A Girl and Her Balloon

Hayden got a balloon while we were at Party City today. She LOVES balloons. Here she is taking a stroll on the deck with her lovely purple balloon.

She stops to glance back...

Here are some of the many looks of Hayden.

Anticipation.

Intrigued...

Delight...

Suspicious...

Serious...
Bashful...
Hopeful...
Oops, we got so into taking pictures that Hayden forgot to hang on to her lovely purple balloon!

My First Pony Tail

This morning I decided to see if I could get Hayden's long locks into a pony tail. It ended up looking pretty cute....from the side and back views. It still has to grow out and thicken up a little more before we will be sporting this look outside the home.

Snow!

I know that those of you up north are going to think that I've lost my mind and forgotten where I came from when you see this video. But we don't really ever get snow down here in Georgia, so it's exciting!

It's confirmed that Hayden had roseola. Basically, it's when a child under 2 has a high spiking fever for a few days and then a couple days after that they develop a red rash. Sure enough, the rash showed up yesterday and never was too bad thankfully. She still has her pesky cough though.

Winter Fun

Today we took Hayden and her trusty walker outside while we played with the dogs. She had a great time, as you will see.

Here she is yelling at Grady because he is picking on Mazie....like usual.

She really liked it when daddy helped her get the ball from Mazie so that she could throw it again.

Side Note: That's not the side of our house in the background-it's our neighbors!

Crazy mullet head. We love her long locks though.

Here she is on her way back from chasing Moo away. The whole time she was going towards her she was saying, "moo moo moo moo". I think she's going to have a little confusion when she learns that her cats name is the same sound that a cow makes!

Praise the Lord! Hayden's fever is gone is she is doing well. She had a great night sleep last night-other than the few times that paranoid mommy went in to check her temperature! She went to the doctor today and they gave her some medicine for her cough and were able to determine that she had a virus based on some blood work that they did. Thanks for your prayers!

Head Lock

I came into Hayden room this afternoon about found her sleeping like this! I had to take a picture of it.

On a different note-Hayden has been running a fever ranging anywhere from 104 to 101 the past two days. We thought we were in the clear this morning when it drop down to normal, but this afternoon it spiked again. As you will see in the pictures below, she is acting just fine other than a nasty cough and a heated forehead. She's pretty amazing. God has blessed us with such a strong little girl. I'll have to say though that this has been a stressful two days for me. It's just terrible knowing that your baby is sick and there's nothing you can do about it and you don't know what's causing it. I'll be glad when this fever is gone for good. She is going to the doctor's tomorrow and hopefully they can help her get rid of this bug.

Hayden love to walk around with her walker and her back pack dragging beside her.

I finally got a picture of Hayden sitting on the doggie bed with Grady!
I was even quick enough to get a picture of Hayden giving Grady a kiss. She has such a sweet loving spirit.
Here she is coloring in her coloring book. Sorry about the messy table!

It's Me Daddy!

Last night Jeremy got a business call so he went back into the office and closed the door. Every time Hayden hears the office door close she is determined to get in and see what's going on. So, she walks back using her walker...even though she doesn't need her walker anymore. She parks her walker and moves in front of the door. She starts by politely knocking on the door so that daddy will hear and let her in.

Next, she decides to try and push the door open herself since daddy is not cooperating. She leans all of her weight into the door and makes a grunting sound. Check out the strain on her face.

Lastly, she knocks on the door with her head....just in case daddy didn't hear her when she knocked with her fist.

Hangin' with Daddy

Today, Hayden and Jeremy hung out while I tutored a student. When I was done I walked into the bedroom to find Hayden dressed like this! What a goon!

On a different note: I went to the OB yesterday for my first "official" pregnancy visit!! Everything looked just fine. I even got to hear the little one's heart beat. It was nice and strong. Other than the fact that some of the tests showed I was a little dehydrated things are looked good for mommy and the new baby.

Spaghetti Story

About once or twice a week we let Hayden eat spaghetti. You can see why she doesn't get it every day!

She loves it!!

15 Month Doctor's Visit

Today Hayden had her 15 month appointment. Her body has finally decided to quit dropping lines on the weight growth chart. She weighs 19 pounds 8 ounces and is following the second major growth curve line down from the "average" one. She it still refusing to eat pretty much any kind of meat, so the doctor told me to give her an oral vitamin. So, we started that today. She had that instead of eating her lunch! Hayden got 2 shots today and hated every moment of it. She is 30 1/4 inches tall. So thank the Lord, Hayden continues to grow and develop as she should. She'll have her next visit in a few months.

Here is what Jeremy and I gave Hayden for Christmas this year. She can rock and bounce at the same time, and there is no fear of falling out!

Merry Christmas Daddy!

Here is what Hayden and I got Jeremy for Christmas...an 11 week old black lab puppy! He named him Grady and he's such a good puppy. Ever since Hershey passed away about 3 months ago Jeremy has been wanting another dog, so Christmas was the perfect time to get him one.

Howat Family

Today, right before September left, we took a few family pictures. The weather has been like this the entire time we have been down here....in the 80's!! It's been great. We will be sad to leave tomorrow afternoon, but we can always look forward to those summer weeks spent in the Florida sun with the whole family!

Christmas Cookie Tradition

For as long as I can remember we baked sugar cookies together right around Christmas. Since we were all together in Florida this Christmas we decided to get to baking!
September and I mixed the cookie dough the day after Christmas and we baked the cookies yesterday.

Johnny was the butter boy...he was in charge of buttering all of the cookie sheets before we put the cookies on them.

We made sugar and gingerbread cookies.

September was in charge of rolling out and cutting all of the gingerbread dough. As you can see, she took her job very seriously.

I used the new KitchenAid mixer to mix up the cookie dough and the icing. It worked perfectly!

Hayden woke up from her nap just in time to have a little taste of the icing with daddy.
Pappy and Johnny waited anxiously as I mixed the coloring in the icing.
Once we started icing the cookies it got quite competitive between Johnny and Jeremy.

Christmas with Grandma

Grandma Milko and Aunt September both flew in this past weekend to celebrate Christmas. Grandma brought this cool singing and dancing dog stocking. Hayden got such a huge kick out of it.

She loved digging into her stocking to see what Grandma and Pap gave her.

They brought her lots of cool big girl outfits and pajamas. They definitely know her style and I can't wait until she can fit into her 18 month clothes!

Hayden had a great weekend with Grandma....thanks for the great birthday present Pap!

Ross Family Christmas

We met with the Ross family this Sunday in order to celebrate Christmas. Here's our family Christmas picture for 2007.

Pictures at Pop and Grandma's House

Here are some pictures that Jeff took over the past few Wednesdays while Hayden was over. They put her in this white smock dress and snapped away.