While the house was under construction, Hayden and I spent many of our days at Devin's house.  For those of you who don't know, Devin is 2 months younger than Hayden and I take care of him 3 days a week.  When I started taking care of Devin, I never could have imagined how attached the two would become.  Everyday, they are so excited to see each other.  They squirm out of our arms to start playing each morning, so cute!  

Being in a new house meant new toys and new places to get into trouble.  Devin had a stuffed dog that would play music and each time a song came on, Hayden would start dancing.  I did my best to get it on video, enjoy!

With fall just around the corner, that means Hayden's first birthday is almost here.  I cannot believe it, this past year has just flown by.  When he was first born, I would look at him and think about how I never wanted him to change but looking at him now, I feel like he was always this way.  Our time in the NICU seems like a lifetime ago, looking at pictures, I cannot believe that was less than a year ago.

Photos taken October 9-10, 2007

I cannot believe summer is over and it has been a busy one!  We have just finally settled back into our new kitchen.  We are almost done with the remodel, only missing the cabinet doors and a few finishing touches.  Having open cabinets filled with items that are very tempting to a curious baby have kept us busy during Hayden's waking hours.  

This combined with not being hooked up to the internet for 2 weeks while we were out of the house have kept me from keeping up on postings.  So I have lots of pictures to share.  

Summer for us consisted of as much time outside as possible, at BBQ's with friends, concerts in the park, days at the beach and tasting lots of sand, grass and the like.  Throw in some wine tasting and croquet and summer is complete.

Photos taken July-August 2008

a future olympian?

Hayden has just finished his first summer of swim lessons and is a natural in the water.  He took a 5 week class with other infants and toddlers and loved it!  He never cried once, even when dunked under water.  Considering the fact that he crawls toward the waves at the beach with no fear or intention of stopping, I should have known he would love swim lessons!  My favorite part is when we dunk him under water, he comes up with his eyes as wide open and looks at me in shock, as if he was asking me, "Why did you do that to me and when can we do it again?"  

Photo taken August 16, 2008

A boy and his ball

When this started, I couldn't believe it.  Background: Hayden was playing with a ball and it rolled away from him.  It rolled over to the table but not underneath.  In order to get the ball back Hayden began crawling over the chair's footrest and under the table.  And so it continues as the ball rolls away again.  He worked his way all the way around the table, and then got stuck when climbing over the last chair.

Photos taken July 23, 2008

That camera looks interesting...

When I catch Hayden doing something especially cute, (like sitting in his musical instrument box hitting the morracas against a chair).  I have to try to get a picture before he notices.  And if he does see me, it goes something like the sequence above.

Photos taken July 23, 2008

Hello...

So, ever since Hayden was born, and even before that, I have been struggling to find ways to stay in touch with friends and family and share pictures (the most frequent complaint).  A friend of mine, invited me to see her blog, and the first thing I thought of was what a great way it was to share updates from down here.  I tried the mass email of pictures on Kodak but have only  managed to achieve that once since Hayden was born.  Almost 10 months later, I decided this was probably not working.  So, here is my new attempt to stay in touch.  This is my first time blogging and I'm sure I will be learning more about what I'm doing as I go, but I think I will be able to figure it out...

But first the update:

Jeff and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary and after the wedding we thought life would slow down, but it has just continued to speed up.  After the flood in March, we had the floors ect. replaced and thought we were done the with clean up.  Then, a month later, we discovered mold in the cabinets.  This lead to a full mold remediation and a kitchen quarantine.  After having half a kitchen for over 4 months now, we are finally ready to rip it all out and start from scratch.  We are so excited for this to be over, especially now that Hayden is mobile and getting very interested in the holes in the wall (literally, I have holes in my wall!).  Now we will be moving out of the house for 2 weeks while the kitchen is completely remodeled.

Hayden will be 10 months old next month, I cannot believe how fast time goes!  He is crawling across the house so fast I cannot keep up.  He talks all day, non stop in his own baby-babbling language.  Baby watching is my favorite past time and he never stops amazing me.  Hayden is now begining to stand on his own, but only until he realizes he isn't holding onto anything and then he quickly sits down.

Just recently, Hayden has started smiling with his teeth (this is the only way I can think of to describe it).  Before when he smiled, it was a big open mouth, grinning ear to ear.  

Now, when he smiles he will only flash his teeth and the rest of his face gets all squinty.  It is so cute, I just want to pick him up and squeeze him every time.

Photo taken July 20, 2008