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.  🙁

Wow!  It’s hard to believe, but you are over 2 months old now!  You are growing up so fast….you can follow our faces with your eyes, you smile when something makes you happy, you’ve almost learned how to full on laugh, you are learning how to bat at things that catch your eye, you’ve started sleeping longer through the night (sometimes), you can go almost 4 hours between daytime feedings now, you’ve learned how to entertain yourself, and you are growing like a weed! 

We had your 2 month check up last week (7/8) and you were 23 inches long and weighed 10 pounds and 12 ounces!  You were right on for your weight but were above average for your height.  Even though your appointment was only 6 days ago, your father and I discussed the fact that you looked as though you had grown more just in the past week.  So, we decided to measure you… and we were right!!!  You were clearly 24 inches long last night…that’s TWO FEET tall!!!

Your looks have changed a bit since you were born.  You have really have started to take on the major facial features of  your father.  You have a few of my better features like my nose and hair; unfortunately you’ve gotten some of the not so great ones like my forehead wrinkles and a slightly lazy left eye.  The good news, I’ve lived 33 years with those things are have done just fine…I have no doubt you will, too.  🙂  The bottom line….YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE! 

Your grandpa Terry and grandma Sue came over for dinner last night.  They got some good cuddle time in…it’s clear that they adore you! 

Though nothing can fully prepare me for it, I am trying to embrace the thought of you going to daycare.  It’s going to be SO hard for me to go from spending every hour of every day with you to only getting to spend about 6 hours a day with you.  🙁  I see many tears in your mommy’s future.

We put Hailey in the pool for the first time today and she LOVED it!  We first put her in her floatie (the crab) and she was quite fond of it.  Then we took her out and daddy held onto her real tight and put her in the water.  It seemed to be very relaxing for her.  Thank goodness she’s going to be a water girl…that will come in very handy in our family!

Also see pics from the big day in the pool: Hailey Pics

And, more Hailey Video

Caught this pic of Hailey’s biggest smile ever…well, biggest ever as of 6/27.

Precious