Four Months

Dear Miss Haley,

Happy four months! It's been quite a month! We almost got through one whole month without getting sick! Unfortunately, Dad came home with a cold and infected the rest of us. So, we are back again with your runny nose and goopy eye! Luckily, you are just about over it and have been sleeping great despite all that.

Some quick stats:
- You weight 11.5 lbs this month
- You are 23 inches long
-Officially can roll over from back to tummy.
-Still loves to stand
-Love watching big sister, Kinley

 A lot of times we compare what you do to things your older sister did when she was your age. One thing that is different between the two of you is that you loved to be changed! It does not matter if it's your diaper or clothes, you smile and grin the whole time. I have a feeling you are going to be a little wardrobe changer like I was when I was a little girl. Or have an eye for fashion at a young age. It makes getting you ready so easy and much more enjoyable!

 One new development that we're not so crazy about is you have become quite a little monster right before bed. You do not like to settle down at night. You like to be held and walked with until late at night. You hate when Mom or Dad tries to sit down with you. You are making it a little hard for your mom and dad to hang out at night just the two of us. We have officially started cry it out with you so we can get you to fall asleep on your own and then eventually move your bedtime down to a more appropriate hour.

Haley, you are such a happy little baby. Mom has nicknamed you Happy Haley because you are so happy all the time! I think the only times you cry are when you wake up from your nap and at night when we are trying to put you to bed. Otherwise you are so content! You love to look at your surroundings, Kinley provides you with hours of entertainment and you smile like no other! We love you so much Miss Haley girl. We are so grateful that you are happy and healthy and that you are part of our family!

Love, Mom

Three Months

Dear Haley,

Happy three months, my sweet girl! I can't believe it's been three months already! Honestly though, I'm a little glad! You are a much better baby than a newborn, my dear. You are so happy all the time! It seems like ever since you learned to smile you haven't stopped. You even stop right in the middle of nursing just to look up at me and give me a big smile. I absolutely love it!

Let's pause for a few stats:
-You are 9 ish pounds. Probably closer to 10
-No idea how long you are.. (sorry)
-You can officially hold your head up with no problems!
-You can roll from side to side
-You love to stand and don't mind tummy time all that much.
-You are sleeping through the night pretty consistently, which I LOVE!

Also, Miss Haley, you are finally healthy again! You finished your 2nd round of antibiotics at the beginning of this month and we are praying that this is the end of your illnesses at least until the end of the year. We are being very cautious of taking you places now and bundle you up like a mini Eskimo whenever we go outside, even though the weather has been amazingly warm for November in UTAH!

I feel like since you have gotten over your second sinus infection that your personality has finally come to life. As I said before, you love to smile, you are such a happy baby. You love being around people. You absolutely love watching your big sister Kinley. I love the way you look at her with such awe and amazement. And let me tell you, Kinley absolutely loves you! Maybe a little too much sometimes.  A lot of times I need to pry her off of you because she likes to lay on you and hug and kiss you.

You had your baby blessing this month, which was so fun! It was extra special because we were granted permission to bless you at home due to all your illnesses. The circumstances that lead to this were less than ideal, but I will say it was so special to have such a sweet and small celebration of you! We had it at your Gigi and Grandpa's house in Heber City. We kept it small, just had both sets of your grandparents there and your aunts and uncles. It was the perfect celebration!

Haley, we love you so very  much! Life is so much better with you in it!

Love,

Mom.

Two Months

Dear Haley,

You are now two months old as of the 8th of October! Time is steadily going,  and we love watching you grow! I will say last month was a little rough. You, my darling, have been sick for about half of your little life so far! You caught Kinley's cold (as did the rest of us) as soon as you came home from the hospital. Then shortly after that you caught another cold, which over time turned into a sinus infection! It was so awful to listen to you struggle for air at night and throughout the day when your nose would get congested. Because you are so little, you don't yet know to breathe through your mouth, so Dad and I had quite a few sleepless nights with you for awhile! Luckily you pediatrician was kind enough to give you some antibiotics so that you could finally heal. I think everyone in the family was relieved to hear that news! Once you started feeling better  you were such a different baby! So happy and content just to be with mom or in your chair!

A few stats: you currently weigh 8lbs 12oz. and are 21 inches long. Dr. is concerned about your weight gain, so you are currently nursing and taking formula 3 times a day. Even though the Dr. is concerned, I am not as much. Having big sister, Kinley and now you has confirmed to Mom and Dad that we just have petite babies. You are perfectly healthy, just on the small side, and that is  A-okay with us! When you get older, you will notice that your parents are not very big either, so take that for what it's worth.

You started smiling about two weeks ago and we are in love with your smile! You use your whole face for your smile. At first it took you a couple of tries to get your mouth just right, which gave us a laugh to watch. With lots of practice you now smile with such ease! You love to eat, right now you are liking the bottle more than Mom, which I'm not taking offense to. Bottles are so much easier to eat from and you are probably getting more that way than you are from me. (Mom has low supply and low fat milk... not a good combination).

You love watching Kinley! With all her running and jumping and talking she is full time entertainment for you! You love to sit in your chair and observe everything and you like your mat where you can stretch your little limbs, squirm and stare at those memorizing butterflies over your head. You only like tummy time for so long and you quickly inform Mommy when the pleasure of tummy time has ended. We figured out that you like to sleep in your car seat for nap times. For some reason, both you and Kinley do not like to nap in your bassinet. When you are down for the night you have no problems, but when it comes to day time naps, the bassinet is forbidden! Your absolute favorite place to be though, is in my arms. Anyone's arms, really. You love to rock and snuggle in my warm loving arms, it just gets difficult to do that long term with big sister is running around.

We love you so much Haley. We are grateful that you are finally starting to feel better and we can finally enjoy healthy you! Happy two months my sweet girl!

Love, Mom

One Month

Dear Haley,

Happy one month, little girl! This month has seemed to go by so fast. You already have grown so much since we brought you home from the hospital! You have big beautiful eyes. They seem to be a dark blue with brown in the middle. I would love if you ended up with big hazel eyes, but really, you will be beautiful no matter what. You have had kind of a rough month to start out in. For your first month you have had two colds, both have been from Kinley. Don't worry, she gave it to Daddy and I also. Hopefully you will be on the mend soon.

Some things we have learned about you in the last month:

-You love to be held and snuggled. I have joked with  your dad that I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father sent you to me to help me with my issue of body space. Your goal in life is to be held 24 hours a day, and you seem to be somewhat succeeding despite my best efforts. I am, however, also soaking it all in because I know you will only be so little for so long.

-Your favorite place to sleep is in someone's arms (see above) . Unless you are being held, your naps usually aren't terribly long. But when you do decide to take a good rest, you sleep long and hard. It takes a little while to wake you, which we are not use to, since big sister was a light sleeper  when she was your age. Between the two, though, I like you and your deep sleep better. =)

-You HATE the car with a total passion. Unless you are in a deep sleep you scream and cry the entire time that you are in the car. Dad and I are working to rectify that and are trying to get you as use to the car as we can.

-You love looking at the world around you and you love watching your big sister, Kinley. Kinley loves you so much, also.

-You are over 7 lbs now and 20 inches long.

We love you so much Haley girl. Our hearts have grown since you have joined our family! Can't wait for what's in store next month!

Love, Mom

Haley's Birth Story

On Monday, August 8, 2016 Matt and I went into the hospital to be induced so we could meet our little girl.(Mom was getting impatient) Things were a little slow off the block at first. At 2:30 P.M. things started to get rolling. They started my antibiotics (I test positive for Group B Strep) then at about 4:30 P.M. they started me on Pitocin to get my contractions started. The contractions were manageable , but I was also noticing an increase in intensity as time went on. At 5:45 P.M. my OB came in and broke my water. After that everything really sped up.

Most people probably don't know this, but this time I really wanted to try to labor and deliver naturally. My experience with an epidural for Kinley's delivery wasn't a favorite experience of mine (that's a whole other story) so that's why I wanted a natural birth.

After my water broke my contractions came hard and fast, though I still felt like I was managing them alright. At this point also, Matt started really coaching and helping me through each one and he was absolutely fantastic! I really couldn't have gotten as far as I did without him. At 6:15 my nurse decided to move me up a level on the pitocin. I was really reluctant because my contractions felt very close together and started to get a lot more painful, but I agreed to let her move me up. Soon after that I was in an immense amount of pain. The contractions felt almost constant and I was starting to lose my focus and threw all my pain management techniques out the window. At 7:15 P.M. I had had enough. I couldn't endure the pain anymore and I asked (more like begged) for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came pretty quickly and he was amazing! He worked quickly and was kind and reassuring during all that happened next...

While I was getting my epidural, my nurse was going through a shift change. My new nurse came in during kind of a hectic moment. So, in the midst of all that was going on she forgot to check my progress and decided to give me some pain medication through my IV to give me a little relief while we were waiting for the epidural to be put in. The pain medication she gave me was only supposed to be used if I was dilated to a 6 or less. After that it's not good for the baby and it can cause their heart rate to decrease.

Well... I was further than a 6. Haley's heart tones started to slow down just as my epidural was finished. Soon, it seemed like tons of nurses were in our room; I was forced to wear an oxygen mask so that Haley could get more oxygen and I was told to immediately lay down on my left side. At that point they finally checked me and lo and behold I was already at a 10! My Dr. and nurses quickly helped me up and told me to push right then and there. I was told I only pushed through 2 contractions and then at 7:49 P.M. Miss Haley Elizabeth was born. She was perfectly fine. No major harm had been done from the pain meds. When I heard her first cry I was completely overwhelmed with joy that my little girl was finally here. Life now is a little different, but I wouldn't change a thing. We are so in love with both Haley and Kinley!

Haley's Birth Story

On Monday, August 8, 2016 Matt and I went into the hospital to be induced so we could meet our little girl.(Mom was getting impatient) Things were a little slow off the block at first. At 2:30 P.M. things started to get rolling. They started my antibiotics (I test positive for Group B Strep) then at about 4:30 P.M. they started me on Pitocin to get my contractions started. The contractions were manageable , but I was also noticing an increase in intensity as time went on. At 5:45 P.M. my OB came in and broke my water. After that everything really sped up.

Most people probably don't know this, but this time I really wanted to try to labor and deliver naturally. My experience with an epidural for Kinley's delivery wasn't a favorite experience of mine (that's a whole other story) so that's why I wanted a natural birth.

After my water broke my contractions came hard and fast, though I still felt like I was managing them alright. At this point also, Matt started really coaching and helping me through each one and he was absolutely fantastic! I really couldn't have gotten as far as I did without him. At 6:15 my nurse decided to move me up a level on the pitocin. I was really reluctant because my contractions felt very close together and started to get a lot more painful, but I agreed to let her move me up. Soon after that I was in an immense amount of pain. The contractions felt almost constant and I was starting to lose my focus and threw all my pain management techniques out the window. At 7:15 P.M. I had had enough. I couldn't endure the pain anymore and I asked (more like begged) for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came pretty quickly and he was amazing! He worked quickly and was kind and reassuring during all that happened next...

While I was getting my epidural, my nurse was going through a shift change. My new nurse came in during kind of a hectic moment. So, in the midst of all that was going on she forgot to check my progress and decided to give me some pain medication through my IV to give me a little relief while we were waiting for the epidural to be put in. The pain medication she gave me was only supposed to be used if I was dilated to a 6 or less. After that it's not good for the baby and it can cause their heart rate to decrease.

Well... I was further than a 6. Haley's heart tones started to slow down just as my epidural was finished. Soon, it seemed like tons of nurses were in our room; I was forced to wear an oxygen mask so that Haley could get more oxygen and I was told to immediately lay down on my left side. At that point they finally checked me and lo and behold I was already at a 10! My Dr. and nurses quickly helped me up and told me to push right then and there. I was told I only pushed through 2 contractions and then at 7:49 P.M. Miss Haley Elizabeth was born. She was perfectly fine. No major harm had been done from the pain meds. When I heard her first cry I was completely overwhelmed with joy that my little girl was finally here. Life now is a little different, but I wouldn't change a thing. We are so in love with both Haley and Kinley!

Kinley is 2!!

Dear Kinley,

Happy happy birthday my lovely little two-year-old! Two years of having you around have been so wonderful! Your personality shines through more and more each day and we love it! You crack us up all the time with your funny faces and expressions, the famous ogre walk (oh yeah, can't wait to tell you about that one when you are older) and just hearing your laugh. Your laugh is so contagious! It  is definitely Dad and I's most favorite sound by far. You are so happy-go-lucky and easy going... most of the time. Don't think we haven't gotten lucky enough to skip your "terrific" two's  stage. You are definitely testing the boundaries more and more, but I just keep reminding myself that it means you are learning and growing and that always makes for a happy Mamma.

Now for the stats: You currently weigh 25 lbs and you are 33 inches tall. Still petite as always. You not only have a long torso, but long legs as well. Currently you wear size 24 months, but are getting into some 2T's for your tops, but you are still holding strong with 18 month bottoms. (it's the fact that you are long and lean) Mom heard a theory a long time ago that if you take the height of your two-year-old and double it, that is how tall you will grow to be. We'll see how accurate that theory turns out to be, but as of right now you are projected to be 5'6". Dad and I were pretty surprised when we learned that. Even though it's average height I am not very tall, so we figured you'd stay on the shorter side like your mamma. We are anxious to see if it will hold true or not.

Other things you enjoy are being outside. You, my dear girl, would live outside if we let you. It is the highlight of all your days. You can't wait to put your sandals on and start exploring. You still love collecting rocks, but you are starting to branch out to flowers now too. Speaking of sandals... you LOVE shoes, especially your "fancy" shoes (church shoes). I think the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning, besides look for Daddy, is to put on your fancy shoes. It is so cute, but I think we might be in trouble later if this passion continues later in life. You are learning new words all the time. Most recently you started saying: thank you, doggie, blessy (bless you), all done, and want some. You coloring and you are such a good helper around the house! You throw some of your diapers in the trash, put your toys away, and put your bottles in the sink. We love your helpfulness!