Santa

We took Hallee to see Santa! She's terrified of strangers so we knew it wasn't going to go well, but we thought it would be fun!

Seconds after Daddy put her on Santa's lap:

a few seconds later:

I wonder what the older kids waiting in line were thinking!!

7 Months Old

Hallee is 7 months old today. She has changed a lot in the last month. She can't crawl yet, but she rolls and scoots to get all over the place. A couple of weeks after starting solid foods, her tummy decided it wasn't quite ready! She got a little backed up and was up all night for several nights. We decided to give her a break from solid foods, and start them back up very slowly. Her tummy recovered, but her sleeping has not. Her naps have finally gotten on a schedule. She has taken a few naps in her crib, but she sometimes will not sleep unless she's in Mommy or Daddy's arms.

We took a little trip to Dallas at the beginning of the month. Hallee got to take her first airplane ride (outside of Mom's belly!) and she was a little trooper. She traveled like an expert! Even when we hit bad weather on the way home and had to spend the night in Minneapolis. She slept pretty well away from home, but it definitely didn't help the sleep recovery. The reason for our trip to Dallas was to see Andy's dad and step-mom and their kids! We had a great time and Hallee had a lot of fun with her aunts and uncles. She even let everyone hold her, as long as mom or dad was close by! We brought home some bad colds, that we're still trying to recover from. Andy and I decided it was definitely easier to travel before Hallee came around, but we had fun anyways!

Hallee and Daddy looking at our airplane.

Hallee looking out the window of our airplane, in the air.

Hallee with Alex, Avery and Aleighna.

Hallee sleeping waiting for our delayed flight.

Carrots

Hallee got a taste of my homemade carrots. She didn't really like them as much as this picture leads you to believe!

Baby Food

Hallee had her six month check up this week. She is up to 19 lbs 8 oz, which is the 95th percentile. She got another set of shots, including the first half of the seasonal flu shot. The clinic didn't have any more of the H1N1 shots. Her poor little legs were pretty sore after four shots. The pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start baby food. Hallee seemed to really like the bananas we started with. I decided I would try to make some of her baby food. Not because I think jarred food is bad, but because I think it could save us some money. It was really a lot easier than I thought it would be. Today I steamed some green beans and carrots for her. She hasn't gotten any yet because we were told to wait a few days between each new food. Should she be allergic to anything, we would know what it was. I made about the equivalent of 12 jars of baby food in less than an hour (it will go quicker next time, now that I know what I'm doing). The total cost was $1.18. The total cost for 12 jars of baby food would be $4.08. Plus, it was kind of fun!

Our Weekend

We had a fun weekend! Andy's schedule at work changed so now he has weekends off for the next six months! His first weekend off, we decided to go to Madison to stay. Saturday afternoon we hung out with Grandma Dorine and Grandpa Danny at the farm. Hallee got to see all sorts of fun animals. Her daddy even sat her on a horse all by herself. Thanks to Diesel dog, Grandpa and Grandma have one less kitten, but all in all we had a great afternoon!

Saturday evening, we went to visit Grandpa Tim and Grandma Darla to celebrate Grandma's birthday. Hallee got to play with her cousins Emmett and Selma. We stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's house Saturday night and went to church as a big family Sunday morning. My parents, my brother's family and our family doesn't even fit in one pew anymore! What a blessing!

Teeth

Hallee has two little teeth poking through on the bottom of her mouth! They weren't there Thursday night, but when she bit down on daddy's hand Friday morning, he found a surprise! Hallee has had what I thought was a cold since Monday, but maybe it was her teeth bothering her all along!

Funny Girl!

Significantly larger, but definately the same kid!

My Little Giraffe

Have you ever seen such a cute giraffe? Happy Halloween!

Cutie!

We took Hallee outside today for some autumn pictures. Our one very small tree in the front yard doesn't make very many leaves, so it is not very autumn-like, but we sure got some cute pictures!

Hallee has started sticking her tongue out after she smiles. I don't know why, but it sure is cute!

Five Months Old

Hallee turned five months old on Friday. She has changed so much just in the last couple of days. She rolls over all of the time. If I lay her down, she rolls over. I have to be careful where I lay her, so she doesn't roll into anything or off of anything. She can sit up by herself for quite a while. She still tips over after a minute or so, but she's getting stronger and more balanced everyday. Hallee has gotten pretty timid around people she doesn't recognize. It takes her a little bit to warm up to them. Every time I change her diaper, she whips her feet up into the air and chews on her toes! Here are some pictures from tonight, after her bath.

Mmmm, toes...

All About Hallee

Here is an update on Hallee's life.

• She is such a good sleeper. She goes to bed around 9:30pm. She usually falls asleep easily, but wakes up within 10 minutes. I go back in to rock her back to sleep, which takes a little longer the second time. She usually stays down for the night by 10:15 or so. She wakes up somewhere around 9:00am and greets me with a smile.
• She is not a very good napper. In my arms is about the only place she'll nap for more than a few minutes. (But, there are worse things in life than snuggling with my beautiful sleeping baby!)
• Hallee is still breastfed and eats about every two hours during the day. She loves eating rice cereal at night when Andy and I are eating supper. I added a spoonful of prunes once, and now she wont eat it without them.
• Before bed, she takes a bath in the kitchen sink or in the shower with her daddy.
• Diesel is her favorite entertainment and she'll stop everything to watch him walk around.
• She still fusses in her car seat, but usually a little Mozart calms her down. I don't know what it is about Mozart, but she really enjoys it.
• She rolls over both tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy, but only when she really wants to.

She is an amazing little person. I am so lucky she is a part of my life.

And They Call it Puppy Love...

I decided I wanted to get some pictures of Hallee and Diesel together. Hallee enjoys sticking her fingers in Diesel's ears, nose, and eyes and Diesel really likes the taste of Hallee's face. It made for an interesting photo shoot! We got a couple of cute ones...

But most of them turned out like these :)

Toe Sucker

Grandpa Tim has been showing Hallee how to suck on her toes for months. The other day when I saw this:

I knew Grandpa Tim would be proud!

Best Friends

My best friend has a little girl just two months younger than Hallee. They were in town yesterday so we got some cute pictures of them together.

Thinking about the Troops

I'm having a hard time thinking about anything but the activation of the 211th Engineer Company. They are leaving on Sunday for 45 days of training before spending a year in Afghanistan. Andy was a member of this Army National Guard unit until about 10 months ago. He really didn't want to get out of the guards when his time was up. I really pushed him to get out. I can admit that was by far the biggest disagreement we've ever had in our marriage.

This deployment has really brought back memories from more than 5 years ago when Andy was leaving for Iraq. It is hard thinking that these families are going through that again. I can't imagine what I would be feeling if Hallee had to go a whole year without her daddy. Thank you soldiers for doing what you do. Thank you God for letting Andy stay home this time around.

Looks Like Trouble!

I think this is our life until February! Hallee couldn't take her eyes off the game...

Food on a Spoon!

Hallee got her first taste of solid food last night! We got the go-ahead from her pediatrician to start rice cereal. A lot of it came back out, but toward the end, she started to get the hang of it. We're not going to rush it because she's still pretty little, but so far so good!

Four Month Check-Up

Hallee had her four month check-up today. I can't believe she's almost four months old! She weighs 16 lbs 12 oz and is 25 1/4 inches long. She is in the 97th percentile for weight and 92nd percentile for length. Hallee got another set of shots and did pretty darn good! She woke up yesterday morning with a runny nose. Today it is worse and she's sneezing and coughing. I don't know if she has her first cold, or if she's teething. Hallee's pediatrician said it isn't unusual for a cold to last two or three weeks in someone her age. Hopefully whatever it is doesn't last that long!

Tumbleweed

Hallee is mobile! A few weeks ago, she was trying like crazy to roll over from her back to her tummy. She did it once and must have realized it just wasn't worth it. She didn't even make another attempt. Today she rolled over, twice. Most kids roll from their tummies to their backs first, but not Hallee! She doesn't look close to rolling over from tummy to back! We'll see if she keeps doing it this time!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work! I shouldn't really call it a day of work, because I was only there for 3 and a half hours. A co-worker needed a few hours off during the day, so I worked for her. It was over lunch time so Andy didn't get a lot of sleep, but it was good for him to get to hang out with Hallee. Andy doesn't always do things the exactly way I would, and it's hard for me to not criticize him. I think it was good for him to get to parent his way for a few hours!

Wordless Wednesday

A Walk in the Park

Andy rotated his schedule at work last week. Now he is working overnights. We've enjoyed spending time together as a family in the afternoons and evenings as he worked during those hours all summer. Earlier in the week, we took Hallee for a walk on the bike path in town. It was beautiful and Hallee really enjoyed looking at everything. Yesterday, we walked around the path at the Outdoor Campus. It was a lot of fun! Hallee really likes being outside!

Bottle Battle

Finally!! After 3 long weeks of struggling to get Hallee to take a bottle, we have finally made progress. After she started her bottle strike, I walked down the shopping aisle of three (!) stores buying every bottle and nipple in stock. After she refused all of them, I was at my wits end. I was feeling a little claustrophobic thinking about not being able to leave Hallee...ever. Yesterday, we kind of turned a corner. We went back to the third bottle we tried, the Breastflow. It is a little odd looking, but it is working. She has to sit in her bouncy seat, with the seat vibrating, bottle and nipple both warmed, facing South. Okay, she doesn't care which way she's facing, but she is pretty picky about the rest!

3 Months Old

Need I say more?

Sleeping Machine!

Hallee slept from Midnight until 9:35 this morning! That's the longest stretch she's ever slept. She still fights to stay awake until midnight every night, but we have time to fix that!

A Night Out

Andy and I went out to a movie tonight. We saw The Proposal (highly recommended!) We decided that I needed some practice being without Hallee. My parents were planning a trip to visit us anyways, so they babysat. They said Hallee did very well, except that she didn't want to take a bottle. We started giving her a bottle at 3 weeks old, so she could get used to it. But she did so well, that we hadn't thought to do it in a few weeks. I guess she forgot how! At least we know that we need to work on it, before I go back to work.

Prayers

A good family friend of ours was critically injured in a car accident yesterday. A semi attempted to stop at a red light, but couldn't, and ran into her on the driver's side door. She is very lucky to be alive. She has a LONG road to recovery, but is expected to fully recover. She is still on the ventilator and is looking at plastic surgery tomorrow to repair her facial lacerations. She has two beautiful children. Please send up a prayer for her and her family.

Pink

A new outfit from her dad!

Finished!

Hallee's room is officially decorated! We finally found curtains that we both liked which completed her room. We painted Hallee's room before we knew if she was going to be a boy or a girl. We painted it green, with stripes on 2 walls. Her furniture is a dark chocolate brown and we added pink textiles after we brought her home. I used my Cricut to cut her name out of vinyl to put on the wall, which turned out adorable! Hallee is enrolled in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library so she gets a free book every month until she turns 5. I think we might end up putting a book shelf in her room for all of her new books. So, other than a book shelf, her room is complete!

A Tree for Hallee

It's tradition in my family to plant a tree in honor of each new family member. Yesterday we planted a tree for Hallee. Andy wanted a cute girly tree for his daughter but I didn't want anything that had berries or fruit. So we settled on a Greenspire Linden. It has heart-shaped leaves and pretty yellow flowers in the spring. It will be fun watching Hallee and her tree grow!

Changes in Employment

The last couple weeks, Andy and I had been discussing whether or not I should go back to work full time. We both agreed that keeping Hallee out of daycare would be best for her. Andy's schedule rotates hours and days off every 12 weeks. I work days, nights, weekends and holidays as well. In order for us to both go back to work, we needed to find someone willing to work with our crazy hours, which means extra expense. Andy doesn't really have a part time option with his job at the penitentiary. At the hospital, full time is three 12 hour days (or nights) per week. It's fairly easy to drop shifts, but I'd still be responsible to work certain weekends and holidays. So as of yesterday afternoon, I'm a PRN employee. Basically that means I work when I'm needed. I can work as little or as much as I want. When the hospital is not busy, I'll be the first one told to stay home. I am never obligated to work nights, weekends or holidays. I plan on signing up for one or two shifts each week, on the days Andy has off. We will be saving the expense of daycare, so things will almost even out. It's a little scary to give up my secure job for something much less stable, but it will be best for Hallee in the long run.

Hallee's baptism

With the Grandparents

Hallee with her Great-Grandparents

What a wonderful weekend we had! We spent the weekend in Madison, for Hallee's baptism. One fun thing about the Presbyterian Church that I grew up going to, is that they baptise kids during the Sunday morning service. They make a big deal out of it and walk the baby up and down the aisle, so everyone can see her. It was great. Hallee was wide awake looking around. She looked absolutley adorable in the baptismal gown that her Grandma Darla made for her! After the baptism, we had lunch at my parents cabin on Lake Madison. We had a fun day with friends and family!