The Everyday Life

Since I started working, I've been at the hospital more than I've been at home so there haven't been many pictures or fun outings. And since I've been rather tired from jumping back into work, most of the pictures I do have are just hanging out at home. But there are still some cute ones! 

 Annaliese went on a walk with Grandma and Grandpa. She fell and scraped her right hand...and for several days wouldn't use her hand at all! 

Annaliese 'pumping!'

Annaliese and Grandma skyping with Mallory and Auntie Kelsey

Family date night...5 Guys Burgers and Fries!

One of the advantages of Haleigh decided that she only wants to eat from a bottle is that others now have the privilege of feeding her!

It's Fall!

It is clearly fall here! The leaves are changing colors and there is definitely a chill in the air. This meant that it was time for a trip to the pumpkin patch! Yesterday it stopped raining and the sun came out so we headed to the Cramer Family Farm...according to their website there were hayrides, pony rides, a petting zoo, and a 'western town' in addition to the pumpkin patch!

 Elias checking out the horse.

 Elias sitting on the horse...it was all good until the horse shifted its weight...then there were big tears!

 On the wagon with Auntie Kim

 Riding through the pumpkin patch. 

 Haleigh did great just hanging around in the Ergo

 There was a hay maze that was perfect for Elias and Annaliese! They ran through it multiple times; everytime they ran into a haybale, they would stop, say "Dead end." and turn around again! 

 The 'petting zoo' turned out to be 2 small ponies, a few goats and a bunny rabbit. But the horses bite (according to the sign) and the goats were overly friendly. Needless to say, the petting zoo wasn't a big hit.

So it wasn't quite what we expected, but we all enjoyed ourselves. We didn't get any pumpkins though because my mom just came home on Friday from a relative's house with about 10 pumpkins. It was really just for fun:) 

7 Months!

This week brought us to Haleigh's 7 month birthday! Looking back over the past month, it seems that there should have been more milestones or big changes. But that doesn't seem to be the case! The biggest change has been that I went back to work this past week. Eventually I will be working 4 days a week from 3:00-11:30pm but the training and orientation period started out with 5 full days...which meant that the girls were either at a babysitter or home with Grandma or Kyle every day this week! They handled it very well! 

Sleeping: This has still been rather inconsistent. We try to put Haleigh to bed between 7:00 and 8:00pm. Frequently she wakes up around 10:00 and will cry for about 10 minutes. As long as she isn't too cold, she will fall back asleep without any intervention. (We have found that her room is the coldest in the house and she needs to sleep in two fleece sleepers! I don't know what we are going to do when it actually gets cold out!) Her wake-up time varies, but seems to most consistently be around 8:00. That being said, it is 9:20 and she is still asleep this morning! 
   Naps also vary. Some days she will nap fabulously, taking two 2 hour naps and then a shorter 3rd nap. Then there are usually a day or two where she takes 2 or 3 45 minute naps. We just go with it:)
   I always put Haleigh down on her back and she usually turns onto her side and grabs her purple bunny right away. Within the last week or so, I have started to find her flat on her back with her arms straight out in the morning. 

Eating: Haleigh usually nurses or takes a bottle 4-5 times/day. She is also eating more solids and I am trying to be more consistent at feeding her and also broadening her diet! We regularly give her bananas, avocado and applesauce. We've also tried peas, green beans, carrots, and pumpkin. She loves green beans and could easily pass on the carrots! Unfortunately for her, I love the face she makes when she gets the first bite of carrot so she continues to get them:) 

Clothing: Onesies are still 6 months, although they are getting a bit tight. We have moved into 9 month pants. This weekend the plan is to go through things a bit more thoroughly because the poor child has been wearing the same clothes over and over again! 

Activities: Haleigh loves watching Annaliese and will laugh at just about anything Annaliese does. She likes to be a part of the action and will instantly start crying when anyone walks out of the room. She enjoys playing with blocks, being tickled, eating, and being outside. She doesn't like being cold, taking a bath, being alone or tummy time.

Movement: She doesn't really move. Unless she's in her crib. Sitting up the living room with anyone around however, she will just sit there or lay there. She doesn't make any attempts to move whatever. But I find her all over her crib! Sometimes she's at one end and sometimes at the other; she turns in circles and everything! I should put a video camera in there just to see what she does! 

Teeth: We still just have the two teeth on the bottom. Every once in a while she gets a bit fussier and more drooly and I think maybe we are getting another one...but no, we still just have 2!

The Bellingham Bay Half Marathon and a weekend of Crafting

Although Kelsey decided that running the half-marathon wasn't in her best interest due to lack of training, she still made the trip up from Seattle to cheer me on! The race was this past Sunday and my friend Marguerite was able to run in Kelsey's place. We picked up our race packets at the expo on Saturday and met up Sunday morning for the race. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, slightly foggy and perfect running weather! Kim and Elias dropped Marguerite and I off at the Depot Square downtown for the start of the race. Mom, Dad, and Kelsey came shortly after with the rest of the kiddos. They were a great cheering team! My goal was to run the race in 2 hours and I came in at 1 hour and 51 minutes! I felt strong the whole time and can genuinely say that I had fun running!!

Auntie Kelsey was planning on staying here until Wednesday morning but ended up leaving Tuesday afternoon after Mallory had several rough nights where she was awake more than she slept. However, since we were all going to be together, we planned on doing some crafting. Kelsey brought along a few sewing projects, Kim brainstormed Christmas ornament ideas, and I started working on Haleigh's first homemade Christmas ornament. It was a successful few days!

 Haleigh and Mallory

Cousins!

 Auntie Kelsey sewing Mallory a pair of shoes

 Annaliese created all kinds of things out of playdoh!

 Figuring out how to sew a skirt

 Auntie Kelsey made Mallory the dress and shoes; Grandma made the headband!

Auntie Kelsey made the girls matching skirts!

Yesterday, after Auntie Kelsey and Mallory left, my mom and I took the girls to the park to get some fresh air. Annaliese didn't really want to play to play on the playground so we went for a walk past the fish hatchery and across the waterfall. She was running ahead of us and then she stopped, turned around and said, "My skirt is following me!" Yesterday is also the day that Annaliese has started to call my mom "Grandma" instead of "Mama." She makes it a three syllable word "Grr-and-ma" and it's pretty cute!