Infantile Baldness: A Growing Epidemic

Hallie may have more incentive to roll in her crib soon when I break the news to her. She may need to lay off sleeping on the back of her head so much because she is starting to resemble my Uncle Johnny....

Another week in the record books. And speaking of record books, that reminds me I need to catch up on Hallie's baby book. Milestones need to be documented before my small mind forgets. Now this leads me to think about scrapbooking...all the scrapbooking I couldn't seem to find time to do during my three months at home. Well if I couldn't get it done then, I'm not sure when I will ever get it done. Eh, how long can it really take? I only have approximately 2000 pictures to pick through. Whew...deep breath. It will get done before she is 18 I am making a promise to myself now on here for all to see.

Our child somehow is always cuter than the day before, more fun than the day before, and brings more joy to our lives than the day before. Minus the sometimes cranky outbursts at night (but what 3 month old doesn't do that?) she is mom and dad's perfect little girl. Our routine changes so much from day to day based on when she decides to wake up that she is a pro at adapting. The time change did throw her off a little bit. Why can't we be like the states that don't participate in that because babies don't ever get the memo about gaining an hour of sleep....she is going to be an hour earlier still but waking up an hour early. But still sleeping a solid 8-9 hours though. Can't ask for much more! Because of the confusion, she is having trouble staying awake through dinner with us....

"Parents.....I'm tirrrrrrrred.

"Ok seriously. Can't. Stay. Awake."

"Peace out folks"

Work has been surprisingly wonderful this week. I think my coworkers definitely prefer Ashley the mom as opposed to Ashley B.B. (before baby). I used to have quite the reputation of being a perfectionist and having to finish every last bit of work on my desk by the end of the day because I had nothing better to worry about. Well now I guess I have something better to worry about! In Sean's (my coworker) words, "it took a child." Riley's load at work is about to get a little bit lighter...this may just mean we will get to see him before 7:30 on week nights! Maybe he can come home at 5 or 6 like normal folk?? Another worker is taking over some of the stores that he has to travel to during the week which will save him a lot of time and allow him to focus on NE Oklahoma. So all in all, good work weeks for both of us.

Hallie has some great kids at daycare with her. One in particular...Miss Kyra. She is an adorable four year old who is obsessed with Hallie. I always enjoy asking her "how did Hallie do today?" and hearing her answer. Last week on Tuesday I was horrified to hear her answer: "bad, she cried all day long. Nothing made her happy. I tried to give her a binky but she said she didn't want it." Kids say the darndest things: my 3 month old is already talking apparently! Kyra did give me several good updates last week so it evened out in the end! On Wednesday I arrived to pick up my girl and Kyra ran in from playing outside to holler this: "Miss Mindy, please tell Hallie that Bailey and I say bye!" So cute! I am reminded everyday how blessed we are to have a babysitter right across the street and a great one at that!

Pride was flowing like crazy this week around the Fanning house! We celebrated the 235th birthday of the Marine Corp and of course Veteran's Day. So proud of Riley for his six years of service in the USMC and the seven months he spent overseas in Al Asad. I also enjoyed seeing all of the WWII veterans at work and giving them a big thank you! Their faces just light up when they hear those words! Honestly one of my favorite holidays of the year!

I used to want to be a photographer. After today, I know that I would have regretted that career choice. Photographing a 3 month old for a group photo has got to be the most challenging thing ever of course behind pleasing a 3 month old. ;) Getting a good family picture was our mission for the day. And of course a little manly stuff thrown in. We made a trip to Enid bright and early this morning so that Riley could drop off his Mustang engine at Dunsworth's to have it rebuilt. I am going to need a few lessons in cars before I embark on this journey. Case in point: Riley asked me this week how much horse power I wanted my engine to have. My answer: "5". He informed me that it would be okay for a lawnmower. Heck, I had no idea. Now that I'm up to speed, my new answer is anywhere from 350 - 450. That sound better? He is pretty excited about this step in the restoration process and has been working hard on it every time he gets a chance....

Engine is ready for some R&R

Something is missin'...

Hallie was a good passenger as always and slept the whole way to Etown. I was a pleasant passenger as well thanks to the CD I made prior to the roadtrip so that I wouldn't be forced to listen to hours of Motley Crue and Korn. Riley dropped us girls off at Grammy and G-man's house while he went to the engine place. I guess we will be waiting for a call on Tuesday to see what the damage will be as far as repairs and costs for the motor. Eeeek. Like I keep telling myself..."whatever keeps him happy, whatever keeps him happy." Lol! Back at the "staging area", us girls were getting ready for pictures. Of course Hallie was hanging out in her pajamas and waiting to put her nice clothes on at the very last minute to save them from falling victim to a blowout or spitup. Spitting up has become her thing this week. All the time...and all over the place. Laundry seems to have doubled this week! Hallie girl must have used up all of her smiles and her good mood was nowhere to be found when we entered the studio for pictures. The photographer made it as painless as possible....the binky was our friend as we kept it in her mouth until the very last second and popped it out just in time for him to snap the photo. No smiles, but we did get some cute faces from her! No spitup, no blowouts, and no outbursts so I'd say it was a success.

Getting ready to smile pretty for pics

When we got back to the house I decided we should take some snapshots outside in the pretty fall colors...just in case my girl had frowned in all the pics we had just taken or Riley had blinked in all of them!

We love our momma!

Funny couple

She kinda resembles her daddy, don't ya think??!

Cuties

Hallie's Corner

My new skill this week: discovering that my hands serve a purpose.

They are awesome for chewing on strings.......

Also great to suck on.....

Best of all, they hold my binky in.....

And let me take it out....

I've got to say, this is by far the coolest thing I've learned to do. They are pretty handy....no pun intended folks. It gives me a whole lot more freedom and allows me to make more choices on my own. For example, if I don't want my binky anymore but I want to keep it close to me as opposed to spitting it out and letting it drop to the floor, I can simply remove it with my hand and hold it there until I want to use it again. Cool, huh? Now if I can just figure out what those wiggly things connected to the end of my legs are.....

I had a pretty great week. Lots of fun times with my daycare friends. Kyra draws me a picture everyday and seems to really care about me. She tries to help me out when I cry and makes me smile when I'm sad. Wednesday night Mommy and I surprised daddy with his favorite meal and a gift for his birthday. Not his real birthday, dummies. The Marine Corp 235th birthday! I am super proud of my daddy and I think he knows that now!

Ooo Rah!!!

Nanny and I had a lazy day on Thursday...well my day was lazy because I took a three hour nap! I think Nanny found plenty to do while I was getting some rest. I kinda gave mommy a hard time when she got home from work. I played this mean little game where I would cry everytime Nanny would hand me to mom and then wail until Nanny would pick me back up again. I think I hurt mommy's feelings a little but Nanny and I were having fun and she had left me all day for work! Aunt Kylie and I were BFFs on Friday and we had fun too! So much fun that we were both pretty worn out when mommy got home from work....

I begged Aunt Kylie to stay for dinner and of course she gave in to me! I fell asleep for one second and the next thing I know, my parents are telling me that she left to go back to college. Seriously?! I was only asleep for five minutes!

I guess my mom didn't get the memo that I am tired of taking pictures for awhile because we had to take more today. Geez! But I toughed it out and actually made everyone laugh with my silly faces! Minus the picture portion of the day, I had an awesome time in Enid! Grammy and G-man loved on me all day! People flocked in from afar to get their hands on me....I got to see my cousin Dara, my Great Aunts Lisa and Lana, and my honorary Aunt Heather...and of course Aunt B and Spencer. I played and napped while everyone else watched the OU game. I didn't want to leave but dad was in a hurry to get back home to watch his football game. I was so tired by the time we got home from all of the smiling and talking that I asked mom if I could blog first tonight so that I could get to bed early...she was nice enough to let me.

P.S. - I am very mad at my sister Emmi. She chewed up my favorite rattle today while we were gone. Just because she doesn't get to play with me all day and go on walks regularly is not MY fault! Why didn't she just chew up mom's bra or something...that's who she is really mad at anyways! Sheesh!

Shake, Rattle & Roll

Hallie girl has had a week full of growing. She seems to expand during the night because every morning when I fetch my crying baby out of her crib, she seems to have doubled in size. She's growing way too fast but somehow still fits in the same clothes. My theory is that she is using Baby Spanx...check it out: http://www.hulu.com/watch/187727/saturday-night-live-baby-spanx

This week has been a doozy. The one good thing about exhaustion: I have no trouble falling asleep because I'm dreaming before my head hits the pillow. Definitely maximizes the sleep time I log. Speaking of logging more sleep time, we will all be gaining an extra hour tonight! Thank goodness for Daylight Savings Time! I am currently avoiding bed as I am wanting to enjoy some time just hanging out with Riley. But now I find myself searching for comfort in the study because my Sooners have made a very poor showing tonight in AggieLand and I just can't bear to watch anymore. Riley, on the other hand, is not so secretly enjoying it. The reason I know he is: he NEVER watches OU play, and even though I am in the other room blogging, he is still watching them "gig" my Sooners. Good thing my role as a mother has simmered down my unhealthy passion for football; otherwise, I would literally be crying on the couch right now and depressed for at least two days. I guarantee you that Riley does not miss "that" Ashley.

On to bigger and brighter topics: our girl is just getting sweeter by the day. She is definitely a cute little poser for the camera...that's my girl! I guess the constant flash in her face since the moment she was born has prepared her well. Although I have definitely noticed loss of muscle power in my trigger finger since starting back to work. Not as much time to take pictures. She now has what seems to be complete head control. She is a pro at tummy to back rolling now and is pretty quick about it...anything to get out of tummy time! She looks more and more like Riley everyday. She is still wearing some newborn sized pajamas but mainly wears her 3-6 months pants and 0-3 months onesies. She is showing off her slimmer silhouette in the picture below where she was enjoying some "nakey" time practicing her rolling skills on the floor....

I was beginning to think that her roll last week was just a fluke but she proved me wrong tonight when we put her on the floor for some tummy time. She rolled over the second I put her down. She continued to roll about ten times in a row and listened as we cheered and clapped each time. It never gets old.

Okay, mom, if I roll two more times can I please eat and then go to bed?

Hallie had a great time with Nanny to finish off the week. She surprised us all by taking three hour naps both Thursday and Friday. Gotta admit I'm a bit jealous because I don't think that has happened since she was one week old. Nanny once again spoiled us with yummy dinner on Thursday night, a basket full of folded laundry, and the bed made....and not to mention a happy baby when we get home from work.

The Cheesecake Factory - snoozin' through dinner

I am guessing most people don't consider shaking a rattle a milestone...but we do!!! I have been slowly introducing her to her basket of toys but she has shown no interest...that is until today. I placed her chubby little fingers around her pink rattle and showed her how it worked. I figured she would drop it and look at me like I was an idiot, but she started to shake it and held on tight. Now I'm not going to lie, I think the shaking was just a result of her squirming around on the floor...BUT at least she held onto it! Go, girl, go!

"My thumb still tastes better than that rattle"

I am having to eat my words about 27. So far, it has been the most fun age yet! Or maybe it was just the never-ending birthday celebrations that lasted all week with family, friends, and coworkers! I finished off "birthday week" with my coworkers treating me to lunch at Red Lobster  on Thursday and my PT school friends celebrating with Hallie and I at Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. The week was capped off by a serene day of pure relaxation today that began with a massage and was followed by getting my hair done and shopping for some new winter gear at Metro Shoe Warehouse...love that store!!! Riley finally got to grill out those steaks tonight and made me a delicious dinner! I sure do love that man! Daddy and baby visited great grandma Ida and Delbert at Bellevue today as this week is Delbert's final week in rehab before heading home. He has been in a skilled nursing facility since around the time Hallie was born and is finally going home. He tested out his newly gained arm strength by holding Hallie. Reports from Riley tell me that she was a good girl during their outting.

I am sure everyone heard a loud, crackling sound around 1 p.m. today. It was the sound of my heart breaking. We had to give Hallie her first bottle of formula. Well, Riley did actually. He said he hated every second of it. This is hopefully the only time we will have to do this. Like I wrote about last week, I am trying my hardest to keep up with the Milk Monster's demand and she finally caught up with me today! I have realized over the last couple weeks that our breastfeeding class that we paid good money for was basically worthless because I have gone about this all wrong. That class taught me nothing. Literally nothing. Expecting mothers out there, don't waste your time. First of all, I should have started saving milk from day 1. Instead, I started when Hallie was eight weeks old. Seriously?!?! We bought the deep freezer for what?? Not milk, I can tell ya that. ;) Next, I should have not been giving bedtime bottles for the past 2 months because she is doing wonderful with nursing before bed. And lastly, I guess I need a job that allows me to sit at a desk all day and pump milk every three hours. Unfortunately, I do not have a job like this. If we have made it this long, I think I have a good shot at keeping up until we start feeding her cereal at night...at that point, it really shouldn't be a problem keeping up with her demand. Even though we were pretty bummed about having to feed her the bottle of formula, the good news is she tolerated it very well.

So far the 30 Days of Thankful is super easy....I can't ever pick just one thing to be thankful for. Too many blessings to choose from each day.....


 

Thank God for routines!

Today I got to thinking about how much we thrive off of routines. When the routine is thrown out of whack, so is the rest of the day usually. The Fannings definitely thrive off of routines. Yes, even Riley. Actually he is the one who got me started on most of my rituals. Must be the Marine in him. Sometimes I think it borders on OCD (seriously) but it's how we function efficiently in our household. Of course on weekends, routines don't exist and we prefer it that way. As much as I would love to be spontaneous and adventurous, it's just not me. Our girl must have gotten the memo about our OCDness because she has developed a routine of her own....and it's a great one at that! Don't get me wrong, everyday is not perfect, but most days recently have been near it. Having a child has been the best thing that has ever happened to me for many reasons...but on the topic of routines, it has taught me how to adapt when things don't always go as planned. I love Hallie for teaching me this. And even better, she serves as my constant reminder to be thankful for my blessings. On any given day (bad or good), I can take one look at her and know that everything is going to be ok. 

Hallie has been sleeping consistently from around 9 to 6 in the morning. This brings us great joy!!!!!!!  Even though she is pretty ravenous by morning, she is a perfect angel for bathtime, dressing, and grooming. Then it's breakfast time....she has been nursing AND drinking about 3 ounces from a bottle before we head off for daycare to get her belly full for Miss Mindy. I have been picking her up around 4:15 (sometimes earlier and it makes me so excited) and she is usually already sleeping or almost asleep. We come home and go straight to the crib for a nap. Our child suddenly loves naps! Her daycare friends must be keeping her very busy! It may be her newly found ability...bouncing in her new toy at daycare. She can't touch the ground yet since she's a shorty, but Mindy puts a pillow under her feet and she is starting to get the hang of bouncing. That's my girl! Naptime is mom's time to get some much-needed daily chores done. I don't remember ever having this many chores before...or maybe they just didn't seem as difficult to complete. After naptime comes dinner time followed by playtime. Playtime has become a lot more dynamic as of late. We introduced Hallie to the world of Baby Einstein. I put it on Monday after her nap and she watched the entire thing and then passed out again on her playmat. She got so excited during the video that this is how I found her...she had squirmed toward the tv.....

Learning about animals takes a lot of brain power mom!

This rolling business is great for my abs

And my cute little booty...

Speaking of booties, we finally got back into the groove today and went for a stroll. We just can't get enough of Miss Mindy so we made a stop by there to pick up some things I had forgotten to take home. I always forget that Wednesday is our last day of the week at daycare so there is always something left behind. She sat outside and chatted with us for awhile and we joked about Hallie's future boyfriends, Parker and Elijah (the two 1 yr old boys at daycare)....Hallie just loves Mindy...she smiles and giggles at the sound of her voice. That made my heart smile. Good thing we bundled up for our walk because Hallie isn't used to the new cooler temps outside....she seemed a bit surprised.....

My manly man got to spend Saturday and Sunday havin' fun in the garage. I am still amazed at the sight of the huge engine being yanked out of the Mustang. I can't believe he makes it look so easy. Here he is hard at work....this thing will be remodeled in no time! He is having so much fun with this project! Next step: take engine to the rebuilding place to be rebuilt (whatever that entails), lol....

Why it's greased lightening!!!

He sees a project....all I see are dollar signs. Lol! But I think that's what flashes through his mind when I go to Hobby Lobby!

My 27th birthday came and went. Riley and I are none too excited about the number 27. We can't put our fingers on it, but 27 just doesn't sit well with us. Closer to 30 I guess. Thank you family and friends for all of the texts, bday cards, and phone calls! I love all of you! Riley surprised me with a pedicure and massage which is exactly what I asked for...smart, smart man! Poor guy had brought home my favorite steaks and had planned to make dinner for my bday while I went and treated my feet to a pedicure...BUT he got off work way late and I decided I'd much rather just sit down and relax a little with him instead of leave the house (plus the place was closed by then, lol). So instead I made a trip to Walmart to get a new blowdryer (mine had gone to meet Jesus that morning), picked up some dinner from the deli, and bought Toy Story 3 to watch that night. We made it through about 30 minutes when we couldn't stay awake any longer. See, that's why I don't like 27...I'm too old to stay awake for a whole movie! ;)

I am trying something new this year....30 Days of Thankful. One thing I am thankful for each day of the month of November. Once the month is over, I will put them all in a post on here. I guess I better catch up to day 3! Time to go be thankful! Have a great week everyone!

Life keeps rollin' on.....goodbye October

My longest hiatus yet from the blogging world. It makes me sad. The title of my post is a hint of a big milestone reached, but I will let Hallie show and tell down below! First things first....I really would like an Easy Button for my birthday. You can find them at Staples and I need it by tomorrow morning. Thanks. If only there was a reset button on our bodies to give us a huge boost of energy to recover from a long week. We made it through our first whole week of daycare and work. Thanks to a lot of help from Grammy and Nanny, we also made it through a VERY busy weekend with our sanity intact. I'm not sure that Bailey and Spencer would agree...but we will come back to that. I think I left off last time with our Halloween prep. Well, it continued on. Running here and there to get last minutes details for our costumes. My first trip to a thrift store revealed many options to finish off Riley's costume. My major dissappointment of the week: only finding time to work out three days this week left me feeling yucky. Major freak-out moment of the week: the night Hallie knocked a bottle of Vitamin D drops into her eyes, nose, and mouth. After an hour of staring at her and trying to make sure she wasn't going blind, Riley finally put her to bed so that I would stop obsessing over it. She woke up with eye sight intact thank goodness. Don't worry, I did research and Vitamin D is harmless when taken by eye instead of mouth. Lol! Man, that was scary and Hallie cried for about 30 good minutes after we flushed her eyes out several times. Baby trauma team to the rescue! We took a break on Thursday night to have a little fun at the Jason Aldean concert. Since Thursday is Nanny's day in Mustang she was our babysitter for the evening. Luckily Riley got off early that afternoon and we met Bailey and Spencer at the concert. The three of them were not trusting my tickets I had printed from home (which I always do). I guess they are accustomed to holding a real ticket in hand but low and behold, I'm not as big of an idiot as they thought I guess. What a great show!! Thompson Square, Luke Bryan, and of course Jason really know how to entertain a crowd!

And as always, we were sitting next to the token drunk idiot flailing his arms about, stumbling around, and spilling beer on everyone near him. It was easy to tolerate for the first hour as we decided to imitate him...but after two hours Riley had to start swatting his hand away. I still think he was too drunk to realize anyone was even touching him...

Drunk guy

The next morning was a little bit rough waking up as we are pretty accustomed to our 9:30 bedtime. We are still playing catch up on sleep with no success but I'm pretty sure that's just parenthood so I better adjust quick. Up until Wednesday Hallie had been sleeping like a pro. We were still waking her up in the morning after about 9 hours of sleep....and then I think the growth spurt started. She is still sleeping great but I she was spoiling momma with those long nights. When that monitor starts lighting up, my heart just sinks and then the countdown to the alarm ringing begins. It must have been a 3 month growth spurt, but it passed quickly because she is back on track now.

Halloween is the culprit for this busy week. Busy, but VERY FUN! I think this is probably the most fun Halloween I can remember. Well, the Spice Girls costumes from '97 may give 2010 a run for it's money though. Wednesday I got the pleasure of leaving work at two o'clock and going to pick my baby up early. Tired momma and baby definitely took advantage of our relaxation time. The estrogen level in the house shot through the roof that day as my domestic side shined through. This means I pulled out the sewing machine. Mission: make a yellow brick road costume. Backing up a few months: once I heard that my coworkers wanted to do the Wizard of Oz theme for Halloween this year, I was less than enthusiastic. I really do despise that movie. I think it stems from sleepovers where we would pop that movie in and try to watch in the background of that scene where the lady is supposedly hanging herself from a tree. Enough to creep me out even though I never did see the lady. I was originally supposed to the Glenda the good witch. Pink, frilly dress? No thank you. I did try to find one with no luck so I came up with another option. Somehow, someway I ended up with a functional costume 30 minutes later. Proud of my accomplishment, Hallie and I kicked back and watched a chick flick.

Costume in the making

Finished product

We had our annual family Halloween party at work on Friday. I spent all day saying "no, I'm not a bumblebee." Maybe people thought I was a honeycomb? My coworkers really went all out on their costumes...check it out!

Follow the yellow brick road

"We're off to see the wizard...."

The whole cast and rehab crew

Dorothy in the nado

Nanny brought my little piglet up to work so she could eat as we are rationing milk these days. Hallie was not the happiest baby in the world as I assume she would have kept eating for hours but it was time for me to get back to work. I loved seeing her in the middle of the day...it made the afternoon fly by. Nanny left with a screaming Hallie (who I hear quickly fell asleep after a minute of driving) and they headed to the mall for some shopping.

Work was over and it was time for costume #2. It was somewhat difficult to transform so quickly that evening from being an innocent stack of bricks to a misbehaving Jersey Shore guidette. Riley had to problem transitioning from oil supply salesman to his character as he had been practicing all week. He watched The Hangover last week to get into character. I, on the other hand, watch Jersey Shore every week and went to get a spray tan to get into character. My days of tanorexia are long gone. Even a spray tan was not something I wanted to do. First of all, I was afraid of those nasty orange splotchy marks left behind and second I didn't want to look like a pumpkin. The fact that they make you watch a five minute video prior to tanning made me nervous enough. I have to strike specific poses or my tan won't look good??? Then I got nervous about the poses and my mind started wandering to that episode of Friends where Ross's spray tan ends badly. "I'm an 8!!!?" Never will spray tan again, but I needed one to be "Snookified." 

I got home from work Friday just as Nanny and Hallie were getting home from their shopping trip. Nanny continued to spoil us that evening by making stew for dinner and watching Hallie while I did some chores and washed the scariness off my face. We said goodbye to Nanny and told her "thank you" about a million times. Hallie and I had a bit of time alone to relax before dad got home from work. And relax Hallie did. I put her down for what I thought would be a tiny nap in her crib, but I think she thought it was bedtime so we had to wake her up after a two hour nap. Our third babysitter for the week arrived that night. Grammy came to town to babysit while we went to a Halloween party.  She entertained Hallie while we transformed into this.....

Alan from The Hangover

"You guys ready to let the dogs out?"

Snooki

It's another Snooki!

Riley warned me that Jersey Shore would be popular

Minute to Win It

One of our favorite lines from The Hangover: "Hey, there's Skittles in there!"

So I filled Riley's satchel accordingly

The Halloween party was a blast! It was hosted by Riley's coworker Brian and his wife Chandi. From the scavenger hunt around Mustang to the "Minute to Win it" game, it was a great night. I like Mustang even better when I get to meet other people who are from here...sometimes I feel like we only know our neighbors and people at church. We met a couple with their own Hallie Grace. Freaky coincidence! And best of all, Riley won Best Male Costume! His prize: a 12 pack of beer. Lol. Finally home and very ready for some sleep, just as I layed my head down on the pillow, I heard my little piglet rustling in her pen searching for some scraps to eat. I just thought it was bedtime. So we stayed up til about 2:30 eating. Ugh. The morning came way too early, but knowing that Grammy was across the house to help out made things so much better. Grammy and I spent most of the morning cleaning up a baby with an upset tummy. I guess she doesn't like stew, cupcakes, or scrambled eggs because that's what I had eaten in the previous 12 hours. Hallie's bad mood continued through a good majority of the day. But of course she had her precious moments that shined through. Later we realized it might have been a small diaper rash that was bothering her all day. My poor baby. And here is a picture of my other poor baby...I torture her every year on Halloween......

No surprise to anyone that Hallie was wearing a ridiculous outfit. It was Saturday morning and you know what that means......

G-man, Bailey and Spencer visited too. Mission: find clothes to wear for family pictures in two weeks. G-man opted out of the shopping and chose a nap and football at the house. Hey, I would have chosen that option too if given the opportunity. Riley worked on his ol' '65 all afternoon while the rest of us went shopping. This is the part where I think Bailey and Spencer realized they were going to wait awhile to get married and have kids. Like I mentioned, she was a little bit difficult yesterday.....

Grammy and I were ex-to-the-hausted by the time we got back to our house. It could have been the 5 person convoy around the mall, or it may have been our "almost running out of gas" scare. I won't go into detail, but I will say that it's not a good thing when your "miles to empty" screen only shows an asterisk instead of an actual number. I think we may have missed our dinner reservation had Spencer not casually mentioned something about getting gas. Oops! We did make it to dinner on time and found Lisa, David, Dara and her boyfriend Justin waiting on us at Musashi's! Mission: to celebrate my birthday early since it falls on a nasty Tuesday. We had a great dinner and a fun time as always when we get together.....

Homemade truffles made by my lovely mother

Party of 3

27 candles!

I love these guys!

( Hallie is really enjoying this photo)

We pulled up to the house last night and realized that we had left our porch light on all evening. That means trick-or-treaters rang our door bell a thousand times and therefore Emmi went nuts a thousand times. Riley rushed out to buy some candy and returned to only two kiddos. I guess it was too late! So who wants all of this candy now? I definitely don't need it. We started The Biggest Loser competition this past Monday at work. I started out very strong but have been bombarded with holiday candy, party food, cake, pie and bread. Not complaining, because I do love sweets, but I am definitely going to have to do a lot better this week!

I honestly have no idea how we would have made it through the week without Nanny and Grammy helping out so much....Hallie is very lucky to have some loving grandparents! Thank you X a million!

Hallie's Corner

Somewhere in the non-stopness of this past week, I turned 3 months old! And of course that meant I had to put on a pretty bow and pose for my mom. But I didn't have to smile though...

Along with being the big 3 months old comes some big expectations developmentally. Well I had to live up to these and being the rockstar that I am, I have some big news. I did something pretty awesome this morning but I'm going to keep you in suspense...just keep reading. This baby is tired. I must be on my way to being a teenager quickly because I'm already sleeping like one. My bedtime is about 9 o'clock and I mom and dad have to make me get out of my warm bed in the morning. Well, I guess warm was the wrong word to describe my bed. My room is freezing!! My little hands are like icicles by morning. Mom and dad are trying to find a good temperature to keep me warm. Mom wanted to put gloves on me but I reminded her that I love to suck my thumb before I go to bed so that won't work. I met the rest of my daycare friends this past week...Maci, Kendall, and Elijah. They like to try and entertain me during the day when I get fussy...which is quite often somedays. Miss Mindy gives mom an update when she picks me up everyday and I cross my fingers that she won't tell mom how I really act. ;)

Nanny came on Thursday morning and I talked her into visiting Miss Mindy to get my carseat base from daycare. I just had to go visit my friends. But instead of being excited, they all looked at me as if they were thinking "oh no, it's that loud baby again! She's not supposed to be here today!" Once I get my hunger under control maybe I will fit in better. I surprised Nanny when I told her I had been doing Zumba on my own during the days when she is not here. My own form of Zumba...it involves lots of kicking. Nanny and I made dinner early  for mom and dad because they had a concert to go to. I pretended like it didn't bother me, but deep down inside I missed the heck out of them that day. Friday it was baby's day out with Nanny. Nanny surprised me by taking me for lunch at my mom's work. Good thing because I was starving! I am not sure what kind of place my mom works at, but everyone was dressed in very scary outfits. It took me awhile to warm up to my mom even. I was dressed in character too...a piglet. Very fitting for my appetite.

Bob meeting the lil nugget

"You aren't my mommy!"

"Oh, that is you."

As you all probably know, I add something to my wardrobe daily. Well I added my most fabulous piece last night. I can thank my cousin Dara and my great aunt Lisa for these...

And it even doubles as a bottle insulator

So anyways, I've just been blabbing on and I know everyone is sitting on the edge of their computer chair waiting for the big news. Without further ado, here's the feature presentation (don't mind the 3 "dud" videos below the first one, they were my unsuccessful attempts to upload the video and now I can't get rid of them)....

I don't know how, but it just happened. I heard mom tell dad "I think today is the day she is going to roll." So I knew I they had big expectations. Mom and Aunt Bailey had been staring at me yesterday like watching a pot of water waiting for it to boil. I just wasn't ready yesterday. Much too tired to roll. But today was the big day. I held my big head up high and used it as momentum I guess. Mom and dad were of course in my face with the camera waiting for the first big roll. Back to tummy rolling seems so much harder so we might try that again in a few days. I think I surprised my audience this morning since I hate tummy time so much. It's a lot more fun when you can escape on your own.....bahahaha!!