Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Alright, so it isn't "me first" or "gimme, gimme" but recently Hailey has started saying "no, I do it myself". Ahh, one of the many perks of parenthood. Things that I have never given a second thought to before have now become some of the biggest events of our day. I never knew it could take so much time to put on a pair of socks! And I never knew how serious things like this are to a two-year-old. The other day I put in a movie for Hailey to watch before she went to bed. Usually I let her push the "close" button on the dvd player, but instead I put in the movie and started it. What was I thinking? Well, the truth was I wasn't thinking because before now starting a movie didn't require thinking. Well, what I had done was truly offensive and Hailey had a major meltdown. (She was also really tired which meant that she was beyond reason.) So, at that point there was nothing left for me to do except go over and stop the movie, pull out the dvd so that I could put it back in and let her push the "close" button. Like magic the crying stopped. ~Sigh~ I can't believe I went through all of that over Hailey taking claim to a button!!!

Park Adventures

These are some pictures of the last time we took Hailey to the park. Its been a little while since we have played at the park and lately she has been a little hesitant to go down the slides. She starts by being really excited and she climbs all the way up and then she sits up at the top of the slide and waits. I would like to know what is going through her mind at that point. I think that she might be a little nervous or scared, but if that's what it is I am glad that she is able to overcome her fears and eventually go down the slide.
I love the age that Hailey is at right now (although, I have told myself this at every age). But it is fun to watch her interact with other kids and watch her learn new things. The other day my parents took Hailey and Sadie to the zoo. My parents told me that she wasn't as interested in the animals as she was last year. But she took every chance she had to tell the other kids "look,elephant" (or whatever animal they were looking at). Her personality is shining through more and more everyday and I couldn't be any happier being her mom.

I think I like the Easter Bunny...

This was our first encounter with the Easter Bunny. Hailey liked him except for when he wanted to hold her for the picture. As you can see that didn't really work out.

This is us waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin. It was suppose to start at 9:00 and we got there ten minutes before that, but I swear we waited for more than twenty minutes. I really wouldn't have cared except it was really cold! (There was even frost on the grass.) I wanted to get Hailey really excited for the hunt and by showing her the eggs that she would get to put in her basket and I guess it worked cause she kept inching past the caution tape trying to go out onto the field. (Either she was excited or just sick of waiting, but whichever it was it made me laugh.)

These are the "action pictures"Okay, so the "hunt" for the 0-2 age range ended up being some baskets full of eggs that the kids walked up to and picked out an egg. Not much of a hunt, but at least they had different fields for different age groups. This was a lot better than some aggressive six year olds pushing the smaller kids around trying to get as many eggs as they could. They even had the Easter Bunny handing out little stuffed animals to the kids. I really think that Hailey had fun and I am glad that we did it.

After going through our eggs and finding the suprises in each one we took Hailey over and got her face painted. It turned out really cute and when she got home she had to go look in the mirror to see what she looked like. Don't ask me about her obsession with sunglasses. She wouldn't take them off the entire time and always asks to wear them everytime we leave the house.

Coloring Easter Eggs

It is really hard to believe that this was Hailey's third Easter!!! This Easter was very different from the last two, mainly because Hailey is now old enough that she can do a lot of the things that she couldn't do before. We started coloring Easter eggs and later some friends of ours, Jake and Kim, came over to help. Hailey was a pro at coloring eggs and didn't need any help. (Probably cause she had colored some eggs a few days earlier with Grandma Cole.) Hailey wanted to use the white crayon to color on the eggs, but after trying it she told me "It doesn't work." So, I had to help her color on the egg and then after we dyed it I showed her what she had drawn. She loved it and also liked decorating the eggs with stickers. And a special thanks to Jake and Kim because you made Hailey's night by coming over. She wouldn't stop talking about it!!!

Feeding the Ducks

Our weekend started off with a picnic in the park followed by some duck hunting. I had promised Hailey that we would go and feed some ducks, problem was I promised her before I really knew where we would go to find these ducks. We ended up spotting a couple of ducks right by where we had our lunch. So, we walked over and these ducks were two of the biggest ducks I had ever seen. I didn't get a good picture of them, but seriously they were huge. The bigger of the two ducks was a mean one too. Everytime Hailey would throw some bread he would start hissing. I didn't even know that ducks hissed, but apparently they do and I kept thinking that he was going to attack at any minute. So, as soon as Hailey was finished we walked away and then drove home. But on our way out of the park we saw a ton of smaller less aggressive ducks that we could have walked right up to and fed. So, I guess next time we will know where to go for the good duck feeding.

Spring Fever

Even if it only lasted a few days, we definately tried to take advantage of the nice weather. As much as I hated the hour of sleep that I had to lose, I guess it is worth it because we have been able to spend a more time as a family at night going on walks and taking Hailey to play on the swings and slides. She could stay outside all night if we would let her. This week was actually the first time that we have been able to take her outside with her bike. She hasn't quite grasped the peddling concept, but she is learning. She started to go pretty fast down a couple of hills (and by hills, I mean a very slight decline but even so she got going pretty fast and it was hard to keep up with her) and she tipped the bike over and fell. I ran over because I was sure that she was going to burst into tears and I wanted to be there to pick her up and hold her, but she got up and said "Oh no! Hehe (Hailey) fell down" and then got right back on her bike. It made me realize that I am way too overprotective and I need to learn to let her fall because she is strong enough to get back up on her own.

Things you might not know...

Anyone who has been around Hailey knows that she can be a little shy at first, but once she warms up her personality really starts to shine. I decided to put together a list that will let you get to know this little girl a little bit more.

Some of Hailey's favorite movies are: Monsters Inc., Tarzaan, Charolette's Web, Finding Nemo, Beauty & The Beast, and Land Before Time. (After watching each of these movies at least ten times, they have been added to my most unfavorite movie list.)

Hailey loves Mama and Dada to read her stories.

Hailey knows all of the words to the Chipmunks Christmas Song. She loves to sing and recently she has started to make up her own songs. The most common one is the "Today Song" where she will just sing "today" over and over. She also sings to her animals and babies.

Hailey loves any kind of treats. (What kid doesn't?)

Talking on the phone is a new passtime for Hailey. And she doesn't just sit and talk. She has to walk around the house while she talks.The other day Greg and I were talking and Hailey asked if she could talk to me. So, I started talking to her and after listening to her ramble on about what she was doing and some other things I couldn't really understand. After I thought she was finished I asked her if I could talk to Daddy again. She told me "NO" and when I asked "why" she would only answer with "cause". I don't know how many times I had to ask her to let me talk to Daddy before she actually gave the phone back to him.

If she gets to decide she will always choose to cuddle with Daddy at night. I love it and I think it is the cutest thing even though sometimes I feel a little sad that I don't get to cuddle with her.

Hailey is definately a girly girl. She loves to get her nails painted and every morning while I get ready she stands on her stool in the bathroom and asks for turns with the makeup.

Grandma Cole bought Hailey a princess memory game and lately it is her favorite thing to do. She is really good at it too. At first we would help her find the matches, only later to find out that she never needed our help. Other things Hailey likes to do are puzzles, coloring, and stickers.

Hailey isn't much of a morning person. She wakes up and while Greg and I get ready for work she will lay down on the couch and watch cartoons. She really likes Spongebob Squarepants (which I can't stand). She also really likes Clifford, Care Bears, Dragon Tails and Super Why.

Daddy taught Hailey to give monkey kisses. But beware if she is ever going to give you one... it is basically just a lick on the face.

Instead of mashed potatoes, Hailey likes to call them tiny potatoes.

Hailey has 18 cousins (and one more on the way), 9 uncles, 8 aunts, 2 grandmas, 2 grandpas, and a great grandma and a great grandpa. She also has a pet fishthat she loves to take care of.