Wow! Hayden is 4 months old!!!

Four months have flown by, and Hayden has changed so much! He had his check-up and shots (not fun!) on Tuesday. He weighed 14 pounds and 6 ounces and was 23 3/4 inches long. He's around the 50th percentile in weight and the 25th in length. (Sorry Hayden, you don't have much of a chance of being tall with a short Mom and Dad :-) Just before he turned 4 months, he mastered rolling from his back to his belly. He starting rolling to his side to sleep (see pic above) a few weeks ago, and he finally made it over. He rolled from his belly to his back a few times when he was only 5 or 6 weeks old (probably by accident), but he's only done it a few times since then. He also loves his Baby Einstein activity center (in pic) because he can practice standing, which he really loves to do now. Another first, we tried Rice Cereal yesterday to see what Hayden thought. As you can see, it was a little messy. He wasn't sure what to think, but he did pretty well with the spoon! We have more fun with Hayden everyday!

Need a Laugh? Read This!

I had a really embarrassing "mommy" moment yesterday. I've always been a little clumsy/messy, but I'll blame this on the bottle! Anyway, Hayden fell asleep right before church, so we decided to take a bottle and feed him when we got there. I passed Hayden to Gramma, so I could get the bottle ready. When Hayden takes a bottle, we use the Playtex Nursers that have the plastic liners, so as I started to push up the liner to let the air out, it burst (I do mean BURST!) all over me, especially in my lap! At least 4 or 5 ounces puddled in my lap, which of course looked just like I had wet my pants! Church had already started, so of course I couldn't get up and walk out, because everyone would think I had an accident. We managed to salvage about 2 ounces of milk that stayed in the bottle, which Gramma fed Hayden, and we hoped that would last until we could get home after church. Hayden was pretty good until near the end of church, when Daddy took him out to walk around. I sure wasn't getting up! By the time church was over, most of the milk had dried, but I managed to hide between my parents and Michael just in case. Now I'll really be nervous about dealing with bottles in public!

First Day of School

Well . . . yesterday was the first day of school for all the schools around Jonesboro. For me, it started with Michael asking me a question as he got ready to leave for work yesterday morning. He said, "Aren't you glad you're not getting up and going to teach today?" I said "yes" and realized I had made the right choice in deciding to stay home with Hayden. I will miss teaching a lot, and it was a little weird to know school was starting and I wasn't there. But, when I look at Hayden, I realize I do have a teaching job here at home, one that I wouldn't want anyone else to do. I hope I can teach Hayden a lot every day as he grows and changes.

On another note, I really admire all the mothers who work outside the home as well. It takes a lot of energy to get up, get everyone ready, and get to work, then take care of the kids and home as well. Wow! I did it for just a few days last week when I went to inservice activities to get some Professional Development hours. Working mothers should really be commended for all they do!

Laughing

I love seeing (and hearing) Hayden laugh. It is so cute! He started laughing big time a few weeks ago when Grampa was bouncing him on his lap. Grampa still seems to get the biggest laughs! He also has this ladybug that hangs on his Musical Milestones mobile that he absolutely loves. It is so funny to watch him, because as soon as the ladybug is in view, his face lights up, he smiles really big, and he starts "talking" to the ladybug! When we went to the photographer for his 3 month pictures a few weeks ago, we took the ladybug just in case we couldn't get him to smile. Sure enough, as soon as we pulled out the ladybug, Hayden grinned like crazy! Maybe Mommy's Gamma Lambda days have rubbed off!?

The Bumbo

Hayden is enjoying the view from his Bumbo seat! If you've never seen a Bumbo, it's a cute little seat that helps babies who can't sit on their own sit up. He really seems to like it . . . for a few minutes at a time! Hayden has really been chewing on his hand (or anything else that gets close to his mouth) and slobbering like crazy over the past week or so. Surely he's not starting to cut teeth!?