Happy Easter 2008

Hayden celebrated his first Easter this weekend and his grammy and grampy Mueller were here visiting from Ohio. We thought he was over his flu bug, but unfortunately he ended up getting sick again, and he spread the virus to his grandparents :( So Easter was a bit sick in our household. Luckily, Hayden finally seems to have kicked it for good (I hope!), but the aftermath is not pretty. He is very needy and used to being cuddled constantly, and he wakes up at all hours of the night looking for a hug from mom and dad. So we are working on sleep habits now :)

He is just such a cutie pie these days. He is crawling everywhere, very quickly, and is pulling up and getting into everything. He currently likes to crawl into the kitchen and look at his reflection in the dishwasher. It's a bonus when he gets to play with tupperware. He has his top two teeth now and he is always doing strange things with his mouth and tongue - I think because it feels so odd to now have 4 teeth. He really bit Nate the other night when Nate put his thumb in Hayden's mouth. Sharp!

Hayden got so many gifts for Christmas this year that we saved a few so they wouldn't all come at once. We saved this train from his Mammaw Debbie until he could crawl. You turn it on and it moves across the floor and he just chases after it and laughs and laughs.

First Flu :(

Hayden successfully got through his first flu bug. It was not fun, but we made it. Unfortunately, Nate and I both also got sick, so it was quite an unpleasant few days here. And it was raining like crazy so we were all cooped up, and it was just not good. Finally today the sun came out and we were able to venture outside for some fresh a ir and it felt great! Hayden's grammy and grampy arrive tonight from Ohio, so luckily the house is finally germ free.

We took a few videos of Hayden being a wild boy and climbing all over every piece of furniture in sight. He is also becoming a super fast crawler. We are definitely putting the baby gates up this weekend because he seems to beeline straight for the tile floor in the kitchen. Apparently he is going to be a cook like his father :) He is in love with the dish washer too!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Well it's halfway through March and Hayden has been very busy. He is officially a crawler (and a roller, a climber, a tumbler). My grandparents (Hayden's great-grandparents) arrived 2 days ago from Wisconsin and he decided to save his "real" crawl for them. Until then he had only executed an army crawl, so it was pretty exciting for everyone that he waited for an audience to just suddenly zoom across the room (I think he was zoned in an electrical cord - why do babies always want to play with things that they can't have?!?). He has also pulled himself to standing on a bar stool and in the bathtub (much to my horror).

We had a St. Patty's Day brunch on Saturday for the families in my mom's group and we managed to line all the babies up again for a photo in front of the flowers. It was a bit harder this time to get them to sit still because most of them are crawling now. But of course Hayden had to sit next to his girlfriend Emma :) They definitely make a cute pair.







And we will leave you with a climbing montage:

Snow Day in Dallas!

We got our second snow of the season today in Texas. It started with freezing rain at about noon, and quickly transitioned to massive snowflakes that fell all afternoon. I think in total we got about 5 inches, with more on the way tonight. It's pretty exciting, so we got Hayden dressed up in his snowsuit and took him out to play. As you can see from the photos below, he was less than impressed with the cold! But the dogs had a blast running around out there - I think they miss it!

He crawls! Well sort of....

Well sort of :) He definitely a master of the army crawl. He doesn't go anywhere too quickly, but he gets the job done eventually. It's so adorable to see him gain his independence, and he just is SO proud of himself when he gets somewhere.

We also took him to the Dallas World Aquarium this weekend. It was so cute! He loved the rainforest exhibit, and just kept craning his neck to take everything in. He also loved the walk-through tunnel under the shark and sting ray exhibit. There were sharks just cruising along the glass right overhead, which Hayden thought was pretty exciting. We also saw manatees, eels, sea horses, tropical fish, a leopard, flamingos, crocodiles and snakes.

Plane Trips

Taking off from DFW on the way to Ohio to visit his grandparents!

Well Hayden has taken his 5th plane trip in 6 months ;) He is a seasoned traveler, but believe me, it gets harder EVERY time to travel. It seems like the gear has doubled for some reason and it takes me a full 30 minutes to get through security, plus he is so squirmy and wants to stand on my lap the entire flight and he wiggles around to get a good view of everyone around us. No more naps...no more quietly laying in my arms. Those days are GONE :) And now he has decided to start screaming in delight - at the top of his lungs! I don't know exactly how to deal with this when he is only 6 months old. Do I tell him "use your inside voice" as one of my friends who is the mother of a 7 month old recommended (how on earth could a 6 month old comprehend this???), or should I just let him have at it because he is obviously really enjoying himself? I don't know how much everyone else on the plane enjoyed it though!? We won't be taking another plane trip until at least April I think, so we have some time to work on "no".

We had a great time in Ohio, and Hayden is getting so close to crawling after practicing all weekend with his grandparents :) There was a plant in the corner of the living room that he was particularly drawn to, and that really seemed to encourage him to be mobile. He will get up on all fours and just rock back and forth, but he can't seem to get the concept of moving his arms and legs. Close though I think! We also watched the Badger game in some new gear he got as a gift, and did some shopping and dining. Now we are home and we are trying to re-establish his routine and get back in the swing of things.

Happy Birthday Dallas!

Hiking the Elm Fork Trail - Feb 10, 2008

Dallas turns 5 years old today! I thought it would be a good time to tell our story :) Dallas was born on a farm in Iowa, on a winter morning in 2003. He then traveled in a crate in the back of a pick-up truck to Denver, where I found him after reading an ad in the paper. The breeder described him as mellow (aka lazy), cuddly, and soft, and I thought that sounded pretty perfect! I drove down from Fort Collins with my friend Stacey, and we met him. Oh my god, first of all he was SO CUTE, and he just crawled right into my lap and snuggled in. All of his brothers and sisters where getting into trouble and tumbling around, and Dallas just chilled in my lap and kissed me. He was a keeper.

From that day on we were an inseparable pair. He was with me when I met Nate, and we welcomed him and Lilly into our family. Then Evi came along the next summer to expand our family even more. We had tons of adventures in Colorado. His first camping trip was to the Maroon Bells (my first camping trip too!), and he also fell through the ice once on a frozen section of the Poudre River. He was co-pilot during two roadtrips to visit my parents in Ohio, and he overcame his fear of rock climbing at Vedauwoo in Wyoming.

We've had him with us through moves to California and Texas, he came to our wedding, he made it through a life threatening immune disorder a year ago, he welcomed his brother Hayden into the world with love and kisses, and he has brightened countless days for me. He is truly such an important member of our family and I wish him a happy 5th birthday!