Thirty Weeks Old

DISCLAIMER: There are an obnoxious amount of pictures in this post of Hayden with pumpkins...BUT, I love them all and could not choose so please just bare with me. :)

Hayden and I drove back from the beach on Thursday morning and welcomed Tyler's parents into town that night. We grabbed lunch on Friday with Tyler and were excited to have Amy and Laz join us on Friday night. Saturday was Race Day so everyone headed to the track (only after a little wedding dress shopping for Aunt Amy...FUN!). H and I held down the fort and were happy to hear about all the fun that was had!!

Then on Sunday morning we went out to the pumpkin patch. Hayden had an early morning, so by the time we got everyone out the door he was already thinking about working on his first nap. We didn't get many smiles, but he rallied for the pumpkins. And who needs smiles when you have those great cheeks?!

We started by plopping him into a pile of little pumpkins...

...then moved him to sit up with the big boys!

His feet are almost always in footies...and he LOVES feet...so he was happy to see his in the hay. :)

We really tried for some shots with Mom and Dad.

Made sure to get one with KiKi and Poppy!

Then got greedy and tried for a few more with just H...

...and then THIS happened. At which point we probably should have called it a day and gone home. But instead we pushed for just a couple in his Halloween costume. 

Now, I've been envisioning a smiling cheeky monster for months now. But this makes me smile even bigger!! Poor little guy...

And then the cheeks started to peek through...

The hat is just a little big, but we will have it all fixed by Halloween.

Sweet kisses for a sleepy monster. :)

And two more quick shots with Aunt Amy and KiKi and Poppy before crashing in his car seat and taking a long nap when we got home. Totally worth the trip!!

After his nap we said goodbye to Tyler's parents and headed out to Taco Mac for some football. We sampled some beer and talked about plans for Amy and Laz's wedding. They asked our whole family to be a part of the wedding party and we are so honored to stand next to them. We can't wait for November!!

We unwound from the weekend and got ready for another jam packed week and weekend! Tyler headed to Nashville for work on Tuesday and was going straight to Talladega for the race on Thursday. My mom came to pick up Hayden on Thursday afternoon, because on Friday morning I was flying to Tampa for a weekend with my girlfriends! I enjoyed a stroll through the mall on Thursday night and dinner and a movie with Erica....oh it's the little things. :)

Twenty Nine Weeks Old

It's a good thing the previous week and weekend were so quiet...because we were gearing up for 3 VERY busy weeks! Tyler left for the race in Kansas and an event in Joplin on Thursday, so Hayden, Tess and I drove into Greensboro for a long weekend. My whole family was coming into town for Yom Kippur...but we snuck in some extra time with Papa before the weekend got into full swing. :)

GiGi loves purple...and Hayden doesn't mind a purple blanket as long as it's his FAVORITE BLANKET! 

Little guy's favorite place to be all weekend? On the rug with the dogs!

Sophie quickly realized that the attention of everyone in the room follows Hayden...so she did too! Pretty smart to let the baby pull your whiskers and tug your ears just to get a "Good Girl Sophie" from everyone. :)

Hayden hung out in the yard with Pop a lot. Maybe he will inherit a green thumb!!

We watched the Noles on Saturday and snapped pictures to send to Tyler. Then everyone came over for dinner on Saturday night...one of my favorite meals of the year!!

On Sunday we drove back home to drop Tess off before heading out to the beach early Monday morning. We got quick hugs and kisses from Tyler before we were on our way again. My mom, Hayden and I got in on Monday morning and looked forward to Maggie and Mary Ellen arriving the next day. We enjoyed catching up over nibbles and wine and were lucky enough to get one pretty day to spend outside.

To end our trip, we enjoyed an always needed dinner at Bimini's. 

Twenty Eight Weeks Old

Early in the week I decided I wanted to get a picture of H in his Noles hat. I really wanted him sitting up on his own...and he was getting so close. He could do it for a couple of seconds, so I figured it was worth a shot. I put him on the floor and put a pillow behind him. I'm sure it would have been a hysterical spectacle to watch...here is what happened:

I got him all situated and ready and got one decent one with the pillow in the background.

Then one great one with the pillow and Tess in the background.

Then an unsure one with Tess invading the entire picture.

There was LOTS of this....because I had to sit him up, back up and snap ALL before he started to lean and then tumble over.

 And then FINALLY....this little treasure happened and we called it a day! It is a face he is making so much these days...it makes me smile so big! 

By blogging and tracking our schedules, I have come to find that our weeks and weekends can be found at one of two extremes. We are either insanely slammed: traveling, working, hosting family and friends...or COMPLETELY empty and soaking up the time spent together doing nothing. This week and weekend were very low key.

Here is a shot from our play date with Maya...right before she leaned in to give little guy a kiss. :)

I'm trying my hardest to do a better job of snapping a couple pictures of me and H. I want to be sure I have it documented that we got to spend all of this awesome time together. :)

We are loving the music table!! All that bouncing has built up Hayden's noodle legs....now he can stand lean and play.

And we visited the swings for the first time this week. It was beautiful outside, so we packed up Moo and headed to the park in our neighborhood. Hayden LOVED flying in the wind...I think Moo did too!

Hayden is Loving... (Part 2)

At the 6 month mark...here is what Hayden is Loving:

As evidenced by videos in previous posts, he loves to bounce in his activity jumper. Now that his feet actually touch the floor on the lowest setting...he is a bouncing fool! He is happy and content to stay in there all the time. He finds new things to play with every day and his favorite direction to play is constantly changing. So far it is the best Mom Helper we have had. As long as Tess is in his sights, I can put him in there and get so much done around the house while he plays. Combine this great gadget with the sleep that I'm starting to get and I have become a whole new woman!!

He is loving his pacifier ribbon. There are specific clips with ribbons that connect to our MAM pacifiers. We started with just one, but he was constantly chewing on it so I picked up another one so I could keep them clean. He is generally perfectly content to have the ribbon in his mouth with the clip hanging on one side and the paci on the other. Other times he chews on the clip and almost always he ends up with the paci in his mouth by the end. It has actually become a toy that can keep him happily satisfied on it's own.

Continuing from the first 3 months, Hayden is STILL loving Sophie the Giraffe and his favorite blanket. Sophie is his go to toy, without a doubt. She always gets thrown in the bag when we are going out and he has yet to grow tired of chewing on her legs. And in the past few months our favorite blanket collection has grown to 4...plus one that stays at GiGi and Pop's house. When he goes down for a nap or to sleep, his little face still lights up as you lay his blanket over him. He pulls it right up, rolls over, and goes to bed. If we are out and about, he is perfectly happy to take a nap in his stroller in a restaurant...IF he has his favorite blanket. At first I thought having 4 was a bit over the top, but I LOVE that we never have to search for it. One stays downstairs, two upstairs, and one can be grabbed on the go.

He is loving Tess. Maybe not her kisses so much...but he could watch her all day. And when we all go to visit Sophie, he is in heaven! He tracks Tess as she moves through the room and gets giddy and giggly whenever she comes over to him. He is constantly reaching for her and when he gets a hold of an ear or that furry skin, he just can't get enough. While Tess is definitely missing some of her attention, she is very protective over Hayden and always wonders where he is when we walk through the door. She also comes upstairs every day when he wakes up in the morning and when we tuck him in at night. I think he's growing on her. :)

As we are introducing solid foods, it seems the little guy already has a favorite. He is loving Tyler Florence's Apple Mango Carrot recipe. I had no intentions of making my own baby food, but the Williams Sonoma Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker makes it SO easy. All I have to do is chop the fruits and veggies and this thing steams them and purees them. I downloaded a baby and child cookbook by Tyler Florence and have been using all of his recipes. H is doing pretty well with everything we have tried, but he definitely has a very clear favorite.

He is absolutely in love with Angel Dear animals...in all shapes and sizes! His personalized elephant pillow has been great. Before he was sitting up, he spent so much time laying on it.

And then there is his partner in crime...Moo. Moo goes on all of our adventures with us and has made it into close to 50% of any picture I grab on my phone while we are out and about. Hayden and Moo like to chat, snuggle and nap together. I can PROMISE you this, Hayden will be getting some back up Moos for the holidays this year. :)