9 Months!

Isn't he so happy? Here are his stats:

Weight: 20lbs, 6 oz (50th percentile)

Height: 28 7/8" (75th percentile)

Head: 18" (50th percentile)

Illness du jour: ear infection and bronchiolitis.

Teeth: 4

As much as I love Hayden's school, the definite downfall of daycare is constant sickness. We're a revolving door of runny noses and coughs and ear infections. Once we finally get over one, we have a week or 2 illness free and then another pops up. Luckily, none of these illnesses come with fevers and none of them have really affected his mood any. We got a breathing treatment in the office which Hayden hated. Actually, hated is not strong enough of a word. Loathe may suffice. He cried so hard he worked up a sweat. It was very sad. Fortunately the breathing treatment did its job and Hayden sounded 1000x time better. Unfortunately that means we get our very own (oh yippee) breathing treatment machine and we get to give it to him 3 times a day. It's about as much fun as getting kicked in the face. Repeatedly. With steel toed boots.

We also discussed my child's stubborn refusal to crawl with the doctor. No one else (including Dr. V) thinks this is an issue at all. It's amazing the lengths he will go to not to crawl. He leans completely over at the waist and literally drags himself (inch by excruciating inch) to what he wants to reach. He gets up on all fours and rocks, then lays flat on his belly. It's ridiculous. He's the laziest kid ever! However, I'm kind of pleased because this does prove he's my kid. I mean, I don't exert myself at anything either. Dr. V says some kids never crawl and just hop up and walk. We'll see if that happens.

Hayden is eating all kinds of table food. Here is his first Thanksgiving feast:

I am personally grossed out by cranberry sauce, but Hayden seemed to like it.

Here's the man after he's cleared his plate:

In true East Texas fashion, Hayden went shirtless to Thanksgiving dinner. We figured it was safer.

Proving I have NO control in my house this is what Hayden wore on Thanksgiving day:

I think Hayden may be a Cowboys fan and there isn't a lot I can do about it. I put my foot down at supporting A&M though. If he wants to go to school there, he can pay for it himself (kidding....kind of). Good thing I'm worried about what college he's going to go to considering he isn't even mobile yet.

Truly, Hayden is the most laid back kid of all time and is almost always happy (traits that he clearly inherited from his father). I have to say that he's the coolest kid around and he constantly makes us smile. We are so blessed!

Sneak Peek

Official 9 month post to come next week (after the doc appt)...also, Thanksgiving post to come as well. In the meantime...

Check out my chompers...

And my sweet face...

Or, how about the new skill I'm still trying to master....

Or my look of pre-Thanksgiving anticipation....

Happy Halloween!

Hayden's first Halloween was action packed! We started the weekend off right with Trunk or Treat at Hayden's school. Since Hayden isn't so much into candy yet, we just volunteered to pass candy out. Hayden helped.

Well, he's trying to be into candy, but at this phase in his life he looks at everything like that before sticking it in his mouth.

On Halloween day we went to the Yocum's for a Costume party/Hot dog cook-out. It was so fun to see all the sweet babies dressed up. Plus, Hayden finally got to meet James (the spider). Hayden was a little jealous because James put the moves on Maggie a couple of times, but he's being really mature about it. He said he's too young to settle down anyway and that it's better to "play the field." I'm sure Anna James will be pleased to hear that. Watch out ladies!

It was pretty difficult to get all the kids looking and in one picture. When I say pretty difficult, I mean impossible.

I just love this picture. Hayden grabs anything and everything these days and your child will be no exception. He wanted to touch James' face, the sweet Lamb costume, even Libby's princess dress (not pictured). They're all so fascinated with each other!

We tried to get some pics of everyone in their adorable pumpkin hats, but when you have 2 mobile toddlers that's just not always (or ever) going to happen.

This weekend I was grateful that Hayden isn't mobile yet. That's right, he's 8 months old and not crawling. I wish I could tell you that he's thisclose to doing so, but he's really not. We'll put him on his stomach and he'll sort of rock and stretch out as far as he can to reach stuff, but after a few attempts he starts to rub his eyes and pout. While sitting up he'll lean over to the point where his nose is on the ground, but he just isn't really that interested in moving. He scoots on his bottom a lot, but that's about it. He just hasn't put it all together yet. Of course, this has caused me all kinds of anxiety. (An aside: I wonder what would happen if you searched the word "anxiety" on this blog. It would probably explode from over-work). I know all kids are individuals and blah blah blah, but I feel like every kid is crawling except mine. Well, after watching all my dear friends chase their lovely kids around this weekend I sent up a little "thank you" that I can set Hayden down and he just sits there. And yes, I realize my days are numbered in the whole "not mobile" stage and I'll be eating these words shortly. Especially since I've totally jinxed it by writing it all down.

Hayden's fun filled day wasn't over. After leaving the Yocum's, Aunt Katy and Uncle Win came to babysit while Mom and Dad went to an adult Halloween party with adult beverages. Yay! Hayden told us to tell Aunt Katy and Uncle Win he's sorry for the spit up incident but he had a lot of fun!

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.