Oatmeal Cereal is WORSE!

Drama! You'd think that I was trying to make the baby eat brussel sprouts! Hayes actually pressed his lips together in prostest of the foreign goop I was trying to feed him. Awesome.

Hope this will not be the picture of every new food we try! He STILL won't eat the rice cereal, but we moved on to oatmeal tonight anyway. I'll try this for a week or so, and then try fruits and veggies.

This week, on vacation, I let Hayes suck on a slice of cantelope and he LOVED it! When I would pull the cantelope away from his mouth, he would grab my hand and pull the cantelope back into his mouth. He also tried one of Ava Claire's Mum Mums, a rice snack that dissolves in baby's mouth. He seemed to like those, too, although he was a little confused by them at first. Hopefully that's a sign that he will like more interesting foods in the weeks to come. Right now he seems perfectly content with his milk.

Tonight, we came home from a vacation to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, AL with our friends Matt, Amy and Ava Claire Anderson. We had so much fun! Stay tuned for pictures and a full recap!

Weagle Weagle

Last night, Justin went to the Auburn Alumni Fall Kick-Off Party with our good friend Hal Craig, owner of Momma Goldberg's-Inverness and corporate sponsor of the event. Hal got him a great VIP pass. Justin and Hal were the first people new Auburn head football coach, Gene Chizik spoke to when he entered the room!

Justin came home with this little jersey for Hayes. Look to the left of the #1 - it's a note to Hayes from Coach Chizik!

Coach Chizik is now the proud owner of a brand new Birmingham Home Theater t-shirt! Think he'll wear it on Game Day? Probably.

Now, let me clarify. I am still a devoted Alabama fan. Justin, as you may know, is an Auburn alumnus. I am of the opinion that Hayes can choose which team to cheer for when he is old enough to make the decision for himself. He cannot, however, choose which political party he will associate with. That has been pre-determined.

I'm hoping that Hayes will make a mascot association and pull for my team!

But I will be fair...

A Message for Papa Rick...

And a message for Dad...

Happy Birthday, Dad! I'm sad that I won't be able to see you today, but Hayes and I will be thinking about you ALL DAY! I hope you have fun in Baltimore playing golf with your friend! You're the best dad a girl could ask for and I miss you being in Birmingham to spoil me! :-) Come back soon, PLEASE! I love you so much!

Nature Calls

One of the forgotten joys of pregnancy and early motherhood is the absence of the monthly visit from Mother Nature. I nursed Hayes exclusively for the first 10 weeks of his life, but soon after I started back to work, I started supplementing one formula bottle a day so I didn't have so much pressure to keep up with his growing appetite (the boy started drinking 8 ounces per feeding at 9 weeks!). We are 4 1/2 months in, and I am so glad I've been able to maintain his "diet" so far. I've been wondering when Mother Nature would pay her next visit, and at my annual exam this week I asked Dr. P when I should expect to see her. She said every woman's body is different and it might not even appear as long as I'm nursing! Well, Mother Nature showed up this morning unannounced after a 13 month break. So much for natural child spacing!

Look-Alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

This Look-Alike Meter says Hayes looks just a little more like Daddy than Mommy! I've always thought that Hayes looks like a mix between my dad and Justin. What do YOU think?

UPDATE: I re-did the pictures and tried the Look-Alike Meter again... 13% more like Daddy this time. Martina, that's a little more than 3%. Think we're any closer?

Roll On Over, Baby!

Today, Hayes rolled from his back to his belly for the first time... and the second time... and the third... and fourth... and so on! When I went home this afternoon to pump and grab a bite to eat, Erin (the babysitter) told me he rolled six times before his nap! Before I left, he rolled over for me twice. He has regularly been flipping from his tummy to his back since he was a mere 7 weeks old, so I'm so excited that he's mastered the other direction now that he's almost 4 1/2 months old. Mommy is so proud of you, Hayes! :-)

Skype Hype & Uncle Matt

I know I may be a few years behind on this, but tonight, I had my first experience with Skype.

My dad has been working in Baltimore sice Hayes was 10 weeks old, and we don't get to see him as much as we'd like. Papa Rick has always been one of Hayes' favorite people. In the beginning Papa Rick was the only person other than me that could get Hayes to be chill. He even kept Hayes at my house for the first 2 weeks I was back at work. During those two weeks, Dad spoiled ME rotten and took amazing care of his grandbaby, Hayes.

Dad called yesterday and asked if I had ever heard of Skype, which of course I had. Neither one of us knew how it worked, but tonight, we both downloaded it to our computers and had a phone/video conversation. I was pretty amazed at the quality and speed! If you have relatives out of town, I would highly recommend it... oh, and it's FREE!!!!

Tonight (prior to my Skype experience), Hayes and I went to visit my brother and sister-in-law at their new house in Homewood. They closed about a month ago and this was my first time to see it! It looks beautiful already!

Hayes loved spending time with Uncle Matt. He ran his chubby little fingers through Matt's beard, stared at him while Matthew made faces and talked in silly voices, and took a cat-nap on Uncle Matt's shoulder. How sweet! We need to get these two together more often!

A Message for Grandma...

Rice Cereal - YUCK!

At our 4-month doctor visit, Dr. Amy said that Hayes is ready to experiment with some foods other than milk. Here is our schedule:

1. For 2 weeks, feed him 2 tablespoons of rice cereal 2 times a day.
2. Then introduce oatmeal cereal. Feed him 2 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal in the morning, and 2 tablespoons of rice cereal in the evening.
3. After that, we can begin experimenting with some fruits and veggies.

I was off this week end, so I thought it would be a great time to start rice cereal. I prepared the cereal with a little formula, put Hayes in his Bumbo, and headed to the porch for our taste test.

Daddy fed him his first spoonful.

Hayes' first bite of rice cereal.

And the verdict is in... He HATES it!!!

He only tolerated a few spoonfuls before we gave up.

Since then, unless I shove the bottle of millk in his mouth as soon as the spoon comes out, he won't have anything to do with the cereal. I've been successful feeding him most of the 2 tablespoons of cereal since then, but certainly not without a fight.

Here is a picture of Hayes protesting his cereal last night. You can see his little nose wrinkled in disgust!

So, do any of you veteran mommies have any advice on how to get Hayes to eat (and like) rice cereal?

Hannah's Visit

When my college friends, Andrea and Hannah came to visit Hayes and me back in April, we realized that her in-laws' home in Columbus, GA is really only about 3 hours from Birmingham. When her husband Michael was summoned for a week-long business trip in California, Hannah decided to load up the kiddos and come visit her her in-laws and me for the week from Florida.

They rolled in late Monday night, and I took Tuesday and Wednesday off work. We mainly played around the neighborhood. Here is a photo summary of our visit!

So it seemed like a fun idea at the time. We loaded up the kids in strollers and headed out for a long walk from my house to the historical Ross Bridge Park a little more than a mile and a half away. We packed juice, waters and PB&J sandwiches for a casual picnic at our destination.

Too cool for school! ;-)

The walk THERE wasn't too bad. Once we got to the park, Wesley and Anna Kate played on the wooden train while Hayes took a little nap in the stroller, and Hannah and I rested on a bench.

Wesley inside one of the train cars.

We headed down to the historical bridge and Wesley and Anna Kate went to play by the water......and Anna Kate fell in! She was so dirty that Hannah stripped her down to her diaper before putting her back in the stroller.
This is the Rogers family (minus Michael) before our arduous trek back to my house.

As I said, the hills didn't seem so bad on our way TO the park, but Hannah and I both thought we might pass out on the way BACK. I guess it was the deadly trifecta of hills, Alabama heat, and pushing babies in strollers that almost did us in, but we survived. I felt so sorry for Hannah who, being almost 13 weeks pregnant, was taking it especially tough! After cooling off at the house, we got ready and headed to the pool.

My cool baby and his cool mama surviving the summer heat at the pool.

Anna Kate had fun playing with a barbie (maybe The Little Mermaid) that a little girl had left behind. She felt right at home in the mecca of double names. She was in the company of little girls named Lilly Grace, Amelia Kate, Mary Rose and the like.

And Mr. Social Butterfly made quick friends with Ian Wallis. The two of them played Batman and Waterboy in the pool and splash pad most of the time we were there! Wesley talked about Ian for the rest of the trip and was sad he wasn't there when we went back the next day.
Here's the whole group! Hayes, me, Wesley, Hannah and Anna Kate. It was fun seeing Hannah and her kids. She is such a good mommy!

It was waaay past nap time for all the kids, so we loaded everything/one back up and went back to our house to get ready for dinner at Moe's Original Barbeque.

Day 2 went by so quickly. We were at the pool by 10, home by noon, and Hayes had a doctor's appointment that afternoon (read his 4 month post for an update). Hayes had a poopy catastrophe in the tub, so after 3 attempts to bathe him in his tub, we ended up in the big tub in my bathroom! Why does he always have a poopy disaster when Hannah comes to visit?! (If you haven't read about the last incident, you should... photos are about halfway down the post.) Hannah took her kids to lunch while Hayes had his check-up and then EVERYBODY took a nap (but me). All the kids were wiped out from all the playing, and the mommies were wiped out from all the kids! We loaded up one last time to take the entire crew to meet my mom at California Pizza Kitchen for dinner.

Hayes and Mommy

I have a great picture of Hannah and her kids and one of Hayes and my mom, but I'll have to add them later. They are still on my camera!

After dinner, I put Hayes to bed, and while Hannah put Anna Kate down, I read and sang silly songs to Wesley. This morning we all rushed around getting ready - I was headed to work and Hannah was packing up the kids and the car. Erin, our babysitter, came during the middle of the madness and I was happy to pass Hayes off to her while I finished getting ready.

Hannah, we had so much fun visiting with you and your kids! You are welcome back any time! :-)

New Post Alert! :-)

I posted several new entries with lots of pictures today mostly from the month of July... beginning with July 4th. Check 'em out!

Hayes at 4 months!

My little baby is 4 months old! I can't believe 1/3 of a year has already passed! Today, Hayes went for his 4-month check-up with Dr. Albert. This chunky little monkey already weighs 17 pounds and 12 ounces! He's in the 90th percentile for his weight! At 25 1/2 inches long, he's in the 75th percentile for length. He's also in the 75th percentile for head circumference. All in all, this kid is a big boy... and getting cuter by the minute.

At 4 months, Hayes is very alert! He follows us around, tries his best to sit up, stands for long periods of time while we hold his fingers, laughs, has "conversations" with us, tries to hold his own bottle, rolls from his back to his side (not all the way over yet... although he's been flipping from front to back since 7 weeks!), and Monday he reached for me as I held out my arms to hold him (and so melts my heart). Today, he did all his tricks for Dr. Albert. I was so proud of him!

He loves it when I sing to him, and his favorite songs are "I'm in the Lord's Army" with all the motions and "Polly Wolly Doodle." When I sing the latter, I sing some parts really slow and other parts really fast, and he just laughs and laughs. He is also ticklish when I squeeze his thighs. He's getting more and more fun every day! He still loves the pool and usually sleeps great either while we're there, or that night.

In general, Hayes is a great sleeper. Hayes is a tummy sleeper 100% of the time, and has recently woken himself up a few times because he accidentally flipped over to his back. Occasionally, I can just flip him back and he'll go back to sleep, but most of the time I have to nurse him back to sleep. Boo. Dr. Albert said it's about time he learns how to sleep on his back, and that he's big enough now that I can let him cry until he falls alseep... even if he is on his back. I may have to ease myself into that one!
He still loves his bath and anything that has to do with water. I included this picture just because he is the cutest thing ever! Don't you agree?! :-)

Little Swimmers

Tonight, Hayes had a playdate with a few of his friends in the neighborhood. Since moving to Ross Bridge, we have been so blessed to meet such wonderful friends and we all had babies within 6 months of each other!

Jen and Bobby (born in May '09)

Ava Claire (the oldest baby and Hayes' girlfriend, born December '08)

Dana and Kayla (the youngest baby, born May '09)

Ginger and Harper (born in March... exactly one week before Hayes)

Me and Hayes (born March 12, 2009)

Here's the whole clan... Ginger and Harper, Amy and Ava Claire, Jen and Bobby, Me and Hayes, Dana and Kayla. These kids are going to have so much fun growing up together.

Here's the group again... plus Tarayn, the surrogate aunt! :-)

We can't wait for our next playdate! And in case you were wondering, our husbands were there, too. We all brought food and they sat around and talked while we played with the babies. They just aren't quite as into photo documentation!

P.S. My very good friend, Jessa was also there, and since I stole most of these pictures from my friends, I don't have one of the two of us. Jessa, when you read this, e-mail me the one Michael took of us so I can post it! :-)