Who is this Santa guy?

Haley got to sit in Santa's lap for the first time. She did really well and they got this picture on just the second try. I hear that most kids do well the first time but are scared after the first year. So, next year may be more challenging. I'm happy with this one though. She tolerated him for a while, and then was ready to come back to us. It was a great experience and the Santa at Brookwood Mall was a very nice guy.








Today, she said "da da" for the first time. She has been doing a lot of babbling for a while now, but usually it's just "ha" type sounds. She finally said da da to the great excitement of her daddy. He is very proud of her and himself. He has been trying to teach her to say it since she was born. I'm incredibly proud too though. It's so amazing to hear. I know the "ma ma" will come soon enough and then I may wish for it to stop. I'm in no hurry. She still wants me to hold her all the time, so that's enough for me. I also was finally able to feel her first teeth today. The two bottom ones have finally broken through. She has been trying to cut them for a while now and finally after 8 months, they are here.



Here she is saying "da da" to her Humpty Dumpty book. Needless to say, I don't think she quite understands what she is saying yet.

Turkey Day and 8 months old

Not only did Haley celebrate her first Thanksgiving this past week, but she also turned 8 months old that day. She is growing up so fast. I can't believe that in just 4 short months, she will be a year old. For some reason, I just can't convince her to slow down and stop getting older. She just insists on changing so much. I must say, though, that each day seems more and more fun with her. She really had a great Thanksgiving. We got to spend it in Memphis with my dad and his family. Haley did great and got to try real turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans for the first time. She is a great eater now and will try and likes almost anything I put in front of her. I am so proud of her all of the time.

Her regular monthly picture. I had a hard time keeping her in the chair this month. Normally, she just hangs out then rolls around, but this month she kept trying to crawl off of the chair. There is no telling what next month will bring.

Trying mashed potatoes for the first time. Yum.

I'm so proud of my little family.

Daddy is trying to teach her to clap.

Playing with her favorite cousins, Murphy and Madden. They are listening to Aunt Sandra's wonderful rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider". They couldn't stop watching.

Loving some daddy time. Everyone was feeling tired after all of the turkey.

My little fishy

Crawling through the armchairs aka "Haley's tunnel".

Getting into her diaper bag. She found her puffs and tried to eat some.


It's like she's saying "What? Am I not supposed to be doing this?"

Last week, Haley and I started going to swim classes at the YMCA. She absolutely loves the water and gets so excited when she even sees the pool. We are learning a lot and she certainly feels comfortable in the water. Scott came with us this week to watch her and take some pics/videos.

Getting ready for class.

The pool.

She is so excited.

I have to stand away from everyone else because she splashes so much with excitement.

She was so tired when we got home but didn't want to stop playing. She ended up falling asleep like this after playing in her crib for a while.

Swimming.

Playing catch with the instructor.

Lots of updates and catching up

I could not be more behind. Haley is keeping me so busy that it's all I can do to get the housework done each week. I'm just going to post lots of pictures and videos and mostly update that way.

I do want to give a quick update of what she is doing. In the three weeks, she has gone from barely getting up on her knees and barely sitting by herself to full on crawling and totally sitting unassisted. Once she mastered these things, she has taken off! She crawls all over the house now. She can easily go from crawling to sitting and back. She is pulling up on everything (mostly to her knees) and bumping her head a lot in the process. She is really finding her balance on her knees. Just today, she pulled herself up to standing without any assistance and stayed that way for probably two minutes before getting tired. She has really come so fast in the last few weeks. I just hope it doesn't mean that she is going to be walking soon. I'm really not ready for that.

She is eating everything I put in front of her. She loves food now. I just needed to be patient (which as most of you know, is very hard for me). She loves carrots, bananas and yogurt the best. She even loves her oatmeal now. I'm still making most of her food myself which is a ton of fun. I like "cooking" for her. I wish I could like cooking for Scott and myself just as much :).

She is sleeping well. She doesn't really like to nap because she is so busy practicing all of her new tricks. She does go to sleep pretty easily at night, though and sleeps most of the night if not all night.

She is WONDERFUL and I could not ask for a better, happier baby. I love her so much and so far, this is my favorite age. I can imagine that it will only get better.

We went to Memphis in mid October for a family reunion. Haley finally got to meet her great aunts and great uncle. We had such a good time!

Being adorable!

With her cousins Murphy and Madden Culpepper

She turned 7 months old in October

We went to pick out pumpkins for Halloween.

She was so very tired and at this point, couldn't sit up very well.

Hating her Halloween costume. It was really hot outside.

October 30, 2009. Sitting finally, but not yet crawling.

Her first bath in the big tub.

She first did this on November 5, 2009. Now she can't stop pulling up on things.

Up to knees (Nov. 5)

Crawling away (Nov. 5). She really started crawling on Nov. 3. Please excuse the ugly pants. They are her emergency pants that I had to put on earlier in the day and just never took off.

Pulling up on the coffee table. Nov. 7

Pulling up on highchair. Nov. 11

Playing with her reflection in the dishwasher.

The first time pulling herself up to standing without help. Nov. 11, 2009

October 12, 2009 - Barely getting on knees

November 5, 2009 - Crawling and sitting

November 11, 2009 - Standing unassisted