Luli and Papaw picked you up from daycare around 3pm on Friday.  We all went to dinner at Pappadeux’s and then turned in for the night.  Since we knew that we’d have a sitter, your father surprised me with an appointment for a couple’s massage at my favorite place…the Spa at the Crescent!  We left the house around 10:00am so we could get to there by 11am for our massage.  It was absolutely wonderful! 

After that we went to Northpark mall for some shopping and lunch, then headed to the hotel.  We went to Hadera & Gigi’s wedding and enjoyed a night out alone.  We got back home around 11am on Sunday and even though we knew you were in great hands…we both really missed you!

After Papaw and Luli left, we put you in your new dress and headed to Jessica & Jose’s wedding.  What a fun time!  It was your first wedding and you did AWESOME!  You got a little fussy right before the ceremony, but once we got out your bottle you did fine.  It was just your way of telling us you were hungry.  Christy & Tina were both loving on you and showing you off….everyone loved you! 

What a fun-filled weekend!

Friday was a rough one.  You woke up with a bad cough and it just went downhill from there.  I called the daycare to check on you and you had a 99 degree fever and were not feeling well.  You ate and took a nap as soon as we got home and when you woke up about 7pm you sounded horrible!  You were, what sounded like, wheezing and your cough was much worse.  We decided it would be better to be safe than sorry, especially since we are in the height of this swine flu epidemic, so we took you to Cook Children’s Urgent Care. 

They diagnosed you with Croup, gave you some oral sterroids, and sent us on our way.  We were all in bed around 11:30pm.  Thankfully, you’ve gotten much better since then and should be 100% better in a few days.  Scary stuff for a first time mom & dad!

It seems like just yesterday we were checking into the hospital!  Your 4 month check up went well – you are in the 50th % for weight (just under 14 lbs), 90th % for height (right at 26″), and 90th for head size (17″!) – that’s so you have room for that super smart brain of yours!  🙂

The doctor said we could start giving you rice cereal so we tried it yesterday.  We mixed it as the directions stated and it was very wattery so we put it in a bottle and went that route.  You didn’t seem to mind it…or even notice it was there but your tummy was pretty big afterwards!  We are going to ease into it with maybe one cereal bottle per day for a bit.

We are so very thankful that you are such a GREAT baby!  Most notably, we are  appreciative of your sleeping habits.  We’ve established a bath, bottle, bed routine that usually has you going down for the night around 9pm.  I usually have to wake you up to feed before I go to work around 6:30am!  And on the weekends…you sleep yourself right through to 8am or 9am!  It’s AWESOME!  We are just going to enjoy it while it lasts…

It’s been a football watchin’ weekend!  Yesterday Dave, Allison, and Ethan came over to watch Iowa State get whooped up on in a horrible loss to Iowa.  Today, we’ve got some friends, Sarah & Collin, coming over to watch the Cowboys beat (hopefully) Tampa Bay!  You wore your Iowa state bib yesterday, the one your Godparents Jeremy & Stacey, bought for you.  And you’ve already got your pink “Future Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader” onsie on for today’s game!

It was 9 years ago today, September 8th, that your dad and I had our first date! 

I answered his personal ad from the internet just before Labor Day weekend and we had sent instant messages and talked on the phone for a week or so after that.  Things were going so well that we decided to meet in person at Chili’s in Addison (off Beltline) after work.  It was a Friday night and when I got there I did not see your dad right away.  All I really had to go on was pictures so I was frantically scanning the crowd for someone who looked like him, with no luck.  So, I sat at an open table at the bar and continued my search. 

About a minute later I saw him…and immediately got butterflies in my tummy!  He was SO tall and SO handsome!  I was instantly attracted to him!  We proceeded to have dinner and great conversation for what seemed like an hour or so.  We didn’t realize how long we had actually been there until they kicked us at midnight because they were closing. 

I was not ready to part ways and wanted the date to continue so I invited Brad to join me at the Flying Saucer just down the road.  I worked at the Corporate offices of the Flying Saucer and had to go there to drop off some flyers…and since it was a bar, I knew they would be open for a couple more hours.  He of course, accepted my offer to continue the date.  🙂

And here we are…9 years later…married with a precious little baby girl.  It’s the stuff dreams are made of!

You’ve discovered your hands!  Almost overnight you realized that you had control of your hands.  You are starting to reach for your toys and touch the things around you.  It’s really amazing to see you starting to connect the dots.  This is just the beginning of the many things you have yet to learn!

We had your first at home babysitting experience last week.  Your father and I went to the Dallas Cowboys pre-season game.  It was history in the making because it was the first game at the new stadium!  Miss Tina and her son Ricky came over to watch you.  She did a most excellent job…it’s clear she loves like her own!  And I was so proud of myself, I didn’t even call to check in on you!

Well, we survived your first week of daycare!  The Sunday before was hard, knowing that the next day everything was about to change forever.  I started crying the minute we walked into the building Monday morning.  We hung out with the infant room ladies for about 20 minutes while we got you settled in.  Then it was time to say good-bye.  I got pretty emotional then, but made it out to the lobby and re-grouped while we finalized our paperwork.  When it was time to leave, I told your dad I wanted to go say one last good-bye to you.  He strongly encouraged me to just go ahead and leave…no need to keep torturing myself.  🙂  I cried for a few minutes when I got in the car, then realized that was doing no one any good so I got it together and headed to work. 

The rest of the week went really well.  Work has been very busy and hectic so my days have flown by.  But I get pretty excited when I realize it’s almost quittin’ time and that it won’t be long before I get to see you! 

You are getting to be such a big girl!  You love to talk, of course we talk to you a lot so I don’t think you have much choice but to respond.  You are very curious and love to look around at all the different colors and shapes no matter where we are.  The daycare ladies were talking about how nosey you are.  Funny, that’s the same thing the NICU ladies said about you! 

You weighed in at 12.6 pounds today.  You are rapidly outgrowing your clothes and are in the 3-6 month size now.  It’s absolutely crazy to me that you are already 3 months old – it seems like just yesterday we were checking into the hospital! 

Luckily you are a big fan of sleep!  You have been going to bed between 9pm and 10pm and waking up anywhere from 4:30am – 7:30am!  Not too bad!  Last night you went to bed around 10pm and I had to finish waking you up to feed around 6am!  You love to sleep on your side, and seem to prefer your left side.  You need ample time to wake up & you love to grunt and stretch when you are trying to come around.  Exactly like your Daddy!

Your grandma Luli went with me to take you to Tyler to meet your great grandparents, Mama Lou & Daddy Dann on July 31st.   What a great time we had!  We got some great pictures and some even better video.  Daddy Dann is offically the first man to ever serenade you!  You were very intently listening and watching as he sang to you…it was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever witnessed!

Yesterday marked your 11 week birthday….you are getting more precious by the day!  I am going back to work on Monday (8/3)…that will be your first day at daycare.  While it will be terribly hard to go from spending every waking moment with you for the past 12 weeks to leaving you in the care of strangers, I know it is a necessary evil.  A cruel one, but a necessary one. 

Luli is coming in town for the weekend.  We are all 3 going to make a trip to Tyler on Friday so you can meet your great grandparents, Mama Lou & Daddy Dann.  Your daddy has to work so he won’t be able to join us.  🙁 

I’ve taken up the art of scrapbooking….and believe it or not, I am actually enjoying it!  I’ve attempted this before with zero success so I am not sure what made me think this time around would be any better.  However, the fact that I’ve already created 4 super cute pages gives me hope that this time will be different.  My favorite page so far is the one that shows how your father and I met; I even still had a copy of the personal ad your daddy posted on the internet.  It’s hard to believe that was almost 9 years ago!!!  This book will be an awesome thing for you to have when you get older. 

Your father is obsessed with making up fun nicknames for you.  The one that began while we were in the hospital and is probably used most often is Hailey Bear.  Your Godfather, Jeremy, calls you the Comet…as in Hailey’s Comet.  And your father has used everything from Sweet Pea to Princess.  Time will tell which ones stick for the long haul.  Good times, good times!  🙂

We saw Halloween costumes when we were at Babies R Us the other day.  We both got excited at the thought of how much fun is it going to be to dress you up!  They had lady bug, pumpkin, pea pod, and ghost costumes out already and the lady said there were more styles on the way.  How exciting!!!  Just the first of many wonderful holiday memories to come.

We love you so very much…you truly are our precious angel!

It’s a milestone…one that proves that our little girl is growing up way too fast.  You have officially outgrown the Newborn size diaper, the “N”, and have now graduated to the next size, the “1”.

It’s the end of an era.  🙁