Its the BEST THING YET! Kyle's LOVE. Anytime I ask Kyle for kisses and hugs I always get them, and I adore them but recently he will come and find me and I get them randomly. On his little lovey terms. For example yesterday I was doing the dishes and he ran into the kitchen and hugged my legs so tight. I bent down and he wrapped his little arms around my neck and gave me the best little hug ever and a sweet kiss followed.
Before bed, I always give him a kiss, say goodnight and I love you. Now, he says g'night, ove you! It just makes my heart light up.
In the morning, and while he plays he will come out of a room and say "its so good to see you" and give me a huge hug.
One of my favorites is he will climb up on me randomly again and snuggle. I sometimes feel like we lost snuggle time after having Hailey because she was, and still is such a cuddle bug. Knowing Kyle still wants his Mommy to hold him makes me feel special.
I know he loves me, but to receive these acts of love randomly from my baby just makes me burst with joy. I am so blessed to be able to be with my babies everyday and yet I still savor and treasure every little moment, every little hug, every little kiss.
Kyle and Hailey are both so blessed to have so many people in their lives who love them and are beyond generous toward them. We appreciate every gift given to our babies; but from a child's point of view there are a few true GREATS:
I thought a sandbox was an AWESOME gift.
Then we got the swing set. I thought THIS is an INCREDIBLE gift...what awesome outdoor fun! THEN we got this:
Yup, our own little bounce house. I was so wrong! Though I love the sandbox and the swing set (and super appreciate them) the bounce house takes the cake! The bounce house IS The Best Gift Ever!!!
Turning One means it is once again time for a "well baby visit" Miss. Hailey Rose is a little above average in height and only weighs 18lbs. She is still officially a peanut. Dr. D was very impressed with Bug. She has a vocabulary consisting of 15-20 words is crawling up on everything, jumping, walking like a pro and couldn't be more healthy. She sadly did have to get 2 shots which I truly think hurt me more than they hurt her. We were also told we should consider getting her a big girl car seat (backward facing of course)
It's official Hailey turned One. Of course we HAD to celebrate =) I found the perfect theme (several months ago) LADYBUGS!!! In case you didn't realize her nickname is :Bug, Buglet, Buggie. SO what better theme than the "Oh So Sweet Ladybug"? OK so I seriously debated, Princess, Ones everywhere but ended up starting and finishing with the buggie idea =)
(Please forgive the invitation appearance, we need to maintain a little privacy )
The Goodie Bags were actually little bug nets. In them were plastic Easter bug eggs full of Hershey Kisses, a mini beach ball covered with different types of fun bugs, and ladybug bubbles.
Unfortunately people were arriving while I was still setting up but here is a small snapshot of the backyard.
Hailey's birthday bash was a cookout in our backyard with lots of homemade desserts including ladybug chocolate covered Oreos.
Ahhh the birthday girl in her little birthday tutu. I am so sad I had to hostess the event because I missed so many wonderful photo opportunities, but she truly did stand out as the birthday girl and she looked ADORABLE!
Auntie Karen baked her an incredible cake that fit her theme perfectly.
Not only did it look amazing, but it was delicious!I once again teared up while everyone was singing "Happy Birthday". OK, OK I cried, but I pulled it together to blow out the candle.
It was a very special celebration shared with so many friends and family. Everyone continues to spoil our children with their wonderful and thoughtful gifts. Jason and I feel so blessed to have each other and our two little ones. We are even more grateful to have so many people who love and care for all of us.
I know Hailey was exhausted by the end. It isn't easy being the center of attention all day. She was finally able to let her hair down and take a little time for herself: stuffing herself silly sneaking some Cheetos. Hailey may not ever remember her first birthday, but I will for the rest of my life. It was an amazing day! Happy Birthday my Hailey Bug!
Its incredible how much time there is in a year. Its amazing all that changes in a year. Its strange to be able to recall the feeling, emotions and thoughts that I had a year ago tonight. A year ago this night I was nervously and anxiously awaiting Haileys arrival. I couldn't sleep and did all I could to try and get to sleep. I ended up food shopping at 2am and baking cookies until 5am for the nurses. I remember taking one of the longest and most cleansing showers of my life dreading how I was going to feel post c-section. I was sad that Kyle wouldn't be my only baby, I was still in shock that we were going to have another little person in our home. I wondered if there would be enough love; Hailey was NOT SUPPOSED to be with us yet.
There have been several times this year that she has done something, attempted something, thought something and the moment would take my breath away. I would stare at her with all the love and admiration in my heart and think "look at her, and she isn't even supposed to be here yet!"
Just the other day I watched her and Kyle laughing and playing together. They were cracking each other up. I turned to Jason and said "she was meant to be here now wasn't she" he responded with "OF COURSE she is". I wish I could better express the emotions in the moment but she took my breath away. They both did.
Now, here we are a year later and she is this incredible and beautiful little person. She is going to be 1 tomorrow and besides being GORGEOUS she is smart and funny. She loves learning. She copies her brothers every move. Hailey laughs and plays. She loves to eat which is a miracle considering she wouldn't eat when she was a newborn. Hailey is walking and talking up a storm. She can understand and comprehend way more than one would ever imagine a baby could. She is becoming more and more independent everyday. She won't even let me feed her anymore, she has to do it herself.
Tonight, after running around getting things we will need for her birthday bash we came home later than expected. I made my children a wonderful dinner (whole grain waffles and bananas per their request). Miss.Bug would not allow me to feed her; and realizing this was her last meal as an 11 month old (as opposed to an official 1 year old) and beginning to recall where I was a year ago in that moment I had to capture the moment. Look what transpires in a year!! From womb to Miss. Independent. *TEAR*
I have to include, as I was filming Hailey; Kyle snuck out. Yeah, he put on his own shoes on the correct feet, opened the baby gate, opened the front door, and snuck outside to help Daddy with the grass. So I had a beautiful mommy moment with Hailey, followed by my entire universe flipping on its side from seeing my front door open to once again being a proud Mommy of my always growing and learning 2 year old who looked at me with an enormous smile and overwhelming pride and said "Hi Mama".
What can I say? they are AMAZING =) I LOVE being a Mommy and I love that I appreciate every moment with them!
We have a goal set: to have the kids pictures done every year around their birthdays. After putting it off for a few weeks we FINALLY stepped up and had them DONE!
I was READY! I had 4 coordinating outfits chosen for my baby supermodels and a fifth (a tutu) for Bug. I packed a hairbrush, a variety of hair bows to match Hailey's ensembles, extra hair elastics, several shoes, socks and tights. I was prepared to tend to their every supermodel need.
Hailey did well. She smiled, she clapped and cheered..... Kyle...not so much. I thought I had prepared him. We were all pumped up and excited for pictures. Maybe it was that we had to wait 45 minutes before we actually sat for our photo shoot. OR maybe he is just 2 and difficult. Either way it all worked out. Hailey had a handful of shots for us to choose from and Kyle gave us a few as well. We TRIED changing them into other outfits but Kyle was not cooperative and then Hailey (the little copycat) had to follow her big brothers lead.
It may not have been the PERFECT photo shoot I had imagined. I certainly didn't have too much to choose from and I was sad there was not a single photo with the two of them together. However, on the bright side after leaving there I always feel like I left so much behind it is so hard to edit, pick and choose which photos stay and which photos go, and this time I feel like I have some of the best shots.
In the very least I saved over $120 using coupons and credits AND I got a super cute picture of Bug in her Tutu =) I don't know if any of THESE pictures will make the wall at "Picture People" (like Kyle's picture from last year) but they certainly make the walls in my home. I love em'!
No Cervesas this Cinco de Mayo. Just swinging. 8 HOURS of swinging! LOL.
Kyle woke up this morning ready to play on his new swings; and play he did-ALL DAY! We went outside at 10am, we came in for the day at 6pm. Kyle voluntarily got off the swing MAYBE 7 times today and most of that was after 3:45pm when his cousins and friends from across the street came over. I think the LONGEST amount of time he was off the swing was maybe 20 minutes. He was on the swing for so long that when he first got off at 3:45 he couldn't walk. He literally looked like a drunken sailor trying to walk over to his cousins to say "hello".
I tried EVERYTHING to get him off the swing. I went inside to make lunch for him and Hailey and he sat waiting for my return. He sat on the swing while I fed Hailey. He continued to sit on the swing through lunch. I even had offered to bring lunch to him to eat while he sat on the swing, and he was so busy sitting there letting his little legs hang he refused to eat OR drink milk and he LOVES his milk. I have never seen him say "no" to milk. I had to carry him in kicking and screaming to change his diaper.
In the morning and then again in the afternoon he even started falling asleep on the swing. With his morning nodding off I tried to bring him in the house and that was a HUGE mistake. When he began to fall asleep again this afternoon I knew he had to wake up..otherwise he would be up all night, again.
The whole point to playing outside is to wear those babies out so they fall asleep early and ideally sleep all night. We will see what tonight brings. I know 8 hours of swinging tired me out. HOLY SWING! Goodnight =)
It isn't always easy to take Kyle and Hailey to the playground. First you have to imagine that school is in session and you're not supposed to be on the grounds during certain hours; and considering recess seems to be all day its hard to go anyway. Secondly a lot of the playgrounds are not fully fenced in and when Kyle takes off running into the parking lot my heart jumps out of my chest. Chasing a running toddler with a baby girl on your side isn't easy either; and now that Hailey is walking and wanting to do her own thing...well you get the gist, it isn't easy.
My parents asked if they could buy the kids a swing set for their birthdays. I was shocked and so HAPPY! We went to Toys R'US and chose the "Ridgewood". I liked that it had a little house above and below and that it included monkey bars. Not that I really ever liked monkey bars, but my kids might. When we went to buy it it was sadly out of stock and we were told it would be 4-6 weeks. I was a little upset, because of course I wanted it right away but I had to wait =( On the bright side it would DEF. be here in time for Hailey's first birthday party!
So here we are 3 weeks later and the swing set was in and ready to be picked up. My mother and her husband dropped it off Wednesday and we anxiously waited for the weekend so we could set it up.
* I had too many pictures to post, blogger wouldn't let me post 200 photos so I will have to explain*
Day 1: I thought everyone (my brother) was going to come over early so we could get the building started. He didn't get there until about 2pm. In the mean time our new neighbors came over and one of them happens to be quite handy =). Joe and Jason have hit it off...and so well that he VOLUNTEERED to help..big dummy! When they took all the wood out of the two boxes my jaw dropped. A quarter of my yard was covered in wood and parts. To sum up the day the four hours of building got the base of the main structure up.
Day 2: Mike (my mom's husband) showed up early, 10:45am. Jay got home from church, changed his clothes and got to work. They went from step 9 (out of 28) backwards to step 3 and then forward again. This swing set was NOT EASY to build. Joe has experience in building and making things. My brother Chris put his swing set up for his kids on his own, Mike has been building things his entire life....I REALLY don't know how Toys R'Us can sell a swing set like this and NOT offer a service of paying someone to install it for you. If you are not handy or do not know someone who is handy DON'T BUY THIS SWING SET! BUT, despite all the aggravation and extra cutting and trips to Home Depot there was REAL progress. The main structure was fully built, and if all the bolts were all actually included then maybe it would have been fully built after 8 1/2 hours of work, but instead they threw in the towel for the day. However, you could ALREADY see the joy and excitement on the babies faces. Even Kyle's new friends Logan and Brady were having fun in the playhouse.
Day 3: It went really smooth tonight. It really was just a matter of a few missing nuts and bolts. The monkey bars went up and Kyle got to hang from them. The swings went up and the babies got to play on them. The stakes went in the ground and TA-DA the swing set was BUILT!!! Tomorrow we will get the pink baby swing for Hailey and its built for all to play on.A HUGE shout out to EVERYONE who helped: Joe and Chris. Even if some of what you did was wrong, you made up for it with your good intentions and Joe really made up for it by coming back Day 2 and helping! ( DUMMY!) But in the end it was Jay and Mike who got it in the ground and safe to play =)
Who needs a playground when I have a fort, a clubhouse, a rock wall, a slide, swings, a sandbox, pool, numerous balls and toys, cars, bikes, AND a fenced in yard? Not us!
DeVincent Park is ready to go and open to guests. Especially other mommies that want to enjoy a day outside stress free where their kids can get a little dirty have a lot of fun and run so much that they go to bed nice and early. Oh and if mommy would like a cocktail, I have that too.
