Hyatt Happenings

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

My Sweets

Getting a decent picture of Haven these days is next to impossible because she is always clowning around, but it doesn't stop me from trying...

(it kind of looks like Haven is trying to take Harper out in this one, but she was actually giving her a sweet hug)

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Cinco

Happy 5 Months, sweet baby Harper!

(It was Betty's 5 month birthday too; she is doing everything the same as Harper these days.)

Things to note on this five month birthday of yours...

For the last two nights you have slept from 7pm to 8am. It has been fabulous!
You are big on rolling from back to tummy, but then you get mad because you are on your tummy. If I take too long to roll you back over (even though you are capable of doing it yourself, you don't), it usually ends in lots of spit-up.
You are still sleeping in a double swaddle at night and Velcro swaddle for naps.
You are chewing on everything and seem so ready to eat (grabbing my hand with food or drink and pulling it to your mouth). We made Haven wait until six months, but you seem more pitiful so we are just waiting for daddy to be around so he doesn't miss that milestone :-)
When I share my ice water with you, you make the funniest faces, but squeal in frustration when I quit giving it to you.
I've never seen such adoration like you have for Haven. It is the most precious thing and I dread the day that she is mean to you. She will be mean to you someday, but for now she is the sweetest big sister.
Thanks to a new bottle, you just started taking a bottle again this last week. Let's hope we do a better job of making you stick with it this time.
You love your jumperoo and are getting really good at the jumping.
Dutch loves to lick your face and you tolerate it well because you love him.
You are light years better than Haven was in the car, but it still isn't your happy place.
You love the bathtub, especially when you get to freely splash around; you just squeal with delight.
You smile all the time and are starting to laugh more, but you make us work pretty hard for those giggles.
Sometimes your Daddy calls you Donald Trump because of your current unfortunate hair pattern. You are a beautiful baby with an odd comb over on top and a little patch in the back, like a rat tail. Someday, you will have gorgeous locks, until then, we love kissing that bald baby head!
There are moments of frustration and I can already see you wanting to be in the middle of everything that is going on, but you still might qualify as the most laid back person in this family (although that's not saying much!).

You are pure baby sweetness and we could not love you more! Your five months of life have gone by at lightning speed and I cannot believe we are so close to embarking on mobility. I will be savoring these simpler moments while we have them!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Fourth Fun

Harper is four months old (and this is her debut to the blog...yikes!). I have a lot of catching up to do...that is an understatement, but I am going to start with current stuff and work my way both forwards and backwards in hopes of eventually filling in all the gaps and catching up at the same time. We will see how this goes, but if I don't do it, Harper will be forever scarred because she will know nothing about her babyhood - poor second child ;-)

4 months old on July 1

See any resemblance?

Harper at her 4mos well visit

She is a very round and healthy girl! And a real trooper; no problems with checkups, takes the oral vaccine like a champ, and cried for just a few seconds, and only after her second shot. Her stats are...

Weight: 15lb 5.5oz (90%)

Height: 24.25in (50%)

Head: 41cm (50%)

In other fours, we had a low key July 4th at Grammy and Papaw's house. No fireworks, just swimming, family, and food.

Even Harper had her suit on and enjoyed the water

Happy baby!

Harper can easily be described as a happy baby, but we did learn a very clear lesson on the 4th. When this girl has had a bath and is tired, you better get her to bed or everyone will pay. She has been going to bed between 6 and 7pm, but we tried to stretch it on Wednesday night and it.was.ugly! She started screaming at Grammy and Papaw's house shortly after 7 and was inconsolable. She was screaming as we left, all the way home, through her final feeding, until she fell asleep. The message was loud and clear, and the lesson was learned, baby girl!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Forcum Family Reunion - Part Deux

Fools: two people who pack up their 2.5 year old and 4 month old to drive six hours in the car on Friday, two hours on Saturday, and another six hours on Sunday.

Our poor victims...

My Grandpa had not met either of our girls, nor many of the other new little ones in our family, so we all ventured to him to make that happen. It was a whirlwind of a trip! All things considered, our girls did awesome, but I would not be interested in doing this journey again anytime soon.

We left about 8am on Friday morning and things started out very smooth, but we only made it to Norman, OK before our first stop. A little over two hours in and I was really regretting our decision to do this. Against every ounce of my being, we let Haven play in the playground at McDonald's for awhile (this was her first and hopefully only fast food play area experience because I have germ issues). While I was panicked about the germs, it might have been worth it because it seemed to really boost her morale and seemingly wore Harper out. The second part of our drive was seamless - Harper slept until we got to our hotel at 2:30pm and Haven was a dream.

Even though we got in early, we didn't do much on Friday. My goal in leaving early was to get to the hotel by naptime, but Haven was too fired up about "our new little house" to even attempt a nap and I couldn't bear the thought of us getting back in the car to go do something. So, we just waited for everyone else to get in and put the girls to bed early so they would be rested for our Saturday adventure.

Saturday morning, we drove out to Eureka to the house where my dad grew up and my grandpa still lives. Everyone met there and Harper (my normally happy baby) decided to show the family her darker side by ridiculously screaming shortly after we arrived. I guess she wanted everyone to know she was there, but not happy about it. There were around 30 of us that went to lunch at the Chinese/American buffet in the old bowling alley - I think it is something everyone should experience. I hear the fried shrimp and egg drop soup are to die for...or maybe they will kill you...I'm not sure :-)

We quickly got pictures to document the occasion, then hustled back to Wichita for naps. There was no way I was letting Haven skip it two days in a row. Mama needs that nap!

Patiently observing the photo taking

Two cousins couldn't make it, so this is seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren (nine if you count the two on the way) with Grandpa Dale and Doris

We all got together again Saturday night in Wichita at my cousins house with my Grandma. Thankfully that was only a five minute drive from the hotel.

We took a few pics with GG before we hit the road on Sunday morning. If only I knew how to edit pictures and swap heads, we might have a decent picture of my dad and GG with their girls...

Homeward bound

Benton and I switched places in Edmond, OK so that I could drive and he could write a paper. He had been the non-driver for about 5 seconds before he realized that driving is the better deal when there are two babies in tow! We finally had a happy crew and were cruising along just in time to hit a dead stop on the OK side of the TX border. Southbound 35 always disappoints! We literally sat (in park) on the highway for at least 20 minutes...long enough for me to pump, get Harper out to change her diaper, nurse a little, and let her hang out long enough that she was super angry when she had to get back in her seat. She let us have it for a good 45 minutes until we could stop for gas. Then they were crying in harmony - both because they wanted out of their seats and more because they didn't want to get back in them. Fun times! Benton went back to driving and, I had to work for it, but I was able to keep the peace until Harper fell asleep about 5 minutes from home...only to wake up when we got there.

It was an adventure!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Time for Joy and Time for Cheer

Christmas, Christmas! We love Christmas in our house and it just keeps getting better each year. Haven was so into the lights, "my tree," the story of baby Jesus, yard art, songs, pretty much everything except live Santas. We had so much fun doing all things Christmas this year. Here is very vague recap of our 2011 Christmas season...

A tree lighting in Addison (a work event for Daddy). They had a live Mr. and Mrs. Clause that when we walked near them to see the sleigh, Haven clung so tightly to me because she apparently thinks I am evil enough to dump her in the sleigh with them against her will.

Being ornery (or going potty) at Celebration celebrating Nancy and Benton's birthdays

Yum! Aunt Amy and Aunt B helping Haven put down the chocolate cake

I didn't want to waste an hour of my precious MDO time taking my glucose test, so I took Haven with me to do it. Not the best idea I've ever had, but it did work out okay...they had pamphlets for dispersing and a pint-sized table for coloring on them.

Not always the most well-behaved, but still the cutest lunch date ever.

All smiles for her first trip to the trains at Northpark

Aunt B and Nancy checked them out with us for a quick break from their marathon Christmas shopping

Posing for me (propped up on the couch, just like Daddy)

Dancing to Christmas music with Lilly aka "woo-wy"

Queen of "my kitchen," where all she makes is cookies

Christmas painting

Thieving an ornament

Watching all the beautiful people in uptown :-)

Hilarious face, adorable pajamas

Lunch with mom - destroying a Christmas cookie at Celebrity

There is a VHS tape that I have watched literally (almost) every year of my life. It's a See and Sing music video with a lady host and a bouncing ball. I have had to watch it by myself for the latter half of my life (or more) because no one can stand the lady in it, but now I have someone who appreciates it and wants to watch it with me...thank you Haven!

We kept a friends dog for a few days. Her name is Lulu aka "wuwu" and Haven "wuved" her! Maybe too much for "Wuwu's" liking!

One of the ministers at church was talking about how they used to lay underneath the tree and look at the lights with their Dad. Daddy and Haven decided to try it too - it was a hit, for both of them.

Haven loved her tree and talking about all the ornaments on it.

Such a clown!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Donuts with Santa

Haven has adored all things Christmas this year, however live Santa's is not something she has warmed up to. While I recognize the screaming Santa picture seems to be a right of passage, I made the decision last year that sitting in Santa's lap for a picture would be 100% Haven's decision because I know I would not be happy if someone forced me to sit in a strange man's lap. So each time we go to the mall, we check out Santa's house and all the kids waiting to see him, and I ask Haven if she wants to go sit in his lap. And every visit, she gives me the same answer, "No, no sit Santa's wap!"

We were invited by some very sweet friends to the cutest Christmas party...Donuts with Santa. I was certain Haven would love the donuts, but I was not so sure how she would react to Santa. The creative hostesses thought of everything - they asked the moms to bring a wrapped book with their child's name on it and discretely drop it in a box outside as we arrived, then Santa and Mrs. Clause passed them out to the kids. Genius! So, while Haven was not one of the kids screaming "Santa" with the excitement of Buddy the elf when Mr. and Mrs. Clause arrived (rather she came running to me wanting to be held), we did manage to (sort of) get a picture with Santa this year. She hesitantly accepted the book from Santa and has continued to talk about how Santa gave her the book. Maybe next year we will visit the mall Santa?!

Yummy donuts!

When we walked into the party, I saw a sweet friend that I knew growing up that I had not seen in forever and this is her precious little girl, Piper.

Hugs from Piper

And drumroll please...this is our BIG Santa picture. A HUGE "Thank you" to Summer for sharing this picture with me. Haven's face made me laugh out loud when I saw it. Hilarious and classic...a picture only a mother would love and appreciate!

The "everything" that I referred to regarding the hostesses, included Santa hats and suckers so that the kids would sit for pictures.

Adorable Christmas babies!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

American Girl

~~Benton and I~~ Santa decided to give Haven a new babydoll and some accessories for Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to take Haven with me to the American Girl store to see what she loved most. I asked Grammy if she thought I was crazy or wanted to join us and she picked the latter. The store was a big hit as was the huge Christmas tree in the Galleria across the street. It was a fun December outing that we may have to make an annual one.