Our EIGHT MONTH OLD Haley Elizabeth!

It has taken me a little while to get this post together, but nonetheless, on November 9th our little Haley turned EIGHT MONTHS OLD! She gets cuter and cuter with each passing moment! When we first became parents we thought there was a specific stage that was "the fun stage", but as we have been adventuring in parenthood for almost 2 years now we have come to realize that every stage is "the fun stage".
We are not the type of parents who rush our kids to reach certain milestones, but we rejoice as both of our girls has come to reach those milestones at the right time for her. I have had to remind myself of that mantra of ours recently as Haley has been waking up every night in the middle of the night and wanting to eat! It is hard on both of us to wake up and to get her changed at fed and sometimes I have not been too happy to do those tasks in the middle of the night, especially since Haley is 8 months old now. But last night I was gently reminded by my Father in Heaven that "she won't be like this for long". And at that moment I realized that even though it is not always convenient to wake up at 4 am, I need to enjoy this part of the journey because soon enough she won't need or may not even want me in the night and that in itself will bring on different challenges for this mommy, and I definitely know that. So for now, as I wake up each night with our little Boo I am going to relish in my alone time with her! I am grateful to have been taught that powerful lesson now, while it is not too late!!
Okay, enough of that, now onto Haley's Accomplishments as an 8 Month Old:
~She got her FIRST TOOTH on Halloween! She has been so interested in rolling her tongue around on it ever since her tooth made its appearance!
~ She is definitely beginning to take an interest in being mobile! She loves to scoot around:)
~ She is babbling and mimicking A LOT more these days:) She loves to say "Ma Ma Ma and Da Da Da and Ba Ba Ba" although she still doesn't realize what those words mean yet:)
~ She LOVES to play with toys now! She is fascinated with everything Emily does, just as a little sister should be!
~She enjoys being talked to, sung to or read to! She is a very mild mannered baby who is very easy to please!
~She still fights nap times and bed times, but I think it's because she is such a people person that she doesn't like it when it is time for everyone else to go away:)
~One of the greatest things about Haley is that she is FULL OF EXPRESSIONS! She makes the funniest, cutest, silliest faces!! She is such a little clown!

I think that sums up Haley's 8th Month! She is such a fun little baby and we are falling more and more in love with her with each passing day!!

Our Adorable Haley!

Man, she REALLY Loves her Bear!

Ever since her 1st tooth came in she has LOVED rolling her tongue:)

Queen of Expressions!!

See what I'm Sayin?

One of my Favorites...She is so inquisitive!

Okay, had enough picture time.....time to get down now!

And of Course Miss Emily had to have a turn in the Green Chair!

A Happy Sister Moment in the Big Green Chair!

And then Something Stage Left Caught their Attention!!

Sitting with my Littlest Girl!

All 3 of us together for a moment!

Daddy snuggling with his Haley Boo!

My 3 Favorite People! I LOVE this shot!

Family Photo Time, Oh it was an interesting Time!

A Little Too Slow for the Self Timer!

Life With the Grays can definitely get Crazy at times, but we Love it!

Emily's First Hair Cut!!

I knew it needed to be done, and I knew I was going to be the one to do it, but that didn't change the fact that I didn't want to!! I mean, who wants to cut their baby girl's hair? And yes, I know she is not "technically" a baby any more, but she is only 22 months old and she is MY BABY and she always will be! That is both why I didn't want to give her her FIRST HAIR CUT and why I knew I needed to!
I was nervous of how she would react, I was nervous about how to do it, I was nervous about how I would do with it....but I made a couple of phone calls to a good friend of mine who is super at cutting little ones' hair and decided TONIGHT WAS THE NIGHT!
After dinner, we all went for a walk. Emily wasn't in the best of moods and so I was really nervous, but once we got home and I asked her if she wanted a hair cut and an oatmeal chocolate bar that we had made together, (she missed it for dessert after dinner because she didn't eat all that we asked her too), she quickly agreed and was up in her booster seat super fast!
I sprayed her hair with a spray bottle and then I began the first cut, I was so nervous and to my amazement Emily wasn't phased at all! She just kept eating her dessert and was very obedient when I asked her to look up and down! The overall cut took about 10 minutes and of course there were pictures throughout, which made the whole process take a little longer, but all in all she was amazing and I have to say her hair looks quite cute! I am impressed with both of us, we did very well together....and the best part is that Emily still has some hair and I am not too shaky to write about the whole experience! Overall Haircut Number One was a SUCCESS!!

The Before Shot!

Getting Her Hair Wet and Handing out the Treat!

Trying to Trim the back was tricky with her seated like this!

So we rotated her!

Had to put the pins in to keep her bangs up and her hair down!

Done with the Back!

On to the Bangs!

All the Hair that was cut!! (If you ZOOM in, it looks like more!)

The AFTER shot (after the cut and the dessert!)

And she is ready to be DONE!

Her Dessert is Gone and So is Her Smile:(

From our Front Door Looking In!

Since we have moved to town we have had so many friends and family members over for dinner that I think it has escaped our minds that A LOT of our friends and family still haven't seen our home yet, or at least since we moved into it and began to make it our own! Therefore, last Saturday after we cleaned up (except the kitchen was still a bit messy from dinner preparations) we decided to take a few pictures!!
We absolutely LOVE our new home! And it has been fun adjusting and doing little things to make it our own. There are plenty of smudges on our walls already, but we know how they each got there (pretty much), we have had many meals, had some tumbles, some funny times, some sad times, felt the spirit on many occasions, and look forward to all of the opportunities that are waiting to be had in our home! But for now, here are some pictures of our house that we took on October 24, 2010....just over two months after moving in!

The Kitchen

The dining room!

The Living Room

The Play Room, Take One!

The play room (and Haley's Crib), Take Two!

The Girls' Bathroom

The hallway (taken from our bedroom)

Our Bathroom...We Love Love Love Our Double Sinks!

Our Bedroom!

**NOTE: The only room we didn't get was Emily's because she was sleeping when we took the pictures, but she loves her room and sleeps all comfy cozy in there every night!***

And that completes the tour!!! Hope you all enjoyed it and we would love to have each and every one of you over when your schedule allows!

Halloween Saturday 2010!

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year we felt that it was appropriate, at least for our family, to celebrate it on Saturday! So celebrate we did! Our girls had a ball

We started out by visiting Mema on Saturday morning and then from there we headed to Mimmi and Dooders for some good ol' family Halloween fun! We saw lots of cute little babies dressed up in adorable little costumes, ate some yummy baked ziti for lunch, played some pretty fun and crazy games and got to visit with a lot of our family!

On Saturday evening our neighborhood had a fall festival, pretty much in our back yard! It was a good time! They had a bonfire, a fire truck, lots of games for everyone, some yummy food and lots and lots of Belvederians!! It was good to get out and do something as a neighborhood! We have never had that opportunity before to live in a neighborhood where they have get togethers and I must say I really enjoy it! The camaraderie here is really nice! And to top it all off we got to escort the cutest princess and ladybug around! The weather was nice, not too cold at all! A perfect Saturday to celebrate Halloween!!

Emily at the start of the day, helping me in the kitchen!
Here she is trying to say "Cheese" for the camera!!

Here she was last year, at 10 months, as a lady bug!

Here was Haley, this year at almost 8 months, wearing the same costume! (Sorry the pic is a little washed out!)
Here is the only good picture that we got of them both together in their costumes....our little Princess and Our Little Ladybug!

Here is Haley looking all around on Mema's Lap!

We got them both quickly, just before Emily jetted off to check out the next thing on her list...
The Piano!

Gracie Kaye, at Mimmi and Dooders', as a Pumpkin Ballerina!

Aunt Debra was there too, and all decked out in her orange for Halloween!

Jessie all decked out in her Minnie Mouse costume with her little Dutch Girl!@
Gracie loves to give LOVE to her little cousin, Haley!

....And Haley tolerates all of the love very well!


Haley Boo with her Daddy, all laid back!

And then there were the games.....it was a couples race to see who could eat the donut the fastest....I won!!

Cute Micah gave it his all though!

Here I am trying to get the last bit of donut down!

I LOVE this picture of Micah!

Then it was Danielle and Mark's turn to show off their skills!

As you can tell they were really getting into the game too!

On to Jacob and Tiffany....Good Times!

Since Tanner wasn't able to make it, Melissa stepped in to race Jessie!

Then came Phoebe and Ella....Sister races always get scary!!!

Mimmi and Dooders finished out the races....took Mom a while to get a hold of her donut....

After that wild and crazy party, we came back home and got the girls down for their naps.....then it was off to our last event of the day!

This ladybug was too cute not to squeeze!!

Emily and I in one of the back seats of the Fire Truck!

She got up in the front seat without needing anyone else to come along!

Needless to say, all of the day's festivities wore us out! We came home, got our baths and we went to bed! Everyone slept well, had sweet dreams and made great memories for the years to come!