Third Month's a Charm

Is this real life? Yeah. It is. Hailey turned 3 months on Saturday. My little baby isn't a newborn anymore. She's changed so much in the last 3 months. She weighs 10 pounds now! She's wearing 3 month size clothes. I didn't say she fit them, just that she's wearing them. haha. She's too long for the newborn size, but too skinny for the 3 month size. I think this stage is more awkward than her preteen will be.

But she's dang cute. 

She's grabbing toys and her clothes and putting them in her mouth, 

 slobbering on everything (including her hands), 

sitting in her bumbo,

 

rolling over (tummy to back), 

actually playing with the toys on her play mat (rather than staring), 

She scoots herself off her mat and looks at me wondering how she got there.

smiling and giggling like crazy (not yet laughing), 

talking and talking and talking and talking, 

sleeping 5 or 6 hours in a row during the night (I'll take it) and taking great naps,

standing up for long periods of time when holding onto Mom or Dad's hands, 

and she's finally fitting into some shoes!

Life is fun! 

Here she was drinking her bottle and dreaming of bigger and better things. I told her, "Slow down and enjoy your bottle. Time goes fast and before you know it you're eating real food and missing those yummy bottle-drinking days." haha. I'm full of wisdom because I'm a mom now.

 

 

Hailey Moments

We think Hailey is so fun and silly. I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about a video? I want to share moments that show her fun personality. Pictures just don't do it justice. So enjoy some moments with our silly girl. 

I love the faces Hailey pulls. So funny. 

 Daddy can be pretty scary! Side note: This video was followed up with lots of love.

 

 I love this girl. And I love that shirt she's wearing.  

 

Dad is a really funny guy.

 

She's started playing with toys.

 

And she one-upped herself and grabbed her toy! 

 

She talks like a teenager on a cell phone with unlimited minutes.

She's growing up so fast. Every day is exciting and super fun. I love that she's talking so much and interacting. I hope you enjoyed our sweet little babe in action.

Running For Our Lives

So if you didn't notice, about 3 months ago I had a baby.  haha. You totally noticed. What comes with having a baby is having extra baby weight. Bleh. Everyone tells me I look great and that I don't even look like I had a baby. But I was about 13 pounds over my pre baby weight. So, it was nice to hear, but very untrue. So Travis (who actually also gained some "baby weight") and I decided to make a goal. We're going to run a half marathon this September. Boom. That'll take care of the extra pounds. We've been running four times a week for about a month now. At first, I couldn't even run 10 minutes without stopping. It killed me. But now I'm feeling strong and we're running more and more. Working out is exciting. Going from the worst shape of my life to getting stronger and stronger is exciting. We've also been drinking protein shakes and smoothies everyday as well. So we're kicking our butts back into shape. I've lost 3 pounds and Travis has lost 6.

But it's not all flowers and rainbows. Every day we're risking our lives when we run. Let me explain.

We're so blessed to have a beautiful running path near our home. (Or so I thought.) We run this path every day. It's so green and lush. Here, take a look.

See, isn't it lovely? So I thought we were so blessed. And then we started running into wildlife.

Scary, huh? Okay. Not quite. It was actually really fun coming upon my turtle friend. But then... we came across THIS:

I almost stepped on that booger. It was like 5 feet long. Gee wiz, golly wolly. Definitely gave me the heeby geebies. So when we got home we looked up what type of snake it was. We were sure (mostly me) that it was super poisonous and that we were super lucky to have survived such an encounter. Well, turns out it's just a harmless water snake. Harmless? I don't think so. Even if it's not poisonous, it's a hazard. It almost tripped me. See how much that dude is poking out into the path. Yeah, still dangerous. haha. I still feel like we risked our lives that day. And now everyday since when we run on the path. But you gotta do what you gotta do, ya know?

Copycat Crafts

So I've had these two projects in mind for a long time. Thanks to my wonderful mother, I was able to get them done. So I'm not crafty AT ALL. I cannot imagine up wonderful, beautiful things. Whoever thought up Pinterest deserves a dozen roses every day for the rest of their life. Seriously. It's genius. I love how people like me can copy actually talented people. And then people see our awesome crafts and think we're all crafty and what not. It's pretty much real world plagiarism. I love it! But anywho, here are my copycat crafts.

These bookshelves looked so fun. Instead of using a bulky bookshelf that is chuck full of books, I saw this idea where you pretty much display them. Using spice racks from Ikea ($4.99 a piece... cheap!), I was able to create my cute bookshelf wall. I decided to stain them to make them match Hailey's crib. And they turned out awesome. I'm glad my mom was in town. She's a staining queen. So tada! Check out the masterpiece.

 So it turns out I have tons of books. So I ended up using this crate below the shelves for even more book storage. I'm happy with how it turned out.

So speaking of that crate, that's my other copycat craft! So this one is awesome. Like everyone should do it. I collected crates over time. Did you know they're about $13 a piece on average? I checked Michael's, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby, and Home Depot. I'm not about to spend that amount of moola. Maybe when we're rich. haha. So I used my noggin. This is the part that I get credit for. I used the weekly coupon from JoAnns and bought one at a time, each week. The coupon was usually for 40-50% off an item. So I got the crates for $6 instead of JoAnns full price, $11.99. Happy dance. It took me a little while to collect them, but I wasn't in a hurry. So I wanted to collect these because I thought they'd be fun to stick toys, stuffed animals, and totally random stuff in for Hailey's room. And I'll probably do even more when Hailey has more stuffed animals and toys to put away. But this is what my mom and I stained and created for now. Woohoo!

 You can add more on the side of them, or make it higher. So many possibilities.

Look at that cute doll Travis' mom got Hailey. And those blocks were just gift boxes someone brought their gift in from my baby shower. I thought they were so cute and display-worthy.

Aren't my copycat crafts fun? I love my stranger genius friends that I copy from Pinterest. Thank you random crafty people.

Beautiful Baby

Every single day I am overwhelmed with the love I feel for this little girl. She is beautiful beyond words. I look at her and think how much she looks like a little porcelain doll. So petite and precious.

From that picture you can tell she's a little nervous about Travis and me being her parents. I can understand that thought. She's being raised by two hooligans. But we're so honored to be her parents. We love her to the moon and back. 

 I love her smile and her smiley eyes. She has the sweetest little spirit. Her personality shines through her eyes.

 And speaking of those eyes, we have no idea where those eyelashes came from. They're incredibly beautiful and I'm glad my little girl has such great eye lashes. She'll love those for the rest of her life... and I will too.

 Even when she gets upset and refuses tummy time, I am filled with compassion and love. I love being the mommy to this little beauty.

 And Travis loves being a daddy. I can already tell they're going to have a silly and special connection.

We love Hailey so much. She enriches our life every single day. We feel so blessed to have the privilege of being her parents for eternity. We're excited for all the days to come, but we're also cherishing the days we have now. I hear time flies.

Two Months Too Soon

Hailey turned two months on Wednesday. I can't believe how fast she is growing and how much she is changing. She weighs 8 pounds 12 ounces and is 21 ¾ inches long. She's still soooo tiny, but she's big to Travis and me. She got her first set of shots at her appointment. It was so sad. Luckily, Travis was able to be there this time to hold her when it happened. I couldn't watch. I hated that cry from pain. So sad. She got a fever that night, but otherwise handled the shots pretty well. She was a little more whiny than normal and needed extra cuddles from Mom. But I was okay with that.

This month she started smiling ALOT. It lights up my world. I sure do love that smile. She'll be eating and if we make eye-contact (which we do a lot), she flashes this cheesy grin. It can make it difficult for her to concentrate on her bottle, but oh! So dang cute. She's even giggled a few times. I'm excited for giggles to happen more often. 

 She holds her toy, but doesn't really know she's holding onto it. She sucks/chews on her hands. We got a new play mat as a gift and she loves it. She doesn't really play yet, but she loves just staring. We also got a swing and she loves relaxing in it. We love our little girl and can't believe how fast she's growing. She's an overall happy, content baby and she brightens our lives every day. 

And now for the moments of the month with captions. Enjoy!

"Hi Mom!"

"Please, turn off that flash!"

"No No No, I'm not ticklish!"

"Okay, I am. Just stop."

"Issss thaaat a spiiiider ovver therrre?"

"You want my opinion on formula? Gaaag!"

"Yeehaw!"

"Beauty is painful. Gotta get these abs lookin good!"

"Hi!"

"I can't believe you said that!"

"I love restaurants! Hmmmmm what to order...."

"I know! I think I'll get the mac'n'cheese! I'm feeling cheeeesy."

"Whhaaaat? I can't get macaroni?!"

"I'm not leaving this place until I get macaroni!"

I Want I Want I Want

I feel like Veronica from the movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. (You know-the one that is the bad egg.) "I want, I want, I want, I want!" Here, I'll explain. We've been visiting Washington for the passed week. (More to come on that.) My sister, Ashley, was also visiting. She brought her new camera (a graduation present to herself). It's been so awesome having her snap pictures left and right. And they look so good. Hailey's blessing  was well documented because of her. So grateful. But it also makes me a little envious. We're headed back to Kansas soon. Back to our fun town. Back to our own beds. Back to our lovely home. And back to my crappy crappy camera. I might steal her camera to bring it with me.

But seriously. I want it. And now I know what I want for my birthday this year.

Anyways, enjoy the picture overload- they won't be this good again until my birthday in October. :)

We love Abbi kisses.

She thinks Mommy is pretty funny.