My little artists

Look very closely at Hailey, then very closely at what Avery and Pete are doing. You have to be VEEEERRRYYY careful in our house. . . .

This picture was shown to my husband when I came home from running errands tonight and said, "What the . . .?"

9 months and growing, growing, growing

Miss Hailey has just turned 9 months which is still almost impossible to believe! I remember those early colicky nights and now we have the most happy, smiley, talkative baby ever!


Hailey is pulling up and scooting along furniture and crawling like a champ. We keep thinking that she will be walking by Christmas which would be so fun! She gets around so quickly. Yesterday I was changing A & P's diapers in a room across the house from Hailey. In just a minute or two, Hailey had made it all the way across the house to where we were. She just sped right in, smiling with every step.


She is also going to sleep in the same room as her sister, at the same time! This makes for a very happy mommy who has all her munchkins in bed by eight! She did a little crying (just a teeny bit) but now knows exactly what she is supposed to do. I actually turned the girls cribs so they can see each other, and they seem to love waking up together.


Hailey is starting to try and grab her brother and sister's toys. Avery is a bit nicer about it,but, Pete, whew . . . he really doesn't like it! He likes to tell her, "NO, Hawee, NO!" But, he also loves her alot, gives her kisses and shares (sometimes!) with her!

Our Christmas card

This is our Christmas card photo for 2009 . . . .whew, it is tough with 3 kiddos!!! (You'll notice Ming-Ming duckling had to be in the photo also.)

Here's some of the out-takes:
(This was Avery's reaction to the big painters light that I was trying to use instead of having to use my yucky flash. I LOVE this picture!)


(You'll notice the grip I have on my son - this probably would have been the winner except Lil Pete just couldn't keep still - love the light, though!)


(Avery's yelling "TOUCHDOWN!!" and I'm trying to HOLD Pete down!)


(Pete's still in a mood, and Hailey just thinks her finger feels so good in her nose!)


(Passing the time while Mommy tries to get it right! So sweet!)

O Christmas Tree!

This was the first year that we all trimmed the Christmas tree. Avery and Pete LOVED it and had a blast! I'm a big believer in putting all the things that you love on the tree! So we put up all our wedding ornaments, kids ornaments, candy canes and all the extras! I feel like I have a memory with many of those ornaments and can't wait to get more "handmade" kiddo ornaments up there!

I am thankful for . . .

I am thankful for. . .

Hailey's first Thanksgiving,



Avery being such a good big sister,



and Pete being such a good little eater!

Among many other things, but of course, these were the cute pics that I got!!!

Avery's first haircut

I have been putting off and putting off cutting Avery's hair. Here's the reason: She has so little of it! I have been so excited that it has actually been growing that I haven't wanted to lop it off! But lately it has just been hanging in her eyes and become unmanageable. I tried cutting it myself, but it didn't work . . .she wasn't having any of that! So I took her to Cool Cuts for kids and they did a great job. Of course it was really expensive, but now I think I know how to do it better! She sat in the little car, watched Dora, and sucked on a lollipop. Very well behaved!

Un-private

OK - so Pete and I had a long discussion tonight and he is really unhappy about the blog being "private". He convinced me that I shouldn't be neurotic and always worrying. So, no more having to log in . . . you can thank Pete!

Our crazy neighbors

So when my husband is around . . . he makes people do crazy things. Like make a bet with our OU neighbors for the TECH v. OU football game. The bet was this: whoevers team lost had to swim to the foutain in one of our neighborhood lakes.

Luckily, OU lost . . .John got a little wet, but was a good sport. Our entire street came out to watch, along with some other neighbors seriously questioning our sanity.

Hailey's 8 months

So, I'm a little late with Hailey's 8 month birthday, but I figured better late than never!!!

Hailey is the sweetest, happiest, chubbiest, so cute you just want to eat her up, baby! She started crawling last month and now has perfected it. She is a little speed demon. She is also playing with her brother and sister alot, and I can often hear them laughing together. We are working with Avery and Pete about sharing, because they don't really like when Hailey comes and tries to take her toys.
(Yes, I know she's right by the electrical cord . . .she was being a sly little booger and giving me the "I'm not doing anything wrong" look - I was totally in control the WHOLE time!!)



At the beginning of this month, Hailey started pulling up and is very close to standing on her own! We think she is going to be walking soon! She also is becoming independent about holding her bottle on her own!


She IDOLIZES her brother and sister and wants to be with them at all times. Avery and Hailey are now sharing a room again. Hailey is going to bed before she is fully asleep. She cries for a little bit and then settles down. I'm still a softy becuase if she is crying really hard, I'll go get her and rock her to sleep . . .but this is my last baby so I'm enjoying every minute of that!

Everytime I see her doing something new I think "What! She's only 2 months old . . .how can she be doing that?!" and I have to stop, and say to myself "Wait, she's EIGHT months!" Where has the time gone??

Gorgeous, Glorious, Grateful Day

There is one thing you can say about Houston - weather in the fall is fantastic. The kids and I have really enjoyed walking and playing around our neighborhood lately.