HAPPY 9 MONTH BIRTHDAY BABY!

OK, so I guess since I'm posting this today it's really a 9 month and one day birthday, but pictures are from yesterday!!
We spent Hailey's 9 month birthday with the playgroup at the Custom's House Museum downtown. I was a little worried about going at first, after all what was Hailey going to do in a museum? But I knew the girls wouldn't steer us wrong. It was a great little museum and the whole basement is pretty much a kids play area. I know as time passes and Hailey gets more and more mobile she'll be quite the regular at the museum!!

And it seems Hailey has decided now that she's a big 9 month old she's going to take a stand -- ok not really, if I'm being totally honest she was just a plain ol' bully!! But I am a little ashamed to admit I was kind of relieved to see her being the tough one for once, even if it came at the expense of innocent little Liam. You see Hail's, Jillian, & Chloe were all playing at the train table and Liam walked over with his sippy cup -- Hailey proceeded to knock the cup out of his hands quite aggressively for no reason . . . guess she wanted him to know there was no drinking allowed at the play table, or perhaps that it was a girls only kinda thing?! Mariah (Liam's mommy) said I have to claim her behavior, I refuse . . . What else can I say, she's been hanging with a rough crowd, she was bound to pick it up sometime ;) --
Anyhow, Happy Birthday Baby, hope it was a good one!

Mom's Gone Wild

Friday night was my first official "Mom's Night Out -- MNO" with the playgroup. It was nice to go somewhere with the girls and not have to worry about running after Ms. Hailey midway through someone's conversation!
First we hit Hanaoki, the Japanese Steak House. Yummy! Just imagine for yourself 12 mom's, no rug rats in high chairs demanding attention, lots of food menus and only one drink list -- here is where we encountered our first problem ;) Being mom's we used our problem solving skills and our nice "share" attitudes and were able to pass it around to one another! We had a good time with the open fire grill (some more so than others . . .), a big delicious meal and tons of great conversations. How does one get from the topic of beer vs liquor to Oprah vs Ellen??

Next it was off to Chili's for dessert . . . but after finding there to be not enough room for the 10 of us that remained we walked over to Harbor Cafe. Not the nicest of places, but there was beer, liquor and a large enough table to seat us all, so we weren't going to complain!! After more good conversation, far to many admissions to watching 90210, The Real Desperate Housewives, One Tree Hill and Bromance (seriously, the last one, you know who you are!!) and a few more drinks we headed back to Chili's for another try at dessert.

This time there was success!! The 8 that still stood strong snagged two booths and the conversations continued. It's amazing the things that you can find to talk about when the only conversations you have at home all day are about, well, in my case nothing really!! Lets face it Hailey's only "words" are dadadadadadada, the occasional mmmmmammma and some lalala's!!
So after saying we were going to share some desserts, each proceeding to order our own and pigging out we slowly dragged ourselves home somewhere around 1130. Not bad for a bunch of mama's who will all admit to regularly being in bed NLT 10pm :)

So maybe it wasn't REALLY Mom's Gone Wild, but it was fun enough for us!! And thanks to all my great conversations I have a few more things to add to my agenda:
1. I need to learn more about the world of cloth diapers, apparently they've come a LONG WAY ... and HELLO they come in cow print!!! That alone deserves looking into.
2. I must follow Perez Hilton a little more closely . . .
3. Supposedly there are applications on Facebook that have something to do with challenging one another and finding words -- I have no idea, but it's supposed to be addictive!
4. And the shocker . . . Not all my pregnancies will be the same -- WHAT?! So maybe #2 won't be a cake walk?! Then maybe there won't be a #2 ;)

Ahh, the mom's, talk about a wealth of untapped knowledge!!

Upon returning home I found Hailey passed out with some of her bestest friends -- looks like they may have had quite the 9 month birthday bash!!

YEAH FOR THE SNOW DAY

I have no words, can't stop laughing . . . feel free to fill in the caption that should accompany this photo ____________________________________________________________!!

And This Little Piggy . . .

Well there was a little piggy who went to the market, and one who stayed home, one who had roast beef and one who had none . . . and then there was the last little piggy who was caught going "wee, wee, wee" while feeding her breakfast to Molly!!

Cabin Fever

Today's blog is written for Karl -- welcome to my life when you take my car!!!

The day begins FAR too early when Hailey bug decides to wake up with her daddy -- at 530am! I do my best to ignore the squeals coming from her room, but it's just too much and by 6am I drag myself out of my warm bed. Mind you, I didn't go to bed until 11:30 pm (I had to watch the Bachelor on TiVo!!) and was dragged from sleep at midnight. . . 2am & 4am by a certain little someone (I think she's teething . . . grrr). ANYHOW, the day begins, early. The weatherman was actually accurate this time, how is it they manage to always predict the bad stuff correctly?! So we awakened to a crystal coated wonderland -- ice!!



Since Molly and Jersey just love this type of weather (sarcasm!) I had the pleasure of dragging them outside in my PJ's and waiting for them to put their tender little feet on the frozen grass. Once they finish and we go inside the madness set in . . .


Meanwhile Hailey is busy in her play area feeding the giraffe his balls (hmmm, I guess I'll include a photo, as that sentence definitely needs explaining!!)

Following feeding time at the zoo (Jersey, Molly, Sophie and the giraffe have all been fed) it is time to feed the humans, so Hail's and I enjoy a little breakfast . . .
In the background the natives have once again become restless -- this is one of the major downfalls of bad weather, the madness is brought indoors! There is plenty of room for this behavior OUTSIDE, not so much in my living room!!!



Once Hailey and I are fed we return to the play area -- wohoo, again!! Today she decided that the play mat was no longer for playing on but instead for playing with. It was pretty funny when the letter 'O' found its way over her head and even more amusing when she couldn't quite figure out how to get it off ;)

I knew desperation was setting in when she tried to chew her way out, hehehe!

Around lunch time Christine came over to hang out and cook for us, mmmm! We had fried rice, dumplings and then made banana bread (she made, I watched!) Hailey continued going strong in her play area, no naps for this little lady!! I even caught her trying to steal the remote from up on the side table, which is no small feat! It required climbing into the toy basket and balancing between the couch arms, but she succeeded, and had a remote to show for it!!

Finally, around 3:30pm central time the impossible has happened, peace in the house!!! The girls have finally collapsed from all their excitement and I can have a moment to myself -- now that I have spent part of that time blogging I am going to go spend what ever precious little quiet time I have remaining with TiVo, the couch and a blanket!!! After all peace only ever lasts for so long -- and it's never long enough!!!


**Update, I am about to hit "publish post" at the bottom of the page, it is 4:15pm and there is a distict whine coming from the bedroom behind me ----- so much for the couch, blanket and TiVo!

Wow, Looking A Little Rough

Hailey proves that even those with very little hair can still have bad hair days . . .

Bully's in the Playyard, NOT COOL!!

Friday's playdate was once again at the Jump Zone . . . what can I say, we live in Clarksville, TN there's not a whole lotta options in the winter!! Not that it matters, any change of scenery from her living room prison is fine for Ms.Hailey.

The tots play area seems to expand everytime we go there, and this time was no exception! There were plenty of new toys for Hail's to explore and ofcourse some old favorites! And once again I almost got in fights with the little brats that tend to roam unattended there. As far as I'm concerened the toddler play area is for TODDLERS -- the bouncy castles and all the other fun stuff is for the bigger kids. Now I'm not totally unreasonable, the nice older kids are more than welcome to join toddler world, it's the little monsters that reek havoc that should stay out!! I can't tell you how many times Hailey has had toys ripped from her hands by 4 and 5 year olds, and this past visit she was even head-butted by an out of control 4 year old -- HELLO, WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?!? And God love her, because Hailey just gives them a look like "why me?" and toddles on to something else, no crying, no screaming, no confrontation . . . just peaceful. She sure didn't get that from her mommy!!! But enough of the bad times, here a few more moments from the good times . . .



Hailey playing with some little ones, the only one I know is Jilly-Bean across from her, who if you zoom in seems to be falling prey to the exact kind of bullying I am talking about!!!! Jillian however, unlike Hailey, is a bit more of a fighter, I am willing to bet she keeps that toy in the end!!! Good for you girly!






















Emily offers Hailey a helping hand to play at the train table, she loves "Baby Hailey"

Hailey plays with Emily and Xander -- these are the nice big kids that I welcome to the toddler area with open arms (maybe because I know their parents and I know that they watch their children -- novel idea, I know!!!)

Mmmmm, Pancakes!

IHOP no longer stands for International House Of Pancakes, but instead "Imagine Having Our Patience"! Playgroup took over the local IHOP today and the experience was definitely not for the faint of heart. 7 mom's and their kids, ranging from 7 months to 3 years in age -- I would have run away if I was our waitress =) Honestly though, it was surprisingly successful! Chaos only insuded at the end, when belly's were full from the unlimited pancakes and sleepiness was setting in; and that was the mom's!

Inaugural Fashion

Today was a great day in history -- even for those who didn't vote for Obama it was still exciting to see the Inauguration and get a little excited at the prospects for his future in office, after all have you been following the economy?? Uh there's really no where to go but up =). Hailey won't remember it but I made her watch Inaugural coverage all day, she even danced to the tune of "Hail To The Chief" . . . maybe she's trying to tell me they'll be playing it for her one day?! Actually I don't think I'd ever wish that much stress on my child!!!
Anyhow, my focus was on the Inaugural fashion (are you surprised??) Hailey was no exception, she was very fashionable today sporting one of her new outfits from the all American baby designer Gymboree. The outfit is stylish, yet mindful of the current recession we are in and therefore can be purchased by most any baby, I think the final price on it was under $15, we love a sale!! hahaha!! The dalmatian print is just so in this season, didn't you know??

When Life Hands You Limes

Just eat them!!




And please, raise your hand if you know why Hailey has peas ALL over her face???



No, the answer isn't "mommy put them there" -- the answer is Hailey decided to play defense between the spoon and her mouth!!

And here we are playing with our latest toys -- The Fisher Price Kitchen . . . maybe someone else can do the cooking around here for once ;) Perhaps the giraffe behind the kitchen, he's also a new addition and should in all fairness have to earn his keep, after all we have enough lazy animals around here!!

Havin A Ball

Karl and I got to enjoy a grown up evening last night when we attended the Battalion Winter Wonderland Ball. It was fun to get dressed up and have a night out with friends -- and even better knowing that Hailey was in good hands (Thanks to Jada & Garrett)!!
Here are a few pix from our night out . . .

Taking a moment to pose with the Eagle & get a little kiss



The girls were looking sexy (Faith, Christine and I) . . .



And the boys were pretty sharp in their dress blues too!! (Pete, Karl and Jay)




Dinner was nice, and the company was even better! Here's Chief Hall & Heather (many of you may recall their little girl Madison who stayed with us for a few weeks back in October!)



After a late night (we got in around 11:30 -- which to a bunch of old parents like us is late!!) we came home to find Jada curled up on the couch with Jersey and Garrett holding down the fort! They had a good time with Hailey, Garrett got a little hands on practice with baby bathing (not as easy as some may assume!!) and Jada, as usual, took excellent care of my little angel!! She was tucked in and sound asleep and slept most of the night (a rarity these days!!)

Thanks to good friends & good times

Wiggle It . . .

I had a huge mommy moment today (actually tonight), you see I have been interviewing to go back to work and have been really excited about it, but tonight Hailey reminded me just what I may be missing -- after all she only has those "first time" moments once . . .

And you can't help but laugh as she wiggles it with her huge (full) diaper in excitement!!

Would someone please remind me why this is exciting and WHY I am encouraging it???

New & Improved

We have improved the prison walls -- lets see you escape now you little captive!!!

****I'm sure the joke is probably on me, she'll be scaling that in no time ;)****

Who Needs A Maid?

When you have Molly . . .

She's so helpful!!