Latest and Greatest in West Land

OK, first things first, before I talk about the latest and greatest, I have a general update on Hayden. We had his 9 month well baby check up Friday 1/23 and he is now 30.5" tall and 26# 15 ounces - officially he is the size of an 18 month old... His pediatrician just shakes her head and says he's going to be really tall ;-) But he checked out healthy as a horse.

We had a dog show the weekend of 1/23 - 1/25, which also marked our first outing in the travel trailer with Baby Hayden in tow. He is such a trooper, he had a great time!! We competed Friday night and Saturday, but had to bail out on Sunday due to me being sick (some cold/flu like thing). We were bad parents and didn't get any pictures - next one we will.

Hayden took to life on the road like the true super baby he is, thinking it was all new fun and games just for him! The weather was much less well behaved than Hayden was, it was warm and humid on Friday, soring into the low 80's and by 8pm we were down to 50 and the temp just kept dropping. By Saturday morning it was windy and cold (down in the 30's - have I mentioned yet that Texas weather SUCKS?) So Hayden got completely bundled up and enjoyed walking courses and smiling at all of the competitors. In fact, several people commented on the fact he must be sweating under all the layers (blanket sleeper, hat, coat and blanket - in the baby sling under Mommy's coat). I must say its the warmest I've been at a cool weather dog show. The BCs both did well and were so glad to be out doing agility again.

We of course had to watch the Super Bowl - Hayden's first - and he enjoyed the festivities - as you can tell from these pictures.

Ok, we of really did not let Hayden drink beer, but the last two pictures sure would make you wonder! hahahaha

This past week Hayden learned another new trick, he discovered the joys of sticking out his tongue -here is proof:

Aren't kids fun??

Doing the Wave

We are just having so much fun with Hayden! He is growing by leaps and bounds and it is just amazing at the new discoveries every day! Over the last week he has started experimenting with communication using his hands (luckily he hasn't yet figured out the rude gestures that are very popular in our family). Its just too cute, he's started waving - here is a short video.

In addition to communicating, he's also discovering how to multi-task. Here he is playing with the big red ball and holding another toy in his mouth so he didn't have to put it down. He's just too funny!

WARNING - shameless posting of a picture here - just because its got some serious AAWWWW factor :-)

Block Party

Thought I would send out a cute little video of Hayden playing with some of his new blocks. He learned a cool new game, and obviously really loves it!

Christmas Aftermath!

People always say that kids change everything, - we thought we were fully prepared for that and BAM, more changes!

After a wonderful Christmas holiday with loads of new toys for Hayden, our house was quickly transformed from a semi-adult inhabitable dwelling, to a dwelling only suitable for someone under the age of three.

We wanted to try to reclaim at least some of our former living space. Ray and I met, planned and "strategized" our next move.... We decided that we must offer up a sacrifice to the Gods of Chaos in order for our plan to work. After much deliberation we decided the sacrifice would be the formal dining room.

So in a flurry of moving furniture and toys and other stuff, we converted the formal dining room into the office/baby/chaos room. Our dinning room is now the former breakfast area. The really cool part about it though is since the new dinning room is smaller we HAD to buy a new table - bummer (NOT!) Here are some pictures of the areas. We still have some major decorating to do, but we at least have been successful in gaining back our living room (well, mostly anyway!)

And here is the office/baby/homage to chaos room:

We made another trip to 6-Flags for Holiday in the Park, courtesy of Ray's work. Hayden really enjoyed this trip, he rode the Merry-Go-Round for the first time and REALLY liked that.

He was also able to sample his first amusement park food in the form of a giant soft pretzel.

We rode the train and were treated to an 'antique' car ride by Great Papa (he's a CRAZY driver!)

But unfortunately, the holidays are now over and its back to the real world and having to work for a living!!