Mommy and Daddy took an opporunity this weekend to go on a date! We left Hayley with our neighbors next door, and went out to dinner and then to bowling. It was very nice to get a couple of hours to ourselves.
Hayley was apparently a little angel next door - playing well, eating dinner, visiting with the neighbors and their two kids. Of course, as soon as we walked through the door at the end of the evening, Hayley forgot all about them. Can’t nobody top “ma-ma”.
Holly told me that last night, Hayley stood on her own - without holding on to anything - for 10-15 seconds at a time. She didn’t seem to want to go anywhere, she just stood there until she sank down to the ground.
Hayley gives kisses now. If you tell her “Hayley, give me a kiss!” and pucker your lips, she’ll lean toward you in a slack-jawed kiss, and then break into a big grin.
She’s the cutest ever.
Hayley passed the eight month mark yesterday. That’s 2/3 of a year for the fraction fans out there.
She’s continuing to make progress toward standing - going 4-5 seconds of balancing sometimes. She also was standing last night, and took a couple of “steps” toward Holly before collapsing. It wasn’t real walking (more like stumbling forward), but it was pretty cute.
I’m beginning to think that Hayley’s starting to understand what it means when she says “Ma Ma”. She tends now to only use those words when she’s upset and wants Holly to get her. She’ll be crying, I’ll hold her, and she’ll look toward Holly and say “Ma ma ma ma ma!” Once Holly gets her, she doesn’t say it any more. Hmmm…
Rought night last night - she was up at midnight, 4am, and 7am.
She’s starting to eat Cheerios now - she’s pretty good about picking them up with her thumb and index finger, and shoveling them in as fast as we can provide them. We make sure she chews and swallows one before she gets the next one, though.
The Grandparents Estes came down yesterday for a visit, and to bring some food from their freezer to store in ours, since Kenbridge still doesn’t have power from the hurricane.
Not much new on the baby front - she continues to develop her climbing skills, and can stand unassisted for 2-3 seconds sometimes before she drops to her butt. Her top teeth that were breaking through a week or so ago are all the way past the gumline and on their way in.
She’s been getting up at 2am and crying recently - dunno what’s up with that. It’s making Mommy and Daddy very tired, though.
Hayley might get to experience her first hurricane this week. She may also get to experience her first Hurricanes in October.
We went out to dinner last night, and Holly dressed Hayley up in a onesie and JEANS! My baby is way too little to wear jeans. She looked like . . . like a real person! Only little.
She was awfully cute, though.
This email from Holly just came in - I thought I’d share:
Your daughter is grinding her new tooth against her bottom teeth…it’s going to make me crazy before the day’s out. Like nails on a chalkboard.
Oh, and I also think the second top tooth will be breaking through within the next few days.
Hayley’s just like a kid - gotta try out the new toy. 
(Also notice how she’s my daughter when she does something annoying . . . come to think of it, she probably does get that from me . . .)
The first time was a false alarm, but this isn’t - Hayley cut her first top tooth today. Holly found the top-front-left tooth poking completely through the gumline this morning.
We had a bet as to whether or not a tooth was going to show up by this weekend. Guess I better pay up.
Hayley went down around 8:30 last night, and slept until 8:30 this morning! I told Holly she was tired!
Hayley had her first taste of cornbread and popsicle last night. While we were eating dinner, we gave her a few little pinches of our cornbread muffins. Later that night, Holly let her have a lick off of her popsicle. Hayley made weird faces every time she tasted the popsicle, but always wanted another try.