Birthday Party

Hayden's checking out his new SwingAlong Castle with Gramma, Haley, and Savannah
Hayden got lots of help opening his presents!
His new ride-on airplane is lots of fun!
Grampa's watching Hayden and his buddies check out his new red wagon
Nanny, PaPaw, and Great Granny Paul enjoyed watching Hayden celebrate!

Hayden had his 1st birthday party on Saturday! He had lots of fun eating cake (see pictures on previous post), opening presents, and playing with his buddies. His grandparents, a few cousins, and church friends came to celebrate with us. The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed playing in the backyard. We had such a great time!

Happy Birthday Hayden!!!!!

Today is our sweet boy's 1st Birthday! Here are just a few pics from his party. I'll post more soon. Happy Birthday Hayden! We love you!!!!

Hayden's First Easter

Hayden's checking out what the Easter Bunny left for him!
He's quite amused by the card
My two handsome boys after church
Hayden was excited to see Uncle Eric again and to meet his girlfriend, Kelsey!
Hunting for eggs at Gramma and Grampa's house

It's taken me all week, but here are some pictures from Easter weekend. Eric and his girlfriend, Kelsey, came in town for the weekend. Hayden hadn't seen Eric since Christmas, and he was all smiles once he saw him. On Saturday night, we had dinner together at my parents' house and watched Hayden hunt for his Easter eggs. Actually, "hunt" might not be the word. Hayden would see one, crawl to it, and try to eat it until we showed him another. It was still a lot of fun. Before church on Sunday morning, we got Hayden up to see what the Easter Bunny had left for him. In his basket, he found a book, a Baby Einstein DVD, and a dancing chick that plays "Chicken Dance." His favorite is the dancing chick, which he follows around, giggling like crazy!

Visiting the Easter Bunny

I'm a little late posting these pics, but I had to share Hayden's picture with the Easter Bunny from a few weeks ago. Hayden wasn't scared of the Easter Bunny at all, he just wanted to check him (or her?) out. Next year, he might be more apprehensive. While we were at the mall, we also let Hayden check out the play area since there were only a few kids there. He LOVED it! He had so much fun crawling, climbing, and cruising. Unfortunately, it is usually pretty crowded so we'll have to try to go again when it's not as busy.

I hope everyone had a great Easter! I'll get some pictures from our Easter weekend posted soon.

Riding the Rhino

In the Rhino with Daddy and Pawpaw
Hayden driving the Rhino! (In parked position, of course!)
Climbing on Nanny and Pawpaw's new chair

A few weeks ago, we went to visit Nanny and Pawpaw. Hayden got to take his first ride on Pawpaw's Rhino. He loved exploring outside and his face was in serious study mode as he took everything in. We couldn't get him to smile because he was so focused on figuring everything out. Hayden got to hang out with his cousins Cody and Summer, and he got to visit Uncle Joey and Great-Granny Paul, too.

11 Months

I'm so glad I can finally add a post to our blog! We had computer problems last week and were without the Internet until yesterday. Last Thursday Hayden was 11 months, so here are some new pictures of him. I can't believe he'll be a year old in just a few weeks! Time has flown! We have more pictures to share from the past few weeks, so hopefully I'll add another post or two tomorrow.

New Pictures

Hayden helping Mommy load the dishwasher
Getting ready for bed. . . can you see his excitement!?
Hayden playing in his room
Showing off his big smile and all those teeth!
Making a mess . . . Looks like he's ready for finger painting!

10 Months

Hayden is now 10 months old! Here are some pictures I took a few days ago. He constantly wants to be standing and pulling up on everything, especially anything on the hard tile floor!

I woke to the sound of . . .

This morning I woke up to a scraping sound. As I really awakened, I realized what this scraping was. . . Hayden attempting to take the finish off of his crib rail! You see, I love Hayden's furniture. The crib can be used as a full size head and foot board later, so we thought, wow, he can get many years out of this beautiful furniture. What were we thinking!? Kids are rough on everything, so it may not look so pretty in a few years. It still looks great from a distance!Also, I'm beginning to think getting teeth early isn't all that great. Hayden got 2 around 5 months, 4 more around 7 months, and another came in a month ago, for a grand total of 7! I guess he figured he would put them to good use! And this is what he accomplished just this morning! By the end of the week, he may have taken all the finish off! If any of you have tips or suggestions, please help! One Step Ahead makes a crib rail protector that I may order, but I don't know what to do in the meantime. Did anyone else have this issue with your kids? I'd love to know we're not alone! THE DAMAGE

Hayden Update

Hayden after his nap
A new favorite toy - Balloons!
Fun times in the laundry basket!

It been a few weeks since our last post, so we figured it was time for an update. Hayden has been sick again, this time possibly a sinus or ear infection. He was miserable on Saturday, but luckily, we found a doctor who still makes house calls (a.k.a. Grampa), and he came and checked Hayden out. He seems to feel much better now!

Hayden is crawling so quickly now, and he follows me everywhere. He started cruising around his Leap Frog table last week. What a great toy! It's the first thing he pulled up on and now he's learned to cruise around it! Although he's been pulling up for a while now, he just figured out he could pull up in his crib last week. The first picture is of him pulling up after naptime.

Oh, yeah. Hayden also loves balloons. We had balloons for my birthday a few weeks ago, and Hayden pulled on the strings, bounced them, and couldn't take his eyes off of them! (With constant supervision, of course!) When he felt so bad this weekend, the balloon was the only thing that would calm him!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hayden wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! We tried to get a few pictures of Hayden in his "Handsome" shirt, and he now has a new pose for the camera. Check out the last two pictures. As soon as he sees the flash, he now squints, smiles, and cocks his head back. What a pose! We tried 3 or 4 times to get his natural smile, but all he would do was this new squinty smile. What can I say, I think he's going to be a little ham! In the past few weeks, Hayden has traded the army crawl to crawl on all 4's. Here he is crawling for the camera! He's also been pulling up a lot lately and he loves standing and playing music on his Leap Frog music table.Say cheese!!!!

9 Months Old

Check out these pearly whites!
Hayden loves to stand at the back door and look outside!

Hayden's 9 month picture

Hayden turned nine months on Monday. He had his 9 month check-up and was lucky to have NO shots this time! But he will have to get a few at his next visit at 12 months. What a birthday present! Anyway, at his check-up, he weighed 17 lbs. 6 oz. and was almost 27 inches long. He's in about the 10 percentile for weight and height. Hopefully his being sick last month caused his weight gain to slow down. We're hoping he'll gain more this time!

Hayden's first snow

Today we had our first snow of 2007. It was also Hayden's first time to see real snow. As you can see he did not know what to think of it. We only had him out for a short time because it was bitterly cold and was real close to his bed time.

Our Scary Night

Last night, we had a scare with Hayden. He woke up around 10:30 coughing and having trouble breathing. He honestly sounded like a seal barking! After calling my dad, who could hear Hayden and said it sounded like croup, we headed to the ER. One breathing treatment, a steroid shot, an x-ray, and two hours later, we got to come home. And yes . . . he has croup. Luckily he didn't have any more episodes last night. We're hoping and praying that there won't be any more tonight, at least not as severe as last night. I hate it when little ones are sick!

The Remote

It seems the remote is one of Hayden's favorite toys these days. I guess he's going to be a button pusher like his daddy. Here are a few pictures Daddy took about a month ago of Hayden playing with the remote. In fact, when he started to scoot/crawl, he did it to get the remote. That's the typical guy for you!

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Last week we celebrated Gramma's birthday! Hayden helped make her birthday cake and tried to swipe some chocolate icing while we were singing "Happy Birthday!"

8 Months Old

Here are a few pictures from last Friday when Hayden turned 8 months. He is so much fun! He loves playing with all his new toys and even pulled up on his Leap Frog Learning Table the other day. Although he's not crawling on all fours, he has started his own hilarious way to crawl. He turns on his side, then uses the opposite foot to move himself forward. It's the funniest thing! We'll have to try to post a video. My parents said neither Eric nor I did much of the typical "hands and knees" crawling, so Hayden may do his own thing, too. He has also gotten FOUR top teeth in the past month, so he now has six teeth! It makes him look like a big boy!