Hailey - The Genius

Let me just take a minute to brag...my child is a genius. Ok, maybe she's not Einstein yet, but she has quite a vocabulary for a nine and a half month old. Here is a complete list of her formidable vocabulary:

Baba - that's bottle, duh
Bubbles - when we're outside blowing bubbles, obviously
Mama - only when she's mad, not sure why!
Dada - all the time, particularly when she's happy
Book - yes, she really says it
Uh oh - when she drops something on the floor and wants you to pick it up - usually uttered four thousand times during dinner
Bye Bye - includes a wave with her hand facing herself instead of outwards

We are still working on kitty cat, baby, nana, papa, etc. I'll let you know. I posted some new pictures on Flickr

More Pictures at Long Last

Here are some pictures from Grandpa Pete's visit. I hope to have some more soon. We are going to try to finish our unpacking and settling in this weekend, which means that I will have a lot more time for picture taking and posting in the future!

The picture below is from Hailey's first swing experience. This is the park near our house that we walk to almost every day. Despite what it looks like in this picture, she now hates the swing. We're trying to warm her up to it again, but she's been pretty unhappy when we put her in it lately.

Grandpa Pete calls this picture "Eating or Wearing?" You can see why...

I call this picture the "Vogue Look." It's funny how she completely understands what to do when we bring out the camera. She's a ham already!

"Mommy, why are you a b*#&^?"

I am having some type of emotional breakdown. I guess that it's a combination of the stress of the new move and the weaning. I've pretty much stopped breastfeeding. I had cut back, but now I don't think that I make enough to satisfy her even when I do feed her. So, I think that she's pretty much done with me. I thought that the weaning process would be easy. Kind of like just tapering out, but I am a complete witch. I'm having crazy mood swings. If this is what menopause is like, then count me out!

Up, Up, and Away

Life has been so hectic with our move into our new Atlanta house, but I wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that Hailey started crawling last weekend. Gone are the days of the army ranger belly crawl. She is up on her knees at this point. She also has started walking behind some of her pushable toys. That's pretty funny to watch too. She's going to be walking in no time. We've only been in the house of a few days, and it's already time to start installing baby gates! I'll send some pictures as soon as we get our cable hooked up!!!

Hailey's First Word Is...

Drum roll please....Dada. It's true. She learned how to point yesterday. So, we've been naming everything that she points at. We had a long session of Mommy, Daddy, and Baby pointing. Then, she looked up, pointed at Luke and said "Dada." It was amazing. Sure, she didn't do it over and over, but it still counts. Mark it in the record books...first word 4/25/07. First pointing - 4/24/07. Oh, and first clapping 4/14/07. I forgot to add that one earlier.

What Will I Be?

I'm sure that every mother wonders what her child will be when he/she grows up. I think about that a lot now that Hailey is developing her own personality. So far, I'm thinking she'll be some type of entertainer. She's such an extrovert already. It takes her no time at all to warm up to anyone, and she loves to be the center of attention. She has such a happy, wonderful personality. I'm trying to soak in all of the smiles while she's giving them. I'm sure they'll be hard to find when she hits her teenage years!

Here's a picture of Hailey playing the piano at Grandpa Pete's house. She really enjoyed banging away on it. I certainly hope that she has more musical talent (and follow-through) than I did.

In other news, I did find a day care finally. She's going to be in a family home similar to the one that she was in first in Nashville. There are only 6 kids and they are all older than Hailey. I like that she'll have exposure to older kids. It should be a good fit. Luke's office is also considering starting a daycare when they move to their new facility. So, that might be an option in the future.

Life's Major Trade-Offs

So far, I love Atlanta. The people have been very nice. It's much more diverse. There are more job opportunities, and I bought a GPS system to help me with the streets. So, it's great!

However, these last two trips - to Buffalo and Virginia - reminded me again just how difficult it is to be away from family. It was one thing before the baby, but Hailey makes family even more important. I know everyone misses her, and we miss everyone as well. We have no support system here, which just makes life more difficult. Still, I'm glad we're here, but someday I'd like to have family nearby again.

In other news, here is the website for our new community in Atlanta. We move in at the end of the month. www.glenwoodpark.com

8 Months - The Age of Exploration

Forget Dora, our little Hailey has become quite the explorer. She's so independent. She wants to touch everything, and then put it in her mouth! She only wants to eat what she can grab. She only wants to be where she can roll around. She only wants to play with something that she can hold on her own. Like it or not, she's Little Miss Independence. It's fun to watch, but hard to handle, particularly because she's fearless.

We are in Buffalo until tomorrow when we'll be going to Virginia to visit Grandma. In other news, we've sold our house in Nashville and purchased a house in Atlanta. Life is going to be super busy for a while. We should be moved and settled at the beginning of May. I can't believe how fast this has all happened!

PS: There are more pictures on the Flickr account. www.flickr.com/photos/lukehamilton

No Need For Mom

Hailey can feed herself now. Yup, it's true. She can pick up tiny objects like Cheerios and Veggie Crackers and shove them in her own mouth. I guess my job here is done!! Actually, since we"ve started this eating on our own thing, we've lost all interest in eating any baby food. We've also stopped sleeping through the night. It's always one step forward, two steps back!

Atlanta - Adventures on the Road

I have driven in Atlanta for exactly one day, but here are some things that I know to be true:

1) Whoever named the streets was either incredibly uncreative or really stupid, probably both. All of the streets are named the same thing, and I'm not just talking about the infamous Peachtree. No, it includes lots of other streets that bear the same name, and are only delineated as Drive, Street, Circle, or Avenue. It's craziness.

2) They certainly don't skimp on the syllables when it comes to street names. Here are a few that I ran across today...Ponce de Leon Ave, Ralph David Abernathy Freeway, Joseph E Lowery Blvd, and let's not forget Ralph McGill Blvd, where we currently live! When they name a street after me, I'm going to call it Alisa Catherine Palmisano Hamilton Blvd Circle.

3) Whenever the street namers came up with a new fantastic street name, they must have just picked any random street and given it that name, regardless of whether it already had a name. That's the only explanation for why all of the streets suddenly change names at completely random intersections.

4) There's absolutely no need for street signs to help someone like me make sense of any of this!!!

Atlanta - Our arrival

Here we are in beautiful Atlanta. We arrived yesterday to find that during the 3.5 hour drive, Hailey had left us with a gigantic present in her pants. So, the first order of business was an immediate bath and depooping of her outfit. Fun. Then, we carried all of our stuff up 4 flights of stairs. Double fun. Luckily, all of our furniture is still in Nashville, but we did have several large items. We had to tag team the unloading and carrying so that someone was in the apartment with Hailey at all times. See, we're already feeling the effect of having left all of our free family babysitters in Nashville! Our apartment is very small. Well, let's say cozy. However, it is very convenient for both of our jobs and is directly across the street from a huge park with lots of walking trails. So, I think that it will suit us perfectly. More later...

Tooth Number Two Poking Through

I don't know if you can see it, but it's just to the right of her first tooth. I can only hope that she gets my teeth. I can just picture the dental bills now. Yikes!

Look, Mom, Two Hands

Hey, how do you work this thing?

Oh, this part goes in your mouth!


Now I got it!!!

Look what I can do. Today I held the bottle all by myself for the first time. I'm such a big girl!!! There are a few more pictures up on the Flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukehamilton/

The Prospect of Moving

Now that we are getting to the point where we actually have to go live in Atlanta, I'm getting a little nervous. I know that it's going to be fine, but it is so unfamiliar. We are leaving all of our furniture and most of our worldly belongings in Nashville to help "stage" our house. Josie, our loving border collie, is going to live with my Mom and Step Dad for a little while, and we've already given away one of our cats. Thank goodness the other cat is coming with us. So much change in such a small period of time. I just can't imagine living in a place with rented furniture. I'm going to miss my bed and Hailey's rocker and my house. Of course, I can't even really express how much we are going to miss all of the people in Nashville. We are so thankful to our friends and family here for being so wonderful and kind, not to mention helpful in this transition. Well, I'm getting a little teary now so it must be time to start thinking again about all of the stuff I need to do before we leave!

6-7 Months - The Best Age

Some wise Mom once told me that whatever age your child is will seem like the best age. Well, so far that wisdom has held true. Never more so than during this 6-7 month old stage. Hailey is absolutely perfect right now. She's alert and happy most of the time. She can sit up on her own and play with toys, but she can't crawl yet. She babbles incoherently, but doesn't talk back. She snuggles, but doesn't need to be held all the time. It's just great! Here is her 6 month picture. I've also included one from last weekend where you can see her tooth!

We're Moving to Atlanta

Well, I'm a bit of a slacker because we've known for almost a week now that we would be packing our bags for Atlanta. Luke received a job offer last week and officially accepted it on Friday. It's a very exciting offer with one of the largest, if not the largest, interactive agency in the country. They are providing us with relocation assistance including a temporary apartment until we can sell our house. It's really a wonderful package. So, we're off to Atlanta. He starts his job on March 5th. Yes, in less than 2 weeks!!!! I'll post more details as soon as I have them!

First Ear Infection

Last Monday, Hailey had her 6 month checkup, including shots. Her stats are now: Weight: 16.63 lbs, 56th percentile and Height: 26.5" 70th percentile. She's a long one! No wonder she's already too long for her 6 month clothes. Well, I think it's a combination of the height and her gigantic thighs. Really, they're huge!

Three days after the shots, Hailey started running a fever. On Saturday, Grandma Scott and I took her to the doctor where they promptly made me feel like a bad mother by declaring that her fever was 103 and rushing out of the room to get Tylenol. Helllloooo...I had been giving her Tylenol the whole time, I just didn't give her the last dose in case they prescribed something else. I didn't know her fever would spike up. Plus, our stupid thermometer at home is completely inaccurate. Anyway, they diagnosed her with an ear infection.

Now, we've begun the battle of the medicine. It's not just that she doesn't want to take the medicine. It's that she flat out refuses. You get any dropper full of anything near her mouth and she clenches her little lips so tight that it takes a tire jack to pull them apart. It's ridiculous, but twice a day we continue to fight the good fight. Each time we get about half down her throat and half on her shirt, on my shirt, on the chair, etc. If anyone has any suggestions for making this easier, I'm all ears. I just don't want her to hate medicine for the rest of her life. I can just see me chasing her around the house with the dropper when she's 3. Yikes.

Evaluating the Value of Work

I don’t write about the work/family topic as much as I should. If I wrote about it in proportion to the amount that I think about it, I would have a blog on the subject every day. These are the questions that I most often grapple with:

• Will my children be better or worse off for me having worked during their childhood?
• Will I look back at my life and regret spending all my working hours away from them?
• Do I even have it in me to stay home with them every day?
• Can a teacher at a daycare or preschool teach them more than I can?
• Am I going to have discipline problems with them because their parents aren’t around enough to offer that steady hand?
• Am I a better mother for trying to do it all even if I’m not always successful?
• Will my daughter(s) look up to me and respect me more for working?
• Can I even afford to stay home?
• Am I being selfish for wanting to work?
• Would I become Bree Hodge (formerly Bree Van de Camp) if I stayed home?
  

I ask myself these questions every single day. Usually multiple times a day. There are times when I think that I’ve absolutely made the right choice, and others when I think that I’m ruining everything, mostly my child. I guess that the most frustrating part is that I’ll never know what the answers are. All I can do is try to achieve the best balance that I can and be flexible in case my family needs me to make a change one way or the other.

I hope that one day Hailey and her yet unborn sibling(s) will read this and understand how difficult the decision is. Well, one day they'll understand because they'll probably go through it themselves. That's a scary thought.

PS: I’m not pregnant again, people. Get with the program. I’m just asking hypothetical questions!

We Have a Tooth!

First, let me say that the answer is "yes" I did jinx myself. After I wrote the blog about her great sleeping habits, she failed me the next three nights. However, last night she slept from 7pm to 5am. Very impressive indeed. Oh wait. Now I've jinxed myself again!

Anyway, we have our first tooth cutting through. It's on the bottom right side. You can certainly feel it, and see it if you look really carefully. She hasn't been super cranky (that's because she has her Mommy's pain tolerance), but she is trying to bite on everything!

Also, she started her new daycare today. It's called Legacy Academy, and it's only about a mile from our house. I won't be able to visit her at lunch anymore, but Daddy's going to go see her a few times this week to make sure that she's ok. The only negative is that it's $60 more per week than the other place. Yeah, I said per week! Welcome to parenthood!

Zzzzz!

Hailey has finally started "sleeping through the night," which really means that she will sleep for more than 3 consecutive hours. Two nights ago she slept from 7pm-3am and last night she slept from 8pm-2am. I'm not going to get too excited because it seems like it's always one step forward, two steps back, but I think that the baby food is really helping. Last night she ate a whole jar of squash and then a half a jar of carrots. I think that she is starting to understand that the food will fill her up just like milk will. Now, she gets excited to eat when I pull out the jars just like she does when she sees a bottle. It's amazing how fast they can connect the dots.

Anyone want to take bets on whether or not just mentioning this new development has jinxed my chances of her sleeping even longer tonight????