Hayley and Kate Minter

Got the following email from Sigma Mu Sigma brother acleex (who refers to me as “H. Wade”) after he saw the picture below:

Congratulations…you have just aided me in renaming your daughter….

H. Waffle

Mommy picked up a little hair barette for Hayley today, to keep her hair out of her eyes. She’s getting to the “sheepdog” stage now - where her hair hangs into her eyes if it’s straight down, but it’s not long enough to pull back.

Hayley’s babbling is getting a bit more varied lately - she’s stringing different sounds together, instead of just repeating one sound ad nauseum. Nothing that could really be called a “word” yet, aside from “Ma-Ma”. But it’s a good sign.

One of the presents that all of the immediate family got from Hayley was a DVD of her first year. Thanks to the magic of the digital camcorder, iMovie, and iDVD, I was able to put together a pretty nice video package, going from birth to sitting up to crawling to walking and everything in between.

If any of Hayley’s friends, family, or loyal readers didn’t get a DVD and would like one, let me know and I’ll see what I can work out.

Well, that was a busy few days.

We started off the morning of the 24th by giving Hayley her stuff from us. She got a school bus with little people inside, wooden blocks, this air-powered ball-popper game that kinda freaks her out (but Daddy likes it), some books, some clothes (including a Hurricanes cheerleader outfit), and a few more little things.

Then it was into the car to go see Grandma and Bill in Petersburg. Visited with them for a little while and saw their decorations, then we all left for Kenbridge and Beth’s house. We did Christmas Eve dinner there with Mom, Bill, Beth, Ashley, and Blake. This was Beth’s first year “hosting” the dinner, and she did a fine job amid the chaos. Hayley was having fun watching her cousins playing, and she did her own thing walking around the living room with her omnipresent spoons. She also had a great time tearing the wrapping paper, so she was able to mostly unwrap all of her gifts.

She got several nice things from my folks, but the thing she seems to have taken to the most is this big grey stuffed cat that Mom gave her. She’s been carrying that thing around with her pretty much nonstop since Wednesday.

Then it was off to the Estes home. Hayley went to bed pretty soon after we got there, and the Grandparents wanted her to sleep in the room with them. We didn’t argue with them - that meant more sleep for us! Hayley slept well - only woke up once briefly, and slept until around 7am Christmas morning. We got up and did presents there, too. Highlights included a Sit and Spin, an Oscar The Grouch puzzle, a baby doll, and a toy cell phone.

Then it was back to Beth’s for breakfast and my Dad and Lynn. Then back to the Esteses for some babysitting, so Mommy and Daddy could go to a movie together. She was still awake when we got home, and had another good night of sleep (didn’t wake up once!). Finally, we left for home around lunchtime Friday. She was very good during all the car trips - either sleeping or playing with Mommy.

The best thing to see was how well she’s taking to her family now. Even more than Thanksgiving, she’ll actively go to a grandparent or aunt and want them to hold her and play with her. Before, she’d take quite a while to warm up to family, but not this time. She also wowed everyone with her walking, dancing, and clapping.

Hayley cashed in on savings bonds this year - that’ll be good when she’s in college or planning her wedding or whatnot.

All in all, we couldn’t have asked for a better Baby’s First Christmas. Pictures should be up soon.

Hayley discovered a new skill today - clapping! She was with Holly today at Colony Tire, getting the oil changed in the car. They had some Christmas music on the radio, and Hayley started dancing. While she was dancing, she started clapping her hands together! Huzzah!

I’d been trying to show her that trick for a while - good to see that she’s catching on!

Hayley’s 11 months old today. Only one months away from her first year!

Where has the time gone?

As of Sunday night, Hayley has forsaken her inflatable baby bathtub for the “big girl bath” - sitting by herself in the normal tub.

Of course, we now have to pay more attention to her balance and whatnot, but it’s another step in her growing-up adventure.

This has not been a good week as far as sleep goes. Every night, Hayley’s awakened at least once between her bedtime and ours, and at least once during the middle of the night (1-3am). Last night, she was up at around 2:30am, and Holly was up with her for a half-hour with no success, and I finally got her to go to sleep after about 20 minutes of working with her.

I don’t know what’s wrong - maybe she has more teeth coming in, maybe she’s getting sick again. Or maybe she’s just mean.

I’m working on the Hayley DVD that I’m giving to family members for Christmas. Gotta cut an hour off of the two and a half hours of video I’ve taken since she was born. I guess it’s good in a way that I was kinda slack for a while about filming - I’d hate to try to cut six hours down! I’ve got about one more week to finish the editing, since burning DVDs takes for freakin’ ever.

Hayley’s continuing to amaze us with her memory. You can tell her to “Go get [familiar object],” and she’ll go find it, pick it up, and bring it to you. We had a fun game of “hide the stuffed animal” this evening, where I’d hide her stuffed Pluto on one side of me, and she’d walk around me to find it. She seemed to enjoy it. She also knows where “food” is - if you tell her we’re going to eat, she’ll get up and go into the kitchen.

‘Cause that’s where food lives.

Speaking of food, we’ve been trying to give her some “solid” solids - we’ve picked up some Gerber Graduates, and they’re food with chunks, instead of pureed slop like she eats now. She doesn’t seem interested, though, turning up her nose at the baby ravioli, carrots, and those weird little things that look like Vienna sausages. No big rush - if she doesn’t want them, she doesn’t have to eat them, but we’ll keep trying to see if she warms up to them.

With all the people getting sick in North Carolina, I’m glad we got her flu shot a couple of months ago.

Hayley’s got another new trick.

Her crib is on the wall near the door, and the edge of it is very close to the lightswitch for her room. A few times there will be a minute or two in the morning between when she wakes up and starts fussing and when we get in there to get her, and in those times, she’ll somehow reach through the crib bars and flip her light on. We haven’t seen exactly how she does it, but she’s figured it out.

Next, it’s onto the inclined plane, lever, and possibly even the pulley.