"It is time!"

In the words of old Raffiki from the Lion King, "It is time!"  Time to tell the world about Emilee Maddison.  Who is Emilee Maddison you might be asking?  We don't know too much about her other than she's about 12 inches long give or take and weighs a little over a pound.  She's very active at 4 in the morning or when Joel is around.  We've waited quite a while to announce her publicly but we'd like to introduce you.

Emilee is expected to arrive sometime around the end of August beginning of September.  Joel was super bummed that he still has to wait for a boy.  But on the other hand, it makes it easy because we have most things that we would need.  There are a few things still/always to purchase.  

Emilee is registered at Babies R Us. 

Registry link below.

http://www.toysrus.com/registry/search/index.jsp?_flowExecutionKey=_cC4DC68E1-608A-A267-0FDC-3B8D458BF636_k2F8CB9CF-F397-57F5-53AB-CE5E5A701842&overrideStore=TRUS

Hailey Momments! I guess Mommy and Daddy can be included too.

Joel and Hailey were home while I was running a few errands.  When I came back, Joel had a great story... I wish I would have been here to see it all happen.  He tells it much better but is even worse than me at sitting down to write something out.  The way he described it:  He was vacuuming the living room when he got a phone call.  He turned off the vacuum and took the call.  Hailey was crawling around exploring and playing.  He casually watched her as she went over to the vacuum and started checking it out.  She found the cord and a grey button and then pressed the red one.  We all know what red means.  Blast off!!  The vacuum powered up and scared the living daylights out of that little girl.  She startled and fell backwards and then crawled away as fast as she could towards the opposite side of the room.  Joel died laughing.  She's still weary of the vacuum but is getting braver/curious.

Hailey has learned how to climb and crawl over pretty much everything.  She started with small things, pillows, legs, the edge of her toy bin.  She eventually graduated to being able to climb up and over us whether we were sitting up or laying on the ground.  We pulled our twin mattress up from the garage when my mom came to visit.  We've ended up making it part of the living room furniture.  Hailey enjoys playing on it.  Since it's a plush pillow top, it's a great cushion when we decide to swing and drop her.  She loves it! It allows her to reach up and grab onto the counter and watch us in the kitchen.  It also creates a 90 degree angle between the couch that she can climb in between.  She's also learned how to climb up her rocking chair and realized that if she leans against it and climbs up the back it will tip back and lean against the wall, thus allowing her to play with the flag that's hanging behind the chair.  She definitely knows how to keep herself entertained!

We had a Pound Plunge challenge at the gym.  Part of the YMCA that has made it possible for Joel and me to work out is the kid care which is cheaper per month than a babysitter would be for a night. So we dropped Hailey off and went to our challenge.  Halfway through the challenge I get called up to the kid care.  I thought Hailey was probably tired and cranky or crying for some reason.  She's been pretty good lately so I'm a bit intrigued.  I get up there and one of the attendants is holding Hailey who's just finished sniffling back some tears.  The attendant had put her in a bouncer of sorts.  Well Hailey is pretty mobile and doesn't like to be confined, so she put her climbing skills to use and climbed out.  When she conquers a "drop off" she puts her hands down as her cushion and goes head first.  I'm sure that's what she did this time, but to the attendant it looked like she had just fallen out of the bouncer.  She probably hit a littler harder than usual so she freaked herself out a bit and started to cry.  The attendant had to fill out an incident report and have the head lifeguard come and check to make sure she didn't have a concussion.  I found it funny.  I usually tell the workers that she doesn't do well in those, but this time I forgot.  Made me smile.  Our little acrobat.

We recently sold our brown leather rocker chair that we received.  With those funds we were able to purchase a different glider chair that was smaller and fit in Hailey's room better.  Plus we still had a few extra dollars left over.  With the left over cash we were able to find a cheap but good quality bike trailer.  Hailey is old enough, but more importantly big enough to sit in a trailer and ride with us.  The weather is usually nice and it'll be fun to be able to get out and ride as a family.

She's still getting used to it. This was only her second ride.

Hailey will only cuddle with her blue blanket and dad.  She crawls up me when it's bedtime.

Joel and Hailey have a special face that they do with each other.  Again, one of those things that only Joel and Hailey share part in.

Hailey growls.  Yes, growls.  My dad has a habit of growling at little kids to see if it will nerve them.  Well, Joel and I knew this so we planned ahead.  We started growling at Hailey and then smiling.  Eventually she started growling at things.  She'd crawl somewhere and growl.  She'd be in the tub and we'd growl and she'd growl back.  The time came for Hailey and Grandpa Brooksby to meet.  It had been five months since the last time he'd been up for a visit.  When it was Grandpa's turn to hold Hailey and play with her he came up to her to get her and growled at her.  She just looked at him.  Then she'd make a face back at him.  He had fun making all kinds of faces and noises at her just to have her mimic or laugh or give him a face back.  Nerves of steel! He called a few days after they left to let us know that he was impressed that she didn't cry or try to run away.  Oh the things we teach and train our kids for.

Hailey loves to fly through the air... most of the time.  Joel and I will stand across from each other and toss Hailey between us.  She loves it so much that she turns around in our hands and gets ready for the next flight.  She gets her excited flappy hands and big smile.  If we catch her in the right mood she enjoys being swung from her hips between our legs.  Flier, climber, growler... oh the personality.

She knows what bath time is and will come crawling as fast as her little legs will carry her when she hears the tub water run.  That means she will drop whatever she's playing with, even her favorite toy or food.  She wasn't very happy when we eventually showed her that she couldn't hang on to, bite or play with the faucet or temperature knob.  She threw a tantrum the first night but has learned quickly.

She has also loved putting her fingers in people's mouths.  That is up until a few nights ago when Joel decided it was time to break that habit.  Each time she'd put her fingers in his mouth, he'd gently bite her.  It took her 7-8 times and a molar bite to realize that pain is accompanied with fingers in mouths. Quick little learner.  :)

There's lots of things that we've done recently.  Time for a picture story!

I'm learning to accept a hat... I don't like them.  And I'm going on a ride in my new kid carry backpack.  Daddy's toy.

We went to Conference and saw Great Grandpa Clarke.  He snuck me chocolate chip cookies when mom wasn't watching.

On the way back from conference M&D got cheesecake and Daddy shared some of his whipped cream!  Mmmm

I learned how to rip the toilet seat tattoo off!  

Daddy and me eating bagels and cream cheese!  My Dr. says I can have full fat everything!  

Daddy made chocolate cupcakes.  I didn't quite eat them, I had more fun playing with them.

This is my friend and neighbor Keirsten.  She comes over and we play.  The music stand is one of my favorites.  Next is the musical walker behind me.

I often help Mommy when she's folding laundry.  I do my best to help her pull stuff out and make sure it's folded right.  If it's not right, I unfold it for her. Aren't I helpful

We've enjoyed having her in our home.  She definitely makes things much more entertaining.  Even if that means she's pulling all the DVD's off the shelf or trying to play in the toilet because we left the lid up on accident.

Back to work'n life. It's good to be back.

It has been almost six months since Joel took leave from CCA as a corrections officer.  We wondered at first how'd we'd survive financially, but since I'd been saying "no, we can't afford that" so often we had built up an emergency fund plus a little extra.  We used that emergency fund and as soon as we started to worry again, tax refunds came in.  Third time when finances started getting lower, Joel found a job.

It's a starting position, bottom of the ladder, but it's work and Joel's grateful for it.  Not only is it just work, it's something he enjoys doing.  Building, creating, welding.  I'm not sure exactly what he does, nor am I thinking he knows since he's only been to one day of orientation, but from the sounds of it, he's an assembly man/welders apprentice.  The company liked that his welding skills made for strong bonds, but they weren't super pretty.  They said on his breaks he can tinker on the side till things start looking prettier, then they will consider hiring him on as a welder.  Now that he's been there almost two weeks, I know more of what he does.  He builds semi trailers.  They like his work and thoroughness so he works on the custom orders not just the bulk orders.  They start from the ground up and build the trailers you see being pulled behind the actual semi truck cab.

It's been nice having Joel home.  We've learned a lot as a couple for good and for bad.  As much as he wanted to work, being off for the past 6 months presented Joel with an opportunity that most people don't ever get.  The chance to watch his first little girl grow up, learn to crawl, learn to stand, learn to growl and so much more.  He's also had the chance to spend time working and building a relationship with me.  We've watched close ones relationships and wondered how things for them might have been different it they had been able to stop at a critical point and focus on each other instead of all the distractions that work places on people.

I'm glad to have the house back.  I love the quiet and when Joel's home, it's not quiet.  He love background noise, whether it's a movie or music, it has to be something.  I also realized that I get much much much more done when he's gone.  I don't know why!?  I still leave the dishes for him so he has so part in the housekeeping. Plus I just hate dishes.  I think deep down, most people do.  Why else would they have created dishwashers?

Hailey will continue to grow.  Joel's schedule is not my favorite but he thinks it will work well for him and allow him to spend time with his girls.  He goes to work in the early afternoon and gets home after midnight.  But that leaves the morning for Hailey.  Working at CCA from 5am-6pm with a little girl that goes to bed at 6:30-7 wasn't very fair or fun.  Glad things have changed.  Sorry Joel but you'll miss your nightly cuddle time with Hailey for a few days a week, but we all know she's much more active in the mornings.  All smiles.

Life has thrown us many curve balls and sometimes those balls have actually hit us.  Not fun, but overall we are somewhat stronger.  At least we hope so.  Time to just keep plug'n along.