feel proud of myself. We increased our mileage and I kept trying and struggling to keep going. I realized doubt was my enemy. It's what stops me from achieving amazing things. I can't doubt myself. Instead, I learned that I need to believe in myself. I can do hard things.

My body isn't as flabby and loose as it was six months ago, but it's far from perfect. But that doesn't matter. I've learned a lot about myself while training for this half marathon. I've learned that weight doesn't matter ONE BIT. My weight has fluctuated so much in the last few months, but I can run ten miles straight (we'll be doing eleven this weekend.. eeek!) The biggest secret to discovering self worth is being your best self and doing something for you. For me, I feel happiest when I'm exercising frequently and being the best mother and wife I can be. Also, having a good relationship with Heavenly Father makes the biggest difference in my feelings about myself. Instead of feeling lousy about myself, I've taken an active role at being my best self and being okay with that person. I haven't been blessed with "the perfect body" that I originally thought would make me happiest. Instead I've been blessed with pride (the good kind), a good relationship with my Heavenly Father, and an amazing family. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and created me just the way I am. And I know I'm beautiful.

Another Man's Trash...

You know what they say... another man's trash is another man's treasure.  Or in this case,  used toys a mom wants to get rid of make another mom really happy.  We went to a local consignment shop that comes around twice a year. It was open for four days and I found myself stopping by every day. When I walked through the doors for the first time, I didn't expect what I saw. Shelves and shelves of toys. Baby toys. I heard the hallelujah choir singing. So I stepped in further and began to sift through the piles of toys. Hailey had a total of 3 toys before this. So I had a mission to fulfill. I walked back and forth between the shelves of discounted toys for over an hour. Finally, I left with a few things feeling very accomplished. So after that, I went back everyday. It became a little bit of an addiction. Good thing it was only open for four days. Moral of the story: After disinfecting them like crazy,  Hailey has TONS of fun toys now. And I feel pretty awesome for finding such great deals.

After gathering all those toys, a new problem arose. Storage. So these toys sat in piles on the floor of our family room for weeks until I found a solution that I liked. Hailey' s room is small, so I couldn't keep them in there. So I found these shelves to keep in our family room.

I love them!  Every time I walk by I stop and stare. Now I'm just looking forward to the day when Hailey is mobile and pulling all the baskets down.