Hailey's first Easter

We had a wonderful time today celebrating Hailey's first Easter. She was of course dressed in a pretty, frilly dress complete with a bow in her hair and sandals on her feet. We took Hailey to church for the first time and everyone ooh'd and ahh'd over how adorable she was, and she was a perfect angel and didn't make a peep the whole service.

Here are a few pictures from Easter and a few days before also.


Tomorrow is Hailey's half birthday/6 months old - I can hardly believe it!!

Rolling, sitting, and...crawling?!

As of today, Hailey can now roll over from belly to back and back to belly. I'm sure before I know it she'll be rolling back and forth all over the house! Just now she worked so hard at getting from her back to her belly (she's been working on doing this for a while now), and once she finally figured out how to get her arms underneath her to be fully on her belly she gave me the biggest cheesy smile and she was so proud of herself!

I've also been working on getting her to sit on her own. She still likes to hang on to me for support, but if she's distracted and I let go she'll hold herself up in a sitting position for a little while before tipping off to the side and I have to catch her.

And no, she's not crawling quite yet thank goodness! But she has started showing the first signs of thinking about/wanting to crawl. Last night she was playing on her belly and she pushed up really hard on her arms and tried arching her back a little, like she wanted to push up on her knees. But she's not quite strong enough to get on her knees yet, so when she tries to push up on her knees she just ends up scooching her whole body backwards, farther from the toy she was trying to get which she's not happy about!

I hate to say it, but I think little miss Hailey is going to be mobile very soon! She's changing so much and doing new things every day, I feel so very lucky to be able to watch her develop and reach each of these milestones.

On Sunday we celebrate Hailey's first Easter, and Monday is Hailey's 6 month/half year birthday!

Veggies and feet!

For her 5 month birthday I started Hailey on vegetables every night around dinner time. We started with sweet potatoes and I don't know if it's because it was the first thing she tried and it was foreign, but Hailey really wasn't a fan. After a few days of choking down the sweet potatoes we switched to green beans, which she loved but boy oh boy what a mess!

After the green beans we moved onto squash which she gobbled down, and just last night tried peas, which she also seemed to love! I think maybe she's getting the hang of eating food and seems to thoroughly enjoy it now. It's so nice to sit at the dinner table and feed her in her high chair while Anthony and I eat dinner. And eating her veggies I guess really wears her out:

After peas we will try carrots, then try sweet potatoes again to see if maybe she does like them next time. Around 6 months I will start introducing fruit and cereal for breakfast so she will be getting 2 meals a day. It's so much fun to feed her new foods and see how she reacts!

In other news, Hailey also recently discovered her own feet and they are a constant source of entertainment for her. She loves to lay on her back with her feet in the air and grab her own toes. She hasn't figured out yet that she can get her toes in her mouth, but I'm sure that day will come!

I just can't believe we are quickly approaching Hailey's 6 month birthday and that she will probably be crawling in the next couple months, so crazy! When she's laying on her belly now she sort of scrunches her bootie up in the air and sometimes scooches a little ways, so I'm guessing the army crawl is something she'll be working on soon. Time to start babyproofing the house!

5 months!

Here is mommy's big girl on her 5 month birthday!

So many exciting new things!

Tomorrow Hailey turns 5 months old (stay tuned for pics!) and this 4th month of her life has brought many new exciting developmental changes.

First, and this not so exciting, we had a couple weeks of really bad sleep. Hailey would wake up screaming every hour or so. I believe this is what is called the "4 month wakeful period" in which their brains are developing so much and they are so stimulated that they don't want to sleep. Then daddy, the newfound "baby whisperer" decided to try a couple new tricks - he started leaving the hallway light on (turns out she was afraid of the dark!) and he tied up one of my shirts around her crib so Hailey could smell me. Now when she wakes up she doesn't scream because she knows where she is and feels comfortable. Sometimes I'll have to run in to pop in her pacifier, but usually she just goes right back to sleep, and has been sleeping from about 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.! We all are feeling so much better now that we are getting good sleep!

At our 4 month doctor appointment, the pediatrician told us we could begin feeding Hailey solid foods (cereal, veggies, fruit) anytime we felt she was ready. A couple days later I tried feeding Hailey some rice cereal, but she was not a fan. She started crying and got really upset, it just wasn't as fast and easy as her bottle. So I waited a couple weeks and decided to try again with some oatmeal. It took a couple tries, but now she really likes the oatmeal (I mix it with apple juice to give it a little flavor!) and she gets so excited when I put her in her Bumbo to eat. She opens her mouth wide so I can give her a bite, so cute!

Tomorrow to celebrate her 5 month birthday I am going to start Hailey on her veggies. You are only supposed to feed them one veggie for at least 3 days at a time (to make sure they don't have any allergies), so I'm going to start with squash. I really hope she likes it, I can't wait to see her reaction! So we'll do a few days of squash, then probably switch to peas or green beans, then carrots or sweet potatoes. I'm planning to feed her veggies for about a month, then around 6 months will introduce fruits also. It's going to be so much fun! And messy, haha!

In the last week or so, Hailey has finally figured out how to roll from her belly to her back, though she doesn't do it all the time. Some days she'll roll over 5 times in one round of "tummy time" and other times she won't do it at all. So I guess she's still sorta figuring it out. But she's getting so strong, and pushes herself way up, then if she's not too scared she'll sort of rock herself over onto her back, it's so cute and she looks so proud of herself when I start clapping for her!

I just can't believe Hailey is going to be 5 months, seriously where has the time gone?! It's just so crazy that she will probably be crawling in the next couple months, oh boy are we in trouble!

4 month stats

Hailey had her 4 month doctor appointment today. She weighs in at 13 pounds 9 ounces (50th percentile) and is 24 inches long (50th percentile). The pediatrician is very happy with her development, and checked her muscles and ability to sit and stand with help. She is healthy, happy and growing perfectly both physically and developmentally. Of course going to the doctor meant that Hailey was also due for her next round of shots. They seemed to cause her more pain this time, and she cried pretty hard right after getting stuck. But luckily she settled down pretty quickly and for the most part seems like her usual happy self.

All in all, Hailey is a healthy, happy and adorably cute 4 month old!

4 months!

Little miss Hailey Marie is 4 months old today! Can't believe how big she is getting, it feels like she has at least tripled in size since she was born! We have our 4 month well-baby check-up at the pediatrician next week, and I can't wait to find out how much she weighs and how tall she is. But this also means her next round of shots, poor baby!

Hailey is such a happy baby, just always smiling, laughing or talking. In the mornings now (Hailey is sleeping SO good at night, usually from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.!), I usually wake up to her jabbering away on the baby monitor; it's so nice to not have to rush into her room because she is crying. Now she just entertains herself by talking and looking around her room. And when I go in to get her she gets the biggest smile on her face, it is one of my most favorite times of the day! Then after her morning bottle she is always in such a good mood and loves to talk and play. I really do feel so lucky to have such a happy and fun baby.

In honor of her 4 month birthday, here are some of the latest pics of my little cutie!