10 months.

hayes is 10 months old today!  it's hard to believe that in just 2 months we'll be celebrating her first birthday.  where did the little infant hayes-o go?

this is more how our photo shoot went.....

so, mhl - your 10th month flew by.  let me think...

*you are still busy as can be. messy as can be.  rough, funny, tough, sweet, snuggly, drooly....kinda crazy=)

*you are wearing 9-12 month clothes.  size 3 diapers.  2 naps a day (unless we're on the go).  you sleep 12 hours a night like your sister.  

*you pull up on everything and can now get down once you're up!  big achievement.  

*i say, "say bye bye paci" in the morning when i pick you up out of bed and you spit your paci back into your crib.  same in the car....i say "bye bye paci" and you spit it out into your car carrier.

*you say, "da da", "mama" (but not much), "bye bye", "beau-beau."

*you have cruised a stand up toy - slowly.  and you can climb all 16 stairs from our first to second floor really fast.  

*still only have 2 teeth (2 bottom)

*eat about anything!  you enjoy our sunday night dinners at hometeam bbq as much as sk...you enjoy chicken wings and bbq pork.  you love avocado, cheese, cheerios, ham, bananas, and for a snack you love mum-mums (rice rusks).  you are on similac's organic formula - 4 bottles a day - different amount each time but you are getting around 24 oz a day.

*we sometimes call you the big bully baby.  you are rough!  you make other babies cry.  one of the cutie pie little boys who waits on his big sister at dance with us sees you coming and we can see the fear in his eyes.  you like to grab at his paci, his face, his toys, his hair....whatever you can get your little hands on.  you also have brought grown men to tears when you pulled your daddy's underarm hair and your uncle jon-jon's leg hair.  you have quite the grasp!  here are some pics of you being a bully...

i kept a neighbor's little 5 month old - sydney- while sk went to see a play with sydney's big brothers....

"here sydney, just let me pick you up by the neck."

"why does this little baby have my toys??  here, i'll just get them back."  and i guess sydney is saying, "help!"

hayes - you totally bully your almost 4 year old sister. 

here you are grabbing her face.... 

grabbing her back....

pinning her down to the ground and laying on her head....

pulling her hair....

you dominate this toy, too.  i pop them all up - you slam them all down.....

bam, bam, bam, next....

ripping your sticker off....

problem solved...

feeding yourself....

and all the while that right leg is in constant motion banging the ground...

 i guess your dad was right (he loves that!)  your hair is curling up on the ends all around the back and sides.  you can kind of see it happening in these pics...

your favorite activity aside from beating up on everyone is swinging!!!  sweet girl LOVES to swing and could do this all day long.

seriously, look at how cute you are hayes!!  i could completely eat you up.

you wore the same outfit today that your big sis wore on the day she turned 10 months.

here is a pic of sarah kate on may 6, 2010....

and hayes on april 29, 2013...

hayes loves beau so much!!  he's doing well thankfully.

so happy 10 months baby girl!!  you surely do keep us on our toes & we love every single thing about you!

trey loves this pic of h.

matters of the heart.

we found out yesterday that our sweet beau boy is experiencing congestive heart failure.  

on monday he spit up a little blood twice so i called the vet and luckily trey was able to take him in so i wouldn't have to do it with both girls in tow.  

his usual coughing spells had gotten a little worse and his breathing was labored which we found out is due to fluid on his lungs.  his heart is enlarged.  they gave him a shot - powerful diuretics to get that fluid off his lungs which caused some issues last night with his bladder control (hence the towel) but he has been fine today.  in fact, i need someone to try to teach him how to be a sick patient!  he is supposed to be very calm and lazy but he wants to be outside by his special tree chasing the birds and digging his holes.  it's nice to see his tail wagging, but i need him to nap a little more.

heading to get sister from school

we aren't sure what this all means for beau.  he is on 2 pills at night - one for his lungs and one for his heart.  we will have him checked in a week to see how he responds to his treatment.  i think the way he is acting today is a good sign!  maybe he is already responding well and will live on for years to come.  i hope so!!!  we do know that this could be the beginning of the end for beau.  but we have hope!  the vet said we caught it really early.  he has had a heart murmur for some time so we have stayed on top of that and knew that his heart health may become an issue for him.  i can even tell a difference between last night and today - his breathing was so labored last night just from climbing up the stairs and this morning as well, but this afternoon he has handled any little activity just fine.  his breathing seems back to normal.  he is begging for food and just acting like beau.  maybe these new meds are just what he needs.

he is still eating like a pig and is drinking lots of water.  which is another problem in our house right now - we are concerned about his hydration so we have bowls of water everywhere which means i have already heard a big splash and found hayesie covered in water once today.  another problem is that usually when the girls and i go outside to swing we would never ever leave beau inside!  but he is supposed to be calm so i feel like i should.  i let him go out with us today and watched him carefully - made sure he just sat by his tree and didn't run around.  

we are just trying to give him lots of extra love.  he's our first born and we love him so much.  

we are thankful to anyone who will pray for beau - beau!  
just the sight of him makes his baby sister squeal with delight (the feeling is not mutual - beau prefers adults over kids & is not tolerant of the fur-pulling).  he is a big time mama's baby so i have been so sad, but like i said.....today i have some hope!

the lucy ladies lately. (pics to share).

a little of our latest shenanigans...

sk drew some letters on a piece of her easel paper, tore it off and held it in front of bella and said, "this sign says no scratching, bella.  do you see it??  it says NO scratching!!!"  (here she is showing bella - on the coffee table - her sign.)

our upstairs air unit went out last week.  this is h's sweaty hair after nap.  we got it fixed but unfortunately, a new unit is in our very near future.

sk and her bestie....

hayes can get in her chair now.  but she hasn't the slightest idea how to get from a standing position back down to the ground.  hopefully this phase will end SOON!  it's not fun for anyone.  she gets so frustrated.

here we are again......"hey lady, you going to put that phone down and come help me down to the floor?"  

uh, mom, can you give me a hand here.....i can't get down....

sweet girl wanted her picture made with her frogs.  sometimes we are all frogs.  or mermaids or fish.  or birds.  today i was a blue frog and she & hayes were green frogs.  

sk & flounder before picture day at school...

over it...

still has NO clue how to get down....

ticked about the gate, ticked about not knowing how to get down from standing up, just ticked....

crazy....

yelling....

dinnertime often means time to YELL real loud....

cowgirl sarah kate.  she wants to be a cowgirl for halloween.  hope she doesn't change her mind!  hayes will be a cow so that would be super cute!  she may have a hard time gaining control over her cow though.

"hey mom.  i don't know why i pull up so much because i don't know how to get back down.  can you help me down from the ottoman, please?"

hayes knows what "no" means and she actually listens rather well.  this is surprising to me, but i'll take it.  here's how it goes....she messes with something that i don't want her to and i say, "no, no haysie."  and she just looks at whatever it is for a little while and tries again.  i say, "no, no."  and she stops and usually puts her fingers in her mouth.  sometimes she gets real frustrated about it and shakes her hands and screams out but still, she listens. 

this is the fingers-in-the-mouth move after i told her not to mess with the air vent.  she likes to bend over and bite the air vent (strange i know).

we brought out the ole trusty playhouse that provided sk with hours of entertainment.  turns out at almost 4 it still provides her with hours of entertainment.  hayes is learning to like it.....

when beau isn't looking he gets attacked!  he barely escaped this one...

this isn't a clear pic, but hayes' hair can hold a clip now!  and the ends appear to be flipping up a bit.

a little comparing.....

the day we put up the gate for sarah kate...

"um, dad, maybe we could just talk about this....."

and the day we put the gate up for hayes.....

"this is so awful!!! if i knew how to get down i'd crawl over to you and pinch you, dad!"

love her!!!

one other new haysie development - she does not use a paci unless she's in her crib.  i take one with me for emergencies but haven't used it yet.  this started last thursday just as an experiment and now she doesn't want one during the day.  she was a little fussy yesterday morning so i offered her one and she threw it on the ground so......

that's it.  pretty exciting stuff i know.  ha!

huey, dewey, and....what's the other donald??? (a video to share)

i took this video of sk on new year's eve this past year.  i had forgotten about it but was showing it to my mom the other night and we got so tickled at her.  

thought i'd share it on here.  

some background info: sk has several of those 5 minute story books that disney makes.  2 of hers are full of princess stories, but one book is full of fairytales where mickey and the gang are playing the characters.  like rip van goofy for example.  so anyway, there is a story that includes donald duck's nephews....huey, dewey and louie.  she is talking about them in this video.  we love her so much!

wedding.

sarah kate, my mom and i drove to wrightsville beach, nc on saturday for joelle's wedding.  joelle is ashley's sister (ava and bryce's aunt jo-jo).  sarah kate had a fabulous time - she really really wants to go back to the wedding.  playing with ava & bryce was fun.....twirling round and round on the dance floor was fun....seeing ava and bryce perform their flower girl duties was fun....BUT the best part was the wedding cake!!  she can't stop talking about it..."mommy, i SURE do love wedding cake.  it was yummy to my tummy.  and i LOVE flowers, too!"  there were big pink flowers on the cake.  she inhaled her piece of cake.  i was actually certain she was going to throw up because she had so much icing in her mouth all at once.  which reminds me of her second favorite part of the trip - getting to sleep with me.  what does that have to do with icing on a cake?  well, a sugar high along with the excitement about sleeping with mommy meant that i was tapped on the back and heard, "mommy, mommy, we're sleeping in the same bed together...it's our very first time!  we don't do this very often" over and over until 10 pm.  anyway, it was a beautiful wedding and i wish i had taken more pics!  i got just a few....

the flower girls were beautiful and did a fabulous job!! (this is ashley's pic)

i totally stole this next pic off of fb.  we didn't stay until they left.  her maid of honor, maggie, posted this pic!  but i thought it summed up the night...they had a GREAT time and obviously had a happy day!

we appreciate the wike's for including us in all their wedding festivities!  

another favorite part of our trip...

mimi gives luggage cart rides.  sk pretty much wants to go back to north carolina asap.  and i have married "trey" many times since getting back.  "mommy, let's get you fixed up.  you're going to marry trey, okay?  and i'll just watch.  and then we can eat cake."  

hayes has been busy lately.  i'm working on a haysie post.  but let's just say that she has a new favorite activity....

and daddy ruined all the fun....

poor baby.

9 month stats, etc.(& a REALLY funny video).

hayes went in for her 9 month appointment this morning.  she received one shot - didn't shed a tear.   i know a baby who was super dramatic about vaccinations (WHO could that baby be??...ha, my girls are as different as night and day.)

she was deemed "healthy, growing great, meeting milestones, and VERY active!"  we are to go ahead and completely baby proof our house - the dr. compared hayes to her boys.  which, my mom had already made the comment to me a while back, "well, there is your boy."  she is a maniac & is in constant motion.  and we just love her to complete pieces!

the only time she was still. when trey saw this pic he said, "i mean seriously, she's the cutest baby in the world.  did the dr. say that?  did she tell you that she was the cutest baby she'd ever seen....cause she is!"  and the thing about it is that he's serious.  yes, trey, that's what the dr. cares about at these milestone appointments, "your baby is meeting the cuteness criteria set for this age group."  dads.

hayes is 18 pounds, 4 ounces - 60th percentile
i can't find her stat sheet - she may have eaten it, i did see it in her mouth at some point today.  but her height was in the 30th Percentile - think it was 27.5".  and i have no idea what her head circumference was.  i'm sure i'll find that sheet at some point, but i don't have time to worry about it right now.  oh, and she has 2 teeth now.  the 2 bottom teeth.  sk had 6 teeth at 9 months!

she's just doing great!  and she loves her paci.  and when i thank God for things in my life, i thank Him for hayes' paci so....

h and sk's yaya and dougie were in town this past weekend.

we had a really nice visit and the girls enjoyed having them here of course!
dougie and trey went to lowes on saturday and got some sand for sk's sand box that yaya/dougie had given her for christmas.  she enjoyed playing in it today after school.

this pic was before i put sunscreen on her and she buried herself in the sandbox before i could get the sunscreen rubbed in.  nice.

and i did the cooper river bridge run (10k) on saturday with amy.  but just like LAST TIME, we were walkers (and talkers).  it was a beautiful day for a walk across the bridge with 40,000+ other people!

spring is here!!!!  we are so excited!  maybe we can stay well for a while and it sure has been nice to leave our heavy jackets, gloves and winter hats behind.  we've brought out our sunglasses, sun hats, sunscreen, flip flops, and springy dresses.

hayes LOVES to swing.  and the baby can just about swing herself when she gets in her active mode in there.  

we have fresh pinestraw, new full ferns, azaleas, and our grass is beginning to resemble the color green!  spring in the low country - just gorgeous=)  our house looks so happy to me in the spring.  it can look so drab and sad in the winter.  i'm always wanting to do this or that to our house, but i should just feel content because i'm really grateful for it!  (the little cuteness playing in the front yard helps liven it for sure).....

as usual, our azaleas are uneven and they bloom at different times.  i think it has a little to do with our lack of green-thumbs and alot to do with the positioning of our house in relation to the sunlight.

so, here is me and my little attachment.

she loves her daddy, too!  in fact, when we picked her up from the nursery on sunday she cried in my arms and held out her arms for her dad.  think it made his whole entire day!!  you know, he thinks his girls completely hung the moon in the sky.

sk does not like to take off her cardigan.  it's one of her little quirks...if she puts it on, it stays on.

our sad attempt at a family photo....this is the best we could do.

and finally, the funny video!  hayes got tickled about a toy tonight and was laughing hysterically which was funny.  also funny was sk's blatant jealousy of the attention h was getting.  love those girls!