On Mother’s Day last year, we were just two days away from bringing you into this world! It’s hard to believe that was a year ago!

You are growing up so fast and things are constantly changing so I just wanted to document a few of them:

You usually go to bed around 7pm and sleep til about 8am
You’ve recently started staying awake a little later so we’ve been putting you down closer to 8pm
You most often sleep on your side
You like to have a lovey when you go to bed – it helps you relax
You are eating all kinds of different foods now: veggies, meats, crackers, fruits, etc.
You LOVE mashed potatos – you can’t eat them fast enough!
You are very determined, even at this young age
You are strong – physically, emotionally, and strong-willed
You absolutely HATE public bathroom changing tables
You adore your daycare teachers Kim & Catrina
Your best friend at school is Jailianna (Jay-lee-anna)
You are not yet walking on your own but you can crawl like crazy and you can stand with assistance
You have been struggling with your sinuses – lots of snotty nose and nasal drainage
You are looking more like your father each day even though you are still a good mix of both of us
Your feet, unfortunately, look exactly like mine! 🙂
You are still a SUPER happy baby
You can say “uh-oh” and you are able to use it in context
You know the word “light” and point to it when anyone says it
You know the word “puppy” and point to Maddison when we say it
You are working on saying, or rather grunting, “I love you” – it may be a while for this one
You do what your father lovingly calls the machine gun laugh – we got that on video

Only 2 more days until your 1st birthday! We love you baby girl!

At the start of the New Year your father and I began discussing our desires to live a healthier lifestyle.  Having a precious baby girl like you really made us realize what’s truly important in life! 

After giving it a lot of thought and doing much research we’ve made what we hope will be a life-altering decision.  We signed up to go the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge – or “The Ranch” as your father and I affectionately refer to it.  http://www.biggestloserresort.com/

The Biggest Loser is a very popular reality show that sequesters extremely obese contestants and puts them through an extremely rigid diet and exercise program.  The goal is to be the one who loses the most weight.  It’s been wildly popular and is in its 9^th season on air. 

The BL Resort at Fitness Ridge was not associated with the TV show until recently.  Having firmly established a system that encompasses all aspects of a healthy weight loss plan (exercise, coaching, nutrition, training, education, etc), The Biggest Loser sought them out with an offer to join forces with their well-known program.  It was a win-win for both parties…as evidenced by the 8 month waiting list!

I will be gone for an entire 4 weeks and your father will join me for the last two.  I leave August 8^th and return September 4^th.  Your dad will care for you the first two weeks I am gone, then Luli & Papaw will watch you for week three and Grandma Karen (and maybe Grandpa Bruce) will be here the last week. 

Though I cringe (and sometimes cry) at the thought of being away from you for so long, I feel very blessed to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change all of our lives for the better. 

The program is rigid – we are limited to a 1200 calorie diet with a scheduled 7-8 hours of exercise per day!  This is not for the faint of heart and it will not be an easy endeavor.  But you are, and will continue to be, our strongest motivation to succeed!

Holy Moly!  You love yourself some green beans.  They can be swimming a pool of carrots or broccoli and you will seek them out and destroy! 

WARNING:  To all green beans out there – none of you are safe.  You have been warned!

We went outside this morning – you sat in your high chair and watched Dad clean out the skimmer baskets in the pool while your puppy, Maddison, went for a swim.  It’s one of her favorite activities, you know. 

As I watched you sitting there, with the wind blowing through your hair, I couldn’t help but feel this extreme sense of wonderment & pride.  So much so, that I started crying!  Tears of joy, of course. 

You are absolutely amazing, Hailey.  Neither of us ever could have imagined just how intense our love for you could be.  We are so blessed.

My Mexico trip was a lot of fun but I missed you & your dad a lot while I was gone. You guys came to pick me up at the airport and I was SO excited to see you. You were not quite as excited to see me as I had hoped you would be. We got back into the swing of things pretty quickly though.

You got your first big girl bath while I was gone from daddy.  Recently you haven’t been enjoying your little girl tub so much…lots of kicking and screaming.  Your dad & I decided we’d try your bath in our big bathtub and that I would get in the water with you. You were a little scared at first and did lots of clinging to me, but you soon became very interested in the water. We’ve had a few more baths together since then and you seem to be enjoying them. Now, the plan is to get you to enjoy them without one of us in the water.

You have really started eating big girl food @ daycare. They’ve given you spaghetti & meatballs a couple of times so I decided to buy you some pre-made meals to take to school. We got a variety of things from ravioli to turkey & rice. We’ll see how well they go over.

You also had your first Goldfish and Graham Cracker tonight. You enjoyed both but the Goldfish might still be a little too crunchy for you.

It’s so hard to believe you will be 1 year old in a few weeks. Which reminds me, we better get to planning for that!

We love you baby girl!

Luli & Papaw came to town last night to see you. We went to Cheddar’s for dinner where you got to enjoy some cooked carrots, broccoli, and chicken bits. You were very pleased with all of the items but seemed to be most fond of the broccoli. Thank goodness you don’t appear to have inherited your father’s dislike of vegetables!

We all got up this morning and headed to IHOP for breakfast. Once I googled it on my cell phone to make sure eggs are safe for you, we decided to order you a meal off the kid’s menu. We chose the 1 pancake and 1 scrambled egg plate. You put your 6 teeth (well, 5 1/2 really) to good use and ate nearly every bit of both! What a big girl you are becoming!

When I picked you up from daycare on Thursday, Miss Jo said “I just finished heating up some water for your Princess so her bottle would be hot enough!” We both laughed pretty hard at that…only cause it’s so true!

Your dad said his flight was delayed (he was flying back from Cincinatti) so he wouldn’t be home until late. So you and I headed to Jason’s Deli for dinner. I browsed the salad bar for some Hailey safe foods – you haven’t really eaten very much big people food – so I decided on some peas and spiral pasta. You LOVED both and in true fashion, made a huge mess!

As we stood to leave I saw your father walk in the door! I was VERY confused?! He smiled a big smile and said “April Fools!”. Not only was his flight not delayed, he actually got on an earlier one! He’s so sneaky! 🙂

You are 10 1/2 months old and weight 23 pounds. Today we sent you to school in a size 2T shirt! Granted the sizing seemed to run a little small, but we also got you a size 2T swim suit this weekend because the 24 month size was too small…so it’s not just the clothes. It’s outta control!

We were at the doctor office last week and there was a little boy crawling around on the floor. He was so cute and dainty. I asked his mom how old he was and she said 11 months! What?! You were younger than him!? Everyone that hears your age comments on what a big girl you are! What can we say kid, it’s in your genes! 🙂

You did it!  Like a champ!  We got to the surgery center at 7:40am but they didn’t take you back until 9:25am.  They ushered us to a consultation room where we waited patiently.  It was literally 8 minutes later that the doctor came in and said you had a lot of fluid come out but that you were doing great!

We waited another 10 minutes or so and then they brought you to us.  You were so very sleepy and not at all happy about the situation but it was obvious you were very glad to see us.  You scarfed down some apple juce, desperately tried to open your eyes, and sat patiently while the nurse went over all of the post-op directions.  We were in the car and on the way home by 10:30!  Of course, you passed out the minute we put you in your car seat. 

You’ve slept quite a bit today, but overall you seem to be feeling good!  You are such a strong little girl & we love you more than life itself!

You got four teeth pretty early on – the middle two on the top and bottom.  Well, #5 finally broke through a couple of weeks ago – it’s the one just to your left of the middle on the bottom.  You’re a chompin’ fool now.

Which brings me to the next topic…the Bagel!  The girls at daycare told us they fed you some bagel the other day…and you LOVED it.  So, guess who got a bagel for last night’s snack…and another one packed in their lunch bag today!?  Such a lucky little girl!

Your scheduled to get tubes put in your ears tomorrow.  We have to be there bright and early at 7:40am!  If all goes as planned, we should be outta there by 10:00am or so.  Cross your fingers!