Baylor Homecoming...Sic Em!

This weekend was Baylor Homecoming. As I'm sure most of you have gathered, Baylor is very important to Clark and me. It's where we met and we both genuinely love the school. We've been so excited to take Hayden to Baylor Homecoming since we found out we were pregnant. We were so excited, that I had to have a dress rehearsal on Friday and dress Hayden appropriately for school. Don't you just love the hat? Another Dawn Ferguson creation!

I was a little nervous about going. Our first Baylor football game was not a success on any level. Hayden was miserable, Baylor was terrible, I got mad, and we left early. So, I wasn't sure how great this weekend was going to go. Plus, as I briefly mentioned earlier, Hayden's top teeth have been coming in and we had a hard week dealing with it. Please don't be fooled by the angelic smile on his face in the above picture. Our week has been marked by uncontrollable screaming. Regardless, both teeth have broken the gums now, so I figured we were okay. Well, that and I have no qualms about dosing this kid up liberally with Tylenol and teething tablets. Don't judge.

We met Jason and Kassidy in Waco on Friday night and had dinner at one of my favorite Waco places -- Ninfas. There are other Ninfas around, but they're all terrible for some reason. The one in Waco is outstanding. Of course, one of my other favorite Waco places is George's...but I didn't think it was appropriate to roll into town and take Hayden straight to a bar. We need to pace ourselves.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Baylor Homecoming Parade, which is one of our favorite Baylor traditions. Campus groups make floats and the bears make an appearance. Hayden liked it, we think...

It was slightly chilly at the parade, so I bundled Hayden up like we were trekking across the Arctic.

Well, you know how Texans over react to "cold" weather... Hayden didn't seem to mind.

Like any respectable Baylor undergrad, Hayden took a time out with Mom outside of the Sub for a bottle break...

Clark tried to give Hayden a better view of the parade from his shoulders....Hayden has a little more growing to do before this is an effective option.

After the parade, Clark wanted to walk through campus and take a picture of Hayden somewhere on campus. He wants us to make it a tradition for us to take Hayden's pic in the same spot every year so we can show him growing -- kind of like the chair pic, Baylor-style. We picked the statue of Judge Baylor across from Waco Hall. Hayden, had other ideas...

As you can tell, Hayden was PISSED by this time. The Judge Baylor photo-op came right in the middle of nap time. There's at least 5 other pictures showing Hayden in various stages of meltdown, but I'll spare you that.

The game went better for Hayden this time around, but not better for the Bears. Oh well. We still had fun! The bad news? I thought the teething pain was behind us, but today has been a rough one on Hayden's gums. Wish us luck!

8 months

I've been a slacker in the blog department -- but I have a legitimate excuse -- TEETHING. What a nightmare. I'm so done with teething. So, because most of month 7 involved in Hayden screaming over his new top teeth, I didn't snap a lot of pics. I went to my HS reunion last weekend and it was a blast. However, my camera battery died, so I have pics to prove it. This weekend is Baylor Homecoming, so there will be new pics to upload...plus a picture of Hayden in a brand new hat.

No Words...Just a Torn ACL

and to keep it Hayden related....Hayden now knows what it feels like to be a Baylor fan. Welcome to the real world, Son.

Daycare Faux Pas and Other Shenanigans at the Meador House

Well, I made an ass out of myself at daycare this week. I find that in this whole motherhood thing, I make an ass out of myself on a fairly regular basis. Now, on to the daycare issue...

At daycare we're supposed to bring the bottles ready made in a ziploc freezer bag and put them in the infant fridge. At the end of the day, all the empty bottles are in the fridge in the ziploc bag. Of course, every bottle is labeled with Hayden's name as well as the ziploc bag itself. Simple, right? Well, not for me apparently. Hayden even has really cute stickers on his bottles with his name on them. One set of stickers has a monkey on them, the others have a lion and an elephant with a monkey riding on his back. Adorable. Also, distinguishable, which is the whole point. But I digress.

So, I pick Hayden up from daycare on Thursday and I'm a little tired out from the day and kind of spacey (not unusual). When I get there, Hayden is in his crib crying and one of the teachers is trying to soothe him. His teacher, Ms. J, tells me he was a little fussy today. Of course, that sends me into a tail spin of worry and I start babbling about how he acted a little weird last night and blah blah blah (which I'm sure is what Ms. J heard). An aside, maybe, one day I'll quit panicking like a total freakshow every time Hayden gets fussy or acts "weird" or runs an, ahem, "temp" of 100.2. Whatever. Back to me acting stupid. So, I'm all freaked out, Ms. J is looking at me like I've grown a second head and tells me I worry too much (no, really?! do you even know me?). I grab blindly into the fridge and pull out a ziploc freezer bag of Doctor Brown's bottles and get the hell out of there before I look like a bigger jackass than I already am. For those who are wondering, here's a Doctor Brown's bottle, unique, no?

I get home, still frazzled, waiting to tell Clark that Hayden was FUSSY at daycare, and wasn't I right about him acting weird? Well, I pull out the bag, and lo and behold, I had NATALIE'S bottles, not Hayden's. Did she have identical monkey stickers? Does Natalie's name look anything like Hayden's? No. Her Doctor Brown bottles had purple stickers that said Natalie all over her bottles. Purple. Not like they were hidden or anything. I felt so stupid. I called the daycare and asked if I could run them back. Of course, Natalie's dad had come and gone so it was too late. Hayden's bottles were still at daycare. I know I'm being dramatic about this, but I felt so terrible. Mainly, because if the situation were reversed, I would be so annoyed (which means I would have talked a lot of smack about the parent who took my bottles). I wouldn't go so far as to say mad, but extremely irritated. I'm a schedule person, so I wouldn't be able to wash Hayden's bottles or get everything ready in my usual order. Totally threw me off. Needless to say, I felt ridiculous. So, I wrote Natalie's mom a note and am praying I never see her because I'm an idiot.

What other shenanigans are going on with us? Not a lot, really. I've been asked a lot lately if Hayden can hold his own bottle. The answer is a resounding, no. I'm thinking he could if he wanted, but like his mother, if someone is willing to do it for him, why should he do it himself? Can't say I blame him. We went to the park yesterday and today. Hayden experienced the swing for the first time. Yesterday, he was uncertain. Today, the swings got a big thumbs up!

And to answer your question, yes, I almost had a panic attack when Clark sat Hayden on the edge of the bridge. Good Lord!

See, much happier today! Thanks to Auntie Ally and Hayden's girl Maggie for going to the park with us today. Here's the only pic I got of the two of them.

I think Hayden is checking her out. He's such a player.

7 Months!!

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Hayden! You look like such a BIG boy in that picutre! I can barely take it!

You may have noticed that there were no blog updates or pictures of this past weekend after Hayden's first trip to Waco. That would be because it was a DISASTER. Not only did the Bears choke big time, but Hayden was not exactly down with sitting still for 4 quarters of football. It is well documented that Hayden has been to many sporting events in his short life, so I really didn't think this would be an issue. Boy, was I wrong. By the end of the first half I was ready to pull my hair out and not quite up for taking a bunch of pictures. So, we'll just pretend that Homecoming is Hayden's first game and take some pictures there. Why would I take him to Homecoming, you ask? Well, we'll be staying the weekend and if things get bad we can always go back to the hotel room. Plus, there will be more helping hands around that weekend...so the burden won't fall on me to handle.

What is Hayden doing at 7 months? Well, it has also been well documented that Hayden is excellent at sitting up by himself. I feel pretty comfortable letting him sit by himself. Don't worry, I don't leave Hayden sitting on the floor while I run errands, but I'm comfortable leaving him playing on the floor while I cook or wash dishes (ha ha ha). Of course, we still have some accidents, and we've hit our cute face on the carpet at least once. Hayden will look at you when you say his name. Hayden passes toys from one hand to another and can lean over while sitting to reach his toys. We've tried an assortment of jarred baby meat combos...but the runaway favorite is apples and chicken. He loves to blow raspberries. He is still laughing at toot noises. He's in love with Sam and Sophie and tries to grab them all the time. He can stand up while holding onto the ottoman (he can't pull up, but if you leave him there standing, he can continue to stand).

I think that about covers it for achievements. Hopefully, I'll be better about taking pictures this week!

Enfamil Coma

This is your baby w/o Enfamil in their tummies:

Someone help! That poor baby is so starved he's trying to eat his mommy's face!

Solution . . .

Bath + 8 oz of Enfamil =

Enfamil Coma!!!!!

My Guys

Don't mind that Hayden is looking a little gangster with sagging pants. He heard that all the cool kids wear their pants low enough to show their underwear (diaper). He must have picked that up at daycare.

It was a long, rainy weekend so I don't have much to update. The NFL season officially kicked off this week...and Hayden watched his first Cowboys game. I'm going to go ahead and say it, I hate the Cowboys. There. I was raised better than to like that team. Unfortunately, Clark was raised differently than I was and he's a Cowboys' fan. So, Hayden sat in his exersaucer and watched the Cowboys beat Tampa Bay. He even lifted his hands up above his head and squealed when the Cowboys got a first down. I almost threw up, Clark almost wept with joy. We're not telling Grandpa, because we don't want Grandpa to disinherit Mommy OR Hayden.

We're also working on "practicing" crawling:

He looks like he's enjoying himself here...but he's not. He hates it. This kid hates all things associated with being on his tummy. He doesn't really know how to get up on his knees, but Clark thinks we can "condition" him. I say, let's just let that happen naturally.

As I mentioned before, Hayden also eats Saltine crackers and biter biscuits. Well, he gums them and I try not to have a panic attack while he does it. I don't know why, but I almost break out in hives whenever he has a cracker in his mouth. I just know he's going to choke on it. I hear you, the obvious answer is to NOT GIVE HIM THE CRACKER. I get it. However, how will he ever learn to eat if I don't let him practice?! Most of the time, he'll gag once or twice, and then be fine. Clark says it's because he's not used to having anything that far back on his tongue and that he'll get used to it. I don't know, it's very nerve racking. The only reason I even introduced the crackers/biscuits is because the pedi suggested it. Let's hope it gets better as time goes on. I imagine it will be kind of embarrassing for him if he goes to elementary school still gagging on Saltines and still eating stage 2 baby foods.

Today we got a special treat. Through some friends of Jason and Kassidy we were invited to watch a Rangers game from a suite! Very cool! Hayden got all geared up for the game:

That face says, "We get to sit where? Not the triple deck? Whoa!"

Daddy also donned his best Rangers gear...

We had a lot of fun and Hayden did great. One would think this would wear him out...but it's 9:35 and he's cooing away in his crib. Time to go night, night Hayden!!!